What? Strawberries aren't a year-round fruit?

It is funny the things we forget. When I was a kid growing up in England, I knew that berries had a season. Once a year we all pile in the car to go strawberry picking, and we would love eating the wild blackberries from bushes round where I lived. But as for the rest of the year, if we ate those fruits at all, it was out of a can. The fresh stuff didn't appear. 

And tangerines. They only appeared at Christmas. And not in crates like you get now, but a few at a time.

So I was a bit taken aback when I realized that strawberry season had come and gone in an eyeblink. One week the tables at the farmer's market were full of strawberries, the next - nothing.

Of course, they hadn't really registered. Why should they, when I can get them all year round from God-knows where?

Yes it is nice and convenient and we can do things like eat fresh strawberries and cream in the middle of December, but how much sweeter would they be if we didn't? If you just accepted the fact that you could only get them for a few short weeks in June and July and the rest of the year - nothing. How excited we'd be when the first of the crop appeared, small and slightly sour, and how sad we'd be when we realized they were gone for another year. I for one would have made lots more of my strawberry syrup!

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From Talking Heads 1983 album Speaking In Tongues: Swamp.

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Street Food at Night

A number of years ago, I went to one of the Asian festivals in Toronto. I think it might have been the Dragon Boat. It was a huge disappointment, almost an embarrassment. No thought had been put into the organization, there was no excitement, class or style, just an array of cheap booths selling pre-packaged dumplings in styrofoam boxes. A few booths even had microwaves! A couple of years later I attended a mid-Autumn festival which at least went on till late in the evening but was still pretty lame. I understand it is hard to create atmosphere and excitement but still, the two I had gone to hardly seemed to have made an effort.

So, last night, we went to last day of the tenth anniversary of the Night It Up! Night Market held outside the Markham Theatre. We arrived at ten pm - the thing went on till midnight - and there were a couple of signs this was going to be very different. 

First, the place was heaving. Just jammed. There were, I guess, about four rows of booths in tent formation laid out at right angles to a small stage. Each row had maybe 20 or so booths and most of them had huge lines. (A full list of booths can be found here.)

Second, as we approached, we were hit with the unmistakeable smell of stinky tofu frying away in a corner stall. It got stronger and stronger as we neared until it was almost overpoweringly ghastly. I honestly thought this stuff was illegal in built up areas.

This was definitely an event for young people - mostly young Asians. I am pretty sure I might have been the oldest person there.

Unfortunately, we had made the mistake of eating before we went, so were too full to sample anything. I did force myself to try a murtabak, which is (in this case) a Malaysian pancake filled with a very tasty beef, chicken, or vegetable filling depending on your choice. It was just fantastic and left me ruing the fact I had not planned this a bit better.

I washed it down with a freshly made sugar cane juice which I enjoy ordering as I think it makes the vendor work hardest for the money. Serena got a pineapple drink made by slicing the top off a pineapple, then using a pineapple corer to take out everything but the core, blending the pineapple you just took out, then pouring it back into the empty pineapple.

If you don't like weird smells, slow-moving crowds or being squashed and pushed at every turn, or are intimidated by too many young people, then this is not the event for you.

As for me, I am already looking forward to the next one!

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Black Bean Soup Brownie

There was episode of Starsky and Hutch where they sang 'Black Bean Soup'. Bizarrely, try as I might, I can't remember anything else about the series.

If they had known about Black Bean Brownies, I am sure they would have ditched the soup. As horrific as they may sound, they are suprisingly good. All you need is a tin of black beans, eggs, cocoa powder, sugar, vanilla, baking powder, a little oil, salt, a blender and some chocolate chips. About thirty minutes later, you will get something that looks like this:

On top is a splodge of fat-free yoghurt that I strained for a day so it was nice and thick, and then mixed with a little agave for sweetness.

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In case you were still thinking about Starsky and Hutch, or thought that I had just made it up  ...

Forging Ahead

Before today's food-related item, a little backstory. A while ago I met the owner of a nutrition and wellness centre. She was just moving into a new place on her own, where previously she had been sharing premises. Eventually, I asked her why she didn't provide meals to her clients. She gives advice, treatment and so on, but as soon as they leave her place they are free to eat what they like. She thought it was a great idea and asked me to do it. The two rules were: they had to be vegetarian, and they had to be low low low calorie. Under 600 calories a day for two meals.

I said yes without really thinking because ... well ... because I didn't really think about it. That was over a month ago and here's what I know.

It is really hard to make dishes low calorie, vegetarian, tasty, healthy and varied.

However, I have recently entered the trial and testing stage and I must say I have had some success. But just cooking and preparing and thinking about vegetables all day every day takes its toll. Especially when you are constrained by calories so that means almost no oil, cheese or dairy.

But, a breakthrough came today when I convinced her to let me cook some chicken and  fish dishes. In a fit of productivity I promptly made a salad and three soups. They are:

A green bean, tuna, cherry tomato, olive salad with a lemon vinaigrette.

[Note to self: if you are going to pile a dish up high, don't take the picture from up top and make it look all flat.]

And, from the left, a Sun-dried Tomato Soup with White Beans and Swiss Chard; a Cauliflower, Apple and Tarragon Soup with Chinese Bak Choi; a Summer Green Soup (served chilled).

I also made for dinner - kind of as a celebration of being free from vegetables - a penne pasta with Italian sausage, cherry tomato and cream sauce. No pics. It was all eaten too fast.

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Tomorrow I need to make three entrees and two salads, and pack them all up in little boxes to deliver on Monday for the next stage of testing. Oh, and I invited some people round for a barbecue, as if I didn't have enough to do. How's that saying go again: If you need a job done, give it to a busy man. 

I bet a guy with nothing to do but sit around and think came up with that one.

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Taking Stock

Making a vegetable stock today and thinking about recipes. The vegetable stock is an easy thing to do. You basically just throw old stuff from the fridge into a pot and boil it for an hour. My recipe, such as it is, goes like this:

1 large onion
1 1/2 lb carrots
1 lb celery
1/2 lb shallots
1/2 lb mushrooms
2 cups white wine
5 quarts water (20 cups)
bayleaves
whole black peppercorns
fresh herbs (thyme, oregano etc)

To that you can add whatever green vegetables you have left over. I threw in a half bag of spinach that was going to spoil very soon, and a few stems of bak choi. It is also a good time to use those parsley and cilantro stems you saved. You did save them, right?

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Cure

Debut album by The Cure, Three Imaginary Boys. Man, I played this album to death. Gave it away to my friend Simon when I left England and knew I wasn't coming back. Everything I had ever known and loved was in England and I just turned my back and walked away at 18.

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Strawberry Deals Forever

Last Sunday, I went to the Unionville Farmer's Market a little later than usual. The good thing about that is you can get great deals on produce the stall owners would have to throw away otherwise, mostly perishables. Of course, the downside is that most of the good stuff is gone, but I have got tomatoes, lettuces, and various vegetables pretty cheap in the past. Today, I picked up a whole flat of strawberries for $ 12. We ate a bunch right away, and the rest I washed and put in a big bowl in the fridge while I thought of what to do with them.

Freezing is a good option for fruit. My freezer if getting kind of packed, so I decided to make some of them into jam. I took 4 lbs of strawberries, coated them in sugar and left them overnight to macerate. The next day, I put them into a large put with the rest of the sugar (roughly equal in weight to the strawberries) plus the juice of one lemon. Once the sugar was dissolved, I then hit it with a hard boil for quite some time - around 30 minutes I think in the end, or maybe a little longer. 

You definitely need a high pan for this as the mixture will rise all the way up, settling down after ten minutes or so. 

Once the jam is setting up correctly, you take it off the boil and stir in a blob of butter, then leave it to cool slightly. Then, just transfer to sterilized jars, seal and store.

My 4 lbs of strawberries made a little over 5 cups of jam.

As I was making it, it seemed far too sweet for me, but once it settled down into its jam-ness, the sweetness turned out to be just right. You can adjust the amount of sugar, of course, but then you run the risk of it not being jam. I think next time I will not boil it for quite so long and have a slightly thinner jam than the one I ended up with - just personal preference.

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I still had a fair amount of strawberries that would rapidly become unusable if I didn't do something quick, so I decided to make a syrup. I soaked the strawberries with a generous splash of port wine and some sugar and then left them overnight. Next, I put them into a small pot with a few blueberries I had left over, some agave syrup and boiled them for 10-15 minutes. Then, I strained it all off, squeezing the fruit through the strainer, and then simmered it with about two tablespooons of balsamic vinegar until it reduced enough to become a syrup. I did add some more agave half way as it was not sweet enough. 

This should be pretty good on some quality vanilla ice cream with chocolate shavings on. I'll let you know!

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Finally, I made a strawberry vinaigrette from a recipe I found that used olive oil, balsamic and a little sugar, all blended with fresh strawberries, a little salt and pepper, and some tarragon. When I looked at it, I thought it would be a little too sweet and I was right. Also, where is the acidity? Any you got from the balsamic was overwhelmed by the berries. So, I added a little lime juice and it was just right. I used this vinaigrette as a basic for a sald with cucumbers, quartered beets (boiled), some mint and some parsley, and sprinkled on top with some goat cheese I happened to have lying around. I have a feeling it will do well also with some butter greens, like arugula, or maybe a baby spinach salad.

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NOTE: Totally forgot to post this!