Canadian Food Trends

The Canadian Restaurant and Foodservices Association recently released its 2012 Canadian Chef Survey results, with some cool trends. Here is what more then 300 chefs picked as teh top 10 food trends for 2012.

1. African Cuisine
2. Black Garlic
3. Gluten-Free Beer
4. Red Rice
5. Peruvian Cuisine
6. Vegetable Civiche
7. Micro-distilled/artisan liquor.
8. Goat
9. Game Bird Appetizers
10. Savoury Ice Cream

Beet and Apple Salad

Walking through the Milton, Ontario, Farmers Market yesterday with my son "the gardener" was very inspirational. We received a lesson on edible zucchini flowers and saw all kinds of wonderful local fruits and vegetables. The vendors are very personable and friendly. Their is a local Beef farmer who sells his locally grown beef cuts frozen. I tried the "Skirt steak" at $4.99/lb and it was delicious and the meat quality excellent. He also sells dog bones and treats, like dried kidneys or liver that I purchased for $2.00 to $5.00 and my dogs went crazy over them. They are naturally smoked and slow cooked over wood burning coals with no additives. They smelled so good I almost ate one myself. The cupcake outlet was very popular with the kids, with a variety of regular and mini-size colourful, sprinkles on top, fresh made cupcakes. The bakery outlets I avoided and just didn't tempt me enough to break my fast of wheat flour. The beets and fresh picked peaches and cream corn caught my eye and I handed over some about $10.00  to a very appreciative young man who probably had something to do with growing them. The same vendor sold baskets of assorted vegetables for $7.00 and had carrots, potatoes, peppers, mushrooms, tomatoes, zucchini and beans, all mixed  up with a variety choices to pick from. This was a great idea for the  single or two person household.

We left with our goods and promised to come back again as it was a pleasant and educational experience for a bright and sunny Saturday morning.

I will be making one of my favourite salads with the fresh beets and have provided it below for those who want to try something different. The vendor and I exchanged recipe ideas and she told me she bakes the beets wrapped in tinfoil with a bit of oil rubbed on the unpeeled beet skin. I suppose that would work on the BBQ too. I said I was going to make my Beet and Apple salad, which she had not heard of and would try.

Here is my recipe for the Beet Salad:

5 Beets, Whole with skin on. boiled in water with a pinch of salt for about 1 hour.
5 Granny Smith Apples - Cut with skin on in 1-2" cubes and sprinkled with a bit of lemon juice
4oz Balsamic Vinegar
4oz Olive Oil
1 tsp sugar
Toss with your favourite fresh herbs or eat it plain. I add Fresh Basil and Rosemary leaves.

Cook the beets for an hour covered with boiling water or until you can stick a knife through them easily.
Let cool and peel the skins, and cut into 1-2" cubes.  Combine with the diced apples, vinegar, oil, sugar and herbs and let sit 4 hours to marinate.

Enjoy.

HONEY CAKE Recipe

This cake is very simple to make and goes great with a cup of tea. If you have got some honey you want to use up, this recipe will come in handy.

 Preheat Oven to 350F

• 2 eggs
• 1/2 cup sugar -demerarra is preferrable
• 2/3 cup butter-unsalted
• 6oz by volume of honey
• 3tsp baking powder
• 1 1/4 cup of all purpose flour

Place the sugar, butter and honey  in a large saucepan and gently heat and stir until butter has melted.

Break the eggs into a small bowl and wisk until uniform in appearance then wisk into above mixture.  NOTE;  if the honey mixture gets too hot, just let it cool for a while before adding eggs to avoid making scrambled eggs.

Sift the flour and baking powder together and wisk into the rest of the batter.  Continue to wisk for a while until nice and smooth and aerated.

Pour into a buttered and floured 9" tube pan, spring form is ideal. 

BAKE at 350 for 25 minutes or until cake springs back when gently touched and is nice and golden in appearance.

Cool on a rack and unmold. 

Dust the top with icing sugar or drizzle with a icing sugar and honey mixture.

You can try with different types of honey and you can replace the flour with buckwheat for a little variety.

I 

Curried Roti- D Hot Shoppe

There is this restaurant located in Burlington, Ontario call D Hot Shoppe that does an incredible job of making an authentic Carribean Roti.
If you like home-make soft and delicate Roti's made with real yellow lentils and cooked to order then this is the place for you. The Roti's are made to order and with your choice of heat levels, i.e. mild, medium, hot or suicide. They also do Jerk Chicken, Vegetarian dishes and some other cool caribean dishes.
If you are looking for a fast lunch take-out idea this is a great place to try.

D Hot Shoppe

Our menu has many options to tickle your taste buds.
Remember to call ahead to get your take-out order ready without the wait.

You can reach us at 905-631-8698 in Burlington and the surrounding areas.

 

		Roti - Meat Lovers		Small	Large
Click to enlarge		Chicken Beef Goat		6.00 6.00 6.00	7.08 7.08 7.08
		Roti - Seafood		Small	Large
Click to enlarge		Shrimp Cuttlefish		6.19 6.19	8.00 8.00
		Roti - Vegetarian		Small	Large
Click to enlarge		Mixed Vegetables Potato Chickpea Pumpkin		6.00 5.25 5.25 5.25	7.08 6.19 6.19 6.19
		Curry Dinners - Meat Lovers		Small	Large
Click to enlarge		Chicken Beef Goat		9.50 9.73 9.73	11.00 12.00 12.00
		Curry Dinners - Seafood		Small	Large
Click to enlarge		Shrimp Cuttlefish		10.62 10.62	12.75 12.75
		Curry Dinners - Vegetarian		Small	Large
Click to enlarge		Mixed Vegetables Potato Chickpea Pumpkin		7.50 7.50 7.50 7.50	10.62 10.62 10.62 10.62
		Jerk Dinners		Small	Large
Click to enlarge		Chicken with Rice and Side Salad(small dinner shown. subject to availability, call us first!)		9.23	12.00
		Samosas		6 Pieces
Click to enlarge		Chicken Beef Vegetarian		5.25 5.25 2.83
		Soups		1 Order
Click to enlarge		Corn Soup		5.00
		Small Bites		1 Order
Click to enlarge		Coconut Shrimp		5.99
Click to enlarge		Doubles		2.38
Click to enlarge		Pholourie		1.90
		Jamaican Patties		1.41
		Gravy To Go		0.25

Falafels

Falafels:

1 cup dried chickpeas or 16 oz. can of chickpeas or garbanzo beans.

1 large onion, chopped fine

2 cloves of garlic, chopped fine

4 oz Spinach Frozen Chopped

2 teaspoon Garam Marsala (McCormick Brand)

1 tablespoon of lemon juice

2 tablespoons flour

Salt and Pepper to taste

Oil for frying

Preparation:

Place dried chickpeas in a bowl, covering with cold water. Allow to soak overnight. 

Drain and rinse chickpeas.  

Combine chickpeas, garlic, onion, spinach, Garam Marsala, lemon juice,  salt and pepper (to taste) in food processor and blend till finely chopped.  

  

Form the mixture into small balls, about the size of a ping pong ball. Slightly flatten.

Fry in 2 inches of oil at 350 degrees until golden brown (5-7 minutes).

Serve hot.

Serving Suggestion

Stuff pita bread with falafel, lettuce, tomatoes, tziki sauce, salt and pepper.   

Birthday Cake Vodka
I have a new found passion for finding drink recipes that taste like cakes using birthday cake flavoured vodka.
 We had two drinks last night made from this wonderful addition to a festive birthday party.

Pineapple Upsidedown Cake

1.5 oz Birthday Cake Vodka
4oz pineapple juice
4oz club soda
lots of ice

Red Velvet Cake 

1.5oz Birthday Cake Vodka
4oz Cranberry juice
lots of ice.
very yummy and refreshing for a summer birthday party.