Monday 6 October 2014

Summer Market Round-up 2014!

Hello fellow food lovers,

This summer was a busy one for us! We joined forces with The Annex Flea and The Leslieville Flea's monthly markets, and brought you summer classic delights like our creamed corn dog, fried fish sammy, vanilla ice cream, chilli cheese popcorn, and a selection of bubbly lemonades!

With the arrival of fall, we've hung up our summer marketeer aprons, and to celebrate the food we made, the people we fed, and the friends we met, here's a photo re-cap of our summer at the markets!

Our very first market at The Annex Flea!

Fried halibut on a buttered pretzel bun with mango aioli, summer slaw and maldon salt.
Our creamed corn dog with homemade peach cider mustard and corn relish.


 We carry this polaroid with us at every market!
 July's edition of The Annex Flea.
 This time we made grilled corn with jalapeño, cilantro and shallot sour cream, sprinkled with chili powder and paprika.
 We bought this retro cake stand from our friends at Big Kev Vintage!
August at The Annex Flea. Our mojito and sangria lemonades were a huge hit.



 We teamed up with Macchina Mobile Cafe to make this affogato with our vanilla ice cream and their delicious espresso.
 September at The Leslieville Flea - What started off as a terrible rainy day quickly turned hot and sunny!
 We were being swarmed by bees, and alannah killed nearly 40 of them! She is now known as the Bee Face Killah!
  Mojito and sangria lemonade were a hit again!
September at The Annex Flea.


 Vegan chili cheese popcorn, Maldon sea salt and peppercorn!
 Grilled cheese with cider braised apples and applewood smoked cheddar. A delicious hit!
 We tried out a peach tea lemonade with mint.

See you at the markets next year!

Wednesday 12 March 2014

Warm turkey tart for two!


Turkey is always a reminder of home. In our families it's mostly eaten around a table with relatives on Christmas or Thanksgiving, and there's always leftovers made into sandwiches or pot pies. Our tart is reminiscent of those days after the holidays, when we can get creative with turkey scraps. This is our play on a pot pie, with a similar creamy, mushroom and parsnip based filling complimented with cranberry goat cheese and pine nuts, wrapped in phyllo pastry, big enough for two! Before you begin any of the following steps, make sure to unwrap the phyllo pastry sheets, lay them out on a baking tray to thaw, and cover with a damp paper towel.

Braised turkey:
3 tbsp. vegetable oil
1/2 parsnip, diced
2 celery stalks, diced
1/2 large onion, diced
2 turkey drumsticks
2 bay leaves
3 thyme stems
1 tsp. whole cloves
1 cinnamon stick
3 garlic cloves, smashed
1 oz cooking sherry
1L chicken stock 

Method: 
1) Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. 
2) Heat a braising pan on medium heat, add the vegetable oil, and sear the turkey on all sides till golden brown. 
3) Remove the turkey drumsticks form the pan and add in the parsnip, onion, garlic, and celery. Cook the vegetables out until they sweat.
4)  Deglaze the pan with the cooking sherry then add the cloves, cinnamon, bay leaves and turkey. Add the chicken stock then cover with a tight fitting lid or aluminum foil, then put into the preheated oven for one hour. 

5) Once cooked, let it rest covered for 30 minutes before pulling. Reserve braising liquid for the sauce.
6) Bring the oven down to 350 degrees F to bake the tart later.

Creamy mushroom & parsnip sauce:
1 cremini mushroom, finely sliced
2 oyster mushrooms, torn into small pieces
2 tbsp. butter
1 garlic clove
2 cups reserved braising liquid and veggies
Salt and pepper to taste

Method:
1) With a hand blender take 2 cups of the braising liquid with the vegetables and puree it.
2) Sauté the mushrooms in the butter and garlic, once cooked add the puree and season. 
3) Set aside to add into the filling.
Phyllo Tart Filling:
1 cup pureed braising sauce
1/4 onion, finely chopped
1/2 small shallot, finely chopped
1/2 parsnip, finely chopped
3 cremini mushrooms, finely sliced
4 oyster mushrooms, torn into small pieces
8 sprigs of thyme, picked
1/2 cup pine nuts, toasted
3/4 cup cranberry goats cheese 
1/4 bunch of chives, finely chopped
3 tbsp. butter
2 tbsp. olive oil

Method:
1) Toast the pine nuts in a pan on medium heat until golden brown.
2)  In a stainless steel bowl combine the goats cheese, pine nuts, thyme and chives.
3) Bring a non-stick pan up to medium-high heat. Add the butter and olive oil.
4) Add the garlic, shallot, mushrooms, parsnip. At this point you can season with salt and pepper to taste. This will prevent the shallot and garlic from burning. 
5) Once everything is cooked through, remove from heat and add to the cheese and nut mixture. At this point you can also add the pureed sauce you made earlier.
6) Once your turkey is pulled you can add this into the bowl as well and adjust the seasoning before stuffing your tart.

Building the tart:





1)  Cut the phyllo sheets in half.
2) Make an egg wash of 2 whisked egg yolks, water and a little bit of salt.
3) Layer 8 of the cut sheets one of top of the other in a spiral shape, brushing the egg wash on the entire surface in between each layer. Press down to smooth over each layer.
4) Place half of the tart filling in the middle of the layered phyllo. Ruffle the excess phyllo around the filling to create the above effect. 
5) Brush more egg wash amongst the ruffles and creases of the tart to prevent burning.
6) Place on a baking pan and pop it in the oven for 15 minutes, or until golden brown.
7) Eat right away while its hot!







Monday 3 February 2014

Ode to Mediterranean-style cooking!

Canarias Recipe Competition
Phat N' Phull lumbered toward the market, trudging through the thick slush and crisp crunch of snow with the taste of summer on our minds. We were eager to create a dish that relied on lots of fresh and pungent ingredients, like many mediterranean recipes we love. With our love of seafood in mind we cooked chilli braised octopus over fresh veggie tapenade, with blistered cherry tomatoes, crispy salumi, crumbly feta and fresh tzatziki.

Meagan massaged the octopus to tenderize the meat, then braised it in vegetable oil with chillies and lemon.  For the tapenade, Alannah diced and sizzled tomatoes, zucchini and eggplant, deglazed with sherry and balsamic, and blitzed it with capers and kalamata olives. 


When it was time to plate we made a bed with tapenade and olive oil and sprinkled it with the blistered tomatoes , crispy garlic, toasted pine nuts and tussles of salumi. We danced the octopus tentacles, now a little crispy from the grill, on top and crumbled some feta and swooped tzatziki to cut the saltiness the dish. We dined in the sunniest nook in Alannah's house, sharing our visions for the summer, and wishing it was late enough to drink some wine! The soft, savoury meat mixed with the creamy, garlic tzatziki and fresh tapenade made this dish the essence of a perfect mediterranean dish: comforting, fresh, and pungent with an element of creaminess to tone it down.

Octopus confit:
1 large frozen octopus, head removed, 
tentacles separated
half a lemon, charred
half a cooking onion, charred
1 red chilli, cut in thirds
2 garlic cloves, crushed
1 sprig rosemary
1 bay leaf
2 tbsp. salt
vegetable oil

Let the octopus thaw completely. Pre-heat the oven to 350 degrees Celsius. Grab its head and slice it off horizontally with a sharp knife and discard it. Following the indents of the tentacles, cut it in half and remove any shards from the head. Then simply separate each tentacle with your knife. Place the tentacles in a bowl and sprinkle with salt. You need to massage the salt into the tentacles for a few minutes each. When your finished put the tentacles in a casserole dish, or any oven safe dish with a lid that will fit. 

Char half a lemon and onion in the oven, on a grill or any way that will get it a little burnt. Add these and the rest of the ingredients in with the octo. Add vegetable oil until everything is covered. Put a lid on the casserole dish and bake for 2 hours. When finished, leave the octopus in the oil until it cools to room temperature. To serve, char on the barbecue or on a grill. 


Fresh vegetable tapenade:

1 green zucchini
half an eggplant
2 roma tomatoes
1 small shallot
1/2 cup green Kalamata olives
2 tbsp capers
sherry 
balsamic vinegar
salt & pepper to taste

Dice and sauté the zucchini, eggplant, tomatoes and shallot until softened. Glaze with sherry and balsamic and let cook for one minute. Put everything in a bowl with the capers and pitted olives and using a hand emersion blender, gently pulse to combine. You still want the mixture to be chunky so be sure not to over blend. Add salt and pepper to taste while pulsing.  


Winter tzatziki:1 cup plain greek yogurt
3 garlic cloves, zested
1/2 cup fresh dill, finely chopped
1/4 cup cucumber, finely diced
1 tbsp lemon juice
1 tsp lemon zest
salt & pepper to taste

Add all of the ingredients in a bowl and combine thoroughly.

Other garnishes for this dish:
Toasted pine nuts: Heat up 1/4 cup of pine nuts in a small sauté pan with a little bit of olive oil until brown. 
Crispy garlic: Finely slice 3 cloves of garlic width-wise, cover with olive oil in a pan and heat until brown, strain.
Crispy salumi: Julienne the salumi and toss with olive oil. Heat up a small sauté pan until crispy. Make sure not to brown.
Blistered cherry tomatoes: Heat up olive oil in a pan until smoking hot. Add tomatoes to pan, moving around occasionally until they appear charred on the sides.