deux déjeuners à Montréal, parte deux

Gerard, my Iranian-quebecois cabbie, gave three restaurant suggestions while driving me from Elliott Trudeau to my hotel last Wednesday:  L'Entrecote St. Jean, Restaurant L'Express, and Schwartz's.  The first two are bistros, basically, and the last an 80 year old jewish deli specializing in smoked meat.  Not surprisingly, my mouth watered for Schwartz's.  I woke up late-ish on Sunday morning and decided that a walk around Parc Mount Royal before heading to Schwartz's for a late lunch was a good way to spend Sunday's daylight hours.

After getting lost on Mount Royal, which, by the way, is more of a hill than a mountain, and walking approximately 12 km, I was very hungry when I finally found Schwartz's.  To my dismay, despite it being 3 in the afternoon, there was quite a line.  Gerard had warned me of the ever present line, but I thought he meant there are always lines at regular mealtimes.  I waited for about 35 minutes before I lucked out with a single spot at the counter.  Sometimes, it's great to be alone.

The wait was totally worth it.  The smoked meat is tender and oh so flavorful, and the pickle ranks among the best pickles I have ever tasted.  I love pickles, and eat them a lot, so that is quite a statement coming from me.  (Quick side note:  Until I was about 13, pickles were just about the only "vegetable" I would eat.  Just solidifying my love of pickles for you readers. Quick side note #2:  Yes, the preceding makes me feel a bit like Snookie.)  I don't really know how to give more of an endorsement for Schwartz's.  It was very very very good.

Bon appetit.

deux déjeuners à Montréal, parte une

I know.  After all my talk of turning over a new leaf and posting every day, I completely stopped posting for a long time.  Now I am in Montreal for 2 weeks, followed by Thanksgiving in California, so I won't be back to posting meals I cooked myself until December.  


But, Montreal has excellent food, and though I have not taken pictures of all the meals I have eaten here so far, I did manage to capture my lunches of this weekend. 


Saturday I spent the day wandering around Old Montreal.  According to a guy I work with, Old Montreal is the oldest settlement of non-Native Americans in North America.  I somehow do not think that is true, but the original mission dates to 1642, so that is pretty old. (A quick wikipedia search verifies that Montreal does not even come close to the oldest European settlement in North America.  Veracruz, Mexico was inhabited by Europeans in 1519.  For those of you who don't consider Mexico to be a part of North America - I have heard many Canadians include Mexico as part of South America which just makes no sense - San Juan, Puerto Rico was settled in 1521.  Further, Tadoussac, Quebec was settled in 1599.  So Montreal isn't even the oldest settlement in Quebec.)


I would call my wandering of Old Montreal "controlled wandering"; I did one of my Montreal Lonely Planet's walking tours.  I must say, I love Lonely Planet's walking tours.  I started at the Basilique Notre Dame on the Place d'Armes then walked along Rue St Jacque, what used to be the Wall Street of Canada.  Lots of old buildings.  Then more old buildings, and I started to get hungry.  I stopped in Cafe St. Paul which, embarrassingly, was part of the walking tour.  It is a cute old cafe, and when I saw poutine on the menu, I knew I had to have it.  


Poutine is the quintessential québécois fare.  It is french fries smothered in cheddar curds and gravy.  I already know I love the stuff, as I have often times eaten it at the Potato Champion cart on 11th and Hawthorne in Portland.  But I was really excited to have authentic Quebec poutine.  I was disappointed.  I think the gravy was the problem.  Potato Champion makes real gravy.  This stuff tasted like something out of a can.  My Lonely Planet lists the 5 best places to get poutine, and I will have to go to one of those places and see if they can top Potato Champion.


I am not a snobby eater, though, so I managed to put back the whole plate of poutine pictured below before continuing on my walking tour.

Here's a ridiculously simple poutine recipe that gives basically no more instruction than my description of what poutine is above.  


Prepare french-fries, approximately 2 cups into a serving bowl. Drop 1/2 C of cheddar cheese curds on top of the fries. Ladel 1 cup of sauce (while hot) on top of the fries and cheese. Allow to rest for 3-5 minutes, permitting the sauce and cheese to work together. Grab a fork, and enjoy!


For the sauce, apparently the most common one to use is out of a pouch from the St. Hubert brand.  No wonder the gravy on my poutine at Cafe St. Paul tasted like it was out of a can; it was probably out of a pouch.


I'm already thinking of how good some poutine with fresh Tillamook cheese curds and homemade gravy would be (leftover Thanksgiving gravy?).  Perhaps I'll make some when I'm back in Portland.


Bon appetit.

Spicy Peanut Noodles

*** The Giants have won the first two games of the World Series.  It's hard to talk about cooking with that kind of excitement! ***


I didn't really make this dinner last night.  With the first game of the World Series starting at 5 and a Blazer game at 7:30, there was no time to even consider cooking a meal.  I ordered a pizza from American Dream and forgot to take pics, not that a pepperoni pizza makes for interesting photos.  And how am I supposed to talk about ordering a pizza on a cooking blog?


This meal is from last Friday.  Per the norm, I got home starving but without any idea of what to cook.  I rummaged through the pantry and found some wide rice noodles.  That was a start.  I had a jalapeno and some garlic in my produce basket, so I thought - peanut sauce.  Peanut sauce makes everything delicious, in my opinion.  


2 Tbsp vegetable oil
4 cloves garlic, minced
1 small chili pepper, minced
1 cup water
1/4 cup soy sauce
1/3 cup peanut butter
1 Tbsp packed brown sugar
3 Tbsp chopped unsalted roasted peanuts
1 Tbsp finely chopped mint


Heat oil in saucepan.  Add garlic and chili pepper and cook for 15 seconds.  Add remaining ingredients, except mint, and cook 4 minutes.  Add mint and serve.


In the case of this dinner, I did not have roasted peanuts or mint.  Also, I don't really use this recipe to the T - I just sort of add peanut butter, water, soy sauce, and brown sugar until it tastes right to me.  Also, I always put in a squirt of Sriracha.


As I mentioned, I was quite hungry while I put together this meal.  It ended up taking longer than I anticipated, mostly because I did a bad job of softening the rice noodles, so while I waited, I set up the photo shoot.  I took a pic of the bare plate because I thought it was sorta funny.  


Bon appetit.

Blazer Burger

I have season tickets for the Blazers, which I failed to mention last night.  Gamedays are tough for dinner as games generally start at 7, and I usually do not get home until about 6, giving me about 45 minutes to make and eat dinner.  This season, instead of giving up on having decent dinners on gamedays, I am going to attempt to be prepared.  Like a boy scout, I defrosted ground beef and mixed it with garlic, jalapeno, and a little bit of barbecue sauce on Monday evening so that all I had to do last night for dinner was form patties, grill them on the cast iron grill, and throw one on a bun.  Quick and oh so tasty.  


Since I don't have much to say about this dinner - I mean, it's a burger - I am going to talk about why cast iron cookware is the best cookware in your kitchen.  If you don't have at least a 10- or 12-inch skillet, get one.


As much as I love cooking, I do not spend money collecting kitchen gadgets or new cookware.  I prefer purchasing handbags and shoes to copper pans and microplane graters.  Further, I believe in sticking to the basics.  And when it comes to the basics, I believe firmly that a kitchen is not complete without at least one cast iron skillet.

I swear by cast iron cookware.  The benefits are numerous.  Cast iron is cheap and durable.  I bought (or, I should say, my mom bought for me) a Lodge 12-inch skillet in 2003 for something like $20.  I bet I will still be cooking with that skillet when I am 90 years old.  If any of you read my best friend’s fashion blog, Style by Santina, you know that she is a firm believer of the price per use rule.  At this point, the price per use on my cast iron skillet, assuming I have used it once every other day since I purchased it – a very conservative estimate – is about a penny.

Cast iron is second only, and only slightly second, to copper when it comes to heat distribution, and, having cooked with both, I argue that since the other benefits of cast iron outweigh those of copper, I prefer the cast iron.  Cast iron can be transferred from the stovetop to the oven and back (see here and here), if seasoned properly it is as non-stick as any other pan, and cooking in cast iron ensures that you get enough iron in your diet, as iron slowly seeps out of the cookware into your food.


Cast iron is ideal for everything from searing to roasting, and if you invest in a grill pan or griddle, you can even add the aesthetic of grill lines, which I have to say, I love.


So, cook with cast iron.  You won't regret it.


Bon appetit.

Pan-Seared Wild King Salmon with Pickled Cucumbers

This is going to be a quick post because it is late, and I am tired.  Today was the Portland Trailblazers opening night, they played the Phoenix Suns, and they won.  It is stressful for me to have Blazer season starting AND the Giants in the World Series.  Obviously the Giants take priority, but I can't just ignore the Blazers.  Yes, I know, life is tough.


I made the salmon and pickled cucumbers last night.  It is a combination of two recipes, pan-seared wild king salmon with dill tartar sauce from the Cast Iron Skillet Cookbook and dill-marinated salmon and pickled cucumbers from The Martha Stewart Living Cookbook: The Original Classics.  I like the salmon from the former recipe and the picked cucumbers from the latter.  I have made this combination many times, and I love it.


(I am going to omit the parts of the recipes I don't use)


2 cucumbers, peeled
3 Tbsp rice-wine or red-wine vinegar
3 Tbsp chopped fresh dill
1 tsp sugar
3/4 tsp salt


1.  Slice cucumbers into very thin rounds.  Transfer to a bowl with vinegar, dill, the sugar and 3/4 tsp salt.  Toss to combine; set aside.


4 wild salmon fillets, 6 oz each and 1 inch thick, skin removed
2 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil


Salmon Rub:
1 tsp sea salt
1/2 tsp freshly ground black pepper
2 Tbsp brown sugar
1 tsp lemon zest


1.  Position a rack in the center of the oven and preheat to 400F.


2.  For the rub, combine the sea salt, pepper, brown sugar, and lemon zest.  Sprinkle the rub over the top side of the salmon, then gently pat with your fingers to distribute evenly.  Heat the olive oil in a 10- or 12-inch skillet over medium-high heat.  Place the salmon fillets in the skillet and cook for 2 minutes.  Carefully turn over and cook for 2 minutes on the other side.


3.  Transfer the skillet to the oven and bake until the fish flakes easily with tested with a fork, about 6 minutes.  


4.  Place pickled cucumbers on a platter, top with salmon fillets, and serve.


Just as a note, you might notice that I often show portions of food that it would be somewhat absurd for me to eat by myself for dinner (e.g. the two salmon fillets shown in the cast iron skillet above).  I often cook more than I need so that I can bring leftovers to work for lunch.  Doesn't this look like a delicious lunch?

I it today for lunch, and it certainly was delicious.


Bon appetit.

Rib Steak and Roasted Brussels Sprouts

A good steak and roasted Brussels sprouts may just be my favorite dinner.  I would not want to eat it every night, but once a month or so?  Perfection.  I don't think any of you will be surprised that I love a good steak, but brussels sprouts are one of those veggies that a lot of people don't like.  It wasn't so long ago that I was in that class of Brussels sprouts-haters.  Actually, I vividly remember gagging on one at a very fancy, very expensive restaurant in DC circa 2004.  Maybe I am just killing my taste buds as I get older, but there are a whole host of food items that I would not have willingly eaten before I was about 25 that I now if not love, at least like.  


The Roasted Brussels Sprouts recipe in The Barefoot Contessa Cookbook definitely contributed to my love of Brussels sprouts.  They are crispy and salty and all-together delicious.


1.5 lbs Brussels sprouts
3 Tbsp good olive oil
3/4 tsp kosher salt
1/2 tsp freshly ground black pepper


Preheat oven to 400F.
Cut off the ends of the Brussels sprouts and pull off any yellow outer leaves.  Mix them in a bowl with the olive oil, salt, and pepper.  Turn them out on a baking sheet (Erin's note:  I use a large cast iron skillet.  My baking sheets are crappy and warp in the oven, and I generally think a cast iron skillet does a better job for roasting veggies.) and roast for 35 to 40 minutes, until crisp outside and tender inside.  Shake the pan from time to time, to brown the Brussels sprouts evenly.  Sprinkle with more kosher salt (I like these salty like french fries) (Erin's note:  That is Ina Garten speaking, not me, but I whole-heartedly agree with the Contessa) and serve.

For the steak (6 Ranch beef, of course) I seasoned it with salt and pepper and grilled it on my ever trusty cast iron grill, about 4 minutes per side.


Bon appetit.

Beef and Barley Soup

I mentioned this un-posted dinner in my rosti post (here).  Since I ate leftovers from my taco bowl dinner last night (I would have had to talk about warming up ground beef, rice, tomatoes, and cheese in the microwave), I will finally post this soup.  I have quite a few packages of soup bones in my freezer.  I love soup, but I rarely make beef soup, and, in fact, I rarely make soup unless I have ingredients that must be used like a Thanksgiving turkey carcass.  But, my mom and I ran the inaugural Portland Half Marathon a couple weekends ago, and I thought having soup around for before the race would be a good idea.  Both my mom and I are the type of runners - and I use that term loosely - that really have to watch what we eat before a race.  We don't want to get "bad stomaches" during a race.  Soup is a mild item, and the barley makes it hearty enough to eat alone for meals.  


The soup turned out really well, and we did eat it the day before the race.  Unfortunately, I didn't put the dutch oven back in the fridge after we ate on Saturday night, and I did not discover the abandoned soup until Sunday night.  It broke my heart to dump a pot full of soup, but I think 24 hours is way too long for the soup to sit out.  At least it was a good first experience with beef soup; my mom doesn't really eat meat so the fact that she enjoyed it gave me confidence to try it again.


3 to 4 lbs beef shanks
2 Tbsp bacon drippings - or other fat
2 quarts cold water
1 tsp salt
1 small onion, chopped
1 15-oz can tomatoes, diced
6 sprigs parsley
5 carrots, sliced
2 cups fresh green beans, cut
1 cup diced potatoes
1/2 cup chopped celery
1/4 cup rice or barley


Brown meat in drippings.  Pour off excess fat.  Cover with water; bring to a boil.  Add salt and onion and simmer for 2 hours.  Add vegetables and rice.  Simmer for about an hour longer.  Remove meat from bone and add back to soup.


I am writing this post during breaks in tonights Giants game.  It is currently the top of the 6th and the Giants are down 2 runs to the Phillies' 3.  Let's go Giants!


Bon appetit.