1. First chop all the veggies (this is the most time consuming step).
2. Put a bit of oil in a put and when it is hot, add onions and celery. Saute stirring regularly until onions are beginning to brown. 
3. Add jalepenos and garlic. Cook stirring until fragrant, about 1 min (the “fragrance” will be hard to miss — and may make your eyes water).
4. Lower the head a bit and add green pepper and zucchini. Cook covered, stirring occasionally, until peppers and zucchini have begun to soften (I usually give it 10 -15 min).
5. Add the beer, and bring to a boil (uncovered). Let boil until the beer has decreased by half volume-wise, and the steam no longer smells boozy.
6. Add tomatoes (and their juices) and chili powder and any other spices, and let simmer.
7. Once the zucchini and pepper are almost cooked, add the drained, rinsed beans and corn, and cook for another 5-10 minutes (until heated through)
8. Lastly (trust me on this one) remove from the heat and add 1-2 tbsp balsamic vinegar (crazy, I know, but the zing of the vinegar is just what the chili needs to brighten the flavor and counteract the “umaminess” of the beer based broth).

I’d been meaning to attempt homemade ramen for some time now (not Tonkatsu or anything crazy, because boiling pork bones for 6 hours seemed like a big commitment), but I figured your basic (spicy) miso ramen couldn’t be that hard to do…So of course, I bought vegetable broth, noodles, some sort of miso paste and veggies and gave it a shot. Oh dear. Turns out there are *lots* of different types of miso pastes, and if you try to make soup with one that’s best suited for marinading meat, your soup tastes like, well, marinade. Ick.

Back to the drawing board, or rather, internet. Recipes ranged from “one small step above instant ramen” to “make your own noodles”, eventually, I found a few that were in line with what I wanted. My second attempt (pictured above) was based loosely off of this.

First off, let’s talk ingredients. There are a few scary Asian-grocery only items in this recipe. The secret is that they are all either dried or freezable, so you can make one Asian-grocer run, and it will last you for several bowls of ramen. 

Here is a Japanese ingredient primer. Aside from the miso paste and some sort of kelp/seaweed, most are also substitutable/skippable if need be:

• Miso paste: I bought “shiro” which is the lightest variety (and the kind basic miso soups are made with). Other recipes recommend “awase” (reddish in color). My first attempt involved “hatcho miso” which is dark brown and really pungent (not recommended). Either way, you’ll need about 2 tbsp/ramen bowl, and the package you buy will likely be 10 times that size (at least). Freeze the rest, and lop of chunks as needed.
• Dashi base: This is a “seafood broth base” in the form of granules. You mix a small amount of it with boiling water, and it gives it that vaguely seafoody (but not fishy), flavor that is typical to a Japanese dish. I used 1 pkg (1/3 tsp) for one bowl of ramen, but the box I bought contained 10 such packages, keep them sealed in a dry place and they’ll last quite well.
• Kombu (dried kelp): I think you can actually buy dashi base with kombu in it, but I ended up buying them separately. Again, I used a 2″ x 4″ piece, but the package I bought contained several large sheets. I sealed the leftovers in a ziplock bag and stored for future ramen ventures.
• Bonito flakes: These are thinly shaved pieces of smoked dried fish. You can either use them as topping, or in preparing the broth, (I just used them to season), seal the leftovers in a bag and store in the fridge or in a dry place — they should last pretty well (if they start to stick together, they should be pitched though).
• Gochujang: This is Korean fermented red pepper paste, and it’s what puts the spice in spicy miso. I used 2 tsp, but it came in a giant vat, which I froze for future use (also, you could probably use siriacha, or any other instant zing-maker here).

• 1 tbsp sesame oil
• 1/4 c ground pork (organic if possible)
• 1 tbsp ginger (finely chopped)
• 1 tbsp garlic (finely chopped)
• 1 tbsp sake or rice vinegar
• 2c water (a little more if needed)
• 1 piece kombu 2″x 4″
• 1/3 tsp  (1 package) dashi base
• ~5 mushrooms, sliced (fresh or dried — I used dried shitake)
• 2 tbsp miso (shiro or awase)
• 2 tsp gochujang (or other spice-ifier)
• 1/4 c firm tofu (chopped into 1/2 inch cubes), or other meat/meat substitute
• 1 pkg instant ramen (throw out the flavor pouch that comes with it)
• 1 hard boiled egg (optional)
• 1 green onion sliced
• Bonito flakes (to taste)

1. fill a pot with water, add the egg and bring to a boil. Once boiling, remove from heat and let stand covered 10 min.
2. While the eggs are cooking, heat sesame oil in another pot.
3. Add garlic, ginger and hot paste, saute until fragrant.
4. Add ground pork and saute until no longer pink.
5. Add sake/vinegar, cook for another 30s
6. Add water, dashi base, kombu, and miso and mushrooms and bring to a gentle simmer (not a rolling boil)
7. The eggs should be about done by now, so remove them and set aside.
8. Bring the water the eggs were in back to a boil and add ramen, cook until just done, drain and place in bowl, along with tofu
9. Test broth for seasoning and make sure the mushrooms have softened (if using dried), add miso/spice if needed.
10. Pour broth over noodles, top with chopped green onion, bonito flakes (if using) and peeled and halved hard boiled egg.

The menu consisted of 3 main items:

• Zalouk, which I assembled 5 minutes before the guests arrived and which was gone shortly thereafter, i.e., before any pics could be taken. All I’ll say is this: take the time to roast the eggplant. It’s dead easy and makes a world of difference.
• Chicken Tagine (it’s always a good sign when you can follow your own recipe).
• And a carrot and chickpea salad, which was a hybrid of two recipes: Chachi’s carrot and chickpea salad , and Pan Chancho Bakery’s Moroccan chickpea salad.

Between the chick pea salad and the chicken tagine, there are a lot of similarities. Similar to Indian food, there are a few core spices/flavors that most Moroccan dishes share, and once you have that, you can get pretty creative.

Ingredients:

• 3 cups grated carrots
• 1 15oz. can chickpeas, drained and rinsed.
• 2 onions (about 1 3/4 cup, chopped)
• 1/3 cup extra-virgin olive oil
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 2 tsp paprika
• 1/4 tsp chili pepper flakes
• 1 tsp cumin
• 3/4 tsp cinnamon
• 3 cloves garlic (about 1 1/2 Tbsp)
• 1/2 cup tomato paste
• 2 Tbsp of chopped mint/parsley/cilantro

1. First, grate the carrots and drain and rinse the chickpeas, set aside.
2. Next, chop onions, garlic, and assemble spices.
3. In a medium skillet, heat the olive oil over medium heat and add the onions–cook until tender.
4. Add garlic and cook for another 2 minutes.
5. Add tomato paste and mix in well and cook for another 5 minutes.
6. In a large bowl, toss tomato mixture with the chickpeas and mint/parsley. Taste and add some salt if needed.

will do as they please, and men, dogs and marmalade makers should relax and get used to the idea.” To paraphrase a quote from Robert Heinlein.

The photo above shows marmalade made from the same recipe (Nige’s), in different years (left: this years batch, right: 2 years ago’s batch).

How one of them ended up several shades lighter but with a firmer set than the other is anybody’s guess. All I know is that they both taste delicious..totally different, but delicious none the less.

Marmalade…always an adventure.

Ingredients:

Step 1: Find the crunchies. What are crunchies, you ask? They usually consist of a mixture of sev (small crunchy fried noodles), lentils, and puffed grains. They come in bags like the ones in the picture above. We found them by sheer luck at the local fruit shop. If you have a nearby Indian or Asian market though that would probably be a good place to start looking. In a pinch, you could substitute any sort of crunchy noodle or unsweetened cereal, seasoned with some turmeric and chile powder.

February:

Anyways, it appears that the limiting factor for proper mission-style burritos in Montreal is not the pork (in fact Chipotle gets theirs from Quebec (!)) but the rare and exotic giant burrito tortilla. So when I happened upon them at Taco Del Rey in the Jean Talon market, I knew exactly what my next culinary project would be.

Pork Carnitas Burrito

The basic premise behind pork carnitas is to cook a pork shoulder long and slow in spices and liquid, until the meat is tender, shred the meat, and use a bit of the cooking liquid (boiled down) as a sauce. I used this recipe for salsa verde carnitas , however, I must admit that I cheated on the salsa verde and bought a large container from Taco Del Rey, instead of making it from scratch.

Pork Carnitas, originally uploaded by CaitKP.

(Serves 8+…I’ve eaten 3 burritos this week)

Ingredients:
1-2kg pounds pork shoulder (I used 2kg on the bone)
1 onion (chopped)
2 cups salsa verde (here’s Kevin’s recipe, if you feel like going all out)
2 cups chicken stock (a little more if needed to cover the pork)
1 tablespoon cumin
1 teaspoon oregano

Directions:
1. Trim the excess fat from the pork.
2. Place the pork, onion, salsa verde, chicken stock, cumin and oregano in a pot.
3. Bring to a boil, reduce the heat and simmer until the pork is nice and tender, about 3-6 hours (I did 3 hours, but a little more wouldn’t have hurt)
4. Take the pork out of the liquid and shred the meat with a pair of forks.
5. Bake the shredded pork in a preheated 400F oven until just browned and slightly crispy.
6. Skim the fat from the liquid.
7. Bring the liquid to a boil, reduce the heat and simmer to reduce for about 10 minutes.
8. Mix some of the liquid back into the pork (I added a couple cups worth).
9. Use the pork mixture in your favorite tacos, burritos, enchiladas, etc.

Which brings us to part 2 (the other secret of the mission-style burrito): Toppings! Obviously, the meat is just the beginning. Here are some of my favorite additions:

1, Rice, is a must obviously, to make it a bit more exciting, I used a mixture of brown and wild rice, seasoned with onion, garlic, cilantro and lime (here’s one recipe and here’s another)

2. Beans, you can go refried, or used canned whole black beans (drained and rinsed, of course).

3. Guacamole or avocados

4. Cilantro, lettuce, tomatoes.

5. Cheese (I used pepper jack, but anything mild will work)

6. Salsa. I am partial to salsa verde myself, but others I know swear by salsa rosa, pico de gallo, or corn salsa. It’s your choice.

Really I just had a surplus of carrots, and this seemed like a good thing to do with them. If I were to make it again, I think I might half the oats, or add a touch more milk, to make the whole thing a bit lighter. My cake’s consistency need up being more similar to scones than a cake (which is ok really, as it makes it easier to grab a slice as you are headed out the door and nosh it on the bus).

Date and carrot cake, originally uploaded by CaitKP.

Ingredients

2 cups all purpose flour (or 1 cup wholemeal flour, 1 cup plain flour)
2 cups rolled oats (or a little less)
2 level tspn baking powder
2 teaspoon cinnamon
1 tbsp molasses
1 cup chopped dates
1 cup brown sugar
1 cups milk (a bit more if things seem dry)
1.5 cups grated carrots
2 eggs
5 table spoon vegetable oil

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. and grease and flour a 9″ cake pan (I used a springform pan and lined the base with parchment paper.
2. Mix all the dry ingredients
3. Beat the milk, eggs and oil
4. Mix all together, and stir in the carrots
5. Pour in a 9 inch greased tin
6 Bake for 40 to 50 minutes, until a cake tester comes out clean.