Surprise! Top Chef Canada Doesn’t Suck

I don’t know why I was taking it so personally, but I was wracked with worry in the days leading up to the premiere of Top Chef Canada. As a big fan of the American version (and as someone who met with the producer prior to casting to give him some ideas re potential chefs), I cannot believe how good it is. It totally doesn’t suck. No “The Trouble With Tracy” lighting. No canned laughter. Just a great group of mostly talented chefs.

The bigger shocker? A lot of them even have big personalities; showboating and smack-talk included. (How very un-Canadian.)

The hosts are nice facsimiles of their American counterparts, and most of the challenges have been even more interesting than the U.S. ones, including one that had the chefs traipsing around Toronto’s unique ethnic enclaves to learn and cook recipes from another’s culture.

I’ve enjoyed the food of a few of the chefs (in real life), including Connie DeSousa’s, who is truly doing women chefs proud.

I visited Calgary last summer and toured around the city for a day with Connie and her Charcut co-chef/owner John Jackson, and also had a fantastic meal at their restaurant, where they make everything from scratch. During summer the place becomes a veritable pickling and jamming factory, where they can more than 1,000 jars of everything from tuna to berries to peaches and cucumbers. And then they use some of that preserved fruit in their ever-changing, dead simple, crazy delicious, no-bake cheesecake. I wonder if Connie will break it out if there’s ever a quick-fire dessert challenge.

Charcut's no-bake cheesecake

(serves 4)

Ingredients:

3/4 cup (175 mL) heavy cream

1/4 cup (50 mL) icing sugar

seeds from half a vanilla bean

1/2 teaspoon (2 mL) pure vanilla extract

1 1/4 cups (300 mL) cream cheese

1/4 cup (50 mL) graham crackers (crumbs)

1/2 cup (125 mL) seasonal fruit, fresh or preserved

Method:

1. In a bowl, whip heavy cream, icing sugar, vanilla seeds and vanilla extract until thick, then put it in the fridge.

2. In another bowl, beat cream cheese using whip attachment, frequently scraping down bowl until there are no lumps. Then fold whipping cream mixture into cream cheese.

3. Layer jam jars with graham crumbs, cheesecake filling and fruit.

An eBook for the Ages

My friend Yael passed along an incredible link this morning, to The Project Gutenberg EBook of the International Jewish Cook Book, by Florence Kreisler Greenbaum, which is free to all.

Yael, who is strictly kosher, writes: “In my search for a recipe (as I never asked my grandmother to write these down) for Farina Soup and Klutzsky, I came across this fascinating and homey Jewish cookbook. It dates back to 1919, and was compiled by a New York housewife and foodie extraordinaire. Some of the recipes I recognized, some I desired, and many I read and lavished in the cook's expertise.”

I immediately clicked on the link Yael had sent and was swallowed up in a world of both ancient and modern Semitic flavours and traditions – 1,600 recipes in all. There are appetizers, sandwiches, garnishes and dumplings for soups, sauces for fish and vegetables, stuffings for meat and poultry, fresh fruits and compotes, egg dishes, cheese dishes, coffee cakes, cookies, steamed puddings, pickles and relishes, and more, and so on.

It’s like a Jewish culinary jackpot full of simple recipes that allow anyone to prepare and enjoy a wealth of global recipes that follow the rules of Kashrut, and that stand the taste test of time.

Here’s an easy classic to get you started:

CHICKEN LIVER PASTE, No. 2

Take one-quarter pound chicken livers that have been boiled soft; drain and rub through grater, add one-quarter cup of fresh mushrooms that have been fried for three minutes in two tablespoons of chicken fat, chop these, mix smooth with the liver, moistening with the fat used in frying the mushrooms, season with salt, pepper, paprika and a little onion and lemon juice. Spread on rye bread slices. Garnish plate with a red radish or sprigs of parsley.

P.S. I didn’t have a photo of chopped liver so instead included this photo I took at an awesome herring smokehouse on the Magdalen Islands last spring. (I figured with the kosher diet’s predilection for smoked fish it was appropriate to the post.)

It's 'cue time!

As we head into Canada's May 2-4 weekend, I thought I’d pass along some tips sent to me during this, National Barbecue Month.

The following 'cue tips come courtesy of John McLemore’s book “DADGUM, That’s Good!”. John McLemore, a southerner through-and-through, was born an entrepreneur and accidentally became a cook. Here are 20 of his best barbecue tips. (Note: I've added bracketed comments after some of his tips where I felt like adding my rootin' tootin' two cents.)

Have a great long weekend, y'all!

20 BBQ Cooking Tips from John McLemore, author of “DADGUM That’s Good!”

1. Coat grill rack with non-stick spray or vegetable oil before preheating to prevent food from sticking.

2. When grilling fish, grill with the skin side down or on aluminum foil (coat with non-stick spray).

3. Red snapper is quick and easy to grill. But make sure the grill and fish are well oiled, and handle carefully.

4. Salmon is a favorite for grilling, because it doesn’t dry out. Rich in natural omega oils, you can pop it on the grill without oiling. Start by grilling the salmon skin side up. This allows the natural fat under the skin to be drawn into the filet, keeping it rich and moist. (Salmon may be fatty but it can certainly dry out, and nobody likes overcooked salmon except for cats. Also, I would definitely oil the salmon before grilling it. A quick teriyaki marinade is a crowd pleaser too.)

5. If you’re grilling scallops, use fresh ocean scallops. These should be a pinkish tan or ivory color, not unnaturally white. (Buy dry pack, not wet packed.)

6. Freshwater trout is great on the grill. The skin becomes thin and crispy and the meat is full of flavor.

7. To keep tuna burgers moist, choose the freshest tuna steaks you can find and serve them medium-rare to medium – don’t overcook. (And a post-BBQ smear of wasabi mayo does the trick here.)

8. When grilling BBQ ribs, pork butt, or tenderloin, cook unwrapped for 50 to 75% of the cooking time to infuse smoke and flavor. The remaining time wrap with heavy aluminum foil to retain moisture and tenderness

9. When grilling burgers and steaks, allow grill to get to a high temperature before placing food on grill. Let steaks or burgers grill several minutes prior to turning, which will sear in the juices. (This also prevents sticking.)

10. When choosing an inexpensive steak, opt for flank steak rather than skirt steak, which can be tougher. Flank steak is thin and cooks quickly. They’re usually marinated before being grilled. Wrap the steak in foil as it comes off the grill and let it stand for 10 minutes. Slice it thinly on a diagonal across the grain to sever the tough fibers and make the flavorful steak more tender. (I buy flank steak more than any other meat. It's lean and a delicious way to beef up summer salads.)

11. When is cheaper better? Chicken thighs may be one of the cheaper cuts, but they do great on the grill! Thighs are more flavorful and the extra fat in the skin makes them better suited to grilling.

12. For the juiciest chicken and chops, you want to sear them on both sides on high heat for several minutes and then bring the grill temperature down to complete the cooking process.

13. Grilling vegetables in aluminum foil, with oil, prevents them from falling through the grill gates. (A bit of butter makes them even better.)

14. Just a few minutes on the grill gives bell peppers a sweet smoky flavor. As soon as the skin puffs up and turns black, they’re ready. (Roast them whole and then put them in a bowl and cover with plastic wrap so that they steam their skins off. Peel off blackened skins, then core peppers and scrape out seeds before slicing peppers and using them in a feta red pepper dip, or as a pizza topping.)

15. Cut zucchini in half lengthwise, coat with olive oil and sprinkle with salt and pepper; grill for 15 minutes. (Zucchini is great in this salad.)

16. You can leave the husk on the corn while grilling. Once you see the shape of the kernels burning through the husk, your corn is ready. (I prefer husking it first so I get that nice charred look and taste.)

17. Grilled Caesar Salad? Sure – the Romaine lettuce ends will char, but it stays remarkably crisp and sweet, with a char-grilled flavor. (I have plans to make this soon.)

18. Always allow grill to cool prior to cleaning, but I recommend cleaning after each use.

19. To extend the life of your grill (and smoker), store in a dry place or keep covered after each use.

20. Do not grill alone; spend the time with family and friends. (It’s more DADGUM fun!)

Eat here: Obika Mozzarella Bar

When it launches on May 16^th in Brookfield Place, next to the Hockey Hall of Fame, the latest outpost of the mini but global restaurant chain (Rome, Milan, London, New York, Tokyo, Istanbul and Beverly Hills) will specialize, as it has since 2004, in one main ingredient: Mozzarella di Bufala Campana *DOP (denomination of protected origin.)

I know what you’re thinking: “How odd.” True enough, though after a sneak sampling this week, to that I answer: “But how delicious.”

Simplicity is where it’s at, at Obika Mozzarella Bar. As in the best varieties of mozzarella, including DOP Stracciatela di Burrata (like oozing cheesy cream heaven), Ricotta, and Smoked Provola. (The smoked one tastes like a Milanese cookout.) All of this prized mozzarella comes in tasting plates, salads, stuffed, or whipped into starters, pastas and pizzas. Oh yeah, and the city has a new contender for best tiramisu.

Onion and garlic aren’t used in this kitchen, so don’t come here if you’re looking for a spicy meat-a-ball-a! But do visit if you want to sit in a sunny downtown atrium and sip some crisp whites from Campania (or intense reds from Sicily and Tuscany) while eating pure, unadulterated authentic Italian food.

But really, mostly cheese.

Snack of the day

Some things change and some things stay the same and I for one am glad that Cadbury Easter Creme Eggs are just as sickeningly sweet as ever, and that the company holds true to their promise of having them disappear after Easter. They could make some extra dough by selling them year-round, but they don't, and I admire that on some weird level.

I almost missed out on my annual egg but just bought one in the remainder bin at Loblaw's for 25 cents, and now it's gone.

See you again next year, old friend.

A midweek pick-me-up

I was just clicking through old blog posts trying to find a recipe, and I happened upon this, which I had almost forgotten about. It made me chuckle anew. Hope it does the same for you.

I'm here to help: Part 2

As previously discussed in last week's blog entry called "I'm here to help", not everyone is a fan of my Dish column in the National Post. I'm specifically referring to an Ottawa-area herd of elk.

Here's the column, printed in April of last year, that almost got me sued.

GETTING IT ON IN THE KITCHEN

restaurants are finding partners in local farmers

Amy Rosen, National Post

"This is the first time in 20 years there's been any interest in 'local,'" says Andy Terauds, co-owner of Acorn Creek Farm. "So we finally fit in."

Terauds's farm is a 75-acre fruit-and-veg spread near Carp, Ont., and he's attending Ottawa's second annual Farmer-Chef Meet and Greet, which is basically a speed-dating event for local producers and chefs. Dreamed up by Savour Ottawa -- a joint initiative of the City of Ottawa, a non-profit organization called Just Food, Ottawa Tourism and Ontario Tourism -- the event is heating up at the Fairmont Chateau Laurier. From the looks of things, a lot of people are eager to promote local culinary products.

Landing a date is not always easy, but the Ottawa chefs making the rounds today seem to have no problem hooking up with area farmers, as they ramp up for the 2008 growing season.

There are intimate whispers of micro-greens and sweet promises of heirloom tomatoes.

Last year, Terauds's farm hooked up with Juniper restaurant, for which they provide some 55 varieties of lettuce. But they're still playing the field. So, too, Sandra Salmins of Wild Parrot Delectables, who's selling her greenhouse-grown "shoulder season" greens to several high-end Byward Market restaurants, including Domus, Eighteen and Luxe.

As for Elk Ranch -- which, last year, forged an ongoing love match with the Chateau Laurier -- well, let's just say every town needs its slut.

And then I printed a nice recipe for elk stuffed peppers.

Long story short, the Elk Ranch did not find the reference funny. In fact, they threatened a lawsuit unless I personally wrote a big feature about them. (At least they liked my writing.) Even now, I'm not sure what they were so upset about. (Who doesn't learn from her mistakes?) Did they really think I was calling their elks sluts? Can elks even be sluts?

As my editor expected, I refused to write a feature story about their farm, and my editor was also smart enough to write the apology for me, knowing I would likely make matters worse. It was printed a couple of weeks later at the bottom of my column. Here's what it said:

An apology: My column earlier this month about Ottawa's Farmer-Chef Meet and Greet contained an ill-considered joke about the popularity of Elk Ranch with local restaurants. I described the event as a date, and in noting Elk Ranch's success with the city's chefs, I took the metaphor too far. The intent wasn't to disparage or offend, and I apologize unreservedly to Elk Ranch for any offense taken.

As you can imagine, that Dish column got the most-ever hits.

Bountiful Brant

Brantford, Ontario has been getting even more serious when it comes to identifying locally grown food, ever since bananas and oranges started showing up at 'Buy Local! Buy Fresh' designated farmers’ markets. So a group of local farmer’s wives banded together (they know who grows what around these lolling farmlands) and together they go into participating restaurants to do Bountiful Brant inspections.

The Homestead Café passes muster, especially so when they make their famous strawberry rhubarb pie each summer, while the Blue Dog’s apple fritters are made from apples from the orchard just down the road.

The ‘Bountiful Brant Buy Local! Buy Fresh’ map is available at locations throughout Brantford and the surrounding areas, leading you directly to farm gates and retail outlets listed by farmers, be they meats, vegetables or fruits.

Here’s a simple springtime rhubarb recipe from an Ontario town that pushes up its sleeves, knocks on doors, and makes sure that buying local is truly all that it's meant to be.

Rhubarb Crisp

Ingredients:

4 cups rhubarb, chopped

2/3 cup white sugar

1/2 cup flour

1/8 tsp salt

3/4 cup rolled oats

1 cup brown sugar

1/2 cup butter

Method:

1. Mix together rhubarb and sugar and leave at room temperature in an 8 x 8 pan for 30 minutes.

2. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Mix flour, salt, rolled oats, brown sugar and butter together and sprinkle over rhubarb. Bake in 350 oven for 40 - 50 min.

From the archives

Seeing as I’m knee deep in Passover this week, I’ve decided to take a look back at a Semitic-tinged story I wrote for enRoute magazine a couple of years ago: Forget Screech and cod. Kosher wine and gefilte fish are Newfoundland's hot new exports.

But before you get reading about that, here are two recent stories written by others, in which I have a wee guest role. First up, the horseradish tasting I participated in for A. Brouwer & A. Wilson's monthly Shelf Life column in the National Post. It was pretty funny stuff as we were totally dying during the tasting: Some of the horseradishes were beyond hot (read: Totally addictive.) Gotta get me some of that hot Kozliks!

It just so happens that the day that story came out, I was sitting in Caplansky’s, elbow deep in gefilte fish during the first annual Gefilte Fish Derby (round three of Battle of the Bubbies). A few of us were judging both peppery and sweet versions of this uniquely nostalgic dish, and Jennifer Bain, who was trying it for the first time (and against all odds, liked it) wrote about the event here.

At Caplansky's, not only did I learn that my friend Joanna’s mom, Andrea Sugar, now officially makes the best gefilte fish in Toronto, but that Caplansky’s has the best cheese cake in town. And apparently, award-winning Andrea Sugar has agreed to share her recipe with Zane Caplansky -- so soon enough they'll have the best gefilte fish in town, too.

Kosher Quality (from enRoute magazine)

A rabbi, a Newfoundlander and a fish walk into a bar... Why Newfoundland's burgeoning kosher industry is no joke.

BY AMY ROSEN

“Over-Gefilte-Fishing Sparks Greenpeace Cry for Gefilte-Fishing Moratorium” is the fairly hilarious headline on a fake news story I read recently, the joke being that gefilte fish is not a fish but in fact a traditional Jewish “delicacy” fashioned from chopped pickled carp covered in aspic and studded with boiled carrot. (Think of it as a cod cake in a yarmulke.) I recall this joke as I drive toward Fair Haven, Newfoundland, on a sunny spring afternoon, where everywhere I look there’s nothing but marble-blue ponds and rolling hills that will eventually tumble into the great Atlantic. I remember this joke because not only am I driving through the land of fish moratoriums, but I’m also headed toward Neptune Sea Products – Atlantic Canada’s only kosher-sanctioned secondary fish-processing plant, with a pit stop at the country’s only kosher winery.

Here in cod’s land, Bond Rideout Jr. leads me on a tour of his kosher processing plant, bought just a year ago, with gleaming white walls, concrete floors, high ceilings and stainless-steel everything else. I see hundreds of capelin, the tiny iridescent fish that start rolling into nearby coves during springtime, smoked and resting on racks.

“There’s no question that kosher is growing,” Rabbi Chaim Goldberg tells me over the phone from New York, in a voice that’s a cross between Jackie Mason and my cousin Irv. Goldberg is a Rabbinic Coordinator at the non-profit Orthodox Union (OU), the authority that, among other things, stages surprise inspections of kosher-certified institutions to make sure that everything’s, well, kosher. “As the world is getting more global, manufacturers in places that have never seen a Jew before, and may never see a Jew, see kosher as a very easy way to market their product.”

It’s a US$14-billion-a-year business in North America, say the reps at Manischewitz, the king of the kosher brands.

Newfoundland’s Neptune has secured a bissel of that kashruth pie by producing some 200 different products, from wasabi salmon to Cajun cod. Rideout figures Neptune Sea Products’ sales will top $2-million this year.

Typically, people have their own ideas of what kosher means, with “healthy,” “clean” and “pure” being common descriptors. While the A-okay from a mashgiach – the specially trained kosher inspector – has more to do with complex Talmudic and biblical laws than idyllic coastal scenes, even the non-observant perceive the OU symbol as a standard of excellence.

Local fishermen bring in all the codfish, mackerel and herring. Smoked salmon – cold-smoked on-site in one of six large smoker rooms, using a secret 400-year-old recipe from the Isle of Man – is the bestseller. “We only use fish that have fins and scales,” Rideout explains. “The other main thing is, my employees can’t bring in ham sandwiches for lunch.”

Danny Bath, a former fisherman who does research and development for Neptune, has just perfected a line of spreads that he’d like me to try. The cream cheese-based shmears are reminiscent of every happy Jewish brunch table I’ve ever noshed at, all smooth and creamy with an intoxicating natural wood-smoke finish. I almost single-handedly polish off two tubs, yet still want more. Products this good cross religious and cultural lines.

After leaving the plant, I drive about 15 minutes down a rural road to the Rodrigues Winery in Markland, where Hilary and Marie-France Rodrigues rolled out their first batch of fruit wine in 1993. This being Newfoundland’s first winery, the government ended up applying the same regulations as for a dairy: You couldn’t put milk in barrels, so you couldn’t put wine in barrels. In the end, the nonsensical rules that had forced the Rodrigueses to ferment their fruit wines in stainless-steel double-lined milk tanks made it easier to be kosher, as part of the process involves letting water boil in the tanks for a certain amount of time. The result: a tasty niche product and the only kosher and sulphite-free winery in Canada.

Rodrigues Winery now produces 12,000 cases a year, and its bottles are found on wine lists in restaurants like Bacalao in St. John’s to as far away as Japan. Made from hand-picked fruit, the kosher quaffs come in a dozen varieties, including local blueberries, cranberries and indigenous cloudberries harvested from creeping plants found on the northern peat bogs of Newfoundland and Labrador.

The Rodrigueses’ son, Lionel, leads me through a wine tasting. The blackcurrant wine tastes of pure local blackcurrants. The strawberry reminds me of the real thing – like juicy summer strawberries, not strawberry candy. Lionel says they’ve also held wine tastings at the Beth El synagogue in St. John’s, but when I ask if he’s heard that old joke about Jews not being big drinkers, he looks puzzled.

“Really?” he says. “At the temple tastings they seem to drink.” Then he takes another thoughtful sip of his kosher blueberry wine and concludes, “But then again, we’re all Newfoundlanders.”

Snacksapalooza

One of the things I like about working at Canadian House & Home magazine, is that over in the wee editorial section we have what's called Snack Thursdays, and it’s fairly serious stuff. There’s a schedule for it and everything, and god forbid you forget it’s your turn and show up empty handed, everyone will ignore you and Katie G. will tear you a new one.

I think Kimberley B. is the unofficial snack queen, as she’s a great baker and usually finds a way to swirl cream cheese into her treats (always a good idea.) Gwen usually dials it in (Timbits, Gwen. Really?) But all in all it’s always enjoyable and breaks up the Thursday doldrums.

And now for some late-breaking news about a totally new, snacky site: The girls over in design also enjoy their afternoon treats, so much so that Leslie and Jenn have just launched a handy blog that I’m sure is going to take the snack-loving Internet by storm.

As for the National Nosh, I’ve blogged about snacks many times before, such as here, here, here and here. Here too. And lest we forget, here? That said, I’m always open to new snack discoveries, and look forward to visiting the gals in design, both a few steps away in the office, and now freshly minted, on the Internet at Work Snacks.

Finally, Passover, that most unleavened of Jewish holidays, starts on Monday, so please be kind to your Jewish friends all next week, even if they're acting more grumpy than usual. (They're probably a little constipated.) Or, go one step further and bring a smile to their punims by making this totally tasty Passover snack.

Snack of the day

I was in NYC last week, visiting with friends then attending a conference, but darn it if I didn't partake of some of the great street food Manhattan has to offer. With everything from falafel to tacos on four wheels, the best new snack I tried was a bag of warm roasted coconut chunks covered in caramelized sugar.

I'm going to figure out how to make these nutty, crunchy, soft and sweet bites of heaven (because I must. Have. More. Right. Now) and will get back to you with a recipe. In the meantime, if you happen to know how to make them, please. Tell. Me. Now.