Slowly cooked pork ribs with thumb smushed fried truffled baby potatoes

Slowly cooked ribs with thumb smushed fried truffled potatoes

Smushed Fried Truffled Potatoes

About 20 baby potatoes

8 cups of vegetable oil

1 tablespoon of Truffle oil

salt and pepper

1. Wash the baby potatoes and submerge them in a pot of water. Throw in a handful of salt and cover. Bring the water to a boil and basically let them cook until they are parcooked so that it's still a bit hard on the center but soft on the outside (around 15 minutes). Take the pot and put them through a strainer. 

2. Let the potatoes cool down.

3. Use your thumb and push the potatoes down a bit. If you are not strong enough... and by you I mean your thumb not being strong enough then use the inner part of your palm to push it lightly. If the potato rips a bit it is fine. 

4. Pour the vegetable oil into a pot until it is hotter than you want it. You want it to be hotter than you want because when you add something to the oil that will bring down the temperature of the oil. Fry the smushed potatoes in batches. When the potatoes are crunchy on the outside take them out and place ontop of paper towel and season with salt and pepper.

5. When all the potatoes are seasoned place in a bowl and drizzle a tablespoon of truffle oil and toss the potatoes. Toss in some fresh chopped parsley for some added colour.      

Truffled smushed potatoes... DONE 

Slowly Cooked Pork Ribs   

2 racks of pork ribs

2-3 different barbecue sauces

1.5 cups of chicken stock

3 star anise

1 root of ginger

6 cloves of garlic

4 teaspoons of soy sauce

2 tablespoons of rice wine vinegar

4 tablespoons of honey

6 green onions

1. Place a heavy duty roasting tray on a burner and drizzle some olive oil into it. When smoking add in individual ribs. Let the ribs brown a bit. By letting the ribs carmelized in the oil you are adding flavour.

2. After the ribs have started to caramelize a bit add in some sliced ginger, and sliced garlic cloves. Stir around. Add in sliced green onions, honey, rice wine vinegar, soy sauce, star anise, barbecue sauces, and chicken stock.

3. Let it come to a simmer then cover the roasting tray with aluminum foil.

4. Place in the oven at 300 degrees for  20 minutes and afterwards take the ribs out and flip the ribs over and place it uncovered for another 30-40 minutes. 

5. After the ribs are done take them out and place them back on a burner and wait until the sauce inside becomes a bit syrupy or thickens. Afterwards, serve and drizzle some of that delicious sauce on top!

       

Restaurant Review: Off the Hook

This evening my family and I decided to visit Off the Hook. Off the Hook is a "Gourmet Fish & Chips" restaurant located at 749 Broadview Avenue. 

It is a small restaurant with about 40 seats and an open concept kitchen. There was one person doing most of the cooking while another person handled the cash and served people. There are a lot of different options offered to customers. They had other things on the menu such as soups, gourmet burgers, and sandwiches however we stuck to fish and chips because that's what we came for. The server was really helpful because to first timers like us it could be intimidating looking at the menu.

For just fish and chips they had options for what type of fish you wanted, what kind of batter you wanted (Gluten free option available), and they had different options for fries or onions rings or frings (Both onion rings and french fries), and creamy or vinaigrette coleslaw. This was the first time I've ever seen such a variety and customizable options which I thought was a really nice touch. The restaurant uses local and sustainable fish. The beer on tap are also from local craft brewers in the area. The walls are covered with different drawings and menu items but the wall closest to us I really liked. Someone wrote their cooking philosophy of how they use local sustainable fish and serving the freshest and tastiest food available. 

  

I decided to go with Halibut and Cajun batter, standard poutine, lost in the sauce sauce, and creamy coleslaw. I thought it would be cool to try poutine as my fries for fish and chips since I've never had it before. 

 

 The poutine I thought was quite tasty alittle bit on the salty side though. The fish I found was decent. The batter was quite crunchy however when I tried to cut the fish I had difficulty trying to get a nice amount of crunchy batter with my fish. It tore apart and did not leave a clean cut. The other fish and chips place I go to near my house serves Halibut and the batter crispy and fish tender and gives me a nice combination of crunchy batter with fish. I did not find that this particular fish at Off the Hook would be worth returning. I'd rather return for the poutine.

I salute them for buying and using locally sustainable fish and by serving local craft beer however I was not hooked. 

KMW 

How to make roasted potatoes

Perfect roasted potatoes are somewhat an art. In order to have a perfect roast potato the outside should be crisp and have a nice crunch to it while the inside should be nice and fluffy. Here's my recipe for perfect roasted potatoes which is a perfect accompaniment with any main course. 

 To my left is the roasted potatoes served with roasted chicken, heirloom carrots, and homemade bacon jam.

To the right I used the roasted potatoes as fries to accompany my extravagant slider: I had pork/beef slider, butter poached lobster, pickles, shaved truffles, and caramelized onions served with homemade tartar sauce!













Kevin's Roasted Potatoes (Recipe can vary depending on how many people you are cooking for. I like to cook a bit more roasted potatoes so that way we can have some for leftovers and heat it up for another dish another day if we don't feel like cooking anything too fancy)
Ingredients

•  8 Russet Potatoes (Or even baby potatoes or any kind of potatoes you like)
• 4 tablespoons of salt
• 3 tablespoons of smoked paprika
• salt and pepper
• light tasting olive oil (used throughout)
• optional: fresh parsley to garnish
• 4 crushed garlic cloves
• garlic powder

1. Peel your potatoes and slice them into a size you feel is appropriate. I like to slice them into wedges so they have some edge to them
2. Place them in a pot of cold water and place the salt in it. Cover and bring to a gentle simmer.
3. Check on them occasionally, and see if the potatoes are crumbling. If you see take a slotted spoon and check on the potatoes, the edges should start to be tender and crumbly. At that point you want to drain the potatoes immediately and place it near a window or a fan or somewhere for the potatoes to cool down. You want the potatoes to cool down so that way most of the moisture evaporates leaving you with basically a boiled potato that is fully cooked.
4. When the potatoes have cooled down place them in a large bowl. Drizzle olive oil into the bowl and stir the potatoes around gently until they are all coated in oil. Add in your salt and pepper, smoked paprika, garlic powder, and fresh garlic cloves, depending on how you like your potatoes tasting. 
5. Turn your oven on for 375 and place the potatoes on a baking sheet flat for about 45 minutes and check them occasionally. You want the potatoes to have alittle bit of space around them so they can cook separaetely from the other potatoes. You do not really want them touching or else some of the potatoes won't be crispy evenly. After 30 minutes check to see how the bottom of the potatoes look like. If they are a nice golden colour then flip them individually onto the other side and leave them to cook for the rest of the time.
6. Take them out and enjoy! 

My simple roasted potatoes! Hopefully you will give that a try! 

 KMW

My Almost Perfect Roast Chicken

This is my go to recipe for my roast chicken. I think it's pretty simple however I have made this chicken mannyyyy times. I find this chicken is quite succulent and juicy with a crispy skin. Before I do anything with my chicken I place it in a brine (Salt solution).

Kevin's Almost Perfect Roast Chicken 

Ingredients:

4 Cups of Salt

8 cups of Water approx.

1 chicken

4-5 large carrots with skins shaved off

1 lemon

salt and pepper

1/2 cup of white wine

1 tablespoon of olive oil

Fresh Thyme, Rosemary, Peppercorns

 2 small onions

1 head of garlic

Directions:

1. Bring a large pot of water to a simmer and add your salt.

2. Add in the thyme, rosemary, and peppercorns and the head of garlic and then stir it into the mixture

3. Turn off the heat and place the pot of water in a cool area until the water is cold.

4. When the water is cold place your chicken into the brine and ensure it is submerged into the solution. Leave it overnight or for at least 12 hours.

Roasting the Chicken

5. Take your chicken out of the solution and place it on a rack and let it sit until it gets to room temperature. This is a technique I learned from Thomas Keller. By allowing the chicken to get to room temperature and air dry you are helping the cooking process. If you placed the chicken right into the oven after you take it out of the solution or the fridge it will take you a longer time because the chicken will cook from the outside in LONGER. The chicken will probably take around 1 - 1.5 hours to come to room temperature

6. During that time while your chicken is room temperaturing you can get your other prep ready. I like to cook vegetables with my chicken to add flavour but also so I don't need to worry about cleaning more dishes to cook the vegetables. I like to add in carrots, onions, and garlic with the chicken when it roasts.  With the onions you can slice it in half and just leave it as that. When the onions come out with the chicken when the chicken is ready the onions are super tender and sweet!

7. For picture above I used a frying pan to cook the chicken just to see how it turned out but you can also use a large roasting tray. Place your roasting tray or frying pan on a high heat and add in some oil, stir it around so that the oil coats the bottom of the pan. Add in your chopped up carrots, onions, and garlic (just smash the garlic on the cutting board and add it in, and keep it rustic!). Stir it around until all the veg are coated in the hot oil.  Season it with salt and pepper. Add in the lemon whole in the pan. 

8. Take your chicken and rub olive oil all over the outside of it then generously season with salt and pepper all over and even the inside of the chicken! Get your hands all up in it! 

My Chicken before I cooked it

9. Place the chicken ontop of the bed of lightly sauteed veg and lemon and place it in the oven for an hour and a bit. Also pour in the white wine. In the picture above I spatchcocked the chicken which is basically removing the spine of the chicken and cut it it in half and roasted it in the oven and placed it under the broiler to get some really nice colour on the bird. ( I will dedicate a post to how to spatchcock a chicken)

10.  Check on your chicken from time to time. You will know the chicken is ready when you cut into the thigh of the chicken and the flesh would be white. At this point if my chicken has been in the oven for a while like an hour and a few minutes I would then chop up the bird and place it under the broiler for a few minutes so that way the skin will crisp up and the parts of the chicken that aren't cooked will cook. 

11. For the gravy you can just pour all the bottom juices from the pan through a strainer into a pan and bring the pan to a simmer and let the juices reduce. 

TIP: When your chicken is done cooking it is best to let it rest for a bit like maybe 10 minutes. Then serve! If you serve the chicken right away all the juices will pour out of the bird. Patience is golden!

GOOD LUCK!

My Roast Chicken served with creamy mashed potatoes, roasted veg, and roasted jus

KMW 

A Disappointing Restaurant Review: Terroni's Yonge (At Price Street)

Terroni's is a restaurant that I have been wanting to try for a while. A major player in Toronto's restuarant scene told me this was one of his favourite restaurants he likes to dine at which made my expectations pretty high when I came through the door. We dined at the Yonge & Price Street location. The front of the restaurant that faces Yonge street is Bar Centrale however to the left of the restaurant is a side entrance which leads to the restaurant upstairs. The hostess was veyr nice and the atmosphere was really hip.

From the outside you can't really tell how big the building is but as you go up the stairs to the actual restaurant you see that Terroni's has a really nice amount of space with an open concept kitchen. We dined with another family. We decided to order a couple of pizzas and some salads to share as appetizers then we ordered our individual pasta dishes. It is important to note that throughout this entire process our glasses were not filled with water, we were not greeted or anything. There were plenty of servers that looked at our table and just walked past it. We waited for someone to greet us for more than 25 minutes then one of our friends had to get up and ask someone to come and take our order. This I found was quite disappointing. Not a great start to potential return customers.

Funghi Assoluti

The manager noticed we were quite upset and came over and welcomed us to the restaurant. Alittle late if I may say so myself. He informed us that he would be taking care of our table. We ordered a bottle of rose wine which was quite delicious.

We started the dinner off with:
1. Funghi Assoluti - Baked oyster mushrooms, parmigiano, bread crumbs, extra-virgin olive oil, balsamic vinegar, arugola

This is a really popular item at Terroni's. I thought a mushroom salad would be pretty simple and that's about it. However this salad was quite delicious. There were different textures and flavours and the mushrooms were absolutely cooked to perfection. The balsamic vinaigrette added a nice acidic note to the dish.





 2. Nizzarda -  Arugola, italian tuna, potatoes, eggs, red onion, tomatoes, olives, green beans, anchovies 

Nizzarda

This is the Italian take on a Nicoise salad.  There wasn't really any dressing on the salad but there was really no need. As you may have noticed I love different textures in a dish. This one really spoke well with the tuna,  par boiled potatoes, hard boiled egg, and such.







3. We ordered the Capricciosa which had tomato, mozzarella, mushrooms, artichokes, olives with pits, italian ham. When I say tomato I mean like a really good tomato sauce. Neapolitan pizzas don't use like regular tomato sauces from a pizza chain. They take a long time to cook on a low simmer with a lot of love and care. Unfortunately I forgot to take photos of the pizzas they were so delicious. We also ordered a Margherita pizza which of course was delicious. The crust was flimsy and chewy which I like in my pizza.

4. For my pasta I ordered Cavatelli cu Pisci Spada which had handmade cavatelli, house smoked sword fish, fried eggplant, tomato sauce, basil, mint, chili. This dish was quite delicious. Although the pasta did look a little bit like maggots the pasta was absolutely delicious.

Cavatelli cu Pisci Spada

The pasta was cooked to perfection with a nice bite. There was a hint of smokiness from the sword fish which was nice. It was a very simple yet delicious dish with different levels of flavour. The only mint I saw in the dish was the garnish. However it did have a kick from the bit of chili in the dish.

 Other pasta dishes eaten at our table were:
Pappardelle alla Iosa - Homemade spicy sausage, button & oyster mushrooms, peas, parmigiano, extra-virgin olive oil

Spaghetti in Canna a Mare - Fresh clams and mussels, calamari, scallops and tiger shrimp, light tomato sauce.




The food at Terroni's was great and I will definitely come back because of it. I was quite disappointed that the manager did not do anything to go above and beyond to correct THEIR service mistake. One thing I have learned being a student of Hospitality is that you cannot correct a first impression. If he were to go above and beyond he would have offered a complimentary dessert or appetizer or even coffee especially if he wants us to try to forget that we were ignored for more than we should have. I recommend they learn some service points from a fine dining establishment like Oliver & Bonacini. You should always try to WOW the customer, I'm not just talking about our bad experience here but in general every restaurant should try to WOW the customer or else the customer wouldn't be coming back. Service recovery is extremely important to exceed customers expectations. Hopefully the service at this restaurant isn't always like this... only time will tell. 




KMW

Restaurant Review: Famoso Neapolitan Pizza Bloor Street

In recent years I discovered a love for neapolitan style pizza. There has been a growing number of restuarants in Toronto that claim to serve "Neapolitan" style pizza. This is an actual type of pizza originating from Italy with rules set by the Associazione Vera Pizza Napoletana. Some of these rules include the type of ingredients that the dough should be made of, to what temperature it should be cooked at and what type of wood should be burning. 

Anyways Famoso is a franchise that started to open around the GTA including bloor street, Yorkdale, and one opening in Waterloo this coming Summer with a majority of its locations in Alberta. 

The Famoso is located at 386 Bloor St W  Toronto, ON M5S 1X4 right across from the BMV bookstore. The staff are very friendly and welcoming! 

As soon as you walk in you see the array of wine on the shelves and the gelato stand. If I am not mistaken the gelato are all made in house. Don't quote me on that! You then choose a spot to sit at. Every Famoso has an open concept kitchen where you can see your pizza being made and placed in the beautiful wood burning oven. 

One of the things that differentiates Famoso from other Italian restaurants is the ordering technique. You look at the menu which has a good amount of items to dig into. You then write on the order pad what you want to order starting with appetizers of course and so on. You then bring your order sheet to the cash and you order what you want and you can either pay at the cash right then and there or after you finish your meal. They will then bring your food out when it is ready. The 3 of us: My grandma, mom, and I are all pretty hungry so we first started off with the Famoso Salad.

Famoso Salad

The Famoso Salad has lettuce, proscuitto, cherry tomatoes, salami, bits of chicken, feta, and an AMAZINGGGG dijon-balsamic vinaigrette. The dijon balsamic vinaigrette is really what holds this dish together. All the different elements do add really nice flavours and textures like the juicy little chicken bits, and the crumbly feta with the chewiness of the spicy salami. It all works well together. We had no problem finishing this salad. It's a great appetizer to share with friends or.... by yourself. Anyways before I forget to mention Kelly was our server and she was great. She filled our glasses without us ever having to ask. I give major points to restaurants where the servers satisfy our needs before we even realize we have one. 

Another point worth mentioning is the washrooms. They are located in the back down a flight of stairs. The washrooms are spotless and extremely clean. My one iffy thing about dining at restaurants is the washrooms. Some restaurants couldn't care less about the washrooms but to me if you don't care about how the washrooms look like, I can't imagine how the kitchen would look like. A clean washroom to me is a good indication of a clean kitchen! 

We ordered 3 different types of pizza: Margherita, Vesuvio, and Funghi Tartufo. I love the margherita pizza cause its simple and a classic neapolitan pizza. The vesuvio is basically the same as the margherita except it has spicy soppressata and chili flakes. I love my food spicy. Some people like it burning their tongue that they can't taste anything, me on the other hand enjoy food with a hint of spice that I could feel a tingling but not have my tongue on fire.

                   Funghi Tartufo

The Funghi Tartufo had really great flavours and textures with the different sized mushrooms and the shaved parmagiano reggiano.

Margherita Pizza

Vesuvio

 All of these pizzas were fantastic. The margherita simple with an amazing flavourful tomato sauce and the crunchy basil. The crusts are all simply wonderful. The crust for the pizza is thin and chewy. It is not like the thick crusted dough like pizza pizza. This is perfection and how pizzas should be done!










The Vesuvio pizza is one that I always order whenever I am dining at Famoso on Bloor street or at Yorkdale. I love the little kick the Spicy Soppresata gives to this dish. Simply amazing.




I definitely recommend you all to try Famoso pizza on Bloor street if you are in the neighbourhood; specifically those who have never tried Neapolitan style pizza. I would definitely go back. The servers were also all very friendly. The manager thanked us for coming and everything. Kelly was a great server. There was also another server who came by our table who had an amazing smile and checked on how everything was. Anyways definitely check out Famoso! 


KMW

Kevin's Vegetarian Lasagna

I encountered an interesting challenge for the next 40 days. My sister decided to give up consuming meat for lent which presented me with the interesting challenge of making vegetarian food. I typically don't make vegetarian dishes as my family likes meat and fish. We occasionally cook vegetarian dishes when one of our family friends comes over because that's all they eat ! My mom wanted to make lasagna this week so we could heat it up sometime during the week and not have to worry about making anything fancy for dinner. I knew my sister couldn't eat the lasagna we were going to have so I decided to be a nice brother and make her a vegetarian lasagna.

Lasagna is a great dish with loads of flavour but it is a lot of prep work! 

Kevin's Vegetarian Lasagna

Here is the recipe for my vegetarian lasagna:
2 boxes of Olivieri premade lasagna sheets
1 medium sized can of San Marzano crushed tomatoes ( DEPENDS ON HOW BIG YOUR LASAGNA IS)
1 onion
4-6 cloves of crushed garlic
6 Basil leaves 
1 small case of button mushrooms 
1 large eggplant
6 broiled sweet peppers
Pre washed box of kale, chard, and spinach
2 teaspoons of smoked paprika
6 eggs
1 container of ricotta cheese
1 container of cottage cheese 
1 Bag of broccolini (FROM COSTCO)

Tomato Sauce
1. Dice 1 whole onion and crush 6 garlic cloves.
2. Heat a sauce pan on high heat and add olive oil to coat the bottom of the pan
3.  When the oil starts to smoke add in your chopped onions and garlic cloves, stir occasionally
4. When onions become caramelized add in the crushed tomatoes. Stir in about half a cup of red wine (TIP: If you are cooking for kids do not worry, adding wine to this sauce will NOT get your child drunk! The alcohol will be cooked out of the sauce)
5. Simmer for 20 minutes stir occasionally to ensure the onions don't burn on the bottom of the pan! After the sauce is done cooking add in your basil leaves! 

Then set the sauce on the side.

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Vegetable Mixture

Broiled Sweet Peppers

1.  wash the peppers, slice in half, remove the seeds and place the peppers with the skin facing up. 

2. Drizzle the peppers with olive oil and season with salt and pepper 
3. Broil for about 20 minutes on high right below the broiler. Check the peppers on occasion to ensure all the peppers are being broiled evenly. When the majority of the pepper skins are charred you may remove them and place them in a sauce pan and cover it. This will make it easier to peel the skins off later on when they cool.
4. When the peppers have cooled remove all of the skin and dice the peppers into small thumbprint sized cubes. 

BROILED SWEET PEPPPERS DONE

Sauteed Mushrooms
1. Slice the button mushrooms lengthwise 
2. In a heated sautee pan, add in some olive oil to coat the pan. When the oil begins to smoke add in your sliced mushrooms. 
3. Stir the mushrooms often and ensure they are browning. This might take a while. First the mushrooms should release a majority of its water content, the liquid will evaporate, and then add in a drizzle of red wine to help remove the fond (brown bits) off the bottom of the pan and to impart more flavour onto the mushrooms. You can add some dried thyme as well.
4. When the wine has reduced you can now season the mushrooms with salt and pepper. Pour the mushrooms into a bowl.

SAUTEED MUSHROOMS DONE

Roasted Eggplant
1. Dice your large eggplant into cubes. 
2. In a heated non stick sautee pan add some olive oil. When it is just begins to smoke add in your diced eggplant. Sautee it until the water has been released from the eggplant and the eggplant cubes are nice and squishy! Ok fine that may not be the proper culinarial term however the cubes should have some nice browning on it and it should be wrinkled. BOOM. When you get to that point you can now season with salt and pepper! TIP: You can be alittle risky and adventurous and add a drizzle of balsamic vinegar to it to give a nice tangy.

ROASTED EGGPLANT DONE

 BROCCOLINI - It's basically broccolli but it has longer stems and smaller florets
1. Wash the broccolini
2. Cut the broccolnii into quarters
3. In heated sautee pan add some sliced garlic and wait till it turns a nice light brown colour. Then add in your broccolini. 
4. Drizzle in some white wine and cover for 3-5 minutes until the broccolini turns a nice BRIGHT rich green colour. The broccolini won't fully be cooked at this point but that's the point. You want to help it in the cooking process. If you add it to your lasagna raw it might not become tender. 
5. Remove the broccolini and place it in a bowl.

BROCCOLINI DONE 

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Place all of your cooked vegetables into a bowl and add in your kale, chard, and spinach mixture. Add in your smoked paprika and combine into the mixture. 

In a separate bowl add in your 6 eggs and mix in about 4 tablespoons of cottage cheese. 

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ASSEMBLING THE LASAGNA

On the bottom of a deep casserole dish spread some tomato sauce all over the bottom of the pan. Then place 1-2 pasta sheets on the bottom of the pan. You don't want the two sheets to layer each other but placed just snuggly beside each other. On this first layer add some of the cottage cheese/egg mixture all over the bottom of the dish. Then place your pasta, then add in your vegetable mixture on the second layer. SPREAD IT OUT! There should be a nice layer of vegetables all over. Pour some sauce ontop of the veg. Add your pasta sheet. Then add your cottage cheese mixture then place your pasta sheets on top and add some tomato sauce and cook in the oven for 30 minutes. 

After 30 minutes is up take it out and place some shredded mozzarella cheese all over it. It should be nice and gooey!  Place it under the broiler for 5-7 minutes until the top has nicely browned! 

Serve immediately!    

 This may seem like a lot of work but in the end it is well worth it! BON APPETIT! 


KMW