Two kale recipes today! Both are kale versions of recipes that I have been making for quite some time now. 
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Tag: coniferes et feuillus
kale pesto
This time of the year always gets me excited. Yes, there’s my birthday and the wisdom that comes with it but I think it has more to do with the allure of watching the city landscape transform after a long, cold winter. Almost overnight, lawns transform to lush green (except my lawn of course!), dormant buds burst open into gorgeous blossoms and birdsong fills the air. It’s also the time of the year when we sow seeds and reclaim our urban gardens. Of all the garden space and pots that we have in our backyard, five pots are always set aside solely for basil seeds. And though that promises a healthy supply of basil in the coming months, at the present moment making pesto requires some creativity. Kale, as it turns out, makes a great substitute.
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cheddar & onion scones
Life isn’t about waiting for the storm to pass. It’s about learning to dance in the rain. -Vivien Greene
At this time of the year, I get really impatient with my herbs, checking every morning for signs of life on the surface of my herb garden. Despite my impatience though, they only come up when they they are good and ready to do so. My chives are always the first to make their debut and when they do, I am sure to make cheddar & chive scones to mark the long-awaited arrival. But while I wait, I make these cheddar & onion scones instead. They are equally delicious and loaded with the same allium goodness!
middle eastern roast leg of lamb
When you are having guests over, the last thing you want is to be bogged down with a complicated meal. This simple recipe is the perfect rescue. It brings together a handful of ingredients and delivers maximum flavour. The aroma of saffron, garlic and thyme as it roasts is simply irresistable and the final dish makes for a perfect Sunday roast.
almond & anise biscotti
By far, my favourite cookie is the twice-baked Italian cookie known as biscotti. For the longest time though, I felt too intimidated to even attempt baking them at home. Plus, here in Montrèal, we are spoiled with choice when it comes to fine Italian bakeries so it was far too convenient to buy them. But once a friend showed me how easy it was to make biscotti at home, there was no turning back. 
common ground & vegan baked beans (fèves au lard)
We do not inherit the earth from our ancestors; we borrow it from our children. -Indigenous wisdom
When we first moved to Canada in the 70s, we lived in the eclectic neighbourhood of Mile End in Montréal, home already to successive waves of new immigrants who had come before us. In a way, our first neighbourhood was a fairly good representation of the population of the country at large and a pretty good place to start new roots. However, of all the other people who had settled here before us, the people with whom my parents identified most with were not immigrants at all.
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coq au vin blanc with spring vegetables
If you limit your choice only to what seems possible or reasonable, you disconnect yourself from what you truly want, and all that is left is a compromise. -Robert Fritz
My husband grew up on a meat and potatoes diet. When we met, I was happily heading down the road to becoming vegetarian. Somehow, none of that got in the way of a budding relationship. Now, married and three kids later, we still apply the golden rule of marriage to every meal- compromise. And that’s why coq au vin in our house looks like this.
hunger & hope: banana bread with nuts & dates
You don’t forget the face of the person who was your last hope. -Suzanne Collins
Growing up, my parents never wasted any food. Although, we always had just enough to eat, we certainly didn’t have enough to waste. But I learned the real reason behind their no-waste policy at age 9 during our first visit to India.
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After much preparation, our suitcases are packed with gifts until they are ready to burst. Returning to our homeland from Canada, it’s unthinkable to arrive empty-handed. We leave on a cold Saturday afternoon in December. Our seven week long trip would span over the Christmas holidays to ensure the least amount of disruption to our lives here. We arrive in Bombay, as it is called at this time or Mumbai, as the locals call it, in the dark of the night. Compared to Montréal International Airport (otherwise known as Mirabel), Santa Cruz airport is literally a few small buildings strung together. Exiting the airplane, onto the tarmac, the first things that hit you are the odour and the humidity. Eventually, you learn to accept the odour, but the humidity is unrelenting, even in the middle of the night. My parents had warned me about how different India is compared to Canada, but still, I find myself unprepared. Within minutes of exiting the plane, India no longer feels like home to me anymore. Six years abroad can do that when you are so young. Continue reading “hunger & hope: banana bread with nuts & dates”
khichdi & kadhi, gujarati peasant food
Every peasant cuisine has incredible ingenious tricks for getting a lot of nutrition out of a small amount of ingredients. –Michael Pollan
A simple dish consisting of rice and lentils, khichdi is deeply rooted in the history of the Indian subcontinent. Originally, a peasant food of rural India, it has since been reincarnated into elaborate dishes fit for royalty. Present day, amongst Indians, it holds the title as both the ultimate comfort food and a perfect plant-based source of protein. Throughout India, it is one of the first foods given to babies and long before the word “detox” became a thing here in the West, it has been Ayurveda’s answer to detoxification.
Each region of India has its own version of khichdi. In my birth province of Gujarat, it remains much like the original peasant dish and consists of no more than rice, split mung dal, a pinch of turmeric and a dallop of ghee and is always served with kadhi, a spiced, soup-like yogurt curry.
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spiced carrot and apple cake
In the midst of a Canadian winter, the beauty of dead hydrangeas is a reminder of what was and what’s to come.
Past mid-February, here in the Northern hemisphere, we are just one month away from spring equinox. Even though the amount by which sunrise and sunset change each day is now perceivable and though the days are becoming noticeably longer, here in Montréal, our streets are lined with huge banks of snow. Playing outside with my youngest this weekend, I couldn’t help notice that there are still a few dried flower heads on my hydrangea tree lurking above the two feet of snow on our front yard -a reminder that far below the lifeless sheet of snow and ice, comfortably and patiently, life awaits.
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