Sheila Lukins, of Silver Palate fame, dies.

Posted by Alison

We are saddened to hear of Sheila Lukins death.
Sheila had been diagnosed with brain cancer three months ago and passed away Sunday August 30th.

With her business partner Julee Rosso, the duo awakened North Americans to a whole new era of cooking and ingredients (raspberry vinegar anyone). Their seminal, and tiny, food shop in New York city called Silver Palate was an extension of their catering business, which in turn lead them to write the groundbreaking book The Silver Palate Cookbook in 1982.

We hosted a party for the dynamic duo in honour of the book's 25th Anniversary in 2007 and both Sheila and Julee were in attendance. What a time we had!

In honour of her passing we should all head to the kitchen and make the Chicken Marbella recipe from The Silver Palate Cookbook.

Friday Lunch: Wanda's Belgian Waffles

Posted by Jennifer

Once in a while--well maybe more often than that-- we like to treat
ourselves at lunch on Friday. Our latest lunch was from Wanda’s
Belgian Waffles--(not related to Wanda’s Pie in the Sky as far as we
can tell) which recently opened in the neighbourhood.


Besides the waffles, there are pressed sandwiches. We tried the “famous” roasted chicken breast with Thai sauce. Though the bread was nicely golden, this sandwich wasn't pressed enough to hold the filling which fell out as soon as it was picked up. The Thai sauce was sweetly bland. The only discernible flavour came from a cornichon, part of a quaint garnish, impaled along with an olive and pickled onion on a cocktail pick.

We also sampled a waffle with whipped cream, strawberries, and maple topping. Other than under-ripe berries it was acceptable. Ditto the Liege-style cinnamon waffle. They would probably be best eaten immediately on-site, rather than carted back to the store as we had them. Lavender-flavoured soda had almost no taste but the Spa & Fruit sparkling water was similar, if a bit sweeter than Orangina.

The cost: $22.22 for two.

Photos by Gina

Alison dines at the Senator restaurant

Posted by Alison

Being invited to see the movie Julie & Julia for the third time (and loved it for a third time!) meant a meal was required before hand - so I wouldn't be hungry during the movie! Good excuse to try the Senator restaurant just around the corner from the theatre.

With Bob Bermann now in charge of the kitchen, (there's no ownership involved for Bermann, Bob Sniderman is still the owner), this has potential. Bermann with his wife Barbara Gordon were former chefs/owners of the sadly departed Boba restaurant.
Now I confess I have not eaten at the Senator in ages, and the food was always complacent I thought, but what Bermann brings to the kitchen is a raising of standards in everything from quality of ingredients (Cumbrae's meats) to the level of cooking in the kitchen. Yes, he is actually there in chefs whites doing the cooking, leading the way, talking to customers.

The Senator has always been about diner/comfort food and it still is. I had the Sante Fe Green Chile Cheeseburger that was perfectly cooked, pink in the middle. French fries need help, and why not a choice of sweet potato fries? My dinner date had the Herbed Chicken Supreme Roast Sweet Peppers and Mashed Potato, while the chicken was a little overcooked the wonderful soft potato mash more than made up for this oversight, really potatoes and butter can solve a lot of life's problems! We shared an Apple Crumble Pie dessert that would have greatly benefited from a dollop of cream or ice cream. May I suggest Bob's semi retired wife Barbara, who made the fabulous desserts at Boba, be enticed to create a dessert menu.

Meanwhile Bermann has plans to do more with the menus especially at breakfast. Take-out being a major part of their business - the cutely named "Breakfast in Bread" combinations will be a great start to the day, and although I am not a coffee drinker I couldn't help but admire the huge gleaming coffee machine right up front - all ready for those bleary eyed, newly relocated City TV employees right next door in their spanking new studios!

Adding new items, keeping old favourites without annoying the regulars will be a challenge for Bermann, but I am eager to try the results. The Senator is definitely on my re-visit list to see what Chef does with the menu.

Senator Restaurant
249 Victoria St (Yonge and Dundas Square)
Toronto
416-364-7517

To market, to market

Posted by Jennifer

A sight I did not want to see just yet: winter squash. I do not want to know the end of summer is within sight when I still have not had a decent peach. That said, the peaches at the Bizjak Farm stand at Borden/Bloor last Wednesday were close to my idea of peach ripeness so they should be fine this week. Yet a peach I tasted on the weekend from another grower was still crunchy.

Potato Lady (Marvellous Edibles) at Bloor/Borden has ever more varieties of potatoes. Ruby Gold is almost as good as German butterball. She also has many heirloom tomatoes, as lovingly raised, and as proudly presented as the potatoes.

Another of my favourite vendors, Collins, have something I have neverseen before in a local farmers market -- artichokes. Caroll Collins says that although they are not alone in growing artichokes, there are not many people growing them in Ontario, especially for commercial sales. In California, artichokes are a perennial plant while here they must be planted annually. The Collins are at Sick Kids on Tuesday and Borden/Bloor on Wednesday.

********************************************************
On a rare Saturday off , I dash to two markets I have not visited
before. Historic St. Andrew’s, on Maude just below Richmond Street
west of Spadina is in its first year. Part of the MyMarket group,
most of the vendors here are familiar from Sick Kids, Borden/Bloor,
and Liberty Village. The Thames River Melons stand is here with its
great corn. I leave with a dozen cobs of their Navaho, some to eat off
the cob, the rest for a shrimp and corn chowder.

Either because it is a cloudy morning or because it is a new market,
the pace here is slow. If you want to get to know the growers, this
is a good place to start.

Spending more time than I intended, I get to Withrow Park just at
closing time. This is its second year, some of the vendors are also
at Brickworks, the Green Barn, and Dufferin Grove. Despite my
tardiness I still manage to get Webers eggs.

To Market, to market

Posted by Jennifer

I have just tried one of the best potatoes I have ever eaten. My “Potato Lady” aka Ayse Akoner, with husband Jens Eller, is at Bloor/Borden market on Wednesday afternoon. This week they had two varieties that they have grown for the first time this year: German butterball and Lindzer deleketess. The German Butterball tastes like mashed potatoes with loads of butter and cream -- but without actually adding the butter and cream. Not only do they taste great, but they have what I can only describe as a wonderful “mouth feel”, creating a delicious fullness. The Lindzers , a fingerling, have a really unusual flavour, rather mineralish, with an almost astringent
aftertaste. Both will be available for several more weeks. They also still have warba potatoes, a pretty pink-tinged cream. The French fingerlings are also just starting.

Thames River Melons, which is at a number of markets including City Hall on Wednesday and Metro Hall on Thursday, as the name suggests specializes in melons. But, they also have the best corn I have tried this year. Gourmet sweet is the variety currently on sale. Too late for “Navajo” but both are sweet, tender and require minimal cooking time. For melon fans, they expect charentais melons in about two weeks.

Julie & Julia Movie Review #2

Posted by Jennifer

In my twenties, I was a gormless girl. A journalism school dropout, I read the female practitioners of the new journalism rather than writing myself. My much older boyfriend had previously been involved with the owner of a small French restaurant, the best in the city in which I then lived. In a move that is now cringe-making, I started to cook my way through the two volumes of Julia Childs Mastering the Art of French Cooking in the belief that if the old girlfriend was a good cook I had to be a better cook.

In the end, the relationship with the man did not last. However, I learned to cook well enough to work for the old girlfriend in her restaurant. My published writing has mainly been about food. And, I got to meet Julia Child four times.

The newly released movie Julie & Julia resonates for me on several levels. Nora Ephron was one of the female writers I was reading at the same time I was cooking through Mastering. Following in the steps of her screenwriter parents, Ephron has become a celebrated director and screenwriter. Here she is screenwriter, director and producer.

I also recognize the Julie of Julie & Julia. She, too, is a writer, one disguised as a clerk. Published in 2005, the book is based on the blog which Julie Powell wrote as she cooked her way through the 524 recipes in Mastering the Art of French Cooking in 365 days. In the pre-blogosphere world in which I grew up, I could never have imagined that anyone outside my immediate acquaintances would have been interested in my cooking adventures. I know even they were rolling their eyes after I used the phrase, But Julia wouldnt do it that way, once too often. Julie Powells chronicle quickly became a blog success story, winning the attention of the New York Times and ultimately a book contract. To Julies great dismay, Julia Child, then late in her life, was not amused.

By itself, Julies story - almost 30, post-9/11 clerk, married and living in Queens with her husband and with a bevy of nasty friends would not have made much of a movie. However, by weaving together Julie & Julia and Julia Child’s own memoir, My Life in France written with her great nephew, Alex Prudhomme, at the end of her life and published posthumously, Nora Ephron has created something memorable.

Though probably best characterized as a romantic comedy, both strands of the story are set in periods of upheaval. Julias took place as the world recovered from World War II and the United States grappled with McCarthyism. Julies story unfolds in a New York reeling from the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Centre.

At worst, some people have labeled Meryl Streep’s performance as Julia a parody or a caricature. To me it seemed as though she simply became Julia - often close to the line but never over it, capturing not just her distinctive voice and mannerisms but also the less tangible qualities, the openness to new experiences, the endless curiosity which made her the perfect person to translate French cuisine for the North American masses. She knew what questions they needed answered because she had asked them herself.

The union between Julia and Paul Child is at the forefront of the movie as it was in the memoir and in an earlier biography. Theirs was a both a very sensual and supportive union and the portrayal of its steadfastness moved me to tears. Streeps sensitivity to Julias character is best realized when she displays simultaneous joy and sorrow when Julias sister announces her pregnancy. One wonders whether Julia Child would have accomplished what she did had she had children, but it was a disappointment in her life. While the spotlight has mainly been on Meryl Streeps role as Julia, Stanley Tuccis portrait of Paul Child is equally engaging. By contrast, the relationship between Julie and her husband Eric, seems much more in flux(the relationship has survived the blog; they are still together).
Though she suffers by comparison to Meryl Streep, Amy Adams makes Julie Powell more likeable and less self-absorbed than the book made her seem.

Even the smaller parts are well cast. Simone Beck, Louisette Bertholle, Julias sister and parents, and Avis De Voto are all as imagined. The Vogue fashionista, Joan Juliet Buck, plays Julias Cordon Bleu nemesis, Mme Brassart, to icy perfection. But when all is said and done, what can top Paris playing itself or sole meuniere gilded to perfection?

Five years after her death, the movie is a timely reminder of the force of nature that was Julia Child, and brings a last century icon to a 21st century audience.

See our first review here.

THE BI-ANNUAL TORONTO PURVEYOR'S STEAK TASTING

Posted by Josh

Every two years, there is a get together of serious steak tasters to see which of the better beef suppliers provides the best rib and sirloin steaks. This year, the group consisted of chef Mark Macewan, Josh Josephson, chef David Lee, Jimmy Molloy, chef Joe Bersani, Clayton Ruby, Todd Halpern and David Minucci, co-owner of L'Unita restaurant. All steaks were cooked rare by one chef (David Lee). Another individual cut the pieces and a third person plated the pieces in a certain order so that essentially, this tasting was done "blind". All steaks were referred to by number when scored. None knew the results, or which steak connected with what number, or score, except a fourth individual who was responsible for scoring after all steaks were scored.

These were the results for the best rib steaks: #1 Cumbraes, #2Healthy Butcher wagyu, #3 Macewan, #4 Top Meadow Farm, #5 The Butcher Shop, #6 Olliffe.

These were the results for the best sirloin steaks: #1 Cumbraes, #2 Macewan, #3 Olliffe and The Butcher Shop tied, #4 Whole Foods

Bitten: Lindt fleur de sel chocolate

Posted by Jennifer

After two people in a row came into the store this afternoon trumpeting the pleasures of Lindt Excellence chocolate with fleur de sel, we too had to rush out to try it. We were promised little bursts of caramel rather than overt saltiness. In fact, the saltiness hits just as the chocolate slides down the throat. The overall texture is one of creamy smoothness--at a minimum of 47% cacao solids it is not terribly bitter-- with just the occasional crunch of a salt flake.

We would try it in millionaire's shortbread as a counterpoint to the caramel layer. For the more sophisticated palate, we would use it in a chocolate terrine with prunes soaked in Armagnac. Easiest of all, it is a lovely treat on its own.

In a quick jog around our Bloor-Yorkville neighbourhood, we found it at three places, and at three different prices. We bought it at Pusateri's which, despite its reputation, was least expensive at $3.00 per 100 grams. At Shoppers Drug Mart, it was $3.59, and at Rabba, $4.29.

To Market, to market

Posted by Jennifer


If this is Saturday morning it must be the Green Barn market. It is crowded but relaxed. Beans, potatoes, carrots, summer squash, mushrooms, and greens are in great supply. Strangely, I see no corn and few tomatoes. Also, unusual for this time of year, the Pine River booth, home of my perfect garlic, has mounds of asparagus.

There are peaches but the free sample I try is not ripe. Crunchy peaches? I don't think so. However, Bizjaks still have sweet cherries and apricots which I scoop up for yet another pie. I get my first apples of the season from them as well. Large, green and red, Bellevistas are tart and crisp.
A disappointment--the Stoddarts are AWOL. No duck eggs this week. Alas, I have already used up the last I had to make custard for gooseberry fool. So rich, so smooth, a lovely colour. I'll try again next week. In the meantime, It's Weber's chicken eggs for me.

The Moncktons, from Berkeley are at a number of markets including Liberty Village, Bloor/Borden, and East Lynn. They always have baked goods made from flour milled from their own wheat. Occasionally, they have flour for sale. I have rarely seen a bag of small-producer flour that I did not have to have, and this is no exception. A blend of red wheats--although not the icon Red Fife, it is a hard wheat flour that I will try in breadbaking.

There is now a vendor selling fresh Nova Scotia haddock and scallops. Since I am on my way to work I don't buy this time. They will be back and so will I.

To Market, to market

Posted by Jennifer

What’s available now:

Broccoli, cabbage--red and green, cauliflower, potatoes, plums,

peaches, melons, apples

Still available:

Strawberries, currants, raspberries, gooseberries, cherries--sweet and

sour, greens from chards to lettuces, beets, carrots, onions, garlic,

summer squash, tomatoes…

In other words, if you want to try a hundred mile diet, this is the

moment to do it. My Monday night dinner consisted of Scotch Mountain

Meats blade steak marinated into tenderness, red and blue crushed

potatoes with a drizzle of non-local olive oil, purple beans, and

gooseberry fool for dessert.

Farmers markets are usually not the place to save money. All those

mounds of fresh fruits and vegetables are just too seductive , the

allure of duck eggs, the siren call of dry-cured bacon conspire

against me. However, Bosco Farms with a stand at Liberty Village,

Sick Kids, Borden-Bloor and others, offers a choice of five

vegetables, typically in quart baskets, for $10.00. They usually will

throw in a few extras, too. For my $10.00 at Sick Kids on Tuesday, I

came home with a bunch of red onions, three eggplants, two types of

cauliflower, and a cabbage. It is a great way to stock up on produce

staples.

The Bosco Farms Haul

Bitten: Ooey Gooey

Posted by Jennifer

One of my favourite stops on my neighbourhood shopping circuit is About Cheese on Church Street south of Wellesley. The fine selection of Canadian and international cheese, EPI Breads, Thornloe artisanal butter, and the generous samples are all reasons enough to draw you into this tiny shop. However, it gets better: they make a grilled cheese sandwich ($6.50).

The combination of Riopelle and Frère Jacques cheeses between slices of rosemary olive bread is transformed into a molten mass Usually, I think that Riopelle, like brie, is best served unadulterated. But, who can resist this golden goo?

The six minutes this transformation takes gives ample time to race to close-by neighbour Cumbrae Farms, to pick up some of their Berkshire lard or cream-fed pork belly.

You can also have the sandwich with la Quercia rossa prosciutto. Personally, I prefer it without. Any additions take this already indulgent treat way beyond.

Photos by Gina

To Market, To Market

Posted by Jennifer

This is my first visit this year to the Liberty Village market. My reward is meeting two vendors I have not come across elsewhere. Esker Ridge Farms seems to specialize in –you guessed it—beets, and Swiss chard. Naturally, I have to try the beets. An heirloom variety, the two bunches of bull’s blood small red-veined leaves, tender enough for salad. The roots are remarkably uniform in size—about as big as a man’s thumb. They scream, “Pickle me!”.

McLeans from Buckhorn have potatoes –blues and reds- which are coloured all the way through. I can’t wait to try them since some rosy pink scalloped potatoes I had in one of Gary Hoyer’s restaurants is a favourite food memory.

Scotch Mountain Meats is back here after a year’s hiatus. By the time I get there some cuts are sold old but blade steak is on the menu for dinner tonight.

Josh banquets at Dhaba

Posted by Josh

Dhaba
309 King St. W., Toronto
416-740-6622

Chef Pk's cuisine consists of layers of flavours in your mouth, the flavours transparent rather than overwhelmed with heat, sweetness or one particular strong taste. Toronto's most sophisticated Indian food experience, easily on par with some of the great Indian restaurant experiences that I have enjoyed in London, England, such as Benares. I will let the following mouth watering descriptions speak for themselves.

To begin:
Crunch wafers, sweet potatoes, garbanzo beans, avacados, topped with tamarind yogurt chutney dressing.


Rack of lamb marinated with fresh papaya, ginger, crushed garlic, and roasted herbs, dark rum and grilled over wood charcoal in the clay oven.

Jumbo prawns marinated with crushed garlic, olive oil, Indian thyme, spanish saffron and white pepper,then stuffed with grated coconut, fresh dill, roasted garlic, sun dried pomegranate and raw baby mangoes and cooked over wood charcoal.

Mains:
Lobster Baigan- Indian rock lobster marinated with ground turmeric and garlic, pan roasted Indian eggplants, tossed and finished in rich shallot, tomato, fenugreek sauce.

Braised venison in a sauce of ginger - garlic pesto, five spice mix and covered in a puréed baby bok choy, rapini, mustard green mix.

Boti - Chicken marinated in ginger garlic pesto, homemade pressed yogurt, paprika, ground cumin, salt & pepper then seared in the clay oven and then tossed in a pan with home style thick masala of shallots, roma tomato, turmeric, corriander, cumin, crushed garlic, chopped ginger and chicken broth, with market fresh vegetables. Topped with baby bocconcini.

Bombay Paneer Aloo-Homemade Paneer(hand crushed) and Yukon potatoes tossed in EVO with royal cumin, sun dried kashmere chillies, curry leaf, browned garlic and turmeric and cooked with Panch Poran (five spice mix) and finished with fresh cilantro.

Sides:
Saffron basmati pilaff, studded with cashew nuts, cumin, cloves, cardamom and bay leaf.

Sesame garlic naan bread baked in the charcoal oven.

Chilli mint paratha- multi layered whole wheat bread rolled with crushed chillies and mint baked in wood charcoal oven.

Dessert:

Freshly made chaina raw paneer cheese medallions, pistachio, fresh mango splash with 100th anniversary Grand Marnier soaked mixed berries.