Saturday night craving

It's midnight on Saturday and I'm hungry! I've been trying to adhere to a no-eating past 9pm policy and it helps if I just go to bed and conk out. Some people say to drink water but as if! My late night cravings are almost always salty and starchy, unless there happens to be some leftover popcorn cake lurking in the kitchen. So if I could have one thing right now, it would be this homemade pizza. Maybe I'll have a dream about it tonight instead.

Mediterranean Chili

Fusilli was inspired to make this when they didn't have the ingredients she was looking for at the local store. I'm calling it mediterranean chili because that's how it turned out. I think this could also work with fish instead of chicken.

• Heat olive oil in a pan. Once hot, brown the chicken breasts (bone in) on both sides. Remove and set aside.
• In the same pan, sauté onions and then add red pepper
• Add garlic, white wine and chicken. Turn temp. to low and cover until the chicken is cooked through
• Remove chicken, set aside to cool
• Add white beans and tomato, simmering until heated through
• Shred the chicken, adding it back with chopped Kalamata olives and cilantro
• Top with crumbled feta cheese and serve

We had dinner outside today

Now this is what I call a beautiful thing. C's mother made this zucchini and tomato pizza as part of dinner tonight. Check out the entire progression of our dinner here: here

It's 29 degrees today in Toronto…

… so after a quick dinner of Japanese curry (with chickpeas, sweet potato + cauliflower) and a cucumber + carrot salad, we headed on over to St. Clair for the first gelato of the season! I had the Donatella, which contained crunchy bits of Ferrero Rocher and C had Straciatella (white gelato with chocolate bits) and Pistachio. We took our cones for a stroll along St. Clair and ended up at a corner fruit and flower market where I bought three strawberry plants and a columnar basil and C got a purple basil and a broccoli plant. Tune in for future posts on our edible plants!

Pea Shoot Pesto with Flank Steak

Another excellent recipe from the NYTimes – Pea shoot pesto. You can find the pea shoots, downstairs, at the back of the St. Lawrence Market.

The salad is a combination of baby arugula, pea shoots and cilantro. Instead of pork chops, we broiled a flank steak that had been marinating in lime juice, sesame oil and garlic. The steak was served thinly sliced, over the salad, topped with toasted pine nuts.

I don't know about you, but I'm getting hungry again.

Pasta Primavera

Fusilli found an interesting variation on the classic spaghetti primavera. This version uses miso paste in place of cream and butter. Healthy and delicious.

Addicted to tortillitas

Ever since my blog co-author, Broccoli, introduced me to this post by Mark Bittman, he hasn't stopped raving about the simple yet delicious tortillita and the oh-so-many twists and turns it can take. Last night I made them for the first time with tiger shrimp and wild sole from St. Lawrence Market. I noticed the garlic chives on my balcony planter had come back, so I snipped a few strands and added some thinly sliced onion. And voilà! Some sliced avocado and lime wedges on the side and a crisp vinho verde to sip on and dinner's on, so fast and tasty. I don't know why I'd never known about chickpea flour before, but I'm completely hooked. Tortillitas are the new tortillas.

I'm back!

Canon's been giving me grief lately. My SD 10 battery died so I had to order a new one. But then I upgraded to a G10, which as soon as I brought it home, found out it was recalled for servicing. Thankfully I have a working battery in the SD 10 now so I can finally post photos! First up, the Kissing Cousins burger from Utopia on College street. Do you know I've been trying to eat this delectable lamb burger with feta and garlic dill mayo for the past two months and I kept being denied? What up with the 1 hour wait to eat a hamburger? Finally, after only a mere 15 minute wait last Thursday, my craving was satiated. I dare you to find a tastier $10 burger anywhere else in Toronto. And! You get meaty crispy fries on the side included. I know, this meal isn't the lowest on the glycemic index but you only live once, right?

Duck & Asparagus

Look at the size of these asparagus spears! We picked them up at the North Market on Saturday. Don't they look like logs? Tasty, tasty logs. We had them with a nice Muscovy Duck breast and a truffle oil & lemon vinaigrette.

MysteryMeal™ #2 – Revealed

I totally forgot to post another MysteryMeal™... until today! I'll give you one hint: it's what you eat when you're judgment has been "clouded".

**UPDATE** Congratulations Scampi! Poutine is correct! I think I made that one too easy by admitting we were judgement impaired at the time. Thanks to the Lakeview Lunch for providing an inappropriate late night meal.

Cannellini & Lentil Soup

There's still time for some comfort food before the weather turns. This hearty soup has cannellini beans, lentils, fennel, red pepper, onion, bacon & spinach. Perfect for a crispy anchovy bruschetta.

Healthy, delicious, and it made enough to take leftovers for lunch.

"Julie & Julia"

I cannot wait for this movie! Ever since I saw a quick blip of this movie at the end of this year's Oscars, I've been searching for the movie trailer. How can you go wrong with Meryl Streep, Amy Adams, French cooking and several baking/cooking mishaps by Amy Adam's Julie character that remind me so much of myself in ANY kitchen setting?!