Lentil Soup with Too Much Fresh Ginger

This one scales well and freezes well too.  Feeds 20 hippies.

Prep time ~ 60 minutes; cooking time ~ 5 hours

• 2 lbs red lentils
• boiling water
• 2 tbsp canola oil
  
• 1 hot pepper, diced very small (optional)
  
• 1 lb. carrots, diced
  
• 5 ribs celery, sliced
  
• 4 medium onions, chopped
  
• too much fresh ginger (1/3 cup), sliced across the fibers, then diced into tiny squares
• 2 tsp turmeric
• 2 tsp cumin
• 5 L veggie stock (cubes, powder, or containers all work)
  
• 15 cloves of garlic (more if you dare), peeled, ends trimmed, and chopped in half (the big cloves chopped in thirds)
  
• 6 bay leaves
• salt to taste

Directions:

1. Rinse the lentils in cold water then put them in a large metal bowl
2. Over-cover the lentils in boiling water, stir them, and let them sit for about 2 hours, topping up with boiling water as needed to keep them covered (they may swell to about triple their dry volume)
3. In a very large soup pot, heat the oil and sauté the pepper, carrots, celery, onions, and ginger on low heat until the onions are just starting to get translucent
   
4. Drain the lentils and rinse them
5. Add spices, lentils, stock, garlic, and bay leaves to the soup pot
   
6. Bring gently to a boil, cover, and let simmer for 2 hours (or more), stirring to keep the lentils from burning (on my stove, this means every 15 minutes or so)
   
7. Add salt; how much will depend on how salty the stock is
8. Serve with sourdough
    

Glory Bowls

 This recipe shamelessly copied from Canadian Living (original here).  Introduced to us by our friends C & A (and their kids M & J), these have quickly become a house favourite vegan recipe.

For the meal, make sure to have hot rice, tofu, and lots of grated veggies (carrots, cucumber, beets) plus greens as desired.  Chili crisp is optional too.  Everyone starts with a base of rice and loads up on veggies and tofu.

But what really makes it is the sauce, which drenches everything.  It goes like this.

In a blender, combine:

• 1/2 cup nutritional yeast flakes
• 1/3 cup soy sauce
• 1/3 cup apple cider vinegar
• 1/3 cup water
• 2 tablespoons tahini
• 2 cloves garlic crushed 

Put the blender on slow, open the top once it's reached equilibrium, then pour in:

• 1 1/2 c vegetable oil

Store in the fridge in an airtight jar.

Experimental Eggnog

 Based on the recipe from https://tastesbetterfromscratch.com/homemade-eggnog/, with some modifications (less sweet, more creamy, more vanilla, less-cooked egg):

Ingredients

• ▢ 4 large egg yolks
• ▢ 1/4 cup granulated sugar
  
• ▢ 1 1/4 cup heavy whipping cream
• ▢ 3/4 cup milk
• ▢ 1/3 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• ▢ pinch of salt
• ▢ 1 teaspoon vanilla
  
• ▢ ground cinnamon, for topping

Instructions

 

• Whisk the egg yolks and sugar together in a medium bowl until light and creamy.
• In a saucepan over medium-high heat, combine the cream, milk, nutmeg and salt. Stir often until mixture reaches a bare simmer. 
• Add a big spoonful of the hot milk to the egg mixture, whisking vigorously. Repeat, adding a big spoonful at a time, to temper the eggs. 
• Once most of the hot milk has been added to the eggs, pour the mixture back into the saucepan on the stove. 
• Whisk constantly for just a few minutes, until the mixture is just slightly thickened (or until it reaches about 155 degrees F on a thermometer). It will thicken more as it cools.
• Remove from heat and stir in the vanilla
• Pour the eggnog through a fine mesh strainer into a pitcher or other container and cover with plastic wrap. 
• Refrigerate until chilled. It will thicken as it cools.  
• Serve with a sprinkle of cinnamon or nutmeg, and fresh whipped cream, if desired.

EML Nuts

I'm not sure that I have a scalable recipe as much as a simple list of ingredients and nebulous process (due to a lack of precision temperature control):

Take a couple of handfuls of raw pecan halves (enough to cover the bottom of whatever size (cast iron) pan you're using), throw them in, and put the heat on medium, and cover the pan with a lid.

At this point, I'm mainly trying to lightly roast the pecans (without burning them), and get their temperature somewhere close to the melting point of sugar.

Maybe check and move them around every minute or two, fiddling with the temperature (easy with a gas stove)?  They seem to thrive on a little attention, and don't have very good thermal conductivity, so while one side is burnt, the other side is barely warmed..

Whenever I think they're (almost) roasted ( ~5 -10 minutes overall, a judgement call; the inevitable crumbs of broken pieces provide some information, if not definitive actionable knowledge), I then add 1 - 1 1/2 tablespoons of sugar (and a pinch or two of salt) into the pan.

Then, it's really fun to watch how the sugar starts to melt, monitoring the temp so that the sugar doesn't quickly caramelize or the pecans to burn.  A great opportunity to throttle the amount of heat to the pan (and maybe wish for an IR thermometer, or a 160C - 180C temp controlled pan), and marvel at the temperature differences in different areas.

When "enough" of the sugar has melted, then I start to stir everything around to coat the pecans.  You stir too soon, and you get a bunch of barely melted sugar stuck to the pecans.  You stir too late, and the sugar caramelizes and turns brown or starts to smoke, and the pecans start to burn.

If it doesn't look like they're getting coated enough, sprinkle in more sugar, and try and get what's been added to melt, and not just glom onto what's already melted.

When you're happy with how everything is coated, then it's probably best to scrape them out of the pan onto a plate to cool.  If you don't, then they'll solidify into a block that's stuck to the pan, and when you're scraping them out (or if you've let them cool as a lump in a bowl), they'll break into too many (tasty!) little crumbs and pieces, not the

I've also tried, once or twice, adding some red pepper flakes once the melting and stirring is underway, but gave it up after deciding that it didn't really add that much to the end result.

Pretty ad hoc, eh?  Play with your food!

Rock Buns from Jane

Rock Buns - Dorothy Frost

(Makes 12)

8 ounces self raising flour

4 ounces Butter or margarine

Rub the cold butter into the flour until it is finely mixed (like for pastry)

Add and mix in:

4 ounces soft dark brown sugar (not Demerara)

4-6 ounces of raisins

One egg plus milk to make nearly half a cup. Whisk it together with a fork.

Add it to the dry ingredients and mix with a fork until it is all evenly moist.

Spoon into 12 mounds on a greased baking try (I use a silicon sheet on the tray)

Bake at 350 deg F for 18-20 minutes until browned. You could try 375 deg (AMG note: try this instead; 350 is too low). My over is a bit fierce. You will know when they look right. 

Mushroom, Leek, & Blue Cheese in Phyllo

 A successful holiday dinner with M & K from Canadian Living

•  1/2 cup unsalted butter , divided
•  2 leeks (white parts only), diced
•  2 cremini mushrooms , quartered
•  1/2 cup coarsely chopped cashew
•  1/2 cup dry white wine
•  1/2 cup semisoft blue cheese , crumbled
•  1/3 cup ricotta cheese
•  1/3 cup whipping cream (35%)
•  1/4 cup chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley
•  2 tablespoons chopped fresh dill
•  1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
•  1 egg , beaten
•  salt and pepper
•  9 frozen phyllo pastry sheets, thawed
•  2 teaspoons sesame seeds

In large skillet, melt 2 tbsp of the butter over medium heat. Add leeks; cook, stirring often, for 6 minutes. Transfer to large bowl. In same skillet, melt 2 tbsp of the remaining butter. Add mushrooms; cook, stirring occasion­ally, for 6 minutes. Add cashews and wine; cook until wine has almost com­pletely evaporated, about 5 minutes. Transfer to bowl with leeks. Stir in blue cheese, ricotta, cream, parsley, dill, nutmeg and egg, mixing well. Season with salt and pepper; set aside.

Preheat oven to 375°F. Grease 9- or 10-inch pie plate with removable bottom. Melt remain­ing butter in microwave. On work surface, unroll phyllo sheets; cover with clean damp tea towel to prevent drying out. Brush one phyllo sheet with melted butter and place in prepared pie plate, letting excess hang over edge. Repeat with seven phyllo sheets, rotating each slightly so corners don’t overlap.

Spread reserved mushroom filling over phyllo, smoothing top. Fold excess phyllo dough over filling, one sheet at a time, to achieve draped effect (if necessary, brush last sheet of phyllo with butter, crumple and place in centre of filling to cover trim).

Bake 30 minutes (if necessary, cover phyllo with foil to prevent browning). Let stand for 10 minutes before unmolding and cutting into wedges.

Joan Hassett's Sticky Toffee Pudding--Make it!

 This is delicious--a truly delectable cake.