montcarte

I used to write restaurant reviews for Midnight Poutine, an awesome site with a talented group of writers that contribute articles about all things Montreal…the music scene, the arts scene, and day-to-day life in this great city. I did this for over a year and then stopped, for a variety of reasons. Anyway, Montcarte was originally created to document the food we make here at home as well as the great food Montreal restaurants have to offer.

So, every week, I’m going to post a review that I did for Midnight Poutine here.

This week, I present you with Euro-Deli (originally posted here):

A Little Taste of Euro-Deli

It’s no hidden gem, but I get the feeling that people may be passing Euro-Deli by out of fear that it’s your average, if not sub-par, cheap pizza slice place. If you are one of those, this one’s for you! Euro-Deli is no 4-star resto, but offers up some of the best cheap grub I’ve come across in a long time.

First of all, the pizza! It is leaps and bounds above the quality of pizza slices offered in the same price bracket; consistently fresh, with a thin crust and a perfect amount of cheese to make it just oily enough to still be considered junk food. Most of the time, our order consists of the cheese slice, but when they have other toppings available, they look very promising. In the mood for something a little different last time, we got the slice smothered in pesto, which added a real kick to an already fine slice of pizza.

Another fav is their “calzone.” While I prefer the spinach one, packed with spinach and cheese, pressed between soft, slightly salty focaccia-like bread, the ham and cheese is also quite tasty. A thick layer of ham sits below gooey, melted Swiss cheese and soft mounds of creamy ricotta. The size of the serving is quite big, perfect if you’re very hungry, but mostly, it’s ideal to share it.

Especially if you combine it with one of Euro-Deli’s vegetarian antipasto platters. Several types of olives, marinated eggplant, sundried tomatoes, all drizzled with a healthy does of olive oil and surrounded by toasted bread. It’s light and zingy, and a great complement to the ham and cheese calzone.

It’s an easy-going, relaxed place, and an ideal spot for people-watching, with its big open windows and sitting-stoop outside. Extremely affordable, simple, fantastic food – Euro-Deli is a welcome sight on St-Lo.

Euro-Deli
3619 boulevard Saint-Laurent
(514) 843-7853

As delicious as peaches are, I can never get through a whole basket of them before they cross the just-ripe threshold into the waaay-too-overripe badlands. Of course, when it’s peach season here, it makes sense to buy them by the bucket, but I needed something fun to do with all the ones I couldn’t eat in time.

It’s been forever since we’ve used our ice cream maker at home, so I decided to give the roasted peach ice cream recipe on Sticky Gooey Creamy Chewy a spin. It sounded like the perfect summer ice cream, and I loved the fact that I wouldn’t have to use any egg yolks or worrying about any of that tempering business.

The end result wasn’t quite what I was hoping for. The ice cream is nice, but if I’m going to eat ice cream, I want it to be worth every single calorie. This one is rather plain and nondescript. I didn’t add the preach preserves when I made it, and perhaps that was part of the reason the ice cream wasn’t bursting with fresh, peach flavor. I did, however, add peach schnapps to the mixture, and pretty much doubled the amount of roasted peaches that gets mixed in. I thought adding cinnamon to the brown sugar coating I roasted the peaches in would add a nice dimension to the ice cream, but I could barely taste it. Next time, I would easily double the amount of cinnamon and make sure to add the peach preserves.

I did have a little problem when it came time to mix the cream mixture in the ice cream maker…the recipe calls for whipping cream, and after just a few minutes in the machine, the mixture really started expanding, to the point where it was all overflowing out of the machine, so I had to stop the process much earlier than I should have. I don’t think this had a serious effect on the outcome of the ice cream, but it was still a bit strange…

All in all, it has an okay texture, and does have a refreshing peachy flavour, but it isn’t nearly as tasty or as summery as I was hoping it would be.

Roasted Peach & Cinnamon Ice Cream
adapted from Sticky Gooey Creamy Chewy
Printable Recipe

2 cups half-and-half
1 cup whipping cream
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup peach preserves (I didn’t use this)
1 vanilla bean, split and scraped (I used 1 teaspoon vanilla extract instead)
Pinch kosher salt
4-6 medium cinnamon-roasted peaches* (Because I didn’t use peach preserves, I increased this to about 10 medium roasted peaches)

1. Combine all ingredients, except the peaches, in a saucepan and place over medium heat. Attach a candy thermometer to inside of pan. Stirring occasionally, bring the mixture to 170 degrees F. Remove from heat and strain into a lidded container. If you do not have a thermometer, bring the mixture just barely to a simmer. As soon as you see a bubble on the surface, remove it from the heat.

2. Cool the mixture, then refrigerate it overnight.

3. Freeze mixture in an ice cream machine according to unit’s instructions. Once the volume has increased by 1/2 and reached a soft serve consistency, add the peaches and continue turning to incorporate. Spoon the mixture back into a lidded container and harden in the freezer at least 1 hour before serving.

Makes 1 quart

*Cinnamon Roasted Peaches

8-10 ripe peaches
3/4 cup brown sugar
2 teaspoons cinnamon

1. Combine brown sugar with cinnamon.

2. Cut peaches in halves and pit them. Coat the cut side of the peaches in the brown sugar-cinnamon mixture and place, cut side down, on a baking sheet.

3. Bake at 400 degrees F for 20-30 minutes (or longer – bake until you see the skins of the peaches peeling off)

4. Remove peaches from pan and let cool. Be sure to save any peachy, sugary liquid from the pan!

5. Remove skins from peaches and dice. Include all juices when adding to the ice cream!

If you like this, you might also like:

Blueberry Sour Cream Ice Cream
Burnt Sugar Ice Cream
Orange Sorbet

When Soli cam home with a big bag of sun-dried tomatoes, I spent a lot of time hunting down some delicious-sounding recipes to make with them. Because I really, really love pesto, and because it’s been such a hot and steamy past few days, I decided on a fast n’ easy pesto recipe.

I can’t say I am the biggest fan of this one, even though it is quite good. I suppose I’m just a pesto-purist…every time I try a variation on the usual pesto, I’m usually a little disappointed. The basil flavour is definitely there, but I think it might be too overpowered by the tomatoes, giving the whole dish a slightly…ketchupy taste. I think it may be better suited as a sandwich condiment.

Other people did like it, but for me, I’ll stick with my normal, run-of-the-mill pesto. It’s a nice and flavourful alternative, but I just love basil too much to want to cancel out its flavour.

Sun-Dried Tomato Pesto
adapted from Epicurious
Printable Recipe

1 cup drained oil-packed sun-dried tomatoes (about 6 ounces) (I used reconstituted dried tomatoes, not packed in oil)
1/2 cup grated Romano cheese or Parmesan cheese
1/2 cup fresh basil
3 tablespoons pine nuts, toasted
3 garlic cloves
1/4 cup olive oil
1/4 cup water (depending on the consistency you’d like – add gradually!)
3/4 pound pasta

1. Combine sun-dried tomatoes, Romano cheese, basil, pine nuts and garlic in food processor. With machine running, gradually add olive oil and process until smooth paste forms. (Can be made prepared 2 weeks ahead. Cover and refrigerate.)

2. Cook pasta in large pot of boiling salted water until just tender but still firm to bite.

(Note! I didn’t do this last part, but instead drained the pasta and mixed in a few tablespoons of the paste right into the pasta to create a much thicker sauce for the pasta)

3. Drain, reserving 1/2 cup cooking liquid. Combine 3/4 cup tomato pesto with reserved cooking liquid in same pot. Add linguine and toss over medium-high heat to coat, adding more pesto, if desired. Season to taste with salt and pepper and serve.

If you like this, you might also like:

Roasted Pepper and Mushroom Pesto
Greek Pasta Salad with Feta and Olives
Mediterranean-Style Vegetable Stew

It’s raspberry season here in Quebec! While strawberries tend to be my favourite berry, for the two-week period that is raspberry season, raspberries do take top place. Full of juicy sweetness, I can easily eat a whole crate of them (sometimes with a bit of vanilla ice cream, sometimes with a splash of cream, sometimes with nothing at all).

I had frozen a few cups of these in-season fruits, and was looking for a fun and easy dessert to make with them. I finally settled on this recipe, which does call for raspberries and strawberries, but given the success of these cookies, I decided to use just raspberries.

My muffins did not turn out quite like the original. Perhaps because I threw in a few more berries. Perhaps because they had been frozen. Or perhaps because I didn’t use self-raising flour, and instead added some baking powder and salt to my regular flour. But even if they didn’t turn out the same, I’m pretty positive they were just as delicious.

Mine muffins were quite dense, and almost rich in their texture. Definitely not something I’m complaining about, though! They’re not a spongy, cakey muffin, but more like a super-moist and thick muffin, packed with the creamy sweetness of white chocolate and the tartness of raspberries. I really enjoyed both the texture and the flavours…I’m a fan of dense, heavy cakes, and these did not disappoint. Raspberries and white chocolate are a perfect combination, and these can be served as a dessert or as a special breakfast treat.

Raspberry & White Chocolate Muffins
adapted from Exclusively Food
Printable Recipe

2 teaspoons lemon juice
1 cup milk
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1 egg
2 cups self-raising flour (I didn’t have this, so I used two cups flour and 3 teaspoons baking powder and 1/2 teaspoon salt)
2/3 cups sugar
1 cup white chocolate chips or chunks
1 1/4 cups raspberries (you can use fresh or frozen, but if they’re frozen, don’t thaw them before mixing them in.

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Line a muffin pan with paper cups.

2. Whisk lemon juice, milk, oil and egg in a medium bowl until well combined.

3. Mix together flour, sugar and white chocolate (and baking powder and salt, if you’re not using self-raising flour) in a large bowl.

4. Add the berries to the dry ingredients and stir gently to combine.

5. Gently stir the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients. Stop stirring once the ingredients are combined. (The original recipe claims the batter should be quite wet. However, mine was not wet, and looked like normal muffin batter).

6. Divide the mixture evenly between the muffins cups. Bake for about 22 minutes, or until the muffin springs back after being lightly touched. No batter should stick to a knife inserted in the middle of the muffin.

Oh, and a new element has been added to montcarte…now you can get yourself a printable recipe version! The link will appear right before the recipe.

If you like this, you might also like:

White Chocolate & Raspberry Cookies
Lemon Raspberry Muffins
Raspberry Chocolate Layer Cake

Well, today was the first day back to work for Soli and I. He’s been off for the last two weeks, and I was fortunate to have the whole last month off. Neither of us were too happy as we slunk back the workplace, but we did have some nice time off and enjoyed it fully.

One of the highlights was our 4-day canoe-camping trip up in desolate Tremblant. The trip was ominous from the beginning, and continued on that path, but it made for a more entertaining, if not more uncomfortable, trip. I think the key words ended up being “scary” and “slightly damp.” All of our bags got wet on the shuttle waaay up the river, as it was pouring. We got in the canoe with questionable skill and zigzagged our way across the first lake.

After getting the hang of the thing, we enjoyed taking on the first rapids and had a great first night all alone in the first campsite. We amused ourselves with talks of potential axe murderers and watching the big sky filled with stars.

The next day, we got in the canoe backwards, and careened down another set of rapids facing the wrong way. We switched, and then lost one paddle and filled the canoe with water. 1km later, we reached a beach, where Soli crafted an oar for me from a branch, trowel, belt and medical tape. We went the rest of the way like that, with various other adventures along the way. I don’t think I could’ve asked for a better time.

Of course, no vacation is complete without a BBQ in the park. Our best one included some marinated steak, mushrooms and zucchinis, a variety pack of sausages from a great butcher shop here, roasted tomatoes and corn, and of course, roasted marshmallows and s’mores.

Vacation may be over, but summer’s not! Here’s hoping to a few more BBQs to come.