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Spice up your holiday potluck party with exotic and inexpensive finger food that will please the palates of adventurous eaters and vegetarians. Easy peasy; no cooking required. Pick up an assortment of restaurant-quality, sweet and savory, vegetarian Indian baking from Mississauga’s White Gold Food.

Dhokla is a moist, savory cake made from chickpea flour and yogurt – a healthy dose of fibre and protein. The regular “non-spicy” version has a garnish of tempered black mustard seeds, sesame seeds, hot green chiles, and fresh coriander leaves: gentle heat and fresh green flavour against the mellow nuttiness of the chickpeas and tang of the yogurt, all in one deeply satisfying bite. The “spicy” version is made with ginger and green chiles and is dusted with chile powder – take a walk on the wild side, this baby is hot. Serve with very spicy, hot green chutney (coriander, green chiles, and yogurt) but lovely just solo.

Of course, samosas are always a big hit at a party and White Gold’s samosas are delicious. Choose regular; the spice level is just enough to give a golden warmth. Apparently, the spicy version is not for the faint of heart. Serve with tangy-sweet tamarind chutney….mmm!

I’ve never been a pakora fan (those often greasy, tasteless globs of fried batter with a hint of vegetables). But White Gold has awoken the inner pakora lover in me. Their pakoras are not greasy and are packed with a flavourful combination of potatoes, onion, spinach, carrots, eggplant, and cauliflower in chickpea batter, fried to perfection.

Some Indian desserts are almost sickly sweet but there are a few that I like in small doses and White Gold makes them mouth-watering.

Burfi means fudge. I adore White Gold’s mango burfi (middle right): tangy, pure mango pulp balances the rich sweetness of the fudgy evaporated milk. Anjeer burfi (top) is made with figs and almonds while Khajoor burfi (bottom) is made with dates and almonds. Elaichi peda (middle left) is like a cross between shortbread and fudge: sweetened evaporated milk dumplings made with the very best cardamom.

Owned and operated by a local family who use only top quality ingredients and prepare their authentic products with the utmost care. White Gold supplies their quality baking to restaurants and markets but thankfully, they have a storefront take-out counter, filled with all sorts of goodies, open to the general public. Google maps has pinned the address incorrectly on Laird. It is at the back of 3176 Ridgeway in unit #48.

At this time of year, I love seeing the Diwali lights and fireworks across our city. Happy Diwali!

White Gold Food
3176 Ridgeway Drive,
Unit 48, Mississauga,
ON L5L 5S6
Telephone: 906-607-6776

The say the way to a man’s heart is through his stomach but I’m not entirely certain of that. My husband comes from a family of great cooks. He, himself, survived a year of chef school. So I was downright nervous the first time I cooked for him, in that tiny kitchen of my upper duplex apartment in Little Burgundy, Montreal. My friend assured me her ‘foolproof’ recipe for chicken would cast him under my spell with the first bite (that Best of Bridge recipe with mustard, curry powder, honey, and butter). Would you believe I managed to blow the recipe? It was the worst chicken I have ever made! He ate every bite like a true gentleman and fell in love with me anyways.  I’ve created our own healthier version of Curried Mustard Chicken that he now adores. (Honey, this link is for you – a little trip down memory lane or should I say 2222 rue Coursol. I still love that little, white dormer kitchen window).

As easy as this recipe is, it is well worth searching out a few special ingredients. Based in Mississauga, Ontario, Arvinda’s makes artisanal, premium Indian spice blends, using Canadian grown spices whenever possible, like mustard seed and coriander. I love Arvinda’s Curry Powder; it is a rich, fragrant blend of spices – so fragrant that I often pop the lid just for a whiff. Definitely my favourite curry powder, outshining any others I have tried to date. Use Arvinda’s Curry Powder and not their Curry Masala for this recipe. You can find Arvinda’s finely crafted range of Indian spice blends in fine food stores throughout Ontario. Check their website for a store near you.

I really don’t like typical grocery store garlic salt. Get yourself a bottle of The Garlic Box Roasted Garlic & Sea Salt and bring your recipes up a notch. Made with roasted Ontario-grown garlic; finely crafted in Hensall, Ontario. Check their website for where to buy.

Use whatever chicken you prefer. We eat skinless; my husband prefers thighs, so I cook both thighs and breasts. For a treat, Burton Meats sells a beautiful, restaurant-style Chicken Suprême: a boneless chicken breast with the skin and upper portion of the wing bone attached. Gently force your fingers under the skin to rub a little of the sauce both under and over the skin – the end result will be incredibly moist and flavourful (you can choose to discard the skin after cooking). Check their website for two Mississauga retail locations.

Olive’s Curried Mustard Chicken
Serves 3 – double the recipe to serve 6

Sauce (makes 10 tablespoons – enough for 3 servings):
6 tablespoons Dijon mustard
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1 teaspoon Arvinda’s Curry Powder (mild curry powder)
1 teaspoon Garlic Box Garlic Salt
1 teaspoon dried thyme
Freshly ground black pepper

Chicken:
3 chicken breasts or 6 chicken thighs or 3 Chicken Suprêmes

Instructions:

1. Preheat oven to 375F. In a medium bowl, whisk sauce ingredients until thoroughly combined.
2. Arrange chicken in a single, evenly-spaced layer on a parchment-lined, rimmed baking tray. Spread sauce thickly and evenly on all sides of chicken. I like to throw the lemon halves on the baking tray to caramelize while the chicken roasts. Bake until chicken is thoroughly cooked, about 35 to 40 minutes depending on what cut you use. Using tongs, carefully squeeze the lemon over the chicken (juice will be very hot).

All winter long, we pine for a little bit of summer in Muskoka. Of course, the natural beauty of Muskoka is enough of a draw on its own. But Muskoka’s Dorset, Ontario boasts an extra special piece of heaven, or pizza heaven – officially called Pizza on Earth.

About five years ago, an enterprising university student, Sarah Jane (Johnson) Gibbs, and her parents built an outdoor wood-burning oven on their commercial property. Since then, Sara has turned out fabulous, wood-fired gourmet pizza that knocks the flip flops off local cottagers. Thin, crisp but chewy crust cooked to perfection. Flavourful sauce. Gourmet toppings. And that smoky, wood-fired taste. This is the stuff to hold out for – here is why: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fhD4x16nbck

Pizza on Earth is only open in the summer, which makes Sarah’s pizza all that much more appreciated. The rest of the year, Sarah is at university studying the cello. Gosh, she’s inspiring. You go girl. I bet you play the cello as beautifully as you make pizza.

Pizza on Earth is very popular in this neck of the woods. Call ahead to place your order; if you show up at the last minute, chances are you will wait a long while. Take it away or eat there on the outdoor picnic tables. Better yet, take a short trip across the Dorset bridge to the park at Little Trading Bay. Our boys like to Huck Finn it and swim out to the raft in the bay. The beauty of Muskoka, Dad’s Root Beer, and Pizza on Earth. Heaven on earth.

Pizza on Earth
1009 Clan McKay Drive
Dorset, Ontario
P0A 1E0
(just south of Dorset, Ontario on the east side of Highway 35, just south of the Dorset bridge)

Phone: 705-349-8827

Website: http://www.mypizzaonearth.com/

Bring an empty picnic basket to Georgetown’s Mill Street Cheese Market and load up with a moveable feast of well-crafted, artisanal cheese and other goodies.

We chose a delicious Scottish Claret Cheddar (surprisingly creamy with fruity red wine notes), a luxurious Grand Crème Delin triple cream from France, and a decadent St. Agur (our true-blue friend that never fails to please). Store-made baguette crisps are the perfect foil. Melt-in-your-mouth, spicy Mennonite summer sausage and pickled hot-n-sweet cherry peppers balance the richness of the cheeses. And to refresh, the French version of lemonade, a sparking limonade by Rième. On your way, pick up some seasonal fruit from a local farm market (Alisons’ Farm Market or Georgetown Farmers’ Market).

Find your favourite secluded spot – perhaps in a vintage orchard or at the edge of a babbling creek. Spread out and then lose yourself in midsummer’s magic: gentle breezes, chirping crickets, happy butterflies, perhaps a glimpse of a timid deer. Summer celebrated in one afternoon, a lifetime of love in one moment.

Stracciatella Fiorentina, amore mia, I’ve never met another quite like you. Soft shreds of egg and parmesan twirling through a rich, tomato-infused broth. Bits of roasted chicken. Tender,  fresh spinach leaves. Mouthwatering. Find it at Andiamo Pasta Plus, in Streetsville.

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