Silent Night

Dressed in shepherd's tunic, ready for the show!

"Silent night, Holy night,
All is calm, all is bright."
- from "Silent Night," by Joseph Mohr

Five days before Christmas. The gifts are bought and wrapped, the house is ready. This morning we went to the church where our oldest daughter teaches, to see the pageant she helped lead.  We are so happy to see her involved in the church doing what she loves most, working with young people.

The pageant was unique and lovely. The young musicians were supremely talented, and the donkey on wheels was a sight to behold. I've never seen the baby in the manger climb out and wander into the congregation in search of a beloved doll before. But some things never change: it wouldn't be a Sunday School pageant without a disconsolate baby wailing throughout the singing of "Silent Night."

Five days before Christmas - a good time to reflect on the nearly-finished year. I hope the past twelve months have brought you many blessings, and the opportunity to offer blessings to others. May you find peace on Christmas day, and every day.

"Sleep in heavenly peace,

Sleep in heavenly peace."

- from "Silent Night" 

Inside these wrappings

"Aren't we enlarged
by the scale of what we're able
to desire? Everything,
the choir insists,

might flame;
inside these wrappings
burns another, brighter life,
quickened, now,

by song: hear how
it cascades, in overlapping,
lapidary waves of praise? Still time.
Still time to change."

- from "Messiah (Christmas Portions)," by Mark Doty

This poem was a perfect match for our church service this afternoon, which was a celebration of Christmas music. With organ, piano, trumpet, horn, trombone, flute, a bell choir and three vocal choirs, we sang anthems like "O Come All Ye Faithful" and "Hark the Herald Angels Sing," and heard performances of "Rise Up and Follow that Star" and "O Holy Night." It was inspiring and beautiful.

My only difficulty was finding a recipe that was sufficiently glorious to match the music and the poem. As always, I'm a few recipes ahead, but none of them seemed quite noble enough to merit comparison to Handel's Messiah.

So my answer was to post a recipe for ... popcorn?

Perhaps there are more than six degrees of separation between George Frederick Handel and Orville Redenbacher. But this is a terrific recipe, with sweet from the caramel, savoury from the peanuts and pretzels, and a dash of the unexpected from the cayenne pepper. It may not be messianic, but it's one crackerjack treat.

Spicy Maple Kettle Corn
(from In The Kitchen with Stefano Faita)

Ingredients

8 cups popped popcorn
1 1/2 cups roasted peanuts (unsalted)
1 1/2 cups pretzels
3/4 cup maple syrup
1/4 cup corn syrup
1/4 cup butter (unsalted)
sea salt or kosher salt, to taste
cayenne, to taste

Preheat oven to 300 degrees. Line a large baking sheet or roasting pan with parchment paper.

Combine popcorn, peanuts and pretzels in large bowl and set aside.

Over medium heat, bring maple syrup and corn syrup to a boil and cook to soft ball stage (240 degrees). Add butter, salt and cayenne pepper.

Carefully pour the maple caramel mixture over popcorn and toss with wooden spoon or tongs to combine. Bake, turning every 8 to 10 minutes, until caramel hardens on popcorn, about 30 minutes.

Let cool completely. Store in airtight container.

A Long December

"I can't remember all the times I tried to tell myself
To hold on to these moments as they pass.
And it's one more day up in the canyon
And it's one more night in Hollywood
It's been so long since I've seen the ocean .. I guess I should."

- from "A Long December" by the Counting Crows

I love this song by the Counting Crows, but this December doesn't seem particularly long - like most Decembers, it will likely pass in a heartbeat. I'd love to know how I can slow the passage of the next few weeks so I have time to enjoy everything I love about the month.

I haven't figured out how to slow time down, but it felt like I did when I prepared these slow-cooker baked apples. They're the best baked apples I've ever eaten. I think it was the low heat and the long baking time that cooked them to a tender perfection - and lent my kitchen a wonderful spicy aroma in the process. The first time I made them, I skipped the step about peeling the skin off the top of the apple (which I later realized was intended to keep them from bursting). That first batch was delicious but unphotographable, and I knew I'd have to make them again to post them on the blog. I've never been so happy to have a recipe fail!

Baked Apples with Cider Butter Sauce

(from Canadian Living)

6 apples
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1/2 cup chopped dried cherries or raisins
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp grated nutmeg
1/2 cup apple cider
2 Tbsp butter, melted
2 tsp cornstarch

Core each apple almost to bottom, leaving base intact. Slice off 3/4 inch wide strip of peel around hole at top, and score through the skin halfway down, all the way around the apple. (These prevent the apple from bursting.)

In bowl, combine brown sugar, dried cherries, cinnamon and nutmeg; pack into apples. Place in 4- to 5- quart slow cooker. Whisk together apple cider and butter; pour over apples.

Cover and cook on low, basting several times, until tender, about 3 to 4 hours. Transfer apples to shallow serving dish and keep warm.

Whisk cornstarch with 1 Tbsp cold water; whisk into liquid in slow cooker. Cover and cook on high until sauce is thickened, about 15 minutes.

Serve warm with ice cream.

Foodservice Friday: Fat Pasha

Roast cauliflower with tahina, skhug, pine nuts, pomegranate and halloumi.
Photo courtesy of Fat Pasha

It's almost impossible for a restaurant to achieve perfection. But Toronto's Fat Pasha comes as close as almost anywhere I've been.

We first visited on Mother's Day this year. The timing was deliberate - I wasn't sure if the resident picky eater would like Middle Eastern food, and so I made the reservation for the one day when no one could complain about the restaurant choice. As it turned out, it didn't matter. Everyone, from my mom down to that picky eater, loved it. I've been back three times since, most recently to take Andrew's cousin and his wife visiting from Oxford, England. They loved it too.

What do I like to eat here? I'd never order a meal without the breathtaking roast cauliflower, probably Fat Pasha's iconic dish. The last time we visited, I brought leftovers home, and they made the best lunch I've ever eaten. The hummus isn't far behind, and neither is the falafel, the fattoush or the fried crushed potatoes. Once we ordered the daily special of buttermilk chicken, and I'm still dreaming about it. The sufganiyot (deconstructed jelly doughnuts) and nutella bread pudding (self-explanatory) are both divine. I'm pretty sure you can't go wrong with anything on the menu.

Fat Pasha was named the best new restaurant in Toronto in 2014. It's casual, affordable, and full of enchanting flavours. 

Salatim
Photo courtesy of Fat Pasha

I reached out to owner Anthony Rose with a few questions, and his answers were as brilliant and charming as the food he serves:

Of Muses and Meringues: What was your inspiration behind opening Fat Pasha?
Anthony Rose: Originally it was Ottolenghi. Then it morphed into a combo of Israeli with stuff my bubbie cooked. Lots of Ashkenazi stuff. Then it all made sense. Kinda.

OF&M: Who have been your biggest culinary influences?
AR: Jeremiah Tower. Jonathan Waxman. Julia Child. 2 Fat Ladies. My mom.

OF&M: What was your most memorable cooking moment?
AR: Cooking for Julia Child and Jacques Pepin in San Francisco. Making Kraft Dinner* with my son. Extra cheese. Lotsa Tabasco.

*For my international readers, Kraft Dinner is the Canadian equivalent of Kraft Mac and Cheese.

Mother's Day dinner

I wrote earlier that it's almost impossible to achieve perfection, but it's surprisingly close for Fat Pasha. The first time we visited, we ordered the milk and honey pudding. The best phrase to describe this dessert is "manna from heaven." Being an avid home baker, I have high standards for restaurant desserts, and I was blown away by this one. You can imagine my disappointment to see it's been taken off the menu.

Anthony Rose, if you're reading this post, let me tell you three things:

1. Your restaurant is my favourite new restaurant of 2015.
2. I would happily eat your roast cauliflower every day of my life.
3. If you ever bring back your milk and honey pudding, you will have achieved perfection.

Fat Pasha
414 Dupont St
Toronto, ON
647-370-6142
www.fatpasha.com

(All opinions are my own, and I received no compensation for this post.)

How to Make Gingerbread

"Gingerbread made from scratch takes very little time and gives back tenfold what you put into it. Baking gingerbread perfumes a house as nothing else. It is good eaten warm or cool, iced or plain. It improves with age, should you be lucky or restrained enough to keep any around."

- Laurie Colwin, Home Cooking

Many years ago, I chose Laurie Colwin's Home Cooking for our book club. (Thanks to our book club archivists Martha and Sara, I know it was fourteen years ago, in March 2001.) If you love reading about food and haven't read Home Cooking, I urge you to pick up a copy. In every chapter, the author writes about food she loves, and in nearly every chapter she includes a recipe. The entire book is great, and you'll find a dozen recipes you want to try immediately. But the chapter in which I found my kindred spirit is the one called "How to Make Gingerbread."

As Colwin writes, gingerbread is the kind of old-fashioned, unglamorous dessert nobody really makes any more. And that's to our detriment. It may not have the dazzle of a three-tier iced cake, but I can't imagine a better way to celebrate my birthday than with a cake whose subtle aromas make the house smell like Christmas, and whose flavour is something The Nutcracker's Sugar Plum Fairy would have adored.

Colwin suggests icing the cake with cocoa icing, or using lemon icing. She also suggests serving it with creme fraiche and a poached pear, or simply shaking powdered sugar on top. I'm sure all those variations are wonderful. But the first time I made it, I served it with raspberry jam and whipped cream, and I will never, ever make it any other way. It is exquisite.

How good is this cake? When I served it, Andrew told me it's his favourite of all my recipes. Given the huge number of recipes I make, both on the blog and not, I have to think that's pretty high praise. I think I'll make it for his birthday, too.

"This ... little cake will feed six delicate, well-mannered people with small appetites who are on diets and have just had a large meal, or four fairly well-mannered people who are not terribly hungry. Two absolute pigs can devour it in one sitting - half for you and half for me - with a glass of milk and a cup of coffee and leave not a crumb for anyone else."

- Laurie Colwin, Home Cooking

I'm pleased to say the four of us (apparently delicate, well-mannered people) enjoyed our cake, with leftovers put away in the fridge. But the leftovers were gone by noon the next day.

Gingerbread
(from Laurie Colwin's Home Cooking)

Note: Be sure to test the doneness of the cake. It can be a little finicky; sometimes the centre is still uncooked by the end of 30 minutes.

Ingredients:

1 stick (1/2 cup) butter
1/2 cup dark or light brown sugar
1/2 cup light molasses
2 large eggs
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 tsp baking soda
1 1/2 Tbsp ground ginger, or to taste
1 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp ground cloves
1/4 tsp ground allspice
2 tsp vanilla extract or lemon brandy (do not use lemon extract)
1/2 cup buttermilk

Heat oven to 350 degrees. Line a 9" cake pan with parchment paper, or butter the sides and bottom.

Cream 1/2 cup butter with the brown sugar. Beat until fluffy, then add molasses and beat some more. Beat in the eggs.

Add flour, baking soda, ginger, cinnamon, cloves and allspice. Stir until combined.

Add vanilla extract and buttermilk, and stir until combined. Turn batter into pan.

Bake for 20 to 30 minutes, checking after 20 minutes. Cool on a rack.

Serve warm or cool, with raspberry jam and whipped cream.

Foodservice Friday: LaVinia restaurant

I'm fortunate to be part of a group of friends that celebrates our birthdays together. And when my turn came around earlier this month, they showed how well they knew me by choosing the ideal place to celebrate. Not only do I love trying new restaurants, tapas-style eating is one of my favourites, with share plates where we all try a little of everything.

"Tapas-style" is a phrase that gets used a lot, but in the case of LaVinia restaurant, it couldn't have been more authentic. The restaurant's spiritual inspiration is Madrid, the true home of tapas. And LaVinia was the real deal - from the crab croquettes to the Paella Valenciana to the mango cheesecake, every dish we ordered was full of flavour, and beautifully presented.

Photo courtesy of LaVinia

When I contacted chef Fernando, he said the inspiration behind LaVinia was to provide an authentic experience of Spain, and specifically of Madrid - not just with the food, but through every ingredient, the wine, and the service. He's been with many Michelin star restaurants, and has cooked beside Juan Marie Arzak, Adolfo (of Toledo, Spain), and Ferran Adria. Yes, that would be the great Ferran Adria of elBulli, often called the best restaurant in the world. So now I'm one degree of separation from Ferran Adria. The mind reels.

I think the measure of a great cook is his or her ability to prepare a really simple dish, and that was the case here. My favourite part of the meal was the plate of mushrooms sautéed in garlic and olive oil - simple, elegant, and exquisite. Don't just take my word for it, try it - and anything else on the menu!

Photo courtesy of LaVinia

LaVinia
2350 Lakeshore Blvd. West
Toronto
(647) 748-2350
www.laviniarestaurant.com

(All opinions are my own, and I received no compensation for this post.)

In memory of the victims of the Paris attacks

"In the nightmare of the dark
All the dogs of Europe bark,
And the living nations wait,
Each sequestered in its hate;"

"In the deserts of the heart
Let the healing fountain start,
In the prison of his days
Teach the free man how to praise."

"What instruments we have agree
The day of his death was a dark cold day."

All quotes from "In Memory of W. B. Yeats" by W. H. Auden.

All photos taken in Paris, France: the Eiffel Tower, Père Lachaise cemetery, city scene from the Eiffel Tower.