And in case you still don’t think Toronto is the best city in the world, check this out!

- Stephanie Dickison

Saturday, November 14th 2pm
EATING WORDS – The Art of Food Writing
A Highlight of the Stratford Chef School Gastronomic Writer in Residence Program

A Roundtable Discussion and Q & A
So you want to write about food. Start here with some of the best in the business. Blogs, essays, twitter, websites and oh, yes, books, where to begin! This is a unique opportunity to hear award winning writers from around the world, and here at home, discuss the art of food writing and the future of the craft. Bring your questions and see where the discussion leads us.

Panelists:
* Corby Kummer, 2008-2009 Writer in Residence, senior editor at The Atlantic, author of The Pleasures of Slow Food
* Michael Symons from Australia and the 2009-2010 Writer in Residence, author of the books One Continuous Picnic: A History of Australian Eating and A History of Cooks and Cooking,
* Margaret Webb, author of Apples to Oysters, short listed for Cuisine Canada Book Award
* Ian Brown, Globe and Mail writer, award winning journalist and author of The Boy in the Moon.

Authors books will be available on the day for purchase.
Location: Heliconian Hall, 35 Hazelton Ave
Tickets $25/15 students. Available at The Cookbook Store

Fresh From the Farmer’s Market

By Janet Fletcher

Reviewed by Chris Garbutt

It’s been a slow year for farmer’s markets for me, which is sad, because I’m as crazy about farmer’s markets as any downtown foodie. (Hey, I grew up in rural Southern Ontario, a town which had its own stockyards and vegetable stands  every Saturday, so I come by this love of markets honestly.) But for some reason, I just didn’t incorporate the markets into my routine.

Maybe it was the fact that the one on my way home was located next to an outdoor rink that doubled as a garbage dump during the municipal strike. Still, I was pretty loyal to my favourite grocery store, called Fresh From the Farm, which is just as good.

Janet Fletcher’s Fresh From the Farmer’s Market is all about how to make those markets a regular part of your life. It’s divided seasonally, with recipes based on the ingredients of the moment. Of course, since it’s an American book, you can’t always translate those seasons up here: the winter farmer’s market in most of Canada won’t have much fresh that didn’t grow in a barn or a greenhouse. Citrus and cabbage in winter? Yeah, that’s gonna be coming from south of the border.

It being autumn and all, we tried a seasonal dish – butternut squash risotto with white truffle oil. The squash came from Fresh from the Farm, but I got the arborio rice from Organic Abundance around the corner and the truffle oil* at a nearby Italian shop that sells olive oil, balsamic vinegar and premade pasta dishes. Not exactly a farmer’s market extravaganza, but still a seasonal delight.

And a delight it was. Though I overcooked the squash a little, and the constant stirring gave me cramps in my upper arm, the  final product was worth it. Next stop: winter. Something with citrus and cabbage, I’m sure.

* The first place I went to offered a truffle oil bottle for $51. A little out of my price range. The bottle I settled on was a mere $18.

UPDATE: Here’s a similar recipe with less stirring and actual truffles!

Take Saveur’s quiz to see what kind of foodie you really are.  Then tell us if you agree with the findings!

- Stephanie

Opinion # 1 By Stephanie Dickison

This depends on whether I was going to use it to splurge or not.  Would I treat myself and get more extravagant, expensive things that I’m used to or would I try and get the most for my money?

Let’s go with extravagant, just for fun.  Now the question is would I use it for a nice dinner out with my fella or for fantastic luxe grocery items to keep in the kitchen cupboard for little bursts of luxury?

I think I’d go with the dinner, because getting the stuff for at home is a wee bit more practical and this isn’t about being practical for once.

As for where we’d go and what we’d have, that’s a tough one as we’re both food hounds and other than reading, writing, walking and spending time together, going out to eat is one of very favourite things to do.  Also, I’m a restaurant critic so there are certain restaurants that make not make the list over others.

I’d venture to say that we would probably either go for Ethiopian, Brazilian or Portuguese – the thinking being that we can get Italian, Japanese or Vietnamese any ol’ time, but these places are fewer and farther between.

Scott loves Ethiopian a little more than I do because he can’t get enough injera – the airy bread that you pull away with your fingers and acts as a utensil to scoop out other items.  I find it too goopy, but I love the other dishes, so I do just fine with my fingers.

Brazilian is awfully sexy and I love the heartiness and spiciness of it all, but I’m in the mood for Portuguese these days, so that’s what I going with for this experiment.

There are three things that I think are superb standouts in Portuguese cooking – churassco chicken, piri piri sauce, and the way they prepare fish.

I love that somehow the food is infused with intense flavours, but never overpowers the meat, fish or vegetables.  How do they do that?

I would go to a place on College Street that I’ve been only once, but the memories and flavours have remained ever since.

I would start with the Lobster, Octopus & Shrimp in a citrus, tarragon aioli ($20) and then move on to Grilled and Gently roasted Filet of Salted Cod with Extra Virgin Olive Oil and Garlic ($38), while I’m sure Scott would get the Nova Scotia Lobster on risotto of saffron ($45).

I know I went over budget there a little, but I’d be happy to kick in the extra.  When you have food this good, it’s worth it.

Of course, Scott and I don’t eat dinners like this often.  Let’s face it – 2 freelance writers in one household does not an expense account make.   On a regular weeknight, I’m making  chicken and pasta and lots of veg, just like you

But it is nice to dream like this every once in awhile.  Especially while I’m off to make soup and sandwiches for dinner.

Opinion # 2 By Chris Garbutt

Every time I go to the grocery store, I wonder where we get the idea that inflation is low. Food prices have been climbing for longer than I can remember now. A hundred bucks almost doesn’t cover a week’s groceries for the two of us.*

But I think I’ll take another approach here. If I had $100 for one meal for two, then I could have a little fun. And the truth is, what I write today could change tomorrow. So with that in mind, here’s what I would do with that money today.

Now that barbecue season has begun, I think I would get grilling. I’m thinking maybe I would get some large scallops from my local fish market – Avenue Seafood on Avenue Road north of Lawrence. Then I would pick up some produce from Organic Abundance on Yonge Street. Perhaps some asparagus, potatoes, onions. Something in season for a salad – spinach, radishes? I would then walk down the street to The Friendly Butcher to pick up some locally raised bacon.

I would keep it simple:

-    Fry up some bacon for crumbling
-    Make a potato pouch with garlic and onions, and put it on the grill
-    Put some salt, pepper and olive oil on the asparagus, and grill that, too
-    Make up the spinach salad, maybe make a dressing with orange juice, shallots and olive oil
-    Sprinkle salt and pepper on the scallops, drizzle some olive oil and grill them
-    Use some of the salad dressing to create an orange sauce for the scallops
-    Crumble the bacon over both the salad and the scallops
-    Put it all on a plate and serve it with my sweetie

Now, that’s how I feel right at this moment. Give me a few seconds and I’ll start again. I’m starting to think that a lobster on that grill might be nice…

I think I’ve come well under a hundred here, so with whatever’s left, I’d buy the best sauvignon blanc I can find. What would you do?

* Well, I eat a lot of organic.

By Stephanie Dickison

“Boomers are triggering a U.S. movement toward hotter and spicier foods. In the past nine years, the consumption of chili peppers in the U.S. has increased 50%.” – via TrendHunter

I don’t know what’s happened this last year, but practically every meal I eat, I wonder how I can make it hotter, kick up the heat a notch – or seven.

It started out very innocently – living with a meat and potatoes guy, we kept a bottle of hot sauce in the fridge door and a mostly forgotten jar of hot peppers in the back behind the bread and assorted exotic condiments. I used them occasionally on my eggs or a burger, but left them mostly to my fella.

Then I started reviewing restaurants. Portuguese Piri Piri and Mexican dishes laced with peppers were a part of my job and somehow I came to build up a tolerance for spicier fare.

And over this last year, I have been adding red, gold and green heat to whatever I can.

In fact, it’s so out of hand that a couple of nights ago, my fella and I were out and wanted to grab a quick bite to eat. We went for sushi where I ordered a spicy tuna roll and a salmon roll. I added wasabi to the spicy tuna, which Scott had already remarked on its incredible heat. While I did find it hot, it didn’t stop me from adding wasabi to it. And while I didn’t break out into a sweat, I did get a stomach ache not long after.

When I go grocery shopping now, I have moved from the “mild” sauces, skipped the “medium” category completely and gone straight for the “hot,” sometimes making it too hot even for Scott, the man who can down a euphoric basket of Scotch Bonnet drummies with just a mist of sweat and always a smile on his face.

I am convinced that because I didn’t grow up with anything spicy at home (Worcestershire was the hottest thing we had), it is simply a building up of my palate through experiences at restaurants and the introduction to foods and sauces that are not just hot, but actually taste good.

This is why I now get hot peppers on my burgers and sandwiches, Brooklyn Petro (a company of 2 guys who wanted heat with flavour) on my eggs and my curries and stir fries at home have gone from mild-mannered to rock the Kasbah hot. Even my Mom who can’t even stand the heat of ginger has been coming along on the heat ride, saying that she enjoys the extra kick now and again.

This shows me that really anyone can build up their palate and like getting used to things you don’t like and then introducing them into your meals, can really change the way you feel about them. And often times, they become your favourite go-to item.

Recently, I was picking out a salsa and decided that I would go for hot, as medium is usually pretty mild, and I was in the mood for a little heat.

After dinner and cleaning up the kitchen, my fella and I tucked into the couch to watch a movie. I brought out the chips and salsa and pressed “play.”

Without much thought, I reached for a chip, swept it briskly through the salsa and put most of it in my mouth.

The phrase “hotter than hell” doesn’t quite do it justice. Tears squeezed out of my eyes, liquid gushed from my nose and my mouth felt engulfed in a searing heat that seemed to increase in intensity as seconds passed.

I’d say that my palate has sufficiently has gone up a notch since then.

Last night I had some hot wings and realized that I was putting hot sauce on them.

Uh oh.

Cooking Light’s Fresh Food Fast: 5 ingredient, 15 minute recipes

Edited by Mary Kay Culpepper

Review by Chris Garbutt

My wife and I have a new game  – I pick a cookbook, and I have to cook any recipe she chooses from it. When I gave her Fresh Food Fast, she had her work cut out for her. There are more than 250 recipes, which all look easy and delicious.

So, would it be the Turkey Burgers with Cranberry-Peach Chutney? Or the Scallops in Buttery Wine Sauce? Pork Medallions with Spicy Pomegranate-Blueberry Reduction?

Wait a minute. I didn’t notice that one before. That last recipe has both of our favourite fruits (pomegranates – hers, blueberries – mine). Well, some other time.

My wife settled on the Halibut with Quick Lemon Pesto, served with Grilled Zucchini and Red Bell Pepper with Corn. Our fish place didn’t have halibut, though, so we went with black cod. And we had run out of propane so our grill pan had to replace the barbecue. This was a quick and tasty meal, served on a weeknight, with little cleanup. My kind of meal.

I will say that very few of these recipes have the titular five ingredients (most have eight or nine). And some of the “ingredients” feel a little like cheating – calling for Parmesan and roasted garlic dressing “such as Newman’s own” doesn’t seem fair. I mean who just happens to have that exact kind of dressing in their fridge?

On top of that, I suggest that you never believe a cookbook that offers you 15-minute recipes, unless the instructions end with “remove from microwave.”

Still, our meal, while not ready in 15, was still on the table in less than a half-hour, and I can’t argue with the taste. Fresh food fast, indeed. This one is destined to be a regular on the kitchen shelf.

By Chris Garbutt

It’s been a while, but I thought it was time for another Friday 5. Vegetables are finally fresh again! So let’s look at five links on what to do with them:

1. Radishes. Radish, Boursin & Chive Tartines.

2. Spinach. Italian Sausage & Spinach Pasta.

3. Asparagus. Well, you can make Chicken, Feta and Asparagus Salad for yourself. Or maybe an Asparagus, Goat Cheese and Lemon Pasta. Of course, you can eat it on its own, but can you eat it with your fingers? Forget all that, just grill it already!

4. Scallions. Make pancakes! Yummy!

5. If you can find some really really fresh peas (I might be pushing this one in Toronto right now), try this one.

…

Oh, all right…

Anyone who knows me knows that I am not a big fan of rhubarb. But it is a classic spring vegetable, so enjoy. Just don’t ask me over:

Rhubarb Soup

Orange-Rhubarb Compote

Rhubarb Cobbler – I think this would be amazing with any fruit, by the way. If you substitute, please ask me over.

While I like this a lot, we did it over two years ago! Same title and everything!

Edible Schoolyard: A Universal Idea

By Alice Waters

Review by Chris Garbutt

Those who know about Alice Waters are familiar with her celebrity. Chez Panisse, her restaurant in Berkeley, California, is one of the most famous in America. The restaurant was started in the sixties, based on the idea of making good French food with local ingredients. She’s an advocate for local eating, and the author of eight cookbooks, including The Art of Simple Food, which sits on the prime cookbook shelf in my kitchen.

What you might not know is that before becoming a chef and foodie hero, Waters was a Montessori schoolteacher. About 15 years ago, she brought together these two careers, which is what Edible Schoolyard is about.

Waters and some dedicated staff at Martin Luther King Jr. Middle School in Berkeley decided that it was time for the crumbling facility to be rehabilitated. The school sat on a relatively large piece of land, much of it covered by concrete. The concrete was torn up to make way for a garden, which grew year by year, and was supplemented by a renovated outbuilding that became the school’s kitchen classroom. Students were given the responsibility, for credit, for tending the garden and cooking the fruits (and vegetables) of their labour.

“It’s a way of making sure that children grow up feeling the soil with their own fingers, harvesting the bounty in the American sunshine, and watching their own hands make the kind of beautiful, inexpensive food that can nourish the body and the spirit,” Waters writes.

I’m not sure what the book is trying to be, exactly. The text is pretty thin, though the story is pretty inspiring. There are pictures of the kids working the garden, and cooking in the kitchen. There are a few recipes – cucumber-lime cooler, carrot-raisin salad, spring vegetable ragout, bread salad, red bean stew and potato smash with kale (that’s all of them). There are also images of the children’s reflections on their experience eating, which even for a food-lover like myself, provide a stark reminder of how out of touch we can be with where our food comes from. These notes are moving in their transformative power.

But at 80 pages, I was left wanting more. More stories, more recipes, or more photographs. It feels like a coffee-table book, but it’s not big enough to display. Waters has moved me here, but not quite enough for a prized place on my bookshelf.

Opinion # 1 By Chris Garbutt

I don’t know whether what I have would be considered gadgets. A pasta machine? Gadget to some, but hey, I actually make fresh pasta, so to me it’s a tool. Ice cream maker? Again, I  make ice cream with it.

Tool. Blender? Mandoline? Microplane grater? Potato scrubber? Meat thermometer? I use them! Calling them gadgets just diminishes these tools to fetish objects.

Now, there are some tools that make no sense to me. An egg separator (especially this one) seems unnecessary. There’s a garlic press in my drawer, but I find it easier just to chop garlic with a knife, and I don’t see why the pieces have to be so small. And a countertop steamer seems crazy when you can just use a pot on the stove.

And then there are the truly bizarre. How about pizza scissors? Or finger food utensils?  Or a banana slicer!

I’m a simple guy. I don’t need a whole lot of fancy tools – though I like them, and I do dream of a nice gas stove. What I do need are a few simple things to get my job done. Number one: a good sharp chef’s knife. The knife itself is my favourite tool, but the sharpness is a little more difficult. So my favourite kitchen tool, if I had one, would be my very own knife sharpener. I’m not talking about a honing steel here, but an actual sharpener, so I don’t have to bring my favourite knife into the kitchen store every few months.

But I can’t finish without mentioning the kitchen tool closest to my heart: the wooden spoon. I have nothing more to say about the humble wooden spoon except that it makes me very happy every time I grab one to stir the onions as they saute in my pan.

Opinion # 2 By Stephanie Dickison

I think at one point in my career as a food-obsessive, I had a single purpose gadget for everything.  Though I never succumbed to the dreaded pasta maker and I’ve never had the storage or counter space to own a food processer, I have had at various times:

- a melon baller

- an avocado slicer

- a strawberry huller

- a papaya seeder

Most of these were thoughtful gifts from friends and family and not all of them ended up at the back of the cupboard.

And while there are a ton of gadgets I would love to have (—–), there are 2 that have remained, for well over a decade now, indispensible for me.

The Mini Chopper

My Mom bought this for me one Christmas or birthday from a list that she’d asked me to provide.  At one point, it did seem like I had every kitchen appliance and ingredient, so it’s no wonder she couldn’t keep track.

She bought this little wonder at Wal-Mart, I think for either 9.99 or 14.99 and honestly, it is fantastic.

It is like a mini food processor, which is perfect for me as I still don’t have the counter or cupboard space for the real deal.  And for such a little thing, it whops a punch.  I make everything from homemade breadcrumbs for making chicken parmigiana for my fella; blending together avocado, lime, cilantro and whatever else I have on hand for amazingly smooth guacamole; and mixing eggs, green onions, herbs de provence and various cheese for a silky, sexy quiche.

Really, I could be using it for pretty much every meal that I make, but I like to use it only occasionally so that I don’t take it for granted.

I like it that much.

Hand Blender

A guy I used to work with and who I swore was gay but was not as he was always trying to kiss me gave me a Braun hand blender in 1991.

This guy knew that I loved to cook and back then, I was just starting to do catering on my own and I guess this was his way of supporting me, while hanging around in case I needed someone to make out with. Weird.

I still have it and use it to make luxurious, yet ridiculously easy homemade soups.  The white body has turning to a masking tape beige and there is a small crack in the base, but otherwise it is still trucking along.

The best thing about it is that no matter what the ingredients (or often in my case, the leftovers) are, blended with some water, spices and a whole lotta love, it creates an incredibly comforting soup.

I know you can do way more with it than that, but for me, it’s been helping me create some really memorable soups since 1991.

I couldn’t ask for anything more.

I don’t know what happened to that guy other than he married and had kids.  Wherever he is, I can’t imagine that he would believe what an everlasting gift it’s been.