Category Archives: Uncategorized

February 14, 2012 · 3:08 pm

Happy Valentine’s Day to Me (and you of course)

Happy Valentine's Day

I hope everyone is having an enjoyable Valentine’s Day–meaning that you’ve been showered in chocolates, furry stuffed bears and wet kisses (if you’ve been hoping for such things), or that you’ve had the satisfaction of hating this horrible, commercial holiday that compete’s only with New Year’s in terms of hollow and impossible expectation settings.

If you’re panicking (from either scenario) remember this:

This was a Valentine’s message from my friend Joanne at fashioninmotion.com, which should actually be cheeseandfashioninmotion, but too late now.

Yet, good or bad, Valentine’s Day always invites one to think about having a special meal–cheesies, Diet Dr. Pepper and gummies in front of Four Weddings and a Funeral  (where you can throw cheesies at the TV whenever Andie McDowell appears) or some fancy schmancy meal–in your house or out on the town.

I had the latter–last night-actually (we live on Australia time).  No, I have a class tonight so my husband made me a delicious dinner on the 13th.

And I will share it with you:

The appetizers came from T&T and were so delicious, I must apologize for my terrible lighting and staging of the plate but I’m not about to set up a light and worry about camera angles in the middle of a romantic meal (though apparently I will think about my blog for at least 10 minutes).

We had fishballs, and veggie gyoza and sweet and sour daikon with some salted mustard greens in the back.

Next we had a surf and turf thing going on with steak and tilapia in a Yuzu sauce with lots of fresh pepper.  The tilapia was tender, sweet and delicate.

And with that a warm mushroom salad.  Mushrooms perfectly cooked–not over cooked–and in a light Hoisin sauce.

Here is a close-up–

wow–I wasn’t kidding when I went close with this–perhaps I was eating straight from the plate with my mouth?  It was lipsmacking delicious.

And finally some fresh papaya and mango tofu.  I am slightly addicted to mango tofu since our babysitter started buying it for our son.  I am sure it is not healthy at all.  But it SOUNDS healthy!

And then, just to top off my perfect night at home–an hour long Valentine’s episode of 30 Rock!!  And, since it was PVR’d, no commericals and Tad even made sure to start the show again at the end of the preceding commercial  (I hate missing even a second of a scene).

Which reminds me, I have some Valentine Day payback to think about….

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December 30, 2011 · 8:00 am

Happy New Year and well, thanks

OLD YEAR, NEW YEAR.

HAPPY NEW YEAR and a giant THANK YOU to all you people who visit my blog.   Because I can only click “LIKE” once on anything I write.

Cheese and Toast needs you and I’m grateful for your eyeballs (and mouse hand).   So eat some good stuff Saturday night.

Before I go, an end of year Haiku (reversed, 7-5-7).  I’m going rogue.

Food Metaphor

Empty hole in cookie dough

Can mean everything

Or nothing. Damn food blogger.

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December 13, 2011 · 1:29 pm

Fake Food News: Plastic Grapes have Meltdown

The Plastic Grapes were often bullied by Real Grapes (dramatization)

Early Wednesday morning a bunch of plastic grapes jumped onto a hot burner and instantly deteriorated.  It seems the grapes had been  bullied for months by a bunch of real grapes.  Hate graffiti  was found scrawled across the side of the plastic kitchen where the plastic grapes resided.  Phrases like “Go Juice Yourself…NOT!” are under investigation.

“He was the best buddy a banana could have, other than another banana or a monkey” said the plastic banana.

A plastic eggplant declined comment.

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December 3, 2011 · 9:28 am

Skip the carton, Make a Pitcher of Homemade Nog

One serving appears more ladylike when divided into three small glasses.

Today is the day we decorate our tree.  The Christmas Tree is my favourite part of the holidays.  As unexcited as I am to dig through the pile of boxes in the basement on the annual ornament hunt (why do I have two bins of Easter decorations?  Really?) I am pretty psyched to get the tree going.

Thinking that many of us might be putting up lights, Christmas shopping or lamenting the start of carols on the radio, I figured egg nog and alcohol could settle us right down.  Cursing also helps immensely.

If you’re going out for the weekend grocery shop, you only need  few ingredients to make your own egg nog: eggs, milk, cream, sugar. (I know! Why have you not done this before?)

My friend swears by the Mac’s Milk version (and I too admit to glugging the store-bought) but this is lighter, frothier and fresher and really a cinch to make.

HERE IS THE LINK TO MY CHEF BASICS  EGG NOG MAKING VIDEO.

Once this becomes your signature holiday drink–you can move onto your own egg nog serving set.

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EGG NOG RECIPE

Make sure you use the freshest eggs possible and have an alternate beverage available for guests like pregnant woman, children or the elderly who shouldn’t consume raw eggs.

Servings: 6

Prep Time: 15 minutes

Ready In: 45 minutes (includes 30 minutes cooling)

Ingredients

4 eggs, separated

1/3 cup sugar (reserve 1 tablespoon)

2 cups whole milk

1 cup whipping cream

fresh grated nutmeg

pinch salt

Method

With an electric beater whisk together egg yolks and sugar until sugar dissolves and yolks are pale and fluffy. Add milk, cream and nutmeg and whisk until well combined. Refrigerate until cold.

Just before serving whisk egg whites (at room temperature) and a pinch of salt to soft peaks. Add teaspoon of sugar and whisk until firm peaks.

Fold into eggnog to make it extra light and fluffy.

If you want to add alcohol you can whisk in 2 to 3 ounces of bourbon or rum before adding the egg whites.

Another opportunity to use my beloved nutmeg grater. (purse size convenience!)

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September 13, 2011 · 2:33 pm

Fee Fi Fo Foie

Guilt or no guilt?

If you ever want to elevate your picnic try try bringing some foie gras mousse.  This also applies events like bad movie night, a root canal or 3am at Sick Kids with your wheezing child.  I would add doing your taxes to the list, but if you’ve had the discipline to start your taxes you are certainly not going to continue knowing there’s foie gras mousse around.

This particular jar came from La Ferme Basque is Baie-St-Paul where we stopped during our Charlevoix vacation (read about it in the Globe) in August.  The woman who runs the operation is from the Basque region of France and makes the foie gras in a traditional way.  Even her lilting and soothing french accent could not make “force feeding” sound completely benign…. but it helped.

I suppose had I had serious moral dilemma with the whole thing I wouldn’t be showing you a half-eaten jar.  But, at least on a smaller scale using more traditional methods the whole thing sounded more humane.  And tasted so good on a baguette.

Near the end of their lives, for four weeks the geese are force-fed corn to fatten their livers (the traditional process is known as gavage).  Apparently geese are very social and like to be together (…birds of a feather is so true…) so unlike large industrial producers La Ferme Basque keeps the geese in groups, not seperate cages, so they are less stressed.

let's put a far-away face to these geese

Industrial Geese in individual cages:

Goose 1: Hey, did you just have a tube filled with liquid corn and corn syrup shoved down your throat?

Good 2: Yes.  Can I sleep beside you?

Goose 1:  Impossible.

Small Farm Raised Geese kept in groups:

Goose 1: Hey, did you just have a tube filled with corn kernels shoved down your throat?

Goose 2: Yes. Can I sleep beside you?

Goose 3:  Get in line.

Apparently the main reason some geese die because they are overfed.  Errrr…OVER over-fed.  On this smaller scale there are two or three people who do the feeding twice a  day.  In traditional “gavage” the same feeders always work with the same geese and they keep a hand at the base of the neck and can tell when it is dangerous to give more food.  It varies from goose to goose  (I know my limit with gummi bears  is 3/4 of a lbs).  In industrial production each goose gets the same amount of corn-liquid no matter what their size.

I also did not know that there were specific breeds of geese which were naturally better at digesting.  So obviously better for forced gluttony.   All in all, the geese are treated humanely (aside from the tube in the throat) and then shipped off to be slaughtered and turned into luxury food.

See–it’s hard to be totally on board when everything you write has to be followed with “aside from the tube in the throat”.

Example:

The goose had a great day at the CNE followed by some light tapas and Salsa dancing (aside from the tube in the throat).

or

The goose loved going on joyrides in the tractor and dancing under the light of a silvery moon (aside from the tube in the throat).

I just don’t know.

Decide for yourself—  read this excellent posting about the controversy and the guilt of loving foie from the Guardian UK.

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August 15, 2011 · 12:48 pm

Camping = Bacon

Yes, we just threw 2 packs into the pan. Bacon loves company.

Sometimes processed food is OK.  More than OK.  Perfect in fact.  Between this and the sour cream and onion crinkle chips.  I was feeling alright.

Don’t tell me your mouth is not watering just a little bit.

Let me inspire you:

*Bacon and ripe August tomato sandwich (with mayo)

*Bacon and scallops

*Bacon and peas

*Deviled eggs with crispy bacon

*Crisp Salad, blue cheese dressing, bacon

*Bacon in Meatloaf

*Bacon Cheeseburger

*Bacon and caramelized onion quiche

*Roasted Brussel Sprouts and Bacon

*Bacon in your hand at the kitchen counter before the eggs are finished

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July 25, 2011 · 10:08 am

Tarte Tatin is like a pearl necklace (A Haiku)

You had me at caramelized.

Simple and elegant is what I meant about the pearl necklace in case “cheap and chipped” initially popped to mind.

I made a Tarte Tatin to serve post-BBQ on Saturday night.  It truly is one of my favourite desserts.   The apples were sticky and rich with a touch of burnt caramel bitterness.  And we loaded on big spoonfuls of real whipped cream.

I recommend making way more whipped cream than is sensible so you can eat the leftovers from the same bowl you served it to your guests in.  Meanwhile they look on aghast, wishing you would stop stuffing your face and ask if they want a coffee.

To which I say in my defense,  Isn’t a f’#@!%#  homemade pie enough????

Anyway, eh um….

TARTE TATIN IS LIKE A PEARL NECKLACE

Simple elegance

Induces feeding frenzy

My pearls are trashed

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July 17, 2011 · 3:26 pm

Thanks for the ribs Pete Watson

Man, my camera was so sticky.

Nothing grilled, nothing gained as they say.  Five years after Pete Watson and his wife Lara gave us a Weber kettle grill for a wedding gift we finally made ribs on it. What idiots we were to deny ourselves the pleasures of grilling ribs on charcoal for sheer procrastination.

But we have gained, oh yes, we have gained.  Sticky fingers, kind of sexy, smoky smelling hair and the most envious aroma of deliciousness coming from any backyard in the neighborhood.   If only I had begun the process in the early afternoon as I declared I would, we could have actually had the ribs for dinner rather than the cold pizza we half-heartedly choked down waiting until the ribs were fall-off-the-bone tender at 11pm.

Here is our talented little grill pre-show.

The kettle potential.

And then I bought myself some apple wood chips and though I could not get a coal chimney (sold out) I got some quick burning coal starter things which were quite effective as long I did not let my thought wander to the substances that made them so quick-burning.

My indirect heat set-up is almost ready.

I have the coals on one side and a drip-pan filled with water on the right.  I put a stainless steel box of soaked applewood chips on the coals just before I added the top grate and the the lid.

Ribs: rubbed, rested and ready.

Two racks of baby back ribs, about 2 lbs each.  I put a dry rub on them and left them for an hour at room temperature.  The rub had sweet paprika, onion powder, garlic powder, dry mustard, celery seed, fresh back pepper and chili powder.  The recipe (BBQ Back ribs with Sweet and Sticky Sauce) came from the Saveur BBQ Issue (I know, what else, right?  I will branch out one day but once again not only were the magazine’s recipes lipsmacking but the stories of BBQ, coleslaw, baked beans, coals, tradition and rivalry were addicitive too!)

And while the ribs cooked between 225 F-250 F over 3 hrs  ( I actually found it hard to keep the heat below 300 F even adjusting the vents as much as I could) I made the sauce.  Honey, apple cider vinegar, brown sugar, worcestershire, hot sauce, cloves……MMMMMMMMMMMMMMMessy.

Served with coleslaw and napkins.

And finally at 11pm, with the grill lit from the soft glow coming through the back door of the kitchen, I was able to pull off  shreds of the crispy rib-ends that were slowly caramelizing from their recent basting in sticky sauce.  And I ate them greedily, slightly out of site of my husband before he next opened the door to ask, “are they done yet?”.  And they were good.  Sigh with pleasure good.

Like Angelina Jolie, I am now a Pitt master.

And that’s why I want to thank you Pete Watson.

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May 4, 2011 · 4:22 pm

Top Chef Canada: Episode 4

We see a few shots of the male chefs waking up in their Camp Chef bunks and getting ready for a new dawn.

We learn that Dale is shocked to be on the bottom even though he is in a top bunk.

Derek is caught on film filling out what appears to be a job application,  though he says he’s now got the “fighting spirit” (it’s under his cap.)

We’re back in the GE Kitchen but Mark McEwan is missing in action.

From behind a rack of cookware emerges none-other-than Susur Lee. The chefs look shocked, except for Dustin who is smiling extra-wide.  We learn that he trained under Susur.   Susur and Dustin flirt a little with their eyes.  Dustin more.  Susur less.

The Quickfire Challenge

Inspired by Chef Lee’s 19-ingredient Singaporian Style Slaw, each Chef must create their own signature salad.

Dustin understandably feels the need to prove himself but also to “be his own chef”.  Darryl decides to base his salad on a roast corn salad his girlfriend makes.  “Simple and good” is still his mantra.  Actually, Darryl seems to break out his shell and radiate some warmth when he talks about his girlfriend.  It’s nice.  (awwwww….)

Francois is STILL HERE!   How is it possible?  Does he eventually rip off the Francois mask and underneath is Joel Robuchon who wins all of Top Chef?   Today he decides to make a french-style coleslaw as his tribute to the Singapore style salad.

Rob is afraid is salad has no focal point.  Radish rosette, maybe?

Chris is ever modest, “Susur is an Asian Guru but I am an Asian master” is the gist of his story.  Also, adding to his credentials, he mentions the job he didn’t get at Lee because he was “too experienced in Asian Food.”  I guess Susur shouldn’t have all those Asian restaurants then.  He’s just too damn experienced.

Ultimately Dustin proves himself as a good apprentice.  He wins the Quickfire with a dish that Susur deems “perfectly balanced” A beet carpaccio with wasabi mustard, pickled onions and shaved apples .

The Elimination Challenge

Chef McEwan is back with a new do!  (He was just out getting a haircut earlier.) 

The chefs each pull a  knife from a block upon whose blade is engraved a country.  Guess what! It’s the mosaic of ethnic food that makes up Canada. They are teamed up in pairs.  One prepares a cold dish, one hot.  They have 2 hrs to prep and 15 minutes to shop.  One chef at Loblaws and one in an “ethnic” food store.

Andrea and Rob pull Japan and look super confident.

Francois and Patrick pull Jamaica I imagine Francois wondering if Jamaicans would like a Pommes Dauphine roti.

Dustin and Derek pull Mexico (Luckily for them Derek has worked at a Mexican restaurant in Dublin.  Phew!).

Jamie and Dale pull Portugal and Jamie admits he’s hoping to ride on Dale’s coat tails.  Chris (asian master) and Darryl are on Korea.

Todd and Connie pull Ethiopia and everyone including Chef McEwan and the camera crew feel sorry for them.

Teams to worry about: Chris and Darryl when the “asian master” can’t find chili paste at a Korean store.  Guess Darryl will have to pick that up at Loblaws.

Teams to admire: Connie and Todd.  But really, Connie.  She’s awesome as usual.  She admits she’s freaked out about the Ethiopian cooking but in her 15 minutes of shopping she is calmly asking the Ethiopian store owner what would work best to soothe the heat of a spicy curry–yogurt or ricotta?

Chef to worry about: Derek, who explains he is self-taught (from reading cook books) and tries to compress time and braise 4-hr short ribs in 2 hrs.  (Maybe those were sci-fi books?)

Final Judgement

The good: Chris makes a Bibimbap with Daikon, Shitake, Marinated King Crab & Kimchi Marinated Pork that Susur really likes. Maybe now Chris can get a job at Lee!

The bad:  Rob and Andrea stumble big time.  Rob presents warm hamachi sashimi that still has the blood line in it (maybe he’s a True Blood fan?) and Andrea brings overcooked Soba Noodles, Daikon, Turnip & Carrots in a Light Miso Broth with seared Kobe.

The Ugly: Derek’s Mexican (Irish?) dish of undercooked braised ribs.

The verdict:

Top 2 teams:

Dale wins kudos for what McEwan calls an “extremely complicated and perfectly executed” dish of Hake with Salt Cod Mousse & Smoked Paprika Portuguese Sausage & Potato Confit.  Jamie is told his dish was a pale copy of Dales and  “too timid”.  Sometimes imitation is a form of lameness.

It’s Connie and Todd who win the day. Connie serves traditional Ethiopian ground beef with curry spices and traditional lamb katwa (stew) and Todd brings red and green lentil salad, tomato salad with onion & cucumber and Injera. Susur says, ‘I can tell you wanted to understand the culture.” And everyone is impressed at Todd’s homemade Ethiopian bread.  Todd looks modestly shocked at his achievement.

Let’s just cut to the chase:

Even though Rob’s sashimi is called “Richness on top of blandness on top of the wrong temperature–a sashimi train wreck” Derek gets sent home for his dry and goopy ribs.  He is told he fails to understand basic procedures.  Message from the judges, “Go to cooking school”.

Later Derek, I’ll miss that cap. You were kind of sweet. Otherwise, see you for Episode 5: Butchering.

(Is this when Connie breaks down a pig’s head in 4 min? oh please!)




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May 2, 2011 · 1:01 am

Cool “thingy” for your cookbook

The extra weight I was craving.

I always have a can of chickpeas, or mixed beans or  diced tomatoes on hand when I cook from certain cookbooks.  The cans act as weights that I balance on the spine of the book or on the edge of the page to try to hold the cookbook open to a particular recipe.

The alternative is to hold them open with my forearm while my hands stand by uselessly covered in half-made pizza dough or the goop from raw chicken.  Sometimes I forget I have anchovy paste on my thumb as I flip  pages trying to get back to my gnocchi recipe.

It is to my sheer amazement that cookbooks are not all published in 3-ring binders or something equally as functional since they are supposedly a kitchen TOOL.  TOOLS help you.  TOOLS do not slam shut just as you’re reading, “The key to the recipe is timing….” or suddenly display a flan recipe when you were positive you started out making Coq au Vin.

So I am sharing the discovery of the Sagaform “Hold”.  A  cookbook weight that holds your flippin’ cookbook flat.  It’s compact and easy to clean and even elegant.  It even works on the most tight-lipped cookbooks that want to snap shut the minute they’re opened.  I tested it.

Best of all it makes a great pretend microphone for singing the chorus to On the Floor by J-Lo  or prepping for your modest (but slightly cheeky!) interview with Nigel Slater for The Guardian’s Food Section.

I bought mine at The Cook’s Place on the Danforth.  $35

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