this dessert life

Mini-vacation report: Burlington, VT

2011-11-15T11:29:00.001-05:00

Be warned in advance; I took almost no food photos on this trip because I was having such a good time. I do have a photo of the delicious jumbo shrimp I ate on the last night, but you've all seen shrimp on a bed of ice before, so I don't think I really need to post it. I'll let you know where to imagine the shrimp, OK?

So: now that we've dispensed with the formalities and everyone who only reads foodblogs with lots of photos has sloped off to check Smitten Kitchen or the Pioneer Woman, I will tell you all about the delicious food we ate in Vermont this past weekend and where you can get some of said food.

We were in Burlington from Thursday night until Sunday afternoon with our friends from Boston - it's an excellent meet-halfway point and a cute college town to boot. We stayed at the Lang House on Main Street, which is an excellent B&B Inn that we loved the last time we went. I'd venture to say we loved it even more this time because we managed to score the two rooms situated in their renovated Carriage House at the back of the property, so we had the place to ourselves and could make a bit more noise than we otherwise might have. We also had our own dedicated tea-making station, and a staffer brought a thermal carafe of coffee out to us at 7 a.m. the first morning. We let them know that no one really drank coffee so they wouldn't waste it on us, but it was thoughtful.

The breakfasts at the Lang House are a huge deal. You begin with a tiny baked good of some kind - we had three breakfasts there, and on two days it was a wonderful mini-scone; on the middle day, a warm zucchini-walnut muffin. This is followed by your choice of three mains: one is always housemade granola with yoguert and fruit; one is a savoury egg option; the third is a sweet option like waffles, pancakes, or french toast. I had the savoury option the first two days: Friday, a potato-squash hash topped with fried eggs, ham on the side; and Saturday, a huge and utterly delicious breakfast burrito with eggs, black beans and cheese, alongside guac and salsa. Sunday I had the challah french toast with bacon, and it too was mouthwatering. Other items included cornmeal waffles, berry pancakes, and an onion-dill popover filled with cheesy scrambled eggs.

Obviously, we didn't need to eat huge lunches, so we stuck with burritos and salads on two of the days and saved our appetites for dinner. The first night we arrived past 9 p.m. so we simply went for cocktails and snacks at the Daily Planet, a restaurant we've loved in the past. I had a very nice tuna tostada that comprised small cubes of raw tuna and a cabbage slaw atop crispy corm shells with guac on the side.

On Friday night we tried a new place, the Farmhouse Tap and Grill. It was buzzing all evening, and they don't take reservations, so we waited, but fortunately it's just off Church Street, which is filled with shops that stay open late, so we wandered and occasionally checked in with the restaurant until a table was available for us. It was worth the wait - the food was yummy and the service impeccable and friendly. I had a turkey burger that could have used a bit more seasoning and maybe a little more dark meat (the patty was dry) but was topped with good gouda, yummy cramberry chutney and perfectly caramelized onions alongside divine french fries, dark golden brown and crispy.

Chris had his mind blown by the house meatloaf with mushroom gravy and mashed potatoes. He also had some very good ice cream for dessert, while I tried the maple bread pudding with pumpkin caramel sauce. It was good, but a bit finely-textured (almost custardy) and not served hot, which I prefer. The resto specializes in beers but had a nice draught cider from upstate New York called Original Sin that I enjoyed immensely.

One of the best things about the Farmhouse, though, was the low noise levels despite a full and busy room. They have taken a number of sound-dampening measures including fabric-covered walls and acoustic ceiling panels, and apparently they even have sound-absorbing stuff stapled to the bottom of all the chairs!

On Saturday night we splurged on a really lovely meal at another new-ish resto, Church and Main. This was much more upscale bistro-style food, in a pretty (and only sliiiiiightly pretentious) atmosphere. I found our waiter a bit cool and distant, but the rest of the staff were wonderful, and the bartender knows her stuff.

I started with five delicious and perfectly cooked chilled jumbo shrimp on ice from the raw bar (here's where you imagine the photo!) while Chris had the cauliflower cream soup, which was perfectly balanced - not too sweet, salty, creamy, grainy or bitter. Yum.

His main was lobster and mascarpone risotto - again, not too heavy or creamy, very nice restraint - while I enjoyed the ale-braised beef short rib with cheddar grits and broccoli rabe. The meat was cooked perfectly and gorgeously flavoured, but the entire dish needed to be much hotter - it was served nearly room temperature, which was unkind to the grits in particular.

My friend D and I splashed out on a really, really good bottle of Chateuneuf-du-Pape (his latest obsession) and while it's not something I would do often, it was wonderful with the meat.

Desserts were a standout as well - my pumpkin-date cake with brown butter frosting was a generous-but-not-huge portion of moist, flavourful cake, with a tiny scoop of cinnamon ice cream and a fresh cherry coulis. Chris's coconut cream tartlet was pronounced a huge hit, as was D's pear-cranberry cobbler. J had some of that cinnamon ice cream and called it the best example of it she'd ever eaten.

Our farewell Sunday lunch was at the Burlington branch of American Flatbread - excellent wood-oven pizza I've written about many times on this blog. It lived up to the usual standards. I should also mention the apple cider doughnuts at Cold Hollow Cider Mill in Waterbury, which were some of the best doughnuts I have ever tried.

Bottom line: Vermont is a great place to eat, and I think everyone should try it. I know we'll be back again and again, because it's also a great place to hang out, shop, drive around and look at pretty things.

A few good meals (and a mediocre one)

2011-10-10T17:51:00.001-04:00

Look at that, I'm behind on my posts again! Let's do some catching up. Since we last spoke, it turned from summer to fall and back to summer here in Ottawa, so I moved into fall cooking and then the weather changed so everything I'm craving feels wrong again.

Once we came back from London I realized I had missed cooking every day, so I threw myself back into it with a vengeance. A pork dish was inspired by a half-dozen peaches given to me by my father-in-law and which were ripening rapidly. So I pickled them lightly in some apple cider vinegar, with red onions, and served them atop a roasted pork tenderloin that nestled in a puddle of balsamic and red wine reduction. On the side, some sauteed kale and some foil-wrapped and grilled carrots and red onions. A lovely autumnal feast.

Another meal was inspired by a magazine I read on the plane home: a chorizo and potato tortilla (Spanish baked omelette) with red peppers and garlic. I've tried tortilla in the past, but the instructions to cook it in the pan, then slide it out onto a plate, put the frying pan over the plate and flip the whole thing back into the pan have always backfired. This recipe refreshingly suggested simply finishing the damn thing in the oven, which moved me to actually try it, with perfect results. Fresh salad greens from the CSA and a ripe garden tomato rounded out the plate.

Finally, I tried to recreate the delicious patatas bravas we had at two tapas restaurants in London. I began with my tried and true roasted potatoes, which are first parboiled, then drained and shaken to bash them about a bit, then placed on a hot cookie sheet with preheated oil, tossed to coat, and roasted at high heat until crispy. While they were roasting I made a paprika-laced sundried tomato sauce and a homemade mayonnaise. That's right, homemade mayo. I have three words for that particular process: Not. Worth. It. Go to the store and buy the Hellmann's with olive oil, it is delicious and easier than standing over a running food processor with an egg yolk in it, dripping 3/4 of a cup of oil into it ONE DROP AT A TIME.

After all that work, the patatas bravas tasted nothing like what we had at the restaurant, which I can only assume means that mine were lacking two things: 1)way more oil and 2) way more salt. As I could not in good conscience deep fry potatoes on a Wednesday night, I won't be trying this again. Also, my sauce was dry (needed to use oil packed tomatoes, I think) and the mayo, as mentioned, was lackluster. The chickpea and spinach dish we had along with the patatas was very good though - to be expected, as it was a Smitten Kitchen recipe. I'll make that again for sure.

Note to self: if you want tapas, go out and order them in a restaurant. Sigh.

London wrap-up

2011-10-10T17:33:00.002-04:00

Sorry for going AWOL on you after that delicious Indian meal. That was the first night of our vacation and suffice it to say, the week simply flew by after that, filled with wonderful things like museums, shopping, pubs, shows and simply enjoying the daily life in a vibrant cosmopolitan city. We ate many wonderful meals and snacks, and although I don't have photos of them all I do want to offer some tidbits for anyone who might be heading to London in the near future.

Afternoon tea at Harrods: naturally, we had to get our scone fix somewhere, and while the fancy hotels apparently do afternoon teas that are legendary, they are also ridiculously priced. Harrods was not exactly a budget option, but it was more reasonably priced, and we were going there anyway to check it out. The store is seven floors of colossally expensive items from purses to perfume to toys and furniture, but the fourth floor Georgian restaurant is the only bit that's looking a little shabby-chic these days. We opted to sit in the Terrace Bar, a long, narrow glassed-in space perfect for watching planes and raindrops and wondering who lived in the old brick townhouses next door. The photo does the food only a little justice: there was a lot of it, and all of it was tasty. The best part was the utterly decadent scones, served with the obligatory clotted cream and strawberry jam. These were perfect in every way. We got to choose our tea from a lovely list; my tropical mango tisane was delicious, and Chris loved his roiboos.

Yalla Yalla, Winsley Street: this homey, warm room proffers delicious Lebanese food, from small plates to mains, and a creative list of housemade lemonades and cocktails as well. We had fantastic baba ganoush, muhammara that was lighter on the red pepper and heavier on the nuts than we were used to (still tasty), fluffy falafel, and a small mountain of fried calamari, whitebait and shrimp with yogurt dipping sauce. We shared a selection of Lebanese pastries for dessert - always a treat. Everything was tasty and well-executed. We wanted to go back but ran out of time.

Scandinavian Kitchen: a fire engine red storefront on Great Titchfield Street opens up to a bustling counter filled with open-faced Scandinavian-style sandwiches and salads. You can pick three or five selections for a lighter or heavier meal, plus they have coffee and pastries. We had tiny Swedish meatballs and beetroot salad on dark rye, shrimp and egg mayo on caraway bread, plus other tasty treats like smoked salmon, seafood salad, and blue cheese. We felt like we were in the writing bits of The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo, only without the drama. Everyone was cheerful and wore shirts with sayings like "May the Norse Be With You". Loved it.

Koba, Charlotte Street: this Korean place in Fitzrovia, near our flat, is very highly rated, but we went in because we were starving and everywhere was full. On a Wednesday. Note to self: make reservations for every dinner next time we go to London. We ended up sitting at the counter and having a very nice meal - they have the grills set into the counter, so we ordered some galbi (boneless short ribs) and sweet/spicy chicken, as well as a bowl of dolsot bibimbap to share. The waitress behind the bar grilled our meat for us, sliced it up, and even showed us how to use lettuce and spring onions and sauce to make little wraps out of it. The bibimbap came with raw slivered beef, something I've never seen here, but the heat of the bowl cooks it quickly. This was the best bowl of bibimbap I've ever eaten.

Salt Yard, Goodge Street: to be fair to this upscale, yuppie tapas joint on Goodge Street, I was tired and not having the best evening when we turned up for some dinner. All of the food we had was very good, including the fresh grilled chorizo with peperonata, the duck breast with broad bean puree and mint, and the roasted pumpkin with figs, pistachio, chili and mint (one of the most interesting tapas I've ever had). The red wine we ordered was also good, right up until I spilled half my glass all over myself and my side of the table about 30 minutes into our stay. I was horribly embarrassed as I mopped myself up and tried to regain my composure, but that put paid to any thought I had of staying for dessert. Food was good, but the service was a bit cold, and the vibe was too snobby for my liking.

The Green Man, Riding House Street: this pub saved that evening from ending very dismally. We'd already been there once before, on Sunday night, when all was quiet and we had the affable French barman mostly to ourselves. We'd found the place on Time Out London's website, where it touted its extensive cider selection. I'm a cider lover, so I was in my element when the barman offered me tastes of everything they had on tap, so I could choose my favourite. We had a couple of rounds that night, and enjoyed ourselves immensely in the cozy pub, so after the red wine disaster we walked back to our flat so I could change clothes, then headed to the Green Man for another small bite and some cider. Not five minutes after we arrived they started playing the new Foster the People album in its entirety, so I was in heaven drinking my Aspall's Suffolk and snacking on hummus, baked camembert with onion jam, sweet potato frites, caprese salad and crudites. They do a wonderful house blend cider as well - sweet and lethal.

Barrica, Goodge Street: this authentic Spanish tapas place is about three doors over from Salt Yard, and just as popular, but for our anniversary dinner on Thursday I wised up and made a reservation. We were headed to the theatre for 7:30 p.m. so we were the first people in the place, but treated kindly by the waiter nonetheless. We had a quiet table in the back and thoroughly enjoyed thinly sliced cured chorizo, fantastic patatas bravas with aioli, cold marinated grilled vegetables, tiny clams in white wine with sea beans and garlic, and slices of housemade sausage topped with roast pigeon breast and elderberries, washed down with Malvasia Bianca. We ended the meal with cheese and Pedro Ximenez sherry, seen above - manchego and monte enebro (sheep and goat, respectively) with guava jam and Marcona almonds. Perfection. Highly recommended.

Golden Hind, in Marylebone Lane: fish and chips, mushy peas, perfect. This place is very old and highly touted, and we were not disappointed. A "small haddock" each was enough to keep us full until dinner, six hours later. Crisp light batter, moist fresh fish, yummy peas. I'm not a big fan of English chips (too pale) but these were indeed fluffy inside and nicely done for what they were.

Pret a Manger, everywhere: OK, Pret is basically the new Starbucks, so ubiquitous is it in London, but you can't knock the product. Pret's stock in trade is prepared sandwiches, but holy cow, these are way above average. They make everything fresh in the morning and don't keep anything overnight. Combinations are interesting and delicious, like chicken breast with avocado, salad leaves and basil yogurt mayo, or "posh cheddar" and pickles. If I lived in London I would eat lunch there every day.

Writing about all of this has made me desperately homesick for London and our fantastic tiny flat in Fitzrovia. I'm already trying to figure out how long I have to wait before I can go back.

New cooking posts coming soon; also please note the new domain name! I ponied up and bought http://www.thisdessertlife.com/. Enjoy.

London 2011: Rasa Samudra, Fitzrovia

2011-09-10T15:30:00.003-04:00

Chris and I are in London this week, in honour of our tenth wedding anniversary, which falls on Thursday. We plan to visit many museums, do some shopping, take in some theatre, and eat a lot of really good food. Oh, and walk a lot to justify all the eating. We flew in on the overnight direct flight from Ottawa and got settled in our rental flat in Fitzrovia, central west London, around 2 p.m. We napped, we showered, we visited a Tesco to pick up breakfast and tea supplies, and then we headed back out to explore our neighbourhood. Eventually we got hungry and needed a place for a not-too-heavy, casual dinner. I've done a lot of research on restaurants in the area, so I remembered an Indian place called Rasa Samudra that specializes in cuisine from the Kerala region, where the parents of our lovely friends D and L hail from. They have made us the Keralan specialty dosa (like an Indian crepe) before, but we hadn't tried many of the other regional dishes, so we went for it.

The restaurant is pink, there's no two ways about it, and it serves only fish, seafood and vegetarian curries, which we were fine with. We had a tilapia curry in a sauce of roasted coconut, red chili, tomato and tamarind that blew our minds. We had lemon and turmeric scented rice. We had bagar baingan, eggplant in cashew, onion and yogurt sauce with fresh curry leaves. The eggplant almost made us cry, it was so good. We rounded it all out with a dish of crispy curried vegetables cooked with spicy turmeric and mustard seeds. Chris finished with Indian rice pudding with cashews, cardamom and raisins, while I went with my usual mango sorbet. The meal was light while still rich-tasting, just spicy enough for our tastes, and utterly delicious. We mocked the obnoxiously entitled and rude Brazilians seated next to us, to the delight of our waiter. And then we walked four blocks back to our London pied a terre for the next six days and made an excellent pot of tea.

Life is good, my friends. Life is very, very good.

Quiche squares: savoury breakfast nirvana

2011-08-29T09:43:00.003-04:00

The CSA experiment has gone very well this summer, save for one thing: an excess of leafy greens. I mean, I love wilted greens with a little garlic and olive oil, don't get me wrong, but when almost every week includes a bunch of kale, a head of bok choy, AND beets that come with their luxuriant leafy tops still attached, the green scene can get a little out of hand. A couple of days ago I was wracking my brain for new ways to ingest these greens that don't involve soup (it's still summer!) or eating them plain and wilted as a side dish (been there, done that, ad infinitum) when quiche squares popped into my head.

I think it's possible that I've seen this idea online somewhere, and it sounded amazing, so that's what I planned for when I made my weekly grocery list and meal plan. Yesterday seemed like a good time to prep a few days' worth of breakfasts, so I washed and chopped a huge bag of beet greens and a bundle of Red Russian kale, sliced up a bunch of red scallions and their green tops, and sauteed the whole thing down in a tablespoon of sunflower oil and a little salt.

Meanwhile, I grabbed the laptop, intending to find a recipe online to use as a guideline. As it happened, at that moment the house internet was down (I think we need a new router) and Chris was busy scraping plaster off the bedroom floor in preparation for installation of laminate, so I didn't want to bug him to reset the network. I could have done it myself, but instead I recalled that I own approximately seven hundred cookbooks and one of them was bound to have a recipe for quiche in it.

I went to the most obvious choice first: the Better Homes and Gardens cookbook that P-squared got me for Christmas. Sure enough, they had an adaptable quiche recipe. All I really wanted were proportions of eggs to milk and fillings, and once I figured that part out, I was free to improvise.

For one thing, I already knew I wanted to use a big 11x13 Pyrex lasagna pan to bake this sucker. For another, I wanted it to be crustless, so no fussing about with pastry was required. I cracked eggs, chopped two leftover grilled chorizo sausages from our camping trip, grated parmesan, added a combo of milk and soymilk (so as not to overwhelm my gut OR use up all of my milk or Chris' at once) and a tablespoon of flour for stability, and went to town. Wilted veg went into the buttered pan, I poured the egg/cheese/sausage/milk mis over it, and into the oven at 325 for an hour.

Well. The results smelled and looked so good that I wanted to skip dinner and just eat breakfast. I did force myself to wait, and this morning I sliced it into ten rectangles and brought two to work with me (I break up my breakfast into two meals, so it lasts until lunch).

This thing is a KEEPER. I mean, it's almost infintely variable, but this particular combination is delicious. (I'll probably sub turkey sausages next time, but that's all.) It's salty, but not too salty; satisfying, but not too rich; filling, but not overwhelming. In other words, the perfect portable breakfast item. I am one happy camper.

Crustless Quiche Squares (10 servings)

10 large eggs
2 cups milk (regular or soy, any type)
1/2 cup freshly grated parmesan cheese
1 tbsp all purpose flour
2 cooked chorizo sausages, diced
8 cups chopped leafy greens, washed
4 scallions, white and green parts sliced separately
2 tsp sunflower or olive oil

In a wok or skillet, saute the white parts of the scallions until softened over medium high heat. Add the greens and green scallion parts, and cook, tossing, until wilted down and liquid has mostly cooked off. Drain in a colander. Spread evenly in a buttered 11x13 pan.

In a large bowl, beat the eggs, milk and flour together until smooth, then add cheese and sausage, and combine. Pour over greens. Bake at 325 F for one hour or until lightly browned at edges, and set in the middle. Cool on a rack, then slice into ten rectangles. Serve warm or cold. Can be gently microwaved, covered.

Tofu banh mi - spectacular summer supper

2011-08-15T20:20:00.004-04:00

About six years ago I ate my first banh mi - a Vietnamese sub sandwich that cost all of $2 at a shop on Somerset Street in Ottawa's Chinatown (which is really more like Little Saigon, but I digress). It blew me away, and since then I haven't had nearly enough opportunities to eat these tasty, tasty sandwiches. I love a great sandwich, and these rank right up there with the grilled veg-and-goat cheese, the avocado BLT and the classic club sandwich for me.

So when I came across a recipe for tofu banh mi on Cheap Healthy Good, it stuck in my head until I finally decided to make them for dinner last week. Except that I forgot to make the pickled carrots and daikon ahead of time, so we ended up roasting the tofu and eating it like chicken nuggets. Which was delicious (dipped in maple-bourbon BBQ sauce!) but not a tasty sandwich.

So late last week I pickled a bunch of carrots from the CSA, then added the daikon to the jar earlier tonight because I forgot to buy it last week and only grabbed one on Saturday at Farm Boy. (It tasted fine. Finely julienned, it took on the vinegary bite quickly.) I'm on a bit of a pickling kick these days, as you can see:

The green ones are zucchini pickles - sharp, oniony, and delicious. An excellent way to use up an excess of zucchini.

But I digress. Tonight, I finally had everything I needed for the banh mi. When I got home from work, I whipped up a batch of my all-purpose Asian marinade: low-sodium soy sauce, lime juice, garlic, ginger, brown sugar, and a touch of sesame oil. Throw it all in the food processor and whirl until the garlic and ginger are well-minced. I sliced a block of firm tofu into 1/8" thick slices, pressed the water out using kitchen towels, and dumped the slices into the marinade for 40 minutes while I hung out on Facebook and Twitter. (I'm not gonna lie to you.)

Into the oven at 350 Fahrenheit went the tofu for 15 minutes, then I flipped the slices and baked for six more minutes while I sliced a baguette into 4 pieces, reserved two of them for tomorrow's lunch and sliced the other two pieces lengthwise. I spread both halves (not liberally, but not scantily, either) with good-quality mayonnaise (I used Hellmann's olive oil mayo, which is my favourite). Once the tofu cooled down a bit, I laid slices of it overlapping on the bottom of the baguette, them topped them with some carrot and daikon pickle, then some sprigs of fresh coriander.

People, these were so good my eyes rolled back in my head. The mix of flavours just sings on the tongue. It's rich-tasting yet fresh, all at the same time. You can make these with just about any protein you like - the traditional sandwich uses liver pate and Vietnamese cold cuts - but the tofu, flavoured with the lovely marinade, was really, really nice in this application. Feel free to use thinly sliced pork or chicken if you prefer - marinate the same way, then grill and eat.

We had some of the zucchini pickles on the side and felt deeply smug about our mad CSA-preserving skills. OK, I did. Chris just enjoyed his sandwich.

Fortunately, I have tons of pickled carrot and daikon left, so we'll be eating these at least once a week until it's all gone. Trust me when I say it won't be a hardship.

Chicken souvlaki and the greatest beet salad ever

2011-08-07T08:48:00.004-04:00

That was our dinner last night. Let me note here that I am lucky enough to have a husband who takes great food photos for me. I love that shot.

Anyway, my mom is staying with us for a few more days before she flies back to Brazil to pack up their life there and my parents move back here in September, so there were three of us eating last night. Mom brought that utterly delicious bottle of Argentinian malbec, which was yummy with the food. The souvlaki was tender and grilled to perfection by Chris, after bathing for four hours in a marinade of my own invention (probably pretty close to traditional souvlaki marinades, but I haven't checked): olive oil, plenty of chopped garlic, lemon zest and juice, and chopped fresh dill and oregano. The oregano was from the farm share - I was lucky enough to grab the last bunch from the bin, and I need to figure out what to do with the rest. Suggestions are, as always, welcome.

The beet salad was a triumph of colour and flavour. I read in a food magazine or on a blog somewhere last year that beets with goat cheese is horribly overdone and that restaurants should just stop pairing them together. I beg to differ. Beets and goat cheese are popular because they WORK. I'd go so far as to call it a classic pairing, and I will be eating them together for as long as there are beets and goats.

What really made the salad were the amazing, lush beet greens that came with the mix of golden and red beets. This was the first week we've had golden beets, and I hope we get more because they are delicious, milder and less bitter-edged than the red ones. Their leaves are also less rough and more tender and abundant, so I chopped and cleaned them, wilted them down in a hot pan with a little olive oil and salt, plated it with the beets and cheese, and finished the whole thing with a drizzle more olive oil and a splash of balsamic (not even the good kind, and it was still yummy). I think this might be the most visually stunning dish I've ever made. That platter is my latest acquisition - eight bucks at the best garage sale ever, held by the gay couple down the street.

Some soft pita bread and homemade tzatziki (Greek nonfat yogurt, finely chopped peeled seeded cucumber, fresh dill, lemon juice and salt) rounded out the meal, along with that amazing wine. Later, I threw together this chocolate pudding cake for dessert, because we needed something sweet. Let me just say that if you're still slightly tipsy from great wine, that cake is easy enough that you won't screw it up.

This was an incredible meal, utterly inspired by the farm-fresh produce. I'm sold on the concept, one hundred per cent.

Korean pancakes and thoughts on the CSA

2011-08-06T15:08:00.005-04:00

Lunch today was my second attempt at Korean pancakes (known as pa jeon in Korean). I made them from this recipe two weeks ago and though it said not to grate the vegetables, I should have, because the matchstick-sized carrots and zucchini made the pancakes incredibly hard to cook evenly. So this time I shredded two yellow zucchini and three short fat carrots on the grating disc of the food processor, and the batter was much easier to spread. It's true that I couldn't really SEE the bits of carrot and zucchini once the pancakes were cooked, but I could taste them, so I don't care.

In addition to the zucchini and carrots I added a bunch of green onion stalks and about 3/4 cup of chopped cooked baby shrimp (thawed from frozen). The batter is eggs, flour, rice flour (super cheap in the Asian aisle of my local Loblaws) and soda water. Could not be easier. We made the gingery vinegary soy dipping sauce from the link above, as well, and in lieu of kimchi in the batter I added a generous squeeze of sambal oelek, which is a hot Asian chili-garlic paste that I'm just getting into in a big way.

These make a terrific lunch or light supper, and they use up a ton of green onion stalks, which is important to me because this is our first summer as members of a CSA (community supported agriculture, a fancy term for farm share) and though we are loving it, it comes with a lot of green onion stalks.

We joined up with Roots and Shoots Farm because I heard about them through a local food blogger last summer and mentioned to Chris how nice all the produce looked. We eat most vegetables and we eat a lot of them, so it seemed like a good plan for us. Local, fresh and seasonal - eating this way is certainly a privilege, and we know it, but we could afford it so we decided to take the plunge.

The first few weeks were slow, and mainly greens like kale, bok choy and lettuce, as well as radishes and tiny white Hakurei turnips, which are delicious raw in salads. As we've moved into high summer, we've gotten garlic, onions, cucumber, zucchini, carrots, beets and beans. (Oh, and fennel. Which I hate. But Chris will eat it.) This week we even got our first pints of new potatoes and tomatoes.

It's a pile of veggies, no doubt about it, and what I love about not being able to choose them is that it requires me to get creative with my meal planning. Tonight, for example, we're having a roasted beet, beet green and goat cheese salad, and chicken souvlaki made with fresh oregano and local garlic.

I'm also making some zucchini refrigerator pickles. Tomorrow we'll foil-packet the potatoes and some carrots and onions on the grill, lightly cook some multicoloured beans, and grill turkey burgers packed with minced green onions. It goes on and on.

I can't wait to see what the rest of the summer's bounty looks like, and to blog about the creative ways I'm using it all up.

Rocket pizza, and a return to blogging

2011-08-02T14:18:00.004-04:00

Wow. I had absolutely no idea how much of my spare time would be given up when I decided to become a Girl Guide leader two years ago. My evenings became time for planning, or meetings, or trying to shoehorn in a workout or two since I didn't have Guides that night. I was always tired. I was still cooking, but blogging about it was the furthest thing from my mind. It's a shame, because I still love cooking, and I still love blogging. So now that I'm on hiatus from Guiding for at least a year, I'm hoping to make a triumphant! return! to blogging! beginning with this delicious homemade pizza that served as last Friday's supper for Chris and I.

Over the past two years I've become fairly adept at making homemade pizza, thanks to Smitten Kitchen's pizza crust recipe, plenty of practice, and the purchase of a pizza peel at a restaurant supply store in Toronto. We already had the pizza stone; we lacked only the courage to really crank the oven up. Once we started doing so (and taking down the smoke detector beforehand) things got real, pizza-wise.

I'm very proud of this particular pie - the shape is near-perfect, the crust was soft in the middle and crisp on the bottom, the sauce was utterly simple and didn't get in the way of the flavourful toppings, which included fresh mozzarella, applied before the pie went into the oven, as well as prosciutto slices and fresh arugula (rocket) leaves, which we piled on once the cheese was lightly browned. The residual heat warmed the meat, making the fat silky, and wilted the greens just enough. A drizzle of green olive oil to finish, and we were in pizza heaven for 30 minutes.

I wouldn't call the crust thin, but it wasn't too thick either - a sort of medium-crust, if you will, with plenty of air in it for lightness and some decent chew to it. The arugula came from our CSA, something we're doing for the first time this summer and enjoying greatly. The cheese and meat were from the grocery store, and were just fine, but I bet this pie would have been even more transcendent with local Pingue prosciutto and mozzarella di bufala. We'll try that sometime soon. IN the meantime, this version served us beautifully.

Something I'm working on is simplifying my cooking life a bit - I'm trying not to reinvent the wheel in the kitchen every night. There are things we enjoy eating over and over, and I'm learning that cooking things frequently doesn't make me an uncreative cook - it allows me to hone dishes to a fine point until they truly sing. Perhaps even reinvent them with different, seasonal ingredients. In other words, you may see a lot of pizza on here, since we're hoping to have it every Friday. You may also see many tacos, grilled vegetable sandwiches, meats on sticks, and twists on burgers. I hope that's all right.

I've missed this place, and I'm happy to be back.

Boston-area food, 2011 edition

2011-04-28T15:08:00.003-04:00

Seems like the only time I swing by here anymore is when we travel or have other special-occasion meals. Until I finish Girl Guides, that's going to have to do. I can't wait to get back to regular blogging this summer.

Chris and I made our annual pilgrimage to the Boston area to visit friends last weekend, over Easter, and as usual, there was some very delicious eating. We returned to Addis Red Sea on Friday night, the delightful Ethiopian restaurant on Tremont Street in the South End. (We got to take one of our favourite Boston walks to get there, from the Copley T station to the restaurant and back. So much pretty.) J and D graciously let me order this time, so we had the mild chicken stew (Doro Alcha), the spicy lamb (Lebeg Tibs?), the collard greens, the mixed vegetables and a lemony ground chickpea thing that was very tasty and had the texture of hard-boiled egg yolks. We split a yummy bottle of Riesling and all had lovely desserts (fruit tart, tiramisu, baklava) and left fairly stuffed, but very happy. I do love eating with my hands.

Saturday night we stayed in and cooked dinner (though we did enjoy a quick lunch at Mr. Crepe in Davis Square - the turkey and cranberry one is highly recommended), but Sunday night we went to Elephant Walk in Porter Square, Cambridge, a place I've been wanting to try for some years now but it's never quite fallen into place.

Elephant Walk is a French and Cambodian restaurant that has both traditional and original dishes from both cuisines on their menu. The decor is done in warm oranges and reds and yellows, with gorgeous lighting, soft couches, dark wooden chairs and tables, and lots of windows. It's a very welcoming room. The service was good; our waiter was a bit overly-solicitous, but that's better than the alternative.

I began with an appetizer that looked custom-built for me, a timbale of avocado and cubed raw red tuna, with a sweet-spicy-herbal dressing atop a bed of mixed greens, as fresh as can be. It was delicious, unctuous and flavourful and satisfying. Chris had the soup of the day, which was parsnip and pear, and I have to say, despite my dislike of parsnips, I found it well-balanced and smooth, without being overly sweet. He loved it and practically licked the bowl.

J and D shared a plate of rouleaux imperiaux, crunchy spring rolls served with herbs, sprouts and lettuce to wrap them in and a sauce to dip them in. From my side of the table they looked awfully good and disappeared in little time.

For mains, Chris and I both chose shrimp in different preparations. He again chose a daily special, which had shrimp sauteed in a sauce with coconut milk and aromatic spices, along with baby bok choy and some other fresh vegetables, with rice alongside. My shrimp (known as "crevettes Amrita") were in a sauce that contained tamarind, chilies and palm sugar, with lots of green onion, chopped peanuts and vegetables for colour and flavour. It tasted for all the world like pad thai without the noodles, and I absolutely loved it. The rice was a perfect mop for the delicious, spicy-sweet sauce. I left no grain or sea creature behind.

J selected the steak roquefort from the French side of the menu - it came sliced and sauced with cubed roasted potatoes and looked gorgeous. D had the Cambodian-sauced ribs and I didn't hear any complaints from him either.

We shared a bottle of Reserve Perrin Cotes du Rhone, a wine I know well and which never lets me down. Excellent value, too.

We all found room for dessert - the portion sizes are pretty muich perfect at Elephant Walk. I had the chocolate and caramel tartlet, a classic French-style tart perfectly executed, its caramel filling soft and buttery over a thin layer of dark chocolate tucked into a lovely pate brisee crust. J's passionfruit mousse reminded me of Brazilian desserts - lovely. David went for the full chocolate experience with the truffle cake, while Chris went low-key with ginger ice cream. We left satiated and very, very happy despite the persistent rain. I'd love to eat there again.

We broke up our long drive home with stops in Lebanon, NH for lunch and Burlington, VT for dinner. Lunch, at the Lebanon Health Food store, consisted of excellent housemade soup (carrot for me, sherried mushroom for Chris) and mesquite turkey sandwiches with cheddar, apple and cranberry-mayo. Lovely spot - we'd go again. Dinner was at our old standby, the American Flatbread outpost in Burlington. Nothing like sharing a large pizza with maple-fennel sausage, sundried tomatoes, caramelized onion and mozzarella (most ingredients organic, local, or both) to re-energize us for the boring half of the drive.

All in all, up to the usual standards for the Boston area. Always a trip my stomach looks forward to. After all, good food is even better when eaten with good friends in a great city.

Juniper a breezy treat

2010-10-11T12:58:00.000-04:00

We were fortunate to have good friends from Boston come and stay with us for the Thanksgiving weekend here in Canada. Their fifth wedding anniversary happened to fall on the Saturday, so they requested a “schmancy” restaurant dinner for that night, and I sent them a few ideas to choose from, including Play, Murray Street, and a couple of places we had not yet eaten but wanted to try, including Juniper and Absinthe. They selected Juniper, so I made a reservation for Saturday evening and off we all went.

We were greeted at the door by Eric Belchamber, the sommelier, which I took as a good sign. The room, which used to be a car dealership, still has all the huge plate glass windows open to the views of the street (not that attractive a 'hood, but whatever) but dampens the echoes well with plenty of linens, leather chairs and padded banquettes. The colour scheme is chocolate brown and white, very classy without being harsh.

After we'd had a chance to look over our menus, Eric came to offer wine recommendations to pair with our food. I was pleased that both a Riesling and a Gewurztraminer were available by the glass; I asked which he would recommend and he went with the Riesling. I was happy for the advice, as were Chris and D, who shared a half-litre of a Tempranillo (J went with a fancy martini). D was amused at my recognition of Eric's name (“are the sommeliers in Ottawa that famous?” he asked, to which I responded that I knew the name from reading local food blogs) but it was terrific to have the service offered without pretension.

An amusing side note to the evening was that one of the servers was training a new-ish busboy so he kept correcting him when he would go to remove our plates etc. I felt a little bad for the boy but I suppose one has to learn somehow.

Before our appetizers, we were treated to an amuse-bouche of smoked trout mousse with caper on a slice of cucumber; delightful and tasty. Then came the bread, two kinds, one made in-house (the other I suspect to have been Art-is-in baguette, very well-executed) served in a gorgeous wooden box. Our wine arrived, then our appetizers: D and I both ordered seared scallops with apple-dried cherry slaw, celeriac puree and crisp bacon, which we both agreed was a tour de force. The two scallops were each a good size and gorgeously seared to perfect firmness, sweet and not at all fishy. The thick slice of bacon cooked to a perfect snappy crisp had a terrific flavour, and the slaw was to die for. Neither of us thought the celeriac puree worked in perfect tandem with the rest of the elements (I might have chosen squash, or even mild white turnip) but it was tasty on its own.

J ordered the starter salad of fried green tomato with roasted corn vinagrette, lardons and herb-ricotta crostini. It disappeared with alacrity, as did Chris's soup, a curried puree of roasted beet, parsnip and apple with coriander yogurt and an apple fritter (I tried that, and it was lovely and smooth and well balanced).

The mains were equally well-received (and might I add that while we waited overlong for bread and amuses, the rest of the meal was paced delightfully) when they arrived. Chris and D both ordered duck, which arrived as a citrus-marinated sliced breast, ruby-rare, drizzled with port-fig reduction, with a phyllo bundle enclosing duck confit (almost rillette-like, Chris said) and pears alongside, accented with some crisp vegetables, half a roasted fig and a mound of caramelized onion chutney with pear and blue cheese. Both of them enjoyed it immensely, and I tried the duck breast and was impressed.

J ordered the vegetarian main, buttercup squash and sage ravioli with pecan-brown butter sauce and wilted autumn greens, which she adored. I went with the seared albacore tuna loin and was duly blown away by the flavour – buttery and smooth and far less fishy than the usual red tuna loin – not that I mind fishy, but this was different in a good way. The tuna had been glazed lightly in sake and soy, and was served beautifully rare, accompanied by a cool rice paper roll filled with vermicelli, mushrooms and vegetables to dip in a Chinese spoon of hot-sweet sauce, a small roasted heirloom carrot and some mirin-marinated baby bok choy. I would go back there tonight and eat that dish again, it was that good. Not a drop or a crumb remained when I had done with it.

The Riesling Eric selected for me was from Niagara's 2027 Cellars, a virtual winery that rents space from Featherstone. It was very nice and tart to begin, opening up to a softer and fruitier mouthfeel. I put it in the category of what I call 'flat” Rieslings, with no sparkle of effervescence on the tongue but a bold and acidic flavour (much like the Angels Gate Sussreserve Riesling). I liked it, but I admit to preferring that light sparkle in the mouth. Still, it complimented the dishes I ate very well, particularly the scallops.

The gentlemen enjoyed the Ramon Bilboa Crianza Tempranillo, which was described as having flavours and aromas of dried cherry and cigar box. Chris loves that sort of red so was quite pleased.

I passed on dessert, as there wasn't anything I really, really wanted, but I did have a gorgeous pot of orange-ginger herbal tea from Nectar down the road. J had the molten chocolate cake, a small, intense round nestled into a pool of white chocolate soup, topped with candied walnuts which I gratefully enjoyed. Chris took the server's recommendation and ordered the banana fritters with peanut butter ice cream, served in a dark chocolate cup, while David had the squash bread pudding with raisins, cinnamon ice cream and rum sauce (very tasty). He also enjoyed a couple of selections from the excellent whiskey list (some of them come with a square of 70 per cent Amadei bittersweet chocolate, a classy touch).

With the bill, mignardises for everyone – peanut butter chocolate chip miniature cupcakes with chocolate marzipan frosting. (I had mine and J's as she was full – so in the end I got dessert after all and it was wonderful and just enough.) We were there three hours and enjoyed ourselves so very much. A note about portion sizes – they are restrained, but not chintzy, and the high-quality ingredients make for very good value. Everyone was full but not stuffed, which is just right, and a second box of fresh, different bread was offered with our mains, which I also liked.

Juniper has officially been added to my list of “special occasion” restaurants in Ottawa. It was a great meal from start to sweet finish.

Best Pumpkin Bread

2010-08-12T10:12:00.000-04:00

I have found it. And I want to share it with you. I love pumpkin baked goods, any time of year, but I wanted something that was healthy enough for breakfasts and fairly low in fat while high in flavor. I found an excellent recipe from the Fatfree Vegan Kitchen that I subsequently adapted to be not-quite-vegan (since I’m not) but still very low in fat. Her original recipe had some applesauce in it, and when I made it the first time, I used it, but found that it made the bread very moist, almost wet, and not very pumpkin-y, so I subbed in an equal amount of pumpkin (in addition to what was already called for). I reduced the sugar since it was almost painfully sweet, with no ill effect. I subbed milk for water, for a slightly richer taste. I switched out 1/3 cup of all-purpose flour for whole wheat; you could go to 2/3 if you wanted to. Also, I like quite a spicy kick in my pumpkin bread, so I doubled all her spices, and could even go higher.

My version is still utterly moist, and a gorgeous colour, and I think it’s darned near perfect.

3/4 cup sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar, packed
1 1/4 cups canned pumpkin
1/4 cup canola oil
1/2 cup water, milk or plain soymilk
3 egg whites

1 1/3 cups unbleached white flour
1/3 cup whole wheat flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
3/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon baking powder 2 teaspoons cinnamon
2 teaspoons powdered ginger
1 teaspoon nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon ground cloves

Preheat oven to 350 F. Combine sugars, pumpkin, oil, water or milk and egg whites in a medium bowl; whisk thoroughly. Combine all dry ingredients in a large bowl and whisk well. Add wet to dry and stir until just combined.

Pour batter into an oiled 9 x 5 loaf pan; bake 60 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the centre comes out clean. Makes 12 slices.

Zengo D.C.

2010-06-17T13:21:00.000-04:00

We didn’t eat out a whole lot on our recent five-day trip to Maryland and D.C., but we did get to try two restaurants in the downtown area. Zengo, an Asian-Mexican fusion place, was where D and L brought us on the last night of our visit, after an afternoon at the spectacular Newseum.

Zengo is one of those places that looks painfully trendy from the outside, and the concept sounds a little pretentious – Asian-Mexican fusion small plates? How many trends can we possibly combine here? Fortunately, this place delivers on the food front, even if the service is a little cold and detached. Three of us arrived a bit early and decided to sit in the bar/lounge area and wait for L to get downtown from his office after work. We ordered three of the happy hour sized small plates dishes and were gently reminded that in order to get the food at the special price, we each (each!) had to order a happy hour beverage. Chris had no problem ordering a beer, but D is pregnant, and I was recovering from a migraine the night before, so neither of us wanted alcohol, but ended up having to order a virgin cocktail each rather than just a juice or sparkling water or soda. Annoying, but whatever, it’s downtown D.C.

The snacks were delightful, though – my favourite were the arepas, small crisped masa cakes topped with hoisin-enhanced pulled pork and a squiggle of guacamole. The “angry Zengo sushi roll” was light on the promised yellowfin tuna, but still fairly tasty and nicely presented. Chris and D shared the potstickers with shrimp and shiitake mushrooms and liked them a lot too.

Once L arrived, we headed upstairs to the main dining room, which is huge and vibrant and dimly lit. The washrooms have no doors, but rather chain curtains that you push aside to enter. Funky. Chris ordered another beer (Bohemia! From Brazil! Awesome.) and L had the house cocktail, a mango mojito. D and I stuck to water, of course. We decided that everyone would get to order two small plates, ladies choosing first, and that everyone would get to taste everything if they desired. L asked if he could get one large plate instead, and since it was braised beef short ribs with dragonfruit sauce over Oaxaca cheese mashed potato, we all said an emphatic YES!

My choices were tuna tiradito, which was basically slices of tuna sashimi with some soy and lemon, a cube of avocado and a coriander leaf; and Peking duck daikon tacos with curried apple and orange-coriander sauce. The tuna was very tender and fresh, but I felt that the flavours it was paired with were not all that innovative. That said, it gave me my raw fish fix nicely. The Peking duck tacos, on the other hand, rocked all of our socks. It came as a platter with a stack of paper-thin rounds of daikon radish, a pile of julienned green apple with curry spice, another pile of shredded duck leg and crisped skin, and a small bowl of sweet, spicy sauce. The daikon is the wrapper for the other elements, and when all assembled it was a beautiful thing. A little spice, a little crunch, and some richness from the duck and sweetness from the sauce. We could have eaten many more of those little wraps.

Chris chose the chicken-filled empanadas with Oaxaca cheese, coriander, mango salsa and a spicy red curry-coconut sauce, and the steamed buns with pork belly, grilled pineapple and salsa verde. Both were drop-dead delicious as well. The shredded chicken and cheese in the filling were lightened by fresh coriander and lime, the mango gave sweetness and the coconut curry sauce, depth. The crust was light and not too rich. A very well-balanced dish overall. The buns were the last to arrive, and were served open rather than wrapped like traditional dim sum, with a thick slice of braised pork belly, a dollop of grilled pineapple salsa, a ring of hot pepper and a smear of coriander-heavy salsa verde. The texture of the buns was perfection, and the flavours were divine together, with the same rich-sweet-salty-spicy balance as the duck tacos. I was lucky enough to get two of these babies.

D selected the vegetarian sushi roll with asparagus, scallion tempura, roasted red pepper and sambal aioli, as well as the Thai lettuce wraps with shrimp, chorizo, peanuts, and spicy tamarind chutney. The lettuce for the wraps was crisp, the shrimp fresh and snappy, and the whole thing tasted like pad thai without the noodles. The empanadas had the added virtue of being adorable, in addition to tasty.

L’s short ribs were amazing, braised to melting, shredded perfection and crisped lightly on the outside, without too many flavours competing with the excellent beef. The bed of mashed potatoes was rich and cheesy, the dragonfruit reduction sauce subtle and fun. We couldn’t finish it all – when they say large plate, they mean it. Very good value too, at $23.

We managed to split two desserts, full as we were: D and L shared the churros with chai-spiced chocolate mousse for dipping, while Chris and I partook of the lemon-yuzu cake with ginger ice cream, five-spice crème anglaise, and sesame tuile. The churros were adorable (four of them!) and fried to order, still warm and coated liberally in crunchy sugar. The cake was warm as well, and moist, like a lemon poppyseed cake sans seeds and with another flavor dimension from the yuzu (Japanese citrus fruit). The ginger ice cream was mild and not too rich, the crème anglaise gorgeously spiced, and the tuile like a grownup’s version of the Sesame Snaps candy I grew up eating. I enjoyed every mouthful. Hot, cold, smooth, crunchy – perfect.

Nothing bad to say about the food, though as I said, we found the service a bit chilly and distant, though never rude. We would definitely go back, and you should go, too. Trendy or not, the food all works here, and that’s the whole point.

Play - food and fun utterly in balance

2010-06-10T11:12:00.002-04:00

I knew it would take a pretty special meal to bring me out of my semi-blogtirement, but last night was fairly close to being off the charts. I think what made it even better was the company in which we ate – a couple we are friends with who live in Finland, and only visit Ottawa every two years or so. We never get to spend enough time with them while they’re here, but we came pretty close this week. We had a fun homemade Middle Eastern dinner at our place last weekend, then attended their son’s first birthday party on Sunday.

But last night was the big splash-out: dinner at Play Food and Wine, Stephen Beckta’s small-plates restaurant in the ByWard Market. I’ve been meaning to try it for ages, but couldn’t come up with a suitably important occasion until now. M and H are total foodies, like us, and are also very into wine, so we deemed it the perfect place to try together. We had planned to go on Tuesday but couldn’t get a reservation at a time that worked for us, so we pushed it back to Wednesday at 6 p.m. (which turned out to be perfect). H and I dressed up a bit for the occasion with heels and dresses and tiny purses, which is always fun.

We arrived and were greeted kindly and gracefully, and immediately escorted to our table upstairs by the window where M and H were waiting. They ordered cocktails while Chris and I went straight to wine, and I love that they offer both 3 and 5 ounce pours of their wines by the glass. I had a 3-oz pour of Bon Courage Gewürztraminer (from South Africa) that blew my head off with its gorgeous deep yellow colour, lightness on the tongue and complexity of nose and flavor. Sadly the LCBO doesn’t currently carry it, but I’ll be watching the Vintages catalogue closely for this one.

The cocktails were equally impressive: the spa martini featured Hendricks gin, cucumber juice and lemon for a truly adult flavor that still managed to be smooth. H’s Niagara cosmo was late harvest vidal, vodka and cranberry juice – mighty tasty. Once we were libationed, we got down to the difficult business of deciding what to order. Our delightful waiter, Michael, suggested two plates per person would be a satisfying meal, and he was right. We each ordered two selections from their small plates section, eschewing charcuterie and cheese this time.

M and I both began with the quail with mead and mustard glaze atop a pile of dandelion greens concealing a pork belly-enhanced potato rösti. All of the elements were perfectly in balance; the slight bitterness of the greens offset the honeyed sweetness of the glaze on the tender, beautifully cooked tiny fowl while the rösti, dotted with tiny cubes of spice-cured pork belly, gave the dish needed weight and richness. M and I both wondered what the “Christmasy” element of spice was in the rösti and the waiter found out for us that we were tasting the allspice, clove and cinnamon in the curing rub; he was very impressed with our palates. (I guessed mace, M guessed nutmeg, so we were close.)

Chris started off with the wild trout with anchovy butter accompanied by almonds and capers. This turned out to be two thin rectangles of gorgeous peachy-pink fish, golden from the grill, skin-on, with a pat of melting briny butter atop a pile of sliced small Lebanese cucumbers in a sort of almond-caper pesto. I tried the fish and it was perfectly cooked, with a nice fishy bite from the anchovy butter. He was very enthusiastic about it. Chris had a 5-oz pour of a Spanish red called Mencia with both his dishes, and was very pleased with it.

H’s first dish was a post-pregnancy splurge: beef tartare, hand-cut, spiked with capers, sitting amidst a swipe of Dijon and another of (get this) bacon aioli, surrounded by taro root chips. I’m not a beef tartare girl, but H swooned over it, and the boys were equally impressed. I did try the bacon aioli and that is an idea that needs to be copied. YUM.

M went with the Bon Courage as well for the match for his quail, and loved it too. H had a small pour of Pilletteri Estates Cabernet Franc with her tartare – M said it tasted like a cigar, and H loved it. Leather, blueberries, smoke.

On to round two (ding!): quail for H, with the Gewürztraminer as well. Hanger steak and frites with mushrooms and aioli for Chris, who pronounced it some of the best steak he’d ever eaten. When we tried it, we concurred – it was unbelievably tender, served rare and sliced thinly, with a great sear on the outside and fantastic depth of flavor. The frites were skin-on, crisp and utterly addictive; the mushrooms were just garlicky enough. The portion looked smallish but turned out to be quite generous; with the side of roasted asparagus and prosciutto that Chris and I shared, it would be a decent meal on its own. Phenomenal.

M’s pork belly with rhubarb, maple and fennel made him swoon. Again, generous portion size; the belly was nicely crisped on the outside, the plate decorated with a thin sticky swoop of caramel that made the roasted baby fennel bulbs taste good even to me, a fennel-hater; the roasted rhubarb was pink and looked luscious. With it, a glass of Cave Spring pinot noir that was light and balanced and nicely acidic, to cut through the richness of the pork. (Yes, we tried all of one another’s wines; we’re GOOD friends.)

My seared Digby scallops were absolutely one of the most delicious things I’ve ever eaten in a restaurant. Three of the plump beauties (not huge, but decently sized) sat in a row on a white rectangular plate. Each of them was nestled into a pile of avocado purée, on top of which was sprinkled crumbled cooked chorizo sausage; each scallop was crowned with a jewel-like dice of ethereal pink pickled shallot. It was beautiful to behold and even more so in the mouth. Sweet, briny, rich, spicy all commingled to produce the perfect bite. I was almost in tears when it was all gone. I took a wine suggestion from the waiter for this one - a blended white called Tollgate from Stratus, in Niagara – and was not disappointed. Chardonnay and Sauv Blanc were the predominant grapes, giving it both weight and aroma, but it was fairly light and nicely acidic, an excellent food wine.

Because the plates are small, we actually had room for dessert (well, Chris and I shared). H dared the carrot trifle and was rewarded with a goblet layered with sponge cake, carrot sorbet, custard and date puree. She scraped that glass nearly clean (the waiter noted her devotion to duty). M ordered the roiboos tea crème brulee with cilantro sugar. He laughed out loud when he tried it, pronouncing it “like a good joke” that also tasted good, if strange. I don’t like roiboos, but I tried it anyway, and it was indeed very odd, but it worked. Both M and H had a glass of Niagara-produced ratafia dessert wine, which tasted to me as if someone had spiked a bottle of dessert wine with single-malt scotch. Interesting, but not my thing. They both loved it though.

Chris and I split the maple-hazelnut baklava that came with a small scoop of creamy, nut-studded gelato. It was enough to share – three rectangles of dense, sweet nutty goodness layered with phyllo. What a delicious twist on a classic pastry. (We declined dessert wine, as I had to work this morning and Chris was driving.)

Everything we ate and drank impressed us. The service was kind, lightly humourous and attentive without being pushy. The room is classy without being pretentious. I cannot think of a single sour note in the evening. We talked and laughed and tried tastes of others’ plates, and it was just exactly the way I want a special meal to be. When the bills did arrive (split correctly among the couples, without asking, I might add) we found ours to be worth every penny and then some.

Get thee to Play. And have some fun while you’re there – it’s a place that treats food lovingly but not with too much gravity. A perfect balance. Now I just need to find an excuse to go back.

Kaza Maza - Montreal

2009-12-07T11:25:00.000-05:00

Wow. I seem to be uninspired by the things coming out of my own kitchen over the past few months. I mean, I’ve cooked a few things that we really loved, that will become staples in my repertoire, but mainly, we’ve been revisiting old favourites around here. Since I started leading the Girl Guide unit, my weeks have gotten that much fuller and busier. I’m still trying to shoehorn more exercise into the week as well, without destroying my back, and that’s challenging. So getting into the kitchen and mixing it up a little hasn’t felt like a priority. I’m cooking, we’re eating, but it’s not terribly exciting.

However. December is always a fun month for me to cook. Family and friends are in town; cookies need baking; Christmas dinner (which I am hosting again this year) needs to be gently tweaked while maintaining its traditional elements. I’m looking forward to the next couple of weeks very much. In the meantime, here’s a review of an excellent little place that Chris and I ate at in Montreal over the weekend.

Kaza Maza is a relatively new restaurant that occupies the space where an old stamp shop once lived. The owner did all the renovations himself, and the room looks great – exposed brick walls, original strip hardwood floors, tables made from varnished surplus wood, and interesting light fixtures. The bar area is a little too brightly-lit, but the main restaurant area was OK. According to its owner, Kaza Maza was originally conceived of as a cultural space that just happened to have food. Somehow, the tables turned, when local food critics discovered that the hot and cold mezze (small plates) that make up the menu are truly something delicious to ingest. So when we stepped into the long, narrow space on Saturday night, we weren’t disappointed that there was no live music going on. The food would be enough, we trusted.

And it was. Oh, how it was. We began with two selections from the cold mezze list, each choosing one. Chris went for his current obsession, baba ganoush, while I chose my elusive friend muhammara. First to arrive, though, were some tiny and decidedly bitter green olives, a glass of Boreale Rousse beer for Chris, and an abysmal glass of red wine for me. The wine was my one serious quibble, so let’s get it out of the way now: Kaza Maza offers only one red and one white by the glass, at $4.50, and those wines come FROM A BOX. Oh, honey… no. Charge me two bucks more and buy a decent Italian or Argentinian red. I beg you. They’re not too pricey and people will rejoice. Right now the BOX is the only choice for wine drinkers who don’t want to order an entire bottle. By the end of that glass, I was wishing I had.

However, once our dips and a basket of soft pita triangles arrived, the wine was mostly forgotten in a blur of olive oil and pine nuts and pomegranate seeds and utter delight and maybe a dash of gluttony. The muhammara was delicious, slightly sweet and tart from pomegranate molasses, earthy from the roasted red peppers and walnuts, and rich with oil. As much as I enjoyed it, I think it might actually be too rich for two people to share even a small bowl. It’s better as a spread than a dip.

The baba ganoush was unbelievably delicious – smooth, smoky, and utterly flavourful, studded with red jewel-like pomegranate seeds. We didn’t manage to finish it before the hot mezze arrived, and I eyed the remains balefully as my stomach creaked mournfully. But I get ahead of myself. The first of the hot offerings, vegetarian kibbe, arrived in a small pyramid of teardrop-shaped, well-browned nuggets comprised of a crisp bulgur crust wrapped around well-seasoned spinach puree. It sounds boring but was totally addictive – definitely in the top three of the night.

The kibbe were followed by two meat dishes: lamb shank braised with eggplant, peppers and tomatoes, and pistachio kefta, a sort of rough meatball of beef and lamb with chopped nuts and spices. The lamb blew my mind in a big way – the meat fell properly off the bone and had excellent flavor, but was almost overshadowed by the incredibly soft, melting, savoury vegetables that surrounded it. I have no idea what the spicing was, but it was out of this world. I’d go back and make a meal out of that lamb.

The kefta were a disappointment to me – I found them dry and not terribly flavourful. Possibly they’re just not to my taste. Chris liked them OK, but by that time we were so full from everything else that we didn’t eat more than half of the dish.

Dessert was out of the question, sadly, as they had baklava on the menu, but we did each have a cup of restorative green tea with fresh mint leaves. We had a lovely chat with the owner on our way out, about food and commercialism and the Montreal scene.

A word of warning about the bathrooms: they’re in the basement, down a scary, narrow flight of stairs, and it is COLD down there. But we managed.

Seriously, if you go – WHEN you go – order the baba ganoush. You won’t be sorry. But skip the box wine.

Il Primo: mostly, pretty darned good

2009-10-05T11:28:00.003-04:00

I promise I’m alive over here. September was the most insane month ever, and in three days I’m off to Brazil for two weeks with Chris to visit my parents, so you may get a taste of Rio and Sao Paulo on here, but I know there’s been previous little content here for ages and I apologize.

We did have a lovely dinner out with our friends L and B on Saturday night. They’ve just moved into the townhouse they spent a year renovating, in the Little Italy area, so we wanted to stay in their neighbourhood for dinner. I’d never been to Il Primo, though Chris had been and enjoyed it, so off we went.

It’s a small room – cozy, but small, and somewhat overheated that night – but our table at the front, in the window, was lovely and spacious. Our waiter seemed to have a flair for the dramatic but lacked good wine-pouring skills (plenty of drips) and overpronounced all the Italian words, and so L immediately labeled him a theatre major, which he inadvertently confirmed later on. He also had to come back and get us to repeat our orders while he wrote them down. Not the brightest star in the sky.

While the main courses are very reasonably priced here, I found my Caprese salad to be both overpriced and underperforming; we’re at the tail end of field tomato season in Ottawa right now, and we are 25 minutes’ drive from excellent greenhouses in Kanata, meaning there is no reason for an Italian restaurant to use crunchy Roma tomatoes with little flavor in a Caprese salad right now. The mozzarella was ONE small ball of bocconcini, sliced, and not that flavourful; the balsamic was obviously supermarket-quality. Quite disappointing, especially for nine dollars.

Chris finished his Caesar salad, though he didn’t rave about it, which in itself is significant. It looked small for the price ($8) but came with grilled bread and a fresh wedge of lemon. L and B shared the calamari and were a tiny bit confused when it arrived in grilled tubes, rather than fried rings. I tried it, though, and it was fork-tender if a bit overly-smoky from the grill.

Mains fared far, far better than apps. After much discussion and hemming and hawing, B and I decided to swap our mains halfway through because we were dithering about the same two dishes. My spinach linguine with seafood in tomato cream sauce was incredible – not too saucy, punchy with garlic, and cooked to a perfect al dente bite. Two beautifully coked sea scallops, three good-sized shrimp and some chunks of tasty salmon topped the dish. I was very, very sad to pass this across the table, but relinquish it I did, and in return ate half of the gnocchi piedmontese, with sliced Italian sausage in a chunky tomato and sweet red pepper sauce. It was tasty, but I found the sausage a bit grainy and the gnocchi not as flavourful as some I’ve had. It needed a bit of perking up somehow.

Chris went with his usual, veal parmigiano, which came with that same spinach linguini tossed in alfredo sauce. He polished off every bite and declared it delicious. L’s farfalle with almond and lemon pesto, topped with goat cheese and roasted red peppers, seemed a success as well (she’d had it before and enjoyed it). I should mention that the portion sizes were very good – much more restrained than in many Italian restaurants, but not skimpy, either.

The four of us shared a bottle of Cotes du Rhone ($41), which was served a touch too warm for my liking but went well with all the food. For dessert, each couple shared the chocolate indulgence of the day, which that night was a chocolate and raspberry cheesecake. It was excellent, light and creamy, without the doorstop quality of some cheesecakes, filled with fresh raspberry puree and bittersweet chocolate on a crumb crust that wasn’t too sweet. One quibble: our piece was quite obviously larger than L and B’s.

The company was excellent and we had a very good time, so good in fact that it was really only in hindsight that some of the shortcomings became apparent to me. However, I would definitely return to Il Primo and have that seafood linguini again (though not a salad). It’s a nice casual, but not too casual place with a comfortable vibe.

Delicious things eaten in New England on vacation

2009-08-05T09:48:00.001-04:00

Chris and I just spent just over a week in Vermont, Massachusetts and New Hampshire, where we ate many delicious things and spent time with good friends and saw a totally killer Tragically Hip outdoor concert. It was a fantastic vacation, and here are some of the highlights. Apologies for the long quiet; I have been cooking a lot of old favourites lately but am planning a frugal food challenge of sorts for the rest of August, so I should have some new stuff to post about that very soon. In the meantime, tasty treats from the Northeast U.S.:

Vermont

Pizza at American Flatbread in Waitsfield, VT: we’ve eaten there before and were not disappointed with our meal, despite a long wait for a table (mitigated by being able to sit outside at the farm and have a drink while watching the sun slowly set). The daily special flatbread had Misty Knoll chicken, arugula and fresh herbs, chanterelles and Vermont cheddar, and it was incredible as always. The brownie sundae for dessert was pretty amazing too. We whetted our appetites with a stroll along the Mad River Greenway, something I can highly recommend.

Lunch at Boloco on Church Street in Burlington, which boasts inspired burritos and killer smoothies. We each had a small “classic” steak burrito, which was huge, generous with the tender meat, and extremely tasty. Shared a Cape Codder smoothie (cranberries, blueberries, apple juice and frozen yogurt) that was one heck of a tasty thirst-quencher. Very good inexpensive lunch – we’d go back.

Boston

Ethiopian food at Addis Red Sea on Tremont in the South End. This was our second visit to Addis, and we were pleasantly surprised at the repeated high quality of the food and service. Favourite dishes were the Lebeg Tibs (lamb berbere stew) and Doro Alicha (mild chicken with onions and spices). Excellent injera and a nifty cottage cheese appetizer too.

China Pearl for dim sum. Recommended by some online friends repeatedly. We were able to find it easily despite not looking up the location, and for $22 ate well but restrainedly (too much fried food = bad news). Pork buns, shrimp noodles, egg rolls and shu mai from the carts were yummy, as was the huge platter of stir fried Chinese broccoli (gai lan) we ordered off the menu. Shabby but comfortable interior, full of Asian folks.

Portsmouth NH

Portsmouth Gaslight Co. treated us very well for dinner one night, with Piscataqua crab cakes for starters, followed by very crispy beer-battered fish and chips for Chris and two generous slabs of maple bourbon boneless short ribs over mashed potatoes for me. The half ear of corn wasn’t the best I’ve had, but that was my only quibble. Chocolate mousse cake was also very impressive, and Chris enjoyed his Sea Dog blueberry wheat ale (Portland, MA) immensely.

The Friendly Toast scores high on the kitschy diner vibe scale, and Chris’s Granny melt (apples, brie, onions on homemade bread) was terrific. My burrito was fine, if not as good as the one in Burlington. Sides are too carby for the amount of bread in the sandwiches, but that’s a common issue with diners. Great selection of drinks (cream soda! Diet ginger ale!) and friendly staff.

Provincetown (Cape Cod)

The Waterford, on Commercial Street, has a lovely upstairs covered deck and impressive hamburgers, plus good lobster “sliders” (three mini lobster salad sandwiches on French bread; generous with the meat, not much filler) and spectacular calamari, not at all tough or rubbery.

Bistro at Crowne Pointe Inn wins my prize for best restaurant associated with a hotel I’ve ever had the pleasure of eating at. Top-notch meal start to finish, from roasted beet, goat cheese and arugula salad that was a divine example of the genre, through six perfect, large, seared sea scallops with thin grilled asparagus and an olive oil-yuzu drizzle, to profiteroles with dulce de leche ice cream and warm Valhrona chocolate sauce (poured tableside to avoid melting). Wine service excellent – a good suggestion from the waiter, who pleasantly agreed to chill the unoaked Chardonnay further when I found it too warm upon tasting. Chris’s lobster ravioli were divine, topped with a butter-poached nugget of gorgeous claw meat and some sautéed baby spinach. The deep-dish lemon pie our friend ordered was tartly divine. Excellent, friendly service. This is one to go back to.

Concord, NH

The Eagle Square Deli deserves a mention for providing us with a terrific lunch along our drive home. Tucked away next to a fountain off Main Street, they boast three kinds of homemade soup and terrific sandwiches made to order. A half smoked turkey and cheddar on great bread with fresh tomato and lettuce, plus a cup of corn and sweet potato chowder, hit the spot perfectly for six bucks. One to remember, as Concord’s just off I-93 and I-89. Beats the heck out of fast food.

Montreal bits and bites

2009-07-02T11:01:00.000-04:00

Last weekend we drove to Montreal to hang out with some friends from Toronto who were there for the weekend. The female half of the couple was invited to Montreal by a restaurateur who she’d done some design work for, and he offered to take us on a sort of “food tour” of Montreal on Saturday afternoon. Sadly, I ended up getting a severe migraine late in the afternoon and therefore missed out on having dinner at his fancier restaurant, but we went to some incredible places during the day.

We started out at Pâtisserie Mahrousé, in the Park Extension neighbourhood, where we sampled all manner of phyllo-wrapped and layered delicacies. I don’t remember the names of anything we tried, but everything was delicious beyond measure. Several of the pastries are only made on weekends, including one with a walnut and cinnamon filling and another with ricotta and honey and pistachios. Chris also bought a date-filled buttery cookie that was incredible, not too sweet, reminiscent of a fig newton but miles better.

Our next stop was Lahmadjoune Beyrouth Yerevan, a bakery that specializes in Armenian “pizzas” - pita breads topped with meat or spinach and cheese, cooked in a wood oven. We got a couple of each kind and sat on the stoop in front of the tiny shop and ate them with gusto. I am absolutely going back there for picnic supplies one day.

We then wandered around the Jean-Talon market for a bit, where I bought some cider vinegar from Rougemont, Quebec. Then it was on to Camellia Sinensis, a fancy tea shop in the student area of St-Denis. They sell freshly picked varietal teas from China and Japan – no flavoured chai or roiboos here. We each had a cup of tea and that’s when my head exploded, so unfortunately the experience was a bit lost on me. Chris bought some gunpowder tea to make Moroccan mint tea with, though.

The next day we got breakfast at a bakery recommended by our tour guide – Le Kouign-Amann. He said they make the best croissants in Montreal; sadly, we got there too late in the morning to find out. It was 40 minutes to the next batch, so we made do with an apple turnover, a couple of chocolatines, and a raisin cinnamon roll, which we took with us and sat on a bench in front of the Mont-Royal metro station. All were utterly delicious.

Later, we had lunch at Rumi Grill on St-Laurent, which is the more casual sister to Rumi, the main restaurant owned by our tour guide. Both places specialize in North African food. I ordered a sort of sandwich on pain baladi, a sort of whole grain pita, with za’atar and Akawi cheese (much like fresh mozzarella or halloumi) that was extremely tasty. I also had to try Muhammara for the first time, because I’ve been dying to try it ever since I saw it on the Wednesday Chef last year. It’s a sort of spread made from roasted red peppers, olive oil, walnuts, pomegranate molasses and Aleppo pepper, and it is DIVINE. Full of fat and not something to eat every day, but oh, I could. It blew my mind. I want to put it on everything. I cannot wait to go back there and just order a selection of mezes and a bunch of pita and a cool drink and just gorge delightedly. Please, if you like middle eastern food, go there now. For me. Chris says their kefta pita is pretty darned awesome, too, and they have house-brewed basil lemonade as well as a wicked cocktail of ginger, orange and lemon juices that kicks back, but in a good way. I wish I was there now.

Black Dog Bistro, Manotick

2009-06-09T09:25:00.000-04:00

Chris and I went for a late lunch in Manotick last weekend en route to a viewing of the Minto Inspiration "green home". We arrived in the ‘tick a short time after 2:00 and were blown away by the crowds… we had forgotten that it was Dickenson Days, the local festival weekend. The village was jam-packed, but we managed to find a place to park and walked back to Main Street to investigate lunch options. The Black Dog Bistro’s patio looked inviting but fairly full; however, the friendly owner, Dot, assured us that a table would be available within ten or fifteen minutes. As it turned out, we waited less than five before a four-top opened up and we were quickly seated.

As I mentioned, the place was bustling, so we did wait about seven or eight minutes before Dot noticed we didn’t have menus, and promptly sent over our fabulous waitress, Bree, who was a total delight throughout our meal, with a great sense of humour and a smile for everyone. We perused the varied and interesting menu and found it hard to decide what to have – everything looked delicious. In the end, I went with my gut, which was demanding seafood, and ordered the calamari salad. Chris went with their smoked meat sandwich (he can never resist the siren song of smoked meat) while my in-laws ordered the pulled pork sandwich and the chicken fingers, respectively.

Our Pellegrino and iced teas arrived promptly, followed ten minutes later by our meals. My salad (which arrived sans red onions as requested) was a generous bowl of battered calamari rings scattered atop a mound of mixed greens, sliced red and green peppers, and grape tomatoes lightly dressed with delicious spicy balsamic vinaigrette. The squid rings were tender and yielding, with a few tentacles thrown in for good measure and the vegetables were fresh and flawless. Two forks up.

Chris’s sandwich disappeared so quickly I never got a good look at it, so I imagine it was good, and the matchstick fries (served in a huge latte cup) were excellent, as were my MIL’s sweet potato fries. The chicken fingers were fried to a deeper brown than one usually sees, the coating was crisp and spicy, and the meat within was white and tasty. The pulled pork looked and smelled incredible, though I forgot to score a bite.

All in all, a delicious lunch for a good price with excellent service and a fun atmosphere. We’ll be going back, especially after discovering that Dot, the owner, is also part owner (along with Val Belcher) of Big Easy’s, our favourite place on Preston Street! The Black Dog is a great find and not too far from home to venture out to once in a while. Next time we’ll go in the evening and enjoy a beer and a cider on the patio!

Beyond the Green Door

2009-06-06T13:35:00.000-04:00

Last night Chris and I joined our friend N for dinner and a movie. N is a vegan, and both Chris and I enjoy vegetarian food, so we decided to go to The Green Door, in Ottawa East. It's a cafeteria/buffet by weight sort of place, very casual, communal tables etc. but they also sell beer and wine, which is really lovely. We had all been there together for dessert in the past, but never dinner.

I was blown away by the selection of dishes both hot and cold. The line begins with the daily soup (zucchini, which N tried and enjoyed) and four different kinds of bread, several gluten-free. You move on to the hot dish area, where I selected a tofu and vegetable stir-fry, a scoop of mashed potatoes with kale and cheese, a pile of simply steamed asparagus, a helping of mild eggplant curry, and a dollop of cauliflower in a lemon-tahini sauce. There was also a gorgeous-looking vegetarian lasagna, mashed yams, black beans with squash, and several other things I cannot remember.

Move on to the salad bar, grabbing a still-warm triangle of spanakopita along the way, and you'll find mixed greens, bean and grain salads, even a bowl of Caesar (sans bacon and anchovies of course) as well as cucumber-yogurt raita and a sesame-dressed yam salad that I found overpowering. It was the only thing I tried that I didn't adore, actually. The rest of my plate was utterly delicious, fresh, and not aggressively "healthy" tasting in the least. I wish I had taken way more of the cauliflower dish because it blew my head off with its subtle flavours and mild richness. The eggplant curry was excellent as well, and the tofu in the stir-fry was some of the best I've ever eaten.

Of course we got dessert - Chris and I split a slice of chocolate and vanilla swirl cheesecake with a coconut-spiked crust. We forgot to check if it was dairy or soy, but I think it was dairy, though it was far airier and lighter than most cheesecakes. Very nice indeed. N had a slab of their amazing gluten-and-sugar-free chocolate cake (it has cashew flour in it, and it's dense and dark and wonderful). I got a cinnamon walnut cookie to take to the movie with me and it was delicious as well.

All in all, a fantastic experience and one I hope to repeat very soon. WIth just water to drink, and with well-laden plates, our dinner came to $30. I think we could splurge on a boozy beverage next time, perhaps.

Genji: sushi divinity in Centretown

2009-05-12T10:27:00.002-04:00

Apologies for my long absence; I haven't had much to say about what I've been cooking or eating, but things are looking up, starting with this entry about a fantastic meal we had on Satruday night. More to come soon.

Saturday was a busy day for Chris and I – we spent most of it out and about, dodging torrential downpours. By the time we got the grocery shopping done at 6 p.m. I was in no mood to cook anything. When we started brainstorming places to go, Genji popped into my head. It’s a sushi restaurant that’s been getting good buzz for about three years now, and why we had not been there yet I have no idea, but all of a sudden I wanted to go there very badly. I knew from having visited the restaurant that previously existed in that location that it’s not a big place, so I made a quick call to secure us a table. Good thing, too – when we arrived the place was nearly full and hopping. A good sign.

The room has small bamboo divider screens sectioning the tables into near-private "rooms", and our two-top was on its own, giving us wonderful conversation space without feeling isolated. The noise level was high, but not irritatingly so, and the waitress pleasant without being obsequious; we were well-attended to without being hounded through our meal. The deep brown colour of the ceiling makes the room feel cozy, and the white plastic IKEA lotus flower pendant lights were a lovely modern yet exotic touch. Lighting was low but not so dim that we couldn’t see our food, and I don’t recall any music, which was fine – either there was none or it was soft enough not to intrude on conversation.

I was thrilled to find mango juice on the drinks menu and ordered an iced glass of it, while Chris indulged his love of Tsingtao beer. We had planned to order some edamame, but when two amuse-sized portions arrived with our drinks, we gobbled them up and decided to try some other things from the extensive appetizer section of the menu. Eventually we settled on seafood soup (me) and gyoza (Chris). I will admit to being disappointed in the seafood soup after enjoying the version at Mikado in Montreal last year immensely. Genji’s was a small bowl of clear, flavourful broth containing one small shrimp and one small chunk of white fish, along with some bits of carrot, green onion, sliced green bean and enoki mushrooms, and a few sheets of seaweed. It was tasty enough, and for $3.95 not a bad deal, but not exciting enough to bother ordering again.

Chris’s gyoza were very good, by contrast – five pillowy steamed dumplings filled with well-seasoned minced pork and served with a vinegary dipping sauce. Next time I’ll try some of the more adventurous sounding apps, like the king crab, seaweed and cucumber salad, or the sashimi tartar with tempura bits and Japanese mayo. Yum.

The fabulousness factor increased tenfold with the arrival of our sushi and sashimi. Chris ordered an unagi and cucumber roll (after a gentle reminded from me that the eel is cooked and he had tried it and loved it once before) and a tempura roll with fried shrimp, cucumber, lettuce and Japanese mayo. The umagi came drizzled with a light barbecue sauce; the tempura roll arrived waving flags of lettuce and shrimp tails, stacked into something resembling one of the castles from the original Nintendo Mario Bros. game. He pronounced each bite to be awesome.

My desire to go to Genji had been driven by a craving for yellowtail sashimi, which at Genji is available in three- or five-piece servings. It’s some of the priciest on the sashimi menu, but I bit the bullet and ordered the three-piece, alongside a rainbow roll. Containing faux crab, avocado and cucumber with Japanese mayo, wrapped with paper-thin avocado and slices of red tuna, snapper and salmon, it was the most gorgeous maki roll I’ve ever had the extreme pleasure of eating. And what about that yellowtail sashimi? Well, the high price proved itself to be excellent value when I caught sight of the serving size: each chunk of sashimi was slightly larger than a 9-volt battery. Generous indeed, and utterly delicious, it was without a doubt the best sashimi I’ve ever eaten in Ottawa.

We didn’t even want dessert, lest we break the spell of the sushi. We nearly floated out of there to find the rain had mostly stopped. For $75 including taxes and tip, it was an extraordinarily relaxing and delicious evening that we’ll certainly be repeating as soon as possible. Four chopsticks up, Genji – we’ll be back.

Fraser Cafe - a cut above for brunch

2009-04-05T19:54:00.000-04:00

Chris and I regularly go out for brunch with a couple we have been friends with since my university days. It's a great way to catch up every few weeks, and we like to try a different place every time. Last month we were wavering between the Ottawa Bagelshop and the Fraser Cafe, and the Bagelshop won out that time, but we resolved to try Fraser Cafe the next time. That's exactly what we did this morning, and were rewarded with a truly lovely experience.

The menu is fairly short and changes seasonally, as Fraser Cafe bills itself as a "seasonal kitchen" that aims to source ingredients locally. The place is tiny, with seating for perhaps 20 people plus a small bar with four seats. The kitchen is open, separated from the dining area only by a counter. That said, the place smells lovely but not overpowering, and I never once felt as though I was IN the kitchen, despite being seated next to it. The tables are dark, with purple-upholstered chairs and banquettes, and pots of purple basil used as centrepieces. Lots of windows open the space up beautifully, and the front door is a vibrant green.

We began with drinks hot and cold - Chris selected apple cider from the juices on offer, while I had an excellent decaf Americano and our friends K and N split the daily smoothie (mango and banana) and N supplemented with regular coffee. They also pour water for everyone without being asked, which was nice.

We ended up ordering in pairs - N and I both had the Fraser's take on the traditional breakfast plate, with fluffy scrambled eggs, sauteed potato cubes with onion and plenty of pepper, melted cheese curds, half a roasted tomato, a house-made sausage patty (divine, subtly seasoned and not at all greasy) and the piece de resistance, sauteed mushrooms doused in Worcestershire sauce. The plate was generous without being gargantuan, and all the flavours were bright and vibrant. Needless to say, no complaints from either of us.

Chris and K, meanwhile, both ordered the breakfast sandwich, which comes on multigrain bread and encompasses fried eggs, tomatoes, bacon (for Chris; K is a vegetarian, which was no problem at all for the kitchen) and cheese, alongside a lightly dressed salad of Boston lettuce. Chris raved about it, and the bite I had was pretty awesome. K enjoyed hers immensely as well.

There were other gorgeous-sounding things on the menu as well, like the cinnamon french toast with fruit compote and whipped cream, or the panzanella salad with lemon dressing, arugula, tomato, olives and feta. I think there's going to have to be a next time, so we can try those out.

It's not what I'd call a bargain sort of place - brunch for two of us was $38 with tax and tip - but the food was definitely a cut above many brunch places we've eaten at. The service was pleasant and efficient, the room comfortable and welcoming, and the place lacks pretension or attitude. Well done, indeed.

Pork carnitas tacos with salsa fresca

2009-03-31T22:37:00.002-04:00

Back in the fall, while Chris and I were in San Francisco, we ate possibly the most delicious burritos I ever hope to eat, at a corner taqueria in the Mission called Los Coyotes. Later in the afternoon we ran into the lady who served us while riding back downtown on the F Line, and we had a little conversation in Spanish. It was pretty nifty.

All this to say, that was the first time I had carnitas and it was very memorable. As a pork lover, I think braising and then shredding and caramelizing this succulent meat is about as yummy as it gets. It's not exactly good for you (hint: the traditional cooking process involves a lot of lard) but is it ever tasty wrapped up in a flour tortilla with veggies and beans and cheese.

Pardon me while I clean the drool from my keyboard.

All right. So, since we got back from SF, I've been idly daydreaming about making carnitas myself, but once I did some research I discovered that it's quite a lengthy process, and one I probably will get to doing eventually. However, it's not so convenient for a weeknight, so I did some looking around and ended up amalgamating a couple of recipes: one from David Lebovitz (from which I took the seasonings) and one from Cooking Light (whose technique I used, to decent effect). In retrospect, my pork could have braised about half an hour longer, but honestly, I wanted to go to bed. I left it to cool down overnight, and skimmed the fat like a good girl the next day. Then I cooked down the pork in its braising liquid and shredded it with two forks, and while it was simmering I threw together a bowl of salsa fresca and shredded some cheddar cheese.

Just for fun I bought these sort of fancy tortillas (President's Choice Blue Menu, for the Canadians), with yellow and brown flaxseeds in them, and they were really really good, so good that I will buy them again, I think. Anyway, we wrapped them around some pork, a pile of salsa fresca, a dusting of cheese and a drizzle of sour cream. I took my first bite and was thisclose to being back in the taqueria again. It wasn't a perfect copy of that pork flavour, but it was close enough to evoke the memory while still tasting new and fresh to me. I can't complain about that. They were wonderful tacos and I hope to make them again. And again. Until I get back to SF again, these will be good enough.

Revisionist Pork Carnitas

2 pounds pork shoulder, fat and skin removed, cut into 1/2" chunks
2 large cloves garlic, thinly sliced
2 tbsp tomato paste
1/2 tsp each ground cumin and coriander
1 tsp regular chili powder
1/2 tsp chipotle chile powder
1 tsp coarse salt
1 cup water or broth

Preheat the oven to 350 F. Put the pork and garlic in an ovenproof casserole or Dutch oven. Combine remaining ingredients and pour over meat; stir to combine. Braise 1.5 to 2 hours in oven, until pork is very tender. Refrigerate overnight. Skim fat the next day; shred the meat coarsely. Pour meat and liquid into a hot skillet and cook over medium high heat until liquid reduces away and pork browns in places. Serve in warmed tortillas with salsa fresca, cheese, sour cream.

Salsa Fresca
1/4 cup chopped fresh coriander
3 Roma tomatoes, diced
2-3 green onions, white parts removed, thinly sliced
coarse sea salt
pepper
juice of one lime
drizzle of olive oil

Combine all ingredients in a bowl and let sit to meld flavours at least 30 minutes. Serve with carnitas or chips.

Murray Street redux

2009-03-31T22:30:00.003-04:00

(Still catching up on February and early March!)

Meat. Fat. Alcohol. Yum. That about sums up our evening out at Murray Street last month. Loyal readers may recall that Chris and I paid our first visit to this newish restaurant in the Byward Market last September, for our anniversary. We were both impressed by the food and underwhelmed by the service. I also found the space a bit cold and masculine for my tastes. But the fact that I hadn't tried any of the charcuterie from their extensive house-made selection was haunting me, so when our friends L and B asked if we were free for dinner one wintry weekend, Murray Street came to mind immediately. L, like me, is an avowed carnivore, and I thought she might appreciate MS's spectacular treatment of animal flesh. So off we went for a late supper on a Saturday where the wind howled at us and it felt as though spring would never come. We needed comfort food, and fast.

Chris and I both decided to order strictly from the charcuterie bar menu - they offer three meats/two cheeses or vice versa for $25 (Canadian dollars, as the menu oddly reminds readers) with a selection of accompanying mustards, preserves, and flavour accents as well as a few cornichons and a slice of the best pickled beet I have ever eaten. Oh, and a small burlap sack filled with thinly sliced Art-is-in breads toasted to crisp. Chris selected all different things than I did and we were both quite pleased with our choices.

From the slicer, I chose smoked ostrich and it was amazing - deep red in colour, with a pleasant smokiness and a lean but not too chewy mouth feel, a lot like dry-cured smoked brisket, but gamier. I also chose the country terrine with smoked pork tenderloin, which was ever so gently garlicky and pleasantly chunky, excellent with a smudge of grainy maple mustard; and the duck liver mousse pate, which arrived in a small crock, topped with duck fat, and was so rich I couldn't even begin to contemplate finishing it. It was best smoothed onto a crisp and topped with a few golden raisins that had been cooked down with caramelized onions, sweet and tart to cut the rich unctuousness of the mousse. That one's for sharing, definitely.

My two cheeses were both from Canada: a semi-soft La Station Comtomme from Estrie, Quebec, and a hard Toscano Secco, from Monforte Dairy in Millbank, Ontario. I certainly enjoyed them both, but the Toscano Secco was the more memorable, with a flavour reminiscent of dry jack, though less crumbly. B ordered the Pine River 7-year cheddar as part of his platter, and we were all jealous of it - that's on my list for next time.

Here's what my board looked like before I demolished most of it:

Meanwhile, Chris's platter held paper-thin slices of smoked duck breast (rich and lovely, not overly smoky), a smooth goat cheese and mushroom terrine that he liked very much, and a small Mason jar of house-made cretons that I was lucky enough to try. Totally yummy.

L went out on a limb and ordered a main dish, Ontario-raised beef short ribs with mushrooms in a Cabernet braising jus over spaetzle noodles. She was kind enough to offer me a bit, and it made me wish I had ordered that, as good as the charcuterie was.

Chris had two Manhattans with his meal, while I started with a 3 oz. pour of Fielding Estates riesling (a fave of mine, it was great to see it on the menu) and progressed to a 5 oz. glass of Zinfandel from Pedroncelli in Sonoma County. Both were excellent.

To finish, each couple shared a dessert - L and B tried the apple crisp with vanilla gelato and more of that Pine River cheddar, which seemed to be incorporated into the crust. I don't think it made the angels sing for them, but it seemed fine. Chris and I shared a square of dense, moist carrot cake topped with citrusy cream cheese frosting (light and frothy), local honeyed walnuts and sugared carrot crisps. It was a creative and elegant take on a classic dessert.

The space didn't bother me this time, perhaps because the restaurant was full - it feels more cozy and inviting that way. We had a lovely round four-top which was unfortunately near the door, but the restaurant smartly has a vestibule, so we weren't blasted with cold air too often. I love round tables at restaurants - they're rare for just four people and it's a nice way to sit and chat. We weren't rushed through our meal at all (the benefit of going in at 8) and our waiter was pleasant and knowledgeable about the menu, but not overly solicitous, which I liked. He was far more enjoyable than the fellow who served us in September, for sure.

All in all, a delightful dinner, and with four drinks and a dessert, very good value for money, considering the local provenance and high quality of the ingredients. I'm impressed, and I'll be back again for sure.

Mowing down on tasty brunch dishes

2009-03-28T13:34:00.003-04:00

Sorry for the long hiatus - I've been tired and sick and generally OVER winter, so not very inspired, but I have a big backlog of photos and entries to get up, so look for those this week.

Anyway, my Dad was in town last month for work meetings while my mom was still here looking after my grandma. He arrived on a Saturday, and Sunday morning we all met up for brunch – my folks, my sister, her husband, his son K, and the two of us. After some discussion about places to eat, my sister came up with a short list that included the Barley Mow in old Ottawa South. Chris and I have eaten there a number of times and have always been very, very impressed with the quality of this pub’s food. It doesn’t have aspirations to “gastropub” status; what it does well is traditional pub food and brunch dishes both basic and sexy. Think breakfast special, but also six ways with eggs Benedict; plain Belgian waffles, but also banana-walnut French toast. It’s quite the lengthy and varied brunch menu, in fact, which made it tough for us to choose what to eat.

The other great, great thing about brunch at the Mow: they take reservations. Are you listening, the other zillion places in Ottawa that make brunch-goers wait in endless lines when we’re already starving and possibly hung over? We were able to reserve a sunny corner of the pub for the seven of us, and the moment Chris and I arrived they asked if we needed any kids’ menus – the place is seriously family-friendly. One of the other children in the pub spent several minutes doing baby yoga on the floor, in fact, and no one batted an eyelash. K was right at home with his covered and straw-ed cup of juice, kid-sized waffle and bacon served on a vintage melamine Hot Wheels Plate, and paper menu that included a colouring page.

After a few moments’ perusal, I realized I was definitely drawn to the breakfast burritos, especially given that they came with both baked beans AND the Mow’s spectacular home fries. (This place has a serious way with potatoes, I must say – their house-made “chippers” are the best bar snack ever.) I was not disappointed – my two flour tortillas housed a gorgeous mixture of soft scrambled eggs, cheddar cheese, salsa and hot peppers, decorated with chopped Roma tomato and a dollop of great guacamole. Neither the beans nor the homefries disappointed. My square white plate was clean when I finished with it.

Chris also diverged from his usual suspects, choosing the omelette filled with wild mushroom ragu and goat cheese. I didn’t try it, but it was fluffy and fat and came with more of those stunning, spiced, fried potatoes. He was thrilled.

Other delicious offerings included the aforementioned French toast, which my Dad ordered. They had to sub strawberries, as they had run out of bananas, but he enjoyed it anyway.

J ordered the daily quiche – I’m not a massive quiche fan, but I tried a bite and it was lovely, with mushrooms, green onion and cheese.

D went carb-loaded and got the omelette with mashed potato in the filling, among other things. And my Mom loved her “classic” eggs Benedict, which came perched atop tea biscuits instead of the traditional English muffins.

The Mow has a wide range of juices (yay, Clamato) and specialty teas in addition to coffee and hot chocolate. The service was impeccable, and no one rushed us out the door – we were there for an hour and a half, all told, chatting and finishing each other’s potatoes. It was really a terrific way to start off Sunday – excellent food and people I love. What on earth could be better?

Discovering yet more deliciousness at Big Easy’s

2009-03-02T11:06:00.000-05:00

I knew exactly where I wanted to go for my birthday dinner this year: Big Easy’s. I knew it after our first meal there, in September; this position was cemented after our excellent second visit on New Year’s Eve. I was even pretty sure I knew what I wanted to eat: tuna tartare, steak with creamed spinach, and sweet potato-pecan pie. Chris abhors this thing I do, where I look at the menu online and then decide in advance. He likes to go where the mood takes him, although he will admit to often being in the mood for crab cakes, veal parmigiana, and anything chocolate.

But I digress. I won’t post a full review of our meal, because we’ve been there twice before and we did repeat many of the dishes we’ve had in the past, and all were impeccable. But I tried something new that merits a review of its own, the “grown-up” coconut shrimp. When I see something on a menu referred to as “grown-up”, I always assume it contains alcohol, but in this case it refers to the size of the shrimp, which are jumbo. As in, huge. Four bites each huge. They arrived on a teardrop-shaped plate, gorgeously battered with shards of toasty coconut clearly visible, fried to crisp on the outside but still moist inside, with a divinely well-balanced orange-sesame dipping sauce that made the whole thing just sing in the mouth. Chris, eagerly devouring his very own crab cake, was deeply envious after I offered him a bite.

As for the rest, I will say that I thought the creamed spinach was a touch watery the other night, though the flavor and freshness was excellent; my steak was cooked perfectly; they had my favourite Ontario Riesling by the glass (Angel’s Gate); and the service was impeccable. Also, they offered me dessert on the house as it was my birthday, and brought it with a sparkler but (this is very important) NO SINGING STAFF MEMBERS. Lovely. The level of service and quality at this place is so consistent and the food so delicious, we’ll just keep going back.

Calabria: feels like home

2009-02-27T10:49:00.000-05:00

Last night we went to Calabria on Bell St. for a combination joint birthday celebration for Dad and I, and farewell (again!) to my folks, who are flying home to Rio together today. Although that’s good news, it was a bit sad as well for those of us left here in the frozen North. We’ll miss the heck out of them, but plans to go visit (and sample some Brazilian delicacies) are in the works for the fall.

In any event, if you’re going to have a laid-back family gathering, Calabria is the place to do it. It was quiet on Thursday night, with only a couple of other tables occupied, so our group of seven didn’t feel jammed in but rather welcomed warmly. Many of us began with crisp salads (hey, I like iceberg lettuce and I’m not afraid to say it) but the real highlights of the appetizer round were the fried zucchini and the calamari fritti, both lightly battered and not too greasy. The zucchini are cut in-house, into coins rather than the traditional sticks, and I like them far better that way. Their obviously house made dip is just garlicky enough. These are the best fried zucchini I’ve ever had, seriously, and the calamari were stellar as well – under the crisp breading, they were not in the least bit chewy, with zingy cocktail sauce on the side. Delicious. Chris and I discussed going back to make a meal of those two items and a big salad one night. I look forward to it.

For mains, Chris and I both found ourselves craving pizza, so we ordered a medium thin-crust pie to share. Pizzas at Calabria come on the tall silver stands, which I love so much – it’s classy and old-school. This pizza was seriously good, too. For starters, they offer capicollo ham as a topping, so we jumped on that as well as adding black olives and mushrooms. The crust was indeed paper-thin and perfectly chewy; the sauce had real zing; the amount of cheese was perfect (i.e. not too much, but far from measly) and the toppings were fresh and flavourful. High praise for this kitchen’s pizza skills.

Everyone else ordered veal or pasta – Mom went for the veal parm, which is a classic and done very well at Calabria; Dad chose the veal cognac, in a boozy mushroom sauce that was yummy over the wickedly tender veal. My sister reverted to an old favourite, tortellini in white sauce, while her husband treated himself to another classic: spaghetti and meatballs. His son K got in on the Italian kick despite the presence of chicken fingers on the kids’ menu, and enjoyed his spaghetti with red sauce immensely. (Also, the kids’ meals come with a tiny sundae in the old-school metal cups. LOVE.)

A bottle of decent Chianti watered four of us nicely; two rounds of lovely spumoni ice cream finished some of our meals on a sweet note. This place is all about the classics, done the way they’ve always been done, and that is what I love about it. Even the dishes and the green-vinyl covered armchairs are vintage. It feels a lot like the original, lamented Chances R in the west end, and that’s a good thing.

We were all beautifully taken care of by the same kind waiter who served us last time we descended on the place; he’s a career fellow who does his job elegantly and unobtrusively.

I hope we’ll all meet back at Calabria soon; in the meantime, I know Chris and I will be eating there again on our own in the near future!

Vineyards Wine Bar & Bistro

2009-02-01T19:22:00.001-05:00

On Wednesday night Chris and I had the pleasure of spending a few hours at Vineyards Wine Bar & Bistro in the Byward Market, where a casual friend of ours was singing jazz standards with a couple of other musicians. I’ve been to Vineyards a couple of times in the past, with various people, and have always enjoyed the atmosphere. It’s located in the lower level of the building that houses the Fish Market and Coasters Seafood Grill. They obviously have a lengthy and broad wine list, and they also serve a full menu including apps, mains and desserts. We had an early supper, and so we decided to share the assorted cheese platter ($12), which was billed as “Double cream brie, aged cheddar and spiced gouda. Accompanying this tasty assortment are slices of fresh apple, kalamata olives and our house fruit chutney.”

Not quite. Sadly, all three cheeses were served fridge-cold and had obviously been pre-sliced; there were indeed apple slices, but no olives. The “house fruit chutney” was, I am nearly certain, bottled mango chutney, and there were about seven tiny red grapes and a scattering of dried apricots and prunes. It wasn’t the worst cheese plate I’ve ever eaten, for sure, but it would have been much better an hour later, when the cheese had warmed to room temp. The accompanying sliced “French” bread was spongy and tasteless. The menu also says “ask about our artisanal cheese platter”. I’ll be doing that next time for sure.

Our wines were terrific, though – my white, a Niersteiner Spatlese Riesling, had a medium sweetness with just enough acidity to stand up to the cheeses, and flowed like honey over the tongue. Gorgeous. I had two glasses. Chris’s Chilean pinot noir was equally yummy.

After the disappointing cheese platter, we were still peckish, so we decided to share a dessert. Most of them come from the respectable Rideau Bakery, according to the very affable bartender, so we split a slice of vanilla cheesecake with raspberry sauce. It was served just a trifle too warm (temperatures seem to be a problem with this kitchen) but was unctuous and lovely.

We saw and smelled many lovely plates come out of the kitchen around us, so it’s possible that we simply didn’t choose the best representatives from the menu – but in my opinion, a restaurant that focuses so heavily on wines, and wine flights, should have a showstopper cheese platter at an affordable price. I’ll give Vineyards another try, but I’ll be asking some pointed questions before I order, next time.

Food improv week

2009-02-01T19:20:00.003-05:00

Wow, I've been away from here for a long time. Sorry about that! Life's been a little nutty around casa TDL. I hope to get back to semi-regular posting this month. SO without further ado, let's get caught up:

The past couple of days have been interesting around our house, food-wise. Thursday night I arrived home from work expecting to cut up a whole chicken and roast the parts with five-spice rub, only when I got home the chicken was still frozen solid in the centre and I had an aquafit class to get to in two and a half hours. So I did a quick think on my feet and realized that, although the pizza I had planned for Friday night was out of the question (no dough made), all of the things we had purchased for toppings would work beautifully in pasta and as luck would have it, I had plenty of whole wheat spaghetti.

Chris boiled some water for me while I chopped a whole smoked chorizo link into half moons, then he sautéed those to render out some of the fat while I sliced some bottled roasted red peppers into strips, drained and chopped a jar of marinated artichoke hearts. The veggies went into the hot pan, the pasta got cooked and then hit with a healthy dose of soft goat cheese and some pasta cooking water to melt into a sauce of sorts, we topped the whole thing with the sausage and veggies, and dinner was served.

That’s it. Easy as pie and six times as fast. And man, it was good. We were just sorry there were no leftovers. That was when I discovered I’d have to do some more improve if I wanted lunch for Friday.

We grocery-shop on Saturdays, so by Thursday there isn’t a whole lot left to pick from. Nevertheless, I discovered a can of chickpeas in the pantry, three red bell peppers, some fresh coriander, and a lime in the fridge, and some naan bread in the freezer. I know you’re probably thinking hummus, but actually I went with salad: the ‘peas and two roughly chopped bell peppers got coated with a quick creamy dressing made from lime juice, canola oil, sour cream, salt, pepper and chopped fresh coriander all zizzed in the food processor, I left the whole thing to marinate overnight, and the naan provided the mop for all that saucy goodness. It was, if not the greatest lunch ever, certainly filling and tasty and not bad for a cupboard scrounge.

Christmas Eve Dinner 2008

2008-12-26T13:21:00.003-05:00

As longtime readers will know, Christmas Day is for the whole family, but Chris and I celebrate Christmas Eve with a home-cooked fancy dinner for two. After a very full day of cooking and baking and cleaning the house in preparation for the following day's festivities here, it was wonderful to sit down with a Kir Royale and enjoy a light yet decadent meal.

This year we skipped an appetizer entirely since we found ourselves far too full after last year's meal. The main course came to me fully formed while I was musing about options last week: seared sushi-grade tuna with coconut-ginger rice and stir-fried broccolini with oyster sauce. The tuna and rice were a steal from Big Easy's, the broccolini a reminiscence of our superlative Chinatown meal in San Francisco. It was simple but worked brilliantly together, and looked gorgeous to boot:

Chris picked up the tuna steaks from Pelican Fishery, a shop on Bank St. that maintains a meticulous supply chain from ocean to counter. I cooked Chris's to medium-rare in a hot pan with a little grapeseed oil, then seared mine super-quickly because I like it mostly raw. I cooked some sticky short-grain rice with light coconut milk and sliced ginger root; the broccolini came from our favourite Asian grocery on Somerset and was simply steam-sauteed and then finished with a splash of oyster sauce. Perfection in every bite.

We finished our meal the same way as last year (and I think it might become THE dessert for Christmas eve): molten chocolate cakes. I think they could have stood to bake another 2 minutes, because the centre of mine fell out while I was plating it, but the taste was beyond reproach. Lindt 70% chocolate never fails me.

I think this was my favourite of our Christmas Eve meals so far. It's always a lot of fun for me to figure out how we're going to treat ourselves.

As for the following day, we did have the big traditional turkey and trimmings meal, which was totally delicious as always, but no photos (too busy eating). The upcoming week should hold some eating out to report back on. For now, I'm off to make some turkey stock. Merry Christmas all, and may your fridges be filled with leftovers.

Pizza stoned

2008-12-26T13:01:00.003-05:00

Last weekend, while my parents were staying with Chris and I (they're still in town, but house-sitting for some friends) my Dad noted the presence of my pizza stone sitting lonely atop the kitchen cabinets. He suggested, during a discussion of grocery buying, that we make homemade pizza for dinner one night. Despite my past struggles with yeast, I thought it a great idea - I like to take him up on meal suggestions, as he makes them rarely - and so I bravely put together a batch of pizza dough on Saturday afternoon. I used this recipe, from Smitten Kitchen, and though it didn't rise as much as I would have liked (I blame the crappy instant yeast that one can buy at local grocery stores) it actually turned out pretty OK.

The pizza stone can take much of the credit for that. Heated to blistering in a 500-degree oven, it turns out a crisp and light crust every time. I put some pomodoro sauce (crushed tomatoes, tomato paste, garlic, olive oil and a splash of red wine)together and we bought some lovely ingredients, and made two roughly 12-inch pizzas to feed four of us, and that was perfect. Our first effort was this one, a sort of riff on Margherita but with oil-packed sun-dried tomatoes taking the place of sliced fresh ones. Along with some fresh mozzarella and a sprinkle of basil harvested from my kitchen plants, it made for a perfect opener - rich and light all at the same time. The cheese melted into near-oblivion and the tomatoes went slightly charred, adding a nifty note to their tart sweetness.

The second pie was equally good, but much more hearty, and sadly we forgot to photograph it. You'll have to trust me that it was both delicious and pretty: I pan-roasted a chicken breast with some olive oil and lemon juice, then I chopped the meat and my mom scattered it over the sauce along with strips of a freshly roasted red pepper and chunks of soft goat cheese. YUM.

We had a lovely red wine from Sonoma County with the pizzas and an apple-frangipane tart from the French baker on Murray St. for dessert. Divine and congenial for a Saturday night supper. Then we decorated our Christmas tree!

This food really pops

2008-12-09T19:32:00.003-05:00

Yesterday was our annual Christmas shopping trip to Montreal, accompanied by my sister J and her husband D. Despite snow early in the day and well-below-freezing temperatures on the way home, we had a delightful afternoon of shopping on Rue Ste-Catherine and picked up some lovely gifts for family members.

This year we decided to try someplace new for dinner, and after much research on various Montreal foodie websites, we settled on Pop! Bar à vin. Pop is the little brother restaurant to Laloux, a well-established bistro on Avenue des Pins in the Plateau. Though it’s just next door and I believe it shares a kitchen with Laloux, Pop is a very different space and menu. The décor is firmly and decisively Danish Modern, with teak tables, chairs, and a sideboard that immediately evoked my parents’ dining room when I was a child. Slatted wood panels on the walls, shelves of food and wine books, comfortable leather lounge chairs around a fireplace and low lighting soften the look a bit. There’s a tiny glassed-in courtyard at the back that housed several lit-for-Christmas pine trees dusted lovingly with the snow that had fallen earlier.

We were, aside from some Laloux staff and another couple with their baby, alone in the place on this frigid Sunday early evening. (A word about bringing chatty children under two years of age to a quiet wine bar: don’t. While charming, the child was very noisy and fussy, not things I’m looking for in an adult environment.) Our waiter was friendly and solicitous but not overly familiar, an excellent balance. I began with a kir cassis (white wine and blackcurrant liqueur) and Chris ordered a gin and tonic. Both were lovely though I like mine a bit heavier on the cassis.

For apps, J&D ordered the house charcuterie plate and a dish of marinated salmon with lemon pepper yogurt sauce. The charcuterie, all made in-house, included jambon blanc, thinly sliced smoked duck breast, paté maison, duck rillettes, and head cheese alongside a small jar of lightly pickled vegetables. I sampled most of the offerings and found the rillettes delightful, the duck delicious, and the head cheese a bit off-putting until I realized it was the jellied bits that bothered me. I ended up being the one to finish the lovely meaty bits of slow-rendered pork (leaving the gelatin behind) as neither my sister nor her boy were fans. The salmon was three thick slices marinated gravlax-style (that is to say, raw) and tasted buttery and perfect.

Chris and I began with the arancini and the chickpea puree with yogurt and espelette pepper (a dried ground red pepper similar to paprika), served with warm chewy flatbread triangles. Both were utterly divine, in completely different ways. The arancini, which are breaded fried balls of rice, came served in an escargot dish and were gooey with mild cheese (tasted like fontina) and studded with bits of spicy chorizo. Rich and warm and spiked with heat, these were the ideal winter appetizer. For $5, they cannot be beat.

The chickpea puree was an absolute revelation. It somehow managed to taste meaty, with a round rich flavor on the tongue but a lightness too, not cloying or heavy. The dusting of espelette gave a tingle to the tongue but no real heat. Smeared onto the lightly oiled, chewy flatbread, it was heavenly. I must attempt to reverse-engineer this recipe at home. I’ll even make my own flatbread.

Thus, appetites whetted, we moved onto one of the house specialties, savoury “tartes” done in the Alsatian style. More of that gorgeous flatbread beneath inspired toppings like clams, leek, lemon confit, mushroom marmalade, mimolette cheese… there are five tartes to choose from and it was tough. J&D went with the classic Alsatian “flammeküche” of crème fraiche, lardons (chunks of unsmoked bacon) and onions. Chris and I opted for the combination of cured beef, arugula, goat cheese and roasted red pepper with another smattering of espelette. Both disappeared in very short order with plenty of oohs and aahs and no complaint whatsoever. Our chewy crust was smeared with a rough puree of red peppers, baked, then topped with the springy, peppery greens, paper-thin slices of bresaola-like beef, and clumps of the best soft goat cheese I have ever eaten anywhere. The kitchen kindly cuts the rectangular tart into smaller rectangles for easy sharing, which was nice. With my tarte I enjoyed a glass of Côtes-du-Marmandais, Arradim, Clos Cavenac, a privately imported red wine that was coarse and fruity and dry all at once. Not the best match with my food, but certainly tasty. (To be fair, I didn’t ask for a match, as most of the other red wines by the glass were a little beyond our budget. The waiter offered me a taste first, as I was unfamiliar with the wine – very classy.)

The best thing about sharing plates in this fashion is that it leaves one room for dessert, and so we ventured into sweet territory boldly. The chef at Pop is one Patrice Demers, who at the tender age of twenty-seven is famed around Montreal already for his desserts. We couldn’t pass it up.

D, the chocolate fanatic, was transfixed by the chef’s signature dessert, a chocolate pot de crème with Maldon sea salt and caramel. It arrived in a tall slim jar, layered gorgeously, and the waiter explained it thus: the bottom layer was chocolate ganache, the middle a chocolate and sea salt crunch, the top an airy caramel mousse. It is essential, he said, to use one’s long spoon to reach to the bottom and pull up a bite containing all three layers at once, to get the full effect. Well, I tried it, and my head nearly exploded, it was that good. I immediately resolved to return and eat one of my very own in future.

As for Chris and I, we went for the other chocolate option, described on the menu as “Araguani chocolate tart, pear, hazelnut, red wine and spices”. It arrived looking like this:

Three tiny rich chocolate tarts with sweet shortbread bases, dusted in hazelnut oil powder (tapioca added to render it powdery), with a quenelle of pear sorbet, dotted with spiced red wine caramel. Unbelievably good and so creative, without resorting to too much molecular gastronomy for fireworks. All the flavours were perfect on their own but combined were somehow transcendent. I declare myself extremely impressed with M. Demers’ artistry.

This is how much I loved Pop: I would go back and eat exactly the same meal again, and be perfectly happy. I hope that day isn’t too far off.

Photos courtesy my sister J.

A week's worth of fresh coriander

2008-11-26T23:09:00.003-05:00

I hate how you have to buy coriander in huge bunches. No matter what I make, half of it ends up going bad in my fridge. I've tried the glass of water and plastic bag over the top trick: no joy. So this week I was determined to get through more than half the bunch I purchased to put in the eggplant and peanut stew from a few days ago. Here are the three meals I managed to tuck some of that green goodness into.

Red curry tilapia with coriander cream

2 tilapia fillets
1 tbsp Thai red curry paste
vegetable oil
1/2 cup sour cream or creme fraiche
1/2 cup chopped fresh coriander

Combine sour cream and coriander in a bowl; stir well and set aside.

Rub fish with red curry paste on both sides of each fish fillet. Spray a roasting pan lightly with oil and lay the fish into it. Spray tops with oil lightly and broil 13 minutes or until fish yields easily to fork. Serve alongside your choice of starch (we had mashed white and sweet potatoes with some chopped coriander mixed in) and veggies. Dollop each fish fillet with coriander cream and eat immediately.

Red lentil and cauliflower dal

I scored this recipe from one of the Australian gals on 3WA, who says it comes from Delicious magazine, an Aussie publication. It was tasty but would have been much nicer if I'd had Indian curry paste and far more flavourful veggie stock. I find red lentils a little tasteless; they need a lot of flavour boosting. The slow cooked onions and the chunks of cauliflower were very good though. I think next time I'd fry the cauliflower a bit in some curry paste and then set aside until the last few minutes of cooking; it's hard to get good flavour into it otherwise.

This is very easy to make and much quicker than it might look.

2 tbs vegetable oil
1 large onion, finely sliced
2 garlic cloves, finely chopped
2 tbs medium-hot Indian curry paste (I used 2 tbsp yellow curry powder, 1 tsp garam masala and 1/4 tsp hot Indian chili powder)
1 cup dried red lentils, rinsed and drained
3 cups vegetable stock
2 tbs tomato paste
I medium cauliflower, cut into small florets
1 cup(120g) frozen peas, thawed (left these out because I had none)
2 tbs roughly chopped coriander leaves, plus extra chopped coriander to garnish
naan bread, to serve

Heat the oil in a large pan over medium heat. Add onion, garlic and spices, then cook, stirring for 5 minutes
or until onion softens. Add lentils and stir well to coat.

Add stock and tomato paste, bring to the boil, then cover and simmer over low heat for 15 minutes.
Return heat to medium, add cauliflower and simmer, covered, for 8-10 minutes until vegetables are tender.
Add peas for final 2 minutes, then stir in coriander. Serve with naan, garnished with extra
coriander.

Tamale Pie

This one is the real prizewinner of Coriander Week. I sort of free-formed the bean mixture and used a Cooking Light recipe for the cornbread topping, and it came out spectacularly well. You could leave out the cheese layer, but it makes for a nice surprise. Going into regular rotation here, now that Chris has finally embraced the Way of the Cornbread. Persistence pays off.

1 tbsp vegetable oil
1 medium zucchini, diced
1 can red kidney beans, drained and rinsed
1 can black beans, drained and rinsed
1 large jar salsa (I used PC medium heat and the dregs of a jar of their salsa verde)
3 tbsp tomato paste
1/4 cup chopped fresh coriander
juice of half a lime

1 cup all purpose flour
3/4 cup cornmeal
2 tbsp white sugar
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
2/3 cup milk
1 egg
1.5 tbsp butter, melted
1/2 cup corn kernels
2 green onions, sliced
1/4 cup chopped fresh coriander

1/2 cup grated Monterey Jack cheese

In a large saucepan saute the zucchini in the oil over medium heat 5-6 minutes or until beginning to go translucent. Add beans, salsa and tomato paste, stir to combine. Bring to a boil and then simmer 10 minutes. Stir in coriander and lime juice and remove from heat.

Meanwhile make the topping. Combine dry ingredients well. Add green onions, corn and coriander, stir well. Add egg, milk and butter and stir to make a stiff dough. Pour the bean mixture into a casserole dish; sprinkle over the cheese, then spread the cornmeal dough carefully over the top. Bake at 400 F for 35 minutes or until golden and browned in spots.

Makes 5 generous servings, if you have enough willpower.

Pie and Potter

2008-11-26T19:37:00.004-05:00

Last weekend was my sister J’s birthday, and we chose to celebrate with a Harry Potterthon of sorts. The original plan, of course, had been to go to the opening of HP6 at the movies, but then for whatever obscure reason, the studio pushed back its release until June and we were stuck with that silly Twilight dreck. We said a hearty “HELL no” to that, and decided to watch all the released Potter films in one go, with food and comfy blankets and beverages.

It was, in a word, awesome (though we only ended up getting through 4 of the 5 films). J and D came over around noon and we snacked on spinach dip and hummus, veggies and chips before getting started on Philosopher’s Stone.

When the pivotal scene on the Hogwarts Express arrived, where Harry buys up the sweets trolley and Ron explains chocolate frog cards to him, I paused the DVD and dashed into the kitchen to present J with a plate of chocolate sugar cookies shaped like frogs. We found the cookie cutter in Vermont and I fortuitously discovered a chocolate sugar cookie recipe in the current Canadian Living. They were very good, if a little too crunchy for my liking (next time, will underbake). J was exceedingly pleased with them, which was very gratifying.

After movie three (I think), we made supper. J had found a reference to chicken and ham pie in one of the HP books, so D did a little research and came up with a recipe that involved both those esteemed meats, plus potatoes, mushrooms, onions and cream of mushroom soup. We dumped this delicious mixture into pie crusts and topped it with grated Monterey Jack. It was totally decadent and delish. To wash it down, we had “butterbeer” – Stewart’s vanilla cream soda re-labelled by yours truly (cleverly so, if I do say so myself). Also a big hit.

My real home run of the day, however, was the birthday tart. J had requested a pumpkin pie, since we missed Thanksgiving this year due to an illness in the family, and I took it one step further and used the amazing unshrinkable sweet tart shell from Smitten Kitchen to give it more of a shortbread-like base (I made it by hand and added about 6 tbsp of ice water, though, because it wouldn’t come together with just the yolk). For the filling, I followed this recipe on Epicurious but subbed ground ginger for the nutmeg (I was out, and I always add ginger to pumpkin anyway) and 2% evaporated milk for the heavy cream. It was hands-down the best pumpkin pie filling I’ve ever made, and will become my new default recipe. The molasses really adds depth of flavor and I think subbing the milk made it lighter and less of a gut-punch.

It also looked gorgeous:

See? I cannot tell you how proud I was of that damn tart. I used a 9” springform pan and the crust shrank just enough that the ring came off beautifully without so much as a crack. I hope I can replicate it come Christmas! (Although I’m thinking I might make sticky toffee pudding instead, but that’s another post for another day…)

Anyway, J was totally thrilled with her birthday pie. We all enjoyed it immensely and had leftovers for each of us. Happy birthday, J. Hope you enjoy your year of being 26.

Spicy eggplant and peanut stew experiment

2008-11-19T22:17:00.002-05:00

Someone over on 3WA posted a link to a recipe on the Post-Punk Kitchen last week that had me intrigued - spicy peanut, eggplant and shallot stew. I knew immediately that I wanted to try it, but I also knew I wanted to cut down the amount of liquid to make it even more stew-like. I like a thick stew, not a soupy one, and Chris is the same. I also have no patience whatsoever with shallots - they are a pain in the arse to peel and slice, and I wasn't sure how much they would actually add to the whole experience, so I subbed in some green onions (scallions) and said to heck with it. I also messed with the technique a little, and ended up with something that smelled like Savana Cafe's tomato-ey Pad Thai with extra peanuts and no noodles. How did it taste? Absolutely fantastic. We both inhaled huge bowls of this for supper tonight (I made it last night to allow the flavours to meld, something I would recommend) and I am immensely looking forward to eating it again tomorrow.

The recipe is vegan, and discounting all the fat in the peanut butter, pretty healthy with all those veggies in there. Considering the peanut butter also adds protein, I think it's a fair balance. This could certainly be served over rice or noodles, but makes a lovely meal all on its own.

Spicy eggplant and peanut stew

2 medium eggplants, peeled and diced into 1" chunks
1 yellow onion, diced
3" knob of fresh ginger root, peeled and grated
2 tbsp grapeseed or other neutral oil
1 tsp each cumin and coriander
1/4 tsp turmeric
1/4 tsp hot Indian chili powder
1/3 cup tomato paste
1 large can diced tomatoes with juice
1.5 cups water (or veggie broth)
2-3 cups green beans, ends trimmed, cut into 2" lengths
1/2 cup smooth peanut butter (if using natural, as I did, add 2 tbsp sugar or to taste)
3 green onions, sliced
1/2 cup fresh coriander, chopped
juice of half a lime

Prepare the eggplants and then throw them into a colander; salt liberally and toss to coat. Allow to stand 30 minutes to drain and soften. Rinse thoroughly and set aside.

In a large stockpot, heat the oil over medium heat. Add the ginger and spices and stir-fry to form a paste, until it begins to be fragrant, about 3-4 minutes. Add the onions and stir-fry 6 minutes, until onions soften and go translucent. Add a little water if onion sticks and wants to burn. Add the eggplant and stir to coat; cook 3 minutes or until well combined.

Add the tomato paste and stir-fry 30 seconds, then add the canned tomatoes and juice, the water or broth and the green beans. Bring up to a boil and allow to boil gently 5 minutes, then reduce heat to simmer.

Ladle out about a cup of the hot liquid into a bowl with the peanut butter in it. Stir well to emulsify, then add the peanut butter mixture back into the stock pot. Stir well to combine (adding sugar if need be), and simmer 25-30 minutes or until eggplant is tender. Stir in green onions and fresh coriander and lime juice; serve hot. Salt to taste. Can be made a day ahead and reheated; garnish with more chopped coriander.

Makes 5-8 servings depending on hunger of participants.

Taste lives up to its name

2008-11-17T11:33:00.001-05:00

Our second night in Burlington, we decided to try someplace new to us – Taste of Burlington, located in an old brick building on the waterfront of Lake Champlain. Of course it was dark when we got there, as well as chilly and rainy, so the view didn’t mean much to us, but the interior was nice enough if not exactly cozy: terracotta coloured walls; bare concrete floors; bare, brushed zinc tabletops with heavy dark wood legs and chairs in the same wood. Nary a linen in sight, save for the napkins. It felt a little chilly and I was glad of my sweater, but the lighting was low and warm, aided by the Christmas lights ringing each of many tall narrow windows.

The menu is equally sparse, but the cocktail menu is extensive, revealing this place’s deep affinity for the bar business. None of us partook in any of the cocktails, however, due to their rather exalted prices ($11 to $12); instead, we shared a bottle of excellent Oregon Pinot Noir between the 4 of us. We could have used another half-bottle but sadly that was not an option (insert plug for more half-bottles available in restaurants here).

Three of us started with salads, the boys option for Caesars while I enjoyed their basic mixed greens and veggies in superlative balsamic vinaigrette. All were fresh, crunchy and of reasonable size for an appetizer. D and I followed up with the priciest item on the short menu of mains, the maple-marinated flank steak served with potatoes, vegetables and a balsamic reduction. It arrived on big square white plates, gorgeously sliced and fanned around crunchy broccoli and nicely roasted mini potatoes. The portions were again quite restrained, which was wonderful. Both of us asked for medium-rare, but mine was closer to rare while D’s was closer to medium. I swapped him some of my redder bits for some of his more cooked ones, and everyone was happy.

Chris went whole hog with the lobster macaroni and cheese, a huge rich portion of curly macaroni that looked, smelled and tasted divine, accompanied by perfect haricots verts. J went with the Vemont cheddar and apple grilled cheese with a salad alongside, and pronounced it very tasty.

D and I shared a dessert because the other two were too full; our pumpkin cheesecake was light yet dense, with a subtle spiciness and smooth mouthfeel, adorned with lightly sweetened real whipped cream (no cans in sight) and a divine burnt-sugar caramel sauce that was too sweet for D; I practically licked the plate. (Note to self: learn to make burnt-sugar caramel sauce.)

Our server was kind in a sort of spacey-artist way, but all orders were correct and water refilled frequently. Pacing was good; the restaurant was mostly empty (it’s low season in Vermont right now) so we felt comfortable staying as long as we liked. We did scoot out as the live band was setting up three feet from J’s ear, though.

All in all, a place I’d return to, provided they change up their rather slim menu seasonally. I’d like to see what they can do with the abundance of summer vegetables and fresh fish available in New England.

Daily Planet redux

2008-11-17T11:12:00.001-05:00

Chris and I spent the weekend in Burlington, Vermont with some friends from Boston (the second annual Vermont weekend, we’re calling it) and had some great meals, as always. We returned to the Daily Planet on the Friday night because it’s never let us down in the past, and we were not disappointed.

We started with a round of cocktails from their fairly trendy list – J got a Macintosh appletini, which was pink and sweet and girly; I had a Shirley Manson, which I think was cranberry juice, sprite, and Stoli Razberi with an orange slice. I would so totally order it again; it was sweet without being cloying, and strangely refreshing. The boys both had a “Downtown” which was mostly Maker’s Mark with a dash of amaretto.

Chris started with a bowl of the daily soup, potato and roasted red pepper. He enjoyed it very much, though the bite I had was a little unexciting. J and D shared a cheese plate with some blue and a gouda-style local cheese, and I had “Maura’s Fabulous Salad” with mixed greens, blue cheese crumbles, pecans, grapes and a tasty vinaigrette. It was a perfect starter for pretty much any occasion.

Believe it or not, three of us went for the lamb tagine as our main, with J the only holdout opting instead for the excellent burger, which was huge and came on a nice ciabatta bun with lettuce, tomato, onion, ketchup and I think some fries. She couldn’t finish it but pronounced it just as good as last year’s.

The tagine was very tasty, but honestly was more of a braised lamb shank with roasted carrots and couscous alongside. The lamb was perfectly cooked but lacked a strong note of sweet spiciness or any dried fruit to bring it into truly Moroccan territory. There was a little cinnamon in there, but it was very restrained. No complaints about the condition of any of the elements though, and the portion size was not gargantuan, which we appreciated.

In fact, it left us all with room for dessert, which was nice. Chris and I fortunately shared the brownie a la mode. I say fortunately because it was ENORMOUS. We asked the waitress about this and she admitted that a new kitchen staffer had cut the brownies too large earlier that day, so the dish was particularly big on this night. We couldn’t finish it, but what we ate was very tasty indeed. The brownie was served warm which made it moister than it otherwise might have been, and the ice cream was top drawer.

J’s ice cream sundae was everything one could ask for, with lovely hot fudge sauce and whipped cream, served in a classic parfait glass, while D’s chocolate ganache torte was a tiny piece of insanely rich chocolate laced with Kahlua and raspberry. It also went unfinished, sadly, but he enjoyed what he did eat.

Our waitress was unpolished but very pleasant, and service was well-paced but not slow. The room was fairly full but the noise levels were manageable, and it’s still a funky and comfortable place to dine. In short, it’s still someplace we’ll continue to return to whenever we’re in town.

Friday nights and Saturday afternoons in Ottawa

2008-11-10T10:36:00.000-05:00

Saturday afternoon my mom took Chris and I out to lunch at Vietnam Palace on Somerset Street, in the heart of Ottawa’s Chinatown. There are approximately eight hundred restaurants in the area, and what I find most interesting is that, when I was a child, the vast majority were Chinese, but now that balance has shifted and I’d say fully half of the restaurants serve Vietnamese food. A sign that more of Ottawa’s immigrants come from there, perhaps.

In any event, there’s no shortage of pho and bun and other delicious Vietnamese specialties on this street, but Vietnam Palace is an old favourite of ours. We’ve been there on our own, with a big group of friends, and I think I even had dinner with my dad there once, but we’d never been with my mom. We were all in the mood for Vietnamese but weren’t prepared to face Merivale Road on a Saturday in order to get to Pho Thi, our usual weekend lunch spot. So the Palace it was, for what turned out to be quite a late lunch – we nearly had the place to ourselves.

The décor is low-key but pleasant, with white-clothed tables topped with a sheet of glass and then paper placemats, a photo spread of Vietnam on one wall, lots of windows and comfy chairs. The waitress who took care of us was friendly and kept our water glasses well topped up throughout our meal. It’s an inviting place with none of the basement rec room feel of some other places in the neighbourhood.

As it was lunch and not dinner, each of us ordered a bun (rice noodle bowl) dish, rather than sharing several dishes between us. Mom and Chris both went with the standard pork and spring roll topping, while I went out on a limb and ordered the stir fried beef with lemongrass, and it was a good decision. The generous portion of thinly sliced beef was still tender and a little bit juicy, with excellent sharp-citrusy flavor imparted by the lemongrass and a pleasing sweetness and caramelization from the sugar in the marinade. It topped a bowl of perfectly cooked rice noodles adorned with piles of shredded lettuce, carrot and cucumber, a tangle of bean sprouts, and a sprinkling of sesame seeds. The vinegary cha gio sauce brought alongside moistened the noodles nicely and gave the veggies some kick. It was good to the last noodle. Chris and Mom devoured their bowls with equal relish, and Mom even spared me a chunk of spring roll (yum).

We left full and very happy with our late lunch. I’m sorry to say that was not the case with dinner the previous evening at the Honest Lawyer downtown in the Byward Market. We went with two friends, one of whom was in town from the GTA for the weekend, in the hopes of having a light meal and some beers, and perhaps a spin at one of the pool tables. We certainly weren’t prepared for either the noise level or the popularity of the pool tables so early on a Friday evening, but we were hungry and they had tons of beers on tap, so we grabbed an awkwardly shaped high-top table and settled in.

I will give top marks to my draft Strongbow cider, as it was excellent, cold and refreshing. Our friend R tried out their latest acquisition, Sapporo on tap, and liked it enough to have at least two pints (I lost count). The food was another matter. M and I ordered an appetizer of veggies, bread, bruschetta topping and hummus to share, while R ordered mozzarella sticks as his starter. Everyone then ordered sandwiches for their mains. However, all the food arrived at the same time (after about a 30-minute wait; R was on his second beer by the time food showed up). Our small oddly shaped table could barely fit all the plates.

That might have been fine if several of the plates hadn’t been composed principally of various types of bread. The veggie and bread platter turned out to be three slices of fruit-studded bread, three huge hunks of pretzel bread, a tiny, salad dressing-sized container each of hummus and bruschetta topping, and a cone of raw veggies for dipping. What on earth were we supposed to do with all that bread and only a tiny amount of hummus? Plus, fruit bread with hummus OR bruschetta? Bizarre. We polished off the veggies, which were honestly pretty fresh and a nice assortment, but found it to be a weirdly proportioned dish nonetheless.

M’s sandwich was even more of a disappointment – it was meant to be chicken and pesto on a pretzel roll, I think, and there was chicken breast on it, and pesto, and lettuce, but it certainly didn’t fill the roll – very skimpy. My pulled pork sandwich had the same problem – the meat-to-bun ratio was way off, with a large Kaiser roll topped with a meager pile of nonetheless quite tasty meat in a slightly over-sweet sauce. No slaw, just a pickle spear and an olive. Sides cost extra at the Lawyer – fries, sweet potato fries (for an astonishing $3.50 premium – doesn’t anyone know sweet potatoes cost the same as regular potatoes?) or salad can be added to any meal. I chose not to, thinking the veggies and hummus would be enough, and I was half right.

R’s parmesan chicken wrap and mozza sticks were apparently “adequate” – he ate them and didn’t have too much to say about it – but the real winner was Chris, who found his “Mountie” burger to be both delicious and well-proportioned, with mozzarella, bacon and onion rings. He went for the premium sweet potato fries, and those were pretty decent too, if lukewarm, with two kinds of mayo for dipping. (In fact, I ended up borrowing some of his dips for my veggies…due to our lack of hummus.)

In all, a disappointing meal, and we never got near a pool table – the (we think) underage drinkers behind us just got too loud for us to wait it out any longer, so we attempted an escape to Memories for home-baked desserts and more alcohol. Sadly we were thwarted by the post-dinner crowds, and ended up at Oh So Good, an establishment I will probably not return to now that they’ve moved from at the very least locally baked desserts to trucking in Dufflet pastries from Toronto. My carrot cake was fine and blissfully raisin-free, but the icing tasted of shortening, not cream cheese, and Chris’s double-decker chocolate cake was dry, with a similar feel to the icing. For what those cakes cost, I want butter in my icing and a nice, moist crumb to the cake.

So what saved our Friday night? The company of good friends and two of the best games of euchre I’ve ever played in my life. The card gods were with me – I hardly ever play that well. Next time I’m just inviting everyone to my house for drinks, food and cards. At least then we’ll be able to hear ourselves think, and we may not have a pool table but I know we have a dart board somewhere….

Big Easy's - easy to love

2008-11-01T11:28:00.001-04:00

As the official send-off to my parents before they left for Brazil last month, we all had dinner at Big Easy's, a new venture on Preston Street. Despite the sadness I think we were all feeling, we had a truly lovely evening and the restaurant pretty much blew all our minds.

Big Easy's, as the name implies, is a Southern-style seafood restaurant that also serves very good steaks. It's on the site of the old Trattoria Caffe Italia location, but it's been extensively redone and is totally stunning inside, if a little dimly lit. There's a long dark wood bar with a huge bed of ice behind it where a half-dozen varieties of oyster are nestled; tables and chairs are dark and sturdy; walls are richly coloured and hung with jazz-inspired art. The music is fantastic - jazz, blues, zydeco and so on. Even the bathrooms are stunning - shiny black subway tile topped with glass mosaic tiles in earth tones. The effect is muted luxury, and it works - it's warm and cozy without being masculine.

Our waiter was a charming young man called Andre, and he took very good care of us indeed, given that we had a couple of challenges in our party, namely a five-year-old, a person with stringent dietary restrictions (grandma) and a person with MSG issues (my sister). The meal was beautifully paced and the kitchen was happy to make substitutions for anyone who needed them.

Most of us had appetizers, and from the sighs of delight and significant lack of sharing, I think they must have all been as good as the crab cake Chris and I shared. Usually, when one orders a crab cake, one gets a patty composed of bread crumbs, seasonings, mayo and some flaked crab meat. Not at this establishment - I swear that sucker was a hockey puck made up of 99 per cent lump crab meat, sweet and fresh and absolutely perfect. It arrived atop a generous puddle of red pepper and crawfish sauce enriched with cream that was so good I wish it was on the soup menu. We sopped up every last drip with very good bread and nearly wept when it was gone. This, my friends, is $14 well spent. Next time I'm not sharing.

I managed to try a bite of my Dad's gumbo, which was spicy and dark and rich and elegant. He and my mom also had a half-dozen oysters on the half shell, and while I'm not a fan of raw shellfish, they certainly seemed to enjoy them. My sister pronounced her steak tartare delicious (she's so bloodthirsty - been eating tartare since she was a kid!) though I declined a taste. I'm a carpaccio girl myself.

My main followed the marine theme: seared ahi tuna, crusted with sesame seeds, accompanied by coconut ginger rice. The vegetable side is meant to be asparagus, but I can't imagine eating asparagus in September, so I asked if they would be able to switch it out for the creamed spinach, and they happily obliged. I've eaten seared tuna at a few restaurants, but never this well-executed. The fish itself was impeccably fresh and cooked perfectly rare with a thin sear on all sides, sliced into two triangles to show off the gorgeous centre. No sauce to overpower its meaty yet delicate flavour, just the perfect rice, scented with ginger and enriched with coconut milk, and the creamy, garlicky spinach (not the best match for the dish, but utterly decadent) to round out the square plate.

I heard no complaints from the rest of the table, either. My grandma, seated next to me, had an utterly tender and toothsome filet mignon, mashed potatoes and peppercorn sauce. Generally she likes her steaks cooked to death, but this one was no more than medium rare and she devoured most of it happily. Chris's blackened salmon disappeared too quickly for me to even grab a taste. My Dad's catfish was yummy, though. My young nephew K even got his very own child-sized portion of plain baked salmon with white rice and veggies, which he devoured, and then promptly fell asleep on a nearby banquette, covered with my mother's coat.

Most of us were far too full to even contemplate dessert; however, the moment my mom and I heard the words "sweet potato pecan pie" leave the waiter's mouth, we were sunk. The slice arrived, twice the size of the usual restaurant dessert portion, as a gift from the chef with good luck wishes for my parents. Mom and I deigned to share a bite or two with those who wanted one, but ate most of it ourselves. I would pay someone at the restaurant money for that recipe. It. Was. Amazing. Closely related to pumpkin pie but with a true sweet potato flavour and a denser filling, topped with candied pecans, in a crust to die for. I told Chris that's what I want for my birthday dinner in February, so we'll be headed back there. For his part, Chris had a bowl of house-made vanilla ice cream which he enjoyed deeply.

I can't say enough good about how we were treated at the restaurant. Everyone's needs were met without it being treated as an inconvenience, all the food was delicious and hot, the timing was leisurely but we never felt as if we'd been forgotten. In short, it was a marvelous evening and I would highly recommend this place to anyone looking for excellent service and fantastic food in a luxe, yet not showy environment. Prices reflect the quality of the food, so it's not a cheap restaurant by any means, but it's well worth the splurge.

Go now. Seriously.

Sonoma food roundup

2008-10-31T13:45:00.001-04:00

We are back home and full of woe at no longer being in California, where the weather was hot and sunny and not in the least bit humid and the scenery was gorgeous, and the wines were delicious, and the food was fresh and bursting with flavor. Here in Ottawa it’s chilly and damp, although sunny today, and we’re headed into root veggie and frozen broccoli season. So here, for your reading pleasure, are the highlights of Ali and Chris eating their way through Sonoma.

(I will say that we didn’t hit a lot of fancy places up there, because after Slanted Door and Jeanty, we were kind of burnt out on the upscale dressy restaurant. We’re casual people at heart, and we love nothing better than going to dinner dressed in jeans and getting treated like family rather than ambassadors. So keep that in mind if you thought we might hit some of the Michelin-star joints near Healdsburg.)

Thursday morning we drove from San Francisco to Petaluma, up highway 101 across the Golden Gate and through Marin County, and went shopping at the outlet mall (even though the Canadian dollar crashed a few days before our holiday; we needed clothes, and they had nice ones). All that retail therapy made us hungry, so we went into the charming little town for lunch at a bakery I’d seen recommended by a commenter over at the Wednesday Chef. It’s called Della Fattoria and they make wood-fired oven bread that is honestly to DIE for. They have the bakery counter and then several tables, so you order your lunch from the counter and then go sit and someone brings you your delicious food in short order. From a short list of delicious sounding sandwiches, we chose the mindbending club (Chris) and the egg salad with smoked salmon and sun-dried tomato tapenade (me), along with two of the most adorable mini chocolate cupcakes and two glasses of iced mint tea.

Well. This goes on the short list of best sandwiches ever. The bread (semolina) was utter perfection, blackened on the edges and deliciously crumbly inside; the egg salad was simple, just chopped egg and mayo; the hints of olives and fish and tomatoes elevated it to a higher plane, and the bouncy greens lightly dressed that accompanied both sandwiches tasted of someone’s garden and someone who knows their way around French vinaigrettes.

Chris declared his mind definitely bent by the club, which boasted country bread, Niman Ranch bacon, and the freshest veggies ever. I think he may be spoiled for bacon from now on.

Our cupcakes were two bites of divine inspiration. Exactly what a chocolate cupcake should be.

Once we arrived at our B&B in Cloverdale that evening, all we felt like doing was chilling out, and we certainly had no desire to get back in the car that day. Fortunately, our hosts informed us that there were several good restaurants within walking distance, and since we hadn’t eaten any Italian food in SF, off we went to Piacére. It doesn’t look like too much from the outside, but inside it was a very cozy stucco-walled room done up with typical vineyard décor as well as some Hallowe’en stuff. We settled into a table tucked into a corner and proceeded to be very well taken care of indeed.

Piacére is a family business – the husband cooks, the wife works front of house in addition to several friendly wait staff. I believe the owner served us. She was a funny lady in her fifties, full of joie de vivre and positivity. We each chose mains that included a soup or salad, so both of us (feeling the lack of vegetables in our recent eating endeavours) chose a mixed green salad to start. Never underestimate the deliciousness of greens grown nearby and a stellar vinaigrette, is all I have to say. The bread was also very good.

Chris diverged from his usual choice of veal parmigiana and selected rigatoni with Italian sausage, which arrived as a deep and generous bowl of short pasta tubes, slices of mild, beautifully seasoned sausage, chunks of well-cooked peppers and onions and a sprinkle of fresh basil in a feisty tomato sauce. Grated cheese was offered and accepted. It was a hearty and very enjoyable plate of food.

My pasta special, meanwhile was beautiful to behold and divine in the mouth. Spinach pasta formed into perfect round ravioli, filled with a delicate blend of ricotta and artichoke hearts, arranged in a circle, napped in a roasted red pepper cream sauce, garnished with (this being California) two slices of avocado and some chopped fresh tomato. To say that I polished it off would not be exaggerating. Gorgeous presentation, rich but not overpowering flavours, and a reasonable portion size. What more could one ask for?

We each had a glass of red wine with our meals, both local, and I cannot remember the name of either one but they were both yummy. We shared a bowl of spumoni ice cream for dessert in a nod to our childhoods and found it a very sweet ending.

We had a great lunch two days later at a place called Kitchenette in Sonoma Plaza. It’s an offshoot of El Dorado Kitchen in the eponymous hotel, and is a sort of coffee shop/lunch counter, serving espresso and sandwiches and salads and juices. We met up with a friend from Sacramento and her young daughter, and had a lovely time together. My open-faced tuna nicoise sandwich was a pleasure for eyes and mouth, with its rows of hard-boiled egg and radish slices atop a mound of tuna and some chopped black olives. A springy green salad rounded out the plate nicely. Chris’s pressed ham and cheese on brioche looked very tasty as well and his fries were crisp and thin.

That evening we dined casually but deliciously at a place called Bovolo in Healdsburg. It’s located in the back of a bookstore called Copperfield’s, and is sort of a casual place to grab a pizza or some antipasti. Their website says they are located in the back of a gourmet food store and that they do a nightly prix fixe menu; however, neither of those things appears to be true anymore so I would suggest an update to their online presence. What we did eat (pizza and antipasti) was delicious, though, so I can’t fault them for that. The owners make their own cured meats, and the salami we had on our huge antipasti platter was delicious and clove-scented. The platter also contained some pillowy fresh mozzarella, a few chunks of dry jack, a scattering of olives in various sizes and colours, a mound of thinly sliced and oiled roasted peppers, some roasted and marinated eggplant, and a pile of pickled jalapenos (sliced into rings) alongside slices of bread from Della Fattoria. To round out our meal we ordered a pizza to share – thin crust topped with Laura Chenel goat cheese (made nearby) and mushrooms. No sauce, which we found surprising, but very tasty, and the second-best crust I’ve had, after Wooden Heads’.

Those two items alongside a quartino of Italian red wine made an excellent and filling “nibbly dinner”. We’d definitely return here for more yummy snacks.

The following day was our last in Sonoma, and the last of our holiday, and we were tired. Joyfully so, but tired nonetheless, and once we got home from a day of winery visits, we were again in no mood to drive more, so we walked in the other direction from our B&B to La Hacienda, the local Mexican joint. Both of us adore Mexican food, and Ottawa lacks many places with an authentic feel, so we thought we’d get one more meal in. Sadly (weep!) they were out of tamales that night, but the enchiladas verdes I ended up choosing were a very good consolation prize, filled with the most tender and delicious pork ever, napped in a thin but incredibly tasty green salsa, accompanied by rice, refried beans and salad. Chris’s tacos de carne asada were also perfectly seasoned and generously proportioned. The joint isn’t much to look at, but the heavy carved wooden chairs are something to see, and the head waiter was a nice guy.

A word, too, about the breakfasts served at our B&B, the Vintage Towers. HUGE. A few more words: homemade, tasty, locally sourced, and decadent. One morning there were Mexican soufflés with homemade salsas and cornbread; another, a Dutch Baby pancake with chicken sausages and maple syrup. There was a platter of homegrown heirloom tomatoes with feta, olive oil and salt; yogurt and berry parfaits; good, strong decaf coffee and a choice of juices and tiny muffins with things like pomegranate seeds (from the owners’ tree) and candied ginger baked into them. Most days, we didn’t need lunch until past one o’clock.

Thus endeth our vacation of eating, drinking and chilling out. Not with a bang, but definitely not with a whimper, either. We ate plenty of fresh, delicious and healthy food as well as lots of treats and treasures. I, for one, can’t wait to go back to California.

San Francisco Highlights

2008-10-18T01:33:00.000-04:00

As some of you know, Chris and I are spending eight glorious days in Northern California at the moment. We flew into San Francisco last Sunday and spent four nights there before driving up to Sonoma County yesterday. We're settled into a gorgeous B&B in the small town of Cloverdale and are having a few days of exploring and wine tasting and driving windy roads. For now, here's a sort of highlights tour of the delicious things we ate in the city by the Bay.

Sunday evening's dinner was our first real meal all day - we'd been up since 4 a.m. to get to Montreal airport in time for our flight; we bought sandwiches to eat on the plane, and I'd made trail imix cookies to tide us over, but by the time we got to the hotel and settled in, it was really too late for lunch, so we had an early dinner in Chinatown. We walked and walked along Grant Ave. until we finally saw a place that looked promising - Oriental Pearl, which it seemed to me might be the same place my family and I had Chinese food a million years ago, on my first visit to SF. Maybe not, but it was excellent nonetheless. We ordered beef with ginger and scallions, Chinese broccoli with oyster sauce, and the house special fried rice with Chinese sausage and shrimp. It was all absolutely delicious, and we devoured it happily.

On Monday we took the F line streetcar out to the Castro neighbourhood, where we were enticed by a shop called Chocolates on Castro (even though we hadn't yet had lunch). I allowed myself one dark chocolate covered salted caramel, which was so good I almost went back and said to hell with lunch, I'll have six more. I restrained myself though, and we wandered on to the MIssion District, where after checking out Mission Dolores we stopped into a place on 16th called Taqueria Los Coyotes, and ate the best burritos we ever hope to experience. They were utterly huge, perfect flour tortillas stuffed with rice, one's choice of meat and beans, lettuce, fresh salsa and avocado. I chose carnitas, which is slow-cooked shredded pork, and pinot beans, while Chris went with carne asada (grilled steak) and refried beans. Both were beyond tasty.

It took us a good long walk before we were able to find room for the most divine ice cream, from Bi-Rite Creamery on 18th near Dolores. We'd had some good tips from several people that this was an unmissable place, and they were so right. I had a cup of incandescently tasty, so good it should be a controlled substance, salted caramel ice cream. (Sensing a theme for the day, yet?) Chris enjoyed his cup of bittersweet chocolate and mint chip very much as well. If that wasn't enough indulgence for one day, we also stopped by Tartine Bakery further up 18th to pick up treats for after dinner snack. We enjoyed them with a cup of tea back at the hotel later that evening: Chris's morning bun was a sort of cinnamon roll with orange peel, cinnamon and raisins, and he proclaimed it to be the best of its kind he'd ever had. My pumpkin tea bread was equally divine, moist and delicious, dense and sweet and spicy, topped with pumpkin seeds and sanding sugar.

Tuesday we had booked ourselves in for lunch at the Slanted Door. It's high-end Vietnamese, located in the gorgeous Ferry Building, and while we ended up ordering way too much food for lunch, we enjoyed the food very much. The standout dish was a platter of five-spice rubbed grilled chicken with a tamarind dipping sauce. It totally blew our heads off and I have to find a way to replicate it at home. Chris also had a standout shrimp and pork wonton soup, and our Japanese eggplant with chilies, coriander and coconut milk was also stellar if a little oily. The broken jasmine rice was perfect - I've never had broken rice before and I really loved it.

Dinner that night was a bit lighter by necessity - we ended up at a fun place called Lori's Diner, on Powell, which was sort of a sixties style place, but their Cobb salad was perfectly executed (blindingly fresh avocado! Man, Ontario's a bad place to live if you like avocadoes) and Chris's California club, served on a croissant, was divine.

No food was involved at the next place we went, a former speakeasy called Bourbon and Branch, but it was way cool. You need a reservation and a password to get in, and they take their cocktails seriously. The menu is a book. We each had two drinks - my first one, the Gin Samaritan, was a concoction of fresh grapefruit juice, gin, Aperol, and something else - it was awesome, summery and fresh and just slightly bitter. Chris ordered something with gin, pomegranate juice, lime and ginger, and it was also awesome. My second round, the El Diablo, had tequila, cassis, lime and ginger beer. It was good, but the first one was better.

Wednesday we had lunch at the cafe in the De Young museum - it was packed, but we managed to score seats, and Chris had the greatest cheeseburger of his life - Niman Ranch beef and cheddar cheese served on a ciabatta bun with fresh lettuce and tomato. He raved about it for hours. My ham and cheese sandwich was also brilliantly executed, I must say.

Dinner was at Jeanty at Jack's, a french bistro in the Financial district. We ordered way too much food (again) - the tomato soup in puff pastry was unbelievably rich (more of a bisque, really) as was Chris's rabbit pate (but damn tasty, though skimpy on the cornichons). His main course, coq au vin, was delicious, perfectly executed, with a side of butter and cheese-enhanced egg noodles. My main, the house specialty cassoulet, was beyond huge. I ate maybe a third of it and felt so full there was no way I could even contemplate dessert. Thank goodness for the steep hills - I walked it off before too long!

I should also give a shout-out to our terrific little hotel. the Golden Gate on Bush Street, which served a lovely continental breakfast of orange juice. coffee or tea, and freshly baked, warm croissants (plain, and cinnamon-enhanced) with homemade jam or marmalade. So bad for the arteries, so good for the soul.

In a few days I'll post an update about all the lovely things we eat and drink in Sonoma County.

Zuni Grill: Eclectic fusion in the ‘burbs

2008-09-26T22:07:00.001-04:00

For as long as I can remember, Zuni Grill has been there in the strip mall next to the police station on Greenbank Road near West Hunt Club. It’s an odd location for a fine-dining establishment, for sure, but its longevity had to mean something, I figured. Still, I’d never set foot in the place until last night, and let me tell you, it won’t be my last visit. This unassuming storefront conceals a deeply funky interior populated with friendly staff offering delicious food at very reasonable prices. I shouldn’t even be writing about it; it’s the kind of place that seems to survive on word of mouth and if it gets too famous, I might not be able to get in there on a Thursday night anymore. On the other hand, I think the Anwar family deserves all the kudos they can get for running such a nifty place so far from the city’s centre.

Dinner was for four last night – my parents, my sister and I. After much squinting at the chalkboard on my mom’s part, it turned out that our waiter was more than happy to describe the daily specials to us anyway, and they all sounded amazing. As a matter of fact, I was the only one who ordered straight off the menu. Mom had to try the Indian-spiced onion fritters (bhaji, only bigger, basically) and enjoyed them immensely. Dad went with the soup, as he usually does, which last night was pumpkin bisque – creamy and subtly spiced, not too sweet, it was everything a fall soup should be. My sister and I ordered appetizers from the regular menu – she had stuffed mushroom caps in garlic butter, I had a deconstructed Greek salad that was fresh and tasty.

The other three ordered their mains from the specials list – Dad tried the Bengal beef stew over rice, while Mom and J both ordered the phyllo-wrapped salmon stuffed with shrimp and cheeses, drizzled with red pepper coulis. I wasn’t in a salmon mood and didn’t try any, but both their portions disappeared so I assumed they were delicious. J said the fish was yummy and she didn't even really need the side dishes because she had all 4 food groups in her phyllo package: carbs, protein, spinach for veggies and cheese for dairy. Dad also enjoyed his stew, which he called an Indian version of the French-Canadian casserole pauvre homme – it was ground beef with peas and spices, and looked a bit like a beef samosa’s filling. I went with my gut and ordered the coconut curried black tiger shrimp and veggie stew over rice, from their regular menu, and boy, am I glad it’s a menu item, because I’ll be eating it again. It was red curry and just one the edge of “spicy” and “too spicy” but still very enjoyable, with creamy sauce and still-crunchy vegetables (broccoli, cauliflower, sugar snaps, carrots) nestled among small but tasty shrimp atop perfectly cooked basmati. I’m getting hungry again just thinking about it, honestly.

Three of us shared a half-litre of Wyndham Estates Bin 555 Shiraz (served a little too warm, as is common for reds in restaurants). The wine list is short and not terribly exotic, but they had a couple of good choices available by the half-litre, glass or bottle, which I appreciated. Next time with the curry I’m having the Gewurztraminer I saw on the whites list.

Dessert was the only slight letdown, mostly due to careless ordering on my part, I think. Mom and I split the pistachio and crunchy chocolate cheesecake, which was a plain cheesecake studded with chunks of pistachio on top of a chocolate cookie crust. It wasn’t sweet enough and almost too rich, and I was glad the piece was tiny. Dad scored the last orange and Grand Marnier-scented crème brulée, which he said was “good, but not the best ever”. I tried it, and to my dismay there was also some star anise in there – not a fan. The texture was good though, and they torch the top at your table, which is nifty. J got the best dessert – grilled fresh pineapple drizzled with butterscotch sauce. I’d order that next time for sure. The portion was huge and could easily be shared.

Excellent decaf put the finishing “aaaahhhh” on a delicious meal, and the service, provided by a friendly young man who reminded us of Mohinder Suresh on Heroes, was beyond reproach. The meal was well-paced, unhurried but not unduly long. A word about the décor: it’s sort of dreamlike and mystical, dimly lit, with moons and stars painted in gold on the deeply coloured walls, wrought-iron partitions studded with bubbly coloured glass bits, and a homey bar up front. The whole thing puts one in mind of a hippie coffee shop, but in the best possible way. The food puts me in mind of Savana Café’s, while the décor evokes the late, lamented Eclectic Noodle in Sandy Hill or the even later and also lamented Ironwood Café on Somerset.

I have found my new favourite neighbourhood restaurant, and I couldn’t be happier about it. It’s what we always wanted – a great place to eat that we can walk to. Granted, it’s a 30-minute walk, one way, but that’s long enough to work up an appetite on the way there and to walk off a great meal on the way back home.

La Favorita: Pretty darned good pizza

2008-09-25T22:07:00.000-04:00

Last night Chris’s aunt K very kindly treated us to dinner as thanks for having her stay with us while she’s here. We love having her visit, and don’t require any such thanks, but she likes to do it so we let her. Chris’s folks came along as well. K asked if I knew anywhere that served a good calzone (she had a craving) and I immediately thought of La Favorita, where my sister and I had a late calzone lunch one wintry day earlier this year. Chris booked us in and off we went.

La Favorita is on Preston Street, in the heart of Ottawa’s Little Italy, and although the street is undergoing massive construction right now, the restaurants are still open, though it can be a bit dodgy walking to them over the gravel and mud-coated street. This location is fairly new; the restaurant used to be located further north on Preston, but they closed about five years ago for some reason and then reopened at the new spot perhaps two years ago. It’s a long narrow space with a gorgeous stone wall dotted with black square shelves holding wine, olives and oils, heavy wood tables and chairs, white linen and low lighting. It’s very modern and nice, but I agree with Chris, who noted that he’ll like it more in about ten years when some of the shiny gets worn off.

We were settled in by a rather gruff waiter (as it turned out, the only one working that night) and drinks orders taken. Recovering from a flirtation with a migraine (hooray, drugs) I stuck with Pellegrino, though Chris had a Heineken (from a bottle – they were out of draught beer entirely, apparently). While we perused the menus, bread and butter arrived, and yes, I’m going to nitpick about them both. The butter, served in those little plastic tubs, was bright yellow and ice cold; the bread was a selection of lackluster whole-grain rolls that I noticed came from a large bag marked “Kirkland” (Costco’s house brand). Would some simple Italian bread from one of the nearby bakeries and a dish of olive oil (maybe from one of the bottles showcased on the wall) not have been a far more appropriate choice?

Fortunately, things looked up from there. Chris asked if I wanted to share a Caesar salad with him, which sounded good to me. (He’s on a Caesar kick these days.) He opted for the veal parmigiana with linguine in red sauce, as did his mom. My father-in-law ordered cannelloni, while K got her coveted calzone stuffed with veal and cheese and I think mushrooms, alongside a Greek salad. After much deliberation and a couple of changes of heart, I finally decided on the seafood pizza. La Favorita’s claim to fame is their wood burning oven, which I had a prime view of, and it does do lovely things for the pizza crust, which was lightly browned at the edges and nicely chewy, though I found it got a bit soggy under the juicy toppings. (To be fair, seafood yields a lot of liquids while cooking, and the shrimp, crabmeat, lobster meat and chunks of sea scallop were obviously put on the pizza raw and cooked in the oven, which makes me happy). The toppings were generous, for a dish that only cost $15, and the sauce and mild cheese took a backseat to the lovely and delicate flavours of the seafood, as they should. I could only manage half of the 9” pie, but that’s fine – I have lunch for today!

As for the veal parm, Chris pronounced it to be far superior to the one he had at Trattoria Italia a few months ago, and polished off the whole generous piece without offering me a single bite (though he did take home some of the pasta). Our shared Caesar was generous in size and boasted crisp, fresh romaine and a decent dressing that was helped by a squeeze of fresh lemon; several tiny black olives were enjoyed by yours truly, as well as a paper thin slice of prosciutto that crowned the salad. I was less impressed by the too-finely grated and powdery parmesan; some shavings or properly grated cheese would have worked better.

As for the other diners, K made a valiant effort to get around the enormous calzone that arrived on her plate, and was about 90 per cent successful. She said she enjoyed it immensely, though she was confused as to why the veal was left in large pieces inside the pastry, rather than cut into chunks for easier eating. My FIL’s cannelloni disappeared and was deemed delicious.

The five of us shared two orders of tiramisu for dessert; their version comes in a square of feather-light, boozy cake marbled with espresso-chocolate cream and topped with sweetened mascarpone icing; it was rich and delicious but not overly filling, just as it should be. A dusting of cocoa would have finished it perfectly, but that’s a nitpick; it was lovely as it was.

Despite the gruff waiter and lackluster beginning, it was a very tasty meal. Nowhere in Ottawa have I found thin-crust pizza quite as transcendent as Wooden Heads’ in Kingston, but La Favorita’s version is definitely worth eating and most enjoyable.

Swanky fish

2008-09-23T22:53:00.001-04:00

Last night I made a delicious dinner for Chris and I and his aunt K, who is visiting with us this week. It was so delicious we ate it all before I even thought of photographing it. I think it’s worth writing up, though, because I definitely plan on making it again. It’s simple and inexpensive but looks really impressive, tastes fantastic and is quite filling. I liked the presentation because it looks restaurant-y. Also, it’s reasonably healthful – a bonus!

Citrus and black pepper tilapia over lentils and kale

1 whole tilapia fillet per person
olive oil
1 cup dry green lentils, rinsed
6-8 leaves of kale, stripped from the stems, washed, and sliced
½ sweet onion, chopped
1 clove garlic, minced
1 litre vegetable stock
splash balsamic vinegar
salt and pepper
2 tbsp butter
rind from 1 navel orange, grated

In a small bowl, combine the butter, orange rind and a good grinding of black pepper. Mix with a fork to evenly distribute the seasonings, then turn the butter out onto a piece of plastic wrap, make into a lump, wrap and put in the fridge to firm up.

In a large pot, heat about a tablespoon of olive oil over medium heat and cook the onion until softened. Add the garlic and cook, stirring, for 2 minutes. Add the lentils, stock and vinegar, bring to a boil, and simmer ten minutes, covered.

Meanwhile, heat your broiler on high and place the oven rack about 6” from the heat. Place the fish in a baking pan lined with greased foil and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Set aside.

Add the kale to the pot, on top of the lentils, and cover. Let steam five minutes, then stir into lentils, cover and simmer another 15 minutes or until lentils are tender and liquid has absorbed. Kale will be very wilted and tender.

About ten minutes before the lentils are ready, put the fish under the broiler and cook about 8 minutes or until a fork poked into the thickest part of the fish goes in with no resistance. Remove from oven.

To serve, place a pile of lentils and kale on the centre of the plate. Top with a tilapia fillet and then place two ¼” slices of butter on top of the fish. The butter will melt and can be spread over the surface of the fish, making a delicious glaze.

(Lentils will serve 4 people.)

Murray Street: Great meat

2008-09-16T16:48:00.001-04:00

Chris and I treated ourselves to dinner at this new restaurant last night, in honour of our 7th wedding anniversary. Murray Street is one of a pack of new eateries that have opened in Ottawa over the past few months – there seems to be a revitalization of sorts happening. If any of the others have the kitchen brilliance that Murray Street possesses, this is going to become a wonderful town for food lovers in very short order.

The first thing you have to know about Murray Street is that they love meat here, so if you’re sensitive about eating animals, this is not the place for you. There is one vegetarian main course and at least one small plate, but otherwise this place is pretty much about the pleasures of the flesh, so be warned. That said, the meat you will consume here is sourced carefully, prepared lovingly, and served in reasonably-sized portions with accompaniments that bring out the best of their flavours.

In fact, this is one of those places that proclaims the sources of many of the ingredients right on the menu. St. Canut pork, Mariposa Farms duck and vegetables, Le Coprin mushrooms, Spicollo farms kale, and sustainably caught pickerel from Lake Erie are all here. It’s not done pretentiously, nor is it self-congratulating, with the possible exception of the Agawam grape “chow” that accompanies the duck leg confit, which the menu proudly states is made from grapes grown on the restaurant’s patio. I rather enjoy knowing that much of my meal comes from close by, grown by people who I might conceivably meet one day.

We began with a drink: I noted the presence of Beau’s Lug-tread ale on the menu and informed Chris that it’s brewed in nearby Vankleek Hill, which was enough to sell him on it. I opted for a dramatic cocktail of cucumber and watermelon juices, Hendricks gin and triple sec, garnished with a cucumber slice. It was sophisticated and refreshing, definitely an adult pleasure and not at all girly or sugar-sweet.

Knowing our own stomachs, we intelligently decided to share one of the menu’s small plates as an appetizer. Chris gravitated towards the plate dubbed simply “beets”, which when it arrived proved to be a rectangular white plate layered with thin pink slices of pickled beet, deep red wedges of roasted beet, a sprinkling of spiced pecan halves, a tangle of microgreens, and a drizzle of sheep’s milk yogurt (a nifty play on the goat cheese oft-plated with beets). Both of us preferred the tangy pickled rounds to the roasted wedges, which didn’t have as much natural sweetness as they should have; the pickling liquid for their paler cousins obviously contained mustard seed, a fantastic punch of flavor that was cooled by the yogurt. We devoured it slowly, along with a complimentary small burlap sack of Art-is-in bread (white and whole grain) with a tiny ramekin of roasted garlic and smoky tomato butter that tasted like the best gourmet potato chip flavouring you could hope for.

If the beets were good, the mains blew our minds. Two large, shallow white bowls arrived with delights to be delved into over the next thirty minutes or so. I had fortunately gone with my gut (literally) and ordered the Mariposa farms duck leg confit, which arrived dark and crisp-skinned, atop a stack of green and yellow beans, with a bundle of roasted cauliflower, dollops of that white grape and red pepper relish, and a small, whole roasted red onion stuffed with corn, duck sausage, wild rice and Ferme floralpe goat cheese. I won’t mince words: everything on that plate was fresh and delicious, and it all disappeared save the bones. Beneath the skin, the duck was moist and fork-tender with crisp bits here and there; the grape relish was a divine complement, both sweet and tart. The onion was difficult to cut into with the non-steak knife I had been provided, but its innards were soft and yielding, the stuffing flavourful and interesting. The beans were cooked but still held some snap, while the cauliflower sang with caramelized sweetness. Halfway through my meal I finished my cocktail and ordered a glass of Lailey Riesling from Ontario, which was tasty in and of itself though not a great match with the food, which I knew when I ordered it – I was simply in a white wine mood.

Chris, on the other side of the table, devoted himself to his meal with few words and many wordless expressions of delight. His St. Canut pork loin was roasted to pale pink and sliced, then topped with a clear apple jelly. The meat was set atop two delicious puddles: one of homemade creamed corn, the other of molasses and birch syrup-scented baked beans. A few stalks of gorgeous green broccoli finished the plate with panache. I managed to score a small bite of the meat and found it cooked to moist perfection. The creamed corn had a smoky flavor to it that I loved, while the baked beans… let’s just say I could have eaten a whole bowl of those. Chris called it the most sophisticated pork and beans he’d ever eaten.

Though the portions looked small and were, in fact, quite reasonable, we probably should have shared dessert. I am forced, in the name of honesty, to tell you that we did not: in fact, we both ordered the chocolate-espresso pudding with ginger-orange compote and salted caramel. And we both finished it. The rectilinear plates came adorned with a Chinese soup spoon of delicate orange compote, tasting of citrus and candied ginger, topped with a perfect golden raspberry, and a cone-shaped bowl of pudding with a lightly bruléed top, drizzled with thick burnt-sugar caramel and sprinkled liberally (actually, a bit too liberally) with sea salt. Stripes of the same caramel anchored the spoon and bowl to the plate.

The pudding was thick, dense and almost truffle-like, not too sweet, with a wonderful bitter edge and unbeatable smooth texture. Chris liked the compote with the pudding, while I preferred to eat them separately. The caramel was amazing, but the salt crystals burnt my tongue a bit and could be dialed back significantly to better effect, we both agreed. We declined coffee or tea, completely sated by that point.

A word about the space: Murray Street occupies a heritage home; it underwent a full reno after the current owners bought the old Bistro 115, and has been transformed into a dimly lit, masculine space with walnut-coloured chairs and tables whose tops are left bare; antique glass and cast iron light fixtures soften the espresso leather banquettes somewhat, and the wood-cut wall at the back that provides a trompe l’oeil of the restaurant’s M logo is fun, but I found the restaurant as a whole a bit cold-feeling, not terribly cozy, despite the fact that it’s tight for space: our server had to squeeze in between our table and the backs of the chairs at the table next to us in order to serve them. I wouldn’t call it a romantic restaurant at all, though the food is presented more softly than the space. The servers were all male, and while ours was solicitous, he gave off a slightly snooty vibe (maybe he’s just a man of few words?). Also, my water glass was empty for a very long time, and my empty cocktail glass languished for far too long without being removed and a replacement offered. But these are small things, and the food more than made up for most of them.

The music is another bonus: I asked before I left who selected the tunes, and was informed that it was the Chef’s iPod. We heard at least a dozen songs that reside on our own iPods while there, by the likes of the Weakerthans, Luke Doucet, the New Pornographers, Arcade Fire and the Be Good Tanyas. Canadian indie rock and folk-pop was the prevailing aesthetic, and we loved it.

To make a long review short, do check this place out if you have any carnivorous tendencies whatsoever. The food is a delight, and we’re already dying to go back with some friends to try out the extensive house-made and local charcuterie and cheese menu. If you’re looking for a romantic dinner, though, there are warmer and more inviting spaces in town (though the food might not be as transcendent). If you go, let me know what you think!

Pizza with pizzazz

2008-08-28T16:15:00.000-04:00

On New Year’s Day I posted a list of restaurants in Ottawa I wanted to try sometime this year. This week alone, I visited two of them - and, I might add, those are the only two I’ve managed to get to, while at least three more have been added to my mental list of "must-tries". The first one crossed off the list was Allium, which I reviewed the other day. The second one is Pi’za-za, over on the Gatineau side. We went there last night for an impromptu midweek dinner with my parents, sister and brother-in-law. My parents are moving away in just over a month’s time, so it’s nice for us to all get to spend some extra time together, and if good food and drink is involved, so much the better. D had been telling us about this place for ages and we figured it was high time we tried it out.

And it was good. All of it. The food, the wine, the company, even the ambiance. Pi’za-za is housed in a red brick two-storey on Rue Laval in what used to be called Hull, a stone’s throw from two huge federal government office complexes. As such, it’s extremely popular with the lunch crowd, and judging by the decent crowd on a Wednesday evening, does pretty well for dinner too. Although the indoor space looks pretty much like a slightly shabby pub, they have a covered side patio and a huge, uncovered back patio, which is where the six of us ended up. Strings of white lights crisscrossed above our heads; the bright red tables wobbled a little, but the green plastic chairs were pretty comfy, so we didn’t much care. Especially once we all had a drink in front of us. Kudos to the bar staff for actually making my gin and tonic too strong rather than the opposite (I just waited until the ice melted a little).

As you can imagine from the name of the place, the menu’s main focus is thin-crust pizzas. There are a good two dozen selections to choose from, along with a daily special, and half a dozen seriously interesting salads to start you off on a crunchy note. We’re talking smoked trout, mixed seafood, and even a carbonara salad with bacon and hard-cooked egg. Yum. Most of us chose either the house specialty salade Pi’za-za, with artichoke hearts, parmesan and a divine olive oil and lemon dressing over spring greens, or the Mediterranean salade Zorba, with black olives, tomatoes, feta and bacon over more of those lettuces. Both arrived with a soft and delicious breadstick emerging from the side of the bowl and were immediately devoured.

The pizzas were much harder to choose; both Chris and I made game-time decisions about our mains. He opted for the Club, with tomato sauce, bacon, tomato slices, smoked chicken and mozzarella; I teetered on the edge of ordering the Greek but toppled a bit and ended up with the Paysanne, which was a divine and delicious sweet-salty blend of prosciutto, figs, mushrooms and provolone over tomato sauce. The crust was thin but chewy: if not as transcendent as Wooden Heads’, it at least tasted good and didn’t interfere with or collapse under the toppings, which were generous. Other selections around the table included the Charcutiere with calabrese, merguez and capicollo; and the daily pie, a concoction of ham and Dijon mustard with mushrooms and cheese. Sounds odd, tastes amazing.

Four of us shared a bottle of an Italian red called Lungarotti which went beautifully with the pizzas – not too light, but not heavy, either, with good acidity to cut through the richness of cheese and cured meats. The restaurant has a lovely wine list and also offers flights of its featured wines for a very reasonable price.

All of us enjoyed our meal, but my brother-in-law really goes there for the desserts. Well, one dessert specifically: the chocolate mousse, which comes in a parfait glass. D ordered two and finished them both. Chris restricted himself to just one, and was awake half the night for his pains, but he said it was so worth it, and after my one bite, I have to agree. I also sampled my dad’s tarte au citron, which was completely different from the one I had at Allium, but possibly even better. The Ottawa Citizen’s reviewer had raved about the lemon pie here, a fact I made my father aware of as he adores such things. She wasn’t wrong: it had a sweet-tart, almost cakey filling and lighter than air pastry, spiked with shards of lemon rind. It tasted old-fashioned in the best possible way. Pi’za-za makes all of their desserts in-house; my sister raved about her panna cotta and my mother enjoyed, but couldn’t finish, her white and dark chocolate cheesecake.

It was a perfect night for dining al fresco, too: not too cool or too hot, zero humidity, and few bugs. I’d have to say it was one of the finest meals I’ve eaten on a Wednesday night in a long time, and Pi’za-za has officially been added to my list of great places to eat in the Ottawa area. À la prochaine!

Tapas night at Allium

2008-08-26T16:07:00.001-04:00

Hi!

I know, I’ve been gone for a while. It’s kind of a stressful time around these parts, lots of stuff going on, and as a consequence I haven’t been inspired to post a whole lot, though I have been cooking as usual. Nothing earth-shattering, though I will clean off the camera this week and post about a few dishes from several weeks ago that I enjoyed making and also eating. For now, though, here is a review of Allium, a bistro on Holland Ave. that I had the pleasure of trying out last night. I went with my friend L because I had read on Ottawa Foodies that they do a Monday tapas night, and it so happened that we were looking for a place to meet for drinks and snackies. It sounded perfect – it’s between our houses, it’s not overly expensive, and they claimed to have good cocktails. It’s gotten good reviews. What’s not to like, right?

First, the good, because there was a lot to like about Allium. The space is simple, with rich mahogany-toned wood tables and chairs, frosted glass dividers between the bar and restaurant areas, and muted wall colours. L and I were seated at a high-top table in the bar area, which suited us fine, though my feet did start to fall asleep after a while due to where the hard wooden seat of the chair hit the backs of my knees. A small thing; I was comfortable enough.

The tapas menu is a single photocopied sheet, written neatly, with a lengthy list of hot and cold dishes ranging in price from $3 to $7 or $8. as well as five cheeses and a half-dozen desserts. At the bottom are five reds and five whites by the glass, a featured cocktail and a featured beer. It’s enough choice for most people to be perfectly happy, us included. We each began with the featured cocktail ($5), a raspberry and lime gin and tonic. It was done as a long drink, in a footed highball glass, and arrived bright rose from the fresh raspberry puree (fortunately, seedless), garnished with a lime wedge. It was refreshing and not too sweet; the gin flavor came through nicely but the drink wasn’t too strong. In short, it’s the perfect thing for warm summer evenings and I will definitely be making these at home.

We decided to order a first round of things to share and then see how we felt. L chose the rare beef crostini with grilled onion ($4), and the two of us selected three cheeses ($4 each) from the five on offer: a two-year-old cheddar (perfectly sharp while maintaining a smooth mouthfeel), an Allegretto (sheep’s milk cheese, sliced paper thin, it resembled a mild emmenthaler), and a Cendre de lune (cow’s milk, ash rind, creamy soft centre, mild but interesting). The cheeses came beautifully arranged on a platter with thin crisps of baguette drizzled with olive oil, half a sliced Bartlett ppear drizzled with reduced balsamic, and two chunks of ripe cantaloupe which I let L eat because I don’t care for it. All were very tasty and we polished off the lot. (We did run short of crisps, but that’s OK.) The crostini was very good as well, a generous slice of toasted, oil-rubbed baguette layered with a thick slice of sweet grilled onion and thin slices of rare beef, seared on the outside but ruby red inside. Excellent flavours and presentation.

Once we had finished and mulled over the menu and the remaining space in our stomachs, L decided she needed to try their steak-frites ($7), and I couldn’t pass up the roasted duck breast with sautéed peppers and onions ($6). They came arranged on the same rectangular plate, which was fine – a tiny cup of frites (perhaps ten in all, short ones, heavily salted and delicious), alongside about a 2-oz portion of rare steak, sliced, with dots of grainy mustard aioli for dipping. L was quite pleased with it and, as far as I could tell, with her accompanying glass of Kingston shiraz.

My end of the plate possessed about the same weight in ruby-rare duck breast, sliced thinly over a mound of what tasted for all the world like pico de gallo with the tomatoes replaced by roasted red peppers. It was a surprising and elegant combination of flavours and I devoured it with delight. It actually didn’t clash too badly with my second raspberry G&T, though I imagine wine would have gone better with it – I simply wasn’t in the mood for grapes.

After a suitable interval of gossiping and digesting, we moved onto dessert. L could not resist the vanilla bean crème brulée with shortbread cookie (at $7, the most expensive dessert on the menu, but it was full-size and delicious; Allium is of the wide, shallow ramekin school of crème brulée, and it truly makes a difference - you get a thinner sugar crust, but enough of it to have some with very bite of the lush custard. The shortbread cookie on the side put it over the top – it disappeared very quickly! My lemon tart was equally divine – a bright yellow wedge of tart lemon curd atop a soft, melting shortbread crust. A dollop of real whipped cream scented with lemon zest and a scattering of fresh berries made it sing. For $4, it’s one of the best dessert deals in Ottawa. I’ve had lame lemon tart for twice the price.

Now, for the bad, and it wasn’t really bad, just slightly unpleasant – our waiter was not, shall we say, the friendliest man alive. He seemed to blow hot and cold: sometimes he was friendly and affable, as when describing the cheeses to us (in a not terribly useful way – he simply told us which ones HE liked, not what they were like); at other times he seemed short and impatient with us, as when he checked back in to see if we wanted another round of food or drinks and we said we wanted to coast for a bit. I should point out that at no time during the two hours we spent there was the restaurant close to full, so it seemed odd that he was trying to rush us. He also refused to make change for L when she asked, claiming that he’d gone through all his change already that evening. It was 8 p.m. I found that unbelievable, and he was slightly rude about it, too. It certainly reduced his tip a bit, though we did leave about 15 per cent because the food was so very excellent. Generally these days I’m trying to tip 20, but he didn’t earn it.

All that said, we’ll certainly go back and bring the boys with us next time. I’d like to try it on a regular menu evening as well – if it lives up to the small bites reputation, it must be quite impressive! There were many more things on the tapas menu I wanted to try, too, so I’ll have to make that happen. It ended up being a very affordable evening for both of us, and extraordinary value based on the food quality. Now if we can just manage to score a different server, we’ll be golden.

Weekend restaurant rundown

2008-08-04T21:09:00.000-04:00

Yesterday we went to Kingston with my sister and brother-in-law for an afternoon of shopping and a fix of wood oven pizza. It's the August long weekend here, so Chris and I had the day off today and wanted to get out of town for a little while. We arrived there around lunchtime and went in search of sustenance. Our first stop, the Pan Chancho bakery, was immediately vetoed due to price hikes ($14.95 for a box lunch? Over five bucks for a tiny container of tzatziki? Not bloody likely) so up Princess St. we sauntered, eventually finding refuge in Windmills Cafe, a place we've walked by dozens of times but never eaten at.

We thoroughly enjoyed our quick and reasonably priced lunch - sandwiches with salad or soup for all four of us. J and D had the ham and brie on a sesame kaiser bun with honey mustard - yummy, if my one bite was any indication. Chris pronounced his BLT very impressive - crisp bacon, fresh veggies, multigrain bread, not too heavy on the mayo - and his cup of minestrone was "spectacular", in his words. My California wrap had the usual suspects - avocado, fresh salsa, Jack cheese, greens - and a nice touch in the miso dressing on the greens. The salad alongside it was huge, springy and only slightly overdressed - but the dressing was so yummy I couldn't complain too much.

Dinner was a more leisurely affair, after a few hours of shopping for used CDs and hippie clothing in the student-oriented stores along Princess. We arrived at Wooden Heads shortly after the stores closed, and unfortunately were seated next to a group that included several unruly toddlers, though they headed home after about 30 minutes. (I have nothing against children in restaurants, but not if their parents are letting them scream, play on the floor in between tables, and wander around.) Once the calm was restored we settled in for a truly lovely meal. Chris and I decided to split a Caesar salad for starters, and ordered the "huge" because we were certain that's what we had ordered last time. Not so much. This was truly enormous, enough for us to eat our fill and offer plenty to J & D as well. It's a bacon-free Caesar, but the lettuce was impeccably fresh and crunchy, the dressing was sharp and creamy and it comes well-dusted with shards of fresh grated Romano cheese. Impressive in its simplicity, really. J & D split a phyllo-wrapped parcel of baked brie with pecans and cinnamon surrounded by a drizzle of fruit coulis. Also very delicious, judging from my one bite.

All four of us ordered pizzas for our main courses - I went with my tried-and-true favourite, the Nordico: pomodoro sauce, fontina cheese, grilled chicken, sweet onions and roasted red peppers. Divine, from first to last bite. Chris also enjoyed a standby, the Marco Polo, with pomodoro sauce, lemon chicken, mushrooms, sun dried tomatoes and mozzarella. Dylan tried something new, the Polpette, with sliced huge spicy meatballs and mushrooms as well as cheese and sauce. Jenn twisted an old favourite, the Nonna Mela, by adding tomato sauce to the combination of apple butter, cheddar, blackened chicken, roasted garlic and sweet onions. Everyone was extremely happy with their choices.

We declined dessert in favour of heading down the street a ways to the White Mountain ice cream parlour, where we scored chocolate ice cream in house-made waffle cones which we enjoyed while sitting in the waterfront park looking out at Lake Ontario, and watching two girls who had a big calico cat on a leash. The cat was behaving marvelously well.

As if that wasn't enough eating out for one weekend, today I met up with my friend K for a long-overdue patio lunch at Memories restaurant down in the Byward Market. As a nod to the old days when i was freelancing and we used to meet for lunch regularly, we split a 1/2 litre of sangria (it's not all that boozy there, honestly, I think it's 50% orange juice) and ordered salads and cake. Hers was their apple, romaine and pecan salad with a creamy dressing - she said it was good, but not as good as it used to be. (I think they used to put white cheddar cheese in it, come to think of it, but I could be wrong.) Mine was the basil-crusted goat cheese salad - a ridiculously small disk of goat cheese dusted in dried basil, over mixed greens, cucumber matchsticks, tomato wedges and a very nice herbal vinaigrette. Laughable cheese portion aside (and it was good goat cheese, I should add) it was a lovely lunch. Both salads came with lightly toasted pumpernickel bread on the side.

The point of the salads was to save room for cake, which we did: K had the white chocolate raspberry cheesecake and I had the chocolate oblivion. Both were tasty, but neither rocked my universe the way their carrot cake, key lime pie, pecan pie or chocolate peanut butter pie have for me in the past. I'll stick to those in the future (though the only one of those they had today was the chocolate peanut butter pie, probably due to it being a Monday). I think their strengths skew towards pie, these days. K and I both agreed we could have baked better versions of our respective cakes. In fact, I have done so, recently, and actually, the chocolate cake my friend P made for Chris's birthday was better than what i had today, too. For a restaurant that prides itself on its house-made desserts, that seems a shame.

Ah well. Next time we decided we'll try out one of the seemingly myriad new restaurants that have popped up in the Market recently. And we had a blast drinking our sangria and gossiping away madly for two hours on the blissfully shaded patio. It was a nice way to spend part of a holiday Monday.

"Salad" with a funny name

2008-08-04T20:26:00.003-04:00

Thailand has a funny idea of what constitutes a salad, honestly. The ones in my Thai cookbook involve rice, noodles, eggplant. seafood, pomelos, pork, beef and mushrooms, to name a few, but only a few even have lettuce, and only as a base or garnish, not as a major feature. Larp is no exception, as it calls for salad greens and mint leaves only as a garnish, and no other vegetables of significance. I first had it in Boston, as a takeaway from an extremely good restaurant called Brown Sugar Cafe - my friend D advised me that it was very spicy, so I was reluctant to try it, but I did anyway and enjoyed it. So when I found it in my magical blue cookbook, I couldn't resist making it for dinner (even though it has no vegetables in it).

Larp is a dish from Northern Thailand and is traditionally made with ground chicken, but I subbed in ground turkey because I find it has more flavour in and of itself. Combined with many aromatics - lemongrass, lime juice and leaves, chilies, fish sauce, coriander - it explodes with an unusual and exotic deliciousness. This is not "easy" Thai food, but more of a challenge to the taste buds, especially if you use all 4 chilies it calls for. (I cut that back to 2, and it was quite lively.)

We ate this at room temperature, accompanied by a side of quickly stir-fried sliced bell peppers and sweet onions. I couldn't think of a more authentic thing to have with this that involved lots of veggies, and I must say, it was very good indeed. Maybe next time I'll make another Thai "salad" to go with it. One involving squid, or maybe eggplants.

Turkey Larp

1 pound ground turkey
1 stalk lemongrass, woody upper stalk and tough base removed, leaving the fat part of the bottom, minced
2 lime leaves, minced
2 red chilies, seeded and minced
4 tbsp fresh lime juice
2 tbsp fish sauce
1 tbsp roasted ground rice*
2 green onions, finely chopped
2 tbsp chopped fresh coriander
salad greens and mint leaves to garnish

*To make the roasted ground rice, cook rice in a dry frying pan, shaking frequently, until golden brown, then grind to powder in a spice grinder or mortar and pestle.

In a large nonstick frying pan, cook the ground turkey over medium heat until browned and cooked through, breaking up into small bits. Drain off any excess fat; place in a bowl and combine with all other ingredients except garnishes. Toss to mix; allow to cool to room temperature. Garnish and serve with lime wedges for squeezing.

Friday Fried Thai Snacks

2008-08-04T19:51:00.005-04:00

On Friday night I tried something new: I fried things. Now I know why I never fry things: because they taste really good, while managing to be very bad for you. I have herewith promised myself that I will not fry things more than once a month. But I will need to make these Thai fish cakes again, because they were so very very good. The corn fritters were tasty, too, but not nearly as yummy as the fish cakes, so I will probably try another companion snack for the fish cakes next time.

These are also from my blue Thai cookbook of wonderment, and I was truly astonished at how authentic the fish cakes (tod mun on most menus) came out compared to their restaurant brethren. They have a springy texture and a depth of flavour that gets a boost from finely slivered lime leaves and shredded coriander, and a nice spiciness from red curry paste. The book had a recipe for cucumber relish to serve with them, but whenever we order them at Nokham on Richmond Road, they come with a bowl of sweet chili sauce with chopped cucumber in it, so that's what I did - just doctored up my bottled sweet chili sauce with finely diced cucumber and a splash of white vinegar to give it some acidity and thin it out a little. It was absolutely perfect.

The corn fritters were, as I said, pretty good but not earth shattering - I think the ratio of corn to flour (for holding the fritters together) was off a little, and using fresh rather than frozen corn kernels would help too. Perhaps when the sweet corn comes in during the next couple of weeks I'll cut the kernels off a few ears and try these again. They could surprise me.

Taken together these made a lovely and slightly illicit Friday night meal. I was so pleased with myself for not burning anything or setting myself/the stove/the kitchen on fire. It ended up being a fun challenge and one I look forward to repeating... but not too often.

Corn fritters

kernels from 3 corn cobs (I used about 1.5 cups frozen)
1 garlic clove, minced
2 tbsp chopped fresh cilantro
1 small red or green chili, seeded and minced
1 green onion, chopped finely
1 tbsp fish sauce
3/4 cup flour or rice flour
2 eggs, lightly beaten
4 tbsp water
salt and pepper

canola oil for shallow frying

Combine all ingredients except oil; stir to combine. You should have a batter that holds its shape but is not too thick.

Heat the oil in a frying pan over medium heat. Add spoonfuls of the mixture, flattening to create a roundish fritter. Cook for 2 minutes on each side. Remove to paper towels to drain. Serve with sweet chili sauce.

Tod mun (Thai fish cakes)

3 kaffir lime leaves
300-gram cod fillet, cut into chunks
1-2 tbsp curry paste (I used 1 and they were piquant, not too hot)
1 egg
2 tbsp fish sauce
1 tsp sugar
2 tbsp corn starch
1 tbsp chopped fresh coriander

canola oil for frying

Combine fish. egg and curry paste in a food processor and process to a smooth paste. Put the mixture into a bowl and add the remaining ingredients; stir to combine. Shape into cakes about 1/4" thick, and 2" across (I got 10 cakes). Heat the oil in a deep sided frying pan over medium-high heat; fry the cakes until browned, about 4 minutes per side. Drain on paper towels and serve immediately with cucumber-spiked sweet chili sauce.

Curry, in not too much of a hurry

2008-07-31T21:56:00.002-04:00

I was in no hurry to make dinner tonight - I came home with a mild headache and a serious case of the tireds, so I napped on the couch for about an hour before even thinking about cooking, Despite my laziness, the meal was ready in less than 45 minutes start to finish, which is pretty much my criteria for a weeknight dinner. Not only that, it was yummy and made my house smell awesome.

I am pleased to report that the pork and pineapple coconut curry came out tasting very authentic indeed, despite my use of light coconut milk instead of the regular kind that separates into the the cream and the milk, something this recipe seemed to hinge on. In fact, it worked brilliantly, the one tiny flaw in my brilliant plan to add vegetables to this curry and make it a sort of all-in-one main dish being that I had no idea how long the baby globe eggplants would need to cook for, and when we sat down to eat, they were a little underdone (read: bitter). However, the longer they sat in the very hot sauce, the softer they got, which was good. I'd definitely use them again, but next time I will slice them instead of quartering them.

This is a very simple curry, just coconut milk, curry paste, meat, veg and fruit, and some seasonings. It's got killer flavour, though the lime leaves can overpower it if you're not careful, so go easy if you like your food less than herbal-tasting. We liked this a lot and I'm fairly certain it will go into regular rotation around these parts. The pineapple gives it a lovely light sweetness, and the heat is quite mild (you could up it if you wanted; I might next time.)

One night I'd like to make a big Thai meal for a group of people, and make this curry alongside some satays, fish cakes, some pad thai and probably a dry beef curry. Maybe when it's cooler outside. For now, this made a great, quick weeknight meal over some jasmine rice. You could certainly use different vegetables, just make sure you pick ones that will cook fairly quickly and not fall apart into the sauce. I think sliced peppers would be lovely here.

Pork and pineapple coconut curry

1 small pork tenderloin, sliced thinly
1/2 a fresh pineapple, peeled, cored and diced
1.5 cans light coconut milk
2 tsp red curry paste
2 yellow zucchini, sliced into 1/4" rounds
10 small green globe eggplants or two Asian eggplants, sliced into 1/4" rounds
1 tbsp brown sugar
1 tbsp fish sauce
1 tbsp tamarind juice (made by soaking tamarind pulp in hot water, then straining)
2 lime leaves, torn

In a large sauce pan heat the coconut milk until bubbling; stir constantly to keep it from scorching and once it has been simmering for a few minutes, add the red curry paste and break up to combine. Cook over medium high heat for three minutes, then add the pork and the fish sauce, sugar and tamarind juice. Cook until pork is no longer pink , three minutes or so, stirring constantly. Add the lime leaves, pineapple and vegetables; cook at a high simmer until vegetables are soft and pork is cooked through, about seven minutes. Serve over rice or noodles. Serves 4.

Thai tofu toss

2008-07-30T22:21:00.004-04:00

Thai cooking week continues chez TDL. Tonight's offering, I will warn you right now, involves one heck of a lot of chopping and will definitely help you get in your 5-10 servings of vegetables for the day. It also goes together very easily and involves no weird ingredients, unless you consider bok choy to be weird. Speaking of bok choy, I used it in place of the Chinese cabbage the recipe called for, and subbed sugar snap peas for snow peas because Chris loves the former and hates the latter. I also used sweet chili sauce instead of the sugar and hot chili flakes, because it seemed easier.

In the end, after all that chopping, this is a very simple stir-fry with subtle flavouring that really lets the vegetables shine; if you want a more traditional sweet and sour sauce taste, you should increase the amount of chili sauce and soy sauce, and mix in a 1/2 tbsp of cornstarch before you add the sauce to the pan, which will thicken it and help it cling to the veggies. We served this over plain rice noodles but you could have rice or other noodles if you like. I'd definitely make this again just as it was. It tasted fresh and summery and vaguely exotic, healthy without being boring.

Thai sweet and sour tofu and vegetables

2 tbsp canola oil
1/2 small sweet onion
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 package extra firm tofu, pressed and drained, cut into 1/2" cubes
1 head bok choy, cleaned, leaves and stems separated, chopped
2 sweet bell peppers, thinly sliced
1.5 cups sugar snap peas, trimmed
1 can baby corn, sliced on the diagonal
4 tbsp stock
2 tbsp light soy sauce
2 tbsp rice vinegar
3 tbsp sweet chili sauce
4 tbsp chopped fresh coriander

Combine final 4 ingredients in a small bowl and stir to combine; set aside.

Heat oil over medium heat in a wok or large skillet. Fry the onion and garlic 5 minutes or until lightly golden; do not burn garlic. Add tofu, increase heat to medium-high and stir fry 2-3 minutes or until browning; add peppers and bok choy stems and stir fry 1 minute. Add sugar snap peas and corn; stir-fry one minute. Add bok choy leaves; stir fry 30 seconds, or until wilted. Pour sauce over, stir 30 seconds then remove from heat and serve over rice or noodles; garnish with chopped coriander. Serves 4 generously.

Easy weeknight pizza cheat

2008-07-30T22:16:00.001-04:00

I know, I know: pizza dough is easy to make. I've done it, several times, and it is indeed very good. The problem is that if I want to get a second rise out of it, I have to start the day before, then stick it in the fridge after first rise, and most weeks that's just too much pre-planning for me. So I use English muffins, which is a cheat from way back in the day when my mom was still making me dinner. I remember having these many a time before figure skating lessons on a Tuesday night in the winter. It's just as satisfying as an adult. Pair it with a lovely green salad and it still makes for an excellent Tuesday night supper. I like to use veggie pepperoni, and Chris insists that we saute the mushrooms before we put them on the pizza, so they don't make the pizzas watery as they cook. He's right, of course.

One note: Two toppings plus cheese and sauce are about all the small surface area of the muffins can handle, but if you want to go for broke and add a second veggie, on your head be it if your pizza falls apart as you eat it.

English muffin pizzas: a rough guide

one whole wheat English muffin per person, split
pizza sauce
grated cheese of your choice
meat of your choice
veggie of your choice

Preheat oven to 450 degrees fahrenheit and place a sheet of tin foil on a cookie sheet. Place the muffins on the cookie sheet, split-side up; adorn with sauce and toppings, then sprinkle cheese over and bake until browned to your liking, about ten minutes. Serve with a salad. (No one will tell on you if you don't, or if you eat them with your hands on the couch in front of some quality TV Ontario programming.)

Penne with sausage and peppers

2008-07-28T22:25:00.004-04:00

I absolutely love it when bell peppers go on sale at the grocery store. As I've mentioned before, they are my favourite vegetable, and I can always think of a million things I'd like to put them into. One of the simplest and most delicious ways to showcase their sweetness and gorgeous colour is to cook them with some sliced sausages and toss them into a bowl of pasta. It's simple, tasty and filling - all my requirements for an awesome weeknight supper. This sort of dish is perfect on a Monday when I'm tired and dopey from a migraine pill and just want my food NOW PLEASE AND THANK YOU. Chris helped make this and it came together in under 35 minutes, including chopping veggies and setting the table.

An added bonus: leftovers for lunch tomorrow. Enough for both of us, so we don't have to fight over them, either.

Monday Penne with Sausage and Peppers (and just a little onion)

1/2 small Vidalia onion, sliced into thin half-moons
3 bell peppers, preferably different colours, seeded and sliced into thin strips
1 package (6 links) sweet Italian turkey sausage (I use the Maple Leaf one and it is awesome)
olive oil
1/2 box whole wheat penne or other short pasta

Begin by boiling a pot of water; when it is boiling, drop in the sausages whole and raw; boil for six to seven minutes. Meanwhile, heat about 1 tablespoon of olive oil in a nonstick frying pan. Cook onion until beginning to brown lightly; add a little more oil and the peppers and increase heat to medium-high; cook, stirring.

Drain sausages and slice into 1/4" coins, removing casings if they come off easily (they should). Start a large pot of water boiling for the pasta.

Toss the sausages into the pan with the peppers and onions; increase heat to high and cook, stirring constantly, until sausages are well-browned and peppers are wilted. Cook pasta according to package directions; drain, reserving about 1/2 cup of cooking water.

Combine pasta and sausage mixture; add about 1/4 cup of cooking water if mixture appears dry. Stir well and serve immediately. A little grated hard cheese on top would be nice if you have it (I did not).

Serves 4.

Spice up that fish

2008-07-28T22:19:00.003-04:00

I have a lovely little Thai cookbook I picked up from the bargain books table at Chapters a few years ago. It's British and I have no idea who the author is - no one famous. It's part of a series of international cuisine cookbooks, I believe. In any event, I made a dry red curry beef recipe from it right away and it was so hot we cried while we ate it. I make the chicken satays fairly regularly as well, but apart from that I haven't used it much, but late last week I was staring down the barrel of a week's worth of meal planning and I was just plain tired of everything I've been making. Out came a stack of cookbooks and the Thai one happened to be on top. I made a list of all the dishes I wanted to try out and then picked a few for this week.

It tends to be easier to make a few dishes based on the same cuisine in a short time period, for me, because it means I can get through more of the bag of lime leaves or chilies, bundle of lemongrass, and bunch of coriander before they go off. We paid a visit to my favourite Thai grocery store, Manphong, down in Chinatown on Sunday afternoon (with a stop down the block for superlative banh mi for lunch) and stocked up on aromatics and jasmine rice, as well as one impulse purchase - a bag of the most adorable green baby globe eggplants I've ever seen. They begged me to buy them. I'll put them in a curry or something.

So last night we began with something pretty simple - stir fried pineapple with ginger and red chilies, to put on top of some lovely haddock fillets. It had been ages since we'd had haddock and I forgot how awesome it is, but it falls apart at the drop of a hat once cooked. So my plating was a little messy. The pineapple came together quickly and easily and was marvelous with the mild white fish, but that one small red chili was more than we bargained for in the heat department, for sure. I took the seeds out and everything, but it was wicked spicy even so. The coconut-lemongrass rice I made to go with the fish helped cool our mouths, and we rounded out the plate with homegrown kale straight from the backyard garden, simply wilted down with a little garlic.

Everything was yummy and bright-tasting; the flavours complemented one another well and though it took a lot of pots and pans, it didn't take long - I panfried the fish in a spray of canola oil which was simple and quick, but you could bake it too.

Coming up in thai cooking this week: pork and pineapple coconut curry, sweet and sour tofu and vegetables, and a Friday night Asian fun food evening: fish cakes and corn fritters with sweet chili dipping sauce and cucumber relish. Can't wait.

Stir-fried pineapple and ginger

1 tbsp canola oil
1/2 small sweet onion or 2 shallots, finely chopped
1 clove garlic, minced
1 whole pineapple, peeled, cored and diced
2" piece of ginger, peeled and grated
1 red chili, seeded and minced
juice of 1/2 lime
2 tbsp soy sauce

In a frying pan heat the oil over medium heat; cook the onion and garlic 2 minutes or until golden; take care not to burn garlic. Increase heat to medium-high, add the pineapple and stir-fry 4 minutes or until beginning to brown at edges. Add ginger, chili, lime juice and soy sauce to pan; cook 2 minutes, stirring well to incorporate. Serve warm over fish or chicken.

Best frittata EVER

2008-07-17T15:21:00.001-04:00

Two nights ago we were running late. I wanted to go to an early aquafit class, which begins at 7:30 p.m., but it was 5:30 and we were still stuck in traffic and the planned risotto was not going to happen in a short enough time period for me to make it to class. So we started brainstorming, and I remembered that although all of our meat and fish was frozen, we had plenty of eggs. And a booming kale plant. "Frittata," I announced, "is what will save our evening."

And it did. This was seriously the yummiest combination possible. Chris cut me four huge kale leaves which I ripped up, removing the stems and ribs, and blanched for seven minutes in boiling water, then squeezed them dry and chopped them even smaller. Meanwhile, I sauteed half a sweet onion sliced into ribbons, and two sliced portobello mushroom caps. INto the pan went five eggs beaten with some salt and pepper. I let that cook for a few minutes then tossed in the veggies (onions first, then kale, then mushrooms) and dusted the whole thing generously with freshly grated parmesan. Under the broiler for three minutes on high, while I finished sauteeing the chunks of potato I had parboiled while the kale was cooking. A few minutes in a hot pan with a spritz of oil gave them a nice crust and a little browning. Onto the plate! I cut the frittata in half, shared out the potatoes, chucked the ketchup bottle on the table and called it dinner.

The meatiness of the portobellos cannot be overstated.These things tasted like steak. The cheese was the real magic ingredient though - it pulled all the flavours together and elevated them to delicious new heights. I think we enjoyed this frittata far more than we would have the risotto, honestly. Try it yourself and see! (You can substitute spinach if you aren't lucky enough to be growing a kale plant in your yard. But I recommend it.)

Sushi in Toronto

2008-07-17T15:00:00.004-04:00

Two weeks ago we spent the weekend in Toronto in order to spend some time with Chris's granny as well as his aunt K (who stayed with us last summer) as she was visiting from Texas. She wasn't going to make it to Ottawa on this trip, so we went to her instead and spent a lovely afternoon wandering around the Beaches neighbourhood. I had never been there, and found it quite remarkable that Toronto has such a lengthy and well-kept beach that I somehow never knew about. The stretch of Queen St. E that runs through the area is loaded with shops and restaurants, but somehow we didn't end up eating lunch until 3 p.m (too much time spent walking on the sand, wading in the shallows, picking up smooth lake stones and checking out a bizarre costumed beach volleyball tourney). In the end, we wound up at Akida, a Japanese place not too far east of Woodbine, where we had a light meal. I ordered their lunch sashimi special which was sort of chirashi - the fish wasn't on top of the rice, though, but accompanied by a small bowl of (hot) rice. I prefer mine cool and sushi-style beneath my fish, but this was fine. The presentations were so lovely I made Chris take photos before we ate them. Here's my sashimi selection:

And here are Chris's sushi rolls:

It was some of the tastiest fish I've had in quite some time, and I even liked all the chef's selections (you don't get to choose). I have no idea what the little red and white fin-shaped ones were, but they were delicious. Actually, I'm not sure what the white fish was either, but I've had it before and I like it a lot. The yellowtail was to die for, and it's unusual to see in a chirashi meal. Maybe the Beaches is just swanky enough that the locals expect it?

We also had several lovely meals with our friends J and C, who kindly put us up and took us to the St. Lawrence Market with them on Saturday morning, where we got the best tea biscuit ever and yummy cookies for later, as well as thick-cut bacon for Sunday brunch that has ruined me for store-bought bacon forever. J made pancakes to go with it and she even left the blueberries out of mine. On Saturday night we all went to an Italian place on Yonge called Il Fornello that I believe is part of a chain, but it was very good indeed. I had a seriously fresh and lovely pasta primavera with grilled chicken and crisp veggies; Chris had some sort of penne dish with veggies and a lemon-garlic-olive oil dressing which he liked very much. We had planned to visit an establishment known as the Real Jerk (Caribbean food) but I was feeling a bit heat-sick from the long day, so we'll do that next time.

Summer supper

2008-07-17T14:31:00.001-04:00

Last week I was feeling burnt out on cooking, but also fed up with restaurant food (we'd been away for the weekend in Toronto and had eaten out a few times). So I came up with a very simple salad that would also make leftovers for lunches later that week, something I was less successful at doing this week. I need to plan that better. In any event, I asked Chris to grill up some chicken breasts and then when I got home I threw together the pasta and veggies and made a simple dressing. Next time I'll use a bottled Greek dressing or roast some garlic to squeeze into mine, because I thought this needed more depth of flavour, but I didn't want to use raw garlic, as neither of us likes it. Still, we both enjoyed this, and it's gorgeous to look at with all the colours and different shapes. It keeps fairly well in the fridge for a few days too, though I do recommend letting it come to room temp before eating it and tossing the tomatoes in right before you eat it, otherwise they go tasteless.

Greek Pasta Salad '08

2 chicken breasts, grilled, meat cut into chunks (we used bone-in, skin-on and rubbed some herbs and olive oil under the skin before grilling)
4-6 cups cooked whole wheat penne or other short pasta
1 english cucumber, seeded and cut into chunks
1 red bell pepper, seeded and cut into chunks
1/2 yellow bell pepper, seeded and cut into chunks
2 tomatoes, seeded and chopped, or 1/2 container grape tomatoes, halved
crumbled feta cheese
sliced black olives

Greek dressing or 2 tbsp olive oil, 3 tbsp lemon juice, dried or fresh oregano, salt and pepper to taste

Combine all ingredients and toss with dressing in a large bowl. Serves 4 as a meal or 6 as a side dish.

Friday night Indian food

2008-07-17T14:01:00.000-04:00

This will be the first in a series of catch-up posts; I cleaned off the digital camera today and found all kinds of photos of food I haven't had time to blog about here yet, so here we go. Last month, Chris and I were craving Indian food but we didn't want to go out to eat, as we'd done so quite a few times already that month, so we decided to cook it for ourselves instead. It wasn't an entirely made-from-scratch meal; we used the President's Choice butter chicken sauce, and bought some naan at the local Indian grocery to have with dinner. However, I did make the saag paneer from scratch, and it ended up being my favourite part of the meal. A poetic friend from Buffalo sent me a recipe for it months ago and I had never gotten around to trying it out, despite the fact that it's my favourite Indian dish. It was long past time.

It was an amazing meal. The butter chicken sauce is an easy and pretty darned tasty shortcut (we got the regular kind this time, not the Blue Menu, and as expected, the regular one tastes much better and is far worse for your waistline) and the naan, warmed gently in the oven, was the perfect carby foil for the spicy and rich stews. We'll be making this meal again and again in cooler weather. The colours were gorgeous, too. I first had saag paneer at my friend D's wedding last year and I'm totally hooked on it now. It's fun to be able to make it at home!

Saag means greens, but you'll sometime see this referred to as palak paneer (spinach and cheese) as well. We did use spinach but I can totally see adding kale to it next time for fun. This recipe comes from Madhur Jaffrey's World Vegetarian. I made a half batch, using a block of paneer from the Indian grocery. It's a firm white cheese, very mild, that has a high melting point, so you can fry it without it losing its shape. I like to puree the spinach with a little water before cooking, for a smoother texture.

Saag paneer

1 inch cube of fresh ginger, peeled and coarsely chopped
3 cloves garlic, peeled
1 fresh hot chile, sliced roughly (I used a green one), seeds removed
Paneer, cut into chunks
salt
¼ tsp garam masala
1/8 tsp cayenne pepper
3 Tbs vegetable oil
1 ½ pounds spinach, washed, trimmed, and very finely chopped (I used frozen chopped spinach, thawed)
3 Tbs heavy cream (optional, we used light sour cream and it was fine)

Put ginger, garlic and green chili into the container of an electric blender or food processor along with ¼ cup water. Blend until you have a smooth paste.

Heat the oil in a large, non-stick saute pan over medium flame. Put in the pieces of paneer and fry them, turning gently as they go golden brown on all sides. (This happens fairly quickly.) Remove from pan and place on plate in a single layer. Sprinkle with a bit of salt, the garam masala and cayenne. Set aside.

Put the paste from the blender into the hot oil in the pan (keep your face averted) and fry it, stirring constantly, for about 30 seconds. Now put in the spinach and ½ teaspoon salt. Stir thespinach around for 1 minute. Cover the pan, lower the heat and let the spinach cook gently with the ginger-garlic paste for 15 minutes. There should be enough water clinging to the spinach leaves to cook them. If all the water evaporates, add 1 to 2 tablespoons (or more as needed) and continue cooking.

Now put in the paneer and cream, stir gently, and bring to a simmer. Cover, and continue cooking on low heat for another ten minures. Stir once or twice during this period. Serve hot. Makes about 4 servings, as part of an Indian meal.

Disappointing Italian

2008-07-15T13:51:00.000-04:00

I know I’ve been very quiet these days. There’s been a lot going on at TDL HQ, so please forgive the long silence and rest assured there are new and tasty dishes on the way. I did make something yummy last night, but not only was it compiled partially of (gasp) pre-made ingredients, it was so good and we were so hungry that we never took photos of it. I did have the leftovers for lunch today but didn’t photograph those either. Bad blogger, no cookie for me. So here, to tide you over, is a brief review of Friday night’s dinner out with our friend L and her new boyfriend B.

L had asked me to choose a restaurant, and I wanted to try out the new, much-hyped DiVino wine bar on Preston Street (for those non-Ottawan readers, Preston is Ottawa’s Italian district) but we were thwarted by the one big group taking up all the table space in this tiny place. They won’t take reservations for groups of fewer than six, but they apparently have no problem rendering walk-ins completely inaccessible for an entire evening. Ah well. Won’t be making that mistake again.

By this time, however, we were all quite hungry, so we walked down the street and B suggested trying to get a table at Trattoria Caffe Italia, a venerable institution on Preston that does Italian classics. It was the site of my sister’s rehearsal dinner last fall and I remember having a great meal, so I readily agreed, and luckily for us there was virtually no wait for a table.

Sadly, the meal disappointed, at least for L and I. We all shared a plate of calamari (traditionally fried and served with seafood sauce – tasty, but the pieces were small and the batter was a little greasy) and an antipasto plate (meager, for the price, I thought) and then moved onto mains. L had the lasagna al forno (“in the oven”, which, really, you don’t say?) which arrived as a big messy pile of cheese, pasta and meat sauce on a plate. Despite its appearance, it might have been tasty, but L was underwhelmed.

I felt much the same about my veal Marsala – the meat was beautifully tender, but over-floured and insufficiently sautéed, so the slices felt gummy on the tongue. The sauce was flat-tasting, with nothing to enliven the taste of the wine, and some of the mushrooms were nearly raw. Points to the side salad, though, which was bouncy and crisp (and I was glad to have that option, rather than pasta or rice).

The boys were far more pleased with their choices – Chris loved his veal parmesan with spaghetti Bolognese on the side, and B seemed appreciative of his pesto-sauced linguini with grilled jumbo shrimp. We all shared a very nice bottle of affordable Valpolicella ripasso, and had fun goggling at the prices of the high-end wines. The restaurant does have a very impressive wine list, but it would be more impressive if more of the classic dishes lived up to expectations. It’s not like L and I ordered bizarre or complicated entrees – if an Italian joint can’t do a good lasagna and a good veal Marsala, there are issues in the kitchen.

Service was sparse and hurried, but friendly. We declined coffee and dessert. I don’t think I’ll be going back for a while – there are so many other Italian restaurants on that strip, and I’m sure some of them can do better with my favourite veal dish.

Perfect summer supper

2008-06-29T22:49:00.001-04:00

We had such a nice evening last night with some friends who are visiting Ottawa from Helsinki, where they live. Neither of them is Finnish; he's a Canadian who's working on his Ph.D at their music academy; she's an Estonian kantele player. They're in town visiting his parents; we hadn't seen them for several years and we all just had a blast hanging out. We really wish they lived closer, but with any luck we'll get over to Finland sometime soon to visit them.

One of the things I love about cooking in the summertime is the sheer abundance of things that can be grilled. The other is how casual entertaining becomes when it's warm out. For appetizers I just put out some cheeses (aged cheddar and Ermite bleu), olives, and nuts, which we snacked on while enjoying a delicious New Zealand pinot gris that our guests brought.

We had moved onto an Angel's Gate rosé from Niagara by the time I remembered the merguez sausages I'd bought for Chris to grill and slice up as finger foods, so we did that and ate them standing in the kitchen while I put together an insalate caprese for starters and a soba noodle salad to go with the marinated flank steak. I love it when guests hang in the kitchen with me, because it means they feel completely at home. Also, I like the company!

That noodle salad turned into the big hit of the evening - everyone wanted seconds and it was all devoured, along with all the gorgeously grilled steak done in my standard Asian marinade: soy sauce, ginger, garlic, lime juice and a little brown sugar. It could have marinated longer, but it was perfectly grilled by Chris and enjoyed by all. A side of snappy green beans tossed in a little sea salt and toasted sesame oil rounded out the plate, and somehow I managed to cook the beans to perfection without giving them my full attention (I was busy slicing the steak).

We drank the Oregon pinot noir that I was gifted last weekend in Portland with our main course, and I have to say that I was very pleasantly surprised. I tried that particular wine at the winery and it tasted over-oaked and thin to me, but in hindsight I felt that the wine was too warm, which can be death to delicate reds. This was fruity and pleasantly medium-bodied but also complex and weighty enough to stand up to a lot of strong flavours in the meal.

After some sitting and chilling out and digesting, we ended the meal with bowls full of freshly picked strawberries from the U-pick farm five minutes from our house (I think we might have to go back and pick some more tomorrow, that's how delicious they were) with lightly sweetened whipped cream and a square of 70% Lindt chocolate. Strawberries and cream completely epitomize summer to me; there's no better way to end a meal in June or early July.

It's hard to know whether the food tasted so good because we were having such a great time, or vice versa, but it was a fantastic meal and one I'd make again for company. Simple, but full of bright flavours and interesting textures; easy, but not lazy. I wish all my entertaining could feel that effortless.

Chilled Soba Noodle Salad

1/2 of a 250-gram package of Japanese soba (buckwheat) noodles
1/2 an English cucumber, pulp removed
2 small carrots, peeled
2 green onions, sliced
4 large basil leaves or 1/8 cup coriander leaves, chopped

Dressing:
1 tbsp toasted sesame oil
3 tbsp seasoned rice wine vinegar
3 tbsp sweet chili sauce
2 tbsp fish sauce

Cook soba noodles 5-6 minutes in boiling water; drain and run under cold water and set aside.

Using a mandoline, julienne the cucumber and carrots. Place in a large serving bowl with the noodles, onions and chopped herbs. In a small bowl, whisk the dressing ingredients together, Pour over the noodles and vegetables; toss well to coat. Refrigerate one hour; toss again before serving. Serves 4-6 as a side dish.

The Portland Report

2008-06-27T12:39:00.001-04:00

Last weekend I got sent to Portland, Oregon for a work trip. That said, it was one of those trips where a well-to-do company treats its valued customers like gold for a couple of days and then tells them about new product innovations and picks their brains to find out what other directions they should be looking in for other developments. All this to say there was really only one day of work involved; the rest was dinners, receptions, and some sightseeing. As far as work trips go, I think I might be spoiled forever.

Portland has a reputation for being a local food town, but because most of my meals were paid for and scheduled by the company, I didn’t really get to choose where I ate most of the time. Not that we were badly fed; quite the opposite. It’s just that I don’t think I really sampled much local flavor, but that’s all right; it’s a lovely city and one that I think I’ll be returning to in future, Chris in tow, to check out more of the sights and do some serious locavoring.

Here, then, with caveats, is a report of what I ate, and where. I travelled with two members of the association I work for, and both of them were lovely people: a woman in her fifties and a man who’s a year younger than me. We were all pretty wrecked by the time we got to the Marriott in Portland, as we’d been awake since 5 a.m. and had to change planes in Chicago. I don’t like flying, so my adrenaline rush had just worn off and I was shaky and sweaty; none of us had eaten much that day. We checked in and agreed to meet downstairs in an hour to go forage for something to eat.

The concierge proved to be a valuable resource; we wanted to walk, and we wanted someplace where we could just get a light meal and a drink. Fortunately, our hotel faced the Willamette River, and there was a nearby boardwalk with several restaurants. She suggested that we check out the happy hour at the Marina Fish House, a hexagonal “floating” restaurant just off the boardwalk. You walk out to it on a wooden pier, and from the upstairs patio, there’s an amazing view of the water, the bridge, and all the boats going by.

The food wasn’t gourmet by any stretch, but there was an excellent selection of bar snacks at great prices – crab and seafood cakes for $2.95, for example, or oysters on the half shell at $1.50 apiece. Us girls ordered cosmopolitans, our companion had a couple of bloody marys, and we snacked happily for an hour or two in what had turned into brilliantly hot and sunny weather. In fact, I got a little sunburn on my shoulders. Yes, in the Pacific Northwest, I got my first sunburn of the year. Who knew?

In any event, it was a great place to spend an afternoon, and we all felt much refreshed afterwards. We went back to the hotel to freshen up before the evening’s welcome reception at the hotel, where I drank some very nice Oregon pinot noir (Duck Pond, I believe the label was) and we availed ourselves of some heavy appetizers (sliders, spring rolls etc. – nothing exciting). By 8 p.m. (11 p.m. for our body clocks) we were all exhausted and headed back to our rooms for some peace and quiet.

Despite being exhausted, I slept horribly and woke up very early. I hate jet lag. I was glad I’d ordered a light breakfast of fruit, yogurt and granola from room service – first time in eons that I’d had room service, and it was very nice. I even took a photo of it. Out I went to check out the Japanese and Rose gardens, which were lovely. I stayed a little too long, though, and by the time I got back into the downtown bit of the city, I was starving and had no idea where to eat lunch. I thought about taking the streetcar up to the Pearl District, but it was Sunday and I feared a lot of places would be shut. Fortunately, my little guidebook listed a Thai restaurant on a street I was near, so I headed for it and had some very tasty tom yum goong (chicken lemongrass and coconut soup) at the Hotel Lucia branch of Typhoon. It’s a small classy restaurant and it was pretty quiet on Sunday afternoon, so I was served quickly, if absentmindedly. I had a lovely iced glass of mango juice and decided to follow the guidebook’s suggestion and begin with what the author described as an indispensable dish, Miang Kum. The menu calls it a “rare Thai peasant dish. Wrap a pinch of toasted coconut, shallot, ginger, lime, peanut, dried shrimp and Thai chili in a spinach leaf with Bo's signature sauce, then pop in your mouth to burst in a medley of flavors.”

I disagreed, significantly. The plate arrived with a stack of very fresh spinach leaves, alongside a ramekin of sticky sweet brown sauce (tamarind, I think) and very small piles of the other ingredients. The Thai chilis were sliced but not seeded, and one was all it took to convince me that they were a bad idea. The limes were chopped up with the rind still on, and the dried shrimp were microscopic. I made a valiant effort to eat it all, and managed most of it, but it wasn’t my idea of fun. I would have vastly preferred salad rolls, but I’ll know for next time.

The soup was delicious, though there was far too much of it. When they say large, they mean it – this was almost a tureen. I ate 2/3 of it and it lasted me until dinner, five hours later. If you’ve never had tom yum goong, it’s a lemongrass and chili infused coconut milk broth with slices of white chicken and chunks of fresh mushrooms, finished with a garnish of green onion and coriander leaf. The only one I’ve had that was better is the one at Baan Thai in Centrepointe, here in Ottawa.

Dinner that night, post-shopping, was with the whole group (about 40 of us) at the Portland City Grill, a restaurant that sits atop a 30-storey office tower, with panoramic views on all sides. It was a brilliant sunny evening, and the city looked utterly stunning. We arrived to find a platter of sushi rolls, salad rolls, skewered shrimp and ahi poke (marinated raw tuna) at the centre of each table, which was delightful, especially the tuna (I really have to try making that). Then there was a lovely mixed green salad with mango vinaigrette, followed by a surf-and-turf plate consisting of a small steak (cooked medium, which was overcooked for my liking, but surprisingly tender) and a chunk of broiled monkfish, on a pile of delicious mashed potatoes with two huge asparagus spears, a wedge of roasted golden beet, and a few grilled peppers. Not bad, for group food. Dessert was vanilla crème brulée, well-executed except for the peculiar dollop of whipped cream in top, which I ate first. The fresh raspberry was nice, though.

Unlimited Oregon pinot noir flowed throughout the meal, which was wonderful, and they even had decent decaf to finish the meal. The view made the whole thing sing, though – what a gorgeous place, with the views of the wide river and the green-topped West Hills on either side.

The following day was the “working” day, and they served us breakfast in the Presidential Suite at the hotel and lunch on-site at their HQ in Salem; nothing to write home about. Dinner, however, was quite the production, as it was on a riverboat cruise down the Willamette. Drinks were served on the upper bar deck, along with olives, cheese and charcuterie. The hardworking bartender was shaking up pink drinks as fast as he could, poor guy. (They were yummy, too.) Downstairs, dinner was served at tables with views out the huge windows of mansions built on the banks of the river on both sides. After simple green salads, we were offered a choice of either steak or salmon and since I’d had the steak the night before, I went with the fish. It was nicely cooked, and generously sized, with an herb-infused coconut milk sauce and some uninspired rice and veggies alongside. The steak was delish, as I learned thanks to my co-traveler’s offer of a taste, and came with a gorgonzola butter sauce and potatoes. Desserts were out of a bakery box, but decent: a choice between key lime pie (could have been tarter and more fluid, but tasty) and New York cheesecake. Quite a reasonable meal for shipboard fare, I must say, though not groundbreaking.

It was also the last full meal we had until the following night, sadly. Due to some flight delays, I had time to grab breakfast at the hotel, but that was it until we got to Dulles airport in D.C. and found a decent restaurant to have a sit-down dinner. If you’re ever stuck in Dulles, I recommend Harry’s in the B concourse – great turkey burger and coleslaw, which hit the spot nicely alongside a glass of shiraz.

All that said, I nearly cried into my plate the following night when, back at home, Chris grilled up some simple pork chops and peppers, alongside potatoes and onions cooked in a tinfoil packet. I was craving simple food after a weekend of few choices, rich sauces and desserts, and an unfamiliar bed. It’s nice to travel, but it is so wonderful to come home.

Niçoise redux

2008-06-19T11:32:00.002-04:00

This is not the really awesome photo of the Niçoise salad I made a few weeks ago. That photo somehow disappeared off our camera, and I am sad about it, because it was utterly gorgeous. This photo's not bad, but the fact is that the salad itself isn't as pretty this time around. It was, however, just as tasty, and a fantastic hot-weather meal. Not that we've been having much hot weather lately - I'm considering growing webbed feet to deal with all this rain! Hopefully, this salad will brighten your day, and you can put it in your "make this when we need a cool, comforting, quick meal" file. It's simple, inexpensive and flavourful, and the great thing is that it's so adaptable. (I always leave the olives out of Chris's because for some odd reason he hates them.)

Ali's Quick Niçoise Salad
serves two

1 can water-packed tuna, drained
4 cups fresh green beans, trimmed
8-10 baby potatoes, scrubbed
2 hard-boiled eggs, peeled and quartered
1 pint grape tomatoes, washed and halved
20 Niçoise or Kalamata olives, pitted and halved

Dressing:
1-2 bunches basil, chopped coarsely
1/4 cup olive oil
1 tbsp Dijon mustard
4 tbsp apple cider vinegar
salt and pepper

Combine all dressing ingredients in blender or food processor and blend until smooth. Add more oil or vinegar to adjust for your taste. Set aside.

Boil the potatoes until tender but not mushy; drain and cool.
Steam the green beans lightly until tender-crisp. Drain and rinse with cold water.

To assemble salads, place half of each of the ingredients on plates in groupings, or toss together if you prefer. Drizzle liberally with dressing. Devour.

Eating Stratford

2008-06-11T10:14:00.000-04:00

I spent last weekend in Stratford, Ontario with my best friend P. We try to do this trip once a year – it doesn’t always work out that way; we skipped last year – and when we go, it’s for three reasons: Shakespeare, shopping, and really good food.

Most people know Stratford for the Shakespeare festival that shares its name, and for good reason: the calibre of theatre produced there is world-class. We usually see two plays, because that’s all we have time and money for. This year those plays were Romeo and Juliet (matinee) and Hamlet (evening). Both were excellent, but Ben Carlson as Hamlet totally blew our minds. Not only is he a wonderful actor, but he’s not hard to look at. We also went on the backstage and costume warehouse tours; both were informative, fun and insightful.

In between plays and tours, we ate. The owner of the bed and breakfast we stay at is a fantastic cook, evidenced by her beyond-buttery, flaky scones (that sadly we had to eat in the cab, on the way to the tours, this year) and enormous, yet light-as-air cinnamon rolls. She also does a fruit dish before the baked goods; both days involved homemade vanilla yogurt, once with supreme orange segments and once with mixed fresh berries. It’s a fantastic way to fortify for a long day of walking and watching theatre.

Lunch on Saturday was a quick affair, pre-matinee, at a new place to us: Tango Coffee Bistro. It’s the restaurant of the Mercer Hall Inn, and is a diner-type place with lots of red and yellow: bright and cheerful, but not overly formal, with burgers and dogs, fish and chips on the menu. P did in fact have a burger, which she enjoyed, while I went with the Texas Garden salad: grilled flatiron steak strips, grilled onions and mushrooms, and crumbled stilton over mixed greens. I chose balsamic vinaigrette to top it and was pleased with the choice. The steak was cool, but still pink in the middle and tender; the cheese was perhaps a tiny bit too strong for this application (Cashel or Danish blue might have worked better) but the overall result was quite tasty and filling. It kept us going until supper, which was the important thing.

Dinner was also pre-theatre, though we dawdled a bit too long and ended up having to power-walk to the theatre in sandals (can you say blisters?). Bentley’s on Ontario Street (the main drag) is one of our standbys. We both had something different from the menu this year: P ordered a steak, since the prime rib special was not on that day, while I swapped my usual grilled shrimp and chicken salad for the hoisin-glazed Atlantic salmon over jasmine rice. Both came with frozen steamed veggies, which did not impress either of us, but the rest of the food was lovely. Because Bentley’s doesn’t specialize in fish, I predicted my salmon would be overcooked, but it was done to perfection, still moist and melting inside under a not-too-heavy glaze of sweet-salty hoisin. The portion size was perfect – generous without being huge – and the rice beneath was fluffy, firm, and not at all sticky, with a buttery finish.

P encouraged me to have dessert – she can’t, as she’s allergic to nuts – and I decided to try the sticky toffee pudding, a dish I’ve heard about for years and never sampled. It wasn’t at all what I expected – two thin, triangular slices of spicy, molasses-dark steamed pudding, drizzled with butterscotch sauce and accompanied by a scoop of (lackluster) vanilla ice cream. The cake had a smoky, burnt-sugar flavor that was fantastic, and the texture was spongy and light. I was too full to finish, but it was delish. The ice cream is unacceptable though, in a day and age when even Breyer’s from the grocery store has bits of real vanilla bean in it. Small touches – like the frozen veggies, ugh - are important. Still, it was a yummy and satisfying supper that speeded us on the road to Hamlet *sigh*.

Sunday was a slower day, once the tours were done with. We tried out a new place called Foster’s Inn – the third restaurant in a row to be attached to a small hotel – and were delighted with it. High ceilings, comfortable chairs, red velvet banquettes with throw pillows, Moroccan-style cathedral mirrors and friendly black-clad waitresses make it a welcoming and homey, yet sophisticated room. The menu speaks of upscale comfort food – smoked salmon eggs Benedict; crab cakes with arugula salad – without veering into pretention. P had what she described, repeatedly, as the best steak sandwich ever – given that “Great steaks” is painted on the front windows, it’s a good thing, too. The slices of tender beef and mushrooms came on a fresh, chewy ciabatta bun, with superior fries on the side.

For my part, I couldn’t resist the daily soup, a puree of sweet potato and parsnip, even though it’s definitely a winter soup and it was hotter and muggier than hell outside. The soup was gorgeous to look upon and perfectly balanced between sweet and savoury. Thick, not too creamy, not at all grainy – very tasty, though the “grilled bread” was a bit too charred for my liking. I followed the soup with a Cobb salad of reasonable, not gargantuan proportions, to my relief. A restrained tangle of greens, very lightly dressed, was topped with crumbled blue cheese (yes, again), diced avocado, grape tomatoes, grilled sliced chicken breast, and two slices of the best bacon I’ve ever eaten. All of the ingredients were fresh and the combination was a winner. It was enough food to leave me satisfied but not stuffed, something I appreciate at a fine-dining establishment. We left very, very happy and spent the remainder of our afternoon browsing Stratford’s many stores.

We saved the best for last, of course, returning to the very first place we ever had dinner in Stratford. Pazzo has the distinction of being two restaurants in one. The main floor’s Ristorante (at which we have never eaten) does the traditional primi, secondi, pasta, dessert thing. The lower-level Pizzeria specializes in thin-crust, wood-fired pizzas, and it is there that we keep returning every time we visit Stratford. We had a lovely booth and a friendly and offbeat waiter who promptly delivered our litre of house red wine (a Montepulciano d’Abruzzo which was excellent with pizza but a bit thin and acidic on its own) and a tiny plate of olive oil and balsamic with excellent bread for dipping.

We both ordered the spinach, tomato and asiago salad with a warm pancetta dressing, as usual, and it was very, very good, also as usual: the freshness of the baby spinach leaves cannot be overstated here, and the thin slivers of pancetta were flavourful without being flabby or too crisp. We followed up with build-your-own pizzas, the creation of which takes us a fair amount of time, negotiation and self-denial. (“No, I will not add another ingredient.” “No, I cannot have two kinds of meat.” And so forth.)

I think Paulette went with chicken, feta, grilled red onion and hot peppers – it disappeared fairly quickly. Mine was a thing of beauty, and I ate it as slowly as I could manage: whole-wheat crust topped with roasted chicken, strips of sun-dried tomato, kalamata olives and fontina cheese. I based it on a pizza I order at Wooden Heads in Kingston, and it lived up to all my expectations (though I do think adding the grilled onions would have taken it from amazing to sublime, but there’s always next year).

Dessert, as always, was out of the question. A shame, too, because the waited walked past me carrying what looked like an exceedingly tasty slice of chocolate cake – but the pizza and salad were so good, I didn’t care that much. I did have a very, very yummy decaf latte, though.

Thus ended our culinary adventures in Stratford. The way home via Toronto was paved with fast food and snacks on the train, but the memory of a weekend’s worth of great meals carried us through.

L’échelle de Jacob – a hidden French gem in old Aylmer

2008-06-03T11:12:00.000-04:00

Sunday was my parents’ 34th wedding anniversary. (Go Mom and Dad!) To mark the occasion, they asked if my sister and I and our respective spouses would join them for dinner at one of their favourite old haunts, a place they hadn’t returned to in many years – L’échelle de Jacob, across the river in the Aylmer sector of Gatineau. They had always loved the dressy-casual French food and homey décor, but somehow had never gotten around to bringing their daughters there. We happily acquiesced, and turned up Sunday night slightly overdressed but happy to have an occasion to wear dresses and nice shoes.

The restaurant is in an old stone building, tucked behind what used to be the Hull streetcar garage. It occupies the second floor and is a low-lit room dominated by dark wood tables and chairs, with a small bar at the front and a fireplace in the corner. We were one of two occupied tables that night, which was fine with us. We all enjoyed an aperitif before our menus were presented – Chris and I went with Dubonnet on ice as usual, while the rest splurged on kir royales (each arrived with its own individual Lilliputian bottles of Henckel Trocken).

The four-course table d’hôte menu (which is the only menu; no à la carte here) changes seasonally – it’s still in spring mode, but I assume it will switch over to summer in the coming weeks. We were apprised of the day’s two soups: Provençal-style fish soup with crouton and rouille (red pepper and garlic paste) or crème de verdures (cream of green vegetables). Interestingly, all the men went for the fish and all the women for the veggies. I traded bites with Chris and was certainly pleased by the taste of the fish soup, but I enjoyed my green potage just as much. I tasted peas and possibly broccoli or asparagus, and my sister guessed watercress. In any event, it was smooth and not too rich, and the serving size was perfect with a hot buttered roll.

It took all of us forever to decide on appetizers and mains, but eventually we managed it. Mom and I started with a tiny goat cheese soufflé, which was hot and fluffy and nicely browned on the outside with a smooth, sharp but not harsh-tasting cheese interior. Chris tried a charlotte of field and forest mushrooms, which ended up being something like a warm mushroom bread pudding of superlative flavor and texture. When he offered me a bite he said “you’re going to wish you’d ordered this” and he was right. The remainder of the table went with a crab cake, which was spicy and delicious.

For mains, Chris and my mother both went for the duck leg confit with apricot sauce, and once I tasted it I kind of wished I had, too, but I have this thing about not ordering the same thing as Chris. The problem is that he always orders the thing I really want! It was cooked perfectly, moist shards of meat falling away from the bone in a sweet-tart sauce, accompanied by two small triangles of fluffy cheddar polenta that was so light and un-gritty that even Chris liked it, and a trio of vegetables – four fiddleheads, three baby carrots (ugh) and a stalk of cauliflower.

My sister and I both ordered the pork in vanilla and white wine sauce, which turned up on the plate as moist slices of beautifully roasted tenderloin in a sauce that was tasty and interesting, if not something I’d order every day, alongside a piped puff of mashed potato and the same three veggies. My brother-in-law went with the coquilles St-Jacques, seafood in a saffron cream sauce, which was very tasty if the chunk of sea scallop I tried was any indication. Dad ordered the rack of lamb – a no-brainer, as whenever it’s on the menu, Dad will order it. Here, it was simply roasted without too much fanfare, but the meat was so good it needed nothing more.

With our apps and mains, we shared two bottles from Bordeaux – the first was a lighter, more acidic St-Estèphe with an apple-y top note that, for me, only balanced out once I paired it with my goat cheese soufflé. It was definitely a food wine. The second, a Cotes de Castillon (I think – my Dad did the ordering) was much heavier and oakier, very good with the meat dishes.

Dessert was classics all round: crème brulée for Dad, top-notch profiteroles with vanilla ice cream and dark chocolate sauce for myself and my brother-in-law, and the house specialty for the rest: le rêve de Jacob, a slice of warm bread pudding studded with white and dark chocolate, in a crème Anglaise sauce. It was truly a dream. Tisanes and good decaf sent us home warm and happy despite the evening’s rain.

Service, by the owner, a delightful man of Algerian and French extraction, was superb, well-paced and friendly. He answered all of our myriad questions and chatted amiably when engaged. His wife cooks, and does it beautifully. It was a relaxing and truly enjoyable way to spend a Sunday evening.

The Foolish Chicken

2008-05-27T11:17:00.001-04:00

Foolish, maybe. Tasty, definitely. That’s how I’d sum up our dinner at Holland Avenue’s newest eatery, the Foolish Chicken, last Saturday night. It was a last-minute selection for that night’s dinner; plans with friends for all-you-can-eat sushi fell through around 4:30 p.m. and we found ourselves at loose ends. Fortunately for us, my friend P called shortly thereafter with the news that her husband was working until late and she was bored. Joining us for dinner sounded like just the ticket. She has a fatal nut allergy, so her dining options are somewhat limited, and a lot of them are Mexican places, but as I’d had Mexican the previous night, we needed to find something else. I racked my brain and finally remembered the review I’d read some days prior of this new chicken and ribs joint in West Ottawa. A quick phone call revealed that not only did they have a table for three, but that P’s allergy could certainly be accommodated.

A quick change of clothes and off we went, picking up P on our way. We arrived about ten minutes early for our 6:30 reservation (keeners, or just hungry? You decide) and were seated immediately in the upstairs bar section, which is essentially two high-top tables with four blessedly high-backed chairs around them. The remainder of the room was full, it transpired, with a small wedding reception party of some sort. The downstairs was equally packed and the place was buzzing. Looks like that review did the restaurant some serious good – according to the gentleman who served us (who I believe to be one of the owners) they’ve hired five new staff this past week to deal with the increased business.

That said, the waitresses were new and completely overwhelmed, leaving us menu-less, cutlery-free and unwatered for a good ten minutes until said gentleman finally appeared to apologize and explain the situation. He immediately rectified the menu situation and returned promptly to take our order, which was easy. We all ordered essentially the same meal, a combo involving a quarter chicken and a quarter-rack of ribs. Chris and P ordered sweet potato fries, while I went with the house salad. Each plate comes with a ramekin of barbecue sauce for dipping, a baby cornmeal muffin and a scoop of slaw. There are three combo options, involving various amounts of chicken and ribs, or you can get them alone. They offer a few wraps, a burger and some meal-salads, as well as apps, but we stuck to the star attractions, and a good choice it was.

P and I asked for white meat, which ended up being an enormous breast, skin-on, including a moist wing, basted with a dark, spicy-sweet sauce. Three meaty ribs, less saucy but desperately moist and tender, sat alongside the bird. My salad was a generous mound of mixed greens, chopped cucumber and tomato, chunks of bottled roasted red pepper and slivers of red onion topped with excellent vinaigrette. The slaw was also delicious (next time, I’m ordering extra) and the muffin, delightful. So much so that I ate Chris’s and P’s, too. Hey, they were tiny, and I ordered salad. They each reported that the fries (which come with a spicy red curry mayo) were quite tasty. Chris’s chicken leg and thigh were equally generous of size and very tender.

P and I shared a half-litre of the house red, Kittling Ridge merlot, which was serviceable but a bit too warm for my liking; Chris had a half-pint of Sleeman honey brown. Somehow, he and I found room for dessert, mostly because we had heard such good things about the house-made sweets. The chalkboard outside advertised coconut rice pudding, and that proved an irresistible temptation for us both. Topped with toasted coconut and a poof of whipped cream, the rice pudding was rich, thick and sticky, and utterly fabulous.

We were all stuffed when we left, and for an unbelievably reasonable price: dinner for Chris and I, with dessert and a drink each, came to $61 with taxes and tip. The space is enjoyable, with gorgeous local art for sale on the walls, clean and zen-like bathrooms, and comfortable chairs. Plenty of street parking nearby, free after 5:30 p.m. In short: we’ll be going back (though we might give them a month or two to train those new waitresses and let the ruckus die down). We’re no fools – we know a good thing when we eat it.

Mother's Day Brunch '08

2008-05-11T22:38:00.000-04:00

For the past five years or so, my sister and I have done Mother's Day tea with my mom and my grandma. Some years we've gone to the Chateau Laurier hotel's restaurant, Zoe's, which does a gorgeous English afternoon tea with finger sandwiches and scones and such. Other years, we've hosted it ourselves and done all the cooking and baking. It's fun, but a huge amount of work, so this year we took the day off and took mom and grandma out for brunch for a change. We went to the Village Cafe in Westboro, where they do a fantastic, slightly funked-up but not too oddball brunch, and we had a great time. The weather was gorgeous so they had the big front window open, and the fresh air felt fabulous as we ate.

Mom treated herself to the cinnamon-raisin french toast stuffed with cream cheese, smothered in berry sauce and syrup. Grandma played it a little safer, going for the breakfast special with scrambled eggs, bacon (her real goal), roast potatoes and toast, and a latte (yes, we've hooked my 81-year-old grandmother on lattes, but at least she insisted on decaf). J ordered the benedict, as always, with smoked salmon added for extra sass. I branched out from my usual feta and veggie omelette - the BLT was too much for me to resist. TWO kinds of bacon (regular and maple peameal) plus roasted cherry tomatoes, sweet tomato jam, mixed greens, chevre and cheddar on multigrain. Oddly, it didn't come toasted, but that was OK with me - the bread on a toasted sandwich always scratches the roof of my mouth anyway. In any event, it was freaking amazing. I will be eating that again, for sure. All of our entrees came with a nice side of salad greens and fruit with a berry dressing. Everyone was happy and well-fed, and after we finished we took a stroll into some of the nearby shops, where I ended up buying a colourful striped mat for our front hall.

It was a great way to spend a warm sunny Mother's Day afternoon.

Smothered fishie

2008-05-11T21:58:00.003-04:00

Grilling season is well underway, but tonight was the first time in quite a while that we'd done fish on the BBQ. I picked up a rather sizeable, but thin filet of rainbow trout at the grocery store yesterday and did something new with it: I piled a whole bunch of chopped vegetables on top of it, drizzled it with a sort of marinade-type thing, and then let Chris grill it for 15 minutes. While he was doing that, I whipped up some mashed sweet potatoes with ginger and some steamed cauliflower, and then we devoured the poor fishie like there was no tomorrow. Because it was absolutely yummy. It's a recipe from Epicurious, a place I hadn't visited in a while, mainly because I've been working my way through Cooking Light's archives, but this was more than worth the click. I knew I wanted to cook some trout but I was bored with all of my usual preparations. This one's a keeper.

I couldn't get shiitake mushrooms so I used cremini (coffee) mushrooms, and it was just fine. I also added a squeeze of lime juice to the sesame-soy drizzle, for a citrus kick, and loved it. It looks pretty and tastes divine. I think this would make a spectacular company meal, with a big tossed salad before hand and a quick chocolate pudding cake for dessert. That cake is the easiest thing ever and man, is the payoff delicious. Trust us - we didn't even get a photo of it, it was that good.

Channa (Indian chickpea curry)

2008-05-11T21:53:00.002-04:00

Last month when we went to Boston, my friend D and I cooked together a couple of times, something we don't get to do nearly often enough, you know, because she lives in Boston and I live here. It's something we do well together - despite the smallness of her kitchen we coexisted harmoniously and drank cocktails while we worked, me chopping onions or peppers and her stirring, or putting spice mixes together; me with my hands in a bowlful of apple crisp topping (I swear it's the very best way to mix it) or toasting pecans (and forgetting them, oops) and concocting vinaigrette in a coffee mug. It was relaxing and easy and pretty much blissful.

This chickpea curry is something she made for me a million years ago, the first summer she stayed in Ottawa instead of going off home or working in Toronto. During the school year, she lived in residence halls with no kitchen, so we always cooked at my house. This time, it was her kitchen and her rules, and she whipped up this curry for Chris and I and our friends K and N one night like it was something she'd been doing since childhood. I'd rarely seen D cook, so it was new to me, and delicious to boot! So when we needed a protein dish to accompany the tamarind rice she made for us last month, I requested this, and she was happy to oblige me.

Hers was better than mine, honestly - I followed the recipe closely, though I did have to fake the garam masala a little since I was out (I just threw in a pinch each of cinnamon, cloves and nutmeg) - but hers had that feel of something she really knew well and adjusted without even thinking, to suit her tastes. I'll get there, eventually, but it was still quite edible and yummy. I think, mostly, what was missing was D and her husband. Food eaten with good friends simply tastes better. So if you try this recipe, eat it with people you love. That might help.

Bonus recipe: cucumber raita, to tame the heat of the curry if you go full-force on the chili powder and put in the extra green chili. It's the easiest thing ever and so fresh and yummy.

Channa

Vegetable oil - 1 tbsp
3 cans of chickpeas (rinsed and drained
1 -2 cups water
1 medium onion, diced
Cumin seeds, large pinch
garlic (2 cloves minced)
ginger (1 teaspoon minced)
Green chili (1 -2, deseeded and chopped finely)
Ground Turmeric - 1/2 tsp
Ground coriander - 1 tablespoon
Chili powder - 1/2 tsp (or more to make spicier)
Ground cumin - 1 tsp
Garam Masala - 1/2 tsp
Salt to taste
Bay leaves (2-3)
lemon juice - 2 tbsp
fresh coriander chopped (1/2 cup)

1. Heat oil in pot. Add cumin seeds and wait till they sputter - 1 min. Add onions and cook until brown (15-20 mins) on med-hi heat
2. Add green chilis, garlic, ginger when onions are almost brown.
3. Combine all ground spices including bay leaves in a separate bowl and add to the pot. Stir on med heat for 1-2 mins.
4. Add chick peas and 1 cup of water and lemon juice. (water should slighlty cover chick peas - add more water if necessary)
5. Bring to boil, lower heat and simmer uncovered for 20 mins until most of the water is evaporated.
6. Take half of the contents of pot and transfer to blender. Blend into paste and add back to pot. The curry should be thick with some whole chick peas. Simmer on low heat for 7-10 mins.
7. Check for salt and spice. Add more lemon juice if too spicy.
8. Serve with fresh coriander on top with some raita and rice or naan.

Cucumber raita

1 cup plain yogurt
1/2 cup seeded, finely chopped English cucumber
pinch cumin

Stir all ingredients together and refrigerate 1/2 hour to let flavours meld. Serve with spicy curries.

Moqueca de peixe (Brazilian fish stew)

2008-05-08T22:15:00.003-04:00

Before we begin, a note: this dish takes a fair bit of time to prepare and involves a lot of chopping. It may not be something to attempt on a weeknight.

That said, it is so delicious that once you try it, you'll know that all that work was totally worth it. (Unless you are a cilantro hater, like my sister, in which case you can stop reading right about now.)

I have many fond memories of meals eaten in Brazil as a teenager. The churrascarias are memorable for the vast amounts of meat and the dramatic presentation (waiters walk around with huge hunks of grilled meat on swords, and slice some off onto your plate as desired). At the beach, we devoured silver platters of lula a dore (breaded calamari) with fresh lime squeezed over it. My sister and I always ordered misto quente (grilled ham and cheese sandwiches) at the snack bar in the park near our house; the Cristal pizzeria in the Jardim Sul shopping mall had the best wood-fired, thin-crusted pizzas ever.

And in the northeast state of Bahia, we had moqueca.

This fish or shellfish stew comes served in a black, cast-iron pot at the table, and is a deep orange colour from the peppers and the dende (West African palm) oil. It's an unforgettable taste, and one I haven't had since I was sixteen. So when I went searching for recipes to use some of the frozen shrimp in my freezer, and found a Cooking Light moqueca de peixe, I was thrilled, and could not wait to try it. I wanted Chris to taste what I tasted all those years ago.Obviously, it doesn't call for dende oil because it's unavailable here, but I think it maintains enough of the original flavours to still work well. It's spicy, but not ridiculously so, and chock-full of healthy veggies and shellfish.

I will admit to tinkering with the recipe a tiny bit; I'm not a big fan of green peppers so I left them out, and I reduced the amount of liquid because I wanted it to be closer to stew than soup. I used tilapia instead of halibut, and I also cut the yield by a third, to make four servings instead of six. So I'm posting my version of the recipe here, and I hope you'll try it and enjoy a fairly authentic taste of Brazil. Me, I'm looking forward to the leftovers for lunch tomorrow. Yum.

Brazilian Fish Stew (Moqueca de Peixe) - adapted from Cooking Light

Ingredients

1/4 cup fresh lime juice
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1 garlic clove, minced
1 pound of tilapia fillet, cut into 1/2-inch wide strips
1 pound large shrimp, peeled and deveined
1 and 1/3 tablespoons olive oil
1 and 3/4 cups finely chopped onion
1 and 1/2 cups finely chopped red bell pepper
1/2 cup minced green onions
2 large garlic cloves, minced
1 bay leaf
1.5 cups chopped tomato (I used canned)
1/2 cup minced fresh cilantro, divided
1 (8-ounce) bottle clam juice
2/3 cup fat-free, less-sodium chicken broth
2/3 cup light coconut milk
1/8 teaspoon ground red pepper

Combine the lime juice, minced garlic, salt, pepper, fish and shrimp in a large bowl; toss to coat and leave to marinate in refrigerator for 30 minutes.

Heat the oil in a large Dutch oven over medium heat. Add the onion, bell peppers, green onions, garlic, and bay leaf, and cook for 6 minutes, stirring occasionally. Increase the heat to medium-high; add the tomatoes and cook 2 more minutes. Add 1/4 cup of the cilantro, the clam juice and the chicken broth. Bring the mixture to a boil; reduce heat and simmer for 10 minutes. Discard the bay leaf. Puree the vegetable mixture carefully with an immersion blender.

Add the coconut milk and ground red pepper to the pureed vegetable mixture. Bring the puree to a boil over medium-high heat and cook for 3 minutes. Add the fish mixture; cook for 3 minutes or until the fish and shrimp are done. Add the remaining 1/4 cup cilantro. Devour.

Souvlaki and recovery

2008-05-07T22:31:00.002-04:00

So last week, we got the flu. Not the stomach flu, the real flu, with the fever and aches and utter exhaustion. The kind where even going upstairs takes forever and leaves you winded. Both of us spent several days lying on our respective couches, staring quietly into space or half-watching TV or moaning softly to ourselves. It sucked.

Then I had to go to a conference for work that lasted three days and began on a SUNDAY afternoon. With the flu. The only reason I made it was because it was here in town and not in another city. Still, it was in a big hotel and Chris had to drive me there and back, and on Sunday morning I was still so out of it that while blow-drying my hair, I had to sit down to avoid falling down. On Monday morning, I had to sit down and put my head between my knees because I thought I would either faint or throw up from exhaustion. It sucked.

We did eat, throughout this whole ordeal, and mostly we ate reasonably well. No loss of appetite occurred; in fact, we ordered pizza on Friday for lunch, because we were far too tired to cook but not too sick to eat. Most days I was able to cobble together something for Chris to grill, and he was able to grill it, and we survived that way. Also, my sister very kindly made us a batch of yummy oatmeal muffins, which we ate whenever we got hungry and couldn't amass the energy to make something. Thanks, hon.

These souvlaki pitas were dinner last night, after the end of the conference and after a very long nap on my part. The recipe is from Cooking Light, though it was my idea to turn them into pita sandwiches (just spread the tzatziki on the pita, place the contents of two skewers on top, fold and devour), and it is awesome. The chicken stays tender and juicy, while the zucchini caramelizes and goes a bit sweet, making a nice contract to the bright acidity of the marinade and the cool cucumber. Simple, but delicious, and very summery. I think it's going to become a regular occurrence for dinner this summer. We'll have to try it with pork tenderloin too, and maybe even chunks of lean lamb. Mmmm, lamb.

I should add that I added dried dill to the tzatziki, because it belongs there, and instead of mincing a whole clove of raw garlic into it (which would have killed us) I sliced a clove in half, speared one half with a fork and swirled it repeatedly through the yogurt mixture, then repeated with the other half, just to infuse it with a little garlic flavour. If you like raw garlic, go ahead and make it as written, or sub store-bought tzatziki instead. But do try this - it's easy and so, so tasty.

First Seder

2008-04-23T16:14:00.002-04:00

Well, for us, anyway, and it was both interesting and delicious. We’re fortunate enough to have been invited to celebrate with friends in Boston - the male half of the couple is Jewish and has gotten into the habit of hosting a seder dinner each year for family and friends. It just so happened that our visit coincided with Passover this year. We’d never attended a seder, having been raised Catholic, and we both found it to be an open and welcoming ceremony, thought-provoking and uplifting. Also, the food was fantastic.

J and D had done a dry run of their main course the previous weekend, a roast lamb shoulder with sour cherry sauce. They had decided against making the rice-based stuffing again, since it hadn’t thrilled either of them, and instead opted for sautéed potatoes with butter, lemon and parsley. It turned out to be a very good call – they were delicious, and I say that not just because I ended up doing the sautéing! They complemented the rich, earthy lamb and tart sauce beautifully. Before the main course, there was reading and singing from the Haggadah, a sort of guidebook that tells the story of Passover (with convenient prompts for gentiles, such as “check the soup now”, “go and open the door for Elijah”, and so on). J and D thoughtfully served salads during the readings, one of grated carrot with an orange juice and parsley dressing, another of mixed greens with dijon-white balsamic vinaigrette (I also made the vinaigrette, because I like to help). This kept us all from getting grumpy, because the lamb smelled so darned good.

Desserts were amazing, and all wheat and leavening-free (Passover is celebrated by abstaining from all leavened breads, hence the cracker-like matzoh): coconut macaroons dipped in dark chocolate, and a mind-blowing matzoh sponge cake topped with lemon curd and fresh raspberries. You’ve never tasted spring until you’ve tasted this. Seriously.

All in all, a wonderful and tasty meal, which tasted even better to us because it was shared with friends we don’t often see as well as with new and friendly people who welcomed the “furriners” warmly. Thanks, guys. It was a great day.

By request

2008-04-23T10:44:00.000-04:00

A friend requested that I post this recipe, so here you go, D, and I hope it works for you. I made this turkey meatloaf a couple of weeks ago and it turned out beautifully, despite my having to substitute some of my usual ingredients on the fly. As is my habit, I cook by feel and add things until it looks and feels right, so this is an approximation. Basically, you want the mixture to hold together and keep its shape, but it shouldn’t be dry.

Ingredients
One package (about a pound) lean ground turkey
one medium carrot, diced
one stalk celery, diced
¼ cup chopped onion
1/3 cup chicken broth or water
2 tbsp barbecue sauce or ketchup
½ cup rolled oats, pulverized in a blender or chopper
½ cup panko breadcrumbs

In a small pot, combine all the vegetables and the broth. Bring to a boil and then cook at a high simmer until vegetables are soft, about 15 minutes. Set aside to cool slightly.

Preheat the oven to 375F. Pour the vegetable mixture into a blender or food processor and pulse gently until you get mush.

In a large mixing bowl, combine the vegetables, turkey, oats, breadcrumbs and barbecue sauce. Mix well with your hands and form a loaf, adding more panko if the mixture is too wet. Place the loaf in a greased loaf pan and bake for one hour or until a meat thermometer reads 160F.

This is great with mashed potatoes and some kind of green veggie.

Boston, 2008

2008-04-22T15:42:00.001-04:00

Spending five days in Boston is always enjoyable. However, we ate out far less on this trip than we have in the past, which wasn't necessarily a bad thing. We stayed at our friends' condo the entire time, rather than at the B&B, so that made a difference – they had plenty of lovely breakfast foods on hand that we could help ourselves to, and we stayed in and cooked supper two nights out of four, which was fun and delicious. The third night we were invited to a seder at another couple’s home, which was also an amazing meal (which I will describe later).

That left us only one evening where we ate supper in a restaurant. Fortunately, it was a very good one: Café D, on Centre Street in Jamaica Plain. We had never eaten in JP before, and this was a most excellent introduction to the 'hood. Café D does not take reservations, and it isn’t very big, but we were fortunate enough to waltz in at 7 pm on a Thursday night and score a nice table for 4. Things got even nicer with the addition of a pomegranate martini, yummy and generously sized for the reasonable price of $9.50 (I’ve seen $13 martinis on Boston lounge lists). Sadly, Chris learned the hard way not to choose a beer based on its funny name – the Rogue Brewery’s Dead Guy Ale was too bitter for his liking. However, D's mango mojito went down smoothly and L enjoyed his glass of sangria.

Chris and I split the evening's featured salad, arugula with roasted golden beet chunks, walnuts and a smattering of blue cheese tossed with sherry vinaigrette. I would certainly have welcomed a few more hits of that nice blue, but it was fresh and tasty and whetted our appetites nicely. Fresh hearty rye bread came with some sort of red lentil hummus type spread in lieu of butter – very creative and fun.

We all chose something different for our mains and as usual, I went for the fish special. You had a choice of three kinds of fish, sauced and accompanied one of three ways. I selected the grilled trout with a Niçoise preparation of tapenade aioli, shaved zucchini salad and roasted vegetables. The two thin fillets came skin-on, stacked atop the roasted veg, with the salad piled on top and dollops of aioli in the corners. Despite the lack of a starch (which I didn't miss one bit) the dish was gorgeously balanced between sweet (the roasted chunks of tomato and eggplant), salty (the divinely rich and earthy black olive aioli), cool (the zucchini and greens) and warm (the perfectly cooked fish that flaked prettily off the skin and melted in the mouth). I’m dying to recreate this dish at home, which says a lot about how much I enjoyed it.

Chris had something of a house specialty, sliced Moroccan-spiced lamb with Israeli couscous, sweet and sour eggplant, almonds and a yogurt drizzle. He offered me a bit of the meat, which was perfectly medium and tender as can be. The rest disappeared too quickly to be claimed. L ordered a pork chop of some kind that isn’t on their online menu and I cannot for the life of me remember how it was prepared. It was large, I do remember that, and he said it was all right, but he is definitely the picky one of us four. D went for straightforward – a burger, with cheddar, veggies, fries and pickle. She proclaimed it very good indeed.

Each couple split a dessert – our friends went with a bread pudding with caramelized bananas and champagne sabayon, which they adored. Chris and I headed straight for the chocolate – an individual cake, deep and dark and just barely set, topped with a scoop of perfect chocolate mousse. A simple concept, but perfect execution.

My decaf coffee was hot and tasty (and I was offered a refill); Chris had a glass of port that he enjoyed far more than his beer. We left there feeling utterly satiated and pleased with every morsel we’d consumed.

Our only other serious dining-out experience this weekend (aside from a quick sushi lunch and a divinely good turkey-cheese-and-veg-stuffed crepe in Davis Square) was brunch on Sunday morning at Gaslight Brasserie du Coin, in the up-and-coming part of the South End on Harrison Ave. It’s relatively new, and D had been dying to try it, so we decided it was worth a shot. Despite its upscale look (subway and mosaic tiles, dark wood, high ceilings, zinc bar) its prices are reasonable and I thought the food was very good. My feta and grilled vegetable omelette was gorgeous to look upon – the perfect shade of yellow, unscorched, folded once over bits of melty feta, halved grape tomatoes, diced zucchini and chopped asparagus, all barely cooked and bursting with spring flavor. It disappeared in a haze of decaf café au lait and chocolate – oh, right, I forgot to mention the pain au chocolat I ordered on the side. (You can get plain or raspberry croissants or blueberry muffins, too.) My pastry was slightly darker on top than I like, but perfectly flaky, shattering into buttery fragments when bitten, oozing with dark chocolate inside. If I’d know the omelette came with fries (nowhere on the menu is this mentioned) I might have skipped it, but perhaps not – anyway, the others ate some of the fries, while I stuck to the sweet end of the spectrum as far as carbs go.

Chris had to get the vanilla French toast stuffed with sweet fromage blanc, of course, and it was divine: two pillowy squares of brioche stacked, with the creamy filling and real syrup taking the whole thing over the top. He got a scrambled egg on the side, for protein, and it was done to perfection.

D had scrambled eggs with smoked salmon and capers, which she enjoyed, and L had the caramelized banana crepes, which he said were fine, but not what he was expecting. He had a side of what he called "very bacony ham". (It looked awesome.) Service was prompt and courteous, and the bellinis (we didn’t indulge, but D and L did) were lovely as well. We’d go back in a flash. Free, plentiful off-street parking, too.

It’s rare that we’ve eaten less than stellar meals in Boston, and this trip was no exception. Of course, we have a list as long as our arm of places to try "for next time", whenever that is. One thing’s for sure: it won’t be too long.

Stuffed chicken breasts - Saturday night restaurant food at home

2008-03-30T17:01:00.002-04:00

I was very, very pleased with tonight's dinner, a fact made even more notable because this meal wasn't in my original plan for this week. My family and friends will know that every weekend, I plan out the coming week's dinners and then we grocery shop accordingly. Last night's scheduled meal was homemade panko-breaded chicken fingers and sweet potato oven fries. Sounds awesome, right? Yes indeed - and labour-intensive, too. Both Chris and I spent most of the week fighting some sort of bug that had us napping every day when I got home from work just to make it through the evening. So when Chris picked me up from work yesterday afternoon, his suggestion that we perhaps go out for dinner, rather than cooking, was music to my weary ears. We mulled it over and eventually opted for Nokham Thai on Richmond Road, which I've written about before, where we ate fish cakes and Pad Thai and red curry duck and mango ice cream, and all was well.

The chicken breasts languishing in the fridge, meanwhile, needed to be eaten in short order. But today, I didn't feel like chicken fingers and fries. Today I felt like something a bit more elegant, and, more importantly, something that involved cheese. I don't know if I've mentioned this before, but we like cheese in this house. Fortunately, in my recipe-surfing I recently came across something that was unaffectedly dubbed Chicken breasts stuffed with goat cheese and sun-dried tomatoes that sounded perfect for a Saturday night. I made a few changes on the fly, because I was cutting my chicken breasts off the bone and it ended up being easier to remove the fillets and pound out the chicken to even thickness, then spread the stuffing on it and roll it up, rather than cutting a pocket in the chicken as the recipe called for. I find that method unreliable at best, anyway, based on past experience - the filling tends to leak out, and it just doesn't provide for a good stuffing-to-meat ratio. So pound I did (so good for stress relief!) and I even got to use my Food Loops, a remarkable little invention that I found in my christmas stocking a couple of years ago and had yet to use. They came in very handy tonight, and now that they've proven their worth, I'll be using them again soon, methinks.

I played with the stuffing recipe a bit, too, subbing the white and light green parts of three green onions for the shallots, and adding the balsamic as I sauteed them in the pan. I mixed them up with the tomatoes and cheese, then rolled up the chicken bundles and seared them on all sides on the stovetop before removing the pan to a preheated 400-degree oven for 22 minutes, turning the chicken once. Once they were done and plated, I quickly reduced 1/4 cup of balsamic in the pan, deglazing as I went, instead of making the more formal sauce. A side of whole wheat couscous was the perfect foil for this. (Fear not, vegetable hounds: we each had a big bowl of homemade vegetable soup beforehand, but steamed or sauteed veggies would go beautifully with this.)

The look of the rolls was gorgeous, and the taste even more so. This was something I'd order in a restaurant and feel good paying for. The sweet and tart elements were perfectly in balance, and the chicken impeccably cooked, neither dry nor pink but juicy and tender. Not to blow my own horn, but this rocked, and it wasn't that hard or that time-consuming. I started at 5;35 p.m. and we sat down to eat it at 6:15. That included cutting the chicken off the bone and chopping everything for the stuffing. Such a big payoff for so little effort - that's what makes this dish a keeper. Long live Saturday nights.

Many Fish, All Delish

2008-03-17T23:10:00.000-04:00

Last night, we went out for dinner to celebrate my grandma's birthday, and had an unexpectedly superior meal. I say unexpectedly not because I felt that the restaurant was a bad one - quite the contrary, as I very much enjoyed a lunch there before Christmas - but because the calibre of the meal far surpassed even the quality of that lunch. You know those nights when all of the pieces - ambiance, service, food, drink, appetite, company - all fall into place and the meal just hums along pleasantly? This was one of those.

We were seven for supper - Chris and I, my parents, my sister and D, and my grandma. The restaurant in question is only about two years old and is blessed with this slightly ungainly moniker of One Fish, Two Fish. It's cute, of course, but this is not a cute restaurant and I don't think the name fits. It is, however, accurate, as they are all about the sea creatures here (with a small selection of steaks for the landlubbers among us). In fact, they have a fish counter where you can buy your own pescatarian fare and bring it home to cook yourself. That occupies about a fifth of the space; the rest is given over to white linen-covered tables, comfy dark wood chairs with high backs, low lighting and oversized wineglasses like soap bubbles. The ceilings are high, which can make a restaurant noisy, but on a Sunday night the room was more than half empty and thus quiet. We had a long table in the back, tucked in the corner, which felt cosy despite the high ceilings.

Our waiter, though young and perhaps a tiny bit over-effusive, was friendly, polite, more than competent and knowledgeable about the menu - all good things. The restaurant offers a bring-your-own-wine policy with a $10 corkage fee, remarkably low for a province that hasn't widely embraced the concept. My father took advantage of this and brought along two bottles of a delicious, medium-bodied Savigny-les-Beaune (a red wine from Burgundy) which went gorgeously with all of the fish we ate.

And oh Neptune, did we eat fish. Chris and I shared their daily salad to start; called "salmon two ways", it consisted of a mound of lightly dressed mesclun in which sprigs of cilantro were cleverly hidden, with a mound of velvety pink salmon mousse and two perfect slices of smoked salmon resting in a radicchio leaf cup. All of it was delicious and beautifully restrained, but the cilantro leaves punched it up to a higher level of flavour. I'm not the world's biggest cilantro fan, though I have come to enjoy it more over the last few years, but in this application? Perfect.

Chris ordered a pecan-encrusted filet of tilapia as his main dish and was very pleased with it. He said it was subtle - the pecans didn't overwhelm the fish, which was cooked nicely, and that the nuts and herbs punched up the sometimes-bland flavour of that particular fish. I ordered the tuna "Alana", which came as two generous but not huge inch-thick triangles of gorgeously rare tuna, seared on one side, lightly glazed with a ginger/garlic/soy sauce and topped with a frizzle of crispy leek strings. The chef has a beautifully restrained hand with sauces, apparently - nothing was overpowering, the dish was in balance and the glaze didn't obscure the lovely buttery tuna flavour.

All of the main dishes come with seasonal vegetables (sliced carrot, sugar snap peas, and broccoli rabe, all perfectly al dente) and a choice of roasted garlic mashed potatoes, herb roasted fingerlings, seasoned rice, french fries or pan-cooked spinach. Chris had the fingerlings, which he declared to be the "best potatoes ever", while I low-carbed it and went with the spinach, a gorgeous green mound of it cooked with more leeks and some sliced button mushrooms. The plates were square with rounded edges that curve upwards; presentation was in a stack, but not obnoxiously high, and easy to deconstruct.

Some of the other notable dishes around the table included a divine Tuscan seafood soup with chinks of fish, squid, and lobster in a tomato-based, lobster-oil-infused broth with a citrus kick. My dad ordered that, and let me finish the last few bites. I'd go back just for that soup, but sadly it was a daily special, and a replacement at that - they ran out of halibut chowder. Speaking of chowder, my sister had a cup of their classic clam, and it was buttery and smooth. Her boy had a lovely-looking cioppino that I'll have to go back and try as well. Grandma had superlative fish and chips - even the fries were perfect, crisp and golden with fluffy insides. Not an afterthought at all.

Chris and I had talked about sharing dessert, as I remembered them being good, but I was too full and ordered an excellent decaf coffee (and was offered a refill). As always, Dad was sucked in by the creme brulee, whose flavouring changes daily according to chef's whim - that night it was kaffir lime and lemongrass, and holy moses, was it lovely. The bite I had reminded me of the lavender-scented one I had in Les Baux de Provence a couple of years ago. I found the sugar crust to be a tiny bit too thick, but the custard was right-on. Mom's caramel apple cheesecake made the rounds of the table (and it was round, appropriately) and I managed a couple of small, delicious bites of that. The creme brulee and tiramisu are made on site, but the rest of the desserts come from a bakery in New Edinburgh called Da Bomb. And they are.

The fun part about ordering dessert here is that the kitchen draws pictures with caramel, chocolate and raspberry sauces on the long, rectangular white plates they're served on. I took pictures with my grandma's 35mm camera but when I go back I will record this phenomenon digitally. And I will go back. Soon. Probably after they finish the upcoming renovations to put in a full bar and some chef's tables. I hope this means they'll be around for a very long time, because that dinner was one of the most pleasant I've had here in Ottawa in a long time.

FAIL, part the second

2008-03-07T10:19:00.001-05:00

I am having a bad food week. I blame the crappy weather. We had 20 cm of snow on Wednesday and we’re due for up to 30 more by tomorrow night. I am cranky and I think the kitchen can tell. First it was the pudding (which, it should be said, Chris really likes) and last night it was the lentil, sausage and kale stew I decided to make because I like all of those things and surely there must be a recipe for something like that somewhere on the great and powerful Internet?

There was. It was even a CL recipe. It didn’t specifically call for kale, but one of the commenters mentioned she wanted to try adding some sort of greens to the stew next time she made it, so I figured what the heck! I followed this recipe, leaving out the rosemary and carrot because I figured the sausage would add enough flavour (and besides, I don’t care for rosemary) to the lentils. Except that once I added the sautéed sausage to the stew and simmered it, the sausage bits refused to cook through. REFUSED. I mean, I had the stew at a high, covered simmer for 20 minutes and the no more than 1-cm wide bits of sausage were still stubbornly pink in the middle. Even microwaving did not help.

And, to add insult to injury, the sausage itself tasted terrible – greasy and spicy and otherwise flavourless. By that point the lentils and kale were overcooked to the point of mushiness, and we ended up tossing the whole thing and eating leftovers for supper. I am consoling myself with the fact that at least all of the ingredients were cheap. I hate wasting food, but no way was I going to poison myself with under/overcooked slop, either.

I’ve learned my lesson though: tonight, we’re eating out.

FAIL

2008-03-05T21:11:00.002-05:00

"Delicious, low-fat, dark chocolate pudding." Sounds too good to be true, right? Sadly, the answer was yes, today at least. I picked up a recipe from an online magazine called Culinate a few weeks ago for this homemade pudding that required no gelatin and no melting of chocolate. In fact, the ingredients looked so simple, I thought it was a shoo-in: cocoa, sugar, cornstarch, milk and vanilla extract. It took me a while to get the time and inclination to actually make it, but with this afternoon unexpectedly free due to a snow closure at work, I undertook it.

Lots and lots of whisking later, I had a very smooth product that looked delicious. I poured it into 4 ramekins, noting its propensity to produce the dreaded skin nearly immediately, and so I pressed plastic wrap directly onto the tops of the puddings to attempt to avoid this effect. I got them into the fridge to chill down, and then I licked my spoon.

And was sorely disappointed, as the promised deep chocolate flavour and smooth creamy texture were nowhere to be found. This pudding was inspid, slightly grainy and glutinous all at the same time. I sighed and wondered whether it would improve upon chilling.

Three hours later, I can report that it did not. It's certainly edible pudding, but it's nothing I really want to eat. Fortunately, Chris is not nearly as picky as I am, and devoured the rest of my cup without complaint. So the two cups of milk won't go to waste, at least. And I'm too full from dinner to enjoy any dessert tonight in any event. But it was a disappointing experiment and one I won't be repeating, at least not with that recipe. Oh well.

Eating our way (again) through Montreal

2008-03-03T21:48:00.001-05:00

Chris and I spent this past weekend in Montreal, in honour of my birthday, and revisited two restaurants that we've enjoyed a great deal in the past. Neither of them disappointed us in the least, happily. On Friday night we returned to BU for dinner and found it hopping, as opposed to our last visit on a Sunday night in early December, when we had the place to ourselves. This time, we opted to start with some small plates and then each have a main course, because two of the specials sounded so darned good. In fact, they were the highlights of the meal. But I'm getting ahead of myself.

We began with a delicious glass each of prosecco, an off-dry sparkling wine from Italy, to accompany our caponata (a vegetable antipasto) and spinach and potato croquettes, both of which were, once again, divine. I also tried the olives ascolane, large green olives stuffed with minced veal, then battered and deep fried. They were interesting, but not as fabulous as some of the other dishes on the menu, and I don't think I'd order them again. Rather, I would opt for some of the excellent charcuteries such as the venison bresaola. Mmmm.

Moving along to the decadent mains: Chris had the risotto again, this time enhanced with pheasant ragu and black truffle shavings. He enjoyed it greatly, while noting that BU makes their risotto in a less creamy and more al dente style than we are accustomed to. This one was slightly soupy from the pheasant's juices, with shreds of the tender meat throughout. I enjoyed the bite I tried, though a bowlful of such a strongly-flavoured dish might have been too much for me.

My main was the meat dish for the evening, and it could have been tailor-made for my tastes: a filet mignon with a balsamic and shallot reduction, accompanied by an assortment of grilled vegetables. It arrived on a square white plate, and it was what sealed my decision to get a camera phone when my contract comes up this May, because it was GORGEOUS. The steak was about 6 oz. and cooked perfectly rare as requested, tender and melting under its balsamic glaze. The vegetables were the knockouts visually, though: four whole roasted cherry tomatoes, two tiny eggplants halved lengthwise and char-marked from the grill, five tiny yellow pattypan squashes and ha;f a bulb of Belgian endive, grilled and fanned out like a spiky flower on the corner of the plate. Stunning. However pretty the veggies were, though, they were put to shame flavour-wise by the steak, which blew my mind. I would have preferred a slightly lighter hand with the reduction to allow the excellent flavour of the meat to shine through more, but I'm nitpicking: I cleaned the plate, and enjoyed it all immensely.

We had asked our affable waiter (the same likable fellow who served us last time, in fact) for wine pairing recommendations to go with our mains, and he cheerfully obliged, kindly steering us to mid-price range glasses that he felt would complement the food. He was dead-on in both cases: Chris had a glass of 2004 Italian cabernet sauvignon whose name I do not know, as it was part of their "blind trio" of reds. My glass was a Fattoria Zerbina Marzieno Ravenna Rosso 2001 from Emilia-Romagna that had syrah, cabernet, merlot and sangiovese grapes combined, and it was a powerhouse red equal to the meat and that balsamic glaze. It was actually one of the nicest reds I've had at a restaurant in ages.

Would you believe we had room for dessert? That is because BU is very good at many things, and timing a meal properly is one of them. We ordered all of our food at once, but the waiter did not put in the order for our mains until after we'd finished our apps, and even asked us if we were ready for him to do so. Consequently, it was a slowly-paced dinner, two and a half hours for three courses. By the time we dug into martini glasses full of chocolate mascarpone mousse, we were sated but not stuffed, and wanted something sweet. We should have shared one, and will next time, because it was crazy rich, but my goodness it was yummy. I had a decaf coffee and we lingered over the mousse for as long as possible, but eventually we did have to go out into the cold and damp. It was a wonderful way to spend an evening. I love that place and will go back over and over. You should, too.

The following night we had reservations at L'Express, where we had not been in a year and a half, so it was nice to go back and find it unchanged and as friendly and polite as always. We actually got the same table we had last time, which amused us. I love many things about L'Express, and one of them is the offer of an aperitif for while you're perusing the menu. We both ordered a Dubonnet on the rocks and sipped away happily while debating main courses (we'd already determined that we'd be sharing the rillettes for starters). In the end, we went for less-rich mains than usual to balance the richness of the starter, which is essentially confit of shredded pork, with toasts for spreading and a jar of sharp cornichons for contrast. It was, as always, yummy, and we pretended not to know how bad it was for us.

Chris followed that up with the house ravioli, stuffed with spinach and meat and sauced with a mushroom demi-glace. The circles of pasta were perfectly cooked and the sauce was deeply flavoured without being overly rich. I ordered one of the night's specials, chunks of monkfish in a barely-perceptible cream and lemon sauce atop a bed of perfectly cooked basmati rice studded with carrots and mushrooms. All of the elements were perfectly cooked and gorgeously balanced, and I really enjoyed it. We had a half-bottle (I love L"Express for that) of Cotes du Rhone, Chateau Cosme I believe, which was very nice, if not of the superstar calibre of the wine I had at BU.

Dessert was a lemon tart - fabulous - for me, and some sort of ice cream cake concoction for Chris, with pear and raspberry layers. (He likes ice cream a lot, even in winter.) I had coffee, and Chris blissed out over a cup of verveine herbal tea. Altogether, a classy ad chilled out dinner, as always.

Toronto Food

2008-02-26T10:28:00.000-05:00

I have been remiss in reporting on the lovely food I ate in Toronto last weekend whilst visiting my friend J for a couple of days. The provincial government very kindly gave us Monday off, so I took advantage of it and hopped a Greyhound early Saturday morning, slated to put me in Toronto by noon . Alas, the bus gods decided it was not to be, and after a two-and-a-half-hour delay, most of which was spent sitting in a roadside restaurant in Actinolite Junction (where I purchased a soggy tuna sandwich and a bottle of water), I finally made it to my destination just before three. J took pity on my starved state and stopped at a food court on the way to the subway, where I scarfed a mediocre slice of Hawaiian pizza to stave off the shakes. Talk about convenience food. I would have gotten a sandwich made at the Croissant Tree, but there was one girl working the counter and she seemed to be moving at about ¼ normal speed. I was far too hungry to hang around for that.

After a shower and a traipse around the Italian markets and bakeries of the St.Clair and Dufferin area, we went for supper at Marcello’s, a lovely, homey neighbourhood Italian restaurant with a wood oven for pizza and a long lineup. It was more than worth the wait, though, as the pizza I had was equal in quality to anything I’ve ever had at Wooden Heads in Kingston , my current gold standard for thin-crust wood-fired pie. Mine was lovingly topped with tomato sauce and mozzarella of excellent quality, as well as half-moons of gently spicy Italian sausage, strips of roasted red pepper (without a hint of the acidity that means bottled), and paper-thin slices of grilled eggplant. Gorgeous to look at, delicious in the mouth, generous of size – I took just under half of it home and had it for Monday lunch – there was nothing bad about it. J’s American-style pepperoni, mushroom and green pepper pie was just as lovely and apparently just as yummy. (We didn’t share.)

The following day, we had a peaceful and delicious Japanese lunch at Asuka in Yorkville. It was pouring rain outside, so the upscale area was nearly deserted, so ducking into the nearest restaurant was not the risk it generally is. J enjoyed a bowl of unagi-don – grilled eel on rice – while I finally tried out chirashi sushi, which is assorted sashimi on a bed of sushi rice. It was utterly divine – I counted six different kinds of fish, a shrimp, and one lone slice of cuttlefish, which I know from experience I do not like. Ugh. I tucked it to the side and devoured the rest, all of which was fresh and yummy. Both our meals came with salad and miso soup, and were very reasonably priced ($16 for my chirashi). Washed down with toasted brown-rice tea, it was a perfect interlude to the rainy day of walking and exploring.
More rice that evening, in the form of an asparagus and portobello mushroom risotto that J and I and her boy concocted in their lovely kitchen. They use Jamie Oliver’s basic risotto recipe and add whatever they like to it. Alongside a simple green salad, it made a warm and comforting supper in front of the TV, curled up in chairs watching the movie Elizabeth (which I liked).

All in all, an excellent weekend for this foodie.

Golden Oldie

2008-02-19T20:41:00.001-05:00

The first cookbooks I owned after moving out on my own were Looneyspoons and Crazy Plates, both by Janet and Greta Podleski. If you're not familiar with the books, they are low-fat cookbooks filled with goofy cartoons and ridiculously-named recipes, most of which are fairly straightforward and some of which are bland and boring as heck. There are, however, many gems in both books and their worthy successor, Eat, Shrink and Be Merry. This shrimp curry is one of the ones I've made many times and always enjoyed. It is, sadly, known as On Golden Prawns. That does not make it any less tasty.

It's an easily customizable dish, too - you could make it a Thai curry by using red or green curry paste instead of the yellow Indian spices; you can add infinite different vegetables (I threw in a zucchini tonight, and it rocked) and serve it with rice or noodles. It comes together very quickly and makes leftovers - but not TOO many leftovers. In short, a good all-rounder. The only thing I would do differently in future is omit the cornstarch/water mixture that they add right at the end to thicken the sauce - I found it blunted the flavours a bit and wasn't really necessary. Go forth, my friends, and curry some shrimp!

On Golden Prawns (from Crazy Plates)

1 tsp canola oil
1 clove garlic, minced
1/2 cup onion, chopped fine
1 red bell pepper, chopped fine
1 tsp yellow curry powder
1 tsp ground cumin
3/4 tsp ground coriander
1 cup light coconut milk
1 tsp sugar
1 pound raw shrimp, shelled

In a large nonstick skillet, saute the garlic, onion and peppers in the oil over medium heat until they soften, 3-5 minutes. Add the spices and cook one minute longer. Add the coconut milk and sugar, bring to a boil, lower heat and simmer 2 minutes. Raise heat to medium-high, add the shrimp and cook 4-5 minutes or until shrimp are done, stirring frequently. Serve over rice or noodles. Makes 4 servings.

From Moscow With Sour Cream

2008-02-12T22:29:00.003-05:00

Beef stroganoff is an old-school dish for sure. I think the first time I had it, I was about eight, and I don’t remember liking it much, but that might have had something to do with my not being a huge fan of egg noodles (and I’m still not). Also, the beef was tough. Years later I made it again, from a Weight Watchers recipe, and it was… better. Not my favourite dish, but tasty enough. I don’t think I’ve made it more than twice in the past five years, and then while hunting for slow-cooker recipes, Cooking Light came through for me again with a beef stroganoff recipe that sounded easy, cheap and tasty. What the heck, I thought, and tossed it into the recipes to try file.

We tried it yesterday and holy Gorbachev, was it good. So good, in fact, that I daydreamed about the leftovers all morning. It’s going on the permanent comfort food list. And did I mention it was easy? And cheap? Seriously, you have to try this if you like beef, mushrooms, sour cream, and food that tastes much more decadent than its calories would suggest.

The cheap marinating steak becomes fork-tender. The onions and mushrooms all but disappear into the sauce, which is earthy and deep from the broth and a splash of red wine (my addition, and a good one), and the Dijon adds a secret zing, a sort of “what IS that?” tang on the tongue. The sour cream smooths it all out and makes it rich and saucy. And I find that mashed potatoes, not too highly seasoned, made a perfect bed for the stew. You could have plain rice, of course, or even egg noodles, but I’ll stick with my spuds. And broccoli – its fresh zip cuts right through the creamy sauce and brightens the palate. A glass of velvety red wine would go gorgeously with this.

Please, I beg you. Make your friends and loved ones happy. Cook them some stroganoff. It’s warm food for cold days and it will warm their hearts. You don’t have to tell them how easy it was. Chris does recommend, however, being out of the house while it’s cooking as the smell nearly drove him mad with hunger.