Foodbuzz 24, 24, 24: Foraged Food Feast

We are lucky enough here in central Ontario to be surrounded by the ultimate in wild foods. Fiddleheads, wild leeks and morels are all native to the area and are easily found if you're willing to put in a little time and effort for the search. Personally, I am totally willing!

This is my first year going out on "forage" and I am totally in love with it. There is something so fulfilling about spending an hour of my day picking the food that I will use for supper that night. My hope was that all three of the mighty edible trilogy of leeks, fiddleheads and morels would be available in time for this post but, you can't rush mother nature, and so we'll have to do without morels. Never fear though, I promise to write another post when they become available.

Saturday afternoon SeaBass and I headed out to the magical neighbourhood forest, grower of all things yummy. Interestingly I seem to be the only one aware of the goodness to be found amongst the trees. Not that I'm complaining...I've taken a rather proprietary stance on the forest in fact.

We headed for an open patch of fiddleheads first and sifted through the layers of leaves to find the tiny, unfurled baby ferns.

 This is what you're looking for in a fiddlehead; tightly furled with a nice stem and a bright green colour. When it comes time to cook them you will brush away any brown fuzz first before doing anything else.

My friendly neighbourhood forest is absolutely blanketed in wild leeks right now. I hop from patch to patch picking a few from each one so that I don't overpick any one area. Just starting to blossom now, and popping up in amongst the fields of leeks are Ontario's official flower, the Trillium. My sources tell me that when the trilliums are in full bloom, the morels will be ready. Unfortunately we have a little ways to go, only about 20 percent of the trilliums have blossomed so far.

We also spent time on Saturday collecting edible trout lilies. Their tender leaves, shoots and flowers are wonderful on their own or in salad. 

After a peaceful afternoon wandering the forest, I laid our bounty out on the table and came up with some plans for our Foraged Feast. 

 The most important thing to me was showcasing the each wild food on it's own, prepared as simply as possible and then including each ingredient in a larger, more elaborate dish.

The trout lilies are so delicate, with a sweet, fresh sweet pea like flavour that I chose to leave them raw and whole and simply dress them to serve as a salad.

With dandelions we collected I made a cream of dandelion soup topped with raw dandelion flowers and dandelion flower fritters. 

The dandelion greens gave the soup a nice bitterness that was balanced by the cream and the slight sweetness of the fritter.

I love the combination of fiddleheads and wild leeks together. I made a light tart with the two. 

While the tart was good (I think SeaBass ate half of it) I have to say that when it comes to wild foods, I really prefer to eat them as simply as possible and without a lot of other ingredients.

Except for pesto.

I have an obsession with leek pesto.

I'm looking in to a 12 step program to help me but in the meantime, I just keep eating pesto. Our guests are lucky I shared any on Saturday. It was not easy seeing my pesto on another's plate!

Back to simplicity.

I sauteed fiddleheads and leeks together, loving the garlicky flavour the leeks lend to the fiddleheads and the slight asparagus note lent to the leeks.

The sauteed veggies accompanied the main course, quail in cream and more wild leeks.

This was a great combination. The rich meat of the quail soaked up the flavours of butter, cream and the strong onion and garlic of the leeks. The leeks cooked down into the quail and into every level of the dish. We couldn't stop eating the yummy little birds. They were the perfect end note for the meal.

Spring is an amazing time of the year. It feels to me like mother nature might be apologizing for the harsh winter. Maybe she's celebrating everything coming back to life. Whatever the reason, I am so glad that I have woken up to all the amazing things around me. 

I've never eaten so well before, or taken so much pleasure in knowing that I have seen my food ripen from a seedling in the snow covered ground to a delicious ingredient on my plate.

nine months and one day (267 days)

I visited the cemetery this morning. It's not something I do often, in fact this was the first time I've gone since last fall. I don't feel a connection to that patch of ground with my Mother's name on a slab. But this morning I was driving past the grounds and at the last second I found myself heading past the gates and towards Mom.

I thought I would just stop for a moment, take a look and make sure everything was okay, maybe say an obligatory prayer over Her grave. Instead I suddenly found myself sitting on the ground beside Her and carrying on a conversation. I found myself telling my mother all the things I miss without Her in my life. I found myself completely overwhelmed.

When I talk to Her as I go about my day (and I do, all the time) I feel Her still as a force in my life. I feel Her having influence and strength. In the cemetery I felt only the loss of Her. I felt all the things that are missing and that I will never find again.

Maybe the point is only that I still feel her, no matter where I am. Or where she is?Maybe the catharsis of the cemetery is helpful. Maybe it will help me heal?

I don't know.

I still don't know much of anything nine months later.

These days I'm doing a lot of thinking. A lot more thinking, worrying, questioning about my mother, her life, her loss, her legacy than I am engaging in emotional outbursts or bouts of melancholy. 

To have lost such a strong influence in my life - the strongest influence in my life - has left me questioning everything about myself. I think about how much I want to be like my Mother, everyone's angel; committed to everyone's needs, the consummate parent, the kind soul, the teacher. And then I remind myself that in the end She may have given so much of Herself to everyone else that She had nothing left to sustain Herself and because of that we all lost Her far too early. I wonder if I can strike a balance. I question my choices. I worry over my weaknesses. 

I feel trapped by all the thinking.

And at the end of every day I know that if I just had my mother to talk to, she would guide me to find my own path, my own answers. 

I still don't know how to do this without her.

two words: wild leeks.

After a week consisting of a horrendous stomach flu, followed by a tremendous head cold; both of which left me so lacking in appetite that even No Reservations could not entice my taste buds to salivate - I am finally back in the land of the food obsessed.

One thing kept me going, kept me hoping every day that I would wake up with a growly stomach once more.

Leeks.

Yes, my wild leeks are ready. My secret location is filled with patches of vibrant green shoots sending up wafts of oniony goodness.

The only thing I've eaten since my recovery is leeks. SeaBass keeps complaining that I smell but I insist that it's helping my sinuses.

Leek pesto, leek and potato soup, sauteed leeks.

Did I mention the leek pesto? I've made huge batches of it three times already.

Maybe SeaBass has a point about the smell? I can't tell. My nose is still stuffy from the cold.

If you get your hands on any wild leeks do yourself a favour and make a simple pesto. Eat it like a dip, use it as a pasta sauce, top a pizza with it.

Wild Leek Pesto

leeks

whipping cream

toasted pine nuts

olive oil

parmiggiano reggiano

I'm not going to give you any proportions here because it really depends on how strong your leeks are and if you want a milder or more oniony pesto.

Tip: When I used the pesto as a pasta sauce, I blended in some sun dried tomatoes to add a touch of mild sweetness to the sauce.

oh glorious food foraging find...and a little something for those of you who like it dirty

I know I have been a neglectful blogger these last several days. And I apologize.

I have in fact eaten more than one meal and have neglected to take photos or post. Again I apologize.

However, in my defense, I will say that I did intend to post photos and dutifully recount the experience. Unfortunately all the food went mysteriously missing before I could complete my mission.

Ironically, I think I may have put on a few pounds since last I spoke to you. Weird.

I would like to tell you (minus photographic evidence) about the pho I made this weekend. We are lacking pho in these parts and I had a craving. So, totally unwilling to say "no" to my belly I embarked on my first ever adventure in pho.

After some in depth interweb-y research (read: drooling as I sifted through multiple recipes and made a random determination based on gut instinct. No really, I use the stomach growling effects as an effective measure of the impressiveness of a recipe.) I used Jaden from Steamy Kitchen's recipe.

It was well touted as the best home made pho recipe to be found. Seeing as how I haven't tried any other recipes I can't say whether it's the best, but I can say it more than satisfied my craving. It surpassed many a restaurant pho. It was beefy but light and clean. I left in the silky marrow from my soup bones and slurped every last bit of it with mouthfuls of just cooked, thin sliced steak and the typical accoutrements.

I will be making it again very, very soon.

Next time I promise not to gobble before snapping pics.

What does any of this have to do with the title of this post?

Nothing. I just wanted to share. And apologize.

Now on to more post related babbly bits.

Since the snow has melted 'round here I've been on the lookout.

I've been looking for wild leeks.

I was told that the forest near my house was of a magical sort, full of foraging goodness.

I've been searching and searching, with no sign.

I started to think I was crazy, started to think I imagined being told of the magic amongst the trees. Started to think some bastard had lied to me.

And then today. Glorious, wondrous today! There they were suddenly.

Tiny, tightly furled green heads poking up from amongst the heavy layer of discarded leaves that make up the forest floor.

I was overwhelmed by garlicky, oniony goodness just brushing aside the leaves and debris.

And they weren't just in one spot. I was picking them out everywhere.

Isolated patches of them

Larger swathes of them

Yummy, delicious, once a year, limited time offer wild leeks. Just waiting for me to pluck them from their soil beds and give their lives meaning (at least that's how I choose to think of it.)

Can you tell that I'm excited?

Seriously, since the snow has melted I've been out there in that damn forest, poking about, searching in vain for signs of these guys. And I got 'em. Hooray for me!

And now let's talk about what else my daily trips to the forest have gotten me.

This

And this

And still more of this

The dogs have decided that mud puddles are, like, THE best things ever (or at least two of them have. Sugar and I prefer to tiptoe around giant piles of squishy gooeyness. 'Cause we're classy...and lady like.)

They take such joy in it though, it's hard to do anything but smile.

Especially when I can't stop thinking about wild veg....until I get home and it's time to get them clean (which must be done so we can get dirty again tomorrow!)

i love stock, stocky, stock, stock (brown chicken stock recipe)

I'm amazed by two things when it comes to stock.

1: How long it took me to realize I was throwing away money buying it every week.

2: How much stock I actually go through.

It seems like lately I've been using stock for everything. I think it has something to do with the cold weather. Lots of soups and stews and heavier sauces equals lots of stock...and wine, lots of cooking with wine.

Also (much to my amazement) my father loves my gravy! He even demands I make it for his terrible Newfie dinners. This is an incredible evolution for a man who previously only enjoyed gravy made from some mysterious brown powdered base that he gets in unlabeled containers from a friend. Supposedly the friend supplies restaurants with this mysterious stuff.

I'll stick with home cooking and gravies made from ingredients I can identify thank you very much.

I find myself making stock once every week or two right now. It's so easy to do, makes a huge flavour difference over store bought stuff and, in the case of chicken stock, it means I get to eat yummy roast chicken often.

 Have I mentioned that chicken is also a new thing with me? Never liked it before.

Chicken cravings are the new pork cravings. Except not really 'cause the pork cravings won't stop but they have agreed to share the spotlight. For now.

So, as promised, here's how I make my chicken stock from beginning to end.

Brown Chicken Stock

"Brown" stock is different from any other chicken stock only because the bones of the carcass are roasted before the stock is simmered.

1 whole chicken (4-5 lbs)

3 carrots roughly chopped

1 large onion quartered

4 celery stalks roughly chopped

2-3 cloves garlic whole (no need to peel)

1/4 cup olive oil

2-3 sprigs fresh thyme

small bunch fresh parsley stems

1 bay leaf

1 tbsp. fresh black peppercorns

water

In order to not be wasteful (and because I like roast chicken dammit) I buy a whole chicken and prepare it roasted.

For the roast:

Heat oven to 450 degrees.

layer bottom or roasting pan with 2 of the carrots, onion, 2 celery stalks and the garlic.

Toss the vegetables with the olive oil.

Lay your chicken (prepared as you prefer) on top of the veggies.

Place in oven.

Cook at 450 for 15 mins.

Reduce heat (without removing chicken) to 350 degrees and continue to roast for 45 mins or until juices run clear.

Save the carrot, onion, celery, garlic for the stock.

Stock:

Save any leftover bits of fat, meat from the carcass.

Cut the bones of the carcass into manageable 1-2 inch sized pieces.

In a large stockpot heat 1 tbsp. olive oil

When oil is hot add bones and roast on all sides until well browned.

Add one cup water and deglaze pot, removing any bits stuck to the bottom.

Add vegetables from roast.

Optional: Add another fresh carrot, celery, onion.

Fill pot with water to cover ingredients.

Bring to a boil.

Remove any scum that forms on surface.

Add herbs and peppercorns.

Reduce heat to simmer.

Partially cover and simmer for up to three hours.

Let cool and strain.

Pour stock into jars.

Keep in refrigerator up to a week or freezer up to three months.

That's it, that's all. You can a yummy meal, the basics for some more yummy meals and the pleasure of knowing that you really got the best out of the aromatic vegetables sacrificed for their aroma-ness. 

You can't really ask more from a carrot than being roasted and then further cooked to a pulp!

Roscoff Onions (and a soup)

Last week I found some interesting looking onions at the grocery store.

A beautiful skin of pink/purple with an overlay of thin, crackly peel and a smell of mildly sweet oniony goodness.

I had to try them.

I happily noted that they were locally grown and I was further intrigued when I read the label and found that the seeds had been gathered from France to grow back here at home.

When I got home I did some googling and discovered that I was in the presence of greatness. Turns out pink French onions are the stuff of legends - or at least a well documented history.

The onions were originally grown in the town of Roscoff in the Breton region of France. The French farmers took their tasty harvest across the waters to England where they were sold door to door in braided bunches by bicycling Frenchmen who became known as Onion Johnnies.

Man I wish I was European. I totally want my onions brought to my door by a beret wearing, stripe shirt clad Frenchman.

But I'll take them as I can.

I broke into the onions and discovered a firm flesh with light onion scent and, miracle of miracles, a total lack of tears running from my poor, sensitive eyes. 

Apparently they're known for this trait - I love them even more!

So after all the onion research, appreciation and some taste testing I had to decide what to make with them.

And that only took me about half the day.

I am nothing if not decisive.

When I have an ingredient I haven't tried before I always want to cook the simplest thing so I can really taste the ingredient.

I was going to do a raw prep, then I was going to simply saute, then carmelize, then confit, then make a tart...

Finally I settled on French onion soup. Not the most creative choice, but it seemed fitting given the onion's origins.

I wanted to make a really light version of the soup to compliment the delicacy of the Roscoff onion so I switched up my typical recipe to alighter version. 

Roscoff Onion Soup

1 tbsp butter

1 tbsp olive oil

3 lbs Roscoff pink onions sliced thin

1 tsp sugar

3 tbsp flour

1/2 cup white wine

6 cups chicken stock

3 tbsp cognac

thick baguette slices

gruyere cheese grated

Melt butter with oil in large saucepan.

When butter has totally melted and stopped foaming add onion slices.

Cover saucepan and cook onions for 15 minutes.

Uncover pan.

Raise heat to medium and add sugar.

Stir together and continue to cook onions uncovered until they reach a deep colour (approx 30 mins.)

Stir in flour and allow flour to cook for a couple of minutes (this removes the raw taste of flour.

Add white wine and allow to evaporate and deglaze the pan.

Add stock.

Turn heat to low and allow to simmer for up to two hours.

Just before serving add cognac.

Place baguette slice in bottom of oven safe soup bowl and grate cheese over top.

Pour soup over top bread and cheese.

Place bowls under broiler and allow cheese to melt.

Serve.

Typically I make my French onion soup with a mix of onions, garlic and a lot of chili flakes to give it some kick. I also use beef broth which makes for a more robust soup but I really wanted to keep this light and highlight the onions. 

This soup was so delicate and sweet. I was very pleased with the results and I hope you are too!

you know you love me....right? huh? anyone?

So, time for me to plead my faithful raiders to head on over to Chef it Yourself and vote for your favourite edible flower post. 

Meaning mine. 

Meaning I am an insecure little blogger. Please, please love me and vote for me!) 

But mostly just take a look at the posts and vote wisely.

Meaning for me.

Or not. 

Whichever.

I love you readers!

chef it yourself top chef challenge: edible flowers, shallots and beef

For the last three months I've been promising Anamaris of Chef it Yourself that I would participate in her Top Chef challenge.

This month I finally got my s*@t together in time to do it.

Each month Anamaris names a couple of "mystery" ingredients to base a meal around. This month it was edible flowers, choice of lamb, pork or beef and shallots.

Do I seem calm about it?

I totally shouldn't because the words "edible flowers" completely scared the bejezus outta me.

For a while I wasn't even sure I could get my hands on any flowers. I mean, yeah we're seeing some signs of early spring around here but by that I mean all the snow is gone leaving everything looking dirty and barren.

We're not exactly awash in a riot of spring blossoms.

Then it occurred to me that we have an amazing organic greenhouse nearby. Cookstown Greens is this amazing place that's been producing heirloom veggies and organic wonders for almost 20 years.

They mostly supply professional chefs and restaurants but that worked out just fine for me as it fed in nicely to my delusions of real chef-itude.

Hooray for encouraging the crazy!

So I ordered a mixed bunch of flowers and had absolutely no idea what I was getting.

When I got the flowers home I found nasturtiums, violas, corn flowers, pinks and phlox. I did some taste testing and devised a plan of action.

The nasturtiums were the most interesting to my palate. They have this peppery hit to them that I really liked so I wanted to feature them.

Et voila, nasturtium pesto! I thought the peppery note would go nicely with our other mandatory ingredient, shallots, so I added some of those to the mix as well as toasted walnuts and a little garlic. It was yummy.

With the other flowers I decided to make an infusion and use them in a shallot sauce to go over my sauteed sirloin steaks. The flavour and scent of the infusion was mild but added a unique layer to the shallot sauce.

I'm pretty darn pleased with how everything turned out - if I do say so myself.

Nasturtium Pesto
2 cups nasturtium flowers and leaves
1 tbsp diced shallot
1 tsp garlic minced
1/2 cup toasted walnuts
1/3 cup olive oil
Season with s&p

Process all ingredients together.
Please play with the amounts of ingredients here to get a flavour and texture that you're happy with.

Flower Infusion
2 cups edible flowers (corn flowers, phlox, pinks)
2 cups water

Bring flowers and water to a boil and allow to steep together to infuse flavours.

Shallot Sauce
1 tbsp butter
2 tbsp olive oil
2 shallots finely diced
1 clove garlic finely diced
good splash of white wine
1 cup flower infusion
1/2 tbsp lemon zest
1/2 tbsp orange zest
2 tbsp unsalted butter
Season with s&p

Melt butter with olive oil in saute pan.
Add garlic and shallots.
Saute until translucent (about 30 seconds).
Add wine to deglaze pan.
Allow wine to evaporate.
Add flower infusion and citrus zests.
Bring to boil and simmer to thicken.
Finish sauce with 2 tbsp unsalted butter.
Season with s&p.

Sirloin Steak
2 portions
Season with s&p

Pat steaks dry and season.
Heat pan to smoking.
Add steaks.
Grill for 2-3 minutes on each side for medium rare.

Verdict: Yummy spring/summer meal.

Mostly impressed with myself for being capable of pulling my act together on a deadline!

top chef experiment: take nine (brined short ribs with 5 onion cabbage)

Here's how my brain functions (or malfunctions - I leave that for you to decide) if I don't like what I perceive to be the personality of a given singer/actor/chef/general celebrity type I cannot, in turn, enjoy any of their work.

Take Bono of U2 for instance. He seems like a pompous ass to me. That's exactly how I describe him any time the topic arises. Luckily for me it seems to arise often and I get to shout out "pompous ass" and get all kerfuffled about my obviously very valid judgment of his pomposity.

Another good example: Alanis Morrissette. 

I don't care that she's Canadian, I really don't. I care that her songs back in the day were ridiculous and stupid and therefore she is obviously a fool. Don't get me started on the now infamous "Ironic" lyrics. Complete idiocy. 

 

And so I couldn't even stand to be in the room when one of her songs was played. Back in the 90s I was so well known for harbouring these strongly held opinions about people I totally have no personal knowledge of that my friends once took it upon themselves to trap me in a room and force me to endure Morrissette and her Ironic philosophizing. 

It was pure torture. I still have nightmares.

The point is that this character trait of mine informs a lot of what I do and don't do in my life. I'm a little rash, I jump headlong into things.

I love as easily as I hate though. In fact, I don't like much. I love, I hate, there's not much in between for me.

Also, not really about the nightmares by the way, I'm not that pathetic.

So what does this have to do with Top Chef? Well it has a lot to do with Chef Michael Chiarello from Top Chef Masters. 

The guy was a bit of an ass on the show. Sometimes more than a bit. He seemed to be dealing with some serious insecurity and self confidence issues. He was totally intimidated by Chef Keller and in every championship round made some mention of a personal competition between himself and Keller that Keller seemed to be totally unaware of. 

When former Top Chef contestants arrived to act as sous chefs in one round, they all immediately felt the overcompensating ego of Chiarello as the "master" made them run ridiculous errands in the kitchen to prove their prospective worth to him. Those who were chosen to be on his team he treated like lesser beings and not the seasoned chefs they all certainly are. 

Oh yeah, and he was also totally put off by the idea that former Top Chef winners would have a hand in deciding the Masters winner, stating clearly that they were not qualified to judge his food. 

As you can see, I was a little annoyed by the guy. 

Actually I more accurately vacillated between being super put off by his attitude and feeling incredibly sorry for him that he couldn't enjoy the comaraderie and friendly competition the way the other chefs seemed to because he was just so busy trying to prove himself all the time.

But his food looked good dammit. 

I actually struggled with myself about cooking one of his dishes because his personality bothered me so much.

My own ego insisted that if I gave in to cooking Chiarello's food I would be giving in to...well, I don't really know what....his yucky pomposity I guess.

Then rational brain had a chat with ego and talked ego down off the ledge of self importance and all the voices in my head realized the whole discussion was stupid and really all any of us really wanted was some short ribs. 

Does this mean I'm maturing? Growing more rational or less dramatic?

Probably not. I'm pretty sure most rational mature folks don't have multiple arguing voices in their heads

And also I still won't listen to U2 and I'll still throw up a little in my mouth if I hear Alanis Morrissette in my vicinity. And I still won't watch movies with Russell Crowe and..well..you get the idea.

But a good short rib dish? Well I guess I have to draw the line somewhere.

I wanted to try this dish because the ribs are brined before braising and I haven't done that before. This extra step of marinating the beef in salt and really imparted some nice flavours on the meat.

My favourite part of this dish was actually the cabbage. It was so softly sweet and tender. The onions were subtle and sweet. The julienned carrots and raisins were visually beautiful and added a nice level of sugar to the cabbage.

They were such a perfect match for the ribs. Another brilliant dish in which the whole is that much greater than the sum of its parts. 

On their own I found the ribs to be very good if a little too salty for my taste (salt loving dad thought they were just perfect). They were tender and falling off the bone and when met with the cabbage the whole dish gained a wonderful balance of flavours and textures.

Brined Short Ribs with 5 Onion Cabbage 

(adapted from Michael Chiarello's recipe on bravotv.com)

Brine

2 quarts water

2 cups brown sugar

2 cups kosher salt

2 tbsp. juniper berries

3 bay leaves

Bring all ingredients together in a saucepan.

Stir to dissolve sugar.

Let the brine cool completely and then cover the ribs with brine and refrigerate for 3 hours.

Ribs

4 lbs. cross cut short ribs

olive oil

2 cups onion coarsely chopped

1 cup carrot coarsely chopped

1 cup celery coarse chopped

1 cup red wine

1 quart chicken stock

Preheat oven to 300 degrees.

Remove ribs from brine.

Pat dry.

Heat a high sided saute pan over medium high heat until hot.

Add a layer of olive oil to the pan.

When the oil begins to smoke add the ribs and brown on all sides.

Note: They will brown very quickly due to the sugar in the brine.

After browning place the ribs in an oven safe dish.

Put onion, carrot and celery to saute pan and cook over medium heat until well caramelized.

Add vegetables to dish with short ribs.

Pour red wine into saute pan.

Deglaze the pan and then simmer until reduced by half.

Add stock to wine.

Bring to a boil and then pour liquid over ribs and vegetables.

Bring the ribs to a boil on the stovetop.

Then cover and place in oven.

Bake until tender (approx 4 hours).

5 Onion Cabbage

1 cup leeks sliced (white parts only)

1 cup green onions sliced (white parts only)

1 cup shallots diced small

1 cup red onion diced small

1 cup yellow onion diced small

1 cup grated carrot

extra virgin olive oil

1/4 cup golden raisins

1 head savoy cabbage

Sweat leeks, shallots and all onions and carrot in olive oil. 

Add raisins.

Saute for a few minutes.

Add cabbage and cook slowly until very soft (approx 2 hours).

Stir frequently.

8 months (235 days)

At eight months I think I'm capable of looking ahead again.

I leave hesitate to declare that with certainty because I know that I've been fooled before.

Fall and winter allow you to shut down, to hibernate, to cover your head in the blankets and just get by from day to day. But now spring has begun to spring and I feel as though the universe is insisting that I take a deep breath of the fresh air, soak up the warmth of the sunshine and take some pleasure in the world around me once again.

Spring was Mom's favourite season. I remember her talking about how much she loved to see all the different shades of vibrant green in her garden. She worked hard on that garden. 

I had never taken any notice of the progression of spring growth until I heard Mom that day.

She is so much a part of all the things I am.

So spring is difficult too. I find myself encountering a lot of "lasts" that didn't affect me in fall or winter. I existed in such a daze through those dead seasons that I was not plagued by distinct memories of seasons past. Spring has awakened those.

It feels like spring is the last season that I remember spending real time with Mom. She was so busy in those last few months. Of course I'm haunted by this every time I remember her.

The beach, the garden, the dogs, the family gatherings. They all are overlayed with the last time with Mom.

It hurts but I am so lucky to have so many memories to recall so very easily - or at least I know that in time I will be comforted by that fact.

top chef experiment: take nine (sopa azteca)

I just had to try this soup by Rick Bayless.

I actually didn't realize he was so famous for it until, um, 30 seconds ago when I did a quick google seach with his name and the soup. I just wanted to give a Mexican recipe a try.

Mexican flavours are not ones I indulge in much. I think I've been a bit jaded by my general perception that Mexican food has been franchised out and reduced to chihuahuas yapping about tacos and quesadillas.

How

On one of the few occasions that SeaBass decided to take me on a romantic dinner date (this was at the beginning of our relationship. The attempts at romance have only gone downhill from here) he made a reservation and would only tell me that he was taking me out for a wonderful meal of "real" Mexican food at this restaurant he had heard about. As we drove closer to our destination I started to get a bad feeling about just where he had "heard about" said restaurant.

Woman's intuition is a powerful thing.

We were headed for "Mexicali Rosa's". He had heard about it on the radio. In one of their incessantly repeated commercials.

We were headed for the typical Mexican fair of tortilla chips and salsa and crappy margaritas. I was trying very hard to be pleasant.

The funny thing was that SeaBass totally didn't recall being inundated with commercials with this place. He was sure that someone he knew had given him a hot tip on a great place.

Their ad agency better have been well paid.

SeaBass also did not recall, until he saw the sign for the restaurant, that we had just eaten at another one of their franchises a couple of weeks before with some of his rowdy friends.

Yep, his romantic destination was filled with families with screaming children, drunken boys and bad food.

I think that's the night he gave up control in our relationship.

Hmm...maybe some good did come out of it.

I have for some time now been wanting to give Mexican fare another chance though. Especially since my brother just returned from a trip during which he got to experience a bit of the real Mexico. No Acapulcan resort food on this journey.

Now he keeps walking around mumbling about "tortas" every time he gets within hearing distance of me. Can anyone help me with this?

Back to Bayless and his Sopa Azteca. It was damn good. I loved all the layering of flavours involved. The tomato base was very nice on its own but building on the soup with the condiments and garnishes to suit your own taste was my favourite part.

(Full disclosure: This pic is from Bayless' website. I was having an off day when I made the soup and hated all the pics I ended up with. I had a bit of a temper tantrum and deleted them all. I am a huge whining baby. Thank you for understanding.)

Sopa Azteca

(adapted from Rick Bayless recipe on bravotv.com)

Serves 6

*1 large dried pasilla chile stemmed and seeded

1 15 oz. can diced tomatoes in juice

2 tbsp. olive oil

1 med white onion sliced

3 garlic cloves peeled

2 quarts chicken broth

**1 large epazote sprig

4 boneless, skinless chicken breast halves cubed into 1/2 inch

1 large ripe avocado pitted and flesh scopped out

1 1/2 cups Mexican melting cheese 

approx 4 cups broken tortilla chips

1/2 cup mexican crema, sour cream or creme fraiche

1 large lime cut into wedges

*no pasilla chiles in my neck of the woods. I used a scotch bonnet and dried red chili.

** I substituted some dried oregano and savoury

Quickly toast the chili over an open flame (or in a dry pan over medium heat on both sides) for just a few seconds.

Break chili into pieces and put in blender with tomato and juices.

Heat oil in large saucepan over med. high.

Add onion and garlic.

Saute until golden.

Remove onion and garlic with slotted spoon (leave behind as much oil as possible.)

Put onion and garlic in blender with tomato and chili.

Blend until smooth.

Return pan to med high heat. 

When pan is hot add tomato puree and stir constantly until reduced to tomato paste consistency (approx 6 mins.)

Add chicken broth and epazote (or herbs.)

Reduce heat to med low and simmer 15 mins.

Season with salt.

Approx 5 mins before serving add chicken to simmering broth.

Divide acocado, cheese and tortilla chips up soup bowls.

When chicken is cooked (5 mins) ladle soup into bowls.

Garnish with cream.