Butter

Ever since reading an article on butter in the Globe and Mail and learning more about the butter industry, Kel and I were intrigued.  We've always known that almost everything in our country is regulated, but we didn't realize by how much.  From this article we learnt that the butter we see at the grocery store all have to contain a minimum fat content of 80% and "under Canada’s supply-managed dairy monopoly system you have to use milk from the provincial pool".  Even the packaging is limited to printed foil.  This explains why butter looks and tastes relatively the same regardless of brand.  The article also mentioned that European butter tends to contain ~84% fat content and isn't readily available to us since only a small amount can be imported without getting hit with a 289.5% duty.  Stirling Creamery, a local dairy recognized this gap and has started producing a European-Style barrel churned butter with a whopping 84% fat content.  You can read more about it here.

Hearing this, I couldn't help but venture out to St. Lawrence market as it was named as a source of obtaining this European goodness.  I spotted a side fridge of a dairy shop who carried the new Stirling butter and proceeded to chat up the owner.  Jackpot!  He informed me that he also carried a butter from Italy and one from France, and went into the back to get them.  I ended up walking out with the Stirling butter as well as the Beppino Occelli butter from Italy.  As expected, the Stirling butter costed about 4 times more than our regular butter, and the Beppino Occelli was 8 times more.  I immediately messaged Kel about my loot and we started devising a plan as to what to test them on.

Here is a close up of our contenders.

We soon decided to test them against our regular butter on three levels: simply as is; in cooking; and in baking.

For the first as is test, we had it with toasted French bread.  The Stirling and Beppino Occelli butters were recognizably more creamy than the Gay Lea.  However, the Beppino Occelli left an after taste we've never experienced with butter.  It actually reminded me of brie cheese.  It was quite the noms.

For the cooking test, we used them to sauté mixed mushrooms.  Again, the two contenders were noticeably richer, and once again the Beppino Occelli left a unique taste.  It wasn't so much like brie this time, but something different.  We couldn't quite put a finger on what it was.

For the last test, I brought the left over butters with me to my friend Moj's house to share in the loot.  We proceeded to make butter cookies out of them.  The Stirling butter came out the winner in this round.  It filled the apartment with a buttery goodness you'd only dream about and the cookies were equally yummy.  The Beppino Occelli was a bit disappointing.  Moj described the smell during baking as "bad cheese" and the windows had to be opened.  The cookies themselves didn't fare well either.  They didn't taste like butter cookies at all; it was all rather strange.

Our conclusion was that the Beppino Occelli butter was best enjoyed with toast, while the Stirling was a lot more versatile.  Maybe next time, I'll go get the butter from France to see how it fares.

Chefs' House - Lindt Chocolate Lovers' Feast

 Our friend Flora found this event at the Chefs' House featuring an inventive four course dinner with wine pairing and hor d'oeurves, with Lindt chocolate as the key ingredient to every dish.  The night would showcase the talent from the Chef School of George Brown and the Master Chefs would discuss the construction of the menu and dishes.  It was a one night only event and we were sold.  The menu would only be revealed the night of, and we secured our seats as soon as the event was open for reservations.

Doors open at 6:30pm and after getting to our table, we were promptly greeted with such goodies as chocolate dipped bacon, and a Parmesan tart with grape chutney drizzled with chocolate.  The night was getting off to a great start!

While waiting for the evening to officially start, we went over the menu with our sparkling wine in hand, and chomped on some bread at our table, which included a dark chocolate and sour cherry loaf, a red fife pain au levain, as well as some lavash.  Norm thought he tasted cumin in the pain au levain, but no one else did.

After some introductions and speeches by the chefs, our first course arrived: the braised beef cheek and dark chocolate ganache ravioli in brown sage butter.  I have to agree with Moj on this one, it's definitely the yummiest ravioli I've ever had.  For one, the chefs didn't feel the need to include ricotta or mascarpone or any other cheese in the filling, which was quite refreshing; and they didn't cheat by just adding a hint of chocolate; it really was a full on chocolate ganache with the beef cheek.  The taste of chocolate was evident, but not overpowering.  This dish worked well all around, like the braised beef cheek and chocolate ganache were BFFs.

Our second course was the cocoa infused wild mushroom consommé with a pan-seared scallop.  This was an interesting dish, but in my opinion, less impressive than the first.  As Norm has duly noted, the scallop was cooked perfectly, but the flavours didn't do much for me.  As I got more into the dish, I found the consommé a bit saltier than preferred.

Our third course was the oven roasted chicken breast, with a blood sausage and brioche pudding, white chocolate parsnip purée, in a bitter chocolate and chipotle sauce.  The many different aspects to this dish definitely made it a favourite at our table.  The chicken was perfectly roasted and not too dry; the blood sausage and brioche pudding had an interesting texture and went well with the parsnip purée; and the bitter chocolate and chipotle sauce wasn't bitter at all.  It was hard to decide where to start, and what combination to try next.  Everything seemed to blend so well together.

Our signal that dessert was on its way: fresh bread sticks dipped in Lindt chocolate.

And last but not least, our dessert.  They weren't kidding on the menu about there being "chocolate of various forms and textures!  There was chocolate foam layered on top of a small piece of chocolate brownie/cake, with chocolate crumble all around, whilst sitting on top of a decadently smooth chocolate mousse with bits of liquefied cherry and hazelnut.  Flora thought it was a bit sweet for her liking, so I finished hers, too. :)

At the end of the meal, our server presented us with a plate of Lindor milk chocolate truffles, as well as a box of chocolates each as a takeaway gift.  With such great food and company, we all had a splendid time.  In fact, Flora's proposed to make these a monthly outing.  I wonder what's next on the agenda? :)

Dinner at Sushi Kaji

Sushi Kaji has got to be my favourite Japanese restaurant in Toronto.  They only do tasting menus and so, is not your everyday type of sushi bar.  At the same time, their prices aren't so far out of reach that you'd only go once in your lifetime.  They used to have tasting menus at three price points, but have since gotten rid of their $80 menu. We decided to go with their $120 menu this time, since it is my birthday and all.

The menu doesn't say a whole lot about what we'd get, nor does it indicate the amount, but having been here before, we knew it'd be well worth our money.

We reserved seating at the bar as that is where we'd get the most action; watching the chefs at work was quite impressive.  They had just renovated the restaurant last month, increasing the space behind the bar by decreasing the tables available in the restaurant.  This may seem counter intuitive for some, but it made a lot of sense for us as what they're really doing is expanding the stage for the chefs to perform on.

 

Our first dish (partially listed as the second item on the menu), the persimmon rolled with egg crepe was found inside the leaf bundle, resting on the two pieces of fish cake stuffed with cod roe.  The yellow ball in front is a water chestnut embedded in a white wine jelly, sitting beside a piece of candied lotus root.

Our second dish (actually listed as the first item on the menu), is the daikon radish cake on the left with a bit of kumquat reduction, with the dried barracuda on the right.

Our third dish, which was more like a continuation of the second item on the menu, is the vinegared crab.  The yellow swirl on the left was actually an egg yolk, which complemented nicely with the soy sauce on its right, adding a velvety texture whilst lessening the sodium level.

Our fourth dish: the assorted sashimi plate.  The two orange pieces on the left resembling salmon is actually fresh trout, which was quite refreshing.  The octopus was a nice touch, as it was not chewy at all, contrary to the usual experience.  And are you starting to notice the crab theme?

Next up, the butternut squash cake stuffed with chicken.  The pool its sitting in was actually a consommé, just thick enough yet not too overpowering.  Erica decided after her meal that this was her most memorable dish.

The assorted tempura was up next.  What we've always been interested in, is how these are fried, yet served dry.  We watched them do it this time, and it looks so simple.  Must try this at home. :)

Snow crab grilled in cellophane.  They weren't kidding about the cellophane.

Inside, we found mushroom and chicken on a bed of onions with the reminisce of egg.  This was done quite nicely as the egg absorbed all the flavours of the crab and neither the chicken, mushroom or onions took away from that.  Kel loved how this was presented and the skill involved for everything to be cooked to perfection.  And of course, I loved how all the crab legs seen thus far has been pre-cracked for our dining pleasure.  However, Erica thought it was a little oily for her liking.

This next dish wasn't written on the menu and was by far my favourite dish of the night.  Here we have a bit of crab "innards" (for lack of a better word) on hand shredded crab meat on rice.  The portioning was perfect; not too much as to over indulge, but just enough to taste the sweetness of the crab.

Our next course, the littleneck clam miso soup.  We thought the miso in the soup was stronger than we were used to.

And this brings us to the beginning of our assorted sushi platter.  The great thing about sitting at the bar is, we'd get the pieces as they're made and won't have to wait a minute longer.

Barbecued eel was the first sushi we got.  Their special sauce was unique, driven by a citrus note of kumquat; not too sweet like the store bought type.

Next up: maguro.

And what do we have here?  Wild trout covered with roe.  I think one of the dramatic highlights about sitting at the bar is the anticipation as we watched them pour roe on top of our sushi.  We're not usually huge on roe, but these were the good ones.  We could taste the freshness of the fish and none of the salt.  One of the chefs cooking by us saw us trying to pick up the leftover roe with chopsticks and decided to lend us a hand by dropping off a small spoon on our plate. :P

Sea bream sushi wrapped in mint leaves.  I'm personally not big on mint, but this was actually pretty good.

Fresh crab sushi.  And yes, that would be Chef Kaji.  He purposely knocked over a piece because he knew we were taking pictures.  Chef Kaji is quite the joker posing for our photo.

Scallop sushi.  Its interesting how I dislike cooked scallops, but fresh raw scallop is quite the yum in my book.

Chef Kaji made us cucumber hand rolls to help clean our palates.  Note that Kel's on the right is much larger than mine.

The finale: uni sushi, fried prawn, and toro.  Need I say more?

And to finish the night, our desserts.  The girls got a red bean paste with mixed fruits on top of jelly, accompanied with a green tea macaron.  Kel got a pear sorbet with his macaron.

The Toronto Underground Market - Nov 2011 Event

I first heard of the Toronto Underground Market (TUM) through a co-worker of mine.  Whilst trying to decide how many tickets to get for the October event over lunch, it sold out!  We regretted not jumping on it sooner and decided we need to regroup for their next event in November.  Over the course of the month, we gathered interest in our respective groups of friends, waiting anxiously for the tickets to go on sale and jumped on them as soon as we were aware.  Alas, the November event proved to be worth the wait as we lined up stall after stall and filled our tummies with yummy goodness.  We were a little wary of the weather as it was held at the Evergreen Brickworks, but the heat lamps and atmosphere proved it quite enjoyable.

Kel and I started out our TUM adventure by tasting the various samosas from Mama Nashi's Indian Gourmet Fare.  They offered three kinds: chicken, beef, and vegetarian.  They were de-lish and served their role well as our first course.

After savouring the samosas, we spotted the line for La Carnita.  They are famous for their fish tacos and the line was already mega long!  We decided at this point to divide and conquer; station Kel at the La Carnita line, where we went and hunted down other good eats and of course bring some back for him as well.

Flora and I ventured out and assessed what the other stalls had to offer and settled in at a line for grilled cheese.  Rather, Flora lined up for grilled cheese while I went and got sandwiches from Fidel Gastro. They offered two types of sandwiches; the "Havana Club", a beer pulled pork with ham, caramelized onions, havarti and chili aioli; and "La Senorita", mozzarella stuffed jalapeno, turkey chilli and radicchio slaw.  Of course, I picked up one of each and shared them with Flora and Kel.  The guys at Fidel Gastro created a fun atmosphere where they cried "OLE!" every chance they got.

It was good timing, too, because by the time I got back to Flora, we were next in line at Comida Del Pueblo for their awesome grilled cheese!  And yes, I say awesome because it was a jalapeno cornbread grilled cheese topped with guacamole and creme fresca!  This was definitely one of the highlights of the night.

After sharing the grilled cheese with Kel, I got us a beer from Hogtown Brewers.  Can't say it was the greatest, a little hoppy for our taste.  At this time, I met up with Flora and Norm again, and we decided to try the eats from Element.  While lining up, Keith came over with some cupcakes from Sullivan & Bleeker.  I couldn't resist and had their mint Aero cupcake.

At Element, Flora and Norm shared the pork and crab meat soup vermicelli, as well as the lobster yaki.  I just got the lobster yaki and brought it back to Kel, which was just as well since he was finally nearing the front of the La Carnita line!  We got two of each of their voltron fish tacos and their Mexican chorizo tacos.  The chorizo tacos delivered quite a kick!  We looked around for Flora to share this yummy goodness, but to no avail.  We ended up eating her share as well. :P

Later in the night, we ventured out to the Chimney courtyard to scope out their wood oven pizzas and found that they offered cedar smoked marshmallows, as well.  However, at a dollar a piece, we weren't quite sure.  At this time, it started raining and we headed back into the major venue.  Before the night was over, I had a hot cider with whiskey from Proof, which was quite yummy by the way, and the duck confit hash from Elle cuisine.  Can't say the duck was all that great as we found the meat quite dry, but all in all, it was a terrific night.

Foodstock: Stop the Mega Quarry

Last month, Kel and I went with a few friends up north to the Foodstock event.  It was the first of its kind with the intention of this event being to raise awareness and money to stop an American company called Highland Companies from turning prime, fertile agricultural land into a limestone quarry spanning 2,300 acres.  It was dubbed as a "pay-what-you-can public food event" and was wildly successful.  A hundred chefs across the nation banded together to serve up local produce, setting up stalls out in an open field and throughout the forest to the public.  Thousands showed up despite the cold and rain in support of the movement.  It was definitely a different experience! We had a good laugh at supporters, both kids and adults, losing their boots in the muddy field, while lining up for the next food stall.  Looking back, I wish I had taken more pictures of all the great food we had, especially since Norm, Kel, and I all managed to forget to bring our own plates and used a lettuce leaf as a substitute.

Supporters at the event, both young and old.

Soup being served out of a giant pumpkin and onto a cabbage leaf to promote sustainability and reducing waste.

More shots of food stands as chefs and volunteers prep for the supporters.

An article on the event at blogTO with additional pictures found here.

Labour Day Weekend in New York City: Nougatine at Jean-Georges

On our last day in New York City, we hit up Nougatine at Jean-Georges for lunch before making our way back home.  I had originally booked for Jean-Georges, but there was some kind of mix up with the reservation desk as they've penned me down for Nougatine.  I only realized this mistake when they called to confirm and by then it was too late to make a change.  Jean-Georges was full until 2:30pm. Bleh.  Ah wells, Nougatine it is.  Nougatine had the lunch prix fixe menu, which wasn't a bad deal.  For $32, you can get an appetizer, entree and a dessert, so that's what we went for.

For my first course, I decided to supplement a couple bucks to get an appetizer that was off the prix fixe: Foie gras brulee, slow-roasted strawberries and aged balsamic vinegar.  I had originally wanted to try the Foie gras brulee at Jean Georges which came with the pineapple-meyer lemon jam, but this will have to suffice.  I was pleasantly surprised at how light the roasted strawberries complimented the dish.  The top was seared crispy, and when I applied pressure to cut into it, bits of the foie gras would bubble up through the crust! Joy!  In the cross section, I found the roasted strawberries nested in the foie gras which was the other surprise.  All in all, I think the berries really lightened up the entire dish, making it suitable as a lunch item.

This was Kel's appetizer: Tuna tartare, avocado, spicy radish, ginger marinade.  I didn't get to try any (just as he didn't get to try my brulee) as we weren't sitting next to each other during this meal, but he told me it was wonderful.  In particular, he thought the ginger marinade was a nice and unique touch.

My entree: Slowly cooked skate, eggplant, pepper ragout.  I thought the skate was made really well, just tender and not overcooked.  Each piece of the wing flaked off nicely.  Wasn't a big fan of the ragout though.  I expected the fresh pepper taste, but it came out to be pickled pepper.  A little sour for my taste on an entree.

Kel's entree: Slowly cooked salmon, with sauteed potatoes, black olive and passion fruit.  As you can see, the salmon was a good sized portion, not what we expected.  And it was sitting on a bed of spinach, which was on top of the potatoes.  Kel said the overall dish was good, but he thought the spinach was slightly over done, a bit chewy.  What can I say, the man's picky about his greens!

Kel's cousin's entree: Sauteed red snapper, spaghetti squash, sesame broth and chili oil.  No complaints here.  She said the flavours melded very well together.

We ended our meal with the warm chocolate cake with vanilla bean ice cream, which once again, put us over the top, but hey, who can complain about too much chocolate, especially when it's oozing out the centre? :)