A Life, Lived

Pear Martini

With fall in full swing here I no longer want 'summery' martinis AKA those made with berries and citrus. Instead I am looking for apples and pears. We've been sipping our favourite orchard martini with great regularity.

On the weekend, craving something with pear flavour, I whipped this up.

The result was brilliant!

Pear Martini

2 ounces pear juice
1 ounce Absolut Pear Vodka
sliced pear

Chill a martini glass. Mix juice and voka in a shaker with ice. Shake. Strain into a martini glass.

Garnish with sliced pear.

Photo Hunt - Dodgy

This week's Photo Hunt theme is 'dodgy'.

It used to be that back to school sales involved pencils, paper, and a backpack . . .

Zucchini Pizza with Ricotta

I spied some zucchini blossoms at the market the other day - presumably the farmer, knowing the season was growing to a close cut them off to sell them. It's rare to find zucchini blossoms here in ontario for some reason - in fact, the only time I have in the past was in Chinatown! I think picking the flower that could eventually be a vegetable for sale is against the North American Puritan sensibilities.

BAH

It's common to spy zucchini flowers in markets in Italy. We have had them fried, in pasta, on pizza, and in salads. Clearly those Italians know something that we do NOT!

I made some of our favourite stuffed zucchini and then decided to make a pizza with the rest.

I searched for a recipe but couldn't quite find one I liked. in the end I went my own way and tried to recreate the flavours of the stuffed zucchini flowers that I had just made.  The result, if I do say so myself, was freaking amazing! Even if the crust was a tad more browned (OK, blackened) than we'd normally like it. LOL

Zucchini Pizza with Ricotta

1 thin pizza shell
6 - 8 zucchini flowers
1 small zucchini sliced crosswise
1 cup ricotta cheese
sprinkle of sea salt
sprinkle of black pepper
2 Tbs (30 gm) grated romano cheese
8 basil leaves cut in a chiffonade
1 T lemon zest
1 t red pepper flakes
1 cup (110 gm) shredded mozzarella cheese

Mix the ricotta, salt, pepper, romano cheese, basil, lemon zest, and red pepper flakes.place the water, olive oil and yeast in the bowl of your mixer and allow yeas to sit for a few

Spread the ricotta cheese mixture on the dough, then season with salt, pepper, and grated romano cheese.

Add the zucchini flowers and sliced zucchini on top.

Sprinkle with shredded mozzarella.

Bake in a 450 degree oven or your closed grill until the pizza has gotten nice brown color.

Slice into 6 slices, and serve!

Preserving the Summer - Roasted Red Peppers

We buy a lot of roasted red peppers. Unfortunately we end up throwing most of the jar out because by the time we need some more they have gotten 'fuzzy'. I don't mind cheese when it has mould but I draw the line at peppers!

The other I read about roasting some of the late summer bounty and preserving it for use during the winter. I bought a half a bushel of peppers at the market and last Sunday had some fun.

To roast red peppers on the grill, simply place a clean fresh red pepper directly on the grill top.

Turn your pepper frequently, as needed until the skin has turned completely black and starts to blister.

When the entire pepper skin has turned black, remove the pepper (or peppers) from the grill and place it into a bowl.

Cover the bowl with a lid or a dish to make it airtight. You can also use a paper or plastic bag for this step. The main thing is for the peppers to build up steam in an airtight container.

Let the roasted peppers rest in the bowl for 10 to 15 minutes.

Uncover, remove from the bowl (or bag) and the red pepper skin will slide off easily.

I ended up freezing them in small bags once they were cool - 3 peppers to a bag.

Once you've tasted fresh roasted red pepper you will never settle for the jarred kind again. Roasting fresh red peppers is easy and adds a depth to the pepper flavor that can't be beat!

Cherry Tomato Salad

There are few food things that I appreciate more than a tomato fresh from the garden, still warm from the sun; there is NOTHING that tastes better. After we built our house I promptly started a garden the following spring and tried growing tomatoes with little success. It was a ton of work to get one or two tomatoes.

In the end I have resorted to growing heirloom cherry and pear tomatoes in giant pots on the terrace. The results are brilliant - not for toasted tomato sandwiches obviously - but I can go out and pop a few of those ripe beauties into my mouth and almost . . . almost - experience the joys of a vine ripened tomato on a sandwich.

It's a challenge this time of the year though because these tiny tomatoes - which sort of went quiet during the heat of August - are producing tomatoes at a breakneck pace in September. One would think that they were racing to give me my fill prior to the onslaught of winter!

The other day when I was digging through the pile of recipes I've printed off over the years to eventually cook at some future time I found this one which originally was posted by the brilliant Elise at Simply Recipes.

It proved to be a perfect recipe for what I was looking for - the resulting salad was fresh tasting and it allowed me to use up some of the tomatoes that were ripening at a breakneck speed! It also allowed me to use up some of the fresh herbs in the garden - even better.

If you're like me and you have the happy problem of being overrun with fresh cherry or pear tomatoes you'll wnat to give this a try. Heck, even if you're not overrun with them go out and buy some so you can try this salad out. You won't be sorry!

Cherry Tomato Salad

2-3 cups of cherry and/or pear tomatoes, sliced in half
1 cup of chopped cucumber, peeled (and seeded if the seeds are bitter)
1/4 cup crumbled feta cheese
1 Tbsp chiffonaded mint leaves
1 teaspoon fresh, chopped oregano
1 Tbsp lemon juice
2 Tbsp of finely chopped shallots or green onions
2 teaspoons olive oil
Coarse salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste

Gently toss the tomatoes, cucumber, feta, onions, mint, and oregano together.  Dress with lemon juice, olive oil, salt and pepper to taste.

Travel Tuesdays - the Berkshires

I wonder where are my travels taking me this week?

Back in 2009 we added a brief stop in the Berkshires to the tail end of a trek to Maine. We thought at the time that it would be a great spot to return to in the fall. It's taken us three years but we're heading back next weekend!

Here's a bit of what we saw back then . . .

Be sure to pop on over to Sandi's blog to see what else is happening on Travel Tuesdays!

Chicken with Fennel, Tomatoes, and Zucchini

Here is another great suggestion for using up some of the last of the season's bounty. The vegetable combination was perfect for a fall meal, since the ingredients are readily available and at their peak. It was easy to make and I can see using the same vegetable recipe to enhance fish or pasta dishes.

The only change that I made was that I substituted diced tomatoes for the canned tomatoes. rankly I bet that made the recipe even healthier without the added sodium etc that often finds its way into canned veggies.

Even better - it clocks at 221 calories without ant rice or noodles as a side.

The folks at Cooking Light suggested serving this with rice of noodles. I served it with some of the Trader Joe's Harvest Grains blend that  picked up in San Diego in July. Most grain or rice blends are a bad idea; they look pretty in the bag but need different cooking times. You're usually left with a decorative but unpleasant mishmash of overcooked and undercooked grains. Not so here; the textures are perfectly calibrated for the 10-minute cooking time. You have soft and chewy couscous, tender orzo, and garbanzo beans with a firmer texture that provides a nice contrast. My only complain was that there was too much pasta (Israeli couscous and orzo and not enough grains).

All in all we both thought that this was a great meal!

Chicken with Fennel, Tomatoes, and Zucchini

6  (4-ounce) skinless, boneless chicken breast halves
2 1/2 tablespoons Italian-seasoned breadcrumbs
5 teaspoons olive oil, divided
2 cups thinly sliced fennel bulb (about 2 small bulbs)
2 cups finely chopped zucchini
1 1/2 cups thinly sliced leek (about 2 large)
1/2 cup fat-free, less-sodium chicken broth
2 tablespoons tomato paste
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon fennel seeds
1/4 teaspoon dried tarragon
1/8 teaspoon coarsely ground black pepper
1  (14.5-ounce) can diced tomatoes, undrained
2 tablespoons chopped fennel fronds or fresh flat-leaf parsley

Dredge the chicken in breadcrumbs. Heat 3 teaspoons oil in a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Add the chicken; sauté 3 minutes on each side or until golden brown. Remove from pan.

Heat 2 teaspoons oil in pan over medium heat. Add fennel bulb, zucchini, and leek; cook 5 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add broth and next 6 ingredients (broth through tomatoes). Cover, reduce heat, and simmer 15 minutes or until the vegetables are tender, stirring occasionally.

Return the chicken to pan; cover and cook 12 minutes or until the chicken is done. Sprinkle with fennel fronds.

A Great Saturday in Stratford!

Yesterday was one of those brilliant days where much of the brilliance was unplanned - making it all the more brilliant in my books.

It started with mom buying us tickets for a play at the Stratford festival for our birthdays, something she has done every year for quite some time. I generally let Paolo pick the play but this year I decided that I wanted to see 'Much Ado About Nothing'. We generally see tragedies or one of the non-Shakespearean musicals that the festival is justifiably famous for - I was in the mood for a comedy.

It was a good thing - who knew when we decided this last winter that Paolo would be nearing the end of his 17 year job at Zellers or I'd be running about as a result of the government stripping collective agreements in a manner never seen in this country. A comedy is just what we needed!

Now some of the unplanned stuff - it turned out that this weekend was a culinary festival at Stratford: Savour Stratford. Savour is one of Ontario’s foremost celebrations of authentic  local cuisine with 12 award winning chefs, 30 tutored tastings,  cooking shows  and skills  workshops led by renowned culinary authors, artisans and innovators and exclusive  sampling events. Many of the roads in the town centre are closed to traffice, the cars replaced with stands set up everywhere featuring the best of the local food production.

This year’s theme  was “Celebrating Our Culinary Roots” with over 150 years of local food heritage.

We got into town at 10:30 and had a dickens of a time finding parking - once we did we stopped at a new cafe for a revitalizing coffee and then set out to wander the stands set up by local food producers. I knew immediately that I should have brought the big grocery bags from the car because soon we were overwhelmed by purchases (so much so that I left a bag of bread somewhere. ;-( )We bought some heritage carrots and radishes, local honey, wild boar, berkshire pork bacon, fennel, goat cheese, preserves, tarts, bread made from stone ground local wheat. Really, we were kids in a candy store. Normally we would have bought a whole lot more but we were restraining ourselves.

Bandstands were set up and musicians were playing live music. Chefs were handing out tastings of their culinary creations. Farmers had live anmals for kids, young and old, to meet.

Needless to say that next year we've decided that we'd like to spend the entire weekend here!

Unfortunately (?) we had lunch reservations so we needed to drop stuff off in the car and head to the restaurant.

We've eaten at Pazzo a few times but always in the basement area. Yesterday we graduated into the more formal ristorante which is generally only opened during the theatre season. Our usual go to restaurant in town is Bijou but yesterday we decided that we needed a change after my colleague, who live sin town, let us know that there was a new chef in town doing amazing things at Pazzo. We're glad that we checked it out! Now we have two go to restaurants in town - at least during the theatre season anyway.

Paul had the three course tasting menu which changes daily based upon the fresh, local ingredients that chef Yva Santini sources. Yesterday it started with a salad with pecorino, bronzed fennel, and pears. The second course was penne pasta with a lamb ragu. For dessert there was a pumpkin mousse with marscapone cream and gingersnap crumbs.

I ordered off of the menu and had the mixed greens to start. I was craving comfort food given the cool, rainy weather. My main was spaghetti carbonara - there doesn't get more comfort than that! I loved their version of the classic bacon, egg yolk, parmigiano, black pepper, classic topped with crispy breadcrumbs. I was going to pass on dessert but thought 'there is no harm in looking . . .' Soon I had the fig and almond tart in front of me! It was served with pear salad and sour cream ice cream. Brilliant.

Oh yes, I forgot to mention the bread. Spongy focaccia with a delicately salted crust (prepared at Pazzo’s Bakery next door) accompanies every meal along with a shallow dunking dish of fruity olive oil and syrupy balsamic, demonstrating again that ‘quality’ and ‘simplicity’ forge a powerful union. After two plates of bread she asked us if we wanted a third, I looked at Paolo, he looked at me . . . I was full of restraint and said 'we WANT more but we BETTER NOT'! That restraint was hard!

Now this would normally be enough to say 'that was a great day' and then head home to relax but we still had the play to see. Much Ado received positive reviews when it opened bin May and it clearly has just gotten better. I thought yesterday's performance was great - witty, funny, and heartfelt. Just what I needed in these stressful times.

As we headed out of Stratford we popped into Shakespeare Pies to stock up on some of their amazing meat pies for the freezer. They will be a happy thing to have hot from the oven when it gets chilly around here.

Photo Hunt - Escape

This week's Photo Hunt theme is 'escape'.

The second time we were in Rome we stayed just outside the Vatican in the Borgo Pio. This quiet residential neighbourhood between the Tiber and the Vatican has historically been the place where many who worked in the Vatican itself lived. The most important artists (such as Raphael) took or built their houses in the Borgo. Today it is still very much a 'bedroom community' for the Vatican.

While we wandered about we often noticed a brick structure - at times high in the air with roads running beneath the arches, at other times low to the ground. There were times when it seemingly disappeared entirely directly into buildings.

and it seemed to end up here:

at the Castel Sant'Angelo

We found out that this was the covered fortified corridor called the Passetto di Borgo built by Pope Nicholas III in 1277 and connected the castle to St. Peter's Basilica. It was envisioned as a passage to safety for the pope if the Vatican were under attack.

On several occasions it has served as an escape route for Popes in danger.

Pope Alexander VI crossed it in 1494, when Charles VIII invaded the city and the pope's life was in danger.

Clement VII escaped to safety through this passage during the Sack of Rome in 1527. Troops of the Holy Roman Emperor, Charles V, massacred almost the entire Swiss Guard on the steps of St Peter's Basilica.

Proof that cats are smarter than dogs

I don't normally post cute pet videos but this was too funny to pass up . . .