The Roving Taster's Digest

blueberry buttermilk pancakes

2012-02-12T10:06:00.000-08:00

I charged up the battery on my old d-slr this week. It's been a while since I played around with it. Last winter I upgraded my lens to a pretty snazzy macro for improved food photographs. All photos today were shot on my Nikon D40 with a AF-S Micro NIKKOR 85 mm. No flash.

After a wildly successful catering event this week, I had a few ingredients left over. Including most of a litre of buttermilk. What do you do when life hands you buttermilk? You make buttermilk pancakes, of course.

This recipe was modified from the one found here at epicurious.com

Ingredients:
2 C washed and dried fresh blueberries
1 1/3 C all purpose flour
3 Tbsp sugar
2 1/2 tsp baking powder
3/4 tsp salt
1 1/4 C buttermilk
2 large eggs
2 Tbsp unsalted butter, melted
dash of ground cinnamon
real maple syrup to serve

Prepare the blueberries and leave them out on a folded sheet of paper towel to dry on the counter.

Preheat your oven to 250 degrees. Cover a baking sheet with a couple layers of paper towel to absorb excess oil. Put it in the oven and as each batch comes out of the pan, put it on the baking sheet and leave it in the oven to stay hot.

Whisk together dry ingredients in a large bowl.

In a medium sized bowl, whisk wet ingredients.

Add wet to dry. Do not over-beat. Small lumps are okay.

Heat about a tablespoon of vegetable oil in a non-stick pan over medium heat.

I started with oil and then switched to butter to keep the pan greased between batches. I like my pancakes to be a bit crispy around the edges, so I like lots of hot oil or butter in the pan. The first few pancakes are always a little wobbly, but once you get your heat right and the motion down, you kind of get a rhythm going.

Fold the blueberries into the batter with a spatula. I started coking the pancakes before I thought of adding the cinnamon, but now would have been a good time to do that.

Pour a heaping tablespoon of batter into the pan. Don't overcrowd. You need to have room to get in and flip.

You know the pancakes are reading to be flipped when little air bubbles begin appearing on the top.

A second spatula is often helpful in the flipping. Don't worry if you screw up the first few times. I've been flipping pancakes for years and I always start out a little rusty. To check that you've got it right, cut open a finished pancake to make sure the batter is fully cooked through.

Make sure you remove all the little mini pancake bits (bb's, my mom calls them) and loose blueberries so that they don't burn over the course of cooking.

Serve hot with as much maple syrup as you like.

Other topping options:
sweet yogurt
whipped cream
fresh fruit
jam
apple butter
creme liquer

If you're like me, and always make too much food, these pancakes can be covered and refrigerated. They will reheat beautifully in the toaster oven tomorrow morning. Or later tonight. More that likely, later tonight, as I don't think they are going to survive the J monster and his powerful pancake chomping action.

I always knew my skepticism would prove valid...

2012-01-25T14:17:00.000-08:00

A news report from CBC is lending credence to what I've long suspected to be valid suspicion concerning the benefits of vitamin-enhanced drinks. The brightly coloured "water" is just as chock full of sugar as pop, and even even more so than a Kit-Kat bar, according to a report from The Daily Mail that was released online in February of last year. This chart, from The Daily Mail shows, quite clearly, just how healthy that vitamin drink is, considering the amount refined sugars in the mix.

The article on CBC reports that The Quebec Coalition on Weight-Related Problems are the ones leading the charge against the manufacturers of these drinks. They are calling on Health Canada to force drink manufacturers to stop selling the products as "natural products", as they are currently classified for labeling and sale.

How on earth this stuff was convincingly argued and then approved for sale as "natural" is beyond me. It makes me wonder what sort of criteria they are using over at Health Canada. Is their purpose to support and promote the consumption of products with misleading claims to health benefits? How silly of me to think that my well being was being protected by the institution entrusted with ensuring my health. There has been a clear disregard for the health of Canadian consumers. Indeed, these products are marketed and sold just as flagrantly in the US and Britain.

It is my hope that the Government of Canada wakes up to the fact that prevention is a key element in reducing rates of childhood obesity. It is their job to protect Canadians. I hope that clearer labeling indicating that the source of calories is sugar and not power brain juice extract will dissuade consumers from grabbing the vitamin drink in the first place. But somehow, I remain skeptical.

Gnocchi in Toasted Walnut and Gorgonzola Cream Sauce

2012-01-22T17:34:00.000-08:00

This is a great recipe to whip up with basics that you probably already have in your kitchen. It relies on one of the most basic and important sauces in anyone's arsenal: bechamel.

1 head of cauliflower
1 head of garlic
2 Tbsp, plus 1 tsp extra virgin olive oil
1/2 package of dry gnocchi (or tortellini or even rotini)
1 Tbsp salted butter
1 Tbsp all purpose flour
1 shallot, finely chopped
4-6 Cups of milk
1/4 Cup crumbly blue cheese, Gorgonzola or Danish bleu
1/4 Cup chopped walnuts, toasted
dash of nutmeg
freshly ground black pepper
salt to taste

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.

Cut cauliflower into florets, wash, and toss in a large bowl with 2 Tbsp olive oil. Spread on a foil covered cookie sheet. Cut top off garlic, exposing each clove. Place in the centre of a square of tinfoil and drizzle with 1 tsp olive oil. Pull the corners together and wrap up the garlic in a little parcel.

Put cauliflower on the top rack and the garlic below. Turn the cauliflower every 10-15 minutes for 30-40 minutes until the cauliflower is golden brown but not fully cooked.

In a large pot, set salted water on to boil for the gnocchi.

In a medium saucepan, melt the butter over medium heat and add the shallots, stirring occasionally. Cook until browned. Add the flour and stir until all the butter and flour have combined to form a paste. Reduce heat and pour in 1 Cup of milk. Stir vigorously to remove lumps. Continue adding milk incrementally, always stirring to incorporate. Scrape the bottom of the pan to keep the sauce from burning. Eventually the sauce will begin to thicken. Monitor the thickness of your sauce. It can always be thinned out again by adding more milk.

Carefully drop the gnocchi into the boiling water and cook for 5 minutes, when the gnocchi are fluffy and floating. Remove from the heat, strain, and set aside. Toast the chopped walnuts until they begin to release their aroma. If you don't have or don't like walnuts, try pine nuts, pecans, or pistachios.

After about 15 minutes of simmer on low, the sauce should be a velvety texture. Add the toasted walnuts to the sauce, stirring to combine. Crumble in the blue cheese, adjusting for flavour as desired. Some people have trouble with the strong taste of blue cheese, others love it. If you really would rather, aged cheddar would also do lovely here.

When the cauliflower is mostly browned but still firm, it is ready. Remove the garlic from the oven, carefully open the foil, and let the garlic cool before squeezing out the cloves and stirring them into the sauce. Add the cauliflower and mix well. If by this point you are worried your sauce won't sufficiently cover the amount of gnocchi you've made, you can always splash in a little more milk and continue stirring.

Finally, pour the sauce over the cooked gnocchi, stir over medium heat for one more minute, and serve with grated Parmesan. No photos. Just delicious memories...

Happy New Food Year!

2012-01-14T12:55:00.000-08:00

I returned to my parents' house last month with the lingering memories of their teeny tiny 1950's kitchen and all the family members we crammed in it while rendering dish after dish of soul-soothing food.

What I found on arrival was a brand new kitchen, replete with six-burner professional grade gas range, granite counter tops, self-closing drawers, and a huge a-symmetrical island with a second prep sink built-in.

I wasn't exactly surprised. In fact, I'd dragged my sorry self out of bed many a Saturday morning to meet with their designer to get my ideas into the mix.

I'm so proud of them for finishing this. Kudos to my mother who, god love her, is the most notorious pack rat that ever was.
It took a lot for her to throw and give away so much of the past. But in the end, everyone will benefit. And what a workspace...

What you see here are the peels of 15 pounds of potatoes. My mom, my sister, and I fried latkahs for two hours one morning while I was back in preparation for the big family Chanukah party.

Normally when my mom makes latkahs, the smell of fried potatoes and onions is detectable at the end of the street and the scent lingers in our hair and on our clothes for a week. But I have to hand it to them, my mom and dad went all in on their renovation and the overhead fan they installed left nary a trace even twenty minutes after we finished frying.

Using a food processor, shred 5 pounds of russet potatoes and a bag of regular yellow onions.

Transfer to a large bowl, add a couple of eggs, about a half a cup of flour and about 2 tablespoons of baking powder. The baking powder helps them crisp.

Form into palm-sized flat cakes, squeezing out all excess liquid. Fry in hot vegetable oil. Use a lot, but don't cover them completely. Remember to tap down the centre of the patty so that the thickness is dispersed and the latkahs cook evenly.

Turn with caution. Use a spatula and a long fork. When cooked to golden brown on both sides, remove from frying pan and transfer to paper towel covered plate.

I returned to Montreal just in time for Christmas. J's family was extremely generous with me as this was our first Christmas together here. We had a wonderful meal with his mom and the whole day was very merry. The gift giving, of course, was just wonderful. I didn't even get to see my nieces and nephew open the gifts we gave them on account of being so busy opening presents of my own. Two of the highlights were the popcorn hot air popper for J's sister Melissa and the bread making machine from J's grandmother, Nanny. I've only ever made bread the old fashioned way. It takes forever, which is why I hardly ever do it. But fresh bread is just about the most enticing smell ever to be emitted from any kitchen, and so I'm so happy to now be able to just toss the ingredients in, push a few buttons, and let it do its thing. Hurray for robot kitchen helpers! J's mom got me my first food processor. I can't wait to make spanikopita with that thing. Stay tuned...

What I love about the end of the year is all the marvelous best-of lists that come out. So you can imagine my glee when I came across "The Best of America's Test Kitchen: Best Recipes and Reviews 2012"

First to be made was their "Ultimate Banana Bread" recipe. So simple. The tricky part was that it calls for a microwaving step. I've never had a microwave in any of my kitchens, so I had to use the stove instead. In the end I don't think it made that much of a difference.

1 3/4 C all-purpose flour
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
6 large, over-ripe bananas (I freeze mine when they get to this stage, if you do too, only use 5 from the freezer and use one fresher one)
8 Tbsp unsalted butter, melted and cooled
2 large eggs
3/4 C packed light brown sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/5 C walnuts, toasted and chopped coarse (I skipped this)
2 tsp granulated sugar

Preheat oven to 350 degrees with the rack in the middle position. Spray a 8 1/2 inch by 4 1/2 inch loaf pan with vegetable oil spray. Combine first 3 ingredients in a large bowl.
Place 5 peeled bananas in a large bowl and cover with plastic wrap, poking vents in the top for steam. Microwave until bananas are soft with liquid released in the bowl, about 5 minutes. I mashed the bananas and let them simmer on the stove for 5 minutes instead.
Place a fine mesh strainer over a medium size bowl and transfer hot bananas to the strainer to drain out the liquid into the bowl, stirring occasionally. Let it drain for 15 minutes. At the end you should have about 3.4 C of liquid. Transfer banana solids to a bowl.
Pour liquid into a saucepan and cook over medium-high heat for 5 minutes. Liquid should be reduced to 1/4 C at this time. Now pour the reduced liquid back in with the bananas and mash together. I know this sounds silly, but what you've just done is extracted a lot of intense banana flavour, caramelized and intensified the flavour, and returned it to the mix.
Add butter, eggs, sugar, and vanilla to the banana mixture. Stir to combine. Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and stir until just a little white is visible. Transfer to prepared loaf pan. Top with final banana, making two lines of banana slices, 1/4 inch think, arranged in a shingle pattern, one slice layered slightly on top of the one before.
Make sure to leave the middle clear to allow steam to evaporate as the batter bakes and ensure an even rise. Sprinkle the whole top with granulated sugar.
Bake until a toothpick comes out clean, about one hour. Rotate the pan halfway through baking. Cool in pan.

I also plan on using my slow cooker a lot more this winter. The spaghetti and slow cooked meatballs I made recently were so good and the convenience of having food for another two days after is very reassuring as school gets more demanding. And they were so juicy... even David couldn't resist climbing down off the bookshelf to get a closer look.

There are so many things to try. I would really like to expand my repertoire to include some new things on my list of go-to meals. That's what trying new things is all about, after all.

Like the snow, lavender shortbread has returned

2011-12-10T17:23:00.000-08:00

As a great woman once said, it's cookie time.

I'm a student again. That means two things: I spend time in the kitchen when I'm avoiding school work, and I'm too poor to buy gifts for friends and loved ones this holiday season.

My plan instead is to keep my pantry stocked and buy tins of Danish cookies. J eats most of them and then I will refill them with my own homemade goodies.

Lavender shortbread cookies are easy peasy. I discovered them last winter when I came upon a large packet of dried lavender flours at Planet Organic in Edmonton.

Cut up 1 cup of soft unsalted butter. Cream in a large bowl with 1/4 cup white sugar. In another bowl, mix together 1 cup flour, 1/4 cup cornstarch, and 1/4 tsp salt.

Pour dry into wet and stir until combined. Add 2 Tbsp dried lavender flowers and mix well.
When your cookie dough is ready, turn it out onto a floured surface.

Flour your hands and begin kneading the dough.
Press your palms and the heels of your hands into the dough and push down and away.

Gently pick up the dough and rotate it 90 degrees.

Keep your hands floured with a dish of extra nearby.

Repeat this process 5 times in total. Kneading cookie dough is important because it makes sure everything is of the same consistency and that your dough will not crumble to pieces.

Divide the dough in half and shape into two balls. Put one dough ball aside.

Re-flour your surface and put the dough in the middle. As the butter in the dough continues to soften with handling, the dough will become sticker, so lots of extra flour is important.

Flour a large rolling pin and roll out the dough. It should take about 3 or 4 rolls. Make sure you keep rotating the dough 90 degrees as you roll or you will have a big mess and no cookies.

The dough should be about 1/4" in thickness.

This dough here is very happy. It can't wait to be cookies.

Cut out shapes using cookie cutters. Keep re-rolling up your scraps of dough until you've used up both halves.

The shapes can be placed close together, about 1/2" apart on ungreased baking sheets.

Bake them one sheet at a time in the middle rack of a preheated oven at 350 degrees for 10-15 minutes. They are done when they are browned at the edges.

Look at all the happy cookies. They will make friends and family (and me) very joyful indeed.

These shapes all came in a package from the dollar store. You can find all kinds of fancy or strange ones. The hearts and stars of david are classic choices, but we liked that our pack also came with a teddy bear, an elephant, and a hippopotamus.

I made lots of all of the shapes. The elephants are pretty rad.

I played with them when I put them on the pan before going in the oven and when they came out a few elephants were walking one after the other like they do in the jungle.

But I'm not in the jungle. I'm in snowy Montreal. So I will keep making cookies and bringing a little extra warmth to the kitchen with my powerful little oven.

That is a very lonely hippopotamus. Of all the cookies in the batch, there was only one hippopotamus.

Here's the recipe:
1 Cup cool unsalted butter
1/4 Cup sugar
1 Cup flour
1/4 Cup cornstarch
1/4 tsp salt
2 Tbsp dried lavender flowers

Cream butter and sugar in a large bowl.
Measure out lavender and set aside.
Mix other dry ingredients in a bowl.
Add dry ingredients to creamed butter and sugar. Stir until ingredients begin to become incorporated.
Add lavender and stir until well blended.

Turn out onto floured surface. Knead 5 times. Divide dough in half and roll out to 1/4" thickness. Cut into shapes. Place on ungreased cookie sheet and bake at 350 for 10-15 minutes.

Cool on a rack.
Cookies will keep in a sealed container for up to 2 weeks. They get better with age.

There's No Place Like Ottawa for the Holidays

2011-12-03T18:17:00.000-08:00

So I decided kind of last minute to make myself scarce and get out of town for a few days. Montreal is great, but I did a lot of growing up in Ottawa and I'll always love coming back here.

I zipped into the capital for a quick trip to see some old university friends here before heading west for a bit. Of course I'm right in the middle of finals now so some of my work came with me. Everything has to be done in the next ten days so I'm resting up to prepare for the final sprint to the finish line.

Then home to my parents in Edmonton for a while. I'll be back in Montreal by Christmas eve, though, so lots of travel on the horizon for me. I can't wait to try my parents new kitchen.

While I'm in Ottawa I have some bosom friends to connect with and of course one or two restaurants to stop in at. I might find my way to So Good tomorrow around lunchtime. Get myself some tofu pepper salt and wu se chicken. Care to join me?

Checked into the ever-resplendant Chateau Laurier - my hotel of choice in Ottawa, of course... I don't think I will ever get tired of getting to sleep in a big bed inside a castle.

After checking in I went right to the in-room dining menu and sized it up. Eventually I settled on the Senator's Nicoise Salad and a glass of Pinot Grigio.
Herb dusted pan-flashed Ahi tuna over salad nicoise of boiled baby potatoes, kalamata olives, grape tomatoes and hard boiled egg. And soooo many delightful crisp green beans! An excellent start to the weekend.

Later an early evening visit turned into one or two rounds of martinis with a darling old friend. Time catches up to everyone. We can't hide from it, though it may be tempting to try. Our friendship has gone from kool-aid and grape juice at work to cosmos on Sparks Street to now - dry vodka martinis with lots of olives in the hotel lounge. I love this man.

He insisted that I return to my room and order up some dinner. So now I am waiting. I am waiting for french onion soup and a slow roasted prime rib sandwich with au jus dip. I'm getting my first french onion soup of the season. I can't wait for it to warm me up. Have you got a favourite onion soup recipe? Care to share?

Stay tuned as food and ensuing shenanigans make their way onto the pages of the Digest. Hotel eats galore, lots of Canadian wine and beer, I hope, and old friends in the coming days.

I love this town.

fruit filled french toast

2011-11-26T09:58:00.000-08:00

I have been promising J I would make him some more stuffed french toast for the last couple of weeks. School, work, the ever-present mountain of laundry rising up out of the hamper in the corner... somehow, getting up and making breakfast on the weekends get lost under the covers.

This time I was making good on my promise. And boy was it good...

You can use whatever fruit you like for the filling. If it slices well like bananas or pears then they can go right in, as is. For berries, they should be macerated first.

I just so happened to have some extra cream cheese frosting leftover from cupcakes I made for class earlier in the week. Thanks for the recipe, La. The cream cheese frosting was actually J's idea. And for topping I chopped up craisins and pumpkin seeds and had 2 varieties. The Joy of Cooking strikes again!

Cream Cheese Frosting: (makes 2 cups)
8 oz cold cream cheese
5 Tbsp soft, unsalted butter
2 tsp vanilla
2-4 cups confectioner's sugar (I didn't use as much as Rombauer calls for because I wanted the flavour of the cream cheese to be more present. Plus I don't like having things too sweet. This is going on cupcakes and french toast after all...)

Step one: Beat together vanilla, butter, and cream cheese.
Step two: Sift in sugar in batches.
Step three: Stir, stir, stir! Or if you are lucky and have an electric mixer or food processor... well then... that's just a lot easier, isn't it?

For french toast: (this is for two, multiply as needed)

4 slices of bread (I like challah or sliced country loaves)
Arrange your bread slices like butterflies and spread 1 Tbsp of cream cheese frosting on each facing slice.

Layer banana slices so that they rest overlapping but still inside the edge of the crust.

How to macerate berries:
Rinse and dry raspberries... or blackberries, or blueberries (you get the idea.)
Place in a bowl.
Mash for 10 seconds or until the once-berries are now kind of in between recognizable fruit and jam.

Squeeze about 2 tsp of juice from a lemon. See this post for a tip on a quick, easy, clean way to juice a lemon without any fancy gadgets.

Sprinkle 1-2 Tbsp of fine or superfine sugar. Mix together and check for balance of sweetness, acidity, and berry flavour.

Let stand briefly before spreading over the already existing layer of cream cheese on one side of the butterflied bread.

In a medium sized flat-bottom dish, prepare a mixture of 3 eggs, salt, cinnamon, and a splash of milk and stir vigorously with a fork.

After closing each sandwich, press firmly together before placing the bread in the egg mixture.

Wait for the bread to soak up the egg before flipping and repeating the soak up time.

Prepare a large non-stick pan, melting about 1 Tbsp of butter over medium heat until sizzling.

Transfer bread from egg dish to hot pan. Fry on both sides until golden and no longer releasing egg when poked with a spatula.

J and I wanted to try 2 different kinds of filling so when it was ready to come out of the pan I quickly cut each one in half and served up combo plates. They were quickly doused in maple syrup and whipped cream and gobbled down with indulgent glee.

Now I ask you, if pizza is a vegetable, is raspberry and cream cheese filled french toast a serving of dairy and of fruit?

falling for fish

2011-11-11T17:56:00.000-08:00

Oh, fish. What have I said about fish so far? Why haven't I gotten into cooking it before now?

I used to be scared of it. I have always found it delicious. Sometimes it is embarrassing. As a chef it has been for me a challenge. But it is definitely a food that inspires great conversation. There are certain people who feel very strongly about it. As a kid I remember loving my mom's tuna sandwiches. But the girls at school would tease kids who brought tuna, what with the fish breath that followed throughout the afternoon well into second recess. It's such a delicate thing. Sushi chefs have an almost spiritual relationship with fish.

Here's a great TEDtalk from a very intelligent and well spoken chef and author, Dan Barber. It's all about his take on the factory farming of fish and ways that farmed fish can be done more ethically and sustainably.

My dad makes great fish. Mostly cedar plank salmon on the barbecue. My mom specializes in fried sole. It's tasty but when she cooks it the whole house smells to high heaven and I end up days later still detecting a redolence that could only have its origins in the crumbly white fish I had eaten earlier that week. Both my parents taught me to always soak the fish in milk before I begin cooking with it. It takes away some of the old fishy smell and texture and revives it before a being rinsed under cold water and dried with paper towel.

I still use that trick and have found that if J spots some nice fish at the store and I don't have time to cook it, I can put it in the freezer, let it thaw in cool water for a while and the milk will do the rest.

Last month J found a lovely piece of salmon that was large enough for both of us with rice, cooked bok choi, and butterleaf lettuce and mozzarella salad. I did the salmon up in little breaded morsels, flash fried then glazed in a french mustard and herbs sauce. Before that it was those incredible pan seared scallops.

This week J thought his luck was repeating as he found a lovely piece of salmon at the store again. It turns out that what he found was actually steelhead trout. I cooked it crispy this time, instead of gooey, choosing a crust of crushed nuts as the source of crunch and fried goodness.

Pistachio-Crusted Steelhead Trout

Prep a portion of fish as above in pan with milk high enough to cover most of the fish.

In another pie plate or deep dish prepare a half a cup of flour with a good sprinkle of kosher salt, and maybe a half tablespoon of lemon pepper. Stir together with a large fork.

After the fish has been left soaking in milk for 30 minutes (or up to 2 hours, covered and refrigerated), rinse under cool water and pat dry.

Place fish in flour bed and press firmly before turning over and repeating.

In another dish crack and beat 1 egg. Use a second if preparing for more than 2 people. Lift fish from flour, shaking off excess, and dip both sides in egg mixture.

This is the moment where I thank the kind men at Akhavan for selling me shelled pistachios so cheaply. I went to the jar on my counter, took out a handful of pistachios, maybe a scant half cup. I didn't want to waste any. Using J's amazing magic bullet I crushed up the pistachios in a buzz or two and dumped them out into another deep dish. Shake the dish back and forth to ensure an even layer of crushed nuts on the bottom of the dish.

Life the fish out of the egg pan and wait for the excess to drip off. Transfer the fish onto the bed of pistachios and press down firmly, careful not to damage the flesh of the fish as you do so. I gathered up all the stray bits of pistachio and crumbled them over the uncoated side and then flipped each piece over to ensure an even coating on both sides.

In a medium nonstick pan heat 2 tablespoons of vegetable oil over medium-high heat. When the oil moves around the whole pan easily and is starting to shimmer, carefully place each piece of fish into the pan. Shuffle the pan back and forth to ensure the oil is encircling the fish.

Watch the sides of each piece in the pan. As the fish begins to cook the flesh changes colour and texture, usually about 5 minutes. When the fish is changed a little more than halfway through, flip it over. Continue cooking for half the time that it took the first side to cook, about 2 min. You may need to turn down the heat at bits of coating from the fish come off and start to burn. Transfer to a plate with doubled up paper towel on bottom.

*Remember to pour off your leftover cooking oil into a dirty dish or jar and dispose of it in the garbage once it is cooled. Never pour cooking oil down the sink.*

Serving suggestions:
Prepare rice before you start working on the fish. I tossed some zucchini sticks in a marinade of maple syrup, ground sage, fresh ground pepper, and olive oil. Other vegetable ideas - grilled stuffed portobello mushrooms, roasted butternut squash, steamed broccoli with cheese sauce, asparagus, Greek salad, corn niblets, mashed sweet potatoes.

restaurant quality pan seared scallops at home

2011-10-22T21:02:00.000-07:00

It all began this afternoon. Actually, it all began about two weeks ago when midterm projects and exams began. That was around the same time that J came down with a wicked cold. I remember because it started the day after Yom Kippur and the day before Thanksgiving. The Jewish holy days always come with lots of traditional foods. Yom Kippur is different because it comes with the denial of food for 25 hours followed by a huge binge. I think this was a bit of a shock to poor J's system. This was his first fast and I was very proud of him for making Yom Kippur meaningful in his own way and in his own time. Le sigh.

Anyway, J started to come down with something the day of his mom's family Thanksgiving and spent half of the day trying to sleep in his old bedroom, avoiding his nieces and nephew. Since then, I've eaten more soup than any span of time in recent memory. I took very good care of J making soups from turkey bones, beans, and squash. My dad always told me, a good soup always starts with a mirepoix and a frying pan.

As you might expect, I eventually caught J's cold and had to continue the soup cycle for another week. J made a weird soup that kind of didn't work. I think he just make the mistake of putting too many things in it. One night I tried the Chinese take-out counter down the street, Mirama. Great chicken noodle soup. Cheap and cheerful soy sauce chow mein. Got a couple spring rolls for J and the three things came out to $11. Visit their website by clicking on the link for a take out menu and the number to call. Free delivery over $10! Cash only...

Today was a special day. It was the first day in two weeks that neither of us had an exam or paper and both of us were feeling on the better side of this cold. We walked down to Monkland Village. I am thrilled to say that the bad days are over and the coffee maker that I broke has been replaced with a lovely french press, a grinder, and some freshly roasted Kenyan beans. The coffee came from Le Maitre Boucher, 5652 Ave. Monkland (between Harvard and Oxford), (514) 487-1437. As did a most surprising assortment of goodies.

The shop was very crowded and there were all kinds of treasures inside. I spotted them out of the corner of my eye. In a little, see-thru plastic container, nestled in an open refrigerated case, there sat protected from the world, ten beautiful scallops from Nova Scotia. I should have taken a photo of them all cozy in the package together, each one a beautiful, clean tasting morsel of the sea.

I had to think of a plan fast so I went for some strong, crumbly, sweet blue cheese and a large, firm pear. They will end up in some sort of bruleed masterpiece when I figure out how to use my new blow torch. We quickly dropped off the precious ingredients at home and I leafed through old copies of Cook's Illustrated. I remembered a sweet pea puree that I had seen used under some halibut recently. I know I've read articles about how to complete perfect pan-seared scallops at home, if only I could find the issue.

Out the door again, this time to the supermarket for frozen peas and a couple other key ingredients. Cream for our new coffee. The baby bok choi also looked fresh so we picked some up and figured we'd find a way to cook it later.

The pea puree was very easy to make and left one huge but simple component complete and at the ready. The scallops needed little more than salt, pepper, vegetable oil, and unsalted butter. I wasn't sure of the exact order of what to do when, but I was sure I had read an article about it this summer. I kept looking through the magazines and couldn't find it. That's when I remembered my online membership. I was on the recipe faster than a flash in the pan.

Inside of a minute I had found a cross-referenced article about sauces for scallops and settled on a lemon-herb brown butter sauce. J came into the kitchen when things started to smell good and made himself useful as photographer, sous-chef, and dish boy. The penne aglio olio never would have happened without him.

Next time I make this (which will be at a dinner party near you) I would do a couple of things differently. Rather than boiling them in a high walled frying pan I would blanche and then stir fry the bok choi in ginger and green onion.

I would also add more liquid to the pea puree when I blended it.

We have enough leftovers to turn this into an appetizer for us tomorrow night. If they don't get eaten cold from the fridge as an afternoon snack during the day.

Pistachio ice cream for dessert.

end of summer means peach cake

2011-10-03T15:17:00.000-07:00

First, let me just repeat, Cook's Illustrated is the most reliable source of fool proof seasonal recipes and useful tricks.

This recipe comes from their August, 2011 issue number 111.

Let me begin by explaining that I many of the people closest to me suffer from food allergies. I have developed an allergy to sesame seeds. Over the years I thought it was a bizarre thing to be allergic to. My dad and some of my sisters, though, also suffer from what some would consider strange allergies. Growing up we often had to eat certain fruits and vegetables cooked so that everyone could eat them and my mom would only have to prepare food one way.

My dad and sisters have allergic reactions when they eat apples, carrots, peas, pears, peaches, cherries and other things raw rather than cooked. My dad's fruit allergy basically meant that my mom became a master pie-maker. Pie dough is something that challenges me to this day. Over time my sisters seem to have grown out of certain allergies, but J has only begun to develop them in the past year or so.

So when I saw the bushels of peaches for sale at the grocery store shortly after moving in, I jumped at the chance to bake with them so that J could taste them. Though I may have difficulty manipulating pie dough, cake batter is something that I have no problem with.

A tip for juicing lemons:
Slice the lemon in half. The lemon should have its ends pointing to the left and right, not up and down.

Put the cutting board and knife aside and get a small bowl

Insert a fork into the middle of the lemon.

Over the bowl, hold the outside of the lemon firmly in your left hand and the fork in your right and give it a good quarter turn.

Keep rotating the lemon around the fork (or the fork inside the lemon) until all the juice is extracted and it looks like this.

Using the fork, fish out any seeds or large bits of pulp that may have fallen into the bowl.

The juice can then be measured from the bowl as needed. Any extra juice can be put in an airtight container and used in salad dressings, smoothies, tea, dips, or marinades.

Who needs a stand mixer? I have a sweet whisk, two strong arms, and someone to take over when they get tired.

Mmmmm, creamed butter, sugar, brown sugar, vanilla, and eggs.

There were two key elements that made of the Cook's Illustrated recipe so perfect and they came in the first and final steps.

First, the peaches were prepared in two different ways. About 30 slices of peach were sliced and reserved in a separate bowl to macerate with sugar, peach schnapps (the store didn't have any so I used Grand Marnier) and lemon juice.

The rest of the peaches were chopped roughly and then roasted (that's right!) to caramelize, and more importantly concentrate excess juice.

The cake batter was poured out in two stages too.
the first layer went in and then the roasted peaches were added and spread over the batter. After pouring in the remaining batter and spreading that carefully over the peach layer, the reserved peach slices were arranged on top, the smaller ones going in the smaller ring in the centre.

The other trick was to prepare a sprinkle of sugar and almond extract to go over the cake before putting it into the oven.

When the cake came out the fragrance filled the kitchen and then the apartment. I forgot about the dinner on my plate and ran to my camera. There was no way to capture that aroma. I felt like a cartoon levitating towards a visibly wafting sent pulling me to a pie cooling on a window sill.

The cake was a total surprise to J. He's been out in the country working all day. We ate half the cake that night.
It was perfect.

Big morsels of summer sweet peaches, rich and crumbly crumb, and the gooey, crispy sugar and peach coating on the top.

Once again, a tip of the cap to Cook's Illustrated.

the most amazing backyard garden i've seen

2011-09-22T13:15:00.000-07:00

I promised more about J's mom's garden and on this rainy, muggy day I feel I could use a little sunshine, so let me lay it down.

Sharon has been an amateur gardener for all her life. It started with house plans, exercising her green thumb in the limited space of her home. She has a knack for plants, something she noticed when friends started bringing her their sick houseplants and Sharon was always able to nurse them back to health. Eventually, Sharon moved to the country(ish). She lives in a sweet little house on a corner lot with her husband Andre west of the west island.

As Sharon's collection of indoor plants grew, the plants themselves began to outgrow the house. She takes them outside in the summer and the space inside was becoming cramped. Andre built Sharon a solarium on the back of the house so she could take proper care of her plants throughout the winter and begin all her seeds for her garden in the early spring.

Sharon's outdoor garden beds now practically equal her house's interior space. She grows everything, without fertilizers or chemicals of any kind. The first bed in the main garden is almost entirely spinach. Sharon says it's taking over and she'll be pulling lots of it out in the fall. The only thing that can stand up to the bully-spinach is the equally aggressive dill weed.

Together they grow green and healthy. Whenever I go outside she tells me to pick more spinach. I think I'll go for one big harvest and then turn it all into spanikopita...

All of her salad greens are thriving. She has butter lettuce, red and green leaf lettuce. The leaves are small and supple. It would be a sandwich maker's dream to have that kind of a garden. "Hmmm, this could really do with a few tomato slices and some lettuce. Oh I know, I'll walk right out my back door and get some." Mind you... if I were the sandwich maker, I might be inclined to hire an assistant to get the cucumbers... they're prickly.

What impresses me most about her garden is the nightshades she grows. I've heard about people buying pepper plants and the like, but not Sharon. She grows peppers (hot and sweet) and eggplants of all kinds all from seeds.

I've never even seen some of the varieties she grows. There were albino eggplants (are they still aubergines?) and little mini globe ones. To see them all so healthy and thriving is a marvelous sight.

Andre even built Sharon an arbor for grapes. Much of that was lost in Hurricane Irene. I've never experienced a weather system like that, coming from the prairies. I haven't been back to her garden to survey the damage since, and Sharon said her sunflowers really took a beating from the wind and rain.

On the other side of the yard Sharon dug a big mound for her squashes. She grew mini watermelons this summer but they weren't doing very well. As far as I could tell that was a lot more watermelon than I have ever grown so I say they look damn fine to me.

Also growing in the squash patch: green and yellow zucchini, patty squash, butternut, and acorn. Oh yes, and in the middle of her flower beds in the front she's got a great big pumpkin growing slow and steady.

I forgot to mention the tomatoes. Holy ketchup, does she have tomatoes! Big red ones, round yellow ones, weirdly shaped pink ones, red cherries and grapes. They sort of pop up between the cucumbers and all along the fence. Sharon says she starts so many tomato seeds each year that she eventually loses track of which one is what.

The only thing better than a wonderful mother-in-law is a wonderful mother-in-law who has a bountiful garden and wants to share it.

Here's to Sharon and her green thumb.

exploring a new kitchen and a new city

2011-09-12T06:14:00.001-07:00

When we arrived in Montreal the air was warm and the sun was shining, already a dramatic departure from where we had been. The last month in Edmonton was too busy to recollect in any great detail. Sisters returning home from far away lands like Berlin and the mountains of Appalachia; days and nights spent on a hillside listening to guitars a-plenty; plumbing the depths of my organizational skills as I packed up one life to begin another. Suffice it to say that the events of this past summer will take a while to sink in.

When we arrived in Montreal, we picked up our rental car and made our way to J's best friend's house, which would become the base of our operations for the next week or so. As hard as I tried, I couldn't find us a place to live from the other side of the country, so in that first week we had an important task at hand - find an apartment within our budget and geographical constraints. It was essential that I find a place close to my classes if I was going to make it to any of the ones that start before noon. By some divine intervention or alignment of the stars, we found our place at the corner of Madison and Somerled in just two days of intense looking.

The Madison is a cool building, dating back to 1951. There are a few little retro touches here and there, most obviously the vintage customized welcome mat at the front of the building and art deco steel railings through the stairwells. Our little home had just finished being refurbished with a brand new kitchen and bathroom and refreshed paint and hardwood throughout. There is more than enough space here for J and I to have our own separate work spaces, and miracle of miracles, my office is just off the kitchen with a door that leads out onto our balcony!

The best part of this kitchen, without a doubt, is the brand new gas range. I've never cooked with gas before but I know after just a little over a week that I'll have a hard time going back to electric. The heat is instantaneous and the flame gives a clear read on the actual temperature. No more guessing based on the glow of the coil. J has been something of an angel helping me to make sense of the space. He has a much keener eye for design and somehow found all sorts of clever ways to make my work space (both culinary and academic) function well.

Somerled Avenue is already proving to be an untapped well of gastronomic delights. The other night J, his brother, and I had a late dinner on the terrace at Anancy, a Jamaican restaurant that seems to be a mainstay of the community. Amazing fish and unforgettable festivals. We've found super cheap and delicious calzones at Molisana, the Italian bakery, and delicious food and good conversation at the deli and fromagerie Tranzo. The day we moved in we were also amazed by the expansive menu and friendly service at B & M restaurant. It's sort of a weird throwback to another time. The place looks and feels like an old deli/luncheonette sort of joint. Two senior couples were mulling over their scrambled eggs and toast at around 3 pm. Breakfast, we learned, is served daily until 4. The dessert option was jello or chocolate cake. But they serve wine and smoothies and my meal consisted of homemade chicken noodle soup to start and the daily special of mussels in a garlic and white wine sauce and we were brought hot, fresh baguette while we waited. An enigma, to be sure, and certainly a place I will have to report back on at greater length another time.

To summarize, I am happy, healthy, and well fed. This place is already feeling like our home. I already have the start of a pretty wicked herb garden growing in our living room window (thanks to future mom-in-law slash gardener extraordinaire) and I'm back to blogging again. I hope such a long hiatus will not happen again.

Until next time...

things I want to eat when it's raining...

2011-07-22T15:54:00.000-07:00

For more than a solid month now we've had unprecedented amounts of rain, night after night. Summer is a sham. We're all feeling hopelessly weary and other than cauliflower farmers, the rest of us are quite unhappy with this weather.

Cauliflower, it seems, grows well in moist conditions. Bully for cau
liflower. I want the ice cream man to grow well.
I think back to hot, dry summers of watermelon, Taber corn, walking with my grandparents to Dairy Queen for blizzards and pineapple sundaes (Zaida's favourite).
But this summer it feels like droopy escarole soup and heavy vichyssoise are the soup of the day and there just will not be enough bike rides.
One night and I got out from under the thunderclouds above by wandering in to Irie Foods on Whyte. On the other side of the tracks, this little unsuspecting hole in the wall took our breath away with warmth, hospitality, and good good island cuisine. I'm glad I only ordered one side order of dumplings because we could barely finish the food. J and I are fans of sharing so we started with beef patties - flaky golden pastry and spicy ground meat steaming inside. Then we had the plantains - there may have been a fork battle that arose over the last bite. For our main we ordered the red snapper with beans and rice. It came with soup or salad. Our delightful server (who, by the way, kept the red stripe stubbies coming all night) highly recommended the chicken noodle, and as the rain pounded down the sidewalk outside we heartily agreed.
I've never had a whole fish before. Eyes and all. That took some getting used to. But the fish itself was fantastic, infused with delicate but sumptuous flavour. Working around the bones was part of the fun, as I was better at it than J.
Everything about that place was a marvel. I was so glad we happened upon it that evening. If, on another such stormy night, you and a special someone are hungry and looking to escape the galoshes blues, paddle over to the island for a while, and let Irie Foods take you there.

Irie Foods is located on the north side of Whyte at:
10152 82nd Avenue
Edmonton, AB

HEAVEN PRESERVE US! OH MY! IT'S TOFFEE BLOBS!!!!!!!

2011-07-08T11:10:00.000-07:00

This recipe is brought to you by a dear darling friend, Miss Karyn Mott. She's one of the most marvelous cooks I've ever met and is only a little larger than a ladle. This post is also brought to you by orange Crush ice cream floats on a hot summer day.

Miss Mott and I were supposed to go out to the lake for the night but an audition in Winnipeg came up and she had to leave the next morning, so we ended up just hanging at my place for a couple of hours here in town.

Karyn had promised to cater some friends' theatrical picnic and decided to premake the desserts before she left. And so, I give you... toffee blobs.

Start with the cheapest generic brand of corn flakes you can find. Keep in mind that this recipe is exceptionally simple, and that you may add or subtract quantities as you like.

So you have your cornflakes. You will also need toffee and/or caramels depending on your budget. Miss Mott said that the original recipe called for just MacIntosh Toffee but that that can get rather costly so she started combining Mac toffee with Werther' chewy and good old fashioned Kraft caramels.

You will also need either butter or margarine. Karyn used to be vegan and so got used to baking with margarine. She has now slid back along the spectrum towards the middle (I believe she currently resides somewhere around the pescetarian mark) but is still the most mind-bogglingly amazing vegan baker I know.

Most vegans opt for Fleischmann's margarine. I don't know why, but this is something I have observed in other's fridges throughout my lifetime. You can go the Becel or Earthbalance routes if you prefer. Or say to hell with it and use straight up butter.

Toss about a tablespoon of fat into a large saucepan on medium heat. With a knife or spoon, slide the stuff around the saucepan to coat all of the sides. This is a very sticky recipe and if you don't ensure everything is precoated with something we're looking at a pretty messy situation. I don't want handfuls of readers writing in to complain. So just do it please.

In advance of melting the fat on the stove, or if you have a handy assistant...

You'll need about 4 cups of candy so put on some tunes and start unwrapping. When you've got about that much, toss it all together in a bowl and continue to wait until the margarine is all melted.

As I said, this is a simple recipe, but you've got to keep an eye on the stove or you'll be in trouble. With a wooden spoon, stir continuously as the candies melt and combine with the melted butter or margarine.

Stirring helps to break up all the larger masses of melted toffee and caramel and it also helps to incorporate the melted fat into the melted caramel... drool.

The other thing you've got to watch for as everything melts is that you don't want the sugars in the candy to burn. So just watch that your stove is not too hot for the pace of the melting.

Right, so cornflakes? Check. Butter/margarine? Check. Toffee and caramels galore? Check. Now you need to make this gooey mess of stuff even sweeter. Pour in a half a can of sweetened condensed milk. Eagle Brand is a classic, but generic store brand is just as good.

Start slowly, first with a good splash of condensed milk. Set it aside so you can work in what's already there. Stir vigorously to combine it into the simmering toffee mixture. Be careful it doesn't splash up. Poor Miss Mott was trying to do so many things at once I think she got a little bit scalded on her stirring hand.

The temperature can come down a little to a low-medium at this point as you stir in what remains of the half can you will need for this recipe. Remember, you can easily add more butter and caramels to extend this into a larger recipe.

So as Miss Mott and I switched off with stirring, taking photos, and making calls getting directions and a place to stay in Winnipeg, the most incredible aroma began to fill the kitchen. And then the rest of the house. And then out the open window onto the sidewalk beyond. Seriously. This recipe is this simple.

The stove-top part of the recipe is done. Now you'll need some cooking spray like Pam, but a little drop of vegetable oil will work fine if that's what you've got on hand. Evenly coat the walls of a large mixing bowl with spray or oil. Karyn did this awesome little trick where she rotated the bowl while spraying in short bursts rather than in a continuous spray. I am totally using that method from now on.

So here is our lovely prepared bowl and into this Miss Mott just dumped a bunch of cornflakes... 5 or 6 cups to start maybe?

Now it was time to get the saucepan of tasty and combine the two. Pour the toffee mixture into the bowl and start to coat all the cornflakes in goo. Add more cornflakes as you go. Remember, the goo is very very sticky and a little goes a long way so you can add quite a lot more cereal. In total I think we probably used about three quarters of the package.

As you stir everything together get right to the bottom of the bowl with your spoon and then sort of flip that over so that everything on the bottom is now on the top. Make sure you scrape down the sides of the bowl and don't worry too much about crushing some of the cornflakes. It doesn't matter if they are all intact in the end.

When you can no longer find big pools of toffee goo it's time for the shaping of the blobs. The toffee goo to cornflake ratio should look something like this...

I had trouble stopping myself from eating it straight out of the mixing bowl in little handfuls. When I regained my composure, Miss Mott told me to wet down my hands. That's the real secret to making the blobs, she told me. The goo is so sticky that if you let your hands get to dry the cereal starts to stick to your hands instead of itself.

So either keep a bowl of water beside where you are working or run back and forth to the sink, it doesn't really matter.

Form the mixture into golf ball sized blobs in your hands and sort of compress that together to make it solid. Place the formed blobs on wax or parchment paper and set them aside to cool before eating. Karyn says they will last up to a week in the fridge. Take them out 15 minutes before serving.

She also likes to make a batch and keep them in the freezer. It's unlikely that they'll make is this long without getting eaten, but in a sealed container they can stay there for up to a month. Let them thaw for an hour... if you have enough restraint.

Thanks for the lovely baking time, Miss Karyn. I hope you got the part in Winnipeg. I certainly got something sweet out of the deal. Lots of love...

Gee, Genovese Basil is Great!

2011-06-23T10:57:00.000-07:00

J and Mel and I picked up a happy little basil plant a few months ago at the farmer's market. I tried to pick out the strongest, healthiest, fullest looking one they had. Little did I know that 3 months later, that little basil would be growing like Audry 2.

Lucky for us, though, this one doesn't feed on human flesh... just water and sunshine. When J walk pasts her and brushes her leaves with his side, the whole dining room fills with the sweet aroma. I've even caught him tearing off a leaf and rubbing it behind his ears.

Fresh basil is great in all kinds of dishes from pasta and tomato sauce to fresh Vietnamese salad rolls even to muddled summer drinks. The little plastic packages you get in the supermarket are expensive and almost always go rotten before I've used it all up.

So do yourself a favour and pick up a potted herb or two this summer. Give them room to grow by transplanting to a larger pot when they start to outgrow the one they came in.

And now... fresh basil pesto!
This recipe is easiest if you have a food processor or blender or bullet but if you're really determined all you need is patience.

Start with 2 packed cups of basil leaves, washed.

Chop 2-3 cloves of peeled garlic.

If you're using a food processor or other device, you can just keep adding things to the bowl. If you are doing this by hand, well, good on you. You'll need a separate large bowl to add each ingredient to as it is prepped.

Next, chop up the basil - to a coarse consistency. The key to a nice pesto is that there are still recognizable components. You don't want to turn your pesto into a runny mess.

Pesto can actually be made using all kinds of ingredients. Though the traditional method calls for basil, as the Italian variety comes from Genoa,
Sun dried tomatoes, grilled red peppers, olives, mint, and arugula are often found in variations on the traditional pesto alla genovese. As well, the traditional method of making pesto calls for a mortar and pestle, not a food processor... in case you were wondering. Pesto actually comes form an Italian word meaning "to pound". Sounds like a lot of work to me...

The next two ingredients are some of the most delicious things on the planet. Luckily for us, we have almost all had a chance to try fresh Parmesan cheese. I don't mean the powdery stuff that comes in a green cheese silo with "Kraft" emblazoned on the side. That stuff doesn't even need to be refrigerated. Real Parmesan is hard and grainy and grated so delicately it covers your pasta like a gentle snowfall.

Sigh...

So add a half of a cup of grated Parmesan (or grana padano or pecorino romano) to your bowl and combine.

The other ingredient that is a bit harder to come by is a third of a cup of pine nuts. At more than five times the price of most other nuts at the bulk food aisle of my grocery store, heed this warning and only buy as much as you need. Otherwise, you'll be shocked when you reach the checkout.

Once all these things are added to the bowl you can give it a few pulses in the processor. If you're doing this by hand, better to chop the nuts as finely as you can before adding it to your big bowl.

At this point there is only one or two things left to do, so you'd better have a big pot of water on the boil by now. If not, now is the time to get that organized. Don't forget to salt the pasta water!

To complete the pesto, you need a steady hand or a partner in crime. If you are using a food processor, slowly begin pouring in a half a cup of extra virgin olive oil as you continue to blend the mixture. The slow pour is essential to ensure proper emulsification (i.e. to make sure all the oil binds to the mixture rather than settling on top). If working by hand, may I first salute you as I waited to try this myself until I had a food processor of my own. Now, Either stirring or possibly even whisking, begin slowly pouring in the oil with your assistant's help to stabilize your bowl, pour the oil or mop your sweaty brow.

It's okay if you stop pouring for a bit to make sure everything is mixing together properly. Better to do it slowly than all at once because then it's already too late and there's not much you can do. It's kind of like salad dressing. But this is not one you'll want to just throw out and start again. So take your time.

Our first time making pesto was a bit of an adventure. This is one kitchen caper that definitely required two of us to go off without a hitch. Even with our careful pouring, we still got some oil pooling on the top of the bowl at the end. So don't be discouraged if that happens to you. It'll still taste amazing...

When your pasta water is boiling pour in your pasta of choice. Smaller shapes are often good with sauces that have a lot of stuff because when fully incorporated, the sauce gets trapped in all the little hidden nooks and crannies in the pasta shapes. Things like fusilli and cavatappi work great.

We used what we had on hand, which as luck would have it, was a package of fresh frozen roasted red pepper cavatelli. They are short, thick noodles that sort of look like hot dog buns because of the crease in the middle.

*** Remember - when making pasta sauce from scratch you should always conserve a cup or so of water from the pasta pot - it's called grey water and it's full of salt and starch and things that will make your sauce taste even better when a little is splashed in at the end. It will also help thicker sauces coat all the pasta evenly. And always cook your noodles to al dente. With a little bit of chewiness to them you can put them back on the heat of the stove to cook together with the sauce before it's served.

Portuguese egg tarts and why I love them

2011-06-08T09:32:00.000-07:00

I don't exactly know when I tasted my first pastels de nata. I do know that I have since brought their delightful sweet flakiness to as many people as I can. Coffee dates with friends, potluck contributions to work meetings, most recently one to my grandfather who's still stuck in the hospital. Man oh man, did that make his day... I've never seen anybody eat of of these so fast...

For a long time I only ever had these tarts from Italian bakeries and cafes. Kind of funny, no? Nowhere near Italy and with a completely different food history, Portugal has it's own food thing going on - flame grilled chicken sandwiches, fresh seafood and egg dishes, and Port wine to name a few off the top of my head.

I think it has something to do with Portuguese bread. Ever the Italophile, my dad still swears that bread from the Portuguese bakery is the best. He's done his homework to discover that many of the Italian cafes and trattorias around town source their buns from Portuguese bakeries. In any case, I imagine this is how the Portuguese egg tart made its way into the display cases of Tra Amici Cafe and the Italian Centre Shop. The tarts pictured above, however, come from the Handy Bakery on 118th Ave and 87th Street. The ladies at the counter there are very friendly and the prices are exceedingly reasonable.

The essence of the tart is the creamy, sweet egg custard. Not jiggly or runny, it is a dreamy consistency. It doesn't even really taste like egg. But it's not just pure saccharine either. The tarts were first introduced by nuns at the Monastery of Belem, near Lisbon, in the early 1800's. Egg yolks were used in baking because the egg whites were needed for things like starching nun's habits. (Taken from this article in the Christian Science Monitor, it's fascinating!)

Since then, this delectable confection has become the signature pastry of Portugal. J and I were recently in Montreal visiting family and we stayed in the Little Portugal part of the city. The Plateau is an area full of international flavours - but undoubtedly, the smell of flam grilled chickens from all the sandwich shops is the dominant aroma, at least in my nostrils.

I awoke one morning to find that J had already been up and out, discovering the neighbourhood. He had returned with hot coffee and a little white box that I eagerly opened. Inside were four pasteis de nata, freshly baked. Not only is the custard filling velvety and beautiful yellow, but the pastry exterior is as once flaky and chewy. I don't know how, and frankly it blows my mind every time, as I am terrible at pastry.
You know how I know it will work with J and me? The man knows the way to my heart, obviously...

Planting a Vegetable Garden: Seed Starting Explained

2011-05-21T08:49:00.000-07:00

Get yourself a greenhouse kit - ours came in a large-ish box and required no screws or tools or anything.

If you are at all like me when it comes to building things, you may want to call in some assistance. J does most of the putting together of things in our house. And then I turn the things into other things... usually dinner.

Make sure you find yourself a relatively bright location, though direct sunlight is not good for new seeds and baby seedlings.

Our dining room window was a perfect location to get our
garden started. The basil plant we picked up at the Farmer's Market a few weeks before was thriving quite well on that window bench.

With the plastic "glass house" cover stretched over the frame it was time to do some seeding.

Choose seeds that match the amount of sunlight to get in your garden. If the yard is shady all through the morning, you may not want to plant beefsteak tomatoes throughout. Some plants, like lettuces, like partial shade. Their delicate leaves get burnt by too much sun.

Also important to keep in mind, would you like to be harvesting throughout the growing season or are you waiting for a large crop right at the end of summer.

If you are like me, life's vicissitudes take you away from projects at times. For example, I got into grad school out east, which is great. Except it means I have to leave my summer garden here in Edmonton to go look for an apartment in Montreal before the beginning of fall term.

Pole beans and sugar snap peas sprout quickly and as long as you water them, will grow like crazy. They are easy to cook and are fun to pick as they grow taller and climb up things.

I like things that keep growing as you pick them.
Swiss chard and spinach are great. Butterleaf and red
leaf lettuces are also wonderful to have freshly picked for
sandwiches and salads.

Working in dirt is obviously rather dirty. Minimize the mess by purchasing handy little seed pods. They are compressed little pucks of dehydrated earth. When you pour hot water over them they expand and the outer netting can be broken away to make little holes for your seeds.

Don't be shy about the seeds. Best to put a few into each pod since not every one will take. You can thin them out as they grow.

Keep the plastic covers over the trays of seed pods
while they germinate. In a week or so you'll start seeing this!

Little Early Riser Beets (quite aptly named!) pushing themselves up out of their earthy beds. I think the beet shoots are the most exciting because of their so easily identifiable red stalks.

It makes me think about the early crop we hope to harvest later this summer before we leave for Montreal.

Keep your seedlings sheltered as they grow inside your greenhouse. It's very clear how delicate they still are and will need to be watched closely for the first little while.

When they get a little bigger and there are some obviously stronger seedlings, and this is one of the saddest parts about gardening, you have to thin them out and give the strong ones room to grow.

If they remain crowded in the little pods, their roots will all grow together and have to split the nutrients three ways. These poor little bok chois will meed a sad fate soon enough...

As it happened, this little seed nursery was started shortly before my 25th birthday.
As a gift, a good friend from work brought me plants that she had started from seeds as well.

Three separate containers of beefsteak tomatoes, each with several little seedlings, and a very special treasure: a container with three zucchini seedlings - all very healthy and strong. Zucchini should always be planted in three's, on a mound of dirt is best. Because you never know if you've got male or female plants, putting three together gives you the best chance at having your flowers pollinated to bring forth actual fruit.

One thing that we do not plan to plant here is lavender. I've seen some amazing lavender fields in my travels, most memorably in France, but I know how many years it takes to grow these sparse little plants into those marvelous domes of purple and green. I think someday when we have a house and a yard of our own we will put some lavender in to watch it grow year by year. But not in this house. Not when we're leaving in just a few months...

When you can be almost certain that any risk of frost has passed, prepare your garden bed.

Rake out any weeds that may have grown in. Remove large rocks and small stones and pieces of bark - anything that might get in the way of delicately growing roots.

Our soil here is a bit dry - with clay, sand, and coal deposits. We picked up some new garden top soil to mix in as well as sheep manure. J says it's better than cow because it doesn't smell as bad. I love that he knows these things...

We'll put everything in by the end of this weekend and see what happens. To be continued...

Bread Pudding or What to do with stale cinnamon buns ...

2011-04-20T15:18:00.000-07:00

Start by opening up your Joy of Cooking to page 822. If you do not have a copy of Irma S. Rombauer's classic compendium of everyday dishes... well shame on you. But fear not - if you still choose not to add this essential encyclopedia of culinary wisdom, you're reading this, so at least you have the internet.

If you do a search of "bread pudding recipe" you'll find dozens of ideas to get you started. As Ms. Rombauer writes, "bread pudding is an efficient way to transform stale bread into a considerable variety of delicious desserts". There are very few rules when it comes to this dish. But of the few things that are certain you must not deviate.

1) Don't bother baking this with fresh bread. The whole point is to use up the ends of things like buns, sliced bread, or challah. I find challah makes the very best bread pudding because it's so rich and a little bit sweet already.

We had extra cinnamon buns lying around that were forgotten about after a lazy Sunday turned into a hectic week so they were the inspiration for this entry.

Cube the bread/buns/whathaveyou into bite-size pieces. You'll need about 5 Cups for this recipe, but a little more than that won't hurt.

*Note - the only bread that won't work for this is the kind made with baking powder or baking soda - you need actual yeast breads for bread pudding

2) Fillings are optional but always a good idea

There were raisins in the cinnamon buns so I thought I would go with the fruity theme and added a handful of dried currants (raisins being unavailable). You could use chopped up dried apricots or dates or even fresh apple. These are extra little add-ins and are not required for the pudding to be considered a pudding.

Sometimes I add roughly chopped dark chocolate or chocolate chips. Once I actually chopped up brie cheese and added a splash of brandy... that was legendary.

Like all of the best things, there is butter in my recipe. Though Ms. Rombauer doesn't list it as a main ingredient, she does instruct that the casserole or baking dish be "buttered". Take a nob of butter - from your retro orange glass butter dish if you have one - and using some parchment paper or the foil from the butter itself, rub it into the bottom and sides of the dish.

If you're trying to be health conscious - well, why are you baking a custard-based dessert in the first place? ... Anyway, you can replace that last step by spraying the baking dish with low-fat cooking spray.

3) Learn to make custard

The Joy of Cooking asks for 3 Cups of whole milk. We are a 1% milk kind of house but I happened to have a quart of buttermilk leftover from pancakes so I used that up and finished the 3 Cups with regular milk.

To the milk add 4 large eggs. I learned from my mother that you should always crack each egg into a small bowl or cup separately first before adding it to the larger bowl of ingredients. You never know when you might fail and end up with shards of egg shell all over the place - not delicious.

Also - and I've noticed this with the fresh eggs from the market especially - you need to watch for blood spots in the eggs - the blood should be removed or the whole egg should be discarded. It depends on how squeamish you are, I suppose.

Either way, lesson learned, thanks Mom!

Whisk together your milk, 4 eggs, 1/2 - 3/4 Cup of sugar (depending on if you're using already sweetened bread like cinnamon buns for example).

4) Get creative

Add your flavour boosters - 1 tsp vanilla, 3/4 tsp ground cinnamon, 1/4 tsp ground nutmeg, and a pinch of salt

As I mentioned above - in the past I've added all kinds of things to my custard to give it extra flavour.

Ideas? Try lemon zest, ground ginger, cloves, lavender, rosemary, almond extract, or Bailey's.

Really this the the fun part - the part where bread pudding can get really wild. Have fun with it -

And if you are particularly successful with your rendition, do let me know.

When your milk-egg mixture is all combined, all you have to do is pour it over the bread cubes sitting in wait in your prepared baking dish. Make sure you pour it evenly over all of the surface. Then all you have to do is wait. The dish needs about 30 minutes to soak up all the custard.

In the meantime there are lots of things you could do. Some might tell you to clean up after yourself. I think that is the job of whomever is lucky enough to be tucking into your dessert. And if that someone is you, well, I guess it will be all the more deserved, won't it?

Sweep the living room, fold laundry, rearrange your spice drawer, do whatever. I just wouldn't take the dog for a long walk as you need to press the bread down with a spatula periodically - every 5-10 minutes - to ensure proper soaking up-ness.

5) Get in the habit of always preheating the oven before it's time to put your food in

The other thing you should probably do in that half hour prior to baking is preheat the oven - at 350 degrees F.

Oh yes, and the other part of learning to make custard:

6) Prepare a water bath and set the baking dish inside it.
A water bath insulates the delicate custard from the violently hot oven temperature. It's easy. Find an oven safe dish that's larger than the one you're baking the bread pudding in. Line it with a few layers of paper towel. Rest the baking dish inside it. Pour water up to about halfway up the side of the bread pudding dish. Now your pudding is protected!

Bake the bread pudding for about an hour - depending on the hotness of your oven this may be a bit more or less. The time will also vary depending on the bread-custard ratio. If you have more custard and less bread, it will take a little longer.

You'll know your dessert is done when a knife inserted into the center comes out clean.

If you're really keen you can prepare a butterscotch sauce or some sweetened whipped cream to serve on top.

We (Irma and I) think bread pudding is best served warm, so if you want to reheat it in an oven at around 300 for 15 minutes or so, you'll really impress people at your next potluck.

Bread pudding is even more amazing because you can make it in advance of a get-together and it will only get better as it sits.

Remember to refrigerate that puppy - eggs left on the counter of several days = gross.

recent food notes to mention

2011-04-13T11:37:00.000-07:00

Have you ever tried cuttlefish tentacles? I didn't realize what I was missing until I was urged to try these at Kyoto recently. A much needed and long overdue night out with some girlfriends from work resulted in the four of us squeezing into one of their shoji-screened rooms, feet dangling on the floor, as we splashed our way through a bottle of hot sake.
The tentacles were served with a mango aioli as an appetizer along with deep fried Karaage Tofu - puffy and piping hot. We shared a Maki Boat covered in rolls of various fish and vegetable fillings and sprang for additional courses of salmon and tuna sashimi - melt in your mouth deliciousness...

Being substantially more settled in our new house, we decided it was high time to invite the parentals over for a brunch of approval. I spent the week tossing around recipe ideas and jotting them down on scraps of paper to see how they made out all together. J and Mel were given their dishes to be responsible for and then also given the task of ensuring that curtain rods were screwed into walls and floors were swept. The night before the brunch I had to work late, so I left them to their tasks and made sure my dad knew he was to bring the bubbly for the mimosas.

Everyone came through and it was an altogether lovely morning. Dad's cremant was delicious (on its own as well as mixed with orange juice). Mom was a champ and showed up with a very impressive fruit plate... I've never seen her use blackberries before, she really went all out. J used to make fun of the piles of bread on the counter every time he came over for dinner at my parents' place, but I wasn't all that surprised when she made a beeline for the kitchen, her arms weighed down with the fruit plate, a blueberry pie, roasted lentil dip, and (no joke) six loaves of bread and bread-like things from our favourite bakery.

In the end it was a rather impressive spread, and the fact that it was such a true collaboration of love made it even more scrumptious:
vegan chocolate turtles (recipe to follow)
smoked salmon, bagels, and cream cheese (the latter two brough by Mel's mom and dad)
chicken sausages from the farmer's market -grilled by J
buttermilk pancakes - Mel's addition (recipe from the Joy of Cooking)
banana white chocolate chip muffins - a family tradition in miniature
Mom's amazing fruit platter

Vegan Chocolate Turtles:
start with fresh Medjool dates
score lengthwise and remove the pit
replace with a toasted walnut or almond
seal shut with your fingers
place in a double boil of melted dark chocolate, rolling around with a spoon
remove and let cool on parchment paper

The most incredible meal I've had in ages was a few weeks ago when J and I decided to mark the anniversary of our first date by going all out on a spectacular dinner. I sent him a list of places I know to be top notch, but in the end he let me decide.

The Red Ox Inn is one of Edmonton's oldest and most highly regarded restos. Serving up fine bistro food with quality local ingredients for over 30 years, my expectations were actually exceeded by this place. It is a small restaurant - probably seats no more than 30 people. The decor is simple and elegant with rugged wood topped tables and substantial steak knives at eat setting.

Their wine list is a sight to behold and we decided to really treat ourselves with a different glass of white for each of us as our appetizers paired so much better with the crisp bright notes of unoaked Chardonnay and sweet, spicy Riesling (spinach salad with chevre and pan seared scallops respectively).

For our main courses - pork chop for J and duck breast for me - I chose a beautiful bottle of Barbera d'Asti - sweet spice of cherries and oak and a wonderful brick red colour. The duck breast was paired with a roasted fennel wrapped in prosciutto, cooked until crispy. Ugh, I was in paradise. J and I did our best to share and give tastes of everything on our plates, but I will admit at times I was hoping he wouldn't look over and see that there was something else to try.

Our better judgment to share dessert was silenced by the allure of blueberry white chocolate bread pudding and lemon tart. This photo of the empty plate was the only shot I got. We basically licked it clean.

Though I can't say that I'll be returning to the Red Ox Inn soon, it certainly was one of the most memorable meals I've ever had, and a beautiful place to celebrate being in love with J.

That's all for now - eggplant parmesan for dinner - must get a move on or the eggplant wont have enough time to drain...

Elevate yourself at Transcend on 109

2011-03-24T13:52:00.000-07:00

I needed to get out. The house is a middle of the week mess. I've been working and sleeping the opposite hours as J. We are officially out of coffee because I didn't leave myself enough time for a cup of the already brewed pot that used up the last of the grounds. Let me explain. Roommate Mel and I thought we would be extra clever and set her fancy coffeemaker to an alarm to have some brewed for J before he left at 6:45 the next morning. It took the last of this batch of coffee to set the pot and it made a full one. Mel and I were then supposed to wake up at our more acceptable hour of 8 or 9 and pour ourselves some of the rest. Neither of us remembered and when I got home last night after work at around 10:30, the coffee was cold and the mood was tense.

J was an angel and cleaned up after the mess I left when I prepared a big pasta casserole to stretch over the next couple of busy days and nights' lunches and dinners. We are a good team and he helps me when it's my turn to get tasks finished and the last part (i.e. doing the dishes or folding the clean laundry) gets dropped as I race out the door to catch the bus to work.

Morgana came over for a visit late this morning and we drank tea in my cold house ... the furnace is still on the fritz. When she mentioned that she wanted to go out to eat even though she wasn't really hungry, I knew it wouldn't take much convincing to go on a blog-research outing.
Since the move I've been getting our coffee from Transcend Coffee.

This operation began further south near Argyle Road - a local award winning roasting house, the good folks at Transcend spend several weeks every year on coffee travel - visiting the countries where the beans are grown and agreeing to buy from individual producers at fair prices. They then import the beans to Edmonton where they continue to be roasted in small batches at the Argyle location. This cafe opened in the old Pharoah's Pizza place on the corner of 87th Ave and 109 Street. It's a big, bright cafe with really really good coffee and espresso. For weeks I had been walking past this place mid-morning, on my the long trudge home from physio, reading the lovely sandwich board extolling their cappuccino and waffle deal - hot and fresh and only $6!

Today was the day. Today was our day to take time out from school, worries, the rudding piles of snow that still line the streets, and pause and enjoy something purely for ourselves. The cappuccino was creamy and rich and artfully rendered. For our waffle toppings we could choose from maple syrup, apple brandy butter, rosemary whipped cream, and jam (which changes periodically, today was Blueberry). They get their jams straight from The Jam Lady at the Saturday Strathcona Farmer's Market.

Though I was only supposed to get one topping included with my waffle I sprang for both the maple syrup and the rosemary whipped cream and just coughed up an extra buck. Still, at $7, this is the bargain of the year, as far as I'm concerned. The baristo brought us our delectable Belgian sweets and for a good 15 minutes or so Morgana and I ate in virtual silence, stunned by sensory overload.

I highly recommend stopping in at any of the Transcend locations as soon as you are able. Give your self a bit of time to escape from everything else and lose yourself in a cup of something. But be advised, you may want to bring your Mac laptop for fear of standing out...

3 Locations:
Garneau Café
8708 - 109 Street
Edmonton, AB T6G 1E9
780.756.8882

Argyll Café
9869 - 62 Avenue
Edmonton, AB T6E 0E4
780.430.9198

***And just recently opened***
Jasper Ave Café
10349 Jasper Avenue
Edmonton, AB T5J 1Y5
780.421.7734

Sunday Dinner at Lucky 97 Chinese Market

2011-03-13T19:49:00.000-07:00

There are all sorts of curious things that can be found in Chinese markets. Sometimes smelly, always colourful, Lucky 97 is one of the cheapest places I know of to get fresh herbs all year round and often sells the same North American supermarket items you would normally pick up elsewhere at reduced prices - milk, red peppers, juice, spices etc.

Today, J and I decided to stock up our pantry at our new little house with some sauces and a big sack of rice. We found a lot more than that, let me tell you...

The fresh fish and seafood all looked wonderful. I took my camera out as soon as we walked in the front doors of the busy shop this afternoon. I just missed capturing the man behind the tanks struggling with a couple of crabs for somebody's dinner. He appeared to go for the feistiest crustaceans in the tank.

There were some lovely looking clams that I might have to try in a linguine alla vongole some time soon...

Right next to this remarkable container of ice and salmon heads were some de-boned fillets of salmon, well priced at around ten dollars and change. We got one for the two of us, thinking we'd either have leftovers for our new roommate, Mel, or save the rest for J to take for lunch Monday morning.

When we got home, after putting away the rest of our fabulous finds, of course, I took the fish out of its wrapping, rinsed it under some cold water, and then put it in a metal dish. I poured milk over the raw fish until it was mostly covered - a little trick I learned from my folks. If you soak the fish in milk first it takes away the fishy taste and smell.

I made a marinade of finely chopped green onions, freshly squeezed lemon juice (watch for seeds!), honey, and hemp seed oil from Mighty Trio Organic Farm. At the final moment I decided to add a little olive oil too for a different flavour, but I think that just made the fish smoke more when I put it on the cast iron grill. Make sure you add a lot of lemon juice. It breaks down the proteins in the fish meat and helps to cook the fish evenly, resulting in flakier flesh and tastier charred enzymes.

For your information, when buying fish, colour is not necessarily a good indicator of quality. Some farmed salmon is fed with industrially manufactured fish feed that has artificial dyes in it to enhance the pink colour of the fish.
The question of whether to buy wild caught salmon or the farmed variety is really dependent on a number of factors:
1) What is the scale of the farming operation? Do the farm owners manage waste responsibly or are there issues with runoff and other forms of pollution.

2) What kinds of chemicals, if any, does the farm use to treat the water that the fish are living in? come from the containment of the fish in enormous tanks.

*photo Sam Beebe / Ecotrust, taken from Dan Imhoff, Civil Eats

3) What tastes better to you? Some people prefer the richer flavour of the farmed fish. These fish are fed synthetic meal and remnants from other industrial farming operations. They get less exercise crammed into those humongous tanks like... hehehe... well, like sardines... hehehe.

Others prefer the leaner wild salmon. Living in the wild, these fish have eaten different foods and their flesh is less rich in yummy fat, having worked hard to survive.

If you would like to watch something very interesting and thought provocking about this issue of farmed versus wild salmon, check this out:

Dan Barber, How I Fell in Love with Fish

I put the salmon skin side down on a hot cast iron grill. One thing I still haven't picked up for my new kitchen... cooing spray. Without it, the skins stuck to the hot grill and the meat came sliding off the skin easily.

After a minute or two on the grill I spooned the marinade over the fish. Once I finished scraping off the rest of the skin from the grill (grrr), the fish was nearly cooked through on the one side. You can see the colour of the fish start to change and that should tell you if it's close. Having never cooked fish this way before I wasn't really sure what to do next. So I flipped each piece to let the rest of it cook and spooned some more marinade over the sizzling hot fish.

Warning, if you are doing this without a fan, be sure to open the window, your grilling salmon will be smoking quite a bit by this stage.

There were other strange things at Lucky 97 that caught my eye. J and I were both very impressed by the 5-layer jelly cups, though we resisted buying one to try for dessert. Instead I picked up a box of chocolate Pocky. Classic.
In the produce department there were all kinds of new and exciting fruits and vegetables. But I thought the baggies of pre-weighed Thai chilies were actually quite striking.

In the end, we did come home with a giant sack of rice and some fresh green beans, which I steamed up to go with everything.

It was a day of adventure. Roving Taster goes rogue. Sort of. I know where I'll be going for fresh herbs from now on. And chili garlic sauce. And rice wraps. Stay tuned for that linguine some time in the not-too-distant future.

not all breakfasts are created equal

2011-02-24T11:42:00.000-08:00

I love to brunch. To me, this delightful meal has gone beyond the status of mere noun and become a verb, i.e. "Hello dear fried. What are you doing next Sunday? Would you and your partner care to come brunching with us?" Eggs, hollandaise, wilted spinach, orange slices, veggie lasagna, smoked salmon, mimosas, endless coffee... that is my idea of culinary paradise. No matter where I am, whether at home or away visiting friends, I am perpetually drawn to the allure of a long, lingering late breakfast. I have my favourite places in my adopted cities of Ottawa and Montreal. I also know the best quiches, french toast, and breakfast sandwiches here in Edmonton. Recently, Vue Weekly did a feature on brunching in E-town and reviewed a number of my favourite haunts as well as exciting new restos that have opened in the past year or so. You can check out that article as well as other restaurant write-ups here. I make it my mission to try them all out. In the meantime, here are some thoughts on breakfast and the lazy hours drawing into the afternoons over friends, coffee, and conversation.

The new Urban Diner, southside
8715 109 St Tel. 780-437-7275
This was an odd experience. I had wanted to try this place out earlier, but when I showed up with a girlfriend shortly after 10 on a Wednesday morning, we found the door was locked with the hours printed on the glass stating that they didn't open until 11. What kind of breakfast place doesn't serve breakfast during breakfast time? Already this put me a bit on edge. When I returned another time with J on a Saturday we walked in to the busy dining room and were immediately informed that the lot we parked in right next to the restaurant was not for restaurant patrons and J was told he had to move his car to the customer parking in the back. There was no parking in the back. Whatever few stalls belonged to the restaurant were already occupied. Once he came back in out of the cold he had to register his vehicle with the hostess. Not a good start to brunch. Inside the restaurant patrons chatted and laughed boistrously. The din was actually so loud that J and I could hardly hear each other. I think the high ceilings and skylights, though lovely as far as ambiance goes, actually did a disservice to the place in terms of the noise level and ability to really enjoy the surroundings.

The food itself was quite good. I had the smoked salmon bennie - prepared with basil pesto, roasted bell pepper, spinach, and smothered in cheddar sauce and served on a grilled french bread with diner potatoes. It was decent. A rather large helping of potatoes with sweet potatoes mixed in was a nice surprise. J had the quiche of the day. This was definitely the highlight. J and I are on a mission to learn a foolproof, flawless quiche recipe and serve it up to our friends in our new place. This one leads the pack of samples as the most innovative. Rather than cooking the egg mixture in a flaky pastry crust this quiche was baked inside a starburst of puff pastry. The filling was ham, broccoli, and 3 cheeses.
My poached eggs were not overcooked. I hate it when cooks overdo poached eggs. Whats the point? I was, however, disappointed by the cheddar sauce and would have preferred a more traditional hollandaise, maybe with some dill or cheese mixed in. All told the sauce was actually rather bland. I don't think we'll be back here any time soon. If for no other reason than because as we walked back to J's car we noticed something yellow waving like a flag under the driver's side wiper. The poor guy got a parking ticket anyway.

A couple of weeks later, J and I were out house hunting with our friend Mel, who with her dog, Ollie, will be living with us. She and her partner Tony met us at the first house for around 9:45 on a Saturday. The place was great and we all got such a good vibe from the warm interior. The quaint little kitchen and attached dining room was my favourite part. J loved the working wood fireplace and we all got a kick out of the 70's reno job on the bathroom: diagonal cedar wood wall panelling, a skylight, and an original claw-foot bathtub. house hunting was off to a good start but we had a couple of hours to kill before our next viewing. Good thing we were all thinking breakfast.

Route 99 Diner has been around forever. Right on 99th street, it's unchanging retro diner interior is comforting and quirky. The waitresses are all no-nonsense women who never need to write orders down. Old records line the walls and the red vinyl booths are a strange comfort. Strange only because I never lived through this era and yet I feel so attached to the aesthetic appeal of this type of place. This is the kind of place I wish I knew about in highschool. It would have been a much better place to ditch school as opposed to the Humpty's across the street that we always ended up at. Don't get me wrong, I have immense fondness for that Humpty's in its own right. I got a stack of pancakes with breakfast sausages. I think I finished about half of my plate. I passed the rest over to J who had no problem finishing my meal as well as his omelette and hashbrowns. Mel, true to form, got chicken finger with hash browns instead of fries, which they happily accommodated. Tony got bacon and eggs. I sometimes hesitate over the choice between bacon and sausage in breakfast joints because I've had too many strips of limp, mostly fat, greasy bacon. Not so here. Hers were crisp with an equal ration of meat to fat.

Maybe I'm biased, but simple really is better sometimes. Route 99 has been hitting it out of the park for years by staying true to their formula. Straight forward, no frills food served fresh and hot without any pretension.

Route 99 Diner
8820 99 St. Tel. 780-432-0968

Of course, there are also those spots that serve exactly what you want to eat, breakfast, lunch, and diner. The Sugarbowl was Edmonton's saving grace when I was first adjusting to the though of leaving Ottawa and Montreal and returning to my hometown. The thought of 8 months of remorseless winter and what I thought was a veritable culinary wasteland was depressing to say the least. But my memories of summer days on the patio drinking Blanche de Chambly on tap and frosty winter nights ensconced in scintillating conversation over smoked paprika popcorn and applewood smoked cheddar mac and cheese saved me from my worst food nightmares. Coming home I rediscovered the Sugarbowl and came to love it for morning breakfast catchup dates with girlfriends studying at the university down the road. Especially their Huevos Rancheros... I've had them before and been unable to finish more than about half of my plate. So thinking ahead, this time I got a half order. And it was so tasty looking that I forgot to get a shot of it before I dug in. Poached egg, black and white beans, cilantro, and homemade salsa all atop a fried corn tortilla accompanied by more salsa as well as guacamole and sour cream. This dish is a pleasant escape from the frigid temperatures outside. Memories of a much warmer climate and the sound of distant waves wash over me with every bite. I'm hesitant to share.

The Sugarbowl
10922 88th Ave. Tel. 780-433-8369

The atmosphere here is one of its greatest draws. A little bit industrial with exposed red brick walks and air ducts, and little bit offbeat with mismatched wooden tables, and very grounded in the Edmonton food and art scene with local artists' work lining the walls and local ingredients figuring prominently in the daily specials. I love The Sugarbowl. At breakfast, lunch, or dinner or straddling multiple mealtimes. I can easily while away my days here with free wireless that let's me update my blog and plan tonight's dinner. FYI - chicken chorizo sausage in a spicy tomato sauce with pene pasta and a feta and dill green salad. Possibly flourless chocolate cake if I have time.

Oh, and in case you were wondering, we signed the lease on the cute little house with the fireplace last week. Keep your eyes peeled for posts from my new kitchen coming soon!

momma's banana muffin recipe, my way

2011-02-06T21:47:00.000-08:00

These are my new mini muffin tins. Aren't they precious? Mini means you can eat more of them...
I doubled the recipe so this is twice as much butter as I normally need. I used mostly unsalted butter but I didn't quite have the full 1 Cup a double recipe calls for.
I cream the butter and in this case the Splenda (these muffins were for my diabetic grandfather...) by hand because I don't have a mixmaster.

There are many different forms of nutmeg and vanilla. I have fresh nutmegs from a recent trip to Jamaica and vanilla beans from my parents' trip to India, but I thought I would save those. The nutmeg mill from McCormick is a really nice option and there is always the standard ground nutmeg that sits in the spice pantry for years.

I like to use up the old bananas that have been left on the counter. My mom tends to buy them specifically to let them go brown to use in baking, but with me I find that it happens mostly when I buy too many and get tired of eating them. Some of these ones were a little too far gone though, and I didn't have quite enough mashed fruit to make a proper double recipe.

I did, however, have a perfectly ripe mango. So I diced that up nice and small and then added the fruit and juice to my banana mixture.

Sifting the flour in is always a good idea. It makes your baking much lighter and it ensures that there are no lumps in the flour.

My mom always told me that when you're adding baking soda (or baking powder) to first measure out the quantity and then transfer it to a larger measuring spoon and mix with warm water. Have you ever bitten into a clump of baking soda in a muffin? Then you'll understand why...

Whenever my mom bakes these muffins (which is pretty often) she does them up very quickly - no muss, no fuss. When I was away at university I asked her to send me the recipe. She said that it came from her auntie Elaine... not a real auntie... and that the recipe she had called for optional nutmeg. Though we always had it in the spice cupboard I do not ever remember my mom using nutmeg whenever it was listed, optional or otherwise. She and my dad recently came back from the India trip of my dreams and brought back lots of spices that they don't know how to cook with. These are nutmeg flowers. They smell positively heavenly and are wonders to look at. I grated the nutmeg flower into the batter using a very fine zester. I had to be careful not to let whole pieces f nutmeg fall into the batter or else risk an unpleasantly overpowering mini muffin for some poor unassuming friend. I didn't want that for anyone, least of all my poor old grandfather, so if you're not in a rush like I was, try grating it separately first.I use real vanilla extract. We keep a little old bottle in with the baking supplies and then refill it from a large bottle that is kept in the pantry. Mostly it comes from people's trips to Mexico. I'm saving the Indian vanilla pods for something special, maybe a vanilla cake that I read about years ago in Amanda Hesser's Cooking for Mr. Late .

Here they are, all ready to go in the oven. It doesn't take long when they are in mini-tins. I think I gave them about 11 minutes and they were golden brown on the outside and fluffy on the inside. You can always add white or milk chocolate chips, raisins, nuts, or cinnamon to this recipe. Clearly, as I threw in chopped mango at the last minute, the recipe is quite versatile and easily augmented. Just make sure you don't over-mix the batter. That'll be the end of the fluffy muffin for sure.


Here's the recipe.

1/2 cup butter
1 c. sugar/splendid  (I usually only use 1/2 c as bananas are pretty sweet
already)
1 egg
1 c. mashed bananas  (usually about 3 medium sized, should be a little
brown, ripe so are easy to mash)
1 1/2 c,. white flour (white)
                            
1 tsp vanilla
1 tsp nutmeg
1 tsp baking soda dissolved in 1 Tbsp  hot water

bake at 375 degrees for 15 minutes (but this of course depends on how
hot your oven is
makes 12 medium sized muffins

Arriba! Authentic Mexican food in my own backyard.

2011-02-02T00:02:00.000-08:00

I was recently called upon to assist a friend with a writing assignment. She had to do a piece for her travel writing class, becoming a tourist in her own city. She told me she wanted to try out a new restaurant somewhere on 118th Ave and I immediately thought of the brightly painted exterior of the Caribbean restaurant that I often pass on my way to the hockey games. In the depths of winter this seemed like an obvious choice to both of us so we made our plans and set a time and day to meet. I picked her up at her house and after a few wrong turns we found our way to the place. Of course, in the spirit of true touristic excursions we did not call ahead to reserve a table. Alas, when we made it through the snowy parking lot around to the front, there was a sign saying that they were closed for a holiday. So now what, we thought. Scouring up and down the main part of 118th we eventually had to turn around and were gloomily facing defeat.

Suddenly I noticed a sign for "El Rancho Spanish Restaurant" and read it out loud while Morgana looked out the window looking for other appealing options. "I thought they closed down," she said. "I guess they just renovated." Just off 118th, in a little commercial strip resides a vacation for your taste buds. El Rancho serves up Mexican and El Salvadorian cuisine made with grandma's love, from scratch. Truly, it's a grandma and mama operation, with no frills or pretense, just really really good food. Our server did not speak much English, but she definitely understood me when I told her I wanted whoever was working behind those swinging doors to teach me to make their tortilla soup. "It's easy," she told me, and then proceeded to walk me through the steps to her own version, using descriptions and hand gestures when the vocabulary failed. Start by boiling a chicken. Add celery and onion to the stock pot. Strain the liquid into another pot. Add tomatoes. Simmer until flavour is rich. Then finish with cilantro, avocado, queso fresco, and sour cream.

When we walked in there was only one other table occupied, not always the best sign. But it was already quite late in the afternoon and a Wednesday at that. The adobe coloured walls and solid wooden tables were warm and welcoming and the sturdy leather chairs were very comfortable. I've already told you how greatly I enjoyed the flavours of the tortilla soup. It was spicy but not overpoweringly so. The flavour base was chicken, onion, celery, and tomato and it was finished with fresh avocado, cilantro, homemade sour cream and crunchy tortilla strips. It tasted so homemade, as if my own grandmother (if she were Hispanic) had dished it out for me on a visit at her house. A great way to warm up and at $6.95 for a very large bowl it was perfect for sharing as a starter.

Though I had not had many that impressed me in the past, Morgana urged me to try the fried plantains. I am so glad I went against my instincts there because I think they were my favourite part of the meal. I've never had plantains like this - plantanitos, chewy, gooey, sweet and salty. Amazing. They were served with the same homemade sour cream. This sour cream was unlike any I've had before. It was a bit salty. It cooled the heat from the spice in the soup and added an even richer dimension to the plantains while cutting their richness with its acidity. Good to know that a dish of heaven can be yours for $5.95.

The spicy grilled shrimp came next, served with mango salsa and a little green salad. The mangoes were well ripened but diced just small enough not to become the focal point of the dish. For an appetizer, this was also a very large portion and could easily have been a main course if paired with a smaller appie to start or the soup. Priced more like a main dish too at $10.95.
The only other busy table was occupied by three Spanish speaking men. They said "hola" to us as we came in and carried on chattering away and joking with the server as she brought them more food. One of them was whistling and singing along to the salsa music playing cheerfully in the background.

When the next course arrived, I could hardly stifle the giggle. Our chicken quesadilla was smiling right at me, with sour cream and salsa for the eyes. I took this as a good omen and went right for one of the pieces in the middle. Melted cheese and refried beans oozed out onto the plate. As I took my first bite I was surprised to discover that unlike the usual cubed pieces of grilled breast meat I was enjoying sumptuous morsels of slow cooked meat, pulled from the bone. One after the other, each dish was making me fuller and happier. The quesadilla was smiling back at me as I smiled at Morgana and she smiled at the friendly men at the next table. This dish also came with a green salad and I think next time I will try the tofu version, just to see how they do it. Chicken quesadilla, $8.95.

Since we had a little extra room left and were still craving more from that incredible, mysterious woman in the kitchen, Morgana and I decided to each order a dessert and share those too. I ordered the flan (not the kind with crust and gelled fruit topping, more like a creme caramel) and Mo ordered the Mexican fried ice cream. Our server told us it would be a bit of a wait because the kitchen had to heat up fresh oil. Heavenly! We didn't mind waiting at all. The flan came out with whipped cream on the side and a stewed strawberry sauce on top. Morgana's ice cream was utterly delightful, totally fantastic, and wonderfully decadent. The coating was crunchy and the whole dish was doused in sweet syrup of some kind.

As we swooned over our desserts, saying very little to one another but exchanging looks of deep satisfaction, a family of four came in with two young girls in pigtails between 2 and 5 years old. As mom and dad looked over the menu we heard squeals of delight. I turned to see what was going on and the mother looked up and said in an accent, "Sorry, we just haven't had these foods in so long." Reading the menu out to her daughters in Spanish, she paused here and there as her husband nodded eagerly in agreement and I couldn't stop myself. "You should really try the plantains. The best I've ever had. Amazing." They took my advice. Both the parents and Morgana and I were clearly on the same page - nothing ventured, nothing gained.

post-holiday recovery

2011-01-10T17:17:00.000-08:00

The holiday season lasts really long. Especially in the hospitality and service industry. From the end of November until now, I basically have not had two days off in a row. Except for the little bit of time when my family all together. I mean the full family - sisters, partners, parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousins.

And do you know what I learned? My family is really big and really hungry pretty much all the time. I mean even when we're in a smaller arrangement of the family, say parents, partners, and grandparents, we're still pretty boistrous and at once slightly peckish.

So for the past couple of months I've done little but cook, eat, serve, and discuss food, but because I've been so busy doing that... I haven't had time to write. Not cool.
Now that things are finally settling down on all fronts, I can settle in, catch up, ad take stock of what a trip it all was.

Let's see, there was the obscene amount of food that I served at work the weeks leading up to Christmas. And the fact that I was hired at a fine wine and spirits shop in the neighbourhood I grew up in. That exciting news in itself is worthy of a post. More to come about Crestwood Fine Wines and Spirits...

I cooked dinner for Joey, my sister Sarah and her partner Ed on the first night of Channukah. My parents were away so my mom's traditional role of racing home after work to make dozens of latkahs fell to me. I made crispy cornflake crumb chicken baked in the oven and we ate latkahs was apple sauce and sour cream until we each had to unbutton the top buttons of our pants.

Then there was the big fat family vacation on a Caribbean cruise over Christmas. My grandmother decided to take us all on vacation to celebrate her 80th birthday. There was a cocktail of trepidation and curiosity about what the experience would be like. In a way it met every expectation. But then again, in other ways it was a total surprise. Sometime soon I will spend some time telling the tales of the MS Noordam. But I think those will have to wait. Let me tease you by saying we ate a lot of lobster, beef tenderloin on board but my favourite meal was the snack bar lunch on the beach in Cozumel, which was comprised of cheese and chicken quesadillas, salsa, guacamole, tostadas, fish tacos, and Sol beer with fresh limes.

Oh yes, and of course we could not have gotten on that ship if we did not first travel halfway across North America to board from the port of Fort Lauderdale, Florida. Do you know what else is in Florida? Orlando. Do you know what marvelously terrifying park is built in Orlando? Universal Studios. My sisters and I spent an entire day roadtripping to and from Universal to spend an afternoon at The Wizarding World of Harry Potter. That's right, the Dolgirls went to Hogwarts. It was amazing. Surely a day I will never forget. I have never done anything like that and I don't know if I would do anything like it ever again. I had so much butterbeer that eventually I couldn't drink anymore. And there were whole turkey legs. People were walking around with them in their hands. Peering and surveying the length of lineups with greasy skin and bits of turkey meat smeared all over their faces. That was super gross. But we did try them in the Three Broomsticks tavern, and they were actually quite tasty.

I want to tell you all about all of this. But let me take my time, now that I finally have some to myself again. More soon...

2010-12-12T22:01:00.000-08:00

Remember when I posted about the things I want to try this blustery winter season... well, the Roving Taster is a woman of her word. I've started making my way through the list. Some wonderful meals, deals, and steals I've been reading, eating, and writing about.

lavender/rosemary/candied ginger shortbread -

I got this recipe from a site called allrecipes.com. For years I have known them as a great reference library slash jumping off point slash inspiration board, especially of baking recipes. So I was not surprised to find this among one of the most highly used and reviewed off all the shortbread recipes I poured over.

I changed the rosemary it called for to some dried lavender I bought at Planet Organic when I was stocking up on spices the other day. I also used the lavender in a honey infusion that I basted a roast chicken with the other day. More to follow on that meal, my god...

molasses -

I use this in my sisters' sort of thrown together version

of ginger cookies. It changes pretty much every time I make them, but the same basic ingredients are there - molasses, butter, eggs, flour, powdered ginger, cinnamon, and cloves. Then I elaborate from there - usually Cognac, or vanilla, or other spices.

consommés -

As it turned out, a slow cooker I put on last Friday called for beef stock, and I had a trusty can of Campbell's Beef Consommé in the pantry so I used that in my Provencal Beef Stew. So good. Made a total bonehead mistake though. I grabbed cilantro instead of Italian flat leaf parsley so the stew was missing a little bit of something fresh to

pep it up at the end before serving. Might try to make my own consommé still.

Oh yes, and the slow cooker beef stew also called for a sliced bulb of fennel.

mulled fruit - I have yet to figure a way to include this into my cooking in the coming days. But I have a hunch it will likely involve mulled wine... Maybe, dear readers, if you're lucky, you'll be able to share some with me.

brulée-ing things -

I saw a kitchen blow torch for brulée-ing in the Lee Valley catalogue. A pilgrimage may be in order.

parsnip soup - was on the menu as the soup of the day at The Highlevel Diner today. I should have had it instead of the quiche of the day which was sadly uninspired but lacked any real flavour or texture. Boo quiche. Yay parsnip soup. I must make it myself to keep the cream and butter under control. I will try to keep it healthy yet delicious for the health-conscious among me with whom I plan to share this dish.

stuffed roast chicken -

I already mentioned that this bird was possibly the most delectable creature I've ever cooked. Seriously. And I cook with meat fairly often. For now, it must suffice to say that there was a lot of butter and honey involved. Oh yes, and it was lavender infused honey.

osso bucco -

I had this at another restaurant who's fault I don't think it was. But I was unhappy with it. It wasn't actually what I wanted. They were out of what I wanted (which was mussels...) so I ordered the braised lamb shank which was the osso bucco. But it just wasn't what I wanted. It wasn't what I felt like that night and it was a bad impulse. Don't you hate that? When you run out of time or have to change your order just before your turn because someone else at the table already ordered it... Maybe that's just me. I think if I try this then I will attempt a tomato base to cook the meat in after browning and then add olives as a feature flavour in the sauce. I think their saltiness will hold up to the robust flavour of the lamb.

Note to self: keep an eye out for osso bucco cuts at the market in the coming weeks. My hours have changed so now I can try to grocery shop for the week at the Saturday market.

homemade cannelloni -

I have a recipe in a copy of Cook's Illustrated I've got tucked away in a folder somewhere. I have discovered that I own more cookbooks that I have room to store them. New Year's resolution number 7: buy more shelves. Resolution number 8: learn to build IKEA shelves once ad for all.

chocolate and cheese soufflé (though not necessarily together) -

This one definitely should be photographed. Those who have expressed interest in photographing my cooking at home, this would be a very fun one to capture. Anyone interested?

lentils - I must learn my sister's recipe. She'll show me over the holiday, I'm sure.

flambé -

I should probably buy a fire extinguisher first. And know where it is in relation to my flambéing at all times.

something that when assembled spells my name -

I don't rightly know what made me put this in. Do-over. I don't really care if I eat or make something that required assembly in order to be a megalomaniac statement. If I suggested something with my name written on it, I think that would be just as interesting...

layer cake - maybe an apple crumb cake with caramel in between... or rootbeer icing... will commence my recipe research.

easy avocado enchiladas

2010-11-14T20:50:00.000-08:00

I just learned that enchiladas were one of the recipes included in the first definitive Mexican cookbook, El cocinero mexicano ("The Mexican Chef"), in 1831. Wikipedia told me this when I went looking for info on the origins of this marvelous dish. They were informed, by the way, in "Tacos, Enchiladas and Refried Beans: The Invention of Mexican-American Cookery" published by Oregon State University.

Enchiladas are essentially any mixture of meat, fish, vegetables, or beans wrapped up in a soft (usually corn) tortilla and baked in a chili sauce. I have had them in many restaurants in Canada and even in Mexico. None have been all that memorable, save some that I once had cooked for me essentially out of someone's kitchen at a little beach snack bar somewhere near Manzanillo.

The enchiladas I like to make come from Mollie Katzen's "The Enchanted Broccoli Forest." First she explains the enchilada's basic components and construction. Then she gives three different recipes for fillings: Cheese with Surprises, Avocado, and Zucchini and Pepper. Honestly, as soon as I laid eyes on that avocado recipe my heart skipped a beat. I've never even tried the other two, though "with surprises" intrigues me a great deal.
Combine:
1/2 C fresh lemon juice
4 ripe avocados, coarsely chopped
3 cloves of garlic, minced
6 green onions, finely chopped (greens and whites)
3/4 C fresh cilantro (didn't have any so I used Italian parsley)
2 ripe tomatoes, diced
1 tsp salt
3/4 tsp ground cumin

Make this just before you're ready to assemble the enchiladas and fit them into a casserole to be baked.

Mollie Katzen also gives two different recipes for enchilada sauce - a salsa verde, which requires green tomatoes (perfect for a big crop in summer) and the red sauce which can be made as long as you have access to a few basic supermarket ingredients like ripe tomatoes and a red bell pepper. Sometimes I blend it smooth but today I left it chunky for a nice texture.

The enchilada sauce can be made ahead of time.

Simmer in a pot:
5 ripe tomatoes, diced
1 large red sweet pepper, finely diced
1 tsp. salt
5 cloves of garlic, minced
1/2 tsp crushed rep pepper, or chili pepper flakes
1/2 tsp. ground cumin

It's not in Mollie's recipe but I like to top the enchiladas with mozzarella or jack cheese before baking in the oven. Also, she covers with foil before baking and I leave the dish open to brown a little on top.

Tonight I paired the hot casserole with a quick spinach salad with chopped kalamata olives, big chunks of Starkrimson pear (a new discovery and positively delicious!), chopped green onion, and crumbled chevre. I made a vinaigrette of maple syrup, honey Dijon mustard, balsamic vinegar, and olive oil.

via Wikipedia:
Oregon State University -
http://web.archive.org/web/20070718154326/http://food.oregonstate.edu/ref/culture/mexico_smith.html. Retrieved 2008-07-14.

winter is in the air

2010-11-12T23:04:00.000-08:00

Lately I've been feeling a chill in my bones and a deep, intrinsic need to make soup. This is how I know winter is coming. My body memory is telling me that this chill I feel is nothing compared to what lay ahead and I am beginning to brainstorm cookie ideas. Things that are good to dip, things brushed with melted chocolate, and things that are infused with peppermint, lavender, and ginger. The planning begins...

I dream about meals, you know. Recurring dreams, they differ is length and complexity. Really, they're more variations on a theme. Until eventually all that I've been reading, scheming, and puzzling about has to come out in some sort of wild, cathartic, unifying experience of culinary output. Would you like to come over and cook something with me? Or we could bake, if you prefer. My kitchen is well stocked, and though slightly messy and rather dishevelled, you're welcome in it.

These are things I want to experiment with:
lavender/rosemary/candied ginger shortbread
molasses
consommés
fennel
mulled fruit
brulée-ing things
parsnip soup
stuffed roast chicken
osso bucco
homemade cannelloni
chocolate and cheese soufflé (though not necessarily together)
lentils
flambé
something that when assembled spells my name
layer cake

Tell me if you have tried to make any of this. Some of these things are not new to me, but rather I feel it is high time I gain greater mastery of them. Other things on this list came to me in dreams or having tasted it elsewhere and striving to replicate the taste in my own kitchen.

The other thing is, this year I promise to try out way more gluten-free baking. Joey's brother is celiac, so I think I'll see what works out well and then send him a little surprise. And given that I don't think he reads this, it probably will be a surprise!

Is there anything you think I left out? What wintery food winds your clock? What have you been waiting to try or to make again?

looking for a food photographer/partner in crime

2010-11-09T21:01:00.001-08:00

Hey there food fanatics, family members, sisters from other misters, and those others who have stumbled upon this blog randomly...

I've been working on expanding my library of food images and increasing the profile of my food photography on this blog. But it's slow going when it's only me.

I don't know the best way to dress up my food and pose it and light it for optimal images. I have difficulty stopping mid-recipe to take process shots and I am not afraid to say that I know there are others out there who take much better photos and know a lot more about food photography.

I want you!

If you live in Edmonton and are reading this and are any good at focusing an SLR, please let me know. If you lie elsewhere, but have tips or recommendations (or could pass this along to someone you may know who lives here and is interested) as usual, I welcome all feedback.

If you would like to try out and collaborate with me, this is what I propose: an afternoon or evening of cooking, picture taking, and merriment. I'll pick the recipe and buy all the ingredients. All you have to do is show up with your gear and a willingness to get your hands a little dirty. I promise it will be fun...

Hopefully yours,

TRD

combatting brain drain with smoked meat sandwiches

2010-10-29T14:02:00.000-07:00

I saw a very delicious story on the news the other day. Amid stories of natural disaster, corrupt bankers and politicians, and a flailing economy, this warmed the cockles of my heart.

Click here to watch the news piece

I turns out that the greatest smoked meat sandwich to be had in New York is found at neither Carnegie nor Katz's delis, but at a new spot called Mile End Delicatessen that opened last January in Brooklyn. CBC reported that the deli received its top rating from Zagat, the authority in food and travel guides, described by CBC's David Common as the "gastronomic bible of New York City."

Owners Noah Bermanoff and Rae Cohen are Montreal ex-pats who sell the iconic smoked meat as well as St. Viatur bagels, hand delivered either by FedEx or quite often by friends who drive through the night from Montreal ensure their fresh and speedy arrival each morning.

The main attraction at the tiny hot spot is their beef brisket smoked meat. Also on the menu: poutine with real cheese curds, borscht, and sandwichs names like the "Ruth Wilensky" which is sliced salami on an onion roll (10 cents extra for no mustard) and "The Beauty" - lox on a bagel with cream cheese, tomato, red onion & capers served either open or close-faced.

The format is simple, the price is right, and the food looks amazing. It looks as though they've come up with a winning strategy as they are currently planning the opening of a second location. Too bad it's not up the street from my house. I miss Montreal smoked meat all the time.

Photo Credits:
Daniel Kreiger
Michelle V. Agins/The New York Times
brownstoner.com

Cafe de Ville, what a thrill!

2010-10-27T11:51:00.000-07:00

Yesterday I went for lunch with one of my oldest friends. Our visit was long overdue and we planned on a long lingering lunch, so I immediately thought of one of my favourite places, Cafe de Ville. It's such a cozy little place, complete with fireplace and little shaded lamps at each table. They also have wonderful coffee and that was the prefect pretext to allow us to take our time with lunch.

Looking at the prints of Paris on the warm yellow walls I realize that this place is one of the only morsels of the pink city that Edmonton's got. One thing that I love about this restaurant is the breadbasket that comes at the start of the meal. Warm croissants infused with orange and baked with lots and lots of butter, these sweet pseudo-brioches are what people remember about Cafe de Ville.

Our server brought us coffee from a fresh pot and milk and cream for each of us. He was very patient as we visited, neglecting our unopened menus on the table and gave us time to consider our options and the specials of the day. He returned when we were finally ready to order and I got a cup of the two feature soups - beef tenderloin broth with caramelized onions, pear, Pernod, and Sauvignon Blanc. The broth was rich with caramel and buttery fat from the onions and beef. The slivers of onion were cooked perfectly, firm but still soft. The flavours combined to make an intense start to the meal. The other soup of the day was a carrot apple.

For my main I got the pollenta soufflé, made with spinach, Stilton, herbs, feta, and a wild mushroom ragout. This is one of my very favourite things to order whenever I come here and I'm happy to report that it was every bit as scrumptious as always. The wild mushrooms were chewy and robust with aroma. The portion was large enough to be a main dish at lunch, especially paired with a cup of soup to start and one or two of those delectable brioches.

My friend-date had heard very good things about the build your own pizza here. The dish starts with a base of herb crust, Roma tomato and garlic basil sauce, and a blend of fontina, asiago, provolone, and sprintz cheeses. She ordered spinach and artichoke as toppings. The final product was very cheesy, as you might expect, and the dough crust was flaky, almost like a French flatbread. Neither she nor I could finish our meals so our server packed everything up to take away.

Though the restaurant does not have a set dessert menu they do have an in-house pastry chef and every day they present diners with an exquisite display of a dessert platter to choose from. It wasn't the chocolate mousse or the cheesecake that lured us. We went for the Earl Grey crème brulée. The custard was grey, almost lavender in colour. The hard candied sugar top was garnished with carved strawberry, blackberry, gooseberry, and mint leaves. The dish was carefully prepared and the custard was smooth, not eggy.

giving thanks for this time of year

2010-10-11T11:58:00.000-07:00

I have so much to be thankful for.

I have people to love who love me. We share interests, exchange ideas, help to make each other better, and hold the memories to a lifetime together. These people also happen to give and enjoy good wine. I am certainly thankful to friends who bring over nice wine when they come for dinner (or anytime for that matter).

I am supported in my choices by this same network of love and trust and it seems to continue to grow and strengthen as I get older and have more interesting impulses, ideas, and things to say. I hope they know that I thank them every day for this ongoing support.

I am extremely thankful that I live in a place that has clean water and air and my food is relatively safe to eat. I am not, for example spending my Thanksgiving exposed or in limited shelter, escaping from a deluge of red poison. I send my prayers to anyone who is not warm and being made welcome at someone's table this weekend.

And, of course, I am thankful for the food that I get to cook and eat - let me not forget to acknowledge my thanks to the people who have grown and cared for the food that I try to prepare as artfully as I may. I am also thankful to have friends and family to cook for and eat with, which is a joy to me always.

On Saturday I hosted my very first Thanksgiving meal since returning to the prairies. It was actually the first real sit-down dinner party (and I think probably the largest of it's kind) that I've ever hosted here. I will not take full credit for the success of the evening. My sister, Sarah, and the every constant and culinarily inclined Joey were the secrets in the sauce. Thanks to all of my friends and readers who came over. You're the best. Seriously. Someone compared the first few moments of the meal to that scene in Chocolat with Juliette Binoche - you know, the one where everyone suddenly starts eating silently and in slow motion and then they all break out into laughter. It was, admittedly, reminiscent of that scene.

Thanks to Marius and Four Whistle Farms for cutting me a beautiful leg of lamb. Weighing at almost 6 pounds it was enough to feed the fourteen of us and then some. I made slits in the meat just under the fat and inserted fresh organic garlic from Peas on Earth farm and big rosemary leaves from our own garden plants. Then I applied a rub made from grainy mustard, extra virgin olive oil, copped garlic, garden rosemary and oregano, kosher salt, fresh ground pepper, and a splash of maple syrup. I was actually quite rushed to prepare all of this in the 45 minutes between leaving the market and having to get back in the car to run to work for my 3-hour Saturday afternoon shift. So I know that this can be done quite quickly. I placed the meat in a roasting pan under 4 red onion halves, wrapped the dish tightly in plastic wrap, and refrigerated it for about 4 hours.

My other major cooking triumph that night was the vegetarian shepherd's pie. I got the idea when I was on the bike at the gym (watching food tv, of course). Hrm, side note, must get back to the gym after this weekend....
Chuck Hughes hosts the show Chuck's Day Off. I've never seen him before but I certainly approve of the butter, cream, and chevre that are used in the mashed potato part of the recipe. Switching lentil for ground beef is easy and super cheap and healthy. Lots of fresh wild mushrooms from the downtown market really gave the dish its character and texture. I roasted the spaghetti squash and garlic the night before to save time. It was possibly my favourite part of dinner and I still had tons to send home with friends and for my own leftover supply.

Joey made mashed yams with a maple candied walnut top. There was none left at the end of the night. And he made as much of it as I made of the shepherd's pie. Sarah and her boyfriend brought wine and made an arugula salad with dried currants. So many friends brought cheese - proof, if ever I needed some, that they love me.

Oh yes, and there were incredible devil's food cupcakes that Joey's friend made. Apparently she got the recipe from Joy of Cooking. They were so good and I got so many compliments about them I am planning on making sure she starts working at a bakery very soon. Has anyone seen help wanted signs at any nice little bakeries in town?

Other dessert items included a late night apple upside-down cake that I cranked out with roasting, cleaning, setting, and generally stressing the night before. There was also the requisite pumpkin pie, and other super sweet cakes and goodies.

If you were there, tell me what your favourite dish was. Or tell me what you’re thankful for. If you weren’t there, tell me what you had at your Thanksgiving this weekend. Or what of this harvest you may be thankful to receive this year.

local game meat and Canadian wine on a Monday night

2010-10-04T19:14:00.001-07:00

Joey and I just opened a bottle of Mission Hill Family Estate Compendium, 2006. It's a rich, full-bodied blend of Merlot, Cabernet Franc, Cabernet Sauvignon, and Petit Verdot. I've been eyeing this alluring bottle at my local wine shop for months. Today, I received it as a gift from Joey's roommate. I set Charles and his girlfriend up with super sweet accommodation in Jasper on the weekend. It was incredibly thoughtful of them to give me this as a thanks.
On the nose I detected scents of blueberry jam, earth, truffle and fig. It smelled smoky, like it had been aged in very old oak. The colour was deep, opaque purple with blue hues.
When I finally took my first sip I noticed at first the tannin, and then the bold acidity and long finish. It should open up for a while, decanted if possible, for an hour at least. The flavours that come out of this wine are incredibly layered. At first I tasted concord grapes, sour cherries and an almost barnyard musk. As I swirled the wine in the glass, it started to release tobacco and chocolate notes. The overall taste though was almost tart with a puckery mouthfeel.

We paired this wine with wonderful food. Joey and I found blueberry and black pepper farmed elk sausages at the farmer's market on Saturday the second last of the season. Joey removed the casing, sliced those up into large chunks, and then simmered those in water for about 10 minutes before adding butter, finely chopped onions, and minced garlic to sauté together. He also roasted 2 red peppers, pureed them with dried rosemary and added that to the sizzling meat and onions. We let the sauce simmer for another 15 minutes or so while putting on water for some whole-wheat penne rigate.

I've been craving bright green veggies so we also picked up green beans and broccoli for steaming. Start with the green beans at the bottom of your steaming basket and then add broccoli when close to serving to cut down on dishes and ensure even cooking of each vegetable.

I made a quick béchamel sauce with Danish blue cheese to drizzle over the broccoli. Here's how:
You will need equal parts butter and flour (2 Tbsp) and enough milk and/or cream to thin it out. I melt the butter and add a little minced garlic. As the garlic cooks, remove the saucepan from heat and start adding the flour, stirring to incorporate. Put the saucepan back on the heat when you have a rather heavy paste of butter and flour and then start adding the milk.

Traditionally, you should have already scalded the milk with aromatics (i.e. bay leaf or nutmeg) in a separate pot, but I save time and usually pour it straight from the carton. Add the milk in small increments, stirring each time to combine and slowly the sauce will turn to the kind of consistency you can see mixing well with whatever you need - steamed broccoli, cauliflower, pasta, poached eggs, mac and cheese, or stew. From the simple 3-ingredient base and with a few aromatics (like garlic or bay leaf or whatever) you can add things like blue or aged cheddar cheese and things can really get crazy...

Oh yes, right at the end of cooking, I suggested we add a splash of the wine to Joey's elk sausage pasta sauce. When the pasta was nearly cooked we poured all of it plus a bit of pasta water to the large pan that the sauce was all simmering in. Everything absorbed into the pasta, we salted it to taste and added a splash of cream (cause we're wild like that). The green beans Joey drizzled with olive oil and lemon juice.

Leftover birthday cake for dessert.

a not-so turkey dinner

2010-09-30T22:19:00.000-07:00

Have I mentioned that I kind of hate turkey. I don't hate all turkeys... though I could tell you stories about a traumatic experience involving a raging feathered beast that chased me down the street of a historical reenactment town.... another day perhaps.

When I remember the Thanksgivings of my youth I recall dried out turkey and copious amounts of stuffing (my favourite part) with lots of little bits of carrot, onion, and celery. Delicious, to be sure, but not especially inventive. We're big on tradition in my family. The tradition being that when turkey goes on sale, my grandmother buys four and gives one to every child. Anything for a bargain, right?
When I moved away I got to start my own traditions. One of the greatest being my very own Thanksgiving fest for all my friends at uni who didn't go home to their families for the weekend. I'd buy the best (i.e. hormone, antibiotic free, content animal) I could afford and prep it for a whole day. I'd roast veggies and everyone would supply the rest. The tradition lapsed last fall when I came home and ended up working all Thanksgiving weekend. This year I got wise and booked the weekend off.
On the menu so far:
My ever-popular roasted leg of lamb with apples, parsnips, and other autumn vegetables
Kate's pumpkin soup with coconut milk (served in a pumpkin!)
Vegetarian shepherd's pie with lentils and spaghetti squash - I saw a man cook this on television when I was working out at the gym
The remainder I'm relinquishing control on and hoping that my guests will bring their A-game:

home made bread
baked yams with candied walnuts
spinach salad
appetizers
a cheese plate
dessert of some kind

Here's hoping it's another night to remember, as all my Thanksgivings have been up until now.

rags to riches

2010-09-13T14:59:00.000-07:00

Sometimes I marvel at the vicissitudes of life. When I last wrote, my whole family was together, it was summertime, and I was simply blissful having spent an afternoon picking raspberries on a farm just outside of Edmonton. Today I'm sipping Remy Martin XO, looking out over Lake Edith and swooning adoringly into my love’s eyes, not a sister or great aunt in sight. I’ve been dreaming of Italian adventures and doing everything but praying that I get into grad school. Maybe I should consider praying… I suppose it couldn’t hurt.

Normally I spend Labour Day weekend watching the Eskimos play in Calgary and taking in pier sections from a near-freezing lake. You'd be surprised how fetching hip-waders can actually be... This year I decided to get out of town completely.

We spent last night at the Chateau Lake Louise, driving out after I finished work. It was a late start by the time we actually got on the highway and it rained intermittently the whole way up. A rather impressive flourish of rain came down at the end. We drove through the dark woods on either side and were awestruck as the illuminated windows of the castle came into view. We had planned to spend hours whiling away in the Walliser Stube fondue lounge, but by the time we got in all we wanted was room service and a big comfy bed. Unfortunately we were so overwhelmed by the splendour upon our arrival that I forgot my camera in the car that night.

But in case you were wondering, I had a grilled salmon pita with a side salad and Joey had a rather extraordinary grilled vegetable wrap with roasted pepper spread and perfectly cooked homemade french fries. Together we polished off a lovely bottle of Pinot Noir from Oregon made by Wine by Joe, 2008. The salmon was cooked perfectly and came apart with my fork in delicate but firm flakes. We didn’t have dessert, but at that hour it’s probably a good thing. It was only the one night that we stayed at the Chateau, but it was altogether memorable.

Yesterday we slept in a little and came down for lunch in the lounge, gazing out at Lake Louise from the wide, Palladian windows that line the main floor façade. Though my onion soup was generally forgettable, the wild boar bacon and chanterelle mushroom quiche was rich enough to share, leaving Joey's roasted vegetable sandwich as a snack for the road, which we packaged up and took with us. He also had a soup of the day, which was a creamy potato and parsnip. I like the idea of this soup better than we liked the actual thing in front of us, so now it’s going into my bank of things to experiment.

The drive from Lake Louise to Jasper is a lot longer than I remember. Not realizing the distance, we had to make good time once we got moving. Before we got back onto the highway we stopped briefly in the village for a coffee and a snack. Do yourself a favour and get an almond macaroon or a pizza bagel from Laggan’s Mountain Bakery. I got both and was not the least bit sorry.

(Right: the only bite of the legendary macaroon I was able to capture before devouring the whole thing)

Arriving late again in Jasper we checked in, unpacked in the room, and went straight for the room service menu. I decided to go big. I figure, when will I ever again be able to go all out in a place like this? Heck, I can only afford such an extravagant holiday because I work for the company. Next time I visit these places, I’ll likely be sleeping in a tent. So I ordered the 7 oz. filet mignon with buttered mashed potatoes. Joey got the spinach and ricotta cannelloni with a tomato sauce, which came with the additional cream for the sauce on the side. A very thoughtful touch, we both thought, being able to add as much or as little cream as he liked. My steak was cooked to perfection. It can’t be easy to prepare a steak for transport to a little cabin away from the central kitchen and ensure that it still arrives cooked rare, pink in the middle. The meat was tender and seasoned simply with salt and pepper, slightly charred on the outside adding a caramel flavour to each juicy bite.
Even a small cut like the filet I found a bit too much for me, but I never feel bad leaving things on my plate. I just don’t think it’s healthy to insist on cleaning one’s plate, nor was it ever insisted by my mother that I do so. I hate it when people remark at how much or little I eat, that’s my own damn business.
Oh yes, and we paired the late supper with a Chilean Syrah, very good value for dollar on this bottle – spicy, bold, and a little supple in the mouthfeel, a great food pairing wine.
(Right: My perfect room-service steak)

Anyway, we had thought about getting the big to-do brunch delivered to the room this morning, but decided to not be lazy bums and got our asses into comfy seats at the window’s of the lounge, just off the main lodge’s lobby. Looking out over yet another beautiful lake, we relished at the arrival of a big french press full of fresh coffee. We were hungry, but I knew I couldn’t eat anything too rich after last night, so we decided to split the smoked salmon Eggs Benedict. It was taking a long time, but our server brought us fresh orange juice and a fresh press of coffee, apologising for the delay. We weren’t really bothered, having found ourselves in such a paradise. When the food finally came, I was amazed by what lay in front of me. The egg was perfectly poached. Breaking it open let loose a flow of rich creamy yolk, and the hollandaise was lemony and quite light. The roasted fingerling potatoes were well cooked too – fluffy inside, but slightly crispy on the outside, the feel of the skins breaking between my teeth as I sunk them in. On the side was half a roasted roma tomato. A perfect meal to split, especially washed down with freshly squeezed orange juice and more hot coffee.
(Right: A half-order of the smoked salmon Benny)

Currently I’m sitting in front of that same window overlooking the lake, having gone for a swim and cleaned myself up a bit. Alert, but relaxing next to a warm snifter of Remy Martin XO, I don’t think I can honestly say that I’ve ever been more content. Tra la… I wonder what the soup of the day is…(Centre: view from my window in the Emerald Lounge at the Jasper Park Lodge)

U-Pick is amazing!

2010-08-25T12:42:00.000-07:00

Can you believe that I've lived here my whole life and never visited a U-Pick berry farm? Well the time has come, I thought, to correct this gross oversight in my agricultural education. I recently visited Roy's Raspberries, just a mere 10 minutes drive from the city. A quick left off of Highway 16A, a couple clicks past the Devon overpass is a hideaway I've probably driven by a hundred times. There's a sign on the highway, so you really can't miss it, but if you need to, you can call ahead and ask for directions. The picking should still be good for a couple weeks, I think.

At Roy's Raspberry Farm "Alberta's Finest" berries are thriving. Many of the bushes have been around since the 70's when Roy Boyko first planted on his 20 acres. They grow about a dozen different varieties of raspberries - Thornless, Summit, Souris, Red River, Qualicum, Newburg, Mammoth, Jewel, Honey Queen, Fall Gold, Double Delight, Chief, Boyne, and Bounty. Did you even know there were so many kinds of raspberries? I guess I should have, but when you hear that 97% of plant diversity has disappeared from our supermarkets since the 1950's it's difficult to conceptualize this when it comes to actual species.

My sister and I ventured out into the field with our homemade berry picking buckets securely fastened around our necks with measuring tape and shoelaces to keep both hands free for easier picking. Lorraine Boyko, wife of Roy's son Harvey who now runs the farm, gave us a rundown of the procedures and offered us old car mats to sit on so we could get down low where the berries were growing.

We walked a good distance away from the main house and the highway, though unable to get away from the noise of the traffic. When we found a spot that looked good, my sister and I got down to it, grabbing handfuls of berries - half of which made it into the buckets, the other half somehow ended up in our happy tummies... I really don't know how that happened...

We picked and ate for about a half hour, walking around the fields and sampling some of the other berry varieties. We focused on the oldest bushes with the most fruit, which we discovered later were Boyne raspberries. Sweet, tart, and juicy, the bright crimson berries were honestly the most raspberry-tasting berries I've ever tried. Nothing tastes better than fresh picked fruits and veggies, and this was an experience I'll never forget. What's more, I'm looking for reasons to go back as soon as possible...

Back at the hut where we received our instructions and mats we settled up with Lorraine and for all the raspberries we could pick and eat, it came out to $6.75(!) There are recipes for muffins, pie, and a summery beverage all using their fresh raspberries. I haven't yet tried them since we ate all the raspberries before I got a chance, but the recipe sheet is going in my need-to-try book for sure.

U-Pick, where have you been all my life?

by golly! biscotti!

2010-08-16T16:35:00.000-07:00

I'm working on my grad school application. This activity is stressful at the best of times. But the grad school happens to be in Italy and so I must undergo this ridiculous process of having all my transcripts and diplomas and such translated into Italian to be accredited by the Italian Embassy. The translator I found is a lovely old Italian lady and she's doing me quite a favour working on these for me on such short notice. To say thank you, I thought I would go pick up some baking and bring it over to her house. And then I thought, "Why don't you just bake her something yourself?"
So that's what I did. Ecco qua! (Here it is!) The recipe comes from something I found on recipezaar.com

Gingered White Chocolate Biscotti

Serves: 12 , Servings: 2 dozen

Ingredients:

2 cups all purpose flour
2/3 cups sugar
2 teaspoons candied ginger, minced
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
4 ounces premium white baking chocolate, finely chopped
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
2 eggs
1 egg white

Directions:

Pre-heat oven to at 350°F.

Combine first 6 ingredients in a large bowl.

Combine the vanilla and next 2 ingredients, and add to the flour mixture.

Stir until well blended (dough will be dry).

Turn dough out onto a lightly floured surface, and knead lightly 7 or 8 times.

Shape dough into a 16-inch long roll.

Place roll on a greased baking sheet coated with cooking spray, and flatten roll to 1-inch thickness.

Bake for 30 minutes.

Remove the roll from the baking sheet to a wire rack, and let cool for 10 minutes.

Cut the roll diagonally into 1/2" slices.

Place, cut sides down on a baking sheet.

Bake for 10 more minutes.

Turn cookies over and bake an additional 10 minutes (cookies will be slightly soft in the center but will harden as they cool).

Remove cookies from the baking sheet and let cool completely

*baker's note: I modified the baking times for my hotter than normal oven - reduced the first baking to 20 minutes and the second to 3-5 per side.

late night dinner omlette

2010-07-21T23:24:00.000-07:00

Have you ever gotten in after a very long or busy day and not had the slightest inclination or even energy to cook yourself dinner? Sometimes the only thing that might turn your day around is a hot, filling dinner and it's too late to get even the least bit imaginative with any ingredients you may find in your fridge. My friends, I have the answer. When all else fails... it's omelette time. Omelettes are amazing. Eggs in general are pretty spectacular; miraculous, nutritious, curious things that they are. Some of you may be saying, "But eggs are breakfast food." Others may be a little open-minded and see baked goods and brunch when they imagine eggs and what they could be. The greatest thinkers, adventurers, and kitchen savants have dared to crack eggs even after the sun has gone down. This is a story about just such a culinary conundrum.

My boyfriend and I arrived late at the lake cottage after a long day of work and activities in the city. Almost immediately we split up duties. We would both unload the car, I would deal with putting away the groceries and opening up the rest of the cottage and he would chop wood for kindling and be generally rather useful. Of course, as soon as I had opened up the front and come around to let him in, I realized that he was carrying every single bag and parcel all in one go. Oh dear me.

Setting ourselves to our other tasks, I unpacked everything into the fridge and onto the counter and then checked on the progress of the kindling. A little slower going in the dark, no doubt. I poured us each a glass of Chilean dessert wine - Noble Rotted Sauvignon Blanc... delicious - almost like syrupy cider. This gave me a bit more time to think as I looked through the fridge, familiarizing myself.

Next, I was on to the more pressing task of figuring out what we could eat at 11 at night. I quickly realized that I had forgotten my good knife in the city. I was bummed, but made do with the serrated set my family has out there. Oh, and in the rush to pack and leave town, I also forgot my camera with that super sweet macro lens. Once again, coming to the rescue, we used the camera on my boyfriend’s iPhone to capture the lightning fast meal that came together in the end.

Since I was cooking for two, I just figured out how much I could eat for myself and then added the same amount plus a little more for him. A 2-egg omelette is usually plenty when you factor in all the fillings, and whatever starch or sides you may choose to serve with it. I was incredibly grateful at this particular moment for the help of a really friendly produce guy at my local supermarket. For fillings I diced vine-ripened tomatoes, chopped fresh basil, garlic and shallots, crumbled goat feta, and finished with a few scattered toasted pine nuts.

I like to throw in a splash of milk to the beaten eggs. It makes the omelette a little fluffier. Don't forget to salt and pepper the raw egg mixture. I started with butter and began lightly browning half of the shallots, eventually adding half the garlic. Once the aromas started to mingle and fill the kitchen, I poured in an eyeballed half of the eggs. The first two ingredients will cook with the egg. Give it a good while to start to get hard from the bottom up. While the top of the eggs in the pan are still wet, crumble in the cheese. You want to put things in strategically so they cook and have time to melt and so on.
Then I added the tomatoes and fresh herbs. To make sure the flip goes well, I move the pan around the flame to get the one side set pretty well through. Then it’s all or nothing. I chose the technique of willing the eggs not to fall apart and that seemed to work pretty well. I think it’s all about confidence. The food was hot and fresh and made in about 30 minutes. I topped it at the end with some toasted pine nuts. Do try this at home. The possibilities are endless once you nail the technique and get a feel for them.

Ode to the Safeway guy

2010-07-21T10:43:00.000-07:00

I think it’s very important to enjoy your job. Whatever you do, whether its sorting used romance novels by sub-genre or pulling weeds or making pottery, if you’re not content to do that work then this unhappiness will not only manifest elsewhere in your life, but it will osmotically infiltrate others around you. Case in point: there have been times at the grocery store when I have found stock-people so unhelpful that I imagine I would have been better off wandering around aimlessly for twice as long. Or, to the contrary, let me describe an encounter I had recently with someone from the produce department at my local supermarket.

I was greeted by two gentlemen unloading crates of long English cucumbers. I began my lap around the perimeter of the store with the sweet peppers and kept my eyes peeled for what veggies were on special. I browsed through crates of melons, carrots, broccoli, and lemons, stopping here and there for mushrooms, spinach, purple onion, and garlic. When I made my way to the (over priced, though at times necessary) fresh herb section I was dismayed to find that all the fresh basil was sold out. I didn’t despair though, and instead went over to one of the stock guys who now was rearranging bags of pre-washed lettuces. I explained the state of the empty hook where the basil ought to have been and he quickly disappeared through the double swinging double doors in search of more. When he returned his hands were full of bright new basil and he flipped through all the packages looking for the best ones for me.

As I thanked him and walked away, he asked what I was cooking and I told him that eventually all these ingredients would be pizza. He asked if he could have some and I said I’d think about it. Before he went back to his lettuces, he pointed out the vine ripened tomatoes, “On sale, and ready to eat” he said. They were certainly both of those things. Dinner was omelette with finely minced garlic and shallots, basil, feta, and diced tomatoes. I would just like to say thanks to that awesome produce guy. It doesn’t take much to step up for your customers, and his thoughtfulness resulted in a broad smile across my face as I made my way over to the baking aisle.

hey there sports fans

2010-07-11T12:17:00.000-07:00

Who likes lazy summer Sundays? I know I do...

Today I plan to read the newspaper, write, eat food from the market prepared for me with love, hang out in a hammock, and then I'm going to go to the Eskimos-Alouettes football game around 5.

FYI - breakfast is scrambled eggs with mushrooms, onions, and feta cheese, fresh berries, a sweet purple pepper from the farmer's market (!), and green tea with honey. Brought to me in bed. Sigh.

I'll watch the sun set across the field into the stands on the other side of Commonwealth Stadium. They'll be packed with fans tonight, this game is quite a big match up. We'll probably grab bison burgers and old popcorn at the game.

And if it's warm enough and we feel like spending a silly amount of money for just-okay beer, we just might have a few of those too.

What do you like to eat on lazy Sundays? Or at football games? Or, for that matter, any sporting event? It's summer, we're a darn northerly place, and the summer won't last that long. Tell me your favourite summer foods. Let's record them so we can remember this time and how great things taste in season.

lonely lake cooking

2010-07-07T11:47:00.000-07:00

I went out to the lake last week, all by my lonesome. My boyfriend came in and out in the evenings as he was still working. I have strange hours with my two jobs and often find my weekends come in the form of a Tuesday-Wednesday combo. Since I have those days free, and for once had not committed myself to about twelve other activities, I thought it would be nice to get away from everything.

The noise and the distractions of the city were a faint memory as soon as we made the turnoff from Highway 16 onto Culmac Road. Our family cottage is on Wabamun Lake at a secluded end in a little summer village called Seba Beach. On the weekend, I wake at 8 a.m. to the sound of jet skis and shrieking children. But on this very fine Wednesday morning, the only sound we heard as we rolled out of bed around 10 a.m. was the lapping water and the distant rumbling of thunder.

As it turned out it was a rather rainy couple of days. We made a spectacular brunchy feast of grilled turkey sausages, scrambled eggs with tomatoes, green onion, and crumbled feta cheese, blackberry yogurt, cottage cheese, berry smoothie, and coffee. After getting the kitchen straightened up again, my boyfriend had to go back into the city for work. Before leaving, though, he made sure I had plenty of wood stacked next to the fireplace (what a dear) and more coffee brewing.

That afternoon I wrote by the fire and hoped the rain would pass so I could get outside to catch some sun. My mother and sisters are much more successful tanners, but it's not for lack of trying that I don't ever get much colour. My Eastern-European skin seems somewhat impervious to the deliciously carcinogenic rays and I remain more peaches and cream than olive toned all year round.

In any case, the rain did subside late in the afternoon and I sat out on the deck for a while, continuing my writing and shutting my eyes for a spell. In my dreams, I catalogued the contents of the fridge and pantry and devised a delicious dinner for two that would feed my dear and me that night. You will be proud to know, dear readers, that in firing up the grill I avoided any singing or hair loss of any kind, contrary to what you might imagine. I have a touch of clumsy in me, and small fires are just par for the course in my kitchen.

No, there were no accidents to speak of during the preparation of this meal. The only accident was my camera's batteries dying just as I was putting the food on the grill. So unfortunately, you'll have to just imagine what the finished products looked like. Suffice it to say that they were delicious. I ate mine all by my lonesome, working hard on the bottle of Quail's Gate Chenin Blanc, 2009, that I had picked to pair with the grilled vegetables. The wine was an excellent match - mineral, slightly citrus, and enough acidity to withstand the blossom aroma that carried through to the finish. A nice alternative to the sweeter Riesling I had intended on picking up.

Early summer grilled vegetables and green salad

Portabella mushrooms:
Scrape out the black fins that run along the underside of the cap. Discard these.
Combine in a bowl:
Chopped – sun dried tomatoes in oil
Cremini or white button mushrooms, peeled
Roma tomatoes

Add about 2 Tbsp of olive oil. Stir to combine.

Mince two cloves of garlic, adding 1 tsp of salt as you chop. Add to tomato mushroom mixture.

Salt and pepper to taste.

Spoon mixture into waiting mushroom caps. Refrigerate for up to 1 hour. Grill on medium to high heat for 5-10 minutes. Turn for grill marks on the cap top and to ensure even cooking.
Grilled asparagus from Edgar’s Farm, Lacombe Alberta
After washing the asparagus, snap off the bottoms of each stalk. Don’t worry about losing too much of the asparagus. The stalks naturally break where they start to get woody. You’ll be left with the best part of the asparagus and no guesswork as to whether or not you’re cooking tough stuff or not.

Marinade – Quail’s Gate Chenin Blanc, olive oil, fresh lemon juice, dried oregano, maple syrup, dash of salt.

After you put the mushroom caps on the grill directly against the heat, place your asparagus down and just keep your eye on it. Rotate and flip it so that it cooks evenly, and watch so the tops don’t flare up and burn. The marinade will drip down onto the mushrooms as well, adding to the flavour of the other dish. If they finish early, just put them aside on the unlit half of the grill. They’ll stay hot but won’t keep cooking.

Serve on a bed of saffron infused couscous or basmati rice. Pair with a simple green salad – whatever is fresh or you have on hand. If you stay seasonal or go with a few solid faves for your go to salad, it's pretty much going to work. I used butter lettuce, cucumber, tomato, avocado, and crumbled feta cheese drizzled with olive oil and balsamic vinegar

Red grapes for dessert.

what do you mean it's summer? it's started already? cool, let's have a picnic!

2010-07-03T08:49:00.000-07:00

I swear, no one told me. I've spent so many back-to-back summers away, either in Ontario, Quebec, or Italy that I've forgotten what it feels like to experience an Edmonton spring followed immediately what I'm beginning to remember as Edmonton summer. I am guilty of falling victim to the intoxicating wafts of fresh blossoms and then greedily planting a garden before the Victoria Day long weekend. I also took a holiday in New York and didn't tend to my garden, as I should have in the days leading up to my trip. I was working extra hours at two jobs, training at one of them, and preoccupied with other writing I've been working on. So of course, bad things happened to the garden while I was away and shortly after my return. But I'm getting sidetracked. I'll tell you those stories in the next instalment of "planting a garden". The point is, I haven't written in a while nor have I been cooking, and so I must retrain myself to get back to those things, and to you, dear, loyal readers.
All right, yes, New York. It certainly felt like summer as soon as I got off the plane. The mercury did not dip below 30 degrees any day that we were there. At nights it cooled down slightly to around 25. That being said, it was rather difficult to maintain a high energy level to go go go the whole time. The vacation was a great deal about leisure, so we took our time. We loved choosing restaurants as it meant pouring over their online menus and dreaming of what kind of night might follow a meal at each place. Rarely did I find myself eating the entire meal (which was always at least twice as much as I could eat), but I didn't sweat it. One night we actually gave our leftover curry and rice to a homeless man on the way back to the hotel. Also, the heat made me realize that making sure we saw the 5 or 6 galleries, 2 museums, not to mention all the shopping,
Crab cakes and cucumber salad on the patio grill at the Boathouse in
Central Park
theatring, and fine dining as we could - not so realistic. There were a number of delightful food moments and memories, too many to share them all with you.

Some of the brightest food highlights (indeed in the darkest
places) I've captured with my Nikon D40. I've got a good old lens, but she's a bit broken and needs to be fixed. She kept conking out on me, so I was very happy to have had my friend's macro lens on loan for the trip. I've been playing around with that a lot since coming home and starting to cook again (!) I welcome your input and suggestions on updating my lens for my DSLR. I am thinking right now that I'll just send the warranteed lens away and pick up a well-made low price range macro lens too.

Wild blackberries that I noticed were growing on an island on the lake
in Central Park. I don't think the birds, ducks, and turtles will miss
these few we nabbed.

I want to tell you about this one meal I had though... I was given loads of advice and suggestions for where to eat and what to do while in New York. Thank everyone who offered me his or her precious info. One suggestion that I am particularly thankful for was from my sister who used to live in New York. Based on her recommendation I took my companion and another friend who now lives in New York down to Chelsea and we ate at August on Bleecker. It would be easy to walk right by it. In fact, our cab driver wouldn't pull over right away. Peering through the big front window, the restaurant appeared to be empty. I trusted my sister, though, so in we went. A shiny, hot wood-burning oven with endless piles of orange glowing coals was obviously the first thing I was drawn to. Soon after I looked around I heard laughter and tickling glasses coming from somewhere further into the restaurant. The sommelier (and I assume also an owner or manager) greeted us and took us through the narrow restaurant into the glass-roofed patio in the back. Large plants hung down and lights were suspended across the courtyard-like space.
The dinner menu was small, but the food was divine and wine list was sensational. Our sommelier friend came over when we asked our server a rather odd question. My friend likes Pino Grigio and I made the assumption that something called Fie Gris would be rather similar. Our server hadn't tried this bottle, so she called in backup. The sommelier began to describe the wine without seeming to be able to put his finger on just what it was like or could be compared to. He called it "rich", and kept repeating that characteristic over and over. "It's a bit citrusy, yeah, but it's just so... rich." It's indescribable, but he was exactly right. Not quite like anything I have tried before, but deliciously rich without being buttery and still with lots of nice fruit and blossoms. I must write to them and find out the exact name of the bottle. In all the deliciousness I plum forgot to write it down...
We also enjoyed some wonderful oysters from Saddle Rock, Long Island. Don't believe that old hoohah about only eating oysters in months that have an R in them. This dates back to a time when we had poor refrigeration. Besides, these were harvested not too far from where I was dining, even better!
I thought when I ordered the salad with arugula and lamb's quarters that I would be getting something with pieces of lamb meat... yeah, lamb's quarters are actually wild spinach, I have learned. It was still delicious, but because I had imagined some incredibly rich, heavy salad course, I was actually a little disappointed. The chefs at August made up to me, though with the stunning main course that was created as the nightly special. It was a sea bream grilled and served with fresh microgreens and tarragon in a light cream sauce strongly flavour with lemon. The brine from happy little green olives commingled with the sauce and the natural smoky flavour and oils from the grilled fish. It was rustic, inventive, and incredibly satisfying. I ate a whole fish. Minus the head and the eyes, which I secretly kind of want to try.

My dining companions each got one of the pizzas that were on special that night. Every sunday they have a pizza and beer deal. Something involving a bucket of beer, it actually looked pretty cool. My friends gave mixed reviews to their main courses. The one who eats meat said his was fantastic. I tasted some and it was pretty damn good. Lots of good quality Italian cured meats crumbled over a wood fired pizza crust with lots of fresh mozzarella. The one who is a vegetarian said her pizza had too much going on and it certainly looked that way to me - peppers, greens, and fava beans all sort of thrown "rustically" onto the crust without all concern for the mixture of textures and flavours.

We finished the meal with a couple of desserts which we all sort of shared. My veggie friend and I shared the hot rhubarb crumble with black pepper ice cream on top and the carnivore had a trio of gelato. We all had a contentedly (almost uncomfortably) full walk down to Union Square and after one more cold drink in the hot heat, headed back into a cab, uptown, and into the night.

planting a vegetable garden - stage 2

2010-06-14T08:36:00.000-07:00

It has been a rainy couple of weeks. Living on the drought-ridden prairies, this ought to have been a great thing. But it has meant that I have yet to put any tomato plants in. They need a lot of sun and heat and I figured that all the water would just drown them. So I am now going to have to wait until I get back from New York next week. Hopefully July and August will be enough time for them to get settled into the garden and start producing fruit.

In the meantime, the things I did get in the ground before Victoria Day weekend are doing very well. To begin with, the sugar snap peas are exceeding my wildest dreams and have just shot up. They are already tall enough to reach the trellis. Indeed, my concern for their safety has been mounting as I've spied several fearless jackrabbits puttering around the yard. The last thing I want is for them to discover the veritable salad bar that is my little vegetable garden.

So the other night I got down to business and built a little more protection for my peas. The trouble is, I'm not particularly handy, and even though I was working with bamboo garden rods and green garden netting, it was still a project and a half to construct.
For one thing, I kept getting tangled up in the netting. Another trouble was I didn't have any garden tape; so fixing everything together was a challenge. Eventually I figured it all out and now, I hope that the peas have a safe home to continue to grow and eventually bear lots of sweet pods.

I also discovered that all is not lost with the scarlet runner beans on the other trellis. There are three (yes three!) little shoots that have started to come up. As soon as I saw them my chest puffed up with pride and I went over to beam at my little bean sprouts. They are going to be beautiful when they grow up.

I hope there are lots of bright red flowers and that they bloom after the lilacs have all come and gone. Right now the scent of these lilac bushes under the front windows wafts all the way up to my bedroom window. As you approach my front door, you are immediately undone by them. They are intoxicating. Lilacs are magnificent flowers. When mine are in full bloom, the colour is so intense that they seem to be blooming just for the world to know what lilacs ought to look and smell like.

Salad greens continue to grow slowly. They get quite a bit of shade from the big stupid air conditioning unit that sits in the middle of the garden. Some day that thing will get moved and then there will be so much room to grow things here. In the meantime, the butter crunch lettuce is coming along nicely. I will have to thin them out soon, but I want to wait to see which ones are the strongest. The arugula may have been discovered. I feel like there are less little green guys here than last week. Maybe all the rain and then the one intense day of sun burned them up.

I think the slow bolt cilantro is starting to come up in the back herb box. The tulips are mostly done blooming, except for a few remarkable crimson ones I planted last fall. I want more of them and more white ones for next spring.

strawberry shortcake!!!!!!!!!!!

2010-05-31T13:40:00.000-07:00

My Zaida's favourite dessert is strawberry shortcake. My mom used to make it occasionally when she had my grandparents and other family over for dinner. Sort of. Her version of strawberry shortcake, though not exactly loyal to the true definition, was a delicious pile of thickly sliced Sara Lee frozen pound cake with sliced strawberries and vanilla and icing sugar sweetened whipped cream. All my life I grew up thinking this was all there was to it. Deep down, though, I knew... I knew there must be a whole other world to shortcake that delved deeper into the realm of the "made from scratch".
Don't get me wrong. I love Sara Lee pound cake. It's convenient, can be served almost directly out of the freezer, and can be modified in a myriad ways for all kinds of desserts. But once I did a little digging, I found out exactly what I had been missing all those years, and learned precisely why strawberry shortcake is my Zaida's very favourite.
A friend of mine clued me in to Recipezaar, a user supported site where readers can submit recipes, rate others they have used, and offer suggestions and modifiers. My friend suggested that I search the recipe I was looking for and then scan the results for ones that had high ratings and had been tried lots of times. The one I found was for "Old Fashioned Strawberry Shortcake". It's a very simple recipe that can be whipped out (*pun intended) in relatively little time. I learned why it's called shortcake. A few basic ingredients and some handmade love and you'll be enjoy a beautiful classic dessert in no time at all.
Make sure you've got plenty of strawberries. I ate quite a few as I baked and it would have been quite sad if I didn't have enough to make the pretty border on top at the very end. I prepared everything in the afternoon and then went out to run some errands. I was able to quickly assemble it at the end of dinner and after some minor spillage (my kitchen is on a slant and a bunch of the strawberry juice went running off the bottom layer, down the side of the plate and onto the table), the cake was brought out to applause and birthday singing.
The coolest part, in my opinion, is the way the actual cake is made, before any of the assembly happens. Work flour, salt, baking powder, and butter together with your hands until it resembles a coarse meal. Form the meal into a dough ball and divide it in half. Roll each half out into a round shape the size of a spring form pan. Butter the pan and drop one of the rounds into it. Brush the top with melted butter. Place the second round directly on top of the first. Bake the two together and when they come out and cool a bit, you can take them apart and set them aside to assemble the layers. I was so excited and in a bit of a rush (with floury, buttery fingers) and so I didn't get process shots of this part, but the baker who uploaded the recipe took some great ones.

*** Caption Contest***
"Please... no more cake... it's just too delicious"

planting a vegetable garden - stage 1

2010-05-18T11:29:00.000-07:00

Today I planted seeds in the garden beds around my house. I did some preliminary reading in a book I picked up out east. It's called Starter Vegetable Gardens: 24 No-Fail Plans for Small Organic Gardens. Though I didn't copy author Barbara Pleasant's garden plans precisely, there is a great deal of valuable information and useful tips to starting small but thinking long term about the use of your garden space. With lots of useful diagrams and beautiful garden photography, this book is a valuable addition to my food library.

Most of my edible plants were planted on the south side to maximize sun exposure. Tomatoes are especially fond of direct sun and heat. I'm waiting on leads for heirloom seedlings to put in after the long weekend. If you know of any nurseries nearby I would gladly promote them on my blog. I will check out the downtown farmer's market as soon as I have a work-free Saturday morning.

Other things I planted:

Lettuces risk burning their leaves if droplets remain on them as the sun comes overhead. They need a bit of morning shade. I planted Boston butter crunch and arugula behind the shade of our big stupid air conditioner and have already resown once.
Along a trellis in the yard I started sugar snap peas a week ago and then planted scarlet runner beans today. My strawberry plants took a licking from the unexpectedly hot temperatures and my ineptitude at getting outside to keep them hydrated. Some made it and I'll pay extra close attention to them, I promise. My dad replanted his rosemary plants outside after a long winter on the kitchen windowsill. They are hardy mamma jammas and I think will do even better now that they have all the extra sun and fresh air.

Around the back of the house there is a large box planter that I visited last fall with an abundance of tulip bulbs. I seem to have only used one side of the bed though, and now it is home to my little herb garden. Today I planted Genovese basil, slow-bold cilantro, Greek oregano, and garlic chives. The chives have incredibly aromatic purple flowers when they go to seed. I don't know if the oregano will mature this year. It might do better next summer, but the seeds are in the ground at least. I am very excited for the basil. This varietal produces big sweet leaves that make amazing pesto if your crop does well. I think I want to pick up some mint and sage too. There is a bit of room yet in the box and the tulips wont mind.

I'll keep you posted on whatever comes up and any more additions I make to the garden. Maybe some nightshades... or some sunflowers. In the meantime, get out and enjoy the sunshine!

tasty treats on the terrace at Two Rooms

2010-05-17T13:52:00.000-07:00

I was on Whyte Avenue today, looking for a nice place to take a friend for lunch. She's a north side-er and not used to going out to eat, so the job of choosing a place fell to me. I will admit, the choice was largely contingent on wherever I was able to find parking.

Luckily for us both, there was a spot right in front of Two Rooms Cafe. Located in a beautiful old heritage building on Whyte and 103rd Street, the cafe has a small interior - 5 or 6 tables - with an open kitchen and a pretty, atmospheric waterfall.

The real beauty of this spot, though, is the patio seating outside. Looking out at the legendary Princess Theatre and the (in)famous Commercial Hotel and Blues on Whyte, my friend and I had prime people-watching views in either direction of the avenue. The heat was sweltering but we were safe under the shade of Two Rooms' broad umbrellas.

Our server was friendly and helpful. She came out right away with ice water for us both and when I couldn't decide between the grilled portabella mushroom or the prosciutto panini, she was quick to offer advice and informed me that the mushroom sandwich was, in fact, her favourite on the small but creative menu. My grilled sandwich was fresh and prepared with lettuce, tomato, feta cheese, and avocado spread. My friend had the grilled chicken sandwich that came on fresh multigrain bread. We both chose the house salad on the side, which came with romaine lettuce, tomatoes, cucumbers, roasted red peppers, shredded carrots, and a house-made buttermilk herb vinaigrette served on the side.

When I went inside to pay I got a good look at their dessert case and was tempted by a sumptuous looking lemon poppy seed thingy. Turned out it was lemon poppy seed cheesecake, topped with local honey. I got a slice to go and brought it over to some friends who live in the neighbourhood. They were spending their afternoon of sunshine sorting a year's worth of bottles and cans and I figured they could use a little something sweet.

All told, the beaming sun shone down on me on my encounter with Two Rooms. While I was pouring over the dessert case I also noticed that it was lined with a very decent assortment of local, microbrewed, and imported beers. I will have to come back to incorporate them into my next sunny day on the patio at Two Rooms.

montreal delights

2010-05-11T10:02:00.001-07:00

Montreal. It evokes in my mind a city of light, of culture, and most certainly of some of the best food in North America. The most common refrain of its utterly European style and lifestyle makes you feel like you are in a place where everyone is zigging in a country where people are known for zagging. Montreal is groovy. It's old and up late and may boast some of the best ethnic food in Canada. Even its high-end designer, haute cuisine establishments are serving up artistic creations topped with infused foams and strange and exciting fungi.
Montreal, not unlike Toronto in this respect, strikes me as one of the brunchiest towns I've ever had the pleasure of dining in. Very good eggs and toast places with charm and character pop up all over the place. Visiting this city with sisters as my guides, I have eaten some very yummy late-morning-breakfast-lingering-into-long-afternoon-coffee-and-walking-around meals. This time I returned to L'Anecdote on Rachel and Saint-Hubert. The inside of it is deceptively large. The front area is very retro and has big cosy red leather booths with wide windows that look out onto Saint-Hubert. Further back bigger tables are available for larger groups. In the front, dessert and chrome sparkle to greet the new customers.
An old friend from art history met me by the Sherbrook metro and we walked over together. The trouble is, we got so wound up in visiting and coffee that I sort of forgot to take a before shot. This is what was left of a very large and tasty diner breakfast. Delicious.

Then we continued strolling and ended up on a mission for beer. My friend was about to move and the occasion definitely called for a couple cold ones. We discovered a very interesting deppanneur on Duluth. Lots of locally microbrewed beers at a very good price with mix and match deals. Ultimately, we found a very pretty little spot to get ice cream on Saint Denis called Au Festin de Babette. He had orange chocolate and I had pistachio.
Later in the afternoon, I met two of my very best friends at the bus terminal, down the street from my sister's apartment where I had been staying. We wrapped our arms around each other, said a quick hello while they freshened up back at my sister's, and we were back out on Saint Denis. We stopped for a quick bite and a slice of pie at Rockaberry (mocha tiramisu, which we saved for later) and then shopped the afternoon sun away. As it set we headed to our hotel, The Queen Elizabeth, and checked it. After another quick recharge, we returned to the Plateau where my fabulous sister was waiting to join us for dinner at one of my favourite restaurants in Montreal.
Just a short walk down Saint Denis from my sister's house is Chuch, a vegan Thai restaurant with the most remarkable fake meat I've ever eaten. The textures are so real and the sauces are so flavourful that I enjoy it as much if not more so that non-vegan Thai food. The four of us went crazy. Though there was only one vegetarian among us, I would describe the lot of us as more or less flexitarian. The vegetable dumplings went so fast I didn't get a chance to take a picture of them. When the rest of the food arrived, I was sure to keep my wits about me before having at it like the lost boys in Hook.
We each chose a non-meat or a sauce that sounded scrumptious and got a few helpings of rice to round things off. My sister was incredibly helpful in recommending her favourite dishes, and I usually take my cue from experts when they know more than me in a resto. The four of us shared Chicken in red and green curries, Beef in three sauces, and duck with deliciously guilt free crispy skin.We shared two bottles of white wine - a Gewurztraminer than needed to be way more chilled than it was, but was still quite promising - and a Pinot Grigio.
At this point in the story I should probably tell you that I was in Montreal celebrating my birthday... that officially began at midnight and was rung in with mocha tiramisu pie for the birthday cake. Sorry dear readers, that I have no picture of that magical moment either. But I can tell you that when the three of us friends woke up in out big comfy beds in the Queen E the next morning, and before we checked out and left town, we said goodbye to Montreal in style, with room service.

alive alive oh

2010-04-28T08:29:00.000-07:00

I really think I get it now... the draw of the Maritimes. I had an inkling before, having visited Ireland and listening to stories of Newfie friends and my Halifax sister. But there is something in the morning mist, the salty air, and the pre-Confederation vibe that draws you in. I've fallen in love with the east coast and I'll long for it until I can return again.

On Saturday we woke up and had breakfast (more pancakes!) and then headed down to the Saturday farmer's market. This market had been talked up for weeks and I looked forward to comparing it to the other markets I've known and loved. I arranged to walk over with my host and his friend and meet my sister's roommates there. Of course we were running late and so when I did arrive I alerted the roommates of my presence with a one-word text indicating my whereabouts, "ukulele." The girls found me in no time.

There is a bit of controversy at the moment as various levels of government as well as stakeholders of the farmer's market have consorted to develop a new building down at the waterfront that will soon house the farmer's market all week long, all year round, bringing an end to the wickedly cool twisting, turning market in its current location at the Alexander Keith's brewery. The thing we most love about this place is, no doubt, its unexpected levels, its iron stone walls slowly rusting over a century, and arches that give way to wide open, glassed in courtyards.

Everyone in Halifax, at least those who regularly attend the Saturday market, seems to take pride in their knowledge of the vendors and the geography of the labyrinthine food and craft bazaar. Such conversations as "Oh yes, the honey lady... yeah, she's right by the lavender salt guy and the ice cream people... No, not those ice cream people, the ones just past the really good bread place." I can't say I blame them for losing this familiar established order. In an ever-changing world there is comfort in consistency.

Regardless, change is a given and change will always come. For Halifax, the new market venue will reflect the changing trends in energy consumption and our new, hip propensity to buy local, hopefully benefiting market vendors and Haligonians alike. Designs for the waterfront market include wind power, geothermal storage, rainwater conservation and solar collection, rooftop agriculture and coastal habitat space, and a more navigatable floor plan. The benefit of a daily market will undoubtedly appear on restaurant menus all over town, as well as in kitchens and picnic baskets on both sides of the harbour.

Leaving this local dispute aside, may I just say how thoroughly delighted I was by my time at the Saturday market. Wandering down to the lowest level, I stopped to buy some lobster-shaped maple fudge, and then followed my in-the-know guides to the oyster man. Breakfast oysters... amazing. I had two. I could have had a dozen. And probably should have, since they were only a dollar. A dollar! Some of the freshest oysters I've ever slurped. Everyone around me squirted lemon juice and Tabasco, but not me. Give it to me straight, I say. I made some joke about how where I come from all we have is prairie oysters, and when the man asked if I had ever tried them and I said no, I feel some of my plain oyster-slurping cred was erased. Oh well.

We also picked up some beet greens (should be called reds in my opinion), brioche, and double smoked bacon for a scallop cream sauce for dinner. I was advised to take a chance on a bottle of Jost Eagle Tree Muscat, 2009, a silver medal winner at the All-Canadian Wine Championships. It was a nice counterpoint to the creamy, smoky pasta dish and a joy to sip as I reflected on my wholly Nova Scotian dining experience.

happy as a clam

2010-04-24T11:11:00.000-07:00

Welcome to Halifax, where the people are friendly, the beer is flowing, and the seafood is so fresh it jumps into your mouth.

I arrived yesterday afternoon after a long day of flying. A rush-hour meander through Dartmouth and I was at my friend's door. She lives above a delicious smelling Chinese restaurant on Quinpool. After a happy dance in the kitchen and a hot cup of tea we were out on the street, catching up and meandering towards the Common to sit out in the sunshine.

The evening was rounded out with dinner and drinks in a pub downtown - The Old Triangle. The food was not exactly legendary, but it was most definitely a good start to the seafood bonanza that I hope this town has in store for me. We started with mussels in a white wine and lemon juice broth - Mussels Molly Malone. Then there were the bacon wrapped scallops. They pronounce them scawlups here, and I was corrected early on, certain not to make this mistake again while I am here.
I could definitely have had another 4 orders of those scallops though...

There was also an oven baked Haddock Au Gratin which was an interesting dish - flaky white fish and mashed potatoes in a cream sauce, dredged in melted cheese - methinks I found a new maritimey comfort food which might reappear in my own kitchen sometime soon.
The seafood chowder left much to be desired, though, with mostly fish and potatoes as the leading characters and nary a scallop or shrimp in sight.
Not exactly a spectacular meal, but hey, I only just arrived.

Tonight, on the other hand, was a meal that will go down in history as The Night We Ate Five Pounds of Mussels.

I learned how to clean the mussels properly, wedging them open from the back joint and loosening the mussel away from the shell to ensure it cooks evenly. My hand was a little tender after preparing so many mussels, but as they say, many hands make light work and before long all five pounds were boiling away on the stove in a pot of salted water. In the meantime we chopped about 2 cups of curly parsley and minced six cloves of garlic and added them to a cup of melted butter and let it simmer together as the mussels cooked. After about five minutes at a rapid boil the mussels had turned yellow with an orange-ish tinge and we knew they were done.

My friend Sam and I sat ourselves down at the table with the mussel mountain in front of us and got right down to business. We actually ate them all, with sourdough baguette to soak up all the leftover sauce. When the butter mixture commingles with the salty briny juice of the shellfish some sort of magic occurs. Everything was washed down with a lovely Italian white that was cool, crisp and mineral with a lingering acidity that balanced the buttery mussels quite perfectly.

I’ve only been here two days and I have yet to meet a meal I did not like. Pancakes for breakfast every morning too… I really could just stay… more soon.

sunshiney shout outs

2010-04-08T00:53:00.000-07:00

Stephanie Eddy, The Clockwork Lemon
She’s clever, creative, and incredibly talented. Plus, she’s my very dear old friend. So read her stuff and get yourself some delectable ideas too.

My sister, Leah – for inventing the most hilarious new fortune cookie game – before you open your cookie, you choose a member of the Edmonton Oilers franchise and then your fortune actually becomes their fortune

The good folks at Allegro, downtown – for being delicious. http://www.allegroitaliankitchen.ca/
Go here for very well made, fine-dining style Italian food in a modern yet cosy, convenient location. Lots of parking on the street after 6, huge portions, and very fresh ingredients make this less-than-new Italian eatery a consistent top choice for pasta and meat entrees. They’ve got a private room that I wouldn’t mind renting out for a great private dinner party. Anyone interested? Just give me a reason…

Keep your eyes peeled for some new looks on here – soon you’ll be spotting my shmancy new designs on the website and on the streets of Edmonton. But you’ll have to know where to look. If you spot my advertisements, take a cell phone photo and send it to me. This will be a fun new game. I anticipate it going positively viral in no time at all.

Also to watch for – some beautiful hand drawings courtesy of one Jill Stanton. This gal happens to be one of Edmonton’s finest printmakers and emerging graphic novelists. Her work is superb and you will find her at the upcoming Royal Bison Art and Craft Fair.

the joy of recipe swapping

2010-04-07T22:33:00.000-07:00

I believe you already know how amazing Cook's Illustrated Magazine is. I believe you do because I told you so. If you do not, flip back and check out my other ravings about them. The April 2010 edition is, of course, my latest literary treat in culinary publications. The cover of this magazine is always so scintillating and inspiring. This month features some steamy, sexy broccoli. I suggest you pick it up and salivate over the delicious contents within its pages some time very soon.

One particular recipe that I've been meaning to try since I first read about it is their Better Pan-Seared Chicken Breasts. As always, the author goes through several trials to perfect the dish and make it easy for readers and home cooks to replicate with flawless results. I'm telling you, this magazine rocks. No recipe from it has ever failed me. The dish was simple to prepare. It required few ingredients, many of which I already had on hand like flour, butter, and fresh lemons. The things I had to go out for, like boneless, skinless chicken breasts, and shallots, were easy enough to find at any supermarket or grocery store.

4 boneless, skinless chicken breats (6-8 ounces each), trimmed of excess fat
2 Tbsp kosher salt or 1 tsp table salt
1 Tbsp vegetable oil
2 Tbsp melted unsalted butter
1 Tbsp all-purpose flour
1 tsp corn starch
1/2 tsp ground black pepper
1 recipe pan sauce ( recipe follows)

1. Preheat oven to 275 degrees. Using fork, poke thickest half of each breast 5 or 6 times; evenly sprinkle each breast with 1/2 tsp salt or 1/4 table salt. Place chicken, skinned side down, in 13 by 9 inch baking dish and cover tightly with goil. Bake until thickest part of breast registers 145 to 150 degrees - 30 to 40 minutes

2. Remove chicken from oven and transfer, skinned side up, to paper towel-lined plate and pat dry with paper towels. Heat oil in skillet over medium-high heat until smoking. While pan is heating, whisk butter, flour, cornstarch, and pepper together in small bowl. Lightly brush top side of chicken with half of butter mixture. Place chicken in skillet, coated side down, and cook until browned, 3-4 minutes. While chicken browns, brush with the remaining butter mixture. Using tongs, flip chicken, reduce heat to medium, and cook until second side is browned and thickest part of breast reads 160 degrees on thermometer, 3 to 4 minutes. Transfer chicken to large plate and let rest while preparing pan sauce.

Lemon and Chive Pan sauce
1 medium shallot, minced, about 3 Tbsp
1 tsp all-purpose flour
1 C low-sodium chicken broth
1 Tbsp juice from 1 lemon
1 Tbsp fresh chives
1 Tbsp unsalted butter, chilled
salt and pepper to taste

Add shallot to now-empty skillet and cook over medium heat until softened, about 2 minutes. Add flour and cook, stirring constantly, 30 seconds. Add broth, increase heat to medium-high, and bring to a simmer, scraping pan bottom to loosen browned bits. Simmer rapidly until reduced to 3/4 C, 3 to 5 minutes. Stir in any accumulated chicken juices; return to simmer and cook 30 seconds. Off heat, whisk in lemon juice, chives, and butter; season with salt and pepper. Spoon over chicken and serve immediately.

Et voila!

Just as the author had promised, the meat came out juicy and flavourful, with a fantastic crust from the quick pan-sear. What's even better, I did not have to fool around with it as it pre-cooked in a sealed roasting pan in the oven. As that happened, I prepared the ingredients for the sauce, helped my sister make an amazing shredded beet and mint salad, and sipped wine and hung out with my visiting family.

One or two people have already tried this recipe, based on my recommendation, and I suggest you do the same. But truly, do yourself a favour, and pick up the whole magazine. There are plenty of other wonderful recipes and tips that I can't wait to try out. Best Chewy Brownies, anyone?

One friend who made this recipe for her boyfriend tonight has offered to trade me for a tuna tartar recipe. It involves infusing olive oil with ginger. I'm very excited.
Say, I have an idea. Pick a friend (this friend could certainly be me if you choose) and arrange to swap recipes. Use something tried and tested; your go-to recipe for chocolate chip cookies, or lasagne, or apple muffins, or whatever. Let's help each other be better, healthier, more adventurous cooks!

Creations creates sensation explosion!

2010-03-27T00:14:00.000-07:00

Well, that was just wonderful. One of the most delightful nights out I've had in ages, in fact. Creations Dining Room and Lounge is attached to the new Sawridge Inn Edmonton South, where the old Holiday Inn used to be. Boy, have things changed.

The buzz I had heard came mostly from a friend who is deeply connected in Edmonton's food scene. She has her fingers in many culinary pies and invited me to come see first hand what the buzz was about. So, like the busy bees we are, we made an early reservation, dinner for three at 6 o’clock. My sister came along to share (more opportunities to order different things off the menu) and to indulge in some much-needed sister time.

After being seated in our cosy booth, we were delighted to learn that they have a wine promotion to die for. As part of their so-called "Toast to the Frugal Gourmet" all wines listed are priced at $20 above their wholesale value. The wine list is a delight unto itself. With many offerings from Canada - mostly Okanogan but some good Niagara showings too, the list goes through each varietal with a quick and dirty profile of each grape and what diners may consider pairing their choice with from the elaborate menu.

While we sipped on our Creations Caesars, done up with ginger vodka and crushed ice, we perused the vast menu of foods and wines on offer, eventually settling on a bottle of Sumac Ridge Gewürztraminer, 2007, to accompany the many seafood and fish options that swam contentedly across our eyes as we glanced over appetizers, salads, and main dishes. There were also several kinds of wine being sold by the glass ranging from around $6-9, though mostly around $7.

Our server was helpful in selecting our dinner choices since we were torn in so many directions. Everything looked so good. All quite reasonably priced too, which didn't help in the elimination dance that was ordering. One thing he did recommend that I was not particularly fond of was the spinach and crab dip. Strange consistency, stringy bits of spinach, and a disappointing lack of cheesiness made this one choice a bit of a flop for us. Despite this, the dish was still flavourful and presented with lots of different yummy bread-ish things for dipping. The other appetizer we devoured devilishly was the elk sausage and wild mushroom flatbread (squeal). A perfect amount of toppings, very fresh and soft flatbread, this dish was balanced out beautifully with caramelized onions and some nicely selected herbs.

We wanted to try a salad too, and were given the option of either a petite or an entree-sized portion (applies to all salads). We couldn't decide between the seared tuna and avocado salad with fennel dressing or the tempura chicken and pecan salad, settling finally on a petite of the former. This dish was an excellent size for an appetizer portion, and with all the other things coming, we were happy to share it three ways. The fennel seed vinaigrette really brought out the flavour of the seared tuna, which had been marinated first with fennel and orange.

Before our mains arrived we decided to switch to a lighter red to accompany them. The Creations chefs have done a wonderful job on a menu that truly reflects the Canadian culinary tradition without boasting about having done so. Lots of west-coast influences could be found in ingredients like the shrimp, crab, tuna, and salmon, as well as a distinctly Japanese flair. However, the menu is also firmly grounded in rare and quintessential prairie foods like elk, bison, beef, lamb, and pickerel. To match these game meats, we chose a New Zealand wine - Cupid's Arrow Pinot Noir, 2008. It was lovely, with lots of blackberry, raspberry, and earthy tones coming through on the nose right away. The server was kind enough to decant it for us as we finished up the last drops of the Gewürz and turned our attention to the delicate task of dividing up our main dishes so everyone got to try a bit of everything. Our server was also quite attentive as he brought us large sharing plates with the entrees, which he set down in the middle for us all to delve in.

The barbecued duck burger was apparently so popular at lunch that it was moved onto the dinner menu. Knowing this, we simply had to try it. It was sweet, smoky and savoury, served on a fresh bun. It came with a few different options for the side, but taking the cue again from our server we asked for the parsnip crisps. When he saw how much we liked them, he came back later with a whole bowl full of them for the table. Order this and you will be glad you did.

I ordered the tenderloin duo, which, yes, is as magical as it sounds. A pair of steaks - lamb and wild boar wrapped elk, served with, dark chocolate jus, butternut squash, brandied cherry chutney, and a wild mushroom barley that made me think of a prairie risotto. Need I say more?
We thought we'd try a vegetarian dish to really test the menu. We were disappointed. The smoked tomato and spinach pappardelle was lacking in complexity and needed to be richer, somehow. There was too much black pepper and not enough depth to the dish, which just came out like a bunch of vegetables thrown together with green noodles and a plain sauce. Not great. But the menu is new. A menu is a living breathing thing and can always change based on how people respond to it. I think it's a kink that'll get worked out before long.

For dessert we ordered the tempura banana with green tea coconut ice cream, the balsamic blueberries with lavender coconut ice cream (both dairy free), and the chef’s special – a chocolate pate which went beautifully with the final glass of pinot which I lingered over for quite some time. The sweet endings were a perfect finish to a virtually flawless meal. The service was accommodating, informed, but not too pushy or ingratiating. The décor was upscale lodge with intimate booths and a dazzling fireplace. The price, at $66 per person, plus tip, was incomparable. Go to Creations and create a new favourite fine dining experience that you will return to again and again.

calling all matzo balls!

2010-03-20T11:32:00.000-07:00

I am a woman on a mission. Passover is rapidly approaching and I must somehow create an eggless matzo ball for my sister's partner. The poor thing is allergic to eggs and so far I have done quite well in making substitutions when I know he is joining us for dinner. But Passover is a whole other story. Everything has to have egg in it. It's our sneaky way around eating things with leavening. While us Ashkenazi Jews spend most of the year thriving on egg bread (challah), pasta, sandwiches, and cake, this one time of year we must put our carbohydrates aside in observance of religious tradition.

The tradition of eating matzo came from the actual biblical story of the exodus. As the ancient Jews prepared to flee slavery under the Egyptian Pharaohs, they prepared dough to make bread for the long journey (little did they realize just how long...). They soon discovered that when Moses asked Pharaoh to "let my people go" and Pharaoh agreed, he meant right now. The freed slaves had to rush and leave at once, before the bread dough had time to rise. The story goes on to say that the heat of the dessert sun actually baked the bread on their backs, resulting in the much-maligned matzo that we eat today.

While companies like Manischewitz have developed countless yeast-less cakes, egg noodles, and macaroons, one wonders just how much processing and refinement these products must endure before they reach the grocery store shelf. I have found that the easiest way to get through the seemingly endless 8 days of no-pasta is by eating more fruits and vegetables. It's easy enough. I don't actually eat much of those store-bought bread substitutes that are so successfully marketed to Jews the world over. But there is one thing that not only to I make an exception for, I actually crave throughout the year.

The delicate art of matzo ball making is something that I have yet to master. While I was away at university, I would try to duplicate my mom's matzo balls, but they were never quite as fluffy as hers. The secret is the eggs, you see. The dumplings are made of ground matzo (matzo meal), chicken soup, salt, pepper, and egg whites. Mixed together, rolled into golf ball sized shapes, and then boiled in chicken soup for 20-30 minutes, they always seemed to be taking too long and I would remove them from the pot too early. This results in matzo balls of a rather hockey-puck type consistency.
* photos courtesy of Smitten Kitchen

But what will we do this year? We have a very nice guest, whom we like very much, who will otherwise have to go matzo ball-less. I certainly don't want to make him sick, but he can't miss out on matzo ball soup! It's the best part of the very long, drawn out, ceremony-filled meal. It's better than the turkey or the meatballs or the strange cakes and sweet meringues that end the dinner. They should not be given up just because of some silly little gastrointestinal incompatibility. What can I do? This is where you come in, dear readers. If anyone out there in cyberland knows of any eggless matzo ball recipes, I'd be forever indebted to you. Someone must have already faced this problem. I am a doer; I know there is a solution to this problem. I just need some help finding it.

grilled sausages for dinner and other nice things

2010-03-16T20:20:00.000-07:00

I had such a delicious food day.
I made blintzes for breakfast.
Fried in butter and filled with sweet cottage cheese, I served them to my Baba with sour cream. She loved the filling, but unwrapped and left most of the crispy, brown fried dough. I stayed for a while and read in the sun. I did a bit of an old crossword too.
Before I left home I grabbed a Pink Lady apple for a snack and as I left the hospital I ate the whole thing on the elevator down to the street.
For lunch I met a sweet old friend of mine for coffee and food and beer at the hotel lounge where we work. It is a lovely, old-fashioned lounge with thick wood panelled walls, cushy but sturdy seating, and strange things like microscopes and random leather bound books lining the shelves.
It will be even lovelier there this summer, with long slow drinks on the patio.
Today was warm, and that certainly made me cheerful, but it'll be a while still before I'm whiling away time on the patio. We each started with a rich mocha, served with almond biscotti. I had a lamb kebab. At the base of the plate was fresh pita, followed by finely chosen morsels of lamb, rosemary roasted zucchini, fresh cucumber, feta, and tzatziki. I got sweet potato fries on the side. They were salty and crispy on the outside and fluffy and sweet on the inside.
After a long, lingering afternoon of eating and then pints, I was ready for an easy supper. I got home late and it was already done! My dad grilled the turkey apple sausages I bought at the farmer's market. Check out SunWorks Farm, guys. They have fresh eggs and happy chickens.
Paired with a salad of romaine lettuce and tomatoes, cucumber, pepper and arugula from the farmer's market, more feta, and cilantro vinaigrette, and you are hearing from one very smitten food kitten.
I can't wait for real spring - new lettuces, peas, the sweet smell of blossoms - I've always loved the spring best of all. Grilling and salads and cool crisp whites. Eeeep!

tame evening at The Wildflower Grill

2010-03-11T15:57:00.000-08:00

This week is Edmonton's Downtown Dining Week. Restaurants, pubs, and eateries of all sorts are offering signature tasting menus at set prices for lunch and dinner. I thought I'd seize this chance and invite a friend out to try this place. I had scoured their lovely web site a few months back and was eager to try out their so-called new Canadian cuisine. The menu is plump with Alberta beef, lamb, and game meat like venison and bison. Lots of sumptuous and colourful local winter vegetables like carrots, beets, and butternut squash also feature prominently in the accompaniments that bloom on each big, white plate.

http://wildfloweredmonton.com/

My dining companion this evening was a new friend. She is very visually inclined,
and has flawless style to boot, so I knew she would enjoy this experience. The ambiance, we agreed, was perfect for the evening. Subtle tones and good rhythms played not too loud struck the perfect note in our cosy booth. Our server, Renee, was attentive but not intrusive, knowledgeable, and very genial. While I poured over the menu, selecting my food before choosing a wine, she brought organic, loose leaf peppermint tea for my friend, served in a French press. In the end I decided on a glass of the 2007 Road 13 Honest John's Merlot. I'm not normally a big Merlot drinker, but it was the only Canadian red being offered by the glass and I thought this new Canadian cuisine concept should apply to my glass as well.

My friend decided to order from the select menu choices that are part of the Dining Week promotion. Being a bit of a pain in the ass, and having to be difficult, I chose to order something I had my eye on from when I first perused the menu online, months ago.

My friend had the mixed vegetable salad with golden and red beets, and heirloom carrots and tomatoes. There was no overwhelming vinaigrette outshining the natural sweetness of the beets and carrots. Kudos to the chef for allowing these much-maligned roots to be the real feature of the dish. The nicest touch on her plate was the bright little flower petals that were dashed across the salad. I had the heirloom tomato and truffled buffalo mozzarella salad. Have I mentioned how much I am into buffalo mozzarella? With all the bison meat out here I am amazed I cannot find any of this cheese sourced locally... I'll give full credit to anyone out there that can find me some. The dish was served with side microgreens in a baked cheese basket; the plate artfully drizzled with balsamic vinegar reduction and olive oil. I will admit that I found my tomatoes a bit on the mushy side, though this could just be due to the availability of fresh heirloom tomatoes at this time of year.

Not surprisingly, the presentation of our mains was equally magnificent. My friend revealed to me that she is not fond of the big plate-little food style that is so popular in fine dining kitchens these days, but I love it. The food becomes the real focal point. Extra space on the plate gets used for artful displays of purees, reductions, and gravity defying vegetable towers. Though my friend found the applewood cured bacon that surrounded her Atlantic cod to be a little overpowering, she appreciated that careful preparation of the fish, it not being overcooked. The portion disappointed her. My bison tenderloin was beautifully arrayed in slices atop a serving of shallot and butternut squash puree. The chantrelle, fig, and smoked cheddar bread pudding tasted more like stuffing to me than anything else. But I do love fig and I thought it was an inventive compliment to the bison.

While we were both somewhat under whelmed by our entrees, the chefs at the Wildflower Grill certainly redeemed themselves with their dessert menu. Selections are presented thematically: Lemon, Berries, Chocolate, or Fruit. Each choice comes with various incarnations of the theme and a suggested aperitif is listed. We decided to share the Fruit dessert which came with fresh granny smith apple slices, sour cherry tart, mango sorbet, grilled pineapple, candied pear, and lavender blackberry crème brulee. The custard in the brulee was perfectly set and delicately flavoured. The pears were sweet and juicy while retaining much of their fresh, grainy consistency. Everything on the large white plate was so delightfully well thought out and put together. Had we chosen it, the suggested 2006 Vineland Estates Vidal Icewine from Niagara would have been a perfect pairing.

I think I would like to return to the Wildflower Grill. I'll make different menu selections next time. I might come back for brunch or lunch instead, and see if that makes any difference to the taste and feel of things. It was certainly a very high-end price considering our thoughts and feelings on the meal as a whole.

Wildflower Grill is located at 10009 –107 Street NW
Edmonton, Alberta T5J 1J1
T: 780 990 1938 F: 780 990 1887

yahoo! spring is coming.

2010-03-05T14:55:00.001-08:00

Can't you feel it? I think it was something about the air and the sun this morning. OR the crackly ice on the edge of the sidewalk. Aslan is on the move...
Anyway, I'm feeling much better.

Just so you know how much better, let me put it this way. I am not well enough to cook an entire dinner for everyone tonight. With family in town and this being the first Friday night we've all been able to spend together in so long, my mom woke up early this morning before work and prepared enough roast chicken and potatoes to feed a small band of resistance fighters. It's almost Passover, I'll have to really test myself to cook and bake for that monumental family meal.

Tonight I am just in charge of putting the chicken in the oven, heating up the soup, making the noodles, and some sort of vegetable side that is up to me.
So what to do for the vegetables? There is some lettuce that my mom prepped that I can do what I want with. I think I'll do a variation on my hearty spinach salad. Crispy turkey bacon crumbled with shredded carrots, sliced cremini mushrooms, and hard-boiled eggs. Last week the very kind egg sellers at SunWorks Farm gave me an extra dozen eggs just to tell me they appreciate me. That was very nice of them. Our Saturday visits are becoming a highlight of my week. When I want to make new friends, or welcome back old ones, I like cooking my very favourite or most promising new recipes.

So I think I will also make a little bread pudding from the Challah I have left over from last Friday. I have some more Pink Lady apples from the market and a bit of Quail's Gate 2007 Optima Late Harvest, VQA. Somewhere in there is a very good little dessert I can work on while a putter away and the weekly tasks of soup, chicken, noodles, and so on.
But there remain many interesting vegetables on the counter and in the vegetable drawer. I look longingly at them day after day. Buttercup squash, fennel, today is your day. Some sort of puree, I think.

Wish me luck. Dinner is served in less than 2 hours...