The slaw, as it arrives to your table.

Chef Susur Lee is a legend amongst the Toronto culinary scene.  He’s opened some of the city’s top restaurants, set up shop in Singapore, Washington DC and New York and even appeared on Food Network, in a (tie) battle vs. Bobby Flay on Iron Chef America and later on Top Chef: Masters.

Cari and I decided my birthday would be a good excuse to finally give Lee Restaurant a try.  Of course, we made that decision on Thursday at which point our reservation options were 5:45pm or 9:15pm.  We dropped Violet off at my parents and opted for a late dinner.

Upon our arrival, we overheard a patron leave, announcing “What a great restaurant.  I can’t believe how good that restaurant was.”  Good sign, we thought.  We took a seat at the bar as we were waiting for our table and sampled two expensive but unbelievably good cocktails.  I had the Mayan Winter ($17), an infusion of tequila, gin and lime juice with julienned apple and cucumber and a small red chili.  Refreshing, spicy, delicious.  Cari opted for the Burnt Orange Manhattan ($18) – bourbon, sweet vermouth, Grand Marnier, Cointreau, orange cream bitters and a burnt orange peel to finish.

Once seated at our table, our waiter gave us some background on how Lee operates.  All plates are intended for sharing and for the two of us he recommended 3 or 4.  He then took us through some of the dishes he would recommend the most.  Eager to go outside of our usual comfort zone, we more or less followed his suggestions.

We started with the Singapore Slaw, a dish Susur Lee is apparently famous for.  ”I know what you’re thinking,” the waiter said to us.  ”Why would we waste a course on a slaw?  But trust me… it will be the highlight of your meal.”  And it was!  They brought it us in a giant pile on a plate and mixed it.  What we smelled was unbelievably appetizing.  The server took us through the full list of ingredients… green onions, taro, rice noodles, cucumber, carrot, jicama, daikon, tomatoes, sesame seeds, pickled onion, roasted hazelnuts, fried shallots, edible-flower petals, basil, beet greens, daikon sprouts, pickled ginger and a salted-plum dressing.  Phenomenal.  And of course we had to add the sashimi tuna as an add on… of course.

Up next was the Caramelized Black Cod.  Neither Cari or I are that into fish, which is part of why we wanted to order it – the whole “going outside of our comfort zone thing.”  I know black cod is often the epitome of high class dining and this dish was moist and extremely flavourful.  It was also served on a dim sum turnip cake, which is one of my favourite dim sum dishes.

Our third course was a special… a pulled beef with mushrooms, goat cheese and a marsala wine sauce.  Astounding.

It seemed like the meal came and went in a flash, probably because we were so absorbed in our three dishes that time just disappeared.  Next thing we knew it was nearing 11pm, we were full and satisfied.  Ah, but dessert.  The French & Chinese Tong Yuen was described as something of a sweet rice paper dumpling filled with  warm ferrero rocher.  That’s exactly what it tasted like!  A great finish to a great meal.

Lee is not the most cost-effective meal, but it is an experience you will remember.  If you appreciate food as much as we do, you’ll definitely want to give it a try.

I’ve been itching to bake lately, and once again Smitten Kitchen has provided the proper inspiration. I put a few tweaks on this recipe and made it a smaller size (well, smaller pans – but it was tall), but generally this is her recipe.

I basically made 2/3 of her recipe – upping the graham crumbs a bit and reducing the all purpose flour a bit. I kept the chocolate amount the same, and I added some marshmallows… because while a toasted meringue is good, it’s not the same as marshmallows. Next time I think I’ll do a 1/2 a recipe, with her proportions exactly, and see if it would be a bit saner of a size. Of course, a cupcake version may be more realistic…

If you want the original recipe, go buy the Smitten Kitchen Cookbook – every recipe we’ve tried so far has been a winner.

S’more Cake
Adapted from Smitten Kitchen

You’ll need:

• 2 x 6″ cake pans
• A torch/flame

Disclaimer: I’m really not sure the best way to bake the cake in a 6″ pan. I always think it will be the same temp, shorter amount of time as a 9″ pan… but no. So what I give here is very much an approximate – see what works for you. And hey – if you have a magic formula to make it work – let me know!

Cake:

• 1 cup all purpose flour
• 1-2/3 cup Graham Cracker Crumbs (either buy already as crumbs or just pulverize a bunch in a food processor)
• 1-1/3 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/3 teaspoon cinnamon
• 11 tablespoons butter
• scant 1/2 cup sugar
• 2/3 cup brown sugar
• 3 eggs
• 1-1/3 cup buttermilk (Trick: Mix 1 TB vinegar with 1 cup milk to make buttermilk / or 1-1/3 cup milk + 1-1/3 tablespoon vinegar for this recipe)

Filling

• 1/2 lb milk chocolate (I used chips – you can chop up bars as well)
• 3/4 cup heavy cream
• 2 pinches salt

Frosting:

• 3 egg whites
• 2/3 cup sugar
• rounded 1/8 teaspoon cream of tartar
• 2/3 teaspoon vanilla

Finish: Mini marshmallows

Preheat oven to 350°F, and prep pans. Butter them generously and then dust with flour.

Whisk flour, graham crumbs, baking powder, baking soda, salt and cinnamon in a medium bowl. Cream butter and sugars in with an electric mixer or stand mixer until light and fluffy. Add eggs one at a time, scraping the bowl after each addition. Add 1/3 dry ingredients and mix well. Then add 1/2 of the buttermilk, mix and scrape down the bowl. Add another 1/3 of the dry, mix, then the rest of the buttermilk. Scrape the bowl and add the rest of the dry ingredients. Mix well.

Divide batter into prepared pans and bake. As I said above, I’m not sure the timing on this. I baked it for 20 minutes at 350°F, and then turned it down to 300° for another 20-25 minutes. It took awhile for the middle to set, but I took them out once a toothpick came out clean.

Cool completely on a wire rack, turning out of pan once it’s mostly cool. Cool completely before layering/frosting.

Make filling: Heat cream to a simmer, then pour over the chocolate. Let it sit for 1 minute, then whisk until smooth. Let cool either in an ice bath or in the fridge until it is room temperature.

Make frosting: Heat sugar, egg whites, and cream of tartar in a heat proof bowl over simmering water. Whisk until sugar is dissolved and whites are warm. Take off of heat and mix with an electric mixer or stand mixer for 4-7 minutes until glossy stiff peaks form. Add vanilla towards the end.

Finish cake: Place first layer of cake on a serving plate. Level it off if you’d like with a long serrated knife, but it depends on how neat you want the finished product to be. Plop all of the chocolate filling on top and spread it out to be somewhat even – with a 1/2-1″ gap around the edge. Place the second layer on top. Put mini marshmallows around the edge of the cake to fill in any gap from the chocolate layer:

Use your torch to toast those marshmallows! Be careful, the mini ones set on fire pretty easily. Blow out any little flames and BE CAREFUL!

Frost cake: Start with a crumb coat. Put a thin layer of frosting all the way around every surface of the cake. Let it dry a bit – fastest is to just stick it in the fridge for 5-10 minutes. Then finish frosting the cake. I followed Smitten Kitchen’s recommendation of finishing with big dollops of frosting – using a piping back and a 1/2″ tip. I added more marshmallows on the top as well.

Then pull out your torch again and toast the whole thing.

And finally, enjoy the ooey gooey yumminess!

I love, love, love Asian noodle dishes.  They are one of my go-to meals for lunch or dinner and something I never tire of.  Unfortunately, Cari and I have never had positive luck with cooking any of these dishes at home.  That is, until now.  Cooks Illustrated recently published this recipe for Thai stir-fried noodles with chicken and it’s absolutely delicious and – despite the many steps involved – not that complicated or time-consuming to make.  We’ve made this dish twice already and will gladly do so again.  The two of us managed to polish off the whole thing both times, so if you want leftovers, make sure you either double it or load up on other dishes.

Oh, and as it turns out the trick to really good stir-fried noodles is to cook it in batches and leave it alone.  That’s right, don’t stir your stir fry!  Who knew!?

Thai-Style Noodles with Chicken

Chile Vinegar

• 1/2 cup white vinegar
• 1 serrano chili, stemmed and sliced into thin rings

Stir-Fry

• 2 (6-ounce) boneless, skinless chicken breasts, trimmed and cut against grain into 1/4″ slices
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 8 ounces rice noodles (1/4″ wide – “A Taste of Thai” brand is best)
• 1/4 cup vegetable oil
• 1/4 cup oyster sauce
• 1 tablespoon + 2 teaspoons soy sauce
• 2 tablespoons packed dark brown sugar
• 1 tablespoon white vinegar
• 1 teaspoon molasses
• 1 teaspoon fish sauce
• 3 garlic cloves, sliced thin
• 3 large eggs
• 10 ounces broccolini, florets cut into 1″ pcs, stalks cut on bias into 1/2″ pieces

1. Chili vinegar: Combine vinegar & serrano in bowl. Let stand while you cook the rest of the dish.
2. Prep chicken: Combine chicken with 2 tablespoons water + baking soda in bowl. Let sit at room temperature for 15 minutes. Rinse chicken in cold water and drain well.
3. Prep noodles: Boil 6 cups water (a kettle is best for this). Place noodles in a large bowl and pour boiling waters over noodles. Stir, then soak about 8 minutes – stirring once halfway. Drain and rinse with cold water, then toss with 2 teaspoons oil.
4. Prep sauce: Whisk oyster sauce, soy sauce, sugar, vinegar, molasses, and fish sauce together in a bowl.
5. Start cooking! Heat 2 teaspoons of oil and garlic in a 12-inch nonstick skillet over high heat. Cook 1-2 minutes until garlic is a deep golden brown.
6. Add chicken and 2 tablespoons sauce – toss to coat and spread chicken into an even layer. Cook without stirring 1 to 1-1/2 minutes until chicken begins to brown. Flip chicken over and cook another 1 to 1-1/2 minutes without stirring.
7. Push chicken to one side of the skillet, and add 2 teaspoons oil to cleared side. Add eggs to clearing (crack them into the pan – don’t pre-mix them). Stir eggs gently and cook until set but still wet. Stir eggs into chicken and continue to cook, breaking up large pieces of egg, until eggs are fully cooked – about 1 minute. Transfer chicken & eggs to a bowl.
8. Heat 2 teaspoons oil in now-empty skillet until smoking. Add broccolini and 2 tablespoons sauce, toss to coat. Cover skillet and cook for 2 minutes, stirring once halfway through cooking. Remove lid and continue to coko until broccolini is crisp and very brown in spots – 2 to 3 minutes, stirring once halfway through cooking. Transfer broccolini to bowl with chicken.
9. Heat 2 teaspoons oil in now-empty skillet until smoking. Add half of the noodles with 2 tablespoons sauce and toss to coat. Cook until noodles are starting to brown in spots – about 2 minutes, stirring halfway through cooking. Transfer noodles to bowl with chicken, and repeat with remaining noodles. Make sure to not over-stir the noodles! Let them sit for a full minute untouched, then stir, then let sit one more minute. This is important for the right texture.
10. Once all of the noodles are cooked, transfer everything back into the skillet – toss to combine (and add any leftover sauce at this point – if you have any), and cook without stirring until everything is heated through.

Serve with the chill vinegar served on the side to spoon over as you eat. Yum!

We were looking for a good weeknight dessert. Something not too decadent, but still tasty. A nice end to a weeknight dinner. We pulled out our Moosewood Restaurant Low-Fat Favorites cookbook (which has sat on the shelf far too long), and found this gem, which exceeded our expectations! Oh man is it full of flavour. It’s got a great lemon punch, and the textures are awesome – pudding on the bottom, sponge-y cake on top. The recipe says you can serve it warm or cold, but we found fresh out of the oven warm to be the best bet (of course), but warming up leftovers is highly recommended… didn’t work quite as well cold for us.

The beautifully puffed-up top did deflate a bit after it sat, but it still was a great treat a few days after baking. It’s fancy looking enough that it would for guests as well, but simple enough for a weeknight as well.

The recipe:

• 1/2 cup pastry flour (or just regular all purpose if it’s all you have)
• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 1-1/4 cup sugar (more or less depending on how tart you like it – I used a bit less)
• 1-1/2 cups buttermilk
• 1/2 cup fresh lemon juice (about 4 lemons)
• 2 egg yolks, lightly beaten
• 2 teaspoons freshly grated lemon peel
• 4 egg whites
• pinch of salt

Preheat oven to 350°.

1. Prep six 8-ounce ramekins with cooking spray. Place in a 2″ deep baking pan. Put a kettle of water on to boil.
2. Combine flour, baking powder, 3/4 cup sugar in a large bowl. Stir in the buttermilk, lemon juice, egg yolks, and the lemon peel.
3. Beat the egg whites and salt until stiff (use an electric mixer unless you’re looking to show off). Beat in remaining sugar.
4. Gently fold the egg whites into the buttermilk batter, and spoon into prepared cups. You can fill them up pretty high, so don’t worry if it seems over-full – just try to keep it from spilling out.
5. Pour the boiling water in the baking pan so that the water reaches halfway up the sides of the cups.
6. Bake 50-55 minutes, until puffy and golden. (Note: I used the top/smaller part of my double oven, and it baked for less than 40 minutes until they were done… so keep an eye on it.)

ENJOY!

Leftovers save well for a few days – let cool, wrap well, and stick them in the fridge. When ready to eat, heat them up for about 30 seconds in the microwave.

We first had this with some family friends, and after we insisted they email us the recipe. It’s since become one of our staple dinners – make once and we easily get two meals out of it. We haven’t tried, but I bet it would even freeze well.

This is basically a Mexican style lasagna using tortillas instead of pasta and beans instead of meat or ricotta. The original recipe calls for a prepared tomato sauce typically used for pasta, but we’ve actually found we prefer it with just canned tomatoes as most prepared sauces are a bit too seasoned for this.

Tortila Pie
Serves 8

Preheat oven to 350.

Use a springform pan, oiled.

Ingredients:

• 2 tbspn. Oil
• 2 tspns. Minced garlic
• 1/2 cup chopped red onions
• 1 cup chopped red peppers
• 1/2 cup chopped green peppers
• 1.5 cups chopped tomatoes (canned is easy)
• 1 cup canned corn
• 1 tspn. Dried basil
• 1 tspn. Chili powder
• ½ tspn. Ground cumin
• 1.5 cups canned black beans, rinsed and drained
• 1.5 cups canned chick peas, rinsed and drained
• 1. 5 cup shredded cheese (you pick flavours; feel free to mix 2 or more)
• 2 tbspn. Grated parmesan
• 5 x 10 inch tortillas

1. Heat oil in frypan- medium heat. Cook garlic and onions 4 minutes, stir some. Add peppers and cook for 3 minutes, stir some. Stir in tomato sauce, corn, basil, chili powder and cumin; cover and cook 4 minutes, stirring occasionally. Remove from heat.
2. In bowl combine beans. Mash roughly, stir into veg. mixture.
3. In small bowl, combine all cheeses.
4. Place tortilla in pan. Spread with1/3 of sauce. Sprinkle with 1/3 of cheese. Repeat layers twice; top with final tortilla. Cover pan tightly with foil.
5. Bake 20 minutes or until heated through and cheese has melted. Cut into wedges with sharp knife.

Yum!

A hint of the selection from Ruelo’s website.

While we don’t have much experience with macaron, we understand it is one of the most difficult French pastries to make. We stumbled upon Ruelo Patisserie and couldn’t resist giving them a try. We were impressed by the fun selection of flavours they had – including green tea sesame, creme brûlée, earl grey, and pistachio raspberry. Upon visiting their website, we’ve found a few flavours we need to go back for – including rose lychee raspberry, balsamic vinegar, and wasabi grapefruit. They had a black truffle as well (as in the mushroom, not a chocolate), but we couldn’t justify a $5 tiny cookie since we’d never even tried this place before. $16 later we left with a selection of 6 to try, and we weren’t let down.

The price means this will be a bit of a special occasion treat, but we were glad to have that treat this weekend. Give it a try if you’re in the Yonge & Eglinton area – and let us know if you do. Not being macaron experts – we’re curious what others may have to say (or other places you’d suggest!), but for now we’re happy to have found Ruelo and expect to return.

On our most recent visit to Fort Wayne, we tried a Vanilla Porter, which was fantastic. This wasn’t it – but was something else we found on the drive home at a Kroger in Michigan. Brewed in Detroit, Atwater’s Vanilla Java Porter begins with a hit of vanilla and finishes with a more subtle coffee taste. Definitely more of a beer I’d associate with the winter or fall months, but refreshing none-the-less.

Aspects of it reminded me of Mill Street’s Coffee Porter, but the hint of vanilla makes it well worth picking up when south of the border.

Our little girl turned one! It’s hard to believe – this year has all of the clichés of new parenthood: It flew by (they grow up so fast!), it dragged (OMG so tired needmoresleep), and we can’t quite remember what life was like before Violet.

In fact – she turned one nearly 3 months ago. And in the trend of my latest blog posts, this one is only now being written. Hopefully we can get caught up and post some of the awesome things we’ve been cooking and baking lately. But for now… the birthday cake(s)!

From very early on, Adam and I have sung The Muppets’ song Mahna Mahna to Violet. At first it was our “car seat song” – a little tune we could sing to calm her down as we put her into the car seat. Then it became a surefire “she’s freaking out! Put on the Mahna Mahna video!” technique. We even told a few babysitters to use it as backup, and to this day – when we play this video – we’re guaranteed a big grin, and usually a giggle:

So when brainstorming ideas for her birthday party, this came to mind. Is it possible I could make a cake that somehow used these characters? I’m no pastry chef – I’ve never really done anything fancier than put frosting in a piping bag. But if your daughter’s first birthday isn’t an excuse to give it a go, what else is?

My first thought was to do a sheet cake and somehow mold the characters out of fondant or something. Then I thought maybe I could draw them with icing on the cake itself. Then I stumbled onto this idea… basically you bake a round cake, cut it in half, and then turn it upright so you have a half of a 2 layer cake sitting on it’s side. Could I actually use this method to create the heads of the characters? I decided to give it a try.

Using this image as inspiration, I tried to figure out all of the components:

 Here’s what I used to create the various components:

• Cake balls dipped in white chocolate for the eyes of the Snowths (the pink guys), and dipped in pink-tinted chocolate for the Mahna Mahna’s nose.
• Gum paste for the Snowth mouths and the eyes of the Mahna Mahna.
• Gum paste for the Snowth eyelashes
• The Snowth horns were my biggest challenge. I first used the cake ball idea, but they were too heavy and would fall off after just an hour or so. So I switched to gum paste. I rolled it very flat and then rolled it up aluminum foil I had crumpled into the right shape. Once it was dry, I *very* carefully attached it to the side of the Snowths with frosting.
• Food colouring – I actually initially wanted to avoid food colouring all together and use natural things to give the colours, but I quickly gave up on that. I got some pink, yellow, magenta, and black food colour gel. It worked great!
• I did a pretty standard buttercream for most of the frosting, and piped it onto the Snowths – dotting it with a tip like this to make it look furry.
• A meringue-like frosting for Mahna Mahna so that it looked like he had crazy-stringy hair. I’m particularly proud of that part.

Close ups on the final cakes:

Mahna Mahna

Do do do do do1 of 2 Snowths

Overall, I’m thrilled with how it came out. They looked better than I thought I could pull off. My only regret is I don’t think the taste was what it should have been. I ended up baking the actual cakes a week ahead and freezing them – and even though I read everywhere that that was the best way to go with an elaborate project, it ended up making the finished result a bit too dry. I used Smitten Kitchen’s “Best Birthday Cake” recipe. Ah well, at least Violet’s first taste of cake was a homemade one!

And my bonus cake (I had an extra 1/2 a cake!) – Happy Birthday little girl!

Now the real question is… what will I be doing for her 2nd birthday?

Photo courtesy of the awesome Anklewicz

There’s nothing quite like Chicago style deep dish pizza.  So when our friend Adam A. discovered a delivery-only deep dish pizza restaurant in Toronto, we thought we’d give it a try.  Then, after coming across some negative reviews, we thought better of it and decided to try making deep dish pizza ourselves.

Adam, Emily, Cari and I took our inspiration from this Emeril Lagasse recipe, and we didn’t stray too far from his formula.  We purchased two deep pans and our mouths collectively drooled with anticipation as our pizzas baked in the oven.

The result?  Delicious.  The crust was perfect; just as much a crispy pie shell as what most of us would identify as a pizza crust.  The toppings – hot Italian salami, sausage, olives, peppers and mushrooms – delicious.  But where’d all the cheese go? Admittedly it seemed like we were using a lot, but I would guess you’d need twice as much to truly resemble the Chicago-style pizza Cari and know from our visits to Giordano’s in Chicago.  I would have probably also opted for a sauce that was smooth rather than the chunky sauce Emeril’s recipe suggests.  Some of the commenters on Emeril’s recipe suggested that this pie was as good as the pizzas they remembered from Chicago.  With a few modifications, it very well may be.

What would we change for next time?

Double or triple the cheese. Double or triple the sauce, and then puree it with an immersion blender. I think that would just about do the trick… we’ll post an update when we give it a try!

I should’ve just titled this “prettiest pie ever” or better yet “best meringue ever” because that’s what I’m going to come back to this post for. I mean, just look at that pie. Is that not amazing? By far the prettiest pie I’ve ever made, and that meringue was to die for.

I made this pie for Canadian Thanksgiving at the same time as the Peanut Butter Honeycomb Pie, and it was tasty. It was also seemed like a lot of work for what ended up pretty simple flavours. First you make the lime curd, then let it chill for a few hours (or days, if you make it ahead). Then mix some gelatine with whipped cream, and gently fold into the curd. Then you make the blackberry compote (easy, yes – but not all that quick), then assemble the thing and let it chill some more. At the end you make the meringue, toast it (preferably with a torch if you want it extra pretty) aaand EAT! Okay, maybe it wasn’t really that hard – but I guess after all of those hours I hoped for flavours that were a bit more mind blowing. It wasn’t bad, it just wasn’t all that special.

The meringue, however, was *awesome.* I was a bit intimidated by the instructions involving a candy thermometer – but in the end it was really very simple and it made the shiniest and most luxurious meringue ever. Definitely one I will revisit, and I recommend you do too.

Full recipe is here.

Did I mention this was a pretty pie? Yeah, just…. so pretty!