Rubbishy Cookery

  The star of this recipe is the black garlic so I hope you can get some. If not, it’s just a good ‘ole goat cheese omelette and also wonderful. Ingredients: Note the black garlic, above photos. Directions: Heat some butter in a nonstick pan on medium high heat: Beat your eggs and add a little salt. I forgot I had some fancy truffle salt so I’ll add that for more umami. Add the beaten and lightly salted egg mixture to the pan with the melted butter: And start moving the mixture around, almost like you would if you were making scrambled eggs: When the egg mixture is starting to set, stop scrambling and start spreading them out evenly (but there will be egg lumps and bumps—that’s okay!) and turn the heat down to low: The top of the eggs will still look undercooked and that’s fine!  Add a middle row of crumbled black garlic. It’s very soft and spreadable and will stick to your fingers (tasty!) but distribute them as evenly as you can in a line down the middle: This is two black g...

  Wow—today is not only the 50th rubbishy post, but also the Winter Solstice, and where I live, the first winter storm (a nor’ easter, no less!) of the year! Let’s get cosy and make a warm pot of Tuscan soup! Ingredients: What you’ll notice in the photo above is the great deal on ground turkey—enjoy today, 50% off! What a deal! What you may not notice in the photo above is that the fresh kale was harvested from my backyard garden just hours before the storm started.  Imagine—a December harvest of kale! And half price ground turkey! I feel hashtag blessed. Directions: Start by mixing ingredients for the turkey meatballs: ground turkey, a generous handful or two of quick cook rolled oats, 1-2 tablespoons-ish each of garlic powder, onion powder, dried thyme, dried basil, not pictured but assumed S&P, and a really good amount of finely grated Parmesan cheese. Mix it all up with your hands and add more oats if necessary to get a good texture, i.e., one in which to form meatball...

  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 ...

  When I was visiting Germany a few years ago, I found this delightful and simple dish everywhere. It was even the snack food sold at an otherwise foodless beer garden! That’s my kind of country! Ingredients: Missing from photo above and a late addition: salted butter! Directions: Boil your potatoes as so: In Germany, I always received a whole uncut potato in its jacket, removed from a big steamer and wrapped in foil. We’re going to just boil our potatoes, in their jackets, but cut into big chunks to cook faster. The water they’re boiling in is good and salty. When the potatoes are fork tender, drain them and plate them, with your quark handy: Hmmm… what’s missing here? Of course! Butter! Enjoy your delicious German snack or meal any time of day! Das schmeckt sehr gut! Tschüss!

  This is a fantastic soup if you have a Vitamix. I have no idea how it would work out without a Vitamix. Also, more clean up. Contrary to popular belief, you don’t have to be posh to own a Vitamix. I got the least expensive model from Best Buy with several years’ worth of points in gift cards, so it only cost me about the same as a regular blender. But it sounds like a jet plane is taking off in the kitchen whenever I use it. Apparently the more expensive models have mufflers or something. This is also a minimal clean up soup if you use a Vitamix, a microwave oven, and reuse your bowl and spoon for serving. Perfect for lazy, rubbishy cooks like us! Ingredients: Directions: Cut up your broccoli head into large florets and the stem into chunks and place into a microwave safe bowl. Rinse with water and ensure the broccoli is good and wet. Place the bowl in the microwave and cook on high for about 3-5 minutes until bright green and softened: You could alternatively steam or parboil th...