Food and Cooking – Barbara Heagy

A New Stuffing Recipe

I’ve been asked to make a double batch of stuffing for our Christmas gathering this year. The challenge I’m presented with is to make it gluten and dairy-free, as we have a couple of family members with preferred dietary choices. My old stuffing recipe that is in my new memoir/cookbook “For the Love of Food: Family Edition” will not do.

After sharing stuffing ideas with my step-sisters Audrey, Carla, and Tammy, they have inspired me to try some new ideas.

Audrey told us she uses a variety of breads for her stuffing. I bought two kinds of bread: hand-crafted gluten-free sourdough and gluten-free brioche. She also lets it sit out on the counter unwrapped for a day to dry out, but not to crispy stage. I like that and will do the same as I prefer a moister, soft stuffing.

I normally use copious amounts of butter, but this year I will be using dairy-free plant-based butter, something new for me.

My regular celery, onions, mushrooms, will be in my new stuffing. As well, I will be using eggs for binding and gluten-free chicken stock.

Audrey chooses to use fresh sage and herbs from her own garden. I will use large amounts of poultry seasoning, which is a blend of dried sage, thyme, rosemary, marjoram, white pepper, black pepper, and a tiny pinch of nutmeg for warmth. How much? I never measure. I stick my nose over the bowl and decide by scent. There’s a certain intense smell that I know when I have the right amount.

Because I’m using a sweeter brioche bread, I’m going to add dried cranberries and perhaps chopped pecans to my stuffing this year.

I normally stuff both ends of the turkey with my stuffing but I will not be cooking the turkey this year. My stuffing, this year, will be baked in a deep casserole dish, covered, as I am not a big fan of crunchy stuffing. Probably 350°F for 40-50 minutes.

I’ll let you know how it turns out.

How about you? What are some of your stuffing ideas and ingredients? Care to share them with us?

A New Book – For the Love of Food: Family Edition

For the Love of Food: Family Edition is a collection of stories and recipes praising food as a language of love through five generations of the author’s family. This memoir/cookbook is a testament to the life-giving power of food as it moves from field to table with gratitude, bonding, and celebration.

It’s a book for readers who love to cook, and cooks who love to read. Reminisce about your own mealtime memories and be inspired. Get into the kitchen and start cooking!

“This book is a beautiful reminder of how food can be a powerful vessel for preserving and sharing our most treasured family moments.””
~Amy McIntyre, Wine Educator, European Travel Planner

“A feast of joyful cooking.”
~Donna McCaw, Author, Across the Great Divide and It’s Your Time

“As she takes you down memory lane, she whets your taste buds. You’ll find yourself in the kitchen cooking up a storm immersed in your own memories.”
~Ruth Smith Meyer, Author, Out of the Ordinary and Chains of Shame

“Barbara Heagy has created a cozy, comforting read that stimulates your appetite and makes you want to get into your own kitchen and start cooking.”
~Wendy Jamieson, Chef, Restaurateur (Forage Restaurant)

“Her passion and love of food is apparent as she shares recipes and stories from her own life. Although not a professional chef, she honours food with a diverse palate and a plethora of fresh ingredients.”
~Matthew Bach Jamieson, Head Chef and Restaurateur (Mad Apples, Woodside, Forage Restaurants)

Paperback copies are available through Amazon.ca, hardcover copies through Amazon.com, or through an email message at barb_mcquarrie@hotmail.com

“It Doesn’t Taste Like Yours”

(Photo by Deborah Rainford)

“I followed your recipe and it didn’t taste like yours.”

This Easter weekend at our family gathering Gerri, Maegan’s mother-in-law, was telling my daughter Brittany that she had tried Brittany’s famous-in-our-family’s Kale Salad and it didn’t turn out as good as Brittany’s. Brittany laughed and said, “It always tastes better when someone else makes it.”

Why does that happen? You think you are following a recipe carefully and perfectly and yet the final product doesn’t taste as good as that prepared by the original cook.

There are a lot of factors. It has happened to me too as I try to duplicate Grandma’s Cucumber Salad or that delicious Spinach Avocado Dip I had in the restaurant the other day. The availability of fresh-off-the-farm ingredients, the age of your spices and pantry items, the cooking pans and utensils you use or the variable heat from oven to oven, it didn’t cook long enough, you stirred it too much or too little, can all be factors that change the taste of something from cook to cook.

All we can do is not give up and keep trying. Practice makes perfect. Use the best of ingredients, vary your techniques, taste as you go, and enjoy the process.

And perhaps what Brittany said is true. It’s always better to be the recipient of someone’s else meal made with loving hands.

1 Teaspoon of Paprika

The Internet is a wonderful place for synchronistic connections. I was working on my next chapter “Pass It On” which focuses on recipes passed down from my Hungarian Grandma Haydu. Many of them include Hungarian Paprika with its unique taste. It is different from other paprikas and Hungarians can tell the difference. Well, lo and behold, I came across this beautiful photograph on another Facebook site I belong to and thought “How perfect!”

The photographer Phillip Dove lives in Saltburn-by-the-Sea, United Kingdom, and graciously allowed me to use his photograph in my upcoming book “For the Love of Food: Family Edition.” All he asked for in return was a copy of my grandma’s Hungarian Goulash which I gladly sent to him. Thank you, Phillip. Check out his website at phillipdovephotography.com

For the Love of Food – A Celebration

Writing continues on my upcoming memoir cookbook that honours the place of food and family in our lives. The following is a poem that will be in the opening chapter:

A Celebration by Barbara Heagy

Food and cooking is a celebration.

It’s a celebration of family, community, and togetherness.
Gathered around a table laden with good, wholesome food, laughing, and sharing stories.
Coming together to
Chop and blend,
Fold and stir,
A joyous circle of belonging.
Here, I am part of a whole.

It’s a celebration of the senses.
The colours of a leafy salad with bright tomatoes, green cucumbers, and orange, red, and yellow peppers.
The soft, gluten feel of bread kneaded in your hands.
The exotic aroma of a scented curry with cumin, coriander, turmeric, and cardamom.
The crunching sound of crispy celery, a juicy apple, or the thick, warm bubbling of a stove-top stew.
The taste that melts in your mouth, burns your tongue, or bursts on your taste buds in sheer delight.

It’s a celebration of the body, re-energized and rejuvenated or sated with belly full.
Perhaps I may not remember what I ate but my body remembers the generosity and love in which the food was given.
I remember being
Welcomed and embraced,
Comforted and consoled,
My heart nourished.

It is a celebration of nature,
A cycle of seed, growth, harvest, and preparation
Recognizing and respecting the circle of life.
We acknowledge the sun, and the rain, and the fertile soils,
The passing of the seasons.
We recognize the sacrifice of the animals given for our good.
We are thankful for
Our beloved planet and all its gifts
So freely given.

It’s a celebration of tradition.
A gathering cast in time
To be remembered and honoured
Season after season,
Generation after generation.
A rhythm of lives past that never forgets
As we pass on our skills.

It’s a celebration of culture,
Of diversity and unity.
I remember who I am
And where I come from.
I praise who you are
And where you come from.
I travel the world
Tasting its variety and goodness,
Raw or prepared,
Simple or exotic.
It is an opportunity to applaud you and your life.

It’s a celebration of time,
A pause,
An acknowledgement of each other
In our busy lives.
We meet together in gratitude
As we greet and thank those that laboured,
Farmer or cook,
Gave of themselves
For these gifts before us.
Sometimes we choose a day or moment
And mark it special,
Happy Birthday to you,
Merry Christmas,
And we create rites and rituals that intensify
Its meaning and importance
Not only for us but for future generations.
We hope to always remember
To value each other and our contributions
For our better good and fulfillment.