Spontaneous Urban day in Vancouver with lunch at the VAG

The weather continues to be warm and the sun keeps shining and it seemed like a good day to be a tourist in our own very beautiful city. There is an exhibit at the Vancouver Art Gallery (VAG) that is nearly over, that I had been meaning to get to all summer, so Connie Nancy and I set out for a day of art and exercise.

Granville Street Bridge with Burrard behind

The exhibit was a collection that had been amassed by the Cone sister of Baltimore.  it contains the largest collection of Matisse in the world.  Not only was the art awe inspiring, but the story of these two sisters from the turn of last century was inspirational as well.  These were two strong minded women, who I would like to say were truly independent, but unfortunately they gained their money from their brother and father, so that can not quite be said.  Regardless they lived their enviable lives travelling Europe collecting art (and clothes) and the eldest sister was a research Doctor.

We thoroughly enjoyed the exhibit which included a very good documentary film hosted by Micheal Palin.  After all this culture we were ready for lunch and headed up to the gallery cafe.

We picked up our food and found a table in the dappled sunshine on the deck.  Even if the food hadn't been very good, this would be a wonderful place to come for lunch right in the heart of downtown Vancouver.  But fortunately the food is good too, it seems to me when in doubt where to have lunch in a new city head to an art gallery or museum.

Grilled herb marinated chicken

Our summer seems to be continuing on and so many excuses for dinner on the deck, last week is was feeding friends and family that just accomplished a good hike in the local mountains. 

I said that I would have dinner waiting for them for when they got back. I decided barbecued chicken legs would make a good main course.  I have a lot of fresh herbs on my deck, so it seemed a good idea to marinate them in a herb and wine marinade, almost like a pesto.

I gathered a bunch of basil, sage and rosemary then wizzed them in the mini food processor.  You could just finely chop them but this is way easier.

Marinade

One bunch of basil
2 sprigs of rosemary
2 sprigs of fresh sage
2 cloves of garlic cut into quarters
4 tablespoons of olive oil
1/4 cup of white wine
salt and pepper

light eggplant parmasan

I found some wonderful baby eggplants (aubergines) this weekend, and as I was doing an Italian themed dinner I thought I would make a quick light version of eggplant parmasan.

This made enough really to serve 4, there were many among the 11 eating this evening who did not like eggplant! They do not know what they are missing. 

2 small eggplants

2 tablespoons of olive oil

1 small jar of home canned tomato puree (about 1 1/2 cups) bought crushed tomatoes

3/4 cup of finely grated fresh parmazan

Slice the eggplants about a 1/4 inch thick and brush with olive oil.  

Place on a hot grill until cook until browned on both sides.

Roast garlic and tomato pasta

Any one who knows me will know that I am not a lover of pasta, I am not sure why, because often when I have it, I think "oh this is not bad, maybe I like it this way" Any way if I am going to make pasta, I do not want my pasta overcooked and I do not want a jar of sauce poured over it.

Right now when all the produce is abundent and at it's best I wanted to make a pasta dish to be served as a side dish to some grilled chicken. Using all the fresh tomatoes and garlic that are available.

I harvested my tomato plants and this is what I got.

Obvoisly not enough to make a sauce for 11 people which is how many were coming for dinner, so I would have to supplement.  I had 1 jar of home canned tomato puree left from last summer, as I am now putting down for this summer this had to be used. So this is what I came up with.

This made enough as a side dish for 11 or main course for 6

• 1 whole head of garlic cut in half 
• About 3 cups of cherry tomatoes halved
• 1 can of tomato puree (home made best, but a jar of Italian tomato puree second best)
• 1/4 cup of olive oil
• 1 bunch of basil
• 1 package of linguini or pasta of choice.

Place the tomatoes and garlic on a parchment lined cookie sheet sprinkle with salt, and drizzle a little olive oil over the garlic.

You will notice I had to add some bought baby plum tomatoes, but they were very tasty too. Bake this at 350 for about 1/2 an hour until the garlic is soft and the tomatoes have concentrated down a little.

Pita bread and late summer greek dinner on the deck

Monday evening was the last vestiges of the labour day weekend the traditional end of summer.  The weather was sunny and warm, but there is a feel of fall in the air and we were trying to squeeze one more summer evening meal outside. As I had some fresh local lamb in the fridge (oh happy day) we picked Greek as a theme.  I have never made pita bread before so decided to give a go.

This was a bit of an experiment for me, but actually they turned out rather well I thought. I used a recipe I found on the internet on middle eastern food

1 package of yeast
1/2 cup of warm water
3 cups of all purpose flour
1 1/4 teaspoons of salt
1 teaspoon of sugar
1 cup of luke warm water

Dissolve yeast in 1/2 cup of warm water. Add sugar and stir until dissolved. Let sit for 10-15 minutes until water is frothy.

Combine flour and salt in large bowl. Make a small depression in the middle of flour and pour yeast water in depression. Add 1 cup of warm water, and stir with wooden spoon or rubber spatula until elastic.

Place dough on floured surface and knead for 10-15 minutes. When the dough is no longer sticky and is smooth and elastic, it is ready.

Coat large bowl with olive oil and place dough in bowl. Turn dough upside down so all of the dough is coated.

Tomato, olive flat bread

I was making bread as an appetizer on the weekend and I had harvested two large plum tomatoes from my deck and wanted to hilight them as they are the first large tomatoes I have grown in over 30 years.

To concentrate the already wonderful flavour of the fresh tomatoes I roasted them in the oven first.  I sliced them thinly, sprinkled with salt and pepper and olive oil and then roasted in a 300 oven for 20 minutes.

Before roasting

This dries the tomatoes a little and intensifies their flavour.  If you did not want to go through this extra step, you could use sun dried tomatoes.

I made my favourite foccacia bread but before baking it I brushed on olive oil and then placed the roasted tomato slices and a few olives sliced evenly over the top.

Barbecued chili lime chicken

It is no secret I love spit roast meat and chicken, and the spit roast on my barbecue gets a regular work out during the summer.  I was making dinner for a couple of friends and my family on Sunday evening, so I picked up a large roasting chicken from Hopcotts, and was searching for a new flavour rub to use.

I saw a chili lime chick pea recipe that I thought I would like to try out some time, and thought that chili lime is a wonderful combination and would go very well with chicken.  So I made a chili lime rub for my spit roast chicken.  You could of course just roast this in a regular oven if the weather was not conducive to barbecuing or you are not lucky enough to have a spit roast.

Chili lime rub

3 tablespoons of chili powder (I used combination of chipotle and regular chili powder)

1 teaspoon of salt

grated rind of two limes