Beets Are The New Black

Just a shout out to My Kind of Food’s US readers. Happy voting. Democracy is a beautiful thing.

When I was growing up, I don’t think beets made a regular appearance at our family table, and as unfortunate as it may be, I don’t think I was the only one with such limited experience with beets. But today, beets are everywhere and I have discovered quite a fondness for them. I have noticed beets but not just the retro-chic pickles and borscht (which I love), but elevated to new heights of culinary sophistication including creamy risottos, crisp salads, and sexy sides. Even my Chinese mother serves beets when we come over for dinner these days. So if it makes it onto her table – then beets must be the new black.

I am thrilled that beets have experienced a renaissance, because they are fantastic and terribly underrated. They come in an array of colours, are relatively inexpensive, and easily prepared. They possess complex flavour in that they are sweet when roasted, but deliciously crunchy and earthy when consumed raw. And of course, they have an indefatigable colour that announces exactly where they’ve been as there is no mistaking a beet has been on your plate.

Beet Salad with Oranges and Blue Cheese

I marinate the red onions briefly to remove some of the bite. But if you slice them ever so thinly and marinate them, oh yum! It’s delicious. For this salad, I scrape a red onion over my Benriner mandolin, but a sharp knife and a steady hand will do the trick.

Serves 2

2 beets – peeled and trimmed
1 orange – peeled and segmented – or canned*
¼ small red onion
1 tbsp champagne vinegar (white wine vinegar)
1 handful of parsley
¼ c crumbled Roquefort cheese

1 tbsp honey
1 tbsp champagne vinegar (white wine vinegar)

1. Thinly slice a red onion and place in a small bowl. Sprinkle with vinegar and set aside.
2. Slice beets thinly and arrange on a platter. Arrange orange segments on top.
3. Roughly chop parsley. Sprinkle over this over the salad and dot with blue cheese.
4. Remove onions from the bowl and drain off slightly, add to the salad. It seems like a lot and some days, I put more and some days I put less. Taste the onions first and decide how much you feel like.
5. Sprinkle vinegar over the salad, and drizzle honey over top.

*This is a Hungry Gal shortcut - I use orange segments from a can. Why? …because they are easy, and inexpensive. I might concede that fresh oranges are probably better, but this is far more convenient, and supreming an orange seems to be a bit fussy. Don’t you agree?

Kitchen Gadgets & Sunchokes

I do love my kitchen gadgets. But like most people, I have to admit, over the years I have collected and hoarded those little things, in fact, I have two drawers teeming full. However, in reality, most of these gadgets warmed the bench and never really saw any game time.

Thus, in an effort to really only own the kitchen gadgets I need, I actively exercised restraint whenever I came upon on the Benriner mandolin slicer at my favourite Japanese grocery store, Sanko Trading. It sat on the top shelf of the small single aisle store with a little hand-written sign appealing to my food obsession nature: “Benriner Japanese slicer! Excellent for slicing! Now only $29.99.” Every time I stopped in, I’d stand in front of the Benriner, read the sign and say to myself, “You know, it would be so useful at home. It would really elevate my skills in the kitchen.” I always wanted one, and I imagined its razor sharp blades easily slicing through the hardest vegetables dispensing them into fine, papery slices or perfectly uniform matchsticks or batons. It took about four visits to that grocery store before I accepted my fate and bought the Benriner.

With the Benriner now at home, it needed an appropriate debut. This week at the Market, we picked up a knobbly, knuckly vegetable called a sunchoke (also known as, a Jerusalem artichoke.) In fact, I must confess, I didn’t know what it was initially. My husband pointed to what he thought was ginger, but when I saw it, it didn’t look quite right to me. At first glance, I thought it might be galangal, a pale rhizome bearing an uncanny resemblance to the ginger. But when I picked it up, it had no discernable scent. The woman at the market must have noticed my bewilderment, “It’s a sunchoke,” she advised.

A quick search on the internet revealed that sunchokes are a starchy tuber, similar to a potato in texture, but resembling a ginger. Therefore, sunchoke’s starchy nature was naturally suited for a lovely re-imagining of a classic potato dish, Pommes Anna. And the Benriner did not disappoint. Smooth and sharp, it razed the hard nubby ‘chokes into delicate pedals in a matter of seconds. Within several minutes, the bowl of sunchokes turned into a pile of translucent papery shavings. Not quite ready to put the Benriner away, I also dispensed with a large garlic clove and a stalk of celery in the same efficient manner.

Oh the power of the Benriner! It is the one Ring to rule all kitchen gadgets.

In the spirit of full disclosure, this recipe does border on being fussy. We made this dish on the weekend when our night was all about a big dinner. Stayed tuned, I suspect a gratin dauphinoise (or potato gratin) will make it to the dinner table sometime soon.



Sunchoke (Jerusalem Artichoke) Pommes Anna

1 lb sunchokes – washed, peeled or unpeeled
1 large garlic clove
1 celery rib
3 tbsp butter

Handful of parsley
Salt and pepper
A squeeze of lemon juice to prevent the sunchokes from darkening

1. Very carefully, slice sunchokes on a mandolin (or food processor) into thin translucent slices over a bowl of water and lemon juice to prevent discolouration.
2. Process garlic and celery in the same manner in a separate bowl.
3. Drain the sunchokes and dry well with a towel.
4. Add 2 tbsp of butter to a large skillet.
5. Preheat oven to 425 degrees.
6. Heat the skillet until the butter is melted and foamy. Turn heat down to low. Arrange approximately a third of the sunchokes, concentrically. Layer a 1/3 of the celery and garlic, repeat until complete.
7. Place a plate on top of the slices and weigh down with a large can.
8. Turn up heat to medium and cook for ten minutes.
9. Remove plate and can and dot the surface with the remaining tablespoon of butter
10. Place skillet in the oven and bake for another twenty minutes or until crispy and brown.
11. Sprinkle with parsley and serve.


Disclosure: I have no commercial affiliation to the Benriner; I am just a big fan.

You Say Sustainable, I Say Delectable!

In an age of instant everything, the idea of being able to access whatever food our heart desires whenever we want, has indeed been a perk of our modern lives, particularly for us who live in colder climes.

Advancements in transportation, bio-science, and agricultural practices have exposed our palates to exotic flavours and delights we could only have dreamed about or read about in books about faraway places. However, the availability of new foods from the four corners of the earth has also come with another dark side. Global demand for certain foods has accelerated the depletion of these natural resources to the brink of extinction.

One case in point is a once-favoured fish, Chilean sea bass. Once featured prominently on the menus of many restaurants in this city, it is near impossible to find it today. In particular, Chilean sea bass has become the poster child for raising the awareness of the overfishing of certain stocks with several prominent Toronto chefs even removing this and other overfished species from their menus.

Chilean sea bass rose to be a favourite fish of mine because it possesses an intense rich buttery flavour. I think black cod, also known as sablefish, is a great substitute, and it’s a fish I can enjoy ethically for now.

Here is the simple way to prepare this wonderful fish. It’s very flavourful and super quick. This fish could be accompanied by a side of brown rice and stir fried vegetables topped with toasted cashews.



The Miso Glaze works well for other fatty fish like salmon.

Black Cod with Miso Glaze

Serves 2

2 fillets of black cod (sablefish)
1 tbsp miso
1 tbsp mirin
1 tbsp rice vinegar
1/2 tbsp soy sauce
1 tbsp butter

sprinkle of black sesame seeds

1. Clean and pat dry the fillet.
2. Pre-heat broiler.
3. Whisk the miso, mirin, rice vinegar, and soy sauce together in a separate bowl until a thick smooth paste forms.
4. Heat a skillet at medium high, add butter until it is hot and sizzles.
5. Place fillet on the skillet, skin side down. Resist the temptation to move or touch the fish. Cook for about 5-10 minutes or until skin crisps up and the bottom of the fish starts to become opaque.
6. When the fish is cooked most of the way through, spoon miso paste over the top of the fillet.
7. Place under broiler until the fish is cooked and the miso glaze is golden. It happens quickly so don’t go answer your phone while your fish is in the broiler.

Weekday Meal Prep:
If you are serving this with rice and vegetables, the first thing is to get the rice cooking as it takes the longest and your vegetables prepped before you start cooking the fish so all the components of dinner are ready at the same time.

What To Do With…. Romanesco Broccoli

A new feature I am introducing to my blog is “What To Do With…”

I believe people are inclined to try new foods, but they don’t know what to do with it or what it tastes like. Or alternatively, they know one or two recipes for a particular ingredient, but don’t know what else it can be used for. My goal for My Kind of Food is to have a repertoire of great handy ideas and sometimes recipes that will encourage you to try something new or to use an ingredient in a new way.

If there is an ingredient you would like to see for future, drop me a line! Suggestions are welcome.

My favourite part of going to the market is discovering something seasonal and fleeting. Something you can only savour at a special time of the year. Right now, the markets are carrying the Romanesco broccoli. It’s a really unusual looking thing. It looks like something out of a sci-fi movie: lurid lime-green colour, angular shape and a bumpy surface like that of an uninhabited planet. But if you think of it like any old broccoli or cauliflower, you'll find it's really simple to cook and enjoy.

The Romanesco is very similar to the cauliflower in both taste and texture and therefore, any preparation you use for cauliflower would be just as nice for the strange looking vegetable.

Some ideas of what to do with Romanesco:

1. Steamed and served with a béchamel or cheese sauce
2. Roasted with smoked paprika and butter
3. Made into a gratin with gruyere and cream
4. Sautéed with garlic and olive oil
5. Steamed and pureed into a soup

Best Laid Plans

Having a reputation for some competence in the kitchen often brings in requests from friends seeking out a new recipe, particularly for a special occasion. In fact, as much as I love such requests, I also fret over them. Oh the (self-imposed) pressure!

Preparing a meal at its basic level is an act of sustainment and nourishment, we eat to live. But at its grandest, preparing a meal is theatre, a labour of love and an expression of passion. Whether it is a mother preparing lunch for her children, or a three-star Michelin chef dazzling his diners, food is a vehicle to communicate our affection, our joy, our pride.

This week, a friend of mine, Ralph, asked me for a recipe for ceviche in anticipation for a date he is having later on in the week. Since my return from Mexico, I had been thinking about re-creating a ceviche dish I had and so his request for the appetizer was well-timed. I had been thinking about ceviche shooters: soft pillowy scallops, dotted with tiny cumin seeds and a fine dice of red peppers, swimming in tangy mouth-watering broth of lime juice, salt and the slightest hint of tequila. However, I couldn't seem to get my hands on sushi-grade seafood this weekend which I think is a must not only from a taste standpoint but also from a food safety perspective. So, instead of something for the beginning of the meal, I thought I might share with Ralph a little something for the end of the meal.



This is the easiest dessert I know and an absolutely lovely way to end a nice supper. It is a dessert we eat often in my home and although light tasting, it is supremely satisfying.

Panna cotta (meaning "cooked cream" in Italian) is an elegant dessert which is super easy to make and takes fifteen minutes of cooking time. In its traditional form, it is as pale as the fresh fallen snow, made generally with cream and milk. It is delicate and smooth, unadulterated by strong flavours or colourings. In this version, I have looked to south-east Asian agar* desserts for inspiration. By contrast, agar desserts from south-east Asia are colourful sturdy gelatinous squares intensely flavoured by pandan, and coconut. It is usually served alongside a plate of sliced tropical fruit. While there is a similar flavour here, I like gelatinous desserts that quiver, wobble and yield to slightest pressure under a spoon. This is not a dessert that could be used as a paper weight, it is so light it almost floats.

We normally have agar* at home for when I make these light smooth mango puddings (a staple in Dim Sum houses everywhere) using a recipe very similar to the one below. I created this dessert when I didn't have mango puree, but a quick forage through my pantry yielded velvety coconut milk, creamy evaporated milk and sticky brown sugar. Of course, it's just a simple pudding but give it a fashionable name like panna cotta and your guests will be impressed.

The texture of this panna cotta is as it would be cooked in the traditional way: wobbly, delicate and light. It is the palest mocha and is deliciously fragrant.

Brown Sugar and Coconut Panna Cotta
Serves 4

1 500ml can light coconut milk
1 300ml can low-fat evaporated milk
1 1/2 tsp of agar powder* (also called agar agar, or kanten)
1/2 c brown sugar (packed)
1 tsp vanilla extract

1. Measure and pour ingredients into a tall saucepan, except for about 1/2c of the milk and the agar powder.
2. In a tall saucepan, simmer coconut milk, evaporated milk, sugar and vanilla.
3. In a separate bowl, whisk the remaining milk and agar together until fully incorporated and there are no lumps.
4. Add mixture to the sauce pan, whisk quickly to incorporate and simmer until warm. There should be no lumpy gelantinous bits. (If there are, you can strain them out before you pour into ramekins. Important: Do not allow this mixture to boil otherwise it will split and will not be creamy and opaque in appearance.
5. Prepare four ramekins by rinsing them in cold water and place the ramekins underneath a towel. Do not wipe the inside of the ramekins dry. The cold water will help in the removal of the panna cottas.
6. Pour mixture into a jug. (I use a 4c glass measuring cup which helps me measure out an equal amount into the ramekins.) Gently pour the mixture into the individual ramekins, allow to cool slightly, then cover lightly with cling wrap allowing steam to escape. When cool, refrigerate them until ready to serve.
7. To serve, warm a butter knife under hot water and gently slip along the edges of the ramekin. Place the plate on top of the ramekin and ever so carefully, invert the plate so that the bottom of the ramekin is facing upward. Carefully wiggle the ramekin away from the panna cotta. Dust the panna cotta with cinnamon, and chocolate shavings. Use the lightest touch. Alternatively, you can serve the panna cottas in the ramekins. Serve immediately.

*I can't find agar - what do I do?
Agar is a natural seaweed-derived gelling agent. It is a great alternative to gelatine for vegans. However, unlike gelatine, agar can also set at room temperature. Agar may be found in a health food stores or Asian grocery stores. If you can't find agar and you're not a vegan, use gelatin instead. It can be found in the dessert section of grocery stores (beside the Jell-o), baking supply stores or health food stores.

Apples + Cranberries = Fall Flavour

When we received our CSA share this week, we found little mangled Macintosh apples at the bottom of our box. A bit bruised and draped with dirt from the other tenants of the half share box this week. These little globes were not shiny and gorgeous like their Whole Food brethren. While they were too damaged to eat out of hand, they might do quite well transformed into a luscious crisp or a spicy chutney.

And truth be known, I had apple chutney on the brain ever since I sampled a bite at the farmer's market table several weeks back. Gosh, it was heavenly. It was sweet, savoury, tart, and bright. It left me wanting to make my own batch.

Since we had an apple pie sitting on the kitchen counter, an apple crisp might be overkill this week and a spicy, fragrant apple chutney might be a nice little accompaniment for fall meals. Best part of all, apple chutneys aren't fussy. It's a couple of apples, a little tang, some spices, cook for 20 minutes and you're good to go. (Unless you want to can them, but this requires a little more effort and time. Since this is a small batch - it makes a little more than a litre - you can jar a couple and stick them in the fridge to eat them in quick order. Or give it to a friend who will appreciate the fruits of your labour.)



I had two ginger gold apples (my personal favourite - the ginger gold is a tart and crisp with a slight hint of ginger warmth) sitting in the crisper. I threw them in to add extra body since Macs transform into something more jammy and luscious. But use the apples you have and adjust the cooking time accordingly.

Once done, I packed the chutney in lovely gleaming glass mason jars, but I didn't process them so they went straight into the fridge once cooled.



4 small macintosh apples (use what you have and adjust the spice proportions)
2 ginger gold apples
1/2 c onion minced finely
1 c dried cranberries
1 c fresh cranberries
1/2c brown sugar
1 tbsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp all spice
1/2 c orange juice
1/2c white wine vinegar
ginger (thumb size piece)

1. Peel and cut apples into medium sized dice. Cut the onion into a smaller dice (or whiz onion in your food processor)
2. In a medium sized saucepan, add apples, onions, cranberries, brown sugar, orange juice, and vinegar. Bring to a steady simmer over medium heat.
3. Meanwhile grate ginger over a ceramic grater and add to chutney.
4. Simmer until most of the liquid has evaporated. The apples will be jammy and sticky but should still be chunky.

Serve with crackers or as a side to turkey.