My brother, ever a whirlwind, blew into town from Kelowna this weekend. I immediately insisted we go dress shopping in Sherwood Park. My TRUE motive was to get him to go to Cafe Haven with me, though.

I first read about Cafe Haven on foodiesuz’s website and have stored it away in my brain for my next visit to the bedroom community of Sherwood Park. I often go to Costco there, and you know what they say about shopping on an empty stomach!

I must confess cafes in Edmonton (other than Sugarbowl, da capo or Tesoro) turn me off. I think of schizophrenic menus, glass cases half full of stale baked goods and sad cups of coffee when I think cafe here. Hence, I went into Cafe Haven with a cautious approach.

Cafe Haven’s glass cases were full of deliciousness!

My concerns were unwarranted.

This little cafe has it goin’ on. In the community where I imagine Starbucks and Second Cup are the norm for caffeine junkies, Cafe Haven was bumping. Located in a strip mall in the space of a former bank (there is even an old vault), it is full of eclectic decorations and furniture, and features a limited but focused menu (lunch fare, mostly) and helpful staff. I totally agree with foodiesuz/Susan’s sentiments about most coffee shop menus being disjointed and all over the place. That said: Haven nails all the good stuff.

We both got sandwiches and I got a London Fog to drink. There were many other things that piqued my interest: nachos (!), pumpkin pie, hummus, soup. Their menu changes for the autumn/winter seasons and then again for spring and summer. There is also brunch (the menu changes weekly), catering… it’s a wonder cafe!

The brunch menu is taped up, but also updated online. They will be having a Valentines Day brunch as well.

My London Fog came out quickly and was, hands down, one of the best I have ever had. Along with a nutmeg-y sugar blend, there were curls of orange peel on top of the rich foam, adding a citrus brightness to the creamy tea blend. I do regret not getting a latte though; their latte art is beautiful and their beans are from Transcend.

Grilled pumpkin feta pesto spinach panini. The pumpkin was odd, but amazing. It just worked. My brother got chicken brie. He found the brie a bit sloppy and gooey, but otherwise the sandwich was delicious.

While we visited midday, they are open for dinner as well and are licensed. They had a posting for a short story slam, and while normally I might scoff at such things, I thought it was a good idea for a great space.

I will definitely be back, maybe as soon as for Valentines Day brunch.

Lunch for two with two drinks was about $22, and on my brother. Thanks Tory!

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Cafe Haven
9 Sioux Road
Sherwood Park
Mon – Fri 8am – 9pm
Sat 9am – 6pm
Sun 10am – 4pm

Side entrance to Zinc. You may also enter through the main foyer of the AGA.

On Sunday January 31, the Art Gallery of Alberta reopened after being closed for nearly five years of renovations. The new building made a lot of promises: more gallery space, better exhibits, a stunning exterior and new spaces for restaurants and cafes. Tuesday February 2 marked the first day of operations of the flagship restaurant, Zinc. (Or is that ZIИC?)

Naturally, I have been excited about Zinc for sometime. Working where I do l afforded me the ability to see a lot of behind the scenes photos as things were put together going up to the big day, and doing a site tour of the Art Gallery of Alberta as a possible wedding venue amped up the excitement even more.

Visiting on the first day of a restaurant’s opening is a different experience, and not one necessarily recommended. Service may lack smoothness, menus could be in the process of being tweaked and may not be complete yet, and everything is in a state of change and upheaval.

I attempted to make reservations earlier in the week on their online reservation system, but it wasn’t operational yet. It wasn’t clear what number I should call to reach the restaurant, but the woman manning the phones at the AGA’s main number put me through.

We arrived a bit late for the 7pm reservation, but were seated in a mostly empty restaurant. Perhaps we missed the dinner rush, or perhaps there was just less hype about the restaurant than I expected.

The room, and building, are stunning. Some have criticized the design to be a non-Gehry designed Frank Gehry style building, and there are definite similarities, but the building is stunning nonetheless…especially when compared to the building before. Many people walking by stopped to peer in and more than once a car slowed to a crawl outside as the occupants stared as the impressive curvy zinc facade.

The restaurant itself has soaring zinc ceilings, with large ENORMOUS windows. Sitting near them, it was not chilly at all, however. Cool blue light accents the metallic accessories which is equalized by a warm yellow glow from candles and the bell tower at nearby City Hall. It’s a very industrial room, but also cozy due to carefully placed dividers and a gorgeous Douglas Fir wall. The view is quite captivating as it overlooks the square and City Hall, and I imagine in the summer it will be a great place to grab a drink before attending a festival or event in Churchill Square.

After we were seated our (very) green waitress asked us if it was our first visit to the restaurant which amused me a great deal. She was definitely still learning the ropes, but was careful to do things the right way in a restaurant of this calibre, like serve from the right and switch out cutlery after each course.

The menu was an abbreviated version of what is to come, and is expected to change seasonally, according to sommelier and maitre d’ Claude Fournier. He came around twice to see how we liked our meals, and took our thoughts and concerns very seriously. It’s nice to get someone who cares about the answer when they ask the question. Claude also said that Chef David Omar and him hope to have dishes which reflect the different exhibits in the gallery at that time. I’m excited a restaurant in Edmonton (other than the Blue Pear) will focus on a varied rotating menu. Although he is not a beer fan (”I cannot stand the yeast,” Claude said) he hopes to do beer pairing as well at some point.

At first glance, it seemed that there was a lot going on in the menu. I saw a lot of food trend buzzwords like foam, gelee and the like. I was also alarmed by the amount of flavours appearing on a single dish. For instance, the fois gras ballotine. However, they were all variations on anise, and it really worked in the end. There were only three appetizers plus a soup and five mains available to order. Later, two desserts (which we had to pass on.)

There is also a large cocktail list with some interesting libations available, and a selection of Alberta beers, but all in the bottle.

Our amuse bouche was served in a tiny coffee cup and was an extremely cold, extremely bland cream cheese avocado “pudding” with ginger. Thank god for the overly zingy ginger, because there was NOTHING going on in this otherwise. It did not amuse my mouth at all.

The housemade butter was angelic. Fennel with spring onion and fleur de sel. It was served with brioche baked in house.

Foie gras appetizer. A slice of foie gras with salted licorice caramel ice cream, black sambuca gelee, coriander apple with salad and brioche toast. As I mentioned previously, this dish sounded all over the map, like there was too much going on. Turns out: it was pretty good! The saltiness balanced well with the sweetness and the anise flavours just worked with the foie gras. The brioche provided just enough crunch for the creamy foie gras.

My dish was less successful. I had the beet salad. The Good: the presentation (like a salad painting!), the parsnip goat cheese puree, fresh carrot juice as a palate cleanser and rose honey reduction. The Bad: Rose honey reduction was hidden on the bottom of my salad, creating an unbalanced sticky glop of flavour as my greens disappeared and the beet “carpaccio” was kind of ridiculous. They’re just raw beets. And they were hard to cut. In addition the beets that were supposed to be roasted were not and were mostly crisp and hard as well.

“Taste of Alberta” main. At $44 this was the most expensive item on the menu. It featured (left to right) bison short ribs, caribou and a saskatoon berry sausage on a bed of braised red cabbage, artichokes and gnocchi. On top, a drizzle of spice chocolate sauce. To put it lightly, disappointing. While the short ribs were toothsome and savoury and moist, the sausage was dry, as was the caribou. How dry? This dry:

This caribou does NOT look succulent.

Wild Alberta pickerel with pickled mushrooms, edamame, beets and warm potato espuma.

I waffled on a main, but finally went with fish. I just HAD to know what “potato espuma” was. I was pleasantly surprised by this dish; it really knocked it out of the park. The pickled mushrooms perked up what is a relatively plain, light fish, and the glorified mashed potatoes just worked. Espuma is supposed to be more of a foam, but this is more of a light creamy mash. Menu error? I was left wanting more; the serving size was adequate but I just wanted to taste more.

I will have to return before I make any firm decisions, but this first visit left me wanted more of the good and less of the bad. I sense great things in the making, though, so I will remain hopeful and try to not judge before they are fully operational.

Dinner for two (two courses each), with one beer ran about $130.

Liane Faulder wrote a preview about Zinc in the Journal a few weeks ago: Zinc offers beautiful food, by design

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Zinc at the Art Gallery of Alberta
Open for lunch and dinner service everyday but Monday
Sunday Brunch is also served
780.392.2501
online reservations also available

I have to admit, I’ve always been cautious when it comes to sausage. I mean, I love it, but I can only eat so much. Perhaps this is because I can’t stop thinking about all the bad that comes with the good. It’s salty, it’s full of fat, it’s often smoked which isn’t that good for you either. There are nitrates and preservatives…and it’s so filling! Despite all these negatives, I am Ukrainian, so I grew up around rings of garlicky kielbasa and do enjoy dried sausages when hiking.

But: I am no sausage addict.

Mike has been discussing wanting to make sausage for some time. We have a lot of extra bits of deer meat from the bucks he shot this fall perfect for making into sausage. There are places in town that will make sausage for you out of game meat, so we considered dropping it off there and coming back to collect the links later. But, the more reading Mike did, the more interested he was in developing his own recipe, and in smoking his own meats. I have to admit when he said “I am going to make sausage” I envisioned this classic scene from Seinfeld:

So, we went to get a Bradley digital smoker a few weeks ago, and it’s been non-stop meat at the house since. Ribs, chicken and yes: sausage. We purchased the smoker at BBQ Country.

BBQ country is a pretty great place. In addition to many BBQ models, there is a wide selection of BBQ tools, wood chips, sauces, rubs… anything the avid BBQer needs.

The smoker is about the size of a bar fridge, and is happy living on our condo patio. It doesn’t make all that much smoke, but it really billows out when you open the door. It’s completely automated, with a special loader for wood chip “pucks”, a timer and a bunch of other settings I am completely unaware of. Mike is the smokemaster.

In addition to the smoker, we also needed a few other specialty items, such as:

• pork back fat (to add to the lean venison)
• sausage casing
• sausage press
• meat grinder
• smoke sticks
• spices
• measuring equipment: thermometers, scales and tape measures

Most of these items were purchased at CTR Refrigeration & Food Supply in Edmonton (10456 170 Street). The meat grinder we already had, but a few stops at the butcher and Home Depot and things were completely set up. And that is where I took my leave from the process and the men took over.

There were two days of sausage making, with a bratwurst style venison sausage and venison hunter sausage being the final products. Here, Mike and Evan are trying to get the first sausage coil going. Things went pretty smoothly over all, with a few bursts and air pockets, but nothing too out of hand. I do know our kitchen is probably too small for three tall men to be making sausage in, though.

I can’t speak much to the steps, but seems having the right grind on the meat and keeping the meat and equipment very cold (pre-grinding and during pressing) seemed helpful, and that there was a lot of cutting of meat, and double grinding of meat.

I think that hog casings were used. They come packed in salt, for sterilization and preservation, so you have to soak them and rinse them thoroughly before using them.

Before the sausages smoke, they must hang overnight to develop a pellicle. This is a sticky surface for the smoke to stick to.

Then, they smoke.

After a few hours (depending on flavour desired) the hot sausages are plunged in an ice bath to stop the cooking.

Oh god, so good. Paprika laden venison bratwurst with braised red cabbage and bacon, and tarragon potatoes.

The sausage is unlike anything I’ve ever had. It’s got a crispy snap when you bite into it, and the inside is at once juicy and substantial. The venison is a great flavour, and any dryness is tempered by the pork fat. The smoke adds depth, and the spices are strong, but not overwhelming. This is no supermarket sausage. It’s not even deli sausage.

I guess you could now call me a bonafide sausage lover, since I can not stop thinking about it.

I know, I know. I’m late to the party on this one. But I have spent most of December either locked down because of the cold or because the video game Fallout 3 is ruling my life, and I have been sitting on this post. But I’ll tell you right now, if you enjoy baking or just like having access to a huge selection of products, get your ass over to Bulk Barn now.

Many of you who are well-versed in Edmonton’s food are well aware of Bulk Barn and its opening in town. It is a Ontario-based chain that opened their first franchise in Edmonton in late November. My mom had just been singing the praises of the store on her trip through Lethbridge enroute to Montana in September and how good it was when she was in Thunder Bay. Well it is finally here.

So what makes it different than the already good bulk sections of Save On Foods and Superstore? For one, the selection. There are thousands of products here. They may not all be in rotation at the same point, as some products are seasonal, but there is a huge cross section of items. Second: everything is fresh, well stocked, and clean. Also, the items can be measured so that there is little waste when you use them, stopping products you use only a few times a year from going stale. Lastly, the prices are amazing.

Don’t think the items are limited to just flour and spices, either. There are wet products, pet products, natural foods and supplements as well as specialty cake pans for rent, and baking tools.

As a baker, I went nuts buying specialty flour and ingredients. I also picked up a friend’s favourite hard to find snack: chocolate dipped jujubes, and mailed them to her in Calgary. Ibought items for snacking on, for sharing at the office… and for eating in the car ride home.

Pet products, ranging from bird seed to dog food and hamster munchies. No crickets for MY pets though.

The wet bar features nut butters.

Nifty machine for corn syrup. This is where most of my ingredients for marshmallows came from. I was surprisingly accurate in measuring out the products, so there was little waste: something I was really happy about.

Pipette bag tips for icing and decorating.

Cake pans were a mere $1.99 a day (with deposit) and if you could think of it, they had it. (Well, mostly…)

Clean clean clean! It should also be mentioned there were a lot of bags, pencils and twist ties. No struggling with broken or missing pens. As a bonus, for those of you who do not like writing down numbers on tiny tags with tiny pencils, the staff will look up SKU codes at the checkout. You’ll save time if you do it yourself, though.

Of course, a huge selection of candy, including over 40 Christmas products for the season. These jawbreakers were the size of ping-pong balls.

Many MANY spices here.

Rainbow of sprinkles, and other baking decorations.

The best was that they had take-home directions for many products, such as buttermilk power and soya milk powder.

Nuts on sale. Ranging from regular dry roasted to specially flavoured and smoked.

More cooler wet bar products. Kind of industrial looking, but clean.

The offerings of just one aisle. I love that “health food” is down the same aisle as candy and chocolate.

Many gluten-free and restricted diet products here. A god send for those of you who find it hard to get these products, or if you find them pricey.

So, Bulk Barn is basically amazing. I can only describe it as turning up the volume on bulk foods. Take your average product, such as yogurt covered raisins and multiply it: suddenly there are yogurt covered cherries, blueberries and cranberries. You buy how much you need, they offer discounts to students and seniors, and you get coupons when you check out for use on future visits. I highly recommend the honey mustard pretzels by the way.

Other Edmonton food bloggers have long ago written about this place, including Chris over at Eating is the Hard Part.

Bulk Barn
2077 98 Street
(In South Edmonton Common, near Superstore and Bed Bath & Beyond)
(780) 461-4454

My make-at-home, oven-friendly S’more kit. Based on an idea from Twig and Thistle.

Making marshmallows sounds intimidating. Candy thermometers, sticky messes and experimentation. Oh sure, everyone says they are easy. Those people are highly talented in the kitchen though: people like Martha Stewart and the bloggers behind Smitten Kitchen and Whisk. Even with an anxious approach, I still screwed up.

My intention was to put together adorable little S’more packages as New Years gifts. I can’t take credit for the idea, it originated here, at Twig and Thistle. The main difference was that I was going to make my own marshmallows. I really regret not making my own graham crackers as well, but: next year!

The most challenging part of this was finding a trustworthy candy thermometer and the right packaging for the kit. I ended up ordering a bundle of clear acrylic boxes from a wedding favour supply company in Vancouver called Wedding Things. A company called Uline, as well as Etsy and eBay were both options, but they either sold in HUGE amounts or shipping was a bit higher than I liked, so I went with a company close to home.

The first recipe I tried was from Smitten Kitchen. I liked it as it included egg whites, which is not a common component of most marshmallow recipes. I was hoping they would make springy, less saccharine marshmallows. I bought most of my ingredients from Bulk Barn (more on that later) and made them with my mom’s KitchenAid mixer. It’s an important tool for making marshmallows, as a hand mixer may just not have enough power. But some people reported success, so give it a try.

Uh-oh. This doesn’t look right. It foamed up like a science experiment, too.

My first error: using a pot that was too large. I anticipated a huge mess, so I used a huge pot to contain the sugar syrup. This allowed the sugar mix to have large changes in temperature, and I think in the end what got me was that my thermometer didn’t get a good read, and I was anxious for the mix to hit the magic temperature of 240F. One second it was clear and bubbly…and an instant later: golden brown and smelling of burnt sugar.

I put my mix into the gelatin in my KitchenAid mixer, and mixed. Then: problems. The candy syrup had hit the candy temperature, and was starting to solidify. It got stuck in the marshmallow mix, to the whisk and embedded itself in the mix.

This is what I liked to call marshmallow amber.

Much like real amber, right? Just missing the prehistoric insect.

The hard chunks were embedded in nearly every marshmallow, stuck to the KitchenAid mixer whisk and pretty much ruined my first batch…and nearly killed the KitchenAid. It was overheating like you wouldn’t believe, as the candy wrapped itself around the whisk and slowed the motor considerably.

While the flavour was good: kind of caramel tinged, the texture and colour were horrible, and there were still hidden chunks of candy hidden inside. Bad news.

So, I remade the marshmallows, using a new recipe. This time, no egg whites, and I relied on a more scientific Alton Brown recipe. He laid it down in terms my science background could understand. Oh: I also did not let the candy mixture get too hot, stopping at 235F. I added a half teaspoon more of vanilla, and used clear vanilla so it kept the marshmallows snow-white.

The second batch went much better. Here, cutting them. Some people use scissors, or a pizza cutter.

Giving the marshmallows a corn starch/icing sugar bath.

The first batch is on the right, the second on the left. They are puffier as I used smaller pans to make them thicker, and didn’t over heat the syrup this time. They were a bit sweeter because there was more corn syrup in them, but the texture was wonderful.

Packaged up, tied with bakers twine and…

Given instructions and a best before date.

My recipe cards were some silly tissue paper fires. I think a grade two student may be more skilled with glue than I am.

I did not do a price breakdown, but I think these cost about $3-4 to put together.

So my tips:

• Use a medium sized, Teflon coated pot.
• Get a thermometer you trust, and pull the syrup off the stove at, or just below 240F.
• Coat your stiff spatula in spray oil or wet it first before scraping the marshmallow out of the mixer bowl.
• RESIST the urge to scrape everything out of the bowl. This is where things get really sticky. It may go against your nature of “getting the last drop”, but it will be easier.
• Use a mix of corn starch and icing sugar to roll the slightly sticky mallows in.

I will be trying lavender marshmallows soon, much like the ones I was too full to try from The Bison in Banff.

Some other marshmallow posts:

• Duchess marshmallows and mocha
• Marshmallow showdown: Whole Foods vs. Butter Bake Shop
• Recchiuti S’more pack

I’ve been crazy for gingerbread this year, and have been experimenting with different gingerbread recipes for a month.

Gingerbread

The best has been one that is molasses-y but not too much so, kind of crumby yet moist and very spicy, with both ginger powder and freshly grated ginger root. I’m about to make another batch tomorrow, this time with ginger chunks from Bulk Barn.

This opened the flood gates and I started obsessing over ginger flavours. Before I knew it, I was trying anything remotely ginger related. Gingerbread lattes at Starbucks (ho hum, kind of thin). Gingerbread snap cookies (meh.) Then, finally a break through:

Real ginger beer by Crabbie’s

Summer? We drank this the day it was -46C in Edmonton. No ice though.

This is an awesome alcoholic beverage by the way. I got it at Sherbrooke Liquor, when they were out of the newest obsession in the house, a beer called Route Des Épices (Ale Rousse Au Poivre) by Quebec’s Dieu Du Ciel (it’s spicy. VERY spicy.) $6 for a reasonable serving, and this was tart, spicy and light. It’s 4%.

Then, because it was so cold I wanted to find a way to keep warm. I made hot chocolate from scratch. That is to say…

Gingerbread Hot Chocolate

I attended a Christmas party a number of years ago where I remember exactly three things: we watched a Lord of the Ring marathon, we had souffles but the host was perturbed they fell, and there was some wicked home made hot chocolate with Screech in it.

What’s Screech? Why it’s a rum endemic to Newfoundland. Mr M’s mom brought some back when she visited the east coast a few months ago. I’ve been dying to use it.

Real cinnamon reserved for special occasions

Chocolate “paste”

(This pot is my Gran’s. It is great for heating milk in, as it never burns, and stays hot a long time. She made it for making cream of wheat in.)

I edited my dad’s recipe for hot chocolate and came up with an awesome Gingerbread modification.

Gingerbread Hot Chocolate

• 1 cup of whole milk
• 2 portions of 1/4 cup heavy cream (i.e., whipping cream. My dad uses evaporated milk)
• 1.5 tablespoons of good-quality, unsweetened cocoa powder (I have started using Ghirardelli, but Valrhona or even Fry’s are good)
• 1.5 tablespoons of sugar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 0.5-1 ounce Screech (or any rum. Can also be omitted entirely.)
• stalk of ginger root, peeled and cut into slices
• half stick of cinnamon
• dash of ginger powder and cinnamon
• whole cloves or nutmeg, if you have them

In a heavy bottomed sauce pan over medium heat, pour in milk and 1/4 cup of heavy cream. Add ginger root, cinnamon and any other spices you desire, such as cloves and nutmeg. Let just come to a simmer, and drop heat until milk gets very hot and steeps in spices, 10-15 minutes.

Meanwhile, combine cocoa, sugar, dash of ginger powder and cinnamon, vanilla, rum and 1/4 cup of whipping cream with a whisk. It will get very pasty, so add milk or water to thin slightly and incorporate.

When milk has steeped, whisk in chocolate mixture until it has dissolved. Strain into a cup, over marshmallows or with fresh whipped cream on top.

This recipe is not too sweet, very spicy and highly drinkable. I don’t know how well it scales up, as I have only made two servings at a time of it. It’s quite rich.

Finally, at Duchess last week I saw one of their seasonal items:

Gingerbread macarons.

I have nothing to say other than: they’re great. Just like everything else they make.

Finally, at work a few weeks ago, we had to photograph some products from local business Beardog Cafe. One of their products smelled so good it was all I could do to not scarf it down as I shot it: Raven’s Gingerbread.

However, it’s for your four-legged friend. All-natural, and some pretty cute packaging, too.

Do you have any favourite ginger treats?

I eat a lot of sandwiches as meals. Perhaps because they’re easy, perhaps because they are infinitely customizable. Some favourites (made at home) include egg salad, BLTs, and grilled cheese. Purchased favorites are the pita pizza/sandwiches from Sunbake Pita and banh mi from Van Loc.

I had my first muffuletta when I was but a wee girl, or so the story goes according to my parents. Most recently, I had an authentic one while in New Orleans in 2001 (hardly recent!). I also had a crawfish po’boy, while wandering about. These sandwiches are regional favourites, are packed with numerous ingredients, and filling. VERY filling.

I made a muffletta this weekend. It’s kind of wrong to just make a single sandwich, and it’s a thing best done to an entire loaf of bread.

An olive salad must be prepared, and meats acquired. They are layered thickly and compressed down.

First I started by hollowing out the loaf of french bread. Round breads or flatter breads are advised for this sandwich.

Then I made the olive salad. This is extremely customizable, but mine included kalamata olives, green olives, pepperocini peppers, roasted red peppers, roasted cauliflower, green onion, celery, garlic, carrots and parsley. Add lots of olive oil and pepper and let it marinate for a bit. It will last for some time in the fridge, so you may want to make a larger portion for future sandwiches. Like ajvar, it’s great on many things.

Layer after layer of meat was added. I included ham, mortadella and genoa salami, along with provolone and mozzarella cheese.

Sliced into chunks and warmed in the oven until the cheese melts, this is a hearty meal.

I don’t know why, but for many years I shied away from bolognese on restaurant menus. Perhaps I thought the sauce was plain and unsophisticated: I mean, meat sauce when you can have a fancier, harder-to-make cream sauce? Perhaps I was reliving bad memories of overdosing on bolognese in Belgium many years ago.

However, lately it has become a favourite pasta sauce. Although my recipe is far from authentic (many believe “true” bolognese should use white wine, not red, and uses very little tomato), it it still very good, and fairly easy to cook up.

My soffritto of carrots, celery, onion and pancetta, frying in a helping of butter and olive oil.

Chubs of meat are not the most attractive packaging. Plus they have a tendency to burst open into a wormy snake of meat when you cut into them.

My recipe only requires a cup of red wine, leaving a lot left in the bottle. I freeze a cup for use later, and drink some while cooking or use it in other cooking in the days after.

At $3.49 a can, these tomatoes were not cheap, but I tried them to see if there was a discernible difference. I think it is worth it to get tomatoes low in sodium and sugar, so that I can control the end flavours a bit better. Here, I am using kitchen scissors to cut the whole tomatoes into smaller bits.

I also spent a bit more on a different brand of tomato sauce. The ingredient list is a long one, as you can see. The paste and tomatoes had the added benefit of not tasting metallic.

Mike’s bowl on left, mine on right. I did go back for seconds, though. I serve a healthy serving of sauce with a chunky, chewy pasta such as orecchiette that helps scoop up the meaty sauce, and top it with cheese and parsley.

Lamb and Veal Bolognese

This will make several cups of sauce, which is good to freeze and serve with fresh pasta later, or just eat on its own. It’s a pretty forgiving recipe, so feel free to adjust amounts if need be.

• 0.635kg (1.5 lbs) meat. I used a mix of veal and lamb, but you could use beef and veal or pork.
• 1/2 cup pancetta, cubed. I just buy a chunk from the deli and cube it at home
• 2 celery sticks, diced
• 1 carrot, diced
• 1 medium onion, diced
• 1 cup red wine you like (don’t cheap out, although it may be tempting)
• 28 oz. can tomatoes, whole and cut up or diced
• can of tomato paste
• cayenne powder, chili flakes to taste
• herbs, dried or fresh
• salt and pepper

Set large pot on medium high heat, allow to warm up. Add diced pancetta, cook while stirring until it browns. Add splash of olive oil and butter, throwing in diced carrots, celery and onion. Allow this soffritto to soften and brown, about 10 minutes.

Add your meat, let brown. I normally add my spices at this point, cayenne or chili, dried thyme, oregano or basil. Crank the heat to high, and add the wine while scraping the bottom of the pot to deglaze. Turn heat down to medium, allow to cook down for about 10 minutes, and add the tomato paste and entire can of tomatoes and juices. Allow to come to a boil, and simmer for as long as you can stand it, at least 45 minutes, but longer if possible.

Is there anything as classic as homemade meatloaf? I guess that depends on your upbringing, but for me, meatloaf is it. My mom would always make it when she was never sure what to do for dinner, and why not? It’s astonishingly easy as long as you have the right kind of meat and a thermometer.

I’ve been experimenting with tweaking classic recipes lately, including home made macaroni and cheese (which I adore) and now meatloaf. I do not often use my oven to make many dinner items, avoiding things like casseroles and roasts. Instead I rely on the stove top. Both of these recipes use the oven, and I’ve forgotten how easy it is to throw something in there and pull out dinner an hour later.

This recipe originally came from Mike’s mom, and I only changed the kinds of meat to go in and added some spices.

Curry-Spiced Meatloaf

• 0.680 kg (1.5lbs) of a mix of beef, veal and pork. I used striploin, pork shoulder and veal leg cutlets, since that is all Superstore had. And it still turned out well! Typically the cuts should be a bit fatty so the loaf remains moist.
• 2 eggs
• 1 onion, chopped finely
• 1 cup grated cheese, preferably old
• 2 teaspoons salt
• 1/3 teaspoon black pepper
• 1 teaspoon cumin
• 1 teaspoon fresh garam masala (I use this in everything now, even on popcorn)
• 1/2 cup raw carrots, grated
• 3 slices fresh bread crumbs
• 2/3 cup milk

Preheat oven to 350°F.

Grind the meat, or combined pre-ground meat in a bowl with all other ingredients. Pack firmly into a loaf pan (I used the wonder pan, and it was fabulous) and top with a mixture of:

1/4 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup ketchup
1 tablespoon prepared mustard

Bake for 60 minutes, up to 90. Cooking time will vary depending on the pan you use, so it is important to use a thermometer – it is much easier. Pull it out of the oven when the meat is well done, or at 160°F. Let it rest for 10-15 minutes.

When my grandmother died just over a year ago, I received two wonderful things from her: a vacuum and a meat grinder. This meat grinder is probably from the early 1970s, and it works amazingly well. I hope it would warm her heart to know I was using it.

Alternate the cubes of meat going in, so you get a good mixture. Everything becomes gloppy and messy later on.

I used Edmond Fallot dijon mustard and this Old Fashioned Ketchup on the top. The ketchup was from Strathcona Country Kitchen, purchased at the City Centre Farmer’s Market. Not too sweet and kind of tangy.

Done!

I have two new reasons you should own an immersion blender, and both are delicious.

As I often mention, Mike and I live in an average sized apartment with (what feels like) an incredibly small kitchen. We do not have a lot of space for appliances, so the ones we do have must do double or triple duty. Except for the tea machine, that is. We’re even contemplating getting rid of the toaster and microwave to get a toaster-oven.

While I long for a KitchenAid stand mixer (I use my mom and dad’s instead), standalone food processor and blender, I often just use the immersion blender in the place of all three of these. Shockingly, you can do a lot with this single, slim tool and its various attachments.

I got mine for about $80 at Costco a few years ago. It’s the Cuisinart Smart Stick and it came with a few attachments. It only has one speed, so it’s not as awesome as it could be, but it is used to make everything from hummus and baba ganoush to whipped cream and mayonnaise.

As the weather turns cooler, I often find the blender very useful for making soups, especially these two:

Raw Tomato “Soup” with shaved fennel and jalapeno

Good tomatoes obviously make the difference here. I was skeptical about this recipe as it sounded overly snooty (it is a Charlie Trotter recipe, afterall) and cold soups are obviously more of a summer deal, but this was incredibly smooth, rich and flavourful with a bit of crunch from the fennel. The immersion blender and a sieve played a role.

Soup

• 2 large, red heirloom tomatoes, peeled and seeded
• 1/2 jalapeño chile, seeded and chopped
• 1/2 cup chopped, peeled, seeded cucumber
• 2 teaspoons sherry wine vinegar
• Sea salt and freshly ground pepper

Garnish

• fennel, thinly shaved
• 1/4 cup peeled, seeded, and diced red tomato
• 2 teaspoons brine from olives
• 2 teaspoons sherry wine vinegar
• 1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
• 12 micro fennel sprouts or fennel fronds

Using the immersion blender, I combined the tomatoes, chile, cucumber, and sherry. This purée is pushed through a fine-mesh sieve and seasoned. The real magic is in the garnish: spoon the soup into bowls. Top with shaved fennel, fronds, tomato and jalapeno. Drizzle olive brine, vinegar and olive oil on top.

Raw tomato soup with poached eggs over mushrooms two ways and toast points. This sounds like a complex meal, but it took less than 30 minutes to make.

Curried Butternut Squash Soup

This has to be my single favourite recipe this month. What do you need? A bag of precut squash from Costco, four cups of stock, an onion and spices. Plus the immersion stick!

• 2 lbs of diced squash of your liking. I buy the precut bags because I am very poor at cutting squash down and getting the maximum flesh out.
• 1 onion, diced
• 2 cloves of garlic
• 4 cups of stock, vegetable or chicken
• If you like, you can add carrots, celery or apple
• Spices to your liking: I use garam masala (1 tsp), cayenne pepper (1/4 tsp), cinnamon (1/2 tsp) and nutmeg (1/4 tsp).

I roast the squash in the oven for 10-15 minutes at 450 degree Fahrenheit until it begins to brown. This step is completely optional; I just prefer the way it adds depth and flavour to the soup.

In a pot, I heat up some olive oil and sautee and brown the onion. When soft and caramel colour, I toss in garlic and any additional add ins, like carrot or apple. (If you skipped the roasting step, add the squash now, and sautee a bit longer, until the squash is soft.) In goes the roasted squash, with a liberal dusting of spices. I’ve included measurements, but I never use them. It’s my failure as a cook.

Sautee a few more minutes, add the stock and bring to a simmer. Allow to simmer for atleast five minutes, but for as long as 20. Immerse blender, blend until smooth. Finish with a splash of cream, croutons or a grilled cheese sandwich.

Curried butternut squash soup with grilled cheese. This soup can take as little as 15 minutes to make, but the version I prefer runs about 25 minutes. It depends on your taste buds and patience/hunger level.

I should note much of the pottery in these photos was made by Mike, including the bowls and a vase.