Cooking – Page 2 – Cynthia Reyes

A Good Home, Cooking, Ontario Root Vegetables, Recipes, Vegetarian dish

Idiot-Proof

February 8, 2015December 12, 2015 Cynthia Reyes

“John”, I asked, “Can you send me one of your simplest recipes?”

“Yes, of course,” John replied. “As long as you’re fine with vegetarian. That’s what I cook.”

“I’ll cook anything, as long as it’s idiot-proof.”

I’d forgotten John’s famous attention to detail, evident in the grand home he’s restoring in Prince Edward County.

Painstakingly captured in photos….

Like this recipe he sent me:

JOHN’S RELIABLE ROOT RECIPE

“First, Locate and gather a selection of your favourite Root Vegetables . . .

Then Select a Nice Covered Baking Dish . . .

Take the Lid Off . . .

And see What Fits into the Dish . . .

Then Empty the Dish, Rinse it with Water to remove any Dirt . . .

Begin with the Onions, which are essential . . .

Peel, and Cut . . .

Dice . . .

And into the Dish they go . . .

Three Diced Ontario Onions . . .

(From Prince Edward County) . . .

Next the Ontario Sweet Potatoes . . .

Cut the Ends off . . .

Peel . . .

Dice . . .

Add & Mix by Hand . . .

Two Ontario Parsnips are Next . . .

Lop the Ends off & Peel . . .

Cut into Rings . . .

Add & Mix into the Dish . . .

Next up are Three Ontario Carrots . . .

Ends Off . . .

Peel . . .

Cut into Rings . . .

Add to the Dish . .

Mix by Hand . . .

Two Wonderful Ontario Yellow Beets . . .

Lop the Ends off . . .

Quite Pretty . . .

Even the Ends Look Good . . .

Peel Carefully . . .

Cut into ¼’s and Slice . . .

Add Slices to the Dish . . .

Mix Again by Hand . . .

Next up, Two Ontario Potatoes . . .

Peel . . .

Cut into ¼’s and Slice . . .

Add to the Dish . . .

Note that the Level of the Root Vegetables . . .

Is Level with the Rim of the Pretty Dish . . .

Mix by hand One More time . . .

Add 2 Cups of Cold Water . . .

Pouring both into the Dish of Course . . .

Then add 1/3 Cup of Sesame Seed Oil . . .

Pouring it all over the top of the Vegetables . . .

Now for the Seasoning . . .

From my Salt Hen, 1 teaspoon of Salt . . .

And from my Pepper Mill, 1 teaspoon of Pepper . ..

Now Place the Lid on the Pretty Dish . . .

Turn the Oven on Bake & set the Temperature @ 350 Degrees . . .

Then Place the Covered Baking dish Into the Oven . . .

Close the Oven Door . . .

And Set the Timer for 90 Minutes . . .

Then Start the Timer . . .

Set another timer for 45 minutes . . .

And Start It Too . . .

At the 45 Minute Mark Remove the Dish with Oven Mitts . . .

Look Inside and Things should Look like this . . .

Make sure there is still some water in the dish!!

Then Place the Covered Dish Back into the Oven . . .

Then 40 or so later come back into the Kitchen . . .

Notice the Primary Timer is Nearly Done . . .

When it Sounds Off . . .

Remove the Dish and Place it on a Heat Friendly Surface . . .

Take the Cover Off and it should look like this . . .

The Vegetables should be cooked and just a bit soft . . .

I test them with a sharp knife . . .

Then Place the Lid On . . .

Wait for the Dish to Cool Down . . .

And Place it into Refrigerator . . .

Then in 24 Hours it’s Ready to Eat . . .

It is Sooooooooooooo Good . . .”

Thank you, John! This idiot will report back.

Photos and recipe by John Garside.

Postscript from John: “Heat it up before eating! I forgot that!”

A Good Home, Basil, Cilantro, Cooking, Dill, French Tarragon, Gardening, Gardens, Garlic, Garlic Scapes, Herb Gardens, Parsley

Herbs …. Ho Hum

July 6, 2014July 6, 2014 Cynthia Reyes

My blog has received its first complaint.

Seems I’ve produced fine stories about fine people and fine flowers.

My crime is that I’ve completely ignored the fine herbs and vegetables growing in my husband’s gardens.

Like the fragrant apple mint, which we use to flavour drinking water and in delicious mint jelly too. We also chop it up and mix with fresh blueberries and sliced mangoes, for dessert.

But I digress.

Husband is complaining. Reminding me that: “You can’t eat flowers. At least, not most of them!”

And along comes Vito, for reinforcement.

Yes, the vintner-gardener-historian of our neighborhood who turns up repeatedly in A Good Home, turned up at our garden gate this morning. That same Vito who believes only vegetables and herbs — and wine grapes — have a right to exist in a garden.

As if my husband needed any reinforcement….

But I digress.

Since one does not wish to upset the finest cook ( some may say the only cook) in this household, I’ve decided to make amends.

We’ll come back to the vegetables one day soon. For now, I hope you enjoy these photos of the herbs which my husband tends more faithfully than the flowers in our garden.

I cannot say they are the most interesting photos I ever saw. Take this parsley.

And this French Tarragon. For a plain-looking herb — exemplifies uber-exuberance. N’est-ce pas?

Not that I’m complaining. Herbs taste very good in the dishes my husband makes. Basil, for example, goes well with tomato dishes.

Some herbs grew from last year’s seeds. We got lots of re-seeded dill, which goes well with fish, especially salmon. Cilantro, below, is great in salads. And goes well with avocado, shrimp dishes, etc.

But I digress.

My issue: Herbs tend to have small flowers, and most of them are white. Why aren’t some red or blue or yellow? This onion flower would look great in red.

Not that I’m complaining.

Chives, above, go well with omelettes and scrambled eggs.

And did you know you can eat garlic scapes? Great in a vegetable stir-fry.

And did I say that garlic is easy to grow? If you let the scapes go to seed, then drop the seeds in a small part of your garden, and lightly cover with soil, you’ll have garlic next year.

Not that I know anything about such stuff, of course.

I’m a flower garden person.

Photos by Hamlin Grange

A Good Home, Afternoon Tea, Baking, Childhood Memories, Cooking, Family, France, French Cooking, Kitchens, Learning to cook Cooking in Provence, Recipes

Afternoon Tea with Anne Bergman, The Kitchen Director

January 15, 2014 Cynthia Reyes

Afternoon Tea with Anne Bergman, The Kitchen Director.

A Good Home, Celebrations, Christmas Arrangements, Christmas Decorations, Christmas Greenery, Christmas Traditions, Cooking, Home Decor, Homes, Interior Design

The Un-Domestic Diva

December 13, 2013November 27, 2015 Cynthia Reyes

How hard could it be to make your own Christmas arrangement? Looks easy enough in the magazines, and on the internet, right?

Christmas Arrangement - viaGoogle Images — Photo – via Google Images

It’s almost Christmas and I’m surrounded by women who cook and bake AND do great home decor. My sister, daughters, mother-in-law, sister-in-law, girlfriends: domestic goddesses, every one. Some even sew and knit.

I, meanwhile, am a failed domestic diva. I baked a cake – once. I failed knitting – twice. I try – Lord knows I try – but I’m still an exceptionally underachieving cook.

But it’s Christmastime, after all. A time of great hope.

So I decided to make Christmas stuff. The kind of stuff that won’t give my family indigestion, catch fire and burn (as the solitary cake did), or that anyone needs to wear. (That sock I tried to knit is indescribable AND a family joke.)

In the past, I used branches from the trees in my garden, tied together with a big red ribbon – and called it a Christmas bough. Hanging on the front door, it was only seen from a distance, or when we had visitors. Very polite visitors.

But this year, I decided to go big or …. no, I was already home, so let’s forget the rest of that saying. I decided to be ambitious. To arrange greenery in containers. One in the plant-stand outdoors, one in a container indoors. Artfully composed, of course.

Did I mention that I failed BOTH art and photography in school? Something to do with composition.

Christmas Greenery – First Muddled Attempt

I collected branches of everything that grew right next to the verandah of our home. I’m under a kind of house arrest, you see – mandated by my doctor because I overdid it with the book-related activities and also started a new medication with woozy side-effects. I figured that as long as I went no farther than the verandah, it would still qualify as “resting at home”.

I put a double layer of plastic in the bottom of the containers, and placed the wet florist foam on it. (The foam was wet, not the florist.) Then I stuck branches of stuff into it. Spruce. Juniper. Euonymus. Boxwood. And pine cones on sticks. I stepped back to admire my handiwork.

It needed something. Aha! More red dogwood sticks.

It still needed something. But I was worn out and achy and very woozy. I wisely took to my bed.

Two days later, I felt brighter. Contrast, I thought! I need contrast!

So I fetched some “brownery” –– brown-leaved branches from last Christmas, forgotten in a tall container in one corner of the verandah. But when I cleverly tried to add them, the florist foam had frozen hard due to cold weather and the brownery crumbled, leaves falling from brittle stems.

I searched the house and found a little fake bird and some loose pine cones and judiciously placed them among the greenery.

But it still needed something. I just never figured out what.

As for the inside container? There was a coup de grace: garlic. Yes, garlic on stems. Harvested from our garden this fall, it’s surprisingly decorative, will deter vampires and spice up my cooking efforts after Christmas.

But that bit of creativity wore me out completely. So I stuck some shiny red Christmas ornaments on branches in the container and called it a day.

PHOTOGRAPHS BY H. GRANGE

Lord, give me strength. Clearly, you withheld the talent.

This post is dedicated to everyone who struggles with domestic arts. And to all domestic goddesses: you give me something to aspire to. Or maybe that’s ‘perspire’.