in defense of dinner

I'm a sucker for an easy recipe. Give me a handful of ingredients and a couple of easy steps to follow and I am automatically intrigued. I want recipes to be quick and reliable – and to yield food so delicious that you crave it for days after it's all eaten up. And if it looks insanely appetizing on top of all that? Forget about it. 

Pretty sure that this was how home cooks operated for hundreds of years, before we went and made things all complicated for ourselves. Before takeout and prepared foods and restaurants on every block, before the mass exodus from kitchens across North America, people made the same food week after week, year after year. So it had to be fast. And it had to easy. And it had to taste darn good. 

Being the sentimental soul that I am, I often get nostalgic for the days when dinner reigned supreme. In my home growing up, my mother cooked every night and we all sat down together. Her wholesome repertoire – a mix of rustic French country cooking, proper British fare and hippie health food – was the backdrop of our lives. The delicate bacon quiches and the creamy cauliflower soups, the rich shepherd's pies and egg custards, the tasty whole wheat pizzas and sprouted salads, it all infused the mundane routines of daily life with pleasure and comfort and beauty. 

All of this is why I am determined to follow her lead. And what better way to do that than with her recipes? My mother's macaroni and cheese recipe was handed down from her mum – a wonderful home cook – and now she is passing it on to me. This dish is a firm favorite with the family, and it's super simple to throw together. I like to serve it with a fresh salad. Here's the easiest one I know. 

This is humble home food and so one might be reluctant to serve it to guests. But you know what? If there's one thing I've learned over the past few years, it's that we are all starved for a little humble home food. So I'm never surprised when friends see this on the table and breathe a nice long sigh of relief.  


Mum's mac & cheese
Serves 4 small portions

2 tablespoons flour
2 tablespoons butter
1 cup of milk
1 cup grated aged cheddar cheese, plus extra for topping 
1 1/2 cup elbow macaroni
chopped parsley, to taste
grated parmesan cheese, to taste
breadcrumbs, to taste
salt and pepper, to taste

1. Place a pot of salted water on to boil.
2. Meanwhile, melt butter in separate saucepan and then stir in flour slowly, stirring. Brown slightly and take off heat. Stir in milk gradually. 
3. Return to heat and stir continuously until it thickens into a sauce. Remove from heat and stir in cup of cheese. (By the way, for this dish, it's worth shelling out for top quality cheese.)
4. Cook pasta following directions on package, drain and stir in cheese sauce. Season with salt and pepper, to taste. Pour into a baking dish. 
5. Top with bread crumbs, extra cheddar, parmesan and parsley and place under broiler to melt until cheese bubbles and browns.

Insalata verde a.k.a. the easiest salad you'll ever make
Adapted from Williams-Sonoma Rome: Authentic Recipes Celebrating the Foods of the World by Chuck Williams
Serves 4

5 cups of lettuce
3 green onions, white parts only, thinly sliced
salt and freshly ground pepper, to taste
2 teaspoons of red wine vinegar
2 tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil
salt and pepper, to taste

1. Wash and dry greens.
2. Place onions in the bottom of a large salad bowl. Sprinkle with salt and pepper and then add vinegar, then oil.
3. Lay greens on top of dressing and sprinkle with a little more salt. Leave salad for an hour or so while you prepare the rest of the meal.
4. Just before serving, toss the salad well, making sure the leaves are coated in oil. 

breakfast of champions

Before I started cooking, I had all kinds of funny notions about what actually went on in the kitchen. One of which concerned granola. Specifically, I entertained fantasties about making it. The granola that's sold in stores tends to be tasteless and wildly expensive, so I figured that people would love receiving a container of truly delicious homemade cereal for Christmas. I had visions of filling Ikea glass jars and hand painting cards. Thing was, I was sure that the task of making the granola itself would be arduous and complicated and would take hours and hours to complete. So I never did it. 

Then I learned to cook and nothing seemed all that daunting anymore. But for some reason granola was a last, stubborn vestige of the old way of thinking. 

Four years ago, my best friend gave me a wonderfully decadent collection of recipes, Baked, and flipping through it I came across Easy Homemade Granola. I was intrigued. Was it possible that I had it all wrong? Could whipping up granola be something simple and straightforward, more of a casual Tuesday night affair than the holiday mega-project that I had imagined it to be? 

Happy to report that I did have it backwards. Granola is actually easy as pie, and this recipe especially so. It takes minutes – minutes! – to get in the oven. And it fills your home with the tantalizing aroma of cinnamon and sugar and toasted oats, to boot. Plus, it is about a thousand times more yummy than the packaged stuff. I have since made granola as gifts, and people do indeed appreciate it. But it need not be reserved for special occasions. Breakfast is occasion enough. 

Easy homemade granola
Adapted from Baked: New Frontiers in Baking by Matt Lewis and Renato Poliafito
Makes: 1 pound of morning goodness

2 cups rolled oats
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon salt
3 tablespoons plus 1 teaspoon vegetable oil
1/4 cup honey
1/4 cup firmly packed light brown sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/3 cup almonds
1/3 cup cashews
1/3 cup pecans
1/3 cup dried sour cherries

1. Preheat oven to 325 F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
2. In a  large bowl, toss the oats with cinnamon and salt.
3. In a medium bowl, stir together the oil, honey, brown sugar and vanilla. Whisk until completely combined.
4. Pour the honey mixture over the oats mixture and use your hands to combine until all oats are covered in honey.
5. Pour mixture on baking sheet and spread out, leaving a few clumps for texture.
6. Bake for 10 minutes, then remove from the oven and use a metal spatula to lift and flip the granola. Sprinkle the almonds over granola and return to oven.
7. Bake for 5 minutes, then remove from oven and flip granola again. Sprinkle on the pecans and cashews and return to oven.
8. Bake 10 minutes then remove from oven. Let cool completely. Sprinkle the dried cherries over the granola and use your hands to transfer to an airtight container. Granola will keep for one week.

paradise for plant-eating pals

Sometimes things are just so right. Like when you put on a new album, and within seconds of when the beat drops you know that it's going to be everything you'd hoped for. You know that you will forget that you are listening to music at all, in fact, and instead just experience the vastness of life. You know? Or when you pick up a new book and just a few pages in, you have to stop and sigh in contentment because you have absolute confidence that you're in good hands. You know that the story is going to draw you in and allow you to lose yourself in the wonder of it all.

I love that feeling. I love it when people make beautiful things and then send them out into the world to give others joy. 

That's exactly what I thought about when I took the first bite of this dish. A friend had recommended Alice Hart's gorgeous cookbook Vegetarian and this was the first recipe I tried. Insanely delicious, my friends. The flavour was so good it was almost shocking, each element in perfect harmony with the others. 

People are eating a lot less meat these days, so I am always looking for inventive vegetarian recipes to feed friends. If you have any plant-eating pals hanging around, feeling slightly forlorn about the steady diet of veggie burgers and tomato pastas they get served in restaurants, feel free to knock their socks off with this.

Warm couscous salad with preserved lemon & charmoula
Slightly adapted from Vegetarian by Alice Hart
Serves 4

4 young parsnips
3 red peppers, deseeded and sliced
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 tablespoons honey
2 preserved lemons, quartered
1 cup Israeli couscous
1 batch of charmoula (recipe to follow)
juice of 1 lemon
one small bunch of cilantro, leaves only
3/4 cup of Greek yogurt
salt and pepper, to taste

1. Preheat oven to 400F. 
2. Slice the parsnips lengthwise into halves or quarters depending on their size. Place in a roasting pan with the red peppers and coat with the olive oil and honey. Season with salt and pepper and roast for about 35 minutes, until caramelized. 
3. Slice the flesh from the preserved lemons and discard. Cut peel into strips.
4. Cook Israeli couscous according to instructions on package.
5. Combine the roasted parsnips and peppers with the cooked couscous and add 1 tablespoon of the charmoula, along with the preserved lemon peel, lemon juice and most of the cilantro.
6. Ripple the remaining charmoula through the yogurt and serve spooned onto the salad. Garnish with the rest of the cilantro.  

Charmoula
1 small bunch cilantro
1 small bunch parsley
1 tablespoon cumin seeds, toasted
finely grated zest and juice of 1 lemon
1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 garlic clove, crushed
1/2 teaspoon paprika
pepper, to taste

1. Finely chop cilantro and parley. 
2. Combine with the rest of ingredients. If it seems too thick, add extra olive oil. Season with pepper, to taste. 
3. Keeps, covered in the fridge, for up to 2 weeks. 

big bowl of happiness

Well, it's finally soup season folks. Personally, I couldn't be more thrilled. There's something about this time of year – the chill in the air, the sudden need for scarves, the shorter days, the cold rain – that makes me want to rush home and stir a pot of soup. I've taken to making enormous pots every Sunday, so that on gloomy, cold autumn weeknights I don't have to wait for my supper. 

Since I fancy myself something of a French woman in training, of course I start every meal with a simply-prepared vegetable course: grated carrots in vinaigrette, a little cabbage coleslaw or perhaps some savory corn pancakes. These days, I always follow this with soup. Butternut squash, Parisian mushroom, mixed vegetable, potato and leek, beef brisket in broth with noodles. But the most comforting recipe in my repertoire is this creamy cauliflower and garlic soup. Unbelievably tasty and satisfying.  

I can't say that it's a lightening-quick meal to prepare, since it has multiple steps and a cooling period – so please understand that this is a weekend project. But I can tell you that your efforts will be rewarded all week long, and you will thank yourself many times over as you sit down to steaming bowls of this soothing soup. 

Roasted cauliflower and garlic soup
Adapted from Clean Start by Terry Walters
Serves 6

2 heads cauliflower
4 tablespoons olive oil, plus extra for rubbing garlic
1 garlic bulb
1 cup diced sweet onion
2 tablespoons mirin
2 teaspoons sea salt
4-6 cups water
2 tablespoons fresh thyme leaves
ground pepper, to taste

1. Preheat oven to 350F.
2. Chop cauliflower and drizzle with 2 tablespoons of olive oil; toss to coat. Place on two parchment paper-lined baking sheets. Cut off top of garlic, rub entire bulb with oil and wrap in foil. Place all in oven and roast for about 1 hour, or until soft, tossing cauliflower occasionally. Remove from oven and set aside.
3. When garlic is cool enough to handle, separate cloves, peel, discard skins and set aside.
4. In large soup pot, over medium-high heat, saute onion in 1 tablespoon of olive oil until translucent (about 5 minutes). Add roasted cauliflower and garlic, mirin, salt and 4 cups of water. Increase heat and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer 5 minutes. Wait until soup cools and puree in blender. If soup is too pasty, add 1-2 cups of water until desired consistency is achieved.
5. Return to heat, stir in 1 tablespoon thyme leaves and pepper, to taste. Simmer 20 minutes to allow flavours to blend. Remove from heat and stir in remaining tablespoon of oil. Garnish with remaining thyme leaves and serve.