Salade Niçoise

Ingredients for Dressing: Balsamic Vinegar, Olive Oil, Dijon Mustard, Salt and Pepper.

2 parts oil, 1 part vinegar, 1/2 part mustard, salt and pepper to taste - whisk together.

Ingredients: Butter lettuce (not shown,) fresh tofu (cubed,) avocado (sliced,) grape or cherry tomatoes (halved,) hard boiled egg (peeled and halved,) green beans (blanched,) red onion (thinly sliced,) new potatoes (boiled and cut into wedges,) green and black olives (sliced,) capers.

Choose an attractive platter and create a bed of salad leaves. Carefully arrange ingredients symmetrically on top of leaves. I tried to keep the colors balanced on each side. How much of each is up to you. Sparingly drizzle a small amount of dressing over top. Other ingredients could include bell peppers and artichokes. Traditionally this salad contains tuna, but that's just gross.

Roasted Stuffed Pumpkin

recipe somewhat stolen from gourmet.com

I've made this 5 times for various fall parties this month. It's been a hit at every one of them. I didn't have Gruyere or Emmental cheese, so I used Parmesan and fontina. And a couple of times I didn't have cream, so I used milk and it was fine. I left out the nutmeg and added parsley for a more savoury flavour. The only problem is how to serve it. It's an appetizer, but it's not really finger food. You need a plate and a fork to eat it. And a big spoon to serve it.

Butternut Squash Frittata

Then I made the same thing with leftover butternut squash. I really like making these because I am so bad at making omelettes. I don't know how short order cooks make them so thin and perfectly folded. Anyhow, If it's closer to lunchtime when I have breakfast on a Sunday, I usually serve it with salad instead of more traditional breakfast accompaniments.

Corn Mash Frittata

The hot sauce is from my friend Bridget. It's yummy, hot, flavorful, and goes well with eggs.

I had leftover corn mush from when I strained the bisque. It was pretty tasty, so I made up a use for it. Whisk 3 eggs, 1 cup corn mush, 1/2 cup natural yogurt, a little cream, salt, pepper. Saute 1 small diced onion with 1/2 of one diced jalepeno in a cast-iron skillet with a generous amount of olive oil. Once onions are soft, pour in egg mixture and bake at 350 until set. Top with cheese and hot sauce if desired.

Corn Bisque

Ingredients: 4 ears corn, kernels cut off with knife

3 T butter

1 Sweet onion, diced

4-6 cups vegetable stock

2 T honey

Heavy cream (optional)

Paprika

salt and pepper

Saute onion in butter 2mins. Add honey, salt and pepper to taste, and corn and saute until soft. Add 4 cups stock and bring to boil. Reduce heat and cook for 20 mins. Allow to cool. Blend in batches in food processor. Strain through a mesh sieve. Add a teaspoon of paprika. Add 1/2 cup or more cream if desired. Serve hot or cold!

Tofu Bánh Mì

The sandwich is a product of French colonialism in Vietnam, and combines both French and Vietnamese ingredients.

Bánh mì is a Vietnamese baguette (I buy mine at Jay International) made with both wheat and rice flour, but more popularly known as a type of sandwich traditionally made with this type of bread.

If tofu isn't your thing, fried eggs also make a delicious banh mi. I get weird looks from most local banh mi joints when I ask for one made with tofu, so I make my own most of the time. This place makes the tastiest tofu banh mi, and the most delicious fried mung bean spring rolls.

Ingredients: Clockwise from upper left: Cilantro, soy sauce, mayonnaise, pickled turnips (any kind of pickle will do,) tofu, diced carrot and onion, daikon, jalapeno, baguette

Cut baguette in half lengthwise. Mix together one part soy sauce with two parts mayo. Spread that on both sides of baguette. Sprinkle on the diced carrots and onions. Add a layer of thinly sliced jalapenos. Add a layer of thinly sliced tofu, followed by a generous bunch of cilantro, and finally with daikon and pickled turnips.

Bourbon Pumpkin Ice Cream

I'm no expert on sweet foods. And experimenting with ice cream can be dodgey. So I used this recipe, and pumped up the cinnamon a little bit. I also served some bissinger dark chocolate almonds, which were amazing.

Cannelloni Duo

Ingredients for the red one: 1 cup French green lentils, 1 big onion, thyme, cannelloni shells, watery tomato sauce

Ingredients for the white one: Butternut squash, 1 onion, goat cheese, sage, cannelloni shells and Béchamel sauce

Soak lentils and then cook them for 30 mins. Saute onion until soft, add thyme and saute one more minute. Transfer the onion thyme mix and half the lentils and puree until smooth. Mix remaining whole lentils with puree mixture and stuff into shells.

Finely dice one half of one butternut squash. Saute squash with diced onion and sage for 5 mins. Remove from heat and mix with 4oz. goat cheese. Stuff into shells.

In two separate lasagna pans, cover bottoms with one sauce each. Lay the lentil stuffed shells about an inch apart in the red sauce pan and cover with more red sauce. Lay the squash stuffed shells in the white sauce pan and cover with more sauce. Cover both pans tightly with aluminum foil and bake 30-45mins until shells are fully cooked. Serve side by side adding extra sauce on top just prior to serving. Garnish white one with a fried sage leaf and red one with parmesan sprinkle.

Check out how pretty this kale is!

My friend Brian's dad has a farm. He grew it and Brian gave me some. Gorgeous.

Stuffed Delicata Squash

Ingredients: Delicata squash (1 squash serves 2)

Olive and truffle oil

Garlic

Onion

Kale

Canned white beans

Panko breadcrumbs

Parmesan

Carefully cut squash in half lengthwise. Bake at 350 cut-side up for 30 mins. Scoop out seeds etc and set aside. Sautee 1-2 cups finely chopped kale with 2 minced cloves garlic and 1/2 a minced onion. Mix in 3/4 can drained and rinsed white beans and mush them just a little bit. Mix in some grated parmesan and maybe 1 tsp. of truffle oil. Top with panko bread crumbs and drizzle a little olive oil on top. Bake at 425 for 30 mins and serve with a complimentary salad. Beets, sungolds and arugula shown here. Thanks to Lisa for the inspiration for this one.

Random Fall Dinner

pretty simple dinner, but delicious variety of flavours and textures. in one big pan roast discs of polenta, halved red bell pepper, and halved delicata squash maybe 450 or so. sautee garlic and shitake mushrooms and sprinkle with a little thyme. then add enough cream to make a very thick "mushroom sauce." finally, roughly chop one whole head of russian kale and sautee until slightly soft with a little bit of olive oil.

Pumpkin Mulligatawny

Translated, mulligatawny means "pepper water," which is a pretty accurate description of this soup. But this time I wanted more body, so I threw in a can of pumpkin. The base recipe is: 1 yellow onion finely minced, 1 tsp each of ginger and galangal, 4 minced cloves garlic sauteed until soft in some olive oil and some butter. Add 1/4 cup of flour and continue cooking for a minute. Then add 1 tsp each of cumin, cayenne, and tumeric and sautee another minute. Add at least 4 cups of vegetable stock or water to desired thickness. Add 1 can of pumpkin puree and stir over medium heat until homogeneous.

Sweet Potatoes

I planted 3 seedlings, they completely took over the whole yard and some of the alley, but somehow did not kill the tomato plants. Sweet potato vines are attractive with cute little purple flowers. Harvesting reveals a crazy looking nerve center of roots and tentacles. It is difficult to tell where the root ends and the potato begins. After harvest, you have to let the spuds sit on top of the ground for several days so they can "cure," meaning they need to develop a tougher skin and sweetness, neither of which they have right after you dig them up.

Half Dried Tomatoes

I had an overabundance of super-ripe tomatoes, so I decided to try the "half-dried" preparation that I had in Spain. I'm pretty sure that's a loose translation, but it works. Halve tomatoes and place cut side up in a baking pan. Sprinkle with lots of garlic, herbs, olive oil and salt. Bake for 2 hours at 300 degrees F. Yummy to toss into stuff at the last minute, instead of sauce on pizza, a sandwich with fresh mozzerella. Intense tomato flavour.

Nut Loaf - Ala "Delicious Cafe" in Tullamore

mix together brown bread crumbs, carrots, pistachios, walnuts, 2 eggs, a cup of yogurt, some tomato paste, salt and pepper and bake at 350 for 45 mins. Slice as you would meatloaf and serve with several salads. Beet and broccoli salads shown here. Also a fruity chutney makes the ideal sauce for nutloaf!

Okra

turns out you need more than one okra plant to grow enough okra for a meal.

Amazing meal in Barcelona at Sesamo

from top: malay curry with corn fritters, sticky rice and spicy mango salad; cacao noodles in almond rucala pesto; burrata with rucala and 1/2 dried tomatoes; spicy udon noodles with smoked tofu and cherry sorbet; watermelon gazpacho

Berries

Pre-ripened photos of my blackberry and blueberry bush.  I do not have photos of the ripe berries because animals ate all of them.  But at least I got berries this year.  I have had that blueberry bush for 5 years and thought it was never going to bear fruit. 

Carmelized Onion and Kalamata Flatbread

I carmelized one whole onion very thinly sliced in a skillet with red wine and honey.  Spread those over a whole wheat naan, top with sliced kalamata olives and a sprinkle of parmesan.

Mushroom and Provel on Cornmeal Crust Pizza