Recipes, tips and reviews
These recipes are developed, tested and re-tested until perfect. Try one at home tonight.
I used the Japanese Kuri squash which is a fiery red colour. It roasts well. You can use any drier variety of squash for this curry.
The best Scottish shortbread handed down through my family. Crumbly, sweet and buttery.
This dish has a salty, savoury sauce with a little bit of a kick. If you don't want the spice of the jalapenos, leave it out, and finely diced onion can be used instead of the shallots.
This is the one hors d’oeuvre that I keep being asked for time and time again. It’s crunchy, creamy, spicy and hits all the high spots.
Mushrooms and squash have a real affinity and this soup proves it. I like to use oyster mushrooms, but chanterelles, which I found at the supermarket this week, provide the best flavour.
The fifth taste, umami, has much to do with glutamate, an amino acid found in such foods as prosciutto, soy sauce and a number of cheeses. Umami can show up in your glass, too (fermentation is glutamate’s old friend).
When this recipe originally ran in The Globe and Mail, I received a lovely note from reader Barbara Zuchowicz. This dish reminded her of a wonderful meal she had in Italy: "It brought back joyful memories of a trip to Italy my late husband, an exceptional cook, and I took a number of years ago.
If you aren't careful, turkey breast can be dry, in which case it won't matter how much gravy you pour on it. Baking the meat slowly, however, locks in the moisture, making it juicy, tender and succulent.
Read MoreDespite its name, my version of this dish doesn't contain any seaweed. Instead, I use kale, which becomes crisp and seaweed-like when fried. Winter kale is at its best right now. Use Tuscan or black kale if you can find it; it has the most flavour and gets crispy easily.
Read MoreFlattened chicken cooks quicker than a whole chicken without losing that great roasted flavour. It is readily available at butcher shops or you can butterfly your own by removing the back and breast bones yourself. Morel mushrooms are being foraged right now, but you can use any mushroom you like if you can't find them. Meyer lemons work best for this recipe, as they are both sweet and tart; if they aren't available, use 3 thin slices of tangerine and 3 thin slices of lemon.
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You can use canned tomatoes instead of fresh and chicken breasts instead of thighs, but the thighs remain juicier. Include peppers or other vegetables in this recipe if you want. Bayonne ham would be the right ham to use here, but Black Forest is a fine substitute.
Read MoreThe butter poaching gives a luxurious taste to the salmon and moistens it as well as self saucing. Serve over wilted baby spinach and pair with crunchy sugar snap peas to contrast with the richness.
Read MoreUsing Indian spices in a subtle manner enhances the flavour of pork wonderfully, as you’ll find in the recipe below. If you don’t have a spice grinder, use ground spices, although they don’t have the same depth of flavour. For an accompanying apple compote, spy or Granny Smith apples are best.
Read MoreLess widely known than its Spanish counterpart, Portuguese cuisine is having a renaissance.
Read MoreOld-fashioned legs of lamb have fallen victim to quick-and-easy cooking, but roasting lamb is what we all should do come Easter.
Read MoreWe tried steaming cod, grouper and halibut to see which one worked best. Halibut was the clear winner. If wild celery is not available, make a pesto following the same recipe with either wild leeks or dandelion greens.
Read MoreThis recipe is inspired by a dinner I enjoyed at Charlie Palmer’s restaurant, Burritt Room + Tavern, in San Francisco. Based on the old style of meat-and-drink-heavy establishments that dotted San Fran in another era, it serves impressive cocktails and fun, trendy food.
Read MoreOne of my favourite ways to cook chicken is to braise it in the oven in a heavy pot. It comes out browned and moist and you can cook the garnishes along with it. At this time of year, apples are a perfect complement to chicken
Read MoreA powerful, full-flavoured but not spicy dish with the taste of the sun that we sorely need at this time of the year.
Read MoreJulian Armstrong, the long-time food writer at the Montreal Gazette, is an incredible authority on Quebec cooking. In her new book, Made in Quebec(published by HarperCollins), she explores all facets of the food-fixated province.
Read MoreA five-cheese extravaganza with sausage and some chilies to balance the cheesy richness. Serve a small portion as an appetizer before a light main course, or make it the centrepiece of dinner.
I am not a lover of braised meats because of their texture. When it comes to short ribs, though, all bets are off. This New Year’s, I made one my best braises ever and probably the simplest. I used an old French method, not overindulging in herbs and spices.
Read MoreThe chicken is fried for just a few minutes, then baked to finish cooking. The technique of brining with buttermilk opened my grandson Josh's eyes to the science of cooking as it tenderizes the chicken, making it juicier.
Read MoreThis traditional steak dish of Florence is world-renowned. The best bistecca comes from the Chianina herd of cattle, bred in Italy for their rich flavour and relative leaness.
Read MoreThere’s no real substitute for the yellow aji peppers used commonly in Peru. They are quite hot and have a grassy flavour. I have used serrano peppers here, which is not quite the same but still makes this dish inspiring. Halibut is not a fish used in Peru. You would more likely find this made with Chilean sea bass. I recommend using sustainable fish if you can find it.
Read MoreToronto Taste, one of the city’s original culinary fund-raisers, celebrated its 25th year this weekend. The lineup for the annual event – in support of Second Harvest’s food-rescue program, which turns surplus food that would otherwise go to waste into healthy meals for people in need – includes more than 40 chefs from the city’s best restaurants, wineries and breweries.
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© 2018, Lucy Waverman.
