Back in Business
See my previous post about the California walnuts blogger challenge.
Next up: Baked spaghetti squash with California walnut watercress pesto
Spaghetti squash has a high water content and is not as dense in vitamins and minerals as other winter squash, such as acorn or butternut, but does provide 3 percent of the Daily Value for calcium, 5 percent of the DV for Vitamin A, 9 percent of the DV for Vitamin C and 8 percent of the DV for dietary fiber. Spaghetti squash supplies modest amounts of carotenoids, plant substances that the body turns into Vitamin A and that may help protect against some diseases. (Source: Livestrong, which got their information from the USDA).
Squash is abundant this time of year so it seems like a seasonal dish. I baked the squash the day before. It really would be better baked same day and served warm. 1 squash serves 2-4 people, depending on size. (Or in my case, 2-4 meals.) Double the squash if you’d like. The sauce easily makes enough for 4.
Ingredients
Directions
Ingredients
1 small clove garlic , peeled
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
1 cup California walnuts, toasted*
2 cups packed fresh watercress leaves (can also use arugula or spinach or any combination)
1/2 cup packed fresh basil leaves
1/3 cup extra-virgin olive oil
2 tablespoons grated Parmesan cheese & more for sprinkling on top.
1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
Directions
In a food processor or blender, add about 1/2 of the walnuts, watercress, basil, and olive oil. Blend until paste forms.
Stir in Parmesan and lemon juice.
*Toast nuts in toaster oven or oven at 400°F. Watch carefully because they burn easily.
Makes 1 cup
To put the dish together:
Scrape squash with a fork to remove flesh in long strands. Place in a large bowl. Top with pesto. Sprinkle with remaining walnuts and one tablespoon of cheese.
Leftover pesto should be transferred to an airtight container. It can be refrigerated up to 3 days.
…I have one more walnut recipe to try and 2 more cups of walnuts (1 in shells).
Update: A few days later I put the pesto on Japanese turnip and celeriac “noodles” that I made with my spiralizer along with kelp noodles.
Final recipe here.
Last month I was invited to participate in a California Walnuts Holiday Blogger Challenge.
Also: Entries will be judged on originality, creativity, flavour profile, ease of preparation and the use of at least one cup of California Walnuts. The recipes should be suitable for holiday gatherings/ winter entertaining.
“Why not?” Said I.
“Why not”? Because I’m not much of a cook. I mean, I do like to cook and I’m good at it, but I’m kind of lazy when it comes to cooking for just myself. But, most of my recipes are original. Often they’re based on other people’s recipes but sometimes they’d indistinguishable from the original(s). They’re all easy to make (like I said, I’m lazy). I trust my judgement of flavour profile. I think I’m fairly creative. So, I started brainstorming on paper, with pen. Diagrams. Arrows.
I settled on a few ideas. I’m making them over a course of a few evenings.
The first one, which I made last night, was a salad with maple walnuts. As this is a walnut challenge, I could consider maple walnuts the recipe with salad as one of their uses, but you can’t eat a meal of maple walnuts. You’ll be tempted to, but you can’t.
I’ve been making a version of this for holiday gatherings for years and each time I’ve been asked for the recipe. The original recipe called for cashews. In the past I’ve used toasted pecans. For dried fruit, I’ve used a combination of cranberries & dried cherries in the past. I think that dried currents and Saskatoon berries would work too. It’s the tartness you want. Last year I added pancetta to a version and it worked. If you’re making this for a crowd you might want to do dressing on the side.
*I used emmental this time, sliced, because it was on sale at the supermarket & I didn’t have time to buy cheddar from the farmer yesterday. Had I used cheddar it would have come from Monforte Dairy, bought at a farmers’ market.
Directions:
2. In a large bowl combine the romaine lettuce, shredded Swiss cheese, cashews, dried cranberries, cubed apple and cubed pear. Toss to mix then pour dressing over salad just before serving and toss to coat.
* I used my new food processor, which came with a 3-piece food pusher. Each pusher is a different size and are nested together. Small holes in the bottom of the narrow pusher are for drizzling oil into ingredients. You just fill the pusher with the amount of oil needed. It worked, unlike the egg whip attachment which does not whip egg whites into a useable form as promised.
1 cup California Walnuts
2 tbsp maple syrup (I use Forbes Wild Foods #3 dark).
1 tsp cayenne pepper, or to taste
Preheat oven to 300 degrees. Line baking sheet with parchment. Combine walnuts, maple syrup & spice in medium bowl. Spread out nuts on sheet. Bake until brown and dry, stirring often, about 20 minutes. Cool. Coarsely chop nuts if you want, crumble them into salad with your hands, or leave whole.
Store airtight at room temperature.
I didn’t get a good photo of the end result. Instead, I offer you photos of the lovely package of California walnuts, cutting board, pot holder and nut cracker that I got, as well as the salad-making in progress.
Up next: Tonight’s meal of spaghetti squash with watercress California walnut pesto.
Remember that time I went to Hockley Valley Resort with a bunch of bloggers last November? Open the post in another tab and read it when you’re done this one.
The golf course in the fall.
Hockley Valley is running a contest to people who ‘Like’ the page on Facebook. Introducing Hockley Valley’s Summer Getaway promotion:
At 500 fans – Pasta Sociale dinner gift certificate
At 750 fans – Round of golf for two
At 1,000 fans – Round of golf and dinner for two in Babbo
They’re currently at 493 fans.
(Update: 7 more likes in 11 hours. I like to hope that some are due to this post. 
)
There are also some exciting things happening at the Resort in the coming months. I’ll keep you posted.
Eat well, be well.
Forks Over Knives examines the profound claim that most, if not all, of the degenerative diseases that afflict us can be controlled, or even reversed, by rejecting our present menu of animal-based and processed foods.
The major storyline traces the personal journeys of Dr. T. Colin Campbell, a nutritional biochemist from Cornell University, and Dr. Caldwell Esselstyn, a former top surgeon at the world renowned Cleveland Clinic. Inspired by remarkable discoveries in their young careers, these men conducted several groundbreaking studies. Their separate research led them to the same startling conclusion: degenerative diseases like heart disease, type 2 diabetes, and even several forms of cancer, could almost always be prevented—and in many cases reversed—by adopting a whole foods, plant-based diet. Despite the profound implications of their findings, their work has remained relatively unknown to the public.
Bringing these scientific concepts to life, cameras follow “reality patients” who have chronic conditions from heart disease to diabetes, and are taught by their doctors to adopt a whole foods plant-based diet as the primary approach to treat their ailments.
The film features leading experts on health and tackles the issue of diet and disease in a way that will have people talking for years.
…I’ve been looking forward to this movie. I became a fan on their Facebook page months ago. Recently I entered to win a double pass to an advanced screening. I won. GREAT, but it’s tomorrow evening and unfortunately can’t go because I’ve got 2 consecutive appointments.* Instaed, I’m paying it forward.
You can win my double pass to the free advance screening! All you need to do is visit the film website, then come back here and tell me the name of one of the filmmakers.
Contest closes tomorrow (Wednesday May 18) at 3pm EST.
Details:
Wednesday, May 18 at 7 PM
Cumberland Cinemas
159 Cumberland Avenue, Toronto
Maybe the Forks Over Knives people will see this and either send me a screener or get me tickets for another screening?
(The 5 articles are just the first 5 of 13 that appear in the “related articles” plugin that appears in my WordPress post page.)
*Don’t feel too bad for me – the second one is a massage that I paid for 2 months ago and they want to get it off the books.
Tickets won by Rebecca S.,
(Will update this with images & more tomorrow. Too tired to be as thorough as I’d like but determined to blog tonight.)
If you go for dinner at The Drake Hotel on any Monday you may find yourself snacking for free. The bakers and cooks could be chefs from prestigious Toronto restaurants, or they could be bloggers.
Tonight was another round of friendly competition at 86′d at the Drake Hotel. The theme this week: Chili. The competitors: Bloggers. It was my second time as an 86′d competitor, my second visit to the Drake’s kitchen. I’m always amazed at how gracious they are then we’re there. Helpful, too. They heated up our chili, watching it and stirring it, while doing regular dinner service. I try not to get in the way and to minimize the photography. My co-competitors: Ben Ratcliffe, Joel Solish and David Ort. When one of the chefs asked us what restaurants we’re from, David responded that we’re bloggers. It was a peculiar feeling being asked. Naturally we’re in restaurant kitchen competing, we must be right? But we’re bloggers, not chefs or line cooks.
One of the cool things about 86′d is that even though I often refer to it as a “food industry” evening for chefs, food writers and other food fanatics, everyone who stops by can get in on it. Earlier I overheard a girl in line for chili exclaim to her friend, “I’m glad you suggested coming here!” If I hadn’t been about to head back to the kitchen for the last of my chili I’d have given an 86d pitch.
There’s also a special “86′d” menu with a selection of items off their regular menu at a discounted price. It includes (I’m going from memory here) around 5 varieties of sushi, calamari, their tasty poutine, a prosciutto flat bread and a few other things. I bet that if you have a nibble off the 86′d menu you’ll be tempted to order off the regular menu. Once a month they have “bin end” night during which glasses of wine are cheap.
At 10pm the house band, Bootknives, start performing. Last week they performed in boxer shorts. Around Christmas time they were dressed as wisemen and Mary (it was like a toga party). One week they were in pajamas. Some weeks I stay just to see what they’ll be wearing or not wearing. I like the cover songs they play.
Watch Ivy Knight’s website or Twitter feed (more up-to-date than her website) or see The Drake’s website to see what’s coming up.
The result of the chili competition: It was a tie between Joel and Ben. The voting was so close that it was almost a four way tie. Ballots were counted 3 times and Ivy and one other person. All 4 were so different. I really liked getting the fat on David’s meat, made sous vide in a beer cooler (see his teaser post).
What I made: Spicy peanut chili. It certainly wasn’t a classic chili but recently when I was considering entering two recipes came through my RSS feed via Serious Eats; This Black Bean and Sweet Potato Chili, posted January 18, won that writer a cook-off two years ago. The peanut butter one intrigued me more. I used half a bottle of Guinness in there, cocoa powder, coffee and mushrooms. I find that mushrooms often provide a meaty texture. I think I added a bit more peanut butter than called for because while I seemed to have exactly the right amount in the bulk container that I bought, I likely scraped out another 1/4 cup. With the deep freeze going on in the city I didn’t buy the toppings (the day I bought the rest of the ingredients I was tired and just wanted to be home and on cook-off day I wanted to stay inside the office for as long as possible). Sour cream would have been perfect though. My own bowl the night before was topped with a dollop of goat sour cream.
Next Monday is Martini theme.
Lavender, that is. One of the things I like about Restorative Yoga is the lavender & buckwheat scented eye pillows. They make the relaxation so much easier. Marni Wasserman is doing a contest on her website, the prize of which is Pillow and Eye Mask from Mette Vangso San Francisco. Although I don’t always enter contests because I don’t need more “stuff”, I’d like to win this. I could use all the help I can get to relax and quiet my mind. Check it out.
Eat well, be well.
