Hot and Sweet Pepper Confit - Toast Topper #46

It's definitely a toss-up in our family as to what we love more from the Summer garden - our wide assortment of tomatoes (heirloom to conventional, beefsteak to cherry!) or our equally diverse range of peppers! We have the tongue-searing Thai and Scotch Bonnets for the fire-eaters in the family, middle-range hot cherry and Hungarian wax for the majority of our cooking and the mild sweet cherry and bells for tempering the flames of all the others! A good portion of the medium and mild peppers (especially the "cherry" varieties) are claimed by my stepdad for his Spicy Italian Peppers in Sauce, but when there are more cropping up on the plants than he can handle, I get into the kitchen too.

Personally, I'm a bigger fan of spicy than sweet peppers, especially pickled ones - but for the grilling season it's nice to have something unique to go with the usual fare. Confit is perfect because, unlike pickles, it's not sour (which can conflict with certain marinades) and it is a great addition to not only sandwiches but grain- or potato-based salads, grilled pizza and things like grilled fish. I took the idea of a pepper confit from Martha Stewart, but had to make it my own - not only with the pepper choices but by swapping in a locally-grown onion for the shallots. Rather than relying on a low and slow oil simmer for the "melt-in-your-mouth" texture, this Toast Topper cooks in a luscious Sauvignon Blanc bath, soaking up all that delicious flavour. In fact, the finished confit would be at home at a fancy dinner party, paired with those garden tomatoes on a few pieces of baguette!

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Fancy British "Pub Sauce"

Well, now that BBQ season is officially underway, it seems like everyone is itching for the best new burger recipe, cooking method, marinade or sauce. Funny enough, even when I did eat meat, I hated stuff "grilled" (AKA charred) on our backyard 'que. In fact, the only grilled stuff I ate willingly were hot dogs and foil-wrapped pizza pockets made on our rickety old mini-grill on the back of our sailboat. Over the years my mom pretty much gave up the grilling ghost, but my dad seems to have honed his skills and now makes to-die-for potatoes, corn, steaks and even pizza in his propane contraption, not to mention non-blackened steaks and even melt-in-your-mouth fish.

Regardless of your personal preference when it comes to grilled fare, it never hurts to have a killer sauce alongside it. The right condiment can elevate even the cheapest cut of meat and enhance vegetables from the traditional portabella cap to tofu, slabs of sweet potatoes, romaine hearts and eggplant steaks. Over the summer months, I go through far more BBQ and "steak" sauce than I care to admit to!

My love for the thick, dark condiment is what piqued my interest in creating my own. Last year at the end of BBQ season, I found this recipe in Chatelaine, and saved it to ring in the new year's summer menu. I finally got around to cracking open my jar, and let me tell you it is better than any fancy-schmancy, $10 a bottle gourmet sauce, and you get a lot more bang for your buck than with the finishing "drizzles" you get at high-end steakhouses. Not only that, but the blend of vinegars, port and Worcestershire is heavenly on all sorts of vegetables (grilled, roasted or sauteed), French fries, fish (battered, breaded or plain-jane grilled) and can even add that je ne sais quoi to steamed rice, pasta salads and savoury baked beans.

Tropical Teacake - a #RecipeRedux

I was excited when I saw the theme for this month's #RecipeRedux event - cooking with tea! Our pantry has one of the most packed tea shelves I've ever seen - from run of the mill Orange Pekoe to imported green, flavoured white, green and black looseleaf and an array of herbal selections too. Rather than being hoarders, our household simply drinks a lot of it - at least 2 cups per person daily, if not more - and I (being the foodie) also like to cook and bake with it. Recently I discovered the allure of cooking brown rice in genmaicha - the resulting nutty, "popcorn" flavour is unmatched! Then today I spotted this gem on Rachael Ray, which I would totally be making if I a) ate meat and b) wasn't terrified of frying!

My favourite things to make with tea, though, are still of the baked variety.  From cookies (including biscotti) to cake and even bagels, I'm game to try it in almost anything. That said, it's hard to overly improve on something as fabulous as the Rich Tea Cake from The Vegan Baker, but a variation doesn't have to mean improvement - simply a difference! With a change of tea as my inspiration, I took the loaf-cake to the tropics - packing it with candied ginger, apricots, macadamia nuts, dates, cranberries, almonds, pumpkin seeds and raisins. Without any refined flour or sugar, the vegan recipe is really able to stand on its own flavour-wise and each element is distinct while still part of the larger whole. It's a perfect snack to have with, well, tea - any time of day. For our family this found a spot on the plate after spicy sandwiches, soup or grilled burgers (with or without a scoop of frozen yoghurt for good measure).

An InLinkz Link-up

Potato - Herb Waffles

You may have noticed that a bunch of my #SundaySupper pals are raving about potatoes today. Specifically, the gang is participating in a potato salad roundup courtesy of the Idaho Potato Commission. I don't live in Idaho - or even in the USA - but I do love our native spuds from PEI and wanted to share one of my own favourite potato recipes now that our herb garden is cropping up again!

I actually brought this recipe into the classroom for Shrove Tuesday / St. Patrick's Day back in March, but since then we've made it a to-die-for special dinner side. Not only is it relatively cheap (come on - potatoes, flour, eggs and milk?) but when cooked to crispy perfection they taste like gourmet French fries. In fact, just by sticking my head out into the backyard, I'm able to get all the greenery I need to add my herbaceous flair: chives, thyme, green onions and parsley all add colour and pops of flavour. I'd love to try this with truffle oil or horseradish too.

Now, just because this recipe makes a ton of waffles doesn't mean you should pass it up - not only does it halve beautifully, but cooked waffles can be frozen on sheet trays, packed into plastic zip-top bags and stored for over a month. Simply pop a couple in the toaster (a la Eggo) and *poof* - an instant dinner side (or savoury breakfast - try it topped with maple syrup and bacon, or molasses baked beans!).

Dark Spice Cake

The end of the school year (and consequently, my school year) is in sight! Tomorrow I write the first half of my final exam (fingers crossed my internet holds out), and the whole shebang takes it's final bow with my practical the first weekend of June. I still haven't secured long-term, paying employment (a familiar theme here) but I know there's a volunteer slot for me where I'm completing my co-op so at least I won't be twiddling my thumbs all day.

As bitter as leaving my school friends and the relative security of "student life" is, I am exceedingly happy to be free of the stress of practical tests, scrambling to assemble school albums (some with over 500 pages) and the humdrum of spending each and every Saturday sitting in a tiny chair at a tiny table. As a last hurrah for our class, I brought in cake - after all, it is a celebration of year end. Rich, moist and spicy, I also made it gluten free and vegan so that everyone could have a piece (speaking from experience, nobody likes being left out of the party). Having to transport it, I skipped any sort of topping or adornment, but there was fruit alongside (and cheese too) and it made for a perfect mid-morning break. I wrapped the leftovers for my gluten-free friend to take home too - nothing is sweeter than sharing in my opinion!

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