montcarte

When I saw this dish on Smitten Kitchen, it spoke to me. I love things like this – oven-baked, soul-comforting gratins are among my favourite foods. Especially if they include sweet potatoes!

I made this to bring to our Christmas Eve dinner, and I was extremely happy with how it turned out. I swapped the swiss chard in the original for spinach and used more Swiss cheese than Gruyere. I kept everything else the same as the original.

Everything went together really well. I loved the onions and spinach filling, the thick slabs of sweet potato and the rich, creamy béchamel. The veggies weren’t overly wet at all and absorbed the béchamel sauce well. The sweet potatoes ended up being the right texture, and the spinach tasted amazing alongside the potatoes. I loved the Swiss/Gruyere cheese mixture -the dish wasn’t overly cheesy, so you could still taste all the separate parts of the gratin.

It is a bit time-consuming to prepare, and uses a fair number of dishes. It’s well worth it in the end though! You’re left with a comforting sweet potato dish that can feed an army, and feed them well!

Spinach and Sweet Potato Gratin
adapted from Smitten Kitchen

1/4 cup (1/2 stick or 2 ounces) butter
1 small onion, finely chopped
3 pounds frozen spinach, thawed and liquid pressed out
Pinch of freshly grated nutmeg
2 cups heavy cream or whole milk
2 garlic cloves, minced
2 tablespoons flour
2 pounds medium red-skinned sweet potatoes (yams), peeled and cut into 1/8-inch thick rounds
1 tablespoon minced fresh Italian parsley
1 tablespoon minced fresh thyme
Fine sea salt
Freshly ground black pepper
3 ounces shredded Grueyere cheese
3 ounces shredded Swiss cheese

1. Cook onion in 2 tablespoons butter in a wide 8-quart heavy pot over moderately low heat, stirring, until softened. Add spinach, pinch of nutmeg, and salt and pepper to taste and cook, stirring, until vegetables are tender but not browned, about 8 minutes. Season with salt and pepper then transfer greens to a colander to drain well and press out liquid with back of a large spoon.

2. Combine cream or milk and garlic in small saucepan; bring to simmer; keep warm. Melt two tablespoons butter in a medium heavy saucepan over moderate heat and stir in flour. Cook roux, whisking, one minute, then slowly whisk in warm cream/milk and boil, whisking, one minute. Season sauce with salt and pepper.

3. Preheat oven to 400°F. Butter deep 9×13 baking dish. Spread half of sweet potatoes in the prepared baking dish. Sprinkle with salt, pepper, a quarter of the herbs and a 1/4 cup of the cheese. Distribute half of the greens mixture over the cheese, then sprinkle salt, pepper, a quarter of the herbs and 1/4 cup of the cheese over it. Pour half of bechamel sauce over the first two layers then continue with the remaining sweet potatoes, more salt, pepper, herbs and cheese and then the remaining greens, salt, pepper and herbs. Pour the remaining sauce over the top of the gratin, pressing the vegetables slightly to ensure that they are as submerged as possible. Sprinkle with the last 1/4 cup of cheese.

4. Bake gratin for about 1 hour until golden and bubbly, and most of the liquid is absorbed. Let stand 10 minutes before serving.

If you like this, you might also like:

Crepes Terrine with Spinach, Mushroom, and Smoked Turkey
Asparagus and Mushroom Bread Pudding
Butternut Squash and Pecan Lasagne

I have a terrible habit… cooking for 50 when only five are around. I think I topped out at 12 liters in my last attempt at soup. Small pots help keep me honest, but I seem to always find a way. This is true with spaghetti – mounds of it left over – always.

This is not a bad thing, especially considering the convention of the frittata!

These are many ways to approach this. I like the day old spagettes, but any older and you might want to freshen the mix by inviting some fresh veg into the equation. Try wilting spinach, frying onions, or adding fresh tomatoes.

Spaghetti Frittata

Start by sparking the broiler and getting an oven safe skillet to medium-high heat.

In a bowl, whisk as many eggs as you need (i.e. about 1 per serving @ 6 – 10 servings). I’ve seen recipes that might discard every other yolk, but I don’t. Depending on your original pasta sauce, you might not need to season the eggs – a softer sauce might require you to add salt, pepper, etc… use your judgment.

Now the fun part – it’s best to work with a slightly warmer leftover so pull your spaghetti earlier or warm in just a tad in the microwave. Fold the spaghetti into your egg mixture and ensure and even coating.

On your medium-high hot skillet, gently and evenly add the mixture. Let in cook on the stove-top for 5 -7 minutes and follow up with another 3 – 5 minutes under the broiler. I like to pull it in the last 2 minutes to add a coating of any gritty sharp Parmesan. Keep an eye on it as broilers are mean, loud, and pushy

Slice like a pizza – um – a pie? A pie.

Serve with a salad or a quartered and salted tomato – all doused with your best olive oil.

The play of textures in this crispy, flavorful, and tender point is bliss and makes a great snack, light meal, or easy take-with-you lunch idea.

I miss writing, especially here. Been gone, but where?

These were the days of my life since… last October. I am a foodie, but a keener of the sort. I have loved food since the start – easy hobby I figured. My mom didn’t really “love” food, but she loved the people eating it, and it showed. She gave me a head start on the whole ethnic palette idea – foreign color, flavor, and texture on a regular basis. I explicitly remember the breaded and baked calf brains served with a highly acidic, but still un-cured green/white cabbage salad. I was 7. I was not happy.

Taken from www.rawfish.com.au/brains-and-bacon/ - this is about what it looked like, but my mom served this with a cabbage salad and did not use any bacon.

Pied de Cochon make a great calf brain omelet soufflé thing – fantastic

Anyway, I started cooking and eating everywhere/everything. Traveling as a foodie is too good, especially if stop as you go… so after taking to as many markets, tables, sidewalks as there are types of bread, I decided to take a few sporadic plunges.

The Ritz Carlton – as far I know, my mentor. I worked there as a banquette server, always between the kitchen and the client. The kitchen was – the best. It’s where I saw my first 400 liter stock pot.

Other restos followed. I served mostly, but that implies always near the kitchen. Italian, Sushi, Chinese, tapas, bars and pubs – all different; all fascinating.

I eventually managed a couple for restos, but most recently, in the last year in fact, I was a chef. I cheffed for fifty, everyday.

They loved it. I loved it. Here a short list of some of what I served: Sample Menus

Why am I telling you all this? Because I went from foodie to pro, and thought you should know. Plus, I just sort of want to say thanks to all the people who truly love food and have shared with me their experience and passion – professionals and foodies, diners and dishers, servers and savants… thanks. My palette will forever know the amalgamation of texture and flavor one uses to taste the art of life…

…and with that, one of my favorites from the last year:

Crepes Terrine with Spinach, Mushroom, and Smoked Turkey

Crepes are my favorite and are in fact the first thing I learned to make after the fried egg. I know it as a breakfast food or dessert and love the way you can fill them up and roll them on your plate, blanketing them in any of many syrups, sauces, or jams. But the rich and sumptuous crepe is far more ready for a savory setting than I had earlier thought, dans la forme d’une… terrine? Sorta. Not exactly right, but serves the purpose.

So, first – prepare you fillings:

Mushrooms and Spinach

I like to use a mix of mushrooms that have been roasted and chopped with a bit of salt and pepper or a mushroom duxelle – nothing too fancy required, but feel free to experiment. Be wary of over flavoring as the finished dish is quite complex from a flavor perspective. Same goes for the spinach – roasted with salt and pepper. I mixed both of these with some onions rendered in butter for some extra flavor. Again, any approach to creating a delicately flavorful filling is good.

Smoked Turkey

I did this dish with shrimp when I was working (cooked then minced with green onion and garlic), but the deli-slice is far easier to work with. Use any you like, i.e. smoked turkey, but nothing too crazy. Finding something with little salt and fat is a good start.

Cheese

Buying sliced cheese is fun, but pricey. I like to get a few small chunks, grate, and mix (at work, this was replaced with a saffron roux and wilted spinach with onion). I also included a few intermittent layers holding brie as their prize. Remember to save some cheese to top the terrine.

Crepes

¾ cup all purpose flour (you can use any basic flour, but the texture will change)
1 cup milk
3 eggs
½ tablespoon sugar (optional, but I like the bit of sweetness)
1 teaspoon salt
4 tablespoons melted butter

Whisk the eggs and milk together – you can optionally do all this in a blender or using a hand blender. Add the sugar, mix again. Temper the hot butter and add to the mix. Add remaining ingredients and mix for a last time. Store this in your fridge for one hour. This is required for a moist and tender crepe as the flour will have the time require to sponge-ily absorb the wet stuffs. Drink flour, drink (evil laugh)…

Heat a non-stick pan, butter it, and drop a teaspoon of the batter in the middle. Leave there until firm and then wipe it around the pan and throw it away (well, eat it, but for some reason the first crepe is never a nice one). Heat up your oven to the minimum setting and leave the crepes in there with a slightly damp towel overlying to keep them from drying.

Once done, and in an oven safe vessel, start the layering. Make sure to double or maybe triple the crepe count at the bottom so that you have something of a base. Use an intermittent method, is this case, mushrooms, turkey, cheese, mushroom, turkey, brie, as so on…

Top the last crepe with your reserved cheese, some crushed oregano, and finish in a 350C oven for a few minutes, just to melt the cheese. Remove, let rest 10 minutes, and then slice with a bread knife or another super sharp or toothy knife – enjoy.

You have the option to top with a hollandaise or other like sauce, but I like a drizzle of truffle oil and maple syrup. Serve with a sharp crisp white wine.

Now, I was sort of mentioning a shrimp based approach, but there are many options here. Enjoy ham, smoked salmon, spinach, avocado, other cheeses, other sauces, and of course – any dessert manifestation.

When my mom and sister returned from Paris this spring, they came bearing the gift of blue cheese – and lots of it! Now, I like blue cheese, but there’s no way I can devour a slab of it as is; I much prefer having it in a dish. I searched for something to make with this fine French blue, and finally stumbled upon this recipe for a tart made with pears, spinach, onions, and of course, lots of blue cheese. I was entranced.

This is a really playful combination of flavours. You have to be a major blue cheese fan to like this tart, as that is the predominant taste. However, all the other ingredients really pop out in the background: the pears are a nice, light sweetness, the spinach softens the bite of the blue cheese, and the onions bring in another, different element of sweetness. I think this tart is excellent, and it improves as it cools (warm or cold, it’s delicious!).

I would make some changes to the recipe though, and am writing it out in the way I will try next time. I used a tart pan (after all, it was called a tart!), but there was faaaaar too much egg/milk mixture for this. I ended up using about half of it before it started to overflow. I will definitely add more spinach, as I would’ve liked a stronger spinach taste, to even out the blue cheese a bit more. And I’ll definitely be using fresh pears, not canned, next time. The canned is okay, but they lost a lot of their pear flavour in the baking process, and I wasn’t fond of the texture (just a bit too mushy). Fresh pears will make this perfect.

Oh, and I used a pie crust mix, and didn’t make it from scratch, so this recipe is just for the filling. When it comes to tarts, I don’t think the trouble of making a crust from scratch is worth it, as you barely taste it. Also, I forgot to add the pepper and salt to the milk/egg mixture, and I don’t even notice it missing…

Pear, Spinach & Blue Cheese Tart
adapted from Our House
Printable Recipe

2 onions, chopped
2 tablespoons butter
2 cans (398ml) pear halves
1 bunch of spinach (definitely use more than less)
150g strong blue cheese
2 eggs
1 cup milk
salt
pepper
2 tablespoons grated parmesan

1. Prepare a tart crust and line a 9″ tart pan with the crust. Refrigerate for at least 30minutes.

2. Chop the onions and cook until golden brown in the butter. Put the onions into a sieve to drain off the butter.

3. Drain the pears and cut the halves in half.

4. Wash the spinach well and cook in a little water for a minute, immediately drain and plunge into cold water. Squeeze all the water out of the spinach and chop roughly.

5. Crumble the blue cheese.

6. Beat the eggs with the milk, salt and pepper and set aside.

7. To assemble the tart, spread the onions on the bottom, then the spinach, arrange the pears around the edge and lastly the blue cheese all over the tart. Fill with egg mixture and sprinkle the top with the parmesan.

Bake in a pre-heated oven at 390 degrees C for 40 minutes or until golden brown.

If you like this, you might also like:

Tomato Tart
Asparagus and Mushroom Bread Pudding
Spanakopita

Soli made me poutine this weekend! It was even more delicious than usual.

There isn’t really a recipe, because poutine is forgiving in that way – pretty much anything can go in. This time, he baked up some potatoes, stirred together a brown sauce with two egg yolks to get in beautifully rich and velvety, added some peas, basil chiffonade and some seared foie gras – add the quintessential curds, bury the whole thing in gravy, and there it it – poutine!

It’s a beautiful thing, and my pretty much the most amazing meal possible.

This dish, as simple as it sounds, was a big hit and I completely loved it! Packed with flavours, it’s a warm and hearty dish that’s perfect for these fall days. It can be fantastic side dish, and can even be a main dish.

The garlic is not too strong, but is definitely a prime component to the overall flavour. I loved the idea of steeping it all in boiling milk; it made the garlic stand out, but not become overwhelming. Slightly crisp asparagus mixed with a variety of mushrooms, surrounded by creamy bread and topped with melted cheese – can you say delicious? I will be making this over and over.

I found many recipes for this floating around, and ended up using a combo of several. The original seems to stem from Deborah Madison, but Washington Times also put out a recipe for it as well (adapted from Madison’s). My version comes from the two…I’m writing it out as I made it, but feel free to make your own combo. It seems quite versatile.

I halved the recipes that I found, as only three people were eating – however, there still wasn’t enough to go around (it was that tasty!).

Asparagus and Mushroom Bread Pudding
adapted from Deborah Madison
(this recipe is for three people – double these amounts for a 6-serving dish)

5 cloves garlic, chopped
1 1/2 cups whole or low-fat milk
3 -4 sandwich loaves, cut into thick slices (preferably stale) (mine were fresh and I toasted them)
Kosher salt
1 pound asparagus, trimmed and cut on the diagonal into 1/2 inch pieces and soaked in cold water
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
2 spring onions, finely diced (2 to 3 tablespoons)
1 pound mushroom mix – I used fresh shitake, oyster and button, cleaned and coarsely chopped
Freshly ground black pepper
2vlarge eggs
2 tablespoons finely chopped parsley
1 tablespoon dried oregano
1 cups freshly grated Gruyere cheese

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Lightly grease a round gratin dish.

2. Combine the garlic and milk in a medium saucepan. Bring to a boil over medium-high heat, then remove from the heat and set aside to steep (5 to 8 minutes).

3. If the bread is not stale, lay it on a large baking sheet and bake for about 10 minutes until crisp (but not hard, or the pudding will be mushy). Break the bread into chunks and put it in a large dish.

4. Pour the milk through a strainer over the bread (discarding the garlic) and let it sit while you prepare the vegetables, turning the bread occasionally so that it soaks up as much of the liquid as possible.

5. Fill a large skillet 2/3 of the way with water and bring to a boil over high heat. Lightly salt the water and add the asparagus pieces; cook about 3 minutes or until the vegetables are crisp-tender. Drain and rinse with cold water to stop the cooking.

6. Melt half the butter in a medium nonstick skillet over medium heat. Add the shallot and cook for 1 minute, stirring, then add the mushrooms. Increase the heat to high and cook for several minutes, stirring, until the mushrooms brown in places and exude their liquid. Remove from the heat and season with salt and pepper to taste.

7. Break the eggs into a large bowl and whisk until smooth. Add the parsley, oregano, 1/2 – 1 teaspoon salt and pepper to taste. Add the soaked bread and any liquid left in the dish, the asparagus-mushroom mixture and its juices and 2/3 of the cheese, mixing well.

8. Pour into the prepared baking or gratin dish and use a spatula to even it out. Sprinkle with the remaining cheese and dot with the remaining butter. Bake for 45 minutes to 1 hour, or until puffed and golden brown. Let cool for a few minutes before serving.

What to say… it’s rare a city gets to say it is the best at something, but when it can, its residents become an enviable demographic. Montreal gets two such honors – bagels and smoked meat. I was vegetarian for a long time – barely a flexetarian these days, but even in my most equanimous moments of lightest step, I knew I’d still grab a Schwartz’s or Reuben’s sandwich when presented with the opportunity. Just too good!

Now, sandwich aside, my favorite thing to do in bring a steaming heaping pound of this stuff home and – make pie (or poutine, remember poutine = pizza, but another post)! It all starts with a hop down the street to 3895 St-Laurent, where you’ll find Schwartz’s Montreal Hebrew Delicatessen. You’ll know you’re there when you see the lineup. There’s always a lineup – always.

But chin-up, most of the queue is filled with those who wish to be crammed into a small chair at a shared table in bright noisy diner. A great time, but not this day – this day I get to wait in the shorter & faster takeout line, and I mean wait… you know the Soup Nazi? This is close… stay small and quiet and say thank you! And tip!! Oddly, I’ve ask for a pound every time, but always get a little more. It ain’t free, but somehow, I still appreciate it.

This meat, in a medium fat, is unlike anything you’ve seen. Keep the bag closed! Run home! No nibbling! This pound of meat is not a bag of chips! Go home!

Pizza dough – not my thing, yet, so on my way home, I buy some dough from some bakery (cooked or uncooked, it’s $1.00, so it’s hard to argue).

Pizza Sauce
1 pound/can tomatoes – crushed
1 tablespoon olive oil
½ pound mushrooms
1 onion
1 bud roasted garlic
1 bunch basil – fresh
2 – 3 anchovies
5 – 10 grates of Parmesan cheese
pinch salt & pepper & dried basil

Start the garlic roasting (tightly wrapped in foil and roast at 350C for 30 minutes). If using fresh tomatoes, blanch, peel, and crush your tomatoes. If using a canned tomatoes, just crush and look for peels or any hard bits. Peel and diced your onion, smaller the better; same with the mushrooms. In a hot pan, add your oil, onions, salt, pepper, and dry basil. Get a bit of color in the onion – golden hue – then add the mushrooms. When it’s ready add the garlic and toss; add the tomatoes. Let this cook for 30 – 45 minutes. You want a nice dry sauce. Tomato paste is often used to help achieve the right consistency. I like fresh or canned tomatoes. In the last 5 – 10 minutes add the remaining ingredients: julienned basil (save some basil for later); minced anchovies and a bit of anchovy oil; Parmesan.

Roll your dough or whatever has to happen and brush with olive oil, front and back, and pre-toast. All we have to do later is melt cheese, so it’s nice to get a crispy chewy head start on the dough. The oil starts to fry while baking the dough and that’s a good time. Pull the early golden dough out and add your sauce. I gotta say, this is good to eat just like this, so this next step in mind blowing: open the bag; add the meat, reserving the bestest slices for, um, garnish.

Grate the best mozzarella you can find and toss with the remaining julienned basil and some dried oregano. Place the cheese on you pizza and bake at 350C for 10 – 20 minutes. As stated before, we are melting cheese, so keep an eye on it. Let it rest for 5 minutes before slicing in – use a graceful hand; there’ s a lot of meat here. Add the, um, garnish, and…

To describe the taste: the fats are like a fleshy butter, bedded in sun-wind scarred fields; earthy; sweet and rich; rooted in sacrifice; blatant submissive independence. Uff… it is like a poem.

Schwartz’s Smoked Meat – Pizza – Part 2 – Breakfast

This pie – it takes 3 – 6 people to eat it, and leftovers are often a given, so… wake up, take your last slice(s) and heat in an oven at 250C for a short time (starting with a room temperature slice is better).

Fry eggs. Place eggs. Share. Go back to bed.

Poutine, a Quebec staple… well, maybe not a staple, but it seems like it in this house. I love poutine, but not the stuff you can get in restaurants (at least rarely). Resto poutines are so often too fatty and too salty, not exactly a bad thing, but I might only eat it once a year. Solution? Make me own.

I treat poutine like pizza, a fresh and flavorful dish and oozing with herbs and veggies – and cheese please! Three kinds in fact!

Preheat you over to 350 – 400F. Wrap a bulb of garlic in foil and stick it in. Wait – 30 minutes minimum.

Fries (serves 4 – but I had to serve 6, so i was short some potatoes)
1 – 2 pounds fingerling or other potatoes (these have a great texture)
2 tablespoon oil (your choice, but be careful about smoke point; I use veg)
salt and pepper to taste

Cut up the potatoes the size you like. I like them thin, because thin means crispy, and crispy means not ending up with a pasty potato cake. Some like “the cake”, but I like it when the fries can hold there own against the ludicrous amount of moisture that is soon to be gently bubbling on the stove.

To fully commit to this crispy approach, I heavily salt the raw fries and let the sodium draw moisture from the root for half an hour or so, while resting in a colander. Rinse them well before tossing them in a large bowl that contains the oil, salt, and pepper. You want to coat them in oil and then let them “self-fry” on a baking sheet in a the hot oven. I’ve left them in as long as an hour plus, but really, try 35 -45 minutes then watch closely.

Veggie Roast
1/2 pound zucchini
1 pound asparagus
1 green pepper
1 1/2 pound mushrooms (mix it up, if you can)

So cut it all up, as you like… remember, pizza. Lay everything out on a baking sheet and salt lightly. Throw into your over and roast for 10 – 15. Because the fries and garlic are in there pulling heat, this time will vary. Again, use your eyes. Your looking to soften the veggies and pull some moisture. When you think there are done, lay them on a tea towel – yup, pull more moisture. I use the same technique for pizza to keep the dough/crust from getting soggy.

Sauce and Cheese
1 um, can or package, poutine sauce (blush, but whatever – no MSG please)
1 bulb roasted garlic
3/4 teaspoon oregano
1/2 – 1 pound cheese curds
1/2 pound cheese 2 (Blue Gouda)
1/2 pound cheese 3 (something soft and stinky that i can remember – Taleggio?)

Follow the directions on the package and leave me alone. I don’t have fats here that often. Besides, who has the time. I promise to get around this and find a more natural path to brown saucy heaven – so keep checking back. Take your now roasted garlic, and using the back of your sexy chef knife, press out all the caramelized goodness and throw in the sauce with the oregano. Stir, stir, stir.

Everything should be ready at the same time; sauce; veg; fries. Plate the fries, then the veg, then half the cheese. Go back to your sauce, and five minutes before you bless your plate with this oozy, seemingly thixotropic godsend, throw in the rest of cheese and walk away; 5 minutes. It’s gonna melt… sooooo gooood!

Add the sauce and have seat.

The other night, I saw this strange looking hunk of cheese in the dairy bin at the cornerstore. It was a vacummed-pack bulb of white cheese, strands of it all braided up together with flecks of black in it. Being a fanatic cheese-lover, I picked it up and Soli announced it was tressé, a Middle Eastern cheese similar to those mozarella cheese strings. Needless to say, we purchased it.

I can’t find much information about this cheese online; the best I could find called it (or something very similar) Armenian string cheese. The black specks are nigella seeds, also popularly known as ‘black cumin’. They’re supposed to have a faint strawberry taste, but to tell the truth, I didn’t really notice a flavour.

The cheese, however, is a different story! Soli soaked it in water, as it’s so densely packed, it’s impossible to…unstring. After it had soaked, we were able to pull these white strands apart and pop them in our mouths. If I had to give this stuff a name, I would call it cheese bubblegum – its texture is very chewy, and its taste quite salty. It reminded me of cheese curds, the stuff poutine is made of.

It really was delicious, and Soli threw together a quick salad of lettuce, mint, cucumbers and tomatoes with a lemon-olive oil-garlic dressing. A few cheese strings tossed on top, and it was one great snack! (Have I ever mentioned Soli makes the best salads EVER?)

Not sure what else you could do with this cheese. I bet it melts wonderfully, and I certainly wouldn’t turn down a grilled-string-cheese sandwich.