Pork Chops and Root Veggie Mash

We didn't have pork chops in our house when I was growing up, so this is a food that is still new to me. I have found it easy to overcook and make tough. But then I was introduced to cooking it in the pressure cooker -- and, voila! Perfect pork chops every time. As an added bonus, I've created a recipe that produces one of your side dishes at the same time, and infuses it with the pork juices. It's an easy weekday dinner that is ready in a jiffy. I add steamed kale or a salad to round out the meal.

• 4 1-inch thick pork chops
• 2 Tbsp olive oil
• salt, pepper, and seaweed salt replacer (if you have it)
• 2/3 cup chicken stock
• 1/3 cup dry white wine (or 1/3 cup more chicken stock if you prefer)
• 2 medium yellow potatoes, peeled and cut 1/8-inch thick
• 1 large sweet potato (equivalent to 2 medium potatoes), peeled and cut 1/8-inch thick
• 3 carrots, peeled and cut into 1-inch pieces
• 1/2 onion, chopped or sliced
• 2 cloves garlic, quartered

1. Heat oil in pressure cooker over medium-high heat. Add pork chops and season with salt, pepper and seaweed salt replacer. Brown both sides, then remove from pan.
2. Add stock and wine to pressure cooker and scrape loose any browned pork bits.
3. Add veggies and garlic, then top with browned pork chops.
4. Close lid and bring cooker to full pressure according to your cooker's instructions.
5. Cook at 15 psi for 10 minutes, then release pressure.
6. Remove pork chops to plates to serve. Mash remaining ingredients together and taste to see if more seasoning is needed (I usually don't need to add anything).

Note that if your pork chops are not 1-inch thick you will need to adjust the cooking time. You can experiment with other vegetables in this dish -- parsnips give it a whole different flavour!

Turkey Risotto

Happy New Year!  I hope everyone had a great holiday season.  This has been a super busy month at Eagle Loft.  I've been cooking up a storm and have several new recipes to share.  I also have a few new cookbooks I'm excited to review.

One of my Christmas gifts this year was a set of two pressure cookers.  I love them!  I made a pressure cooked meal for lunch and another for dinner last night, so they are already getting lots of use.  After eating turkey with mashed potatoes, yams and gravy for the several days following Christmas, I wanted to come up with a recipe to use up more turkey in a different way.  I braved risotto for my first test of the pressure cooker and it was an overwhelming success!  I will definitely not be making risotto the old fashioned way again.  I've made it a couple more times since, including as a dinner side-dish to accompany a roast chicken.  It really is easy and quick enough to make as a side-dish or a lunch.

If you are scared of pressure cookers then I encourage you to try a good quality new model as they have safeguard features now.  Mine is the Fagor Duo, which comes with two size pots (both of which I've used already in the last week).  I found it easy to figure out and am not worried at all about its safety.  I've also heard good things about the Kuhn Rikon cookers.

• 2 Tbsp olive oil
• 1/2 small sweet onion, chopped
• 1 small leek, chopped
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 cup arborio rice
• 1 cup frozen peas
• 2 1/4 cups chicken stock (vegetable stock for a vegan dish)
• 2 cups chopped cooked turkey (optional -- omit for side dish)
• 2 Tbsp Daiya vegan cheese (optional but delicious)
• 1 tsp fresh thyme, chopped
• salt and pepper to taste

1. Heat oil in pressure cooker pot over medium heat and saute onion and leek for 2 minutes.  Add garlic and saute another 2 minutes, stirring frequently.  Add rice and saute another 2-3 minutes until rice starts to slightly brown.
2. Add peas and chicken stock and stir.  Seal lid and pressurize according to your cooker's instructions.  Cook at reduced heat (once under pressure) for 7 minutes at 15 psi (13 minutes at 8 psi).
3. Release pressure fully then open lid and stir in turkey, Daiya, thyme, salt and pepper.  Serve and enjoy!

Eagle Loft Quinoa Salad

My recipe is featured on the Enjoy Life blog!

At first I found lunch to be a somewhat tricky meal to manage with allergies as I don't have time to prepare it from scratch every day.  I wanted something I could make ahead and have on hand, a dish that could provide protein and pack in a lot of nutrients.  Something that could be a side dish to last night's leftovers, a meal of its own, or a dish I could serve to friends at brunch.  One dish fit all these parameters -- quinoa salad.  I make quite a few variations of this salad, but over time this version has become my favourite.  I eat it daily!

Eagle Loft Quinoa Salad
(makes 6 servings)

• 1 cup quinoa, rinsed thoroughly
• 2 cups water
• pinch of salt
• 1 can chickpeas (garbanzo beans), rinsed and drained
• 1 can artichoke hearts, rinsed and sliced (remove any thick outer leaves)
  
• 3/4 cup Kalamata olives, pitted, rinsed and halved
• 4 slices bacon (check for allergens), cooked and chopped
• 2 medium carrots, peeled and sliced
• 1/2 of a sweet red pepper, seeded and chopped
• 1/2 of a sweet yellow pepper, seeded and chopped
• 1/8 of a red or sweet onion, chopped small
• small handful of chopped parsley

 Dressing:

• 3 1/2 Tbsp olive oil
• 2 Tbsp apple cider vinegar
• zest and juice of one lemon
• 1 clove garlic, minced
• 1/2 tsp sea salt
• 1/2 tsp dried rosemary
• 1/8 tsp fresh ground pepper

1. Combine quinoa, water and pinch of salt in medium saucepan with lid.  Bring to boil, then turn to low simmer and cook 20 minutes.  Remove from heat, remove lid and let cool.
2. Place all other salad ingredients in a large bowl.  Add cooled quinoa.
3. Whisk together dressing ingredients and pour over salad.  Stir well to combine.

Planning: Allergen-Free Christmas Dinner for Ten

That's right, Christmas dinner is in full planning mode at Eagle Loft Kitchen!  It is not only possible to make a holiday dinner for ten people that is gluten-free, dairy-free, egg-free, nut-free, soy-free, etc. etc.... (not taste-free!), but in some ways it is even easier than the traditional way.  What makes it easy?  Planning.  And the freezer!  And a bit of a messy kitchen a few days before the event. :)

Here's what we will be serving for dinner this Christmas:

• Turkey (salted, then basted with olive oil and oven roasted)
• Gravy (chicken broth mixed with turkey drippings, poultry seasoning, tarragon, salt, pepper, and thickened with arrowroot flour)
• Mashed potatoes (boiled, mashed and mixed with rice milk and Becel RSF)
• Mashed sweet potatoes and yams (boiled, mashed together and mixed with Becel RSF, fresh orange juice and a touch of agave syrup)
• Bread stuffing (cubed homemade gluten-free bread mixed with sauted onions, celery, sausage meat and bacon, tossed with poultry seasoning -- stuff in turkey or add some chicken stock or white wine and bake covered in the oven)
• Sausage meat (made fresh by our local butcher, allergen-free -- hooray!)
• Carrots and peas

And for dessert:

• Pumpkin pie
  
• Molasses spice cookies
• Date coconut balls (I will post these sometime in January)
• Chocolate star cookies (similar to my chocolate Easter cake, but in star shapes)
• Chocolate cinnamon ice cream (same as my chocolate fudgesicle ice cream with a bit of cinnamon added in)

The beauty of this menu is how much can be done ahead.  All of the desserts are already made and frozen except the pie, which I am making Christmas Eve night.  The mashed veggies can be done the day ahead, and pretty much everything else is finished off late Christmas morning as the turkey goes in the oven.  I'm anticipating getting a lot of time this year to visit with my guests Christmas evening.

Wishing you a very merry Christmas, and a tasty allergen-free holiday feast.

Brown Rice with Lentils

This is a recipe I make for Little Man, although it could also be a hearty side dish for adults. Every time I cook vegetables for Little Man I save the cooking water. I keep a 3-cup container in my freezer and add the veggie water to it each meal. We usually just have a couple tablespoons of liquid left after cooking vegetables, so it takes a while to fill the container. But when it is full, it is time to make this recipe! Run the container under hot water for 30 seconds or so to loosen the ice block from the container.

• 3 cups vegetable cooking water, chicken stock, or water
• 1 inch piece kombu (dried kelp) or dash of salt
• 1 large carrot, finely grated
  
• 1/2 cup brown rice, rinsed thoroughly
• 1/4 cup green lentils, rinsed thoroughly
• 1/4 cup brown lentils, rinsed thoroughly
• 3/4 cup chopped cooked chicken (optional)
  

1. Heat liquid to boiling.
2. Add carrot, rice, lentils and salt or kombu.
3. Reduce heat to simmer. Cover and cook for 1 hour, checking to ensure there is enough liquid at the 45-minute mark. (Add a little extra water if necessary.)
4. Remove from heat, remove piece of kombu, and stir in chopped chicken.

This freezes really well. If using chicken I make 4 toddler portions, otherwise I freeze this in 3 individual containers.

Fiddleheads

I've waited all year for fiddleheads to be in season and they finally are! It is a very brief season, so if you see them at the market grab them while they are still available. For those unfamiliar with them, fiddleheads are the new top shoots of ostrich ferns, and taste like a cross between green beans and artichokes. They are an acquired taste, and definitely a delicacy.

• 1/2 pound fiddleheads
• 1 small clove garlic, minced
• 3 Tbsp olive oil
• 2 Tbsp fresh parsley, chopped
• salt and pepper to taste
  

1. Wash the fiddleheads under cold water and pull off any brown papery skin. Trim brown ends.
2. Boil for 15 minutes or steam for 10 to 12 minutes to kill the natural toxin in the fern. Drain and discard cooking water (it may still contain the toxin).
   
3. Heat oil in a skillet over medium heat. Fry fiddleheads and garlic in oil until lightly seared, 2-3 minutes.
4. Add parsley and salt and pepper to taste. Serve immediately.
   

Farmer Salad

This is a salad I have been making for years. It is slightly different each time, although there are always "core" ingredients. I once ate a "Farmer Salad" at a restaurant and it had artichokes and chickpeas in it, I think fennel maybe, and no lettuce. I don't remember what else was in that original Farmer Salad, but that is always the starting point for mine.

• 1/2 can artichoke hearts, drained and chopped
• 1/2 can chickpeas, drained and rinsed
• 1/2 can sliced black olives, drained
• 1/2 can baby corn, sliced
  
• 1/2 bulb fennel (white part only), chopped
• 1/3 of a mild onion, chopped
  
• 1 red or orange pepper, chopped
• 1 yellow pepper, chopped
• 2-3 carrots, peeled and sliced
• small handful of fresh parsley or basil, chopped
• optional: I sometimes add other crunchy veggies I have on hand such as radishes or celery

Dressing:

• 1/4 cup olive or safflower oil
• 1/4 - 1/3 cup mix of vinegars: apple cider, red/white wine vinegar, sometimes a dash or two of balsamic
• salt and pepper to taste
  
• 1 tsp molasses (optional)
• dash cayenne (optional)
• 1 tsp dried herbs such as tarragon or oregano (optional -- don't add if using cayenne)

Whisk dressing ingredients together and pour over veggies. Mix well and chill. Stir again just before serving.

Orange Beet Salad

This salad is light and refreshing, perfect for a summer lunch.

• 6 baby beets, cooked, peeled and quartered (I used "Candy Cane" beets that are yellow and pink)
• 1 orange, peeled and chopped
• 2 carrots, grated

Dressing:

• 1 orange, juiced
• 1 1/2 Tbsp liquid honey

1. Mix beets, chopped orange and carrots together in a glass bowl.
2. Whisk dressing ingredients together and stir into salad.

Note: if using red beets you may wish to leave the chopped orange out until it is time to serve. Otherwise your whole salad will be red.

Yam Fries

Here is a tasty snack. Peel a yam and slice into fry fingers. An easy way to do this is to cut the yam into one centimetre thick slices, and then cut the slices into one centimetre wide pieces. Toss with plenty of olive oil to coat well. Optionally season with sea salt. Bake in a single layer on a cookie sheet at 475 F for about 30 minutes, turning once. They are best piping hot from the oven. I like to put several on my plate while leaving the remainder in the oven with the temperature turned off and the door opened a crack. Then I return for a second helping that is just as fresh and hot as the first serving.