Reading through cookbooks helps me feel like I am close to normal, seeing that other people also willingly devote precious hours of their lives to food preparation. Some would say I am obsessed with food, but I take pride in what I cook and bake, with just about everything made from scratch. I confess to spending hours in the kitchen and I feel healthy and virtuous as a result.

But, even I have my limits, parameters outside which I do not venture: Homemade sodas? Nope. Handmade pastrami. I'll pass on that one. Smoke my own jalapenos? Canned chipotles en adobo are just fine. But something about buzzing up some made-from-scratch chocolate hazelnut spread sounds like a project I would joyfully tackle, falling within my paradigms of normalcy. I can easily roast hazelnuts and quite enjoy the sweet aroma they serve up. I have a food processor and know how to melt chocolate. That's basically all the skill you need and, half an hour later, you can be the proud owner of a large crock of better-than-Nutella spreadable decadence.

Now, you are probably thinking, there IS nothing better than Nutella. That's a tough argument to speak against, but here I go: Do you like eating modified palm oil and chemical emulsifiers? I didn't think so. Imagine using the best quality European chocolate in a nutty spread, with pure vanilla extract and freshly roasted hazelnuts. Where you control the amount of sugar and salt and toss in some real butter too. Yes? Are you in?

Photo courtesy of bakecookeat.blogspot.com

Karen Solomon's new cookbook can it, bottle it, smoke it and other kitchen projects has lots of projects for the devoted foodie, many of them quirky and fun, like blueberry lemon syrup, pickled grapes, plum catsup, preserved lemons, little gourmet treats I would prepare on a proverbial rainy day. But chocolate hazelnut spread cannot wait for a rainy day. I am jumping right in, right now. Care to join me?

Chocolate Hazelnut Spread
recipe courtesy of Karen Solomon

3 cups hazelnuts; 3/4 cup best quality unsweetened chocolate; 3 tbsp. butter; 3/4 cup sugar; 1 tsp. pure vanilla extract; 2 tbsp. flavourless vegetable oil such as canola; 1+1/2 tsp. kosher salt or to taste.

Place a metal mixing bowl in the freezer to chill. Toast nuts in a dry skillet over medium heat until light golden brown, about 8 minutes. Pour them into the cold bowl and stir for 2 minutes. When they are cold enough to handle, rub the nuts to remove the outer skins. Don't worry if they don't all come off. Discard the skins and allow the nuts to cool.

In a small saucepan over medium low heat, melt the chocolate with the butter and sugar, stirring frequently, until smooth and well combined, about 3 minutes. The sugar will still be somewhat coarse. Take the pan off the heat and continue stirring for about 30 seconds. Stir in the vanilla extract.

Transfer the nuts to a food processor fitted with the metal blade and whirl for 1 minute to make a thick paste. Scrape down the sides of the bowl and process again. With the machine running, stream in the oil slowly and continue to process for a full 5 minutes, until very smooth. With the machine still running, stream the chocolate mixture into the nut butter. Stop the machine a couple of times and scrape the sides of the bowl. Reprocess for a few more minutes until everything is well blended and smooth. Add salt and blend to incorporate.

The mixture is ready to eat but is better if left to rest for a day. It is best to store the spread in the fridge but you may want to remove it for an hour before eating and stir it well right before use.

You may have thought you were in Nutella heaven before, but imagine the uber-intense chocolate-hazelnut paradise that could be yours. You may not have ventured into these waters before, but it sure feels normal now.

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The challenge of trying new recipes is ever present, new cookbooks to read, alluring photos that inspire me, food blogs teeming with irresistible delights. But there are some dishes I go back to again and again. And when I make them, I do not change a thing. My orange and pecan wild rice pilaf is one such dish. I really, truly follow the recipe exactly, which is not true of most of the cooking I do, where improvisation and inspiration rule.

This rice pilaf is pretty close to perfect, a buttery, nutty blend of basmati and wild rice dotted with some caramelized vegetables and the crunch of toasted pecans. I accent these elements with fresh orange zest which trumpets out a bright, cheerful essence, and sprinkle in a good dose of fresh herbs for colour and green goodness. Dried cranberries make an appearance too, cooking into tart softness along with the long-simmering wild rice. There are some standard trusty combinations at play here, contributing to the overall success of the dish: wild rice and pecans. Sage and wild rice. Orange and cranberries. Celery and onions. Cranberries and wild rice. Altogether, this dish sings out with graceful flavour and homey comfort, a perfect way to compliment grilled or roasted main courses.

This pilaf looks so striking on a plate, I like to lay it out in a thin layer over most of a plate's surface and lay a hot, juicy skewer of grilled chicken and vegetables over it. A few lightly dressed micro greens on the plate is all you need for a well-rounded meal. The rice speaks to me of summer barbeques and fall's cornucopia of produce, winter's need for warmth and spring's good cheer. Simply put, it is wonderful any time at all, one of those simple/special dishes that is easy to prepare but extraordinary when eaten.

Wild Rice With Orange and Pecans

3 tbsp. butter, divided; 1 medium sweet onion, chopped; 2 cloves garlic, minced; 1 cup wild rice; 1/2 cup dried cranberries; 2 cups hot chicken broth; 1/2 tsp. each salt, pepper, dried thyme and sage; 1 bay leaf; 1/2 cup diced celery; 1/2 cup diced red pepper; 1/2 cup chopped pecans; grated zest from 2 oranges; 1/2 cup chopped parsley; 1 cup raw white or brown rice.

Cook raw white or brown rice your usual way. Set aside.

In a medium saucepan, melt 1+1/2 tbsp. of the butter over medium heat. Add onions and garlic and cook for about 5 minutes or until soft. In a sieve, rinse wild rice under cold water, drain well and stir into onion mixture. Toast rice in the pan for a few minutes and then stir in broth, salt, pepper, thyme, sage, bay leaf and dried cranberries. Bring to a boil, cover, reduce heat and simmer for about 60 minutes or until rice is tender and liquid has been absorbed. It is OK if the rice remains moist but should not be very wet.

Meanwhile, melt remaining 1+1/2 tbsp. butter in a skillet over medium heat. Cook celery, red pepper, pecans and zest for about 5 minutes until very fragrant and toasty looking, stirring often.

Combine cooked celery and pepper mixture with both the cooked wild and white or brown rice. Stir in parsley. Serves 4 - 6 people.

Keep those fragrant rice dishes coming all year round:

Swiss chard is here, my garden teeming with it in rainbow hues. Given my quinoa-centric state of mind, what better pairing can I dream up than the two together? It works!! A gentle saute of sliced chard stalks, plus the chopped leaves and lots of garlic make for an ideal quinoa partner, the grain being a blank canvas to which one can riff in many ways. Swiss chard also speaks to me of raisins and pine nuts, so they make an appearance here too, a warm side dish, a cooled down salad, a leftover to bring to work for lunch.

Let's start by cooking the quinoa. You can boil it like pasta in salted water and drain it when it blooms and softens, a little tail, the germ, emerging from each grain. Place the drained quinoa back into the cooking pot, cover with a clean tea towel and let it sit for 5 minutes. Fluff and serve. Another method for cooking quinoa is to cook one part quinoa to two parts water, covered, for 12 - 15 minutes, until done. Fluff, cover, let sit for 5 minutes, and serve. Both methods work well, so prepare your quinoa according to your preference.

When cooked quinoa is destined for a salad, it is a good idea to dry it out so that the grains remain separate. Thanks to Bob's Red Mill Cookbook for this important pointer. Spread your cooked quinoa onto a baking sheet to cool and dry. You can store cooked quinoa in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 5 days.

Now for the fun, where inspiration, flavour and texture arrive on the scene. Take a large bunch of Swiss chard, rainbow coloured, if possible. Wash the stalks and leaves and pat them dry delicately. It is OK if some water clings to the chard. Snip off the leaves and chop them coarsely. Set aside. Slice the stalks thinly. In a large pan, warm two teaspoons of olive oil and saute the sliced stalks until beginning to soften, about 10 minutes. Add in the chopped chard leaves and 2 - 3 plump cloves of crushed garlic. Cook until softened, tender and fragrant. The Swiss chard will have wilted and cooked down to a mere skeleton of its former, bulky self. Season with salt and pepper and a few gratings of whole nutmeg. Let the chard cool and add it to the cooked quinoa along with a handful of golden raisins and another handful of toasted pine nuts. You may want to dress the salad lightly with a lemony vinaigrette, or just some fruity olive oil and a splash of fresh lemon juice. Finish the salad off with a flourish of fresh herbs, whatever is fresh and abundant in your garden or market. Mint is awfully nice here as is Italian parsley or chives. If you cannot decide on one herb, use a combination. There is no right or wrong here, just the desires of your palate to follow.

Enjoy this delightful creation as a light lunch with a bowl of soup, with some flatbreads and cheese, or as a side to some protein. It keeps very well in the fridge for few days and will nourish your mind and body with its healthful goodness.

Can't get enough of quinoa? Read on:

It's summer time and the living is easy. Someone said that once. It makes sense to me. It's time to bask in the kaleidoscope of colours at the produce stands. And then time to come home and put together something to eat that is fresh and fast. I did just that. The blueberries were plump and tempting, a perfect mango beckoned with its heady perfume, firm stalks of corn awaited discovery. Long, thin beans, bold peppers, slim green onions, I found them all today and made this bright delight to enjoy with some grilled wild salmon.

Let's start with the quinoa and what one does with it. There are different techniques for cooking quinoa and I am going with this one from trusty Saveur magazine.

How to Cook Quinoa Perfectly
adapted from www.saveur.com

1 cup quinoa, rinsed well and drained; 1 tsp. salt

In a 4-litre pot, bring 6 cups of water and 1 tsp. salt to a boil. Add quinoa and simmer 12-15 minutes until tender and grains have bloomed. Remove from heat and drain quinoa in a fine mesh sieve. Set sieve back over empty pot, cover with a clean kitchen towel, and let rest 15 minutes. Serves 4 people.

Quinoa Salad

Next, if you would like to construct a summer salad, you need some vegetables. I used about a cup and a half each of fresh green beans, cut into small pieces, cherry tomatoes, quartered and fresh corn kernals. I cooked the green beans and the corn until tender and drained them well. Tossed them into the bowl of quinoa I had waiting on the side along with the tomatoes, seeds pressed out lightly, by the way. I toasted a cup of sliced almonds and included them in my creation along with about 6 green onions, sliced into small rounds and two jalapenos, diced, for a hit of heat. Fruit and quinoa get along beautifully and I was after some big time colour, so in went a mango, diced and about 3/4 cup of fresh blueberries. I made a simple dressing with almond oil, fresh lemon juice and the zest of that same lemon, adding salt and pepper, a bit of cayenne and a pinch of raw sugar to taste. The only thing missing was a big handful of fresh herbs from my garden, mint, chives and oregano, adding lush freshness and speckles of green.

My quinoa creation was a perky foil for the rich, delicate meat of the wild salmon, cutting the density of the fish with bursts of fruit and a friendly jolt of peppery heat. It is a salad I will play with and adapt all summer long, as the fruit season delivers its wares. I am looking forward to tender, young zucchini, diced and gently cooked. Corn will continue to appear and will get better as the summer progresses, as will peppers and beans. Parsley and dill, cilantro and thyme, all will play roles.

Keep your summer meals easy and fresh: