The Complete Tassajara Cookbook

We continue vegetarian week with cooking out of The Complete Tassajara Cookbook. Tassajara is a Buddhist Zen Center outside of San Fransisco. In the summer time, it's open to the public as a retreat/hot springs. But what they are really famous for is it's vegetarian cuisine.
Over the past few years, they have released a couple of amazing new cookbooks. One specializing in lunches, picnics and appetizers. Another specifically for dinners and desserts. Just this past year they re-released a couple of favorites. An updated version of their bread book and The Complete Tassajara Cookbook.
This is what we made.

Kale and White Bean Soup
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Warm Radicchio Salad, Fresh Mozzarella, Avocado, Fire Roasted Walnuts
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Tassajara Spinach and Smoked Cheese Pie
Green Beans with Sesame Paste and Garlic
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Quick Vegan Spice Cake

We started off by preparing the soup. If I recall, in a recent post, i mentioned the joys of using dried beans over canned beans. Mainly because of the texture. For this soup, I reluctantly admit I used canned beans. Due to my unorganization, dried beans just didn't fit into the schedule. There just wasn't enough time to soak and simmer the bean, so I resulted in using the canned white beans. C'est la Vie!
Anyways, as usual, I changed this recipe around a bit to suit me. Because we didn't use the dried beans, we were no able to infuse the flavours of sage, garlic and bay leaf into the beans while simmering. So, I started off by adding onions, garlic and sage to a pot and saute lightly. I added in the beans and tossed all together. I had made a nice vegetable stock using carrots, onion, celery, tomato, leek and some mushrooms. I topped the beans up with the stock and brought to a simmer. After allowing it to simmer for a few minutes, I pureed a bit of it with the immersion blender, leaving it fairly chunky and very lightly creamy. While it was coming back to a simmer, in a seperate pan we sauteed the kale lightly in olive oil, and when just wilted, added it into the soup. Season with salt and pepper and done.
I do have to admit, using canned beans is very convenient. Because it was partly pureed, i was only partly embarrassed for using canned beans.
I think soups that are only half purred are great. They have a bit of creamyness, in this case due to the beans, and still have texture from the whole beans and kale. So next time y'all decide to make a pureed soup, blend only half of it and see what happens.

Next was the salad. This salad was a favorite of the night. We started off by tearing up the huge mozzarella balls into pieces. The Buffalo Mozzarella was fresh from Fromagerie Atwater, the greatest cheese shop in Montreal. The pieces were drizzled with olive oil, sprinkled with Herbes de Provence, and seasoned with salt and pepper. It was set aside to marinate while the rest of the salad was put together. The Radicchio was cut into large pieces and added to a hot pan with olive oil, shallots and some garlic. I didn't want the radicchio to wilt too much so I left it at a medium heat. Just to slightly wild, but still have some warmth and crunch. After a few minutes, I added in a bit of balsamic and tossed it together. Put it on a large plate and added sliced avocado, the mozzarella, freshly chopped basil and the fire roasted nuts.
Fire Roasted nuts isn't really the most accurate description for them though. I realized I didn't have any walnuts, but I had some blanched almonds and raw cashews. So i prepared them the same way. In a small pan on high heat, I tossed them to toast, being careful not to burn them too much. Then added a bit of salt and some sugar. Right away it started to smoke and the sugar was caramalizing. The recipe said to toss in constantly so the melted sugar coats everything evenly. Easy enough. The nice thing about these nuts is that they were not "Candied" nuts, rather than just lightly sweetened. They were not fire roasted, or what I would think is fire roasted. But they were tasty non the less.
I have to admit, it wasn't the prettiest salad ever made, but it sure tasted good. The Balsamic and radicchio worked really great together, the marinated mozzarella was creamy and rich, and the nuts added the crunch we needed.

When choosing recipes to cook in classes, I've mostly tried to stay away from making "pies" or quiche for a main course. I find them boring most of the time. And besides, everyone can make a quiche no? But just like deciding to write a blog, I'm trying out new things. So I decided to make the Tassajara Spinach and Smoked Cheese Pie. The one thing that grabbed me about this was the use of smoked cheese. Not an ingredient used too often by many people. One of my favorite recipes is a Gnocchi dish from the Molto Italiano cookbook by everyones favorite orange chef, Mario Batali. The tomato sauce to go with the gnocchi incorporates olives and smoked mozzarella. This pie doesn't just add the smoked mozzarella, but also parmesan and cheddar.
i had to start by making the tart dough before hand in order for it to rest in the fridge. I followed the ingredients exactly, but followed my own method. When I do pie dough, i use the food processor to cut up the cold butter. The less I touch it with my hands, the better. Usually I can achieve a pretty flaky pie dough this way. This recipe adds a mixture of white and whole wheat flour, sugar, salt and paprika to the dough. When using whole wheat dough, there can be a tendency for it to be heavier than usual, so that's why I was careful in how I prepared it. By pulsing it in the food processor, the butter doesn't have a chance to melt and the dough stays relatively chilled. Working fast, I incorporated the cold water, brought the dough together, and right away placed it in the fridge to chill.
Meanwhile I prepared the other ingredients. I sauteed mushrooms and spinach, grated the parmesan, aged cheddar, and smoked cheese. After the dough chilled for 30 minutes, it was rolled out into a pie plate, the bottom spread with dijon, the cheeses were layered at the bottom and the mushroom and spinach mixture put on top. A quick note about the mustard. It ended up I only had a bit of dijon, so I spread on some grain mustard to compensate. Worked out really well in the end.
For the liquid it was a basic egg, milk and cream mixture spiced up with a bit of Tobasco. Poured into the pie and placed in the oven at 425* for 15 minutes, then 300* for 25 minutes. It was really simple to do and the final result was not only impressive to look at, but the taste was out of this world. All that cheese can't be bad. The smoked cheese came through but not too over powering. Well balanced.

The side dish was equally impressive. To start, the beans were blanched in a pot of boiling water until just done, about 1 minute. Meanwhile, we crushed some toasted white sesame seeds in the morter and grated some ginger and garlic on the microplane. In a large hot pan, we added some olive oil, black mustard seeds, and once toasted, added the ginger and garlic. After 30 seconds, the beans were added and tossed together with the spiced. We added in the crushed sesame past and a couple tablespoons of water. The crushed seeds soaked up the liquid and created a thick sort of sauce with the grated ginger and garlic. It was garnished with some black sesame seeds and fresh cilantro. The ginger and garlic gave it a nice sweet taste and the seeds added a little bit of pop/crunch. And the great thing is that it took like 10 minutes to prepare.

Finally dessert. I like making vegan desserts. I don't do it in too many classes because people aren't to keen on the word "vegan". But if you were served a vegan cake, you would not think it was vegan.
One of the things that make vegan baking so great is the ease of preparation. Everything is thrown into one big bowl, mixed together and baked. There is no creaming of butter or room temperature eggs added in stages. Dry and wet ingredients are thrown together. In this case, flour, baking soda, cinnamon, nutmeg and cloves were joined with water and melted coconut oil. I've never used coconut oil before, but it makes sense in this cake. Instead of butter (not vegan) you use oil, and coconut is cook in cakes, so therefore, coconut oil is a good choice.
In the last minute, i decided to double the recipe. It was no problem to do that and the cake came out very nice, but the baking took longer. The recipe sayd 30 minutes, but because I doubled it, it too more like 55 minutes. I also added in, because I had some, raisins and dried blueberries. They added little bursts of sweetness and a bit of texture. Because the cake took longer to bake, and the class was running a little long, i took it out earlier than I should have. I won't call this a "mistake" per se, but lets just say we had what we called "Molten Vegan Spice Cake". Of the 95% that was cooked, it tasted great, the texture was moist and you tasted the spices, but not to overpowering which is nice.
In vegetarian classes I like to try to incorporate tofu. But with the recipes I picked, tofu wouldn't have gone. The tofu recipes have more of an Asian influence, which I love. But having a Tofu-Miso Stew just won't go with the Kale and Bean Soup, Radicchio and Mozzarella salad, and so on. So I bought some soft Almond Silken tofu on the side with the cake. Even in vegetarian classes, tofu is a touchy subject, as it was with a couple people here. But after tasting it, they were surprised how good it was. As an alternative to whipping cream (not vegan) it was a winner. They ate it all up.

In any given vegetarian cooking class i teach, there is usually only maybe 1 or 2 actual vegetarians. Tonight we had 1 vegan. People are just interested in learning about alternatives to eating meat, or just adding life to their vegetarain options. The Complete Tassajara Cookbook will do just that. The recipes are interesting, tasty and exciting. The recipes from the Tassajara are tested in their kitchens and served to their guests. Some recipes have been around since the beginning of the Tassajara in the late sixties. So You can trust they are solid.

Next class: Pasta et Cetera

Pure & Simple Homemade Indian Vegetrian Cuisine

This week is vegetarian week. Last night we featured the book Pure & Simple Homemade Indian Vegetarian Cuisine. Indian cooking classes seem to be pretty popular 'round here. It was also a vegetarian class. In my opinion, the most exciting and interesting style of vegetarian cooking comes from Asia, specifically India.
It was no-brainer when deciding to cook out of this book. I really enjoyed flipping through it. Loaded with full colour pictures a la Donna Hay. The one thing that's different is that it's not overly styled like Donna Hay. Throughout the class, we realized the food looked just like the pictures in the book, which is a good sign.
Now, I will admit, I'm not the worlds greatest Indian cook. Every time I teach an Indian cooking class, I learn just as much as the students. But I do have a pretty good base knowledge of flavours and techniques I've learned from past guest instructors, authors and family.
My Grandmother, Ruby Cheung, was born in Calcutta and lived there for the better part of her childhood. When I was a kid, I remember the smell of vindaloo and chapati wafting from the kitchen every Wednesday. The best I ever had and will ever have.
This is what we made.


To start, we made Cauliflower Pakora. This recipe, along with every other pakora recipe, starts with making a batter using Gram flour AKA Chickpea flour. We spiced up the batter with some chopped up chili, ground coriander, and cilantro.
I decided to change the recipe a bit due to time constraints and my own personal preference. first, the recipe says to blanch the cauliflower florets, drain, cool, then add to the batter. I opted not to blanch. The reason is because i figured that the deep-frying will cook the cauliflower. If I blanched and then fried, the cauliflower will overcook and turn it to mush.
I was right. After frying, the cauliflower was cooked through perfectly.
The second change I made to this recipe was that it says to dip the cauliflower into the batter, place in the hot oil, and fry for 30 seconds and set aside to drain. Then they do something really strange. When cooled, they squish the fritter into a sort of disk, and then fry it again. The re-frying is probably so it will become more crisp in the end. Sort of like the same idea as blanching french fries in oil, then frying them again so they become really crispy. Due to time constraints and the fact I had 8 people eying this deep fried goodness, I just dipped the raw cauliflower into the chickpea batter and fried it at 375*.
I worked out just fine. They were golden, crisp, and amazingly light. Sometimes when you get pakora in a restaurant, the batter is thick and oily. These were the total opposite. We served it with a refreshing green chutney from the book, simply buzzed up in the food processor using cilantro, chili, ginger, lime and a touch of water.
Believe me, I could go on about the intricacies of deep-fry all day. But I'll spare you rambling and save it for another time. Maybe we can put together a deep-fry class. Dangerous!

Next was a simple salad of chickpeas, lemon cilantro, and an amazing "temper" of hot oil, mustard seeds and curry leaves.
I'm not really a fan of canned beans. The only use for canned chickpeas i think is to make hummus. They are already mushy and super-soft. I was organised enough to soak the dried chickpeas overnight. The next day I simmered them gently until tender. The great thing about using dried chickpeas is, that after they are cooked, they have great texture and flavour. Creamy on the inside with a nice firm outer shell. Perfect for a salad. I mixed together the dressing with lemon juice, sugar and fresh cilantro. Tossed together and allowed to sit for a while. The longer it sits to marinate, the better.
But the most interesting part about this salad is the "temper". Heat up a few tablespoons of canola oil until just smoking. Add in a teaspoon of black mustard seeds and 12 fresh curry leaves. The seeds toast and curry leaves crisp up within second. Immediately pour the hot oil over the salad and voila. A simple salad.

Next we started to prepare the main course. The great thing about vegetarian cooking is that nothing really takes that long to cook. Tonight was a curry with green bananas with a spicy yoghurt sauce, potatoes and peas, and cumin scented basmati.
The Basmati was very simple. I had a dicrepancy with the recipe though. It mentions to use 1 part basmati to 2 parts water. That would work if you want really mushy rice. You should not use more than 1.5 times water, which is what I used. But first, it called to saute some spices (cumin, bay leaves, cloves and cinnamon) in ghee, add the rice, water, bring to a boil and simmer for 20 minutes. I'm glad I caught the mistake of the amount of water. The rice would have been way too wet.

The potatoes on the other hand were pretty bang on. I parboiled diced potatoes and set them aside. Then i prepared the masala by frying up cumin, tumeric, chili powder, and seeded, grated tomatoes. Cooking it slowly until all the water has evaporated and is fairly dry. After adding in the potatoes and tossed in the sauce, i added some ground coriander and garam masala. In a seperate pan, i heated up some more ghee and fryed some cumin seeds and ginger paste. I added the peas and sauteed quickly, then added it to the potatoes. Tossed together and done. Very straight forward. The recipe was great and the poeple really loved it, as did I.

Now the curry. The reason I picked this curry is because I've never made one with bananas or a base of mostly yoghurt. An interesting combination. Firstly i started frying my spices in ghee. Tumeric, fenugreek, chili powder, and dried chilies. Then made a slurry of sorts with yoghurt, a small amount of chickpea flour, and water. After adding the chopped up bananas to the spices, I added in the yoghurt mixture, allowing it to simmer for 10 minutes and done.
A little side note about the bananas. The recipe asked for "cooking bananas". I wasn't really sure what those were. The book said something about green bananas, so i bought the greenest ones I could find. Luckly the Metro grocery store just got a fresh delivery. After buying the bananas and reading the recipe a little more closely, i discovered they were asking to cook the bananas in a pressure cooker. In the back of the book there was a picture by picture guide. In the picture, their cooking bananas looked like plantains. Too late. I only had really green regular bananas.
Finally, another "temper" has to be made. We again heated up some ghee until fairly hot, then added black mustard seeds, curry leaves and chili powder. After a few seconds, it was poured over the curry. In the picture, you can see the it sizzling on top.
It was a very different kind of curry. Mostly everyone liked it. Some didn't. One customer mentioned it tasted a LOT better with a little bit of the "temper" on the spoon. I thought it was pretty good. Maybe I'm not used to the banana part, but the base flavours were there.
Lastly was dessert. This one was a stretch. There isn't a lot to choose from dessert wise in the book, so Vermicelli Pudding was just strange enough that I had to try it. In past classes, we've prepared something similar using rice. The recipe starts with toasting vermicelli noodles in ghee. After 10 minutes on low heat, milk was added and simmered for 20 minutes or so. Instead of using rice vermicelli which i'm not really a fan of, i used mung bean vermicelli because I prefer the texture. Anyways, after it simmered for the 20 minutes, sugar and raisins were added and simmered another 5 minutes. So far looking...interesting. Meanwhile, in the morter, i crushed some cardamom seeds and saffron and added it to the pudding. Right away it turned it a light redish/orange colour. It was garnished with some chopped pistachios then served.
Lets just say it wasn't everyones favorite. Maybe it could have been the mung bean vermicelli. Maybe I'll try rice next time. But the flavour was there. I think it was the texture that turned most people off. I liked the cardamom, saffron, raisin, and sugar mixture. It looked good, but as one person said "It has the texture of rice pudding, and I don't like rice pudding". Fair enough.

Dessert disaster aside, this book was pretty good. For beginners who wants to dive into Indian cooking, it's a winner. Pictures for every recipe, really easy to follow recipes, and full of useful techniques. After tasting all the recipes, i also discovered the spices used were nicely subtle and not in your face like a lot of other books. So people who are skeptical of said spices, no need to worry. This book is also a great vegetarian book for our vegetarian friends. Again easy to follow and adds a whole lot of exotic to your repertoire.

Next: The Complete Tassajara Cookbook

Soup Jan 28th

The other day when it was 10* and raining, I thought winter was over and making soup was not on peoples radar anymore.
I was wrong.
Thanks to Mother Nature, Thursday ended up to be perfect soup weather. Blowing wind, snow and frigid temperatures didn't keep away our brave customers though. They battled the elements to sip down some hot soup, at the same time learn different soup making techniques.

The book tonight was called Soup by the editors of DK Publishing. There are many reasons I enjoyed not only cooking out of this book, but reading it as well. First off, as most people lie to see, it is beautifully illustrated with great pictures that seem like they are saying "Hey, you can cook me". Second, and one of my favorites, is the fully illustrated technique chapter. A picture by picture walk through of simple preparation and cooking. I really think this is great for people who don't have a whole lot of cooking experience. Reading through the first bit of this book teaches you how to cut up your vegetables, make a proper roux, or strain out a stock.
Thirdly, the recipes are laid out so in a very simple manner with concise explanations and easy to to read text. It's un-intimidating.

Lets get on with the food.
The life-blood to any soup (or cooking in general) is a properly made stock. Now I take great pride in making stock. It's a challenge for me to make it better and better every time. Tonight we prepared four different types. From left to right, Brown veal stock, chicken, fish, and vegetable. Making good stock is an art form. It takes time. Brown stock can take you up to 8 hours, chicken at least 2, and fish and vegetable 30-60 minutes. But there is no substitution to a good homemade stock. There is no store bought stock that can even come close to the purity of flavour that you can make on your own.
I do have to admit, I didn't use the recipes from the book to make stock. I used my own. But the base technique and ingredients are the same.
I started the veal and chicken stocks in the morning, allowing them to gently simmer all day. It filled the store with the smell we all love, cooking.
Once everyone arrived, we chatted about stocks and the importance of. Then we got right into it. Here is the menu:

Maple-Roasted Carrot and Ginger Soup
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Cabbage and Tomato Soup with Meatballs
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Creamy Smoked Trout Soup
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Sausage and Bean Soup

To start, we tossed a whole lot of chopped up carrots, along with some ginger, onion, garlic, and maple syrup together in a large bowl. I realized as i was pouring the maple syrup over the carrots, i didn't have enough to cover the recipe. So I supplemented with equal part local honey. did the trick. That went into the oven, 425*, for 45 minutes, until the carrots were well caramelized in parts. After 45 minutes, i scraped the roasted veg into a large pot and added enough vegetable stock to cover and pureed with my immersion blender. Simple enough. You don't even need a recipe for a soup like this.
It was garnished with a dollop of Creme Fraiche and some chopped chives. Nice and smooth, balanced in sweet, salty and spice from the ginger.
After a few spoonfuls of this, you would feel pretty healthy. The colour alone screamed "I'm healthy, drink me down!!". My grandmother would have called it "Medicine Soup". And when I say medicine, i don't mean Buckley's cough syrup.

Next was the Cabbage and Tomato Soup.
I had made the meatballs earlier in the afternoon because the recipe says to let them sit in the fridge for at least 30 minutes before cooking them. This is a great idea when making meatballs or hamburgers. When you work ground beef with your hands, mold it, then try to cook it, it's more likely to fall apart. If you chill it after you mold it, the meat firms up and is less likely to crumble when cooking.
Anyways, the meatball recipe was pretty straight forward. Onion, garlic, hot smoked paprika, cumin, thyme, breadcrumbs, egg, and the secret ingredient, lots of freshly grated Parmesan cheese. Molded into walnut sized balls, i placed it into the fridge to chill.
Meanwhile, in a large pot i started preparing the base. Onions and garlic sauteed in olive oil. Then shredded savoy cabbage, and a can of whole tomatoes.
In a large saute pan I started to brown the meatballs. The recipe called to dredge them in flour. Initially I wasn't going to do this because, well, i didn't think it needed it. But for the sake of following the recipe, i did it. Adding them to a pan with some olive oil, I fried them until they were nicely browned. The good thing about dredging them in flour is that you get a nice crust on the outside of the meatball. Also, after putting them into the pot with the cabbage and adding in some of the brown veal stock, the flour helped lightly thicken up the soup. It gave it a slight, glossy look which was very nice. I added in just enough stock to cover and allowed to simmer about 10 minutes. The cabbage was well cooked. Still with a bit of texture but not overcooked. The meatballs were tender and juice. We served it with some grated Parmesan cheese and voila.

Next was the Creamy Smoked Trout Soup.

To make this soup right, we made fish stock. In order to make fish stock, you need white fish bones. Apparently, they are harder to find than I had hoped. Maybe it was because I went shopping later in the day. But I went to La Mer, no go, surprisingly. Then i went to Poisonerie Sherbrooke and he Costa didn't have any either. I was getting a bit worried. I didn't want to buy a whole fish just for the bones. Costa did have a fish head though. Now, I'm not really into making fish stock out of fish heads. In fact, in culinary school, they tell you fish heads are not good for stock. Something about it becoming bitter. But for lack of any other options and running out of time, i opted for the fish head. I got Costa to chop it in half. I brought it back to the store, cleaned it up, and made stock. While making it, i had flashbacks of a kid watching Much Music and waiting for that Barnes and Barnes song "Fish Heads" to come on. Fish Heads, Fish Heads, Eat them up. Yum!
I digress.
To start, i made a roux with butter and flour. Whisked in my hot fish stock and and allowed the flour to cook out for about 30 minutes. Meanwhile i added in some heavy cream, Worcestershire, and a bit of lemon juice. When the soup was smooth and creamy, I added in the smoked fish.
It's pretty impossible to find smoked trout around here. So I bought some hot smoked salmon and smoked haddock. When I saw the smoked haddock, I immediately thought of Gordon Ramsay and in all his British-ness, always convincing restaurants to make Smoked Haddock Chowder in Kitchen Nightmares.
The recipe didn't call for anything other than smoked fish in the soup. I had some fingerling potatoes that i par boiled and added them into the soup which complimented everything nicely. Finishing off with some chopped chives, the soup came out very smooth, rich, and smokey.

Last soup.
To start, the recipe called to lightly roast the cherry tomatoes in the oven. 350* for 30 minutes with a bit of olive oil and seasoning. When taken out, it's drizzled with some balsamic vinegar. Easy enough.
While the tomatoes were cooking, I prepared the base. Onions and garlic sauteed. The recipe called for a pork sausage i think, but I thought i would mix it up and buy some merguez sausage meat. At Atwater Market, you can sometimes buy sausage meat not in the casing. So that's what I did.
Once the onions were soft, i adding in the merguez and sauteed until browned. I added in a can of white beans, the tomatoes, and chicken stock to cover. It simmered for about ten minutes.
I carefully scooped out some of the tomatoes and beans and pureed them and added them back into the soup. So this soup was partially pureed and mostly chunky. I think it was my favorite of the night. A touch spice, and the lamb sausage really gave it something different. This soup was amazingly easy to whip together. I think it took less than 30 minutes to make. As similar in looks as it was to the first soup, the taste could not have been any more different. This last one, with the pureed beans and spice, was a lot more rich in flavour and texture. It was the perfect soup to finish off with. Everyone was warm enough to battle to dropping temperatures outside.


Hopefully winter will be over soon. But with the -30* outside, it doesn't look that way. It'll be a good weekend to stay home, make some stock and prepare a big pot of homemade soup.
Might I even recommend picking up Soup from the editors of DK Publishing?
This is going to be my go-to soup book from now on.


Next Class : Pure and Simple Homemade Indian Vegetarian

St. Mary's Ball Silent Auction Winners

Monday, January 25th

Tonight we welcomed the winners from the St. Mary's Hospital Ball silent auction. They generously bid on a Private Cooking Class w/ Chef Joe Mercuri of Bronte.
After much planning, Joe and his two sous chefs put together an amazing five course meal that everyone loved.
There were too many courses for me to remember exactly what was in each dish. But I'll try.

Snacks

When Joe arrived to start prep, we discussed menu. Earlier in the day, on the phone, he wasn't so sure of what was going to be made. And even when he came in at 5:15 (People arriving at 6pm) he still wasn't 100%. He mention right off the bat, he wanted to "bombard them with snacks". That he did. Three plates at a time. Starting with Beef carpaccio with some Gruyere cheese.

Scallop Crudo with blood orange gelee and candied macadamia nut came next. Then cubes of marinated Ahi Tuna that was so fresh, i could have sworn it was flapping around a few hours ago.
All three were beautiful to look at and tasted as good as they appeared.
On the side, there was "bread". Skewers of toasted focaccia chunks that you could dip into bowls of porcini cream. That's a bread basket I could have again.

Once the plates of snacks were cleared and all the bubbly was drunk, Joe and his team continued with the first entree.
Tagliatelle, Braised Rabbit Ragu with Carrot Foam. I love Pasta, especially fresh pasta. I never order it when i go out to dinner because anyone can make a really great pasta dish at home. But I would definitaly order THIS dish in any restaurant if Joe was making it. I'm a fan of rabbit to begin with, so braising it in a rich sauce really appeals to me, as it did with everyone who was there. The pasta was perfectly cooked with a light snap when bit into. The rabbit was tender as any meat could be when braised for hours. There was a light hint of porcini in the sauce which brought an earthy aroma. Paired with the sweet carrot foam, this was a quintesential cold weather dish.
The next dish, on paper, I was a little scepticle about. What the Chef called Surf and Turf. Olive oil poached salmon with crispy sweetbreads, celery root puree, madjool dates and toasted almonds and apple.
the salmon was cooked in an immersion circulator in a bath of olive oil cooked at, if I remember, 43.5* exactly. The pieces of salmon appeared uncooked on the plate, but were moist and rich when bitten into. Accompanying the salmon were crispy pieces of sweetbreads that were crunchy on the outside and melt-in-your-mouth on the inside. Paired with some dated and the celery root puree, it was a well balanced plate and totally not what i was expecting. Salmon and sweetbreads, go figure.

Next was the meat. Magret of Duck. Earlier in the day, I Joe mentioned we would have duck. "With what?" i asked. "I don't know" he said.
And he continued not knowing until the duck was already cooked. But magically, Joe and his sous chefs put together some baby kale, tepenade, and a rich demi-glace to go along with the thinly sliced breast. Sweet, sour, duck fatty.

I think at this point, people were into sensory overload. It wasn't over. One more course to go.
Desert!

Half way through the evening, Joe asked if i had a microwave. I didn't. He seemed unhappy with that answer. "Is there somewhere where we can borrow one?" he asked. It was 9pm. Everything in the area is closed except the Metro across the street. We ran over and asked if we could borrow their microwave. Here we are at the grocery store, Joe, the chef of one of Montreal's top restaurant, his sous chef, and me, asking to borrow their microwave. Haute Cuisine at it's finest.
What is the microwave for you ask? Well, I had the same question. Cake. Microwave cake. The batter is put in small plastic cups, into the microwave and cooked very quickly, and voila, the puffiest cake you could imagine. This cake, scented with truffle, came with chocolate ganache and an ingenious "cookie" crumble with pop rocks. One bite of this and you literally get a flavour explosion in your mouth. After everyone's plate was licked clean, they were still grabbing for the bowl of cookie pop rocks.

We love it when guest chefs come and cook in our kitchens. There is a freshness that goes along with it. Inspiration for not only me, but for all that attend.
I want to thank the family that bid generously on our donation to St. Mary's Hospital Ball. We also want to thank Joe Mercuri and his team at Bronte for donating there time, ingredients, and skill.

River Cottage Everyday Jan 21st

Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall.
I think I just like saying that name. It makes me sound smarter.
Hugh Fearnly Whittingstall.

On Thursday we did a class based on Hugh Fearnley Whitingstalls' newest book "The River Cottage Everyday".
The River Cottage H.Q. is located in Devon, England and is home to his "Real Food" campaign. With multiple books and television shows, Hugh Fearnley Whitingstall is a house hold name in his native England, but in North America, not so much. He has written some of the best books that i have ever read, most notably "The River Cottage Meat Book". His desire to educate the public about the joys of earth to table eating and food sustainability is followed by some of England's top chefs like Jamie Oliver and Gordon Ramsay.
The newest book does just what the title says. Food for everyday. Now i do have to mention, because Hugh Fearnley Whittingstall and the River cottage is based in England, the food is very British centric. Using some ingredients not so common in North America. Sometimes people get a little confused when they see Roast Beef with all the fixings next to a recipe of Thai Curry. But don't let that throw you off. I'm a big fan of the River Cottage and everything that goes along with it.
Here is what we cooked.

Beetroot Soup with Spiced Yoghurt
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Warm Leek and White Bean Salad with Mustard Dressing
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Shin of Beef with Ginger and Soy
Caramelized Onion and Thyme Mash
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Apple and Almond Pudding Cake



The Last time I made a puree beet soup it was horrible. The worst thing about it was I made it during a class. I was so embarrassed that it tasted horrible, it scarred me and I haven't made a beet soup since. Redemption time.
It was a simple soup using the basic techniques used for any puree soup.
Starting with onion and garlic, this soup is spiced up with some cumin seeds in the beginning and then with the beets and stock added, simmered for bout 15 minutes and pureed. While it was cooking, we whipped up the sliced yoghurt with toasted ground cumin, coriander and caraway seeds, paprika, Cayenne and some olive oil.
I dollop of that on top of this beautifully red soup really brought out an exoticness that every one loved.
I was so preoccupied with the sop tasting good I forgot to take a picture of the final product. So a picture of an empty bowl will have to do. I guess that means they liked it.

Next course was the perfect winter salad. Warm leeks with white beans and mustard. Simple enough to do. I sauteed the leeks on a medium heat with a bit of olive oil until wilted. Then I added the beans (which were canned, which I got a little flack for using, understandably) and sauteed them with the leeks until warm. Season with salt and pepper and done.
In a small bowl i made the dressing with some Dijon and grainy mustard, vinegar and olive oil. I added a bit of the dressing in with the leek and bean mixture and the remaining with some salad greens. I layed the greens on a large serving platter and put the warm leeks and beans on top. I think the best part of this salad was the dressing. I like the idea of using both kinds of mustard. Added great texture and creaminess. Also, the fact that it was a warm salad is great for a cold January night.
This can be a meal in itself, but we were only half way through.


Shin of beef is not something we in North America are too familiar with. Although, we have all had Osso Bucco. That is a cut from veal. What we cooked was a cut of beef. I ordered a whole shank from my Tony the Butcher at Boucherie Westmount.
I brought it back and cut and trimmed this huge piece of meat. I do this to try and keep up with my butchery skills or the lack there of.
I started by searing the meat in a large pot until nicely browned. After removing the beef, i added big chunks of ginger and garlic and slowly sauteed for a few minutes. Then I deglazed the pan with a combination of soy, vinegar and apple juice. The addition of the apple juice was really weird to me, but after thinking about it for a second, the sour, salty and sweet elements were all there, so i trusted my good friend Hugh Fearnley Whittingstall.

Once the liquid came up to a boil I added the seared meat back into the pot and laced it in the oven at 250* for a total of 3 hours.
While cooking we caramelized some onions and thyme and added it to some simply mashed potatoes. As simple as it sounds, this was a hit. I loved the texture of the sweet onions mixed into the smooth and creamy potatoes.
There was no recipe for it, but we needed some greens so i sauteed some escarole on the side.
The beef same out and it was a lot better than I though it would come out. Even with the all that apple juice in it. It was amazingly tender (anything will be after cooking for 3 hours) and really flavourful. All the plates were empty and no leftovers. That's a good sign.

Dessert was something I was really impressed with. The apple and almond pudding, once out of the oven, looked just like the picture. I LOVE it when that happens.
To start, we sauteed the apples with a little butter, sugar and cinnamon. while they were cooking, i made the batter. Nothing really special about it. A very basic cake batter incorporating ground almonds. It was thicker than i thought it would. I reminded me of a coffee cake batter. I spread the batter into a lined 9 inch spring form pan then placed the sauteed apples on top. Into the oven for about an hour and voila.
I should also note, I bumped up this recipe by 50%. After reading the amounts initially, i knew it would not feed 10 people. Originally it says to bake in a 20cm pan. Way too small to feed us all.
Even with the alteration of the amounts, it came out how I had hoped. The apples were perfectly tender and the cake was moist. I'll be making this again for sure.

So all in all, I have to say it was a successful class. Much easier to do than the River Cafe classes earlier in the week. I was happy with all the recipes and the final flavours were pretty much what I expected.
Whether or not all the recipes in this book is designed for "everyday" it's a great book to explore. The passion of Hugh Fearly Whittingstall really comes out. It's an eclectic mix of tastes and techniques that will hopefully get everyone cooking at home.

Hugh Fearnley Whittingstall.
I just can't say it enough.

Next Week : Soup!

River Cafe Jan 18th & 19th

I think I was a little ambitious for this one.
Picking the menu for a class is a simple recipe. There is two and a half hours to cook a four course meal for ten people. Pick recipes that fit into the allotted time and pick recipes using techniques and ingredients people may not be familiar with.
Flipping through the newest book by the famed River Cafe in London, i got a bit excited. The River Cafe Cookbook Classic Italian Cookbook is so full of amazing looking and sounding recipes, it was difficult to narrow it down to just four. Luckily for me, there was two nights to try out as many as I could fit in.
Jan 18th:

Tuscan Kale and Polenta Soup
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Pizza Frita
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Bollito Misto
Rich Lentils
Salsa Verde
Horseradish Sauce
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Torta di Capri

Lets start with the soup. Tuscan Kale is a great ingredient to use in general. That's why this soup was really appealing. It's not an easy vegetable to find. With it's dark leaves and great crunchy texture, it just screams "good for you"! Adding it to a polenta along with carrots, celery, onion, potato and garlic surly makes it a hearty, wintry soup. Perfect for the middle of January. When I cook polenta in classes, i tend to opt for instant polenta due to time constraints. The problem is that when it cooks, it gets really sticky and stiff FAST. So for this soup, i went with a regular cornmeal, and I'm glad i did. The book says to cook it a total of one and a half hours. You braise the kale in water , along with the other vegetable, for an hour, then add the cornmeal and simmer for another thirty minutes. I cut down the cooking time for the kale by half because i don't like the idea of cooking greens for that long. I also cut down the cooking time for the polenta because i like my polenta with a little bit of texture, not completely smooth. It had a great texture and people loved it. I was pretty happy with the way it turned out. The kale added a great look and texture. So far off to a great start.

Second course was the Pizza Frita. This was basically pizza fried in a pan. Pretty good idea right? The picture in the book looked great and the recipe sounded simple enough. I started making the pizza dough earlier in the afternoon. While making it, it seemed really familiar. The use of rye flour in the sponge reminded me of my favorite pizza dough recipe from Chez Panise. Going back and reading the blurb before the recipe the authors mention its a variation of the Chez Panise pizza dough. Pretty good memory Jonathan. Now you just have to remember what you had for breakfast.
The pizza dough was easy to put together. I found it a bit wet, but this could all be because of the type of flour i used and not knowing exactly the texture or wetness/dryness they want. That's the thing with breads, they can't really tell you what the exact moisture of the dough, so you usually are guessing. Maybe that's why home made bread usually sucks. Anyways, because i found the dough to be a tad moist, it fermented a lot faster that the two hours mentioned. But that's OK, it came out pretty good in the end. One recipe yields ten thin crust pizzas. We rolled out the dough and placed it in the pan with a bit of olive oil. On medium heat, I cooked one side til sort of brown and flipped, dressed with thinly sliced potato, boconchini and fresh basil. Put a lid on the pan and cooked another 2 minutes.

Voila! Pizza Frita.
Not really what i was expecting. But pizza is always a hit. I thought the dough would puff more, or get more crispy, but it didn't. Maybe it needed more olive oil and higher temperature. It was a cool concept and I would for sure try it again.

Main Course was Bolitto Misto. The picture in the book is what inspired me to make it. Table side Bolitto Misto looked like a thing of wonder. Essentially boiled meats and vegetables with a rich meaty stock and a variety of sauces and side dishes to go along. It was a hard sell this boiled meat concept, but i assured everyone that they have to try it first.
I followed the recipe pretty closely. Using brisket, chicken, veal tongue, and sausage. The recipe called to use Cotechino sausage which i couldn't find. I opted for sweet Italian sausage instead. The Brisket and tongue took a total of three hours to simmer in water along with carrots, celery and onion. The chicken only and hour and the sausage ten minutes. I altering the recipe slightly, i cooked the brisket and tongue in one pot and the chicken and sausage in another. The brisket and tongue was melt in your mouth and everything was served with two very simple sauces of Horseradish cream and salsa verde. Both brought the meats to life with a little heat and freshness.

On the side we made lentils that were cooked with carrots, celery, onion, pancetta and lots of red wine and stock. Very rich and was a hit with everyone.
after the first bite, the people who were sceptical of the idea of boiled meat were excited to recreate it on the weekend. I hope they do. Although cooking time is long, it's so easy to throw together and is a great dish to entertain with.

Dessert was a chocolate torte that had no picture so there were no preconceived ideas of how it would turn out. It's a flourless cake using lots of ground almonds and bits of chocolate. Easy enough to put together. I liked the bits of chocolate strewn throughout. when it came out of the oven it looked like big chocolate chip cookie. after about one hour at 300*, the cake came out looking really rich and delicious. But being a bit worm while eating, it was very light on the palate and not as rich as it looked. I like those kinds of desserts.
All in all the class was a success. People had a great time eating and watching me run around. It was a very consuming class because all the dishes were very time consuming. I didn't have time to wash dishes in between courses. So once everyone left with full bellies it was a late night washing all the pots and pans, which i don't mind. Keeps me grounded. I may be a cook, but I'll always be a dishwasher at heart.

Jan 19th:

Potato, Rosemary, Pecorino Pizza
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Tagliatelle with Porcini
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Bollito Misto
Rich Lentils
Salsa Verde
Horseradish Sauce
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Almond, Ricotta and Polenta Tart

I was ready for this one. More organized and practised.
Pizza this time was done in the oven. I didn't own a pizza stone so i went to Home Depot to buy something along those lines. I purchased two slate tiles for $6. Wasn't sure of it would work. Placed them in the oven and after reading up a bit on it, slowly started to heat them up in the oven. One at 450*, we were ready to make pizza.
The dough was the exact same as last night. We rolled them out and dressed the pizzas with thinly sliced potato, fresh rosemary, and pecorino. We made some variations using more boconchini and anchovies (my favorite). Pizza's came out better than last night. More crisp because of the slate tiles. Half way through the slate cracked in half though. No worries, it didn't stop is from making them.
Next time, I'll buy an unglazed ceramic tile from home depot. Apparently that will work without cracking. Good thing they only cost a couple bucks instead of the $50+ for "proper" stones at some kitchen retailers.

Next course was the pasta. I made fresh pasta in the afternoon. Haven't made fresh pasta in a while. What better class to do it. There is no fresh pasta recipe in this book. So I took a recipe from another book, Pasta Sfoglia, that I'll be doing later in the season. The dough was nice. I ran it through the pasta roller attachment for the Kitchen Aid.
The final dish was so simple to put together, as any good pasta is. After soaking some dried porcini for twenty minutes, I drained it, chopped it up, and reserved the liquid. Saute some garlic, sage and chile, then add in some of the liquid and reduce to almost nothing. Add in the chopped porcini and some heavy cream and stir together.
Because the pasta was fresh, it only took two minutes in boiling salted water. Directly from the boiling water into the pan with the sauce, a quick toss, salt and pepper and you're done. We added a bit of the pasta water to loosen up the sauce. The fresh pasta had a great texture with a little snap when you bite into it. Cooked perfectly. The sauce was rich with the cream and porcini. A meal in itself.

The main was the same as last night. And everyone loved the tongue. At least that's what they told me.

For dessert tonight, we made an Almond, Ricotta, and Polenta cake. Again, it was a flourless, using lots of ground almonds and polenta. With the incorporation of ricotta, this cake was super moist. The recipe called for fine cornmeal flour, but I used a courser grain to give it the cornbread-y kind of texture i like. Great for breakfast, with coffee in the afternoon, or dessert. Refreshingly lemony, we served it with a dollop of freshly whipped cream. Just like last night's cake, it baked for one hour at 300*. Nicely golden and a winner. If you're going to make a dessert out of this book, the Almond, Ricotta and Polenta cake would be a wise choice.

Another successful class with The River Cafe Classic Italian Cookbook. It will be a go too for solid Italian recipes from now on.



Next Class: River Cottage Everyday

Knife Skills

First day back after a few weeks no classes. But we got into it right away.

Knife skills is the most important skills to have in the kitchen. It's amazing that some people, after so many years of cooking, have no idea how to hold a knife properly. Maybe that's why this specific class is popular at the store.
During this class, one is taught how to hold a knife like a real chef, arm and hand placement, and various classic french cuts like baton, jullienne, and brunoise among others.



As simple as this sounds, it's a struggle to learn them properly. Some say you can't teach old dogs new tricks, but after this class, most of my students walked away with a greater knowledge and confidence in using a knife. They also walk away with a knife. A brand new Victorinox 8inch Chef Knife.
Even though this is all hands on, we still had time to whip up something to eat. With expertly cut vegetables, we made a Indian Spiced Sweet Potato Soup, and a very simple Raw Vegetable Pasta taken from the River Cafe Cookbook Too Easy.



The class went great. No one cut themselves which I'm very proud of (keepin' the streak alive). Everyone left happy, knowing their kitchen/cutting skills are greatly improved. It's the knife Skills Class' that i get the most response from. Students who took the class years ago still come in and mention how this class has changed the way they cook.

Next Class
River Cafe; Classic Italian Cookbook