The FOOD Picture Thread!

[PF9K]

halibut is a fucking rip off right now

[Persephone]

Originally Posted by futronic

Three kitchens in an Italian household. One for the Pope that will never show up, the second for day-to-day use, the third for the big events.

-- Jay aka Fut

this is exactly what my grandmother's house is like. I thought two kitchekns was normal in Italian households and that my grandmother was an exception, but apparently not. They'll stick that third stove wherever they can to accomodate those huge family meals...the backyard, the garage, the basement, the sub-basement. Split level homes are very popular with italians for this reason.

Looks like you were cooking something fantastic!

[futronic]

Originally Posted by PF9K

halibut is a fucking rip off right now

Seems to be the same price to me. Still around $18/lb at the St. Lawrence Market.

Originally Posted by Persephone

this is exactly what my grandmother's house is like. I thought two kitchekns was normal in Italian households and that my grandmother was an exception, but apparently not. They'll stick that third stove wherever they can to accomodate those huge family meals...the backyard, the garage, the basement, the sub-basement. Split level homes are very popular with italians for this reason.

Looks like you were cooking something fantastic!

Thanks! I was cooking more shrimp - because of the quantity, I needed to split it into two pans. You can see some in the white serving dish also on the stove, or the close up in one of my earlier posts.

The extra stove is awesome to have. Many years ago everyone chipped in to get my Nonna an industrial 6-burner gas stove. That thing is a tank, and I love cooking on it.

-- Jay aka Fut

[Stan]

Originally Posted by futronic

Thanks Sunny. They were great - and very easy!

I removed the membrane on the back of the ribs, applied a spice rub liberally (and actually rubbed it in to the meat), waited an hour, and applied a little more. Wrapped them well in foil and roasted in the oven at 250F for 2.5 hours (note that these were side rubs, not baby back - baby back take less) until tender. Let them cool and then threw on the grill to get some char and start applying a bit of sauce.

What did you put in the spice rub? Usually I like to put them in the oven at 180 to 200F for 5 to 7 hours.

[Stan]

My first attempt at shepherd's pie. Nothing particularly fancy or complicated. The recipe was from: http://www.channel4.com/food/recipes...ecipe_p_1.html

[futronic]

A pie placed called The Pie Shack opened up in The Beach yesterday. I popped in after work today and grabbed a savory pie and a slice of sweet pie.

Savory pies available:

Chicken pot pie
Steak, mushroom, and ale
Pork and carmelized onions
Quiche (didn't get the flavour)

Sweet pies:

Apple
Strawberry-rhubarb
Lemon meringue

I had a steak, mushroom, and ale pie and a slice of lemon meringue (that was indeed massive). The savory pie was alright. I found it suffers from the same issues that most pot pies do - under seasoning. I baked it up at home and ended up removing the lid, adding some salt and pepper, and then it was fine. I would also like them to blind bake the bottom crust a bit because it was a little soggy - again, a common plight I find with pot pies.





The lemon meringue pie on the other hand was delicious. The crust was more crumbly than flaky, good texture and flavour. The lemon filling had a delicious pucker, and the meringue had a nice "chew" to it. Even more impressive was that the meringue stuck to the lemon layer, and didn't slide off or have that "watery" bit between the layers than can otherwise mar a pie like this.



I enjoyed it and will definitely be back. I'll probably pop in this weekend to get a slice of apple or strawberry-rhubarb and will mention to the owner my concerns about the savory pie.

I can't believe there's a decent food shop in the Beach! It's a miracle!

-- Jay aka Fut

[futronic]

More pies from The Pie Shack:



Pear Pie



Apricot Pie



Apple-cinnamon Pie



Raspberry-apple Pie

All delicious again! My least favourite was probably the pear as cooked pears can get kind of pasty, but it was still good. The apricot was delicious and had a bit of almond in there, and both apple pies were excellent.

-- Jay aka Fut

[Big Cheese]

If you get the choice between going to regular heaven and pie heaven, choose pie heaven.

It may be a trick; but if its not... oh BOY!

[futronic]

Hah!

In additional great news about the pie place - they're open until 10 every night - except on Fridays and Saturdays when they are open until AT LEAST MIDNIGHT (or until everyone leaves). It's fucking awesome.

-- Jay aka Fut

[sk8]

PIZZA! I MADE IT MYSELF!



She really did. She helped make the crust and the sauce. Then she patted out the crust herself and did all the topping arranging (I did the grating and slicing though). Zucchini, chicken, green beans, carrots, peppers and mozzarella.





She ate the entire thing.

[kat]

those pies dont look very appetizing :/
im glad those pies taste better than they look..

the lemon meringue pie looks like the whites are over whipped and i can see the watery layer..but maybe its just the lighting or something.

some of the fruit pies looks really skimpy with the fruit filling..and the crusts are pretty messy.

the meat pie looks the best to me. even with the huge onion chunks.

i would still want to check it out because the idea of a late night pie shop makes me super excited.

and now i feel bad for criticizing in case they are dear, sweet people making family recipes.

[futronic]

The pies are delicious and there is more than enough filling for the amount of crust. Also, for the lemon meringue, the girl who cut the pie fucked up my slice and kind of daubbed the meringue back on. It looked better as part of the whole pie. The meringue did not slide off the pie which was good.

The woman (along with her husband) who is making the pies used to bake for Patachou.

And yes, late-night pie is awesome. People hang out and play cards and Scrabble and other board games in there if they want also as all the games are in a cabinet there. It has a very simple, cottage-y type feel.

-- Jay aka Fut

[futronic]

Organized a wine dinner for friends from out of town (Chicago, DC, Texas) and some locals on Friday night. Booked the private room upstairs at Simple Bistro (Mt. Pleasant/Davisville). The food and service were outstanding and I'm looking forward to going back ($25 corkage for those interested).



Thinly sliced fluke with a green peppercorn vinaigrette and garnished with a salad of assorted radishes



Roasted rabbit served with a carrot puree and a grape must mustard jus



Seared squab served with shiitake mushroom risotto, Tahitian vanilla spiced port jus



Oven roasted lamb saddle served with a rosemary lamb jus

Didn't get a good photo of the cheese plate, unfortunately, because the lighting was poor at that point. Served at the proper temperatures with grapes, dried apricots, dried currants, etc. I'll dig up the cheese names if I get time.



Lemon tart - pate brisee tart filled with lemon curd and served with creme chantilly and pear coulis.

It was an excellent start to a fantastic weekend!

-- Jay aka Fut

[futronic]

Dragged the out-of-towners to Caplansky's on Saturday:



Smoked meat sandwich with Fries. Ohhhhhh so good with a pitcher of cold beer on a nice day.

Saturday ended with our 5th annual Italian wine dinner. Did it at Six Steps on Colborne where the food wasn't as good as Friday, but our group was twice the size, the food was competent, and the two waiters taking care of us were great.



Caprese salad with mozzarella di bufala, micro basil and arugula, 18-year old balsamic



Pan seared sea scallops, celery root puree, crisp apple and celery leaves, lemon and basil vinaigrette



Seared loin of lamb, kalamata olives, tomato and Romano beans, toasted almonds, mint pesto



Fresh berries with sabayon



Molten chocolate cake, fresh berries, vanilla ice cream on a chocolate tuille

And for the wine people, I went to great length to deal with the broken cork on a 1964 G. Conterno Barbaresco Riserva (someone tried to be helpful and open the bottle - ended up ripping it in half), then gently decanted it for sediment with a candle under the neck.









-- Jay aka Fut

[smokeyeyes]

Ronin (2) and Teo's (1) Birthday Cake!



Valentina and Adlyn made it; Monika (mostly) and I did the dinosaur icing while the girls did the spots.

They also iced and decorated 5 cupcakes but sadly I didn't take pics of them (they've since been eaten) because they were amazingly done!

[the_fornicator]

what's the point of the candle under the neck of the wine?

[cosmosuave]

Curious to know how the wine tasted? As for the broken cork there is always the Butlers Corkscrew...

[futronic]

Originally Posted by the_fornicator

what's the point of the candle under the neck of the wine?

It's to see the sediment in the bottle. You want to stop decanting when the sediment starts to get into the neck of the bottle. It's not terribly tasty.

Originally Posted by cosmosuave

Curious to know how the wine tasted? As for the broken cork there is always the Butlers Corkscrew...

That's an Ah-So, the use of which was attempted by someone else. They fucked up and tore the cork in half.

As for the wine, here are my notes:

• 1964 Giacomo Conterno Barbaresco Riserva - Italy, Piedmont, Langhe, Barbaresco (6/6/2009)
  5th Annual Italian Offline (Six Steps Restaurant, Toronto, Canada): Ruddy orange/iced tea colour. Pretty nose of forest floor/wet leaves, leather, orange rind, mushroom, orange pekoe tea, and tobacco. Light-medium bodied, with replays from nose. Lovely texture and fully resolved tannins. Moderate-long finish, ~40s, with orange pekoe tea and mushroom notes. With several hours of air, it opened to show a distinct smokiness on the nose and hickory on the palate! Truly a special experience - thanks to WIML for bringing this wine. (93 pts.)

Posted from CellarTracker

You can click through to the event for the rest of the wine notes from that night.

-- Jay aka Fut

[Rajio]

Carl’s Jr. Audrina Partridge Commercial Leaks
by Eick · June 25th, 2009 · No Comments

Give Carl’s Jr. credit, they know how to get the maximum attention for commercials before they even air on TV. We already covered the first photo they released, but today comes a release of not only a new photo, but the two commercials themselves, both the 30-second and 60-second version. These aren’t as steamy hot as the Padma Lakshmi commercial, but they get the point across.

http://www.sogoodblog.com/2009/06/25...mercial-leaks/

personaly I prefered the Padma Lakshmi ad. I want to take her out behidn the bleachers and get her pregnant.

[PF9K]

looks like a bit of toe showing there...

[Nesta]

Originally Posted by futronic

finally some proper smoked meat in toronto - hands down the best! have you tried their house-made mustard? so good!

[MoFo]

There has always been good smoked meat up in Bathurst area.

[MoFo]

Broiled lamb with cumin, cinnamon, coriander, sea salt, allspice and cloves with a honey bean salad. Mingster's recipe! I love it and have tried other lamb recipes but I keep going back to this one.

[MoFo]

I've been addicted to making French onion soup. I've tried all kinds of broth and it's pretty fool proof.

I got this from Food and Drink Magazine: it's called a Sannich Soup. Sannich is Australian slang for sandwich apparently.

Chicken and beef broth with butter, sweated onions, balsamic vinegar, garlic, gruyere and chives. Takes about 45 minutes to make and you stick the Emmental grilled cheese sandwich right in the soup.

[sk8]

Mofo - do you like stilton? We used to do a stilton and onion soup that is awesome. the recipe is out of one of the "two fat ladies" cookbooks - if you like stilton i'll dig it up for you.