Apple and Cheese Strudel

JT and I have been on a huge adventure. I’ll let you in on it next week. But just before, a dear friend’s daughter flew in from Vancouver and we invited the family over for tea and strudel and this is what I made.

Apple & Cheese Strudel

A KitchenInspirations Original Recipe

Make 3 medium-sized strudels (about 30 cm or 12″ long)

To print recipe, please click here.

Ingredients:

• 260 g ricotta
• 100 g Icelandic or Greek yogurt
• 35 g raisins
• zest of 1 lemon
• 25 g icing sugar
• 5 mL vanilla
• 1 egg, gently whisked
• pinch of salt
• 4 (~550 g) apples, peeled, cored and finely diced
• zest and juice of 1/2 a lemon
• 20 g brown sugar
• 5 g cinnamon
• 50 g almond flour, divided
• 9 sheets of phyllo pastry
• 45 g butter, melted
• Icing sugar for garnish

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 350° F (177° C).
2. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
3. Combine the ricotta, yogurt, raisins, lemon zest, sugar, vanilla, egg and salt and mix well. Set into the refrigerator whilst preparing the apples.
4. Combine the apples, lemon zest and juice, brown sugar, cinnamon, 15 g almond flour and mix well.
5. Prepare 3 sheets of phyllo pastry by brushing each sheet with the melted butter and sprinkling with almond flour, set aside. Continue with remaining 6, making stacks of three sheets.
6. Pour 1/3 the ricotta mixture into the centre of each stack of prepared phyllo and top with 1/3 of the apple mixture. Turn in the ends and roll tightly.
7. Brush each roll with the remaining melted butter and bake until golden, about 30-40 minutes.
8. Serve warm sprinkled with icing sugar.

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Zucchini Crêpes

JT and I have been training for an upcoming epic 15 km hike. We do a gruelling route for 7-8 km through High Park on its steepest terrain, circling through a 98-step staircase and a 120 metre hill. Sometimes we drive to a Provincial park and hike unchartered territory to mix it up. But I’m a bit concerned as we can’t replicate the altitude we will ultimately face, I’ve never worked out at 6,800 feet before!

The best we can do is prepare ourselves. Eating healthy is part of that preparation so I’m constantly on the lookout for ways to change a recipe to make it healthier. Adding my favourite veggy, zucchini (or courgette) to a slightly modified crêpe batter does the trick!

These “crêpes” have an incredibly similar bite to them as their authentic French cousins, but they are less calorie laden. The small amount of whole wheat flour gives them the perfect amount of texture and volume. They cook up like a super thin omelette but results in a thin crêpe.

Definitely a keeper recipe.

Zucchini Crêpes

A KitchenInspirations Original Recipe

Makes 1 large crêpe, for multiple crêpes, simply multiply the ingredients below by the quantity you wish to make.

Please click here to print this recipe.

Ingredients:

• 50 g (1/4 cup) zucchini, grated
• 45 mL egg whites (6 tbsp egg whites or 3 large whole eggs)
• 10 g (1 tbsp) whole wheat flour
• salt & pepper, to taste

Directions :

1. Combine the flour, egg whites and salt and mix well.
2. Heat a nonstick pan and spray lightly with nonstick spray.
3. Spread the grated zucchini around in an even layer, predominantly in the centre of the pan and cook for a minute.
4. Pour the egg mixture over the zucchini and spread thinly over the pan as evenly as possible, making a large filled circle. Gently coax the egg mixture into gaps or holes.
5. Cook until side has browned a little, carefully flip crêpe when cooked and repeat for other side.
6. Serve warm filled with your favourite savoury filling.

Caramelized onions and sautéed mushrooms made a wonderful filling with a lentil-based béchamel.

Notes:

• These are as close to a real crêpe texture as I have gotten using low-calorie ingredients.
• Make them as large or as small as you wish, they have good structure and will hold up for hand held fillings like soft tacos.

Nutritional Facts for 1 crêpe, no filling.

Weight Watchers Points for 1 crêpe, no filling.

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Rustic Vegetable Minestrone

Our dear friends gave me a beautiful cookbook from their last cruise, it is a celebration of courses through the journies of their fleet: Culinary Courses Journeys. Although most of the recipes are quite fancy, the book is amazing inspiration and a week doesn’t go by that I don’t check it for reference!

It was such an occasion that I was leafing through the book that I found a gorgeous representation of a Minestrone Soup and I knew I had to make it for dinner. And then I realized that I did not have a Minestrone on the blog. Gads!

The soup is packed with fresh vegetables in a light tomato and basil scented broth. The protein is navy bean to keep it healthy. You could add a parmesan rind or two to the broth while cooking.

The tuile melts into the soup for a beautiful flavour and textural addition.

A KitchenInspirations Original Recipe

Makes about 1.5 L (6.25 cups) soup.

Please click here to print this recipe.

Ingredients:

• 1 tbsp EVOO
• 125 g (~1 cup) sweet onion, diced
• 10 g (2 – 3 cloves) garlic, finely minced
• 150 g (~1 cup) zucchini, diced
• 115 g (~1 cup) celery, diced
• 120 g (~1 cup) red pepper, diced
• 75 g (~1 cup) king mushrooms, diced
• 140 mL (4 oz) puréed tomatoes, juice or sauce
• 15 mL (1 tbsp) tomato paste
• 350 mL (1 2/3 cups) chicken stock
• 2 stems of basil
• 4 stems of lemon thyme
• 100 g (1/2 cup) dried beans
• 35 g (~1 cup) baby spinach
• 5-8 fresh basil leaves, roughly torn

Directions:

1. Cook the dried beans according to directions.
2. Heat Olive Oil in a large pot and sauté onions until translucent, you may need to add a little stock or water. Add the garlic and cook until fragrant.
3. Add all of the vegetables and cook for about 10-15 minutes.
4. Combine the puréed tomatoes, tomato paste, and chicken stock. Pour over the vegetables and add the basil and thyme stems and simmer for 10 minutes. Remove stems.
5. Add the cooked beans and baby spinach, stir and heat through.
6. Serve garnished with a Parmesan tuile (recipe below) and roughly torn basil leaves.

Basil Cheese Tuile

Makes 1 tuile

Ingredients:

• 7 g (1/4 oz) hard fatty cheese (like Parmesan or Cheddar), finely grated
• 1 large basil leaf, chiffonade
• pinch of granulated garlic

Directions:

1. Pre-heat the oven on high broil.
2. Mix cheese, basil and granulated garlic well.
3. On a parchment lined baking sheet, shape the tuile as desired (I made a tear drop).
4. Broil until evenly browned (mine took about 4 minutes but it depends on how thick you make your tuile); to prevent burning, you may need to cover part of it with bits of parchment as it bakes.

Notes:

• I like a little crunch left in my vegetables, so I generally under cook rather than over cook.
• If you make this in advance, keep the beans separately so they don’t turn to mush.
• I used Ivanhoe Horseradish Cheddar because I thought it would be a nice zing to the soup.
• Make as many tuile as you need, just multiply the ingredients by the servings required.

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Smoked Garlic and Roasted Cauliflower Soup

Recently, we were dining at our favourite French restaurant in our hood. We were sitting at the bar chatting with the staff and another patron when, for no apparent reason, a wine glass slid off the top shelf and plummeted to the ground, shattering!

Well, that was interesting! No one was near it, and the manager said that they put rubber mats on the shelves to prevent this type of thing. Yet, it slid off the shelf entirely on its own. Later, someone mentioned that the location had been a funeral home when it was first built in 1923 (we’ve been here 17 years and have only known the location to be restaurants!). You decide what happened, but my bet is on a sneaky ghost giving us a fright!

Smoked Garlic and Roasted Cauliflower Soup

A KitchenInspirations Original Recipe

Please click here to print the recipe.

Makes 1.5 L (6 cups) soup

Ingredients:

• 25 g smoked garlic (about 5 cloves)
• 560 g cauliflower (about 1/2 a large head), cut into smallish florets
• 1 L (4 cups) chicken stock (or vegetable)
• 90 g (1/2 cup) red lentils
• non-stick spray
• 1/4 tsp smoked paprika
• sea salt

Directions:

1. Pre-heat the oven to 400° F (200° C).
2. Add the unpeeled garlic cloves to a small ramekin, sprinkle with a little sea salt. Pour about 1 cm (1/2 inch) stock over cloves and cover with either foil or ramekin lid.
3. Spray a large baking sheet with non-stick spray and add the cauliflower, sprinkle with a little sea salt. Add the ramekin with garlic to a corner of the baking sheet. Bake cauliflower and garlic for 30-40 minutes or until quite soft, turning frequently to avoid burning. I like to add a little stock to the bottom of the roasting pan to make sure I get all the little bits from the pan.
4. Pour the cauliflower into a large pot. Peel the garlic and add it to the cauliflower, add some of the stock and purée until smooth. Add the red lentils and cook until lentils are soft. Purée again until smooth, adding stock until you achieve the desired consistency. You may wish to run this through a fine sieve to make it even more luxurious.
5. Serve hot.

The cloves are cold smoked and are still raw.

Perfect timing as it’s getting pretty darn cold!

Notes:

• A dear friend gave me a couple of heads of smoked garlic, she picked it up at a local farmers market. I had never seen or heard of it before but you can bet that I’ll be trying to make it soon!
• The smoked garlic is raw and therefore needs some cooking when used in this quantity, I prefer roasting, usually with olive oil instead of stock, but we are trying to lose a few summer pounds.
• The smoke in the garlic is very subtle, that is why I added the smoked paprika, but be careful, it can get overwhelming very quickly.
• I added the lentils to get some protein into this meatless meal, and it also is an amazing thickener that becomes so velvety smooth when puréed.
• Some topping suggestions:
• • Crumbled crispy bacon
  • Crispy onions
  • Grilled cheese croutons
  • Grated cheese (like gruyère or sharp cheddar)
  • a dollop of Crème Fraiche or sour cream

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