Warm savoury fillings tucked inside the perfect flaky dough. Is there anything better? I mean every culture does it. Indian samosas, the calzones of Italy, those bright yellow Jamaican patties, Eastern Euporean perogies, even meat and potato filled English pasties. There is no end to our love of – dare I say it – the hot pocket. Though I wouldn’t be caught dead noshing on an actual Hot Pocket. Pep n’ cheese not to mention the crap load of preservatives just ain’t my thing. I’m pretty sure I haven’t eaten one ever. But homemade hot pockets, giddy up. 

Originating in Spain, the empanada is typically filled with sardines, chorizo or tuna but like many foods, the pastry crossed borders to Brazil, Indonesia, the Philippines, and soon the entire world. Now regional varieties are endless. From the spicy chilli pepper and tuna pastels of Indonesia to the Chilean pino with beef, onions, raisons, black olives, and a hard boiled egg, anything and everything can be nestled inside the warm dough. Even the dough is varied. Corn flour, wheat flour, baked, fried or deep fried, the empanada knows no bounds. Hell, there’s even sweet empanadas. Call them hand pies, call them whatever you want, next time I’m throwing down sweet for a perfect hand held dessert.

We’re still stuck on the Winter sweet potatoes here in the East and luckily a few markets still have kale. Yes, you’re all sick of the kale hype. You know what? Kale IS awesome. Of all the bitter dark leafy greens, it’s the best. So there. It’s bitterness was the perfect compliment for the sweet potato filling. Lightly seasoned with some of my favourite spices – cumin, coriander and fennel – the filling gets kissed with lemon juice then wrapped inside the best empanadas dough I’ve ever tried. Flaky and crisp due to the addition of corn flour and milk, it comes together easily and is a breeze to roll out. Besides, after the tenth one, you’ll be feeling like a pro too. Though there ain’t nothing stopping you from rolling it all out into a pie either. Technically, still an empanada. 

The chimichurri is also a must. Traditionally made with parsley, my version of the Argentinean pesto-like sauce replaces the main ingredient with cilantro.  Add a little mint and parsley and you have a condiment worth swooning over. I want to bathe in the stuff.  While I’m eating it by the spoonful, you may want to use it on meat, seafood, tacos, sandwiches or even as a salad dressing.

Whatever way you decide to fill ’em, let’s take back our food shall we? I for one want to know what’s in my hot pockets. Especially if it’s packed with nutritious local vegetables.  Oh, and if you’re wondering. That lack of golden brown colour? That’s called hangry. 

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I’m not quite sure how that happened but here we are. You know what that means? Time for the dreaded New Year’s resolutions. 

Unlike many this time of year, I’m not going to go on about my New Year’s resolutions swearing off this and only eating that. Health isn’t the number on a scale or even the size of your clothes. For me, health is about eating real foods, the kind grown in the ground by hard working folk. It’s about having a healthy relationship with food where cheat days and guilt don’t exist. It’s even about the pleasure that comes from cooking or the ecstasy of that perfect bite. A life where food is mere sustenance is one I never want to live. Now that’s not to say I eat sugar and butter with abandon but when I do, I sure as hell don’t feel bad about it. 

How about we all resolve to make up with food this year?  I mean, resolutions don’t get any better than this.

I will eat all food groups, most notably bacon. 

I will not cheat on my food. We’re in love.

I will never feel guilty eating anything. Not that burger and certainly not that cake I just ate for breakfast.

I will embrace moderation. 

I will eat real food grown close to home though the occasional bag of chips or hot dog is going to happen. 

I’ll gather around the table with friends and family as often as possible, celebrating the joy of food and cooking. 

There you have it. With resolutions like this, 2014 is all mine. And don’t think the irony of me starting the year off with a salad post is lost on me. I simply happen to love salads. Besides, I’ll probably eat bacon for supper. 

From warm roasted potatoes to cold rice noodles, I believe anything can make a salad. Though if your idea of a salad is that 1980s bowl of iceberg, chopped tomatoes and cucumber all smothered in Ranch, then we’ve got some work to do. Salads round here come in all forms – warm, cold, roasted, grilled, fruity, cheesy, and never boring. Lately, roasted roots are taking the place of all those Summer tomato, a heartier salad perfect for those days when it seems there’s no end to Mother Nature’s wrath. With a market full of local beets, celeriac, parsnips, squash, sweet potatoes, and carrots, I see many a Winter salad in 2014. 

In the first of many, beautiful local carrots become caramelized and sweet, the perfect backdrop for a seasonal salad. Peppery arugula, sweet pomegranates, crunchy pumpkin seeds and a smooth dressing of orange and miso round it out. Arugula is perfect added to pretty much anything – a salad adorned with a poached egg, a pear and prosciutto pizza or most recently roasted tomato pasta. If you’re not on team arugula yet, you should be. Plus, in Australia they call it rocket.  It’s the coolest green out there. I imagine, however, any of the dark, leafy greens of late would also be nice in its place. 

Whether it’s an interesting salad or a creamy butter laden pasta adorning your table today, resolve to love every bite and never look back. That Julia Child had it right you know. “People who love to eat are always the best people.”

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Time to make the lists, plan the parties, and get ready for the big holiday feast. But most of all, it’s time to ditch that canned cranberry sauce for good. No food should look that much like a can or make that disgusting schloop sound when poured into a bowl. I know, I know. It makes you all nostalgic and shit. Listen, I get it. I’ve been working on Brent for years. He prefers the gelatinous, mad sweet canned crap to my homemade cranberry sauce. Somehow we’re still together. 

Slowly, with every holiday that passes, I get him closer to the real thing. It helps that I repeatedly conveniently “forget’ to buy the canned stuff. Real cranberry sauce is not only only ridiculous easy, it can be seasoned a million different ways. This version that graced a Sunday dinner recently was full of cardamom and orange goodness. Other times I hit it with some ginger and lemon then sometimes I go old school and let the cranberries shine all on their own. With local cranberries in full bloom here in Nova Scotia, there’s no reason not to. Do yourself a favour this holiday season and whip up the real thing.  Your guests will thank you. 

Stay tuned all month long for locally inspired recipes to help make your holiday table shine. 

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It’s no big secret I’ve been all over the tacos for some time now. It all started with a bag of masa (corn flour) and the purchase of a tortilla press. Soft, freshly made corn tortillas are a game changer. Suddenly, tacos were no longer the hard shell, artificially seasoned ground beef, shredded iceberg, cheddar cheese tacos of my childhood. I’m talking smoked pulled pork tacos with chipotle lime sour cream and pickled onions, twice cooked pork belly tacos with pico de gallo and avocado, or crane asada tacos with roasted guacamole and pickled jalapeños. The possibilities seem to be endless.

Last week it was pork carnitas tacos with salsa verde and salsa doña. A take on the traditional pork carnitas, this pretty much blew my mind. Simply jam a bunch of ingredients in the slow cooker and bam, perfectly moist, mad flavourful pork carnitas. I love bold flavours and this combo of chipotle, citrus, plus whole coriander and cumin seeds is a legitimate party in your mouth.  We also tried two new salsas: one was a cooked salsa using local tomatillos (yeah I said local) and the other more a puree of roasted garlic and jalapeños that our friend Crowley got us hooked on. Both were awesome and a whole world more flavourful than any bottled salsa. But tacos pretty work with whatever salsa tickles your fancy. If you really want to get in on the taco game, add one or more of the following: shredded cabbage, thinly sliced radish, pickled onions, pickled jalapeños, sour cream, fresh cilantro, cheese, sliced hot peppers, lime wedges, and green onions. Honestly, you can’t really go wrong.  The best part? They’re small enough that you can have many, each one topped exactly how you want. How’s that for customizable dinner. 

Don’t be scared off by the seemingly giant list of instructions. Once that pork is in the slow cooker, you’ll have loads of time to whip up some salsa and corn tortillas. Plus every time you make the tortillas, you get faster and faster until one day out of nowhere you’ll realize you’re a god damn tortilla ninja. 

Though this will serve four, you’re only going to want to serve it for two (remember to halve the tortilla recipe). While it would be nice to have friends over for a taco night and all, you want leftovers. Trust me. How else are you going to #putaneggonit? Simply whip up a few corn tortillas, reheat that pork, then poach or fry up some eggs. Heuvos rancheros just like that.  

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More a dense snacking cake than a bread (what’s up with calling loaf bread anyway?), this pumpkin gingerbread is exactly the warm dessert Fall requires. It’s the kind of cake that fills the house with the spicy aroma of Autumn, the kind that wraps you in a blanket and keeps you warm on those dark, chilly nights, even the kind of cake you’d grab a chunk of and eat for breakfast, powering you through those frosty mornings. Tell me you haven’t dreamt of cake for breakfast. If you’re looking for permission, consider it given. It has loads more nutrients than the average cake so go ahead and live a little. If it makes you feel any better, it is called bread. 

Lightly spiced with subtle molasses undertones, the addition of pumpkin lends both added vitamins plus loads of moisture to this gingerbread. Next time I’m going to rock the real ginger and really take this to the nest level. Best served warm, it’s becomes a whole world more awesome when you smother it in this salted caramel sauce and fresh whipped cream accented with a touch of orange. You could go ahead and make real caramel out of sugar or totally wing it like I do. Welcome to the tree planting way. Oh, did I just enable your caramel addiction? Oops, my bad. The sauce will also thicken once chilled so feel free to wait for it to set and spread it all over that cake like the best frosting evah. Now that I think about it, you’re going to want to double that recipe. The orange cream also brings a brightness to the whole dish but vanilla ice cream would probably kick ass too.

Alright pumpkin, I give up. 

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I’ll be real with you. I didn’t make my own pumpkin puree. While I would always opt for grabbing a local pumpkin, roasting that sucker then pureeing the shit out of it, I realize sometimes you ain’t got time for that. Plus, I’ve recently watched several food documentaries concerning hunger and food insecurity, making me look at food a little differently. While I can easily walk a mere 5 minutes to a market full of local produce, there are communities here in NS that can’t access fresh fruits and vegetables.  Sometimes canned pumpkin is your only option. 

I had envisioned a brunch of pumpkin goodness for some time now and the Smitten Kitchen‘s recipe was the perfect inspiration.  Lightly spiced and crazy moist, these pumpkin waffles were exactly what this chilly fall day needed. With very little sweetness, a drizzle of maple syrup is pretty much a requirement. But you might as well really own brunch and make this maple whiskey sauce. It’s legit. Besides how the hell could whiskey for breakfast ever be bad? 

You do realize, however, that I now have almost an entire can of pumpkin puree in my fridge. Looks like The Great Pumpkin Craze of 2013 has finally hit eathalifax. Wait for it.

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I don’t know about you but I love zucchini. Brent makes a mean veggie burger loaded with the stuff and who doesn’t love a good zucchini bread. Here they are subtly spiced with fresh herbs and spices then fried up all delicious like. Paired with a fresh minty yogurt, they make a mean snack. Or even dinner. Hey who you judging. The best part, it’s totally an eat with your hands kind of thing. 

They’re even great reheated in the oven at 350 til heated through and crisp again. Maybe 10 minutes. I bet they’d even be good cold or in a pita. Thoughts of slapping two into a Boustan inspired pita loaded with pickled turnip, garlic sauce, roasted potatoes, grilled eggplant, and hummus, has me thinking. And by thinking I obviously mean drooling. Looks like I need more zucchini. 

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We got these bad boys from Hutten Family Farm, a fixture at the Historic Brewery Market. This weekend we opted to change up the Saturday morning market routine and instead went back down memory lane at the old market, the original. Honestly, it was a little sad to see it so empty. Well before the Seaport was built, The Brewery Market was slammin’. Always packed and so unique with its maze of a layout. Cool little corridors leading to cool little rooms. All filled with anything you could want. Loads of produce, fish, meat, coffee, bread, herbs, endless food options, and let’s not forget the quintessential market breakfast, the cinnamon roll from Mary’s Bread Basket. Oh yes, we were also there for the cinnamon rolls. Always somehow still warm, these may very well be the best damn cinnamon rolls of all time. Although my girl Georgia’s got some mad cinnamon roll skillz too. Anyway, as always the rolls were incredible. Delicious buttery gooey nostalgia. I admit there were few market visits where I didn’t make a visit to Mary’s and even now every bite brings me back. I’m glad the Brewery Market lives on.

What’s also cool about the Brewery Market now is the number of farm stands and the variety of produce. The Hutten stand alone had so much so choose from like little kinds of eggplant, potatoes, plums, corn, melons (a kind of small yellow watermelon that was ridiculously juicy and delish), onions, greens, peppers, you name it. And, of course, loads of beautiful tomatoes. These tomatoes were destined for a salad as part of a backyard BBQ. We also got some Hutton corn to grill as well as spinach and garlic for the salad from another vendor, Four Seasons Farm. With a visit to our girl Jessi over at Storehouse Butchery, dinner was complete. The all local all delicious Saturday backyard BBQ: steak with blue cheese butter, grilled corn, and cherry tomato salad with maple bacon dressing. Shit yeah. And for once I actually measured something. 

This salad was killer. I swear basil and tomatoes may be one of the best food combos out there. So freakin’ perfect for each other. Plus pairing that with maple and bacon is pretty much a home run. It would also be amazing with lil’ cubes of boccaccini or some goat cheese. Or, if you’re a veggie lovin’ kinda person-I’ll easily eat your share of bacon!-omit the meat. Bam, vegan salad dressing. It’s that easy.

So how easy is it to eat local here in NS? Pretty damn easy I’d say. One visit to a market and you’re set. And doesn’t it just feel right? Like the way things used to be. No million ingredients with chemical names. No factory farmed meat. No traveling millions of miles to get to your plate. Just real food grown by real people. People you can actually meet and form a relationship with. In fact, Sunday, September 16th in Nova Scotia is Open Farm Day. I can’t believe I’m away for this one but it’s your chance to visit one of the numerous farms to meet your farmer and literally learn where your food comes from. Amazing I know. So load those kids into the car (because how important is it in today’s world of convenience foods to teach our kids about real food), pick a farm, and enjoy an awesome day exploring your Nova Scotia.

cherry tomato spinach salad + maple bacon dressing

2013-10-01 22:44:49

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Ingredients

1. 1 pint cherry tomatoes
2. 1 cup spinach
3. handful of basil, the more the better

maple bacon dressing

1. 2 slices of thick cut bacon, cubed
2. 2 cloves garlic
3. 2 tablespoon balsamic vinegar
4. 3 tablespoon maple syrup
5. 3 tablespoon olive oil
6. 2 teaspoon dijon
7. salt and pepper

Instructions

1. To make the dressing, fry up the bacon on low to really render that delicious fat. We used Brother's bacon which I generally love, being so very smokey. However, this time the bacon was-get this-too meaty! A bacon with a bit more fat would have been perfect. (Please note: with a fattier bacon, you could likely use less olive oil.) Add the garlic and saute a few minutes. Feel free to drain off the fat if that's your thing but I simply whisked the remaining ingredients right in the frying pan and seasoned to taste. This dressing is thick and tangy and sweet and salty but, like always, feel free to adjust the ingredients to suit your taste.
2. For the salad, simply chop up that spinach, chiffonade the basil, that's just a fancy word for thinly sliced, halve the cherry tomatoes, and toss with the dressing.

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