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"A gourmet who thinks of calories is like a tart who looks at her watch." - James Beard


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Wednesday, March 25, 2015

Tart of the Month - Flammekueche (Tarte Flambée)


This month's tart is something I've enjoyed several times in pubs and beer bars. Tarte flambée is from Alsace, a region of France bordering Germany and Switzerland. The Alsatian name for it is flammekueche and it's very much like a pizza.  It's quite simple but requires a very hot oven and some special ingredients. 



Here's what you need for this tasty snack or meal.

Saturday, March 21, 2015

Happy Hour - Bourbon Sour with Egg White

Bourbon sour with egg white

Way back at the end of December we took a little trip back to Lexington, Kentucky. We liked it so much when we were there last year that we decided to return.  


Buffalo Trace

We visited Buffalo Trace Distillery and saw their bourbon making process.  It's a gorgeous operation. We had a great tour and even got to watch them hand-bottling Blanton's bourbon

Wednesday, March 18, 2015

Fettuccine Alfredo

Fettuccine Alfredo

When I was a kid, Fettuccine Alfredo was one of my favourite dishes. Any time we went to an Italian restaurant, it was my go-to treat.  Really, the restaurant or bottled version of Alfredo sauce over pasta can make a perfect meal for children picky children - soft, mild and creamy. But this version, made with fresh pasta and piles of freshly grated cheese, is a little more grown up. 


Fresh Pasta

This Alfredo sauce recipe comes from the experts at Serious Eats and has a reasonable amount of butter and cheese, but lots of cream.  I used my fresh pasta that I told you about last week for the fettuccine, and it was sublime.

Here's what you need:

Friday, March 13, 2015

The Beer Baron: One Stout to Rule Them All

This post comes from Matt, the Beer Baron. You can find him on Twitter @geekcanuck


For St. Patrick’s Day, Ontario Craft Brewers are encouraging beer lovers to support craft brewers by drinking local stouts and seasonals. It is a noble and worthwhile goal but if you really want to raise a special pint, you owe it to yourself to track down not just a stout but one of Ontario’s amazing imperial stouts. Imperial stouts and Russian Imperial Stouts take all the lovely, malted notes of stout and dial it up to 11 with even more depth of flavor, complexity and awesomeness.

Half the fun of craft beer is sharing and the sense of community, so rather than just my own, personal preference for imperial stouts, I rounded up a group of eight stout lovers from my local beer appreciation group and decided that together, as a fellowship, we would find one stout to rule them all.

In the hopes that you have a wonderful St. Patrick’s Day full of delicious, Ontario-brewed imperial stouts this year and beyond, we present our top-12* Ontario imperial stouts:  

12. Grand River Brewing’s Russian Gun Imperial Stout 8.0% ABV



There are no losers in this competition and Russian Gun’s No. 12 proves it. While it does mask its 8.0% ABV wonderfully well, it just came across as more stout than imperial stout, especially against the heavy hitters we gathered.

Saturday, March 7, 2015

Fresh Pasta


On a snowy Saturday I decided to make fresh pasta for the first time. I received a KitchenAid Pasta Attachment set for my KitchenAid mixer as a Christmas gift and decided to give it a try.



First I needed to find a recipe for egg pasta. This recipe from Serious Eats worked beautifully. It includes extra yolks and made a wonderful, tender noodle.

Here's what you need to make the pasta: