This Little Piggy

CBC is on the hunt for a new food show host! So, this little piggy decided to audition for the job! Check out the video below!

CBC’s Food Host Search Audition – Miranda Keyes

The recipe in the video is from The Canadian Living Cookbook by Carol Ferguson and the food writers of Canadian Living. The book was published in 1987 and is probably the most tattered, used and loved books I own, definitely a Canadian classic! See the recipe below for Fruit Crumble!

Fruit Crumble

6 cups sliced peaches

1 tbsp lemon juice

3/4 cup rolled oats

3/4 cup packed brown sugar

1/2 cup all-purpose flour

1/2 cup soft butter

1/2 tsp cinnamon

Place the peaches in an 8-inch square pan. Sprinkle with lemon juice. In a small bowl combine the oats, sugar, flour and cinnamon. Mix together before adding the melted butter. Once combined sprinkle the crumble on top of the peaches. Put the dish in the oven that has been set to 350F for 30-40 minutes until the crumble is golden brown on top!

Like a beacon from a lighthouse on a foggy day, the smell of charcoal toasted bread drew my friends and I into a small stall on a chilly Saturday morning at Brockley Market, a small farmers market in the London borough of Lewisham.

With foraged items, local ingredients and everything made from scratch Mike & Ollie make food to care about. Despite a long line forming, Mike takes the time to talk about the food he’s serving. The wild garlic added to each wrap came from his neighbour that morning who stumbled upon it while walking his dog, no big deal.

Every part of each menu item was crafted with a thoughtful, creative note behind it. The free-range pork belly? From Suffolk! The handmade Lebanese flatbread? Organic! The yoghurt? Homemade! The Quince? House pickled! The rhubarb/seville orangeade? Freshly squeezed and stewed!

When leaving with my giant, pork-belly stuffed flatbread I couldn’t wipe the smile off my face along with the house made hummus. It wasn’t just because each and every last bite of that wrap put me into a sedated food coma, I was giddy with excitement.

It is rare to find places and people like Mike & Ollie who deeply care about what they do and in the process just so happen to get everything right!  They didn’t just decide to jump on the local food bandwagon, they are in fact, driving the bus (save me a seat)!

I’d like to keep the flatbread wraps all to myself, but there’s no chance that these guys will be south east London’s best kept secret for much longer! Visit Mike & Ollie every Saturday morning at Brockley Market or every Wednesday/Friday at Deptford Market from 9-4. Or you can follow them on twitter to see what they forage next @MikeandOllie

Natas have been popping up all over London lately and one can get their custard fix at many a local bakery and even at chains like Café Nero or Nandos. The easy part is finding them, the hard part? Finding really good ones.

Natas, also known as pastel de natas, pasteis de natas or plain old custard tarts are a classic Portuguese treat that can be easily spotted by their characteristic ‘burnt’ tops and flaky golden pastry.

The perfect nata

After tasting my way through numerous bakeries and cafes I found Lisboa Patisserie. While taking my first glorious bite the pastry crisped and crumbled letting way to perfectly creamy custard. I had found nata nirvana.

Nestled in Notting Hill near Portobello road this bakery opened twenty eight years ago and has been making natas according to a secret Portuguese family recipe for as many years using ingredients and bakers imported from Portugal.

According to the staff at Lisboa what makes a nata is the crispy pastry. As opposed to traditional puff pastry made with butter they use a special Portuguese margarine layered into the dough. Once rolled, pieces are cut and pressed by hand into molds. That’s right, these bakers hand press up to and beyond a thousand natas daily. The dough rests over night before being filled with custard made with egg yolks, sugar, cream and lemon.

Natas made with love

Despite my best hair flips, numerous winks and cheeky smiles I couldn’t get the exact recipe, which is a family secret. I soon learned however that making natas is best left to the professionals.

The real secret lies in the baking process. Special ovens are used to control two different temperatures on the top and bottom of the oven. The custard and the pastry need to be cooked at different temperatures in order to maintain a silky smooth custard and crispy puff pastry. Many a nata falls to ruin by a rubbery and tough pastry dough and curdled custard – two reasons why I’ll let Lisboa Patisserie keep their recipe.

With four locations around London, I’ll never eat a bad nata again.

This weekend my friend Brian (@briangrellmann) and I followed our noses to the best smelling stall at Borough Market.  Though slightly hidden near the far end of the market, the long line snaking around the corner and the billows of smoke rising from grills guided us to hot sandwich heaven also known as The Guildable Manor.

Follow your nose and the smoky goodness

Taking its name from the old borough back in the 1700’s the cafés owners, Colin Awbery and Dan Szarowicz were determined to sell fresh hot baguettes using the best ingredients. As a result, everything that is wonderful in the market can be found sizzling away on the grill including beef, chicken, lamb and mixed game. Vegetarians aren’t left out either with a marinated halloumi cheese option that everyone else can top their meaty baguettes with!

All baguettes come packed with salad, sweet red onions and coleslaw plus you get to pile on house-made sauces and take a lollipop for dessert. The baguette is also served with friendly banter and fantastic service – not to mention cute boys passing out the hot food – at £4.80 what more could you ask for?

Service with a cheeky smile!

For more info, check out their website, follow them on twitter @theguildable or just go and get yourself a hot baguette, I promise, it will be the highlight of your day!

Get saucy!

The end result, baguette bliss!

One of the best parts of being in a new city is exploring the food markets and London, England is brimming with markets to eat through!

I discovered Jamon Jamon on a very cold Saturday stroll through Portobello Market. After humming over what to get I stopped, mesmerized, watching paella being made from scratch in huge 1 metre wide pans. Not to mention, they were cute, chatty and used authentic paella ingredients! I was drawn right in!

Paella in different stages of readiness - you just can't walk away once you spot it cooking!

Inspired from a trip to Valencia, Spain the owner of Jamon Jamon started selling Spanish inspired food on the streets of London and eventually moved to making paella a priority in Portobello market. Made with paella rice, similar to Arborio rice but a shorter grain and using local ingredients when possible, they give a seafood or chicken option. The food momentarily transports you to Spain, if it wasn’t so cold outside the moment would last a lot longer!

Delicious, authentic and satisfying!

If you take a stroll through Portobello market, grab a spot in line and watch them make your paella! Deciding on which one to get will probably be the toughest decision you make all day!

If you can’t make it to Portobello Market, follow @jamonjamon on twitter to find out where else in the city they might be making your lunch!

If there’s one thing that the people of Toronto can get behind, it’s good food. Restaurants constantly open and close but what remains consistent is Torontonians wholehearted support of the good and new food joints that are continually popping up in and around the city. This love for food could not be more evident than with the introduction of La Carnita Ltd.

Meathead

The concept: a pop-up taco stand that’s been popping up in different locations all over the city this summer. Locations are simply announced 24 hours in advance via twitter @La_Carnita. Look for the company ‘mascot’ Meathead on a board in and around the announced spot.

How it works: to get around by-laws that don’t support this kind of food distribution taco lovers pay $10 for a piece of art, made by a different artist at each pop-up and just so happen to get a loot-bag filled with a trio of taco goodness.

Who’s Involved: @La_Carnita‘s chef is Andrew Richmond, who also happens to juggle being design director at One Method Digital and Design. His partner in taco domination is Amin Todai who is the owner, president and CEO of One Method. This creative duo cooked up the taco pop-up idea as a way to test run the concept of a restaurant.

Chef Andrew and guest chef Rossy

The Best Part?: The tacos, obviously!  La Carnita’s signature taco is hands down, the fish. A piece of white fish beer battered and fried to perfection is wrapped in a fresh tortilla from La Tortilleria and complimented by a top-secret Voltron sauce, lime crema, cilantro and topped with crispy cabbage. The chorizo taco is packed with lime crema, pickeld onion, cabbage and peach salsa! The third is a beef taco made with beef tongue, avocado crema, raddish, concord grapes, diablo de fuego, green onions and cilantro pesto! One of these tacos is often subject to change depending on the guest chef, so don’t be upset if the fish taco isn’t there – eventhough it would be hard not to be!

A trifecta of taco goodness

Get there early because the line up gets long –  it turns out that Toronto really LOVES tacos!

Caesars are not widely known outside of Canada and my international friends are more often than not, quick to throw a side eye to a drink that involves a combination of clams and tomatoes. Whether enjoyed on a sunny patio or when nursing a hangover during Sunday brunch, love it or hate it, this national cocktail is a true Canadian staple.

The Caesar was created in Calgary, Alberta in 1969 at the Calgary Inn by restaurant manager and resident barman Walter Chell. Upon being asked to create a signature cocktail for the hotels new Italian restaurant, Chell was inspired by the classic Italian dish spaghetti alle vongole, spaghetti with tomato sauce and clams. The same year that this Canadian classic cocktail was born Motts Clamato juice, a blend of tomato and clam juice, went into distribution. Talk about perfect timing!

A classic Caesar contains Clamato juice, vodka, a few dashes of hot sauce and Worcestershire sauce and is served in a tall glass rimmed with celery salt, garnished with a celery stick and a wedge of lime. Variations on this classic cocktail are wide spread across the country. On a quest for the perfect Caesar I ventured, along with four others, on a Caesar tour in the resort town of Whistler, BC.

Christine’s

Christine’s is nestled 6000 feet at the top of Blackcomb mountain. The Caesar Royale is nothing short of a classic amped up with freshly grated horseradish and cracked black pepper. The mountain view and over the top garnish make this caesar a meal in a glass worth making the trek for.

Price: $7.95

Garnish: Pepperoni stick, red pepper, olives, spicy beans, lime wedge

Rim: Celery salt

Score: 9/10

Location: Blackcomb Mountain

Nita Lake Lodge

Nita Lake Lodge’s Cure Lounge & Patio boasts a creative drink menu thanks to an in-house mixologist. The caesar doesn’t fall short of high expectations combining Ciroc vodka and port adding depth to the Canadian classic. Not to mention extras like house pickled veggies and charcuterie. At this price, this drink is a steal and scores a perfect ten among our judging panel!

Price: $7.50

Garnish: House pickled garlic scape, pickled onion, house-made charcuterie, lime wedge

Rim: Dehydrated horseradish, smoked salt

Score: 10/10

Location: 2131 Lake Placid Road / @NitaLakeLodge

Alta Bistro

Merlin’s

The caesar at Merlins has all the bells and whistles, lots of garnishes and even a drink umbrella. The over the top extras don’t hide the fact that this is one good caesar – made with Skyy vodka, freshly grated horesradish, BBQ sauce, chipotle and lemon juice. This drink is a party in a glass!

Price: $7.50

Garnish: Celery, cucumber, green olives, beef jerky, gherkin, cocktail umbrella, lemon and lime wedge

Rim: Celery salt

Score: 8/10

Location: 4553 Blackcomb Way, Whistler, BC

Milestone’s

As far as a caesar goes, this is as classic as it gets. Straight up clamato juice, vodka, splash of olive brine, worcestershire and tabasco, with a few shakes of salt and pepper. Milestone’s is clearly not prepared to tinker with a classic. Unless you know a cute bartender who’s willing to add a few extras, this drink is the best bang for your buck.

Price: $5.99

Garnish: Spicy bean, lime wedge

Rim: Celery salt

Score: 8.5/10

Location: 4308 Main Street, Whistler, BC

If you happen to know said cute bartender, you might end up with something like this: warm bacon, (yes, warm), pickle, spicy bean, olives, lemon and lime wedges and maybe an extra ounce of vodka! Ask for Aidan, but don’t tell him I sent you!

The concept of professional kitchens growing their own food is nothing new – Alice Waters of Chez Panisse fame in California made growing food for your own restaurant popular in North America in the early 1970′s! The restaurant I work in at the Four Seasons Resort in Whistler decided to try their hand at growing their very own rooftop garden. I have to say, I was seriously excited!

The hotel partnered with a local farmer to help guide the growth of the garden and aid with training employees. For such a small space, the garden was set up to grow just about everything – though at the start of the season you wouldn’t know it! We had a cold start to the summer on the west coast of Canada which means our garden is just reaching its peak now!

Edible Flowers - Pansies

Brussel Sprouts - Will be ready for thanksgiving!

Row of Celery

Lots of Lettuce

Beautiful Rainbow Swiss Chard

Zucchini with blossom

Seeing the garden in full bloom is more than exciting for all of the cooks in the kitchen! What’s even better is getting to go harvest the vegetables from the garden ourselves and incorporate it into the food we serve. Seeing the garden come full circle is really what it’s all about – watching the food grow, harvesting the food and using the food in exciting and delicious ways. Though come winter time we might have to call upon the goods in Alice Water’s garden, there’s no better way to foster a love for eating good, fresh, local food than by growing it yourself!

Wendy putting the finishing touches on a carpaccio dish with pansies from the garden

Strawberry & Rhubarb from the garden form the compote to top off this foie gras appetizer

I love ice cream. This is probably due to the fact that I used to make a lot of it. I had my own little lab, a fully equipped professional kitchen at my disposal, creative license to let my imagination run wild and thirty plus kitchen staff very willing to taste-test my concoctions. I became an ice-cream mad scientist of sorts and loved throwing in different ingredients and flavours to see what new tastes I could come up with.

Unfortunately my path in life has not led me to be the creative director of Hagen Dazs and up until about a week ago I thought my mad scientist ice cream ways were behind me. That’s until I stepped into Menchies (511 Bloor Street West)– the new to Toronto frozen yogurt shop that not only encourages creativity but lets you have total control!

Blogurt Fest

I had been invited, along with fellow food bloggers to taste, mix and create our very own Menchie’s fro yo combos in the first ever Blogurt Fest. Instead of ice cream we had frozen yogurt to play with and the best part – lots of options to get creative.

Here’s how it works: Menchie’s has 12 flavours to choose from including options to swirl different flavours together. These 12 flavours rotate out of 100 different options (click here for the full list). Fro yo can be combined with a wide array of toppings from the “Snackage”, “Chill” and “Hotties” bar sections that range from fresh fruit, to nuts, chocolate, sauces and candies! The whole point? You get to have as little or as much as you like and each time you go you can come up with a new combination. It gets better: Menchies literally has something for everyone including fat-free, dairy free, fat-free and no sugar added options! Plus, Menchie’s prides itself on being a part of the local community and even sources local products when possible.

Everybody Wins (sort of)

I decided to make a “Menchie’s Cupcake” out of cake batter fro yo, brownie bits, coconut, rainbow sprinkles, chocolate sauce and a cherry on top. After submitting my masterpiece I quickly realized I was up against stiff competition. The winners created epic combos including Tropical Thunder (@Flotch) Banoffee pie (@irenengo), and Tartin-ista (@fashionfood).

Though my fro yo creation didn’t win I now know that I will always have a place to go and let my inner mad food scientist flourish. Believe me, I’ll be there “creating” and “practicing” in anticipation of the next fro yo competition as often as I can.

Menchie's Cupcake

This past Monday, this little piggy was as happy as a pig in.…well, you know. Like pigs squealing happily in the mud, I too reveled among culinary peers and pros on Monday at the third annual Ontario Culinary Tourism Alliance Summit (#OCTAsummit). Ontario culinary tourism ambassadors, champions and pioneers came out in full force to promote, share, talk and learn all about why there’s truly no place like Ontario.

Back to Basics – Gather, Prepare, Share

Celebrity chef Michael Smith (@chefmichaelsmth) is a poster boy for culinary tourism and the official food ambassador for Prince Edward Island. He opened the day with a motivating speech on the local food movement which he suggests has gone beyond trend and transformed into a social norm. He believes that human beings are brought together by a fundamental need to gather, prepare and share food. Like many who rally behind culinary tourism, Chef Smith sees this new standard being sustained by those who produce the food – the farmers. “We re-connect with our food when we start to understand how it is produced. This is what moves us and inspires us”. For a full listen of Chef Michael Smith’s amazing speech, check out the link posted by Suresh Dosh (@spotlightcity) by clicking here.

Farmers Take the Stage

Farmers are the new rock stars of the culinary world and celebrity chefs, like Michael Smith, are happy to let producers take a share of the culinary spotlight. Take for example Fred de Martines and Jason Persall – two rock star farmers who ooze passion for what they do.

Not So Little Piggy

Fred de Martines, tired of farming conventional commodity pigs started raising rare heritage breeds including Berkshire, Tamworth and Wild Boars at his farm, Perth Pork Products Ltd. After being prompted by well-known chef, Michael Olson, de Martines began making connections within the Toronto chef community. He not only offers farm tours but also makes a weekly trek to Toronto spending upwards of 450kms on the road in one day. I think the thought of spending 450kms on the road would irk any city dweller, but not only does de Martines look forward to the weekly trip, it leaves him happy.

Good Things Grow In Ontario

Jason Persall, a fourth generation soybean farmer and owner of Persall Fine Foods felt, like many farmers, he needed to be profitable not just sustainable. In order to do so, Persall forged relationships with chefs, food purveyors and local consumers and looked for new ways to sell soybeans. Persall created cold pressed virgin oils made out of soy beans under the brand name Pristine Gourmet. He also created a youtube video series called “The Gourmet Farmer” taking his place as one of a new generation of celebrity farmers. Look out for more from these farmers and many more like them in Ontario, who are passionately dedicated to what they do and are rising stars because of it.

The Road Less Travelled

Many culinary trails and routes exist in Ontario, everything from The Chocolate Trail in Stratford to the Apple Pie Trail in Collingwood. In another culinary tourism session we learned what it takes to create a destination culinary trek, trail or route. Dan Taylor (@creativedant) from Prince Edward County, Danielle Brodhagen (@SavourStratford) from Savour Stratford and Patti Kendall from the Blue Mountain Apple Pie Trail were on the panel led by Canadian culinary icon and Canada Food Day founder Anita Stewart (@foodday). The panelists agreed that trails “need to give a solid sense of place” in order to encourage individuals to come back again and again in addition to “empowering the producers”, showcasing what makes their region special and unique to Ontario. Dan Taylor relayed that you’re “only as good as your poorest purveyor,” showcasing the best and brightest farmers, artisans and producers in the region is what these culinary treks hope to do. Likewise, the trails must be genuine, giving the consumer a real sense of place. Anita Stewart believes that the consumer has high expectations for a real experience, “the authentic is important, culinary tourism can’t be smoke and mirrors”. Not only have these trails, in addition to others in Ontario become Canadian destinations, they will become Canadian traditions. I know as soon as I heard the words ‘chocolate trail’ mentioned on twitter a few months ago all I wanted to know was where and when!

Culinary Tourism Heavyweight Champs

If the Ontario Culinary Tourism Alliance was a cheerleading squad, Rebecca LeHeup (@ontarioculinary) would be team captain. Rebecca and her team at OCTA worked tirelessly for an entire year to showcase the leaps and bounds being taken in Ontario Culinary tourism. Their excitement and dedication to what they do seeped out of the entire event. The day was highlighted by heavyweight chefs who fight for local and fresh foods like Jamie Kennedy (@ChefJKennedy) and Oliver & Bonacini (@oliver_bonacini), showcasing what Ontario has to offer with a “locavore cafeteria” at lunch. (Check out Randall Shirley’s (@5faves) five favourite things he tasted at the summit here.) Not to mention, the amazing Ontario wineries that came out for the event and had us all a little tipsy after lunch (or was that just me?)

OCTA Overview

In addition to the panels already mentioned, there were other great discussions happening throughout the day ranging from creating and developing a sustainable seafood menu with @ocean_wise and chef @martinkouprie. A social media sesssion with Barry Martin (@hypenoticbam) from @hypenotic. A session dedicated to Ontario wine with Local Food Plus (@LocalFoodPlus) and the Wine Council of Ontario (@WineCountryOnt). Not to mention an interesting media panel on what gets journalists excited with star food writers and media personalities Adam Sachs, Randall Shirley (@5faves) and Steve Dolinsky (@stevedolinsky). The night was capped off wit a Pickle Smackdown at the Drake Hotel led by Ivy Knight (@ivyknight). The winning pickles that beat out Chef Michael Smith (@ChefMichaelsmth) were the Kaiser sisters (@mkaisersmit) old school cucumbers! Woo!

There’s No Place Like This

If anyone has read a post here on Little Piggy they’ll know this blog is dedicated to discovering and connecting with farmers, producers, consumers and everything in between. The point? To grasp and appreciate the things I have at times taken for granted or never had the opportunity to learn being a city piggy. This is my third OCTA summit and it has never failed to leave me completely inspired, motivated, happy and above all proud to live in Ontario. The culinary landscape is plentiful and must be celebrated. The summit showcased how farmers, chefs, producers, consumers and regions are coming together to cheer each other on and be die-hard ambassadors for culinary tourism in Ontario and in turn, Canada. I can only hope to be a small part of the cheerleading squad because there’s really no place like this.