So glad you came!

I had a fantastic week with my dear friend Marsha. She was a willing participant in recipe experimentation and shared with me some of her classics as well. So glad you came!


Sweet Potato Wontons
(from refresh)

This delicious snack was a hit. It’s a little labour intensive but extras can be frozen and brought out and cooked up for an easy appy. We ate them with Thai Sweet Chili sauce.

I bought regular wonton wrappers without realizing that they have eggs in them. I will have to keep my eyes open for ones that do not because I will definitely make this recipe again. The spicy filling is to die for! 

Filling ingredients:
2 tbsp olive oil
1 onion, peeled and finely diced
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 tbsp store bought yellow curry paste
2 tbsp tamari
1 tsp sea salt
1 tsp pepper
2 tsp raw sugar
1 sweet potato, peeled and grated
1 tbsp grated coconut
1/2 cup chopped green onion
1/2 cup chopped cilantro

Directions:
1) In a large frying pan, sweat onion and garlic in olive oil until soft.
2) Add the yellow curry paste and cook for 1 minute.
3) In a small bowl, mix the tamari, sea salt, pepper and raw sugar. Add these to the frying pan and stir.
4) Add the sweet potato and cook until soft, about 5 minutes. Add the coconut, green onion and cilantro.

To assemble wontons:
1) Take a wonton wrapper, spoon a heaping teaspoon of filling into the centre (or slightly off-centre) of the wonton. 
2) Brush water around the edges and fold the wonton wrapper in half, pressing together the edges of the wonton. Seal the edges while pressing out as much air as possible from the mixture.
NOTE: The original recipe says to use flour and water to make a paste to seal the wontons. Because the wonton wrappers had flour on them I didn’t find the paste necessary. However, I did buy the wrong wrappers so you may need the paste if you’re using eggless wonton wrappers. Not sure!
3) Put on a tray lined with parchment paper until ready to fry. If you are not eating them right away, freeze on tray and then transfer to a resealable bag until ready to use.

Cooking the wontons:
We tried a few different ways.
-Deep frying the wontons- The wonton puffed right up and seemed to overtake the filling. They seemed too heavy.
-Baking the wontons- The wonton didn’t crisp up and had a strange, hard to chew texture.
-Pan-frying the wonton- The best option! They crisped up on the outside but didn’t get too big. We pan-fried them on medium heat with grapeseed oil, which took only moments as the insides are cooked and just have to heat up. When we took them out of freezer, we let them defrost a bit, pan-fried them and then finished them in the oven at 350 degrees F for 5-10 minutes. That was just to make sure that they were hot all the way through.

Ready to fry!

Ready to eat!

Cuban Chick Pea and Potato Soup 

(from refresh)

When I first made this soup, I felt like it was bland or missing something. I thought that maybe my taste buds were just adapting to meatless dishes. But then I realized that I was using a low-sodium broth and that I didn’t add nearly the salt the recipe called for because it seemed like too much. It was a classic case of under seasoning. So, I added more salt and two big squirts of Bragg’s sauce and it was good to go. This is a great soup. Marsha wasn’t a huge fan of the big chunks of potato but then she’s not a big fan of potato in general. In the future, she would just cut the potatoes into smaller chunks. My husband loved the big chunks of potato and thought it made the soup nice and hearty. He loves potatoes. To each their own!

Definitely, make this soup a day before you plan to eat it. It only gets better with age.

Also, for the fennel and cumin, I toasted them in a frying pan whole and then ground them in my spice grinder (aka coffee bean grinder that I have designated for spices) before adding them to the recipe. They were very fragrant and definitely enhanced the flavour.

The one last point about this soup is that I used a vegetable stock that I’ve never used before: Harvest Sun organic bouillon cubes, vegetable flavour. They are low sodium, vegan, gluten free and yeast free. I didn’t taste the stock before using it, I just threw in the cubes and added the requisite amount of water. That may or may not played a role in the overall result of the soup. 

Word to the wise: Check your seasonings & know your stock! That could be the difference in a soup being a hit or a disaster!

Ingredients:
3 tbsp olive oil
2 onions, peeled and chopped
4 stalks of celery, chopped
4 cloves of garlic, chopped
2 red, yellow or orange bell peppers, diced
2 tsp cumin, ground
2 tsp fennel, ground
1/2 tsp thyme
1 tsp paprika
2 tsp sea salt
1 tsp black pepper
1 pinch cayenne
8 cups vegetable stock
6 medium potatoes, peeled and chopped
4 cups cooked chick peas
1 tbsp lemon juice
1/4 cup fresh parsley, chopped
Bragg’s sauce to taste

Directions:
1) Sweat onions, celery and garlic in olive oil in large soup pot until soft.
2) Add peppers, cumin, fennel, thyme, paprika, sea salt, pepper and cayenne.
3) Stir and cook for a minute.
4) Add stock and potatoes. Bring to a boil then reduce to a simmer and cook until potatoes are soft.
5) Add chick peas and lemon juice. Heat through. 
6) Add parsley and stir.
7) Check seasonings!

Hearty Goodness!

Tahini-Lemon Dressing

Amazing salad dressing! This one is from Marsha. We had it on a kale salad with tomatoes, cucumber and peppers but it could easily be a caesar salad dressing replacement or work with any number of salads. Marsha also uses it as a spread on sandwiches. My mouth is watering just thinking of this great, easy dressing!

This recipe make almost a cup so you may want to half it. 

Ingredients:
1/4 cup tahini
2 garlic cloves
1/2 cup fresh lemon juice
4 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
1 tsp salt
freshly ground pepper to taste
water, if needed

Directions:
1) Throw everything in a food processor and process until smooth. If it’s really thick you can add a tbsp or 2 of water.