Monday, October 25, 2010
Downtown dining: Dominion Square Tavern
Sunday, October 17, 2010
Northern escape with my best friends!
Renata, Claire, Kristina and I have been going up to the Cassis cabin together since our cegep years and we especially like going up in the fall. We went to do our grocery shopping at Bourassa which is a sort of smaller, refined costco. They have amazing olive oils and vinegars, a lot of the same as what you would get at les Douceurs at the Atwater market, but for way cheaper. Their cheese section is basically a walk in fridge with tons of delicious French and Quebec cheeses.
For our platter we bought an oka with mushrooms in it and a delicious cow's milk cheese called pleine lune. It was creamy and covered in vegetable ash and tasted buttery like a brillat-savarin but not as creamy. We accompanied the cheese with fig and olive crackers and some grison and pate de foie de canard. I also made a green salad with raw pistachios and baby tomatoes with a pistachio oil and white wine vinegar maple syrup vinaigrette.
Wednesday, October 13, 2010
Giving thanks: a family dinner
6 apples peeled and chopped
4 stocks celery chopped
half a baguette cut into 2 inch cubes
3/4 cup chestnuts chopped
1 cup brown apple juice
3-4 shots brandy
1/4 cup olive oil
3 tbs fresh rosemary finely chopped
salt and pepper to taste
mix all ingredients, place half the mixture inside turkey the other half in oven proof baking dish covered. Cook along with turkey for about 2 and a half hours.
graham cracker crust
1/2 cup unsalted butter melted
2 cups graham cracker crumbs
2 tsp powdered ginger
mix all ingredients until well blended. Press the mixture into 9-inch pie plates. prebake for 8-10 minutes before filling.
3 eggs
3/4 cup sugar
1 tsp cinnamon
1/8 tsp freshly grated nutmeg
1 tsp ginger
1/2 tsp all-spice
pinch of salt
2 cups fresh pumpkin puree* (or any mixture of acorn or butternut squash and pumpkin)
2 cups half-and-half or whole milk
1. Prebake crust, and start the filling while crust is in the oven. when crust is done turn the oven to 375 f
2. Beat eggs with sugar, then add spices and salt. Stir in pumpkin puree and cream. Warm this mixture over medium-low heat, stirring occasionally, until hot to the touch; do not boil.
3. Pour mixture into still-hot crust and bake 30-40 minutes, until it shakes like jello.
scoop out pumpkin and puree
Tuesday, October 12, 2010
With the colour of rust
I had the honourable presence of many lovely ladies and we all/most entertained the Russian theme... oh yes, how can I forget to tell you! Of course it was themed! Themed dressing of course means themed recipes!
So many people brought so many tasty Eastern European delights from pickles, pickled green tomatoes (a personal favorite of mine), caviar, Claire's famous potato salad, chicken salad, bird's milk chocolates, etc. Unfortunately we had to eat it all out of plastic plates which wouldn't fit any Russian theme (I'm thinking even the lack of plastic bags circa Soviet era) but no one seemed to mind... haha, not even me. But don't be mistaken, I got the 'fancy' kinds (that's what it said on the packaging at least).
Recipes absolutely to come! Borscht, pelimeni, and maybe roulette even! All passed on from generation to generation within my family with variations along the way.
No better pleasure in life than great company with great food... I love you friends!
x
Renata
Monday, October 11, 2010
Boston thanksgiving roadtrip with the fam
So i went to boston for the weekend just to get out of Montreal for a bit and decompress. We did tons of shopping and eating and walking, one of those trips. Boston is known for their lobster so the first night we got there, we were tired from the drive so we just walked around our hotel and found this place called Abe and Louie's. I ordered a pistachio apple blue cheese salad with dijon dressing and split the lobster Savannah with my mom. Amazing!!! I'm definitely going to recreate this salad at home. The lobster came in a creamy sauce with mushrooms and peppers and was just over the top and very satisfying after that long drive.
Thursday, October 7, 2010
Business lunch #4: F bar
So I felt the need to compare and contrast the two relatively new bistros that have the same design, the same location and 2 different well respected establishments backing them up.
In the chowder there was potato cubes and corn and the soup was good but there was not enough clams in it. And I prefer when they come in the shell.
F bar definitely won points for the presentation of the food. None of the mains were served in a regular plate. My spicy mayo beef tartare came on a wooden cutting board and my mom's halibut (served on mashed potatoes and accompanied by asparagus) came in a casserole. It was different and fun. The almond and raisin mix scattered on the dish were amazing, especially the crunchy delicate almonds.
The tartare was good , flavoured with minuscule chopped onions and capers and spicy mayo. I usually don't like mayonnaise as the dressing for my tartare because i feel like it's too easy and it takes away from the rest of the flavours. It tasted pretty similarly to the sauce used in spicy maki rolls so i actually quite enjoyed it afterall.
The food was good, the service too but there's something about these restaurants that i just dont like. My mom put it best i think: "J'aime pas ca manger dans une roulotte". And that's kind of what it feels like in both brasserie t! and f bar: a long fishbowl trailor. It's a cold sort of atmosphere. I'm just overall not wowed with either one of these places especially considering the restaurants that are behind them.
I did enjoy F bar a little more then Brasserie T, they seemed to put more attention to detail and the menu was more interesting. Still, I don't think I'd go back to either one.
S.
Wednesday, October 6, 2010
Amalgame
I have a thing about judging breakfast restaurants based on the quality of the eggs benedict, the options for fresh fruits and the homefries.
Knowing this, my cousin took me to a place in outremont called amalgame. we were all tired and not looking our best so no pictures of us were taken. lets concentrate on the food!
My eggs benedict were perfect. the sauce was just salty enough. they put cheese and ham. some places only put the ham on the classic version and i find that very dissapointing.
i tend to get my eggs benedict on bagel as a personal favorite (keep in mind i absolutely dont count calories so maybe dont follow my diet haha )
The fruit and plating was delightfull. now, the hash brown! what a treat. i kind of wished there was more of it but then i would be filling up on it instead of on the eggs and fruit. i thoroughly enjoyed my meal there. the breakfast comes with regular coffee that you can upgrade for a small amount to a latte or espresso or anything like that which i find is a nice touch.
my cousin got the large bowl of fruit which was appropriately priced as well. Our friend myriam got a sandwich and fries which was quite tasty as well.
Amalgame is on Bernard just east of Parc Ave.
enjoy!