Portobello Pepper Steak Stew

January kicks my ass every year. There are many reasons for this sad state of affair: the nasty Canadian weather is chief among them. I want nothing more than to go out for long walks with a nice thermos of tea, but the minus 8000 degree situation means I end up cooped up inside, going stir crazy from watching one-too-many episodes of "Sherlock". I also developed a crush on Benedict Cumberbatch. I definitely need to get out a bit more...

Occupying the couch with the cat has the long-term effect of making me feel like a giant potato. Let me confess something: I have no idea how much I weight! My doctor is the only one who knows, as I don't even own scales, but when I start feeling less than comfortable in my clothes, I know that something needs to be done.

I got the yoga mat out, my copy of "Punk Rock Aerobics" (go ahead, laugh, get it out of your system... and then go fly a kite!) and a good playlist and I started my meager home-workouts again. I also dusted off my copy of "Appetite for Reduction" and flagged a few recipes. This book saves my life in this post-Holidays-winter-lethargy mess that is January.

I really love that book, because eating low-fat is not something I have a problem with. Bland food is what my issue is, and this book contains NO bland recipes. Ha! I've posted a few recipes from that book, including chickpea and zucchini stew, pasta con broccoli and pad thai salad. But I got inspired to try a new one!

I was in the mood for something filling and meaty, but not too heavy, so a vegan stew was just the thing. The rich and earthy flavor of portobello mushrooms is something I can't get enough of, but I decided to rework the original recipe a bit. Isa calls for seitan, something I can never seem to find, no matter how much I look for it in every food store I walk in, so I used extra-firm tofu, that I cooked sprinkled with freshly ground black pepper, and a touch of paprika and oregano, to give it a more robust flavor that would go well with the veggies and the garlicky broth. I also upped the spiciness by being more liberal with the chili flakes. A lovely hot bite is very comforting when the cold is as intense as it has been in Montreal for the past few days...

The great thing about this recipe is that it's a one-pot stew: very little dishes to do at the end! It's also ready in less than an hour (if you don't include the time to press your tofu!).

2 teaspoons of olive oil
1 pound extra-firm tofu, drained, pressed and cut into strips
Freshly ground black pepper
A few pinches of paprika
1 red onion, sliced into 1/4-inch half-moons
1 red bell pepper, seeded and sliced into 1/4-inch strips
1 green bell pepper, seeded and sliced into 1/4-inch strips
Sea salt
2 portobello caps, sliced into 1/4-inch strips
3 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 teaspoon fennel seeds, crushed
1 teaspoon dried thyme
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon chili flakes
Several pinches of freshly ground black pepper
1/2 cup dry red wine
2 cups vegetable broth
3 tablespoons all-purpose flour

Preheat a large pan over medium-high heat. Sprinkle the tofu with a generous amount of freshly ground black pepper and a pinch of paprika, and sauté in 1 teaspoon of the oil for about 5 minutes, until browned.

Remove the tofu from the pan and set aside.

Sauté the onion and pepper with a pinch of salt in the remaining oil until the peppers are slightly blackened, about 10 minutes.

Add the mushrooms, garlic, fennel seeds, thyme, remaining salt, red pepper flakes and black pepper and sauté for 3 more minute, until the mushrooms have released their moisture.

Add the red wine, and bring to a boil over higher heat. The liquid should reduce in about 3 minutes. In a measuring cup, mix the flour into the vegetable broth to dissolve into a slurry (start by adding the flour to 1/4 cup of broth, mix vigorously until think and dissolved, then add the remaining broth). Lower the heat and add the slurry to the pan. Mix well and let thicken for a minute.

Add the tofu back to the pan and let the stew thicken further, in about 5 minutes, it should be slightly thickened but smooth and luscious.

Taste for salt and seasoning and serve.

I served it with some baked potatoes (and I put sour cream on my potato... thus killing the vegan of the recipe. Sorry... kinda...) but rice would be a perfect bed for a few spoonfuls of this delight. You can even try to make a messy wrap with some tortillas!

This is a great winter recipe: filling, comforting, full of bold flavors and vitamin C! I LOVE freshly ground black pepper so I went crazy with the grinder, and was I ever right! The beautiful peppery kick really hit the spot on a cold winter evening. It reheats very well and makes a delicious lunch. You may want to double the recipe if you have company!!

20,000 Leagues in the Dutchoven or My Spicy Octopus Stew

I love octopus and squid. Fried, in sushi, in fancy pasta sauces (seafood pasta is a big classic Christmas treat with Italians), you name it. But I had never prepared and cooked one before. The already sliced frozen stuff doesn't count, especially when you can get your hands on a whole, 2 pounds fresh octopus rather cheaply. I am on vacation, and I was in an experimental mood, so I finally gave in to my curiosity, and bought an octopus. Actually, half an octopus...

(In case you are wondering, the difference between an octopus and a squid is that the squid has two long tentacles on top of the eight arms. The squid also has an elongated head mantle, as where the octopus' mantle is more bulbous-shaped. Otherwise, their physiology is relatively similar.)

I can't really understand why some people find squid and octopus repulsive; I personally think they are some of the coolest looking creatures on the planet! Granted, they can be a bit freaky, as they are animals with very high problem-solving abilities (they can work their way out of a maze faster than rats!), alien-like body structures (no skeleton of any kind, eight legs, 3 hearts, a mantle and a beak!), the capacity to change their color to camouflage, and a squishy texture perfectly adapted to their underwater environment. But many cultures have been using them in their cuisine for ages. Italy, Greece, Spain, Portugal, Japan, Hawaii, Tunisia: these countries' cooks have been using these cephalopods to keep their families fed since the dawn of time.

I was inspired by a recipe for stewed octopus (polpi in umido) in David Rocco's "Dolce Vita", but I thought his basic stew recipe needed a few more ingredients, so I tweaked it, keeping it very Italian and flavorful. Stewing octopus in its own juices is the best way to make it nice and tender and to avoid the rubbery texture most people dread. If you plan on cooking octopus a different way, it's better to blanch it in boiling water first, to tenderize it (or do it the old-fashioned Greek way and beat it against a big rock... and I am not even kidding).

You can whip this recipe up with either one 2-pound octopus or with the equivalent quantity of baby-octopi (those can usually be found frozen in Chinese grocery stores), and you'll get 4 servings. The octopus I got was actually half an octopus, and it had already been cleaned and trimmed; all I had to do was chop the tentacles. If you buy your octopus whole and are squirmy, you can have a fishmonger clean and prepare your little cephalopod for you, but if you feel like taking down a miniature kraken, here is how it's done!

Turn the octopus inside out (yes, yes, like a sock) and rinse it under warm running water for a minute. With a sharp pairing knife, remove the beak (located right in the middle of the tentacles) by cutting around it and scooping it out. It is easier to cut the mantle from the tentacles to remove all the innards and clean it; the eyes and ink-sac have to be discarded. Once that's done, run the mantle under cold running water to get rid of all the remaining grit. Give the tentacles a good rinse too, and pat everything dry with paper towels. Lay the octopus on a cutting board and chop it up in bite-sized pieces (you may skip this step if you are using baby-octopi, which are already small enough).

Once your octopus is nice and clean, you are ready to make polpi in umido alla Gabriella!

1 2-pound octopus, cleaned and cut into bite-sized pieces (or the equivalent quantity of baby-octopi, cleaned)
2 tablespoons olive oil
4 cloves garlic, chopped
1 yellow onion, thinly sliced
1 cup dry white wine
12 cherry tomatoes, quartered
1 (14-ounce) can diced or crushed tomatoes
1 tablespoon chili flakes
1 tablespoon oregano
1 handful black olives, pitted (optional)
1/2 lemon, juiced
1/3 cup fresh basil leaves, finely cut
Sea salt and ground pepper
Lemon wedges, for serving

Preheat the olive oil in a large saucepan or dutchoven over medium heat. Add the garlic and onion and cook until fragrant, and the onions have softened, about 5 to 7 minutes.

Deglaze the pot with white wine. Let the alcohol evaporate for a minute or 2, then add the octopus, cherry tomatoes, diced or crushed tomatoes, chili flakes and oregano and mix well.

Bring to a boil, then lower the heat to medium-low and cook, with the lid on, for 1 hour, stirring occasionally.

Remove the lid, add the olives (if using) and the lemon juice and give the stew a good stir. The tomatoes should have broken down and gotten saucy. Taste the broth and adjust the seasoning carefully with sea salt and plenty of freshly ground pepper.

Lower the heat to low, and cook for another 30 minutes with the lid off, until the octopus is fork-tender and the stew has thickened a bit. Stir in the fresh basil and serve with lemon wedges for squeezing, and crusty bread to mop up the broth.

You could also try adding a tablespoon of capers along with (or instead of) the olives, but if you do, go easy on the salt. The octopus pieces will give off liquid while cooking, so they will shrink a bit, and provide a natural broth to the stew. They will also get surprisingly tender and meaty! The broth turned out wonderfully rich and tasty. Treat yourself to some fresh crusty bread to do it justice, because you wouldn't want to waste a drop. If you want to round up your meal a bit, I suggest serving it with a side of lemony roasted potatoes or similarly seasoned rice.

Seafood based dished usually go well with white wine, so you can definitely serve this with a dry white (I used Masi Modello Delle Venezie in the broth, and served the rest of the bottle with the meal), but the tomato-based broth also makes it really tasty with red wine. So really, just go with any wine you like here, as long as it's not too sweet.

In his book, David Rocco suggests using the leftovers of his stew as a pasta sauce: to do that, add a bit of olive oil to a large sauce pan over medium heat, pour in the leftover stew and let it reheat, stirring occasionally. Once it's hot, add freshly cooked pasta to the pot and mix well.

I was very happy with how this little recipe turned out, and with how much easier than anticipated it is to cook with fresh octopus. I'll definitely experiment again with this little critter!

Moroccan Chickpea & Zucchini Stew

My hearty winter comfort food so far has been very rich. Potatoes, cream and meat galore! There is nothing wrong with that in and of itself. But I get more sedentary in winter, and despite walking half an hour every day and always using the stairs, I sometimes feel like my warm and comforting food shouldn't knock me on my ass... or add padding to it. So today, I give you a filling and warming stew that's very different from the last!

After all the Holiday baking (and once my boyfriend and I got through the metric ton of dessert leftovers we ended up with), I reached for my copy of "Appetite for Reduction", an amazing collection of low-fat vegan recipes. As redundant as "low-fat vegan food" may sound to some, I have to say that when I feel like my body is in need of a little veggie delight/detox, I reach for this book hungrily. It is full of surprisingly filling and satisfying recipes, and Isa Chandra Moskowitz knows her spices!

Zucchinis are one of those veggies I am never really sure what to do with. This recipe is a great blend of flavors and texture, and it made me really appreciate this poor little underdog vegetable. I recommend this recipe as a winter dish, but really, you can make it all year long, whenever you find yourself asking the deep philosophical question: "What the devil do I do with all these zucchinis?!"

Even if this stew contains no meat, I love to make it in my beloved Dutchoven. The blend of cumin and coriander is warming and exotic, which makes a great cure to the occasional winter blues.

1 teaspoon olive oil
1 small yellow onion, sliced thinly
5 cloves of garlic, minced
1 tablespoon minced ginger
1/2 teaspoon chili flakes
2 bay leaves
1 tablespoon cumin
1 tablespoon coriander
a generous pinch of ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 cups vegetable broth
1 cup baby carrots
2 zucchinis, sliced into 1/4 inch half-moon
1 (24 ounce) can whole tomatoes
1 (25 ounce) can chickpeas, drained and rinsed
3 tablespoons chopped fresh mint, and some whole leaves for garnish

Preheat a 4-quart pot over medium-high heat. Sauté the onion in the oil until translucent, about 4 minutes. add the garlic, ginger and chili flakes and sauté for another minute. Add the remaining spices and salt and sauté for about 30 seconds. Deglaze the pot with the veggie broth and mix in the carrots. Cover the pot and bring to a boil. Once boiling, lower the heat to a simmer and let cook for about 10 minutes. Add the zucchini. Break up the tomatoes with your fingers and add them to the pot, including the juice. Mix in the chickpeas. Cover the pot and bring to a slow boil. Cook for about 15 minutes, the adjust the lid so that there is room for some steam to escape. Cook for another 15 minutes; the liquid should reduce a bit, but not too much. Add the mint and let sit for about 10 minutes. Remove the bay leaves, taste for seasoning, adjust if necessary. Serve over couscous or quinoa.

Don't be daunted by the long ingredients list; they are very easy to come by and the generous batch of stew you'll have will give your body a (possibly) much needed detox from all the Christmas calories. I love all those chewy vegetables and I am mad about chickpeas and cumin.

If you have a carnivorous significant other like me, you can appease their ferocity by serving this along a couple of grilled merguez sausages. It's naughty, but delicious (and a few proteins never killed anyone - just make sure to use a grilling pan, so that the fat collects in the pan and not on the merguez)!

Pork and Cider Stew

Stews may be the oldest dish on Earth. Every culture and local cuisine has one or more recipes for stews, which is essentially meat and vegetables, slowly cooked in their own juices. Cassoulet, tagine, goulash and chili con carne are all examples of stews. Old and versatile!

What's wonderful about stews is that once you master the basic principles, you can throw virtually anything in a Dutchoven (or slow-cooker, if you swing that way) and get a rich and delicious meal after a few hours of simmering. Tougher cuts of meat are preferred for stews, as the long simmering softens it better than other methods of cooking. A savy way for cooks to make sure no meat is wasted!

In the colder months of the year, knowing a few stew recipes comes in very handy, because a proper dosage of meat and vegetables will give you a complete and satisfying meal with relatively little effort. A stew is obviously more filling than a soup, so if you are going to serve it with a side dish, keep it nice and light.

This recipe has a British taste to it: pork, sage and cider are a traditional match. Add to that a few chunks of potatoes, carrots and onions and you have yourself the kind of food served by every self-respecting pub in England (or self-respecting Irish pubs in Montreal). You can either cook it in the oven or one stove top. I prefer the latter technique, if only to have the enticing smell fill the kitchen!

From "Jamie's Food Revolution", slightly altered.

2 large Russet potatoes, peeled and roughly chopped
2 medium yellow onions, chopped
2 celery stalks, chopped
2 carrots, chopped
Olive oil
1 heaped tablespoon all-purpose flour
1 (14 ounce) can diced tomatoes
Sea salt and ground pepper
3 sprigs fresh sage
1 pound diced stewing pork
2 cups medium-dry hard cider (I used L'Éphémère cider, from Unibroue)

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees, if you plan on cooking the stew in the oven. Put a Dutchoven over medium-heat. Put all the veggies and herbs in with 2 lugs of olive oil and fry for 10 minutes. Add the meat and flour. Pour in the booze and canned tomatoes. Give a good stir, then season with a teaspoon of sea salt and a few grinds of pepper. Bring to a boil, put the lid on and either simmer slowly on your stove top or cook in the oven for 2 and a half hours. Stir occasionally. Remove the lid for the last hour of simmering, also stirring a couple of times. This will reduce the liquid and thicken it. Add a splash of water if it looks a bit dry. Remove herb stalks, taste and adjust seasoning as needed and serve.

I like to keep my veggies chunky, but even if you like them smaller, try to chop them in equally-sized pieces so that they cook evenly. The cider and sage give the pork a nice, rich and comforting taste. I love the texture of the meat cooked this way: it becomes very tender and breaks apart so easily you can almost say it melts in your mouth.

My boyfriend and I enjoyed this as our New Year's dinner, with a garden salad, crusty bread and a few slices of Bois Blond cheese. A dry red wine goes very well with this stew (we had Celeste, a delicious Spanish red).