You might have noticed that we’ve been on this jam/pickling/preserving kick lately. I’m not exactly sure what prompted it, but we’ve been canning stuff lately, and it’s been a lot of fun. I was going to make some sauerkraut, but saw that it took several weeks, so I thought I’d try the kimchi recipe on the next page. Kimchi is sort of like Korean sauerkraut, but a lot spicier.

Traditionally, or at least in my experience, it’s typically made with cabbage, but this recipe uses bok choy. I’m been informed by a reliable source (aka my Korean friend Heekwon) that bok choy is used a lot to make kimchi in the summer in Korea. He also told me that my kimchi was really good, and that his baby daughter especially liked it

You can make your own large jar of kimchi for around 14 cents per ounce.

Homemade Kimchi, from Nick Sandler and Johnny Acton’s Preserved
2 1/4 pounds bok choy or Chinese cabbage
kosher salt
3 garlic cloves, peeled and chopped
2 teaspoons chopped fresh ginger
3 hot red chiles, finely chopped
1 small bunch of green onions, chopped
2 teaspoons sugar
2 tablespoons fish sauce
1 tablespoon soy sauce

Separate the bok choy or Chinese cabbage leaves and wash them very well. Chop them up into small pieces and put them in a large bowl.

Dissolve 3 tablespoons of salt into 3 cups of water and pour it over the greens until they are covered. If you need to make more brine, just follow the ratio of 1 tablespoon of salt to 1 cup of water.

Make sure all of the greens are immersed in the brine by weighing them down with a plate and a large bottle of water on top.

Leave the greens in the brine for 8 hours. After they have sat for 8 hours, drain the greens and immerse them in fresh cold water for 10 minutes, then drain them again.

After this, the greens are ready to ferment. Place them in a tall, sterilized glass jar and make the liquor. Start with 2 3/4 cups of water and mix in 1 1/2 tablespoons of salt plus the ginger, garlic, chiles, green onions, sugar, and the fish and soy sauces.

Make sure the salt is completely dissolved in the mixture, then pour the liquor over the greens in the jar, taking care to cover them completely.

Leave the jar in a warm room (above 75 degrees F) for 24 hours. Then the kimchi is ready to eat and can be kept in the fridge for up to 1 month.

What’s better than cooking with building materials? When the latest issue of Bon Appetit arrived, the chicken on the front cover looked really good. Roast chicken, simple as it is, is one of my favorite foods, and this looked like an interesting twist. Flip to the article, and the recipe lists a brick under “Special Equipment”. Awesome. Fortunately, there’s a stack of bricks around the side of our house for some reason, so we were in business.

You butterfly the chicken by removing the backbone so it will lie flat, then you set the brick on top of it to press the skin down on to the pan, which makes it nice and crispy. Starting on the stove then finishing in the oven adds nice, juicy meat to the crispy skin, which is what I like in a roast chicken. The lemon and rosemary flavors and scents were pretty strong, making a nice addition. The end result was great, and to be honest, turned out a lot better than many of the plain roast chickens I’ve cooked! This Chicken Under a Brick recipe feeds 4 hungry people at $1.19 per serving.

Chicken al Mattone
1 4-pound chicken, backbone cut away and discarded, rinsed and patted dry
4 tablespoons fresh lemon juice, divided
3 tablespoons olive oil, divided
1 tablespoon chopped fresh rosemary
2 garlic cloves, pressed
coarse kosher salt
1/4 teaspoon dried crushed red pepper
chopped fresh Italian parsley

Butterfly your whole chicken. This video best demonstrates how to easily butterfly your chicken. Or you could ask your butcher to butterfly the chicken for you.

Mix 2 tablespoons of lemon juice, 2 tablespoons of olive oil, 1 tablespoon of chopped rosemary, and the minced garlic in a small bowl. Rub the marinade all over both sides of the chicken. Put the chicken in a large Ziploc bag and let it chill overnight in the fridge.

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F, and find a brick from your garage or garden and wrap it in aluminum foil.

Sprinkle the chicken with salt and freshly ground black pepper. Heat 1 tablespoon of olive oil in a heavy large ovenproof skillet over a medium-high heat. Place the chicken skin side down in the skillet and cook it until the skin turns golden brown, around 7 minutes.

Do not turn over the chicken, but place the foil-wrapped brick crosswise on top of the chicken. Roast the chicken in the oven for 30 minutes.

After 30 minutes, take the skillet out of the oven and remove the brick. Turn the chicken over in the pan and replace the brick on top again. Place the skillet back in the oven and continue roasting the chicken until the juices run clear when the thickest part of the thigh is pierced, around 15 minutes longer.

Take the chicken out of the oven and remove the brick. Transfer the chicken to a platter and drizzle with 2 tablespoons of lemon juice. Sprinkle the chicken with crushed red pepper and fresh Italian parsley.

This Mixed Berry Jam is a slight variation of the Plum Jam from yesterday, and just as simple to make. You use strawberries as your base and then add a mixture of berries. I only had blueberries on hand, so I used just them and the jam was outstanding. I love putting a dollop of the jam in my Greek yogurt for breakfast. This recipe makes enough for 3 1/2-pint jars of jam at 24 cents per ounce.

Homemade Mixed Berry Jam
1 pound strawberries, hulled and quartered
1 1/2 cups sugar
1/2 lemon, seeded
1 pound mixed blueberries, blackberries, and raspberries

In a large stainless saucepan, toss the strawberries with the sugar and let them stand for about an hour until the sugar is most dissolved. Stir every now and again so all the sugar gets mixed up.

Squeeze the lemon over the strawberries and add it to the saucepan. Bring the mixture to a boil, stirring until all of the sugar is dissolved. Cook over moderately high heat, stirring, until the strawberries are just softened, 5 minutes.

Then add the mixed berries and cook over a moderate heat, stirring, until the liquid runs off the side of a spoon in thick heavy drops, around 20 to 25 minutes. If any scum rises to the surface of the jam, just skim it off.

Once the jam is thick enough, throw out the lemon and spoon the jam into 3 1/2-pint jars, leaving about 1/4 inch of space at the top. Close the jars and let the jam cool to room temperature.

You need to store the jam in the fridge once it is cooled, and it will last for up to 3 months.

One of my latest food obsessions is making homemade jam. Ever since I made Strawberry Jam a couple of months ago, I’ve been looking for new recipes to make. The September issue of Food & Wine magazine includes a few fast and easy jam recipes that have helped me create small batches of luscious jam.

Like so many things, homemade jam just tastes better than most jams from a jar. You use the best fruit that you can find and can add as much or as little sugar as you want. Homemade jam also doesn’t contain high fructose syrup, which you often see added to jams on top of regular sugar, yuck! This Plum Jam recipe makes enough for 3 1/2-pint jars at a cost of 11 cents per ounce.

Homemade Plum Jam
2 pounds small plums, pitted and cut into 1/2-inch wedges
1 1/2 cups sugar
1/2 lemon, seeded

For the plum jam, I used the prune plums from the farmers’ market that I also used for the Plum Clafoutis. The guy at my favourite stand gave me a deal on the plums since they were a bit too soft to sell. So if you get your fruit at a farmers’ market, ask whether they have any soft fruit that they want to get rid of since it is perfect for making jam.

In a large stainless saucepan, toss the cut plums with the sugar and let them stand for about an hour until the sugar is most dissolved. Stir every now and again so all the sugar gets mixed up.

Squeeze the lemon over the plums and add it to the saucepan. Bring the mixture to a boil, stirring until the sugar is dissolved. Cook over moderate heat, stirring, until the liquid runs off the side of a spoon in thick heavy drops, around 20 to 25 minutes. If any scum rises to the surface of the jam, just skim it off.

Once the jam is thick enough, throw out the lemon and spoon the jam into 3 1/2-pint jars, leaving about 1/4 inch of space at the top. Close the jars and let the jam cool to room temperature.

You need to store the jam in the fridge once it is cooled, and it will last for up to 3 months.

Last Friday, I spent the day waiting in doctors’ offices while Carlo got tested for an array of ailments, put on oxygen and an IV drip, and had a CAT scan of his abdomen. It was really scary, and even though we don’t definitively know what was wrong with him, Carlo is thankfully doing much better after resting for a few days.

The only “bright spot” of this daunting day was finding this recipe for a Tunisian Tuna Sandwich in a Metropolitan Home magazine in one of the doctor’s waiting room. This week after Carlo regained his appetite, I made it and we both enjoyed the salty tang of the sandwich. This recipe makes enough for 2 large sandwiches at $2.23 each, a fraction of what you would pay at a fancy sandwich shop.

Tunisian Tuna Sandwich
1 medium Yukon Gold potato, peeled, cubed (1/2-inch pieces)
2 large eggs
2 5-oz cans water-packed, albacore tuna, drained
1/4 cup capers, drained
1/2 cup chopped parsley
juice of 2 lemons
1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil, plus more for serving
salt and pepper
2 demi-baguettes or rolls
Harissa

Boil the cubed potatoes in salted water until they are tender, and then drain and let them cool. Cover the eggs with cold water in a small saucepan and cook them over a high heat for 12 minutes, then cool them in a bowl of ice water. Once they are cool, peel and slice the eggs.

In a large bowl, combine the tuna, capers, parsley, lemon juice, olive oil and mix with a fork. Season with salt and pepper to taste. I just kept on adding lemon juice and a bit of olive oil until the mixture tasted how I liked it. Lastly fold in the potatoes into the sandwich filling.

Gently toast the cut baguettes or rolls, and pull out the the soft insides of the bread. Spread the bottom side of the bread with a generous amount of harissa and top with a sliced egg. Then add the tuna stuffing on top and drizzle with a bit of olive oil to finish off the sandwich.

I’ve been loving on the carbonara pastas lately, even though I know that they probably aren’t the most healthy dinner dishes to eat. This Jamie Oliver recipe for Asparagus Fettuccine has no bacon or creme fraiche, and in fact is pretty healthy. But when blended together, the slowly cooked veggies with vegetable broth become surprisingly rich and creamy. It almost makes you think you are eating a carbonara. This pasta dish feeds 4 people at $1.48 per serving.

Asparagus Fettuccine
extra virgin olive oil
1 small onion, finely diced
1 small stick of celery, diced
1 medium zucchini, finely diced
1 small leek, white part only, diced
16 stalks asparagus, tips reserved, stalks thinly sliced
small handful of basil leaves
10 ounces vegetable stock
1 garlic clove, minced
fresh or dried fettuccine
finely grated Parmesan cheese

Add some olive oil to a pan over a low heat and sweat the onion and celery until they are soft. Then add the zucchini, leek, and asparagus stalks and cook them for a further 2-3 minutes. Add most the of the basil leaves and when they wilt, pour in the vegetable stock. Allow everything to simmer until the veggies are tender.

Remove the pan from the heat and use an immersion blender or food processor to blend everything together until the veggies become creamy. Heat up a little olive oil in another frying pan over a low heat and cook the minced garlic until it is soft. Add the asparagus sauce and let it simmer for another 2 or so minutes.

Boil a pan of salted water and cook the fettuccine according to the packet’s instructions. 3 minutes before the pasta is done, add the asparagus tips to the boiling water.

Drain the cooked pasta and asparagus tips, and reserve some of the cooking water. Add a bit of the cooking water to the asparagus sauce and then add the sauce to the cooked pasta. Loosen the pasta and sauce with cooking water as needed. Finish off by adding the remaining basil and top with freshly grated Parmesan cheese.

I’m so excited: Tonight is both the finale of Top Chef Masters and the premier of Top Chef Las Vegas! I’ve got my fantasy Top Chef team picked out and I’m ready to watch some cooking! I only wish that Jay Rayner was coming back to be a judge on Top Chef LV instead of the annoying Toby Young.

As much as I devour each Top Chef season, one of my pet peeves about many of the contestants is how they always say that they “don’t do dessert.” How many times have you seen contestants lose because they had to make a dessert? If I was going on Top Chef, I would memorize a few basic dessert recipes that I could whip out in a challenge without freaking out. In fact, I think any chef who doesn’t do this before becoming a contestant on the show is dumb. Hopefully the chefs this season have done their homework.

Outside of the Top Chef arena, I hear lots of people who say that they can’t bake, or they can only bake things out of a box. I don’t buy that assumption either. I never really used to bake, but now really enjoy baking desserts, even if my thighs don’t. All it takes is a bit of practice and more importantly closely following recipes. You can’t be as casual with baking recipes as you can with other recipes, but it isn’t that hard to follow a recipe. Plus even if your dessert doesn’t come out exactly like it should, it is still dessert and most people will still eat it. Plus anything homemade from scratch tastes way better than stuff from a box any day.

This Blueberry Streusel Cake was pretty easy to make and was a nice way to use up all of those gorgeous blueberries in the store right now. Sure my streusel topping could have been a bit firmer, but that did not stop us and a friend from hoovering down a huge slice each topped with whipped cream and more fresh blueberries. This Blueberry Streusel makes enough for 6 desserts at 61 cents per serving.

Blueberry Streusel Cake
For the Streusel Topping:
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon packed dark brown sugar
1 tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon granulated sugar
3/4 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 stick cold unsalted butter, cut into 1/2-inch pieces

For the Cake:
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup sour cream
3/4 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1/2 stick unsalted butter, softened
3/4 cup granulated sugar
1 large egg
1/2 pound blueberries (3 1/4 cups)

Preheat the oven to 350¬?F with a rack in the middle. Line the bottom and sides of a 9-inch square baking pan with heavy-duty foil, leaving an overhang on 2 sides. Butter the bottom and sides of the pan, then dust with flour, knocking out any excess flour. Be sure that the foil is pushed down all the way in the corners.

To make the streusel topping, mix together the flour, sugars, cinnamon, and a pinch of salt in a large bowl. Then add the butter and mix with your fingers until the topping forms large clumps.

The cake batter is just as easy as the topping: mix together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in a bowl. Stir the sour cream and vanilla together in a separate small bowl.

Beat together the butter and sugar in a large bowl until the mixture is pale and fluffy, around 5 minutes. Add the egg to the butter and sugar mixture until everything is really mixed together. Slowly add the flour mixture in 3 batches, alternating with the sour cream mixture and whisk until everything is combined. Lastly gently fold in the blueberries.

Spoon the batter into the pan, smoothing the top with a spatula so it is even and flat. Crumble half of the streusel topping evenly over batter.

Bake the cake for 25 minutes, then remove it from the oven and crumble the remaining streusel topping evenly over the cake. Bake until a wooden toothpick inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean, about 25-30 minutes more. My cake took a bit longer to cook, but I just kept on checking back every 5 minutes until my toothpick came out clean and had no problems.

Cool the cake in the pan for 10 minutes. Then lift out the cake using the foil and let it cool completely on cake rack.

I served the streusel with whipped fresh cream and a few extra blueberries. It was light and not too sweet, which is my favourite kind of dessert.

You can make the cake a day ahead of when you need it. Tightly wrap the cake in clingfilm once it has cooled and store it at room temperature.