Petrozilia

Ideal Sandwich

2008-04-30T06:19:00.000-07:00

So we all have big dreams in life to be happy, have a family and have the careers we want. Since I relate everything to food, I like to call this the ideal sandwich. An ideal sandwich will make your day every time you have one, especially since you can add food but they are virtually inedible which means zero calories.
Today's ideal sandwich:
1 holy land pita
4 tbs sunflower kitchen hummus
1/4 cup french fries
1 fried egg
1 baby

Turns out, the NYT's has a different idea about an Ideal Sandwich.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/30/dining/30sand.html?_r=1&oref=slogin

The Churro Borough

2008-03-25T06:46:00.000-07:00

With anticipation of my upcoming NYC trip, I decided that along with my hunt for the perfect spring dress, I will be in search of a mighty fine churro. Why, you ask? Well friends, I'm addicted to rhyming and sugar.
So follow my quest for the perfect Mexican-style doughnut. And I don't even like doughnuts.
The things I will do for a rhyme...
If you aren't heading to NYC anytime soon and just can't wait, try this recipe from 1080 Recipes.

Churros
175 g / 6 oz plain flour
sunflower oil, for deep frying
icing sugar, for dredging
salt

(Makes about 25)

Pour 350 ml / 12 fl oz water into a saucepan, add a pinch of salt and bring to the boil. Tip in the flour all at once and cook, stirring constantly, until the mixture comes away from the sides of the pan. Remove the pan from the heat and leave to cool. Heat the oil in a deep-fryer or saucepan to 180–190°C/350–375°F or until a cube of day-old bread browns in 30 seconds. Put the cooled mixture into a churrera and make the churros, cutting them to the required length with a sharp knife as the dough is pushed out, and adding them immediately to the hot oil. Alternatively, spoon the cooled mixture into a piping bag fitted with a star nozzle and pipe directly into the hot oil, cutting the churros to the required length with a sharp knife and working in batches if necessary. When the strips of fried dough are golden brown all over, remove with a slotted spoon, drain well, dredge with icing sugar and serve immediately. Note: Some people prefer to use a mixture of water and milk (more than half water, less than half milk), which makes lighter churros.

Moules

2008-03-15T20:50:00.001-07:00

So I went to the LCBO and cooked mussels with my friends from Mill Street. They were delicious and you can totally cook them at home if you like.
So here goes.

Buy 1 pound of fresh mussels and put them in a bucket. Fill it with cold running water and pick through to clean the mussels off, pulling off any beards or junk.
If there are mussels that don't close in the water, throw them out immediately.
Heat 1 tbsp of butter and 1 tbsp of oil in a large pan (like the one I am using in this photo). Add a tsp of minced garlic and cook until aromatic, about 45 seconds.
Add 1 cup julienne vegetables (I like using onions, peppers and carrots) and toss until slightly soft, another 2 minutes or so.
Then, add your mussels and toss them with the fat and veg until nicely coated. Add 1 tbsp Sambal (a great Indonesian-style hot sauce) 2 tbsp heavy cream and 1 bottle of good beer (I was using Mill Street Belgian Wit). Give a good shot of salt, toss and then cover until the mussels have all fully opened. If there are ones that haven't opened, discard them immediately.
Serve with fresh baguette.
C'est bon.

Keeping it in the family

2008-03-03T16:48:00.001-08:00

So my dad is a really good cook and he made this chicken that left me wanting more. Want to make it too? Here goes:

7 sun-dried tomatoes
1/3 bottle beer
1/2 head fennel, julienne
1 large white onion julienne
7 cloves of garlic, peeled
1 summer sausage cut into bite size pieces
1 chorizo sausage cut into bite size pieces
double smoked bacon cut into bite size pieces
1 cinnamon sticks
1/4 cup fresh orange juice
1 whole chicken, skin on and cut into edible pieces
A generous amount of fresh rosemary
1/3 cup pine nuts
1/3 cup of black olives
4 tbs olive oil

Soak the sun dried tomatoes in the beer for 20 minutes or until soft. Blend them with the beer in a food processor until it becomes a paste and put aside.
Preheat oven to 400 Degrees Fahrenheit.
Heat the oil in a cast iron skillet, brown the chicken all over and set aside.
Keep the oil hot and add onion and garlic. Sautee until onions become translucent but not brown.
Add fennel and sautee for another minute.
Add bacon, summer sausage and chorizo.
Arrange the chicken skin side up. Smear it with the sun dried tomato paste, add the cinnamon stick and sprinkle the olives and rosemary all around.
Add the orange juice and cover the pan with tinfoil.
Braise for 1/2 hour and uncover, adding the orange slices and pine nuts. Bake for another 20 minutes or until skin is crispy and chicken is cooked through.
Serve in the skillet and make sure to scrape all the good bits of the bottom of for maximum taste sensation.

Gross

2008-02-29T19:45:00.001-08:00

I'd heard of this product a while back and couldn't believe my ears even then. A beef flavored drink doesn't sound even slightly appealing, even to a meat and potatoes gal like me. Drink it with vodka like you would a Caesar. Or, if you were like me, you would try adding it to a soup or something.
Spicy stuff!

Life just isn't Fair!

2008-02-17T16:16:00.001-08:00

Some people wax poetic about the fashion in NYC, others about the restaurants or the fact that you can walk everywhere. But I'll tell you the only thing NYC has that Toronto doesn't. The only thing that matters, that is.
Trader Joe's infamous Two Buck Chuck. That's right, get yourself a totally drinkable bottle of California wine for two American dollars (that's $2.01 Canadian) at this Whole Foods competitor. Charles Shaw wines are from the Eureka state and grape varieties range from Cabernet Sauvignon to Shiraz to Merlot. Honestly, I couldn't care less about their white counterparts. But if you do, pick up a bottle of their equally cheap Chardonnay (that's a flavor of white wine, right?).
So, when I head to NYC this April I'll be hitting up the Trader Joe's in Union Square to stock up just like the girl in the photo. I suggest you do too.
Trader Joe's Wine Shop , 138 East 14th Street, 212-529-6326

Reunited and it Feels so Good

2008-02-17T15:50:00.000-08:00

Dark chocolate is good, and all, but nothing beats a Cadbury Fruit and Nut. And now, according to The New York Times, I am allowed to like milk chocolate again.
Gone is the dark chocolate craze meaning that, hopefully, milk is here to stay.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/02/13/dining/13chocolate.html

Fun Fact

2008-02-14T15:24:00.000-08:00

Ever wonder why Brunswick Stew calls for so much Worcestershire and Tabasco? Well, the tasty Southern meal was originally created with ingredients that would help mask the taste of rotting meat. Start skinning your squirrels, collecting your roadkill or cubing that weeks-old fowl in your fridge and have Brunswick Stew the way it was intended.
For a good recipe, go to http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/241201

Eating your Emotions

2008-02-14T14:51:00.000-08:00

This Valentine's day, instead of indulging in a bon bon or two, why not try something a little sweeter and a lot more exotic.
I fell in love with these fresh dates the moment I had them. What else can I say except that I love them just the way they are. Or was it that they had me at hello? I can't remember.
Nasar Foods, 1996 Lawrence Ave E., 416-757-1611

I Hate Rachel Ray

2008-02-14T12:26:00.000-08:00

The folks over at The Daily Show hate Rachel Ray as much as I do. When New York Magazine asked them to create endings for shows that were stuck in limbo due to the writers strike, they came up with this gem.
Yummo!

Rachael Ray
Rachael wraps a pretzel in a piece of bologna and calls it a “healthy 30-second snack.” TV executives reward her with another multimillion-dollar contract.

Gimme a Break

2008-01-19T07:13:00.000-08:00

So I've found a new obsession. Apparently in Japan there are over 600 Kit Kat flavors. To get some in your hometown, check out Sanko at 730 Queen Street West or The Pacific Mall.
I like Peach Blossom if you can get it!

Feast on This

2007-11-03T08:25:00.001-07:00

"In Children of the Ghetto (1892), Israel Sangwill writes of a young man in the East End of London who held a Christian girl he fancied to be cold of heart and unsprightly of temperament. 'Perhaps,' he wrote, 'though he was scarcely conscious of it, at the bottom of his revulsion was the certainty that the Christian girl could not fry fish. She might be delightful for a flirtation of all degrees, but had not been formed to make him permanently happy.'"
In Claudia Roden's The Book Of Jewish Food: On Odyssey from Samarkand to New York (where this great quote comes from), she makes every Jewish foodies dream come true when giving Portuguese and Spanish Jews credit for bringing with them what is now known as the quintessentially British dish, Fish n' Chip.
Why does it make me so happy you ask? Well, Jews are known for many things, food included, but as far as refined or groundbreaking dishes are concerned, we are left in a dust by the French and Italians. Sure, a good cholent makes my heart swell with nostalgia but there are few taste similarities to the elegant cassoulet. And a good kugel is something I associate with holiday dinners but it is no hand rolled gnocci.
So here comes a cookbook that makes hero's of us all. Last night I successfully attempted Mrs. Roden's Lamb with Red Chillies and Tamarind (page 404). Sweet, spicy, creamy and flavourful, this dish doesn't come close to resembling the foods I know as Jewish. This recipe is the contribution of Mrs. L. Samuel to the "Bene Israel Cookobook", distributed by Jewish Religious Union Sisterhood in Bombay.
There were three Jewish communities in India; the Cochinis, the Baghdadis and the largest but most isolated group, the Bene Israel. They lived in total isolation for centuries until they were discovered and assimilated into mainstream Jewish life less then three hundred years ago.
They are also the most Indian of three groups in their dress, language and lifestyle. Unknown to the rest of the Jewish world, they were discovered by the Cochini Jews in the mid-eighteenth century because of the fact that they kept Sabbath, practiced circumcision on the eighth day, made distinction between clean and unclean foods and recited the Shema prayer even though it was the only Hebrew prayer they knew.
This recipe is history on your plate, evoking Bene Israel's ancestry as one of the shipwrecked Lost Ten Tribes of Israel, who ended up off the coast of India in Kind Solomon's time in the second century b.c.
I used lamb shank with the bone still in as opposed to shoulder because you get more meat after trimming. Remember to talk to your butcher, tell him/her what you are making and ask what they suggest with what meat they have available. If you live in Toronto try Gasparro's Meat Market at 857A Bloor Street West at Roxton Road, (416) 534-7122.

2 lbs (1 kg) onions, sliced or coarsely chopped
6-8 tablespoons vegetables oil
4 1/2 lbs (2 kg) lamb shoulder or fillet of neck or a mixture of the two
6-10 large garlic cloves, crushed
1 teaspoon cumin
2 teaspoons ground coriander
3 teaspoons ground cinnamon
2 teaspoons ground cloves
8-10 tiny dried red chillies*
3 lbs (90g) tiny new potatoes
3 1/2 oz (90g) creamed coconut in a hard block or 8 oz (250g) canned coconut cream**
3 tablespoons tamarind paste (can be found in Indian and Oriental Stores)
3 tablespoons sugar
* These can be bought in packages at Indian or Oriental stores
**I bought Mr. Gouda Coconut Cream at Fiesta Farms for $1.99. It is very easy to use, it is a hard block that you can cut into pieces and plop into your dish. And it gives great flavour.

Fry the onions in 3-4 tablespoons of oil on a very low heat until soft and golden, keeping the lid on and stirring occasionally to keep the onions from burning. It make take 30-45 minutes because of the large quantity.
Trim off skin and excess, but not all, fat from the meat and cut it into 1 1/2-inch (4-cm) pieces. (A step that Mrs. Roden left out and that I find essential is salting the meat before you start browning it. Remember, it is very hard to over-salt raw meat, so be generous.) Fry in 3-4 tablespoons of oil in batches in a large, heavy bottomed pan, turning the pieces to brown them all over.
Add the garlic, cumin and coriander to the onions and stir well for a minute or so, then add the spiced onions to the meat. Cover with about 4 cups (1 liter) of water and bring to a boil. Remove the scum and add cinnamon, cloves and chillies, then simmer for 1 1/2-2 hours, or until meat is very tender. Remove chilies at this stage.
Now put in the potatoes, peeled or simply washed (Mrs. Roden recommends you don't peel them so I didn't, but I did quarter them), and add about 2 1/2 cups (600ml) of water - just enough to cover. Add the creamed coconut cut into pieces or the canned coconut cream, the tamarind and the sugar and simmer for another 30-40 minutes, until the potatoes are tender. There should be a lot of sauce.
Serve with plain rice, chapatis, or bread.

Wanna go pro?

2007-10-31T13:22:00.000-07:00

There are many differences between the home chef and the restaurant chef. Sure, many people think they are that good, fantasizing that their skills could quickly and seamlessly be transferred from their kitchen to that of a busy restaurant. Unfortunately, this is simply untrue for even the finest dinner party host.
There is no denying that restaurant food just tastes different, but there are certain tricks of the trade handed down from the likes of Escoffier (among others) that can make your next dinner party taste like the real deal.

Emulsify, Emulsify, Emulsify
This technique is used for things that most people buy or make by mixing water and powder (hollandaise, mayonnaise). Emulsification is a mixture of two liquids that don't normally combine smoothly, like oil and vinegar. In order to emulsify, you must slowly (and this can mean drop by drop or very slow stream) add one ingredient to the other while constantly and rapidly whisking or mixing. This disperses one into the other properly, resulting in a thick and satiny product. How to incorporate this at home? Why not serve perfectly steamed asparagus with a homemade aioli?
You'll need
1 garlic clove, peeled
1 teaspoon salt
1 large egg yolk
1 teaspoon dijon
2 cups extra virgin olive oil
lemon juice
1 teaspoon smoky paprika
salt and pepper

Crush garlic with your knife, add salt and smear on your cutting board with the side of your chef knife until it is like a paste.
Make a nest of two dry tea towels and place a mixing bowl in it. You should be able to whisk with one hand and pour in oil with the other while the bowl remains steady.
In the bowl, mix the egg yolk and Dijon with a large whisk. When well mixed, start adding the oil bit by bit so it doesn't split (If you see it starting to split, stop adding oil and keep whisking until properly emulsified).
Once you have added about a half cup of the oil, you can start speeding up the process, pouring in the thin but steady stream.
After all the oil has been added, mix in the lemon juice, garlic, paprika, salt and pepper.

Cauliflower

2007-10-31T12:52:00.000-07:00

Cauliflower is in many people's minds a bubbie vegetable. Your grandmother used to brown it with bread crumbs, boil it and pour cheese on top or mash it beyond recognition, all of which masks its natural and wonderful taste. No longer is it the white, slightly flavorless and tough veggie served as part of a crudite. It comes in many variaties and tastes best when cooked most simply. A purple head of the stuff can brighten up the table when serving a roast. Romanesque looks great with fish and bright vegetables.
Try this:

1 large head of cauliflower, trimmed and cut into florets

1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil

Salt and papper

Preheat the oven to 400 Degrees.
Spread florets onto a baking sheet lined with parchment paper.
Drizzle olive oil and sprinkle with salt and pepper.
Roast until the edges of the cauliflower become crispy, about 35 minutes.

Serve it while still hot in place of potatoes. Yum!

High Hopes

2007-10-31T12:50:00.000-07:00

I am starting a food blog because there aren't enough on the Internet. This is my first post and a little experiment so bare with me.