Thinning sugar snap peas

Farmers on 57th garden plot, 3 weeks old

Farmers on 57th garden plot, 3 weeks old

Farmers on 57th garden plot, 3 weeks old

Farmers on 57th garden plot, 3 weeks old

More photos on Flickr >

Vancouver website consulting for restaurants, food service, and hospitality

Ratatouille goodness plus a cinema to savour

10 Comments November 18, 2010

My little family’s been hit with no less than 4 attacks by the flu season in the past month, so we’ve been eating a lot of comfort food lately. My favourite comfort foods lie within the realm of soup: a bowlful of shio from Ramen Santouka; chicken congee from Congee Noodle House; wonton soup from Yopo Cafe; and homemade tinolang manok.

This therapy would not be complete without plopping in front of the TV, tissue box in hand, in front of a feel-good movie – and more often than not, my selection is animated. In the weeks of my convalescence, How to Train a Dragon, Finding Nemo, and Ratatouille have gotten me through some of the worst of the spells. By this Monday, hopefully in a state of full recovery, I will be watching Ratatouille again – with ratatouille and not soup in hand – at Vancity Theatre’s Cinema to Savour screening. All proceeds benefit the Chefs’ Table Society of British Columbia.

Cinema to Savour, Ratatouille Edition - Buy Tickets Online

Cinema to Savour presents Ratatouille
Monday, November 22, 6-8pm
Vancity Theatre & Film Centre
1181 Seymour Street | Vancouver
Tickets: $55 general, $15 children
More info on chefstablesociety.com

I’ve been working directly and indirectly with the Chefs’ Table Society for the past few years. They’re the guys that run the awesome Spot Prawn Festival each May and the ones that produced the Vancouver Cooks 2 cookbook (which recently won Gold in its category at the Canadian Cookbook awards). On Monday, board member Chef Scott Jaeger of Pear Tree Restaurant and friends will be serving up yummy French-inspired finger food while the film of the same name is shown on the big screen. I thought it’d therefore be fun to share a ratatouille recipe and offer a Ratatouille prize pack in advance of this event.

Our Meatless Wednesdays ratatouille recipe

Homemade ratatouille

When I took up David Suzuki’s Nature Challenge a few years ago, we picked one day per week where we ate no meat. The photo above shows our first attempt cooking the ratatouille that we often ate on our Meatless Wednesdays, based on this recipe from our favourite Cook’s Illustrated cookbook. We adjusted the scale of the recipe to serve two, eaten alongside hunks of French bread and a bottle of pinot.

Ingredients

  • 1-2 eggplants, cut into large cubes (we used 2 because I’m an eggplant fiend!)
  • 1 large zucchini, cut into large cubes
  • 1 small-medium onion , chopped
  • 2 cloves garlic , minced
  • 1 lb of your choice of very ripe tomatoes, peeled and sized like the eggplant and zucchini
  • 1 tablespoon parsley, chopped
  • 1 tablespoon basil, chopped
  • 1/2 tablespoon thyme, minced
  • Olive oil, salt and pepper

Directions

  1. Salt eggplant pieces generously in a colander situated in your sink or over something to catch liquid. Leave for up to 3 hours, then rinse away the salt. Dry eggplant extremely thoroughly…you can’t overdo this step. They might shrink or shrivel some…that’s okay. We used clean dishcloths to extract the moisture instead of wasting paper towels. [Skip this salting process at your peril - you might need to if you're rushed, but the trade-off is a ton more mush in your dish.]
  2. Preheat oven to 500F. Line 2 baking sheets with foil.
  3. Toss eggplant and zucchini thoroughly in olive oil, then spread the pieces in a single layer across your baking sheets. Sprinkle with salt. Roast in oven for 30-40 minutes or until well-browned and tender. Every 10 minutes, open the oven and stir the veggies on the rack. Halfway through the roast, switch and rotate the position of your baking sheets. Turn off oven and leave them in there or set aside.
  4. Heat a couple of tablespoons of olive oil in a heavy-bottomed roasting pan or Dutch oven.
  5. Cook and stir onion in pan over low heat until golden brown, 15 to 20 minutes.
  6. Add garlic and cook for 30 seconds or till the pot exudes garlicky goodness.
  7. Add tomatoes and cook for 5 minutes or until they start breaking apart.
  8. Add eggplant and zucchini and combine until just heated through, about 5 minutes.
  9. Stir in herbs and add salt and pepper to taste.

Share your “Ratatouille moment” and win some Ratatouille

Disney PIXAR Ratatouille

I had a Ratatouille moment 2 years ago when I tucked into the crab fritter at Atlanta’s Bacchanalia Restaurant. It was such a transcendent experience for me – triggering a flood of fond childhood memories – that the taste of this dish will never be forgotten. If I could dine every night at Bacchanalia, I would.

Comment on this post describing your own Ratatouille moment and you could win:

This Ratatouille prize pack is worth $150. The winner will be randomly selected (Congratulations, Brad!).

That gives you 2 days to submit your Ratatouille moment. Looking forward to reading about the dishes that spoke to you!

Categories: Dinner, Events, Food, Recipes, Savoury

Tiny Bites 2009: a year in review

Leave a Comment December 31, 2009

Sentro 1771: sizzling tofu

As 2009 winds down to a close, I’d like to share the most memorable stories, experiences, and images of our threesome’s year in food.

Key Moments

What a time of transition. A new business, new contributors, and a new life to welcome into the world. 2010 is gonna be huge.

Baby, me, and 'baby' Beef Wellington at 38 weeks

Dining Out

These are just a few of the places that Bruce, Degan, and I adored in 2009.

Medina Cafe: waffle with lavender milk chocolate

Events Around Town

As a newly occupied parent, I’m sure that I’ll have to bow out of and/or delegate many of the events that we had enjoyed in 2009. This list is mostly for me to dwell in nostalgia as I tend to my little one in 2010.

Wines of Chile 2009

Home Cooking

We sure did a lot of cooking this year!

PICA: Cooking with Chocolate lesson

Culinary Travel

I’m not going to be able to do nearly as much jetsetting in 2010 as our trio did in 2009. Here are the highlights of where we’ve been.

Tiny Bites makes its mark on Panglao Island

Favourite Visuals

With so much going on this past year, it was difficult to write about everything we experienced. Consequently, these became hidden gems in my Flickr photostream. Here they are again for your viewing pleasure.

Dirty Apron: a lesson in chocolate

Favourite Discoveries

These people, events, and treats helped make 2009 an even yummier year.  Please check them out.

Shark Truth inaugural fundraiser

Categories: Events, Food, Miscellany, Recipes, Restaurants, Travel

My mother-in-law’s Christmas Eve tourtière recipe

6 Comments December 24, 2009

Since my husband will miss two Christmases in a row with his family in Winnipeg, I decided to surprise him at dinner tonight with the meal that his mother serves the family every Christmas Eve: greek salad and tourtière.

slice of tourtière (by Karen Hamilton)

I had to call my mother-in-law for the recipe this week. It was one of those family recipes that hasn’t really been documented. Technically, she does have her notes jotted down somewhere, and I’m sure it was based on someone else’s recipe once upon a time, but my MIL does this savoury pie with her eyes closed nowadays. I hope I can do it justice and transport my husband if only briefly to his mother’s dinner table tonight.


For the pastry

You could always buy pastry shells from your local grocer, but for me and my family, Christmas is about making everything from scratch!

  • 5 cups all-purpose flour, unsifted
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • 1 teaspoon baking powder
  • 3 tablespoons brown sugar
  • 1 lb of (Tenderflake) lard, very cold
  • 1 whole egg
  • 1 tablespoon white vinegar
  • 2 cups ice cold water

Mix first 4 ingredients above in a large bowl. Integrate the lard using a pastry cutter.

Using a cup measure, break in 1 whole egg and add in 1 tablespoon of vinegar. Add enough ice cold water to make 3/4 cup liquid. Sprinkle this liquid over the lard mixture and toss together.

Divide into 5 equal pieces. For each pie you’ll make, roll out 2 pieces large enough for your pie plate. Shape remaining pieces into flattened discs and wrap in wax paper. You can freeze these in a large freezer bag for 3-6 months.

For the filling

  • 2 lbs lean ground pork
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • 3/4 teaspoon pepper (generous grind)
  • 1/2 teaspoon each of thyme, savoury, sage (optional)
  • 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon (1/3 teaspoon adding optional spices)
  • 1/2 teaspoon cloves
  • 1 large onion, diced
  • 2 cloves garlic (optional)
  • 1 cup boiling water (kettle)
  • 1/4 cup fresh bread crumbs

On medium to high heat, crumble pork into frying pan. Add water, garlic, onion, and spices. Cook uncovered for 10 minutes.

Cover and simmer for another 20 minutes. If there’s more than a 1/2 cup of fat in the pan, take out all but a 1/4 cup.

Mix in 1/4 cup of fresh bread crumbs and let cool completely.

Final Assembly

Lay one piece of your rolled out dough into pie pan. Fill to the brim with the meat mixture.

Lay the second piece of rolled dough over the pie. Press edges down with tines of a fork and cut excess off with a knife. Make Christmasy shapes to top pie with the excess dough. My mother-in-law does holly berries and leaves.

Brush top of pie with heavy cream or egg mixture (1 egg and 1 tablespoon water, beaten together). Lay down pasty dough decorations. Brush decorations very lightly with the cream or egg mixture.

Bake in oven at 375F for 30-40 minutes . You know it’s ready when dough is golden brown and sticking a knife into the very centre of the pie comes out piping hot.

Making ahead

If all you want to do on Christmas Eve is pop a pie into the oven, you can prepare everything in advance. As mentioned above, the pastry dough will keep 3-6 months in the freezer. You can make the filling up to a week in advance and assemble the final pie for the freezer.

To do so, wrap your uncooked pie in 2 layers of saran wrap and a layer of foil and place in your freezer. Thaw in the fridge the morning that you plan to serve your tourtière at dinner.

tortiere (by Karen Hamilton)

Bon appétit and have a wonderful Christmas Eve!

Categories: Dinner, Food, Recipes, Savoury

← Newer Entries — Older Entries →