I Finally Snap

Today I woke up and realized that I hated the way my kitchen was arranged, then realized that I was the one who arranged it. The problem is that I have so many cupboards, drawers and cabinets - over sixty - that  it seemed unnecessary to actually organize anything. Who needs organization when you have so many places to put stuff? Turns out, you still need to have things organized.

The minor irritation is that the sink is next to the stove, meaning I don't have a place to do all my food prep, and I have to do it all quite some distance away. The fridge is far away too, on the other side of the kitchen, so cooking is quite the tiring task, and it is made even more tiring when things aren't in any particular place.

But ... all that ends today!

We Get a Visa to Visit Downtown

Yesterday, we packed our survival rations, armed ourselves with small, non-lethal weaponry, and set off downtown. 

We saw a couple of places to eat ...

But ended up at the Danforth, the heart of Greektown. It was at one time North America's largest Greek community. It might still be, but I imagine these kind of facts are hard to prove or disprove, so let's just assume it still is. The street itself is littered with Greek businesses, such as restaurants, travel agents and bakeries. We picked one restaurant, called Mezes, a word people often assume means appetizers. Not so. Mezethes are kind of a course all to themselves - a bunch of hot, cold, spicy, savoury small dishes round which you can gather with friends and chat and drink without ever having to have a main course.

We ordered the combination dip platter, or kria poikilia. Four dips - humous, taramosalata, tzatziki and melitzanotsalata (an eggplant dip) - are served with toasty warm pita bread. It was delicious, and we easily polished off the lot, though we had to order more pita.

Next were two dishes: dolmades (stuffed vine leaves) and the grilled octopus. The dolmades were pretty good, far better than the ones you see in the supermarket that have been sitting there for who-knows how long. Clearly these had been made within recent living memory. They are still not as good as my aunt's, straight out of the oven dolmades.

The grilled octopus is a favourite of mine and I had to say I was a little disappointed as one of the legs was a bit on the chewy side. It was still tasty, and I might order it again, though probably not as there are a lot of items we didn't order that I want to try.

Finally, we shared the arni psito or Roast Lamb. While definitely lamb-y, and quite tasty, this also fell a short in my opinion. I was expecting the roast leg, slow cooked and packed with flavour. Instead we got a boneless leg meat that had no sear and somewhat lacking in flavour. What's more, it had a pre-packaged tasting gravy poured on top. The potatoes, rice and salad were all up to par though. 

What is a good Greek meal without a cup of Greek coffee to round it off? I made the rookie mistake of remembering to ask for it to be made sweet, but forgetting to tell them how strong I wanted it. The result was that I got what I think was a medium-strength one when I expected a sweet strong one.

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After that, I went to this place, the Greek House Food Market (no website, just a yelp link) to stock up on some decent feta at a decent price, some Greek Mountain Tea (tsai tou vounou) that the store keeper guaranteed would  keep me healthy till I reach 106, and which I later found out was ironwort, some Greek oregano and a good Greek olive oil.

On the way back to the car we couldn't help but stop at the Athena Bakery to grab a few very sweet pastries.

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We drove to Kensington Market area to look at tattoo parlours, finally finding one we liked about fifteen minutes walk away on Yonge Street (this one if anyone is interested). On the way back, stopping only to shelter from the rain, we were almost at the car when I spotted a tiny Mexican restaurant called El Trompo. Of course, I persuaded the girls to go in and we ordered a few small items. Actually, I think everything is quite small, which is fine by me. We had a chicken quesadilla (delicious), guacamole (delicious also) and a molten cheese with chorizo or cazualita fundito con chorizo (equally delicious). We washed it down with three drinks: the classic horchata, a tamarindo and a jamaica. Total bill? $ 30 including the tip. 

We also paid a visit to Fada Scooters where I discovered a second-hand Vespa goes for only $ 2,500 or less, and from owner Troy I found out Serena can get her M1 license at age 16. Thanks a bunch, Troy! However, I am seriously thinking owning a Lambretta would be pretty cool especially if I could get one that looks like this:

Finally, we discovered that pigeons don't like rain.

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Thanks again to Serenatography for the photos!

Ragu Alla Bolognese

Every now and then, I get asked to share a good spaghetti bolognese recipe. I usually know what they want - it is a tomato-based meat spaghetti bolognese recipe. Actually, a true bolognese sauce does not have any tomatoes, and it involves cooking meat quite slowly with celery, carrots and onions, a little tomato paste and milk. The only seasoning is salt and pepper. If you do it right, it'll look something like this. 

Strictly speaking, a bolognese sauce isn't served with spaghetti, but tagliatelli. Of course, I didn't have any. Hopefully the ragu alla bolognese police didn't notice. 

In looking up Italian sauces, I came across this particular nugget, The Cook's Decameron A Study In Taste. Published in 1920, it has over two hundred Italian recipes and merits further inspection. However, I don't have time as I need to get back to vegetarian dishes. More on that at a later date!

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Finally, a piece of - well, I am not sure how to categorize it, but it is food related. Anyway. Just enjoy.

Recipe? What Recipe?

I don't spend all my free time glued to the TV watching the Food Network, honestly. But one of the programmes I seem to catch with some frequency is Michael Smith's Chef At Home series. I think this is the only place he does cook any more, but even so it is an interesting programme. His "thing" is cooking without a recipe - not mentioning that he can only do this after years of cooking with recipes. And he has a really, really well-stocked pantry. But still, the concept is a good one. 

Today was one of those days. The finished meal was Fried Cornmeal Chicken with Spicy Chickpea Stew and Fresh Baked Cornbread with Honey Butter. And here's how it all came about ....

I started by defrosting freezer four chicken thighs I had bought the other day from Costco and used my Food Saver to vacuum seal them.  Once that was done, I marinated them in a cup of buttermilk I had left over, plus black pepper and cayenne pepper.

Next up, I grabbed a jar of the tomato sauce I made last summer, added it to some leftover chickpeas, plus some tomato paste and red pepper flakes. I also stirred in a small tub of ricotta cheese.

The cornbread was fairly simple and the whole thing was done in my skillet. You melt 1/2 cup of butter in the skillet, add 1/2 cup of sugar and two beaten eggs. Next, whisk in a cup of buttermilk plus 1/2 tsp of baking soda, followed by 1 cup each of cornmeal and flour and 1/2 tsp of salt. Once it is smooth, pop it in a 375F oven and wait around 30 minutes until a toothpick (or thin chopstick) comes out dry. Serena helped me whisk honey and butter to make the Honey Butter.

As the cornbread baked, I dredged the chicken thighs in seasoned flour-egg-seasoned cornmeal, shallow fried them till crispy then finished them in the oven.

The colours are a bit bleached in this photo, but you get the general idea.

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Aurora Farmer's Market

I decided to drive up to Aurora, about 25 minutes away from the house, for the Farmer's Market. It is not a huge market, with maybe 20 stalls but the location on the edge of the park is great and today was a warm sunny day for it.

First stall we saw was Farmer Andy's - the farmer who gave Serena a job last year. He said they are just starting to get their produce in, which explained the relatively small selection. He had some lovely looking tiny potatoes that he had dug up just the day before, tomatoes, strawberries, beets and radishes. We got the potatoes, tomatoes and strawberries, plus some organic popcorn.

Further down, I picked up three meat pies - a chicken pot pie, a steak and guinness, and a steak and onion pie from John of Snowden Farms. He raises his cows on an all natural, hormone and antibiotic free diet, and has a guy who makes the pies. He was so keen for me to try the steak and kidney that he gave me one for free! I also grabbed two steaks for tonight - a rib eye and a sirloin.

And here are the pies. Strangely enough, the previous night I had a dream that we were all in Melbourne and I was quite upset because we had gone all over the place without ever having an Aussie Meat Pie. Going to Australia and not having a meat pie would be like visiting Tokyo and not having any sushi.

Next, we stopped for a hot dog.

And then, we stopped for a hot dog.

The grill chef was my friend Nick who I met from Unionville Farmer's Market last year. He was in good shape and we were both happy to see each other. Next Sunday is the opening of the Unionville one so I will see him there and from then on every week.

And with that, we were done.

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That evening, I boiled the new potatoes and then drizzled them with olive oil, a little salt and pepper and some parsley. 

Then put together a nice salad of frisee lettuce, tomatoes and radish.

 And, of course, the steak. Locally produced, free from hormones, mostly grass-fed - it was very tasty.

 

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All the photographs are courtesy of the person whose name is written on this grain of rice.

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Disemboweled Sausage Pasta

I had planned on making a few more dishes yesterday but various things popped up and I only got round to making a Summer Green Cream soup, using spinach, zucchini and lettuce with buttermilk to make a bright and tasty chilled soup. Serena helped make the soup and drank a teaspoon of buttermilk. She was very disappointed that it tasted like yoghurt and not, as she hoped, like a mixture of butter and milk.

Buttermilk, incidentally, is more easily digested than regular milk, and is a good option if you are watching your calories and/or fat. A cup is only 100 calories, and it has something like a quarter the fat of regular milk.

The soup is basically a blender soup: you steam the spinach for a few minutes, then do the same with the zucchini. The recipe calls for fresh basil, though if you don't have it you can use dried but add it in when you are steaming the zucchini or spinach so the basil has some opportunity to flavour the vegetable. Puree the two and transfer to a large bowl.

Next, puree a medium lettuce with enough buttermilk to do the job. Combine with your spinach/zucchini blend, and add more buttermilk - up to a quart. Add a dash of nutmeg and enough black pepper to taste. I used about a teaspoon of tamari or soy sauce to season instead of salt. You are going to refrigerate this, so if anything I would suggest slightly under-seasoning as it will intensify slightly when left to rest. You can always add ...

 When finished, you need some kind of garnish on it just to give it a nice textural crunch - I used green onion and parsley. I briefly considered a whisper of grated parmesan, or a drizzle of cream, but it really doesn't need it. Even my old standby of a squeeze of lemon is unnecessary.

When I woke up around 6:30 I remembered I had not made any lunch for the girls. They would have the soup, of course, but that would be nowhere near enough. I poked around in the fridge to see what I could throw together.

In the drawer were half a dozen breakfast sausages that we hadn't eaten for a few days, and that gave me an idea. I disemboweled the sausages, fried them in a little olive oil for a while, then added some finely chopped leaks, half a shallot I had left over, a clove of minced garlic, black pepper and red pepper flakes.  At the same time, I then cooked the rest of a pack of penne I had around and tossed it in with the meat. Finished it off with cream and grated parmesan.

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Official Government Manure

Lunch for the girls today was a simple salad of tomato, feta, green leaf lettuce, thinly sliced shallots with olive oil and red wine vinegar, and grilled chicken.

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In other news. I bought two tomato plants from J-Town the other day. They are about two feet high and should produce tasty Japanese cherry tomatoes, assuming I don't mess it up somehow. To make sure I don't, I spoke with my neighbour John who probably knows more about growing stuff that I ever will. He recommended I purchase manure - either sheep or cow to replant the little guys in. After that, just sunshine and water.

So, I went off to Loblaws to buy manure this morning. Three bags for $ 9 seemed a good deal, and John said it is the cheapest around. But the bill came to $ 10.17 including tax, which means your government is taxing manure.

And that, my dear friends, should tell you everything you need to know about government.

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Vegetarian Day

Four - count 'em four - vegetarian dishes today. Two soups and two entrees. The two soups necessitated me making my own vegetarian stock a day before. I didn't have to do it the previous day, but I just thought it would make things easier. Both soups used beans that had to be soaked overnight and cooked for an hour and a half.

The first soup was a Brazilian Black Bean soup. It starts off well - black beans with garlic, carrot, celery, cumin and coriander - then takes a bit of a left turn with the addition of segmented orange and orange juice. It gives it an interesting sweetness, but I think this would be a dish that makes you go 'hmm' rather than 'wow'!

Next up, a soup called Gypsy soup. A colourful and flavourful concoction with chickpeas, peppers, tomatoes, squash, featuring appearances from paprika, turmeric, basil and cayenne. I can see this being made again, though I might cut down the spices a little, just to let the flavours of the ingredients come through more.

And so on to the entrees. I picked two fritters, the first being a Curried Sweet Potato Fritter. A mixture of eggs, cornmeal, curry powder and grated sweet potato, plus some other things, made this a pretty tasty dish. Served on a bed of baby spinach, this is also a low calorie meal (less than 200 calories for two fritters and spinach). I liked this, but I wanted to like it more than I actually did, if that makes any sense.

And, finally, my favourite for the day: an Asian Vegetable Cake with Cabbage Salad. The vegetable cakes comprise cornmeal, split pea soup, carrots, sugar snap peas with ginger, soy sauce and green onions. The salad was fresh and crunchy, though I had to experiment with a few Asian dressings before I got one I kind of liked. I also made a tangy sour cream dip to go with it. This one I will definitely make again!

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Thanks to Serena and Serena's camera for the photographs!

Of TV Chefs ...

TV chefs. Back in the early 90s, I used to watch a tremendous programme on PBS called 'Great Chefs'. They had Great Chefs of New Orleans, of Chicago, of San Francisco and a heap of other places. It was there that I first came across Emeril Lagasse. Back then, he wasn't this larger than life TV celebrity, yelling and throwing garlic everywhere. He was this young, thin, intense guy who clearly loved his food, what he did and where he lived. He had this strange way about him when he cooked, all hunched over as if he didn't want to get too far away from his dish. You could tell this guy was class: something Anthony Bourdain might have found out if he wasn't too tied up selling his mother's jewellery to buy heroin.

Emeril used his celebrity to open up more restaurants and build a mini-empire. Bourdain used his to dump his old wife and get himself a brand new one. So they've both done well.

All this is by way of introduction to something I made yesterday. I had bought a turkey breast, and had in mind to make some kind of roast stuffed dish, but as the time drew closer I wasn't really feeling it, and then changed my mind to doing it on the barbecue instead of indoors. So ... I went to the internet and one of the recipes that popped up was from Bobby Flay. He is someone I never really got to look at too closely, though I have seen him a few times on Iron Chef. I do know that he grills a lot, and is big into Southwestern flavours. Until yesterday, I never tried any of his dishes, or even variations of them, so it was a bit of a leap. Still, the Grilled Turkey Breast with Bacon, Green Tomato, and Goat Cheese-Sage Mayonnaise sounded too good to pass by, so we didn't.

To save you skipping to the end - it was a huge success.

You start by rubbing the turkey breast - make sure you get the one with a bone in, I think it makes a huge difference - with oil, salt and pepper. Pop it on a hot grill, skin side down, and grill till the skin is nice and brown and crispy, maybe ten minutes. Turn it over and lower the heat to medium for another 30 minutes. I used a meat thermometer (thanks for the tip, Bobby) and took it off when the internal temperature was just over 160. Covered with foil and set aside.

Meanwhile, in the kitchen, Glenn was making the goat cheese-sage mayo, which is just as it sounds. Mayo, goat cheese and sage.

Bacon done on the barbecue is just awesome. I think I will do it like this forever from now on! Once the bacon was done, I lightly grilled some slices of farmer's bread, then went inside to assemble.

First, we divided up the mayo on to the bread. Then, the bacon, and next the tomato and lettuce and on top of that - the turkey.

None of us had ever had turkey breast like this. Somehow, it had stayed nice and juicy throughout. Now, there were a few differences: his recipe is a closed sandwich, mine was open. Because of that, I think we could have put a lot more mayo on, as once you bit through to the bacon ... well, that was it. Plus I had no green tomatoes, unless you count the mouldy one at the bottom of the fridge. And I used green leaf lettuce because that was all I had.

Now I am tempted to try more of his grill recipes - perhaps in the next couple of weeks?

By the way, in case you didn't get it - bacon on the barbecue? Amazing!

Anyway, here is a video of Emeril Lagasse from around 1992 or so.

I think if I want someone to make me steak and french fries, Bourdain will do. But anything better than that, more adventurous, I'll call on Emeril and Bobby Flay.

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At the same time we were making the grilled turkey breast, I was preparing a casserole. This was a very simple one to do. I browned some ground beef, then took out the meat and tossed in some chopped onions and garlic. After a few minutes, I put the beef back, seasoned it and added some nutmeg and cinnamon. This I then spread in the bottom of a casserole dish.

While that was going on, I made some pasta. I chose a ziti; small pasta tubes about an inch or so long, and arranged top of the meat. 

I poured over that a bechamel sauce that I had made with cheese, two egg yolks and some nutmeg and cinnamon. I topped the whole thing with grated cheese and breadcrumbs.

Bake in the oven for about 35 minutes or so. Delicious hot, warm or cold.

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By request: All photographs courtesy of Serena Panayi.