Pickled Carrot Coins

Today I wanted to make pickled carrots, for things like ramen, sandwiches and garnishes. I decided to do a quick pickle for these, using a recipe that my dad shared with me, its awesome for pretty much any vegetable! Here is the recipe:

2 cups water

1 cup white vinegar

1tbsp salt

1tbsp sugar

Bring to a boil and pour in a mason jar filled with desired vegetables.

I started by peeling my carrots, when I went to the grocery store I saw red carrots, which I had seen before but never tried, so I decided to get 1 red carrot, and 2 orange carrots, and combine the two. Typically pickled carrots are cut in sticks, but I wanted to try carrot coins as I really liked the idea of how they would look, like an orange pickle. After the carrots were peeled, I decided to slice them with my mandolin, to get them all the exact same width.

I then stuffed them into a 1L mason jar along with some white peppercorns and 2 slices of garlic. These would also be great with coriander, dill or ginger. I then combined all ingredients for the quick pickle brine in a saucepan and brought it to a boil. Then poured it over the carrots and let them cool to room temperature. Then I put the lid on and refrigerated them.

These carrots were absolutely delicious! They have a nice crunch with a fresh sour bite. The carrot has sweetness in it which is perfect when pickled. The garlic added fragrance and a little spicy touch to these. I love the presentation of these, and I'm super excited to utilize these in cooking and plating. The red carrots taste the same but add a fun touch and pop of colour. Next time I would add more herbs for flavour. I'll be using these in salads, sandwiches as a snack or to top ramen! When making these carrot coins, my kitchen was filled with the smell of vinegar, which is one of my favourite parts about pickling!

Raging Radicchio!

For todays post, I am doing a sensory evaluation of a brand new food for me. I chose radicchio! The vibrancy of this purple and white leaf vegetable is what caught my eye and made me interested in its flavours. I decided to use the radicchio in a salad with some romaine and Belgian endives, with a balsamic vinaigrette. Preparing the radicchio almost reminded me of a small cabbage, having to core and then gently remove the leaves. The leaves are round and fairly firm. When tearing the radicchio for the salad, the leaves were snappy and looked very fresh. There was a slight spicy smell when tearing the leaves. The flavour of the radicchio really surprised me! It was super bitter, sharp and a little spicy. It was nice balanced out with the other lettuces. The texture reminded me of cabbage biting into it, having a light crunch, but the flavour was something new that I have never had before. I enjoyed this salad, but I think next time I have radicchio I wanna try cooking it, to try to get rid of some of the bitterness. Im not a huge fan of bitterness but the spicy touch was super pleasant. This exercise definitely surprised me, I thought I was going in for more of a lettuce rather than what it was, but i'm glad I tried a new flavour that stands out to the eye and taste buds!

Creamy Broccoli Soup

This week I made creamy broccoli soup. This is one of my favourite soups to make, it is filled with so much nutrients and flavour. This is a pretty standard recipe, but there is lots of room to add other vegetables, spices or toppings.

Ingredients

1 tablespoon of cooking oil or butter

1 full white onion [medium diced]

2 stalks of celery [medium diced]

1/3 of a leek [medium diced]

3 cloves of garlic [roughly chopped]

1 full head of broccoli (stems and florets) [roughly chopped]

4 cups of of chicken (or vegetable) stock

1 cup of half and half cream (optional)

Salt to taste

Black Pepper to taste

2 teaspoons of nutritional yeast for garnish (optional)

Tools needed

Large pot

Wooden spoon

Ladle

Blender

Instructions

Start by heating up oil in a pot on medium high heat. Once oil is hot, add onions and sweat until semi translucent. Then add leeks celery and garlic. Cook for 3-4 minutes, until vegetables are soft. Then add the chopped broccoli, cooking for around 4 minutes until broccoli has got more vibrant.

Next, add the chicken or vegetable stock and let simmer for 15 minutes.

Once simmered and broccoli has softened, it is ready to be blended. An immersion blender is recommended but any blender will work. Blend until all of the soup is a smooth uniform consistency.

Return the soup back to the pot (if it was removed to blend), and return to heat. Add cream and serve with black pepper and nutritional yeast.

This soup is super filling and creamy. This would be super good to add potatoes, or bacon, or cheese. The texture of this soup is super smooth with no chunks in it. My mom added feta cheese on top of the soup and said it added a nice creamy salty touch.