London, England: Day 1 - Portobello Market & Wahaca Mexican Eating

Back to reality. After ten enchanting days of bopping around London, England and Edinburgh, Scotland it's back to reality for this little dreamer. That sinking, back-to-reality feeling at the end of a wonderful trip can feel so heartbreaking at times, that you can't help but wonder "was it worth it?" We all know the answer is always a resounding YES! Getting the opportunity to travel to the UK with someone I love, to experience all of the unique sights, sounds, tastes, smells, and so much more in a foreign country that ignited a fire in my soul can never be something I could ever regret. Thankfully I have so many fabulous memories that I can hold onto to keep that fire alive and, hopefully, will help to shake up my own routine-filled life. 

So enough with back-to-reality pity party, it's time to focus on a trip that I will be talking about for years to come! I arrived in London, England with my boyfriend Chris to visit his sister Melissa who is currently living in England (lucky gal!) working as a teacher. After hugs, hellos, and a big breakfast of eggs, toast, and bacon made by Melissa's roommate, the Canadian crew was off to enjoy our first London market experience. Melissa was so excited to take us to the world famous Portobello market, a street market that runs right through the heart of Notting Hill, taking up most of Portobello Road, with stand after stand selling antiques, fruits and vegetables, striking fashions and jewelry, and fresh, hot prepared food. 

It took all of two minutes for me to regret that large breakfast with so many tasty offerings being served up at each stand, the most appealing of which was the massive vats of fresh and colourful paella, filled with every shellfish imaginable. The smells as you walked past each booth was positively intoxicating, begging you to sample each and every dish. If only the servings of paella weren't quite so large I would have undoubtably given in to the mouth-watering Spanish dish...I'm still kicking myself for not. 

It was at the fresh churro stand that I had to stop to purchase an order for Chris, Melissa, and I to share, with each order containing far more churros than I could ever dream of eating. Prepared to order, the cinnamon and sugar dusted churros were just the pick-me-up I needed to do a little shoe shopping. I had heard that the shoe selection in London is wonderful, but was warned about the high cost of everything. To my delight, the rumors of London's beautiful shoe selection was true, but that high cost was pure hogwash as all three of us walked away with a pair of shoes much cheaper than we would have ever found in Toronto! High from our shoe purchases, we decided it was time for another snack. The long line up at the falafel stand was a telltale sign of high quality and flavour, so we joined the line for a quick falafel break. Although I didn't order a falafel myself (I was the mooch stealing bites from Chris and Melissa), I was once again kicking myself for my full stomach and not ordering one. These falafels were outstanding, and comparable to the falafels found throughout Israel, but with a Lebanese twist. The perfect fried-to-order, crispy on the outside, soft and moist on the inside falafel balls were drizzled in a zingy chilli-peanut sauce that gave this familiar dish an exotic twist that I couldn't get enough of...and let's not forget their impossibly creamy humous! With such a large Mediterranean community in Toronto, why can't we have falafels like this?  

It was definitely beer O'clock after all that walking around, so we wandered into the quirky, open-facade Mau Mau Bar for a couple of beers and on-the-house cocktails. This old school London bar had a laid back attitude that was just what we were looking for after winding through the crowds on Portobello Road. The friendly bartender was awesome, chatty, and generous giving Chris a Manhattan and a Negroni on the house! Hooray for British hospitality! 

After checking into the Crown Moran Hotel and a much needed nap in what was possibly the coziest bed I have ever been in, we were back out with our Oyster cards in hand, to hop on a double decker bus and the tube to meet up with our Canadian crew for our first dinner in London at Wahaca Mexican Eating in Covent Garden. Chris had raved about the popular Mexican restaurant from his last trip to London, emphasizing their fresh ingredients, reasonable prices, and great tequila selection. With a massive lineup that filled the lobby and wound up the stairs, we were nervous about getting a table any time within the hour, but lucky for us, a large reservation had not shown up, and we were able to snag a table for seven immediately! 

The menu, which is filled with an assortment of authentic Mexican street food, is made with care using the freshest of ingredients, which are all sourced as ethically and locally as possible. Encouraged to share, we started off our meal with mortars filled with tomato dotted guacamole and tortilla chips and, of course, margaritas! From there, Chris and I shared an order of Pork Pibil Tacos (slow cooked pork in Yucatecan marinade with fiery pickled onions), Chicken Mole Tacos (tender chicken in a rich red Coloradito mole sauce from Oaxaca), Chorizo and Potato Quesadillas (British chorizo, made with their own special recipe, with fresh thyme and steamed potato), Slow-Cooked Pork Burritos (toasted flour tortillas wrapped around slow-cooked pork, with frijoles, shredded cabbage, green rice, crema, avocado salsa, pink pickled onions, habanero chillies, and Baja cheese), and Spicy Slaw (shredded cabbage and red onion in a spicy dressing). Every dish (minus the lackluster not-spicy-at-all slaw) was fantastic, with the Pork Pibil and Chicken Mole tacos being our favourite! We ended our lovely meal with a couple of rounds of tequila shots to toast to an inevitable incredible trip! 

Despite our let jag and tired bodies, we had to do it up on our first night, so we headed down the road to the multi-floor Porterhouse Bar for live music and more pints! 

Stay tuned for Day Two and our visit to Camden Market!

Listening To:
Soko - We Might Be Dead By Tomorrow

Baked Coconut Shrimp

When your city turns into a snow globe and you have the day off work and school, there's not a chance you're going to go out grocery shopping! It was one of those nights where you scour the fridge and pantry for any possible collection of ingredients that could somehow turn into a satisfying meal, allowing you to forget about your inevitable messy commute come the following morning. When I failed to find any leftovers or raw ingredients in the fridge that I could magically whip into something, I immediately turned to my good ol' standby frozen, raw shrimp. There is never a time when my freezer does not contain at least one bag of frozen, raw shrimp so that on nights such as this, I don't have to reluctantly open a box of macaroni and florescent orange cheese powder to sustain me for the evening. With recent dreams of beaches, sand, and coconuts floating through my red head, I couldn't help but be drawn to the bag of unsweetened shredded coconut in the freezer, just begging to be used as a crispy coating for my frozen shrimp. 

I tend to turn my kitchen into a disaster zone whenever there is any type of breading involved, so I expected this evenings dinner of coconut shrimp to be no exception, especially considering this was my first go at making the sweet and savory delight. Thankfully the coconut shrimp production line proved to be far more tidy than the spaetzle and veal scallopini tornado of 2014, and in less than 10-minutes, my little shrimps were coated in a mixture of toasted coconut and panko breadcrumbs and baking in the oven. When a new dish goes as smoothly as that, I can't help but assume it's going to be a bit of a failure come that first bite, but my baked coconut shrimp was an absolute gold medal winner in my books! A little pre-toast of the coconut and panko breadcrumbs in a dry pan proved to be beneficial, giving the shrimp coating a wonderful crunchy texture, and enhancing the nutty flavour of the coconut. It's that great crispy texture that surprised me and made me wonder why I was ever bothering to purchase pre-made frozen coconut shrimp in the past, which had always left me unsatisfied, disappointed in the flimsy, almost-soggy texture that they would always come out as. With such wonderful flavour, texture, and ease of production I will absolutely be adding this recipe to my "Danielle's Favourites" section of the blog. Now excuse me while I slip back into my dream of sun, sand, and coconuts. 

Ingredients:
1 Ib raw shrimp (fresh or thawed from frozen), peeled, deveined, & patted dry with a paper towel
salt, to season
1/2 cup unsweetened shredded coconut
1/2 cup panko breadcrumbs
3 tbsp flour
1 egg, beaten
oil for baking pan
spicy dipping sauce, for serving (I like to use a Thai dipping sauce)

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 425º.
2. In a medium pan, add the coconut and panko breadcrumbs and toast at medium heat until golden. Keep a close eye on the pan as they will go from golden to burnt very quickly! Spoon into a small bowl immediately to prevent further browning. Add a pinch of salt to the mixture.
3. Lightly sprinkle a pinch or two of salt over the shrimp to season. 
4. Pour the flour and beaten egg into two separate small bowls. Lightly spray or rub a medium-large baking sheet with olive oil or coconut oil. Line up your station so you have first your shrimp, then the bowl of flour, then the bowl of beaten egg, then the bowl of coconut and panko, then your baking sheet, all in a line.
5. Dip a shrimp into the flour to coat evenly, lightly shaking off any excess. Dip the flour dusted shrimp into the egg mixture to coat, then into the coconut and panko mixture, pressing to coat. Place the coated shrimp onto the baking sheet. Repeat with remaining shrimp. 
6. Bake for 10 minutes. Flip shrimp using tongs, and bake for an additional 6-7 minutes. Serve immediately with spicy dipping sauce. 

Listening To:
Beyoncé - XO

Herb Spaetzle: Reconnecting With My German Roots

Have you ever tried to rub off caked on spaetzle batter off of your arm?

No one ever warned me just how messy making spaetzle can be...not to mention playing a side dish to breaded veal scallopini (just imagine a dredging liquid and breadcrumb explosion all over your kitchen). I tried to make it as tidy as possible, laying out my mise en place, and trying to think ahead....but no. No one gave me any tips to avoid a veal scallopini and spaetzle explosion all over my kitchen and myself, so that's where I come in. Making spaetzle and veal scallopini can be extremely simple, you just need to follow a few tricks and guidelines to avoid having to rip off your arm hairs when attempting to rub off that glue-like, caked-on spaetzle off of your arm. Your welcome, in advance. 

First off, you might be wondering 'what is spaetzle?' Spaetzle is a traditional German dish that is a cross between pasta and very dense gnocchi. A dough/batter is whipped up with eggs, flour, milk and seasoning, and is pushed through the holes of a colander (or spaetzle maker) to drop directly into salted boiling water to create little dumplings that are often served alongside meat, at times just simply tossed in butter, and often served with a sauce or gravy overtop. Growing up with German grandparents, spaetzle was one of the German dishes that I was proud to have tried. Although spaetzle wasn't as common as cabbage rolls and sausage on our dinner table, I would always relish the moment's that I could sop up those little, dense dumplings in my Oma's thick mushroom gravy. I haven't had spaetzle in years, with my last memory of it being from a package from the grocery store, but a recent project for school on the food and nutrition in Germany inspired me to make that nostalgic dish once again.

So how does one avoid a breadcrumb, dredging mixture, and spaetzle batter explosion? First off, if you are making veal scallopini alongside your homemade spaetzle, get the veal breading over with right off the bat. Set up your dredging station with three shallow dishes. In the first dish place your beaten eggs, in the second dish place your seasoned breadcrumbs, and leave the final dish bare for the breaded veal to be contained in. Keeping one hand clean, dip the pounded raw veal into the egg mixture until well coated, then place directly into the breading mixture to coat evenly. Place the breaded veal in your third clean dish. Repeat until all the veal is breaded. Place the breaded veal in the fridge until ready to fry. Clean up your work station and then begin your spaetzle. This is the most crucial part of avoiding a mess, don't try to do everything all at once. Take it one step at a time. Once you have boiled your spaetzle you can begin frying your veal. While the veal is frying is the perfect time to reheat your spaetzle in a hot pan with butter (lots of it!).

The rest of my advice for making easy and mess-free spaetzle is listed in the instructions below. The best advice I can give you is to have everything you will possibly need for making your spaetlze on hand and ready to go. Spaetzle cooks very quickly, so you don't have time to go searching through your drawers for a slotted spoon, or rushing around your kitchen to create an ice bath. Get all that stuff out of the way before you begin. By setting up your work station properly and taking things one step at a time, you will see just how easy this traditional German dish can be, and how rewarding it is once sitting down for that first bite of buttery, chewy spaetzle. 

What would I try next time?

Now that I can make delicious plain herb spaetzle, I'd like to experiment with all different types of flavours! I'd like to think of some of my favourite pasta dishes and mimic those flavours, try out different sauces and batters (why not spinach spaetzle?), think of different toppings like crispy and garlicky breadcrumbs or parmesan cheese.

* If there are larger leaves that you don't think will fit through the colander holes, give the thyme a quick rough chop.

** In terms of batter consistency, thick of a thick cake batter that you would need to press down with a spatula to even out.

*** An ice bath is just as it sounds, a bowl of ice water. An ice bath is used to quickly stop the cooking process of your product. To help fish out your product, set a colander resting inside.

**** With an active simmer, you want to see active movement in the water, not a roaring boil that will tear your spaetzle apart.

***** At this step you may reserve your spaetzle to serve at another time. To reheat, simply follow step 8 when ready to serve.

Ingredients:
3 eggs, beaten
1 cup milk
1/4 tsp nutmeg
1 1/2 tbsp fresh thyme leaves*
1 1/2 tbsp fresh chives, finely sliced
1 tsp salt, plus more to taste
a large pinch of white pepper, plus more to taste
2 - 3 cups flour
water for boiling
1/4 cup butter
1 sprig fresh thyme

Directions:

1. Bring a medium pot of water to a boil. Add a large pinch of salt to water. While water is coming to a boil, prepare the spaetzle batter.
2. In a medium bowl, whisk together the beaten eggs with the milk, nutmeg, thyme, chives, salt, and white pepper. 
3. Add the flour, a bit at a time until you have a thick batter. NOTE: You likely will not need all 3-cups of flour. Just keep adding until dough reaches the proper consistency.** Set aside.
4. Set up your spaetzle making station: Have a colander on hand to push your batter though, set up an ice bath*** with a second colander resting in it to shock your spaetzle, have a slotted spoon ready to fish out the cooked spaetzle, have a bowl scraper or a spatula on hand to use to push the batter through the colander. Adjust the heat on the stove so that the boiling water is at a very active simmer****
5. With the colander to form the spaetzle held steady over the boiling water, pour in about 1/3 of your spaetzle batter. Using a bowl scraper or spatula, press the batter through the colander holes so that the batter falls directly into the boiling water. Pour in enough so that you do not crowd the pot. Cook for about 1-2 minutes. While spaetzle is cooking, rest the colander in the bowl containing the remaining batter. 
6. After 1-2 minutes of cooking, remove the spaetzle with a slotted spoon and place directly into the colander in the ice bath. Continue repeating steps until no batter remains.
7. Remove the colander from the ice bath and drain the spaetzle.***** 
8. In a medium-large saucepan melt the butter at medium heat and add a sprig of thyme. When butter begins to foam, add the drained spaetzle. Cook for 4-5 minutes until spaetzle is re-heated and begins to colour. Taste and re-season with salt and white pepper. Taste again. Re-season if necessary. Serve immediately with fresh thyme as a garnish.

Listening To:
Micah Turbitt - You Always Hurt The One You Love

VOTE! The Great Cream Challenge: French Onion Mac & Cheese

Let the voting begin!!

It's that time again, folks! It's time for the Real Cream Anyday Magic Great Cream Challenge! After participating in the challenge for three years now, and winning the Creamy Seafood Challenge last year with my Creamy Clam & Vegetable Chowder, I feel more excited than ever to be able to participate in three of the themes represented in the challenge this year. The first of my three challenges that I will embark on has gotta be one of the best comfort foods this earth has ever seen, the childhood favourite that no one can seem to really shake, Comforting Mac & Cheese. 

When I first began brainstorming what type of mac & cheese recipe I would make for the challenge, I started by writing down all of my favourite ways to enjoy cheese, and let me tell you, that list was mighty long! After writing out two full foolscap pages full of mouthwatering ways to indulge in cheese, there was one dish that kept coming back to my mind, French Onion Soup. I would say that french onion soup, with its rich and warming beef broth, and sinfully cheesy crouton topping, is right up there with mac & cheese as one of the most comforting dishes on the planet. With hybrid dishes already a predicted food trend for 2014, I could just tell that I was onto something, developing a recipe for French Onion Mac & Cheese. I took a very basic standby recipe for mac & cheese and amped it up by introducing the flavours and textures that I love in a great french onion soup. Thinly sliced onions are slowly caramelized with fresh thyme, deglazed with dry red wine and stirred into the thick and creamy béchamel sauce, infused with savoury beef broth. The caramelized onion-laden cheese and noodle mixture is served up in individual soup bowls, and topped with a crispy Canadian Gruyere cheese and crouton topping to resemble a bowl of classic french onion soup. Do I have your attention yet? I've gotta say, my French Onion Mac & Cheese tasted just as wonderful as it sounds! I knew I had a dish I would be very proud to enter into the competition and share with my fellow readers and home cooks. I can't wait for you to try out my French Onion Soup Mac & Cheese in your own home! 

Please head over to The Great Cream Challenge site to check out the other recipes in the challenge and vote on your favourite (mine of course!) for a chance to win a Paderno stainless steel cookware set! 

CLICK HERE TO VOTE!

Listening To:

Metric - Hardwire 

Rose's Roundup: The Allure of the Simple Dish

Nutella Cookies - Writing a food blog is wonderful because more often than not it encourages me to try new recipes, but the downside is I often forget to look back on some of my favourites. Giada de Laurentiis' recipe for Nutella Cookies was one of the first recipes I ever posted on my blog almost five years ago! I love this recipe for having that sweet chocolate and hazelnut pairing that we all know and love, but also for its slight bitterness, which keeps you coming back for more! Hot out of the oven these cookies are warm and gooey, but give them some time to cool and they become nice and crunchy, begging to be dunked into a glass of milk or even crumbled over an ice cream sundae. During the holidays I whipped up a batch of Giada's Nutella cookies (adjusting it slightly by adding some chocolate chips) intending to bring them to my friend Martha-In-Training's annual Ugly Christmas Sweater Party. It was just as the cookies came out of the oven that we began to get warning signs about a possible ice storm. Yes folks, I am talking about the ice storm of 2013. With a late and icy night ahead of us, and not the easiest commute to the party, we sadly abandoned our plans for ugly Christmas sweater party fun, and played it safe with a movie night on the couch. The upside? Nutella cookies ALL FOR ME!

Christmas Breakfast - Everyone celebrates Christmas with their own family a little bit different. For my family we like to do our big celebration with all of the grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousins on Christmas eve, eating and drinking until fairly late into the night. Come Christmas morning things get a lot more relaxing, as we leisurely open gifts with just my mom, my sister, and I...and often my honorary brother D, my sisters boyfriend. With so much rush leading up to Christmas, I didn't have time to make a dish of my own to contribute to our Christmas Eve festivities, so for Christmas morning I wanted to treat my family to something special of my own. For months now my boyfriend Chris and I have been obsessing over the southern "poor-mans-food" grits, having it for breakfast on an almost weekly basis. Never having tried grits before, my mom and my sister didn't understand my newfound obsession with the seemingly bland mush. Christmas morning was my chance to get them aboard the grits train! Creamy grits filled with sharp aged cheddar is topped with crispy and salty pancetta, a runny-yolk fried egg, caramelized onions, and chopped parsley. Needless to say, all it took was one bite to get them just as hooked on grits as me! They loved it!!

Spaghetti Aglio E Olio - Why is it that some of the simplest of foods always seem to find a way into my heart? Spaghetti Aglio E Olio is one of those extremely simple, yet wonderfully alluring dishes for me. Its the comfort of the dish that grabs my attention, as well as those simple familiar flavours. I guess it's that same simplicity that drew me to grits. I find those very plain and simple dishes to be so attractive for me, because there is so much room for play and improvement. For a long time I have been making my Pasta Aglio E Olio by simply tossing my pasta with a bunch of garlic infused olive oil, a bit of red pepper flakes, and lots and lots of parmesan cheese. As much as I enjoyed that simple combination, I knew I could make it better. I knew that the flavours could be amplified and I wanted to find a way of keeping that saucy feel to the dish, without having to use such an excessive amount of oil.

Being Italian, my boyfriend Chris grew up eating Aglio E Olio, with himself and many of his friends playing around with different variations on the European classic...often after midnight, with several drinks in their system. Of course it took the Italian boyfriend to discover what may be one of the best methods of making Aglio E Olio. Chris discovered Ina Garten's recipe for Spaghetti Aglio E Olio, which utilizes the starchy pasta water to extend the olive oil and cook the garlic slices so that by the time you add your pasta to the mix, the garlic has become creamy and mixes right in with the sauce. To amp up those flavours even more, we followed Ina's recipe, but began with our own addition, salty pancetta, rendered down to crispy perfection! With Ina's method of making the perfect garlic and olive oil sauce, combined with Chris and I's pancetta addition, I think we are on our way to perfecting one of the worlds most simplest dishes!

The Great Cream Challenge: Creamy Mac & Cheese - Every year for the past few years I have had the pleasure of taking part in the Real Cream Anyday Magic Great Cream Challenge! The challenge brings together different food bloggers from all over Canada, inviting them to choose a monthly theme and create a recipe of their choice that fits that particular theme, and utilizes the extremely versatile ingredient, cream! Three bloggers each month submit their recipes to share and invite the wold to vote on which recipe they like best. This year I am very excited to be taking part in three different themes throughout the challenge, the first being the Creamy Mac & Cheese challenge.

When coming up with a creamy mac & cheese recipe of my own, I first began by brainstorming all my favourite ways to eat cheese. I wanted to create a hybrid dish that would incorporate two of my favourite cheese dishes into one. After writing out an extremely long list of yummy cheese dishes (while snacking on cheese, of course!) I came up with the idea of a French Onion Mac & Cheese, incorporating those savory, comforting flavours we know and love from a classic french onion soup, with very basic mac & cheese recipe. My French Onion Mac & Cheese features red wine caramelized onions, beef broth, and, the best part of french onion soup, that cheesy gruyere and crouton topping, all served in individual soup bowls to give the full effect. I was so incredibly happy with how my French Onion Mac & Cheese turned out and cannot wait to share my recipe with you on February 3rd, when the Creamy Mac & Cheese Challenge goes live on the Dairy Farmers of Canada site!

Magical Oatmeal Raisin Cookies - ...enough said.

On My Mind:
Rethinking the humble carrot.

You have to check out one of my favoruite pinners Beth Kirby from Local Milk. The girl has an awesome eye for all things beautiful, and I repeatedly find myself pinning her gorgeous photos inspiring great style and delicious food!

Oh how children's toys have changed. This nostalgic look at old toys from the 80's is a great reminder that the "gendering" of children's toys is absolutely bananas! 

The only thing helping me survive this horrible, horrible polar vortex is my Little Hotties hand and foot warmers. Do yourself a favour and scoop up as many of these babies as you can get your hands on! 

Chris and I booked our plane tickets to London, England last night! Europe, here I come!!

This week in my Nutrition & Lifestyle class we learned about the incredible benefits of adding coconut oil to your diet, and it's ability to speed up your metabolism. Is coconut oil part of your diet?

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Listening To:

Phosphorescent - Tomorrow Is A Long Time (Bob Dylan Cover)