Couillard's Spice Room and Manyata

I don't know if any students follow the food industry as close as I do. Probably ones that go to cooking school, but for myself who has no access to a full working kitchen, it is hard to follow it as closely as I would like. I can read all the books about cooking that I want to, but unless I can actually do it myself, it is basically a waste of time. I'm not a 'foodie'. I find that term very derogatory towards the way I perceive food. A foodie's like good food and there is nothing wrong with that. I on the other hand, am a Chef. I not only enjoy good food, but I make it my mission to find out just how to make what I just ate.
However, all that is about to change. I was just hired to be a server at Greg Couillard's new restaurant called Manyata. After a quick chat with Greg, I also might have a job in the kitchen as well.
This is hands down, the most creative kitchen I have ever seen. Granted when I asked Greg if he dabbled in molecular gastronomy, he chuckled and told me that, "[he] actually cooks and leaves all the other stuff to the new guys." and from looking at the menu he's not bullshitting anyone. His menu is simple enough that it won't scare away the casual eater but elaborate enough to entice any food snob. This is the menu for people who want good food and want to recognize it at the same time. Your not going to pay $50 for a half portion of expensive tar-tar, here you get what you pay for. If your going to bleed out of your wallet for a meal, it will be reflected not only is the quality of the food but also the quantity.
While the section of the restaurant, Spice Room, is not open yet Manyata, the courtyard part of the restaurant, is up and running. I highly suggest anyone in the Toronto area to stop by for lunch.
Everyone needs to try the Lamb and Stilton Burger. This is a burger for people that love burgers. It's stuffed with the blue cheese and served with a medley of toppings that are almost found on your everyday burger. These are the same ingredients, but with Greg's own twist to them; a different kind of tomato other then your signature North American red and lettuce that is a bit more exotic then just a leaf from a head.The masterpieces of the kitchen don't end when dinner service is over they continue over to dessert. The pastry chefs that work in the back are geniuses when incorporating Greg's vision into the dessert. These desserts look very sexy, simple concepts but masterfully executed when presented. Just try the spice cake and we'll talk later.
Cheers!

Alumni Dinner

Ohhhh....my head...just another alumni dinner at the Beta house in Toronto...
On Thursday, me and another up and coming chef that I live with, put together a little something for the actives and alumni of my house. Two nights of prep later we had a meal fit for a Beta, 70 Betas to be exact. To start, we had a simple salad with a vinaigrette, nothing too fancy. The next course, the soup, was the dish that took all of time to prepare. We made an Apple and Squash puree that was amazing. Few of the 60 year old alumni decided to forgo their spoons when they were nearing the end of their course, in favor of their tongues to lick the bowl clean. I think it was a hit among them all. The next course was baked chicken with a 3 mushroom sauce, brown sugar glazed carrots and garlic mashed potatoes. To finish the night we had a tipple layer espresso angle food cake with whip cream, blueberries and strawberries.
I'm fairly impress that Dodge and myself were able to throw this together for the members of my house. Seeing as we had never done anything like this before. All in all, it was a fairly impressive meal with an even better crowd.
I, on the other hand, decided to celebrate a little to soon after the last course was out. On that note I decided to drink a whole bottle of wine to catch up with all the others. Bad idea. I spent the whole day over a stove and then I spent the whole night over the toilet. Poor sportsmanship on my part.
With that I'm going to leave the recipe for the soup, since it seems that people thought it was the most impressive part of the meal.

Theta Zeta Apple and Squash Alumni Soup

4 Peeled Apples (Red Delicious)
3 Acorn Squash
3 Butternut Squash
3 Cups of Chicken Broth
1 L of Half and Half
1/2 tbs of Cinnamon
1/2 tbs of Pepper
1/2 tbs of Chili Flakes
2 tbs of Chopped Walnuts
1 Leek Leaf (Finely Chopped)
1 tbs of Chopped Garlic
3 tbs of Butter

Pre-heat the oven to 375 and put on a pot of chicken broth (if you don't have any broth just have some bullion cubes at hand). While the oven is warming up take your apples and cut them up into bite sized chunks. Put the squash into the oven once it has hit the correct temperature and let them bake for and hour or until the squash is tender enough to scoop out with a spoon. Once they are done baking scoop out all the squash into the same bowl that you are storing your chopped apples (it will just be easier to transfer them later)
Put a stock pot on the burner over medium head, enough to melt the butter but not burn it. Now add the leeks and let them simmer for 5 minutes. After they have simmered add the garlic. Now it is time to add the apples and squash. After they have been added turn the heat up to medium-high and let them cook a bit while your stir the pot, say for about 5 min. After then, add everything thing else: cinnamon, pepper, chili flakes, walnuts and the half and half. Stir in everything for about 10 minuets over the medium-high heat.
Now you need to transfer all the contents of the pot into a blender and puree it until the texture is smooth.
Transfer the puree back into your stock pot and let it simmer for 40 min over a low head. Once this is done you are ready to serve. The final presentation should be the soup with a cream (or half and half) drizzle over top and some walnuts in the center.
This soup may be fitting for the Autumn, but it is also good for those cold and rainy spring days. Just what you need to warm yourself up.
Cheers!

Bobby Flay's Peanut Butter French Toast

Bobby Flay is probably what is wrong with celebrity chef these days, too much flair and narcissism. His personality just seems so manufactured along the same lines as Emeril's. Catchphrases and antics rather then food and results. That being said, they can both cook damn well; a lot better then i could hope to. I just wish he would get to cooking it rather then standing on tables gloating during an Iron Chef match.
What did impress me about Mr.Flay as of late was his recent performance on Iron Chef America when he battled a local Canadian chef Lynn Crawford with the peanut. Both of them put up a great fight; you cant expect anything less from an Iron Chef battle (Season 4 Episode 2). However, it was Bobby that really put up the 'wow factor' with his 'Peanut Butter French Toast'. This is a dish that everyone needs to see let alone eat it. He took something as rag-tag a French Toast and spiced up far more then most restaurants could ever hope to do. This was more then just a little powered sugar and maple syrup.Being forced to eat as a student does I don't I'll be creating something like this for a long time. However, I scoured the episode just to find out what he actually put in it so that maybe in the near future I could attempt to make it. I have what i think is the recipe for "Iron Chef Bobby Flay's Peanut Battle Peanut Butter French Toast". I just hope I picked out all the ingredients from the episode. Enjoy!

Iron Chef Bobby Flay's Peanut Battle Peanut Butter French Toast from Iron Chef America Season 4 Episode 2

Serves 6

Toast Filling:
2 Cups Peanut Butter (Chunky)
2 Cups Cream Cheese

Peanut Butter Batter:
3/4 Cup of Whipping Cream
3/4 Cup of Whole Milk
1/4 Cup of Brown Sugar
6 Large Eggs
2/3 Cup of Peanut Butter (Smooth)
1/2 tbs of Nutmeg
1/2 tbs of Cinnamon

Pino Mayhaw Sauce:
1 Bottle of Pino Noir
1 Handful of Grapes (Still on Stem)
1 Cup of Water
1 Cup of Brown Sugar
1 Cup of Mayhaw Jelly
2 Sticks of Cinnamon

1 Loaf of Sourdough Bread

6 tbs Butter

Preheat oven to 200 degrees.
To make the syrup combine 1 cup of water and brown sugar saucepan. Bring to a boil over high heat, stirring until the sugar dissolves. Now add the grapes, cinnamon sticks. Add the whole bottle pino to the mixture and let reduce by 3/4 or until it becomes a syrup. Let cool. When cooled add the jelly. Now for the toast...
Mix the chunky peanut butter and the cream cheese in a food processor until they are throughly mixed. This will be the filling for the French Toast. Now cut double the amount of slices of bread as you want pieces of toast. Cut the crust off of all the pieces. Spread the filling onto one slice then add the other slice on top to make a peanut butter sandwich.In a large bowl, whisk the eggs until well blended now add the cream, milk, peanut butter, nutmeg, and cinnamon and sugar and whisk until well mixed.
Melt 1 tablespoon of butter on a nonstick pan griddle over medium heat. Dip your peanut butter sandwich into the batter. Make sure you allow both sides to absorb the custard. Grill the soaked bread until they are golden brown. I would say 4 minutes per side. Put the finished product into the oven onto a plate to keep warm. Repeat.
Once all the toast has been cooked, present on a plate a dollop the pino sauce on top. This should be done in front of the person you are trying to impress because it adds effect to the whole experience.

That is it. I hope I have everything down. Maybe Bobby is not that bad. I mean he did come up with this...
Cheers!

Fresh food and why I'm not allowed to eat it (sometimes)

Seeing as how I'm a student living on a meager budget I'm forced to live on the bare 'student essentials diet'. This consists of such fine food as black coffee in the morning, KD at lunch, and fast food for dinner. This really makes me appreciate what goes into a good meal. But more then that it makes you wonder, 'If you're paying more for food that was grown and prepared well, what are you getting when you buy the other stuff?' Now everyone knows that a hamburger you get at Hero Burger is going to be of better quality, and better for you then the squeeze out ground beef that they serve at McDonalds.
While I am forced, because of my budget constraints to eat alot of grade-c protien, I would like to know that even through it is of lower grade that it is still just as safe for me as the triple-a cut. My concerns have been recently highlighted in Bitter Harvest and Fast Food Nation. Take a walk in these books and you'll start to see, just as I am, that the food we eat, whether fast food or in a restaurant, is not a good for us as we once thought.
Im seriously thinking about trying this 100-mile diet that the good people at eatlocalchallenge.com have suggested, but it just seems to impractical to me to go out and do it. I value my body and that is why i try to eat as healthly as possible and excerise as much as i can. However, how does a person find the time to go shopping in local markets all the time and pick out only local foods when they sitll have a variety of other commitments to deal with. I only have to contend with school, clubs, and a part-time job, but how do the people with a family, work, and a full time job cope? Seeing as I don't own a car or a bike I'm forced to walk or take transit everywhere, so getting everying localy might be a little bit of a problem. I'm not say this challenge is wrong, I just wish it was more accessible to everyone.
The real issue here is why people (such as me) who can not afford fresh food are forced to eat food that is polluting their bodies. There is a simple solution; don't eat that. I have found that it costs just as much to by fresh food then to go out to a fast food restaurant for a meal every day. You don't need to go to Whole Foods and spend everything you earned on 5 gingergold apples flown in from the hills of West Virgina and a pound of 100% free trade-organic coffee from Peru. You just need to keep shopping where you shop, but look at where the food your eating is coming from and whats in it. You can buy organic/fresh/healthly at a local store, it just takes effort. There is no need to hop around the city going from specialty store to speciality store. The reason they charge such a high amount is because the people who can afford to spend their time hopping from store to store can afford to pay twice what I can.
And if all else fails, make it. You can make a lot of peanut butter if you put it together yourself.

Appetizer

Law school has nothing to do with food, drink, or even tea for that matter, but that seems to be the direction that I'm currently in. I'm just going to be another one of the countless 'suits' staring out the window wishing he was in another profession rather then working 70 hour work weeks just to get ahead of the guy down the hall. Depressing as it sounds not all people who work 9 - 5 in the most conventional and conservative of jobs have a heart that reflects the same aspects. This is the raison d'etre for this blog.
I want to explore as much as possible the lighter side of life, especially through food. I'm convinced that the only thing that connects every human being is food. We spent countless hours slaving away over stoves or sitting in restaurants, and then we do it all over again the next day. However, most of the food we eat is simply not that good; we eat our daily dose and thats all we crave. I believe food should is an expression of the person that makes it, bluring the lines of art and functionality. You know that you have experienced this when you have had a meal that looks as good as it tastes. You simply do not what finish the meal because then you cannot look at how it anymore.
This is going to be my escape from everything corporate in my life. A place to show people that food is more then something that is served to them, it is an escape; one to be savored. Every little discovery of food that I find I'm going to post. Because if we can't agree over a meal, I don't know what we can agree over.