Butternut Squash with Kidney and Garbonzo beans Soup

Hey folks, fall harvest is here. Found some great squash yesterday. Squash soup is traditional this time of year. Here is what you need to get it going.

5 liters of chicken stock
1-6oz chicken breast cooked and diced
1-caribou sausage or moose sausage(optional)
5 cups of roasted butternut squash
2-3 garlic cloves
2 cups of celery, small chop
1 carrot
2 medium onion
14 fl.oz of red kidney beans
19 fl.oz of Garbonzo beans
1/2 cup of rice, cooked
1 apple, core removed and peeled
1 tsp of sage
1 tbsp of summer savory
1 tsp of salt, more or less your preference

Here we go! Set up your pot for about 5 liters of chicken stock and bring to a boil then reduce to simmer. Make you sure the stock has alot of body. With this recipe i had to give my stock a boost with a cooked chicken breast and caribou sausage, But really it comes down to what type of sauasage you prefer and for that matter you may not even want to put sausage nor a chicken breast in your soup. However it really compliments the squash.
Next step is to peel the squash and add some oil to the pan to roast it off. Toss in your garlic cloves at this time. You want to cook for about 20-25 minutes at 425 degree just to get slight carmeling but more so to soften up the squah. Once the stock is ready add your celery, onion ,carrot, kidney beans, garbonzo beans, rice and apples,
After 20-25 minutes stop the cooking of the squah. Remove them from the oven and place in your stock pot with the other ingredients. Cook for approximately 25-30 minutes initially at a rolling boil and then reduce to a medium simmer.
After all the ingredients are cooked puree with either an immersion blender, food processor or blender. Hope you enjoy this. Let me know how it turns out for you. Keep in mind there are so many variations. if you dont prefer garbonzo beans you can always try yellow-eyed beans or another bean combination. It is all up to you so have fun making this soup.

Commentary: Butter or oil

It is important to mention that many of the recipes that I've brought forth call for butter. For example it would be hard for me to imagine cooking Baked Haddock and Corn without butter. However all is not lost. I believe eating delicious foods in moderation along with regular excercise. Most important ingredient combination for any recipe. Some recipes you can substitute the butter with either canola, olive or flavored oil with herb base. As well if you are still looking for that "buttery" flavor there are some healthy alternatives in some margarines. We won't get into brand names in this blog. This is for your own determination. Finally, in any of these recipies i shared i always leave it to you to make your own variation. Should a recipe call for a 2 tbsp of butter the option is there to use less.

Apple Sauce

Well here is one I cooked up last evening. It's great little recipe and the only challenge in making this recipe is peeling the apples thats how easy it is. Here is what you need.

1 bag of apples
3 tbsp of sugar
2 squirt of Lemon or three tbsp,which ever you prefer
1/4 tsp of cinnamon

For this recipe don't worry about the exact measurements. Go with the one bag of apples. Cook on medium high and reduce to medium or low once the apples get extremly soft or pretty much get to the falling-apart-stage. When you reach this stage take out the masher or immersion blender to puree. Give it a smooth texture or rough, your preference. When you get it to the consistency you like, add your sugar. I suggest 3 tbsp but hey thats me..if you like to add more or even less go for it. The same goes for cinnamon add more or less. Got to have fun when you are cooking right. I am not big on following recipes. This goes great with your morning toast and coffee or tea.

Commentary on Wild Garlic of Gaspegewaq

Hi folks. Was on the road for most of the day. I travelled from Burnt Church to Fredericton and from Fredericton to Moncton and from Monction straight on through to Charlottetown. Whew, what a day! I have to tell you though while there was light i saw alot of great sights between Newcastle and Fredericton. Hey, who says New Brunswick is a pass-through province! Alot of fall colors. It was just great. For most part of the trip i kept thinking of food in particular wild garlic. Apparently there is wild garlic in New Brunswick. This is fantastic. Not sure if i will be finding wild garlic anytime soon this year but it is high on my list for next year's explorations. I think i will start in the Pabineau area. When we talk of traditional foods it is important to include plants such as this..to be reintroduce back into our diets. Something to think about. Incidently, Gaspegewaq is the unceded traditional territory of the Mikmaq. It is the land commonly referred to as north-eastern New Brunswick and the Gaspe Peninsula.

Baked Haddock with Corn

This dish is so delicious. We just made this dish for tonite's dinner and we just couldn't get enough haddock. However my rule is always eat in moderation. And in about 15 minutes i am going to take a 15 minute hike! Here is the down sized version that will feed two. To make this dish you will need the following items:

2 haddock filets, approxiamtely 1 pound
1 cup of milk
1/2 cup of corn kernals
1 tsp of parmesan
1/2 white onion
2 tbsp of butter
1 garlic clove, minced
2 pinches of salt
1 pinch of pepper
2 slices of toast

Preheat oven to 425 degrees. In a casserole dish place the equivalent of 1 tbsp of butter in a casserole dish. Lay the haddock filets in the casserole dish over the butter. Spinkle parmesan over the filets and add milk and remaining items except the toast. Cook in the oven for about 15-20 minutes. In meantime chop toast to as close as fine crumb you can get. A food processor will do the job but not necessary.
When the haddock is cooked take it form the oven and sprinkle the crumbs over the casserole dish covering as much of the fish as possible. By this time the oven should be set from bake at 425 degrees to broil at 500 degrees. Cook for about 2 minutes. The effect we are looking for is to further cook off the toast Be careful not to burn the crumb. Serve with scallop potatoes and creamed peas.

Moose Meat Stir Fry with Chantrells

This an interesting recipe. With this recipe there are two options offered up here. For this dish we can either use ground moose meat or moose steaks. Ground moose is quite common so its best to make use it in any way we can. So lets get started. Here is what we need;

1-1 1/2 pounds of moose meat either ground moose meat or moose steak. steak should be cut in strips.
1 tsp worcestorshire sauce
1 tsp of oil
2 cups of brocolli
2 celery stalks, cut diagonally
1 red bell pepper, cut in strips
1 green bell pepper, cut in strips
1 cup of chantrells or button mushrooms
1 cup of waterchestnuts
4 green onions chopped thinly into rings
1/2 white onion, cut into strips
1 clove of garlic, minced
1 cup of beef stock or moose stock if available
1/4 cup of soy sauce
1/4 tsp corn starch(optional)

Pour 1 tsp of oil in pan and apply heat at medium high and reduce to medium .Cook moosemeat and mushrooms together. Add garlic when meat is almost browned. Sprinkle with a dash of worcestorshire sauce. Once this is cooked set aside and keep warm.
Take 1 tsp of oil in another pan and saute of the remaining 7 vegetables ( brocolli, celery, peppers, waterchestnuts, green onion and onion). vegetables are cooked when tender.
Combine both the moose meat mix and vegetables. Place on medium heat. In another pot combine cold stock, soy sauce and corn starch. Bring to boil and reduce to simmer for 1 minute. Pur over vegetables and cook on medium for one minute. Should you not use the corn starch simply pour heated stock and soy sauce over vegetables. you are now ready to plate. Enjoy

Stir Fry with Chicken

Stir Frys are a delicious way of getting a variety of vegetable in one sitting and they can be as much fun as making soup. Because really anything goes. So lets work with this one today. For this one we will keep it simple as all cooking should be anyway. You will need the following items ot get started. Don't worry if you don't have a wok, a saute pan or pot will do just fine.

1 cup of brocolli florets or tops
1 cup of cauliflower florets tops
3/4 cup of carrots, cut in strips if you can, if not diagnel is just as good
1/2 cup of turnip, cut same as carrots
2 celery stalks cut on an angle
1 bunch of bean sprouts
1/2 cup cabbage, cut in strips or julienne stye..as long as they are thing and stringy looking(optional)
1 red bell pepper, cut into strips
1 green bell pepper, cut into strips
1/2 cup of water chestnut
1 tbsp of chestnut, chopped(optional)
1/2 red onion. sliced into strips as well
1 tbsp of oil
2 chicken breast
1-2 cups of cold chicken stock
1/2-1 tsp of corn starch

The first that needs to be done is to cook off the chicken breast. Remove skins and pour about 1/2 tsp of canola oil on cooking tray. Place chicken on tray. No need to season with salt at this point. Place in a preheated oven set at 350 degrees for 20-25 minutes. They are cooked when there is no pink in the middle. Desired internal temperature for chicken is 185 degrees. When the chicken is cooked allow briefly to cool so that they can be chopped into bite size pieces. In the meantime prepare the first eleven items. Heat up the wok or your pan adding 1 tbsp of oil. When it is hot add the first 12 items which would be the vegetables and chestnut(optional). Once the vegetables are tender add the chicken pieces. If you find that you stir fry is dry at this point add a bit of liquid. However keep in mind that the next stage will be you chicken stock mix.
In a separate pot we will now make the sauce. The sauce will bring the flavors of the chicken and vegetables together. Pour cold chick stock in pot along with corn starch. Place heat on high and bring to boil constantly stirring. You will see the stock thickening. Bring to boil and then simmer for 1 minute. Pour thickened stock over the stir fry vegetables and chicken. Now you are ready to plate.

Stuffing

This is one of my favorite stuffing recipies. It is based on our traditional family recipe. So i refuse to call it a basic recipe because there is so much spirit and memory. However there are many variations to this in terms of what you want to add. So lets get started and here is what you need to put it all together.

1 loaf of bread(whole wheat, white or combination of both)
1 small onion, diced very small
2 celery stalks, diced very small
1 leek, full length cut in half lengthwise and chopped very thin
1 cup of butter
1 tbsp of sage, rounded spoon

The first thing that has to be done is the bread needs to be toasted off. Once it is toasted it must be broken in small pieces. Either you can use you fingers to break it up in small pieces or use a very sharp carving knife. It should be chopped into very fine dice. I never use the blender or food processor because there is a tendancy to break it apart into crumb size and this is what you want to avoid. Once this is completed set the toasted bread pieces aside and lets work on the vegetables.
Place one cup of butter in a saute saute pan or pot. Melt the butter completely. The temperature should be set at medium high. Stir in your onion, celery and leek. Cover and let sweat until the vegetables are soft. Sprinkle in you herb, You can either use sage or summer savory. Sometimes I use a combination of both. When the onion mix is cooked pour over the toast. Be careful not to burn your hands with the butter so it is best to stir with a large wooden spoon. The trick here is to make sure that the stuffing is moist but not soggy. Should you find it to dry add a little liquid no more than a tablespoon at a time for the right consistency. Your liquid can be either water or chicken stock. i have used apple juice before and it gives a sweet taste to it. But this will be you preference of course.
This stuffing is for either chicken or turkey however with a few modifcation it can be used for either salmon, duck or goose as well as stuffed pork loin. Enjoy.

Lu'sknikn

Here's an old favorite in Mikmaq country. There are so many variations in making this bread. here is what you need to get you started:

4 cups of flour
3/4 tsp of salt
1 tsp of baking powder
1/2 cup of lard or wild game fat
3 cups of milk or water(approxiamtely)
3/4 cup of molasses(optional)
1/2 -1 cup of dried fruit(optional)
1 medium sized pan, greased with lard

Mix flour, salt an dbaking powder in a bowl and mix well. Cut lard or deer fat into the flour mix. Make sure the lard is worked into the flour Make a hole in center of the flour and add your liquid. I prefer milk but water will do just as well. But most definately with the milk the bread has a much more softer texture. Pour the liquid cautiously because you want the dough to be able to form into a ball rather than it looking like a pancake mix. In anycase the amount of liquid used in this measurment should be appropriate for the amount of flour measured out. Knead the dough out to the sides of the pan.

*should you add dried fruit to this bread soak the fruit in a liquid of your choice, cranberry , apple or even water for about a 1/2 hour.
*it may be that you dont want to combine molasses with the dry fruit and this is okay as well.

Pan Fried Mackeral

Pan fried mackeral is an anytime meal. It can be serve up either at Breakfast, lunch or dinner. It can be served up with panfried potoatoes. My only concern is watch the amount of butter. I love butter but on many occasions i use canola. Canola can be used soley in cooking this dish or in conjunction with the butter. In any case use only enough to lightly cover you frying pan. Here is what you need to get started:
4 mackeral filets or 2 whole mackeral
2/3 cup of flour
dash of salt and pepper
1/8 tsp of onion powder(optional)
1/4 tsp of oil or butter

First things first, always select fresh mackeral. If you know of a fisher maybe he/she will be your source of fresh mackeral. If not be sure to select the freshest fish on diplay at you local fish market. i seldom every buy fish that already has been placed in a containor and sealed in a plastic wrap. Rinse the mackeral in cold water and pat dry. Once this has been done set aside briefly while you mix the flour.
Combine the flour with a dash of salt and pepper. You may want to add a sprinkle of onion powder or even some herb. This is purely optional but i can say it brings out some good flavors. Mix all dry items well maybe. Place in a farely good size pan. Something that will hold 4 filets. Now dredge your mackeral in the flour and make sure all parts of the fish have been dusted in the flour.
Place your oil in the pan and apply heat. Medium temperature is good as long as you do not see alot of smoke you should be okay. So once your at the right temperature place the mackeral in the pan. Could each side briefly approxiamately 3 1/2 minutes each side. Slightly more or slightly less depending on you preference. This mackeral dish goes well with some pan fried potatoes and fresh cooked vegetables such as the fiddleheads or brussel sprouts. A little but of lemon juice over the mackeral compliments it very well. Hope you enjoy this dish.

Never-Fail-Pastry

This dough is great for moose meat pies. Here are the ingredients you will need. They are as follows:

5 1/2 cups of flour
1 tsp of salt
1/4 tsp of Baking powder, just shy of a 1/4 teaspoon
1 1/2 cups of lard
1 whole egg
7 oz of water
1 tbsp of vinegar

In a good size bowl mix all your dry ingredients. Once you have it all mixed add your lard and work it into the flour mix. For the next stage place egg in measuring cup and add water along with vinegar. Stir with a fork or whisk until completely mixed and add it to flour and lard mix. Knead the dough very briefly. This recipe makes about three double crusted pies

Moose meat pie-the moose meat mix

Here is a traditional moose meat pie recipe. This is the recipe that we make during the festive season. Here is what you need for ingredients:

1 moose roast
baking powder but not very much, just a dash
salt and pepper
thyme and sage, either one will do or both
1 onion
1 package of beef boullion

The first thing that has got to be done is the moose roast has to be rinsed down good. After this place in cold water with a dash of baking soda. Add the baking soda only this one time. Bring to a boil and reduce to a simmer for about 10 minutes. After 10 minutes simmering drain the liquid. Once again rinse the moose meat and clean the pot because impurities will have built up around the inside of the cooking pot. Do not be concerned this is normal. Now place the meat in the pot once again and fill with cold water. Add salt and pepper. Bring to a boil and reduce to a simmer for another 10 minutes. Repeat once again of rinsing and cleaning the pot. Fill with cold water one last time. Add salt and pepper along with either thyme and/or sage. Generally i prefer to use both. Use just enough to suit your taste buds! As well use 1 small onion chopped very fine. It may be you may want to use a little onion powder should you want to boost the flavor of onion in your mix. keep cooking the moose meat on a slow cook simmer. the meat should be so tender that it just melt when pulled apart. When you have reached this stage of the moose meat being cooked place on a platter and chop to a very fine dice. You can also use a blender but do not puree to the point of meat becoming liquid. As well save the cooking liquid. It may be the meat will have become dry and will need just enough to be moistened. The liquid by this time will have lots of flavor. So this is your moose meat mix ready to be place in your pie shells. The pie dough is called Never Fail Pastry. It will follow this posting.

Eel baked in the oven

Here is a recipie my mom actually offered. It is one way of cooking this traditional food. Take five medium sized eels and skin them taking off the heads and tails. From here you cut the fish into good size chunks anywhere from 1 -2 inches. This will be your preference. From here place flour in a bowl approxiamtely 1 cup. Feel free to use 2 cups but 1 cup should do. Season up the flour with salt and pepper. This will be up to you how much seasoning you want to apply but i would go light on the salt because we will be using salted butter shortly in cooking the eels. Dredge the eel in flour making sure that the fish is covered completely. Once this is done heat up a pan and melt some butter but be careful not to burn the butter but it should be hot enough to sear the fish. This is the tricky part. You want to cook the eel in the pan just enough for the butter to stick to the eel. Cook to a slight brown. The browning adds flavor. The eel should not be completely cooked because from here you want to place the eel in in a casserole dish either round or square will do just fine. Add just enough water to barely cover the bottom of the casserole dish but this is optional. The oven should be about 400 degrees. Finish cooking off the eels in the oven for about 15-20 minutes. Serve up with boiled potatoes and corn. This is a very easy way of cooking eel. Enjoy.

Fresh Garden tomatoes

Good morning. Here is a mixture that can go well with either meat or fish. It is something that can be made relatively quick and can be used as an alternative tomato sauce for the pan fried scallop dish from my previous post.mmmm. Fresh garden tomatoes. Seeds in or seeds out.? I like to take out the seeds but i f you prefer to keep the seeds that okay to. But i take one tomato, pull off the green stumpy stem as i like to call it, and cut the tomato in half. Gentley squeeze out the seeds and as they start to protrude out of the tomato half just give it generally one good snap followed by a good shake and say good bye to the seeds..or the other way is to spoon them out. From here dice up the tomato, small to medium is good and add some of these following ingredients to boost flavor. Fresh onions, garlic, herbs and a little salt and pepper. You can puree this if you like but generally when you heat this up in a hot pan it softens up really nice. You can use basil or parley if you prefer this as the herbs. This is great for making a quick sauce right in the pan with either fish or meat. If you want to add a little color use some paprika. But fresh garden tomatoes...you can beat that. Enjoy

Traditional food as part of life and ceremony

Coming to understand traditinal food is in its own right a spiritual journey. Yes, we take pleasure in eating wild game for it is good nutritious food. Our bodies need this particular food for it is part of our ancestry. Many times i have been told by our elders to make food offerings. This is what is important. It is about reaching back to a memory of our past. For me it has never been about how many creative ways of cooking wild game or fish even though everytime i start cooking it is at the forefront of my thoughts. Rather it is eating this food and honoring the food many times either in ceremony or celebration. It brings us back to our original state to a period that will always be inherent and a period that we will continue to pass on to the next generations. Lets take the moose. This animal is so impoartant to our traditions. We have a responsability to this four legged animal. It is also indigenous to these lands. Protecting the moose and other indigenous species brings us to the realization that in protecting them we also protect the habitat of these great creatures. A habitat that contains their foods and medicines as well as our medicines. Thats why i feel strongly that we need to eat food that our ancestors consumed on a regular basis and what we would now refer to traditional food.

Scallops in a tomato sauce

Good evening folks. One of my viewers made reference to the fact they would like to see fish dishes. Well that's great because i love fish, any kind of fish but i offer no apologies...i cook with butter. I think i will introduce the scallop...mmmmmm yummy. Pan frying the scallop is my favorite method and we will explore other methods as time goes by. With this dish i will apply a little heat to the seasoning. Lets call this dish, "Scallops and Herb in Creole Tomato".First, lets make the tomato sauce. Lets use one small can of tomatoes, chop up tomatoes until they are small dice along with a small white onion and one clove of garlic. It should be all small diced at this point.

Next lets make the creole seasoning for the tomato mix. You will need to put this creole seasoning in a jar because trust me you'll have plenty left for other dishes we will be making down the road. So here it is. You will need 2 tbsp of onion powder, 2 tbsp of garlic powder, tbsp of oregano, 2 tbsp of garlic, 1 tsp of thyme, 1 tsp of pepper, 1 tsp of cayenne and about 4 1/2 tbsp of paprika. Mix it all together.

So, lets start cooking the scallop. Get out your favorite pan. Apply some heat that is to say set you temperature gauge to medium high just until the pan is able to melt you butter without burning the butter. Toss in about 6-8 large scallops and season up with salt and pepper. Reduce the temperature to medium if they start cooking to fast. Scallops should only be cooked for about 2 minutes on each side. Remember if you like them cooked very well cook for about 3 1/2 minutes each side. They will get slightly rubbery as time goes on but if that is how you like them then by all means. The scallops when cooked should be seared nicely on outside and tender on the inside but once again it comes down to personal preference. Set scallops aside but keep warm. Using the same pan as the scallops place 3 tbsp of tomato, onion and garlic mix and season with creole seasoning. No more than a couple of pinches. Finally spoon sauce on a plate and place scallops onto the sauce. Serve with vegetables and potatoes or serve up with a tossed salad.

Well there you have it. Let me know what you think. Maybe it is a cream sauce that is preferred or other sauces. We can work on that the next time but try this one out if you like. Enjoy

Slow Cooker Moose Roast

I took a moose roast this past winter and cooked it in the slow cooker for approximately eight hours. However if you want to cook meat in the slow cooker initially brown the meat in the oven or sear the meat in a large pan. Browning the meat adds flavor and natural sweetness. The browned meat is what is referred to caramelized meat When you have finished browning the meat deglaze the pan with a flavorful liquid or with water. Deglazing loosens up those pieces of meat that add the intense flavors to your slow cooked roast. Red wine as a deglazer will do the trick but from my own personal preference, as wine is not reflective of Wabanaki culture, I use a fruit juice and water combination.
Once we have browned the meat and deglazed now it is time to cook the moose meat in the slow cooker. Usually the cooking time is anywhere from five hours to eight hours. This is for you own determination. Generally I cook the meat for 8 hours and this is because i like to have the meat so very tender. It pulls apart so much easier and it just melts in your mouth. But this comes later. When you apply the heat start off at high on your slow cooker and then eventually reduce when you start seeing a boil. From boil reduce to low heat for the duration of cooking time.
There are many ingredients that can be used and we will explore the many variations of herbs, spices and sauces in our journey of cooking moose meat as well as the different methods of cooking. For this particular slow cooked moose meat we can place in the slow cooker fresh fruit and vegetables. Apples and blueberries are my favorite. You may not prefer to use this combination and that's okay. Use any fruit that you would prefer. As a tip do not overwhelm the meat with one particular flavor just yet until you weighed in your other items. Basic vegetables that i would place in this are carrots, onions and celery. These in small proportion can be added very early in the cooking. later another batch of vegetables can be added because the original vegetables after about 8 hour usually disburse flavor. As well they do eventually soften and infuse with the newly created sauce.
Now for the seasoning. Salt and pepper are your basic condiments as well as worcestorshire sauce. I use only minimal amount for salt because salt can be applied after the meat has been plated and this can be seasoned to your preference. You can also add onion powder to boost the strength of the onions. Garlic is another item that can be added either a garlic clove or powder. Now if you apply garlic and fruit together. It may not be the most desired combination however it can still be done. If you are looking for a more fruit flavored moose meat use less garlic or if you want garlic to come out stronger and boost the flavors of vegetables and compliment the moose meat add less fruit. But remember wild berries are more akin to our traditional foods. Here are few more items you can place in the moose meat as it cooks. Green herbs, like parsley, sage, chives,tarragon and thyme to name just a few. It may be you want to add spices such as paprika or cumin. When you slow cook your moose meat add ingredients items that you prefer and how much you want to use is up to you. It is your taste buds so don't be shy about how much and what you put into your cooking. Have fun.

Welcome to the Wabanaki Food, Culture and Lifestyle Blog

Welcome to the Wabanaki Food, Culture and Lifestyle blog, where we will share Traditional Food Recipes and discuss issues that are important to our communities, as well as how we intend to move forward in building healthy communities!