Gasp, I Hope Not!

As I sit in our home office this rainy evening I am taking a moment to remember the most beautiful summer that has just passed.

I hear that this weekend is going to be nice (sunny) so I am trying to be patient. I hope to see the sun again. In Alberta there is always one more sunny day to come. However, all this rain has me in the mood for a batch of borscht. So this weekend, rain or shine, I am going to the farmers market for some beets.

Do you have a favourite recipe?

Summer's Last Gasp?

3 rhubard muffins with hopefully not the last sweet peas from the garden

I was outside wandering around the yard after work, picking a few tomatoes for supper and getting ready to barbecue some chicken. Another glorious weather day! My husband came home and proceeded to let me know "frost by this weeked"........Thump! down came the blissful state. Frost! It can't be so. I felt the urgent need to pick something living, and make something....anything from it. I looked at my young rhubarb plant. The gardening books say "do not harvest any rhubarb for the first year, as the plant needs all the energy it can get from the leaves to feed it's roots." Well......if frost is coming, the rhubarb is dying anyway and I'm making something. Here is a delighful little muffin recipe, adapted from Nigella's (a.k.a. the domestic goddess), book Feast, changed to meet my tastebuds, and with volume measurements included. I added the crystallized ginger, and used almonds instead of Nigella's walnuts. Last gasp indeed!

Rhubard Muffins

250 grams soft brown sugar (1 1/2 cups packed)
80 ml canola oil (1/3 cup)
1 egg
2 tsp vanilla extract
250 ml buttermilk (1 cup)
175 grams rhubarb, diced to about 1/4 inch pieces (2 cups)
75 grams nuts (3/4 cup) (slivered almonds are nice)
300 grams all purpose flour ( 2 cups)
50 grams wheat germ ( 1/2 cup)
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1 tbsp crystallized ginger, cut into small dice


Topping:
1 tbsp demerara or sugar in the raw mixed with 1/2 tsp poudre douce*

Prehat the oven to 350 degrees. Spray a muffin tin with non stick spray

Mix the sugar, oil, buttermilk, egg and vanilla together. Measure and mix all dry ingredients together. Mix wet ingredients into dry and then add the rhubarb and nuts. Spoon into muffin tin. Sprinkle sugar topping over batter and bake for approximately 20 minutes until a toothpick or cake tester comes out clean.

*poudre douce is a spice mix of cinnamon, cardomom, cloves and ginger that can be used anywhere that cinnamon is used. Extraordinary flavour!

Summer Minestrone

Minestrone ("big soup") refers to a thick vegetable soup, that generally contains pasta and sometimes peas or beans. It is usually topped liberally with grated parmesan cheese and is hearty enough to be considered a meal.

Serves 4 to 5

1 medium onion chopped
1 medium zucchini cut into large dice (1/2 " to 3/4")
1 celery stalk cut into large dice
1 large or 2 medium carrots cut into large dice
2 medium potatoes cut into large dice
3 large fresh tomatoes, skinned, or 1/2 can 398 ml canned tomatoes, diced or whole
Fresh or dried herbs
Salt and pepper to taste (at least 1/2 tsp of salt!)

250 grams fresh spinach sliced (add the last 10 or so minutes)
approx 6 cups water or chicken stock, or a mix of both

This recipe is a very simple soup that you can use chicken stock as the base, or water if you don't have any chicken stock. Tomato juice can be part of the liquid as well. I like to add canned cannelli or white kidney beans to it at the end.

You can saute the vegetables in a little olive oil, before adding the liquid, or put the vegetables and the liquid together in the stockpot and bring to the boil and then reduce to a simmer. Fresh herbs are great if you have them (basil, oregano, marjoram) but dried works well too. Add these now. If you have an end of a piece of fresh parmesan, put this into the soup to simmer. It adds flavour and some salt to the soup.

Simmer about 20 minutes. If you have leftover cooked pasta, this can be added at the end. The soup can get bigger and bigger! If you add pasta, you will need to add more liquid to the soup. You can use fresh green beans in this soup too. It is awesome.

Enjoy! I will post a picture next time I make it.