Terroir la Cachette, Strewn Winery

Sunday October 18

Our colleague Kathleen came into St. Catharines to give an AIA talk, so we decided to take her out for an early dinner (i.e. lunch) at one of our favorite wineries. Luckily it was a warm, blue and gold day, with suitable touches of Canadian-maple red. La Cachette was glowing in the sun, and even still had pink roses around its terrace, though it was too cool to eat outdoors.

Just a light meal before the talk, so we began with the country-style bison paté, with little cornichons, caperberries, and a phyllo cup full of apple chutney. Our mains were seared rainbow trout fillets with buttery lemon and chive aioli, and a big bowl of steamed blue mussels in a light tomatoey broth. Of course, we had to order a bottle of the 2008 Strewn Rogue's Lot red, as you can't eat at a winery without wine. And we had to have a traditional butter whiskey tart (with vanilla ice cream and raspberry coulis) for dessert, so that Kathleen could try it. Oh, we have so many excuses for doing the things we like.

Smoked Duck Cassoulet

Saturday October 17

Holt actually smuggled the legs and thighs from last week's smoked duck into his carry-on luggage, so we could share them in Canada. What to do with them, though? He decided to make a seat-of-the-pants cassoulet, using our new slow-cooker from Canadian Tire. A couple of cups of white Northern and red kidney beans went into the cooker, with some celery tops, two cloves of garlic, fresh sage leaves, a chopped onion, some chopped green tops of leeks, and a bay leaf, covered with salted water (that thing about not salting beans is - snigger - a canard). They cooked on high for a couple of hours, then got reduced to low all day, while Holt added, at various times, some rashers of chopped double-smoked bacon from the Farmers' Market, chopped carrot, more chopped onion, the said duck legs and thighs, and some fresh thyme as it simmered. And oh my, was it delicious.

Veal Shoulder Roast with Vedge

Friday October 16

Together again - Holt flew into Buffalo via Detroit, another fun thing he'll avoid in the future. Still, we got home to a cozy apartment and a boneless veal shoulder roast from Antipastos.

We chose to do "Arrosto" from the website vealrecipes.com
With onions, potatoes, turnips, carrots

2 garlic cloves, minced
3 tablespoon olive oil 45ml
¼ teaspoon pepper 1ml
1 teaspoon dried sage leaves 5ml
1 tablespoon dried rosemary (15ml)
(if you have fresh, tuck branches and leaves under the string ties)
1 Boneless Veal Shoulder Roast, 2½-3 pounds, trimmed of fat, rolled and tied (1-1½Kg)
3 cups Chicken stock or broth 750ml

Directions
Preheat oven to 350°F. (176°C)
In small bowl mix sage, rosemary, garlic, oil, and pepper.
Rub surface of veal with this seasoned oil.
Place roast in a large roaster pan with a lid.
Pour 2 cups (500ml) stock around veal.
Roast partially covered for 1 hour, turning 2-3 times, until barely tender.
Uncover and roast until lightly browned, about 15 minutes longer.
Remove meat from pan, and tent with foil to keep warm.
Put pan juices in a pan over medium heat, and bring juices to a boil, scraping up brown bits from bottom of pan.
Add remaining stock to pan.
Season with additional pepper to taste.
Slice veal roast thin and serve with pan juices.

The meat was tender but resilient, and the vegetables were luscious.

Chicken Chiles with Purple Pico de Gallo

Monday October 12

Today was the REAL Canadian Thanksgiving, which Barbara, ironically, had to spend driving back to Canada. So we had a big, satisfying dinner at lunchtime: beautiful roasted poblano peppers (bought from the Nice People at Findlay Market) stuffed with chicken and cheese, on an amazing salsa of PURPLE tomatillos and red bell pepper. Delicious to the palate, and crazy to the eyes.

Seared Scallops on Creamed Leeks

Sunday October 11

Yesterday when we were picking up our duck at Luken's, we were waited on by The Careful Guy, a fishy intellectual who is good about picking through the display case and avoiding the scraggly fillet or the broken mussel. So we splurged and got a pound of their large dry scallops, which he (carefully) put in a bag of ice. It is worth waiting to get this guy, especially when you're dealing with fish. It is also worth spending extra to get dry scallops, because they haven't been treated with STP (not the racer's edge, but sodium tripolyphosphate), which makes them last longer but gives them a tinny taste. You so don't want either.

Only dry scallops will really sear without leaking juice, so that's what you do, especially with big ones like this. First we got them a nice soft bed: whites of leeks, trimmed, washed, and sliced small crosswise, cooked low and slow (with a bit of minced tarragon) until they were melting, then doused with cream, boiled thick, and set aside. Then the scallops, adorned with fresh thyme and a sprinkle of kosher salt, went into a hot oiled pan, where they seared brown on both sides. Finally they were set on their creamy beds, and their pan was deglazed with wine, for a slightly browner sauce.

As they're so sweet and gentle, scallops need a vegetable that's savory, but won't drown their flavor out. These creamed leeks are ideal, though we've also seen good results with roasted brussels sprouts.

Smoked Duck with Asparagus

Saturday October 10

Since it was Canadian Thanksgiving, or at least that weekend, we had to have a festive bird. And as two people and a turkey is just as close to eternity as two people and a ham, we chose a lesser fowl, to wit (and to-whoo, though not an owl), a duck.
(Hold on, I have to catch my breath after that outbreak of mock-Shakespearean whimsy. There, that's better.)
The weather had cleared up into a beautiful blue and gold day, typical of autumn in Cincinnati. So we hauled out the old smoker and fired it up, and Holt smoked the duck on a nest of fresh thyme that Barbara had just trimmed out of the herb garden, while the charcoal fire was feed with all the old, dried, herb clippings.
We had the breasts elegantly sliced, with roast asparagus, and the smoky flavor was perfect for the rich, unctuous duck. Add a crisp, appley Chardonnay and a couple more adjectives, and it's a sophisticated Toronto take on Thanksgiving.

All-day chicken soup with tortellini

Friday October 9

The bag of frozen chicken bits (bones, necks, pope's noses) was getting too big for the freezer door, so it was time to take - and make - stock.
This is a lovely thing to do at home in your grubbies, while preparing powerpoints on Etruscan habitation evidence or the Saite period in Egypt (for example). It's also nice to be able to go outdoors and grab a handful of parsley and thyme to throw in the pot. So for dinner there was soooothing soooup, with some of the picked chicken and the soup onions thrown back into it, and tortellini boiled therein. Okay, so they were Trader Joe's dried, not the fresh ones we used to get at the Pasta e uova place on Via dei Quattro Venti, so they clouded the soup a bit. Still pretty damn soothing.