Elgin St. Freehouse in Ottawa

A few nights ago, S came back after being away for a month. We looked into his fridge and, predictably, it was very bare. So we headed out the door to the Elgin St. Freehouse for dinner.

The Elgin St. Freehouse is a tiny, narrow, darkly lit restaurant that offers a small menu of interesting choices. We have eaten there three times now. I have always liked it because the service is very good, and it has a modern, minimalist silver-and-black decor that is really nice. I ordered the steak pasta, which was delicious, and S had pork chops with a blue cheese sauce and very tasty mashed potatoes. I like this restaurant not just for its good food, but because the portion sizes are just right and everything is beautifully presented, as you can see from the photo. A meal of two entrees, a bottle of wine, two coffees and a dessert to share came to 100 dollars.

Elgin St. Freehouse
296 Elgin Street, corner Gilmore
613.233.5525

Poll Results: If you were a food, what kind would you be?

I'm happy to report that the beFOODies out there are mixed and varied bunch of personalities, from spicy and spunky to safe and sensible.

The results of beFOODled's very rigorous and scientific poll "If you were a food, what kind would you be," show that, out of the 20 of you who answered, most are prickly pears or sweet peas, suggesting that opposites might attract on beFOODled. The rest have indentified themselves as hot tamales, followed by virgin olive oils and then finally we have one lonely hard-boiled egg.

I'd like to introduce our next poll on the right, "What country's food should the Gastronati make next?" The Gastronati is my monthly food club and you can click on its tag in the label cloud on the right to find out what we're all about. If you know what we should cook next, tell us! You can even type in a totally different suggestion in the "Other" field if you are not satisfied with the choices we have provided.

Roasted Balsamic Chicken

Over the Christmas break I was the lucky recipient of three cookbooks. This recipe for roasted chicken with balsamic vinaigrette comes from one of them - the famous and the original Everyday Italian by Giada de Laurentiis, courtesy of my brother. It's the first recipe that I have tried, and judging by the fabulous taste, I think I picked the best - and simplest! - one in the book.

This is a five-ingredient recipe (not counting olive oil and salt and pepper, of course). Giada recommends that you enjoy the leftovers all week, so I took her advice and prepared a bunch of accompaniments on Sunday. Every morning this week I have taken a drumstick from the fridge, shredded the meat off the bone, and made a salad for lunch with chicken, arugula, a hard boiled egg cut into quarters and cold cooked potatoes. Then, come noon, I drizzle over a vinaigrette of balsamic vinegar, olive oil and salt and pepper. It's perfick!

Roasted Balsamic Chicken

5 to 6 pieces of chicken (I used 5 drumsticks with the bone in and skin on)
olive oil
1 lemon
1/2 cup balsamic vinegar
1/4 cup Dijon mustard
3 garlic cloves, minced
parsley (optional)
salt and pepper to taste

Juice the lemon and grate the zest (keep these separate). In a plastic bag or bowl, mix and blend the lemon juice, balsamic vinegar, olive oil, salt, pepper, mustard and garlic. Marinate the chicken pieces in the fridge in a plastic bag for at least 2 hours or up to one day.

Preheat the oven to 400 F. Place the chicken pieces in a casserole dish and discard the marinade. Roast the chicken uncovered until cooked through, about 45 minutes. Serve hot with lemon zest and parsley (if you have it) sprinkled over top or let cool and keep in the fridge for use in sandwiches and salads.

Sushi Rolls

People often give my Dad sushi sets. He has at least three that I know of. He is well-known among his friends and colleagues for a love of food and all things Japanese, so naturally, sushi sets are a popular gift to him.

We cracked one open over Christmas and I showed him how to make sushi rolls the way my friend Jay showed me in Montreal. This recipe uses canned fish and other western ingredients, so it's not very traditional, but it's very good. You can find the Japanese ingredients at SuperStore or any Asian grocery store.



Sushi Rolls

For the sushi rice:
1 C short-grain rice
2 Tbsp rice vinegar
1 Tbsp sugar
1 tsp salt

For the rolls:
4 sheets of roasted nori (the seaweed wrapping)
1 small can of salmon or tuna, mixed with some mayonnaise
half a cucumber
1 roasted red pepper
1 hard-boiled egg
mayonnaise
wasabi paste
soy sauce for serving
pickled ginger for serving

Wash the rice until the water runs clear (about four times). Cook the rice according to package instructions. Remove from the element, cover with a tea towel and let rest for about 10 minutes. After 10 minutes, stir in the vinegar, sugar and salt, gently so the grains stay intact. Let the rice cool to room temperature. (We made ours the night before and kept it in the fridge.)

Put some water and a little bit of vinegar in a bowl. Dip your fingers in this bowl to prevent the rice from sticking to them while you are assembling the sushi. Peel the cucumber. Slice the cucumber, egg and roasted red pepper into matchstick pieces.

Lay out a piece of nori with the shiny side down. Spread a small stripe of wasabi across the sheet about 1/4 of the way up - this is approximately where you'll place the fillings. Spread the rice over 2/3 of the nori sheet as shown in the photo above, pressing it into place with a fork or spoon. Spread a small stripe of mayonnaise where you are going to place the filling. Spread some salmon over top, and then build the layers of cucumber, egg and roasted red pepper over top of that.

Dip your fingers in water and dab the top and side edges of the nori sheet so that the roll will seal when you roll it up. Roll the nori up firmly. I just use my hands, but you can use a bamboo mat as a guide if you want.

If you have time, you can put the rolls in the fridge to firm up a bit. This makes cutting cleaner. Or you can cut the roll right away. Cut into about one-inch rounds and discard the end bits. Serve it up with soy sauce and pickled ginger.

Happy New Year!

Happy New Year beFOODies! I hope that good food will be a special part of your New Year's celebrations this evening, wherever you are, and that 2008 will be full of scrumptious surprises for you all.
These are photos of Christmas lunch and dinner with my family and some of our friends. I had a great traditional turkey dinner with all the trimmings, and a delicious lunch of tortière and quiche Lorraine from the Bread and Butter bakery. I hope that your holidays have been as nice (and as tasty!) as mine have been.
I'm looking forward to posting many more mouthwatering recipes for your perusal in 2008. Please try them and send me lots of comments :) I'll give you a little preview of what's to come in 2008: sushi rolls, another Mediterranean feast in February and the Gastronati will take on Russian cuisine!

Spicy Portuguese shrimp

Spicy Portuguese shrimp, originally uploaded by beFOODled.

This is Maria's famous Portuguese shrimp that she serves at parties, a very rich and buttery appetizer. Every time I am at her house, I help her make it. She uses a special Portuguese hot pepper sauce, but you could use any hot sauce. Cook the shrimp in two batches, otherwise they will release too much water and dilute the sauce.

Unpeeled shrimp are the best. The shell traps the sauce and you can suck it off, then unpeel the shrimp and eat it. Messy, but so so good. But you can also use peeled shrimp. You can also turn this appetizer into a pasta sauce for linguine by adding white wine and cream.

Maria's Portuguese Shrimp
1/2 C butter
1/4 C olive oil
6 cloves garlic, minced
3 Tbsp hot pepper sauce
454 g bag of shrimp, unpeeled
1 tsp paprika
sea salt to taste

Melt the butter and oil in a frying pan. Add the garlic and hot sauce and fry for a minute or two. Add half the shrimp and half of the paprika and salt. Fry, stirring often, until the shrimp are pink, five minutes or so. Set the cooked shrimp aside on a serving plate, but leave the sauce behind in the pan. Add the rest of the shrimp, paprika and salt, and cook the second batch. Add the remaining shrimp and sauce to the serving plate and eat with crusty bread.

Rosemary and brown sugar nuts

Roasted rosemary brown sugar nuts, originally uploaded by beFOODled.

I made these nuts for the Gastronati's Secret Santa and also for my generous work colleagues, who always shower everyone with lots of gifts on the day of our Christmas party.

This recipe comes from The Joy of Cooking. My favourite nuts in the mix are the macadamia nuts. They taste really mild and almost creamy (I know that "creamy" is not a common adjective to describe nuts, but somehow it describes macadamias well). They are grown in the tropics, and my parents bought some when we were vacationing in Hawaii when I was 12 years old. I forgot about them until this Christmas!

Rosemary and Brown Sugar Nuts
1 pound unsalted mixed nuts (macadamia, cashews, peanuts, pecans, almonds)
2 Tbsp melted butter
3 Tbsp finely chopped rosemary
2 Tbsp brown sugar
2 Tbsp corn syrup

Spread the nuts in an even layer on a parchment-lined baking sheet. Pour over the other ingredients and toss everything together with your bare hands until all the nuts are coated. Bake in a 350 F oven for about 7 minutes. After removing the nuts from the oven, stir occasionally to prevent them from sticking until the coating dries. Let cool before serving or storing in a Tupperware.