Weekly news tidbits too tasty not to share.

Restaurant News/Food Events:

The veal parmesan at Andiamo Pasta Plus is incredibly tender. Olive it! It’s on the special menu for Taste of Streetsville, which ends October 6th, 2013.

Sweet Notes:

While the Danish Pastry House is preparing to move to their new location in the Shops of Oakville South, they will need to have a few closings at their current Port Credit location to facilitate the move.  They will be closed October 2, 3, 5, 8, and 9^th 2013.  Read more here: www.danishpastryhouse.ca.

Grocery Store Finds:

Did you spot the Rustichella d’Abruzzo pasta shown in the Pantry Essentials article of the Food & Drink Autumn 2013 issue (page 26)? Extrusion through bronze molds gives this pasta a coarser texture that allows it to absorb any sauce better. I served the pappardelle the other night – my tomato sauce clung to every strand.

I found a wide range of Rustichella d’Abruzzo pasta at this gorgeous, tiny grocery store in downtown Oakville.

Oh, to be riding my bike to this little gem of a store! It’s filled with gourmet goodies, fresh fruits, and vegetables.

 
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Okay, I admit it: I’ve never been to Myanmar and so…have no memories of it. Instead, I live vicariously through people like award-winning Canadian culinary travel writer Naomi Duguid and CNN’s Anthony Bourdain, who guide us through the doors of a country whose society is now opening up after 50 years of isolation, and introduce us to the seductive flavours of its exotic cuisine.

Anthony Bourdain’s engaging episode on Myanmar (formerly Burma), from his show Parts Unknown, awoke in me an appetite for Burmese cuisine – a distinctive and delicious melting pot of flavours influenced over time by Myanmar’s bordering countries of India, China, and Thailand. I love the concept of Burmese salads: condiments may be sprinkled on bite-by-bite to make each mouthful a different combination of textures and flavours suited to individual tastes. So I created a salad tailored to my taste, loosely inspired by what I saw on the show but simplified, using ingredients I could easily find here.

Since then, I happened upon Naomi Duguid’s gorgeous book Burma: Rivers of Flavor while browsing in Indigo recently. The photographs drew me in and the recipes won me over; I’ve been pouring over it ever since. Warming Beef Curry with Tomato is an easy, comforting recipe using commonly found ingredients. The Red Chile Powder recipe is a cinch to make and has a bright heat that creeps up on you, leaving you blanketed in warmth. Next I am going to make the Paneer in Tomato Sauce and the Tart-Sweet Chile-Garlic Sauce so my husband will stop using the grocery store brand that is full of preservatives (he uses it like ketchup). And doesn’t the Intensely Green Spinach & Tomato Salad with Peanuts sound delicious? If you would like to travel vicariously down the rivers of Burma – “the rivers of flavor” – and want to try your hand at authentic Burmese cooking, Ms. Duguid’s well-researched book is your passport. Thank you, Ms. Duguid, for bringing the flavors of Burma into our kitchens.

Memories of Myanmar: Olive’s Spicy Tomato Cabbage Salad

Serves 6-8

This is the kind of salad that you’ll want to make when you are not in a rush, perhaps on a lazy Saturday afternoon when you have a hankering for something spicy to liven up your Saturday night dinner. We think it’s refreshing and exotic, even if it’s not an authentic recipe.

Naomi Duguid’s book, Burma: Rivers of Flavor, includes an authentic recipe for Burmese Tea-Leaf Salad, the type of salad which inspired my recipe. Yes, the authentic recipe calls for fermented tea leaves (unlike my recipe). Ms. Duguid describes it as a dazzling salad and Burma’s national dish. She included it in her book as “an act of optimism, in the hope that fermented tea leaves will soon become more widely available”. I’m on the hunt! I’ve asked at T&T Supermarket and my little local Indian grocery store and so far, have come up empty-handed. I sent an e-mail to the Myanmar Cultural Association of Brampton, hoping that they can lead me in the right direction. If I find some, I am going to try Ms. Duguid’s recipe.

Salad Ingredients:

12 cups shredded Napa cabbage (1 medium cabbage)

1 bunch fresh coriander (large stems removed), finely chopped

15 fresh mint leaves, finely chopped in ¼ teaspoon coarse salt

1 bunch green onions, sliced thin

2 cups seeded, finely chopped or julienned fresh tomatoes

6 mini cucumbers, sliced

Crunchy Bits:

1 cup roasted and salted peanuts (I use Spicy Peanuts from the nut counter at Adonis Mississauga to add a little extra heat)

2 tablespoons toasted sesame seeds (olive the Suma brand that is already toasted – see photo below)

Dressing Ingredients:

2 cloves garlic

2 teaspoon ground turmeric

½ teaspoon ground cayenne pepper or homemade red chile powder to taste

2 teaspoon white sugar

½ teaspoon sodium-reduced soy sauce

2 tablespoons rice wine vinegar

Juice of 2 limes

3 tablespoon peanut oil or olive oil

Optional Accompanying Condiments:

Moong Dal (fried salty split green mung bean snack – see photo below)

Extra ground cayenne or homemade red chile powder or your favourite Asian chili garlic sauce.

Extra minced fresh garlic

Directions:

1. Place salad ingredients in an oversized salad bowl. If you don’t have one, divide salad ingredients evenly between two large bowls to give you enough room to toss on the dressing. Once dressed, the salad will fill just one large bowl.
2. Place peanuts in the bowl of a small food processor; chop by pulsing briefly 3 or 4 times, until you have a mix of chopped nuts and ground nut powder; place in a separate serving bowl and set on table. Place the toasted sesame seeds in a separate serving bowl and set on table.
3. Without washing out bowl, place first 7 dressing ingredients in the bowl of the same small food processor; process until garlic is finely minced. Add oil and blend thoroughly.
4. Pour dressing on salad; toss thoroughly. Serve immediately, with bowls of the crunchy bits and optional condiments on the side for guests to add individually, to their own taste.

Sumo brand White & Black Toasted Sesame Seeds are widely available and are usually found at grocery store sushi counters.

Moong Dal (fried salty split green mung bean snack) is available at Indian grocery stores and Loblaw’s).

Weekly news tidbits too tasty not to share.

Food Events:

The Toronto Garlic Festival is this Sunday, Sept 22, 2013 from 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. at Evergreen Brick Works, Toronto.  If you can’t make it, why not visit Carl Laidlaw Orchards to pick up some locally grown garlic or Healthy Choice Farm for organic garlic.

Restaurant News:

If you are passing by Goodfellas Wood Oven Pizza Streetsville and the door is open, pop your head in and say hello. If co-owner Rocco Giovannelli is there, he may invite you in to show you around. I did just that yesterday and was thoroughly impressed by the beautiful interior taking shape – it looks like it should be splashed across the pages of an interior design magazine. Mr. Giovannelli has lots of wonderful surprises in store for Streetsville and is hoping to open by mid October, possibly earlier.

Grocery Store Finds:

Looking for an easy and impressive finale for your dinner party that may just make you the talk of the neighborhood? Check out the large variety of exotic ice creams available at Highland Farms’ Mississauga location. Red Diamond’s Pistachio & Saffron ice cream sounds enticing. Avocado, watermelon, cantaloupe, ginger, green tea, red bean, and mango ice cream from various suppliers all sound delicious too!

Sweet Notes:

If you need a sweet idea for a birthday party but have food sensitivities or allergies to consider, check out the cupcake decorating parties at Bakersville, in Streetsville.

Pane Fresco is an Italian bakery and café in downtown Burlington, owned and operated by artisanal baker Marc Albanese and his wife, Felicia. It’s my sister’s favourite local spot for breakfast or lunch. She took my dad to Pane Fresco recently. After he told me that the Slow Braised Beef Brisket Panini was the best sandwich he has ever had, I knew I had to check it out.

So, I treated my sister to a birthday lunch at Pane Fresco. It was a little early for her birthday but because the Toronto International Film Festival was in full swing, I thought perhaps we might spot George Clooney amongst the baguettes. A girl can dream! During the 2009 TIFF, Pane Fresco was asked to prepare lunch for George Clooney to eat on his jet trip back to Los Angeles.

Pane Fresco’s spacious outdoor patio offers a pretty view of Lake Ontario at the end of Locust Street. The interior of Pane Fresco is tiny but charming. Its black and white tiled floor and dark wood paneling reminds my sister and me of the little French bistros or breakfast cafés we love to frequent when we’re in Montreal. There is additional seating in the lobby of the adjoining office tower (though not quite as charming).

And here is my lovely and charming sister.

While ordering at the cash, you will be enticed by the myriad of pleasures that Pane Fresco has to offer: the aroma of fresh bread baking in the oven or the daily special (such as weekday Daily Quiche, Slow Roasted Prime Rib on Saturdays, or Chicken Parmigiana on Wednesdays). Freshly baked pizza in a variety of irresistible flavours is carried out of the oven on wood paddles and laid out beside you. Biscotti and baked treats line the counter. The chalkboard menu is full of temptations.

Pane Fresco offers traditional favourites, as well as a variety of interesting artisanal breads, such as 9-Grain Loaf, Guinness Beer Sour Dough Rye and Fig, Raisin & Walnut Filone. Dough is made from preservative-free, natural ingredients, shaped and molded by hand using old world techniques, and then baked in a European oven, right in front of you.

My sister’s favourite sandwich is the Francese: a generous sandwich of shaved Virginia ham piled high on rustic baguette, spread with Dijon mustard and mayonnaise, and topped with brie cheese and baby greens.

I ordered the Slow Braised Beef Brisket Panini that my father raved about. The chef’s focus on flavour and quality ingredients makes the Slow Braised Beef Brisket a showstopper. Chewy, rustic baguette with a pleasing mouth-feel is loaded with thinly shaved, tender beef moistened with a flavourful jus and then topped with crispy onions, brie cheese, horseradish aioli, and baby greens.  It’s definitely the most delectable shaved beef sandwich I have ever had!

It looked so good when it was delivered to my table that I rushed to take the photos, anxious to take the first bite – and I blew the photos. So here is a cell-phone photo I took of a second Slow Braised Beef Brisket Panini that, on another day, I ordered to-go for my son and his monster-sized after-school appetite. What I may be lacking in photography skills, I make up for in the mom department. Ah, but think of the hungry boys we left drooling in our dust at the kiss’n’ride. Sorry guys!

But I digress, back to the birthday lunch. My sister and I also shared the seasonally available Panzanella Salad. Beautiful heirloom tomatoes (red, yellow, and green) were perfectly ripe, sweet, and juicy. Light and crunchy garlic parmesan croutons, crisp cucumbers, red onion, and baby arugula were dressed in a well-balanced vinaigrette. It is a sparkling salad.

Mr. Albanese’s artisanal-bread-making talent shines through again in his pizzas. Varieties range from traditional to innovative. In the Brie and Prosciutto pizza, the salty prosciutto plays against the sweetness of the fig jam, caramelized onions, and light balsamic glaze. Baby arugula adds a punch of pepper. Just a touch of mozzarella and brie cheese keeps things light so that the crust can play the lead role: a crunchy outer layer, sprinkled lightly with a touch of sea salt, sets the stage for the chewy, flavourful interior.

Breakfast is served seven days a week. Oh, wouldn’t I love to spread out a newspaper, sip an Italian coffee, and enjoy a leisurely breakfast of two fresh eggs, extra-thick maple bacon, roasted asparagus, chef’s home fries, toasted baguette, and a fresh fruit garnish that is plated up when you order The Classic. Pain Perdu is the breakfast special on Saturdays. Belgian Waffles with mixed berries, real whipped cream and maple syrup are served on Sundays.

It’s the perfect spot for a quiet breakfast on your own or a nice lunch with someone you care about. I think I may need to celebrate my sister’s birthday more often, say once a month? George, olive ya’ but it’s Pane Fresco’s star-quality Italian home cooking that will keep me coming back for more.

www.pane-fresco.ca

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Hot Off The Olive Press: Weekly news tidbits too tasty not to share.

Headline News:

Get ready for a foot-stompin’, heart-pumpin’, old-fashioned-Streetsville-good-time at the 3^rd annual Streetsville Ceilidh, held at Vic Johnston Community Centre. Reunite with old friends and make some new ones. Community fund-raiser. Good old down-home meal, live entertainment, dancing, auctions. Saturday September 21, 2013 at 6:00 p.m. Tickets on sale now www.streetsvilleceilidh.com. See you on centre ice!

St. Jacobs Farmers’ Market: Despite the recent fire that destroyed the main building, the outdoor market and Peddlar’s Village will continue to be open Thursdays and Saturdays. For more information, click here to visit the St. Jacobs Farmers’ Market website.

Phase I of the redevelopment of Streetsville Village Square has been completed and Main Street has reopened. Phase II has been rescheduled to spring 2014. For more details, please click here to visit the City of Mississauga website.

Food Events:

Enjoy a Taste of Streetsville, September 9th through October 6th 2013. Order from the Taste of Streetsville  $25 prix fixe menus at participating restaurants and 50 cents from every meal will be donated to the redevelopment of the Emergency Department at Credit Valley Hospital. Visit the Taste of Streetsville website for more details and a list of participating restaurants. What a great way to try out the wonderful restaurants Streetsville has to offer and support the Credit Valley Hospital at the same time.

Restaurant News:

Goodfellas Wood Oven Pizza in Streetsville looks as though it’s getting closer and closer to opening day. Take a stroll by the restaurant and try to catch a glimpse of the beautiful interior taking shape.