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 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!

7$ soup to feed 7: Peas Please

Peas are a great legume, but outside of England they seem to be a little neglected. This recipe actually combines two neglected delectables: peas and tarragon. The woody anise flavour of the tarragon is a nice accent to the naturally sweet peas.

This is a delicate, but filling soup, with a great colour.  It’s easy to make, but your guests’ll think you slaved away. It’s best with fresh English peas, but a bag of frozen peas will work just as well. Feel like experimenting? Try mint instead of tarragon, or blend the two.

What you’ll need…

1 tbs butter

1 medium white onion (0.50)

1 bag of peas  750 g  (2.00)

¾ cup Sweet potatoes  (0.75)

5 cups vegetable or chicken stalk (1.50)

¼ cup heavy cream (1.00)

1 splash dry white wine (0.25?)

1 bunch tarragon (1.25)

Optional garnish: bacon or goat cheese

Preparation

• Peel and chop onion coarsely
• Peel and cube the sweet potatoes
• Wash the tarragon, strip leaves from steam and chop Reserve seven 4cm top tufts for garnish

Turn Up The Heat

1. In a large pot melt 1 tbs of butter, add onions and cook on medium until translucent.
2. Add sweet potatoes, peas, and stock. Let simmer for 25 minutes on medium low.
3. Test to ensure that potatoes are cooked through by piercing a larger potato morsel with a fork. The potato should give no resistance, for soup you don’t want to keep the potato’s integrity in tact. If the potato breaks apart, then you know you’re in business.
4. Remove soup from the burner and let cool down for five minutes.
5. Blend with a hand blender, adding cream, tarragon, and wine while blending.
6. Salt to taste. Taste before salting, store bought stock is pretty sodium rich.
7. Serve garnished with a sprig of tarragon, a crumble of goat cheese or a drizzle of cream, and if you’d like, a dusting of bacon bits.

Bon Appetite!

AvocaDo’s and Don’ts

Avocados need to be seduced. You can’t just pick one up, cut it open, and have at it. No, that would be too simple. Avocadoes are a complicated fruit that demand perfecting timing, a little coddling, and a few sweet caresses. Undress an avocado too early and they’re less appetizing than styrofoam, too late and they’re nothing but a pit in an oversized avocado hide.

Here’s my quick and dirty guide to avocado courtship

Which kind of avocado?
Over the past few years different cultivars have started showing up in North American stores, from the oversized behemoths to the “slimcado” that promises all the flavour with half the fat, but which avocado’s best?

Hass, Fuerte, and Bacon are the three most common store varieties. Hass has a rich taste and strong flavour, whereas Fuerte and Bacon have subtler, lighter taste. Hass has a robust flavour and a long shelf life, it is best to have around the house for sandwiches and salads, but both Fuerte and Bacon make a meaner avocado milk shake. For the casual ‘cado consumer I recommend picking up the Hass. One great thing about the Hass is that it’s communicative; unripe Hass is a dull green, but when it’s ready to be peeled it darkens to a purplish-black. The Gwen variety is similar in shape and taste to the Hass, but doesn’t change colour when ripe. For a comprehensive avocado glossary visit avocado.org.

this hass is unripe

Patience Is A Virtue
I know you want your avocado ripe and ready at the store, but store ripe often means black and blue. Fruit etiquette is slipping, and most store goers have no problems poking, prodding, and squeezing. If you select a firm ‘cado you’re less likely to end up with a fruit that suffers from a history of store abuse.

Strategy

But now I have a rock hard fruit and the party’s in two days! Don’t fret; there are ways to coax your fruit into ripeness.

• The easiest strategy to induce ripening is to close your avocado in a brown paper bag with a few apples, bananas, or tomatoes, and store in a warm, dry, place for 2-3 days (like on top of the fridge). Why does that work? Well, the aforementioned fruits naturally produce a lot of ethylene gas allowing you to trick your fruit into ripening. Ethylene is a hormone in plants that regulates life functions. Ethylene gas is also synthetically manufactured to help the agriculture industry increase yields by producing speedy crops.
• Even faster? I don’t particularly love this trick because it’s a little sloppy, but some people rave about it. In a small zip lock bag place your avocado and half a banana peel. Close in a drawer for one to two days.
• Faster still? Some people will tell you it’s ok to put your avocados in the microwave on the defrost setting. This is not okay. Make another recipe and wait until the avocados naturally ripen. Microwaving avocados may soften them slight, but they’ll be flavourless.
• Not in a Hurry? Or maybe you just don’t have time, a paper bag, or spare apples? You can leave your avocado out and wait 3-5 days, or just wrapping the an avocado in newspaper, and placing it in a dry, warm place, will help aid in speeding up the ripening process.

Is it ready yet?
You can always do the pressure, or squeeze, test. The skin should be firm, but the flesh underneath should yield to pressure. Another way to get your avocados to confess their ripeness is the stem test—this test also avoids unsightly bruising. If the stem gives when you poke it gently the fruit is ripe.

this hass is ripe

 

Oups You told me to leave them in a brown paper bag on top of the fridge and now I’ve forgotten them. If you allow your avocadoes to over ripen they will develop dark veins and brown age spots, but they’re still usable. Especially for guacamole purposes.

Leftovers I don’t want to eat the entire avocado, but if I put it in the fridge it’s destined to turn brown and unappetizing. The avocado starts to turn brown due to oxidization. A quick and dirty way to keep your avocado fresh for later is to spread a thin layer of lemon juice, just a squirt, on the exposed flesh and wrap fruit in cling film. Make sure that the cling film is pressed tightly against the exposed flesh, keeping air out and flavour in.

• It’s a kitchen myth that putting the avocado pit with the fruit will help it stay fresher longer. Leaving a pit in a halved avocado will keep it fresher longer because there is less fruit exposed to the air; however, if you take the pit out and put it back in it will have no impact on the fruit’s freshness.