spicy crunchy sweet moist banana bread

So this is one of the most interesting banana bread's I've ever tasted.  It tastes like fall spices, reminds me of pumpkin pie, stays moist for days, is gluten free, and crunches when you eat it.  Crunches.  My very favourite texture in the world.  This is the second best banana bread ever because my Mom's Bread takes the cake.  She makes a coconut lime glaze thing that's pretty damn great.  Totally different thing, different realm of banana bread.   

3 large ripe-to-over-ripe bananas1 large egg
1/3 cup virgin coconut oil warmed until it liquefies
1/3 cup light brown sugar
1/4 cup maple syrup
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon table salt
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
Pinch of ground cloves
Salt
1 cup of almond flour                             

1/2 cup of coconut flour  

(substitute flours with 1 1/2 cups of white whole wheat flour if desired)

1/4 cup uncooked millet

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees, and grease a 9X5 inch loaf pan.  Mash the bananas until they are smooth (a few bigger chunks are ok).  Add the coconut oil and egg and whisk together till blended.  Add sugar and maple syrup and stir it up again.  Toss in the baking soda, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg and cloves, and stir again.  Add the flour and stir just until it's blended.  Don't over-stir!  Add the millet, stir it in, and put the mixture into the pan and then straight in the oven for 40-50 minutes.  Put a wooden skewer or toothpick into the centre to test if it's done.  It's done when a toothpick or fork comes out clean.Pour a glass of wine, a mug of tea, a cup of coffee, a hot toddy, anything your little heart desires and wait.

bread is served.

bon appétit. 

Mushroom Risotto and Norm Hardie County Chard.

 Mushroom risotto is one vegetarian dish I will ALWAYS order off the menu at a restaurant, and one that Nick orders rarely (can't convince him not to eat the fancy meat) but none the less he loves.  He loves anything covered in cheese.

The dish isn't particularly difficult, but isn't necessarily easy, per se.

6-8 cups of stock, chicken stock, veggie stock, whatever you like.  Choose low sodium, or use homemade.
1 small package of dried mushrooms
9 ounces of fresh wild mushrooms (make a fun mix of whatever you like)
6 tablespoons of olive oil
1/2 cup of chopped shallots
1 cup of risotto rice (arborio or carnaroli)
1/2 dry white wine
4 tablespoons of unsalted butter
1/2 cup of grated parmesan cheese

Turn the stock you have into mushroom stock.  Put the stock in a large pot and add the dried mushrooms.  Bring to a boil and lower the heat.  Let the mushrooms soften in there for 5-10 minutes.  Remove the mushrooms, chop and put aside.  Chop the fresh mushrooms you have, chopping the stems into smaller pieces and separating them into a pile on their own, and chopping the caps into 1/4 inch slices.

 Grab a wooden spoon, an important tool for risotto.  Use it the whole time!

Place half the butter into a sauce pan and melt, adding all the fresh mushroom caps.  Once the mushrooms are sauteed (soft and brown) remove from the pan.  Add the other half of the butter, melt, and add the mushroom stems and the shallots.  Cook until the shallots are translucent.  Add a glug of olive oil and the rice and cook on medium high until the rice resembles little glass beads.  Add the 1/2 cup of white wine and start stirring.  Add a ladle of stock (3/4 cup) at a time, stirring the rice constantly until the ladle is absorbed and you can see a line in the pan (shown below).  When you can see that line, add another ladle and continue until the rice doesn't absorb any more liquid and has a creamy consistency.

The rice should be mostly translucent but opaque in the centre.  Add really tiny small amounts of liquid stirring consistently until desired thickness of the sauce.  The sauce will thicken a bit once removed from the heat.  Add the chopped up mushroom caps and the chopped up mushroom from the stock, and slowly stir in the parmesan.  Salt and pepper it, and spoon onto plates (or bowls really).  Eat while it's hot!

We opened up a bottle of Norm Hardie's 2010 County Chard.  A rare treat in our house, only because we drink it all when we have it.   After spending a least a few weekends a month in the county this summer, our PEC (Prince Edward County) cellar collections and tasting notes have grown generously. This entry is the second from our favorite vineyard in PEC ( and winemaker).   Norm actually makes a kick ass risotto too. So if you are ever at the winery, ask him for a few of his tips.

Intense fruit aromas with Citrus, apple, peach, pineapple and an insane amount of appealing minerality with gun flint and crushed rocks. Medium bodied with generous acidity and delicate texture. Norms wines really speak of his land. It is hard to find wines this distinct anywhere else in the world. However, ironically enough... some top international critics have said his wines are the most Burgundian you will find outside of Burgundy. So It's nice to have access to these wines, so close to home. I recommend sourcing them out. LCBO:VINTAGES has a few selections in stock right now. It retails for $35.

bon appetit.

dinner is served.

Pickled Onions and Oodles of Vino

Red Onions.  Capable of so many things at the dinner table.  We're going to pickle some.  It takes only minutes and it's soo very worth it.

We are headed to a friends cottage for the long weekend and wanted to bring something homemade as a hostess gift, amongst oodles of yummy wine of coarse.  Who doesn't like pickled red onions with just about any meal at the cottage?

3/4 cup of apple cider vinegar

2 tablespoons of sea salt

3 tablespoons of maple syrup

1 dried bay leaf

4 whole cloves

1 red onion, thinly sliced

Place the vinegar, cloves, bay leaf, maple syrup and salt in a deep pan.  Bring the liquid to a slow boil over medium heat.  When bubbling, add the onions.  Stir for 1 minute and remove the pan from the heat.  Let the onions and liquid cool to room temperature, then pour into containers and put in the fridge.  The onions will last a month or so, but are best at one week.  Put them on anything.

Dress the jar up with a label and pretty paper and you have a perfect hostess gift everyone can enjoy for days.

Happy Long weekend!  Enjoy a BBQ or two, and lots of warm sunshine.  Happy summer.

bon appetit.

Veggie Curry and Organic Lager

Tonight was "clean the fridge of all our veggies before we go away for the weekend" night.  My favourite.  Veggie Curry.  Nick was skeptical.  He doesn't jump up and down for veggies and tofu like I do, but he played along with a smile.   It all started with the huge bag of colourful swiss chard we had in the fridge.   We'll give you the recipe we used for our dinner tonight, but know that you can start with the curry onion base, and then add whatever veggies YOU have in YOUR fridge.

1 White Onion chopped
2 Garlic Cloves chopped
4 Tablespoons of Coconut Oil + more as you go along in case you need more moisture
1 heaping spoonful of turmeric powder
1 heaping spoonful of curry power
1-2-3 (depending on your taste) chopped whole chillies
rice - of your choice (we used brown and wile rice mixture)
Loads of veggies (what we used is listed below)
a chopped handful of cilantro (optional)
1 package of organic firm tofu
1 can of coconut cream
1 lime

Put the coconut oil and sliced onions in the pan to sweat the onions.  This means cooking them until they are moist, or 'sweaty.'   Add the garlic, turmeric and curry powder and stir until the powders make a thick paste around the onions.  Add the chilli.  This is something you have to play with a bit, adding more oil if it's too thick, and more powders if it's too runny.  You don't want anything to resemble liquid in the pan, but you don't want it so thick that it's not a paste.  Above all, don't worry too much because it should taste yummy no matter what.

Cook a pot of your favourite kind of rice to serve underneath the curry.  Follow the directions on the package.  We used a brown rice and wild rice mixture.
Now start adding veggies to the delicious curried onion mixture in your sauce pan.  We chopped 2 sweet potato (and cooked the pieces in a bowl in the microwave for 4 minutes to soften them first), 1 chopped zucchini, 1 chopped bell pepper, a whole bunch of swiss chard, a handful of cilantro, and 1 package of fresh peas.  Put the hard vegetables in first to give them a head start, and then add the rest of the veggies and a package of cubed firm organic tofu.  Then finish it all off with the peas and leafy greens.

Once all the leaves have wilted down, add one can of coconut milk or cream, and one can of water.  Let it all bubble away for 15-20 minutes on low so all the flavours can infuse the veggies.
Nick has been waiting a long time to say this next step with a serious face.  Squeeze the juice from one lime and "you put de lime in de coconut."  He laughed out loud.  Nick's been waiting to do that since he laughed at a moment on Top Chef Canada when Trista said that to Carl during the season finale.  Honestly.

We have traditionally always paired our meals with wine, but tonights dish was screaming for ice cold beer.  We went with Mill Street Organic.  Light, crisp, refreshing, organic, and local!  Beer tends to cut the spiciness of curry quite nicely (maybe because you can take a much larger gulp than a sip) but a cold white sweet wine will also pair with any spicy curry.

sprinkle with toasted coconut if you have.

bon apetit.

dinner is served.

lake kezar, lobstah clam bake, and alagash

We went to a very close friends wedding in Portland, ME.  It was perfect.  Everything about it.  The vows, the lights and linen, the dress, the family and friends, the food and wine...  The day after the wedding we all travelled up to Lake Kezar for an afternoon lobster bake, lawn games, swimming, boating and Alagash.

The wedding guests were separated into cabins by the water.  The cabins were specially outfitted with details that would appeal the each guest.  There was lots of Canadian literature in our cabin.  This is a couple that pays attention to detail.  It was incredibly special.

The sunset was gorgeous, despite the rain that day.  Everyone that spends a significant amount of time there will tell you that Lake Kezar has been deemed by National Geographic as one of the top three lakes in the world.  I searched online and couldn't find any evidence of that, but who's counting.  I'll let them have it.  It's a pretty special place.

 What a beautiful fresh simple dinner.  Fresh lobsters and clams and corn on the cob, boiled till cooked, with a little potato salad on the side, and you have a traditional Maine feast!

My most favourite potato salad

3 pounds of little baby potatoes

1/4 cup of chopped dill

1/4 cup of chopped green onions

1/2 cup of chopped basil

1 lemon - grated rind and juice

4 garlic cloves

1/2 cup of plain fat free yogurt

dash of hot sauce

salt and pepper

1 teaspoon of honey

1 tablespoon of dijon

olive oil for cooking

-cover potatoes in olive oil and salt and oven roast them.  For the baby potatoes I use, I roasts them on a parchment lined baking sheet and cook at 450 degrees for half an hour or so.  Stick a fork in a medium sized one and you know it's done when it slides in easily.  Combine yogurt, garlic, dill, onion, basil, mustard, honey and lemon juice.  When the potatoes are cooked, let them cool to room temperature.  Add the lemon rind to the potatoes and then the dressing, chill and serve!

Alagash White, a beer you see almost everywhere in Portland, on tap and in bottles.  A white wheat beer that's light, crisp, spicy and fruity.  As far as I know you can't get it in Canada.  It's local to Portland ME.  Pairs incredibly well with lobstah.  Then again, what doesn't?

bon appetit

dinner is served.

Roasted Arctic Char and Oregonian A to Z Chardonnay

herbed butter:

1 stick of unsalted butter, at room temperature

the grated zest of one lemon

handful of chopped basil

handful of chopped mint

handfull of copped chives

a couple of pinches of coarse salt

-stir together until blended

Spread the butter inside the fish, and coat the outside with olive oil salt and pepper to grill.

 Place the fish on the grill and let it sit for 6-8 minutes, or until you can see in the belly that it's cooked (because cooking time depends on the size of the fish really).  Turn it over, rotating belly side up so all the herbs don't slide out onto the grill, and cook the other side the same way.  We also roasted sliced zucchini, portabellos, baby green onions (or baby leeks of garlic or whatever is fresh at the market), and a few little potatoes.  Cook all the extras to your liking.  Put the fish on a platter to rest for a few minutes, topping the skin with extra herb butter.  Voila!

 When serving, the fish lifts right off the bone if it's cooked properly.  It's the easiest thing to serve and it looks so very impressive.  Put a spatula in the fish along the spine and lift the flesh off to find the bones.  Make sure you lift the fish leaving the bone on the platter.  When you've lifted all the flesh off the first side, the bones lift off in one piece leaving the second side on the platter to serve.

We chose to open a bottle of Oregonian A to Z ('zee' in American speak) 2010 Chardonnay, the 2009 currently on the LCBO shelves in LCBO: Vintages (their Pinot Gris and Chardonnay are actually both available at LCBO:Vintages for $19.95...)  This clean & fruity unoaked Chardonnay paired exceptionally with BBQ fish and vegetables, the winemaker describing it is as 'bright tangy and intense."

Oregon has been challenging Burgundy with their fine Pinot Noir and Chardonnay for years now. Lots of the best wines are expensive and most of the cheap wines are sub-par, which makes it really hard the consumer to get into Oregon wines.  However, A to Z Wineworks makes some of the best value Oregon wines, there slogan is "Aristocratic Wines at Democratic Prices". The winemaker Cheryl Francis will be in Ontario next week for the IC4 , International Cool Climate Chardonnay Celebration in Niagara. It's gonna be awesome with winemakers around the world descending on Niagara to talk and drink Chardonnay.  www.coolchardonnay.org, July 20-22nd.   Check out the website for details if you want to join in on the fun.

bon appetit.

dinner is served.

a trip to the market for Heirloom tomatoes, with a wonderful Chardonnay

We had a litre of goats milk in the fridge begging to be turned into fresh ricotta.  So with that in mind, we picked up a few things at the market that begged for ricotta.
Heirloom tomatoes are in season!  My favourite.  We're making a tomato tart for dinner, with ricotta and goats cheese.
We made the crust from scratch because we had the time this afternoon, but you can use a ready made shell to save a bunch of time.  To be honest, the crust was very fast and pretty easy, and tastes way better, so weigh the benefits carefully.  I found this tart and dough recipe on David Lebovitz's website, a career baker turned writer living the life in Paris.

To make the dough:
1 and 1/4 cups of flour
1 egg
2-3 tablespoons of cold water
125 g of chilled unsalted butter, cut into small squares
teaspoon of salt

Put the salt and flour in a bowl, and add the pieces of butter.  Using your hands, mix the butter with the flour breaking it down until the mixture resembles cornmeal.  Dig a well in the middle of the flour mixture.  In a small bowl beat the egg with 2 tablespoons of water.  Add the egg into the hole in the flour and knead the mixture until the dough holds together.  Roll it out until its big enough the cover the pie pan.  You can lift it into the pie pan by rolling the dough onto the rolling pin and lifting it there.  Squeeze the dough into the edges and sides.  You can also roll it flat and place it on a baking sheet if you prefer.

Filling:
Dijon mustard
Enough sliced tomatoes to cover the pie pan (2 or 3 sliced big ones should do, but I used cherry)
2 generous tablespoons of chopped herbs of your liking (I used basil chives and rosemary)
2 tablespoons of olive oil
sliced goats cheese for the top, 8 ounces should be good
enough ricotta to place across the bottom

Spread dijon mustard across the bottom of the pan to cover the dough.  Let this rest for a bit to dry out.  Crumbled ricotta on the bottom, and then fresh herbs, and then sliced tomatoes, and then sliced rounds of goats cheese.  Drizzle with olive oil, and place in the oven at 475 degrees for 30 minutes.

2010 Maison Roche de Bellene Chardonnay Vieilles Vignes, AOC Bourgogne $19.95 (coming to LCBO: Vintages this winter).

Here we found ourselves with the perfect occasion to drink a nice, fresh, and relatively unoaked Chardonnay. You can find many options around the world, (especially VQA Ontario), but nobody does it quite like Burgundy and/or Chablis. You want a chard that is fairly lean and racy, not buttery and round.  This one is from producer; Maison Roche de Bellene. Nicolas Potel is a winemaking legend from Beaune that continues to produce the most exciting Burgundy wines in all price point and crus, vintage after vintage at Domaine de Bellene.

This wine has beautiful aromas of fresh apple, peach, apricot, citrus with honey on toast. It has also got a little spiced cream thing going on in the nose. The palate is medium bodied with a nice satin texture, showing minerals and almost hazelnuts on the finish. This is a text book example of a great quality Burgundy Chardonnay. For under $20, this is a steal. Stock up this winter, unfortunately its released after tomato season.  We were too excited about it and had to share it with you today.  Tease.


If you're looking for something to drink right now, our friend Christopher McDonald brought over a great LCBO Vintages Substitution the weekend, it was released on Saturday, the JEAN-PIERRE ET MICHEL AUVIGUE SOLUTRÉ POUILLY-FUISSÉ 2010  VINTAGES 278960 | 750 mL bottle $23.95.  Give it a try.  

bon appetit.

dinner is served.

Mexican Chicken in Endives and Haut Grelot

 This recipe came back with my parents after a trip to a cooking school, Hugh Carpenter's Camp in San Miguel, Mexico.  They went to the camp in early March, and since then we must have eaten this dish ten times.  It's that good.

1/2 pound of finely diced chicken thigh meat
2 cloves of garlic
1 tablespoon of minced ginger
1 serrano chili, minced, seeds included
1/2 cup of dried apricots chopped
1 whole green onion chopped
1 teaspoon of cumin
1/2 teaspoon of sat
4 tablespoons of soy sauce

1/4 cup of orange juice (freshly squeezed)
1/4 cup of chopped mint leaves
1 teaspoon of cornstarch
2 tablespoons of cooking oil (anything flavourless)
1/4 cup of toasted pine nuts
1/2 a lime cut into wedges
3 heads of white endives

Preparation:  Combine chicken, garlic, ginger, chiles, chopped apricots, green onion, cumin, salt and soy sauce.  Mix evenly until blended.  Let the chicken become room temperature before cooking.
In a small bowl combine orange juice, mint and cornstarch.
Cooking:  Heat a wok or large frying pan to very hot over a very high heat.  Add the oil to the pan, and when it begins to smoke, add the chicken.  Stir and toss the chicken in the pan until the chicken looses all of it's raw outside colour.
Stir the orange juice mixture and pour into the meat in the pan.  Add the toasted pine nuts and cook for 20 more seconds.  Done!
Put the chicken on a platter, arranging the endive wedges around the meat, squeeze the lime wedges and serve.

The pairing wine of choice today is the 2011 Chateau Haut-Grelot Tradition Blanc, AOC Blaye-Cotes de Bordeaux, $15.95 (Available through private import, contact nicholas@tanninfinewines.com) This is a typical Bordeaux white blend of Sauvignon Blanc and Semillon grapes.  Haut Grelot is small property on the Bordeaux right bank, north of St. Emilion and Libourne. It has been owned by the Bonneau family for many generations. The amazing Julien Bonneau is the winemaker and Director of, basically everything.  We studied together in Bordeaux back in the day and have been great friends ever since.  This is one of my favourite summer whites and I import about 250 cases of this wine every year to be poured and paired at some of the top restaurants throughout Ontario (Langdon Hall, George, Canoe, Ritz Carlton, Delux, Ortalon, Black Hoof, Beckta, Auberge du Pommier, to name just a few).
This is basically the missing link in Sauvignon that combines the tropical fruit profiles of New Zealand and the herbaceous profiles of the original great French Sauvignon Blancs from the Loire.  This Sauvignon is highly aromatic with grapefruit, gooseberry, melon and chervil. It is medium in weight with pure fruit cocktail fruit flavours and refreshing acidity. It is very versatile with food, and of course  great by-itself, well chilled.    

bon appetit.

dinner is served.

Chimichurri Steak Salad and a beautiful Italian summer red wine

Nick just arrived home from a whirlwind tour of northern Italy for 'work.'  Poor thing.  He was eager to open a bottle from a winery he spent some time with, Kellerie Bozen.  So we opened one up, looked at all the beautiful pictures from that day, and decided on steak.  The herbal freshness of chimichurri for an afternoon BBQ was perfect.  So perfect we sat for hours, and opened another bottle :)

Chimichurri is an Argentinian herb sauce, that is wonderfully flavourful and amazing with meat.  This Bon Appetit recipe thins the sauce out a bit to double up as a salad dressing.  

1 large bunch of italian parsley

2 tablespoons of fresh oregano leaves (I actually sued basil because I didn't have oregano) 

3 peeled garlic cloves

1/2 cup of olive oil

1/4 cup of red wine vinegar

1 teaspoon hot sauce

Flank Steak - enough for everyone that's coming for dinner

a bowl of baby greens

container of small mozzarella balls

put parsley (stems and all), oregano and garlic into a food processor or blender and blend for ten seconds.  Add the oil and vinegar and hot sauce and blend until almost smooth.  Salt and pepper to your liking.  

marinate steak with oil salt and pepper at room temperature for 45 minutes, and grill to you liking, five minutes a side for medium rare-ish.  Remove from the grill and let it rest off the grill for five minutes.  Slice across the grain.

Mix greens and mozzarella with dressing, as much as you like, but save some to drizzle on top of the steak.  Place steak on top and drizzle with more dressing.  

The Vino.

2010 Kellerie Bozen St. Magdalena Lagrein Perl, Sudtirol Alto-Adige $26.95 (Private Order, available by the case through Nicholas).  This wine is from Sudtirol, Alto-Adige in northern Italy. This is the same winery that produces the amazing Weissburgunder we paired a few weeks back.  I visited the region and winery last week for the first time and it truly is the coolest terroir for grape growing. At 800 metres above sea level, the rolling hills planted with vineyards is oh-so-picturesque. 

Unfortunately Ashley did not get to join me on the Italian tour… but we are planning another one for the near future. Here is a quick recap about the region. Sudtirol is noted for its distinct German and Austrian influences on the wine industry due to the region's long history under the rule of Austria-Hungary and Holy Roman Empires. Because of its unique history and location within the southern Alps and Dolomites, the Südtirol grows a wide range of grape varieties that are unusually not seen in other parts of Italy. These include Weissburgunder (Pinot Bianco), Müller-Thurgau, Schiava and my fav... Lagrein. It is one of the coolest "discovery" grape varieties that I have come across in ages. If you like cool climate Cabernet and Merlot, you gotta give it a try. This single vineyard Lagrein has been poured by the glass at Enoteca Sociale (Sister to the Pizzeria Libretto’s) since they opened. It is always noted for its distinct flavor profile, price/quality and versatility in food pairing. 

This particular one is certainly a reference point for great Lagrein at this price point. Aromas of dark red fruits and berries, liquorice, spices coupled with sweet herbs. It is mid-weight on the palate, not too full and remains really nice with a great freshness to it. It travels through many stages of complexity as it opens up in the glass, so don’t drink it back too quickly. Play with this one a bit. Both powerful and elegant, this silky wine is endowed with tons of personality and class. Each sip will have you coming back for more.

bon appetit.

dinner is served.