WEEKEND OF FOOD MAKING

I made SO MUCH FOOD yesterday. I made blueberry clafoutis again, in my new ramekins from Dunlevy. Because these are wider and shallower, when the clafoutis falls, it's more pancake-like. Next time I'll try them in my other new tall, skinny custard ramekins.


I also defrosted the leftover pastry dough from class, and made some mini Alsatian Onion Tarts. Here are the onions, about to be caramelized.


And the tarts. The pastry is a bit on the puffy side for this size of tart... it takes up about half the space. I don't know if I would make this often, but it is neat to make something out of just onions. (And a little milk and flour. And of course pastry dough.)


I read this week that by the fall, we can expect to see significant increases in the price of food (and all consumer goods, for that matter). I was pretty dismayed when I saw at the No Frills that this was already happening -- boxes of grape tomatoes have gone up a whole dollar (to $3.99)! But then on Sunday I found myself at a grocer in Hastings Sunrise, where I discovered the same box for just $1.99.

So I brought them home and then slow roasted them all in the oven with some olive oil, salt, pepper and rosemary, and then mixed some of them into this cream cheese to make a sandwich spread.

[*EDIT: This just in in international tomato news: A chilly winter in Florida, Texas and Mexico has hurt tomato crops in all three areas. Experts say supplies will be limited, quality may be lower and prices will be higher until late March or mid-April.]


I used the rest as a garnish for this creamy chickpea soup, another recipe from For The Love Of Soup. For some reason, I've recently become obsessed with this book and bookmarked about ten different recipes I want to try.


Keeping with the saving money / eating out my cupboards theme, I used a bag of dried chickpeas that I've had for at least a year, and never use because it seems like SO MUCH WORK.

It's really not that much work: you soak them overnight, and then the next day you drain them, bring them to a boil in fresh water and simmer about an hour or until they're tender. In the past, I always found it so hard to wrap my head around that idea. Also: 1 cup of dry beans produces about 2 1/2 cups beans.