Baked

Happy hump day! Hope your week is going smoothly.

I made a pot pie over the weekend, but added a biscuit topping as I'm not huge on the usual pie crust topping. To each his own, I guess. ;) You can pretty much use any combo of vegetables.

Vegetable Pot Pie - makes 4 small pies

1 small onion, finely chopped
2 medium carrots, finely chopped
1 large fennel bulb, finely chopped
1 lb white mushrooms, chopped
1 medium potato, diced small
1 cup frozen or fresh peas
1/4 cup scallions, finely sliced
1/4 cup parsley, finely chopped
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
2 tablespoons arrowroot powder or cornstarch
1 cup vegetable broth
1 cup milk

Preheat oven to 400f. Heat oil in a large pan over medium heat. Add onion, fennel, carrots, and cook until just soft, about 3 minutes. Add mushrooms and potato and season with salt and pepper. Cook for another 5 minutes. Sprinkle arrowroot powder or cornstarch over vegetables, stir to coat, and cook for 3 more minutes. Add broth and milk, stirring constantly to avoid lumps. Bring to a simmer and cook for another 5 minutes until mixture has thickened.  

Remove from heat and add peas, parsley and scallions, stir to coat. Spoon mixture into 4 ramekins. Top with biscuit dough (see below).

Biscuit topping

1 3/4 cups whole wheat flour
pinch of salt
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
2 tablespoons unsalted butter, chilled and chopped
3/4 cup milk
1/2 cup parmesan cheese, grated
1/4 cup chives, chopped

To make biscuits:
In a large bowl, sift together flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt. Cut in chopped butter with a pastry cutter until mixture is like a coarse meal. Mix in parmesan, then add milk and chives.

Knead dough in bowl, for a few minutes. Pat out onto work surface and cut out shapes using a 2.5 inch biscuit cutter. Top each ramekin with biscuit dough. Bake for about 25 minutes, until biscuit is golden brown. 

Really easy, and sooo good. It's kind of a staple around here. If you try it out, let me know.

Have a great day!

Back soon,

janis

I Heart the Kootneys and Ernesto

Just wrapped up a 3 day shoot in the Kootneys.  Have to say, Rossland and Trail were especially photogenic. I got a bit obsessed, actually.  I'm working on a series of B.C. images, so I've attached a few.  

Now, about Ernesto.  I love Ernesto. His lovely wife, Connie, is pretty great too. They have an amazing edible garden. The dynamic duo took Jose and I into their home and showed us everything they do with their bounty. He's a very modest Portuguese man, so I had to beg him to let me take a picture of him with his gala apple tree. We all chatted for a bit using a lot of hand motions, and arm flailing, as we tried to understand what each other was saying. What I did pick up was that he doesn't mind if a passer-by picks an apple, just don't snap off an entire branch. Oh, and he's not too keen on raccoons and bears and he doesn't like "show offs". Or he doesn't want to be a show off.  Something like that.

Chair lift at Red Mountain - Rossland, B.C.

CocaCola is truly everywhere - Trail, B.C.

My new friend, Ernesto and his gala apple tree - Castlegar, B.C.

Jose and her perogie and cabbage roll dinner at Weezie's Borscht Hut - Castlegar, BC
(wish I had this right now)

Not Much of a Gardener

Just got home from a long day of shooting product. Back hurts from my improper photography stance. To make myself feel better, I'm eating some Missing Goat cardamom peach jam all by itself, right out of the jar. Wow. It's quite incredible.  

I've mentioned that I'm not much of a gardener, and either is my husband. When the Mayor of Vancouver, Gregor Robertson, decided that city hall needed a community garden, I thought we should have one too.  I discovered it is not an easy project (for us anyway!). 

We have a tiny back yard, so the vegetable patch is really tiny. When I planted two scrawny, and almost dead, tomato plants I had no idea they would grow so tall.  They are as tall as me, when I pick up a branch (is that the correct terminology?) from the ground.  I didn't provide any support for these poor tomato plants, but they still seem to be doing ok as there are heaps of pear tomatoes all over it.  It's a tangled mess though.  Beets and carrots look like they might eventually become edible too.  Fingers crossed. 

I took a couple of quick shots of the city hall garden, and a few from our garden.  Any helpful gardening tips would be welcomed! 

A beet, isn't it?

A tangled mess of pear tomatoes

Vancouver City Hall community garden

Renee, tending her garden at City Hall