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Well, it’s finally happened. For the first time, I’ve sent someone to the Food Lover’s Companion for information and that tome has let them (and me) down. It’s a sad, sad day.

The food in question was kataifi, a shredded phyllo-style dough that many Middle Eastern pastry makers use to make crunchy, light confections. Kataifi is like rocket fuel for creativity. It can be used in so many interesting ways. For instance, my friend pastry chef Colen Quinn uses kataifi to make round little pedestals to support her quivering, creamy, cold roasted cinnamon panna cotta. The contrast is fantastic!

Here in Toronto, you can get kataifi in most grocery stores; however, in other towns where there aren’t as many people of Greek, Persian and Turkish heritage, you’ll need to visit a grocery store that caters to those communities.

Have you ever baked with kataifi? If so, what did you make and what tips do you have to share?

Colen Quinn’s Kataifi Disks

1 1/2 cups (375 mL)                                       Kataifi dough, about 2.5 oz (75 g)

4 tsp (20 mL)                                                      melted butter

2 tsp (10 mL)                                                      granulated sugar

Preheat the oven to 325ᵒF (160ᵒC). Line a rimmed baking sheet with parchment paper; set aside.  Place the dough in a bowl and toss to separate. Drizzle with butter and sprinkle with sugar; toss to coat evenly. Divide the dough into 8 equal portions. Use a 3-inch (7.5 cm cm) tart ring or cookie cutter to form the dough into round, thin disks; press down firmly to hold the shape.

Bake, rotating the pan halfway through cooking, for 12 to 15 minutes or until pastry is evenly golden; cool completely. Disks can be stored in an air-tight container for up to 2 days.

Use as a garnish for ice cream, as a base for hors d’eouvres or to sandwich spoonfuls of pudding or caramel.

Yeah, I know. It’s not spring yet. But, like I mentioned yesterday, my thoughts have been turning to tulips.

One of the wonders of spring in my part of the world is maple syrup. Each autumn, maple trees produce a supply of starch to sustain their roots over the winter. As the weather warms and spring causes the snow to melt, water enters the tree’s roots and enzymes change this starch into ’sugar water’ that circulates through the tree preparing it for the new growing season.

Unlike honey, which is the excretion of an insect, people must produce maple syrup. How anyone figured out how to make maple syrup is a bit of a mystery. The various parts of a maple tree (twigs, leaves, bark) don’t taste sweet if you sample them so that wasn’t likely the inspiration. Even the sap itself is thin, colourless and not terribly sweet. In fact, the distinctive ‘maple’ taste develops only after the sap is reduced greatly in volume.

People often wonder why real maple syrup is so expensive; I think this roster of facts makes it clear that the real question should be: why is maple syrup so affordable?

• Ontario has only 400 maple syrup harvesters
• Ontario is the fourth largest maple syrup producer in North America
• It takes 30 to 40 years to grow a maple tree that is large enough to tap (minimum 12-inches/30 cm in diameter)
• Each tap yields an average of 10 gallons of sap per season, yielding only about one quart of syrup

What’s your favourite use for maple syrup? I love it as an ingredient. In fact, I hardly ever use it on pancakes or waffles (I’m a Lyle’s Golden Syrup fan then).

I’ve been so bored with dinner lately. Seriously. I’m ready to change seasons and move on already. But, the fact of the matter is that here in Ontario it’s a good 6 (or more) weeks before spring will even start and many weeks after that before we’ll have any new local produce or nice weather.

So, in the meantime, I’m going to mix it up a bit by making entrées that feel springlike but that are still hearty enough to keep us going in the cold.

First up: Yummy lamb burgers seared in a grill pan.

Moroccan Spiced Lamb Burgers

1 small onion, peeled and finely grated
1 tbsp (15 mL) finely chopped fresh mint and lemon juice
1/2 tsp (2 mL) ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp (2 mL) hot pepper sauce
1/2 tsp (2 mL) salt
1/4 tsp (1mL) pepper
1 egg, beaten
1 clove garlic, minced
1/2 cup (125 mL) fresh breadcrumbs
1 lb (500 g) lean ground lamb
2 tbsp (30 mL) vegetable oil
4 pitas, halved
Lettuce, tomato and olives, feta, etc.

Combine the onion, mint, lemon juice, cinnamon, hot pepper sauce, salt, pepper egg and garlic. Stir together until well combined. Stir in the breadcrumbs. Crumble in the ground lamb and toss gently until evenly combined. Shape into four equal-sized patties.

Heat the oil in a large grill pan set over medium heat. Add the patties. Cook, covered, turning once or twice, for 15 to 20 minutes or until cooked through. Lift out of pan and blot on a paper towel lined plate before serving. Serve in lettuce- and tomato-stuffed pita halves with feta. Makes 4 servings.

What transitional winter to spring foods are you making to stave off beef stew boredom?

First it was don’t drink red wine with fish; then it was drink some red wines with fish. And now, just when we were all getting pretty comfortable with tasting, enjoying and assessing wine, the wine snobs have tossed us another curve. Apparently, now we have to choose the right music or our wine experiences will suffer!

According to this article, “Wine affects you differently depending on whether you’re in a good mood or a bad one. The more relaxed you are by music, which can slow the pulse and soothe you, the more awake and the more receptive are your senses to the delights of wine.”

Can’t a girl just glug back a glass of vino while she watches TV and enjoy it without writing an essay about each sip? Seriously, are we making wine (and other drinks and foods) just too precious?

I’m doing something today that I’ve never done before. I’m repeating a blog post. It’s not a step I take lightly but given the news on Friday, it’s needed.

In case you haven’t heard, Ronald Howes, the inventor of the Easy Bake oven died last week. So, in his honour, I rerun my post from November 2007 about how the Easy Bake oven affected my life. R.I.P. Mr. Howes.

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My generation is divided into two groups: women who had Easy Bake ovens as children and those who didn’t.

I was in the ‘have’ group and truly, I’m glad for it. I loved my turquoise Easy Bake oven! It was a present from Santa Claus the year I was in grade one and it gave me such a sense of maturity and accomplishment to make those little too sweet cakes and unnaturally flavoured cookies! Success with my Easy Bake oven encouraged me to try baking from scratch and gave me the confidence to master the full-size appliances in our kitchen. In retrospect, I think having an Easy Bake oven was an important step on my path to becoming a professional cook.

Launched in 1963 when many young girls still imagined their ultimate adult success to be landing a steno pool job at a prosperous company where one could easily snag a rich husband, I don’t think the inventors of the Easy Bake oven ever expected someone to type a statement like that one!

Yet despite our modern society’s very different attitudes about female success, Easy Bake ovens remain popular toys. Although today’s Easy Bake ovens are still pretty girly (the newest model is pink, after all) it’s no longer considered weird for a boy to play with one. Likewise, I’m sure no Canadian girl who receives one will imagine herself growing up to bake cakes all day long while her husband works.

I bought my son one of the modern models that look like a microwave several years ago and I was delighted and relieved to see that he and his friends enjoyed cooking by light bulb almost as much as I had! It’s interesting to see that some pastimes can remain fun even after the type of person they were invented to please no longer exists.

Tip: Since 2006 Easy Bake ovens have been made to cook with heating elements and not light bulbs. These new machines have been the subject of at least 2 recalls so if you decide to buy an Easy Bake oven consider buying vintage. They often have great models at good prices on ebay.

Photo credit: Tracy Cox

Today, my colleague Sabrina Falone shares her expertise on baking with honey. That means I’ve got the day off – sweet!

By: Sabrina Falone

Almost everyone has honey in his or her pantry. It’s most commonly used to sweeten tea, drizzle over toast or as an ingredient in home remedy recipes. I personally think honey is one of the most versatile ingredients in my pantry and I use it on almost a daily basis.

I use honey to balance tart salad dressings; to aid in caramelizing foods; in glazes and sauces; and, I love to serve small bowls of different varietals of honey on a cheese platter. The list of dishes I use honey in could go on and on, but my favourite thing to do with honey is bake.

Honey is 100% natural and contains minerals and vitamins, so it’s a healthier choice than most sweeteners. It also adds a great flavour that regular white sugar doesn’t have. Although, there are a few baked goods that need sugar for structure (such as soufflé and some cookies) in many of those cases, a portion of the sugar can be replaced with honey, too. Another advantage to baking with honey is that it’s hygroscopic, meaning it attracts water. This allows honey-based baked goods, such as cakes, muffins, scones etc. to stay fresh and moist longer.

It’s very easy to substitute honey for sugar in many recipes:
• Substitute 3/4 cup (175 mL) honey for 1 cup (250 mL) of granulated sugar called for in recipe
• Reduce the fluid in the recipe by 1/4 cup (50 mL)
• Add 1/4 tsp (1 mL) baking soda (to neutralized the acid in the honey)
• Reduce oven temperature by 25°F
Do keep in mind that substituting honey for sugar alters flavour and tends to make baked goods moister, chewier and slightly darker. It’s a good idea to check the item a few minutes before the specified baking time is over to ensure it doesn’t get over-baked.

Do you bake or cook with honey? If so, what are some of your favourite dishes?

With so many regional variations in the names we use to call for similar cuts of steak, it’s hard for people who travel frequently or use international cookbooks and food magazines to know what the heck they need to buy. Usually a little sleuthing on the internet or a call to the Beef Information Centre can answer such questions quickly. However, I’ve been seeing California Cut Strip Loin steaks on menus lately (including my husband’s!) and this term is not well documented. In fact, I had no luck finding a proper description myself last week.

So, since I live with someone who is cutting and selling these steaks, let me be the first to describe them for you: While a traditional strip loin steak is shaped a bit like a diamond and is the result of cutting a whole strip loin crosswise into steaks, for Califomia cut strip loin the whole piece of strip  loin is cut first lengthwise to make two halves; then, thicker steaks are cut crosswise from each of these pieces.

The result is a piece of meat that is almost equal in height, length and width. Why bother? Since these steaks are so very thick (usually over 2-inches/5 cm) they can be well caramelized and encrusted with salt and pepper on the outside without becoming over cooked in the middle. Something you just can’t do easily with a thinner piece of meat.

Have you seen California cut strip loin in your local stores?  If so, let me know where you shop so I can keep up with where this emerging steak trend is taking hold. Thanks!

Cleaning a cooked lobster can be a messy, fiddly chore that can leave you ready for the shower rather than the dining table. In fact, that’s one reason I like ordering lobster in a good restaurant where the meat is presented without the shell.

While removing meat from the tail section is easy, each other part of the crustacean presents it’s own challenges. There are tools invented especially for cracking and removing the meat from the claws and larger “arm” pieces, but none of the conventional equipment designed for cleaning lobster does a good job removing the meat from the little “leg” bits that stabilize the lobster on each side. I admit I’ve left those pieces for the soup pot on more than one occasion.

Then, a couple of weeks ago my husband Martin taught me this great technique for pressing the meat out of those small, flexible shell pieces using a rolling pin. As you can see, the trapped meat eases out in a nice uniform piece! So easy; so smart. (I guess it’s obvious why I married him, right?)

Do you have any tricks that you use when cleaning lobster or crab?

Should big corporations stay out of local food? I was torn to find a ready answer when I first started to consider this growing trend last Tuesday.

On the one hand, I know that big food companies feed the masses (heck, they feed me, too. Without big food companies as my clients, I’d be at the food bank.) Yet, products like the new McDonald’s McItaly burger, pictured above, seem the opposite of what we want local food to be.

Obviously McDonald’s is trying to leverage the Slow Food trend as a sales tool. Slow Food began (in Italy I might add) by advocating that eating food that was produced locally and processed minimally would lead to both a healthier planet and people. It has a close association with artisan production, not mass marketing.

On the other hand, the McItaly burger will put $4.9 million bucks a month into the soil encrusted hands of Italian farmers by using all Italian beef, cheese, artichoke spread, etc to deliver a local version of what must be acknowledged is one of the most successful restaurant products in the world, the McDonald’s hamburger.

I can’t ignore that people like cheap and fast food. These chains wouldn’t flourish if someone wasn’t buying their wares. Isn’t a local fast food burger better than a globally sourced fast food burger that racks up thousands of food miles on the way to your local drive thru? Likewise, local farms have diminished due to lack of markets so the McItaly burger can’t be bad for them either, right? Won’t this support lead to more farmers with more resources who can supply more food to their local customers at better prices?

If a big player like McDonald’s develops relationships with local sources, isn’t that what we need to really bring local food to everyone?

I know that a lot of you are going to have my head on a platter for this opinion (make sure you serve it with local vegetables!) but I welcome your thoughts. This is a topic that needs to be discussed.

And, may I also recommend you check out this article by Corby Kummer, author of The Pleasures of Slow Food. It reveals the results of the blind taste testing he did between local produce items purchased at Wal-Mart and at Whole Foods.

So, I was on ‘the twitter’ (as I like to say) last Sunday just before dinner time and I wondered to the universe if curried cauliflower gratin was something others would be interested in making. Turns out, the answer was ‘YES!’ (I really hadn’t expected an answer since I thought I was the only one not watching the Super Bowl. Turns out sports enthusiasts aren’t really my fan base.)

After making the recipe (and tweeting about it in real time) I had a tasty side dish but the sauce was a little thin. I’ve since had a chance to retest and the recipe is ready for public distribution! Mellowly yellow, mildly spiced and quite cheesy, it has whole family appeal. In fact, if you have the ingredients on hand, you might enjoy making it today for Family Day. (If you have no idea what the heck Family Day is, don’t worry. It’s a new holiday here in Ontario and few people I know have figured it out either.)

Curried Cauliflower Gratin

8 cups (2L) raw cauliflower florets, 1 head
1 onion, peeled, halved and sliced
2 tbsp (30 mL) vegetable oil
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 tbsp (15 mL) minced fresh ginger
1 tsp (5 mL) each cumin seeds and ground coriander seed
½ tsp (2 mL) each salt and ground turmeric
¼ tsp (1 mL) each ground cardamom and pepper
¼ cup (50 mL) all-purpose flour
2 cups (500 mL) warm milk
1 cup (250 mL) shredded aged white cheddar cheese
Topping (optional)
2 tbsp (30 mL) shredded aged white cheddar cheese
1 tbsp (15 mL) chopped fresh parsley

Preheat the oven to 350°F (180°C). Bring a Dutch oven filled with salted water to a boil. Add the cauliflower and cook for 5 minutes. Drain. Spread the cauliflower on paper towel and top with another sheet. Blot dry.

Heat the oil over medium heat in the now empty Dutch oven. Add the onion and cook, stirring often, for 5 minutes or until softened. Stir in the garlic, ginger, cumin, coriander, salt, turmeric, cardamom and pepper. Cook, stirring, for 1 minute. Dust this mixture with flour and stir to combine.

Whisk a little of the milk into this mixture and stir until well combined. Add the remaining milk and bring to a boil. Cook, stirring, for 2 to 3 minutes or until very thick. Add the cheese and remove from the heat. Blend well. Stir in the cauliflower until coated all over in cheese sauce.

Transfer the mixture to a greased 9-inch (23 cm) baking dish. Bake for 25 minutes. Sprinkle with additional cheese and parsley (if using). Bake for 5 minutes or until the sauce is bubbly and the top is golden. Makes 6 servings.