On This Last Day of Summer ...

On this last, cool, rainy day of summer, I'm bringing you something comforting to cook while the rain trickles down outside, but will still help you get through the bounty of late summer veggies that you couldn't resist buying at the market this morning.

It's nothing fancy, nothing celebratory, just some stew. But it's not rich, with a heavy gravy and loaded down with the starchy potatoes and and dried legumes of the winter. It's flavourful and summery, with just a hint of spice, perfect to pop into the oven and forget about for an hour while you curl up on the couch with a book, or have a quiet coffee in the late afternoon. It has the beautiful late summer harvest of beef steak tomatoes, so ripe and juicy that didn't need to add a drop of water or stock to this stew, some yellow summer squash, the last of the season, a juicy yellow pepper and some fresh, borloti beans that went wonderfully soft and creamy. Fresh herbs from my balcony garden, that won't last many more weeks, were both cooked into the stew and sprinkled on top, and the whole thing has just a whisper of middle eastern spice -- namely zaatar, cumin and tumeric. I happily ate bowls of this for dinner a few nights in a row, accompanied by tumeric scented brown rice and barley pilaf, but you don't to get that involved. Simple brown rice or white rice would be perfect, as would a chunk of crusty bread, or even some short pasta.

This stew was inspired by a dish I had at a restaurant called Nuba in Vancouver. It was called simply the vegan stew, and was described as a stew of seasonal vegetables with tomatoes, onions and chickpeasm served over brown rice. It had creamy roasted eggplant and zucchini and a delicious, rich spice blend. Nuba was the first place we ate out at in Vancouver, and it was a beautiful treat -- delicious food, relaxed atmosphere, and the excitement that our vacation had just begun.

Our Vancouver trip is long gone, and I've gotten into the groove of teaching again, but every once in a while, I'll indulge in a little daydreaming of times past. This stew is beautiful, rainy day indulgence and the perfect way to good-bye to summer.

Last Day of Summer Stew
inspired by Nuba and Everybody Likes Sandwiches

1 tablespoon of olive oil
1 small onion, diced
2 large cloves of garlic
2 large, beefsteak tomatoes, roughly chopped
2 yellow summer squash, cut into half-moons
1 large yellow pepper, cut into thick strips
1 quart of fresh borloti beans, shelled and rinsed
1 teaspoon of zaatar spice blend
1/2 teaspoon of ground cumin
1/2 teaspoon of ground tumeric
2 large sprigs of fresh thyme
5-6 basil leaves, cut into a chiffonade
1 small handful of fresh parsley, roughly chopped
salt and pepper to taste

1. In an oven-proof pot, or dutch oven, gently heat the olive oil over low heat. Add the onions and garlic and some salt and pepper. Let them sweat for about 5 minutes, while you chop the rest of your vegetables.

2. When the onions are soft, add in the zaatar, tumeric and cumin and let the spices toast for about a minutes. Add in your tomatoes and give it a big stir.

3. After about 4 minutes or so, the tomatoes should have released their wonderful juices.  Add the squash, peppers, beans and thyme sprigs.  Pop the lid on and put the whole thing a 375 degree oven for about an hour (but check at the 45 minute mark to see if your beans are tender, or if you need to add liquid).

4. When you're about to serve, sprinkle with the basil and parsley.

Obsessed with Brunch

I, like most other Torontonians am obsessed with brunch. I don't just mean brunch food -- I mean that act of going out or making brunch and enjoying it with people you love. We've had celebration brunch parties, cozy brunches at home with French-press coffee and goodies just purchased at the farmer's market, and we've had intimate, just-you-and-me best-friend hangouts over strong coffee, egg dishes and toast. Brunch is so much more than a meal -- it's a whole social event.

What was one of the first things I did when I got back to Toronto? Have brunch. And what was one of the first meals we had out when we started our Vancouver vacation? Yup. Brunch. We had cleverly arranged our Vancouver trip so that we'd be there at the same time as my best friend, who was there for a conference. And of course we had to have brunch. And there was no question as to where. We had both agreed when doing Vancouver brunch research, that it had to be the Wallflower, recommended by a very trusted source. And of course it was perfect. Nice, strong coffee, a friendly, chatty server, lots of good conversation and of course, awesome food.

My partner loves classic bacon-egg-hash-brown breakfasts (this one had the addition of a waffle!), and my best friend is partial to eggs Benedict (spiked with smoked salmon and cream cheese), but me, I'm usually a granola and yogurt kind of bruncher. Granola being absent from the menu, I tried their tofu hash special -- potatoes, peppers, onions, mushrooms, spinach and tofu, all messed up together into the one happy plate, served with toast. It was great, and I didn't miss granola at all.

After the heat wave passed and I could safely turn my oven on here in Toronto, I set about to re-create this beautiful breakfast hash -- for dinner!  The way I made it was super simple -- roast the veggies, quickly saute the tofu and spinach with a hit of ginger, and mix it all together. Yum! I don't have mushrooms in my version because I forgot to pick them up, but they would be lovely -- just slice and saute with the spinach and tofu. I also used beautiful purple potatoes which made this meal that much more special. Oh, and you can totally skip the ginger if that's not your thing, and use garlic instead.

Super simple, delicious, and memory-invoking .. ;) You could totally make this for brunch .. TODAY!

Tofu Veggie Hash
inspired by the Wallflower

I'm not putting measurements on this recipe, because, really, it's up to you when you're making hash. The dish that I was served at Wallflower was heavy on potatoes, and while I love potatoes, I chose to balance it out more when I made it at home. But it's totally up to you. Go for it!

red, yellow and orange peppers, cut into strips
new potatoes, cut into eighths (depending on the size of your potato .. make them the same size as the peppers)
onion, sliced thinly
firm tofu (mine was flavoured with herbs)
baby spinach
mushrooms, sliced thinly
ginger, minced
salt and pepper to taste
olive oil
chopped herbs, whatever you like -- I used green and red basil and parsley from my garden

1. First -- roast the veggies. Put the peppers, potatoes and onions in a large bowl. Add a sprinkling of salt, a few good grinds of pepper and about a tablespoon or so of olive oil. Toss to coat. Lay the veggies out on a baking sheet and put them in the oven on broil. Cook for about 25-30 minutes, tossing every once in a while.

2. When the veggies are almost done, heat some olive oil in pan. Add the ginger and cook for a minute or so, until it gets really fragrant and toasty. Add the tofu and mushrooms and season with salt and pepper. Cook for about 3 minutes, or until the tofu starts to get a bit brown.

3. Add the spinach and toss to wilt. You may need a little splash of water to help it. Once the spinach is wilted, you're done!

4. Take some of your roasted veggies and mix them in a bowl with the tofu, spinach and mushrooms. Sprinkle liberally with fresh herbs. Enjoy!

The Easiest, Yummiest, Slow Food Dip

Ok, I know. I know easy and slow don't always go together in the cooking world. But, what about stews that you just leave in the oven? They take FOREVER, but there's minimal chopping and next to no fuss. See? Slow and easy.

I've got a good one for you. This roasted pepper dip is wonderfully chunky, creamy, tangy and so much better than the blended store-bought versions, which taste ok, but always seem to be missing something. The slow part of this dip: it takes a bit more time than simply opening a can of beans and blending it with other stuff. We've got to roast first -- roast roast roast! That's where all the yummiest comes from. You roast a bunch peppers (we used a combination red, green and yellow) with some onion (don't skip the onion! It adds mounds of flavour!), olive oil and seasonings and then blend it up a bit with a few spoonfuls of yogurt. Yum! It's perfectly dipable but we spread most of ours on pita bread to make sandwiches for our lovely hike on the Escarpment Rail Trail in Hamilton. They were a welcome treat at the end of the trail.


Roasted Pepper Dip
makes about a cup of dip

4 bell peppers, sliced up -- any colour!
half an onion, thinly sliced
1 tablespoon of olive oil
salt and pepper to taste
1 tablespoon of skim milk yogurt

1. In a large bowl, toss the bell peppers and onion with the olive oil, salt and pepper. Roast in the oven (under the broiler), tossing often, for about 25 minutes, or until the they toasty around the edges and very fragrant. Remove and let cool.

2. Place the cooled peppers and onion in a mini chopper, or blender with the yogurt. Pulse until you get a chunky, dip-like consistency. Enjoy!!