Edamame Mint Dip

I have so much MINT. My pineapple mint exploded, and my (normal?) mint plant sprouted multiple trees. I can’t use it fast enough.

This was two weeks again and it’s grown about one third more. I think it’s time to repot it. Now if Rogue (my littlest dog) would please stop eating my purple basil and let that grow like a weed I’d be all set.

I took a chance, I’ve heard peas and mint are lovely together. I didn’t have peas in the fridge or freezer, but I did have edamame. They are just Japanese peas right? Just kidding. If you don’t know what edamame is it’s shelled soy beans. The revered source of tofu, soy milk, soy sauce and multiple other equally wonderful things.

This dip does not get as creamy as hummus, but does have a nice texture and flavour. It’s great as a dip on its own, and full of protein and good fats. It’s good as a sandwich spread, and I would love to try it over hot pasta with more olive oil and mint.

Edamame Mint Dip

• 2 cups frozen organic shelled edamame, cooked and drained
• 1/2 cup of the reserved water used to boil the edamame
• 1 small garlic clove minced
• 1/4 cup of fresh mint
• juice of one lemon
• 2 tbs almond butter
• 1/2 tsp lemon zest
• 1 tbs olive oil
• salt and pepper

Method

Boil salted water in a small saucepan. Add edamame and cook according tot he package directions. Drain the edamame, reserving 1/2 cup of the boiling liquid. Set aside to cool.

Add garlic to your food processor and pulse until minced. Add edamame and pulse again for a few seconds.

Add the remaining ingredients, except the reserved water and salt and pepper. Process until smooth stopping to add reserved water a few tablespoons at a time.

It took a few minutes to become smooth and I used about 1/4 cup of water to get a consistency I wanted. Season with salt and pepper and refrigerate for at least an hour before serving. Serve with veggies, pita, tortilla chips, or crackers.

Sweet Potato and Black Bean Enchiladas

I hope you all had a fabulous weekend basking in the hot, hot heat. I’m still loving it up and enjoying the spontaneous clap of thunder in the background although my dogs would disagree. They really are not fans of loud noises and between the fireworks on Sunday and the thunder of Monday night, they have had enough.

With July 4th coming up, I’m sure a lot of my south of the boarder food lovers are looking forward to BBQ treats. Maybe some potato salad (Traditional, Salt & Vinegar, Vegan Tahini and Chickpea)? Definitely some beer!

This recipe goes out to Rebecca for inspiring me to roast my veggies and make my own mole. I am hoping if you want to make something special this weekend, that isn’t BBQ related, you may consider making these enchiladas. The photos do not do these enchiladas justice.To defend myself it was cloudy/rained for a few days while trying to take them and even though they are amazing, by nature they are not photogenic. You are just going to have to trust me. The filling is simple and satisfying. It’s not overly seasoned and really lets the mole be the star. The texture is hearty, a little bit sweet which both complements and balances spicy and smoky mole. It’s comfort food at its best. This recipe makes 15 small enchiladas with extra mole left for dipping.

Sweet Potato, Corn and Black Bean Enchiladas

the filling

• 2 large sweet potatoes, wash peeled and roasted
• 1 can of black beans, rinsed and drained
• 1 small onion, diced
• 1 green pepper, diced
• 3 large garlic cloves, peeled and minced
• 1/2 cup of frozen corn
• salt and pepper to taste
• 3 tbs olive oil (1-2 tbs for roasting the sweet potatoes, 1 tbs for frying onions)

additional ingredients

• 15 small whole grain flour or corn tortillas
• 1 recipe of chipotle mole sauce
• 2 -3 cups of cheese, optional (montery jack, extra-old white cheddar, mozzarella, or daiya)

Method

Pre-heat oven to 350.

Peel, and cube your sweet potatoes, toss in a tablespoon of olive oil and season with salt and pepper. Place sweet potatoes on a baking sheet and roast in the oven for about 20-25 minutes turning once in the middle of the cooking process. When the potatoes are soft and browned, place in a large bowl to cool.

Peel and dice onions, seed and dice green pepper and mince garlic. In a large sautee pan, heat olive oil over medium heat. Add onions and cook for about 3-5 minutes until they start to soften. Add green peppers and frozen corn and cook for an additional 2-3 minutes. Add garlic and season with salt and pepper. Set aside to cool.

Rinse and drain a can of black beans and add to the roasted sweet potatoes. With your hands or a potato masher, roughly mash the mixture. Preferably you want about half of the potato and black beans to be whole, and half to be mixed in.

Add sauteed onion and green pepper mixture and combine with spoon.

Preheat oven to 350.

Prepare a large glass making dish with cooking spray. I used two dishes because my 9×13 wasn’t enough room for all of the enchiladas.

Heat a large non-stick skillet over medium. Remove tortillas and heat through one at a time about 20-30 seconds on each side. As you take one out to fill with the mixture, add the next to the pan. This gives the tortillas a toasted taste and makes them easier to wrap the filling in.

Once you have a heated tortilla, place on a plate and add two heaping tablespoons of filling in the centre. Fold tortilla lip over the filling, fold left and right sides and then roll/turn tortilla away from you to ‘roll up’. Place seal side down in baking dish and repeat 14 more times.

You certainly do not need to use cheese, I find the texture and flavor of these enchiladas are satisfying enough without it. However, if you would like to use cheese (vegetarian or vegan) grate some and set aside.

Cover the enchiladas with warmed mole. They do not need to be drowned in the sauce, but no bare tortilla should be showing.

Cover with cheese (optional) and place in the oven to bake for 20 minutes. If you added cheese, turn the oven on broil for an additional 5-8 minutes until cheese is bubbly and browned. If you decided to be cheese free, bake an additional 5 minutes so the total baking time will be about 25 minutes. Remove from oven and let stand 5-10 minutes before serving.

Serve to a hungry crowd with extra mole, fresh avocado, light beer and a smile.

Or just get real close to it and inspect it’s perfection.

Eat up!

Happy Canada Day!

Happy Canada Day to all (official and non-official) Canadians!

My original plan for today was to post my Sweet Potato Enchilada recipe to go with the chipotle mole I posted on Friday. As soon as I sat down to work on it however, I realized, as delicious as that recipe is, it can wait in lieu of being a little more patriotic.

As you can see below even my two ex-pats are having some fun in the sun today. On hot days like this make sure your doggies are well hydrated. Mine have a pool but they use it as a super big water dish most of the time!

Back to the food talk! The beauty of Canadian cuisine is that the Greek style of cooking is no more identified as Canadian cuisine than Lebanese, Polish or Chinese food. They all have their own wonderful place, along with so many other cultures that make up one glorious food culture. I myself would not want it any other way. 

Depending where you live in Canada you will have regional dishes that have specific cultural influence that may or may not be shared with the province or territory next to you. In Nova Scotia, I think the primary cultural influences in our food are French, English and Aboriginal.

Pointing out the obvious, lets talk about maple syrup. I love it. I would use it as my primary sweetener if I could afford to do so. I do use it in baking, on pancakes and crepes, and sometimes to flavour whipped cream. Pour it over ice cream, amazing! You can buy maple sugar, maple cream, maple butter, maple candies and cookies and if you need to know more about Nova Scotian Maple products check out MPANS.

What was discovered by the aboriginal people of Canada soon caught on and now we feel maple syrups presence mostly with the dishes from Acadian and Quebecois food. My favorite example of this? Tarte au Sucre (aka sugar pie). You will find variations of this pie if you search for it, but traditionally it should be made with maple syrup (like this recipe on Tastfully Julie). Beware though even my Mom has been making her regional variation called butterscotch pie, which offers the same flavours but not the traditional ingredients. Does it mean it’s any less delicious, of course not, but if you are trying to impress your dates French Canadian family, go with the first option.

It is of my opinion that we also got the butter tart thing from the same school of thought as the tarte au sucre. Butter tarts, if you are unfamiliar, are small pies/tarts made in muffin tins. They are a pie pastry bottom and filled with the same sugar and butter heaven as the above pies, however they generally have pecans or raisins throw into the mix for good measure. Despite the name, I found a vegan version here from Vegan Dad or if you want to fulfill your buttery dreams check out this recipe for Erica’s Edibles!

A lot of Nova Scotian food culture, because we are a fishing and farming community, is largely based on animal products. I’ve obviously chosen to leave out those foods because this is a vegetarian blog however there are some that sit on  the edge. I’m guessing you want an example? Well my answer is poutine! Poutine is one of those foods, in my mind it is our national dish, that can be made vegetarian by making veggie gravy. Another meaty made veggie counterpart are these dang donairs I keep mentioning (mentions here, here and here). The recipe is still under construction and on my summer bucket list, have no fear!

So what is Nova Scotian, but not a meat mockery? Well I have three answers for you. The first are oatcakes the recipe is a few posts back.

The second on the list is a summer dessert favorite called blueberry grunt. Blueberry grunt is a pretty much a blueberry cobbler, with a sweet fruit bottom topped with a drop biscuit top. It’s usually served with whipped cream or vanilla ice cream. Thirdly, and yet another summer treat is hodge podge. Hodge podge is a chunky vegetable, milk based soup usually throw together at the end of the summer when all your vegetables from your garden are ready for harvest. It’s usually made of new potatoes, baby carrots, corn, peas and green beans and is best served with a homemade bread.

Not to ignore the rest of the Canadian food treasure out there so I’ve come up with some honorable mentions go to Nanaimo bars, toutins, Montreal-style bagels, potato cheese perogies, Wunderbars and Ketchup flavoured potato chips!

Now go forth and celebrate with some Nova Scotian wine  (or beer Garrison or Propeller are my faves) and leave a comment below of your favorite (vegetarian) Candian dish!