My Zucchini Carpaccio

Before I get to the carpaccio utilizing zucchini from the garden, I bring you a freak from the garden. A Siamese-twin type green bean. I found this one and somebody else found another. Take a gander: Now, the carpaccio:
I was inspired by the recipe for Zucchini Carpaccio with Raspberry Vinegar in the Chocolate and Zucchini Cookbook by Clotilde Dusoulier. But, I think I strayed far enough with the basic concept to call it my own. To her, I owe the idea of arranging thin slices of zucchini, sprinkling them with an herb, salt, pepper, olive oil, vinegar and cheese.

The addition of sliced tomato was entirely my own. While her recipe calls for thyme and I could have gotten some, I was using tomato so why not put basil on it. I think it worked. Tomato, basil, and zucchini are all summertime flavours. They should work together and to my mind they did.

The original recipe calls for raspberry vinegar, but I wasn't about to buy some (and it really wouldn't go so well with tomato). So, I subbed in some red wine vinegar and it tasted good to me. The Amateur Gourmet made the recipe truer to Clotilde's vision with balsamic vinegar and liked it, actually she recommends balsamic as a variation in the book. (Looking at his photo, I'd say my knife skills were better than his. Those are some thick slices. Too bad I'm not such a good writer.)

As for the cheese I sprinkled on top, it's Parmesan, nice and Italian to go with tomatoes and basil. Clotilde recommends the use of Parmesan in variations on this dish. So, I guess I didn't stray too far. Basically, you layer up the ingredients, put on the oil and vinegar dressing, and sprinkle some salt and pepper. Then, you cover it with plastic and let it stand at room temperature for 10 minutes. This is what you get:

What you're probably wondering about is how it is to eat raw zucchini. It's important to use fairly small and very fresh zucchini, mine was cut that day. It's crispy and slightly sweet, really enjoyable and totally different from cooked. I love the idea of eating things in an unconventional state, like raw zucchini or perhaps conversely cooked cucumber.

So, if you're confronted with a glut of zucchini right now as many gardeners are, consider cutting some young and tender ones and experiencing them raw. As a bonus, you don't have to turn on the stove on a hot day to make this. I made it on a very hot day and appreciated the dish's coolness.

Weekend With the Sister

Fully one week ago I played host to my sister for a weekend. It was lots of fun and we ate some good stuff, so I'm going to tell you about it.


On Friday night my sister and I had dinner at Dadeo and commenced a drinking tour de Hudson's. I wasn't blown away by my seafood jambalaya at dinner. I guess it was just too much rice and not enough other stuff or. . . intense flavour. Leslie really enjoyed the pulled pork po'boy and sweet potato fries, but I had that the week before.


At first we thought we might drink at Julio's Barrio 'cause Leslie was interested in margaritas. . . of the fishbowl variety. But there would have been a wait. So we headed to the Hudsons Canadian Taphouse on Whyte. I had a pint of Rickard's White. It was a bit fruitier and less bitter than I usually have my beer. It was also strangely opaque. I think it seemed summery. It didn't come with an orange wedge like the server said it would though. Later at another Hudsons location, I had a pint of Big Rock Grasshopper. I came with a lemon wedge and tasted more like I'm used to my beer tasting. A little more bitter and less sweet but still light for summer. Anyways. . . two pints was a lot for me.


The next day the main food action was the Taste of Edmonton Festival. My sister and I met up with my friends Ryan and Joel for an afternoon of eating from the tents set up in Churchill Square. Leslie and I split a sheet of 30 food tickets for $30, although I used more of them than she did. Here's a rundown of what I remember eating myself or other people eating:

-Fairmont Hotel Macdonald's Mac Scones w/Saskatoon Berry Compote (4 tickets): My sister got this for dessert, but it was huge and we all dug in. The scone was soft and buttery with a load of whipped cream and tasty saskatoon berry sauce. It was an excellent selection.

-Firestone's Butter Chicken w/ rice (5 tickets): My sister had this but I got a taste. It tasted good with tender chicken in a rich, spiced Indian sauce. She freaked out at the richness of this although she loved every bit.

-Firestone's Fresh Fruit Kabobs w/Chocolate Dip (3 tickets): I was full and looking to use up 3 remaining tickets on a light dessert. The fruit wasn't very good, mainly cantaloupe that hardly goes with chocolate and on token strawberry. The chocolate sauce had a sort of grainy texture and my sister said she tasted wine and did not like it. I should have gotten something else.

-Hoang Long Restaurant's Beef Lemongrass Skewer (4 tickets): Ryan and I got these skewers fresh and hot off the grill. They were hot, juicy and had a tasty, spicy marinade. They were not to be missed and possibly the best thing I ate.


-Hong Kong Bakery's Green Onion Cakes Chocolate Passion Fantasy: I didn't try either of these, but I think Ryan put raspberry sauce on Joel's green onion cake. The sauce was for the chocolate dessert. It was kind of funny. I don't like green onion cakes myself, they're too greasy.

-Hudson’s Canadian Taphouse's Alberta Beef Mini Cheddar Burger (3 tickets): I had to try this after observing a delicious looking but enormous burger at Hudsons the night before. The burger was good with crisp lettuce, ripe tomato, real cheddar cheese, and a tasty beef patty. The cheese however was completely unmelted, which I guess is okay. The bun was cold but tasty. Perhaps there was a touch too much bun, though. Overall it was good and satisfied my (mini)-burger craving.

-Korean Village's Vegetable Tempura: Ryan seemed to enjoy it.

-Old Spaghetti Factory's Cajun Chicken Alfredo: I think Ryan and Joel found this boring and perhaps bland.

-That's Aroma's Garlic Chicken Satay: Ryan and Joel had this. I think the sauce was garlic and peanut flavoured. It looked like lots of sauce.

-That's Aroma 's Garlic Tomato Salad (3 tickets): This was like very garlicky bruschetta tomato mixture on iceberg lettuce. There was so much garlic, which tastes so good. Plus, it was well suited to the heat of the day.

-The Creperie's Beef Tenderloin w/ Peppercorn Chocolate Sauce (5 tickets): I quite liked this although the filling for the crepe could have been warmer. The sauce contained pink peppercorns, which had a milder and delicious pepper flavour. It was quite good although Ryan couldn't get past the idea there was chocolate in it. I found the chocolate virtually undetectable, though. It was like a good pepper sauce.

The Taste of Edmonton Festival was and interesting and tasty afternoon. It's a little hit or miss and not ideal conditions for serving food, but it's fun. Next weekend I look forward to the food tents of Heritage Festival in Hawrelack Park.

On Sunday morning, I made french toast served with real maple syrup and blueberries, which we all enjoyed. Around noon we went to Leva for gelato. I had a tasty Chocolate Banana Nut single. It mainly tasted of chocolate and nut, though. The banana didn't cut though, but it was really good. Leslie raved about her peanut butter cookie gelato and her boyfriend enjoyed an unusual double of mint gelato and pina colada sorbet. He seemed to like the combo, though.

My sister and I had an excellent lunch on Sunday at Flavours Modern Bistro on Whyte Ave. The lunch menu is quite reasonably priced with salads, sandwiches, and other dishes from $8-14. The setting was classy and we got a two-top with comfy high backed chairs. We each ordered a sandwich and traded halves. I got the smoked salmon bagel while she ordered the smoked turkey baguette.

We both got the creamy tomato and herb soup for a side. It was heavenly and super-tasty. There was lots of tomato flavour. I hadn't had soup in a while and this was a very good, obviously house-made one.

The smoked salmon bagel was a multi-grain bagel with cream cheese, baby greens, smoked salmon, raw onions, and enormous capers. I had never seen capers so big before and enjoyed them. I was impressed with the generous serving of smoked salmon, but Leslie thought it was too much. That's crazy though, right? The smoked turkey baguette had tomato, tasty roasted bell pepper, and a generous pile of tasty turkey on a good baguette bread. Flavours Modern Bistro provided a delicious lunch for two for about $20 before tip. The food quality and surroundings were excellent. I know I'll be back.

"Best Muffins Ever"

I made blueberry muffins last Thursday because:
a) It's blueberry season, a magical yearly event. and
b) my sister and her boyfriend were coming to visit and I knew they would appreciate muffins/ I would not be forced to eat a dozen myself.

I can't remember ever having made muffins with fresh blueberries, perhaps because peak season for them is usually the hottest part of the summer. Actually, it was hot last Thursday but I pressed on with making muffins anyways. Little did I know how good they would be. My sister declared them the best muffin she's ever had. I find that hard to believe but make no mistake, they were very, very good. The texture was quite soft and there was a hint of acidity from lemon zest and yogurt that's hard to describe. Of course the fresh blueberries were awesome. I think the oatmeal adds a little extra complexity to the flavour as well. I can't really describe it that well. But, they were delicious.

Here they are right out of the oven:
And here's a field of perfect, delicious muffins:
Now that the food porn is out of the way, I'll get to the recipe. I followed the BHG recipe for Oatmeal-Blueberry Muffins but made some key changes, so I'll write it out my way.

Blueberry-Oatmeal Muffins

Ingredients
1.5 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 cup rolled oats
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 beaten egg
1/2 cup plain yogurt
1/4-1/3 cup milk
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
3 tablespoons cooking oil
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
zest of 1 lemon
1 cup fresh blueberries (or frozen if you must)

Instructions
1. Grease twelve regular 2.5 inch muffin cups.

2. Stir flour, oats, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in a large bowl. Form a well in the centre of it.

3. In another bowl mix egg, yogurt, milk, brown sugar, oil, vanilla, and lemon zest. Add all the wet ingredients (ie: egg) to the dry (ie: flour) and stir until moistened, just. Do not over mix!!!! Fold in the blueberries. Fill the muffin cups 3/4 full.

4. Bake at 400 degrees F for 16-18 minutes. (I think mine took 15.) They're done when a tester comes out dry/ they're golden brown. Cool them a bit then remove from the cups. Eat.

If you study the recipe you'll notice the yogurt and lemon zest are my additions. Plus, I cut the oil slightly and added some extra blueberries. Seriously try making these this blueberry season. I heart blueberries.

And More Eating. . . Same Weekend

On Saturday night we had dinner at Wild Tangerine Cucina Domestica, which is kind of an Asian fusion restaurant that I wanted to try for a while. We couldn't make a reservation because they wanted to keep tables for walk-ins. So, we decided to try our luck and walk in. We found that it was no problem to be seated around 6:30. They weren't very busy. I think there were only a couple of tables occupied although it is quite a small restaurant.

I was immediately impressed with the modern, slightly funky, slightly Asian decor. But don't ask me to recall details. One thing that was immediately nice on such a hot day was that they leave coloured glass bottles of water on the table. It's very convenient for thirsty people, like me.

Before going, I had of course examined the on-line menu. I must note that it's not current as to prices. Anyways, I was intrigued by the "Grilled Five-Spice Octopus Salad with Spicy Tangerine Vinaigrette." So, that is what I had to start. My mother also ordered it. It was really good. The octopus was very tender unlike any other I'd ever eaten. It was more like pulled pork than say tako from a Japanese restaurant. The flavour of the octopus just said "Chinese food," which I guess is what you get from five spice. It reminded me a bit of the Chinese barbecue I had in Calgary. Besides the pieces of octopus, the salad also had some crispy pieces or fried. . . root vegetable. . . I think for a tantalizing contrast in texture. The salad component was julienned bell pepper, celery, apple, and other vegetables in a sweet, tangy, and slightly spicy dressing. My mother also enjoyed the salad. My dad started with the Caesar Salad with Ginger and Oven-dried Tomato. I think he thought it was good, but I also think that the octopus outshone it. He might have wished he'd been more adventurous, it looked pretty ordinary for a Caesar salad. I didn't taste it though so it could have been really good.

For a main course I had the red curry mussels with linguine. It came in a big bowl with plenty of mussels on top, although I think four were closed and of course not eaten. There was a fair but not excessive amount of linguine underneath. The red curry sauce was delicious. It created a mild burn at the back of the palate and was sweet with onions, bell pepper, and tomato. Unlike some curries that have a lot of coconut milk or cream, the sauce was very light and pleasing on the hot day. I ate the entire dish and enjoyed it immensely. I was tempted to eat the remaining sauce with a spoon. It was that good.

My dad had the Thai green curry with prawns and tortiglioni. It contained large prawns, a light curry sauce, an assortment of vegetables, and large tubular pasta. He said it was good. My mom had the "Lemon Chicken" breast stuffed with red dates, ricotta, and spinach. It was served with so much seasonal green vegetable mixture that she didn't finish her veggies. The chicken breast was very lightly breaded and then stuffed. I think she enjoyed it and found the preparation refreshingly light.

All in all, it was an excellent meal at Wild Tangerine. On our way out we met the owner who was very friendly and chatty. He had once taken chemistry at the U of A and had also lived in Medicine Hat, where I'm from. That was pretty cool. I'd love to go back, although the downtown location isn't really close to the LRT and so isn't super convenient.

My final meal with my parents was lunch on Sunday. We decided to go to our favorite standby Murrieta's, which I think is a good restaurant. When we walked in I immediately saw Beth, a girl I lived in residence with who serves there. She immediately volunteered to serve my family and said we were VIP. She provided excellent service.

I was going to rely on the on-line menu for verbatim descriptions of what we ordered but they aren't current. Anyways, I have a good memory for food. My dad and I both went for the bison short ribs with bacon cassoulet. My mom had a prawn tempura sandwich. Before the mains, we were served warm and delicious multigrain bread and butter. My mom's sandwich arrived on a huge platter with lots of fries and salad. The sandwich itself was large, too. Some of it wasn't eaten, there was so much. I can only comment on the fries since I tried one and it was good and crisp on the outside.

The bison short ribs dish consisted of four pieces of bison on the bone and four thin pieces of lightly cooked asparagus atop a generous serving of the cassoulet. Both of us finished the serving. I'd say the sandwiches are for the really, really hungry. The short rib meal was excellent. The bison was tender and meaty tasting with a bit of subtle barbecue sauce. The cassoulet was a feast for bean lovers as it was mainly beans, some veggies like carrot, and a bit of bacon. The smokey taste of bacon infused all the beans. It was a joy to eat and felt like really good cowboy food. If you like to eat meat off the bone and beans go for it. Just don't expect too much greenery.

Once again Murrieta's did not disappoint.

Incidentally, there is also a bison short rib dish on the menu at Wild Tangerine that intrigues me. But, it seemed to heavy for that hot day. It was still hot on Sunday, but somehow bison seemed appropriate. Go figure.

A Weekend of Eating

I haven't got any pictures to go with this, but my parents were here last weekend. That meant lots of eating out.

It started with dinner at Dadeo on Friday. It's one of my favourite restaurants in Edmonton, conveniently on Whyte Ave. The decor is diner style and they serve Louisiana-style Cajun and creole food. To be honest I can't speak to its authenticity, only its tastiness. I'm no expert. My mother had been there once before along with Albert and I. She enjoyed it then. It was my father's first time at the restaurant despite numerous recommendations. I think he had something against its small size and interesting decor.

Instead of the usual bread, they serve small biscuits with pepper jelly. It's always a tasty start to the meal.

I knew exactly what I wanted to order: pulled-pork po'boy with sweet potato fries. It's probably my favourite, although I do enjoy other options. But it had been a while, and the sandwich called to me. A hearty portion of juicy, falling apart pork, in a lightly spiced pork juicy sauce is sandwiched in a soft white roll with mayo and lettuce. The roll is a delicious sponge for the meat juices. It's pretty much the perfect meat sandwich. The fries are a masterpiece on their own. I knew I had to get them despite how rich and huge they would make my meal, just so my parents could try them off my plate. Enjoy them they did. Lightly battered and seasoned, topped with chopped green onion and served with a mayo based dip, they're the ultimate in fries. Between the three of us, we ate all that was on my plate. It also had a bit of coleslaw but wasn't really a fiesta of vegetables.

My mother decided to order the shrimps creole served on white rice. It was perhaps a slightly lighter option. I didn't taste it, but she seemed to enjoy it and cleared her plate.

My father wanted jambalaya. I convinced him to get the Combo Dadeo so he would get the meaty bayou jambalaya along with blackened chicken and beans. The jambalaya was chock full of assorted meats like Andouille sausage, shrimp, and ham. But, what he couldn't stop talking about was how good the beans were. I knew he'd like them since he's a bean-aholic along with me. They're the reason I knew he should have the combo and not straight jambalaya. The beans are red kidney beans in a spicy sauce with onion. They're really good.

The next meal out was lunch on Saturday, which we had at Cafe Select. I've mentioned it before, so I just have a couple of comments. My father again had the bistro burger, which he says he likes because it tastes like real meat like the burgers he makes. It's served with their shoestring fries. My mother and I had grilled vegetable sandwiches also served with the fries. I found them a bit limp and oily, but I still ate quite a few. The sandwiches also came with spinach salad, which was nice but not really remarkable. The sandwiches though were really good. They had a heap of hot, grilled vegetables--zucchini, mushrooms, onions, red bell peppers--along with good white cheddar cheese and a red spread that was tasty. They had to be held together with a toothpick containing a huge green olive, which was a nice touch. It was a really good sandwich on a nice whole wheat kaiser. A tad messy though, with so many delicious veggies some fell out. All in all it was a good lunch.

Later that afternoon, we went to Leva for gelato/sorbet. I discovered that my Peach-Apricot treat was actually a dairy free sorbet. My mom enjoyed a single pina colada sorbet--she's extremely lactose intolerant. I think she really liked being able to eat something that looked like ice cream and didn't have a weird soy taste. My father and I had double gelatos. His was pistachio and hazelnut. Mine was pistachio and maple walnut. The gelato was excellent, the two flavours were a nice contrast and nothing was an unnatural colour. It has a lighter texture than the sorbet but is unsurprisingly creamier. Either gelato or sorbet is a good choice. But, only sorbet is a good choice for my mom.

We actually had two other meals out, but I think I'll post about them later to give them my full attention. You can look forward to hearing about Wild Tangerine and another meal at Murrieta's. Both were really good.

The Rest of the Ratatouille Party

I figure I should finish up talking about my little dinner party since it was nearly a week ago. So, here goes. To start with I offered my guests whole-wheat mini pitas with home-made tzatziki.

I loosely followed this Epicurious recipe for tzatziki, the yogurt based dip and sauce. The major differences between mine and the recipe were that I used 2 cups of 3% Balkan-style yogurt, no olive oil, and probably less than a pound of cucumber. I think it was decent with the pitas and for dunking the main course in. Then again, I really like yogurt.

I also served a green salad from the garden dressed simply in red wine vinegar, olive oil and black pepper. Possibly I liked that better than anyone else. Greens that good may be an acquired taste, because well they taste. Travis was talking about that at the garden the other day. Some are bitter or spicy or they just have a lettuce flavour that supermarket greens don't have.

Finally, for the main course (along with ratataouille of course) I served "grilled" souvlaki-style chicken and pork skewers and "grilled" mushroom and onion skewers. They are "grilled" because I only have a George Foreman Grill. It's so not the same, but it had to do.

I marinated pieces of chicken thigh and pork loin in a mixture of lemon juice and zest, olive oil, black pepper, red pepper flakes, garlic, rosemary, thyme, oregano, and salt. I used a similar marinade for mushrooms and onions. The marinating lasted about 4 hours. After that, I put the meat and veggies on separate skewers and "grilled" them until cooked.

The chicken was especially good, but you were probably expecting me to say it was the pork. But, chicken thigh has a delicious juiciness from a bit of fat. It was superb. The meat comes out a little tart, a bit spicy, and fragrant from the herbs. Marinated kababs are a very good idea for imparting flavour to meat and you could vary it to your own taste. I also liked the grilled mushrooms and onions. The onions get quite sweet. I guess I'm an onion-lover, maybe now I'll have trouble finding a human-lover, hehe. Anyways, I made one big mistake by letting meat juices get on the mushrooms and onions and making them unappetizing for the vegetarian who eats fish I intended them for. Big oops, I felt pretty bad.

Here's a pick of the food I just described as leftovers the next day:
Finally, there was dessert. I made something quite similar to Clotilde Dusoulier's recipe for Creme De Ricotta A La Mangue, Croustillant De Macadamia (aka: Creamy Mango Ricotta with Macadamia Crunch)from the Chocolate and Zucchini book. The one key difference between my dessert and the recipe is that I left our the nuts due to one guest's nut allergy, but she didn't stay to try dessert. So, mine was more "Creamy Mango Ricotta with Maple-Oatmeal Crunch". It was good anyways. Besides, nuts get caught in my throat all the time. Here's a picture of it:
And a close up of the "crunch":
There are essentially three components: the crunch, the cream, and the fruit. I made all in somewhat increased quantity for six dessert portions. The crunch was oatmeal tossed with melted butter, real maple syrup, and lime zest then toasted in the oven. The cream was a half-kilo of ricotta cheese mixed with some half and half, icing sugar, and a touch of vanilla. The vanilla was my idea. Finally, the fruit in the bottom layer was simply chopped mango tossed with a little lime juice.

I really enjoyed the dessert. The oatmeal topping was crisp and sweet. I had leftovers of it and they were delicious, essentially homemade granola. It was a pleasing contrast to the rich, creamy ricotta layer, which was not overly sweet and slightly grainy with the ricotta texture. The mango was sweet and fragrant. It's still one of my favourite fruits.

Anyways, at the party two people left before dessert. I'm not sure what they were thinking. That left me with two superfluous desserts. I ate one at the party in a fit of piggishness that left me slightly over-stuffed. Then, I ate the other one the next day. All three that I ate were excellent, although they are probably best eaten one at a time.

All in all, the dinner party was pretty successful. The Chocolate and Zucchini recipes for dessert and ratatouille were highlights, although I think I mix up a damn fine chicken marinade.

Emergency Gelato Update with Corrections

I took myself out for gelato tonight (but ended up with sorbet) because it was a freaking hot day, all days over 30C are in Edmonton. I went to Leva, which is on 111 Street and about 86th Ave. They make their own gelato and sorbet and had a fair assortment of flavours. I decided to go with fruity gelato again and ordered a single Apricot-Peach Sorbet (or was that Peach-Apricot) for $3.50 although I was tempted by the blueberry gelato. This is probably the best value for gelato and sorbet although portions are not especially generous. . . but it's sensible and bigger than it looks. If you must be a pig, you can buy a half or full litre of gelato.

Anyways, their sorbet is super thick. I would say that it has a really low air content. The texture was so incredibly dense and smooth. The flavour was sweet, fruity, and I believe natural. Certainly the subdued colour suggests a lack of artificial flavours and colours.

Needless to say, I will be back probably soon and probably back to my nut gelato eating ways.

Update: I recently had a double of pistachio and maple walnut gelato that was excellent. The gelato was a bit less dense in texture but very smooth and very tasty.

Rice: Risotto and Sushi

That's right, the last two things I want to talk about from Albert's visit have something in common: rice. Therefore, it is not a stretch to put them in one post. I've already talked about both so let's call these updates.

Update #1: Risotto with Prosciutto and Peas

I said that I wanted to make risotto with/for another person. I fulfilled that desire when Albert and I recreated risotto with prosciutto and peas. He was very useful for stirring it. . . I really didn't do any of that. A risotto stirring slave. . . or assistant is a good thing. He's the risotto stirring pro modelling the finished product:
This risotto improved on my original by actually using the lemon zest and dry white wine. The "stock" I used was not so nice though since it was from bullion (naughty me). The prosciutto Albert obtained was sliced thicker than the stuff I got before. This might have actually been better in the risotto for the chunkiness, which might be better with slightly cooked prosciutto. In addition, the cheese I added for this risotto was indeed Parmesan.

We ate it with a simple salad of fresh organic greens straight out of the garden. It was ready for its close up:

Update #2: Sushi

Albert hadn't had sushi in quite some time. So, on his last night in Edmonton we went for sushi at Kyoto Japanese Cuisine on 109th. I've talked about it before and once again it was good, although we were not served water to drink although it was a hot day. The server was way too busy, so I guess it's excusable.

I had a spicy seaweed salad that was really spicy. I didn't quite expect that from Japanese food. It was a refreshing contrast to the sushi though in its texture and flavour. The texture is hard to describe. It was somewhat firm and not exactly crisp. I also had a raw oyster on the half shell, which I think was my first raw oyster. It tasted all right. I drizzled it with lemon juice but passed on the Tabasco sauce provided. I figured it would mask subtle flavours. Albert started with tofu, which he ate so I guess it was good.

For the main meal we had sushi. The salmon was fresh, rich, and good. Albert ordered a beef sushi that was just slightly seared and definitely blue-rare. It was kind of chewy and could not be bitten in half (the meat anyways). I thought it was a decent Alberta sushi. I also had surf clam sushi, which was really tougher than I would have thought. It was more like octopus than scallop. Mmmm, I love scallops but I didn't have any that night. I also had salmon roe, which I'd had before at other places. This salmon roe however was a bit of a revelation. I loved how each orange ball burst to reveal an intense taste of the sea, quite salty. Albert also had unagi, which I didn't try any of. The final sushi Albert ordered was a salmon skin roll. It seemed to contain fried tofu and salmon skin with a bit of a sweet and salty seasoning. It seemed richest of all the sushi and was quite tasty. We also received some small spicy rolls complementary that we didn't order. I honestly don't know what was in them, but they may have triggered a touch (and just a touch) of Albert's shellfish allergy.

Conclusion: Kyoto is still my preferred Edmonton sushi restaurant, not that I've tried many. But, one thing I do wonder about is why so many sushi pieces are so large but nearly impossible to eat in multiple bites.

Ratatouille: Au Four and the Movie

Ladies and gentlemen, I have become obsessed with Ratatouille. I decided to host a small dinner party on Saturday with hopes of going to see Ratatouille after because I heard it was a good food movie. The dinner party part went off fine and I had five friends over for a meal that I will probably describe over several posts. The revelatory dish that I made was incidentally ratatouille. It's the dish I felt was "must make" to fit my theme, not to mention I was curious about it. Here's my ratatouille from that night:

Actually, that's leftover ratatouille because I forgot to take any photos that night. It's freaking good leftover anyways. I used Clotilde Dusoulier's recipe for Ratatouille Au Four in the "Chocolate and Zucchini" book, because well I wanted to use her recipe since it worked so well for her. There's a recipe here on her blog, but it's not quite like the book one. The recipe in the book is. . . larger, even as I made it with only 5 or 6 tomatoes and two zucchini. Actually, it's really large and i couldn't fit it in my largest mixing bowl to mix or in a single baking dish. It's a variation on traditional ratatouille because it's oven roasted.

I didn't get a lot of browning on the vegetables for the dinner party, but the results were. . . amazing. I absolutely loved it and my guests enjoyed it too. It produced plenty of sweet, intensely flavoured veggie juices. The onion became very sweet, the yellow and red bell pepper strips were really sweet and tasty as well. I liked the tomato, zucchini and eggplant pieces as well. There were fabulous contrasts in texture and flavour in the large vegetable chunks. They retained a lot of character of the individual vegetables while being enhanced by the "sauce" of veggie juices, herbs, salt, pepper, and olive oil. I suppose it could have been better if I used fresh rather than dried thyme. I highly recommend this recipe, though. It's tasty and easy.

Unfortunately seeing Ratatouille didn't' work out in conjunction with the dinner since dinner went to long and some people had to leave early. But, I did have a special "chef experience." I got a minor burn extracting the ratatouille from my oven. I know you want to see it:

You mean you didn't want to see that? Well, it's my blog and I feel I have a public responsibility to warn people not to touch the inside of a hot oven's door like I did.

After my dinner party was over I still wanted to see Ratatouille. So, I went downtown on Sunday afternoon and watched it by myself like the pathetic, obsessed person I am. I really liked the movie, but not the loud children in the theatre. It's really unlike other children's movies. The plot is not really predictable and. . . I'm not a movie reviewer. It's a good movie to see if you like food and are fascinated by restaurant kitchens.

Looking at what what in my fridge in the aftermath of the dinner party, I was excited to find most of the ingredients for another ratatouille au four. I had a remaining zucchini, a tomato (not in the fridge of course), a green bell pepper, rosemary, onions, and garlic. Yesterday I bought a small eggplant and a second large tomato. Today I cut a medium to large zucchini from the garden. I combined all these ingredients into another, smaller ratatouille. This one was not quite so juicy. Perhaps this is due to there being fewer tomatoes or a bit less olive oil. The eggplant browned quite nicely, though. The batch was still enormous, requiring two baking dishes. Using green peppers made it perhaps slightly less colourful and sweet than with red and yellow peppers, but the green pepper adds a savoury complexity that the other peppers lack.

Anyways, here's a pick of my second batch of ratatouille this week:

You know it must be good if I made it that quickly again.

Finale of the Calgary Eats

As I alluded in my breakfast post, we didn't really have lunch on Saturday in Calgary. Instead we had:
Gelato! I read a little on the Internet about Fiasco Gelato and how it was supposedly the best gelato in Calgary and made fresh every day. I didn't do a thorough survey myself, but my small cup of Strawberry Cheesecake gelato at the 17th Ave location pictured above was quite good. It was a generous portion. . . the mediums looked absolutely enormous. Plus, it was really smooth and creamy with the fruity flavour I was craving. Albert went with a medium passion fruit in a waffle cone, which he found refreshingly fruity and really big. It comes in peace.

By supper time we were quite hungry and ventured into Chinatown. We decided to go to a place specializing in Chinese barbecue meats called Happy Valley (I think) that was pretty busy. It was a very casual place that strangely served hot tea in plastic cups. We ordered 10 pork dumplings, a platter of barbecue duck and pork, Chinese broccoli in garlic sauce, and steamed rice. The whole meal really hit the spot with me as I was craving a good mix of meat, vegetables, and carbs. The dumplings were tasty if a little oily and I ate three. Albert played the hero and ate seven.

The meats were pure deliciousness, fatty in a good way atop a tasty sauce and peanuts. The outsides of the meat were seasoned in ways both new and delicious to me. It was my first Chinese barbecue. The dipping sauce with the meat was too sweet and added nothing, so I didn't really eat it. I think I preferred the pork to the duck partly because it was boneless and therefore easier to eat. Sometimes I'm lazy. Chinese broccoli was crisp and garlicky, perhaps a bit oily but overall very good. It's great when you're all enjoying the deliciousness of garlic, then nobody needs to feel stinky. Steamed rice was needed to fill out the meal and was also tasty to me as I have a bit of thing for rice now. Service was not great, but I didn't expect much and overall it was acceptable.

For our final meal in Calgary before the horrors of the bus to Edmonton, Albert and I had an early dinner at Murrieta's in the lounge area. The restaurant was pretty much dead as far as the number of customers, even when we left around six. Our server was attentive though and I found the meal well paced. To start with we shared the Courtyard salad of greens, small tomatoes, and fennel. The greens, tomatoes and fennel were top notch. However, the dressing a "Citrus Fennel Vinaigrette" was rather oily however with very little acidity. This was my only problem with the meal.

After the salad we were brought a small plate of fresh, warm!!! multi-grain bread and butter. I limited myself to one piece, not wanting to gorge myself on the bread, and it was delicious. For the main course we both opted for pasta dishes. Albert had the lamb meatball spaghetti. He really enjoyed it oddly preferring the spaghetti to the meatballs although he said both were good. I decided to try something new, the "Roasted Squash & Chevre Ravioli Brown Butter Verjus Sage Sauce." It was a really enjoyable dish, perhaps my favourite of the trip. The ravioli were topped with fried sage leaves, shavings of a hard and salty cheese, and sauteed bits of squash and zucchini. The sauce was buttery with that distinctive brown butter flavour. The ravioli themselves were large; filled with creamy, smooth squash filling, and perfectly al dente. I relished every rich, buttery bite. We emerged from our excellent meal ready to face the trials of travel by bus to Edmonton and more food.

Let's Talk Good Breakfasts

During our weekend in Calgary, Albert and I essentially skipped lunch opting instead for gargantuan breakfasts at Avenue Diner, which a waitress at Milestone's (closed at the time) recommended. This turned out to be an excellent breakfast spot.

On Sunday morning, there was a short wait to get in around 10. Interestingly, there were about a dozen firefighters eating at the counter. They must have known it was good. I took their presence as a good sign. On this morning we went with traditional, hearty breakfasts of two eggs, maple bison sausage, hash browns and toast. My poached eggs were perfectly cooked with delightful runny yolks in which I dipped some of the multi-grain toast. The rest of the toast was slathered with an in-house berry jam that was absolutely delicious. Hash browns were very good, well seasoned and of the pan fried variety. The bison sausage was also excellent as it was no overly greasy and quite tasty. Maybe that's not a very good description, but I'd eat it again. Albert ate the same thing with eggs over easy.

On Monday morning, our breakfast was quite late but I think breakfast is served well into the afternoon. I went with a super-sugary breakfast this time, the banana split waffle. No ice cream was involved but the four pieces of waffle were between the halves of a banana and covered in lots of whipped cream, chocolate sauce, strawberries, and some chopped walnuts. There's nothing like chocolate at breakfast and I really enjoyed the strawberries and banana. The waffles were good, so good I sort of wished there was less chocolate and whipped cream on them so I could taste the waffle for itself. I felt a little guilty about this breakfast though, too much sugar and not enough substance. Albert ordered the Avenue French Toast stuffed with brie and bacon and served with sauteed granny smith apples. This dish had been mentioned by the server who recommended the diner. It seemed not as generous as other breakfasts, although perhaps very rich, as it was only two halves of one stuffed thick slice of bread. I tried a bit and thought it was good. Albert however commented that it might have been a little over cooked to his taste. Overall, breakfast at the Avenue Diner was very good, even if the chairs were slightly uncomfortable. Service was good and we were recognized on our second visit.

Before Albert left Edmonton on Thursday morning, we had some breakfast the the Sugarbowl. I've mentioned it many times and I need only say that the half cinnamon bun and fruit salad did not disappoint. The bun was a delicious blend of textures--soft and crisp-- with caramelized bits once again.

Long Time No See, Sorry It Was a Food Adventure

I haven't written in a while because I went to Calgary with Albert last weekend and his visit continued until Thursday. Then, I was busy preparing for a bit of a dinner party tonight. First, I'll talk about Calgary. (I actually forgot to take photos at the party, so I will take some of the leftovers. . . I'm a bad blogger).

I was really hungry (and crabby) when I got to Calgary. I'd read some good things about the Cafe in the McNally Robinson Bookstore on Chowhound. It was nearby, so I decided to go there. . . at about 5 o'clock. I ordered the pear and blue cheese salad for about $10. It came with a slice of multi grain bread, which I ate along with the entire salad. A large, late snack don't you think? Anyways, the bread was good, blue cheese is always good, the greens were fresh, and the berry vinaigrette was tasty (but I had to ask for it). The pears, well, they seemed like canned pears. That was a bit disappointing. . . of course I could be wrong. Albert had some sort of chocolaty, boozy dessert coffee while we were there. He found it too sickly sweet to finish, but should have known better perhaps.

That night, we ate at PiqNiq Bistro above the BeatNiq jazz bar. It was the fanciest meal we had. It started off with a couple of tasty little rolls with butter. They had an intriguing flavour that we argued over the source of. I was reminded slightly of winter squash. Caraway was brought up as a possibility. We moved straight to mains after that. I had the catch of the day, which was seared Ahi tuna. It came with really tasty baby potatoes, julienned vegetables, and fennel that may have been pickled. The fish though was underwhelming for the price. I heard the waitress describing it as blue rare. That would have been great. What I got was a shade under well-done in my books and many bites tasted dry. I was too timid to complain since I've never actually had seared tuna before. . . maybe I should have. Albert had
"Truffled Butternut Squash and Goat Cheese Ravioli, Fresh Tomato Coulis." It included some asparagus spears as well. He said it was a playful dish and seemed to enjoy it. The best part of our meal came last with a chocolate cheesecake that we split for dessert. It was rich and creamy, chocolaty, and not too sweet. It was very, very good. Down in the jazz bar afterward, I enjoyed a most excellent Caesar in honour of Canada Day and Albert had a pint of the local brew on tap.

There's still more to talk about (and it gets better) . . . but that's all I'm going to say for now.