Garden Slug

I tried to pick up a stick when I was outside one night and almost picked up this...

Tuna Cakes

Around the end of school I was busting my brain trying to figure out how to give said brain an appropriate amount of power boosting so I could finish my essays and whatnot (illegal narcotics are so 20th century...). Eating fish is, of course, the universal go-to brain food, but there's only so many sardines and tuna sandwiches I can eat before I start looking at the frozen pizza boxes. Still, I had a shit ton of tuna cans in the pantry and figured I'd just try and experiment a little bit.

I found this recipe for tuna cakes in an old book of my mother's, so I guess it wasn't really experimenting all on my part, but I decided to try it out and it was a huge success in my mind. I've made this twice so far. It's great for 2-3 people, or 1 person if you do a half-recipe. It's awesome for end of school because it's super easy and it's almost guaranteed that you'll have all the ingredients in the house already.

Ingredients
- 1 can of tuna
- 4 slices of bread, cubed (preferably white and malleable)
- 2 eggs
- 1 small onion, finely chopped
- salt and pepper to taste

1. Whisk the egg beforehand, but only until slightly frothy.
2. Mix tuna and onion with egg, and add salt and pepper if desired.
3. Add bread. I use my hands to really mash it all together.
4. Once it's all sticking together pretty well, form small balls that you can then squish flat-ish into patties.
5. On an oiled pan heated to about 4, place the patties.
6. They're ready when they're golden brown. Flip until both sides are golden.

The book says to eat them with mayo, which is definitely flippin delicious, but I've also eaten it with pesto and humus. But then again, I'm kind of weird. I'm pretty sure experimenting with dipping sauces is one of the funnest parts though, so go crazy.

Honeyed Blackberry Brie Toast

I came home with a stomach that was just a tad bit unsettled from my pint of Guinness downed on a near-empty stomach. The only solution to said problem, I decided, would be to eat some bread. But then I saw blackberries. And then I found brie. And then I remembered the chutney in the fridge and wanted nothing other than warm brie liquifying under warm blackberries and a golden dribble of honey on a thick slab of fresh Italian bread.

Ingredients

- 1 slice of bread, thick cut and preferably a fresh loaf, not the regular sandwich kind

- blackberries, washed

- brie, cut about 1/2 cm thick

- mango bengal spice chutney

- honey

1. Toast bread lightly enough to get a crisp outside and soft inside; the bread should be no more than lightly blushing brown.

2. Slather the chutney on the bread (see previous post about what kind of chutney this is exactly), arrange brie cheese. How much brie you need will depend on the size of the bread.

3. Broil until brie is runny.

4. Arrange blackberries evenly, as many as you want.

5. Drizzle honey across this divine midnight snack and weep tears of roses and unicorns.

On Pesto

So I made pesto for the first time today, a process which was a lot easier than I'd thought. I have to say that pesto makes one of my all time favourite things - the bocca panini from the Indigo Cafe, a sandwich just perfectly warmed so the outside bread is crispy but if pulled open you can see the inside is a steaming, stringy heaven of bocconcini, tomato and, most importantly, pesto sauce. Aside from that, it makes cold pasta salads to die for, it's amazing to cook meat with, and you can of course just toss it around with some tomatoes and onions to make a great side dish.

I've been putting off making it for a while now though, since I remember making it years back when I stayed with my aunt and uncle and it seemed intimidating. Maybe it's just the recipe I found, but it took a grand total of maybe - maybe - ten minutes. I got it off this site, but just in case some day the hyperlink doesn't work, I'll break it down here for posterity's sake.

Ingredients
- 2 cups fresh packed basil leaves
- 1/4 cup grated parmesan
- 1/4 cup pine nuts (can be substituted with walnuts or hazelnuts)
- 3 cloves garlic, finely minced
- 1 Tbs lemon juice
- 3/4 cup olive oil, extra virgin

1. Pluck the basil leaves from the stems, removing any brown bits or mould.
2. Rinse in cold water and dry.
3. Mix oil, pine nuts and garlic in a food processor (or blender, which is what I use for lack of a food processor).
4. Add basil leaves, a bit at a time, until the mixture is a thickish green paste.
5. Add lemon juice.
6. Add parmesan if none of it's being frozen.

Makes about 1 cup pesto. The pesto can be frozen, but in that case the cheese should be added when it's ready to be used since cheese doesn't freeze all that well. The only thing with this recipe - and I don't know if this is normal or not, having never made this from scratch before - is that the oil separates very easily from the mixture. It might be that there's too much, or it might just be because oil doesn't like to play nice with the other ingredients in the mason jar and prefers to be a loner.

Also, I'm partial to cheese and saltiness, so I actually added more parmesan than 1/4 cup (actually 4 times that amount - initially by mistake, but it turned out rather delicious). Of course this is the kind of thing that can be tweaked over the years until an uber-special pesto epitome is reached and can be passed down to the next generation.

Mediterranean Pomegranate Salad

A salad is only as interesting as you make it. Most people hate salad because they think dry lettuce with skimpy dressing that doesn't quite dress. At least that's the distasteful gustatory picture I get in my head. But alas, the veggies need consuming, so why not consume them in style? Most of the recipes I've put up so far are results of my boredom and unending desire to turn ordinary healthy food into something exciting. Pretty much all food is wonderful if you do a little tasting outside the box.

Now I'm not sure how authentically Mediterranean some of these ingredients are, but we'll roll with it because it sounds more appetizing. I decided I wanted something a little bit special for lunch seeing as I've spent the last many days at home avoiding going outside because of the oppressive cloud blanket that's been smothering the area since the last few weeks. What better way to pretend you're in a sunny place than with food?

<u>Ingredients</u>
- a handful of spinach leaves
- cucumber, about a 2-3" wedge, sliced and quartered
- half a tomato, diced
- 2 bocconcini balls, in pieces
- black olives, 5-8
- fresh pomegranate seeds, a generous garnish
- sunflower seeds, a good handful
- roasted sesame seeds, a good scattering
- a pinch of mediterranean sea salt spicing*
- balsamic vinegar
- olive oil

1. Mix spinach, cucumber, tomato, bocconcini and olives.
2. As a garnish, place pomegranate, sunflower and sesame seeds, topping with mediterranean sea salt.
3. Drizzle balsamic vinegar and olive oil on top.
4. If you want a side dish, I had it with cream of mushroom soup (from a Campbell's can, sadly). It would probably be delicious with a tomato soup too, or some kind of spiced cold soup like gaspacho if it's a warm day.

Sesame seeds don't just belong on bagels, and they are sadly left out of a lot of recipes. In this it adds a great nutty flavour, and since they're so small, they cling to almost every bite and complement all the other ingredients. Although it's difficult to get a hold of most of the year, the pomegranate is absolutely wonderful with the balsamic vinegar. Its sweetness mixed with the subtle taste of the bocconcini helps to undercut the salty balsamic and herb mixture, making it an all around delicious treat for lunch. Definitely a salad I'll be having more than once.

*The mediterranean sea salt I use is of the Les soeurs en Vrac brand. It isn't just salt, but a mix of other herbs like dehydrated bell pepper, garlic and parsley. I get it at IGA, Metro, or Arpents Verts, but it's on an independent stand so it could be elsewhere.