Spicy Red Lentil Soup with Crab & Cucumber Salsa

I have always wanted to make a lentil soup and now I have and I love it ! It would be great in the Winter months with a nice crusty bread. It's so simple to make too. I had this as a warm soup but I also tried it later, thinned it out more and had it chilled with avacado and it was quite nice as well.

1 large carrot, peeled, diced

1 celery stalk , diced

1 medium shallot, diced fine

1 tsp red pepper flakes

3 Tb tomato paste

1 can diced tomatoes

1 can tomato sauce

1/2 dried red lentils

1 can chicken stock

zest of one lemon

1 TB minced garlic

1 TB red chili paste - less if you don't want it as spicy

1 tsp coriander

1 tsp ginger

1 tsp cumin

1 TB paprika

In a pan, add olive oil, carrots, celery and onions, cook on med-low until soft.

Add red pepper flakes, tomato paste - cook 3 minutes.

Add lentils, tomatoes, tomato sauce and chicken stock and remaining ingredients.

Cover and simmer for 40 minutes.

Put the soup in a food processor and blend until smooth. Adding more warm chicken broth to thin out if you want a thinner soup. * careful when puree this in blender, the top might blow off from the heat !

I recommend that the crab be warm/hot when placed on the soup. Also, the cucumber salsa be brought to room temperature.

Cucumber with Lemongrass

Fine dice half of an English Cucumber, seeded

fine dice 1/4 of red onion

1-2 tsp of prepared lemongrass, adjust to your taste.. I like the flavor so I added 2 tsp.

Mix together. Place a small amount on top of the crab.

Serve and Enjoy Every Bite

Jamaican Beef Patties

I moved to Ontario when I was 22 and was introduced to many different types of Ethinc food and different food in general. This was a whole new world for me because I grew up eating potatoes, a veggie and a meat at almost every meal. Moving away from my hometown was when I began to love food and cooking. I remember I would go to this one particular place for lunch at work and have a Jamaican Patty. I fell in love with this little patty stuffed with spicy meat. Then a few years later I moved back to my hometown and that was the end of my Jamaican patties and basically anything else excpet for Chinese food ( I think almost every small town has a Chinese food restuarant) and a really good Lebansese restauarnt in my provinces capital ( Cedar's Eatery) What was a girl to do without being able to buy Jamaican patties? I learned to make them and even got a few people to start liking them as well. I really didn't know how to make the filling but tried to go on taste memory. When I read some recipes for the patties, the ingredients seems so simple... basically thyme and a hot pepper. I like them with a little more flavor and this is how I have been making them for the pass thirteen years. I love making them but really do not like making the pastry dough part... but worth the teeth grinding pain in the end.

Dough recipe :

2 cups of flour

1/2 tsp salt

1 1/2 tsp of baking powder

1/2 tsp tumeric (for color)

1/2 cup shortening

1/2 cup cold water

How to :

In a bowl put all dry ingredients. Add the shortnening and rub into the flour mixture until the flour mixture is crumbly.

Add the cold water and mix with a fork until combined.

With your hands, knead the dough just until it forms a ball. Put on floured flat surface and roll out dough until about 1/4" thick. With a small bowl (4"), lay the bowl upside down and cut out a circles.

Place about 4-6 tablespoon of meat filling on half of the cirlce, fold over and press edges with fork to seal.

Beef Filling

1 lb ground beef

1/2 small onion, diced fine

1/4 green pepper, diced fine

2 TB Curry

1 tsp Thyme

2 tsp Cinnamon

2 tsp Garlic powder

2 tsp Onion Powder

1/2 tsp Cumin

1 tsp Crushed Red Pepper

1/4 tsp Nutmeg

1 TB beef Bouillon powder (try to use salt free)

1 cup Beef broth

1/4 cup Breadcrumbs

How To :

In a pan with a little bit of oil, add ground beef. Cooked until done, crumbling it as much as you can while it cooks. Drain off excess fat.

Add onions and green pepper. Cook for 2-3 minutes.

Add all the spices. "Not the breadcrumbs yet"

Let the beef cook with the spices for about 5 minutes.

Add cup of beef broth, mix. Then add the breadcrumbs. This will thicken the mixture. Think of it as thick oatmeal.

Adjust the spices to your palette. I added a little more curry because I like curry.

Let the mixture cool in a pan.

Make patties.

Bake in 350 oven for about 10-12 mins.

Serve & Enjoy Every Bite.