T&T Supermarket!

T&T Supermarket is awesome! Fred and I went this morning and I need to go back soon - it was packed today!

Good Asian food is hard to find in Ottawa - I go to Kowloon market a lot, but I definitely don't love the place. T&T has a lot - a lot - of Asian products, from the nicest crabs and lobsters I've seen in Ottawa to cute Japanese sanitary napkins. They really have a huge selection.

The seafood department is great, a lot of gorgeous live creatures (the dungeness and king crabs were beautiful), and tons of frozen seafood too (fish, prawns, shellfish, sea cucumber, shark fins ($47 for about half a pound). Tons of fresh baked goods, gorgeous produce, fresh and dried noodles, Asian drinks... You get the picture. It rocks :)

For $25.72 we picked up:

• 3 cans of coconut cream
• a nice big succulent piece of sugar cane (YUM)
  
• a gift box of Japanese rice crackers
• tons of beautiful fresh ginger
• fresh coconut buns from the bakery
• prawn crackers
• mango and litchee pudding
• grass jelly
• two cans of coconut water
• three tiny moon cakes
• dong gua (winter melon)

I'm making prawn crackers tonight and winter melon soup tomorrow night!

La Super Tartine

I made one of Jamie Oliver's recipes, La Super Tartine aux Crevettes, Basilic, Mayonnaise, et Cresson, for lunch this week. I got his cookbook for Christmas, en français.

Take some small shrimp (I'm using shrimp from Matane, Québec) and gently mix with mayonnaise, lemon juice, fresh basil, salt, and pepper. Serve on nice bread with butter and watercress. I toasted my bread for extra deliciousness. Also yummy without bread, as a salad.

Tip: I'm putting the shrimp in a little nutella jar (if you buy your nutella in the small glass jar, you can re-use the container as a juice or wine glass, or as an environmentally-friendly tupperware).

A jar like this.

So much more appetizing than eating out of something plastic, no?

Leek, gorgonzola, and port risotto

This is just so good. And you can drink some of the port while you're cooking :)

You will need:

• Arborio rice (a cup or two)
• Leeks and shallots
• Gorgonzola or another sharp cheese that you love
• Parmigiana reggiano (you could replace with romano if you like)
• White wine and port
• Some garlic

In a heavy pot, heat up some olive oil and butter. Add some minced shallots and your leeks, cut into half-moons. Cook over low heat until caramelized and brown. Add a bit of garlic.

Making sure there is still some oil (add more if you need to), add the rice, and cook for a few minutes until rice is translucent. I usually turn up the heat a bit for this part. Then add some, maybe half a cup or something, vermouth or white wine and stir until evaporated. Turn it down again.

Now start adding your stock, a cup at a time. My stock instructions are here. After each cup is added, stir slowly until all the liquid has been absorbed. Keep doing this until the rice is tender but al dente.

Remove from the heat and stir in a couple of knobs of butter and some nutmeg and black pepper. Remember what the two fat ladies would say... "Buttah makes it bettah!" Crumble in your gorgonzola and some grated parmigiana reggiano. You can stir in some lemon zest to cut the heaviness if you want.

Make a port glaze by cooking port on high heat until it thickens. You could also do this with balsamic, I bet white balsamic would be good with the leeks.

Drizzle your reduction over each serving of risotto and wait for your friends to tell you how beautiful dinner is, and how happy they are to have a friend that is just such a good cook :)

Good stock is important!

Really, really good stock is so easy to make, and it adds so much flavour to whatever you're cooking.

When I buy fresh produce, I freeze some for making stock. Chopped onions, carrots, celery, tart apples, and leeks are all good to keep. The secret to amazing stock is parmesan rinds - whenever I finish a chunk of parmesan cheese I freeze the rind, it adds the best flavour to stock.

You can include any of the following:

• Onions, shallots, leeks (I leave some skin because it adds colour and flavour)
• Carrots
• Celery (stock is a good way to use up the ends and leaves you trim off)
  
• Apples (I prefer to use granny smith apples)
• Whole peppercorns
• Parmigiana reggiano rind (this is the secret to the best best stock!)
• A few bay leaves
• Parsley stems or fresh herbs if you have them on hand

Okay. Caramelize your coarsely-chopped onions and shallots in olive oil. You can add a bit of brown sugar if you want to get a bit of extra caramelization. Deglaze your pot with wine or whisky. You can use vermouth if you want, ummm, sherry, port, whatever you feel like.

Now throw in your other veggies and apple, coarsely chopped, and a bunch of cold water, your bay leaves, more peppercorns than you think you need (I used a small handful), and the parmesan rinds.

I like to use organic apples because they don't have that gross wax on them, which I think could be pretty horrible all melted into the stock.

Okay, now simmer for a while, like an hour-ish, over low-ish heat.
Strain it to remove vegetables, etc. You can freeze extra stock for next time!

Sometimes I add a TINY bit of Vietnamese fish sauce or a few smoked tea leaves for a bit of umami flavour. If you eat meat, you could obviously include some in your stock. I dunno what you guys use - chicken? Meat bones? Anyway, whatever you like a lot I guess.

Oranges, the best way

Cut the peel off your orange like this using a small, sharp, serrated knife.

Now cut between the pith (the white part) that separates the segments to get beautiful, perfect, pith-less orange slices.

Squeeze the juice out of the leftovers over your segments. Yum.

Blood oranges and navels are in season right now, as are grapefruits. Go nuts with your favourites. It's worth the trouble to open up your lunch and find these tender little citrus jewels.

Tip: You can use the leftover citrus peels to make environmentally friendly citrus cleaner! Just submerge them in white vinegar for a few days or a week, strain, and use the vinegar to clean counter tops, wood, glass, and cutting boards. The smell of vinegar disappears as it dries.

Mushroom Soup

I had a craving for a childhood favourite of mine, Campbell's Cream of Mushroom, and I made this to satisfy the craving:

Cream of Mushroom

Soak dried shiitakes in boiling water. These are really important, dried shiitakes give the ultimate umami flavour - they have a deeper flavour than fresh shiitakes. Drain, reserving the soaking liquid, discard stems (tough), and chop. Set aside.

Make a mushroom stock using the liquid you soaked your dried shiitakes in, the woody stems of the fresh mushrooms used later in the soup, celery, parsley stems, rosemary, bay leaves, onion, black peppercorns, and a tart apple. Add a bit of cold water, simmer at a low heat for a while.

Sauté diced shallots in a generous amount of butter. Add diced fresh mushrooms (use whatever you like - forest mushrooms if in season, button or portobello, whatever you enjoy and can find/afford). When the mushrooms have released their liquid, add some of your stock and simmer for a while (30 minutes-ish). Strain.

At the same time, separately simmer your chopped shiitakes in some broth to get them nice and tender.

When the mushrooms are done simmering, put the shiitakes in the blender. You can add all or some of your other mushrooms - if you want a totally smooth soup add them all. I only added about a third, I wanted my soup to be chunky.

Add the shiitake purée to the remaining mushrooms in the pot. Stir over low heat, add some cream, salt, pepper. I always use 35% cream - yeah, it's high in fat, but it is good!

I served the soup with a lot of chopped parsley, a drizzle of lemon juice, some lemon zest, and a drizzle of truffle oil. Good, plain olive oil would be good too, maybe with a bit of rosemary.

It was deelish. Very woodsy tasting. The lemon and parsley cut the richness and added a fresh note to the soup.