Lex Culinaria

Cannellini bean & garlic sausage cassouolet

What could be a more perfect hunker-down-dish than a deep-brown, saucy and aromatic cassoulet? How about one that involves so little effort it's shameful? I made one in the slow cooker yesterday that was, as my favourite taste-tester (and husband) proclaimed, 100% rustic French farmhouse (even if id did come from a slow cooker). 

The culinary romantic part of me longs for a Le Creuset baker - the perfect vessel for a slow cooked, saucy, bubbling and brown-topped cassoulet. The stingy side of me keeps balking at the price. I have been doing this dance of alternating lust and restraint over the Le Creuset baker for the better part of 10 years now. I see no need to stop.

That is why, instead of a misty-lensed picturesque afternoon punctuated by peeks into the softly glowing oven to check the progress of my mythical casserole, I made mine in the extremely well-loved slow-cooker that I bought at Home Depot in 2004 for the ridiculously low price of $35.99. Not exactly the charming genesis I had envisioned for this dish, but hey, it was still darn tasty.

This dish is best served with a big loaf of warm crusty bread and fresh butter or, if you're going for the authentic farmhouse feel, topped with a generous helping of breadcrumbs fried in seasoned butter. or possibly both.

It's important to get the right kind of sausage for this as it will be simmered for a great deal of time, and coarser sausages tend to fall apart with such treatment. The kind I use is fine ground and can stand up to hours of simmering  - sometimes it's referred to as "boiling sausage". I buy it mine at the K&K Foodliner on Whyte Avenue where they sell it in ham, beef, turkey & bison varieties and it's all made right on premises.

Serves 6

• 1.5 cups dried cannellini beans
• 350 - 400 grams good country garlic sausage, sliced into rounds about 1/4 inch thich
• 2 cups beef stock
• 1 large yellow onion, sliced
• 5 cloves garlic, minced
• 2 small carrots, peeled and sliced into coins
• 1 large (896 ml) tin chopped tomatoes in juice
• 1 teaspoon dried thyme
• 2 bay leaves
• 1 teaspoon herbes de Provence
• 1/2 cup fresh parsley

Soak beans overnight or at least 4 hours in warm water, drain, rinse and add to a 4.5 litre (or larger) slow cooker.

In a large frying pan, lightly sprayed with oil, quickly fry the sausage rounds at medium high heat for 6 to 7 minutes until sausage begins to brown, add onion and continue to cook and stir for 3-4 minutes more until onion begins to soften.

Transfer contents of pan into the slow cooker and use the beef stock to deglaze the pan. Add all remaining ingredients to the slow cooker, except the parsley. Cook on the high setting for 3 to 4 hours. Remove from heat and stir through the parsley. Have a taste before you add any salt or pepper as, depending on the sausage and stock used, there may be no need for salt.

Serve in chunky earthenware bowls topped with buttered fried breadcrumbs or with fresh French bread. This is even better the second day!

Missing Melbourne

When we left Melbourne at the end of October things were just beginning to heat up over there and cool down over here. Sadly, springtime in Melbourne is a distant memory now. It doesn't help that winter descended on Edmonton overnight with a great big whumpf of snow and a 17 degree drop in temperature. Right now in Melbourne it's a mere 13c. Mind you, it's early morning there. Sigh.

Aside from the weather, there's always something for me to miss about Melbourne. More often than not, it's food-related. Good coffee. A favourite restaurant (or two).

Mainly what I miss is really, really good food just about anywhere you go. Sadly, in Edmonton mediocrity is all the rage and truly good meals are few and far between.  I think I'd kind of forgotten that after 2 years away from Melbourne.

For a meal to be truly great, it doesn't have to be avant garde science geek food "inspired" by El Bulli or the French Laundry (which is now so ubiquitous as to be boring - if I never hear another person bill their food as "Inspired" by something it will be too soon!).

Really good food does have to fulfil its potential. If it's a scone, it must be a great scone. A scone that makes me go "wow!".

And honestly most restaurants in Edmonton aren't even half way there. Some are good. Most are mediocre. A few are downright shocking. People here seem to rave about restaurants that hover somewhere around good to mediocre. A sad testament to what is available on tables across the city.

For me, the perfect illustration of the disparity that exists between Melbourne and Edmonton is summed up in one word: Risotto. I have never had a good risotto in Edmonton. Even in a pricey restaurant. Most risottos here are mushy or soupy. And flavourless and uninteresting. I ate several amazing risottos in Melbourne. Not in fancy places for outrageous prices, but in run of the mill local pubs for around $14. My love for good risotto re-ignited, I couldn't wait to try to reproduce my favourite as soon as we got back.

I know risottos are very "Naked Chef", but there's something so cozy yet elegant about them that I can't help but still love them even if they are about 5 years out of style. Besides, there must be a skill to them. Seems a lot of chefs out here have trouble with them.

I promise this one won't disappoint. I had something similar at the Fringe cafe at the Acland Street Junction in St. Kilda.

Pumpkin, Spinach & Goat Cheese Risotto

Serves 6

• 1 medium acorn squash or small, sweet pumpkin (plus olive oil to coat)
• 2 chopped medium onions
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 Tablespoon olive oil
• 1.5 litres chicken stock
• 2 cups arborio or carnaroli rice
• ½ cup dry white wine
• butter
• ¼ cup grated Parmesan
• 4 cups fresh spinach leaves
• 300 grams goats cheese
• Sea salt
• Fresh pepper

Cut the squash in half, scoop out the seeds, peel and cut into 2cm cubes. Toss cubes in olive oil and roast on a baking tray at 350F for 35 minutes.

10 minutes before the squash is finished baking, sauté the onion & garlic in a large saucepan over medium heat for a 3-4 minutes until they begin softening. Add the rice and cook, stirring for several minutes until the rice is glossy and absorbs the oil.

Stir through the wine until it is all absorbed into the rice and the alcohol has cooked off.
After the wine is absorbed, start adding the stock a cupful at a time, stirring constantly until the rice has absorbed each cupful before adding the next.

This whole process should take between 15 to 30 minutes to absorb all the stock. Keep tasting the rice to make sure it is cooked and soft but with a bit of bite.

With the last cupful of stock add the pumpkin cubes, spinach, butter and Parmesan.
season with salt and pepper. Stir gently to allow the remaining stock to be absorbed and to break up the pumpkin a little bit.

When the risotto is done, it should be slightly saucy, but should still mound nicely, not run.

Ladle piles of the risotto into bowls and top with crumbled goats cheese.

A dirty little secret

I'm sure even the most seasoned gourmet has a dirty little secret like mine. That one comfort food that's too embarrassing to admit to. You make it in secret and wash up quickly in case someone pops by unexpectedly.

It took me almost six months of dating Cakes before I would admit to mine, afraid he'd be repulsed (he was), and afraid I'd sound weak trying to justify why I'd eat such a thing (I did). I am positive I prefaced the announcement by saying, "okay, this is going to sound gross, but trust me it's really not." Well, it's been almost 4 years since that revelation, and in the meantime Cakes married me, so it can't be too bad.

What's my dirty little secret? Cuisine Chinois. And believe me, despite the name, there's nothing even remotely "Cuisine" or "Chinois" about it really. It's a peculiarity of the Saguenay region of Quebec, which is Quebec's redneck armpit. It's thanks to my living in Saguenay in the summer of 1990 that what little French I have left can most properly be described as "farmer French". I still say "whaaayyy" instead of "oui".

But I digress.

Despite some very fine cheese that is produced in Saguenay (as well as some disgusting pickled eggs), Saguenay is (shockingly) not overly impressive culinarily-speaking. As a contributing member of the student newspaper at Universite du Quebec a Chicoutimi (affectionately called UQAC -  go on, say it aloud) I had the opportunity to write a rivetting piece on the food served at the school cafeteria. In addition to my review of the Tarte de Quelquechose Avec les Petits Choses Vert (something-or-other pie with little green things) I wrote about Cuisine Chinois.

Cafeteria food is never good, so I guess it's not surprising that Cuisine Chinois would make an appearance. However, this miracle of Saguenay gastronomy was also served at at least one local restaurant and also at the home of the family I stayed with, and that of a friend. It is clearly a regional dish.

(You're probably wondering right about now why it is I have not yet told you what exactly is Cuisine Chinois. There's a good reason. Shame.)

I remember precious little else about what I ate that summer. Probably due to all the pichets of Black Cat beer that I drank. I have a vague memory of zucchini on pizza somewhere in Quebec City (it was good). I was first introduced to carrot juice there. Of course I can't forget the Tarte de Quelquechose.

Then there's the Cuisine Chinois. Here's the most shameful part. I still make it at least once every 3 or 4 months. It's my dirty little comfort food secret. It features the two mandatory comfort food ingredients - carbs and salt - in spades. It's dead easy to make too.

Okay.

I can't avoid it any longer.

Cuisine Chinois

• cooked macaroni
• canola oil
• frozen peas
• cut up weiners
• pepper
• soy sauce

Stir fry the cooked macaroni in oil so it gets partly brown and crunchy. Add the weiners and peas and cook it a bit more. Sprinkle on the pepper and douse with soy sauce. Continue cooking until the mixture is no longer drippy and the macaroni has absorbed the soy sauce.

If you need me, I'll be at my therapist's office.

Ginger and Lemon Scones

Cakes is addicted to Planet Organic's ginger scones. He mentioned his unnatural fondness for them for the third time this weekend as he made a quick detour to their bakery counter when all we'd gone in to get was some parsley, thyme and a few tomatoes.

In much the same way as a wife might find herself wondering about the state of her hair or perfume upon hearing her husband declare, for the third time, how much he admires the perfume or hair of another woman, I find myself wondering about the state of my scones. Are my scones not big enough? Soft enough? fragrant and sweet enough?

I will have to make sure he knows he'll never find scones any better than those that are waiting for him at home. And I think I've come up with just the recipe to do it. These scones give a nod in the direction of healthy with the half whole wheat flour and the organic ingredients. They are light and soft, and just barely sweet enough and have a lemony-gingery tang that makes them quite special. These are scones to eat all by themselves - no need for jam, cream or butter. Which is good, because they aren't exactly low fat. But they are pretty big, so if you are concerned about calories, just make a few more scones out of the one batch of dough. If you do make smaller scones, remember to reduce the baking time a bit.

Lex's Ginger and Lemon Scones

• 190 grams (1.5 cups) sifted white cake and pastry flour
• 120 grams (1 cup) sifted whole wheat flour
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 2 teaspoons cream of tartar
• 1/4 teaspoon sea salt
• 50 grams (1/4 cup) sugar
• 85 grams (1/2 cup) crystalized ginger, chopped quite small
• 1/2 teaspoon minced lemon rind
• 55 grams (1/4 cup) soft butter
• 180ml (3/4 cup) evaporated milk

Preheat the oven to 450F. Spray a cookie sheet lightly with oil.

sift together all the dry ingredients, including the rind and ginger. Cut in the butter using pastry cutters or your food processor or kitchenaid until the mixture makes relatively uniform and fine crumbs. Mix in the milk. Turn the dough out and knead it on a smooth surface briefly until it is smooth.

Roll the dough into a ball and roll the ball out into a circle slightly larger than a bread plate and about 2 to 2.5 cm thick.  Cut the dough into 6 or 8 wedges, depending on the size you want your scones to be. Transfer dough wedges to the greased cookie sheet and bake for 10 minutes (for 8 scones) or 12 minutes (for 6 scones).

Remove from the oven and try not the eat them all at one sitting.

Per scone (8 scones to recipe) - 257 cal, 8.1 grams fat, 6 WW points

Per scone (6 scones to recipe) - 343 cal, 10.8 grams fat, 8 WW points

Do the Mashed Potato

"What I say is that, if a fellow really likes potatoes, he must be a pretty decent sort of fellow." A. A. Milne (1882-1956)

Ask a roomful of cooks how to make perfect mashed potatoes and the answers are all over the map. It seems everyone’s got their favourite one or two methods for this ubiquitous side dish. Having grown up on the Canadian Prairies in a mixed German and Ukrainian household, I can’t honestly think of another side dish that has graced my table more frequently. I imagine a warm bowl of mash got plenty of our early settler forebears through a bitter Prairie winter in a drafty sod house.

To be fair to the humble mashed potato, its allure must be stronger than just a biological need for sustenance. Even though we now live in big glass towers and have more money than ever with which to house and feed ourselves, mash still appears everywhere. It’s tasty and hearty and pretty darn easy to whip up. It’s dead easy to tart up by adding a few exotic-sounding ingredients.

Scientifically speaking, (inasmuch as my lifelong study of mashed potatoes can really be said to be scientific) there are really only 4 variables in the mashed potato equation: Potato, Fixin's, Method and Equipment. And everybody’s got an opinion on their correct combination.

The Humble Potato
There are definitely varieties of potatoes that work better for mashing and those that work best for baking or boiling. The selection within the "good for mashing" group is pretty impressive: Yukon Gold, Blue, Russet, Bintje, Sebago, Idaho White, Kennebec, plus heaps more are claimed by all and sundry to be good mashers. My personal favourites are Yukon Gold and All Blues. More on that later.

Fixins
"Fixins" is the variable that probably bears the most responsibility for the evolution of mash over the years, from a simple farmhouse staple, to something just as at home in a fancy-pants restaurant, as say, crispy fried leek stacks. It's also the place to have the most fun! You can produce a classic and always tasty mash just using a little butter, milk and salt and pepper, or you can go a little farther out with buttermilk or sour cream and garlic, or parsley and cream cheese. Go wayyyyy out an add brie or fontina instead of cream and butter. Get low fat by using chicken broth in place of milk and butter. Go a little Mardi Gras by adding New Orleans Olive Salad! Some people add raw eggs or mustard. The sky really is the limit.

Method to the Madness?
Do you leave the skins on or do you peel your spuds? Do you microwave or boil or bake? All these are options. Personally, I’m a boiler but not a peeler, especially if the potatoes are new with lovely thin skins. If I’m in a hurry, I’ve even been know to use the microwave. But more likely, I’ll just cube the potatoes quite small so they boil faster.

I’ve heard tell of all sorts of mashed potato method madness out there. Some of the “secret to the best mashed potatoes” claims I’ve come across are:

• adding cold milk will “seize” your potaoes. For fluffier potatoes add warm milk;
• the secret to light and fluffy mashed potatoes is to let the steam escape for 15 minutes after the potatoes are cooked and before mashing them;
• whip Yukon Golds in a Kitchenaid with a whisk attachment and put it on 6-8 for 10-15 minutes.

Equipment
Some people swear by a ricer. My mother used to use electric beaters. I swear by my good old-fashioned coil masher – the $26 fancy-pants one with the little holes in an oval of stainless steel doesn’t work worth a crap. The key is, whatever the implement you use, mash swiftly and under no circumstances over-mash. A few too many passes with the masher and your beautiful potatoes will end up gluey and sticky and gross instead of fluffy. Very breifly, this is because potatoes are made up of little sacs of starch - if you break the little sacs then the starch leaks out and gets all sticky and sugary. That’s why I tend to eschew my mother’s electric beaters – too great a risk of over mashing, although she always seemed to get it right.

Potato cook off!

Most people I know have been to a wine tasting. I’ve known a few who have been to a cheese or chocolate tasting. Well, Cakes and I had our own little mashed potato tasting party this afternoon. I made several pots of mash using three varieties of potato and simply seasoning with a dab of butter, a bit of milk and some salt and pepper. This allowed us to properly compare the various kinds of potato without the complication of crazy and distracting “Fixins”.

The results?

Yukon Gold: This mash feels creamy and is very fine grained. It's got a delicate potato flavour with a hint of sweetness. I bet they'd make a great buttermilk or sour cream mash. Definitely the fluffiest and lightest of the three, both in terms of texture and taste. I think these would be best as a side for a great grilled steak - where the meat is so filling you're not looking for a solid mash, but more of a creamy and light accompaniement.

Banana (fingerling): Touted by the potato lady at Strathcona Farmers Market as a great masher. The texture was firmer and not as creamy as the Yukon Golds (althtough this could be remedied to a degree by adding a bit more milk than you would normally). Definitely a "meaty" taste and texture. Very solid and filling, but not gluey at all. The taste was not sweet like the Yukon Golds - more potatoey tasting. They'd make a better accompaniment to a lighter main - maybe roast chicken or grilled fish. Their meaty texture leads me to believe that they'd make stellar potato pancakes the next day!

All Blues: Almost as fluffy as the Yukon Golds, but not so sweet. Of the three, this one had the most pronounced earthy potato flavour, which was really nice. Light on texture, but more flavourful than the other two. A really great taste, but I'm sure some folks might be a bit ooked out by the colour. This mash would do well as an all around side for any dish, but I bet it'd be stellar with lamb. Its stronger potato flavour would do a better job of standing up to the strongly flavoured lamb.

The recipe test

I made several small batches of  different mashed potato recipes for the purposes of comparison.

Parmesan, Garlic and Green Onion: I added about 1/2 cup good grated reggiano, 1/4 cup sliced green onion and 2 clovesd mashed garlic to a 2 cups of mash - this worked really well with the Fingerlings. Was just the thing for settin' beside a grilled chicken breast.

Green Olive and Hot Pepper: I added a 1/2 cup finely chopped green olive and a tiny teaspoon of minced hot red (thai) pepper to 2 cups of mashed Yukon Golds (along wqith butter, salt, pepper and milk). It was amazing with some rich smoked turkey breast. Would be out of this world with a nice grilled rare steak.

Blue Cheese and Parsley: I added 1/4 cup crumbled bleu de bresse and 1/2 cup chopped Italian parsely to 2 cups mashed All Blues (along with butter, salt, pepper and sour cream)- amazing!

Wondering what to do with all that leftover mash? Click here to find out

Wondering who got the bright idea to eat that first potato? Click here to find out

You think that putting a raw egg in your mash is a bit crazy? Check out this weird potato lore:

• Laying a potato peel at the door of a girl on May Day showed her that you disliked her.
• If a woman is expecting a baby, she should not eat potatoes because the baby will be born with a big head.
• A potato in your pocket will cure rheumatism and eczema.
• If you have a wart, rub it with a cut potato, then bury the potato in the ground. As the potato rots in the ground, your wart will disappear.
• Treat facial blemishes by washing you face daily with cool potato juice.
• Treat frostbite or sunburn by applying raw grated potato or potato juice to the affected area.
• Help a toothache by carrying a potato in your pocket.
• Ease a sore throat by putting a slice of baked potato in a stocking and tying it around your throat.
• Ease aches and pains by rubbing the affected area with the water potatoes have been boiled in.

Herb and Garlic Roast Chicken

One recipe you can count on every Western food lover having in their repertoire is a great, standard roast chook recipe. Everyone's got a different twist:

• Do you stuff onoins or lemons or abnsolutely nothing up it's bottom?
• Do you baste or not?
• Do you slip some extras fat, butter or oil between the skin and the breast?
• What herbs and spices do you use, or are more of a good ole' salt an pepper cook?
• Do you cook long and low or hot and fast?

There are lots of different ways to make a great roast chook. Mess around and see what you like best. Maybe it's time for a change from the same old roast chook recipe you've been using since time immemorial.

I love a good roast chook. Especially an organic free-range happy chicken, like our friend Ron sells at the Strathcona Farmer's Market. I've had a few standard roast chook recipes that I've used through the years, and they're all great, but I'm feeling the need to shake things up a bit so I tried a new method this time around.

This one delivers a crispy skin and juicy interior without any basting at all, which, in my books already puts it ahead of the rest.

• 1 - 5.5 lb organic free range chicken
• 1/3 cup soft butter
• 5 garlic cloves, minced
• 1 tablespoon chopped fresh thyme
• 1 tablespoon chopped fresh rosemary
• 1 + 1/2 teaspoons salt
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon pepper
• 1 sprig rosemary
• 1 large sprig thyme
• 2 garlic cloves, bruised
• 1 jumbo shallot (or 6 regular shallots), peeled and quartered

Allow bird to come to room temperature by removing it from the refrigerator 2 hours before you intend to start cooking it.

Preheat oven to 450F.

Rinse the bird and pat dry inside and out with paper towels.

Use your hand to loosen skin from breast of chicken. Cream together softened butter, minced garlic, minced thyme and rosemary and 1 + 1/2 teaspoons salt. Use your hands to distribute the butter mixture evenly between the breast meat and the loosened skin.

Combine 1 teaspoon salt and 1 teaspoon pepper. Use your hands to apply it to the inside of the cavity. Stuff cavity loosely with thyme and rosemary sprigs, shallot and bruised garlic.

Truss the chicken.

Sprinkle an additional 1 teaspoon salt over chicken. Place in roasting pan, breast side up.

Roast chicken for 90 minutes.

Family Style Platter Meal (plus the best freaking roast potatoes on earth!)

I'm a big fan of sharing a good meal and a nice bottle of wine with friends on a Saturday or Sunday night. When I've had all day to futz around in the kitchen making good smells and filling the house with steam (and sometimes smoke!). When no one has to be at work the next day and you can sit around chatting into the night, bellies full.

For this reason I love fondues and tapas. This time, I decided to try a different kind of shared meal - the family platter. You just plonk down a huge platter on which is displayed the entire meal: meat and potatoes and vegetables. Everyone takes from the same platter in the middle of the table. In the way that everyone dips into the same fondue pot brimming with melted cheese. There's certainly something about sharing from a communal vessel that makes a dinner seem more friendly and intimate - the perfect way to share a meal with family or treasured friends.

This weekend's menu included:

• Apple and ginger ham
• Savoy cabbage and peas in a mustard cream sauce

AND....

The Best Freaking Roast Potatoes on Earth!  (serves 4)

• 6 large russet potatoes (I will take no blame whatsoever if you use a different kind of potato)
• 1/4 to 1/3 cup canola oil
• salt & pepper

Peel and cut the potatoes into largish chunks, roughly 3 pieces per potato. Boil the potatoes in salted water until they are cooked through and begin to get quite floury on the outside. I did mine in the microwave (in a plastic container with water to cover) and it took 12 minutes. Drain out the water and put the potatoes back into the container, drizzle with canola oil (use more oil rather than less, as the extra will melt off during cooking) and sprinkle liberally with salt and pepper. Use a slotted spoon (or your hands, if you've done the potatoes ahead of time and they are not too hot) to toss the potatoes around in the oil. The outsides of the potatoes should break up a fair bit - this is exactly what you want. The floury outside of the potatoes will combine with the seasoned oil to make a gorgeous coating that gets unbelievably crispy when baked! When they are adequately coated, transfer them to a foil-lined baking sheet. Place them on the lowest oven rack in a 400F oven for 15 minutes, then transfer them to the top rack and broil them, turning with tongs where necessary, for a further 15 minutes, until their outsides are golden and crispy.

These potatoes are the perfect mix of crispy outside and soft, floury, creamy inside. Sigh.

If you've got leftovers, which you won't, you can re-crisp them with 15 minutes under the broiler.

Cakes Comfort Food

Anyone who says they don't have at least one cherished comfort food is lying. I am sure that it is human nature to have at least one food that warms you right down to the bottom of your feet on the coldest, saddest, dreariest day. It's the first food you crave after several days of lying in bed with the flu when food was the last thing on your mind. Rather trying not to throw violently up and the mere thought of food was more the prevailing paradigm. It might even be that one food that you instinctively want to hoe into when you're spending a Saturday with your head buried under the covers and nursing a broken heart that some thoughtless bloke has trod all bloody over and all your girlfriends are delivering the same time-honoured platitudes like "He was never good enough for you." and "He'll wake up one day and realize how good he had it." and "there are loads better guys out there just waiting..." Okay. Maybe the ice cream straight from the carton comes first in those circumstances. But the true comfort food comes in a close second there!

Comfort food is not something that needs to be all gussied up, or even benefits from it really. I mean, if you try to get too fancy and "nouveau food" with, for example, homemade macaroni & cheese (my personal weakness) it ends up not resembling the thing you loved to begin with...kind of like a spouse with a severe mid life crisis.  Better just to stick to the basics - white sauce, loads of cheese, perfectly done elbow macaroni and maybe, just maybe, a bit of breadcrumb and butter on the top to make a crunchy topping if you can stand the suspense long enough to bake it in the oven. Personally, I'd rather eat mine with an enormous soup spoon straight from the pot at the first available opportunity.

I know exactly what Cakes would choose as his comfort food without having ever discussed it. Hardly remarkable, I know, given that I'm married to him. But I have to take pride in whatever small accomplishments I can claim, as they as so few and far between.

Cakes would, undoubtedly, undeniably choose Apple Crumble. Complete with capital letters.

Cakes loves apple crumble so much that we have developed a system in our house for the quick and easy assembly of same whenever the mood strikes. We keep, in our cupboard, along with all the other cannisters of staple ingredients (flour, rice, sugar, tea...) a huge cannister of crumble topping made of a mixture of almond meal, sliced almonds, crushed walnuts, sunflower seeds, oats, oat flour, whole wheat flour, brown sugar and cinnamon. When the moods strikes, you simply melt a little butter (okay, a lot) and stir through some crumble topping mix until it's all quite buttery and clumpy ( I use about a half cup melted butter for 1.5 to 2 cups dry crumble mix- enough so that all the crumble topping is moist with butter). Slice a few apples into the bottom of a casserole pan, shake over some cinnammon, a tablespoon or two of flour, a bit of sugar and a few little cubes of butter. You top it with the topping and pop it in the 350F oven for 45 minutes. Voila - less than 5 minutes of prep time, and you've got yourself a kickass crumble.

The Famous Crumble Topping Jar!

I'm on to the comfort food and apple crumble thing today because Cakes is not feeling very well. He woke up with a horrible headache this morning (since been upgraded to a category 3 tummy ache). He was feeling a bit sorry for himself (that pesky Y-chromasome I'm sure), so, while he went back to sleep, I dashed together a crumble (pesky X-chromasone). Matty and Fitzy were clearly quite concerned about Cakes' wellbeing and accompanied me to the kitchen to prepare Cakes' crumble, where they were very helpful in the critical crumble-making tasks of:

Watching mum cut up apples

Crawling on the chopping board

Licking the butter to make sure it's still okay

Testing the crumble topping to make sure mum got it right

Sunday Soup: Celery Root & Yukon Gold

Since the weather's got cold, I've been making a lot of warm and nourishing soups. It seems like every Sunday our house is filled with a cloud of savoury steam. Condensation from whatever liquid comfort is bubbling away in the soup pot trickles down the kitchen window. Which is fine, because Fitzroy loves, among other strange things, to lick condensation off juice glasses, windows and ...well anything that attracts condensation. 

Soup's the perfect thing for a Sunday before the launch of another hectic work week, because it rarely involves the kind of intensive cooking and mess-making activity that happens in our house on Saturdays. It's much more serene. Perfect for that nesting instinct that creeps over me on Sunday afternoon - I can just leave it be on the stove, doing its thing, while I wind down and prepare for the coming onslaught at work.

This week the usual homey, Sunday afternoon craving for soup met its destiny in the form of a celery root scrounged up at the farmer's market. That, and some of this autumn's Yukon Gold potatoes.

Into the Sunday Soup pot, adapted from a recipe I found here, went:

• a lump of butter
• 1 yellow onion, sliced
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 4 or 5 medium Yukon Golds, diced and peeled
• 1 medium celery root (about the size of a large grapefruit, or approximately 450 grams), peeled and diced
• 4 ribs regular celery, diced
• 1000 ml. organic chicken stock
• sea salt
• 5 ml. teaspoon fresh thyme leaves (stripped from stems)
• lots of cracked black pepper
• 60 ml. grated Parmagiano Reggiano
• 100 ml. sour cream
• plus 15 ml. sour cream, thinned with a bit of water, for garnish

Fry the onion and garlic at the bottom of the soup pot until soft and starting to brown. toss everything else in, except the sour cream and Reggiano. Allow soup to bubbles away for about 40 minutes, or until celery root cubes are cooked through, adding more water or stock if necessary.

Remove from heat and stir through sour cream and Reggiano. Puree soup with a stick blender or in a regular blender (taking care not to explode the lid off it!). Try a spoonful, if there appears to be a lot of celery root fibres, you can strain them out by pouring the soup through a sieve. If you've cut the celery and celery root up finely enough, there oughtn't to be too many fibres. This makes quite a thick soup. If you like yours thinner just add a bit more stock or some water.

Serve in soup plates, with cracked pepper over the top and a swirl of thinned down sour cream, or regular pouring cream.

The flavour of this soup is really quite mild and slightly earthy-green due to the celery root. The texture is positively velvetty. If you like it a little thinner, just stir though a bit more stock. I reckon the delicate flavour and creamy texture would be a great match for a toasted crispy bacon and tomato sandwich!

How to make Christmas dinner special this year

I reckon everybody probably has a theme when it ccomes to their charitable giving...some folks, like my husband, might focus on environmentalist causes. Some, who belong to a particular religious group might have more interest in giving to a religous organisation. Some who've lost a loved one to a particualr ilness might focus on that.

It comes as no surprise to me (nor to the people who know me best) that the charitable causes I choose to donate my time and money to are mainly those that provide food and a home to those who are having difficulty providing it for themselves. I am such a sensualist,  a creature of comfort, that I can't imagine being without a place to call home and good food to share with my friends and family. To lose the ability to provide those things for myself would be the worst thing that could ever happen to me.

As it is, I live a privileged existence. I have a great network of family and friends, a great education, a well-paying job - all these things allow me to live a lifestyle that is better than average. I don't have to check the price on things at the grocery store to make sure I can afford what I'm buying. I don't have to make a choice between buying my kids new shoes and feeding my family nutritiously this week. I live in a cute little house with nice furniture and have a lavender-coloured KitchenAid. I have enough money to buy pretty much whatever I want, provided whatever I want doesn't include a new Hermes scarf and Louis Vuitton bag (which thankfully, I have no desire for).

I am also keenly aware that, there, but for the grace of god (and a bit of luck plus a great mum), go I.

I can't think of any other thing I could spend my money or time on that gives me more happiness than when I spend it on people who aren't as fortunate as I am.

That's why, this Christmas, Cakes and I are buying a Christmas hamper and toys for an Edmonton family. This hamper will go to a needy family, to provide them with a festive meal and presents for their kids on Christmas. Because, of all the days of the year, a family shouldn't have to worry about how they are going to feed their kids on Christmas. In this country, and especially in this wealthy Province, a Mum shouldn't have to explain to her child why Santa didn't bring any presents.

The program through which we are providing this hamper is run by the Edmonton Christmas Bureau. The ECB administers the hamper sponsorship program that we're participating in, as well as does fundraising to purchase further hampers and food certificates for families in need at the holidays. I really encourage all the Edmonton-based readers of this blog to do the same. You're probably reading my blog because you share my passion for food. If you can spare a few dollars, I invite you to share my passion for feeding some of our fellow Edmontonians this Christmas.

The ECB is also putting on their 24th annual fundraising breakfast at the Westin on 20 December. The firm I work for sponsors and helps to organise this event every year, and yours truly is pitching in on the organising committee, Tickets are $50 each or $500 (with a $400 tax receipt) for a table of ten. The meal for the breakfast is totally donated by the Westin and their food suppliers  - so virtually all the money raised goes to right to the people who need it. You can get tickets by phoning Laurie Balas at 423-7385 or by emailing me at lex_culinaria@yahoo.ca.