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Crepes
Crepes are such a simple recipe, but the real work is in the frying, which is a sort of alchemy of heat and timing. Crepes in the pan aren’t something you can walk away from; they need your complete attention, something I’m not always very good at. When we were kids, Nana Cynthia ((You can read her diaries from her teenage years in/around London during the Blitz in WWII here.)) used to make us crepes; always the same delicious topping, lemon juice and confectioner’s sugar. I’m a little taken aback by the weird combos that you can get on crepes – fruit, whipped cream, whatever – when in my opinion, they are always…
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Guacamole
Making Avocados are kind-of a major staple of my diet these days; I don’t eat a lot of meat, ((though I’m not a vegetarian.)) and they make a good stand-in for the hearty part of a meal. Though they are annoyingly finicky, ((Not ripe, not ripe not ripe Ripe! Too late)) I usually have them around for sandwiches and things. Lately, I’ve been really craving salty, savoury things, and discovered Los Cantores Tortilla Chips at our local deli, St. James Town Steak and Chops. Normally I don’t shill for companies, but these are freaking delicious, and I totally recommend them. I’ll also note that if you’re in the market for…
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Quinoa and Corn Salad Recipe
We’ve been interested in picnicking for a few years now; something about packing up a lunch and going somewhere green and lovely to eat it on a blanket on the grass feels so special and nice. We’ve got one of those picnic knapsacks, with all of the cutlery and everything, which we’ve been using as our camp kitchen for years, and we’re building a list of excellent and easily-portable recipes. In the midst of an unexpectedly sweltering May day, we decided to make a few salads and bicycle down to the Trent-Severn Canal, on the bank of Little Lake, to have our first picnic of the year. This recipe, one…
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Nana-Approved Turkey Pot Pie
2017 Update: I posted this Turkey Pot Pie recipe in 2010, and two years later my lovely Nana died. This recipe still reminds me of her; her approval meant a lot to me. 2010 Original post: This is essentially a basic turkey pot pie recipe, but I like to think that I’ve particularly made it mine by emphasizing the thyme, salt, and pepper. This savoury pie could probably handle a little sage, too, but have a light hand – the thyme really makes it irresistible. And don’t be stingy with the salt and pepper. I find too that no matter how badly I think I’ve screwed up the homemade pastry,…
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Mango Chutney
About a week ago, I was grocery shopping and saw a flat of mangoes for $3. It was too good to turn down, but then I had a flat of overripe mangoes kicking around my kitchen. So I looked online at a bunch of recipes for canning mango chutney, combined a few, modified them to suit my own tastes, and came up with a chutney I’m pretty happy with. It’s a dead-simple recipe that would be a good one for first-timers, as it’s not too fussy and doesn’t take a lot of time. Just remember to wash everything in hot, soapy water, and let everything air-dry – that’s really the…
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Nana Cynthia’s Crepes
My Nana Cynthia gave this recipe to my sister Sammi when she was about 10; we wanted crepes, so Sammi called up Nana and copied down the recipe from her. We were all pretty amused to see that Sammi had spelled them ‘creaps.’ To my mind, paper-thin, hot crepes with lemon juice and icing sugar are both the only way to eat crepes, and they are the best treat in the world. But this crepe is a neutral base, and you can use it for sweet or savoury fillings. This recipe simultaneously reminds me of my Nana and my sisters as well as Paris, which I’ve visited in the Springtime…
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Apple Pie
Easy-peasy, lovely and delicious, Apple Pie is the perfect thing for just about every day, if you feel like it. I know oldsters and orchard-owners will tell you all kinds of things about which apples make the best pie, but I’d say that MacIntoshes and Granny Smiths are the absolute best apples for pie making that are regularly available in most grocery stores (in Canada, anyway). I know other apples hold together better in the pie, but taste is my issue, not texture, and you can’t beat Macs and Grannies for perfect sweet-tartness. If you want a pie that tastes less like a straight-ahead old-fashioned version and more like candied…
