2008 March : Tiny Bites

Easter recipe round-up

2 Comments Karen HamiltonMarch 23, 2008

Happy Easter from the Hamilton household! How did you spend the weekend? My husband and I like to celebrate every year with an Easter egg hunt for two. This year, I also took advantage of the long weekend to try a bunch of recipes that have been on my radar for some time.

Pan-Seared Sesame-Crusted Ahi Tuna

Source: Cook’s Illustrated: The New Best Recipe

A Hamilton household favourite. This is technically a new recipe for me because this one comes from my husband’s repertoire. He was more than happy to let me try my hand at it on Friday while he took in the second night of March Madness. This dish is so quick: a few minutes of prep and a few minutes to sear. My only regret was that the tuna steaks I had to work with were triangular and a little thin. If you can find it, select steaks that are rectangular blocks at least 1.5 inches high, like these ones that we’ve used in the past.

Ingredients:

For the Tuna

3/4 cup sesame seeds
4 8oz tuna steaks, at least 1.5 inches thick
2 tablespoons olive oil
Salt and pepper to taste

Ginger-Soy Sauce with Scallions

1/4 cup soy sauce
1/4 cup rice vinegar
1/4 cup water
2 1/2 teaspoons sugar
1 medium scallion (green onion), sliced thin
2 teaspoons minced fresh ginger
1 1/2 teaspoons toasted sesame oil
1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes [we use a tiny bit of shichimi instead]

Directions:

Combine all of the ginger-soy sauce ingredients together in a small bowl, stirring to dissolve the sugar.
Spread the sesame seeds on a shallow plate. Pat the tuna dry. Use 1 tablespoon of the oil to rub both sides of the steaks. Sprinkle with salt and pepper. Press both sides of each steak in the seeds to coat [we do all 4 sides for good measure].
Heat the remaining oil in a nonstick skillet over high heat until the oil begins to smoke. Swirl to coat the pan. Add the tuna and sear 30 seconds with moving them around the pan. Reduce heat to medium-high and continue to cook until the seeds are golden brown, about 1.5 minutes. Using tongs, flip the steaks carefully and cook, without moving, until seeds are golden brown on the other side. It’ll take about 1.5 minutes for rare to 3 minutes for medium-rare.
To serve, cut into 1/4-inch slices. Serve with ginger-soy sauce.

Braised Peas with Spring Onions and Lettuce

Source: Cook with Jamie

Kurt usually serves his sesame tuna with a side of steamed asparagus. Ho hum. Now that I was in charge of the meal, I cracked open the Cook with Jamie cookbook that we got for Christmas and zeroed in on something with peas. It’s still too early for fresh peas, but the frozen organic peas we found did just fine. We substituted red pearl onions for the spring onions only because I was too lazy to figure out what it was. It isn’t a term used very often in Canada; green onion is what I’m more used to.

The dish complemented the ahi tuna and the pinot grigio that we had for dinner. It was much soupier than I expected (note to self: inspect cookbook photo first). Next time, I’ll serve it in a bowl or on top of the rice to absorb its flavours.

Ingredients:

A pat of butter
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 heaped teaspoon of flour
1 cup vegetable stock [substitute with chicken stock if necessary]
6 spring onions, trimmed, outer leaves discarded, and finely sliced
14oz fresh or frozen peas
1 butter lettuce, sliced
Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
Juice of 1 lemon
Extra virgin olive oil (EVOO—splurge for the good stuff)

Directions:

Slowly heat the butter and 1 tablespoon olive oil in a large saucepan. Add the flour and stire around, then slowly pour in the stock.
Turn up the heat and add the onion, peas, and lettuce with a pinch of salt and pepper. Cover and simmer for 5 minutes or until tender.
Taste, correct the seasoning and squeeze in a little lemon juice. Serve drizzled with a splash of EVOO.

Nutella Banana Muffins

Source: Delicious Days

Fellow food blogger ChichaJo, whose Philippine culinary adventures I am duly noting for our Christmas vacation in Northern Luzon, tried an irresistible nutella and banana muffin recipe that she found on Delicious Days. It was just the thing to bake for my family’s Easter dinner on Saturday night. Following in ChichaJo’s footsteps, I likewise used Nutella to frost the finished goods along with a sprinkling of silver cola balls. It was a hit at the family party. My lola (grandmother) doesn’t have much of a sweet tooth but she made room for several of these.

Mushroom and Saffron Soufflé

Source: La Tartine Gourmande

Breakfast has never been a meal that I eat on time. Brunch is much more to my liking; Sunday brunch especially. Wanting to try something other than the usual soft-boiled egg for this Easter morning, I flipped to the bookmark of a savoury soufflé recipe on La Tartine Gourmande. The original recipe called for crab, which wasn’t available at our grocer, nor was it an ingredient that we felt like having so early in the day. Instead, I tossed in few brown mushrooms, shallots, and smoked applewood cheddar. Kept the saffron in for the pop of colour.

Verdict: puffy, golden, and deeeelish. You have less than 30 seconds after the oven opens to capture the soufflé at its airy peak. I missed my chance to capture it towering 2 inches above the lip of the ramekin. Happily, this is definitely a recipe that warrants a repeat. Hope to have photo evidence of the heights it can achieve before Easter comes again next year.

Categories: Books and Such, Breakfast, Dessert, Food, Recipes

Lunch spots near BC Place that won’t break the bank

3 Comments Karen HamiltonMarch 21, 2008

Lunching every day in downtown Vancouver can quickly add up. Today, I’d like to share 5 favourite eats around my watering hole that are both delicious and affordable.

Grounds for Appeal: 845 Cambie Street

Yaletown locals and law students may be the only ones that know of this gem of a cafeteria inside the Law Society building. It serves some of the yummiest Indian curries in the area. The butter chicken used to be offered only once a week, but due to popular demand, it is now available every day. Try this for $6.85 or select from their other curry specials.

As a full-service cafeteria, Grounds for Appeal also offers soups and sandwiches that several of my colleagues swear by.

Ezogiku Noodle Cafe: 270 Robson Street

Ramen is the specialty here. Most ramen cost under $7, and even the premium bowls are under $8. My new favourite is the p-toro ramen with a side of gyoza. It takes every ounce of willpower not to yell out itadakimasu! in true Naruto style each time I dig in.

Despite room for 30 people, Ezogiku is crammed during the lunch rush. There are only a handful of tables that seat 4; the rest of the space is bar seating to accommodate single diners. Many people take their ramen to go when the place is busy.

If you don’t already have one, ask for the frequent-diner stamp card: every 11th ramen is on the house. And come prepared to pay with cash.

Ebi Ten: 388 Robson Street

Ebi Ten may classify itself as Japanese fast food, but it sure is a lot more nutritional than McDonald’s. It was here that I first tried takoyaki (fried octopus balls). Terribly addicting and cheap by the dozen. Though it does become a little less appetizing when you witness your coworkers gorge on 24 and 36 of them, respectively.

Not into octopus? Try Combo #6 (teriyaki chicken and tempura donburi) or the salmon and avocado roll. This roll and the other sushi selections are made fresh every day, available on average for $2.50.

Kolachy Co: 888 Beatty Street

Kolachys are round, palm-sized pastries filled with a variety of savoury ingredients. Their size and compactness make kolachys a perfect choice for mobile lunching. Lunch kolachys are only $3.75 piece. Try the Smoking Dog or the Buffalo Wing; there are lots of varieties to choose from.

For those of you that share my obsession with soup, you’ll be happy to know that Kolachy Co has soup on the ready in the early morning. You have to wait till 11am for other soup places nearby. If you’re lucky, you’ll also catch the friendly staff preparing kolachys for itself and the other two locations in Bentall Centre and Kingsgate Mall.

Cafe des Arts: 863 Beatty Street

Cafe Des Arts is across the street from the Pivotal building and footsteps away from the stadium. Recommended are the vietnamese salad rolls, the pasta salad, and croissants filled with turkey, avocado, and brie. Enjoy your meal in the cozy comfort of this cafe, run by owners Si and Y-Hoang, or take it to go if you really must run back to the daily grind.

It shouldn’t surprise you by now that soup is the reason I keep coming back. They usually have 3 soups on rotation along with the usual beef stew, spicy goulash, pho, and wonton soup.

Let’s hear about your picks

Do you have a favourite cheap lunch spot near work or home? I’d love to know your recommendations, especially for other parts of the city.

Categories: Downtown, Food, Restaurants, Yaletown

A weekend of Glowbal brunches

3 Comments Karen HamiltonMarch 19, 2008

Glowbal touts itself as one of the places to see and be seen in Yaletown. Everything about it screams young, hip, trendy. I like to think that I am still somewhat young and hip, but my aversion to “Yaletown trendy” had thus far caused me to keep my patronage of Glowbal to the occasional work luncheon.

So it was indeed peculiar when last weekend, a bank convinced myself and lunch companion Bruce to reconsider Glowbal. Here’s the story.

CIBC Yaletown’s grand opening

Bruce and I originally targeted sushi haunt Sakana as the next Tiny Bites dining adventure. Sadly, we discovered that Sakana was closed on Saturdays. As was Tequila Kitchen, a new restaurant next door to PHAT Deli that just opened shop last week. Bruce had suggested Glowbal as part of the Yaletown restaurant run-through, but I quickly dismissed it as being a mite pretentious.

As we continued to to walk around Yaletown and discuss our dining options, the mouthwatering scent of street-vendor hot dogs wafted our way. We turned towards the source of the aroma and discovered that the new Yaletown branch of the CIBC was decked out for its grand opening in a multitude of balloons, with local radio station Crave at the scene blaring pop music and vending hot dogs to all passersby.

Bruce and my husband are both CIBC customers, so we decided to walk inside the jam-packed branch to check out the festivities. A fresh-faced CIBC rep met us at the door with cake and a smile, neither of which we were inclined to turn down. Further into the melee, we found an artist drawing caricatures, a juice and espresso bar, prize giveaways, and last but not least, many servers from Glowbal’s catering division who were offering hors d’oeuvres to the crowd.

We ate everything that was offered and with great gusto: prosciutto-wrapped asparagus, smoked salmon and caper bites, bruschetta in extreme miniature. I didn’t pay attention to who was catering the affair; it was only after we chatted with the guy at the juice bar that we discovered it was Glowbal behind all the tiny bites (yes, I did just work that in).

Thoroughly impressed by the calibre of the food we sampled at the CIBC, we decided to follow through with lunch at Glowbal, traversing the block and a half it took to arrive at its doorstep.

Saturday brunch with Bruce and a dead camera

It was a sunny day so the patio was the place to be. We were ushered to our seats and immediately presented with a plate of …banana bread? Who gives people banana bread?

After my surprise at not receiving the standard serving of bread rolls, there were no more complaints. The banana bread was tastier than any lump of sourdough could have been, and whet our appetites for the brunch to come.

Sadly, my camera battery was on its last legs from having gone camera crazy at the Gilberto Santa Rosa concert the night before. It blipped out just before I was able to take a photo of the beautiful Blue Banana smoothie I ordered. Tried to pop the battery in and out to tease one more shot out of it. As we couldn’t tell whether it was successful, Bruce put his artistic talent to good use and sketched out my smoothie, so that this part of the post wouldn’t be so bereft of imagery.

I ordered the sickeningly sweet Belgian Waffle while Bruce got a couple of tidbits from the satay bar plus the daily soup (roasted root vegetable). The soup was pretty good: a puree of butternut squash, potato, and carrot with a hint of cumin. Tarragon creme fraiche topped the dish. The tequila lamb satay was too dry and gamey for my taste, but the tempura mushroom satay was a hit. With no camera to document these dishes, Bruce once again sketched the lay of the table, and has promised to send his rendition in short order.

Our antics certainly didn’t go unnoticed. The table of four next to us struck up a conversation, intrigued by Bruce’s sketching. We tried to explain ourselves and were awarded with puzzlement and awkward compliments. At any rate, brunch for the most part lived up to our expectations. We discussed the possibility of my returning to Glowbal the next day with a fully charged camera battery and attempting another go at this.

Sunday brunch with the husband

Glowbal, take two. I managed to convince my husband, Kurt, to brunch with me this time. We again chose to dine out on the patio and got assigned to the same server from the day before. She not only remembered my prior visit but even recalled some of the menu items that I had expressed interest in. We must have made an impression (whether it was a good or a bad one is known only to her).

There was no way that I was going to order the caramel overload that was Saturday’s belgian waffle. This time, I tried one of the daily specials: panettone french toast with berry compote and vanilla creme anglaise. Oh folks…it was heaven. Even swimming in all this sauce, the panettone retained its structure, airiness, and bite. The level of sweet was perfect. Such a shame that this isn’t on the regular menu.

Kurt’s choice was also lipsmackingly good. His crab frittatta had dollops of melted mascarpone strewn about the surface, adding a silky richness to the otherwise delicate nature of the dish. My repeat samplings earned me dirty looks and a reminder that I had my own meal to see to. He must have liked it enough to resent the sharing!

My carnivorous appetite was still craving meat after polishing off the french toast, so I ordered some ahi tuna, braised short rib, and bbq baby octopus from the satay selection. The ahi tuna was disappointing: stale and dry, as if it had been sitting in the fridge uncovered overnight. The rest passed the taste test and are worthy of a re-order. We left the restaurant with bellies full and tastebuds satisfied.