Everyone assumes that the meals at our house must be phenomenal food experiences 365 days a year because both my husband and I are trained chefs who work in the food industry. But, truth be told, being married to a chef of Martin's caliber means that at least 5 and often 6 days a week I'm a kitchen widow who has full responsibility for making dinner for both myself and our growing son as well as making sure homework and all the other nightly rituals happen in a timely manner.

Since being mom on duty so many nights of the week means that I often have to choose simple, fast to prepare and fast to clean up from recipes for weeknight dinners, each weekend I try to allow myself time to make a recipe that is a little more involved.

It doesn't have to be a fancy meal, just satisfying both to make and to eat. This weekend I'm going to make the Zesty Herbed Tomato Lasagna that's on page 34 of Dana's Top Ten Table. In case you'd like to make it this weekend, too, here's a picture and the recipe as it appears in the book.

Zesty Herbed Tomato Lasagna

3 tbsp (45 mL) olive oil
2 onions, finely chopped
3 cloves garlic, minced
2 tbsp (30 mL) finely chopped fresh oregano leaves
2 tsp (10 mL) finely chopped fresh thyme leaves
1/2 tsp (2 mL) each salt and pepper
3 cups (750 mL) tomato sauce
1/2 tsp (2 mL) granulated sugar (approx.)
2 tbsp (30 mL) each chopped fresh parsley and basil
6 fresh lasagna noodles, trimmed to fit
1 1/4 cups (300 mL) coarsely shredded Parmesan cheese
1 cup (250 mL) shredded mozzarella cheese
Heat oil in a wide saucepan set over medium-low heat. Add the onion, garlic, oregano, thyme, basil, salt and pepper. Partially cover and cook, stirring often, for 10 minutes or until onions are translucent.
Stir in the tomato sauce and increase the heat to medium. Bring sauce to boil. Simmer, partially covered and stirring occasionally, for 15 minutes. Taste and add up to 1/2 tsp (2 mL) sugar if tangy. Stir in parsley, basil and 1 cup (250 mL) of the Parmesan cheese.
Oil a 5 x 9 inch (2 L) loaf pan. Preheat the oven to 350F (180C). Spoon a little sauce into the pan. Top with a noodle. Repeat until pan is filled. Cover with non-stick foil and bake for 35 to 45 minutes or until bubbly. Sprinkle with mozzarella cheese and remaining Parmesan cheese. Broil for 3 minutes or until cheese is browned and bubbly. Makes 4 to 6 servings.
Cook once, eat twice: Double this recipe and freeze one batch raw. Bake from frozen for 60 minutes or until hot and and bubbly. Top with cheese and broil as directed.


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The cheese trend that perfumed high-end restaurants has continued to develop in the last several years; until now, many homes are stinky with the good stuff, too.

Some hard-core cheese lovers are investing in cheese lockers so that they can serve cheese at the optimal temperature and to prevent their curds from sweating it out in a plastic wrapper. Commercial cheese lockers are temperature- and humidity-controlled refrigerators designed especially for cheese. They cost a mint and take up a lot of space so they aren't for casual enthusiasts. Luckily, there's a low-tech version that's cheaper, energy efficient and portable to boot!

I bought one of these low-tech cheese lockers for my cheesaholic hubby last winter when I was in New York City. This handy little contraption is ideal for bringing cheese up to temperature. It is screened, which allows beneficial airflow and prevents nasty flies and wasps from using your cheese as a park bench.

Besides being a good way to set out cheese for company, tabletop cheese lockers are also a real conversation starter. My former sister-in-law and present day friend Lydia marveled at our cheese locker when she first saw it. The idea of owning such a device seemed insanely charming to her. In fact, Lydia admits to telling many of her friends about the wacky little house we have for our cheese. You'd think we'd done something odd like devote an entire room of our house to holding wine at the perfect temperature –- oh wait, we did do that!

Even if you don't spring for a cheese locker yourself, you can still enjoy an optimal cheese experience if you follow a few simple steps before serving cheese.

1. Remove the cheese from the plastic wrap or plastic bag in which it was sold.

2. Loosely re-wrap the cheese in waxed or parchment paper and set it on a serving tray or board.

3. Let the cheese stand in a cool, well-ventilated place to allow the air and moisture to circulate around the cheese as the chill wears off.


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As all parents of school-aged kids know, peanut butter is just about as welcome at school and kid's parties as guns, hookers or crack. My beloved hubby is deathly allergic to peanuts so there's no respite from the peanut butter stigma chez nous. I feel very guilty about my own love of peanut butter. It seems like a low-down betrayal to crave a food that, with the swoosh of a butter knife, could kill Martin or create carnage in a school.

Despite my inner struggle with guilt, when Martin is out of town or when I'm traveling for work, I allow myself to succumb to the occasional peanut binge. If the binge occurs at home it's less fun since afterwards I have to clean the kitchen compulsively. The hotel binges are way better since I can knock back mini bar M&M's or an overpriced jar of cocktail peanuts in bed while I watch TV and no cares. Such fun!

Despite the underage peanut taboo, peanut butter (especially with its familiar side kick jelly), is turning up often on menus alongside other stylish but vilified items such as foie gras. Chefs realize that our generation of PB&J addicts needs their fix and that we have credit cards to pay for it. Consider that PB&J with seared foie gras was on a Toronto International Film Festival party menu and that this combo was recently featured in the New York Times and the Boston Globe.

The good news is that someday this guilty pleasure may be a choice for everyone! Study results written by an Institute of Food Research team recently reported to have isolated a molecule called interleukin-12 that may protect the body against food allergy. Check out the report in the Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology if you want the full 411 about the team's findings and how they could lead to peanut butter being safe for everyone.


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Warning: I'm on a bit of rant today. I've got myself into a snit over food packaging. Just how much information do we really need or want on food packages? Ingredient lists and nutrition facts panels are important sources of information and should always be included on packaged foods; however, once they're there, can't we all read them and make choices accordingly?

Studies show that the average shopper spends about two seconds evaluating a package in the grocery store. That makes sense given that we're all busy and that food shopping shouldn't be difficult. When I talk to friends, readers and colleagues, I find that the new logos and icons turning up on groceries confuse many people: Health check, fair trade, smart dots and sensible banners. It's enough, already!

I'd like to see some leadership from Health Canada and the CFIA. What consumers need is a standardized system that is based on criteria such as the Canada's Food Guide. Right now there are just too many message icons noting that a food is better than it used to be even when it is still full of crap. Without government standardization, how will consumers be able to trust good icons such as the health check symbol which is based on science?

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Pizza is surely one of the few foods that most of us can say we have enjoyed through thick and thin: it's the food my friends and I pooled quarters together to afford in university and it's the food I've bought as a celebratory treat for some occasions and as a quick make-do meal on others. I've read that the average person eats 43 slices of pizza a year. To be honest, this really doesn't sound like that much 'za to me. In fact, I'm pretty sure that each person at our house eats many more slices per annum (for once, my family is above average!).

My 10-year-old son truly loves pizza and has offered (actually begged) many times to eat it for both lunch and dinner on the same day. I'm not sure what Oliver loves about pizza that would entice him to eat it so often, but for me the allure of pizza is triplefold: I love that it is handheld, can be topped with dozens of delicious tidbits and that it's as enjoyable at room temperature as it is hot.

While a lot of people define gourmet pizza as a pie topped with exotic or expensive toppings, I think a good cheese pizza made with tender yet chewy dough, a deep, rich-tasting sauce and flavorful yet mild cheese (so many chains use cheese that tastes merely of salt) truly epitomizes the apex for gourmet pizza. After all, if the pizza tastes terrific with just the basics, the maker obviously did something right.

I love to make my own pizza but I often order in on nights when my urge to eat out weighs my urge to create. Although I can have or make pizza anytime, I lament the loss of classic eat-in pizzerias where the pies were made with quality ingredients and served with kitschy Italian flare. Pietro's pizza was our Friday night dinner treat when I was growing up. My mom, my brother and grandmother and I would go there when my dad was out playing poker. I still remember the check pattern tablecloths and how the pies were served on footed stainless steel pedestals -- you really felt like you were out for a special pizza experience!

Recapture the joy of the classic pizzeria and delve into the depths of pizza culture at a Slice. It's a great pizza centric blog that you can check out while you wait for the dough to rise or for the pizza man to ring the bell.


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