The Food Allergy Foodie

The Lakeview EST. 1932

This is The Lakeview Burger; 6oz naturally raised beef, peameal bacon, sauteed wild mushrooms, and cheddar cheese.  Top that with lettuce, onion, pickle and a sesame bun and you have a glorious meal.  You can get this baby with fresh cut fries or house salad and a side of Asian coleslaw for $12.

I've been to The Lakeview several times since it has re-opened under new ownership, for brunch and for late night snacks.  I always get good service and the food has never disappointed.  One of my favourites is the Freedom Toast; brie and peameal stuffed french toast that will blow your socks off. It's the kind of place where the milkshakes taste just as they should, if you know what I mean.  That's to say nothing of the space, an uber cool refurbished 1930's diner filled with Ossington hipsters, both dining and serving.

There was something different about this burger though.  I went with a party of 6 for brunch before heading to the pride parade.  (So maybe it was the great company?!)  I have never eaten non 'breakfast food' for my first meal of the day, and I rarely crave anything with ground meat, but with a stomach recuperating from a night out and knowing that we had another night ahead of us, I was needing something greasy.  When I read the description I just knew it would be the perfect thing.

First of all, if your thinking of trying this beaute be prepared to open your mouth wider than you ever have before.  Be prepared to get a little mustard on your chin.  Realize that you probably won't be able to finish the whole plate (I didn't even try the coleslaw, I figured it would just be like empty calories).  I was committed to this thick juicy tasty burger with it's rosemary essence and it's soft bun.  I was urged on by my brunch mates during weak moments, when I thought I couldn't finish it.  I soldiered on.  With a few bites to go I realized that my satisfaction had reached it's precipice and if I ate one more bite it would put me over the hump into discomfort.  I put her down, wiped my hands and ordered another $3 mimosa in her honour.

Michael Jackson Thriller Pops

We are the world, we are the children, and you taught us how to dance and shout, shake our bodies down to the ground.  Because you were a pop icon...  This off the wall frozen treat is an ode to you.

ABC, it's easy as...

1.  Put softened dark chocolate ice cream and pop rocks in a bowl and beat it, just beat it until combined.  Form into desired shape.  Insert popsicle stick and freeze.

2.  Repeat.  Don't stop 'til you get enough.

3.  Melt marshmallows with a bit of butter and spread out on parchment paper.  Wrap each thriller pop in marshmallow. Freeze again.

 

Here's to you Michael.  Cheers.

Featured on Food Buzz today!!

My picture and review of Seven Numbers Restaurant is being featured on Food Buzz today!  Check it out!

Orange Date Muffins

 

I started making these muffins a couple of years ago.  I was working as a catering coordinator and I was having trouble being on time.  My hours were somewhat flexible, which is killer for me, because the tendency is to go in later and later.  One day the chef shared this muffin recipe with me and I had an idea.  I would make muffins to cure my lateness!  I was so sure that it would work.  I started fantasizing about the time I would save and about getting out of work earlier in the afternoons.  The problem with knowing you have an extra 10 minutes in the morning is that you know you can press the snooze button one more time...It was a valiant effort anyway.
Maybe you could use some more time in the morning, or maybe you're one of those smug always-early-for-things people.  Either way you should make these muffins.  They're great!

Preheat your oven to 400 F
Makes 12 large muffins

1 medium-large orange
1/2 cup orange juice
1/2 cup chopped dates
1 egg
1/2 cup margarine (I always use butter)
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour (or 1 C + 1/2 C whole wheat flour)
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp baking powder
3/4 cup white sugar
3/4 tsp salt

1. Cut orange in eighths, remove seeds, put in blender.
2. Add orange juice and dates.  Blend until liquefied.
3. Add egg and margarine/butter. Blend again.
4. Into large bowl, sift dry ingredients.
5. Add blender mixture to flour mixture.
6. Stir to blend.
7. Fill muffin cups and bake.  (It doesn't give a time.  A toothpick or fork stuck into the middle of a muffin should come out clean)

Goat's cheese scalloped potatoes

This is a recipe from a good old old stand-by, The Better Home and Garden Cookbook.  The goat's cheese was my own addition.  I had them once at a restaurant and wanted to try it at home.  If you really love goat's cheese add more than 3tbsp.  I ended up putting more cheese on top when I ate them for leftovers.

Preheat your oven to 350F

1 cup chopped onion
2 cloves garlic, minced
1/4 cup butter or margarine
1/4 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
2 1/2 cups milk (I had some leftover whipping cream so used half cream, half milk)
8 cups thinly sliced red, white, long white, or yellow potatoes (about 2 1/2 pounds)

1. For sauce, in a medium saucepan cook onion and garlic in hot butter until tender. Stir in flour, salt, and pepper,  Add milk all at once.  cook and stir over medium heat until thickened and bubbly.  Remove from hear; set aside.  (This is where I stirred in about 3 tablespoons of goat cheese.) Place half the sliced potatoes in a greased 3-quart rectangular dish (or whatever, I used a glass pie dish). Top with half the sauce.  Repeat the layers.

2.  Bake, covered, in a 350 F oven for 45 minutes.  Uncover and bake for 40-50 minutes more, or until potatos are tender.  Let stand, uncovered, for 10 minutes before serving.

Magrets de canard: Duck breasts sauteed

Everyone is always surprised when they find out that I cook for myself.  One of the biggest joys I have in my life is feeding people, but one of the others is eating!  I think it's important to take care of yourself, just as important as taking care of others.

I've never made duck at home before.  I've always been intimidated, by the fat, by it's mysterious dark meat, by the fact that I've only ever had it in fancy restaurants.  I borrowed The Way to Cook by Julia Child from the library a little while ago because she makes me feel confident (or was it because I've been subconsciously influenced by buzz for the Julie & Julia movie coming out this summer?).  I flipped through the duck recipes and choose to start with the easiest looking one.  The recipe calls for 4 duck breasts, but I bought one since it would only be me.  I got it home and thought it looked too big, so I cut it in half and threw the other half in the freezer.  I can use the other half sometime in the next six months, and it should be ok.

For 4 servings:

4 skinless and boneless duck breasts
Seasonings: Salt, freshly ground pepper, and allspice (could find allspice in my cupboard so used a tiny bit of Chinese five spice)
2 to 3 tbsp duck fat or clarified butter (melt some butter and skim off the trashy looking foam)

Now Julia suggests serving it with the sauce on page 182 ,but I didn't want to buy a whole bottle of vermouth for a 'splash'.  I made my own sauce, a gravy out of the pan juices, chicken broth, flour, orange zest, oj, and a splash of wine.  I also left out the green peppercorns she suggests you throw in the sauce at the last minute.  I just don't have those.

Here we go:

Flatten each breast slightly by pounding briefly between sheets of wax paper with a rubber hammer or pestle.  Dust the meat with salt, pepper, and allspice, rub with a little duck fat or butter, wrap and refrigerate until you are almost ready to serve.

Heat the duck fot or butter in a pan until very hot but not browning.  Saute the duck breast  a minute or two on each side, only until the meat is lightly springy when pressed (165 F is the safe internal temperature according to the FDA.  I had to cook it about 8 minutes per side), in contrast to its squashy raw state.  Pour in the sauce, and bring just to the simmer.  Arrange the breasts on hot plates, give the sauce a quick boil with the chopped green peppercorns, and spoon in over the duck breasts.

Post for dad

My dad has two loves, his music and his food.  One of my first and favourite memories is of trying to wait up for him to come home from a gig, when I was three years old.  I fell asleep, but I woke up when I heard him come in.  When I ran to greet him he put me up on his shoulders and we went out into the warm summer night for an ice cream cone.

We grew up in the mono culture of early nineties Barrie.  But we must have tried every type of food.  My dad would often drive an hour to Toronto to buy curry goat.  We might have been the only kids in town to have eaten goat, and we loved it.  He fostered our minds to be open to other cultures and other flavours.  Something which I will always be grateful for.

My relationship with my dad has had it's ups and downs.  Neither of us is perfect.  It has just really been in the last few years that I've realised how much we are alike.  Dad has a photo album of food he's made right up there on the shelf beside family photos, and I obviously photograph a lot of my food.  I get just as excited as he does over a great cut of meat.  He never measures, and I don't think he has ever followed a recipe.  I'm a little more structured here, but I learned to improvise and be creative from him.  We're always thinking of the next dish we'll try.  We both have restaurant dreams.

He lives 1001 miles away from me, so we won't be together this fathers day.  But I know what he'll do.  He'll go fishing, come home and cook a huge meal, and he'll probably invite the neighbours.  He loves to feed people, so becomes fast friends with everyone.  He'll have a beer instead of dessert while he puts on an inpromtu concert of his newest songs.  Wish I could be there!  Happy Fathers Day!

xo

Falafel

I didn't know I liked falafel. Falafels? I didn't know I liked falafel(s) until I made them myself.  I try foods I don't like every once and a while to make sure I still don't like them.  You should always keep an open mind with food, because tastes evolve.  I had them at Anouche, across from UofT on College a few days ago and they were awful.  How could they make such yummy ingredients taste so terrible? I ate it, because I paid for it, but it was a very sad lunch.  I decided that I'd make them at home.    I halved the Moose Wood Cookbook's version (I list it here in full).  They are so simple, and probably one of the cheapest meals you can find.  The trick I learned, is freshness.  Make the mix and cook them that same day.

4 cups cooked chick peas, or two 15oz cans
4 medium cloves garlic, minced
2 tsp. cumin
1 tsp. tymeric
1 tsp. salt
1/2 cup finely minced onion, or 6 scallions
1/4 cup (packed) minced parsley
1/4 cup water
1 tbsp. lemon juice (fresh is best!)
a few dashes of cayenne ( I don't have cayenne so used chili powder)
1/3 cup flour
oil for frying (I used sunflower)

1. Rinse the chick pease, and drain them well.

2. Comine all ingredients except flour in a food processor or a medium-sized bowl and process-or mash-until you have a uniform batter.

3. Add flour, and stir until thouroughly combined.  You can cook the felafel right away, or store the batter in a tightly covered container in the refrigerator for several days. (Don't listen to Mollie Katzen, cook them right away!)

4. Heat a heavy skillet an dadd about 3 tbsp oil.  When it is hot enought to sizzle a bread crumb on contact, drop tablespoonsfuls of batter into the pan, flattening each slightly, like a small, thick pancake.  Saute for about 10 minutes on each side, until golded and crisp. Add small amounts of extra oil to the pan as needed throughout the cooking.

5.  Place the cooked felafel on a plate lined with paper towels, and , it necessary, keep warm in a 300 F oven until serving time.

Yeilds about 24 2-inch felafels.

Try these beautes with lemon tahini sauce (tahini, lemon juice, water, garlic, salt to your taste and the consistancy you desire).  I served them on top of lettuce (from my garden!) and then drizzled them with sauce.  If I were Rachelle Ray, I'd say y-u-m-m-o! Crispy on the outside and soft, and so flavourful on the inside.  Try it, it's easy!

The answer to the age old question: To keep or to toss?

When I was growing up wasting food was the absolute worst thing you could do.  My mother would not let it happen.  If we couldn't eat all of dinner it was wrapped up and kept in the fridge.  My mom ate so many leftovers that my brother and I wouldn't touch.  We'd look up at her, our child faces filled with horror as she ate our old meals.

Now that I'm on my own I rarely throw food out, I guess it's easier to waste someone else's money.  Well I get it now mom!  I still question the safely of eating some leftovers though.  Besides the smell test, or seeing obvious mold I've never known how to really tell if the food is ok to eat.  Years later we found out that my mom has an over active immune system, so I guess it is possible for her to have stomached some questionable food in her day!

For the rest of us, there is stilltasty.com.  This website is amazing.  You can type in any food and it will tell you how to store it and for how long.  I'm giving my fridge a long over due cleaning today, here I'll bear all so you can see what I mean...

Using stilltasty I found out that these artichokes that I have here on the bottom shelf should have been garbage a week ago.  I know the wine on my top shelf is old, I've been using it for cooking.  Stilltasty suggests opened red wine be stored in the fridge for just 3-5 days.  They also say if you want to use it for cooking you could freeze it in ice cube trays for 4-6 months.  What a good tip stilltasty!

Have you ever wondered if you can eat a chicken that has been frozed for two years? or If it's ok to leave butter on the counter? or If you can eat that tub of icing that's been in there for two weeks?

Check out stilltasty!

Golden ticket

What my neighbourhood lacks in good restaurants, it makes up for in good smells.  In the evenings there are times when a breeze will go by and almost knock me over...in a good way.  There is a chocolate factory that gives off the most amazing chocolaty aromas.  Visions of Gene Wilder floating down rivers of the stuff comes to mind.

In the morning there is an altogether different bouquet in the air.   That of a near by roastery.  It is like having your morning coffee without the hassle of  having to open your mouth, or burn your tongue.

There are certain times in the day, when the wind blows just right and the air has the redolency of a coffee crisp, my all time favourite chocolate bar.  These are the times when I breath deeply and really appreciate the moment.