Recipe - Tofu Báhn Mì

My first memory of a Báhn Mì comes from about 5 years ago, and it is one of amazement.  A friend in Atlanta and I were going to a concert and she brought along some Vietnamese sandwiches from a shop near her house.  

I was seriously amazed.  How did I not know this existed?  It’s like the original fusion food, from long before the invention of Korean burritos and Mexican pizzas.

It was another few years before the thought occurred to me to make my own and I have to say that too often I forget about what a wonderful meal Báhn Mì sandwiches make.  Recently I remembered them and made them for dinner and we all enjoyed just how fresh and bursting with flavour they are!

You can make these with meat, tofu, tempeh, eggs, or even just a ton of delicious veggies.  As one blog has pointed out, a good Báhn Mì is the sum of its parts, thus the important thing is to have a nice array of super fresh fillings. 

Summer is the best time for these sandwiches because veggies are at their most abundant and tastiest.  Fresh cilantro, mint, lettuce and other greens, thinly sliced carrots, radishes, and cucumbers, peppers, grilled zucchini and other veggies, there is no limit to what you can put on these guys!  For garnish a bit of mayonnaise and sriracha sauce (Vietnamese sweet hot sauce) is enough, but you can certainly add more.

The marinade for the meat or protein can be a simple mixture of soy sauce, garlic, oil, and lemon balm (if you have it growing rampantly in your yard like we do!).  

This recipe is loosely modeled on The Kitchn’s recipe for Báhn Mì with Lemongrass Tofu, but we added a half pound of bacon for some extra fun and crispiness.  Almost all the ingredients can be sourced through Bailey’s, including the tofu!  Substitute a locally made hot sauce or salsa for the sriracha to keep things really local.  

Tofu Báhn Mì Sandwich

Serves 4-6

Tofu and Marinade:

1 package firm tofu, sliced into 6-8 long slabs

1 tablespoon soy sauce

1 tablespoon local oil

1 teaspoon sesame oil (optional)

2 handfuls lemon balm, minced (or lemongrass)

1 clove garlic, minced

Veggies (this is flexible so use what you have):

1-2 carrots, julienned (sliced in matchsticks)

1-2 cucumbers, julienned

1 daikon radish, julienned

1 red onion, thinly sliced

Rice wine vinegar

Salt and pepper

Cilantro

Mint

Lettuce

Jalapeño peppers, sliced

French bread or ciabatta bread

Mayonnaise

Sriracha sauce

Optional (but definitely voids the vegetarian/vegan aspect!):

Bacon!  

To make the marinated tofu, mix together the soy sauce, oil, lemon balm, and garlic, add the tofu and marinate in the fridge for an hour or more.  

Mix together the julienned veggies, add a few splashes of rice wine vinegar, salt, and pepper.  Remove long or tough stems from the cilantro and mint.

Fry the marinated tofu in a bit of oil over medium-high heat until it is golden brown on both sides.

Serve by putting all the fillings on the table, slicing open the bread, and let everyone make their own sandwich.

Asparagus and Rhubarb Salad

When spring finally arrives in Southwestern Ontario, the first vegetables seem to hold so much promise.  If you grow rhubarb it is a beautiful and slightly mysterious looking thing that emerges, unfurling from the ground.  Asparagus is stranger still, coming out simply as odd individual spears working their way skyward. 
These perennials are wonderful vegetables but they often seem to get stuck in the same roles; asparagus gets roasted or fried and is served as a side, while the rhubarb gets thrown in desserts and baked goods, never being allowed to truly stand out by itself.
This dish gives both vegetables a chance to be part of a main course in the form of a very hearty salad.  With the addition of spring greens, lentils, and bacon there are lots of flavours at play, but the asparagus and rhubarb are both in the forefront, with the rhubarb giving a wonderful tangy zing and the asparagus a hearty crunch.
This is a very Bailey’s friendly dish, enjoy!  The recipe was inspired by Green Kitchen Stories’ Maple Tossed Rhubarb & Puy Salad

Rhubarb and Asparagus Salad

Salad
1 cup lentils
2 cups water
½ tsp. salt
1 bunch asparagus, chopped in 1 inch pieces
3 stalks rhubarb, sliced thinly
½ lb spinach, chopped
Handful young kale leaves, chopped
10 basil leaves, chopped
1 cup cherry tomatoes
½ lb bacon, fried and chopped
½ cup of your favourite local cheese for salads – goat cheese, feta, etc.

Dressing
3 tbsp. oil (sunflower, soy, canola, or other local options)
3 tbsp. apple cider vinegar
3 tbsp. maple syrup
½ tsp. salt
½ tsp. pepper

Cook the lentils by bringing them to a boil with 2 cups of water.  Reduce to a simmer, cover, and cook for about 30 minutes, or until they are soft.  Drain any remaining liquid and add the salt.
Meanwhile fry the bacon and save the grease to add to the greens (optional, but very tasty).  Steam the chopped asparagus using a steamer or a covered pan or pot with a bit of water.  Steam the asparagus until it is bright green but still crunchy.  Remove them from the steamer or pan and allow them to cool and dry on a plate.  Chop the greens, tomatoes, and herbs.  Make the dressing and then toss all the ingredients together in a large salad bowl.  Serve with some hearty rustic bread and butter, or with rice. 


©2015 The Local Kitchener

Recipe: Spinach Strata

Spring is finally here!  And while there are still winter storage vegetables left to use there are also new vegetables becoming available weekly.
Spinach is one of this year’s first spring vegetables and we’ve been loving having it.  It’s an easy one to throw into whatever you’re having for dinner, either fresh or cooked.
In this dish it is just one of many flavours present, accompanied by sautéed mushrooms, onions, carrots, and a bit of bacon.  And everything in this dish is available from Baileys! 
A strata is sort of like a frittata combined with French toast.  You chop up stale bread, throw it in a casserole dish with vegetables and some meat (if you like), and cover everything with a mixture of eggs and milk.  Then you refrigerate it for a day or more allowing the stale bread to soak up much of the egg mixture.  When baked it takes on a bread pudding sort of consistency—very custardy—but in this case nothing like a dessert thanks to the savoury vegetables.

Spinach Strata
2-4 slices of bacon (optional, otherwise use oil to fry veggies)
½ onion, sliced thinly
½ lb mushrooms, chopped
½ carrot, sliced into very thin sticks, or grated
Several handfuls of spinach, roughly ¼ - ½ lb (or more!), chopped
Salt and pepper, herbs
½ loaf of stale or several-days-old bread, chopped into 1 inch pieces
8 eggs
2 cups milk (or mixture of milk and cream)
½ cup grated cheese (your choice, but something on the stronger side is nice)
Heat a frying pan or skillet and fry the bacon.  (If omitting the bacon heat oil in the pan).  Once the bacon is finished cooking remove it and chop it up (leaving the bacon grease for frying).  Add the onions, mushrooms, and carrots and cook for 10-15 minutes, until the veggies are nicely caramelized and the mushrooms have released some of their juices.
Add the spinach and salt and pepper and fry for another minute or two, until the spinach is wilted.  Mix together the eggs and milk.  Put the chopped bread into a 9x13 casserole dish, add the cooked veggies and chopped bacon, and pour the egg and milk mixture over everything.  It’s okay if some of the ingredients are not covered completely with the egg mixture.  Top with grated cheese, cover and refrigerate for 8 hours or overnight. 
Preheat the oven to 350◦F.  Bake the strata uncovered for 30-35 minutes, until lightly browned on top.  Let the strata sit for about 10 minutes before serving.  Serve with different garnishes to add some more colour and interest, like salsa, hot sauce, sour cream and chives, etc.

Kohlrabi & Pak Choi Pizza

Sometimes there are vegetables that are readily available, in season, fresh, healthy, and um, well we don’t know what to do with them.  That’s how I felt about kohlrabi and bok choy recently.  But I got them anyways and through them on a pizza! 

Pizza is the great dumping ground for veggies that I am unsure of what to do with but I try to do some research before I get to that point.  As a leafy green the bok choy was at least similar enough to more common leafy greens that I’m used to.  With a bit of internet searching I found that bok choy had many good options beyond what I had already thought of… but then I forgot it in the bottom of the fridge for a few days and it lost some of its fresh-looking tastiness.  The kohlrabi was a bit more mysterious although there were plenty of recipes on the internet for it as well. 

It turns out that kohlrabi is part of the cabbage group of vegetables, thus the “kohl” in its name, like the “cole” in coleslaw.  Where it seems to differ from cabbage is that it’s a bit starchier and thus can caramelize a bit when cooked, and it kind of looks like some sort of alien.

Going back to the pizza I found one other person who had put kohlrabi on their pizza but pre-roasted it a bit to get some of that caramelizing action going on!  Since forgotten bok choy wasn’t the only leafy green lurking in the bottom of the fridge it seemed like a good idea to make a greens pesto, consisting of the larger leaves of the bok choy, some old kale, walnuts, goat cheese, and oil.

The pesto was the base for the pizza topped with a bit of mozzarella (Goatsarella actually!), the roasted kohlrabi, some chopped green onion, and one slice of crumbled bacon.  It made a wonderful pizza, full of rich and unexpected flavours but with the familiar taste of crispy chewy pizza crust and good cheese.

Pak Choi and Kale Pesto

·        1-2 small bok choy

·        2-4 large kale leaves

·        2-3 tbsp. goat cheese or goat cream cheese

·        ¼ - ½ cup walnuts or heartnuts

·        2-3 tbsp. oil

·        salt

In a food processor puree all the ingredients until smooth.  Adjust quantities to achieve the desired consistency—if you like it a bit chunky vs. very smooth.  Make it creamier by adding more nuts and cheese.

Kohlrabi and Pak Choi Pizza

·        ½ kohlrabi, sliced thinly

·        1 tbsp. oil

·        1-2 slices of bacon, cooked until crispy and crumbled or chopped (optional)

·        Bok choy or pak choi and kale pesto

·        Mozzarella or Goatsarella, enough slices to cover roughly half the pizza

·        Green onion, chopped

·        Crushed red chili flakes (optional)

·        Pizza dough

Preheat the oven to 500.  Toss the kohlrabi slices in the oil and roast them on a baking sheet for about 10 minutes while the oven is preheating.  Stretch out the pizza dough.  Spread the pesto on the dough then arrange the slices of mozzarella on the pesto leaving plenty of space between them because this pizza is not just about the cheese!  Top the pizza with the roasted kohlrabi, crumbled bacon, and chopped green onions.  Add a bit of crushed red chili flakes for some extra huzzah or a bit of salt and pepper. 

Bake the pizza at 500 until the dough is starting to turn golden brown and the cheese is bubbling. 

Jon Spee loves local food and seeks it out constantly.  It makes it hard for him to have very many favourite restaurants because he’s so obsessive about where the food is from.  Luckily he can cook and blog

Salad Season - Simple Vinaigrette on Bacon & Radish Salad.

My goal these days is to eat as much salad as possible.  That’s mostly because our backyard garden is bursting with lettuce, kale, spinach, and more!  It’s also because I want to stock up on the leafy goodness before the weather gets too hot and they start turning bitter.  Ultimately though it’s mainly because I love salads and never seem to get sick of the endless possibilities and combinations!

Rather than dump store-bought salad dressings on these wonderful local greens, I find it better to create a spontaneous salad dressing for each unique salad.  The easiest way to make a salad dressing is to start with oil and vinegar (both of which can be local too!).  Then I follow with some garlic or herbs, a bit of mustard, honey, sometimes a bit of mayonnaise or yogurt to help make it more creamy, and finally some salt and pepper.  Here’s what a typical dressing recipe looks like:

·        ¼ local oil (sunflower, soy, canola, etc.)

·        2-3 tbsp. apple cider vinegar (preferably raw)

·        1 clove garlic, minced

·        1 tbsp. homemade mustard

·        1-2 tsp. honey

·        1 tbsp. yogurt

·        salt and pepper

If the salad features lots of heavier greens like kale and mature spinach I like to add some bacon to the mix (there are some health arguments in favour of this*).  My favourite way to do this is to fry 1 or 2 pieces of bacon, chopped up, and then toss the greens in the pan after turning off the heat.  The greens don’t need to cook, they just get quickly coated with the delicious bacon grease and then thrown in to the salad and everything gets tossed together with a bit of cider vinegar.

Recently I took the bacon idea a bit further and fried pieces of stale sourdough bread and thin slices of fresh radishes in the bacon grease.  This salad turned out awesome.  The end result was a salad featuring fresh lettuce, a bit of kale, croutons and radishes.  A nice addition would have been some crumbled goat cheese but alas, I didn’t have any! 

Another great addition to salads is fruit.  When adding fruit—dried or fresh—I usually leave out the sweetener in the dressing because I don’t want the salad to taste too sweet.  Now that strawberry season is here I’m excited for all the new possibilities!  How about you, care to share any favourite salad additions, or family recipe tips?

*http://www.webmd.com/food-recipes/news/20040727/fat-helps-vegetables-go-down

http://www.drweil.com/drw/u/QAA401137/Is-Lard-Healthy.html

http://nourishedkitchen.com/green-beans-bacon-shallots/