Gnocchi in Toasted Walnut and Gorgonzola Cream Sauce

This is a great recipe to whip up with basics that you probably already have in your kitchen. It relies on one of the most basic and important sauces in anyone's arsenal: bechamel.

1 head of cauliflower
1 head of garlic
2 Tbsp, plus 1 tsp extra virgin olive oil
1/2 package of dry gnocchi (or tortellini or even rotini)
1 Tbsp salted butter
1 Tbsp all purpose flour
1 shallot, finely chopped
4-6 Cups of milk
1/4 Cup crumbly blue cheese, Gorgonzola or Danish bleu
1/4 Cup chopped walnuts, toasted
dash of nutmeg
freshly ground black pepper
salt to taste


Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.

Cut cauliflower into florets, wash, and toss in a large bowl with 2 Tbsp olive oil. Spread on a foil covered cookie sheet. Cut top off garlic, exposing each clove. Place in the centre of a square of tinfoil and drizzle with 1 tsp olive oil. Pull the corners together and wrap up the garlic in a little parcel.

Put cauliflower on the top rack and the garlic below. Turn the cauliflower every 10-15 minutes for 30-40 minutes until the cauliflower is golden brown but not fully cooked.

In a large pot, set salted water on to boil for the gnocchi.

In a medium saucepan, melt the butter over medium heat and add the shallots, stirring occasionally. Cook until browned. Add the flour and stir until all the butter and flour have combined to form a paste. Reduce heat and pour in 1 Cup of milk. Stir vigorously to remove lumps. Continue adding milk incrementally, always stirring to incorporate. Scrape the bottom of the pan to keep the sauce from burning. Eventually the sauce will begin to thicken. Monitor the thickness of your sauce. It can always be thinned out again by adding more milk.

Carefully drop the gnocchi into the boiling water and cook for 5 minutes, when the gnocchi are fluffy and floating. Remove from the heat, strain, and set aside. Toast the chopped walnuts until they begin to release their aroma. If you don't have or don't like walnuts, try pine nuts, pecans, or pistachios.

After about 15 minutes of simmer on low, the sauce should be a velvety texture. Add the toasted walnuts to the sauce, stirring to combine. Crumble in the blue cheese, adjusting for flavour as desired. Some people have trouble with the strong taste of blue cheese, others love it. If you really would rather, aged cheddar would also do lovely here.

When the cauliflower is mostly browned but still firm, it is ready. Remove the garlic from the oven, carefully open the foil, and let the garlic cool before squeezing out the cloves and stirring them into the sauce. Add the cauliflower and mix well. If by this point you are worried your sauce won't sufficiently cover the amount of gnocchi you've made, you can always splash in a little more milk and continue stirring.

Finally, pour the sauce over the cooked gnocchi, stir over medium heat for one more minute, and serve with grated Parmesan. No photos. Just delicious memories...

Like the snow, lavender shortbread has returned

As a great woman once said, it's cookie time.

I'm a student again. That means two things: I spend time in the kitchen when I'm avoiding school work, and I'm too poor to buy gifts for friends and loved ones this holiday season.

My plan instead is to keep my pantry stocked and buy tins of Danish cookies. J eats most of them and then I will refill them with my own homemade goodies.

Lavender shortbread cookies are easy peasy. I discovered them last winter when I came upon a large packet of dried lavender flours at Planet Organic in Edmonton.

Cut up 1 cup of soft unsalted butter. Cream in a large bowl with 1/4 cup white sugar. In another bowl, mix together 1 cup flour, 1/4 cup cornstarch, and 1/4 tsp salt.

Pour dry into wet and stir until combined. Add 2 Tbsp dried lavender flowers and mix well.
When your cookie dough is ready, turn it out onto a floured surface.

Flour your hands and begin kneading the dough.
Press your palms and the heels of your hands into the dough and push down and away.


Gently pick up the dough and rotate it 90 degrees.

Keep your hands floured with a dish of extra nearby.

Repeat this process 5 times in total. Kneading cookie dough is important because it makes sure everything is of the same consistency and that your dough will not crumble to pieces.


Divide the dough in half and shape into two balls. Put one dough ball aside.

Re-flour your surface and put the dough in the middle. As the butter in the dough continues to soften with handling, the dough will become sticker, so lots of extra flour is important.


Flour a large rolling pin and roll out the dough. It should take about 3 or 4 rolls. Make sure you keep rotating the dough 90 degrees as you roll or you will have a big mess and no cookies.


The dough should be about 1/4" in thickness.





This dough here is very happy. It can't wait to be cookies.


Cut out shapes using cookie cutters. Keep re-rolling up your scraps of dough until you've used up both halves.

The shapes can be placed close together, about 1/2" apart on ungreased baking sheets.

Bake them one sheet at a time in the middle rack of a preheated oven at 350 degrees for 10-15 minutes. They are done when they are browned at the edges.

Look at all the happy cookies. They will make friends and family (and me) very joyful indeed.

These shapes all came in a package from the dollar store. You can find all kinds of fancy or strange ones. The hearts and stars of david are classic choices, but we liked that our pack also came with a teddy bear, an elephant, and a hippopotamus.

I made lots of all of the shapes. The elephants are pretty rad.

I played with them when I put them on the pan before going in the oven and when they came out a few elephants were walking one after the other like they do in the jungle.

But I'm not in the jungle. I'm in snowy Montreal. So I will keep making cookies and bringing a little extra warmth to the kitchen with my powerful little oven.





That is a very lonely hippopotamus. Of all the cookies in the batch, there was only one hippopotamus.


Here's the recipe:
1 Cup cool unsalted butter
1/4 Cup sugar
1 Cup flour
1/4 Cup cornstarch
1/4 tsp salt
2 Tbsp dried lavender flowers

Cream butter and sugar in a large bowl.
Measure out lavender and set aside.
Mix other dry ingredients in a bowl.
Add dry ingredients to creamed butter and sugar. Stir until ingredients begin to become incorporated.
Add lavender and stir until well blended.

Turn out onto floured surface. Knead 5 times. Divide dough in half and roll out to 1/4" thickness. Cut into shapes. Place on ungreased cookie sheet and bake at 350 for 10-15 minutes.

Cool on a rack.
Cookies will keep in a sealed container for up to 2 weeks. They get better with age.

the most amazing backyard garden i've seen

I promised more about J's mom's garden and on this rainy, muggy day I feel I could use a little sunshine, so let me lay it down.

Sharon has been an amateur gardener for all her life. It started with house plans, exercising her green thumb in the limited space of her home. She has a knack for plants, something she noticed when friends started bringing her their sick houseplants and Sharon was always able to nurse them back to health. Eventually, Sharon moved to the country(ish). She lives in a sweet little house on a corner lot with her husband Andre west of the west island.

As Sharon's collection of indoor plants grew, the plants themselves began to outgrow the house. She takes them outside in the summer and the space inside was becoming cramped. Andre built Sharon a solarium on the back of the house so she could take proper care of her plants throughout the winter and begin all her seeds for her garden in the early spring.

Sharon's outdoor garden beds now practically equal her house's interior space. She grows everything, without fertilizers or chemicals of any kind. The first bed in the main garden is almost entirely spinach. Sharon says it's taking over and she'll be pulling lots of it out in the fall. The only thing that can stand up to the bully-spinach is the equally aggressive dill weed.

Together they grow green and healthy. Whenever I go outside she tells me to pick more spinach. I think I'll go for one big harvest and then turn it all into spanikopita...

All of her salad greens are thriving. She has butter lettuce, red and green leaf lettuce. The leaves are small and supple. It would be a sandwich maker's dream to have that kind of a garden. "Hmmm, this could really do with a few tomato slices and some lettuce. Oh I know, I'll walk right out my back door and get some." Mind you... if I were the sandwich maker, I might be inclined to hire an assistant to get the cucumbers... they're prickly.

What impresses me most about her garden is the nightshades she grows. I've heard about people buying pepper plants and the like, but not Sharon. She grows peppers (hot and sweet) and eggplants of all kinds all from seeds.

I've never even seen some of the varieties she grows. There were albino eggplants (are they still aubergines?) and little mini globe ones. To see them all so healthy and thriving is a marvelous sight.

Andre even built Sharon an arbor for grapes. Much of that was lost in Hurricane Irene. I've never experienced a weather system like that, coming from the prairies. I haven't been back to her garden to survey the damage since, and Sharon said her sunflowers really took a beating from the wind and rain.

On the other side of the yard Sharon dug a big mound for her squashes. She grew mini watermelons this summer but they weren't doing very well. As far as I could tell that was a lot more watermelon than I have ever grown so I say they look damn fine to me.

Also growing in the squash patch: green and yellow zucchini, patty squash, butternut, and acorn. Oh yes, and in the middle of her flower beds in the front she's got a great big pumpkin growing slow and steady.

I forgot to mention the tomatoes. Holy ketchup, does she have tomatoes! Big red ones, round yellow ones, weirdly shaped pink ones, red cherries and grapes. They sort of pop up between the cucumbers and all along the fence. Sharon says she starts so many tomato seeds each year that she eventually loses track of which one is what.

The only thing better than a wonderful mother-in-law is a wonderful mother-in-law who has a bountiful garden and wants to share it.

Here's to Sharon and her green thumb.

Gee, Genovese Basil is Great!

J and Mel and I picked up a happy little basil plant a few months ago at the farmer's market. I tried to pick out the strongest, healthiest, fullest looking one they had. Little did I know that 3 months later, that little basil would be growing like Audry 2.

Lucky for us, though, this one doesn't feed on human flesh... just water and sunshine. When J walk pasts her and brushes her leaves with his side, the whole dining room fills with the sweet aroma. I've even caught him tearing off a leaf and rubbing it behind his ears.

Fresh basil is great in all kinds of dishes from pasta and tomato sauce to fresh Vietnamese salad rolls even to muddled summer drinks. The little plastic packages you get in the supermarket are expensive and almost always go rotten before I've used it all up.

So do yourself a favour and pick up a potted herb or two this summer. Give them room to grow by transplanting to a larger pot when they start to outgrow the one they came in.


And now... fresh basil pesto!
This recipe is easiest if you have a food processor or blender or bullet but if you're really determined all you need is patience.

Start with 2 packed cups of basil leaves, washed.


Chop 2-3 cloves of peeled garlic.

If you're using a food processor or other device, you can just keep adding things to the bowl. If you are doing this by hand, well, good on you. You'll need a separate large bowl to add each ingredient to as it is prepped.


Next, chop up the basil - to a coarse consistency. The key to a nice pesto is that there are still recognizable components. You don't want to turn your pesto into a runny mess.


Pesto can actually be made using all kinds of ingredients. Though the traditional method calls for basil, as the Italian variety comes from Genoa,
Sun dried tomatoes, grilled red peppers, olives, mint, and arugula are often found in variations on the traditional pesto alla genovese. As well, the traditional method of making pesto calls for a mortar and pestle, not a food processor... in case you were wondering. Pesto actually comes form an Italian word meaning "to pound". Sounds like a lot of work to me...

The next two ingredients are some of the most delicious things on the planet. Luckily for us, we have almost all had a chance to try fresh Parmesan cheese. I don't mean the powdery stuff that comes in a green cheese silo with "Kraft" emblazoned on the side. That stuff doesn't even need to be refrigerated. Real Parmesan is hard and grainy and grated so delicately it covers your pasta like a gentle snowfall.

Sigh...

So add a half of a cup of grated Parmesan (or grana padano or pecorino romano) to your bowl and combine.


The other ingredient that is a bit harder to come by is a third of a cup of pine nuts. At more than five times the price of most other nuts at the bulk food aisle of my grocery store, heed this warning and only buy as much as you need. Otherwise, you'll be shocked when you reach the checkout.






Once all these things are added to the bowl you can give it a few pulses in the processor. If you're doing this by hand, better to chop the nuts as finely as you can before adding it to your big bowl.

At this point there is only one or two things left to do, so you'd better have a big pot of water on the boil by now. If not, now is the time to get that organized. Don't forget to salt the pasta water!


To complete the pesto, you need a steady hand or a partner in crime. If you are using a food processor, slowly begin pouring in a half a cup of extra virgin olive oil as you continue to blend the mixture. The slow pour is essential to ensure proper emulsification (i.e. to make sure all the oil binds to the mixture rather than settling on top). If working by hand, may I first salute you as I waited to try this myself until I had a food processor of my own. Now, Either stirring or possibly even whisking, begin slowly pouring in the oil with your assistant's help to stabilize your bowl, pour the oil or mop your sweaty brow.

It's okay if you stop pouring for a bit to make sure everything is mixing together properly. Better to do it slowly than all at once because then it's already too late and there's not much you can do. It's kind of like salad dressing. But this is not one you'll want to just throw out and start again. So take your time.

Our first time making pesto was a bit of an adventure. This is one kitchen caper that definitely required two of us to go off without a hitch. Even with our careful pouring, we still got some oil pooling on the top of the bowl at the end. So don't be discouraged if that happens to you. It'll still taste amazing...

When your pasta water is boiling pour in your pasta of choice. Smaller shapes are often good with sauces that have a lot of stuff because when fully incorporated, the sauce gets trapped in all the little hidden nooks and crannies in the pasta shapes. Things like fusilli and cavatappi work great.


We used what we had on hand, which as luck would have it, was a package of fresh frozen roasted red pepper cavatelli. They are short, thick noodles that sort of look like hot dog buns because of the crease in the middle.

*** Remember - when making pasta sauce from scratch you should always conserve a cup or so of water from the pasta pot - it's called grey water and it's full of salt and starch and things that will make your sauce taste even better when a little is splashed in at the end. It will also help thicker sauces coat all the pasta evenly. And always cook your noodles to al dente. With a little bit of chewiness to them you can put them back on the heat of the stove to cook together with the sauce before it's served.

Planting a Vegetable Garden: Seed Starting Explained

Get yourself a greenhouse kit - ours came in a large-ish box and required no screws or tools or anything.

If you are at all like me when it comes to building things, you may want to call in some assistance. J does most of the putting together of things in our house. And then I turn the things into other things... usually dinner.



Make sure you find yourself a relatively bright location, though direct sunlight is not good for new seeds and baby seedlings.


Our dining room window was a perfect location to get our
garden started. The basil plant we picked up at the Farmer's Market a few weeks before was thriving quite well on that window bench.


With the plastic "glass house" cover stretched over the frame it was time to do some seeding.


Choose seeds that match the amount of sunlight to get in your garden. If the yard is shady all through the morning, you may not want to plant beefsteak tomatoes throughout. Some plants, like lettuces, like partial shade. Their delicate leaves get burnt by too much sun.

Also important to keep in mind, would you like to be harvesting throughout the growing season or are you waiting for a large crop right at the end of summer.

If you are like me, life's vicissitudes take you away from projects at times. For example, I got into grad school out east, which is great. Except it means I have to leave my summer garden here in Edmonton to go look for an apartment in Montreal before the beginning of fall term.

Pole beans and sugar snap peas sprout quickly and as long as you water them, will grow like crazy. They are easy to cook and are fun to pick as they grow taller and climb up things.

I like things that keep growing as you pick them.
Swiss chard and spinach are great. Butterleaf and red
leaf lettuces are also wonderful to have freshly picked for
sandwiches and salads.

Working in dirt is obviously rather dirty. Minimize the mess by purchasing handy little seed pods. They are compressed little pucks of dehydrated earth. When you pour hot water over them they expand and the outer netting can be broken away to make little holes for your seeds.

Don't be shy about the seeds. Best to put a few into each pod since not every one will take. You can thin them out as they grow.

Keep the plastic covers over the trays of seed pods
while they germinate. In a week or so you'll start seeing this!

Little Early Riser Beets (quite aptly named!) pushing themselves up out of their earthy beds. I think the beet shoots are the most exciting because of their so easily identifiable red stalks.

It makes me think about the early crop we hope to harvest later this summer before we leave for Montreal.

Keep your seedlings sheltered as they grow inside your greenhouse. It's very clear how delicate they still are and will need to be watched closely for the first little while.

When they get a little bigger and there are some obviously stronger seedlings, and this is one of the saddest parts about gardening, you have to thin them out and give the strong ones room to grow.

If they remain crowded in the little pods, their roots will all grow together and have to split the nutrients three ways. These poor little bok chois will meed a sad fate soon enough...


As it happened, this little seed nursery was started shortly before my 25th birthday.
As a gift, a good friend from work brought me plants that she had started from seeds as well.

Three separate containers of beefsteak tomatoes, each with several little seedlings, and a very special treasure: a container with three zucchini seedlings - all very healthy and strong. Zucchini should always be planted in three's, on a mound of dirt is best. Because you never know if you've got male or female plants, putting three together gives you the best chance at having your flowers pollinated to bring forth actual fruit.

One thing that we do not plan to plant here is lavender. I've seen some amazing lavender fields in my travels, most memorably in France, but I know how many years it takes to grow these sparse little plants into those marvelous domes of purple and green. I think someday when we have a house and a yard of our own we will put some lavender in to watch it grow year by year. But not in this house. Not when we're leaving in just a few months...

When you can be almost certain that any risk of frost has passed, prepare your garden bed.

Rake out any weeds that may have grown in. Remove large rocks and small stones and pieces of bark - anything that might get in the way of delicately growing roots.

Our soil here is a bit dry - with clay, sand, and coal deposits. We picked up some new garden top soil to mix in as well as sheep manure. J says it's better than cow because it doesn't smell as bad. I love that he knows these things...

We'll put everything in by the end of this weekend and see what happens. To be continued...

Bread Pudding or What to do with stale cinnamon buns ...

Start by opening up your Joy of Cooking to page 822. If you do not have a copy of Irma S. Rombauer's classic compendium of everyday dishes... well shame on you. But fear not - if you still choose not to add this essential encyclopedia of culinary wisdom, you're reading this, so at least you have the internet.

If you do a search of "bread pudding recipe" you'll find dozens of ideas to get you started. As Ms. Rombauer writes, "bread pudding is an efficient way to transform stale bread into a considerable variety of delicious desserts". There are very few rules when it comes to this dish. But of the few things that are certain you must not deviate.


1) Don't bother baking this with fresh bread. The whole point is to use up the ends of things like buns, sliced bread, or challah. I find challah makes the very best bread pudding because it's so rich and a little bit sweet already.

We had extra cinnamon buns lying around that were forgotten about after a lazy Sunday turned into a hectic week so they were the inspiration for this entry.

Cube the bread/buns/whathaveyou into bite-size pieces. You'll need about 5 Cups for this recipe, but a little more than that won't hurt.

*Note - the only bread that won't work for this is the kind made with baking powder or baking soda - you need actual yeast breads for bread pudding

2) Fillings are optional but always a good idea

There were raisins in the cinnamon buns so I thought I would go with the fruity theme and added a handful of dried currants (raisins being unavailable). You could use chopped up dried apricots or dates or even fresh apple. These are extra little add-ins and are not required for the pudding to be considered a pudding.

Sometimes I add roughly chopped dark chocolate or chocolate chips. Once I actually chopped up brie cheese and added a splash of brandy... that was legendary.



Like all of the best things, there is butter in my recipe. Though Ms. Rombauer doesn't list it as a main ingredient, she does instruct that the casserole or baking dish be "buttered". Take a nob of butter - from your retro orange glass butter dish if you have one - and using some parchment paper or the foil from the butter itself, rub it into the bottom and sides of the dish.

If you're trying to be health conscious - well, why are you baking a custard-based dessert in the first place? ... Anyway, you can replace that last step by spraying the baking dish with low-fat cooking spray.

3) Learn to make custard

The Joy of Cooking asks for 3 Cups of whole milk. We are a 1% milk kind of house but I happened to have a quart of buttermilk leftover from pancakes so I used that up and finished the 3 Cups with regular milk.

To the milk add 4 large eggs. I learned from my mother that you should always crack each egg into a small bowl or cup separately first before adding it to the larger bowl of ingredients. You never know when you might fail and end up with shards of egg shell all over the place - not delicious.

Also - and I've noticed this with the fresh eggs from the market especially - you need to watch for blood spots in the eggs - the blood should be removed or the whole egg should be discarded. It depends on how squeamish you are, I suppose.

Either way, lesson learned, thanks Mom!

Whisk together your milk, 4 eggs, 1/2 - 3/4 Cup of sugar (depending on if you're using already sweetened bread like cinnamon buns for example).


4) Get creative

Add your flavour boosters - 1 tsp vanilla, 3/4 tsp ground cinnamon, 1/4 tsp ground nutmeg, and a pinch of salt

As I mentioned above - in the past I've added all kinds of things to my custard to give it extra flavour.

Ideas? Try lemon zest, ground ginger, cloves, lavender, rosemary, almond extract, or Bailey's.

Really this the the fun part - the part where bread pudding can get really wild. Have fun with it -

And if you are particularly successful with your rendition, do let me know.

When your milk-egg mixture is all combined, all you have to do is pour it over the bread cubes sitting in wait in your prepared baking dish. Make sure you pour it evenly over all of the surface. Then all you have to do is wait. The dish needs about 30 minutes to soak up all the custard.

In the meantime there are lots of things you could do. Some might tell you to clean up after yourself. I think that is the job of whomever is lucky enough to be tucking into your dessert. And if that someone is you, well, I guess it will be all the more deserved, won't it?

Sweep the living room, fold laundry, rearrange your spice drawer, do whatever. I just wouldn't take the dog for a long walk as you need to press the bread down with a spatula periodically - every 5-10 minutes - to ensure proper soaking up-ness.


5) Get in the habit of always preheating the oven before it's time to put your food in

The other thing you should probably do in that half hour prior to baking is preheat the oven - at 350 degrees F.

Oh yes, and the other part of learning to make custard:

6) Prepare a water bath and set the baking dish inside it.
A water bath insulates the delicate custard from the violently hot oven temperature. It's easy. Find an oven safe dish that's larger than the one you're baking the bread pudding in. Line it with a few layers of paper towel. Rest the baking dish inside it. Pour water up to about halfway up the side of the bread pudding dish. Now your pudding is protected!

Bake the bread pudding for about an hour - depending on the hotness of your oven this may be a bit more or less. The time will also vary depending on the bread-custard ratio. If you have more custard and less bread, it will take a little longer.

You'll know your dessert is done when a knife inserted into the center comes out clean.

If you're really keen you can prepare a butterscotch sauce or some sweetened whipped cream to serve on top.

We (Irma and I) think bread pudding is best served warm, so if you want to reheat it in an oven at around 300 for 15 minutes or so, you'll really impress people at your next potluck.

Bread pudding is even more amazing because you can make it in advance of a get-together and it will only get better as it sits.

Remember to refrigerate that puppy - eggs left on the counter of several days = gross.

recent food notes to mention

Have you ever tried cuttlefish tentacles? I didn't realize what I was missing until I was urged to try these at Kyoto recently. A much needed and long overdue night out with some girlfriends from work resulted in the four of us squeezing into one of their shoji-screened rooms, feet dangling on the floor, as we splashed our way through a bottle of hot sake.
The tentacles were served with a mango aioli as an appetizer along with deep fried Karaage Tofu - puffy and piping hot. We shared a Maki Boat covered in rolls of various fish and vegetable fillings and sprang for additional courses of salmon and tuna sashimi - melt in your mouth deliciousness...


Being substantially more settled in our new house, we decided it was high time to invite the parentals over for a brunch of approval. I spent the week tossing around recipe ideas and jotting them down on scraps of paper to see how they made out all together. J and Mel were given their dishes to be responsible for and then also given the task of ensuring that curtain rods were screwed into walls and floors were swept. The night before the brunch I had to work late, so I left them to their tasks and made sure my dad knew he was to bring the bubbly for the mimosas.

Everyone came through and it was an altogether lovely morning. Dad's cremant was delicious (on its own as well as mixed with orange juice). Mom was a champ and showed up with a very impressive fruit plate... I've never seen her use blackberries before, she really went all out. J used to make fun of the piles of bread on the counter every time he came over for dinner at my parents' place, but I wasn't all that surprised when she made a beeline for the kitchen, her arms weighed down with the fruit plate, a blueberry pie, roasted lentil dip, and (no joke) six loaves of bread and bread-like things from our favourite bakery.

In the end it was a rather impressive spread, and the fact that it was such a true collaboration of love made it even more scrumptious:
vegan chocolate turtles (recipe to follow)
smoked salmon, bagels, and cream cheese (the latter two brough by Mel's mom and dad)
chicken sausages from the farmer's market -grilled by J
buttermilk pancakes - Mel's addition (recipe from the Joy of Cooking)
banana white chocolate chip muffins - a family tradition in miniature
Mom's amazing fruit platter

Vegan Chocolate Turtles:
start with fresh Medjool dates
score lengthwise and remove the pit
replace with a toasted walnut or almond
seal shut with your fingers
place in a double boil of melted dark chocolate, rolling around with a spoon
remove and let cool on parchment paper


The most incredible meal I've had in ages was a few weeks ago when J and I decided to mark the anniversary of our first date by going all out on a spectacular dinner. I sent him a list of places I know to be top notch, but in the end he let me decide.

The Red Ox Inn is one of Edmonton's oldest and most highly regarded restos. Serving up fine bistro food with quality local ingredients for over 30 years, my expectations were actually exceeded by this place. It is a small restaurant - probably seats no more than 30 people. The decor is simple and elegant with rugged wood topped tables and substantial steak knives at eat setting.

Their wine list is a sight to behold and we decided to really treat ourselves with a different glass of white for each of us as our appetizers paired so much better with the crisp bright notes of unoaked Chardonnay and sweet, spicy Riesling (spinach salad with chevre and pan seared scallops respectively).

For our main courses - pork chop for J and duck breast for me - I chose a beautiful bottle of Barbera d'Asti - sweet spice of cherries and oak and a wonderful brick red colour. The duck breast was paired with a roasted fennel wrapped in prosciutto, cooked until crispy. Ugh, I was in paradise. J and I did our best to share and give tastes of everything on our plates, but I will admit at times I was hoping he wouldn't look over and see that there was something else to try.

Our better judgment to share dessert was silenced by the allure of blueberry white chocolate bread pudding and lemon tart. This photo of the empty plate was the only shot I got. We basically licked it clean.

Though I can't say that I'll be returning to the Red Ox Inn soon, it certainly was one of the most memorable meals I've ever had, and a beautiful place to celebrate being in love with J.

That's all for now - eggplant parmesan for dinner - must get a move on or the eggplant wont have enough time to drain...

easy avocado enchiladas

I just learned that enchiladas were one of the recipes included in the first definitive Mexican cookbook, El cocinero mexicano ("The Mexican Chef"), in 1831. Wikipedia told me this when I went looking for info on the origins of this marvelous dish. They were informed, by the way, in "Tacos, Enchiladas and Refried Beans: The Invention of Mexican-American Cookery" published by Oregon State University.

Enchiladas are essentially any mixture of meat, fish, vegetables, or beans wrapped up in a soft (usually corn) tortilla and baked in a chili sauce. I have had them in many restaurants in Canada and even in Mexico. None have been all that memorable, save some that I once had cooked for me essentially out of someone's kitchen at a little beach snack bar somewhere near Manzanillo.

The enchiladas I like to make come from Mollie Katzen's "The Enchanted Broccoli Forest." First she explains the enchilada's basic components and construction. Then she gives three different recipes for fillings: Cheese with Surprises, Avocado, and Zucchini and Pepper. Honestly, as soon as I laid eyes on that avocado recipe my heart skipped a beat. I've never even tried the other two, though "with surprises" intrigues me a great deal.
Combine:
1/2 C fresh lemon juice
4 ripe avocados, coarsely chopped
3 cloves of garlic, minced
6 green onions, finely chopped (greens and whites)
3/4 C fresh cilantro (didn't have any so I used Italian parsley)
2 ripe tomatoes, diced
1 tsp salt
3/4 tsp ground cumin

Make this just before you're ready to assemble the enchiladas and fit them into a casserole to be baked.

Mollie Katzen also gives two different recipes for enchilada sauce - a salsa verde, which requires green tomatoes (perfect for a big crop in summer) and the red sauce which can be made as long as you have access to a few basic supermarket ingredients like ripe tomatoes and a red bell pepper. Sometimes I blend it smooth but today I left it chunky for a nice texture.

The enchilada sauce can be made ahead of time.

Simmer in a pot:
5 ripe tomatoes, diced
1 large red sweet pepper, finely diced
1 tsp. salt
5 cloves of garlic, minced
1/2 tsp crushed rep pepper, or chili pepper flakes
1/2 tsp. ground cumin

It's not in Mollie's recipe but I like to top the enchiladas with mozzarella or jack cheese before baking in the oven. Also, she covers with foil before baking and I leave the dish open to brown a little on top.

Tonight I paired the hot casserole with a quick spinach salad with chopped kalamata olives, big chunks of Starkrimson pear (a new discovery and positively delicious!), chopped green onion, and crumbled chevre. I made a vinaigrette of maple syrup, honey Dijon mustard, balsamic vinegar, and olive oil.


via Wikipedia:
Oregon State University -
http://web.archive.org/web/20070718154326/http://food.oregonstate.edu/ref/culture/mexico_smith.html. Retrieved 2008-07-14.