This week it has been a whole host of cooking from Dorie Greenspan’s cookbook Everyday Dorie. I was super impressed how fast this recipe came together considering the fact that I only got home at 6pm but managed to prep, cook and have the soup done by 7pm. One way I sped up the cooking process was through using the Instant Pot (pressure cooker function). 

We really loved this soup. I was a bit worried initially that the ground ginger would be too much as it calls for 3.5 tablespoons of ground ginger. Since we only had about 2 tablespoons worth we put that amount in. 

The one interesting part is that Dorie’s recipes indicates that you can include meatballs in the recipe. Since I was in a slight rush, I put the Instant Pot in saute mode and then starting forming about 500g of ground beef into meatballs. Okay, I realize this picture below does not look super appetizing but I just wanted to show that I seared the meatballs a bit prior to putting them into the soup. After some slight searing I took out the meatballs and started making the rest of the soup. I sauteed the onions, garlic, spices, and the can of diced tomatoes. Then I added the meatballs back in and continued stirring and cooking for a few more minutes. 

Once the meat had some time to cook further, I added in the rest of the ingredients (chicken stock, water, lentils, chick peas). Finally, I pressure cooked the soup for 10 minutes. 

We ended up with a good almost 6-7 litres of soup (we have a 8 quart instant pot)! We had so much soup we shared some with our neighbours as well as friends. We really enjoyed the flavours of the soup. Dorie also suggests adding a pinch of lemon juice at the end for additional flavour. The recipe also calls for noodles, but we felt that there was plenty of ingredients in the soup already without the noodles.  

I did find that by pressure cooking our soup, the meatballs were able to absorb some of the flavours.  However, next time I would season the meat. Perhaps, I would season the ground beef with some chopped garlic, salt, pepper and some of the spices from the soup. I am also not sure if I needed the saffron for the recipe. The soup also tasted great 2 days later. It certainly added more flavour and body to the soup over time. 

I has been cold where I am in Edmonton, so this soup was perfect. You can find it on Page 66 of Dorie Greenspan’s Everyday Dorie. You can also check the Cook the Book Fridays website to see how everyone else did with this week’s recipe.

This week’s Cook the Book Fridays is in memory of a fellow member Chez Nana/Ro who sadly passed away in June. Nana baked, blogged, commented on all our posts and even learned coding and photography for her blog at the age of 88. How amazing is that? This recipe – Lower East Side Brunch Tart is a recipe that Nana had nominated in the past. So in honour of her, everyone in the Cook the Book Fridays community is baking this recipe for Nana.

After the entire tart is baked for another hour (recipe says 45 minutes) at 350F the tart is done. Topped with additional dill and capers this recipe was perfect for our al fresco dinner outside.

I loved how easy it was put the recipe together. I “half-baked” the pie crust in the morning and let it cool. Within 20 minutes after returning home from the clay studio I layered the ingredients and put the tart in the oven. We actually had this tart for dinner with additional tomatoes, greens and a mojito each. I love how this tart reminds you of “bagels and lox with the works” as Dorie says in her recipe. For the next time I bake this recipe, I would consider putting quiche-like ingredients inside the tart such as spinach or maybe some ham and place the smoked salmon on top after the tart has been baked.

Moules Frites with crispy fries and a truffle aioli

Moules et Frites – 1/2 pound of mussles, pernod-tomato broth ($14)

Steak Tartare – mixed with cornichons, house made pickles ($16)

We ordered the steak tartare to accompany the mussels and fries. In Edmonton, we generally go to two restaurants that have different style of tartares: a Czech style and French style. The Marc’s version include pickles (as per french style) and has a bright tomato note to it. We had to ask for some more croutons just to finish the tartare.

Duck Breast – pan roasted, with hasselback potatoes, kale, roasted beets, brown butter vinaigrette, topped with a pumpkin seed crumble ($36).

The duck breast at The Marc was one of the first dishes we raved to our friends about when they first opened eight years ago. The dish disappeared from the menu a few years ago and we longed for it’s returned. I don’t know if it’s because I kept telling the owners (Patrick and Doris) how much I missed it or maybe it was a chorus of other fans but we were really happy to see duck back on the menu again. Another friend told us that he only likes duck cooked two ways: Chinese Barbecue-Style and Duck at the Marc! The duck meat (we ordered it medium-rare) itself is tender and juicy while not being overly fatty with the skin. As you can see in the picture above, the accoutrements are generous and sauced well so you’re not just eating great duck, you have great leafy green (kale), potatoes, and corn in a good peppercorn sauce.

Braised Short Rib Bourguignon – with roasted carrots, mushrooms, lardons, potato puree & wilted greens ($34)

To say that I’m a fan of desserts at the Marc doesn’t cut it. Dan and I will head over to the Marc just for the dessert sometimes after having dinner at another restaurant. Sometimes we make a special trip from home late into the evening just because we feel in the mood for a special treat. Over the years we have tried all their desserts, but for particular night out we went for our go-tos.

the Marc’s decadent chocolate cake ($10)

The Chocolate Cake with its caramel filling is decadent, chocolate and almost fudgy. The candied walnuts and the salt hit in the form of the fleur de sel is great for chocolate fans (i.e. Me). It’s unapologetically rich and would be a star dessert in any Edmonton restaurant. That is, until you try the other favourite, the Marc’s Beignets!

Beignets – french style doughnuts with creme anglaise and caramel sauce ($10)

The beignets are a must-try (must order!) at The Marc. It’s not the rectangular Creole style of beignets. Rather, the light and airy fried sugar dusted dough comes with two sauces; a creme anglaise and a caramel. This is the dessert that Dan and I will drive out for after 8pm just to eat. This is the dessert that we certainly save room in our stomachs for when dining at the Marc. It isn’t served with any special plating because it simply doesn’t need to be fancy, it’s just good.

Over the years, some of the dishes may have changed but you are always guaranteed great French fare, in a relaxing restaurant environment and friendly service. The Marc is a great restaurant not just for special events but lunch, dinner or a night out. Patrick & Doris have done a fantastic job at consistently bringing high quality French dishes to Edmonton.

The Marc
100 Sterling Place
9940 106 Street 
Edmonton, Alberta
(780)4292828http://www.themarc.ca/

Butter Chicken Recipe from Coconut Lagoon’s Cookbook

We loved the Shrimp Mango Curry that we cooked from Coconut Lagoon’s cookbook that we actually made the dish two more times over the month of September! Another recipe that everyone will surely want to try from Chef Joe Thottungal’s cookbook is the Butter Chicken. As mentioned in my last post, the Coconut Lagoon cookbook celebrates Chef Joe’s cooking journey that led him to open a restaurant in Ottawa, which celebrates the food from his homeland, Kerala located in Southern India. Kerala food focuses more on seafood, agriculture and spices. Rice, fish, and coconut typically dominate the cuisine. Kerala spices are typically peppercorns with mustard seeds, curry leaves with cinnamon, chilies, cardamom and cloves, kudampuli, and tumeric.

Dan and I with Chef Joe at Coconut Lagoon’s cookbook launch

In his book, Chef Joe talks about how butter chicken is really a north Indian dish and that Coconut Lagoon is a south Indian restaurant. However, after many years he finally put Butter Chicken on the menu as his son Matthew claims that butter chicken is his favourite. This recipe for Butter Chicken is dedicated to his son.

In terms of preparation, gathering the ingredients for this recipe was fairly easy. If you are uncertain about buying a huge quantity of spices, bulk stores would be a good place to shop (e.g. Bulk Barn). Though, we found some pretty inexpensive prices at Superstore/Loblaws for coriander and chili powder. The one tricky part was actually finding a good price for cashew nuts!

You do need to pre-marinate the chicken with yogurt, chili powder, tumeric, salt and oil the night before. This actually helps the chicken taste tender when cooked.

Butter Chicken cooking away

• 2 cups raw cashew nuts
• 2 lbs boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cut into 1-inch cubes
• 3 Tbsp plain yogurt
• 1/2 tsp red chili powder
• 1/2 tsp ground turmeric
• 1/2 tsp salt, plus extra to taste
• 1 tsp coconut oil
• 1/4 cup (1/2 stick) unsalted butter
• 2 small onions, chopped
• 1  1/2 tsp Ginger-Garlic Paste (recipe below)
• 1  1/2 tsp ground coriander
• 2 tomatoes, finely chopped
• 3 Tbsp tomato paste
• 1  1/2 tsp sugar
• 1  1/2 tsp dried fenugreek leaves (kasuri methi)
• 1/2 tsp ground cumin
• 1/2 tsp chaat masala
• 3 cups milk
• Chopped cilantro, for garnish

• 1 (4-inch) piece ginger, peeled and coarsely chopped (1/4 cup)
• 10 cloves garlic

• 2 cups Basmati Rice
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 1/2 tsp fresh lemon juice
• 1 1/2 tsp vegetable oil

Butter chicken served with Basmati Rice and Pappadums

Excerpts from Coconut Lagoon by Joe Thottungal. Copyright © 2019 Coconut Lagoon. Published by Figure1 Publishing Inc. Reproduced by arrangement with the Publisher. All rights reserved.

Wow, time is flying by. Sorry that I have been neglecting the blogging part lately, though, rest assured I am still doing a lot of baking and recipe testing over on Instagram. After this post, I hope to work on a macaron post! I have been spending some time working on my photography skills, photo editing and making pottery (for food props and more!). Creating my own pottery and glazing them in all sorts of fun colours have been a recent obsession of mine. If you look through these photos you will see some of my pottery pieces! 

Making the pie dough is a breeze. Just process flour, sugar, salt and butter in the food processor until slightly lumpy (as above). Then, roll the pie dough out until it is a wide flat circle. Next, place the dough between two sheets of parchment paper in the refrigerator for at least an hour before using.

For ingredients, Dorie uses Mushrooms, Leek, Green Onion, Onions, Bacon and the addition of walnuts! The walnuts certainly gives the galette a distinctively crunchy bite.

The main ingredients of leeks, green onions, onions and mushrooms are cooked down in a pan before walnuts, bacon and cheese is mixed in.

Then a splash or two of some dry white wine followed by some heavy cream to give the filling additional flavour.

The beauty of a galette is that nothing has to be perfect. Just quickly fold in the dough and it will naturally crease as you go. If it rips, that’s okay too! The dough is so forgiving that no one will notice once it is baked. Everything comes together so fast that you are able to do other things in between. In fact, we had a guest over for dinner and we did all of the dinner prep (and photography shots) while we snacked on appetizers and entertained.

Now that you know how easy it is to make this mushroom bacon galette, you should make one too!  Also, check out how everyone else from Cook the Book Fridays did with this galette!

I prepped all the ingredients according to Dorie’s instructions. After the prep, I realized that I didn’t have a big enough stove top pot, so I used my instant pot on saute mode for most of the recipe. The recipe is fairly straightforward. First, you start cooking shallot and garlic in hot butter and oil. Then sliced and cut leeks are added in and cooked until softened but not browned.

Next, 5 cups of chicken stock followed by sliced zucchini, asparagus and two sprigs of basil. I also added in a few pinches of salt at this point as the chicken stock I used was an organic no sodium one.

Once all the veggies have softened up and the chicken stock has started to bubble, carefully spoon the soup into a blender or food processor. Then blend away! Dorie says to keep blending until you think you are done and then blend a little bit more for a smooth green soup.

When serving, scoop a dollop of greek yogurt into the middle of each bowl, followed by a squirt of lime juice and some basil!

I loved how fresh this soup tasted. Plus it was rather hearty! Dan and I both had a bowl of soup and still had enough for soup the next day. The colour does change in vibrancy, but otherwise the taste is the same. Since I had made it in the instant pot to begin with, I could easily pour the blended soup back into the Instant Pot and set it on slow cooker mode until Dan came home from work. The soup (without the yogurt topping) would also be a great soup to serve for guests that are gluten or dairy free.

Dan also had his soup the next day with some sliced smoked cheddar. That was also super delicious. Overall, a great soup to have in the recipe banks. Plus, it really is a breeze to pull together. Go see how everyone else from Cook the Book Fridays thought about the soup here.

The recipe calls for slicing the potatoes in a mandolin or to cut them to approximately 1/16 inch thick. Using a mandolin made slicing consistently much easier! I borrowed one from a friend in order to do this part of the recipe. Definitely use one if you are able to get access to one as it makes this part of the recipe preparation super quick.

Making sure all the ingredients are prepped (washed & cut) ahead of time will help with the assembly of the entire potato tourte because all the pieces will be ready and all you have to do is put it together. Layer herbs, followed by potato slices, garlic, butter pieces and repeat!

I prepped my potato tourte to the point where I topped the top crust and cut the air vent. Then I wrapped the potato tourte with saran wrap and refrigerated the tourte to be baked up for dinner the next day. 
The next day, I took the potato tourte out of the fridge an hour or so before I baked it. I did this to make sure that the heat differentiation would not cause the pie dish from breaking in the oven (which has happened to me in the past!). Egg washed and then popped into the oven at 400F for 45-60 min.

The layers of the potato tourte! Turns out there were at least 9 layers of potatoes in there! The one difference is that after the tourte has baked for almost an hour, you take it out and then gently pour in 1 cup of heated cream. It’s amazing how the cream is able to just flow between all of the layers.

 

I would most definitely make this potato tourte again. Though next time, I am thinking I’ll have to use a different herb. Don’t get me wrong, sage and rosemary go perfectly well with potato but I am thinking the sage that I used was super fragrant and seemed to overtake the flavour in the tourte. Mushrooms would certainly go well in this potato tourte, which I intend to try next time!

Having called Ottawa home for the past few weeks, I have been on the look out for different food events.  I was happy to find out that there was one on Preston Street in Little Italy called Presdelicious.  Similar to other food festivals (such as Winterlicious in Toronto and Downtown Dining Week in Edmonton) participating restaurants have three course dinner specials available. After browsing the pamphlet online with our friends we decided to try La Roma Restaurant for the dining festival and to celebrate our friend’s birthday.

We were immediately seated at our table when we arrived. Noting that their Presdelicious menu is slightly different from their regular menu all of us selected the three course meal for $38. Here are some of our selections.

Crispy, Warm Pancetta and Pecorino Arancini

Beautiful display of Vitello Tonnato – thinly sliced veal; a Northern Italy specialty

Seared Albacore Tuna medallions with sea scallop

Fall off the bone Osobucco with warm crispy polenta fries

Good sizeable portion of Tartufo Gelato

Cannoli – sicilian style

Light, almost fluffy no bake cheesecake parfait

For $38 we all thought it was a good value for the food at La Roma. We don’t always order appetizers or desserts so the three course menu gave us the opportunity to try different courses.

The Presdelicious festival, which runs from March 1 to March 10, did a great job at highlighting restaurants that we would not have known about. I am looking forward checking out more restaurants in Little Italy as it is relatively close to where we live.

La Roma Restaurant
430 Preston Street. 
Ottawa, ON
www.laromaottawa.com
(613) 234-8244

Hello food blog world! It’s been some time that I’ve had the chance to do some blogging. With that being said, I am truly hoping to be able to jump right back in with recipe creating & testing, macaron making, cookbook reviews all while exploring the city of Ottawa! Yup, that’s right. I moved across the country and right back into my home province of Ontario (I grew up in Toronto) to be with my husband (Dan)! If you follow along with me on other social media, you will know that one of the reasons I decided to take a one year leave of absence from work is of course to be with Dan, and also to rest mentally & physically. I love being a Speech-Language Pathologist and that won’t change. I also plan on going back to work at the end of this year off. In the meantime, we are framing this year off to be like a sabbatical! Taking the time to get better mentally, physically, and while doing so dabble further in my hobbies.

I can’t believe how fast the time has gone and that I have already been in Ottawa for one week! Here are some of the places we checked out this week:

• Tapas Bar at 222 Lyon on the night I arrived. We ordered most of the veggie dishes as well as today’s mussels in a white wine sauce ($16) that I ended up drinking like soup, while Dan sopped up the sauce with the house bread.
  
• Skating on the Rideau Canal!
  
  
• Latte at Dan’s favourite coffee shop in Ottawa – Equator Coffee Roasters (which says a lot as he can’t have too much caffeine). I do love how smooth their lattes are. The one we went to is inside the National Arts Center.
  
• Visited La Bottega Nicastro in Byward Market and picked up a few goodies for the fridge and pantry!
  
• After skating and checking out Winterlude, we went to Shanghai Wonton Noodle (178 Rideau Street) as I was craving a bowl of hot noodles! Tricky at first to find if you aren’t looking for it as their signage is on the window. Order the Beef Noodle Soup ($7.95) and “Pan Fried Pork Mushroom Big Wonton”($8.95). These are not pan fried though, but deep fried! Still really good.
  
• Korean House (785 Somerset St W) for their hot bowls of dol sot bibimbap after church. Dan also loves that all their soups arrive at the table bubbling and hot! $12.95 for the galbi dol sot bibimbap with an egg.
  
• Coffee break at The Ministry of Coffee. Great place to work, blog, or just read
  
• Lunch bowls at Mad Radish. Love how health & environmental conscious they are. On this particular occasion I ordered a rice bowl topped with curry cauliflower, greens and papadum ($11.95). They used to have this delish soba noodle bowl, but sadly I don’t see on the menu any more. All bowls are good choices here!
  
• I went and explored Little Italy myself Thursday. So many cute shops here: Free Wheeling Craft for all your gift ideas, Shop Vincent and more! In terms of food places I’m interested in returning to dine at La Roma Restaurant and EVOO Greek Kitchen.
  
• Then last night after skating a whole 12 km of the Rideau Canal (which frankly gets a bit scary skating in the dark!), we went down the Rabbit Hole! They are a recent new opening to Spark Street (208 Sparks Street – corner of Bank & Spark). They specialize in cocktail and oysters as well as other dishes. We ordered a dozen oysters ($40) and an order of fries on the side ($5).
  
• Last but not least, I should mention the cannelés from Adam Bakes. He makes the cannelés and you can order them for dessert at the Rabbit Hole. We ended up ordering all 3 flavours for dessert – chocolate rose, strawberry cream & cinnamon sugar – as Dan is obsessed over these and continues to strive at making them himself. All cannelés had their characteristic crunchy dark caramelized exterior and a chewy custard inside.
  

Other Food News in Ottawa:

• In the summer when I was visiting Dan, we went to Flying Piggy’s. Sadly, we heard recently that they have now closed. 
• Moo Shu Ice Cream (we used to live around the corner from them last year!) is now open again after their January break and serving their delicious ice creams as well as lunch options (until mid April).  Definitely go during their $5 Wednesday deals (one scoop + bubble waffle for $5!). 

We also did do some home cooking ourselves which you may have seen if you follow me on instagram or twitter (steak 3 different times, baked chicken, cookies, waffles).

Well, that’s all for now in my adventures of Ottawa this week! I’ll update with more as the weeks go by! Leaving you all with a gorgeous picture from the top floor of the Rabbit Hole.

Blackbird Granola – maple and pecan filled oat clusters, topped with yogurt, berry compote and maple syrup ($7.50)

Lately, my in-laws and I have enjoyed going to a coffee shop in the West End of Edmonton called Café Blackbird – in the neighbourhood of Crestwood. If you haven’t been to the west end recently, Café Blackbird took over the location of Jeffrey’s Cafe and Wine Bar. We often choose Café Blackbird to meet up with Dan’s parents as it is between St. Albert and where we live. It also meets everything we are looking – coffee and food options!

Café Blackbird has a fairly substantial menu for breakfast, brunch, lunch and even Tapas (after 5pm). Since we typically visit on a Saturday morning; Breakfast, Weekend Brunch and Lunch menus are all available to order from.

Morn’n Breakfast – two fried eggs, tomato, bacon, cheddar, onion jam, garlic aioli ($9)

Brunch Bowl – Roasted potatoes, two poached eggs, Fuge Fine Meat whiskey chicken sausage, tomatoes, roasted peppers, radish, sprouts, and hollandaise sauce ($17)

Runny yolk in the Brunch Bowl

One of my favourite dishes to order at Café Blackbird is their Blackbird Potpie ($12). Flaky crust, giving away to a filling of mushrooms and served with market greens. So delicious!

Dan really enjoys the Blackbird Croque Monsieur ($14) filled with baked ham, gruyere cheese, cheddar and herbed garlic butter.

Coffee is from Ace Coffee Roasters  and they work with many local Edmonton vendors. Blackbird also doubles as a wine bar and music venue in the evenings.