Summer Camp Curry

Getting started on this post isn't easy today...I'm a huge stress mess. Apartment shopping can be so taxing! Which is exactly why I need a day like today, and a dish like this one. I opened up the kitchen doors to let the sunshine in, as well as the soothing sounds of our neighbour's landscaping appliances. I just cranked up Summer Camp's Young, which segued nicely into Small Black's New Chain after. Today was a warm, soothing food kind of day. Hence, curry. This one is super easy:

• 3 or 4 leeks, thinly sliced (only use the lightly coloured "bulb" end)
• one bunch thin asparagus, snapped and cut into thirds
• one can chickpeas, drained and rinsed)
• one can coconut milk
• vegetable oil
• red onion, thinly sliced (optional)
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• 2 tbsp minced ginger
• 1 tbsp turmeric
• 1 tbsp coriander
• Sriracha chili sauce, to taste
• 1 tbsp curry powder
• 1/4 cup brown sugar

To begin, put a few tablespoons of oil (or butter) into a large pan, and add the sugar after it begins to melt. Once the sugar is fully dissolved, add the red onion, garlic, and leeks. Saute them over low heat while you add the rest of the spices.

Put on very low heat and cover, stirring every so often, until they are softening:

At this point, go ahead and throw in the chickpeas and asparagus. Keep it on a low heat and stir frequently.

After your asparagus begins to look nice and bright green and happy, pour in about 3/4 of the can of coconut milk. I used the remaining amount to make myself a drink while I let everything simmer down. Coconut milk + orange juice + Caribbean rum = funny-looking but good-tasting. Keep it on low and simmer it until you can't wait to eat any longer. Enjoy!

Simple Slow Cooker Stew

It's another gloomy grey day here, so I wanted a good southern stew to warm up my mood. I don't use my Crockpot very often, but on a day like today, where I'm planning on getting a lot done around the house, it's a good way to "multitask", aka letting it do all the work. I'm making a sweet potato, white bean, and kale stew.
Here's what's up: Put on Cat Power's You Are Free, and start cooking.

• olive oil
• 2 cloves garlic
• one medium onion
• 1.5 lbs sweet potatoes
• 30 oz cannellini beans
• 3 cups vegetable stock
• 1 tsp minced ginger
• 14.5 oz undrained diced tomatoes
• 1 tsp brown sugar
• 1/2 tsp ground allspice
• 1/4 tsp cumin
• salt and pepper to taste
• 1 bunch chopped greens (I used kale, but you could use collard, mustard, etc)

I added a tablespoon of olive oil to the crockpot, on high heat, and tossed in 2 minced garlic cloves, and one chopped medium-sized yellow onion. Next, I scrubbed up my sweet potatoes and cut them into 1-inch pieces. You can peel them if you like, but I'm partial to the skins.  Put them in the crockpot and also add about 30 oz of cannellini beans (I cheated and used canned beans, I wasn't feeling quick-cooking dried beans). If you also use canned beans, be sure to drain and rinse them well! Then I added 3 cups of water and 2 vegetable bouillon cubes. You could use 3 cups of vegetable broth/stock instead. Add the diced tomatoes with their juice. For seasoning, I threw in the remainder of the above spices. Don't add the greens yet!

Let this cook for about 4-6 hours on low, and get other stuff done. With about 30 minutes left, add your greens. Be patient for a little while longer, then serve it up with some fresh garlic bread! Yum!

Meanwhile, you should probably go ahead and make a really unhealthy and mouthwatering dessert. I'm making some chocolate peanut butter pretzel bars, for which I would appreciate a better and shorter name. Give me your suggestions! These are really easy, especially so since I decided to forgo making my own crust, and went with a no bake option. I switched to Kim Doo Soo's International Sad Hits, Vol. 1: Altaic Language Group for this recipe. Here's what you need:

• an 8"x8" pan
• graham crackers
• 11.5 oz dark chocolate chips
• 3/4 c unsweetened almond milk (you can use regular milk, or soy milk, or whatever)
• 2.5 c chopped peanut butter pretzel sandwiches

THAT'S IT. Seriously. Line your pan with the one layer of graham cracker squares. Taste test a few for good measure. You can see that I got a little creative with the shapes.

Create a bain marie by putting a slighty smaller sauce pan into a larger one that has a few inches of simmering water. Add the chocolate chips to the smaller pan and slowly melt them down. It's probably a good idea to try a few of them first, just to make sure they are delicious enough ;) Whisk in the milk.

Fold in the pretzel sandwich bits, and spread the whole mixture evenly over the graham crackers.

Refrigerate for about 30 minutes. Eat and die of scrumptious overload. It's seriously that easy. (Also, I can't lie, I totally added a tiny dash of ground cayenne pepper to the chocolate as it was melting. I couldn't help myself!) Look at this goodness:

Breakfast with my brother :)

Headed over to Colin's a while ago to make brunch and do some swimming. The cooking bit was particularly delicious:

Here's what we made. First, a potato and fresh veggie hash. Simply saute diced potatoes with onion and garlic, and then add fresh veggies of your choice near the end. We had red pepper and zucchini in ours. Second, poached egg caprese salad. Slice up a tomato, top with a slice of mozzarella, then a poached egg, and cap it off with a fresh basil leaf. Lastly, Dad brought some rum cakes up to us last time he was in the country (he lives in Grand Cayman). They're like little bundt cakes, so I sliced this one (pineapple flavoured) horizontally, and fried it up in some lightly salted butter. Can you say delicious? Put on the CocoRosie station on Pandora for this breakfast.

Southern Breakfast: Eggs n Greens

This is one of my all-time favourite breakfasts. It provides a well-balanced start to the day, and feels healthier than a lot of breakfast choices. Also, it's super easy! :)
Start off by sauteeing some white onion (is good with red, also) and garlic in a little olive oil. (I realize I never give good measurements on ingredients, but that's because I almost never follow a recipe, and I pretty much make one-serving meals, as I'm usually just cooking for myself.) So maybe a quarter of an onion, and one clove of garlic.

Prep your greens (I used a bunch of chard, but I've done this with kale and other greens and it works just as well). The easiest way to cut the greens is by stacking and rolling the leaves, and then cutting them into thin strips:

If you're going to use the stems, which you can with chard, throw them in to saute first, as they'll take a bit longer. Then toss in your greens. I usually add just a splash of white wine or cooking sherry to add a lil something extra. When your greens are almost wilted, push them around to create holes, into which you can crack your eggs. Go ahead and crack the eggs in, and top them off with some cheese (I used goat cheese here, but it's also great with extra sharp cheddar). Let the eggs cook until the whites are cooked through. Don't push anything around, just let the whites cook right into the surrounding greens.

Once the whites set, slide that bad boy onto a plate and get ready to dig in. My preferred way to serve these is with a side of oven-roasted sweet potatoes, done up home fry style. However, this time I just had a side of unsweetened natural apple sauce. Plus a hot cup of coffee and the NYT magazine crossword. A great start to the day.