Makeshift Falafel with Donahini Sauce

I omitted this important step in the recipe, Pulse chickpeas in the processor on their own first before adding other ingredients!!! Now back to your regularly scheduled blog entry.

My wife has been soaking chickpeas for three days.
She intended on making a healthy soup to torment me with but it was a busy week for her so it never happened. So what does one do with fermenting chickpeas? Make Falafels!!!
The chickpeas were re-hydrated to the point that they were getting soft. This is exactly what is required for falafels. I found this out just as we were beginning to boil the garbanzos out of them. So I immediately pulled the peas off the fire, drained them and into the processor they went, I had no fresh parsley and trying to get through the entire day without taking off my track pants, I opted for about 2-3 tbsps of dried parsley I had, up until now any homemade falafel I made came from a box so if dried parsley was good enough for me then, it would do now. along with the other ingredients I cobbled together, and then baking them instead of frying (I know, I know, but we ordered in the night before and I think I passed my greasy goodness quota. (BTW, Orderit.ca + Sammy's Eatery = good times)I managed to make a pretty decent tasting Falafel, better the next day if left out for a few hours, the baking doesn't get them as crispy as frying but air drying remedies that.

Online on Saveur magazines site I saw a Tahini sauce which I have had and found just a touch too bitter for my liking. So instead I took a note from the Donair shops on Pizza Corner in Halifax, For their Donairs they use a sweet sauce made of condensed milk and sugar which for those of use you are use to Tahini was gross at first but then became somewhat addictive. So I made a hi-bred Donair-Tahini sauce for us which I dubbed the "Donahini" Sauce.

On a sad note we bought some "Pita Break" multigrain pitas from our local Metro which kinda got me thinking about Falafels in the first place. But alas they were completely mouldy less than a week after buying them. Way to go Metro. So we made due with some toast and salad. But overall very pleased and will do it again as soon as I buy some more parsley and onions and oversoak some more chickpeas.

The Pot Roast Experiment Pt. ll

Success!!!
The brining did embue the meat with a salty, almost pastrami like smell, which isn't a surprise because that is what pastrami is. I then made a makeshift steak rub with very little salt, black pepper, paprika, garlic powder and anise seed for a twist. Then in a roasting pan seared the meat, removed it from the pan, added 2 sliced onions 3 min. added some wine, maybe 1/2 cup to deglaze the pan, then 3 carrots broken into big chunks and quartered sweet potato (next time I'll go with a stronger white potato, this one turned to mush in the cooking. I had some turkey stock I made in the freezer about 2 cups, so I added that and the meat and into the oven it went for three hours, I think I turned the meat every hour and by the end of the time and by the end. Wonderful. I then strained the beautiful cooking liquid and made a gravy by adding it to a roux. Other than the veggies being too mushy for my wife a total success meat and gravywise.

So what do I think of pot roast now? I'm happy with the outcome, generally I think beef should not be braised because it may flavour the sauce but the meat is left bland. The extra step of brining helped immensely and as for cooking beef, I don't do it often and at home, barbeque is my first choice, but I'm happy to have this under my belt and will try this again if I have a hunk of meat and it's not BBQ season, maybe I'll add a touch of liquid smoke to it in the cooking phase and make it in a pie form next time.
I must remember to take photos for my next experiment.

The Pot Roast Experiment

I've never made a pot roast before, Odd? Maybe, but the thought of taking a beautiful piece of meat and slowly boiling it in stock never really appealed to me. But I am committed to clearing out my freezer before spending any more money filling it up again and I happened upon a 2kg pot roast. Now I could have minced it for a pie. I have an abundance of butter that I need to use and thought to make pie shells out of it and a meat pie would work, but I recently made a wonderful Shepard's Pie and minced some lamb shoulder to make it so to desecrate two cuts of meat would just be wrong. So I'll go with the pot roast.
My first strange twist is a brine, I have no idea what this will do to the meat but if it's infused with salt and spicy flavour like my chickens do it should work well. Otherwise I've ruined a good piece of meat. The brine consisted of Water, Salt, Peppercorns, Garlic, Bay Leaf, Allspice, Chilli Flakes, and dried Rosemary. I'm thinking overkill but let's see. I have to wait for a phone guy at home tomorrow so why not do the roast while I work and wait.

Cowbell just didn't ring for me

Cowbell is one of those restaurants that you want to like before you go there. Their philosophy is 1. buy from local farmers and 2. make it from scratch, from there breads and butters to their own sausages. This is the kind of place I want to support both in support of our local farmers and fellow purist cook so we gave it a try.
First thing you should know is that it is in Parkdale, If you don't know Parkdale, it's shady, well, some locals would refer to it as "colourful" I have lived and presently work in the area and believe me, the colour fades quickly. And if you are attempting to pay for your parking you will be relentlessly hounded for spare change. That is just a fact, if it's a deterrent, so be it. For me it is, I don't want go too far into it but I see eating out is a total experience and if I feel any discomfort or irritation, it will be a factor on whether I return or not.
As we left our earthy doorman a few dollars heavier, we entered the dimly but sufficiently lit restaurant with paintings of food on the walls and a hexagon-ceramic tiled floor I have seen in many converted house/apartments friends of mine have rented in the city. The seating is not too crowded for a small place and there is a little bar in the back which serves little purpose in my eyes but I didn't come here for the scotch. I must stress that you should pick your seats wisely, because as we were being seated we were not given menus, Rather I was asked to refer to the chalkboards that were strategically placed on the walls and unfortunately I had the menu to my back. Okay Cowbell's menu is ever evolving based on what is in season and what cuts of meat are available so I understand them not wanting to waste paper on each new menu but let's get some chalkboards on the waitstaff or mirrors, swivel chairs? Save on chalk and just have the waitress commit it to memory? As for the waitstaff, polite, unobtrusive and a bit organic, more organic than Starbucks, less than Fresh.
We started our meals with the homemade charcuterie or as I know it the salamis and other cured meat. It's been a while but I remember at least 6 different selections, small portions but very nice, my preferences being for the smoked meats (which are also done on the premises) accompanied with some mustard, pickled pearl onions and an assortment of breads and butter also freshly made. Very nice starter. And for dinner I ordered a Cassoulet. A rich french stew with sausage, duck and beans I have always wanted to make but knew I would be the only one eating the entire thing. So I thought it would be perfect to see what a stew made with real homemade sausage would taste like. What I got was not a stew but a deconstruction of a stew. Two different sausages, a duck leg confit ( braised in it's own fat), some roasted vegetables all on a plate of beans. Maybe the idea of making a sausage only to have to cut it up to flavour a stew was too painful for the chefs of Cowbell, but I wanted a melding of all those flavours. I won't buy a cake if it's a loaf of sponge and bowl of icing. I want a cake. Bad analogy but hopefully a clear one. Individually the sausage was good, as was the duck, but the beans were underdone, my wife actually ordered a bean dish as well and hers were also underdone. This may be something in the chef world that I am not familiar with, maybe in some cooking schools beans are meant to be al dente but to us uncultured folk, they was underdone.
After our meals we politely paid our waitress, as you may have guessed it was a bit pricey but not ridiculous for the quality of the ingredients. and quickly got back into our car before our doorman came at us again.

Overall Cowbell seems like place with a great concept and ideals, I just worry that the owner/chef is tooting his own horn too loudly to hear what the costumers want. Will I go back, maybe to give the menu another chance, but still not looking forward to the doorman.
6 out of 10 spoons.

Bones, We don't need no stinkin' Bones

More than 10 years ago I witness something I'd never seen before. I don't remember the show, most likely on PBS, where all great cooking shows go to die. I watched Jacque Pepin with a sharp knife and a deft hand remove the bones from a whole chicken. All that remained was a s meat blanket ready to be stuffed and roasted. I was in awe. In the past I've taken a knife skills course and the crowning achievement of my final class was the deboning of a chicken. It was a pity that I forgot my steel and my instructor was too busy flirting with the ladies of the class to lend me his. Results? confusion, frustration and a mangled bird. Since then I haven't attempted a deboning, not because I was scared off but I had no reason to do so. I generally buy whole organic birds and disassembling them myself to keep myself familiar with the bones and save a few bucks but never had the occasion come up that required a deboning.
But recently I watched a Ricardo Larrivée Christmas special in which Ricardo's butcher gave him a boneless turkey for his stuffed turkey. This got me thinking? My in-laws tend to only eat the white meat (a.k.a. boneless meat) so why not try it? Still on the fence whether to do it or not I thought I'd try a chicken before I commit to taking on a turkey. And so last night I did. My knife was sharp(ish) and freshly steeled and I was off. Starting with the back of the chicken and slowly, carefully cutting along the ribcage. Then the joints of the legs then continuing along the ribcage to the breast. Then I removed the bones from the legs and thigh and cut off the wings altogether. What I was left with was a layer of skin and meat which I stuffed with a quick stuffing of fried onion, peppers, garlic, various dried herbs, salt and pepper and bread slices cut into cubes. tied it with butcher's twine and roasted it for an hour or so. The results were better than I hoped for. Definitely a successful experiments.

The Quest for Christmas Dinner

'Tis the season to start working on the annual Fake Christmas Dinner. Well, not actually fake but a week pre-mature. A tradition started last year when my wife and I flew to Halifax a week early to have Christmas with her family and in the process avoided the Christmas chaos, the last minute shopping, the delayed flights, the outrages airfare, and having to decide which family to spend Christmas day with. And a bonus, I got to make the turkey. Something I never had the opportunity to do at my folks house. Partially because they're up every holiday from the crack of dawn, peeling, chopping, salting, yelling. But mainly because they do it so well that I dare not try.
Last year's turkey wasn't my best work. the skin was a little crisp on top due to my bad timing with the foil, and not as flavourful as a thanksgiving bird I did a few years back. But still the stuffing and gravy covered anything the bird lacked. But this year, I've started my planning early. Thanks to our neighbours to the south and their Thanksgiving, I get multiple newsletters in November on how to make the perfect bird. So I've collected a few recipes to experiment with. As always I go over each recipe and see if there's anything that stands out as something I want to try or amalgamate with others and this years crop ranges from the traditional bird (which I'm always trying to perfect) to molasses and cranberry glazed. I stay away from the deep fried or grilled birds because I don't have easy access to either a huge fryer or grill for three hours. But a stickler for the tradition I would rather make it in an oven and truly let the flavours of the bird shine rather than smoke or grease.
Brining is a must. The magic of salt and water makes the bird moist and flavourful right to the bone. I have an apple cider brine that I've used for the last two turkeys and it works wonders. I'm going to finalize my menu this weekend and shop for the main ingredients this weekend. Fake Christmas is next Thursday. I'll keep you posted and if it works out I'll share the recipe.

"The 7 Numbers" gets an 8

Last Friday evening my wife and I found ourselves on the Danforth, And en route to the inevitable sea of Greek restaurants whose menus are as familiar to me as my own last name we came across 7 Numbers. A restaurant I was told about by a fellow foodie whose taste tend to be for the pricer cuisine. But knowing my love of home cooking he recommended 7 numbers, a family run restaurants whose original kitchen was helmed by a real italian mama Roza Marinuzzi. The Danforth is their second location. The original closed down and re-opened in Forest Hill. As we entered we were seated not by a hostess or waiter who were busy hustling around, but by a man who I'm assuming is the manager behind the bar waving us to a seat nearby. As odd as it may seem I instantly felt comfortable knowing that there was no protocol or seniority here. You need a seat, you get a seat. the menu is split into 5 courses. Not really in the pasta mood we went for our appetizers, main, and vegetables. First up was the Calamari, I am a huge fan of Calamari, from rings with dipping sauce to baked whole w/ a lemon wedge. and tend to order it in most restaurants just to see what they serve up. What I got at 7 numbers was a bit different. Rather than rings the Calamari was cut lenghtwise, lightly floured and fried, no dip, no lemon on a bed of green. as I started eating the texture was a bit odd but by the end I thorougly enjoyed it. Next up was the braised lamb, which was fall of the bone tender and wonderfully seasoned, accompanied by a spiced broccoli and a glass of wine from Abruzzo, my favorite wine region in italy, it was a wonderful meal. And since we skipped the pasta coarse there was room for what my wife deemed "the best flourless chocolate cake I've ever had" not much higher praise than that. Up until now I haven't mentioned the waitstaff, because other than taking our order and bringing our food there were like ghosts, which in my opinion is the perfect service. The restaurant experience is between you, the food, and your company. Too many actor/waiters working extra hard at being seen in my opinion, I prefer the barely noticable yet when you need them, your plates are taken away and your water glass is refilled. Speaking of water, the only hint at a downside was the slight taste of dirt in the water, I'm hoping it's because it came from a clay jug (can't quite remember) but it was noticable. And as we awaited our bill I remembered the foodie that led me here. The foodie who once recommended I order a $100 aged balsamic risotto. The only way I'd eat $100 plate of rice and vinegar is if someone else is paying and I don't like them very much. So you wouldn't believe my shock when the bill was under $60.
Overall the food was affordable, very good and the waitstaff did their job. Therefore The 7 numbers was a thoroughly enjoyable experience. I wonder what the Forest Hill location is like?