Time to Nosh!

What kind of a blogger would I be if I didn't do at least one posting about cooking - especially during Covid quarantining?  I have certainly been doing a lot more cooking and baking than usual - as I know everyone else has. I am super lucky that David likes to cook, too. We alternate nights to cook dinner so that definitely helps.  

I have to say that I have managed to resist the bread-making bug up to this point, but I have tried enough other new things to make up for that. So... here is the recap of my cooking adventures for 2020. 

Back in the early Covid days, in April, I had to abandon plans to take my friend Lily out for a proper tea party for her birthday. Instead, I got a "tried and true" scone recipe from Lilo and decided to make my first ever batch of scones.  They turned out really well and were surprisingly easy.  

I delivered one to each member of my Montréal Mahjong Mavens group and we had a Zoom birthday party to celebrate. 

Later in April, I discovered a group called The Wandering Chew, which offers various cooking classes online. I promptly signed up for the class to make falafel, from scratch!  At the last minute, I realized that using canned chickpeas was not recommended. Fortunately, I was able to borrow some dried chickpeas from my friend Marcy. 

I am amazed at anyone who just happens to have dried chickpeas in their pantry! It is certainly not a staple in my house.  Apparently, the dried ones, soaked overnight, are supposed to be much better. 

Even though I had all the ingredients prepped and measured and ready to go - it was a bit of a challenge to focus on all the instructions while running the food processor, heating the oil,  and catching the on-going questions and answers, all at the same time.  The hardest part was struggling to smush the mixture into the balls. They turned out really tasty. I mean, what doesn’t taste good when fried in oil, right? Overall - it was a fun experience but I think it is more work than necessary - especially when Falafel St. Jacques (local resto) has amazing falafel (and a bazillion other yummy dishes) readily available.

Not to be deterred, the next month I signed up for the cooking class to make rugelach. Rugelach is a filled pastry product originating in the Jewish communities of Poland.  I do not recall ever getting a recipe for rugelach from my mother, so I was curious to try this out. 

It turned out quite well, but again, it was a lot of work, making the dough, rolling it out, filling it up, baking, etc. I used cinnamon and pecans in mine, which was a great combination. There are tons of variations you can try. 

I am sure the chocolate ones are delicious, but, alas, I have eliminated chocolate from my food plan for now.  

Over the summer, my neighborhood collective garden offered many vegetables and plenty of opportunities to try some more experimenting in the kitchen. 

I know that nasturtiums are edible flowers, and they look lovely on a plate or in a salad, but it is a bit of a stretch for me to consider flowers a regular food ingredient.   

When one of my fellow gardeners recommended nasturtium pesto - I decided to give it a try.  The recipe is basically the same as a basil pesto - leaves (and in this case, flowers as well), nuts, oil, and cheese. 

It is a very simple process: mix it all together in a blender... and voila!  You have pesto! 

And here it is cooked up with pasta! And a side dish of roasted sweet potato and purple carrots.  Yup... you read that right...purple carrots! 

During the summer, we went blueberry picking with friends Nigel and Heather. To be honest, I have never been a big fan of blueberries...until I made a blueberry crisp/crumble.  Something about cooked, warm, juicy, melt-in-your-mouth blueberries, topped with oatmeal, butter, and a brown sugar crumbly crispy topping... well - yum!  One word...just sums it up.  I sort of went on a quest to find the perfect crisp/crumb topping.  There are quite a few variations out there to choose from.  Danny provided the best one - with ample portions of sugar and flour... go figure!  

I know that a lot of people add vanilla ice cream on top, but I found this dessert to be absolutely satisfying, fresh out of the oven, without any need for an additional topping.  I should probably avoid trying it with ice cream - or I might not ever go back to eating it plain.    

Fast forward to September, when I decided to try a healthier version of noodle kugel for the Jewish New Year holiday of Rosh Hashanah. Regarding noodle kugel - I do have an awesome recipe for this from my mom, but I have really been trying to watch what I eat, so I went out on a limb to try something new. 

This was an applesauce version that absolutely fit the bill for a lower calorie alternative.  However, just for the record...if I am cooking for company - I will inevitably revert to the decadent, cream cheese-laden version.   

Chanukah came in early December, and with it, another Wandering Chew episode, featuring Ricotta Cheese latkes.  Now, in case you are not aware, a potato is the ultimate standard for a true latke.  But - the adventurous (bored) me thought - "Hey - let's try something different"!  

The recipe was easy enough but it actually tasted more like a pancake than a latke. It was sweet, especially when topped with jam or maple syrup.  There was actually another demonstration for making persimmon jam to go on top of these.  I did try the jam, but I will spare you the ugly details of that epic failure on my part.  

Most importantly, these were fried in oil - so how bad could they be?  

Since Ricotta latkes did not quite hit the spot, I succumbed to the Carrot-Harissa recipe I found next.  Savory and spicy - sounded intriguing.  Harissa paste is a spice I have never used before. It is a Tunisian hot chili pepper paste with spices and herbs such as garlic paste, coriander seeds, cumin, and olive oil. 

This was another interesting experiment in the world of latke variations but I have to admit... both of these latkes left me wanting a good old-fashioned POTATO latke. And there is really no need to choose between sour cream and applesauce - I always use both. Ah...potato latke - there really is no other substitute! 

And trust me... these potato latkes were worth the wait! 

For my birthday in December, I thought it would be fun to make a cheese fondue!  After all, the fondue pot made it all the way to Montréal from Texas, yet we had only used it once to heat up water for coffee, when the power went out.  So we ventured out to the Jean-Talon Market and found some excellent Emmentaler cheese.  

Back home, I started cutting up bread, various vegetables, and some apples and pears for a variety of dippers. I got the fondue pot down, found the alcohol...but I could not find the skewers!    I looked everywhere I could think of but to no avail.  All I can figure is that they were inadvertently tossed out during a hurried unpacking on one of our moves.  Not to worry though!  The neighborhood Quincaillerie (Hardware store), a mere five-minute walk down the street, had us back in business! 

Even though we lost a few of the veggies off the skewers - the fondue was a fun diversion from the regular menu of meals and added a unique treat to my birthday! The bread and apples were the best, IMHO. 

And to wrap up 2020 cooking, I ended the year with another batch of Mandel bread.  I like putting the cinnamon inside the cookies and using different colored sugar sprinkles on the outside.  Sometimes I use blue sprinkles for Chanukah, sometimes red and green for Christmas - and this time - purple, blue and pink - just to be cheerful and to welcome in the New Year! 

I know nothing miraculously changed over night but I feel more positive that 2021 is going to be better than 2020.  If nothing else, 2020 has made me value what I need, take stock of what I think I want and appreciate what I have.  

Here's to the future!