pork-stuffed cucumber soup

So we COOKED cucumbers today for the first time!  And I guess we also stuffed pork into cucumbers for the first time too!  Onwards we go with Rock’s Whole30 challenge and tonight I made this soup from Chrissy Teigen’s Cravings book. Kind of reminded me of Chinese winter melon soup and it was delicious.  Even our toddler finished his bowl which is amazing considering he’s so picky lately.  A few things – to make it Whole30 I had to substitute the soy sauce with coconut aminos (something i didn’t even know existed until a week ago!) and I used organic chicken stock instead of bouillon cubes (which still has some trace amount of sugar in it but I made the executive decision that I just didn’t care.  Turns out sugar really is in EVERYTHING! If you’re strict with Whole30 you can always make your own chicken stock.)

And as for the cucumbers, I used the English cucumbers that are readily available at the supermarket but after making this soup, I’m pretty sure the recipe uses the other variety of cucumber that’s shorter and chubbier; not sure what it’s called.  Our cucumbers looked waaaay longer than the ones in the book.  Do we not use the same type of cucumber as in the US??  Will google that later.  Next time I’d probably hunt down those fatter cukes or cut the English ones into thirds.  I also only used 4 cucumbers and 10 cups of stock, which I’m glad I did because my dutch oven was almost filled to the brim!  Here I’ll give you the recipe with the ingredient list straight from the book though.

This would serve 3-4 as a main.

1 lb ground pork  /  1/4 cup light soy sauce  /  10 cloves garlic, minced  /  1/4 tsp freshly ground black pepper  /  5 cucumbers, peeled, ends not trimmed  /  3 chicken bouillon cubes  /  1 bunch honshimeji mushrooms, trimmed (I couldn’t find these so I substituted enoki mushrooms)  /  1/4 cup thinly sliced green onion

Mix the pork, soy sauce, garlic and pepper together in a bowl.  Then, cut the cucumbers in half, crosswise.  Chrissy suggests using a measuring spoon or a pineapple corer to hallow out the cucumbers so that they become hallow tubes with still the end intact.  I just used the handle of a spoon and it worked great.

Then you stuff the cucumbers with the pork mixture. (We had quite a bit of pork mixture leftover and in hindsight, we should’ve just made them into meatballs and added them to the soup.  Next time!)

Next, in a large dutch oven or soup pot over high heat, mix 12 cups of water with the bouillon cubes and bring it to a boil. (Or if you’re using chicken stock, simply heat it to a boil.)  Add in the cucumbers and lower the heat to a simmer; letting it cook for 30 minutes.

Then add in the mushrooms and cook for about 15 minutes longer.  The cucumbers should be tender and the pork cooked through.  Serve with the green onions over top.

 

 

shakshuka

I can’t believe we’d never had this before!  A friend from my UVIC days who also happens to be doing Whole30 right now recommended I try making shakshuka so that’s just what I did this morning.  I had to google it and it’s a Tunisian dish of eggs poached in a spicy tomato sauce that’s popular in the Middle East and North Africa. It’s usually a breakfast dish but can also be dinner.  Sold! Love breakfast for dinner. I’ve actually seen similar recipes in a couple of my cookbooks but they just went by different names.  Anyway, there seems to be a hundred slightly different ways you can prepare this dish and I read maybe 10 different recipes… and then just winged it ‘cus I got too confused. But it turned out great! Will definitely be making this again.

Makes enough for 2 servings

1 tin (28 oz) of whole tomatoes, excess liquid drained  /  1/2 yellow onion  /  1/2 red pepper (I had a sweet pointed pepper that I used)  /  2 cloves garlic  /  1 tsp cumin seeds  / 2 tsp Hungarian smoked paprika  /  1/2 tsp crushed red pepper flakes /  4 eggs  /  olive oil  /  small handful of chopped cilantro (I’m lying. I was lazy and just ripped some up)  /  salt and pepper to taste

Mince the garlic and dice up the onion and red pepper.  Heat up maybe a tbsp or so of olive oil in a cast iron skillet over medium heat and cook the garlic, red pepper and onion until the veggies have softened and the onion has gone translucent.  Then stir in the crushed pepper flakes, paprika and cumin seeds.

Tip in the tin of drained tomatoes and just kind of break up the tomatoes with a spatula or wooden spoon.  Lower the heat a bit and let it simmer away for about 10 minutes.  Season with salt and pepper to taste and then its time to add the eggs.  As you add each egg, make a little well in the sauce first to crack them into.

Now you just have to be patient and let the eggs poach in the sauce.  I was not patient though and in the end, I put a lid on the skillet for just about a minute to quickly finish cooking the eggs.  You’ll have to poach them for probably about 10 minutes but it just depends on how cooked you want the eggs; I wanted the yolks still a bit runny.  You can check how cooked the eggs are by gently poking the centre with your finger.

And that’s it!  Finish off by drizzling some more olive oil over top and scattering some cilantro over.  Rock had his serving with some baby potatoes and I had just a piece of toast with it but this would be amazing with some nice crusty bread to sop up the sauce.  I also saw some variations that add some feta cheese or black olives or prosciutto over top so you could always try that too.

cauliflower and cashew curry

I’m going to be trying out lots of new recipes this month because Rock is doing the Whole30 meal program!  Our friend recommended it so he’s giving it a shot… while I happily sit this one out.  There’s TONS of stuff you cannot eat including dairy, ALL grains, ALL sweeteners, legumes… even stuff like soy sauce and quinoa isn’t allowed.  Talk about a challenge!  So I’ve been sifting through my cookbooks looking for recipes that don’t include any of these forbidden foods, while also still being something I would actually like to eat, and I found this recipe in Nigella Lawson’s Simply Nigella book.  It turned out really yummy!  She calls it a “Multi-Culti Curry” as it combines Thai and Indian flavours. Aymeric and I had it with some naan bread but you could also serve it with rice.  Rock ate it with some baby potatoes (potatoes are Whole30 at least!)

Serves 2 as a main dish.

1 medium-sized head of cauliflower, cut into florets  /  2 bay leaves  /  2 tsp sea salt flakes or salt to taste  /  1 tbsp coconut oil  /  2 green onions, thinly sliced  /  2 tsp minced ginger  /  seeds from 3 cardamom pods (which I couldn’t find so I substituted roughly 1/3 tsp ground cardamom)  /  1 tsp cumin seeds  /  1 tbsp finely chopped cilantro stalks  /  1/4 cup Thai red curry paste  /  1 can (14 oz) coconut milk  /  2/3 cup cashews  /  1 lime  /  small handful of chopped cilantro

In a large saucepan, bring water to a boil.  Add the salt, bay leaves and the cauliflower florets; cooking them until they are just tender – about 4 to 5 minutes.  In the meantime, add the coconut oil, green onion, ginger, cardamom, cumin and cilantro stalks to a wok or large lidded pan over medium heat and cook for about a minute.

Add the curry paste to the wok and then the coconut milk.  Stir it all together and bring it to a boil.  When the cauliflower is cooked, drain and add to the wok.  Give it a stir and you can add more salt to taste if you want.  Slap on the lid and turn down the heat to a simmer and let it cook away for about 10 minutes.  In the meantime, just give the cashews a light toasting in a small frying pan.

Stir in half of the cashews to the curry.  Then to serve, simply plate up along with the lime cut into wedges and scatter over the rest of the cashews and the chopped cilantro.  Enjoy!