Phomidable Vegetarian Phở for Phour

Hogtown has no shortage of Vietnamese restaurants; when I lived in Riverside my favourite of which was the adorably decorated Hanoi 3 Seasons (named after the city that invented this delicious noodle-centric soup). Their Cha Ca– grouper prepared in a dill and shrimp paste–is absolutely fantastic. But, seeing as it’s winter and we’re all hibernating (read: lazy) I thought I might share my take on an easy phở recipe that takes about twenty minutes from peeling onions to degustation. And best of all: It’s pretty healthy too! (Despite the Hoisin sauce, which packs a mean 100 cal/2 tbs.)

Necessary Foodstuffs for the Main Event

•     3 cloves of garlic
•     2 small onions
•     1 tbs licorice root (this is just what I had, it can be substituted for star anise or regular anise or tarragon)
•     3 sticks of cinnamon
•     1 tsp of grated ginger
•     6 cups of veggie broth
•     1/2 block medium-firm tofu
•     1/2 pack of vermicelli noodles (I used the red package of Banh Pho noodles from Thailand)
•     A medley of veggies (a.k.a. cleaning out the back of the produce drawer): 1/2 green pepper diced, one medium carrot julienned, 6 mushrooms sliced, 1 broccoli head chopped into florets

Garnish

•     Beansprouts
•     Red chili peppers
•     Lime
•     Basil (preferably Thai)
•     Mint
•     Green onions

Lezz Git Cookin’

1. Dry fry the licorice root, cinnamon.
2. Add diced onions, crushed garlic and ginger. Sauté until silken.
3. Add veggie broth.
4. Bring to a boil.
5. Throw in ALL THE VEGETABLES! (And the tofu.)
6. Wait until the boil resumes.
7. Throw in the noodles.
8. Wait 6 minutes.
9. Dish ‘er up.
10. Serve with a plate of  garnishes and let everyone doctor up their dish.
11. Don’t forget the Hoisin and Sriracha (chili paste of the gods)!

    

    

    

    
    

    

    

    

    
    

A Daughter her father and the great corn shortage of 1990

A 30-Minute Home-Made Pizza that’ll Arrive Faster than Dominos and Taste Thrice as Delicious

Most Canadian pizza chains are the pits. Dominos went through this whole makeover in the US because their crust tasted like cardboard and their sauce was both too bland and too sickeningly sweet, but in Canada we’ve had no such luck. The pizza chain owned by the vehemently pro-life Tom Monaghan hasn’t changed a lick north of the border. (Although they do have a half-assed new app that makes ordering pizzas…fun?) I have the same criticisms for Pizza Pizza: awful crust, awful sauce, awful toppings. So, here at casa Marmaduke (what we’ve nicknamed our new digs) we’ve decided to boycott the big chains and make our own pizza. But seeing as we’re all busy people, we don’t always have time to make our own crust. (Although Yves does have a great recipe that substitutes beer for yeast, which I promise to share.)

What You’ll Need:

$2.00 pre-made dough from No Frills
1 onion (mere ¢ents!)
3 cloves of garlic ¢
1 handful of kalamata olives, half for the sauce and half to garnish the pizza
1 tbs of capers  ¢
1 can of crushed tomatoes ($1.00)
2 tbs oregano
1 tbs thyme
1 ball of mozzarella ($2.50)

What We Used to Garnish:

Eggplant, cut into slices, brushed with olive oil, salted and baked at 375· for 15 mins, flipping once ($1.00)
4 mushrooms ¢
1 banana pepper ($0.25)
1 tomato sliced ($0.35)

The Steps

1. In a deep pan sauté diced onions & crushed garlic until silken.
2. Throw in half of the olives, the capers, the crushed tomatoes, and 1 tbs of thyme, 1 tbs of oregano and let simmer for 15 minutes on low.
3. Decant sauce into a bowl, and with a hand blender, and blend away!
4. Oil your pizza tray (we used olive oil), then stretch out the dough, and sprinkle with 1 tbs of oregano.
5. Sauce up the pizza!
6. Grate the cheese and sprinkle!
7. Adorn with garnishes!
8. Baked our delicious disc of molten-cheesy goodness at 375· for 20 minutes, and then we broiled it for 5, but you should watch your pizza like a hawk while it broils.

Enjoy!

Lady Lazarus and Cooking with Wine

Happy New Year everyone!

Today’s recipes are a triple wine threat of deliciousness. We threw a New Year’s bash chez nous and found a number of half-full wine bottles in the morning. This is how we wasted not and wanted not. What we’ve got for you today: red wine-stewed apricots for a special punchy manhattan, mussels apocalypse with subtle anise undertones & we-cleaned-the-fridge risotto, to, of course, accompany the mussels.

Let’s start off the feast with a Mad-Men approved aperitif, inspired the lovely folks at The Ace on Roncesvalles.

• 1 Package of dried apricots $5.00
• 1 cup white sugar
• 4 cinnamon sticks
• 3 star anise stars

Enough red wine to drown your deliciousness.

1. Put everything listed above in a pot. Put ‘er on the stove and boil down.
2. Now that your apricots are plump with wine and spices, throw one in a lowball glass.
3. In a shaker make your typical manhattan (we do 2 shots of Bullet, 1/2 shot of red vermouth, 3 dashes of bitters, and a table spoon of that reduced wine mixture, shaken over ice).
4. Yum! And, if you’re feeling sassy, adorn with a cinnamon stick.

(Recipe thanks to our household mixologist, Darcy Streitenfeld.)

Mussels Apocalypse

• 2 lbs of fresh mussels at $2.50/lb
• 1 head of fennel at $1.50
• 2 onions at mere cents!
• 4 cloves of garlic, for price see above
• a half can of stewed tomatoes $1
• a fist of of curly parsley $1.50
• a half bottle of white zinfandel

1. Heat some olive oil in a tall broad frying pan (make sure you have a lid lying around somewhere), throw in the onions and garlic and saute until silken.
2. Cut Fennel tops off and reserve. Cut off the knotty bottom and toss. Cut width wise, and then lengthwise. Then cut into thin (0.5 cm) strips.
3. Throw fennel, tomatoes & wine in and let simmer, lid on to ensure minimal liquid loss.
4. After 25 minutes of simmering throw in the mussels, throw that lid back on and shake the pot while on the burner to ensure every last mussel gets a blast of heat and decides to yawn nice and wide for easy mange-ing later.
5. Try to time it all so that the mussels are the last dish you prepare, they get a little leathery if forced to sit out.

We-cleaned-the-fridge Risotto
(No prices included because this dish was the result of a fridge and pantry clean.)

• 2 onions
• 3 garlic cloves
• a half of a buttercup squash
• a half of a fennel bulb
• 2.5 cups of arborio rise
• 3 cups of veggie stalk
• 1 cup of white whine
• butter, olive oil (to coat pan)
• 1 tbs of sage
• 1 tsp of saffron

1. Onions, garlic butter, olive oil and action!
2. Add buttercup squash, peeled and diced.
3. Add diced fennel bulb. (And the spices.)
4. Saute for 10 mins.
5. Add arborio rice.
6. Add the wine and stir.
   
7. Once the wine has been absorbed start adding (one ladle at a time) the stalk, stirring until the liquid is absorbed and then adding more liquid. Keep the dish on a medium-low heat. After 20 minutes start tasting the risotto as you go; it’s done when the rice is soft and delish.

For platting:
In a broad bowl put down a bed of risotto, then a handful of mussels with some sauce and fennel. Finally, garnish with the fennel fronds & a sprinkle of parmesan & a crack of pepper.

We added shrimp because we had to stretch the dish to accomodate some unexpected dinner guests.