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Eating My Way Through the PEC (Day 1)

This past weekend was spent trolling through the wineries of Prince Edward County.

Having been to Niagara’s wine country many times, we thought a change of scenery would be a good idea. A little bit of digging showed us that wineries are not the only draw – PEC does its best to promote the local farmers, chefs, artisans, cheesemakers, chocolatiers, bakers, and more!

This would be a weekend of indulging, exploring and long naps. This is the first of three posts…

Pondering the options at Buddha Dog

Our first stop when we got into town was Buddha Dog – the #1 “place to eat” on most articles I read about visiting Prince Edward County. Hot dogs aren’t the first food I think to go for – but these ones are special. Everything about these dogs is local – locally produced meat, buns, cheese, sauces, etc. There were so many mixes of sauces and cheeses (even more than you see on this menu!) that I couldn’t decide – so I decided not to decide!

Two flights of dogs – chef’s choice!

We ordered two ‘flights’ of three wee dogs, with toppings selected by the staff. Our favourites? The dog of the day was topped with maple bacon jam and Black River pepper jack cheese. Yup, we liked that one. There was also one with jalapeño tequila sauce that was amazing, and I really liked the cherry ketchup on another. Overall, there were lots of great flavour combos and I would definitely go back for another flight.

After a brief walk, and some caffeination, we decided to drive out to Waupoos and find Fifth Town cheese.

We started with a couple of Waupoos wineries: Waupoos Estates Winery and Del Gatto Estates Winery. The thing to keep in mind about PEC wineries is that it is a cold climate – colder than Niagara, even. The reds tend to be lighter, and the whites are usually the wines given the spotlight. If you’re looking for something that tastes like an Australian Shiraz, you won’t find it here. The tough part is that it takes me a couple of tastings to really get a sense of the ‘local flavour’ and prep my palette to be able to find the nuances in the wines.

The adorable tasting room at Del Gatto.

Luckily, we were able to find wines that we enjoyed at both of the first wineries – a Geisenheim at Waupoos Estates that had a serious grapefruit tang, and ‘Two Shades’ from Del Gatto that blends Frontenac Noir and Leon Millot into a peppery and bright red.

Spying through a window to the room of cheese.

Next was the stop I had been looking forward to all day – Fifth Town cheese. Fifth Town primarily makes goat cheeses in many varieties. I kept hearing delicious things about Fifth Town, so we had no choice but to go investigate. During the summer, they have more activities and tours and things. In the off-season, you can still visit the store and see what’s going on. Oh yeah – and try all of the cheese.

We tried them all – and came away with some great choices.

One by one, we tasted through the different cheeses, from goat cheddar to soft rolled cheese to soft-ripened cheeses. We bought quite a few, but I think the ones that really blew me away were “Nettles Gone Wild” (a soft-ripened cheese with a hint of earthiness) and “Lemon Fetish” (a crumbly sheep’s milk cheese with lemon and red fife flour). We lovingly described the ‘Lemon Fetish’ as being like a tequila shot in a cheese – lemony, salty, tangy.

Service with a smile!

As we were checking out, one more thing caught my eye – a small box of goat cheese truffles. I snatched it up – without the benefit of trying any (I trusted them) – and we were on our way. We started the drive back toward Picton, to our hotel. The drive was lovely – and I really want to go back so I can get a better look at the “Lake on the Mountain” – a lake “nearly 62 metres above the Bay of Quinte”. I had never heard of it before, so when we passed a sign saying “Lake on the Mountain”, I was a little bit puzzled… until I saw the lake that was level was us, to the left, and the Bay of Quinte waaaaaaaay down on the right. It was a little bit surreal.

Merrill Inn — I didn’t get a pic of the adorable front, just the back door. Go me!

We finally got to the hotel (we stayed at the Merill Inn), checked in and had a bit of a rest. Then it was off to dinner!! We knew we’d be having a big fancy dinner the next night, so we wanted something a little more casual. We opted to go to the Barley Room – a cute little pub at the Waring House with some local beer and tasty nibblies. We got our first taste of Barley Days beer, a fantastic cheddar and apple cider soup (the highlight of our meal!) and a salmon en croute that was – no joke – the size of my head!! Just to put this into perspective for you — I have a really big head, so this dish was insane.

So that’s what we did on the first day. It was a long day of travelling and tasting, and we had a great time but were happy to tuck into the comfy bed in the adorable inn at the end of the night. We would have a full day ahead of us the next day…

Kısır – Bulgur Salad : Turkish Food Log Pt. 4

I finally tried to make the bulgur salad I was obsessed with on my trip to Turkey.

This salad is the reason I bought the cookbook I bought. There were a few different cookbooks in the tourist shops, and I found that this one was the only one that had the bulgur salad in it.

One problem – I couldn’t find it in English.
Continue reading Kısır – Bulgur Salad : Turkish Food Log Pt. 4

Beer & Butter Tarts? Heck Yes!

Hey folks! My blog is now a part of the all-Canadian, all-food aggregator “Beer & Butter Tarts“! Seriously – with a name like that, as if I wouldn’t want to be a part of it!

Anyone who enjoys food blogs, and is looking for more from Canuckleheads like me, head on over to Beer & Butter Tarts.

Steph Out.

Surviving a Salted Caramel Cupcake Fail!

I just have to deal with the fact that I am not a great baker.

I’ll still try to do it, but wow I need to have a little more patience with myself.

Since I bought the Martha Stewart Cupcakes book earlier this year, I’ve been wanting to make the Salted Caramel chocolate cupcakes. They looked like everything I like about food – sweet, rich, salty and chocolatey. I finally decided to make them to bring to Hallowe’en movie night.

I managed to mess something up at each stage.

D’oh #1 – Footless Cupcakes

The cupcakes stuck to the baking tin, and lost some chunks when I pulled them out. I didn’t have mini cupcake liners, but it wasn’t a problem last time. I just oiled it up and went ahead. Needless to say, I was not happy. Some of them wouldn’t stand on their own because of their injuries. On the other hand, they were really tasty and I decided it wasn’t too big of an issue.

D’oh #2 – Crazy Caramel (Corn?)

I messed this up twice, basically. The caramel sauce ended up being the worst part of the whole thing – everything else sort of pulled together, except for this part. Instead of sauce inside, it’s like a piece of caramelly fudge, or like the texture of candy corn. Grrr. My problem revolved around my lack of a candy thermometer, and I couldn’t judge when it was cooked enough. I knew we had a thermometer and pulled it out – only to discover that it’s a meat thermometer and doesn’t measure a high enough temperature. Crap on a stick!

If you don’t have a candy thermometer, it helps to know the different stages to look for. I found this web page that describes the different stages, but I still messed it up. First, I pulled it off the heat too early because I thought it was cooked more than it was. I added the cream, and realized it was too light and oogy. I put it back on the heat, cooked until it browned and tasted better — but then after I poured the sauce into the cupcakes, it started to harden funny (the aforementioned candy corn texture). Ah well, not much to be done about that – and I was too lazy to start over by baking new cupcakes.

At least it still tasted good…

D’oh #3 – Mmmm, Chocolate Soup

Following the instructions, the dark chocolate icing ended up being the consistency of chocolate soup. I saved it by putting the bowl of icing ingredients into a larger bowl full of ice, and beating the crap out of it as it cooled. It turned out really really good. As a side note — I have no scale and had no idea what one pound of chocolate should look like. I guesstimated, and it worked. I don’t think my baking warrants getting a scale, either.

Oh yeah – and I forgot to add the decorative salt on top before I took pics. Hahaha!

The Verdict

While I screwed all sorts of things up, these turned out pretty tasty. I do eventually want to try the recipe again, to try to get it all perfect. First, I’ll tackle the caramel a couple more times and use it in other things. The chocolate frosting on this is really incredible – and it should be, considering the amount of butter that’s in it!!

They don’t have this recipe up on the Martha Stewart website, but I found it posted on this blog. Note that this blogger had no trouble with the caramel… so it’s obviously me.

UPDATE: I bought a candy thermometer. I am determined to make this work, because I really love caramel and I think I should be able to make it.

Hallowe’en Roundup

This week is the post-Hallowe’en wrap-up…

Friday, I’ll be posting my own spooky treats, but for now I just wanted to offer some links to some cool holiday goodies.

If nothing else, please check this one out — it’s the scariest Hallowe’en treat yet — MEATFACE!

Cupcake Project shows how to make ghost cupcakes using crépes!

Veggie Num Nums presents Forbidden Rice Pudding – not really Hallowe’eny, but it’s purple and the name is pretty spooky, so…

Of course, Martha Stewart is probably the queen of Hallowe’en treats.

A Ghastly Treat

… and I can’t let the holiday disappear from memory without offering up a piece of appropriate Canadiana. More specifically, Southern Ontariana, originating in the Hammer.

I give you Grizelda, the Ghastly Gourmet.

(from the show “the Hilarious House of Frightenstein“)

Blog Love – October 2010

I haven’t made an official “Blog Love” post in a while now, but I have certainly shown some love for the blogs I frequent by participating in Blog Bites. Now to show the intended format of Blog Love, here are some fantastic posts on other blogs that have inspired me to try making something new!

I scan through quite a few blogs these days. Most of the posts are lovely, but some just jump out at you and make you click through so you can read the whole thing.

Here are some posts that did just that…

—

Kitchenbutterfly talks about things to do with vanilla, and even another post where we learn how to make vanilla powder.

Speaking of powders you can make to make a great ingredient out of something that might have been wasted, Chocolate and Zucchini shows how to make Roasted Lemon Zest Powder. Yay! Now I know what to do with all of the rind I had dried… better than throwing chunks of it in stuff.

Kalyn’s Kitchen has a recipe for roasted butternut squash with gorgonzola that has some similar elements to the sweet potato dish I made this week, but a little more structured.

To continue with my obsession with Turkey, Forkspoonknife is making Turkish Pide, featuring Na’Na, Caramelised Onion and Olive

… and last, but not least, there seem to be people trying to crazy up pizza!! Evidenced by Grilled Poutine Pizza and Pizzas Benedict and Deep Dish Pizza Cupfakes that popped up in my Livejournal list today. I think this is part of some competition or challenge group. Better inspect further, as hilarity is ensuing.

Pesto Eggs

I had it in my head that we were going for brunch Saturday morning. Plans changed, but my heart was really set on some good brunchy eggs.

To be honest, I was set on some Eggs Benedict, but I wasn’t prepared to try making those for the first time on a whim. I am not a patient girl first thing in the morning. I needed something I could throw together fast, something that would satisfy my eggy craving.

I started cooking before I really knew what I was making.

I had eggs, a bit of fresh pesto left from dinner, some delicious tomatoes… and then I had an idea. I could fry up some eggs and dress them up a little. It was quick and easy, but it tasted fancy. On top of the fried eggs, I drizzled a sauce made up of the pesto thinned out with yogurt (real yogurt – none of that low fat stuff), lined up some grilled halved tomatoes topped with melted cheese, and topped each of the tomatoes with a wee bit of the pesto.

It was just what I needed! (Then we went for bennies the next day – Ha!)

🙂

Happy Long Weekend, to those of you who have one this weekend. Hope it is filled with delicious brunches!

Cheese with the Hair of an Angel : Turkish Food Log Pt. 2

For the second installment of my Turkish Food Log, I’m exploring the world of cheeses, and finding a connection back home.

Beautiful range of cave dwellings in Cappadocia, Turkey. (I think this is in Pigeon’s Valley)

While we were in Turkey, we got to try many different kinds of cheeses – generally in styles a little different than “the usual” selection in Canada. In general, the cheeses tended to be saltier, with textures that varied from stretchy (like a Mozzarella) to soft and crumbly (like a soft Feta). There were even some cheeses that tasted a little bit bluey, like Gorgonzola.

Pretty Cheesy – but not quite what I meant. (photo taken in Cappadocia, Turkey)

Various Turkish Cheeses (photo taken in Ankara, Turkey)

Breakfast was the best time to find a great assortment of cheeses, and the selection varied from place to place. Each location offered a variety of cheeses, and I was excited to try them all. Most of the time, they weren’t labelled – so I have no idea what kinds I tried for most of the trip. Luckily, there were signs at the buffet in Ankara, so I made sure to get some pics. Notice the English translation – mostly “Cow Cheese” and “Sheep Cheese”, whereas the Turkish offered the real names of the cheeses, so I was able to look some up when I got home.

My breakfast in Cappadocia – fun cheeses, halva, olives, honey, muesli and yogurt. Soo good!

One of my favourite cheeses was Çeçil Peyniri – a very stringy, salty cheese that was dry on the outside. This was a strong and different cheese, and I ate as much of it as I could. At the time, I wrote that it tasted a little bit like Parmesan. We didn’t see it everywhere — I think I mostly ate it in the last half of the trip, in Cappodocia and Ankara.

Çeçil peyniri (photo taken in Ankara, Turkey)

On my trip to Akram’s last week, I found that they carried lots of different Middle Eastern style cheeses, including one that reminded me of the Çeçil peyniri.

Tressé is a cheese made in the same style as an Armenian cheese, called Mshallaleh. It is also sometimes referred to as “Angel Hair Cheese”. It’s like a very salty and stringy Mozzarella, and the one I bought was spiked with Kalonji (Nigella) seeds. The Kalonji have an almost oniony taste to them, so it’s pretty interesting in the cheese.

It may not be a Turkish cheese, but it definitely has the spirit, and the taste reminded me of my trip. Yet another reminder that there’s so much food out there for me to explore…

I definitely need to go back to Akram’s to get more, and to try some of the other fun cheeses there.

Tressé

It’s all in the Lime – Qormeh Sabzi

Qormeh Sabzi (also written as Ghormeh Sabzi) is thought to possibly be the national dish of Iran, and after just one bite I could understand why.

Although made up mostly of an assortment of fresh herbs, there is no doubt that the real stars of the show are the Persian dried limes, leemoo-amonee (or “Limu-omani”). They aren’t exciting to look at, in fact you might find them kind of ugly (J thought they looked dusty), but they add the most amazing flavour to the dish that I’m sure can’t be replicated. I was lucky enough to find some at Akram’s, in Kensington Market.

Kensington Market is also a great place to find lots of fresh herbs at a decent price. I bought almost all of the herbs I needed there.

How to describe Qormeh Sabzi? It’s a rich, dark green stew made up of lots of herbs, kidney beans, lamb and the leemoo-amonee. It’s kind of hard to describe how the herbs taste in it, because it’s very different from using fresh herbs to a dish – it’s more like when you cook with leafy greens, like spinach. The dried lime doesn’t make the stew incredibly sour – because they are whole, and dried, a mellow lime flavour comes out. That is, unless you press the liquids out of the lime after cooking – this will intensify the lime flavour, and is sometimes best done in your own dish, if you are serving a group.

If you want to live on the edge, you can even eat the lime. I like to eat the outer parts – they are very strong, and a little bitter, but so much fun!

The lamb is actually a pretty important part, and this time around I opted to go without it. I haven’t cooked meat in about 15 years, and this is the first dish that has made me want to change that. Anyone that has had lamb knows that it has a strong flavour – this is why I like it, and why others don’t. That’s why, for me, it really is important in Qormeh Sabzi. My version of the dish was missing that aspect of the flavour. Other people make it with beef instead, which would make it taste a little bit different (good for folks who don’t like lamb).

Not the prettiest picture, but soooo delicious.

If you haven’t had Persian food before, you are missing out!! So was I, until earlier this year. If you like complex flavours, stews, interesting ingredients, you should definitely try this. People who like Indian food will probably like this — sure, there are lots of differences (for one, Persian food is not nearly as spicy hot!), but there are some similarities as well (basmati rice, stews, legumes).

People in Toronto should try Pomegranate restaurant, on College St. near Bathurst. It’s usually busy, so be sure to make reservations!! You won’t regret it!

Continue reading It’s all in the Lime – Qormeh Sabzi

My Friend Guu

Recently, we visited Guu Izakaya restaurant in Toronto.

It opened a while ago, and I’d walk by and wonder what it was. To be honest, I could not for the life of me read the name on the sign (it’s in a handwritten font, so pretty hard to read). I didn’t know what an Izakaya was, either, until some girl friends that had been to Japan explained it to me.

Izakaya is kind of like a Japanese pub, where you eat small plates (kind of like mezze or tapas) and drink.

This place is pretty popular, with a line out the door most nights. On the night that we went, the line wasn’t too bad so we decided to try it out.

They yell stuff at you when you walk in the door. I have no idea what they’re saying, but they say it with a smile so I think it’s something nice.

From top left: Gindara (black cod), Ikamaru (grilled squid), seafood ceviche, Maguro Tataki (seared tuna), Salmon Natto Yukke (salmon sashimi with seven friends), Kakimayo (grilled oysters with spinach, mayo and cheese).

There were many many fun sounding dishes, so we picked some, ordered beer and enjoyed ourselves. Our favourite ones are pictured above.

I finally had the opportunity to try Shochu (Japanese vodka). The one I chose was made from sweet potato, and had a really earthy flavour – not unlike a cross between vodka and scotch. My subsequent trial of Shochu was completely different, but that’s a different tale…

I don’t recommend getting the trio of coloured, flavoured sake shots. It was cute, but a little too gimmicky. I should have known better.

Overall, we really enjoyed ourselves. The energy in the room is incredible, and the food was really tasty. We tried to go back, but there was a 2-hour wait… hm, better luck next time!

Enjoying my drink. Good to see they passed inspection.