say it with pie

The League of Extraordinary Dancers is an online series debuting in 2010. I have no idea what this even is, but it looks totally epic.

This picture sucks pretty hard. That’s because I was like, “Aaaahhhh, I need to put down my camera and eat this bread as soon as possible!” And then I did. And it was amazing. And you can’t have any.

I’ve been wanting to try making bread on my pizza stone since I mastered basic pizza, and I thought this Pane di Granoturco would be a fun place to start. “Pane di Granoturco” just means “Bread with Cornmeal” in Italian; it’s a home-style loaf that goes nicely with stews or soups, like this butternut squash soup I whipped up super fast:

It’s finished with some piri piri that my friend Jeanette made. Also, check out my awesome cat salt shaker.

The recipe is courtesy of Chef John from Food Wishes, who produces free instructional cooking videos. I think Chef John has to be my favourite cooking personality of all time: online, on television and in real life. I have waited tables in almost a dozen restaurants in my time and I’ve found that chefs usually have anger, ego or drug problems. But Chef John seems like such a delightful fellow! He makes me rethink my deep-seated prejudice toward chefs! Check out the site and spend an afternoon going through the archives. You will become a fan.

Great Grandma C’s Pane di Granoturco from Foodwishes on Vimeo.

I recently got a pizza stone and I am in LOVE with it. Homemade pizza is quick, easy and sooooo delicious.

My best pizza so far has been a potato pizza bianca with Etorki. Etorki is a French sheep milk cheese that has the most wonderful nutty flavour. I brushed the dough with olive oil, threw on some shredded Etorki, added some rosemary sprigs and covered the top with Yukon Gold potatoes sliced thin on a mandoline. Then I drizzled some oil into the potatoes and gave it a generous dose of freshly ground sea salt and pepper.

It was unspeakably delicious.

I attempted to recreate the pizza a few days later with mozzarella and, while very good, it just didn’t have the complexity of the Etorki version. I’m excited to try making more pizzas with non-traditional cheeses. Taking suggestions!

Edit: I made this pizza again with mozzarella and Le Riopelle de l’Isle, an earthy triple-creme from Quebec with good results!

Nightmare Cat is twitchy!

(It hasn’t set yet)

This is what chocolate mousse should not look like:

At least I know what I screwed up: I used a giant block of high-quality baking chocolate from St. Lawrence Market which didn’t have enough cocoa butter to get truly molten when I heated it. Then I got distracted and overcooked the egg yolk. That’s what you get for multi-tasking in the kitchen.

Most of the time, though, chocolate mousse is a quick and easy dessert that always looks more labour-intensive than it really is. I got it perfect on my second try yesterday when I actually used the proper ingredients and stayed focused. Plus, it costs under $10 to make! I follow the standard Joy of Cooking recipe.

There hasn’t been a Caturday around here for a while!

That’s because Charlie joined the Twitter brigade. He can usually say what he needs to in under 140 characters. TwitPics here!

I like a traditional ploughman’s lunch, but I love a fancy ploughman’s lunch. This one features a lovely sheep brie from Global Cheese, whole wheat crackers, spinach greens, golden beets dressed with a dash of balsamic and oil, apple slices and dried apricots.

Pete took one look at it and said, “More like WOWman’s lunch!” and I think he had a point.

I’ve been spending a lot of time working at Moonbean Cafe recently. It’s really quick to get there via TTC from my apartment and they have a quiet little room at the back with an extension cord in the middle of the room so you can plug in your lap top. They also have great coffee and a nice staff, but I’m really in it for the quiet environment and the power source.

Yes, all it takes to make me loyal to one cafe, day after day, for hours on end is tables and plugs. It’s not rocket science, dudes! I’m looking at you, Manic Coffee, where it’s impossible to get a seat because you’re so cool for some reason. I’m looking at you, basically every other coffee shop in Toronto, where you can never find a goddamn power outlet.

But I digress.

The great thing about working at Moonbean is being able to pick up fresh fish, meat, cheese, vegetables and other sundries in Kensington Market on the way home from my little study sessions. The not-so-great thing is that I’m usually really tired by dinner time. Here’s a quick-yet-delicious seafood pasta dish I made in under 30 mins:

Salmon and Tagliatelle Nero di Seppia

Ingredients: Salmon, Tagliatelle Nero di Seppia (black squid ink pasta), garlic, baby spinach, lemon, parmesan cheese, olive oil, S&P.

Salmon: Brush salmon with olive oil, sprinkle with S&P. Bake until done. Don’t overcook!

Pasta: Cook pasta until al dente and drain. Heat olive oil in pan and fry chopped garlic for 1 min, then add spinach and cook until wilted. Add cream (I had half and half, heavy cream would be better). If you have it, white wine would be nice before the cream but I was all out. Reduce! Add parmesan cheese for flavour and stickiness. Add pasta and toss in sauce, cooking until the sauce sticks to the pasta.

Plating: Twirl your pasta into a mound on a plate, top with salmon. Finish with a healthy spritz of fresh lemon juice. Garnish with something if you have it.

If I was going to do this again, which I probably will, I would have made the pasta a little saucier. And added white wine. Also, it would have worked way better with a big pat of butter and heavy cream rather than half and half, but it was a Monday and I didn’t want to be too decadent.

Will O’Neill is a guy I know from the internet. I guess you could say we’re friends, except I’ve only met him once in real life and sometimes he says things about women that are deeply offensive. When he’s not being a misogynist (and even when he is being a misogynist), he’s a funny dude who occasionally does stand-up, makes hilarious videos, and writes/edits/manages Canada’s premiere satirical news blog, The Albatross. I think he also has a day job but we don’t talk about that.

Recently, I sat down with Will in the comfort of our respective homes to conduct an e-mail interview about The Albatross, the perils of comedy writing, and Will’s other projects…

Continue reading Interview: Will O’Neill of The Albatross »

Ever had an infestation of pantry moths? I do not recommend it!

A couple of weeks ago, I saw a little worm larva on the stove but I couldn’t figure out where it came from. Our kitchen is pretty clean and we don’t leave food out, so I inspected the most likely breeding ground: the green bin. Nothing! A few days later, I noticed another larva crawling up the wall. I looked up at the ceiling and EW EW EW EW EW EW there were probably about 10 of these little larvae guys crawling on the ceiling! EW!

Pete googled “maggots on my ceiling” and we soon discovered that the intruders were pantry moths, or rather their larvae which are called waxworms. They’re a common household nuisance that feed on dry grains. The only way to get rid of them is to throw out everything in your pantry. They can breach cardboard boxes and plastic bags so the best way to prevent them is to keep your dry goods in glass jars. Here are some helpful articles on ridding your kitchen of pantry moths.

Waxworms only eat grains so I kept my sugar but threw out anything that was even sort of questionable like dried fruit, chocolate, etc. We threw out: white flour, whole wheat flour, dark rye flour, organic spelt flour, white rice, brown rice, arborio rice, cornmeal, couscous israeli couscous, graham crumbs, almond slivers, sliced almonds, corn starch, baking powder, bread crumbs, trail mix, cream of tartar, gluten flower, dried mushrooms, sunflower seeds, lentils, dried soup mix, croutons, chocolate chips, semi-sweet chocolate, raisins, spaghetti, egg noodles, and 8 boxes of Zatarain’s Jambalaya mix (I really like it). Probably about $120 of dried goods, not too bad.

Since the only way I really know how to deal with things is to blog about it, I grabbed my camera and documented the pantry purge. I also grabbed a big glass of bourbon because EW EW EW EW EW, worms everywhere!

Continue reading Attack of the Pantry Moths!!! »