Sonya's

Do you miss the Wagon Wheel?
I do.
But thanks to Jared Falk, my pain has been eased. No not just eased, but in fact alleviated. Sonya's,(there is no apostrophe on the menu, but you know. . .) is a diner to be reckoned with. A genuine promise of food made from scratch greets you at the door. Hell yeah!
I had two bacon cheese burgers (just to see what I would get) for a remarkable $6, and a rich and delicious, homemade, cream of mushroom soup. My bill was $9.20. I am keeping this short because I am going back tomorrow to try more. I promise to add to this post. VALUE and TASTY!

Thanks Jared!
Lunch is on me pal! Just tell me when.

The Silver Spoon

The Silver Spoon http://ca.phaidon.com/the-silver-spoon/ has been Italy's best selling cookbook for over fifty years. It is considered the bible of authentic Italian cooking. Logging in at a dizzying 1263 pages and containing over two thousand recipes, this one is a whopper.
The Silver Spoon is published by Phaidon http://ca.phaidon.com/agenda/, originally a publisher of books about the visual arts, they have branched out and now publish books in a number of styles.

In The Silver Spoon, recipes are divided into sections: sauces, marinades and flavoured butters; Antipasti, appetizers and pizza; first courses; eggs and frittata; vegetables; fish, crustaceans and shellfish; meat and variety meats; poultry; game; cheese; and desserts and baking. There is a final section  that includes menus designed by famous chefs.

In Italy, cooking and food are a rich tapestry that weave the country's cultural history with its traditions. The recipes here are sometimes simple and rustic, and other times sophisticated and complex. They blend ancient tradition with innovative new methods. They focus on the evolution of what Italian cuisine was and is becoming.

The Silver Spoon breaks down the incorrect conception that Italian food is all garlic and tomatoes. It also explores the vast regional differences in style. Italian food is based on fresh local ingredients, therefore the styles vary greatly from the north to the south. In the north, cattle and dairy farming make for a cuisine based on butter meat and cheese, whereas, in the south ingredients like olive oil, tomatoes, eggplant and fish are common staples.

If you want to try some recipes from The Silver Spoon, it is available at most libraries. If you are interested in owning an Italian cookbook that truly covers the whole spectrum, there is none better.

Kum Koon Garden -- Dim Sum Mania!

A cart load of goodness!

Dim sum is definitely a "the more the merrier" situation. The folks at Kum Koon Garden, (257 King St., (204) 943-4655) http://www.kumkoongarden.com/  are ready and able to accommodate any size group you can muster.
Dim sum is the ultimate fast food if you are in a hurry, you sit down and a cart will roll by your table almost immediately. You can also take your time and wait for fresh steaming varieties of your favourite dishes to appear.
Dumplings of many varieties are a staple of the dim sum menu. Most are a variation of pork or shrimp, mixed together, on their own or with other ingredients like crunchy peanuts or sensuous steamed scallions.

A variety of dumplings

Other common items include sticky rice, glutinous rice stuffed with a combination of ground pork, shiitake mushroom and five spice, wrapped in a banana leaf and steamed. The result is a very delicious earthy tasting bundle just begging for hot sauce. Pork spare ribs with fermented black beans are another dim sum favourite. Tender and juicy, the subtle saltiness of the beans makes this dish a hot commodity on the rolling cart.

Mmmmm. . . spare ribs!

The selections are far too numerous to mention, but of note are the pineapple buns. Filled with a soft and sweet custard, they are unbelievable when really fresh. Don't skip the pork buns either, steamed or baked, they are a must.
So grab a bunch of your adventurous friends and head on down to Kum Koon Garden to pick a bunch of strange wonderful delights from the cart. sharpen your chopsticks and most importantly, enjoy!

The Ringleaders of Kulbassa - Metro Meat

Located at 121 Euclid Avenue (204) 943-8217, Metro Meat boasts a fine selection of in-house cured meats. They are famous for their old world authentic Ukrainian kulbassa. Their sausage is smoked outdoors with oak, no temperature control or other new school tricks. People are passionate about their kulbassa and there are many sites that argue which is the best in town. I prefer the Metro Meat style, but variety is a wonderful thing.

One of the other great features of the store is the selection of mustards and horseradish to accompany your smoked meat.

They also have barbecue and sweet chili rings as well as a whole slew of other treats (see picture for the menu)

Metro Meat! The Ringleaders of Kulbassa!

Cassoulet: A Midwinter’s Suppertime Dream

Every year, as the leaves desert the trees with the brisk approach of winter, my mind wanders back to the first time I tasted cassoulet. A rich, slow-cooked country casserole, cassoulet originated in the south of France. It’s name is derived from the word cassole, a deep round earthenware dish with slanted sides, in which it was traditionally prepared.

    

When I was twelve, my father took a sabbatical and moved us, for a year, to Great Milton, a small village in Oxfordshire England. I discovered many wonderful new things there: thatched roofs, shandy, that soccer is really football and American football is really rugby with helmets, pads and too many rules. I also discovered cassoulet.

   

In the middle of the chilly damp winter, our neighbours Richard and Elisabeth Balkwill invited us to share a meal that Richard had been preparing for two days. He was very proud, justifiably, of his recipe, which he had pried from the recipe book of an unwilling elderly gite owner his family had stayed with in Lapeze, a small town in the Dordogne region in the south of France.

    

To prepare cassoulet is simple, but requires patience. Here is what you need: about a pound of white navy beans, a pound of pork loin, a quarter pound of bacon, a dry European sausage (saucisson sec), six cloves of garlic, three large onions, the same amount of tomatoes, around a litre of chicken stock (decent store bought varieties are available, but homemade is much superior), a robust red wine (I suggest an Argentinian Malbec for quality and value) and finally bread crumbs.

    

The ingredients for the cassoulet Lapeze are easy to find at any local grocer, with the exception of the saucisson sec, or what Richard called a “dusty old French sausage”. For that you will need to find a meat shop dealing in European charcuterie, or perhaps an Italian specialty foods shop. An Italian calabrese with peppercorns will do the trick, as will any dried spicy sausage. You should consider getting your bacon there as well, as a properly smoked chunk of pork belly will make all the difference in your cassoulet, as compared with the water pumped, sulfite-rich varieties available at most grocery stores. Get it unsliced.

    

The morning of the day before you wish to serve your cassoulet, soak the beans for roughly eight hours in water. Go to work, go to a matinee, do what you do in the day. When you get home, in a large pot, cover the beans with water and simmer them gently, being sure to add a couple cubes of bacon. Now it’s prep time. Mince the garlic (saving a clove for later) and slice the onions and tomatoes roughly, no need for any fancy knife skills here. Cut the pork loin into one inch cubes and the sausage into quarter-inch thick slices. Next, dice the rest of the bacon, setting aside two slices to grease the pan for the pork loin. 

    

Cook the reserved bacon slices to release the fat and toss in the pork chunks, scattering some of the garlic overtop and cook them until slightly browned. Set them aside, leaving as much fat as possible still in the pan. Next, add the bacon and sliced onions, cooking them until the onions soften. Now add the remaining garlic and tomatoes to the pan and cook for five minutes. Add the wine and stock next and simmer for about twenty or so minutes. Your beans should be done right about now and will require draining.

    

Now is the time to get out your large crockery casserole (or closest facsimile of) and rub the inside with the remaining clove of garlic. Next, layer your ingredients in this order: browned pork, sausage, the “bacon stock” and finally the beans. The dish will cook in a 200 degree oven for twelve to fourteen hours, covered. It will reveal a layer of fat on top, to which you will add the bread crumbs and finish at 350 degrees until the top is brown and crispy. Let it set for ten minutes, then it’s time to eat! Cassoulet is very rich, so it pairs well with something light like a simple green salad.

    

Upon returning to Canada, Richard’s recipe in hand, my mother would try to re-create cassoulet Lapeze at least once every winter, a tradition I have upheld since leaving home. While our attempts are always delicious, Richard’s cassoulet has remained the finest I have ever tasted. Perhaps it was his Aga oven, an oil burning range they used, not only to cook, but to heat their home. The Aga includes a series of ovens and burners ranging in temperature. His cassoulet cooked slowly and gently overnight and through the next day in the oven with the lowest heat. Perhaps it is simply context, the newness of it touching my taste buds for the first time, it etched in my memory a potentially unsurmountable experience I will always pursue.