Spring is just around the corner yet the subtle threat of snow is still in the air, so it’s time to cram in the last of those starchy comfort foods while you still can. Soon it’s going to be salad city, this might be your last chance to jump on the gravy train.
Meatballs are the ultimate comfort food, whether in marinara or swedish, with gravy or sweet & sour. Served over rice, pasta, mashed potatoes or polenta, meatballs and starch belong together. There are so many ways to prepare them and each one so simple. What follows is a recipe that goes perfectly with flannel pyjamas, slippers and beer. Continue »
If you’ve just spent your whole weekend forecasting field goals, glazing chicken wings and cracking cold ones, all while wearing your beer-drinkin’ helmet, then maybe you should take it easy tonight.
Super Bowl weekend can take it out of you. Once all the gorilla millionaires have cleared the field to go sip champagne in a private jet, you’re left vacuuming up Chex Mix while your buddy crushes empty beer cans on his forehead. After cleaning up and popping a few Tylenol for that nagging hangover, you deserve to take it easy.
Make supper as simple as possible, and try to get a few veggies in there meat-head. Continue »
You don’t need a wood-burning pizza oven imported from Italy. You don’t even need a pizza stone. Great homemade pizza can be had with a regular old cookie sheet and an electric oven.
If you have mayo, plain yogurt and sour cream in your fridge then you pretty much have Ranch dressing.
So, you have pizza and homemade Ranch, now this is where the magic happens.
Some strange alchemy occurs when the pizza is cut into sticks and dipped in the Ranch. A taste sensation so amazing you may have to lay down for a bit. Continue »
Eggplant is the star of Caponata, a cooked Sicilian salad. Our favourite is the version from Naples, Italy called Cianfatta, which makes use of the salty, briny deliciousness of capers and olives. Zucchini, red pepper, basil and currants are added for a final dish that sparkles with sweet, sour and salty delights. Continue »
In Texas they have a wonderful New Year’s Eve tradition of serving black-eyed peas, they say that eating them will ensure a happy and prosperous new year. The peas are most often dished up as Texas caviar, a salad that uses apple cider vinegar, chilis and sweet peppers. Fresh Approach Cooking has a great recipe (pictured), using speck. What the heck is speck? Continue »
Meet Mr. Stache-wich!
Sometimes playing with your food and putting together wacky combinations can be fun but not necessarily edible in the end. Like this guy over here, Mr. Stache-wich, from insanewiches.com. He’s adorable but not exactly easily devoured.
I say this because I recently threw together a number of items and ended up with a slightly odd, but totally delicious, and thoroughly edible, breakfast salad. Continue »
Vegans get excited by sweet potatoes because life without bacon will do that to a person.
Doug McNish is the chef at Raw Aura and a big fan of the potato. He heard I was making a chowder for some vegan friends so he sent along this recipe. He uses tahini for added richness and warns that the tahini should not be cooked too long, add it near the end and buzz it in with an emulsion blender.
Did you know that sweet potatoes can grow in outer space? Well, sort of. They are also one of the healthiest foods you can eat.
You can get really hardcore and serve this with gluten-free bread and soy butter, but if you do I’ll probably have to smack you.
Grab your cojones and your sweet potatoes and follow me to the kitchen. Continue »
gluten-free Wild Wood Veggie Burgers with Shiitake- one of the best I've had
It may be snowing in Stratford today but we’re still enjoying sunshine and clear skies in Toronto. I’m tired of braising everything, I want something light and meatless. I want a burger and a salad. After shopping at Fiesta Farms yesterday, I picked up these gluten free burger buns and a new veggie burger I want to try out. There’s also some unpasteurized clover honey from Wild Country over in Guelph, I know I want to use that in the salad. A Cortland apple, some napa cabbage and organic, heirloom New Farm carrots, here goes. click here to read more
The wild boar I recently picked up at Fiesta Farms isn’t actually ‘wild’, that’s just it’s name. The wild boar is related to the common pigs we’re used to but is a much richer meat.
After buying some wild boar bacon and shanks I decided to do a whole day of wild boar meals.
Starting off with a breakfast of thick, meaty bacon, toast and eggs scrambled in brown butter garnished with the last of the chervil from the garden. The most local, organic chervil I could find!
wild boar bacon and eggs with organic, local chervil
click here to read more
Pork Belly is a cut of pork (usually used for bacon) that most home cooks don’t prepare, mainly because it takes a few days which can be kind of daunting. The thing to remember about recipes that take a few days is that you’re not actually working on the food that whole time. In this case you put a dry rub on the meat and put it in the fridge for 24 hours, then go watch “Top Chef”.
I had never actually seen pork belly outside of a restaurant kitchen until recently when Rowe Farms started selling it. I’d love to see it available more often, it’s such a delicious cut and so rich that you only need a small portion to satisfy leaving more room on the plate for veggies. This is a perfect recipe for those trying to follow Michael Pollan’s advice, “Eat food, not a lot, mostly greens.”
Rowe Farms pork belly braising in Innis & Gunn oak-aged beer
I usually dry rub the belly and let it sit overnight, then sear and slow braise in the oven. The end result is the reason someone invented the word ‘melt’. If you are prepared to wait a few days for dinner, this will be well worth it. I’m lucky enough to be able to call one of the country’s greatest chefs when I want some advice on cooking. Anthony Walsh, Canoe’s Executive Chef and loyal Fiesta Farms shopper has this advice. “When you do a dry rub, you do a wet cook, so braising is the way to go. Do it with a big, chunky mirepoix so it releases its flavours slowly. Later I would take that mirepoix and chop it up small to serve in the final dish – it’s full of pork belly flavour.” click here for the recipe
Spring is just around the corner yet the subtle threat of snow is still in the air, so it’s time to cram in the last of those starchy comfort foods while you still can. Soon it’s going to be salad city, this might be your last chance to jump on the gravy train.
