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Armenian Roasted Vegetables

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A sucker for roasted vegetables, I couldn’t wait to make this recipe by Olia Hercules and her Mamushka cookbook. Fall and winter has us roasting vegetables regularly. I’ve roasted cabbage before and loved it so the combination of these Armenian Roasted Vegetables was quite intriguing to me.

Ensure you cut your vegetables thick as illustrated in the recipe. I’ve noticed while making recipes from this cookbook they use a lot of dill and yogurt in Eastern European Cooking. Our student from Spain has advised the same. Things I would have never known had I never joined the cookbook club. My mom used to cook with dill she grew in her garden. Dilled baby potatoes are one recipe that stands out from childhood. It’s an herb I adore. Serve these veggies along side a roasted chicken, pork loin or beef roast.

Olia also suggests to change things up, try adding some feta before serving.

 

Roasted Cauliflower & Garlic Soup

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The first time I made this soup was sometime in 2013. It was a craving soup end of the week kind of day and I had very little vegetables left to play with. There it sat on the third shelf in the refrigerator staring back at me. There was no way around it – it was to be cauliflower soup or nothing. Admittedly I’ve never made cauliflower soup before but I sure love roasted and grilled cauliflower.I turned on the oven, hacked up the cauliflower, tossed in some garlic cloves for good luck, a little oil and off it went into the oven. What happened next was outstanding. I made Roasted Cauliflower soup, and I loved it.

You have to agree, roasting your garlic with the cauliflower is pretty clever, and imparts great flavour. I wanted the soup again, so I took it a step further this time, and tossed in a couple shallots to roast them up to. I do not add cream to this soup but blitz the cauliflower, garlic and shallots like crazy to keep it healthier.

The roasting party in my oven became soup on my stove. I like it when this happens. A few extra minutes to simmer on the stove with thyme and bay leaves, then it gets blitzed, strained and is ready to serve. Those who can not eat dairy will appreciate this soup is dairy free. If you are gluten free do not add croutons. I quickly made some cumin croutons for this soup, but you can use any croutons you have on hand. I made croutons so often I will need to share the recipe. Simple flavours make it delicious.

This should serve 4 pending how big your servings are.

Roasted Cauliflower & Garlic Soup
Roasted Cauliflower & Garlic Soup

 

 

Pork Chop & Cauliflower Casserole

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It was 1970’s Casserole night in our house tonight…or so it felt when we made this Pork Chop & Cauliflower Casserole.

I went back to work when my oldest was 11 months old…until my youngest was born and then everything changed.  Going back to work with a little one is hard, as any mom can relate and thinking about healthy meals is even harder.  I tried to get organized and meal plan.  I went to the Kraft website and scanned through a lot of their meals as they were quick, simple and my kind of cooking as I tried to figure out life with a toddler.

Pork Chops Casserole is one we tried and enjoyed.  Easy Peasy Ron Weasly…or something like that.  Husband really liked it so it went in the keep file.  In my quest to rid the paper pile clutter it resurfaced last week and went into rotation.

The first time I made it, the recipe told me to use rosemary as “the spice”.  That’s it.  It worked at the time but was rather bland.  Never being one to “follow the rules” I decided I needed more.  More flavour.  More Zing. More something.   So this time I searched through the pantry craving flavour and pulled out what called to me.  Epicure Fajita seasoning and Epicure Cheese, Chives & Bacon Dip.  It was a long shot but why not?  In the end it worked.  Flavour was mild yet noticeable.  Grown up’s loved it, kids ate the pork chops sans anything else.  In my books that’s called keeper.  If you make it find the spices that work for you, BBQ, 5 spice blend, chili, paprika – try it, you never know unless you do.