Rubbishy Cookery

  I just had a crazy inspiration and thought that this would be a good idea. Let’s see if I’m right! Ingredients: I mean, with these ingredients and a Vitamix, how could it be bad? Directions: I just tossed the peeled shallot, a bunch of frozen corn kernels (directly from the bag while still frozen), a generous teaspoon of miso paste, and covered it with milk (using 2% now): I turned the Vitamix on and let ‘er rip. It didn’t have enough liquid and turned into corn slushie. So I added enough water to get it blending properly and let ‘er rip for six (6!) minutes: and poured it into a bowl, steaming warm (not hot but that’s fine): And… it’s o-kay. Not great. Not up to my usual Rubbishy Cookery standards. It’s definitely edible but it’s too thin and too dull. I will try, try again and addendum this post. I’m thinking a cooked potato would help… Stay tuned!

  On a recent road trip to New Brunswick and la belle provence  Québec I had some knockout meals. Surprisingly, the most memorable meals were not in the main destination, Quebec City, but in Fredericton NB, and inspiring today’s recipe, in Rivière du Loup, Québec. A fantastic little restaurant called L’innocent had a terrific vegetarian curried fried rice and I have tried to recapture its essence here, with some intentional (and some not-so-intentional) twists to make it my own, et plus « rubbishy ». (Sample of menu with inspirational fried rice at the end of the list, reproduced sans  permission.) Ingredients: There are some definite differences already between my experimental inspired version and the restaurant’s original: I’m using brown basmati rice, not white; whatever vegetables were in the fridge missing celery and adding red cabbage and cauliflower; I have no seeds (pumpkin and sunflower) but using chopped walnuts and almonds (I can’t recall what noix  they ...

  I have been on a lifelong quest for a way to make perfect scrambled eggs and I believe, dear reader, that I have found it. Based loosely (very loosely) on the YouTube videos of a famous Master Chef host’s recipe (who shall go unnamed in case of copyright infringement, but will be obvious to anyone who has ever been on the internet looking for scrambled egg videos), mine deviates into decidedly rubbishy territory, while maintaining (in my humble opinion) the taste and texture of the high falutin version. Ingredients: Here are the main differences between my ingredients and G.R.‘S: he uses a chef’s quality stainless steel saucepan, I use a T-Fal Teflon pan that is perpetually on sale at Canadian Tire. He used unsalted butter, I’m using salted. He used crème fraîche, I’m using sour cream. He used fresh chives, I’m using freeze dried. But it’s all good! Directions: Unlike G.R., who puts his cold butter and unmixed eggs all directly into his bougie saucepan, I’m mixing my eggs first i...

  While recently in Portugal, I enjoyed many variations on lemonade. Strawberry was a popular flavour, but at one special patio café near the famed “Triangle” neighbourhood in Lisbon, the sign read: “strawberry, ginger, mint”. When I asked for the special lemonade, the server asked me which one I wanted—silly me, I thought it was all three flavours combined! But they were happy to accommodate my initial expectation and so I was able to enjoy an ice cold glass of strawberry-ginger-mint lemonade. What a combo! Here it is! Ingredients: Directions: I used a generous handful of frozen strawberries, a sprig of garden fresh mint, about a half tablespoon (?) of peeled fresh ginger, two or three generous soup spoonfuls of frozen concentrate lemonade, then added two ice cubes and water to the Vitamix: Here’s a side view: Let ‘er rip: Pour and enjoy on your favourite patio with your favourite Portuguese literature: Obrigada!

  This is a very old recipe from my childhood and not an original but I am assuming that it is now an open access, free of copyright recipe, so this is like singing an old traditional folk song without permission. It is also a very lowbrow cake that literally everyone loves and if you make it for any occasion you’ll be lauded and celebrated. It’s not a classy pineapple upside down cake, which someone will surely comment on. But I made this cake for a dinner gathering last night where the main dish was fresh Atlantic lobster, and the guests had very sophisticated, urban palates, and this cake was the hit of the night. So here we go! Ingredients: It doesn’t get simpler than that, does it? Except it does if you use a store bought white cake or sponge cake instead of making the cake in a box as I did. The other ingredients are non negotiable. Directions: First, the morning of your cake, start draining the crushed canned pineapple in the fridge: You’re going to get some nice free pineap...