Thoughts on tinned sardines

After three years of blank space here, I thought I’d reflect on something more recently near-and-dear to my heart – tinned sardines. There have, so far, been very interesting reactions when I either discuss sardines or crack open a tin (at work for instance):

“What is that!?”

“Sardines are so oily!”

And possibly my favourite…

“Are you an 80 year old man?” (Side note – I absolutely am in spirit.)

Having never eaten any sort of sardine in my life, did I just randomly pick up a tin? No. The influence comes via my roommate and long time friend, Rachel. When I was in Paris in 2015, she asked that I bring her back a tin of sardines. I trust Rachel’s food instincts and knowledge more than anyone I know, so naturally I also picked up one for myself.

Two years later, in a hangry moment, I found them. Even though the situation may sound sad, I can assure you it wasn’t. Along with some very good toasted bread, a generous swath of butter, parsley, and a squeeze of lemon, those sardines were a small, much appreciated luxury. Further, the plate was made up of several key factors that contribute to my decisions about what to “cook” – fast, inexpensive, made up of fewer than five ingredients. Perfect.

Now, I’ve since discovered that all sardines are not the delicate Breton type I first encountered. What I’ve come across in Edmonton - in the Italian Centre’s section of tinned fish - are varieties from Spain, Italy, and Portugal. Since sampling a few of the brands (and also boneless, skinless, different oils, etc.), my preference is the skinless and boneless variety from Sabor do Mar. They are from Portugal, packed in sunflower oil (not olive, but c'est la vie) and have the added benefit of being sustainably fished. If anyone has a line on the Matiz brand here in Edmonton, do let me know.

Rachel recently traveled to Toronto and spent too much money on “luxury” sardines and mackerel (also, very good French butter). I came home one evening in August to a thoughtful table of tinned fish, four varieties of butter, a generous salad, and a million condiments (no exaggeration).

So there you have it. A small glimpse at the life of a 30-year-old woman from Edmonton, happily enjoying sardines on toast at least one evening a week. Next up, some ramblings regarding soft scrambled eggs.

"Oreos" & Gnocchi

{As per usual, an excuse for my absence. Work was a little really crazy this spring, but I think I've got a short lull, so here's hoping for a few posts. I'm off to Vancouver for a few days, so any recommendations are appreciated since I've never really been... I know! What!?}

Earlier in May I made a couple items that I considered of note. Firstly, "Oreos". With both of us on the brink of colds, Claire suggested we tackle the project. I had read about them on Smitten Kitchen some time ago, but passed since I don't really have a particular attachment to the cookie. At any rate, it was fun and they were delicious.

Next time I would lean toward a T.K.O. (Thomas Keller Oreo) with white chocolate ganache instead of icing, but none-the-less, the flavour of these was great, and I'm sure a little mint oil would add a new level.

And gnocchi. This one has been on my list for years. Years. I don't know why it took me so long, but it's incredibly simple. The only thing left to tackle is the perfect fork-tine-roll.

As an aside, I had the best burger I've ever eaten (...in Edmonton) at Sugarbowl earlier in the week. A perfectly cooked Four Whistle Farms beef, simply topped with pickles, mayo and lettuce. Delicious. Can't wait until that special roles around again...

The Martinez

I've been staring at the Martinez for awhile now, ever since Food 52 shared this recipe in January. After trekking around {a little} for a bottle of Luxardo Maraschino, I finally got to make one. While it still doesn't oust my favourite Negroni, this comes pretty close.

The vermouth provides a lovely sweet spiced note, whilst the gin takes things in the other direction with juniper and florals; The maraschino (with an almond like flavour) balances the two. Finally, some orange bitters and an orange twist for extra complexity.

This is certainly a fall/winter cocktail, with the sweetness and spiced notes of the vermouth and maraschino, but it coincided perfectly with our 'New York night' on Friday. We made kale crostini with harissa aioli, meatballs (and spaghetti) and caesar salad, all inspired by Frankies Spuntino in NY... And ate and chatted with two friends in our very tiny apartment.

A martinez recipe is below, and you can find a recipe for Frankies' Meatballs here.

Martinez

Adapted from Food 52

2 oz gin (I used Victoria)

1 oz sweet vermouth (VYA)

1/2 oz maraschino (Luxardo)

2-3 dashes orange bitters (Victoria)

Garnish - Orange peel

Fill a mixing glass about half way with ice, add everything but the garnish and stir. Strain into your glass of choice and garnish with an orange peel.

Old Fashioned for the North

This drink is actually named the Toronto, but given the outstanding rye produced just south of us, I feel like it's okay to appropriate it. I also didn't want to call this post 'The Toronto', because I've got nothing to report on Rob Ford, and have driven through TO once on the way to the airport.

I wish I would have gotten it together to share during the -20 weather - The Fernet-Branca lends extra warmth to the whisky, making it the perfect cozy-up-indoors beverage. But I'll likely still enjoy one or two whilst watching the snow head out. Summer is coming fast, people!

Toronto for Edmonton

Adapted from 'Bitters' by Brad Thomas Parsons

2oz Alberta Springs Dark Horse Whisky

1/4oz Fernet Branca

1/4 simple syrup

2 dashes aromatic bitters (I've been using Scrappy's)

Orange or lemon garnish

Fill a mixing glass half way with ice and add everything but the garnish. Mix and enjoy in whatever glass you would like (I have accumulated a giant ice cube tray, and really wanted to use an ice cube...).

An almost Manhattan

{Are you a food or drink blogger in Edmonton? Come to The Common on March 4th and meet up with fellow food bloggers from our fair city! Details here.}

Just before Christmas, I wandered over to Plum and found a whole bunch of preserves from Mojo Jojo Preserves. Although I was tempted to walk away with everything, I limited it to a jar of Drunken (Brandied) Cherries. Eventually I plan to make the black forest cupcakes in the Mast Brothers book and use them as toppers, but for now, they are very pleasant in a Manhattan.

I should mention that I have yet to invest in a bottle of rye or bourbon (for shame), so out came my bottle of whiskey from Breuckelen Distilling, which seemed to work well enough. And although a classic Manhattan contains only Angostura bitters, I like a recipe from Bitters that suggests using half Angostura/aromatic and half orange bitters - A perfect mix of bitter and sweet.

A Manhattan made with whiskey from Brooklyn and cherries from Edmonton

Adapted from Bitters by Brad Thomas Parsons

2oz Whiskey (really though, it should be rye or bourbon)

1oz Sweet vermouth (again that Vya one)

1 dash aromatic or Angostura bitters

1 dash orange bitters

Garnish - Drunken Cherry (or amarena cherry or lemon twist)

Fill a mixing glass about half way with ice and add everything but the garnish. Stir thoroughly until chilled then strain into a coupe or other glass. Garnish with a cherry or lemon twist.

Oaken Gin Negroni

{Are you a food or drink blogger in Edmonton? Come to The Common on March 4th and meet up with fellow food bloggers from our fair city! Details here.}

A few years ago I picked up bottle of Oaken Gin made by Victoria Spirits. I already loved their gin - Complex with juniper and delicate spicing. Aged in oak barrels giving it a rich caramel like layer as well? I'm there.

Then it sat on my shelf for awhile. I tried it straight a few times (sometimes a girl just needs her gin), and then put it back on the shelf, all the while still drinking my favourite Negroni. Finally I swapped out the called for gin for the oaken gin. Success. It lends a more interesting sweetness, and slight smokiness, to the bitter-sweet-spice combo that makes this cocktail so well loved. This recipe also reminds me - just a bit - of the barrel aged version of the drink I enjoyed at Clyde Common back in 2011. I've noted my preferred recipe below.

Oaken Gin Negroni

Adapted from Michael Rhulman

1 1/2 oz Victoria Oaken Gin (I don't like ice here, so the extra gin seems to make all the difference)

1 oz Campari

1 oz sweet vermouth (I like this Vya version)

Orange peel for garnish

Place some ice in a measuring glass of your choice. Combine the gin, Campari and vermouth. Stir for about 90 seconds and strain into a chilled glass. Garnish with the orange peel.

Happy Valentine's Day! We'll be drinking these rosy red things and watching House of Cards.

Coconut Toast

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Last year, about this time, I made Coconut Bread (from Smitten Kitchen... via The Wednesday Chef via the NY Times via Bills breakfast menu) and basically said nothing about it. Except that I made it. It deserves more than that, especially since you can make it into coconut toast with maple syrup a la Lavish Habit in Balham, London.

Lavish Habit is small-ish, rustic cafe with lovely cakes set casually on the counter, Monmouth Coffee, and a vintage store in the basement. Very fun and super cozy. When I was in London a couple summers ago, I made sure to stop at the cafe whenever I could, since it was on the way to my closest underground stop.

So, they have coconut toast. A lightly sweetened loaf that is thickly sliced, toasted, dusted with a little powdered sugar (which I decided against below), then served with a dish of salted butter and, this is key, a small jug of maple syrup. I'm not sure I've ever had coconut and maple so beautifully paired together.

The recipe calls for sweetened shredded coconut, but I only had unsweetened, toasted coconut ribbon on hand. The sweetness was perfect here (because you'll want to put that maple syrup on there...), however, the texture of the loaf would certainly benefit from the more delicate shredded coconut. I also upped the cinnamon to 1.5 tsp... 'Cause it's cold out there.

As per my baking mo, this loaf comes together fast (and even in one bowl if you skip the browned butter part and aren't super particular about the wet-dry ingredient thing). It's in the oven for an hour or so, and will make your apartment/house smell amazing. And every time you make a slice of 'toast', it'll impart that nutty-cinnamony aroma all over again.

Corpse Reviver

{Are you a food or drink blogger in Edmonton? Come to The Common on March 4th and meet up with fellow food bloggers from our fair city! Details here.}

I picked up 'An Illustrated Guide to Cocktails' at the library last week and have been trying my best to make some cocktails I wouldn't ordinarily pull together at home (I continue to default to the bitter-sweet-spice and ease of the Negroni). First up, the Corpse Reviver, and my first opportunity to use a little bottle of absinthe I acquired over the holidays.

This one is easy enough to bring together, with non-neon-green absinthe the only sometimes hard to find item (I've seen plenty of these little St. George Spirit's bottles around town though). Place the ingredients, along with ice, into a shaker (or in my case, an old thermos, because I'm classy like that) and shake. Then strain into a coupe or whatever glass you want to use.

The 'guide' notes that this drink was created as a hangover cure... Yeah, this is a potent punch. Delicious, although I would dial back the lemon to just a 1/2 oz in the future, especially with this particular (heavily spiced) absinthe.

As for the book in general, I can't recommend it enough. It has fun illustrations all the way through (who doesn't love a book with many, many pictures!?), and tall tales about the beginnings of classic cocktails. Plus, it's available at the library.

Easter Breakfast.

Hopefully everyone enjoyed the easter weekend. We ate a lot of eggs; both the chicken and chocolate varieties. There was also a satisfactory amount of ham and bacon.

We rounded things off with breakfast yesterday morning at our place. Claire came to join us, armed with juice. I made these beet pickled deviled eggs from Not Without Salt, and Bill Granger's Coconut Bread that was recently posted on Smitten Kitchen. Charles cooked some bacon and I cut up some grapefruit to lighten things up... just a little.

I neglected to pick up the camera, but Claire took a photo of the situation:

This type of breakfast is our favourite. There's a good variety, and it's easy to prepare, since nearly everything is served at room temperature. More breakfast dates like this are definitely in order.

Some cookies. And a little ice cream.

Right after my January/February cake phase, I quickly moved on to cookies - Our little oven needed to be tested. First up were the Quinoa Cloud Cookies from 101 Cookbooks... Sadly they didn't turn out, though with nearly a kilo of quinoa flour left over, I'll be trying them again to fix whatever mistake I made (I suspect it was measurement of the flour; I should always use a scale is the weight measurements are there).

Moving on, I picked up a copy of Pure Dessert by Alice Medrich early in March. With easy access to great ingredients (I settled into a lovely "off-festival-season" gig at Provisions by Duchess), the desserts in this book, featuring the flavours of a great chocolate, fresh cream or fruit, nuts and grains, are exactly what I want to make when I step into the kitchen.

I started with her recipe for Whole Wheat Sables, though I swapped out the whole wheat flour for spelt, as suggested, since that's what we had on hand. The dough comes together easily, with just a few ingredients, and is then shaped into a log before being refrigerated over night. I found I needed to cook them about four minutes longer than the suggested 12-14 minutes to get that perfect sandy texture, and to bring out the nutty flavour of the spelt flour (again, our oven...). I made Tartine's Lemon Cream to serve atop the cookies after a lamb dinner made my Rachel.

Next up were Nibby Buckwheat Cookies - Definitely the best of all the cookies I've baked this month. If I can get buckwheat flour into something, I will (these scones, for instance), and I was happy to see it featured prominently in this book. The pairing of buckwheat with cocoa nibs is genius. The flour has a wine like flavour, and cocoa nibs, depending on the brand and origin, often have a fruity flavour that compliments the flour well. She also notes that the buckwheat flour acts like cornstarch - but with better flavour - to give the cookies a fine, sandy texture. Alice Medrich knows her stuff. You can find the recipe here.

Now that things seem to be on the up weather wise, we've found a permanent spot in the freezer for the ice cream bowl. At Cally's Teas the other day, I found dried Lemon Verbena, and picked up a little to make a mint and lemon verbena ice cream also found in the book. This was my first attempt at "Philadelphia" style ice cream, without an egg based custard. The base is made with a fifty-fifty cream-milk mixture, along with a little sugar, and then your flavourings of choice.

I took my pint of ice cream into work on Monday, and I think everyone enjoyed its freshness, particularly since it happened to be the first real warm day since last week's storm.

Cookies and ice cream. Clearly the next step is ice cream sandwiches.

Lately.

Oh how this space was neglected in 2012. Just 28 posts. 28. Here's hoping for a more solid number in 2013.

We had one of the strangest fall and Christmas seasons ever. I started my 'winter job' at the end of September; always a bit of an adjustment. Then, in November, a friend and long time staff member at Folk Fest passed away after a lengthy battle with cancer; needless to say this was and is a difficult hit. Finally, about a week into December, our landlords let us know that they wanted to put the Oliver unit we moved into last year, up for sale. Instead of waiting until February, we found something (unfortunately not in Oliver, but, fortunately, downtown), and three weeks later, we moved. We did have a great view of the New Year's Eve fireworks:

We have still been eating... a lot.

A few weeks ago we stopped in at Canteen (10522 124 Street) for dinner after hearing rave reviews from coworkers who had attended the soft opening the night before ('That was probably the best lamb I've ever eaten.'). Opening night kinks aside, the food was wonderful. I had a salad with fried chicken livers, arugula, spiced yogurt and an anchovy vinaigrette followed by the Moroccan lamb chops (how could I order anything but?), which were, indeed, lovely. Charles chose the citrus cured salmon with potato followed by the most tender, rich, comforting dish of beef short ribs. I received a gift certificate for Canteen for Christmas, giving us an excuse to head back soon (brunch sounds particularly lovely).

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Earlier in the week, we stopped by Sloppy Hogs Roed Hus (10406 118 Ave.) with a couple friends; it was a visit that had been in reschedule mode for the past two months. Although my initial intent was to go with a sandwich, the server suggested we order the Game Day Platter ($75) for the table, which would allow us to try each of the four meats they offer (ribs, chicken, brisket and pulled pork), each type of BBQ sauce (there was a classic, berry and mustard) and the sides (coleslaw, baked beans, fries and cornbread).

The giant platter

The BBQ itself was great, with the spicy ribs taking centre stage for most of us. The sides were less impressive, particularly the coleslaw, which was lacking in flavour. Although the sauces were all good, we were surprised at the tiny portions that arrived at the table - just a couple tablespoons of each between the four of us; with the meat on the dry side, a little more definitely would have been nice. We also agreed that next time, we could leave the fries in favour of more cornbread, with its sweetness balancing the meat well.
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I also haven't mentioned any of our stopovers at Underground Tap and Grill (10004 Jasper Ave.). We ventured over during their 'soft opening' in October with high expectations. They were definitely still working out the kinks with both food and beer - their final food menu was still in the works and many of the beers listed simply weren't available yet. In November, we tried again. With their full menu in swing, Charles went with a bowl of curry chicken, while I chose the classic burger. Charles found his curry okay, but commented on under seasoning, in terms of both salt and spices. I found my burger a little dry and overcooked, and the crumbly bacon served atop the patty didn't help much.

While we haven't returned for food, we've been back a few times since for beer and are happy to see things have solidly improved on that front. Awhile ago they dedicated 12 more tap lines to the rotational section, bringing the total to 24; there was a definite change in the selection between our last two stops. There are lots of beer tasting boards to choose from (in terms of numbers and the types of beer included) and it's nice to see more events coming down the line - their first cask night with Alley Kat, featuring the newest of the Dragon series - Plaid Dragon - will be taking place on Tuesday, January 29th at 6pm.

I'm not sure we will ever find the atmosphere at Underground as cozy as Sugarbowl or Next Act, but with the most interesting beer selection in town (of both local and imported brews), we will continue to head over.

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Beyond that we've been enjoying a very slow couple weeks. Unpacking, coffee dates, trips to the antique mall, multiple batches of these brownies. Last night I broke out the Dutch oven (because it always starts with that) and made these stout braised short ribs with a bottle of Rogue's Shakespeare Oatmeal Stout.

My mum has been wanting to check out Under the High Wheel for awhile, so earlier in the week we went over for lunch. I ordered the portobello burger while my mum went for the vegetable panini. As before, the portions are generous and their salad served alongside was excellent.

We hope the first couple weeks of 2013 are treating you well too!

Naughty {Buckwheat} Rhubarb Scones

That's right, Naughty Rhubarb Scones. Why? Apparently the 2/3 - 3/4 cups of cream that help make up twelve of these creamy, palm sized scones originally posted on Food 52.

And the buckwheat part? A few people noted in the comments that they successfully swapped up to half the AP flour with whole wheat. But with all the cream in these scones, I could tell this recipe was calling for a little buckwheat flour (not only that, but buckwheat is in the rhubarb family, so this recipe was meant to be). The first time round I used one cup of buckwheat flour and 1 + 1/2 cups AP, and I've been doing the same since (I'm now on batch three).

One of my favourite things about this recipe is the ease with which it comes together. There's no rolling required, and while they suggest using the food processor to blend everything, I did it by hand in no time at all.

The buckwheat flour gives these scones a beautiful colour, and its fruity, wine like flavour compliments the rhubarb well. I took the first two batches to work and they disappeared instantly. The second time around we munched on them with some of this nectarine jam one of our volunteers gave me.

If you've got some rhubarb hanging around (and really, who doesn't in Edmonton?), I'd definitely suggest saving a few stalks for these scones.

The recipe is posted here on Food 52, however, I did change a few things. I didn't have vanilla sugar, so I added some vanilla bean paste to the rhubarb-sugar mixture. About a tablespoon of Kirsch went in with the rhubarb as well. As mentioned above, I swapped one cup of the AP flour with buckwheat. I added three stalks of rhubarb to my first batch of scones as directed by the recipe, and I didn't think it was enough. So this last time I doubled the amount of rhubarb and liked the extra tart punch that came with each bite (the stalks I used were on the smaller side though).

I ended up using more than the 2/3 cup of cream because it's quite dry here, but the amount varied between the two different times I made the recipe. Both times, I had more than enough cream left to brush the tops of the scones before they went into the oven (the recipe doesn't call for this). Enjoy!

Olive Oil Cake

I mentioned in my last post that I was devoting that bottle of blood orange infused olive oil picked up at Evoolution to this olive oil cake, and that's exactly what happened a couple weeks ago.

The timing turned out to be perfect; we had a few straight days of heavy, cool rain, and the citrusy cake was a lovely warm contrast. While the cup of olive oil keeps the cake moist, it still has a mealy crumb which makes it perfect alongside a cup of tea.

The kick of citrus is nice in this cake - and I think pretty classic for an olive oil cake - but as the recipe indicates it would be lovely with a nice fruity or peppery olive oil. I added Valrhona's Manjari 64% to compliment the citrus flavour of the oil, but any dark chocolate would do. And while I didn't put nearly as much rosemary as the recipe suggests in this version, I'm certainly upping it next time.

Graham Crackers

I still have a copy of Good to the Grain in my possession and I'm still loving many of Kim Boyce's recipes. A little while ago I picked up Teff and Graham flour, and finally, on Thursday evening, I set aside some time to make Grahams.

After trekking through the snow storm for a half hour to grab milk I was happy to stay inside with all the warm ingredients that make up these crackers - allspice, cinnamon, cloves, butter and milk, honey and molasses, plus the hearty, nutty graham and teff flours. The dough came together quickly and easily, with just a little mixing involved before the discs went into the fridge for an hour or so.

Once the dough chilled, I rolled out one of the discs to the specified 1/8" thickness, before cutting out rectangles and dotting the tops with a fork. Finally, they got a dusting of cinnamon-sugar before heading into the oven for 12 minutes or so.

The result was an incredible midnight snack. Crisp edges and pillowy tops made us swoon, not to mention the aroma the warm crackers lent our apartment. Along with a glass of milk, we gobbled up half a dozen of the slightly sweet treats in no time at all.

*You can find the recipe here.

More eggs, please.

I have been eating a lot of eggs. And I mean a lot. Serben Free Range has a great deal on eggs each week at the City Market - two dozen for $8 - that I've been taking advantage of. Combined with a little spinach, and usually a piece of toast, I'm perfectly happy with poached, fried or scrambled eggs at either breakfast or dinner. For lunch, hard boiled eggs have become a quick standby.

By far the best egg-involved recipe I've come across is on the cover of Nancy Silverton's "A Twist of the Wrist" - Pappardelle with bagna cauda, wilted radicchio and a fried egg.

At first I was a little confused by this book. Really, most of Silverton's shortcuts are things I already do everyday; the majority of our pasta comes from a bag or box, our mayo from a jar and our tomatoes from cans. But what I think she's asking people to do is meet her halfway. To pick up a great can of tomatoes, or a really great pasta, and go from there, instead of heading toward frozen entrees or take out. Her combinations are quick and easy, and most importantly, tasty. Plus, they're introducing tinned/jarred items that I wouldn't normally keep stocked at home, like anchovies.

I've tried to make bagna cauda - a combo of butter, olive oil, anchovies, garlic, lemon and parsley - in the past and it didn't go well. The oil must have been too hot and the anchovies too cold, because they spattered everywhere and were burnt far before melting into the olive oil like they were supposed to. So this time I turned down the heat and pulled the anchovies out of the fridge and tin about an hour before I needed them, and everything went beautifully. In just five minutes the sauce was done. No jarred bagna cauda required.

Instead of pappardelle I used some tagliatelle we had in the pantry, and instead of radicchio, I braised some kale the night before and warmed it in the sauce before adding the pasta, pasta water and parmesan and topping everything off with the fried egg.

For such a quick meal this one is beautifully rounded. Salty and savoury from the sauce, silky smooth thanks to the egg and pasta. The kale cut through the richness well, as I imagine the radicchio would too. What I love most about this recipe is that it can be scaled up or down quite easily. I quartered it and had enough for yesterday's dinner with a little leftover for today's lunch. If you need something a little more hardy, it's easy enough to add that extra egg.

More from the kitchen

We haven't been eating out much lately, save a trip to Bua Thai earlier in the month and a late night post chocolate and coffee tasting falafel from La Shish this past weekend. I've got a post on the former soon, but I gobbled up that falafel so quickly that picture taking didn't stand a chance.

But back to the kitchen... I made three recipes recently that I thought were worth mentioning. Slow Cooked Carne Adovada from David Tanis' Heart of the Artichoke, Breton Buckwheat cake with Fleur de Sel from David Lebovitz's Sweet Life in Paris, and Buttermilk Roast Chicken from Smitten Kitchen.

Carne Adovada

The David Tanis recipe certainly needs some work, mostly due to his suggested cooking time and temperature - 350 degrees for 1.5 hours. I'm hoping a lower, slower cooking time will benefit the final tenderness of the pork shoulder. The chile paste/sauce, however, is perfect.

The pork shoulder. On sale earlier in the month from Serben.

We couldn't find the dried New Mexican red chiles at Paraiso Tropical, so we substituted Ancho chiles, as per Chowhound's suggestion. Removing the seeds from 6oz. of dried chiles is a tedious job (and we were finding seeds everywhere afterward), but it was worth it. The resulting sauce was smoky and slightly spicy, and worked beautifully in a taco and in a roll for lunch the next day.

Breton Buckwheat Cake

This past week my mum and Nanny hosted a mid-week lunch, and the Breton Buckwheat Cake was Rachel's answer to my dessert dilemma. Our main ended up being the kale and bean stew from Smitten Kitchen, which worked well for my vegetarian/Coeliac cousin, along with bannock made by my aunt. The super buttery, nutty buckwheat cake turned out to be a lovely finish to the hearty meal (and just in case you're wondering about the above mentioned Coeliac cousin, I brought her a couple peanut butter cups from the shop in lieu).

The final piece.

Buttermilk Roast Chicken

And finally, the buttermilk roast chicken. This recipe comes together in no time, with the chicken simply hanging out in the fridge for 24-48 hours. We ended up brining the chicken for just 24 hours, and the flavour was incredible. We enjoyed our chicken with some rice, spinach and a bottle of Brüton's sparkly Lilith for a quick mid-week meal. At the end of the night, even if you don't choose to use the tin foil to line the baking dish, clean up is easy.

We're still looking forward to checking out some new-to-us restaurants in Oliver, particularly Cibo, Bistro India, the newly located CoCoDi and Café Beirut. Until that happens, I'm happily making my way through some of EPL's cookbook collection and online recipes bookmarked long ago.

Kale

Just like "whole grains", kale didn't make an appearance in our kitchen until earlier this month. When I was growing up, it was all peas and carrots on that classic dinner plate divided into protein, carb, veg. And I'm sure I've mentioned this before, but Charles is not a cooked vegetable kind of guy. Raw beans or root vegetables, sure, but cook them and it's generally game over.

A few weeks ago, I brought home a bunch of curly leaf kale. Unsure what to do, I made kale chips. The nooks and crannies that make up the leaves' tips make for an excellent crunch, but I think the smooth, sweet Black Kale is better suited to this treatment. The next bunch went into this stew, and I was hooked (happily, so was Charles). Two batches later, with a bunch of Black Kale now in the fridge, it was time for a new recipe. Not surprisingly, I found a suitable treatment on 101 Cookbooks - Winter Pasta. Best of all, we had everything on hand, which meant I didn't have to brave Wednesday's cold... Until we decided to walk over the High Level Bridge to Sugarbowl later that evening. Yeah, I know.

The shallot, garlic and kale go into boiling water for a bit, then everything goes in the food processor, meaning this sauce comes together quickly, with just a few dishes to wash up afterward. Instead of chèvre, I used up some ricotta, and I also broke out the meyer lemon olive oil we brought back from Portland's PSU Market this past fall. That combined with the bright green colour made for a very 'spring' looking dish, which clearly fooled us enough to head out that evening.

I did end up adding some pasta water and parmesan while tossing with the pasta, and as you can see, we switched up the penne for some linguine. Finally, some pine nuts added a contrasting crunch.

More kale currently resides in our fridge, so if you have some good tips or recipe ideas, they would be much appreciated.

PS. Here's what our balcony window looked like this week...