A little over three months is a long time to be getting my New Year's Resolution started. In between moving, going on a holiday, a surgery or two, school and general laziness, cooking has taken a backseat. A severe backseat, I might venture to say. I have had the opportunity to savour some of the finest from Safeway's frozen aisles and subsisted on copious amounts of rotisserie chicken and bread. In fact, my wine rack is so miserably barren, I feel an inconsolable amount of sadness.

All these leads me to the question of when will Coolio get his due and have his 76 or so ghetto-fab recipes featured on Konosur? As he would put it, "I've got no friggin' idea, shazam!". I really don't. But what I do now is that I have a pretty decent kitchen right now with a fancy shmazzy gas stove (gas stove!), a convection oven and several really good cookbook I've been dying to get (eg, David Tanis' 'A Platter of Figs' and 'The River Cottage Cookbook').

After a couple of seriously hectic and mind-numbingly dull weeks, we finally got our CSA box in this week. Spring is in transition and the first shipment of strawberries came. I think I might try making some rose-scented strawberries for Easter this weekend. But for now, I've put my aging carrots and bananas to good use for a fine breakfast coffee cake. This is probably nothing new, but it's a great way to use up bits and pieces of leftover carrots and bananas. I made this super easy cake for us , and a carrot/banana puree for the dog. Nothing goes to waste in this house.


Carrot and Banana Loaf Cake
Makes 12 slices

1 cup unbleached AP flour
1 cup whole wheat flour
3/4 cup light brown sugar
2 eggs, lightly beaten
1/4 cup vegetable oil
1/2 cup applesauce
1 cup mashed bananas (about 2 bananas)
1 cup grated carrots (about 2 large carrots)
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 cup chopped walnuts or pecans

Preheat oven to 350°F. Lightly grease a 9x5" loaf pan.

Mix together sugar, oil, eggs and applesauce in a bowl. Stir in bananas. Gently fold in flour, cinnamon, salt and baking soda, alternating with the grated carrots. Fold in chopped nuts until just well mixed.

Chuck it into the preheated oven and bake at 350°F for 50 - 60 minutes until the "test"** shows the cake is cooked through. Remove from oven, leave to cool in pan for 10 minutes. Turn out onto wire rack, cool for another 5 minutes, cut and serve!

** Test refers to the thin knife/skewer method, you know what I mean.

Easy Weeknight Dinner: Penne with Zucchini, Peas and Sausages

It's midweek, work is tiring and all you want to do is put your feet up, sink into a glass of wine and have a nice dinner when you get home. Pasta is perfect for those days when you really don't feel like doing anything but don't really feel like having take outs either. Let's face it, you can throw ANYTHING together with a handful of whole wheat pasta and make a delicious meal out of it. The trick is to add a good helping of vegetables to make it a wholesome meal. This recipe is one that I go back to time after time especially during this wonderful spring season when the weather is warm and meat sauces just seem to heavy. Zucchini and peas lend a refreshing amount of greens while cherry tomatoes, sausages and creme fraiche add a sophisticated touch for a simple yet delicious and healthy weeknight dinner.

Penne with Zucchini, Peas and Sausages
Serves 2

4 oz. whole wheat penne
1 stalk green garlic or 1 whole garlic clove, minced finely *see note
1 mild Italian sausage link, sliced thinly on the diagonal (about 1/4" thick)
1 medium zucchini, sliced thinly on the diagonal (about 1/4" thick)
1 cup frozen peas
1 cup cherry or grape tomatoes
2 tbsp creme fraiche, mascarpone cheese or cream cheese
1 tbsp chopped fresh parsley
A generous helping of grated Parmigiano Reggiano
Salt and pepper
Extra Virgin Olive Oil

Cook the penne according to the directions on the package.

Meanwhile, heat a generous amount of the olive oil in a saute pan (I used roughly 1 tbsp) over low heat. Toss in the minced garlic and saute for a one minute and add in the sliced sausages. Brown the sausages for a few minutes and add in the zucchini. Sprinkle with some salt and turn the heat up to medium. Saute the zucchini and sausages until the zucchini is softened, about 5 minutes. Add in the peas. Cook for 1 minute.

Turn the heat down to low, add in the cooked pasta, creme fraiche, cherry tomatoes and parsley. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Turn off the heat and toss everything together to combine. Spoon out into bowls and serve with grated Parmigiano. Enjoy with a good glass of slightly chilled Chardonnay!

*Note: Green garlic which came in my CSA is like scallions but is actually the young stalk and bulb of a garlic. It has a milder taste than full grown garlic. If using green garlic, discard the yellow stalks and dark green leaves. Use the bulb and the light green parts of the stalk.

Orange and Almond Tart

As promised, here is the orange and almond tart from yesterday's Easter lunch. I'm much too tired today to go into all the details of concocting this, so I will leave you with words of wisdom: This is the easiest tart you will ever make. 'Nuff said.

P/S: And it tastes like exploding blobs of citrus too! And it can be made dairy-free! And no crazy pastry-making!

(I couldn't resist the temptation, sorry for the missing slice!)

Orange and Almond Tart
Adapted from The Organic Seasonal Cookbook
Makes 6 servings

1 store-bought frozen pie pastry shell

1 unwaxed organic orange
1 stick butter (Earth Balance or Saffola also works)
1 cup granulated sugar
2 eggs, beaten
1 cup ground almonds (or almond meal)

To make the filling, put the orange in a saucepan, cover with water then simmer for 40 minutes, covered, until completely soft. Let the softened orange cool slightly, then cut in half and remove the seeds. Put in a food processor and whiz to a puree. Add the butter, sugar, eggs and almonds and whiz again until smooth.

Unroll the pastry shell over a 8" tart tin. Anchor the edges of the pastry overhang to the side of the tart tin and prick with a fork all over. Pre-bake in oven at 425°F for 10 minutes.

Fill the pre-bake tart shell with the orange filling and bake at 350°F for 40 minutes until the filling is firm. Remove from the oven and let cool. Serve the tart in slices with good vanilla ice cream.

Happy Easter!: Springtime Lamb Stew

I have a love-hate relationship with lamb. If it were up to me, and genetics did not make my metabolic rate so terribly flawed, I would have lamb everyday of the week. Lamb chops, lamb patties, lamb shanks, lamb pies, lamb curry and of course lamb stew of all sorts. Before you associate eating lamb with the killing of babies and all things cute, if you have ever tasted a pan-seared lamb loin chop while on vacation in Southern France, you will know that eating a tiny spring lamb is akin to sipping the finest wine in a field of golden tulips at sunset. Well, ok, I was trying to be poetic, but you catch the drift.

This is a Provencal recipe I nicked off a book I found in Borders for less than $5. It's called 'Savoring Provence' and has a fantastic selection of French recipes, every which one I will try at some point. The recipe calls for shelled English peas, but since young tender sugar snap peas are in season, I substituted that instead. The recipe also calls for bouquet garni (pic above) which is just a fancy French name for a herb bouquet made up of fresh parsley, fresh thyme and one bay leaf (fresh or dried is fine) tied together with a piece of butcher string.

Unlike traditional winter stew, this recipe doesn't incorporate potatoes, but is served on the side with boiled potatoes (pic below) tossed with butter, salt, pepper and freshly chopped parsley. For dessert, I made an orange and almond tart that rounds off the whole spring theme really well. But I'm not going to just hand you the recipe, you'll have to work for it by coming back and clicking on this blog and humor my shameless self-promotion.

Oh, and find a good bottle of Cotes du Rhone or Bordeaux blanc. This is one of the few times you will want to pair a meaty dish with white wine.

Springtime Lamb Stew (Navarin d'Agneau)
Makes 6 servings
Adapted from 'Savoring Provence'

1/4 cup unsalted butter
1 boneless leg of lamb (about 2lbs), cut into 2-inch cubes
1 large yellow onion
1 tbsp all-purpose flour
2 cups dry white wine
2 cups low-sodium chicke broth
Bouquet Garni (3 parsley stalks, 2 thyme stalks, 1 bay leave)
4 cloves garlic, minced
2 teaspoons sugar
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
1 lbs young Nantes carrots, cut into 2 inch lengths and halved
4 baby turnips, quartered
1 bunch small radishes, trimmed
1/2 lb (about 6) shallots, peeled and quartered
1/2 lb sugar snap peas
24 asparagus tips, about 3 inches long
2 tbsp chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley (for garnish)

In a large dutch oven, melt the butter over medium heat. Working in batches, add the meat and brown well on all sides, about 15 minutes for each batch. When all the meat is browned, return it to the pan, add the onion and saute until translucent, about 1 minute. Scatter the flour all over and cook, stirring, until some of the flour browns, about 30 seconds.

Add the wine, the chicken broth and the bouquet garni and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat to low and simmer, uncovered for 15 minutes. stir the meat, add the garlic, sugar and season lightly with salt and pepper. Cover and continue to simmer over low heat for 30 minutes. [Amanda's note: You can cool this part and refrigerate if you intend to use it the next day. Just reheat and do the following:]

Add the carrots, turnips, radishes, shallots and cover and cook at a gentle simmer until the meat is tender, about 40 minutes. Add the peas and asparagus about 6 - 8 minutes before the end of cooking time.

Remove the bouquet garni. Using a slotted spoon, transfer the meat and vegetables to a warmed serving dish and keep warm. Raise the heat to high, bring the liquid in the pot to a boil and boil rapidly, stirring constantly until reduced to a light sauce consistency. Taste and adjust the seasoning with salt and pepper.

Spoon the sauce over the meat and vegetables. Garnish with the parsley and serve.