More of an idea than a recipe

Still keeping up with those New Year’s resolutions of cleaner eating and more exercise? Ha! I knew you couldn’t do it. (Kidding.)

Here’s an easy dish for packing in the nutrients and the flavour. It’s kind of a take on couscous, though instead of being made with that wee pasta, it features one of my favourite superfoods, quinoa.

To make it, all you do is cook about 1.5 cups of rinsed quinoa in double the amount of water (if I had stock on hand I would have used it instead for an extra flavour boost.) While it simmers away, drain and rinse a can up chickpeas, slice and dice some veggies (green onion, grape tomatoes, orange pepper and the like, plus loads of fresh parsley), and juice a fat lemon into some olive oil.

Once the quinoa is cooked, fluff it with a fork, let it cool, then toss everything together in a bowl and season the lot with sea salt and black pepper and chili flakes. Then let it sit in the fridge for a couple of hours before eating so the flavours marry.

This stuff has legs: Pop some into a Tupperware and you can call it lunch, side it will some broiled fish or chicken and you can call it dinner, or, stick a spoon into it and you can call it a snack.

Fear not, the haggis

Robbie Burns day is Tuesday, January 25. And you know what that means, don’t you? Scottish poetry and peaty tipples and that famous Scottish take on stuffed derma -- haggis!

Executive Chef David Garcelon has created Haggis Sliders to celebrate the beloved poet Robbie Burns and his Scottish heritage (just when you thought the slider had jumped the shark with President’s Choice's recipe for Korean BBQ Angus Sliders) the Haggis Sliders will be available in The Library Bar at Toronto’s Fairmont Royal York and can be paired with one of 25 varieties of Scotch or 22 types of beer including their exclusive rooftop honey beer, the Royal Stinger.

Here’s the problem: I’ve always wanted to try haggis, yet up to now the opportunity had always eluded me. And since I have a prior engagement on the eve of Robbie Burns day, it looked like another year was going to go by without me tasting this traditional dish.

But not so fast. My friend Melanie happens to be the head PR gal at the Royal York, and she had some sliders sent to my house today so that I could finally cross haggis off of my life to-do list. (And that’s what makes Melanie so awesome.) And you know what happened? I ate them. And you know what? Very delicious offal! The taste is not unlike regular beef sliders, albeit with a softer bite, a touch of allspice and a minerally, livery undercurrent. The sesame brioche buns, tomato chutney, crispy onions, a touch of mayo and pickled onion and gherkin garnishes are all thoughtful and work well in helping the haggis go down.

If you can’t make your way to the Library Bar on Tuesday and don’t mind going to the butcher to load up on gobs of innards and suet, here’s the Royal York’s haggis recipe. Be sure to accompany it with a glass of neat Scotch whisky and a heart full of good cheer.

The Royal York’s Robbie Burns Day sliders and pairings are available from 12pm through to 1:00 a.m. on Tuesday January 25, 2011. Also, click here for more haggis happenings around Toronto.

Traditional Haggis

Ingedients:

1 large sausage casing

5 cups dry coarse or steel cut oatmeal

1 lb. (0.5 kg) chopped suet

1 lb. (0.5 kg) lamb or venison liver, braised then minced

2 cups beef or lamb stock

Lamb liver and kidney, boiled and minced

1 large chopped onion

1/2 tsp. cayenne pepper

1/2 tsp. allspice

1/2 tsp. salt

1/2 tsp. pepper

Method:

1. Toast oatmeal slowly until crisp. Mix all ingredients (except stomach bag) together. Add stock.

2. Fill bag to just over half full, press out air, and tie-up securely. Have ready a large pot of boiling water. Prick the haggis all over with a large pin so it doesn't burst. Simmer slowly for 3-4 hours.

3. Serve with “neeps an tatties”, a traditional Scottish dish that combines mashed potatoes and swede turnips with chives, butter or drippings, and salt and pepper.

Kickass Korean Tofu

After printing a series of blog posts about chocolate, shortbread, truffles and cheesy bread pudding, I had some requests to stop trying to kill you all, and instead, go back to my usual amenable ways of offering up healthy and tasty dishes for eating well.

So I guess you can add “good listener” to my list of “winning personality traits”. (And add “humility” to the list of “needs improvement.”)

Kickass Korean-style Tofu (Adapted from Gourmet)

(serves four)

Ingredients:

1 package soft or medium (but not silken and not firm) tofu

1 garlic clove, minced

1/4 cup green onion, finely chopped

1 tbsp roasted sesame seeds (tip: You can buy Japanese-style sesame seeds as they often come roasted)

2-3 tbsp Tamari or soy sauce

1/2 tbsp toasted sesame oil

1 tsp sriracha sauce

½ tsp sugar

Method:

1. Rinse block of tofu, then cover with cold water in a medium saucepan. Bring to a simmer, shut off heat, then cover and keep warm until eating.

2. While the tofu warms up, prepare sauce by combining ingredients above.

3. Just before serving, gently lift tofu from saucepan and drain on paper towels. Pat dry, then transfer to a plate and spoon some sauce overtop, serving remaining sauce on the side. Garnish with a bit more fresh green onion if you’re feeling fancy.

Be warned: This is addictive stuff. I almost ate the whole tofu block by myself in one sitting.