Out of City Sounds

After a weekend spent outside of Montréal city, just beyond the busy highways and buzz of traffic, workers travelling along the roads in tooting cars and the swish of bicycle tires speeding past, with the noise of construction always just an earshot away, I suddenly miss the slow pace of living on an island, or at least beside the ocean, next to the beach where we'll go for an entire afternoon, waves lapping against the shore as the only backdrop of sound, or nearby some quiet and shadowed trails where underneath the tall, leaning arches of old evergreens, you feel protected and somehow in your own little world, as if any big city doesn't exist for the moment, and in your own world you can pretend whatever you like. Here, back in my sister's apartment, through the windows that are left open to let in some fresh air, the constant hum of machines outside also finds its way in, drilling and pounding from the moment I wake up, to the background of the radio podcast playing that it becomes, or as a replacement for the poignant sounds of the kettle or microwave that when I'm at home, and there's no other sounds to compete, are sharp clicks so surprising rather than a dull change in what I can hear around.  

We spent the weekend at one of my sister's friends house, among her three horses and paddocks around the house, plus the three cats who knew of the relaxing weekend ahead, and lazed about on any chair they could steal, and finally her two Bernese mountain dogs, excited and full of energy with every new person or movement made. I was in heaven with all the animals, but again, it made me miss my dog even more. Beside the pool, and between the outdoor bar, we sat around in the sun, barbecued chicken and sausages, and stayed up beside the roaring campfire underneath stars, little twinkles of light that aren't often seen in a city when lights cascade outward and block the little white stars from being seen. 

Her house was also filled with gluten free foods, she being gluten intolerant herself, and so as soon as we arrived we enjoyed gluten free pasta, and I shared the gluten free brownies I had made, as well as a comfort and relaxation in knowing things, food-wise, were taken care of. It was lovely spending time at someone else's house without the constant nudge of being alert if they might forget, handing you a plate of pizza and saying, "don't worry it's whole wheat," or not understanding that beer is in fact made from wheat either, replying to your decline of a cookie with a sad sort of frown. Rather, dinner that night included gluten free sausages and plenty of chicken, and the next day, a late Sunday barbecued breakfast of toast and bacon that also included enough gluten free bread for the two of us. After a late night, all of us around the outdoor table ate in large mouthfuls between recounting sitting around the camp fire, or jumping in the pool, and when I was picked up and thrown in first. 

As much as I love wandering Montréal, poking in to shops, the relaxed drinking regulations, enjoying chocolate desserts with my sister at Cocoa 70, or spending a day like today wandering into a basement coffee shop for some chai tea beside an old brick lined window, the sounds of construction each morning leave me a little restless, and the neighbouring building jumps a little closer as well. Laying on the deck chairs yesterday, the sun a welcome heat and a gentle wind blowing across us just when it became too hot, the squirt of the pond fountain in the background, I could almost remember long summer days last year on the beach, and taking my scooter round with friends to spend a day beside the ocean. 

Just after the last run on the little yellow go-cart, speeding down the gravel lane and quickly turning back before passing the neighbours paddock, without breaks to slow down, and climbing through the fence to see the three horses left to graze peacefully in the front, we set about making pizzas on the oven pizza round that had been heating up while we were outside. Taking turns pressing down on the gas and seeing how fast the go-cart would go, and sometimes leaving curving tracks in the lane, time had passed by quickly in a summer's lazy way. Bringing out gluten free pizza bases for everyone, we dressed them up with tomato sauce and mozzarella, adding boccincini and fresh basil from the garden, as well as olives, tomatoes, and pepperoni slices. With simple, fresh, and delicious ingredients, plus a flatbread-style crust, the pizzas came out hot, but were still devoured quickly as the flavours couldn't keep hungry mouths away, and even after the first slice, each new piece with a slight variation in toppings tasted as good as the first. It always seems that the freshest ingredients, or the simplest of meals, with few items needed, but always made using whole food, always taste the most delicious, with the best flavour, and will always leave you feeling much better afterwards. None of that greasy pizza after taste, like when they served hot lunch during elementary school, but using local and real ingredients, a pizza is a healthy and easy meal.

Caramelised Onion and Goats Cheese Pizza {with Recipe for Dough}

{print me here}

When looking for a gluten free pizza dough without the long rising time of yeast, or the trivial mixing of flours to create the perfect blend, all the while wondering if it will actually work, there's always this simple, quick, and delicious gluten free dough, that can be layered with any choice of toppings (but I will show you our fave!) and even rises to give that soft and chewy bite.

If you aren't in the mood for pizzas, or plan on entertaining friends, roll out the dough into smaller rounds or squares onto a baking sheet, which can then be eaten individual as mini flatbreads, and will even be perfect for dipping into balsamic vinegar and olive oil.

{Ingredients:}

Dough:

2/3 cup sweet rice flour

1/3 cup corn flour

1/3 cup sorghum flour

1/3 cup tapioca flour

1/3 cup arrowroot starch

1 teaspoon guar gum

1 1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 whole egg, plus 1 egg white 

1 tablespoon olive oil

1/4 cup milk

1/2 cup to 3/4 cup warm water

Toppings:

1/2 cup caramelised onions, recipe below

8 to 12 stalks of asparagus

1 teaspoon lemon juice

1 teaspoon garlic salt

1 tablespoon olive oil

Sliced kalamata olives

Sliced sun dried tomatoes

Large handful of fresh baby spinach leaves, stalks removed

Goats cheese

{Directions:}

Start by caramelising the onions, and set aside. 

Preheat the oven to 425°F and coat a round pizza pan with olive oil. In a large bowl combine together the flours, and mix well.

Beat together the egg, egg white, olive oil and milk. Slowly pour into the flour mixture, and stir well. This can also be done using a food processor, which will quickly blend together the ingredients, and form a nice smooth dough. Slowly add in the warm water, quarter cup by quarter cup, until the dough begins to come together and form a round ball. It should be quite sticky, so at this point to avoid dough sticking to your hands rather than to itself, coat your hands in water, and then rub with oil.

Flatten out the dough onto the pizza pan, evening spreading across, applying more oil to your hands off necessary. Cook in the centre of the oven for 15 minutes.

In a small rimmed baking sheet, combine together the lemon juice, garlic salt and olive oil. Toss together with trimmed asparagus stalks, and place in the oven, at the same temperature, for 8 to 10 minutes.

Meanwhile, line the pizza base with caramelised onions, and add the asparagus stalks straight from the oven, disregard the juices. Bake for a further 4 minutes.

Top with the kalamata olives and sun dried tomatoes, then scatter the baby spinach leaves evenly over top. Bake for another 4 to 6 minutes, or until the dough it completely cooked through. 

Finally, add rounds of goats cheese on top, and place back in the oven until it is melted and the edges begin to brown slightly, approximately another 4 to 6 minutes.

Allow to cool slightly before slicing and serving!

Maple Caramelised Onions

{print me here}

For bringing out the sweet taste in onions, the process of cooking slowly over low stove top temperatures does just the trick. Adding in a little brown sugar, and you've got that rich, delicate flavour that can honestly be paired with just about anything. On top of pizzas, caramelised onions can provide the base layer, a delicious texture and savour to add both a new flavour and amazing combination with other toppings.

{Ingredients:}

1 tablespoon grape seed oil, olive oil can also be used

4 cups white onions, sliced 

1/2 cup water

2 tablespoons maple syrup

1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar

{Directions:}

Heat oil in a large pan over medium stovetop heat. Add in the onions and water, cooking until the onions are completely tender, caramelized and golden, about 40 to 50 minutes. Add more water if needed. 

Stir in the maple syrup and balsamic vinegar, and cook until most of the liquid has disappeared, about another 5 to 6 minutes. 

Remove from the heat, let cool, and serve on pizzas, crackers or toast, or store the rest in a tight lidded jar!

Berry Buzz Budgets and Breakfast

Quickly learning how to shop, and to cook, on a student's budget, I've already avoided the $10.99 bag of gluten free granola that will only last a week, but rather selected three boxes of blueberries for $5, plus the yogourt and strawberries, all adding up to less than $8 and with more variations in the kitchen than a bowl of overpriced breakfast cereal. My advice for shopping with a budget: if it can go more than one way, buy it. That being said, I know cereal could be used in a crumble for example, a crunchy and delicious way to spice up the regular apple crisp, but also think, will you be making a crumble more than once this week? If chances are no, put it back. The oats on the other hand, could be used to make your own granola! I'm still thinking of the perfect homemade granola recipe...

And so, with budgets and ingredients, think of those fruits in smoothies, desserts, salad toppings, and baking... With all these ideas, I'm headed for far more cooking and loads more time in the kitchen!

But breakfast always come first, and so this morning, right after my sister had left to work for the day, I made myself a steaming pot of earl grey tea and sat down at the table with mug in hand. Sun streamed in through the windows, broken up by the little pots of green tomato plants stretching out of the little space they've been tucked into. Down below, the sound of construction hummed away, but up here, on the fourth floor and with the sleepiness of mornings still hovering, it became a kind of gentle background noise, one that was no longer noticed after a few moments. You wouldn't believe how much I've missed mornings that last for what seems to be endless minutes, and the endless sips in a pot of tea, or even the smell that comes from the pot as it sits, and steeps. I could never have imagined how much the simplest of things, such as setting down to a quickly whipped up breakfast and enjoying the feeling of being both proud at creating something so delicious and so colourful, could be missed

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We Got It; Flatbread Pizzas

I'm so excited to wake up early tomorrow morning and get cooking on breakfast; these little flatbread pizzas led me to the discovery that we can actually make those family breakfast crepes which dad would tempt us out of bed with, also rousing us with the clamber of pots and pans in his frustration to re-close the drawer underneath the stove. And cursing under his breath as one slipped behind into the dusty cavern which no one could reach.

It was completely by accident that I found this recipe, just as I perused a week old magazine mum had left on the counter top, and as I munched on a nutritious egg breakfast and sipped my tea I read the article about the qualities of quinoa flour. Which I ended up not using because we didn't have it, but I also figured that tapioca flour would do just the trick because of the similar consistency between the two.

I also remembered a delicious bun I had a few weeks before Christmas when mum and I went out for lunch at a little family owned cafe tucked in a side street of North Vancouver. In the window coolers were mouth watering gluten-free sweets and bakes displayed, and breakfast was served all day. Immediately upon reading the chalkboard sign, and in our hunger, mum and I were sold on the breakfast dishes. The tapioca bun which my breakfast came with was so light and flavourful, without any crumbs falling behind on the plate, I felt compelled to at least give this flour a chance.

And boy, am I glad I did.

Crepes, come back to me.

And making these flatbreads made it almost seem like those typical Friday family nights, when pizza is ordered in and delivered quickly after a long week to be inhaled by hungry family members. Except this time we made them, they were gluten-free, and tasted so much better than any regularly made pizza.

I love how the pictures turned out as well, the bright colour green of the spinach is brilliantly lit up with the rich red of the salmon, and both colours a brought out by a touch of each in the cream cheese spread, a sprinkling of dill and sun dried tomatoes. It looks delicious. Appetizing.

"Are those even gluten-free?"

You bet they are.

To get the ingredients needed for the pizzas on our way home from a trip to Main Street, a plan made as we drove into town and decided to go for lunch and get off the rock, mum and I had to quickly stop by the grocery store, split up the ingredients which we needed to get between us, run frantically throughout the aisles and meet up a split second later at the cash register. All in the effort of making it home on a reasonably ferry. We must have seemed a little crazy as our feet paced quickly along the linoleum tiles and our eyes scanned the shelves ferociously for what we needed. Then, as we caught each other at the other end of the store, we ducked in and out of line ups to pay earnestly finding the quickest thoroughfare.

Now that's speedy pizza.

Tapioca Flatbread Salmon Pizzas
Print recipe here.

No gums in this recipe, yet the flatbreads stayed together without any crumbling or cracking. The combination of the brown rice and tapioca flours was just right, and the outcome was a light and flavorful pizza bread, with just a hint of freshly minced .

Keep the temperature of the stove down low, it will increase cooking time, however the edges of your flatbreads will stay round and they'll be more evenly cooked.

Serves 3, makes approximately 6 flatbreads.

Ingredients

1 egg
1 cup brown rice flour
3/4 cup tapioca flour
1 1/4 cup water
2 garlic cloves, minced
1/4 tsp salt

3/4 cup cream cheese, room temperature
1/4 cup chopped sun dried tomatoes
2 tbsp dried dill
2 tbsp chopped capers (optional)

2 oz (55 g) smoked wild salmon, sliced
1 cup baby spinach leaves

Directions

In a large bowl, beat egg lightly. Stir in brown rice and tapioca flours, water, minced garlic, and salt. If the mixture seems too thick, stir in water 1 tbsp at a time. Let mixture sit at room temperature for 15 - 30 minutes.

Meanwhile, to make the cream cheese spread, combine the cream cheese, sun dried tomatoes, dill and capers in a small bowl. Set aside.

Preheat the oven to 200°F. Over medium-low heat, grease a skillet with grape seed oil. Pour 1/3 cup of flatbread mixture into the centre of the pan.

Cook for 4 minutes or until golden brown on the bottom. With a spatula, flip, and cook for an additional 3 to 4 minutes. Repeat with remaining batter.

Keep cooked flatbreads on a plate situated in the oven.

Before serving, prepare flatbreads by spreading the cream cheese evenly on top and adding equal amounts of smoked salmon and spinach leaves. Garnish with freshly ground black pepper.

Bakin' Eggs All Right, Uh-huh!

I didn't think it would happen, however today as I gathered ingredients to bake Chocolate Snowball Cookies for dad's Christmas party tonight, I was actually nervous to use a substitution of wheat flour in place of my usual gluten-free flour mix. I was careful not to get any flour into the bags of sugar and in my mouth, which I imagined would be hard, however, as I mixed and brought ingredients together, I was not pleased by the look of the concoction forming in the bowl.

A sticky, gooey, stretchy, elastic...

That's not how those little cutie cookies were meant to look!

They didn't even hold their form as well as the cookies baked with coconut and sorghum flours, a surprise to me, and instead, as soon as I placed the little ball forms on the baking sheet, they melted down, oozing outward and flattening out. I had to add more flour a couple of times just to bring them back to a kind-of-desirable shape.

It's interesting to look back on this cooking "adventure" today, because as I mixed with a big wooden spoon, my arm slowly aching from the sticky dough pulling and grasping at each tug from my end, I had to add more and more flour just to get it back to the perfect moisture - it was eating away at the dough.

And yes, I do mean to personify it like it were a beast, but it shouldn't be really, it can be overcome like anything, it's not scary, just look at all the recipes I've been so lucky to try!

So each day, I take enjoyment with every meal, cooked or eaten, and love when I find something new, as if it were buried beneath the layers of an onion's skin, or inside the shell of a recently cracked egg. Perhaps even buried so deep, it remains locked up in the seed of a mango. It's an exciting and endless search, one that I hope to continue, and with a thirst for knowledge in the same manner that my hunger for irresistibly delicious and healthy food grows.

I trust the simple flavours in my food, those rich delicacies of home baking, as well as the subtle taste of raw ingredients carefully paired to complement each other.

Just like friendships, the best pairs are born from a base of truth, and only then can you really know the person. I'd like to know what really is in my vegetables as well, why can't we have that truth as well? I'd like to be aware of other products that may be in my eggs, and the past of the fish, even if its history consists of only a statement of its diet. Although even that's hard now.

However in our best effort, and in our best interest, mum and I opt for the freshest vegetables and eggs from chickens that are free-range and organically fed. At least that way we have a small indication of how the chicken lived, but I still hope that some day I'll raise my own little coop of chickens, with the benefit of farm fresh eggs each morning. A perfect start; protein; nutrients; truth; knowledge.

Baked Eggs with Tuscan Roasted Vegetables
Print recipe here.

The flavours of this oven baked dish are warm and fresh, a beautiful and colourful array of tastes and vegetables in the serving platter. No spices or herbs are needed with the fresh, organic vegetables used in this recipe, as their flavours are strong enough to be enjoyed as they are. It can be served on its own, a perfect dose of protein, or accompanying a few roasted potatoes or spiced couscous at dinner. However, enjoy this to start the morning, to keep you going at lunch time, or as a healthy and satisfying dinner.

The vegetables can also be roasted beforehand, sealed and then stored in the fridge until you're nearly ready to eat. Baking the eggs only takes a few minutes, so this can be prepared very quickly this way.

Serves 2

Ingredients

1 tbsp grape seed oil, or other oil suitable for frying
1/2 white onion, sliced

2 tomatoes, sliced
1 red pepper, sliced
1 yellow pepper, sliced

2.5 oz (70 g) fresh baby spinach leaves, whole

4 fresh, organic eggs

Directions

Preheat the oven to 375°F.

In a skillet over medium-high heat, fry the onions until they soften, then add the peppers until they too begin to soften and the onions to brown.

Transfer to a wide baking dish, and add the sliced tomatoes and baby spinach. Bake for 10 - 15 minutes.

Crack the whole eggs over top the vegetables and return the dish to the oven. At this point you may wish to increase the heat to 400°F for a faster cooking time. At 375°F the eggs should bake for another 10 minutes.

Remove from the oven and allow it to cool for 2 - 3 minutes, this will also allow the eggs to harden slightly.

Serve and enjoy!