Rosy cheeks

Hello foodies,

Parents often deceive young children to get them to eat healthy foods.  There are even cookbooks about it, such as Jessica Seinfeld's Deceptively Delicious, where vegetables are sneakily added to favourites.

I experienced something similar as a child.  Not in the sense that I was given something with veggies  surreptitiously added.  I was outright lied to.  I was told that a particular vegetable would have a particular effect.  I was young.  5-ish.  And some family was visiting from out of town - my mother's cousin and aunt.  One of the veg planned for dinner was beets, and 5 year old pre-Culinary Kira was not impressed.  I was vocal about my disdain, but Aunt Marjorie stopped me in my tracks. 

First, there was the inevitable question, "Have you ever tried them?"  Of course I hadn't.  I didn't eat things I didn't think I would like, a practice I largely maintained until my late teens.  No assurances that they were really very tasty, or that they were good for me, swayed me in my enmity.  I knew my mother wouldn't force me to eat them.  I was comfortable in the knowledge that there would be other, more acceptable things for me to eat.  It was not a choice between these weirdly reddish-purple balls and starvation.  Then Aunt Marge hit upon something that was sure to catch the attention of almost any little girl.  She told me that it was really a pity I wouldn't try beets, because they are what women eat to make their cheeks rosy.

Rosy cheeks?  Like the princesses in Disney movies?  I was a pale, freckly girl (who grew into a pale, freckly adult).  Rosy cheeks were something to be desired.  I was in!  The way beets were most often presented in my house were pickled.  Not a long, canned preservation.  A quick pickle.  Boiled, cooled and submersed in vinegar for a couple of hours.  Served chilled, in a cut crystal pickle dish, very pretty against the white tablecloth. 

So 5 year old me committed to trying them.  When the time came, sure that they would be gross, but determined to achieve the desired rosy cheeked result, I took a bite.  The cool acid of the vinegar immediately appealed.  Then there was that unique blend of sweet and earthy that is typical of beets.  And a firm texture.  It turns out, I was wrong (not for the first time) when I had thought they wouldn't be something I would like.

In the last couple of years, beets have enjoyed quite a renaissance.  you see them all the time in nicer restaurants.  A memorable experience at The Courtyard in Ottawa presented the beets as faceted jewels on the plate.  I have had beet salads with quinoa, goat cheese, blue cheese, pistachios, and assortment of other ingredients.  The beets, with their dramatic colour and wonderful flavour are always the star. 

However, to this day, pickled beets are my favourite preparation, and every time I have beets, I think of my Aunt Marge, long since passed away, who tricked me into liking them.

The Byward Market, awash with beets of every variety:

Side Door

Hello Foodies,

I am back in Ottawa, my houseguests are gone, my internal batteries are recharged, and I am hoping to get back to more regular posting.

Today, I want to talk about the Side Door restaurant.

At a glance, it is not the sort of place I would particularly want to try.  Sleek decor meant to impress the trendy young professionals who seem to be the target demographic, cavernous interior, distinct sections for changes in mood (an atrium, a large outdoor patio, and the main restaurant area, which is HUGE, a large room that can be closed off for private events), an Asian fusion, small-plates driven menu.  Everything adds up to après-work singles bar, which is not something I gravitate towards.  Perhaps it is unfair of me, but my gut instinct on places like this assumes that it will be mediocre food - more about where you're eating than about what you're eating.  In this case, I am happy to say I was wrong.

What got me out to the place was Top Chef Canada, season 2.  As I mentioned in a previous post, I am a cooking competition show junkie, and Top Chef is one of my favourites.  Top Chef Canada?  Even better.  Great cooking, restaurants I don't have to leave the country to try, and patriotism all in one tidy package.  In season 2, there were two chefs from Ottawa restaurants.  Strangely enough, the two restaurants were side by side:  The Courtyard and Side Door.  When season 2 started, I had recently been to The Courtyard, so it was fresh in my mind.  But with the head chef from Side Door on the show, I knew I had to go there as well, particularly since it was also revealed that the chef in question (Jonathan Korecki) hailed from my hometown.  This automatically made him my top pick, and I must say, he did pretty well indeed, making the final.  Having been to his restaurant a few times, I can see why. 

A couple of quick observations - the lunch menu is very limited - tacos, soups, salads.  To get a full sense of the restaurant and its strengths, you need to go for dinner.  Also, the menu changes up fairly frequently, so even looking now at the menu, one dish I LOVED doesn't seem to be there anymore.  This is both a strength and a weakness that I must learn to love.  Old loves gone, but new things to try.  There are a few things that are there pretty consistently, though, from what I have seen.  The food comes out as it is ready, not necessarily to balance who ordered what or to create an overall composed dining experience - remember, the idea is small plates, largely for sharing.

Now, on to the food.

As I said, it is a small plates restaurant.  This, of course, allows you to try many things.  I have mentioned fish tacos a couple of times before, but others I have tried have been lacking.   These are not - they are by far the best fish taco I have had.  All of the tacos offered here are excellent - 5 regular varieties and a chef's special taco.  On this particular night, frequent dining companion L had the fish tacos, pictured above, and I tried the special - something called "squacon."  Squacon would be squid bacon.  Smoked, cured squid.  It was interesting, although I am not sure the smoking/curing process did much for squid's natural tendency towards rubberiness; however, as someone who applauds experimentation and outside the box thinking by restaurants, full marks for creativity on this. It did not compare to my Side Door taco favourite - the spicy beef.  What makes the tacos here fabulous is the perfect balance.  It is a delightful harmony of contrasts:  soft vs crunchy, cool vs warm (temperature), cool vs hot (spiciness), fattiness vs acid.  All served on a freshly made flour tortilla.  That tortillas are excellent quality, and are really is what ties the taco dish together.  Looking back at other fish tacos I have tried recently, my dissatisfaction has been tortilla related - dry, unappealing texture, and lacking in structural integrity.  Since I have a pic, here is the squacon, although you can't really see the meat under the toppings.

 

The next dish I'd like to talk about is the salmon rillette.  This was fantastic.  First, it is beautiful to look at.  The rillette had a beautiful texture, cool, with that rich salmon taste.  Assembling little bites using the tempura fried betel leaves and the herbs and veggies in the centre was fun, and made each bit a little different.  It was an excellent balance between portions.  You didn't finish the protein fast only to be left with a pile of less interesting veggies and herbs.  The crispy betel leaves were sturdy and made and excellent "cracker" to deliver the bites of food to your mouth without worrying it was going to end up on your lap.

Another hands down winner was the son-in-law egg.  A soft boiled egg, breaded and fried, served over a textured, crunchy rice, with radish, cilantro and topped with a spicy chili jam.  To eat, you break the egg, spilling the soft yolky goodness into the bowl and mix it all together.  Each bite has a bit of everything - rich, unctuous yolk; crunchy rice and breading from the egg; fresh, cooling cilantro; and a lovely combination of sweet and heat from the jam.  This is something I will order again and again.  Just writing about it now makes me want to return one night this week for dinner.

 

Other strong, reliable dishes include the salt and pepper calamari with chili vinegar sauce, and the house made doughnuts for dessert.

Not every dish is a home run.  Thai beef carpaccio (ordered on a previous visit, and not pictured) was, for me, too sweet and too saucy.  The point to a carpaccio is the high quality raw beef.  It should be the star, not the delivery system for a aggressive sauce.  Another dish I was so-so on was the grilled beef with butter lettuce leaf wrap and pickled veggies.  This dish was the flip side of the gloriously constructed, perfectly proportioned salmon rillette.  The beef was nicely cooked, but not intensely flavoured or spiced, which makes sense since it was served with pickled veggies.  However, given the portioning, and the more intense pickles, it got a bit lost in all the fripperies.

 

All in all, I enjoy this restaurant and am willing to keep going back to be surprised, challenged, and excited by the interesting dishes coming out of the kitchen.  And, of course, to have more, and more, and more son-in-law eggs.

To close out, the tuna sashimi ordered by frequent dining companion, L.  Another pretty, pretty dish.

 

P.S., my ruthless pruning of my tomato plants last week seems to have brought about the desired results: the plants are not dead, and I have ripening fruit on both plants!

For updates, follow me on twitter!  @culinarykira

Ruthless

Hello foodies,

It has been a quiet couple of weeks, blog-wise.  I was away for a week, and have family visiting this week, so there hasn't been a lot of time to be at the computer writing.

I returned to Ottawa, mother and niece in tow, to find The Beast was beastlier then ever.  Massive.  A dense green world of its own, impenetrable by the ripening rays of the sun.  Tonnes of tomatoes, but well into the second half of August, nary a hint of red.  Goldilocks also has many fruit, none of them ripe, and finally, FINALLY, Tiny has a few flowers, though I am sceptical that they will mature at this late date. 

Already the Ottawa nights are cooler.  Temperatures have been as low as 8 degrees.  I worried that these robust plants will not be able to cross the finish line, but I was not sure what to do.  Being a novice grower, I was reluctant to try pruning, though I have read that removing non-producing branches can help the plant to put all its energy into finishing the fruit on the vine.  Where pruning is concerned, I was not certain how aggressive to be.

Today, I got my answer.  We went to Upper Canada Village.  I have always been a pioneer junkie, reading and re-reading Laura Ingalls Wilder's series.  To this day, I still go through it every couple of years.  Wandering around the historic village, admiring the kitchen gardens, I saw all of the heirloom tomato plants had been staked up and ruthlessly pruned.  A little tuft of green leaves at the top, and massive ripening fruit along the naked stalk.  These beauties had all been pruned early, aggressively and often.  Obviously, it is too late to accomplish quite the same result, but these obviously industrious plants gave me the courage to go home and attack The Beast with my garden shears.

To remind you, this is the beast about a month ago:

This picture no longer did The Beast justice.  She had gained a little in height and much in girth and density, but still, the picture gives you an idea.

And here she is now:

 

As you can see, I have quite a lot of fruit.  And this is just one plant.  There are another 20 or so tomatoes on Goldilocks as well.  She, too, lost some branches today, thought not as aggressively.  She wasn't quite as overgrown, and the trellises I used as stakes are harder to work around.

So, this tomato season has been a learning experience.  I know better what to do next year.  Proper stakes. Regular, aggressive pruning.  Two plants only.  If Tiny were producing prodigiously, I can't imagine how many fruits I'd have.

Tea Biscuits - A Taste of Childhood

Hello foodies,

This morning, I had a bit of nostalgia for breakfast. 

When I was a child, the weekend afforded the opportunity for a more elaborate breakfast than could be managed during the week.  Frequent dishes were french toast, pancakes, or the classic bacon and eggs, but my favourite weekends were the ones when my mother made tea biscuits.  My mother has a deft hand with these biscuits.  It is one dish where I cannot achieve quite as good a result.  A tea biscuit, fresh out of the oven, split and spread with butter and drizzled with real maple syrup (today, real maple syrup made by my baby brother) is a thing of beauty.  When this morning she suggested that she whip up a batch for brekkie, I was all for it, as was nephew T.

1/3 c shortening (or butter)
2 c flour
4 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1 c milk

Mix the dry ingredients and cut the shortening (or butter) into the dry, aiming for a crumbly texture as the fat works into the flour.  Add the milk and stir to combine.

 

When the dough comes together, turn out onto a floured board and knead for 2-3 minutes.  This develops the gluten and ensures the fat is worked well through the dough - essential for getting a good rise, and for the tender texture of the finished product. 

 

Pat out to a thickness of around 1/2 inch (can be a little thicker - it isn't an exact science - but I wouldn't go thinner).

 

Using a floured glass or ring mould, press through the dough to get biscuits of the desired size.  Gather scraps and pat out again to minimize waste - BUT - remember that the more you work the dough at this stage the tougher the product will be.

 

Place on a ungreased cookie sheet, or in an ungreased muffin tin.  Bake in a pre-heated 450 degree oven for 10 minutes, then lower the temperature to 350 for an additional 20 minutes.  Coming out of the oven, they should be golden brown with a good crust and a tender interior.

 

These biscuits have ruined me for scones, tea biscuits and similar products made commercially, because the pro's work just can't compare.  They're always dryer and less tender than my mother's tea biscuits.  And, for people from an English background, these biscuits are the basis for a proper strawberry shortcake, not that oversweet, squishy angel food cake or flan found more commonly in North America.  To turn into strawberry shortcake, split a biscuit, add sweetened whipped cream, sliced strawberries, and a sprinkling of sugar.

For updates, follow me on twitter?  @culinarykira

The Red House

Hello foodies,

I realized that I still had one more restaurant from Kingston to talk about.  I have to finish off on one culinary adventure before starting another, and tomorrow I head to my hometown for a week of vacation that will involve much cooking.

But, The Red House.  That was my last meal in Kingston.  And I must confess, I was not very hungry.  The lunch at Dianne's Fish Bar was large, and 4 hours later I was hardly ready to eat again.  But when in Kingston, you have to put aside feeling of satiation and power through.  Although left feeling like I would never eat again, I was glad I made the effort, because The Red House was a gem.

Just off the picturesque downtown part of Princess St, The Red House has a nice atmosphere.  Another of those old stone buildings, this one had and almost barn like feel - quite rustic, but not kitschy - with high ceilings and beams.  It feels open and airy.  There are different seating areas, and they could certainly fit a lot more tables in there than they currently have, and I find it nice when I am not crammed in so close with my fellow diners.  C and I took a roomy booth opposite the bar.

I would term it a gastropub.  There is a good selection of draft microbrews, and Waupoos cider (!), difficult to find, in Ottawa at least.  And then there was the food.  I always consider it a good sign when the menu is not extensive.  I would much rather see 7 well thought, intriguing, well prepared mains than 22 exercises in mediocrity. 

C opted for the cotechino sausage with red wine lentils and horseradish creme fraiche.  A plate full of peasant food if I ever saw one, and a plate that C assured me was delicious.  Cotechino sausage is a little more rustic and textured than the sausages that most Canadians are more familiar (and more comfortable) with.  What makes this a little out of the ordinary is that this type of sausage traditionally has pork rind in it as well as the meat and fat - but not crispy, fried pork rinds that people snack on.  The addition of the rind makes for a chewier sausage that C assures me is quite unusual.  Lentils (or cannellini beans) are the traditional accompaniment.  You can see in the picture below the coarser texture and bright pink colour of this sausage.

 

Despite the short menu, I had some trouble deciding because there were a number of interesting options.  In a restaurant, I prefer to order something that I would not usually make myself.  Something I know that requires some skill, time, or technique that takes it beyond the day to day cooking of most home cooks.  If it is easy, I can, and probably do, cook it quite well myself when the mood strikes, so why would I pay restaurant prices for it?  For this reason, I settled on braised lamb shank with crispy brie polenta and asparagus.

While I always enjoy a nicely braised piece of meat, the real attraction for me was the crispy polenta.  Thus far, I have never made a truly successful polenta (crispy or soft).  I've managed adequate, but I have tasted magnificent.  When done right, polenta is the ultimate in comfort food.  Better even than pink macaroni, one of the old family dishes I ask my mother to make me when I go home (it is one of the recipes that just tastes better when she does it).  Actually, maybe polenta doesn't quite beat pink macaroni. Anyway, back to the restaurant.  This polenta was magnificent.  One of the top two I have had.  I love the play between the crispy outside and the soft, cheesy, rich, corny inside.  That texture contrast, particularly with the sauce from the meat just makes you melt and relax and go in for another bite.  The lamb was done perfectly, tender, and the braising liquid was rich and flavourful - a lemon and oregano base.  Asparagus was nicely seasoned and I liked the slight char from the grill.  I made sure, though, the last bite I put in my mouth was polenta.

One of the most pleasant things about the restaurant was the price.  All of the entrees were under $20.  My lamb was $17.  For the quality of the food served, this is exceptional. 

My takeaway from this evening?  This winter, I challenge myself to master polenta.

Culinary Kira is on the road again next week, in Orangeville, Ontario, where some of the planned fun includes Masterchef with my sister and M (there might be souffles involved in a Masterchef evening), cooking hanger steak for the family, and cooking for (and with) small children.

Follow me on twitter for updates!  @culinarykira

"Meat"??

Hello foodies,

Short post today...  long day at work.

I am an enthusiastic and devoted lover of meat in most of its forms (for all that I have written almost entirely of fish, protein-wise).  In summer, when the veggie selection is diverse and of very high quality, I tend to focus more on what I can do with them rather than rhapsodizing about what I am inspired to do with meat.  But today, when I read an article about a recent taste test, I had to speak about real meat.

A co-founder of google funded a project to grow meat in a lab.  And Monday, in the Netherlands, the product of that research was officially tasted by humans.  Apparently the reviews weren't bad, but the concensus was it wasn't quite beef, although it was grown from muscle fibres from organically raised cows.  Some colouring was required to simulate the look of beef.  The picture of the uncooked patty in a petrie dish was that it wasn't quite right, but it was close.  It had a thready look - not from the grind, as ground beef usually would, but presumably from the process.

My first reaction:  ewwww.  My second...  Also ewwww.  Then when I got over the weirds, I had several, more cogent, thoughts.

1. This reminded me of an early episode of the glorious TV series Better Off Ted, when Lem and Phil, the science geniuses, grew meat in the lab.  Did Sergey Brin get his idea from this show?  The project was initiated after the show aired, I believe.
2. Wouldn't lab grown meat be lacking in diversity, flavour and texture?  Meat near to, or cooked on, the bone tastes different than meat from further away from the bone.  Working muscles have a coarser texture, but often better flavour than the more tender cuts.  The fat marbling the marks a good cut of virtually any meat is absent.  Doesn't that mean that most of the flavour is also absent? 
3. As an avid reader of dystopian fiction, a hallmark of many of these futuristic worlds is a lab grown meat replacement.  Of uniform taste(lessness) and texture, it is never presented as a good thing.
4. How does this fit into a world where there is growing opposition to genetically modified crops?  Is lab grown meat more acceptable to the anti-GM vegetable crusaders?  In my experience, there is some overlap in this population.
5. I can't see demand for this every being large enough to warrant the refinement necessary to go into mass production.  True meat lovers aren't going to go there, because we know how meat gets it magnificent flavour, and a lab won't be able to replicate it.  True vegetarians also aren't going to go there because, lab grown or not, it is still meant - an animal product, however adulterated and sanitized.
6. Finally, maybe this is shark week talking, but what is wrong with being an apex predator? 

The Merits of the Cupcake Craze

Hello foodies,

I am not a dessert girl.  In a restaurant, if I am going to have 2 courses, it is going to be an app and main, never a main and a dessert.  If my dining companions are leaning towards dessert, I am more likely to opt for the cheese selection, or simply a glass of port to finish the meal.  When I have people over for dinner, I will usually make (or buy) a dessert, but just for myself?  I am simply not interested in the sweet ending.

In general, I find restaurant desserts too sweet and rather uninspired.  Often, the dessert menu is very, very predictable.  Cheesecake.  Some sort of chocolate-based assault on the senses - usually more than one.  Some sort of berry pie or crumble.  In the nicer restaurants, there is often a creme brulee - one dessert I do tend to like as long as they keep it fairly simple (i.e. no bananas or weird flavours mucking up what should be a celebration of fine heavy cream, eggs, and sugar).

Where cake is concerned, I am particularly disinterested.  I find cake dry and boring, and very rarely do I come across an icing that is as good as the one my grandmother made.  Once I was old enough to express a strong preference, when my birthday rolled around, we had pie - pumpkin or cherry - and when I was a little older, rum cake.  I know, I know, rum cake is still cake.  But it is not dry.  It is funny how the addition of a streusel topping and a generous dose of rum can make dessert so much more appealing - and not just cake.  Rum and streusel topping go well with almost everything, much like bacon. Actually, bacon would be an intriguing addition to a streusel topping..... 

But I digress.  All of this to say, the cupcake craze of the last couple of years has not really interested me.  Sure, they're cute, and not as dry as full sized cakes.  People are experimenting with flavours.  Ottawa now has several cupcake shops, only one of which I have tried - The Cupcake Lounge. 

Across from the Sausage Kitchen (my kind of store), The Cupcake Lounge has a few flavours they always make, and several flavours they rotate throughout the week.  It is a decent cupcake, a lot of icing, and a good selection.  They also serve the sort of beverages that go well with cupcakes - coffees, teas, lattes.  There is limited seating, both inside and on s sidewalk patio.  I have been there several times after dining with friends when the restaurant dessert selection disappoints and my various companions want something sweet.  I have even picked up cupcakes there when my nephews were coming to town, because, obviously, kids and cupcakes go together.  Most recently, they ave branched out a little bit - other dessert-type things in cupcake format.  Brownies, and what you see in the upper left corner of the picture above, cinnamon rolls.

I do not consider cinnamon rolls a dessert.  A breakfast item, maybe.  Although they are well sugared, the basic building block of the roll is an unsweetened, but rich, leavened bread.  Think brioche.  To this, the cinnamon and sugar mixture is added when rolling.  And sometimes people put gobs of cream cheese icing on top.  I am not against the cream cheese icing, but to me, it is not the main event.  As long as the baker doesn't go off the rails and foul the roll with raisins, I am fine.

 

In this picture, the cinnamon roll is at the top.  On the bottom left is the brownie, and the third is a red velvet cupcake.  The cinnamon roll is awesome.  It is just the right size.  Ropes of brioche, rich, buttery, crisp on the outside, coiled around cinnamonny goodness.  The Cupcake Lounge's also has apples and nuts.  I quite like the addition of apples, little hints of a more natural sweetness.  Good cinnamon flavour, and there is something about this that almost reminds me a bit of a bread pudding.  Perhaps it is the eggy taste of the brioche, and the softness of the roll at the centre. 

The Cupcake Lounge now has a product that will get me in the door when I am by myself, and have no cupcake loving guests coming to town.  If this is the product of the cupcake craze, I am now a firm supporter, because this is, quite honestly, the best cinnamon roll I have ever had. 

Fried Green Tomatoes

Hello foodies,

As I tweeted last night, I harvested two lovely tomatoes - one from each plant - and made fried green tomatoes for dinner.  Fried green tomatoes have a sweet/tart flavour and retain a little of the under-ripe crispness through the cooking process that reminds me almost of a good, fresh apple in texture.

Fried green tomatoes, as many know from the 1991 film, are a classic dish from the American South.  Here in Canada, our early frosts make it much more likely the tomatoes won't get fully ripe on the vine, so green tomato dishes should be more widely known and popular than they are.

For those of you who have tomato plants, choose mature tomatoes just before they start to show hints of their final colour.  For those of you who don't have tomato plants, farmer's markets may sell green tomatoes.  Here in Ottawa, I have found them in both the Parkdale and Byward farmer's markets.  While you would never keep a ripe tomato in the fridge (it ruins the texture and flavour), green tomatoes should be kept in the fridge to prevent ripening.  Assuming you don't cook and eat all of them at once.

There are many, many different ways to make fried green tomatoes.  I am not going to debate cornmeal vs breadcrumbs, or pan frying vs deep frying.  I am going to tell you the way I like them.  Of course, I am still experimenting a bit.

First step: remove the stems and cut into 1 - 1.5 cm (1/2 inch) slabs.  Place in a strainer and add some salt and let sit for half and hour or so.  This serves the dual purpose of drawing the excess moisture out, which helps the tomatoes hold their shape while cooking and ensures a crunchy, rather than soggy, exterior, and adding that first layer of seasoning.

 

When you're ready to start frying, heat oil in s skillet to medium-high on the stove.  I use grapeseed oil in a cast iron skillet.  A seasoned cast iron pan, with its heavy, flat bottom cooks so many things beautifully.  I use grapeseed oil because it is neutral in flavour and has a high smoke point.  As the pan is heating, put together your assembly line: flour for dredging, liquid (eggs, buttermilk, or milk) for dipping, and panko breadcrumbs for the final crust.  I have made this with both an egg dip and a buttermilk dip.  The panko crumbs adhere better to the egg dip, but the buttermilk adds more flavourwise.  Next time, I am going to mix egg and buttermilk in an attempt to get the best of both worlds.  Season the breadcrumbs as you like - garlic is common, dried herbs like basil and oregano would work well, as would smoked paprika, or, if you want a little heat, chili flakes or ground chipotle pepper.  Salt and pepper are standard of course.

 

Fry the tomatoes 3-5 minutes (the thicker the slab of tomato, the longer the cook time) on each side until the coating is golden brown.  Remove from the pan and drain on paper towels.

 

Some people make a dipping sauce.  Personally, I just like to crumble some Maldon salt, grind some pepper and squeeze a lemon over the finished product and then enjoy.

 

Fortunately, I have alternative sources of green tomatoes, otherwise I might have trouble letting any of the tomatoes on my plants ripen.  I highly recommend giving this dish a try.  Good as a side, a snack, or a breakfast.

For updates, follow me on twitter!  @culinarykira