Over the past few years I’ve become increasingly fearless in the kitchen and that it makes it harder to come up with goals [...]]]> Every year I try to set food-related goals for myself. They can be pretty boring like eat more vegetables or force myself to be more creative (and delicious) like make more charcuterie.

Over the past few years I’ve become increasingly fearless in the kitchen and that it makes it harder to come up with goals because I usually just get an idea in my head and run with it.

So now I present to you my food goals for 2012…

Capture my own food – a few summers ago I did a bit of foraging for mushrooms and had a great time. This year I want to step it up a notch and catch my own food. Luckily my girl Moj has all sorts of goals around hunting and if I have things correct this is the year for fishing, so methinks I’ll be fishing at some point this year.

Find new ways to combine food and travel – when I travel I’m pretty thorough about having a list of fab places to eat. While this is all fine and dandy I’m always up for experiencing food culture in different ways like visiting farmers markets to understand the local food trends.  I already have a trip to London and Paris planned and will be taking a pastry class while in Paris so I’ll be fulfilling this goal in short order.

Play with food styling – now that I have my Canon Rebel and can take much better photos I want to get better at styling my shots.  Throughout the year I’ll acquire more props and fine tune my indoor lighting situation.

Experiment with seafood – I love love seafood but don’t really branch out that much. I often cook salmon, shrimp and various whitefish but rarely cook shellfish. I recently started cooking mussels but this year I want to cook clams, crab and some other goodness.

Can more – this year I had a blast canning all sorts of pickles and I actually find that I’ve been using them. What I really want is a pressure canner so that I can preserve stocks, low acid vegetables and other goodness.

Butcher a thing or two – earlier this year I signed up for a butchery class at George Brown that was an absolute bust. It wasn’t really a butchery class and instead focused on charcuterie. I dropped out after one class so a part of me still needs to find my inner butcher.

What are some of your food goals for 2012??

Check out my food goals for previous years:

2011

2010

2009

A little while ago the folks at The Siren Group invited me to an event featuring a new product called Skillet Bacon Spread. Given my love for bacon I was intrigued but unable to attend, so the folks at The Siren Group were kind enough to send some of the product [...]]]>

A little while ago the folks at The Siren Group invited me to an event featuring a new product called Skillet Bacon Spread. Given my love for bacon I was intrigued but unable to attend, so the folks at The Siren Group were kind enough to send some of the product over to me to try.

The product was created by Chef Josh Henderson from Seattle and features Niman Ranch bacon that has been rendered down and mixed with onion, spices, brown sugar and some balsamic. According to the press release it works well in grilled cheese, mixed into mashed potatoes, on top of a burgers and many other uses.

While the above uses all sounded great I wanted to try something a bit different. The jar arrived at my office on precisely the same day that I was explaining to some new employees how much I love bacon. Oddly enough, prior to this discussion they hadn’t pegged me as a bacon girl. I was shocked. As if on cue the bacon spread was delivered and all was right in the world again.

The first thing I realized with this spread is that it doesn’t so much work on its own. I grabbed a spoonful and the whole thing was interesting but definitely needed a vehicle to carry it. While there is that bacony taste I found that I got more of a sweet, smoky taste from it. I don’t think this would work on toast but is probably butter in applications where you want a hint or kick of bacon or smoke.

The other day found myself with a loaf of bread and some cream cheese in my fridge. That’s when I got the brilliant idea to make bacon cream cheese. I softened some of the cream cheese on the counter and then mixed in 1 part bacon spread to 3 parts cream cheese. I have to admit, this stuff was kind of addictive. I already love flavoured cream cheese. Some of my favourites are olive, chive, veggie, lox… and the list goes on and on. The bacon spread added the right amount of porky goodness and smokiness. After the cream cheese success I could see the bacon spread being added to an onion dip. Doesn’t that sound fab?

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This summer the herbs in my balcony garden thrived.  Perhaps the most bountiful herb was oregano. Problem is that I RARELY use fresh oregano.  Trust me when I say I tried integrating it into a bunch of recipes but I couldn’t keep up with how fast that stuff grew.

Now that [...]]]>

This summer the herbs in my balcony garden thrived.  Perhaps the most bountiful herb was oregano. Problem is that I RARELY use fresh oregano.  Trust me when I say I tried integrating it into a bunch of recipes but I couldn’t keep up with how fast that stuff grew.

Now that it’s October (!) the days are cooler the days of my balcony garden are numbered.  While I’m all for preserving fruit and vegetables I’ve never really preserved herbs.  Sure I know that you can chop them up and put them in the freezer but my freezer is always full enough as it is.

Then I thought about drying.  I mean EVERYONE has dried herbs in their cupboard so why not dry my own?  I quickly learned that there are numerous ways to dry herbs.  The most often recommended is hanging the herbs upside down somewhere and letting nature go to work.  I honestly couldn’t think of a single place in my apartment to hang herbs so I passed on that.

Next was using a food dehydrator and while I’ve wanted this food dehydrator by Ron Popeil since I was about 10 I don’t have one, so I passed.  Another option was turning the oven on the lowest setting and putting the herbs in there for a few hours.  While I’m sure this is a good method I hate the idea of leaving the oven on for hours.

This led me to my least favourite appliance… the microwave.  While I’m not a fan of microwaves I am a fan of quick.  I put a few sprigs (does oregano have sprigs) of oregano on a paper towel in the microwave and microwaved them in 30 second increments until they were brittle… about a minute and a half to two minutes.

Once the herbs were brittle I pulled them off the stems and crumbled them.  Super easy!  I’ll have to play around and see what else this technique works on.

When I moved back to Toronto 4 (eek!) years ago I decided to try canning.  I liked the idea of controlling the amount of sugar in my jam as well as being able to use the freshest local produce and trying unique flavour combinations.  Canning can be a lot of work [...]]]>

When I moved back to Toronto 4 (eek!) years ago I decided to try canning.  I liked the idea of controlling the amount of sugar in my jam as well as being able to use the freshest local produce and trying unique flavour combinations.  Canning can be a lot of work but I find it almost therapeutic plus it’s nice to make something edible that will last for so long.

My initial forays into canning were strictly about jam but this year I was inspired by this article in Bon Appétit to do some pickling.  Yes, pickling!  I figured pickling would be even easier than jam making since you don’t have to worry about setting.  I decided to devote a weekend day to my pickling adventures because it sounded likely a lovely way to spend an afternoon.  I decided to make four types of pickles: corn relish, bread & butter pickles, zucchini dill pickles and pickled beets (I’ll list links at the end of this post).

The funny thing about canning is that I decided to can things that I never ever buy.   Let’s take corn relish, for example.  I’ve never ever bought a jar of corn relish and frankly I don’t think I’ve ever tasted it.  But with corn being so delicious this year I decided to try my hand at preserving some.  Plus I saw many a tweet from Darryl and Beth about their love of corn relish, so I was intrigued.  I decided to use a basic recipe from Pick Your Own . I checked out a bunch of sites and there were so many variations. I figured this one would be a good start. Aside from the corn the recipe includes peppers, onions, sugar and a variety of spices.  I let the preserves sit for a week or so and then I decided to buy some hotdogs to give the relish a test drive.  Corn relish is such a great condiment!  It was perfect on my hotdog.  It really is like regular relish but with corn instead. I even put some on a chicken sandwich a few days later and it was a great addition.

Next up was to pickle some beets.  I’ve made Easy Pickled Beets before and enjoyed so I thought I’d step it up a notch and make some real pickled beets.  The Bon App article had a recipe for Picked Beets with Star Anise that I thought sounded interesting, so I made it.  I enjoy the anise flavour for the most part and frankly I kind of wanted an excuse to buy star anise, it’s such a cute spice!  The recipe also captured my attention because it involves red wine.  Not only was this a super easy recipe but the results are quite lovely.  When you open the jar you get a whiff of anise but the taste isn’t too heavy on the anise (I’m not a fan of black liquorice so too much anise could turn me off).  You don’t really get much of the taste of wine but I appreciate that it’s in there.

The pickles I was most excited to make were the Zucchini Dill Pickles.  I love dill pickles and I love zucchini and I’m not a fan of cucumbers so I was happy on all fronts.  The process of making the dill pickles was perhaps the most lovely to look at of all the pickles I made that day.  I loved filling the jars with the herbs, spices, garlic and peppers, it really made me feel like I was crafting or something.  I deviated from the recipe a bit and used a combination of green zucchini and yellow squash, not a big deal at all.  The pickles turned out well.  They have the taste of dill pickles for the most part but have a slightly different texture.  I find them a bit too spicy but I had others taste them and they didn’t feel the same way at all.  Next time I’d love to figure out how to make half-sour pickles.

Last on my preserving adventures were bread and butter pickles.  I’ve loved bread and butter pickles ever since I was little but I couldn’t tell you the last time I had them.   These are the only pickles that I have yet to try but I’m excited to put them on a burger, in a grilled cheese or on a turkey sandwich!

I can’t write a post about preserving without giving a shout out to the lovely Sarah Hood who recently released a book all about canning (which I still have to buy!) called We Sure Can.

Here are the recipes that I used:

Corn Relish
Pickled Beets with Star Anise
Zucchini Dill Pickles
Bread & Butter Pickles

I’ve blogged a few times about my visits to Niagara to sample some of Ontario’s best wines.  Niagara is a great day trip or weekend getaway for those in Southwestern Ontario and I always feel lucky to have such a great area so closeby.  I was recently invited by the

I’ve blogged a few times about my visits to Niagara to sample some of Ontario’s best wines.  Niagara is a great day trip or weekend getaway for those in Southwestern Ontario and I always feel lucky to have such a great area so closeby.  I was recently invited by the LCBO to come out to Niagara with the challenge of finding my favourite local wine as part of their goLocal campaign. Sign me up!

For my out-of-Province readers and international readers, the LCBO is the Liquor Control Board of Ontario which is a provincial government enterprise. Basically if you want to buy alcohol in Ontario you for the most part have to get it at the LCBO (aka the government) or something like a Beer Store, Wine Rack or direct from a vineyard. Trust me when I say I miss the days of grabbing a beer from the bodega in NYC or picking up wine or other alcohol from the supermarket in other states.

This was not my usual jaunt out to Niagara.  This jaunt started with a private VIA Rail train to get us out of the city.  Who knew that you could commandeer a VIA Rail train for your own usage?  I suppose that’s what happens when you’re the LCBO.  It was pretty sweet and we were even treated to meal service. During our ride we were given cards that separated us into groups that would be whisked away for two different wine experiences.

Our first stop was over to Coyote’s Run to sample some “Crisp & Zesty” wines.  The wines featured included selections from Coyote’s Run, Peninsula Ridge Estates Winery and Vincor. We tried Pinots (gris, blanc, and noir), a few Sauvignon Blancs and a Chardonnay. My favourites from this tasting were the Coyote’s Run Red Paw Vineyard Pinot Noir ($24.95, Vintages #79228) and the Jackson Triggs 2010 Black Series Sauvignon Blanc ($13.95, 58438).

Then we were whisked off to a surprise lunch.  We pulled up to Creekside Estate Winery where we were greeted to the sight of food trucks!  The very popular El Gastronomo Vagabundo and Gorilla Cheese trucks were on hand to help soak up the alcohol feed us. I hadn’t had the opportunity to give these trucks a try so I was beyond excited.

From El Gastronomo I had the fish taco with local corn salsa, Bajan hot sauce and sour cream. HOLY MOLY.  This was really great.  I’m a fan of fish tacos (as evidenced here) so I love to give them a try when available.  I also had the steamed buns which are inspired by the ones served at Momofuku.  The buns feature pork belly, chili jam, cucumber and coriander.  These were just okay.  I remember when I had the ones from Momofuku I was filled with so much joy, I just didn’t get the warm and fuzzies from these ones.  They weren’t bad but they kind of fell short of my memory of the Momofuku version.

From Gorilla Cheese I had “The Lumberjack”  which consisted of aged cheddar and bacon.  Grilled cheese sandwiches, especially when they feature bacon are one of my favourite foods and this was a good sandwich!  The folks at Creekside were also pouring a variety of wines and I was able to reconnect with the lovely Laura’s Red.  After lunch we were divided into two new groups and whisked off to our final destination.

I had the chance to visit a winery whose wines I enjoy but haven’t visited before, Malivoire.  Here we tried wines from Malivoire, Strewn Winery and Cave Springs.  My favourites were the Strewn Two Vines Riesling Gewurztraminer Semi Dry ($11.95, 467662) which also happens to be a great value. I was also a fan of Malivoire 2009 Chardonay ($19.95, Vintages 573147).

Thanks to the LCBO and to Suresh and Trina for such a fabulous day in wine country!

If you’ve been reading my blog for the past year or so, you’re likely aware that I kind of love Stratford, ON.  Stratford is known these days amongst the international teeny bopper set as the hometown of Justin Bieber but Stratford has been holding it down for YEARS as a destination [...]]]>

If you’ve been reading my blog for the past year or so, you’re likely aware that I kind of love Stratford, ON.  Stratford is known these days amongst the international teeny bopper set as the hometown of Justin Bieber but Stratford has been holding it down for YEARS as a destination for great theatre and more recently as a culinary tourism destination in Ontario.

This year’s festival promises to be even more fun than last year. The festival will take place in Stratford on September 24 and 25th.  There’s a great mix of both free and paid workshops, plus the marketplace and many other opportunities for food-related fun.  They’ve even added some well-known names to the line-up including the Food Network’s Chuck Hughes and Connie de Sousa from Top Chef Canada.  If you’re coming from Toronto there is even a special Savour Stratford bus to make your trip that much easier.

To learn more about the festival click here.

To read more about my trip to last year’s festival check out this blog post.

Here are a few of the events that I’ll definitely be checking out this year…

Saturday

Wine and Cheese – A guided workshop with Ruth Klahsen of Monforte Dairy and Chris Giuliani of Chateau des Charmes where we’ll discover some great wine and cheese pairings.  Monforte cheese is amazing and CdC wines are wonderful as well so this will be a great session.

The Craft of Charcuterie – This year I’m all about all things charcuterie so I was delighted to see this on the schedule.  The workshop is hosted by Connie de Sousa (you’d know her from Top Chef Canada) and Fred de Martines of Perth Pork Products (great stuff).

Ribs in the Square – Who doesn’t love a good BBQ?  The Savour Stratford team will be setting up a long communal table in the square and the award-winning Boss Hog’s BBQ team will be serving up ribs, cole slaw, and baked beans.

Sunday

Farmers’/Artisan Market – This is happening on Saturday as well but I’ll likely check it out in depth on Sunday (I’ll go repeatedly on Saturday for my apple fritter fix… they are addictive).    Stock up on local goodness before you head back to the city (and by city I mean Toronto, but I’m biased).

Savour Stratford Tasting – This is THE marquee event of the weekend.  30+ culinary teams will setup under the main tent and feature the local goodness of Stratford.  I attended this event last year and it was great with a really chill atmosphere.

I’ll be in Stratford on Saturday and Sunday.  If you can’t make it down follow me on my personal Twitter account (@wontonfm) for a play-by-play of the weekend.  I look forward to seeing you there!

Let’s start with the good….

Having herbs at the ready is one of the [...]]]> My balcony garden has been a fun experiment filled with ups and downs.  Some things flourished and others not so much.  Then throw in factors like crazy windstorms and you have a whole new set of challenges.

Let’s start with the good….

Having herbs at the ready is one of the biggest advantages of having a garden.  It’s great to walk out and pick a few sprigs for breakfast, lunch or dinner.  It PAINS me to have to pay $2 for a small container of herbs at the supermarket that will go bad.  I have a surplus of oregano, I think I’m going to dry it and put it in container.  As with last year my cilantro thrived for a bit and then died and the dill never really got going.

The radicchio grew really well for weeks (months?) but alas fitting radicchio into my eating schedule just wasn’t happening so unfortunately it started turning weird.  Totally my fault.  Plus we had a crazy heat wave which lettuce doesn’t enjoy at all so that was definitely a culprit.

My greens (kale, collards and swiss chard) have also been pretty healthy.  I haven’t used them as much as I should’ve but they haven’t given me many problems.

The habanero peppers that have come to fruition look great.  I haven’t cooked with them yet but I’m really excited to.  Sadly, my plants haven’t produced that many peppers.  So far I’ve gotten about 8 out of the plant with a few more growing but I was expecting A LOT more.  I think I had too many peppers in my pots for them to really flourish.

And the not so good…

My leeks aren’t turning into leeks!  They are a hair or two thicker than a pencil which is definitely not thick enough. I have a few that are a bit thicker but for the most part they are puny.  My container is probably a bit crowded.  I may start harvesting some of the leeks and see if they thicken up just a bit.

Strawberries.  They started out great.  I bought two varieties one was called seascapes and I can’t remember what the other was called.   I should’ve been better about marking them because one plant was great and the other not so much.  The 2nd plant bloomed later and produced more berries but they weren’t as sweet or big.  AND at a certain point they started growing in all shriveled (see picture).  What up with that?

What the heck was up with my lavender?  It NEVER bloomed the way it was supposed to and one plant didn’t bloom at all.  I was totally hoping for a lovely smelling balcony.

And the remains to be seen…

I honestly don’t see how these plants will EVER turn into proper Brussels sprouts.  Seriously.  And we’re already in September.  I bought fertilizer to see if that will help but it hasn’t really thus far.  I’m really hoping I get some sprouts out of these!

My beets are growing but I can’t really tell how they are doing under the soil.  The greens look healthy so hopefully that is a good sign.

As for unexpected events…

While I was away we had a crazy thunderstorm and INSANE winds.  So insane that my balcony furniture flew on top of my plants!  My pepper plants snapped and worst of all a few of my containers were really badly damaged.  Sure they were just $2 from Dollarama but it totally sucks.  I can barely water the plants without the water running out.  Totally makes me sad.

I should have one more post before the season is up.  Hopefully I’ll be able to show off a ton of beets and Brussels sprouts.  Fingers crossed.

Does anyone else feel like summer is rapidly slipping away?  In the morning there’s a bit of a chill in the air.  The days are becoming shorter.  The nights are chilly… folks, fall is around the corner.  And while I love fall, I’m not quite ready to give up frolicking in [...]]]>

Does anyone else feel like summer is rapidly slipping away?  In the morning there’s a bit of a chill in the air.  The days are becoming shorter.  The nights are chilly… folks, fall is around the corner.  And while I love fall, I’m not quite ready to give up frolicking in the sunshine, wearing flip flops and eating all sorts of summer goodness.

In an effort to hold onto summer  a bit longer I decided to make one of my favourite summer drinks: lemonade. I’ve been loving lemonade with other flavours like raspberry, mint etc. so I decided to go ahead and jazz things up.  In my fridge I happened to have some great Ontario wild blueberries and a peach that I knew would be perfect in the lemonade.

Oddly enough, I realized that I’ve NEVER made lemonade.  When I was little we would buy those cans of frozen concentrate.  Recently I’ve been buying Santa Cruz Organic lemonade or limeade when I need a fix.  I also have a weak spot for the lemonade at Whole Foods but recently it has been really sweet so I’m kind of off that.  But really, there is nothing at all difficult about making lemonade.

I decided to start off by making a simple syrup of sugar and water.  I hate when I get a cold drink and the sugar hasn’t dissolved.  The  simple syrup eliminates that and is oh so simple to make.  Then I threw the blueberries and chopped peach into my food processor to puree.  I mixed my puree with the lemon juice and started adding water and the simple syrup until perfect.  I also threw in some chopped mint.

Next time I do this I would do a few things differently.  I would definitely strain my puree to avoid the blueberry skin bits.  I would also look at infusing my simple syrup with the mint flavour to avoid too many mint leaves in my glass.

Trust me when I say that this lemonade is super refreshing and like having summer in a glass.  Also consider adding a bit of gin or other alcohol to the mix as well!

And for all you blueberry lovers in Toronto, head down to Evergreen Brickworks on Saturday, August 20 for the Wild Blueberry Festival. Click here for more information.

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I have strawberries!  Granted, not enough to do anything with but snack, but still, strawberries! The first one that I ate was on the watery side but subsequent berries have been really sweet and pretty divine.