Donna Hay loves lamb

A new post!  My sister visited this weekend and we wanted to make a few freezer meals.  Donna Hay's No time to cook has plenty of the foodie's stylized photos of presumably irresistible dishes, and one section called "some now some later."  We landed on a two page spread that had her versions of shepard's pie, veal osso bucco, and a coriander chicken curry.  Okay. Definitely won't be making the second, I recognize the first from university cafeteria days, and will undoubtedly love the third.

Potato Leek Potage

Hopefully it's just the change of season but I don't want to eat salad these days.  Raw vegetables are mostly unappetizing, or if a carrot, edible but slightly stomach churning into almost an...ache.  Oh, and I don't feel like cooking much either.  What is happening?  It's a minor crisis of the kitchen...

I tried this easy potage (a thick soup) to lighten the mood - one pot, six ingredients, herbs and seasoning.  Forty minutes later and it's country delicious.

Potage
(serves 4-5 people)
5 small potatoes
1 extra large leek (or 2-3 smaller ones)
3 small turnips
1 1/2 tablespoon of unsalted butter
5 cups of vegetable stock
1/4 cup of cream
thyme
salt and pepper

Scrub, rinse and chop the potatoes and turnips into small pieces.  Slice the white part of the leek lengthwise, clean out the layers of dirt, and slice thinly.

In a large pot melt the butter over medium high heat then add the vegetables.  Cook, stirring for about 3 minutes.  Add 1/2 cup of stock or water.  Cook for a further 5 minutes.  Add some thyme and salt and pepper.  Then add the remaining stock - there should be about one inch of liquid above the vegetables.  Bring to a boil then simmer for at least 25 minutes until vegetables are tender.  You can keep cooking them for another 15-20 minutes to further reduce the liquid and watch the potatoes start to crumble.  Stir in the cream at the last few minutes.  Taste for seasoning and then serve.

I served the soup with savoury crackers and soft cheese on the side.

Stasis Preserves

I did not get around to making my own preserves this year (or any year to date for that matter), but I do appreciate the fruits of other's labour.   Fruit combinations like strawberry and rhubarb equal comfort food for me - throw them together into a crisp, pie, or boil into jam and you have taste perfection.

At 476 Roncesvalles a few weekends ago, I picked up a jar of Stasis Preserves Strawberry & Rhubarb Jam and have been enjoying the strange but delicious spread ever since (the rhubarb creates a weird stringy element to the otherwise perfect jam).  It's overall a thin jam, nicely coloured and not too sweet.

And they have a very nice logo too - which never goes unnoticed in my books.  The storefront also offers ready-made meals, a significant selection of cured meats and cheese, fresh bread, organic produce, plus oils, vinegars and salty staples for your pantry.

Through their website I learned about FoodiePages - a mail order pop up shop where Canadian artisanal food producers can "etsy" their food wares to the whole world. Think gourmet mushrooms from British Columbia, caramels from northern Alberta, cranberries from Nova Scotia... or this wild blueberry juice from PEI.