Tidings Magazine

There is something truly amusing about serving tiny little bits of this and that as a precursor to the main. Nothing too filling, but altogether satisfying unless you have the appetite of Sasquatch. This combo has caused my friends to dig in without cutlery — it’s that good. You can vary this recipe by preparing the plate with Boursin-style cheese, sugared walnuts, sliced avocado, smoked salmon and date–nut bread. I also like to substitute hot-pepper jelly or peach chutney for the fig jam. Another nice touch is to prepare one larger plate for each couple at the table. This recipe divides the ingredients into four individual servings for four people.

My mother started making this dish when we were small. Imagine four little kids sitting around a dinner table with palates so refined that we scarfed up Chicken Marsala like other kids eat Kraft Dinner. Of course, we threw chicken at each other when our parents weren’t looking, so we weren’t totally refined. I use sweet Marsala Fine for a great tasting sauce.

Large uncooked frozen shrimp are so convenient and often on sale. Pick up a bag next time the price is right and pair with beans for an elegant entrée. Garlic will keep in the fridge for quite a while, but for convenience’s sake, you can use jarred minced garlic instead. If you’d like, add a can of diced tomatoes to this dish.

I’m not going to lie to you — there is some work upfront on this dish. A mandoline helps to slice the potatoes uniformly and it speeds up the process. Once the potatoes are in the oven, you’re home-free until dinnertime. This dish works with the Beef Tenderloin in taste, oven temperature and cooking time. Leftovers are fabulous and will make you the envy of the company lunchroom.

Vancouver food guru Lesley Stowe, who devotes much of her life these days to manufacturing and distributing her beyond-delicious Raincoast Crisps (www.lesleystowe.com ) shares a favourite recipe: It’s an “easy mid-week dinner, or leisurely weekend lunch that’s healthy, sexy and spicy.” Everything you want, says Lesley, in a quick-and-easy pasta dish. This dish screams for a Pinot Grigio from Alto Adige. Say that ten times fast.

I love this cut of meat. It’s nutrient-dense with a high level of B vitamins plus phosphorous, zinc, magnesium and selenium. Because pork tenderloin is lean, it’s best prepared with a marinade or sauce. Experts now say you can cook pork just until the center is pink, but I prefer to give it a full 40 minutes in the oven or until it reaches 170˚F on a meat thermometer. This recipe includes the twenty-first-century champion of the culinary world — the ubiquitous chipotle. It remains to be seen what hot new darling will replace chipotle in ’08, but let’s hope pork tenderloin holds its own well into the next millennium.

Traditionally, soup has not been a significant part of Indian gastronomy. Mulligatawny, spawned by the Anglo-Indian community, is a gorgeous exception. With its orange hue, its creamy base, its use of apple and spice, this soup screams for a cold autumn night, a glass of wine and so-bad-it’s-good television. It’s simple as pie to make. Simpler, in fact. After plunking the ingredients in the pot, you are pretty much free to putter about for a half hour or so, drinking and/or scowling at the fastly darkening sky. A great way too to use up leftover cooked chicken. If you have none handy, you can cook the chicken in the soup. I’ve also found (don’t judge me) that canned chicken works quite well. If you do not have coconut milk, feel free to use heavy cream. This soup is relatively mild in terms of heat, so I like to add a bit of cayenne. Obviously you don’t have to. The addition of cooked rice at the end makes this a meal, but if you don’t feel up to making rice (if you have a rice cooker, you have no excuse), you could always serve this with bread.

Figs are the most underrated fruit of all time, and I will continue to be their greatest fan. They are a good source of potassium, calcium, iron and dietary fibre. Reputed to be Cleopatra’s favourite fruit, figs were also enjoyed daily by the petulant Persian king Xerxes who ate the fruit to remind himself he no longer controlled Greece, the land where figs grew abundantly. The ancient Romans revered the fig tree as sacred and offered the first fruits of the season to the god Bacchus who is often depicted as wearing a crown of fig leaves. Somewhere in time, we lost our connection to this noble fruit. Forget the Newtons and all the other ways in which you’ve grown to hate figs. Try them in a dish with gorgonzola cheese and walnuts. Then fall on your knees: you’ve been converted.

Growing up, I never experienced lamb. As an adult, I was reluctant to taste it. At first, I piled on the mint jelly. But eventually the seductive succulence of a well-cooked cut of lamb got to me. Now I’m a believer.

Panko is a Japanese bread crumb with a crisper, lighter texture than other bread crumbs. You can use panko in any recipe that calls for dry bread crumbs. Stuff poultry, top casseroles and use as a filling for meatloaf and hamburgers. Panko has an affinity for seafood, as witnessed in this savoury salmon dish.

You might think the local-produce season is long past, but potatoes and onions are at their peak this time of year. The following recipe is one I made for my son every wintry Saturday afternoon when he was young.