Fat Friday - The Burger’s Priest

Just thinking about this burger again is making me drool (and I’m pretty sure my peanut butter sandwich is not going to cut it!). Unlike other burger joints we’ve gone to on more than one occasion (Kraft Burger, now Big Smoke Burger; The Grindhouse; BQM, to name a few), I’ve only had the good fortune (for my taste buds, bad fortune for my cholesterol) of eating at Burger’s Priest once. I am dying to go back!

We heard really great things about this burger: good reviews from Toronto Life and The Grid, and if the lineups are any indication, this is the next hot spot. Luckily, they do take-out, and if you call ahead to place your order, then you can skip the lines all together and just walk up to the counter to pay. Seating is limited in there anyway, so this is a good way to go.

What’s so great about this burger, you might ask? Let’s start with the menu – the Secret Menu. Yes, they have a secret menu that if you don’t know about before you order, you won’t hear a peep about it. You can find it hidden on their Facebook page, and it includes such hidden gems as “The Religious Hypocrite” - a Portobello mushroom ‘burger’ with bacon, and “The Vatican City” – two beef paddies, two slices of cheese, and a Portobello mushroom, all sandwiched between 2 grilled cheese sandwiches (at right).

This is no regular burger joint, folks. A standard order is either a single or a double patty, with or without cheese. These are greasy burgers cooked on the griddle, topped with tomato and lettuce and housed between two buns. Nothing fancy there. As their website says "This is not gourmet, just tasty. Sometimes simple is better." And they are right. The taste is amazing! Our friends had eaten there before and suggested we order the double-double – two beef patties and two slices of cheese: bun, burger, cheese, burger, cheese, bun. We turned it in The Holy Smokes by ‘adding smoke’ – deep-fried jalapeno peppers added on the burger (another secret item). We ordered a side of fries to share but could hardly get through them. Although they were good, go for the burger, skip the fries. 

And what's with the name? I obviously like it, with my maiden name being Priest. But turns out there really is a religious element to it. The names of the burgers indicate this, but the shop is also closed on Sundays for worship. That just means you schedule your visit around it. This is definitely NOT a weekly burger, but once every few months would be nice...  

Recipe #27: Apple Coleslaw

This is a great little side dish if you’re looking for a quick and easy salad, and if you happen to have leftover cabbage on hand, as was the case with me. I had just made a delicious ribolita soup, and not wanting the remaining coleslaw to go to waste, I looked to find a coleslaw recipe. The caveat here was I didn’t want something mayo based, so when I found this one with the oil, lemon juice, and honey, I was sold! 

I made this dish to accompany one of our brisket nights, but this would also be great on a pulled pork sandwich or alongside ribs. Speaking of ribs, I’ll be whipping up a batch of those at the cottage this weekend with some new BBQ sauce we made at a Pickling Party… intrigued?

If you have a mandolin, it makes the whole job go so much quicker, but a pre-packaged coleslaw also works quite nice as well. Then all you have to do is chop up the apples, celery, and green pepper. And the result - a tangy, crunchy, slightly sweet mix of veggies. 

Ingredients

2 cups shredded coleslaw

1 unpeeled tart apple, chopped

1/2 cup chopped celery

1/2 cup chopped green pepper

1/4 cup vegetable oil

2 tablespoons lemon juice

2 tablespoons honey

1 teaspoon celery seed

Directions

In a bowl, combine the coleslaw, apple, celery and green pepper. In a small bowl, whisk remaining ingredients. Pour over coleslaw and toss to coat.

1000 Tastes of Toronto

This summer has simply flown by, but what a great summer it has been. It seemed like almost every weekend was booked with some sort of event – be it Beer Week, food events, concerts, the cottage, or visiting with family and friends – the summer really is the best time of year. As we busy ourselves now preparing for Thanksgiving and (gulp) Christmas, I look back fondly on the photos collected on my camera to remember the days gone past (I really do wonder if they will ever end up printed and in a book some day…).

One thing I did want to share with you was an event we went to sometime in June – the 1000 Tastes of Toronto, presented by President’s Choice and part of Luminato. The city closes down John Street between Front and Queen and invites restaurants and chefs to open booths for the public to sample some delicious treats. And delicious they were! Some places we had heard of, others were new to us, but for only $5 a dish, Matt and I spent the afternoon tasting a variety of different foods. Some noteworthy dishes included:

Khao San Road (with a close encounter with Susur Lee). This was probably our favourite dish of the day – a pork sausage specially created for the event that you can’t get in their restaurant;

Poutine from Poutini’s House of Poutine (namely because I love poutine);

Pulled Pork Tacos from Milagro;

 Pizza from Queen Margherita (they even brought their own wood oven!);

  

BBQ Shrimp and Black Beans from President’s Choice, followed by an ice cream sandwich;

We stopped eating after that, but there were loads of more choices. It was a two-day event, and I’ll be keeping my eye out for it next year if it rolls around. In the meantime, there have been murmurs of a new event coming to the Brickworks – the Toronto Underground Market (http://yumtum.ca/). A similar concept to this event: “The Toronto Underground Market (TUM) is a social food market for the community to sample the food of Toronto home cooks. It is a venue for budding entrepreneurs to showcase their products. These vendors are not necessarily chefs, although some will be. This is a new kind of community market; not a farmer's market, or a food festival, but something completely unique and new to Toronto.”

You have to purchase tickets to attend, and the September and October events are already sold out, so we better keep an eye on this one if we want to attend the next one. 

Recipe #26: Corn Bread Waffles

For Christmas one year, my dear sister gave me a waffle maker. Did I ask for one? I did not. Do I have an undying love of waffles? Again, I do not. I love her dearly, but at that time, I thought she basically walked into a cooking store, saw the waffle maker, put it in her basket and she was done. Maybe I’m not giving her enough credit, though. Perhaps she really did think that I would love that waffle maker and use it every weekend to make fresh waffles.

Well, I guess the joke is on me, because we do use that waffle maker, and I do love it. While I don’t break it out its hiding space every weekend, I do sometimes get the inspiration to make fresh waffles for Matt and I. Fresh ones are NOTHING like the frozen ones and they really don’t take all that much time or effort, either. The only down side is you can only cook one at a time, but they are big enough to share while the next one is on the griddle. In fact, if you cook up more than you can eat, they freeze really well and can just be reheated in the toaster.

I’ve also fallen in love with cornmeal and will try any recipe that I can find that incorporates the yellow stuff. The texture makes a boring waffle or muffin into something crunchy and extraordinary, and I just love it! So when Matt found this recipe, I was more than excited to give it a try. Yes, sadly, to must have a waffle maker to make these, but I’m willing to bet that this could easily be translated into a pancake recipe, too.

INGREDIENTS:

1 cup yellow cornmeal
1  cup all-purpose or whole wheat flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
3 large eggs
2 cups milk (whole, soy, or butter)
4 tablespoons vegetable oil

DIRECTIONS:

In a large bowl mix together cornmeal, all-purpose flour, whole wheat flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt with a whisk. Make sure it is well mixed.

In another bowl whisk together the eggs, buttermilk and oil. Add the cornmeal mixture to the wet ingredients and stir with the whisk until combined.

Preheat waffle iron and grease if needed.

Spoon batter onto the waffle iron, using 1/4 cup of batter per each 4-inch-square standard waffle and cook according to manufacturers instructions.

Top with desired topping and enjoy. Waffles can be kept warm in at 200F degrees oven. 

Ribbit! Ribbit!

Nope, I’m not talking about frogging yet another project (although I do have one that’s just sitting there, asking to be undone). This time I’m talking about an actual frog. Or, more specifically, a knitted frog.

I’ve been on a mission this summer – before I buy any more new yarn, I wanted to try and use up my constantly growing yarn stash. You knitters out there can probably relate. A typical scenario: you’re browsing the yarn store, just to pass the time, telling yourself that you don’t need anything new. Then something catches your eye – a colourful and exciting new yarn! But wait, you don’t have a project in mind, so you don’t know how you’d use it or how much you’d need. Doesn’t matter. You can’t just walk away from it. And then you touch it, and you’re hooked. Somehow you’re already at the cash register, digging in your wallet for your debit card, thinking of a way to hide this new little gem from your husband (if he’s not already with you) when you get home. Yup, that’s generally how it goes.

So, one Saturday afternoon as I sorted through my stash of yarn and half-finished projects tucked away under my bed, I pulled out new balls of yarn that I bought on a whim and have since hidden away. I began to look at them with fresh eyes and wondered again what they could become. And what did I find? A little ball of variegated green yarn, all coiled up and just waiting to be knit. I think at the time I bought it, I had thought to turn it into a scarf and give it as a Christmas present, but that obviously didn’t happen. With only one ball, I had to be creative in thinking what to knit. My first thought? What’s green and small and ribbits? Not leftover moldy cheese in Tupperware, but a frog, of course (was that funny to anyone else but me?!). And wouldn’t you know; my niece had a birthday coming up. And I do love knitting stuffed toys. So, let’s count this stuffed froggy as a win for one less ball of yarn under the bed!

I love seeing kids’ faces when they get something new, and when Ava saw this frog, she smiled and swung it around, a good sign that she liked it. And then her big sister saw it and asked where hers was. I told her that it was Ava’s birthday, but maybe she’d get something for her birthday next February. She promptly put in her request for a pink elephant. And a purple elephant. And the pink one should be bigger than the purple one. Guess I’ve got my next project.

I’m sad to say that I have not successfully accomplished the above summertime mission. I broke down and bought myself some Cascade 200 Heather (my ultimate favorite yarn to knit with) in a gorgeous burnt orange colour (but it was such a good deal!). I am restraining from starting to knit with it, however, until I finish up a few other projects I have on the go, but a knitter can only have so much will power! Plus, with all the fall magazines out on newsstands, I'm sure to be tempted...

Recipe #25: Black Bean Brownies

Photo courtesy of Family Kitchen

I have to give credit to my good friend Darlene for this unique recipe, or at least credit for telling me about it. From the name of it, you might already be scrunching up your nose (I think I did, actually), but I decided it was worth the try. I was inspired partly by our vegetarian adventure and my new found fondness of beans, and also by the lovely sisters, Janet and Greta, from Eat, Shrink, and be Merry. I caught one of their episodes the other week. They were trying to create a healthy version of chocolate fudge (as if!). While they conceded that you probably couldn’t make a completely healthy version (you still needed sugar after all), you could at least do your part to make it more nutritious. And so that was my thought with these brownies. The beans replace the flour and add some protein in the process. Was I skeptical that they would taste good? You bet. This was probably the only time in my baking career that I didn’t lick the spoon.

I found this recipe  online at Family Kitchen (also new bookmark in list of favorites) and chose it mainly for the simplicity. I had found others but this one seemed the most straightforward. Everything but the chocolate chips and walnuts goes into the food processor. Turn that puppy on and puree the heck out of it. I think that’s the trick – you don’t want any lumpy bean parts left in there.

And the results? Surprisingly good! I taste-tested these with several family and friends, some knowing what was in them, some not, and everyone seemed to really enjoy them. It is chocolate, after all, so what’s not to like?! I would bake these again in a heart beat! So thanks, Darlene, for giving me the idea.

INGREDIENTS:

1 19 oz (540 mL) can black beans, drained and rinsed
1/2 cup sugar
2 large eggs
1/3 cup butter, melted
1/4 cup cocoa
2 tsp. vanilla
1/4 tsp. salt
1/2 cup chocolate chips
1/3 cup chopped walnuts or pecans (optional)

DIRECTIONS:

PREHEAT oven to 350°F.

PLACE the black beans, sugar, eggs, melted butter, cocoa, vanilla and salt in the bowl of a food processor and blend until smooth, pulsing and scraping down the sides of the bowl to ensure all the beans are completely pureed. Remove the blade and gently stir in the chocolate chips and walnuts. Pour into an 8″x8″ pan that has been sprayed with non-stick spray.

BAKE for 25-30 minutes, or until slightly puffed and set. Cool before cutting into squares.

Crafty Find: Function and Comfort

Just look at this chair. Take it all in… It’s a lamp. It’s a chair. And it’s wonderful!  Sure, you're restricted to sitting by an electrical outlet, but that's really not so bad.

When I came across it, my first immediate thought was “Brilliant!” I love when people have the genius idea to put two very different objects together to create one amazing and very functional object.

Maybe you need a little extra light while you’re reading. Boom! Already built in.

Or maybe you need a little extra seating for when you have company. Boom! Already built in. Amazing.

I simply had to see what else existed out there, so off to Google I went. While I found numerous different varieties of chairs with lamps, only this next one really caught my eye. Not only does it rock and provide light, but rocking is what powers it. Ingenious! I love modern creativity.

Recipe #24: Beef and Pork (and Bacon and Chorizo) Ragù Lasagna

Courtesy of http://www.finecooking.com/

Oh, man, do I LOVE lasagna. And OH, MAN! Was this lasagna ever good! It was our turn to host our monthly family dinners, and it also happened to fall on the weekend of my birthday (way back in June that is…), so what did the birthday girl want for dinner? I wanted lasagna. Mainly I chose this dish because it serves a lot of people and I can prepare it ahead of time, so that when my guests arrive, I can spend time visiting and not cooking.

Now, there are tons of recipes out there for lasagna, and all of them will vary with ingredients and directions, etc. So what makes one better than another? For me, this one had me at the meat (refer to previous post about us eating more vegetables and less meat). Ok, the original recipe didn’t include chorizo; I chose to add that myself, but the combination of pork and beef was something I had wanted to try.

I should alert you, however, that should you chose to attempt this recipe, leave yourself plenty of time. The sauce alone should simmer for about three hours.  I made mine on the day before, and after everything is in the pot, it just simmered away. Personally, the longer the better, as the sauce thickens up and all the flavours meld together. And since this did make a big batch, I had leftovers to bring to work one week – for myself and three colleagues. I think we’re going to have a lasagna-off in the near future to see who makes the best one. I’ll be pulling out this recipe for sure. It doesn’t need to be my birthday to enjoy this tasty dish.

INGREDIENTS:

3 oz. (6 Tbs.) unsalted butter

1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil

2 medium celery stalks, finely chopped (1-1/3 cups)

2 medium carrots, peeled and finely chopped (2/3 cup)

2 small yellow onions, finely chopped (1-1/3 cups)

1 lb. boneless beef chuck, finely diced or ground

1 lb. boneless pork shoulder, finely diced or ground

3 - 4 strips of bacon, diced

1-2 chorizo sausages, casings removed

2 cups dry red wine

1/2 cup canned tomato purée

1/4 cup tomato paste diluted in 1/2 cup water

2 cups homemade or low-salt canned beef or chicken broth; more as needed

1 cup whole milk

Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper

3/4 lb. lasagne noodles

1/2 oz. (1 Tbs.) unsalted butter, cut into small cubes, plus more for the pan

1 cup freshly grated Parmigiano-Reggiano

DIRECTIONS FOR RAGU:

In a 5- to 6-qt. Dutch oven or large pot, brown the bacon until slightly crispy. Keeping the bacon drippings, add  6 Tbs. butter and melt over medium heat. Add the celery, carrots, and onions and cook, stirring occasionally, until softened and lightly golden, about 15 minutes. Add the beef, pork and chorizo and cook, breaking up the meats with a spoon and stirring often, until the meats lose their redness, 5 to 8 minutes. Stir in the wine, tomato purée, and tomato paste and simmer vigorously until the liquid is almost evaporated, 15 to 20 minutes. Add the beef or chicken broth and the milk, cover with the lid ajar, reduce the heat to low, and simmer gently until you have a rich, concentrated sauce, about 2-1/2 hours. Check every 30 minutes to see if more liquid is needed, adding more broth if necessary to prevent scorching. Season to taste with salt and pepper, if needed. Let cool. Skim off the fat from the top, if desired. You should have about 6 cups. (At this point, you can refrigerate.)

COOK THE NOODLES:

Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Prepare a large bowl of ice water. Slip the noodles, two or three at a time, into the boiling water and cook them until they're tender and pale, 3 to 5 minutes (thinner noodles will cook more quickly). To make sure they're done, taste a small piece. If it's still tough, it needs a little more cooking (fresh pasta should not be cooked al dente like dried pasta).

Carefully scoop the noodles out of the water with a large wire skimmer and slide them into the ice water to stop the cooking. When they're cool, layer them between clean dish towels until you're ready to assemble the lasagne (they'll keep this way for up to two hours).

ASSEMBLE THE LASAGNA:

Position a rack in the center of the oven and heat the oven to 350°F. Choose a baking dish that’s about 9x12 inches and 3 inches deep, or about 10x14 inches and 2 inches deep. Butter the baking dish. Spread 1/2 cup of ragù in a sparse layer on the bottom of the dish. Then cover with a slightly overlapping layer of cooked noodles, cutting them as needed to fill the gaps. Spread one-third of the remaining ragù (about 1-1/2 cups) over the first layer of noodles. Sprinkle with 1/3 cup Parmigiano. Add a new layer of noodles, overlapping them slightly.

Repeat the layers as instructed above, until all of the filling ingredients are used, to make a total of three layers (you may not need all the pasta). Dot the top with the butter cubes.

Put the baking dish on a baking sheet and bake until heated through and bubbling at the edges, 45 to 50 minutes. Remove from the oven and let rest for 10 to 15 minutes before serving.

Crafty Find: Pantone Colours

 

I’ve been noticing a lot of everyday items being given the Pantone treatment – you know, bright colours with the signature white block at the bottom with the colour number. People seem to gobble up this colorful trend - from chairs to books to mugs and other kitchen supplies; heck, I might just have to do it myself with a craft project, perhaps. What, I’m not exactly sure, but I’m sure I could think of something (brainstorming…knitted pantone pillow perhaps?).

In any case, I am loving the collection I found online of All Things Pantone (a quick Google search revealed a variety of items). These colours just made me smile, so I thought I’d share. I’m sure I’ve only just scratched the surface of the trend, so if you stumble across others, please feel free to share a link!

Happy Friday!