Osso Buco

tonights dinner: Osso Buco!

( I should have wiped the plate!)
Beautifully tender veal shanks with a great sauce, topped with gremolata and served with a cabbage side dish (cabbage cooked with pancetta, onions, beef stock, hot Spanish paprika and sherry vinegar)
Flour and sear the shanks in a skillet. Remove the shanks from the skillet, add some white wine and deglaze. In a braising pot, saute onions, carrots, celery and garlic (I actually used leek, onion, garlic and portabello mushroom). When the vegetables are soft, add the veal shanks and liquid from the skillet. Add veal or beef stock to cover and a cup of canned tomatoes. Add some herbs (bay leaf, parsley, oregano) and put (covered) in a 325 oven for two hours. For the gremolata: finely chop parsley, garlic and add zest of a lemon.
Once the osso buco is tender, remove the shanks (in one piece if possible), and put the gravy through a sieve. Reduce the sauce until slightly thickened; pour over the osso buco and top with gremolata.

I drank a 2005 Barolo from Ascheri

Wonderful wine, surprisingly light coloured but medium-bodied. Strong alcohol/wood nose - silky mouth-feel with black cherry flavours and powerful tannins. The finish is long but even longer are the tannins. Probably better in 5-10 years. score - 90

Squash and Escarole Risotto/baked romaine with onion-anchovy sauce

Tonight's dinner - a really tasty risotto with butternut squash and escarole (curly endive). Peel and cut a cup of butter nut squash into half inch cubes (and another cup  of thinly sliced strips) and cook the cubes with some thinly sliced onion in a cup of water. When the squash is tender, drain and reserve the squash/onion mixture. Coarsely cut a head of escarole. Cook the rice (Carnaroli) in a little oil, add a little wine (half cup) until absorbed. Add the squash and onion mixture and 3 cups of the escarole. Add a cup of good chicken stock and stir constantly while the rice absorbs the stock. Keep adding stock in half cup amounts until it is absorbed and then add more - it will require 3-4 cups of liquid to get the rice to the right consistency (tender and creamy). Lightly saute the remaining sliced squash and the remaining escarole. Once the risotto is done, spoon it into a bowl, mix in some grated parmiagiano-reggiano cheese and top with the sauteed squash/escarole mixture.


For the salad - combine a quarter cup of oil, one and a half cups of thinly sliced onions and 6  anchovies with a cup of water and simmer gently until the onion is soft (15-20 minutes). Bake a quartered head of romiane (keeping the root end attached) with a little olive oil and salt. I also baked some Belgium endive leaves as well just to see how it would work. After 10 minutes tranfer the romaine to a cutting board; remove the root ends and, using a fork twirl each piece of romaine into a circular round on a plate. Add a lttle parsley and white wine vinegar to the onion mixture and top the romaine mounds with the mixture.
The onions are unbelievably sweet but nicely balanced with the saltiness of the anchovies and the acidity of the vinegar.

Fennel soup with parmesan cream

Incredible soup tonight! I gently sauteed an onion and fennel bulb (chopped) for 20 minutes in butter and oil. Added a chopped garlic clove and sauteed for another 5 minutes. Put in a half cup of white wine and reduced it, then added a cup of chicken stock and simmered for 20 minutes. I then put in into the blender and then strained it. I heated up a cup of cream with some grated Parmesan. To serve I poured the cream over the soup and added a few croutons. Beautiful soup!

Pork Tenderloin with Braised Fennel

Tonight's dinner: pork tenderloin with braised fennel, creamed endive and baby arugula.

I quartered a large fennel bulb and browned the cut sides in a skillet with olive oil. The braising liquid was garlic, anchovies and fennel seeds, crushed together in a small pot. I added wine wine, reduced it by half and then added chicken stock and some olives. I then covered the fennel bulbs with the stock, covered the pan and stuck it in the oven (at 320) for an hour.
The pork tenderloin was marinated for an hour in olive oil, balsamic vinegar, garlic and sage leaves. I then put it in the oven for 25 minutes. (I served it with a little of the fennel braising liquid)
The endive was quartered, sauteed in butter and then I added a little cream.
The baby arugula was dressed with a champagne vinaigrette.

Black Cod

Tonight I made Black Cod in broth. Inspired by Eric Ripert (Le Bernadin) I made two different broths. The first was a ginger-lemon broth: I sauteed garlic, ginger, shallots and forest mushrooms, added chicken broth and simmered for 20 minutes. The second broth was a sage and garlic broth. I infused a cup of chicken broth with garlic, sage leaves and a rind of parmesan.
I put the black cod skin side down (yes the fishmonger had left the skin on) in a hot skillet with a little canola oil and cooked it until the skin was crispy. I then turned it over and cooked the other side for 2-3 minutes and put the pan in the oven (at 350) to finish cooking.
In the meantime I sauteed some baby bok choy with garlic and ginger.
I strained the broths.

To serve, I placed a piece of cod on the bok choy and poured the broth into the bowls.

Papperdelle with Oxtail Ragu

I love braising. I particularly love braining meat with lots of bones, fat and collagen. Collagen is the connective tissue found in the muscle areas of the animal that does the most work - the neck , legs, shoulder. Collagen turns into gelatin when the meat is cooked slowly and gently and  gelatin gives meat the silky and velvety flavour that comes from braising.

Tonight I braised oxtails. 
Actually I braised them yesterday and we had them tonight with papperdelle.

Braising Oxtails:

We got the oxtails from Brian Quin"s Meats in Stone Mills ( Yarker), Ontario. Brian Quin's Meats is also a slaughterhouse.
I browned the oxtails in a deep frying pan (I was in Toronto and didn;t have my braising pot), removed them and then sauteed onions carrots ans a couple of cloves of garlic. I glazed the pan with a cup of white wine and a cup of canned tomatoes and reduced the liquid by half, I added the oxtails and some chicken stock (to almost cover the oxtails), seasoned and let it cook slowly in a 320 oven for 4 hours
The next day I stripped the oxtails of their meat, removed the solidified fat from the liquid and mashed the carrots, onions, garlic and tomatoes into the liquid while heating it up. (You could strain the liquid for a more sophisticated dish but I wanted the vegetables for a more rustic "ragu".)
Served with papperdelle (not home made but there is some very good artisanal dry papperdelle available in specialty stores and  supermarkets.

Dinner for Eight

On Saturday night our friends Eric and Barb, who own the Waterfall Tea Room in Yarker invited us to help cook a dinner for 8 at their apartment above the Tea Room. The eight people invited had won a charity auction prize. The menu (arrived at after months of discussion) was as follows:

Smoked Trout Mousse
Charcuterie Plate

Roasted Squash and Apple Soup
Warm Mushroom Salad
Grapefruit Sorbet
Beef Tenderloin with green peppercorn demi-glace/shredded brussel sprouts with pancetta/potatoes Anna
Chocolate-dipped poached pears stuffed with apricots and pecans on chili sabayon
Local cheeses


The smoked trout mousse I made ahead (described elsewhere in this blog) and froze. Freezing did it no harm and we served it on Rainforest salty date and almond crackers with capers and a sprig of dill as a canape. The guests got a Cava cocktail (Cava with sweet Oloroso sherry)
The charcuterie plate consisted of home made duck prosciuttto (also described elsewhere), a slice of Elk terrine (from Quebec) and two slices of Wild Boar sausage (also from Quebec) which we served with a dab of home made port jelly, home made apple and pear chutney (I made this ahead and brought them with me) and Koslicks orange and ginger mustard
Eric made the soup by roasting acorn squash, apples and onions and pureeing them. I didn't get to taste it but it looked great
Barb made the warm mushroom salad by roasting chanterelles, oyster mushrooms and creminis with olive oil and herbs, deglazing with balsamic vinegar and tossing the mushrooms and warm dressing on a bed of mixed baby greens
The palate cleanser was a grapefruit sorbet which I made with water, sugar, the zest of one grapefruit, the juice of four grapefruits, a splash of campari (mainly for colour) and a few sprigs of mint. This mixture was chilled, strained and churned in the ice cream maker. really refreshing.
The main course was a whole beef tenderloin (picked up that day at the local butcher/slaughterhouse) , rolled in salt and chopped rosemary and roasted on high heat for 25 minutes. It was served with a wonderful demi-gace to which was added green peppercorns and cream. Accompanied by Potatoes Anna (thinly sliced russet and red potatoes, cooked in a skillet in a hot oven, beautifully browned and sliced in wedges) and shredded brussel sprouts, stir fried with pancetta and pecans. Unfortunately I slightly burned the pecans and add to pick most of them out before serving!
Eric was responsible for the poached pears - they were cored (but left whole), poached in spiced red wine, cooled and then coated with chocolate and cooled again. Eric made a sabayon with egg yolks and white wine and a teaspoon of chili powder and the chilled pears sat in a bowl on the sabayon. Beautiful!
The cheeses (which I picked out) were Riopelle (a soft cheese from Quebec - one of my favourite cheeses), Victor and Berthold (washed rind semi soft also from Quebec), Lemon Fetish, a lemony chevre from Fifth Town in Prince Edward County, another semi soft Fifth Town cheese and an old chedder from Wilton cheese (just down the road from Yarker)
A couple of glitches - Eric burnt his hand,  I almost burnt the brussel sprouts, the potatoes Anna lacked slat and the pacing was a bit off (although Kerry did a fantastic job of serving) but all in all a great success!

Lamb Shoulder Chops

Tonight a braised a couple of lamb shoulder chops with onions and garlic and veal stock. First I rubbed the chops with Moroccan spices and left them in the fridge for a few hours. I then browned them in butter in a deep oven proof skillet, removed them and sauteed sliced onions in butter with turmeric and added a garlic clove. After the onions were soft (8-10 minutes) I added a cup of veal stock and buried the lamb chops under the onions. I covered the skillet with parchment paper and put a lid on and put it in the oven (pre-heated to 300) for one and a half hours. I removed the chops and most of the onions, boiled down the braising liquid and served in with couscous (with raisins and pine nuts)
Beautiful!

Cod with onions, white beans and thyme

I bought a piece of black cod at Lapointe on my way home (I asked where it was from and they told me it was "pacific" - anywhere from Chile to Alaska. I really need to find out more about fish sustainability)

Tonight I roasted the cod - heated up a frying pan (one that can be put in the oven), poured in some olive oil when the pan was really hot, added the cod (skin side up) and left it for a couple of minutes so it got nice and bronzed. I then turned the fish over and put the pan in the oven (pre-heated to 450) for 10-15 minutes.

I served it over a bed of onions and crushed white beans. Simple! I chopped some onions and fried them in olive oil. Added a drained can of white beans (I used navy beans) which I mashed slightly. Added half a cup of white wine (and turned up the heat for a minute or so to burn off the alcohol) and lots of fresh thyme. Seasoned and cooked on medium for 10 minutes.

I napped the fish with some leftover parsley sauce.
Delicious!

Trout with Anchovy butter

Tonights dinner - fillet of trout with anchovy butter, brussel sprouts sauteed with duck procuitto, braised potatoes and leeks and home made dulce de lecce ice cream for desert.

The braised potatoes and leek recipe was from All About Braising by Molly Stevens (my new favourite book). Simply put a layer of leeks (quartered lengthwise and cut into three-quarter inch lengths) and yellow-flesh potatoes (cut into small chucks)into a baking pan or shallow braising pot, season generously and pour in a cup of hot chicken stock. Cover in foil and braise in a 300 degree oven for 45 minutes. Take off the foil and continue to braise for another 20 minutes or so until the potatoes are soft and most of the liquid is gone. Pour in some cream and turn up the heat to 425 until the cream thickens and the pototoes and leeks brown. Delicous!

The dulce de lecce ice cream is one of the easiest ice creams to make (if you have an ice cream maker). Heat two cups of whole milk with a jar of dulce de lecce until it just begins to bubble around the edges. Take it off the heat, cool it and refrigerate it for a few hours. Add in a cup of cream, dump it all in the ice cream maker and after 20 minutes or so you will have some of the tastiest ice cream ever.

Sunday dinner - August 15

After a week of eating and cooking in Maine with (with friends who love to cook and eat) I came back to Toronto and decided to start a blog documenting our nightly dinners. My wife and I are in Toronto temporarily (our main home is in Ottawa) and we have rented a tiny apartment (with a tiny kitchen) with a fabulous view of Lake Ontario on Queen's Quay. It is close to Toronto's two great markets - St. Lawrence Market, a traditional enclosed market, comparable to the great markets of the world, and Kensington market, a more eclectic, ethnic neigbourhood with great food stores. Most of the time, however, because of time constraints we tend to shop at Sobeys (a mainstream supermarket chain) across the street, or Loblaws, a larger mainstream supermarket a couple of blocks away. We are also lucky to have Ontario's largest liquor store a few blocks away and have access to a large wine selection.

Ok - so now tonight's dinner
We walked down to Loblaws and bought a whole chicken (not free run but claimed to not have been fed anti-biotics or animal feed), some lemons, swiss chard, a bag of yellow, white and purple mini-potatoes, a couple of large field tomatoes, and some purple tomatoes (chard, potatoes and tomatoes were all locally grown) and a selection of locally grown mushrooms.

I emersed the chicken in a big pot of brine (water, salt and sugar) for about 5 hours and then simply roasted it - a lemon squeezed over it (and the lemon halves placed in the cavity) and salt and pepper. It was roasted at 400 for ten minutes on each side and then at 325 for one and a half hours on its back (it was a 1.5kg chicken), sitting on 3 thick lemon slices. While the chicken rested, I poured off the fat, deglazed the roasting pan with white vermouth (about half a cup), strained the liquid into a small saucepan, reduced it by about half and added a handful off mixed herbs from the pots we have growing on the balcony (parsley, basil, thyme, tarragon and a little rosemary) and stirred in a couple of pats of cold butter, Meanwhile I had made a small tomato salad dressed with chopped basil leaves, sea salt and a good olive oil. My partner made a side dish of potatoes, onions, chard and mushrooms, sauteed simply and seasoned.

Here is the result:

We drank this with a bottle of light Rioja (red wine with chicken!?!)
It was deliciousl! The chicken was really moist and the gravy was lemony and velvety. A great success !