The Food Almanac: Recipes and Stories For A Year At The Table

 

This is not a traditional almanac in the sense of providing the reader with sun and moon charts and phases, tide tables, astrology and astronomy occurances and garden tending tasks; The Food Almanac by Miranda York, is a collaboration on the pure enjoyment of food. With a focus on seasonal ingredients, and a monthly menu to help, it is a good culinary companion in your kitchen. One that will change month to month and with the seasons, providing you good recipes with good things to eat and a celebration of good food. Each chapter has an introduction for the month ahead, seasonal highlights for the pantry, spotlight on ingredients and passages on food history. The chapters end with a menu, that are selected recipes to get the best of each season and a comparable reading list to help you extent and explore ingredients and stories.

The contributors range from celebrated food writers, chefs, poets and novelists, making it engaging and entertaining, that at times reads more like book than a cookbook. Shared stories, memoirs, recipes, tips, discussions on a single ingredient and a culinary book reading list to accompany each month is appreciative, something any food lover and home cook can appreciate. Although this was a gift, I do know that this volume was hard to get a hold of... and yes, there is a volume two, which seems less so with the second volume. I enjoyed this book exceedingly as it brought together a few of my favourite things besides recipes and food but poetry, stories, art and more books. This is definitely a cookbook to consider for yourself or to be gifted as such.   

There are plenty of recipes too linger over and consider in a month or the months ahead. The recipe I am sharing from the book is one of the menu recipes for the month of February and is how it appears in the cookbook.  

Braised Shiitake, Tofu and Chai Choi - by Lap-fai Lee

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"Chai Choi is a traditional braised vegetarian dish that's eaten on festival days by those practising Buddhism. This is delicious medley of ingredients, full of sweet umami and comforting flavours."

groundnut (peanut) or vegetable oil, for frying

2 spring onions (scallions), finely chopped, whites and greens separated

3 slices of fresh ginger

2 garlic cloves, lightly crushed

6 large shiitake mushrooms, soaked until soft, stems removed and quartered, soaking liquor reserved

A splash of Shaoxing wine

2 sticks of tofu skin, soaked until soft, cut into 4 cm (1 1/2 in) pieces

Small handful of dried lily flowers, soaked until soft

8 small cubes of deep-fried tofu

2 fingers' worth black sea moss

2 small cubes of fermented tofu, mashed into paste

1 tbsp soy sauce

1 tbsp oyster sauce

25g (1 oz) yellow miso paste

20g (3/4 oz) caster (superfine) sugar

In a large frying pan (skillet), add the oil and fry the spring onion whites, ginger and garlic to release the aroma. Add the mushrooms and splash in the Shaoxing wine to sizzle off the alcohol. Add all of the other ingredients and top up with the soaking liquor from the mushrooms. There should be enough liquid to gently braise the ingredients together for 30 minutes. Garnish with the spring onion greens before serving. 

Christmas 2019

Christmas Eve, after we had our usual nibbles an drinkies at our local pub and a walk to enjoy the festive lights; we settle for some homemade tomato soup, a dinner roll and a glass of Fortnum and Mason's Sparkling Tea beverage, to close the night.  

Christmas Morning, for brunch we had a round of homemade cranberry almond scones with Devonshire cream and fresh fruit to keep us going until an early Christmas dinner. 

Christmas Dinner, was Cornish hens, Brussels sprouts with blood orange vinegar and mashed potatoes, homemade stuffing with lashings of gravy.

... and we rounded out our dinner with a slice of Fortnum and Mason's Figgy pudding. Although lashing of custard may have been in order, a slice unadulterated was perfect! 

Boxing Day, was a quiet one spent with friends. We offered some of the usual... cheese and biscuits, olives, dried fruit and of course, my baking. However, I did make a savoury galette, cranberry cocktail sausages and coronation chicken cups. 

What Christmas of ours, would not be complete, without our Fortnum and Mason's order. A nice sampling to enjoy now and throughout the year. Loads of decadent things... honey, sauces, hot mustard, tea, jams, marmalades, puddings, glacé fruit, coffee, biscuits, chocolate, anniversary Heinz ketchup, and sparkling tea beverages.

Hope everyone had a wonderful Holiday time. Whether sharing, enjoying or relaxing, we had a lovely one! - JD     

Power Food

The benefits of power foods... super foods are helping us understand how to fuel our bodies and mind. Recharge, revitalize & rejuvenate is key.  

This compact cookbook features over 100 inspiring recipes that give a powerful combination of fueling and feeding our bodies nutritionally. Whether you want something to kick-start your morning, in need of an energy boost mid-day, a delicious protein packed lunch or dinner to satisfy or a fulfilling dessert. Each recipe has a combination of vitamins and minerals to maximize what your body needs and deserves. It's all about balance.  

Eat minimal processed ingredients and boost up on the fresh foods, whole grains, fibre rich carbohydrates and healthy fats. Seems simple. All recipes have a nutritional breakdown with information on calories, fat, fibre, protein, carbs, sugar and salt. There are plenty of inspirational recipes amongst it's 251 pages. Such yummy recipes as Rainbow Salad, Kimchi Tofu Bowl, Cauliflower, Kale and Garbanzo Bean Bowl, Gingered Steak Lettuce Boats, Chicken Peperonata Bowl, Crunchy Noodle Bean Feast, and Fig and Oat Bites. However, I would like to share this recipe from the cookbook...   

Salmon Burrito Bowl

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1 tablespoon coconut oil
2 garlic cloves, crushed
1 red onion, peeled and diced
1 celery stalk, diced
1 red bell pepper, seeded and diced
1 1/2 cups rinsed and drained, canned red kidney beans
1 cup long grain rice
2 1/2 cups vegetable broth
2 tablespoons jerk paste
2 tablespoons honey
4 salmon fillets, about 5 1/2 ounces each

Mango salsa
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1 large mango, peeled, pitted, and diced
1/2 red onion, finely diced
2 tablespoons chopped fresh cilantro
juice of 1 lime


1. To make the mango salsa, mix together the mango, onion, cilantro, and lime juice and let stand at room temperature.

2. Meanwhile, heat the coconut oil in a large saucepan, add the garlic, onion, celery, and red bell pepper, and sauté for 4 - 5 minutes. Add the kidney beans to the pan. 

3. Add the rice and broth, bring to a boil, cover, and simmer for about 15 minutes, until the rice is tender and the liquid has been absorbed.

4. Meanwhile, mix together the jerk paste and honey. Preheat the broiler to hot and line a baking sheet with aluminum foil. Place the salmon fillets on the prepared sheet and spread the jerk mixture over each one.

5. Cook the salmon fillets under the broiler for 8 - 10 minutes, turning once.

6. Serve the rice in warm bowls, topped with a fillet of salmon and some mango salsa. 


There is still plenty of sunshine going around. Hope everyone had a lovely weekend, like we did. - JD  

Another Gastropost

When I did the post about the Tangy Pineapple Salsa, I forgot to note that it was mentioned in E-town's Gastropost portion of the newspaper. It is my second time being considered/published and I appreciate that. 

Have a great Thursday! - JD 

Leon ~ Ingredients & Recipes

This was on my cookbook list however it was gifted to me and after posting about Leon's pocket sized cookbooks I thought this would be the perfect book to post about now. The Leon cookbook covers quite a bit throughout it's 293 plus pages. Loads of culinary information with the importance on ingredients. Stressing, the purchases we make at the shop are the factors that will affect the way food tastes. This cookbook is for anyone who loves food, those that care about what they put into their body and people who get excited about food. Leon cookbook talks about superfoods, ingredients they love and ingredients they can not be without. Then again, don't we all have a list of favourite ingredients and ones that we can not be without. To them ingredients are everything which equals good food and food that is good. The book is divided up into two parts, one being the Ingredients half, and all it's detailed information and the other being the Recipes with entertaining stories and personal photos.   

I could go on about this book, believe me, and the post would be a long one. To share much of it's detail information and recipes would be great however this cookbook is one to be added to your collection, to be given as a gift, and to be enjoyed. 

Thought I would share this lovely recipe from the cookbook. Enjoy! 

Apricot Madeira Cake

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Makes 8 fat slices

1 3/4 cup dried apricots

scant 2/3 cup Madeira or sweet sherry

butter or oil for greasing the pan

6 eggs

1 teaspoon baking powder

3/4 cup fructose

2 1/2 cups ground almonds

a handful of sliced almonds

Preheat the oven to 325ºF.

Put the apricots in a small saucepan and fast simmer in the booze for about 10 minutes, or until there is no liquid left.

Roughly chop eight of the apricots; purée the rest.

Grease an 8-inch cake pan with butter or oil.

Beat the eggs until big and fluffy, preferably with an electric mixer.

In another bowl mix the fructose, ground almonds, and baking powder and then fold the mixture into the eggs.

Add both kinds of apricot to the batter and pour into your prepared pan.

Scatter the surface of the cake with sliced almonds.

Bake for 40 minutes, turning it around halfway through. 

Let cool in the pan. 

WF - wheat free •  DF - diary/lactose free •V - vegetarian • low or no animal fat


Hope everyone is enjoying their week so far. - JD 

Gastropost Post

With all the comings and goings of the weekend and the beginning of the week; I forgot to share that I made it into the Newspaper on Monday. The city's paper does a food or I should say Gastropost on Mondays and the mixed berries that I posted about for my Food Photo of the Day, got selected and shared! They posted under my maiden name however a very nice surprise and a great way to start my week.

Hope everyone had a great weekend and is having an enjoyable week so far. -JD     

Lydia Lunch ~ The Need to Feed

Apart from the black and white illustrations, the colour combination of black, white and red caught my eye. However these aren't the only reasons why I glanced throughout these pages. There was something seductive yet simple with this cookbook. True, the front cover gives the first impression however that isn't this cookbooks only impression. The humour is dark, the mood is eclectic and the recipes salacious.

There are recipes for everyone here which reflects back to the author's poverty-stricken days of the late 1970's and early 1980's when she lived in New York's Lower East Side, Spanish Harlem and Brooklyn. When she would host dinner parties and Sunday brunch with whatever she managed to scrape together. She cooked and fed starving artists and struggling musicians like, Sonic Youth, Henry Rollins, Suicide, Joe Coleman, Butthole Surfers and some rambling reprobates. She was feeding some of musics most influential acts. Combine food, music and spirited conversation and one has a scrumptious culinary overload. 

Lovely quotes, inspiration, personal stories and approximately a 5 song roster start each chapter. The chapters have suggestive undertones which leaves much to the imagination... the culinary imagination. With titles like, Feed Your Head, Make 'em Beg for More, This is Going to Hurt You..., Do Me a Quickie, Who You Calling a Puta?, The Killer Inside Me, Sweet Freak, Party Monster, and Weekend Detox. Very tongue in cheek! 

Most of what she says resonates with me however I found this paragraph very culinary forward and a sign of the times - "We need to eat. But more that that we need to feed -  to feed our bodies, brains, and psyches with energy-enchancing, soul-soothing nutrients that nourish our life force. Great food is not only fuel, but also high-grade ammunition that can bolster our chances of surviving the battles we are forced to fight every day." Definitely food for thought!

Enjoy your weekend everyone! - JW 

Love Your Leftovers

The title is simple enough. I have ate a cold slice of pizza or two and have reheated pasta and even refried potatoes. I have used up day old bread... cold tea... old cooked rice and homemade pasta sauce. When there are leftovers in our house they do not last long. I will gladly pass the leftovers into whatever I am creating in the kitchen. Leftovers are good. I think that during the winter seasons we tend to have more leftovers than in the summer. Winter we are concentrating on keeping warm and comfort food is abundant. Summer... I know for myself my appetite goes down and staying hydrated is a must. Leftovers can be a god send or a convenience worth loathing. Think of all the holiday turkey leftovers and how magically we stretch those.   

This book was a great find. Although lately at Winners I am having a hard time finding cookbooks. It is only 64 pages. The photography and illustrations are fantastic. It is a charming little book which should not go amiss. Getting you to look at your leftovers differently. The 6 chapters are given straight titles like, Raid The Fridge, Lovely Old Veg, Wonderful Carbs (Potatoes, Rice and Pasta), Make The Most From A Roast, Yesterday's Bread and Back to The Fruit Bowl. There is no reason to shamefully over glamourized leftovers. Leftovers are leftovers seeping with flavour, wanting to be used and waiting to be eaten. How to do this is based on how creative one can get and hopefully this book may be a source of inspiration.

The recipes, although sometimes typical show just how far to stretch that loaf of bread, that container of yoghurt, and those bits of veggies. There are many things waiting to be done with leftovers. Soup, stews, stir-frys, macaroni and cheese, cakes, salads, frittatas and omelettes. Within this disposable society leftovers teach us what is here today can be here tomorrow and possibly the next. That one can reduce food waste. 

Some helpful hints and tips from the book are: 

To freshen a day-old-loaf of bread is to hold the loaf for a just a second or two under running cold water. Give it a good shake then place in a hot oven for about 10 minutes. 

Don't discard dry end-pieces of cheese. Grate them and freeze them in a freezer bag. Use in a recipe that requires a sprinkling of grated cheese on top. 

Any left over spaghetti can be added to stir-fry to turn it into chow mien.

If you are left with half a lemon or lime, squeeze the juice into ice cube trays and freeze for later use.

Slice leftover roast meat. Place into freezer bags and use it at a later date in a curry.


Get creative with your leftovers. Enjoy your weekend everyone! - JW 

Nigellissima

I bought this cookbook about a week before the cooker decided to call it quits. While we are waiting for a new one we are bound to cook by stove top... or slow cooker. As I am out of my element with cooking only by stove top, Nigella Lawson is in her element at being Italian or should I say channeling her inner Italian. There is something for everyone in this cookbook... food, passion and inspiration. 

The introduction reads more like an autobiography reminiscing of her days spent in Florence. Written in true Nigella form. She is talking to you... sharing and emphasizing. You can sense her inspiration and passion for food and Italy. I have been to Florence too and as I read, I drifted off retracing my steps only to realise that food, travel and life impacts us all differently. After turning page after page of this cookbook it inspired me to make Spaghetti Bolognese. I had no recipe just my thoughts and whatever struck my fancy went into the pan. The large bowl of Spaghetti Bolognese was met with wide eyes and hungry stomachs. Servings were dished out happily and then seconds and thirds to the few who had the most room in their stomach. 

Nigellissima is only 273 pages, notes, index and acknowledgements included. Compared to some of her other cookbooks this is a slim one. She has condensed her new Italian inspired recipes into five chapters. Pasta, Meat, Fish & Fowl, Vegetables & Sides, Sweet Things and An Italian-Inspired Christmas. She briefly discusses the eight pantry items she needs, and that you will need, to make her recipes. There are helpful hints placed here and there. One of them being: Never over sauce your pasta. Full page colour photography leads less to the imagination and more to your soon to be bottomless stomach. The Mascarpone Mashed Potatoes, Saffron Orzotto, Italian Tray Bake, Chocolate Salami, Chocolate Olive Oil Cake and the One -Step No-Churn Coffee Ice Cream have left me wanting my new cooker now! I really want to make the Chocolate Olive Oil Cake to christen the new oven. If you want to bring out your inner Italian then I would recommend this book... a tavola! -JW   

Food Revolution Day!

DID YOU KNOW THAT...

Food Revolution Day is this Saturday! I know what I am doing. What are you doing? I was surprised when I saw that there is no organised event in my area! Canada... Canadians should be participating! Jamie Oliver hasn't brought his Food Revolution on Canadian soil... he has to our neighbours to the south, that shouldn't stop us from planning an event, hosting a dinner, making schools aware, kids aware, adults aware, shop local and have a garden for fresh fruit and veg. What better way great way to start the holiday weekend off then getting involved. So Saturday I am doing a dinner party for Food Revolution Day. I will be serving chicken fajitas, homemade guacamole, homemade salsa, a salad of mixed greens with veg and homemade dressing. Before Saturday hits I have been cooking a few things up in the kitchen... like I always do. The two meals pictured below are a few of the ones I do make on a weekly basis.   

Sweet and sour chicken stir-fry with mixed veggies served over basmati rice. This is a real easy dinner to make. Low in sodium and fat. Fresh and crisp, the kidlets almost licked their plates clean!   

Next is the butter chicken with mixed veggies and tofu, for extra protein. Topped with sour cream and chives and served with spaetzle... German pasta. Worlds are colliding and another dish where the plates were just about licked clean. The kidlets found it fun to add sour cream and chives and we got into a discussion on other things to add to future dishes. It's great sitting at the dinner table chatting about what goes into each dish and what they would add or not add. Why we include certain ingredients and about recipes. 

Yes that is me! I signed the petition, yesterday at 8:31 London time. It's not to late to sign up, sign the petition or get involved. Go to his website *here*  and join Food Revolution Day! I will post pictures of dinner on Saturday night. I do own a copy of Jamie Oliver's Food Revolution Cookbook. I will be reviewing that book next week. Have a great long weekend and a great Food Revolution Day! -JW