Rubbishy Cookery

  This is a homemade easy version of a classic tasty Lebanese dish, based on verbal instructions from my favourite Lebanese grocer, Shaddy of Brighton Clover Farm. He gave me the broad brushstrokes version of how to make this at home while I was shopping in his store and buying the star ingredient, the canned fava beans, many years ago.  Actually, the way I remember it is that I was shopping at the store and chatting with Shaddy, as one does, and told him how much I loved this dish at a local Lebanese restaurant. Shaddy, who never minces his words, asked me why the heck (he did not say heck) I was paying good money at a restaurant for something I could make at home for a fraction of the price and much tastier? I told him to go on, I was interested. He went forth to show me the cans of fava beans and told me how to prepare them. This is what I remember from those long-ago verbal instructions, and how I’ve been enjoying them at home for years since. Ingredients: Directions: Empt...

  I know tapioca pudding is not my original recipe, nor is it a fan favourite, nor do most people even like it. But on an impromptu trip to the grocery store today, with the thought that maybe, just maybe, I would find something special that was not on the grocery list, I happily found a box of classic tapioca pudding: I was doubly excited to see that a childhood favourite dessert now comes with microwave directions that fit in perfectly with my rubbishy cookery philosophy! So today’s blog entry isn’t an original recipe, but rather an experimental walk through of the microwave version of the recipe on the box, made EXACTLY AS DIRECTED!  Ingredients: Directions: Let’s follow the directions EXACTLY as written on the box to ensure a happy ending (not that kind of happy ending, get your head out of the gutter!). Start by lightly beating one egg in our microwaveable dish: Add the sugar, tapioca, and milk in EXACTLY the proportions instructed on the box and stir: Then we’ll pop it i...

  When I was a young idealistic vegetarian, I was obsessed with this book: I was obsessed with the personal 20th anniversary introduction, the part of the book called “Recipe for a Personal Revolution” (note: there was a chapter within, which almost inspired me to drop out of grad school and become Frances Moore Lappé’s groupie)(additional note: I met FML at a book reading and signing event in Toronto during this time, and she cautioned me to not make any rash decisions about grad school, which actually convinced me to continue my studies. Sigh.), the parts about food insecurity and the real reasons for hunger in the world (spoiler alert: it’s poverty, unequal distribution of wealth, and powerful corporations and governments keeping the status quo), and, of course, the recipes! Today’s blog entry is a distant relation to a recipe in this book. It’s so distant, I’m not sure which one it was based on. I think it may be this one, because it has a few of the same ingredients and there ...

  The best matcha latté I’ve ever had (and I’ve had a lot of matcha lattés!) was from Lady Baker’s tea stand at the Charlottetown Farmer’s Market made by the fabulous former tea barista, Willow. Willow kindly shared her secret ingredient with me and now I will share it with you. Sweetened condensed milk. Now hush! 🤫  Ingredients:  In honour of this shared secret ingredient and out of loyalty to Lady Baker’s Tea, I continue to buy their matcha, but you can buy matcha almost anywhere these days. Directions: Heat some fresh filtered water but not to a boil. I have a kettle that can be programmed for specific temperatures and I’m using my “green tea” setting here: Alternatively, you can just boil your water and then let it cool down a bit. You don’t want to shock the delicate matcha with boiling hot water! Next, if you happen to have a device for stovetop steam foaming milk, get ‘er going: If you don’t have this milk steamer device, there are other ways and means to foam mil...