Archive for February, 2008
I know this sounds terribly disinteresting, but I think pita pizzas need to make a comeback. The concept still reminds me of childhood, when it was typical birthday party fare for my sisters and I.
Today was another long day of shooting (tomorrow will be longer), and Mike, sensing opportunity, suggested Inglewood pizza. I first decided to stop (I had to run to Superstore on the way home anyway) and pick up a couple of frozen thin crust mushroom Dr. Oetker pizzas, which are fantastic, but when I got to the frozen pizza section, guilt set in. I didn’t have time to make dough, and I hate those par-baked bready pizza crusts. So I grabbed a few mushrooms and a bag of pre-shredded cheese blend: part skim mozarella, emmenthal and Parmesan. Something I don’t usually buy, but I figure $6 for novelty cheese is better than $12 for Dr. Oetker or $25 for pick-up. It’s all relative.
I like to keep whole wheat pitas in the freezer for emergency chips to accompany hummus, so I put a few on a baking sheet and spread them with some President’s Choise roasted garlic tomato sauce Mike picked up, which was thick and chunky with tomatoes. Sometimes I use a tin of tomato paste – they are small enough to be perfect for pizza or three – and because the tomatoes are so condensed, tomato paste is fantastic for you, and sweeet. I burrowed through my freezer until I unearthed a few Spolumbo’s Italian sausages; I thawed and cooked one, breaking it up in a skillet with some canola oil and sliced mushrooms, spread them on the pitas and scattered with cheese.
400 degrees for about 10 minutes, until bubbly. The crust is crisp and light – if I can’t have a chewy, doughy crust, this is definitely second best. And perhaps the best advantage of the Pita Pizza – portion control. You make one for yourself, you eat one. No plowing through enough slices to sink a battleship.
February 24 2008 | cheese and one dish | 2 Comments »
So
tired.
We started shooting season 2 of It’s Just Food today, after a late night last night. We managed to get through only one episode – Cakes – instead of the two we planned on. I walked in the door at 9:55, just in time to read W a few stories and kiss him goodnight. Having only been around cakes all day (carrot, chocolate zucchini, white layer, cupcakes and cheesecakes) and having sat down for maybe 5 minutes since the alarm went off, I really needed something steaming hot and full of vegetables, that I could eat curled up in bed.
A few days ago I had mixed up a batch of hummus – possibly one of the easiest things on the planet to make, provided you have a food processor – so I tore into a whole wheat pita and just dipped into it, straight from the fridge, while I heated up a bowl of black bean soup. Remember the day I made quesadillas with leftover chicken and black beans? After ravaging the carcass, I threw the bones into a pot, covered it with water and added a few peppercorns and a couple stalks of celery - the inner ones, with the leaves – and simmered it for a bit. Then I made a batch of black bean soup with the remainder of the can of beans, pouring the stock through a colander directly into the pot. There were some chunks of meat left clinging to the bones, and that went in too.
Black bean soup, like chili, is something that should be made in advance and eaten the next day, or the day after that, or the day after that. Like Leonardo DiCaprio, it just gets yummier and fuller-bodied with age. Of course there are limits; after a week or two I’d think it would likely take a downward turn.
Ironically, the last comment I got was from The Hummus Guy. Must make good hummus. (My jar of tahini had a suspicious best-before date, so I ditched it and used peanut butter instead. When I do this, I often add a drizzle of sesame oil to make up for the missing tahini, which is otherwise known as sesame paste.)
Hummus
1 big can chick peas (also known as garbanzo beans), drained
1 big clove garlic
lemon juice (a couple tablespoons, or to taste)
a big spoonful of tahini or peanut butter
a drizzle of sesame oil if you have no tahini
a glug or two of olive oil
a big spoonful of plain yogurt (optional; Greek-style if you have it)
a pinch of cumin is good
a big pinch of salt
a roasted red pepper is good too
Whiz all in a food processor until smooth.
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February 23 2008 | appetizers and beans and snacks | 4 Comments »
I have far too many kinds of animals stuck between my teeth right now.
Tonight I was lucky enough to be one of the judges (along with Shelley Boettcher and dee Hobsbawn-Smith) at the Lawson Lundell Celebrity Hors d’oeuvres Competition, a fund raiser for ATP.
So, in all seriousness, without an iota of exaggeration, this is what I ate for dinner tonight:
Shelley and I met for a couple drinks at Escoba first. Some fantastic wine I can’t remember the name of (Shelley? are you reading this?) and a Carne Flatbread, which was enormous and cheesy, topped with chorizo, calabrese, capicolla, double smoked bacon, tomato sauce and peppered fresh baby grape tomatoes. Because we were both starving upon arrival, we decided to try the dessert tasting plate, just for research purposes: chocolate mousse, apple spring rolls, Saskatoon berry ice cream, and coffee chocolate truffles, along with a fantastic dessert wine that I wrote down the name of, but now can’t find in the depths of my purse.
At the competition:
From Tribune: Lobster and halibut corn dogs with tarragon Dijon, duck burgers topped with melting Cambozola on focaccia buns, and mini white truffle donuts.
From Thompsons: Seared tuna in a black and white sesame crust with shredded carrot and daikon over a cantaloupe reisling jelly.
From Ruth’s Chris Steakhouse: NY striploin done rare and topped with a crab cake and bernaise sauce.
From Wonton King: Fusion wraps with organic greens and ginseng, and “pearls on a nest” – small round pork stuffed wontons in a wonderfully dark and sweet soy sauce.
From Rouge (winner of most Beautiful Bite): Chinese soup spoons filled with smoked tomato bisque, then a tiny square of two temperature beef confit, topped with a dollop of horseradish-spiked Winnipeg cream cheese.
From the Metropolitan Grill: A beef slider – a giant meatball smothered in tomato sauce and topped with a curl of Parmesan cheese, in a small soft bun.
From Nicole Gourmet: Truffled potato ravioli over a lamb ragout (she did have a fancier name for this, but I can’t remember it!) and a dollop of bright green parsley puree.
From Raw Bar at the Hotel Arts: Lobster bisque and a crabcake.
From Julliard: Panko crusted salmon cakes with black sesame seeds, topped with mango salsa and blood oranges, and braised bourbon beef tenderloin (the beef soaked for 9 hours in bourbon) topped with blueberries simmered in sugar and honey.
From Elements in the Delta Hotel: Giant (and I do mean bigger than a golf ball) scallops, seared and served with double smoked bacon infused with orange (or some sort of citrus?)
From BLVD (winner of best overall food): Zatar crusted lamb sirloin with apricot preserves and a lemon tabuleh salad made with Israeli couscous and a touch of honey – unlike any I have ever had before, and caramelized prawns in fish sauce with brown sugar and whipping cream.
From Devour: Ancho chile empanadas, Cuban pork sliders and plantain chips with chipotle ketchup.
From Belvedere: Pan seared frogs’ legs with arbol chile and bell pepper coulis (OK, I admit I skipped this one. I could not stomach frogs’ legs at the end of this culinary tour), and braised Alberta oxtail stuffed in herbed French brie gourgeres.
From Traders (winning the Prettiest Plate award): test tubes filled with the following layers, from bottom to top: chocolate pots de creme, passionfruit mousse, kiwi pearls, chantilly cream and teeny sugar cherries.
I skipped the oysters from Catch, topped with cantaloupe caviar and plum wine mignonette, or tomato vodka sorbet, Caesar style. I’m sure they were fantastic, but I’m just not an oyster person.
Yes, I ate all this. They are now having an eclectic party in my stomach. It’s a tough job, but somebody’s gotta…
Photos tomorrow. It’s officially after 1 am and I have an early morning call time to shoot season 2 of It’s Just Food (honestly, my life still sounds far more glamorous than it actually is… I got peed on today, if it makes you hate me a little less.)
February 23 2008 | eating out | 5 Comments »
One of my favorite things to eat in the world are gooey quesadillas. They are also, conveniently, a snap to make, can be done in under 5 minutes, and are the best use of virtually any kind of leftovers; poultry, beef, pork, shrimp, beans, veggies. Roast chicken, of course, is ideal. Since I always have a can of black beans in the cupboard, a few scattered on top always work. I had a few depressed mushrooms in the bottom of the fridge, so those got sauteed and added as well. Any sort of cheese ends you have rattling around make the glue to stick it all together.
My friend Nicole popped by last night to sit at my kitchen table for a quick visit, and told me about the outstanding quesadillas she had eaten at the Post Hotel: three-ply, she called them. I didn’t have the gumption to go for a three-tiered quesadilla, but I love the concept, and even more the comparison to toilet paper.
If you can make a grilled cheese sandwich, you can make a quesadilla. Buy whole wheat flour tortillas; might as well, they taste better and are better for you than plain white ones. While we’re on the subject, I should mention the common misconception that “wraps” are somehow healthier than bread… this began sometime during the Atkins dynasty, at which time “low carb” products made with flatbread were abundant. Now, a flat bread is just an unleavened bread; you would achieve the same result by taking a slice of regular sandwich bread and rolling it with a rolling pin. So tortillas aren’t magically low-calorie: imagine if they had a leavening agent like yeast added, they would be enormous slices of puffy bread.
If you’re brave enough to flip a full size quesadilla, throw a whole tortilla into a dry skillet and scatter with cheese and anything else you have around: beef, pork, shrimp, roasted veg, goat cheese, sun dried tomatoes, sauteed spinach or mushrooms, really anything you can think of. Top with a little more cheese (to keep the lid closed) and top with another tortilla. If you’re wary of flipping something that size (really, it’s easy if you just invert it onto a plate and then slide it back in), spread out your fillings on half the tortilla and fold it over like a taco; they are much easier to handle that way.
Cut into wedges and serve straight from the cutting board with some good chunky salsa. My current favorite is the extra-chunky mild from the Superstore – Mike usually adds a few chugs of Tabasco.
February 21 2008 | appetizers and leftovers and one dish and snacks | 5 Comments »
Emily and Ben were over for dinner again tonight. To make things easy, I pulled a pair of chickens out of the freezer this morning; they weren’t fully thawed by the time I had to go pick them up at school – no matter, roast chicken is very forgiving. I patted them dry, rubbed them with oil, sprinkled them with salt and pepper and put them in at 350 for about an hour and a half. That’s all you really need to know to roast a chicken – pat the skin dry first if you want it crispy, then rub it with soft butter and/or oil, and sprinkle it with salt and pepper. Paprika too, if you like, or rub curry paste under the skin. If you have a lemon, halve it, squeeze some overtop and throw the rest inside the cavity. If you have garlic, throw a few cloves in there, or rub the skin with a cut clove. Timing wise, I have never weighed and timed a chicken; cook it until it looks golden and done, the juices run clear and the joints wiggle in their sockets. Baste it if you think of it, don’t worry if you don’t.
The fantastic thing about roasting a chicken is that it takes exactly as much time and effort to roast two, and there is nothing more versatile than an extra roast chicken. Any meat cooked on the bone is more flavorful, so I use chopped roasted chicken in any recipe that requires the chopping and sauteeing of a chicken breast. It’s usually Mike’s job to shred the meat, which is then stashed in the freezer and the carcass simmered for stock.
Emily’s favorite thing to do with chicken is to wrap it up in a whole wheat tortilla with some romaine lettuce and a drizzle of low fat creamy Caesar dressing. It’s her favorite lunch: my sister baggies up individual serving sizes of shredded chicken and freezes it; Emily then takes a tortilla, adds a leaf of lettuce, pulls a frozen chunk of roast chicken from the freezer and plops it on top, drizzles it with dressing and rolls it up. The frozen chicken keeps the lettuce and dressing cool until lunchtime, at which point everything is thawed enough to eat.
Fortunately, I made a batch of garlicky hummus earlier in the week to snack on (a bowl of hummus with some pita and veg is a great lunch to munch on at your desk), and one of my favorite ways with roast chicken is to stuff it in a pita half that has been slathered with garlicky hummus, then tuck in some lettuce, tomato, cucumber or chopped purple onion, if there is any to be had. Today there was only lettuce. Willem and Ben chewed on the drumsticks.
February 20 2008 | chicken & turkey | 4 Comments »
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I know this sounds terribly disinteresting, but I think pita pizzas need to make a comeback. The concept still reminds me of childhood, when it was typical birthday party fare for my sisters and I.
