Little Italy, A Little Risotto, and My Little Sister

Wednesday afternoon was a really enjoyable, really foodie time. Once classes were over, my little sister and I met up to shop for and cook dinner. I've been meaning to check out the Italian Centre Shop in Little Italy for quite some time. I'd heard it was awesome with so much Italian food and excellent prices. It was a bit of a journey from the University on the LRT and a really old-school electric bus. We thought it was like a journey back in time what with the old bus and the state of the Little Italy neighbourhood, which is maybe a touch run down. The store was absolutely awesome, though.

There was a lot of food you don't see elsewhere like goat stewing meat. There was a ton of dried pasta in every imaginable shape, a pretty much exhaustive selection of Italian cheeses and cured meats, and an olive counter. I found treasures like cheap figs and fennel bulbs in the produce department. There were also piles of Italian cookies and chocolates including single Bacci chocolates available at the checkout counters.

My sister and I bought ingredients for a recipe by Giada Di Laurentiis for Dirty Risotto, that features pancetta, hot Italian sausage, mushrooms, red bell pepper, onion, and Italian flat leaf parsley. For the two of us, we prepared essentially half the recipe with a few alterations. We used less than a tablespoon of butter and one approximately 4 ounce link of the Italian Centre's fresh hot sausage. We skipped the white wine due to the expense and the fact we wouldn't drink the rest but added a chopped clove of garlic with the vegetables. We also didn't add any salt. . . but that's a matter of taste. Leslie was a fantastic sous-chef and the dish came together beautifully. She even cut all the mushrooms really, really carefully into slices.

Here's our masterpiece:
The pork products added a ton of flavour to the risotto, which was also wonderfully creamy and starchy. Both my sister and I like starch so we really enjoyed this. The bits of sausage were very tasty, clearly the Italian Centre knows what they're doing making it. I think it was comparable to what I tasted in Southern Ontario. Freshly grated Parmesan also added delicious flavour.

I think this was my sister's first risotto and she liked it. As a side dish we had a plate of heirloom tomatoes with pepper and basil. It was an excellent choice to cut some of the starchy richness of the risotto. All in all, it was a really successful shopping trip and supper with my sister.

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.

The Risotto Revelation

For a while I have been thinking that I'd like to try my hand at making a risotto. It seemed like it would be something of an accomplishment to do, that it would prove my cooking skills. One thing that was stopping me was that I could not remember ever having eaten a risotto, I believe because my I remembered my father saying it was gross. . . maybe. Anyways, I tried my first risotto in memory at Quarry in Canmore. It was a creamy delicious almond risotto described here. The other thing I wanted before I made risotto was a good chicken stock. The chicken broth (made from bullion, naughty me) that I used to braise chicken thighs for sandwich meat seemed to fit the bill. I chilled it, skimmed off the fat, and froze it for my future risotto.

For the risotto, I also bought short grain rice. It's not aborio but calrose. I'm pretty sure that's okay, right? Anyways, it worked. I looked for a simple risotto recipe on Epicurious in which I could use my "chicken stock". The recipe I chose was this one for Risotto with Peas and Prosciutto. I of course made a few alterations, basically make a third of the recipe. I used
less butter than called for and didn't add any to finish as it already had a creamy texture and the comments with the recipe suggested it was unnecessary. I believe I also used less cheese than would be 1/3 of the recipe and used Roman in place of Parmigiano. People on Epicurious commented that there was too much cheese in the original recipe and it made for a sticky risotto. I omitted completely the white wine, as there wasn't enough reason to buy a bottle for my risotto experiment and I omitted the lemon zest. . . because I'm lazy? Hell, this was my special Sunday lunch, I'd do whatever I wanted.

I prepared the risotto as directed otherwise, but found that instead of 20 minutes it took a good 45 minutes for the rice to be of an edible tenderness, which I think was still al dente. That's a lot of stirring, risotto will beef up your stirring arm boys. My finished product looked pretty good:
It was a creamy, starchy bowl of bliss. However, I found myself adding quite a bit of black pepper, because it needed the slight kick. I also think that more peas would be good what with the colour, sweetness, and healthfulness they add. The prosciutto was really tasty too, nice and salty. The elements of this risotto really go well together, not surprising since peas and prosciutto is pretty classic. I would love to make it again in a larger portion to share with a friend. I think it would be really impressive. . . and we could use the wine and lemon zest for a more complex flavour, especially the wine. Anyways, I'm sure this won't be my last risotto.

Fine Dining: Quarry Bistro and Wine Bar

In Canmore with my family this weekend I was looking to indulge in what makes for a good vacation in our family: physical activity followed by a lot of delicious food, because we work up an appetite. It rained on Saturday, so my "physical activity" was wandering around Canmore and through some shops before the previously mentioned pizza.

But on Sunday, we got lucky and there was some sunshine and plenty of "not raining" to go around. We hiked about 15 km at Lake Minnewanka (or Lake Willy Wonka if you're eating chocolate, which I was). Lunch was a ham and cheese sandwich, an orange, and some chocolate along the trail. I took some pictures of the scenery, so here's one since I didn't take pictures of restaurant food:

Okay, so I saw some pretty mountains and worked up a monster appetite for dinner. As a result, I was the only member of my family to complete three courses.

We went to a really nice local restaurant called Quarry Bistro. It features local and organic ingredients much like the pizza place, except more formal and upscale. Of course, it never gets too formal in the mountains. Anyways, they say they specialize in French and Italian cooking, which I'd agree with.

To start with, we all shared PEI Mussels and Frites. The mussels were huge and tasty in their white wine, butter and capers. The frites were cut thin and featured some sweet potato fries, which I thought was a nice touch. I've never really discussed my love of sweet potatoes, but I really like them. The fries were topped with aioli, I'm pretty sure. That was rich and tasty and perfect for my very hungry stomach. My sister started with the soup of the day, which I think was tomato and bread. She loved the tomatoes and thought the bread was good. She also claimed the soup filled her up so she could barely eat her pasta entree. The soup did appear very thick to me.

After the mussels, we were brought some foccacia bread. I only ate a little, wanting to save room for other things, but it was really tasty with plenty of olive oil and salt on top. Anyways, they have good bread, which really I would expect.

Next up were the entrees. Before they arrived, I noticed the spectacular red Mohawk of one of the cooks through the pass. It was pretty sweet. My mom had the special which was lobster, duck confit, and (white?) beans. She ate it all I think, so it must have been good. My father and sister had Penne all'Amatriciana. It was penne with a spicy tomato sauce and bacon. My sister once again loved the tomatoes. I tried a piece of pasta and a bit of bacon and it was indeed quite tasty. Neither of them could finish the pasta, I would have expected more from my dad.

My entree gets its own paragraph, because I'm important, kidding. I had the Sooke Hills Rainbow Trout served with almond risotto and green beans. I was trying to branch out and I believe it was my first risotto and my first trout. The green beans were lightly cooked so they were still crisp and sprinkled with balsamic vinegar. The vinegar was a nice touch and I would have been sorely disappointed if the beans were overcooked. The trout, was served with the skin and was seasoned with plenty of pepper and some butter. It was really tender and tasty. I wouldn't hesitate to have rainbow trout again. The best part of my entree was the risotto. It was really soft and creamy. . . I thought it was supposed to have a bit, but like I said I've never had it before. Anyways, it was really delicious and creamy and had plenty of delicious almonds mixed in. It will not be my last risotto.

I had a glass of Italian red wine that my parents ordered with my food. It was drinkable and good and apparently from grapes grown of vineyards sloping towards the sea in Abruzzo. Anyways, as a result I was slightly drunk by the end of the meal, lightweight that I am.

So, after devouring my entire entree, I wanted a sweet treat. I knew that there was a single scoop of homemade semifreddo (ice cream) available. So I ordered that in chocolate, for a little something. This is the course I was alone in eating. Anyways, texture-wise it wasn't too spectacular. It was good but nothing like the smooth creaminess of gelato. Where it really shone was in the flavour, which was given a twist with some cinnamon. Of course I ate the whole scoop, loving it all. They're really smart to have such a small dessert on offer. I wouldn't have gone for anything larger.

Anyways, the Quarry Bistro has good food and a nice atmosphere right on Main Street in Canmore. Incidentally, I found this video on You Tube of Chef David Wyse from Quarry telling Kelly Hrudey how to make carbonara. It's kind of fun, maybe you should watch it.