fridge-cleaning soup...

[full disclosure: i have the flu, so it has taken the better part of a week to put this post together. it is about a pot of soup i made last Sunday, which seems to have been a self-fulfilling prophecy of sorts, as i started getting sick the very next day. so, while i spent the past week mostly mouth-breathing (because i have the use of about half of one nostril at a time), i was able to enjoy many bowls of truly delicious soup.]

every now and then, we put an empty pot on the stove, and proceed to make what is affectionately referred to as 'fridge-cleaning soup'. it is a dish that consists (almost) entirely of bits and pieces leftover from other meals we had recently.

this batch began with some fatty bits and the bone from a prime rib steak.

next came a ham bone. bit of advice: do not buy a ham—even a small one—in a household of just two people, or you will be trying to get rid of the stuff for the next two weeks... or more.

this is a bowl of assorted veggies that i chopped the night before. it was magical to be able to see the bottom of the veggie bins again. the bowl contains vidalia onion, celery, carrots, garlic, ginger, culantro, mushroom (two types), and some sort of pumpkin-like squash

in it all goes.

while the veggies were sauteing, i went searching through the fridge for anything we may have missed... like the cherry tomatoes from when we cut up more than was needed to make a salad.

there was also the bowl of chopped cabbage from a recent stir-fry when i decided at the last minute to skip the cabbage (because there was already too much stuff in the wok).

and the last of the string beans sauteed with sweet pepper and vidalia onion.

i added a handful of lentils and about two handfuls of barley, both for bulk and because the starch adds some much-needed body to the the soup.

next came some herbs. a few bay leaves and some thyme.

i added some salt and pepper, and a healthy dash of Vegeta—which is just possibly Croatia's greatest contribution to humanity. i poured in enough water to cover everything. this is when i remembered that there was a bit of rosemary left over from some other meal. it was beginning to dry out a bit, but it was still usable. in you go too, rosemary.

there was still quite a bit of the ham, so i chopped some of that meat and added it to the pot.

then i stood in front of the opened fridge, contemplating if there was anything else i could toss into the pot. this is when i remembered the chunk of Parmesan rind in the cheese bin.

there will be no rind left behind on my watch!

that chunk of Parmesan is an absolute game-changer for this soup. the whole thing was brought up to a slow boil, then left covered at a slow simmer for the next couple hours (or so). this is where the parma magic happened.

every so often, i would uncover the pot and give the whole thing a a good stir. the block of Parmesan slowly melted and became incorporated into the background of the soup. the combination of that cheesy goodness and the starch from the grains worked together to create a soup that is rich and creamy. so good!

now, i could have stopped at this point, but i had two last additions which had been set aside to be added during the last fifteen minutes (or so) of cooking time. first there was the sweet potato that was meant to be cooked with some other meal two... or maybe three... weeks ago.

this was peeled....

and cut into roughly bite-size pieces to be added to the soup.

i took this opportunity to fish out all the inedible bits from the pot. bye bye, thyme stems...

and bay leaves...

and flavor-filled ham bone.

i removed the chunk of meat from the beef rib before also saying goodbye to the bone.

now came the absolute last ingredient, a bit of bok choy.

a few quick chops, and in it goes.

ten-to-fifteen minutes later, and we have a really fantastic pot of soup.

i should point out that this is not your typical few noodles floating in a bowl of watery stock type of soup. this is a deeply-satisfying meal in a bowl.

there is only one thing that could possibly make this any better. a crunchy, freshly-baked baguette. Canada may be ridiculously cold, but it is nice having a French bakery just a few doors away.

i could not wait to take the first dip.

i could hear my antihistamines calling to me, but i could not resist.

so insanely good!

me: this is the best fridge-cleaning soup yet.
him: you say that every time.
me: i know... but this one really is the best.

we may have followed up said meal with some pastry, also from the French bakery.

these tarts consist of a sheet of croissant dough with fruity toppings. the lamination in that dough alone would definitely warrant a Paul Hollywood handshake.

so, while i have had a mostly miserable week, i am happy to say that it started out in the most amazing way possible.

i resolve nothing...

i am having a late breakfast of oatmeal and a very-large, very-strong mug of coffee. every now i then, i cast a eye over the mostly-frosted-over balcony windows... then i sigh. it is mid-Winter in Montreal, and it is so very incredibly cold.

we were sat in traffic late yesterday afternoon, listening to CBC Radio (think NPR... with Canadian accents), when the program paused briefly for a weather update. it went a little something like this...

voice on the radio: it is currently -16° (3°F), feeling like -25° (-13°F). it will go down to approximately -25° overnight, with the feels-like temperature hovering around -38° (-36°F), and temperatures will remain low throughout the weekend.

then we just looked at each other. i am pretty certain that he could tell from my expression just what was going through my mind at that moment. "what the hell am i doing in Canada?"

there is one tiny point of beauty in all of this gloom. i am absolutely fascinated by the frost patterns that form on every bit of glass when it gets to be this cold. the bottom edge of the car window looks like a line of pine trees in a watercolor painting.

i was (almost) inspired to pull out my box of painting supplies when i got home. then i made the mistake of looking at the bedroom window. if you squint a bit, you can see a swarm of dragonflies in flight. so beautiful. so cold.

so, that is where we are at present. i have zero plans of going outdoor anytime soon. mostly, i will be tucked up under a blanket on my favorite sofa, sipping hot beverages, catching up on a few YouTube podcasts, with a cat or two keeping me company. the third cat may stop by for a brief visit, but she mostly hangs out in the studio where she can be close to him. i am not the least bit jealous. nope. not a bit.

speaking of YouTube...

i spent December mostly avoiding my usual lineup of fiber-crafting podcasts/blogs, so i was eager to return to watching them come the start of the new year. unfortunately, i have discovered that there is something worse than Christmas cheer... New Year optimism.

we are at that uncomfortable—for me—time of the year when people cannot stop themselves from speaking enthusiastically about all the problems in their lives they plan to solve and all of the bad habits they will break... "for sure this time"... over the course of the year. it is like being cornered by someone who wants to tell you about how they 'found faith' or how their life is about to be changed by some new self-help book they just started reading.

naturally, this sort of thing is like torture to my brand of stoic-cynicism, so i will spare all three-and-a-half of you reading this any such nonsense coming from me.

it is a new year—a new decade, even— and i resolve... nothing.

life is too short to go around adding even more layers of guilt/stress to one's daily existence. should i decide on some random day—maybe in April—to make some major change in my life, then i will be sure to share that pivotal decision with the rest of the world... all three-and-a-half of you, that is. until then, i will stick to my ongoing objective in life of trying to stay (relatively) sane in an increasingly lunatic world. that is as much of a challenge as i can handle most days.

it is now almost two in the afternoon. i crawled out from under my blanket just long enough to go from room-to-room, turning up the heat as i went. there is snow in the forecast and the temperature is going to plummet again. sigh! 

new tradition...

despite all of the technology at my disposal, i still prefer to check the current weather conditions by staring out of the nearest window. if i can see the hospital a block and a half away, then i know that the sky is mostly-to-completely clear. if, however, like today i can only see the chimney of the building next to ours, then i know that something is going down. in this case, lots of snow.

this seemed like a good time to make pancakes. [they are made from oat flour (totally wheat-free), so i did not have to follow up this meal with a handful of antihistamines.]

i can say with zero exaggeration that i have been dreaming about eating pancakes for the past week or so. those dreams were mostly the fevered kind that tend to accompany mid-Winter ailments... which brings me to the point of this thing.

there seems to be a disturbing trend developing around here where our ringing in of the New Year is concerned. as i have probably noted in the past, i really could not care less about Christmas. but New Year's...? that is our most-anticipated mid-Winter celebration.

for as long as we have known each other—even during the years when we were separated by an international border—we always made a point of spending every New Year's Eve together. and we made it our tradition to share a special meal as midnight approached. whether we decided to splurge and go out, or to stay at home and make something wholly ridiculous, the point was that we were always together.

that part has not changed, but what has is the new tradition that has ruined our second New Year's Eve in a row. you guessed it... the common cold/flu. this time around was nothing compared to the utter nightmare of the previous year's flu season, which left most of the people we know absolutely drained until Winter was finally done. however, it still sucks to have your plans cancelled on account of saboteur germs.

worst part was that i did not technically get sick until after New Year. what i did manage to do before that point was to pull a muscle in my back, which left me in excruciating pain for a few days, while he—who was already sick—had to tend to us both.

it was equal parts hilarious and sad.

the best bit was probably when we decided on the day before New Year's Eve to drive to the big Asian grocery store on the other side of town... in the middle of a snowstorm and what the weather person on the radio was describing as brutal, hazardous conditions... to pick up any last minute fixings we may need for our special meal.

luckily, Canadians tend to be good at driving in terrible Winter conditions—plus there were very few other idiots who were stupid enough to venture out unnecessarily—so we managed to get back in one piece. i have a vague recollection of us putting away the 'refrigeration necessary' items, and the rest of it remained on the floor in the grocery bags for the next several days.

my back was starting to feel less-painful around this point... which is when the germs decided to kick in. we made a beeline for the blankets, and i have little-to-no recollection of anything that happened over the next few days. i am fairly certain that he tapped me on the shoulder at some point to wish me a happy New Year... then we both fell right back into the feverish embrace of cold-and-flu germs. our tradition was once again foiled!

we had planned to cook a duck, which—interestingly enough— was the same thing we planned to cook last time around. that first duck ended up sitting in the back of the freezer until mid-February, when we stopped hacking and coughing long enough to be able to enjoy the thing.

we had a completely different treatment planned for this year's duck, but it too will have to wait until the germs have fully run their course. he is mostly better, and judging by my having enough appetite and energy to manage pancakes, i seem to be on the mend. we should be able to celebrate New Year's Eve... any day now.

me: maybe this could be our new tradition. every year we can buy a duck... then we get sick and stick it in the freezer.
him: i thought traditions were supposed to be fun.
me: not around here. 

happy New Year, folks!

immersive apple experience: apple-turducken...

[full disclosure: i wrote this roughly two three weeks ago... then we had a week-long plumbing emergency that left me swallowing painkillers in rapid succession to keep my head from exploding. trust me when i say that there are few things in life as joyous as a migraine that lasts multiple days. good times. said crisis was eventually rectified, and i have (almost) finished recovering from the stress of the thing, so this seems like the perfect time to wrap up my talk about our seasonal obsession with apples. oh, and further full disclosure: the lighting in my kitchen is extra-sucky once we run out of daylight, which happens shortly after four in the afternoon at this time of year. if anyone ever suggests that you move to Canada... start running away!]

in our last episode, i turned most of the assortment of apples into a tasty crumble, but the best bit was still to come. what could possibly be tastier than a toasty apple crumble, you ask? apple crumble cake, i respond.

everything is better with cake.

this dessert is the best of both worlds, and it offers a fantastic voyage of appley (appleish?) goodness for all. as the name implies, it is the fusion of a cake (which everybody loves) and a crumble (which is basically a crustless pie... which everybody also loves). basically, this is the apple-turducken the world has been waiting for.

as the name also implies, the setup for this one involved a few more steps than when i made the crumble (see previous post). i reserved half an apple from each variety (plus half a pear) for this one...

and i am using this recipe (with a few tweaks, see below) as my starting point.

the fruit was cut into slightly-smaller pieces this time around, and the remaining ingredients were assembled. [random aside: this is—just possibly—the part of cooking/baking i like best. it is meditative to chop, measure, and arrange all of the necessary bits in preparation for making something wonderful. my brand of OCD delights in this part of things.]

there are multiple parts to this recipe, so i sorted the ingredients accordingly.

1. yogurt (because i had no sour cream on hand)
2. dry ingredients for cake base 
3. fruit with sugar, ginger, lemon juice, and cornstarch
4. butter, sugar, and ginger for cake base
5. dry ingredients for crumble topping

i made the following tweaks:

• added salt to #2 & #5, and a pinch to the fruit in #3
• added a bit of cornstarch to fruit in #3
• added grated fresh ginger and lemon zest to #3 & #4
• added (dry) ground ginger & freshly-grated nutmeg to #2 &#5
• added chopped walnuts to #2 & #5
• sprinkled a handful of dried cranberries over the fruit topping during cake assembly
• used less sugar in each component, because we prefer desserty things slightly-less sweet
• skipped the caramel and icing sugar at the end, for the same reason

each component of this cake needs to be prepped separately before being layered in the baking pan. i first combined the contents of the fruit bowl, then i did the same for the crumble topping.

next, the contents of the butter bowl got creamed together to start the cake batter.

this is when i remembered the eggs which had been left sitting elsewhere on the counter to come to room temperature.

they went into the butter mixture.

this is very simple cake mixture, so fancy mixing equipment is not necessary. a rubber spatula was
my only tool.

the recipe specifies to add the dry cake ingredients in thirds, alternated with the sour cream (yogurt), mixing after each addition. so, first came some flour mixture...

then half the yogurt...

and i continued on in that fashion, ending with the last third of the flour mixture. the batter should be a relatively thick one, as it has to be able to support the fruit and the crumble topping.

with the fruit, batter, and topping mixtures ready to go, finally, i began to assemble the cake.

into a greased springform pan...

went the cake batter, spreading to distribute evenly...

and it was topped with the fruit mixture.

i sprinkled over a handful of cranberries, because i can.

and the whole thing was covered with the crumble mixture.

just in time too, as the crumble from the previous post was ready to come out of the oven at this point.

after a short stay in the oven, the cake was ready to go. imagine my dismay as i stood there in the kitchen trying to decide which appley treat we should try first.

i love a good crumble, but cake always wins!!!

the best bits were along the outer edges where the fruit caramelized a bit. it was a thing of pure joy.

the whole cake disappeared in two days. luckily, it was covered in fruit, so it was practically a health food. makes perfect sense, no?

the end.