To Market, To Market at Sick Kids, August 24, 2010

What a very strange summer!  Not only are there fall fruits at the market--pears, plums, and apples-- rhubarb, that most quintessential of early spring crops, has reappeared.

I, of course, cannot resist rhubarb.  This will give me an opportunity to cook up a batch of Ottolenghi's rhubarb and plum relish, using Italian rather than the suggeted red plums.

I had feared that peach season which started so early might soon come to an end.  However, at Loffredo Farms, they say that the crop is so huge that they expect there will be fruit into October.  For as long as I can remember Red Havens have been the gold standard of peaches.  This year, in a season of superb peaches, they have, to my taste, and seconded by others to whom I have mentioned this, been something of a disappointment.  Although some have been juicy and delicious, others were mealy with no flavour, or just plain hard.

There were still elderberries at O.K. Farms.  With their crabapples, they will make great jelly.
 Alas, there was an empty space where Haystrom Farms usually sells heirloom tomatoes and potatoes. Oh well, there's always next week.

Lunch At Pangaea

I love the rare roast beef, sliced tomato and mayo sandwich, at Pangaea, served on a crunchy baguette and accompanied by lovely herb dusted frites. So, my lunch partner had that, and loved it!

I used to be addicted to it for lunch. But, I have been on the Josephson diet ever since I returned from my Spanish food fantasy tour. So now, that means no alcohol 3 to 4 days a week and nothing but Greek salads for dinner twice a week. And then, when I go for lunch, I will typically eat very moderately, like the dish you see below: steamed cipollini onions, beluga lentils, steamed spinach, peas and asparagus, to which I add a touch of olive oil and some lemon juice. Very tasty....but moderate.....for me, and perfect for my diet.

Breakfast At Blue Plate And A Sandwich Worth The Journey

We recently had breakfast at Blue Plate Restaurant. To be honest, it was the duck hash and fried eggs that drove me to eat there. I liked the duck hash accompanied by sauteed onions, but it was far too little on my plate...I had to dig to find it and I was craving more. But it was potentially good. Also, it just needed more duck . My toast was well done as I like it. I ordered a side of their sausage and that was very good, savory, coarsely textured with burst-in-your-mouth flavour. The perfect breakfast plate for me.

My partner ordered poached eggs with spinach and tomato on a brioche, with hollandaise sauce. The eggs were perfectly poached and the hollandaise well executed and tasty. The brioche was the perfect base.

And, after all that, I was craving more. I decided to try the club sandwich. It arrived with grilled chicken, crispy bacon, lettuce, tomato, avocado and creamy garlic mayo all on a toasted baguette. Now, that was a very good sandwich!! This was worth the journey!

Dhaba, A Favourite For Indian Food

I recently ate at Dhaba Restaurant and enjoyed two very good dishes I wanted to share with everyone. First, wonderfully crispy and flavourful soft shelled crab, seasoned with fenugreek and grilled. It was served with a very complementary fennel salad with mint chutney

And then, jumbo prawns grilled over wood charcoal that were marinated with garlic, olive oil, Indian thyme, Spanish saffron and white pepper and perfectly cooked.

To Market, To Market, on August 18

I strolled over to Huntley Street to check out the Rogers farmers market again.  Instead of mounds of fresh vegetables and breads, I found heavy machinery and policemen directing traffic.  Upon closer inspection I found the sign directing me to Rogers head office --the giant wedding cake of a building where Jarvis meets Mount Pleasant.  A good-natured security guard oversees the signing of the register then waves his security card to let the masses enter.

This time there were a few more vendors this time though some are already packing up despite the fact there is almost an hour of shopping left.  With memories of Ottolenghi's charred cauliflower salad in my head I choose a picked-that-morning cauliflower. This grower, from Cookstown, also has globe artichokes, only the second time I have seen any that are locally grown--Collins at Sick Kids and Borden Street also have them.

I cannot pass up a chance to buy St. John's bread, conveniently located next to the exit.  It's walnut raisin this time.

To Market, To Market, East Lynn on August 19

This is my first trip out to East Lynn this year.  It is very much a neighbourhood market with lots of young families.  Beware the stroller gridlock!  Part of the MyMarket group, East Lynn has several familiar faces: Belangers and Esker Ridge who are also at Liberty Village, as well as Bosco, O.K. Farms, and Loffredo Fruit Farm.

Although there are still peaches, raspberries, and even strawberries, apples are gradually moving in.  Lincoln Line's free samples convince me that lodi apples are similar enough to harvest apples that I should buy some for apple sauce.  But their tart crispness makes them, to my taste, a good eating apple, too.
At O.K. Farms, they have what may be the last of the elderberries which, like everything else this year, have ripened more quickly than usual.  This week's peaches are disappointing--mealy rather than juicy.

As usual, Esker Ridge has a wonderful selection of heirloom potatoes, cucumbers, and tomatoes.  Among the tomatoes, I score a White Queen and Green Zebra .  I also try an apple cucumber. Short and almost round, it barely resembles a cucumber, but its flavour is classic --and what is missing from supermarket cucumbers.

Later dinner is all vegetables:  sliced tomatoes with buffalo mozzarella drizzled with olive oil, cauliflower salad, cucumbers sprinkled with Maldon salt, and pickled baby beets.

Cheese Heaven!

At recent small reception for an author I was lucky enough to chat to the wonderful Cole Snell, owner of About Cheese. He was sampling the rarest of rare Canadian artisanal cheese Le Secret de Maurice from cheesemaker Maurice Dufour from the Charlevoix region of Quebec.

This seminal runny, and I mean seriously runny ripened cheese is best served as an appetizer says Cole. We cut off the top, too runny to cut into, and he gave me a spoon and I literally scooped out the cheese. Who says you need a cracker. It was sublime. Made completely  from sheep's milk with a delicate flavour - pair it with a lovely S. Blanc or Pinot Grigio on a hot summers day and this could be supper!

To Market, To Market--Green Barn, on August 14

There is one word for Saturday's  Green Barn market:  lush.  Not only were the stalls piled high with fruits and vegetables at their best, the gardens planted around the barn were looking perfect. It seemed that shoppers were taking time to enjoy it all by sitting down to enjoy a snack, conversation, or just to take in everything around them.

To my great pleasure, Marvellous Edibles found that they still had some bacon left after all.  Further along, I spotted the sort of corn I like--small cobs.  I do not know what variety Sosnicki Organics was selling but it was tender but  not too sweet.  It was delicious on its own and in corn chowder with the first German butterball potatoes of the season--and the bacon.

There were still loads of peaches.  Alas, the Red Havens that were so perfect in the morning were already going soft by evening.  We had to eat fast.

But even as we enjoy corn, peaches, and tomatoes, the most summery of crops, the growing displays of hard squashes, cabbage, cauliflower, and broccoli remind us that autumn is on its way.  To help stave off thoughts of colder weather, there is still time to add a few plants to your garden.  Urban Harvest still has healthy herbs and flowers such as buddleia which attracts butterflies.

Masa Restaurant, New York, Perhaps North America's Best Japanese Experience

Masa is, in my opinion, perhaps North America's best Japanese dining experience. I was not allowed to take photos so there is no pictorial record of my experience. The meal costs $450.00 per person, before taxes, saki or wine and gratuities, but, the cost is on par with the best kaiseki or sushi restaurants in Japan, because of the freshness and sourcing of the food elements.

When one enters, and we went for lunch, the elegant entrance to a very quiet and small, formal space prepares one for the focused experience to come.

We enjoyed the Masa Omakase Menu. There is no selection. The presentation of the food and the dishware selected is of paramount importance. The pristine fish were impeccably fresh. Although I have had this quality of fish in Japan, it is a truly rare experience in North America.

The following dishes were presented to us in this order.

Appetizers

unagi with japanese cucumber
toro tartare topped with sevruga caviar (a remarkable combination)
suzuki (japanese sea bass) sashimi
soft shelled crab with yomogi greens
shirauo in sizzling garlic oil
omi (a variety of wagyu) beef tataki
hamo (pike) nabe

Sushi Courses

toro (the fatty part of bluefin tuna)
shimaaji (island jack fish)
hirame (fluke)
tai (sea bream)
kinme (deep sea snapper)
shiitake (mushroom)
ika (squid)
amaebi (sweet shrimp)
aoyagi (orange clam)
grilled toro suji (grilled toro sinew)
aji (horse mackerel)
kuruma ebi (cooked shrimp)
akamutsu (fatty deep sea snapper)
anago (sea eel)
unagi (fresh water eel)
uni (sea urchin)
tako (octopus)
summer truffle ball
negi toro (fatty blue fin tuna with chopped green onion) roll
ume (Japanese plum) shiso lotus wrap

Dessert

grape fruit granite

To Market, To Market, Tuesday, August 10, 2010

With masses of gladioli, dahlias, and sunflowers at its centre, the market at Sick Kids resembles a giant buffet table.  Vegetables anchor the ends:  purple carrots, artichokes, cabbage, cauliflower, potatoes, tomatoes(yes, I know they are really a fruit), lettuces, herbs. On either side of the flowers, it is almost all fruit:  strawberries, apples, crabapples, pears, red raspberries, blackberries, elderberries, plums in many hues, and, of course, peaches, peaches, peaches. But back to the plums: Andrews Scenic Acres has the much prized damsons. I leave with a basket.  It is not just the memory of the flavor which fills me with anticipation, it is the memory of the scent, a heady floral sweetness tamed with tartness,that evokes late summer for me almost as much as the smell of my mother's chili sauce simmering on the stove.  I can't wait to start cooking though I certainly could forego the endless skimming to capture all the pits.

To Market, To Market--Liberty Village, August 8, 2010

Taking the subway and Ossington bus made the trek to the Liberty Village market much quicker.  The slightly soggy day was considerably brightened when I spotted something for which I have been waiting--elderberries--at O.K. Farms.  What makes it even better is that they had removed the berries from their picky little stems.

The melons are still looking, and tasting, fine. But there are more signs of fall with baskets of pears, plums, and apples, including early Macs.  The crab apples set thoughts of jelly making in my head.
The freestone Red Haven peaches are ripe earlier than usual.  Cauliflower and some of the hard squashes are also in that earlier-then-usual category but I still want to live on corn and tomatoes, and green beans and eggplants...I had looked forward to trying more heirloom tomatoes from Esker Ridge.  Sadly, due to a death in the family, Diane Webber was not at the market this week.

Once home, the peaches and elderberries became filling for a very juicy pie.  The buttery double crust was from a classic Julia Child recipe. On the side?  I had made the hazelnut ice cream from  Wednesday's New York Times.  Creamy but not very sweet, it was the perfect foil to the pie.

Editor of Food Arts, Michael Batterberry Passes On

It was with great sadness that I just learned of Michael Batterberry's very recent death. Michael Batterberry was an early influence in my evolving view of food experience and good food. My first encounter with Michael was when he started up Food and Wine Magazine. I would devour that early food publication and loved to read Michael's editorials often written with his wife, Ariane. After Michael and Ariane sold Food and Wine to American Express, the publication declined for me, but as a food periodical, I kept reading it.

Later, Michael And Ariane started Food Arts, a publication for the food industry. I was also an avid follower of this publication and Michael's practical, sometimes philosophical editorials. Michael knew the food scene well, how the trends in cuisine were evolving and who the players were. He loved the experience of good food, a l'ancienne, traditional or nouveau. Food Arts also kept up with all of the openings and closings of significant restaurants around the United States, one way for me to keep abreast.

I was introduced to Michael and Ariane, many years ago, when I was a house guest of my good friends, Peter and Amy Meltzer, at their country house in Wainscott on Long Island. Michael and Ariane were there simultaneously. We enjoyed speaking about our common interests of good food, and travel experiences eating our way through the many countries we both had visited. Michael was such an elegant, well spoken and erudite man, such a pleasure to be with. Although we were not close, his passing left a hole in my world and I am sure for many of his admirers, they felt a great loss.

To Market, To Market on August 4, 2010

Hot, still, and hazy, this was the quintessential August day.  My day off plus perfect weather made it a two market day.  I went to City Hall for the first time this year.  The immediate thing that hit me was what an international market this one is.  Not in terms of sellers but in terms of shoppers--a multitude of colors and languages.  By comparison, the produce offered is much more conventional with fewer heirloom fruits and vegetables,more red tomatoes, not so many green, brown or yellow.Two favorites from other markets--Andrews Scenic Acres and Thames Valley Melons--are here.  The Andrews have added corn and stone fruits to their usual amazing selection of soft fruits.  I picked up black currants, now well on their way to becoming sorbet.  The prize at Thames River was charentais melon.

I journeyed west to Borden Street in the afternoon with visions of Jens Eller's bacon  and O.K. Farms harvest apples dancing in my head.  What I got was a reminder that when you shop outside a supermarket, you can't always get what you want when you want it.  The bacon is gone until fall; the apples are gone until this time next year! Seasons do still exist,however much we would like to think otherwise.

Fortunately, the peaches, potatoes--rose gold and bintjes-, and  beets made up for the disappointment. The money I didn't spend on bacon was invested in Chabichou's house butter.  Excellent with Thames River's Gourmet Sweet corn and a sprinkle of Maldon salt.

To Market, To Market, Liberty Village, August 1, 2010

It was not the best trip to a market.  As I got on the subway, I remembered my camera was at home. As we emerged from the King subway, a streetcar pulled away.  Not to worry, another was in sight.  It short-turned before it got to Yonge Street--and so did the three that came after it.  When we finally did get on a streetcar, it too turned north before we got to out destination.

When we got to the Liberty Village market, almost an hour after starting out, it was a glorious sight.  Peaches, peaches everywhere.  Ditto for corn and tomatoes. I got peaches from both Bizjak's and Loffredo.  It turned out that the ones from Bizjak's were still quite hard.  By Monday morning they had softened and were flavorful and juicy.  A "small" watermelon from Thames River Melons was probably the best I have ever tasted, incredibly sweet and juicy.  Their corn was not quite so perfect--two of the six cobs of "Gourmet Sweet"  were past their prime although the others were as fine as I remember from last year.

I also got more apples--labeled "Harvest Apples".  I did not look closely enough.  When I got them home and started peeling, I realized the texture was not quite right.  They made ad decent pie but without the tartness I was expecting--and these apples, whatever they were, were drier too.

I bought tomatoes from Dianne Webber of Esker Ridge Farm.  She has lost some of her crop to cutworm but still managed to have a nice selection of heirlooms.  Black brandwines(at least that what she thought they were) made delicious sandwiches garnished with lettuce and basil from my own tiny garden!

So, annoying though the initial trip was, I still ended up happy. Taking the Ossington bus and the subway made the homeward journey a lot faster.