Rubbishy Cookery

  This is a Japanese-ish light dinner that is simple, but will knock your socks off with the subtle complexity of its flavours and textures. I didn’t invent it by any means, but it’s a mish-mash modification of actual recipes and deconstruction of dishes I’ve had at Japanese restaurants. Ingredients: The broccoli isn’t really part of the recipe, I’m just making it as a side dish. Directions: First, prepare your mise en place: Finely chop the ginger and chop the scallion into fine rings as above. Try to handle your extra firm silken tofu gentler than I have so it emerges from its packaging in a solid block rather than two iceberg shaped pieces with extra bits. Chop the silken tofu into delicate bite sized cubes. I’m saving half of my block for another day, possibly for a miso soup (see Recipe #2): Meanwhile, as I heat up a pot of water in which to cook my soba noodles, why not take advantage of the resultant steam for my broccoli side: After a few minutes, I have perfectly steamed a...

  As mentioned in an earlier blog post (Recipe #11), you can waffle just about anything. And yes, you can use the word waffle as a noun and a verb. At least here, at Rubbishy Grammary. Ingredients: As you can see in the above photo, the only ingredients are leftover buttery mashed potatoes and a seasoned waffle iron. If your leftover mashed potatoes aren’t buttery, or your waffle iron isn’t seasoned, you will also need oil. If you want to get extra fancy, you could also add some sautéed chopped onions. I wish I had thought of that earlier. Oh well. Next time. Directions: Preheat your waffle iron, green light means go: Add your cold leftover mashed potatoes to the hot waffle iron: And waffle: Until hot and golden brown: And that’s it! Serve as is, or make it a proper breakfast with two over easy eggs and hot sauce: So good!

  This is a recipe that uses not one, but two (2!) types of canned fish! Ingredients: Missing from the above photo, but should usually be assumed: salt and pepper. Also missing and a last minute optional addition: Directions: You’ve probably heard that kale needs to be massaged with oil for salads in order to soften the tough leathery leaves. We’re going to be extra frugal and massage our kale (which is coming from the late fall backyard garden crop today, harvested in the dark cold rain) with the fishy olive oil with which our canned tuna is packaged.  Here is a picture of pre-massaged kale: Add that tuna olive oil: Get in there with both hands and massage! Then you’ll have nice tender oily kale: Nice! Meanwhile, in a little dish, squish up a clove of garlic and add some salt to let the garlic mellow and soften for a minute or two: Add an anchovy: Mash them up together: Add some squeezed fresh lemon juice and a few squirts of Worcestershire sauce: Mix it all up and add a good...

  This is a great way to use a $3 bag of beets from the farm market up the road, but be forewarned: beets are not just a vibrant colour! They turn everything they come in contact with a vibrant colour! That includes your hands, your clothes, your cutting board, your tablecloth, and even your insides. So DON’T PANIC when you go to the bathroom the next day! Ingredients: I forgot to photograph the raw beets pre-Instant Pot cooking, how rubbishy of me! Rubbishy bloggery! I also added on a bonus ingredient halfway through: Directions: First, cook the beets. As mentioned previously, I use an Instant Pot and have a chart for pressure cooking time by average beet circumference: I don’t remember where I found this chart, so I can’t give it credit, but it’s perfect every time. Thanks to whoever published this on the interwebs!  You can also boil or roast the beets, just get them cooked so that you can easily poke a knife into them: Peel and slice the beets, maybe wearing an apron so yo...