Fig This

I am almost too tired to write this. It's not that it's late at night, it's that I haven't slept well for a week and I'm feeling it. I am only getting about 7 hours of sleep. I know most new moms would spit in my face for my last comment and I would gladly deserve it. I'm a nine hour a night kind of girl. All you sleepy people out there know what I'm talking about. I am simply exhausted if I sleep less than that. It took me a long time to figure out my magic number but now I know and I'm sticking to it.

I'm a much nicer person when I'm well rested. When I'm tired I get petty and start to imagine getting into fights with strangers over the pettiest of crimes. I want to yell at the yahoo at the party who double dips, or curse at the person who dares to brush past me on a crowded sidewalk. It's not that I have a whole bunch of pent up rage that needs to be released, I'm just a grump when I'm tired. I'm usually quite easy going, or at least that how I like to perceive myself. It seems I am also unable to write anything interesting when I lack sleep.

You can't win them all. Hopefully you'll come back for a more restful, and entertaining post in a few days.

Here's a delicious fig salad I made weeks ago. As of late, we've been living off of scrambled eggs and melted cheese on toast.

Fig, Pear and Goat Cheese Salad

4 fresh figs, cut in quarters
1/2 cup of walnut pieces
1/2 cup of crumbled goat cheese
1 tsp of honey
juice of 1/2 a lemon
2 tbsp olive oil
1/2 tsp dijon mustard
fresh ground pepper to taste
2 pears, cored and thickly sliced
3 cups of mixed greens

In a small bowl, whisk together honey, lemon juice, olive oil, mustard, and pepper. Set aside. Place pears and greens in a large bowl and toss together with the dressing. Divide among four plates and top with figs, walnuts, and goat's cheese.

slightly pickled.

I love the idea of making pickles.

For me, pickling conjures up visions of charming country kitchens, steaming pots, banging screen doors, and faded Liberty print housedresses; row upon row of shiny jars packed with bright, tasty things to spice up the dreary winter ahead.

At this time of year especially, that vision of industry, tradition and simplicity has its appeal.

Of course, it's totally a fantasy: despite my attempts at various other incarnations over the years, I am a city girl through and through, completely and happily entrenched in city life, not bound to tradition, and not terribly industrious either - especially when the task at hand involves the kind of repetition that home canning demands.

I am also not a fan of making things in bulk, so, much like life in that country kitchen, those rows upon rows of jars would drive me a little crazy after a very short time.

(And did I mention that I don't even really love pickles?)

And yet - and yet! - the fantasy remains.

These two (delicious, bright, and easy) salads are the closest I will come this year, but they will, in my mind's eye, almost get me there.


Slightly Pickled Carrot and Peanut Salad

I should warn you that neither of these salads keeps particularly well over night, so don't plan for leftovers.

1/4c white wine vinegar
1/4c olive oil
1 tsp sesame oil
6 medium carrots, thinly sliced
3/4c salted peanuts

Whisk together vinegar and oils in the bottom of a large non-reactive bowl (I use a Pyrex mixing bowl).

Add carrots and toss well. Leave 3-4 hours, if you can!

Add peanuts just before serving, and toss well.


Slightly More Pickled Zucchini Salad

4 medium zucchini, thinly sliced
1/2c white vinegar
1/4c brown sugar
2 tsp sea salt
2 tbsp finely chopped fresh chives

Place zucchini in a large non-reactive bowl (I use a Pyrex mixing bowl). Add 1/4c of the vinegar, 2 tbsp of the sugar, and 1 tsp of the salt, and toss well. Let sit at least an hour or two, then turn zucchini out into a colander and drain well.

Return zucchini to bowl and toss with remaining vinegar, sugar, and salt. Add chives and toss well.

Each salad serves 4-6, depending on what else is on offer. Faded housedress optional.

in minutes.

My garden is overgrown with mint and chives.

I use the term "my garden" fairly loosely, since it will soon belong to someone else - which is why it is so overgrown.

I have no complaints about the mint and chives, though - they are two of my favourites, and I am happy to have them in abundance, at least for the time being (my new garden is lovely and lush, but also very well-ordered; so, for this growing season, anyway, there will be no invasive herbs running amok).

Between the mint and the heat, our meals have been largely inspired by the Mediterranean - a lot of grilling, quite a lot of olive oil and garlic, some rosemary, some lamb.

I am now at the point of almost constantly fantasizing about my new kitchen and all of the things that will happen in it: long, lingering conversations, slow cooked dinners, multi-course breakfasts (really!).

But until we get there, the order of the day is meals in minutes.

I am aiming generally for luscious, robust things that will fill me and cheer me, and can be made in the amount of time it would otherwise take to scoop some ice cream into a bowl.

I found this dish fit the bill admirably.


Lunch in minutes

I used a grilled eggplant leftover from a previous meal, which is why this took so little time for me to cobble together; but if you don't happen to have any leftovers on hand, the grilling only adds a few minutes to your prep time.

1 medium eggplant, sliced crosswise and grilled
1 pint grape tomatoes, halved
2 tbsp finely chopped fresh chives
3 tbsp finely chopped fresh mint
1/4c extra virgin olive oil
1 tbsp wine vinegar
100g feta, crumbled

Cut grilled eggplant slices into cubes.
Combine all ingredients in a large salad bowl , toss gently, and serve.

Serves 4, as a side dish

beauty.

I can not tell you how thrilled I was to unpack a box of groceries the other day and find the small paper bag containing these tomatoes.

I nearly couldn't eat them - I was so taken by their beauty that I just wanted to sit and stare.

I gazed at them on every lovely surface I could come up with (the white stove top, the pale blue platter, the yellow tablecloth, the green couch).

I sniffed them: they smelled like the memory of a garden from childhood.

Aren't they gorgeous? Days later, I am still rapturous at the very thought of them.

After ogling them for a while longer and spending considerable time deciding how best to enjoy them, I made this sauce.

Then everyone in my family ate it.

And that, friends, is why I love food.


Fabulous Sauce from Fabulous Tomatoes

This is one of my favourite simple no-cook pasta sauces, but it also makes a great salad if, like I did recently, you discover partway through your preparations that there is no pasta to be had in the house. This is also one of the rare times when I have to insist that you use the best olive oil you can get.

3-4 large heirloom tomatoes
1 tsp sugar
1 tsp sea salt
freshly ground pepper
1/2 good quality extra-virgin olive oil
2 tbsp finely chopped chives
2 tbsp finely chopped basil
1 (340g) ball mozzarella, cut into small-ish cubes

Bring a medium pot of water to a boil. Lightly score each tomato with a sharp knife, then plunge the tomatoes into the boiling water (you may need to do this in batches) for just a minute or two, to facilitate peeling.
Scoop the tomatoes out of the water and peel them, then cut each tomato in half and remove the seeds. Core and coarsely chop tomatoes.
Place tomatoes in a large, non-reactive mixing bowl and toss gently with sugar, salt, and a few grindings of pepper. Let sit at room temperature a minimum of two hours, and as many as eight.
When nearly ready to serve (ie. while your pasta is boiling), add chives, basil and mozzarella to tomatoes and toss gently.
Makes sauce for about 450g of pasta, or salad for six.

...get out of the kitchen.

I was chatting with a friend the other day about the heat.

She and I are in similar circumstances: our kids are the same age, and neither of our husbands is often around during the dinner hour. We are also both, at the moment, living without air conditioning; and it has been very, very hot and humid in our city these past couple of weeks.

We were discussing the indignity of having to get dinner on the table when it's 30 degrees both inside and out and you're outnumbered by your children, and our conversation went something like this:

Me: You know, I am so tired and hungry by that point in the day that I can't cope with making a salad. And I refuse to turn on the stove. I'm embarrassed to tell you how many nights we've had the cereal supper in our house this past week alone.

My Friend: I know, it's too much. Although I will eat a salad, as long as it has lots of cheese in it.

Me: Oh, I love cheese in a salad. And croutons.

My Friend: And nuts.

Me: And a side of sausage.

As grateful as I was to learn that I am not the only one who struggles with the dinner hour these days, I do recognize that, heat wave or no, the cereal supper is not something every mother would like to commit to on a long-term basis.

(I'd like to mention at this point that I used to love hot weather, and I have not had air conditioning my entire adult life. Hot weather, for me, used to mean cold bubble baths and dinners that consisted of drinks on ice.

Since having my children, though, I find that when the heat is on, nobody in our house sleeps well through the night; we move through the days with our energy sapped; and we find excuses to spend time in our climate-controlled car.

In fact, these days, I find that too much hot weather makes me a little angry.)

However, I think I may have come up with a reasonable alternative. Since discovering this recipe (thank you, Sara!), I have made it three times, varying it a little each time. The one you see here is my favourite so far - side of sausage optional.

Asparagus Salad
Adapted from Culinerapy

1/2c red wine vinegar
1/2c extra virgin olive oil
freshly ground pepper to taste
2 bunches asparagus, trimmed
1c roasted walnuts, chopped
1 1/2c crumbled feta

In a large bowl, whisk together vinegar, oil, and salt & pepper. Chop asparagus crosswise, and add to bowl along with walnuts and feta.
Toss gently.
Refrigerate a couple of hours before serving.

Serves four.

salad days.

I have come to realize that I may be overly fixated on the weather.

We all joke that discussing the forecast is one of our national pastimes, and I've noticed lately that I actually am one of those cliched Canadians whose conversational gambits often begin and end with, "Isn't it a [insert appropriate adjective here] day?"

It's not the worst thing to talk about, but I could do with some new subject matter.

The trouble is, I have not been keeping up well with the news lately; I know nothing about sports; and my taste in music is both un-current and probably a little pedestrian to anyone who might actually like to talk about music with me.

Of politics in my city I know shamefully little, and I am late to register my daughter for school in the fall, so I avoid that subject at all costs.

I do love to shop, but the various vintage treasures that I've unearthed at bargain prices may not be of interest to everyone I meet - and besides, I have declared a pre-move moratorium on acquisitions (and how that is going for me is the stuff of a whole other epic conversation).

So you can see why, at a loss for small talk, I drift back to my old reliable, the weather.

Aside from the polite innocuousness of weather-related chat, discussing the forecast also offers the opportunity to segue into my absolute favourite topic, which is, as you have no doubt realized by now, what I am going to eat next.

And today, because it is a beautiful May day, that happens to be the salad you see here.

Barley Salad
adapted from Food and Wine

I actually made this over the weekend, but it makes quite a bit and it tastes better every day.

1 1/2c pearl barley
1c roasted almonds, coarsely chopped
5 tbsp fresh lemon juice
1/2c olive oil
1 garlic clove, minced
1 tsp lemon zest
1c packed Italian parsley leaves
1c crumbled feta

Cook barley in a large pot of boiling, salted water until tender, about 20-25 minutes. Drain and rinse under cold water to cool. Shake out excess water.

Meanwhile, whisk together lemon juice, olive oil, garlic and lemon zest in a large bowl. Add barley, parsley, and feta and toss gently. Stir in chopped nuts, toss again, add some salt and pepper if desired, and serve.

Serves 4-6, depending on your desire for leftovers

letting the days go by.

I know I am not the only mother who sits down from time to time (I could end that sentence right there) and marvels at how I got here.

I haven't forgotten how it all came to be - it happened so quickly, and so recently, that it's still very fresh in my mind - but I do marvel.

I marvel that five years ago right around now, I was single, with a very lightweight secret crush on a guy I barely knew; loving the spring weather, and thinking about spending some time in another city, just for a change of scene.

You can guess, I am sure, what the next phase looked like: my lightweight crush became my great love, and spending time in another city became moving my entire life to begin anew with that same love - who, in turn, became the father of my children and then my husband.

We're just about to move into a new house, another brand new start for the two of us, who have been lucky enough to have many of those already in our relatively brief time together.

Before I met him, I would never have considered myself a romantic.

This is one of the first dishes I ever cooked for him, and it remains a favourite.


Once in a Lifetime Chicken and Coleslaw

This recipe is easily doubled, or tripled, for a crowd, and it's even better the next day.

4 tbsp brown sugar
2 tbsp rice vinegar
6 tbsp lime juice
6 tbsp fish sauce
4 tbsp olive oil
2 tbsp sesame oil
4 tbsp soy sauce
4 cloves garlic, crushed
700 g boneless, skinless chicken thighs
1/4c finely chopped fresh mint
1 package (454g or 1 lb.) coleslaw

In a shallow bowl large enough to hold chicken pieces, whisk together sugar, vinegar, lime juice, fish sauce, olive oil and sesame oil until well combined. Remove 3/4 cup of liquid from the bowl; reserve.

To make marinade, add soy sauce and garlic to the mixture in the bowl and stir well. Add chicken pieces; toss to coat, cover, and marinade as long as you can (minimum 20 minutes, maximum 4-5 hours).

Stir mint into reserved 3/4 cup of liquid to use as dressing for the coleslaw.

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Use tongs to transfer chicken pieces to a well-oiled shallow baking dish large enough to hold chicken in one layer. Bake, basting occasionally with marinade, until thighs are cooked through, 20-30 minutes. Let rest about 10 minutes before serving.

While chicken is resting, toss coleslaw with dressing.

Serves 2, generously.