Smells Like Burning

Two farmers market purchases last week conspired to make my first every chutney attempt happen: crazy spicy Jamaican hot peppers and mangoes. I'm not sure why I even bough the mangoes. Probably because they were really cheap and that's great but its always a lottery with market mangoes. Will they suck (probably) or will they be an awesome find (not likely)?

These mangoes sucked.
The hot peppers were bought on a whim. A pile of green Jamaican ones and a some really hot red ones from Guyana. I decided to attempt spicy mango chutney with my suckey mangoes and hot peppers. Oh and some rather hard pears that had been in the fridge for a long time but still tasted pretty alright. There's some other stuff in there too.
I loosely followed this recipe but with pears instead of apples. I used 3 mangoes because their crappiness mostly meant that there wasn't a lot of usable mango flesh on them. I also used less sugar (1 cup and would probably only use half next time as it was still very sweet).
For spice I added two of the green Jamaican hot peppers and one hot red pepper. I really wasn't sure of how the burns-for-five-minutes-when-you-touch-your-tongue-to-it level of hottness was going to translate in the chutney so I didn't want to go totally overboard. While I was chopping the peppers up really tiny my eyes started watering and my nose started burning, I didn't think that was a good sign.
Everything into the pot (except the spices and lemon juice which are added at the end)It took about half an hour for everything to simmer down and thicken. For much of that it smelled like hot peppers through the kitchen and was irritating to breath. In the end though the spice mellowed out to just a pleasant after burn and I had two jars of delicious, delicious chutney! Seriously, so delicious.

Pie Club: Toronto Chapter

Last Saturday night, 116 Oxford St. was lucky enough to play host to Nate and Jess, who brought not only joviality and merriment, but also a hallowed old tradition from whence they came (the whence being Kingston). This tradition is Pie Club, and on Saturday (which was apparently National Pie Day - score!), the Toronto Chapter of Pie Club debuted with fantastical success. The rules of Pie Club are simple: make a pie you've never attempted before (sweet or savoury, we don't discriminate) and bring it to share. Also, don't talk about Pie Club. Alternatively, talk about Pie Club constantly to anyone who will listen. I made spinach fatayer (little Lebanese "pies") from the cookbook Ed's grandma used to use, which was bequeathed to Eddy and his sister Katherine by their Aunt Sandra this last Christmas. Behold:

Fatayer doughLemon juice and walnutsChoppin' onionsSpinachAssembling the fatayerAssembly complete!Baked and delicious.
And the rest of the pies (well most of them; I'm pretty sure that there were a bunch more things, including Cara's brilliant apple pie shots, that didn't get photographed because I got too drunk on pie to care):

Ed's "pop tarts" pre-bakingAnd post-bakingNate and Jess being merryBlueberry pie (pre-baking)Lingonberry pie (pre-baking)Quiche with swiss chard, caramelized red onion, and goat cheesePecan pieRustic apple pieSweet potato pieVeggie pot pieS'more pie
Ungh. I just finished eating some of the leftovers from this insane pie potluck and looking at all of these pictures brings me back to how ridiculously full I was afterwards. Phooooooooooo. Hope you all enjoyed looking at the spoils of pie war!

Phooooooooooooooo.

Man, Emily and I suck at doing this regularly.

I've got all these pictures of squash ravioli and soup that we made back in the fall when the farm share was raining squashes upon us, but I have lost motivation to post them. Perhaps you shall be rewarded with a squash post sometime in the near future. For now, I have promised my good pal Kyle that I would flog about Vietnamese noodle soup, so here it is.

I grew up with the wonderful smell of pho permeating the house, so to avoid ruining my childhood by screwing this up, the first time I ever made the stuff by myself, I emailed my mom about 3000 times asking questions. Here's the veganized version of my mom's pho recipe (let's skip over the fact that the veganization of this recipe might horrify my mom). The units are of course mom-style (i.e. there's no precise measurements), so you'll have to experiment a bit.

Ingredients:
onions, ginger, stock veggies, anise stars, rice noodles, green onion, cilantro, bean sprouts, lemon or lime slices, preferred protein, Sriracha and hoisin sauce.

1) Peel and halve a bunch of onions and slice some ginger lengthwise to expose the fleshy bits. Roast onions and ginger at about 400 degrees for 30-40 minutes. This step makes your house smell like heaven.

2) While the stuff is roasting, prepare the rest of your stock veggies (and chicken and beef bones if you're not veg). I've had good success with rutabaga (What the hell else is this disgusting turnipy horror good for? I welcome any recipes that will convince me it doesn't suck), carrots, and broccoli stems. Peel and dice to a size that allows for maximal surface area exposure to water without being so small it disintegrates after 5 minutes of cooking.

3) When roasting is done, toss the onions and ginger into the stock pot with all your veggies as well as a handful of anise stars. The anise stars in combination with the roasted onion and ginger really make it. Fill 'er up with water.

4) Let heat to a boil, then lower to a simmer. Simmer for a few hours. This step continues the "house smells awesome" trend.

5) While stock is going, prepare the rest: cook rice noodles, chop green onion and cilantro, prepare protein (I usually use some sort of tofu or "chicken").

6) Drain stock into another pot and season. I usually add some salt or soy sauce (fish sauce if you're not veg) and a bit of sugar to taste.

7) Serve broth over rice noodles. Let people dress their own bowls, and use Sriracha and hoisin for dipping.

Pic-tors!

And a bonus picture of the salsa I made with some of the leftovers from dinner (canned tomatoes, finely sliced onion, cilantro, lemon juice, hot sauce, salt, sugar.