­
­

Tag Archives | raw apple cider vinegar

Dill Pickled Beets

I’m pretty good at keeping our fermentation crock full and busy so that we never run out of probiotic-rich veggies. But sometimes I just crave pickles, the old school kind that, if you remembered they were there, could bring a really nice acidic balance to rich meals.

I like sweet pickled beets, in fact one of my Grandmothers used to make them and bring them over for Sunday night dinner when we were growing up. It’s the only way we really ate beets, and I remember I could probably eat an entire jar myself (impressive, I know).

(more…)

Creamy Lemon and Dill Dip

When I first got into Personal Chef work I was cooking for celebrities, the kind of people who can afford to pay the very best people to work for them. As a Chef who had only cooked in restaurants, I totally knew this and it made me nervous. I was confidant in my cooking but this was a different kind of cooking. Many of my clients wanted healthy food that tasted like bad for you food. I mean, who doesn’t?

I had never even heard or raw or macrobiotic cuisine before I started in this line of work. It just happened that my Mom was diagnosed with cancer around the same time, so I had an extra big reason to pay attention to these new, exotic, interesting ways that people were eating to stay healthy (or skinny or like, a good actor or whatever).

I loved the new challenge of this somewhat uncharted territory. After years working in fine dining, I knew exactly what buttery dishes, braised meats and rich desserts tasted like. It was just about finding these flavours within these healthier new parameters.

(more…)

Radicchio Salad with Roasted Acorn Squash & Hazelnuts

My obsession with radicchio doesn’t appear to be going anywhere. Luckily, although she turns the colour of of one when she’s mad, my baby didn’t come out an actual radicchio, despite the amount that I ate while pregnant.

Besides its fresh, subtle bitterness, crisp lettuce-y texture and nostalgia it brings for the outdoor markets on the cobblestones of Rome, there’s another reason that we eat a lot of it in our house. It’s the same reason that versions of this salad and this salad happen an awful lot at our place too. Radicchio, despite its fragile-seeming texture, is robust and lasts for quite a while in your fridge.

(more…)

Millet & Butternut Squash Polenta with Roasted Beets

I was picking up my husband from work one of those very icy nights in January when you wonder why you’re anywhere but home. I left early (because Vancouver + snow = unpredictable everything) and got there a bit early. I was parked and listening to the CBC and they had one of those calm-voiced announcers on talking about a Danish word/concept called ‘Hygge’.

I had never heard of it before, but sitting in my chilly car, around dinnertime at about 40 weeks pregnant, they had my full attention. As it turns out I want to live in Denmark. Hygge is something that we don’t have a direct translation for let alone a word for in the English language. Roughly, it means ‘cozy’ but it’s more than that.

(more…)