Archive | January, 2012

Tickle Me Pickles

31 Jan

I was recently inspired to have a pickling party. As many of you know one of my favorite things in the world are cocktail onions. I could eat an entire jar at one sitting. So I wanted to use up a few of the vegetables in my fridge by preserving them into cute little mason jars. I have been preserving jams and fruit coulis for years but have never jumped into the pickling camp. Happy to say that it is an incredibly easy process and one that I will repeat often. I prepared each recipe with apple cider vinegar. So, invite a few friends over after a visit to the farmers market, pull up your sleeves and start tickling your pickles.

Using a classic Joy of Cooking Pickling Recipe I created three varieties:

Picked Radish with Red Onion, Fennel and Red Peppercorns

Picked Cucumber with Shallots, Mustard Seed, Cloves and White Peppercorns

Pickled Mexican Red Onions

274. Chez Cora

30 Jan

I recently took my friend Jennifer Anne Dumaran out for brunch at Chez Cora. I had heard a lot about this breakfast chain and thought I should try it out for myself and see what the big deal was. I was welcomed by an incredibly tacky interior…as though the designer had procured decorations from a rummage sale. The signage throughout the restaurant reminded me of a kindergarten classroom.

We ordered:

Cup of Coffee

Mango Banana Smoothie

Raspberry 4 Lucie

crepe filled with raspberry and cream cheese with raspberry coulis, honey and english cream

Eggs Benedict

roasted potatoes and fresh fruit

Cora’s Special

two eggs, bacon, ham, sausage and crepe

Everything we were served was underwhelming and the price tag on our menus did not line up with the food sitting in front of us. My smoothie was garnished with a bruised piece of pineapple (really?) and sat on a plate decorated with a lettuce leaf and slice of cantaloupe (really really?) The raspberry crepe was made of frozen raspberries. The entire dish was cold. My Eggs Benedict featured a luke warm english muffin and a cheap cut of deli ham. The roast potatoes were undercooked, flabby and lacked any sense of crispiness. Jenn’s “Cora’s Special” was anything but special. Her plate featured an underwhelming spread of toast, greasy bacon and cheap sausage and ham. Both of our plates were overrun with fruit.

The Chez Cora experience is not worth your time or money (especially if you find yourself living in downtown Toronto, which of course has plenty of options). There are far better alternatives which use farm fresh ingredients, arrive at the table at an adequate temperature and actually have a charming ambiance.

Chez Cora is slowly killing its target market. Restless parents looking for an accessible family friendly environment. Mothers are blinded by the brick and brack on the wall while children are slowly suffocated with plates towering with too much fruit. Next!


Cora's Breakfast & Lunch on Urbanspoon

Butternut Squash and Walnut Risotto with Peach Chutnied Roast Turkey

29 Jan

I love coming up with creative recipes that utilize our favorite festive leftovers. Christmas had just come to a close and I had a bit of turkey and roasted squash left in the fridge. I remember my friend Vanessa telling me that she had never made risotto before so I decided to treat her to a wee dinner party and a lesson on “stirring things slowly.” The key to preparing a smile inducing risotto is embracing the time it takes to prepare properly. Risotto is a food surrounded in enchantment and mystique. It is the perfect food to share with the ones you love as its preperation requires constant supervision and the slow stir of a wooden spoon. A bowl of risotto, simply put, says that you care.

The rice is first cooked briefly in a soffritto of onion, garlic, butter and olive oil to coat each grain in a film of fat, this is called tostatura; white or red wine is added and has to be absorbed by the grains. When it has evaporated, the heat is raised to medium high and very hot stock is gradually added in small amounts while stirring gently, almost constantly: stirring loosens the starch molecules from the outside of the rice grains into the surrounding liquid, creating a smooth creamy-textured liquid. At that point traditional risotto is taken off the heat for the mantecatura when diced cold butter and finely grated Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese are vigorously stirred in to make the texture as creamy and smooth as possible. It may be removed from the heat a few minutes earlier, and left to cook with its residual heat. I also like to whip in one raw egg yolk before serving to give the dish a rich mouth feel.

You will need:

butter

olive oil

minced garlic

minced onion

salt

pepper

red wine

beef broth

raw egg yolk

truffle oil

peach chutney

diced turkey

butternut squash

butter fried walnuts

parmesan

Once the risotto was finished I grabbed a long rectangular plate. I scooped the risotto into the centre of the plate and drizzled with black truffle oil. I dolloped two spoons of butternut squash onto the risotto and slowly spooned hot turkey which I had heated with peach chutney in a small fry pan. I finished off the dish with butter fried walnuts and grated parmesan.

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