Rubbishy Cookery

  I’m lifting another one of my rubbishy recipes from the hit bestseller cabbage cookbook: Last seen here in Recipe #35, and is now internationally famous: But never mind all that hoopla! We won’t let fame go to our heads, will we? Nevair! So it’s the third night of Hanukkah 2025, the news is beyond dreadful, I’m sick with laryngitis, and I’m already done with latkes. I needed a comforting, healthy, easy, and rubbishy dinner tonight. Soba noodles in the pantry, I’m gonna make my famous dish from the cabbage cookbook: Ann so loved my rubbishy contribution to the book she gave me a generously praising paragraph intro and named the dish after me!  Let’s go! Ingredients: I know it’s called Cabbage Noodles in the book, but I don’t have any cabbage today. The main point of this recipe is to use whatever vegetables you have on hand. The main ingredients are the soba noodles, the soft cooked egg, the tamari, and sesame oil. I would go so far as to say that the chopped scallions and to...

  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...

  I know what you’re thinking: there’s nothing new about salmon patties. Maybe your mother, like mine in the 1970s, slapped a can of salmon together with an egg and some breadcrumbs, formed patties, fried them up, and called it a meal. And maybe your memories of them, like mine, are good.  But these, I guarantee, are better! Ingredients: Oops, I forgot to include the neutral flavoured canola oil in the picture above. But you’ll need it too. Directions: Using any canned wild salmon—pink, sockeye, is there any other?—open and drain it well. I only use canned salmon that has skin and bones included for the extra health benefits. Take a fork to your well-drained salmon and make sure you really smash up the skin and bones well. Otherwise it can be a little too real, if you know what I mean. Next, add a farm fresh egg and mash it all together: Next, add the dry ingredients: quick oats, flax meal, and black sesame seeds, in the approximate proportions shown below: If in doubt, start ...