Liver Tastes Better With Tajarin

Fig.1. Tagliatelli with liver, veal and rosemary. A very Northern Italian dish.  Liver never tasted so good.

One of the best pasta dishes I’ve ever sampled happened in the City of Alba. Alba is located in The Piedmonte region of Northern Italy.  A region well known for wines, such as Barrolo and Asti, cheeses such as Robiola and Gorgonzola, and as being the birthplace of Nutella.  But the region of Piedmonte is also home to ‘Tajarin’.

Tajarin is simply the Langhe dialect for tagliatelli; but the tagliatelli in this region differ slightly than the rest of Italy because of two things: size and color.  Tajarin are traditionally cut with a knife and a little smaller in width than tagliatelli, they are also only made with egg yolks thus giving the dough a very distinct amber color; a tint which only the deep, orange egg yolks of Italy can inflict.

In Northern Italy, Tajarin is often served with a simple sauce of olive oil and shaved white truffles, but I once was served Tajarin with a liver and veal sauce, and it turned out to be a dish that has become embedded in my hippocampus. 

Fig.2. Next day's lunch.

Tajarin Con Fegato, Vitello e Rosemarino

Tajarin With Liver, Veal and Rosemary

Serves 4

I know most packages of Italian 00 flour says that it’s flour better suited for pastries and cakes, but trust me, most cooks in Northern Italy use it to make their pasta, according to them 00 flour in their pasta results in a more tender noodle.

Ingredients:

250 Grams Tajarin or Tagliatelli (available in most Italian specialty shops. You can also use linguine or any pasta for that matter.)

3 tbsp good olive oil

5 tbsp butter

1 large onion, finely diced

4 sprigs of rosemary, chopped

250g ground veal

6 to 7 chicken livers, chopped fine

1 cup white wine

3 to 4 cups chicken or beef stock

Salt and Pepper

Directions:

Add the olive oil and butter to a large pan set over medium heat.  Once hot, add the onions and rosemary and cook slowly until onions are translucent, about 12 to 15 minutes.  Add the veal and liver stirring often to ensure that the meat breaks apart into fine pieces.  Cook until meat is cooked through, 10 to 12 minutes.  Turn your heat to high and add the wine.  Cook until wine completely evaporates, turn the heat back to medium and add 2 cups of broth.  Bring to a simmer and cook until broth completely evaporates.  Once the broth evaporates, add the remaining broth, simmer, and using a wooden spoon, scrape any fond that forms on the bottom of the pan until broth is reduced by half.  Season with salt and pepper if desired and serve with some freshly grated parmesan.

Note: This is a slow dish inspired by Eugenia De Marchi, aka: Nonna Gennia.  The complete evaporation concentrates the flavor because the salts and sugars in the wine and broth become a fond which sticks to the bottom of the pan.  The last addition of broth, and a good scraping at the bottom of the pan with a wooden spoon, releases all the flavor back into the sauce. 

A Drummer Becomes a Foodie so a Foodie Will Become The Drummer

Fig.1. Rush drummer Neil Peart branding his Food site. Notice how the sweater is covering the drum set.

It’s not enough for some people to be the best at something, they have to step into somebody else’s territory and be ‘over-achievers’.  The over-achiever I’m referring to is Neil Peart, drummer extraordinaire and Rush band member.

I love Rush.  I’ve been a rush fan ever since my neighbor, Micheal Paventi, brought his entire collection of Rush tapes over to my house; I was 13 years old. Apart from being a drum god, Neil Peart is also a poignant poet and lyrists, and an accomplished writer.  But all of these talents weren’t enough for Mr. Peart and woke up one morning and said to himself, ‘I think I’ll become a food writer.’

What ensued was a food section to his web site called ‘Bubba’s Bar and Grill’ (Bubba is one of Peart’s nicknames.)  In it, Peart claims that he’s, “learned a few things about preparing good simple food that might be worth sharing” and proceeds to stimulate our appetites with such simple recipes as salmon teriyaki, pollo pesto pasta, and avocado shrimp, to name but a few.  And ‘a few’ is right, considering the web site has been up and running for about two years, Peart doesn’t have very many recipes posted; nineteen at last count. But let’s not harp on size, Peart’s on-line portion of recipes might be skimpy, but he does also provide culinary insight on how to cook eggs and make orange juice, two sustenance’s which no doubt fuel the body after a couple of hours behind a drum set, and that’s exactly where you’ll find me these days, behind a drum set: If Mr. Peart wants extend his fork and proverbial pen on my turf, let’s see how he likes it when somebody beats on his. 

Fig.2. Get a good look Peart.  How does it feel when somebody steps into your territory? I'm practicing a solid 2 hours a week, I should have parts of Tom Sawyer by May 2013.

I now know how true actors feel when singers try their hand at acting, or how cannibals must have felt when Jonathan Swift published A Modest Proposal: imposed on, hitting my steering wheel with my fingers would no longer be enough. So with a tummy stuffed with bitterness I purchased my first drum set. I will learn every single Rush song down solid and then reach out to the other two Rush band members, Geddy and Alex.  I would point out to them that Neil “Bubba” Peart wasn’t getting any younger, and that an old man behind a drum set might start to affect ticket sales.  Since Peart is the ‘New Guy’ in the group, the other two shouldn’t have a problem replacing him.  So far I’ve got, A Passage to Bangkok, Fly by Night and Madrical down solid.  I would also like to point out that I have ‘pieces’ of other Rush songs down pact and me not being able to play 95 percent of Rush songs in their entirety might be resolved with pre-recorded drum tracks, should the guys want to replace Peart right away. 

Geddy and Alex, if you’re reading this, I would also like to say that I would be willing to cook for you while on tour or in the studio.  While my specialty is Italian food, I am not limited by it, I can also fry a mean egg and squeeze the sweetest orange juice outside of Florida.

Superbowl Snacks: Chicago Beef Sandwich

Fig.1. This fine specimen came from Al's Beef in Chicago.  

My Superbowl parties have become more about what I'm serving than about football.  Even people who's company I don't share Superbowl night with ask me what I'm making for the boys. Well I'm glad you asked, this year's Superbowl is made possible by the great city of Chicago.
For me, a recent visit to Chicago wasn't about Alinea, Charlie Trotter, or Next (who has the time or patience for drawn-out, abstract-art-looking tasting menus anymore, I don't.) It's about the food that defines a city.  Chicago is defined by deep-dish pizza, popcorn, hamburgers, hot dogs, and this year's Superbowl menu item, The Chicago Italian Beef Sandwich.  The Chicago Beef Sandwich was brought to us by Italian immigrant workers who worked circa the opressive Chicago factory era:  No money equals tough cuts of meat no body wants equals Italian ingenuity equals a great sandwich.
The concept is simple: Take a soft  sourdough bun, pack it with thinly sliced beef that has been braised slowly in beef broth, add some pickled giardiniera, and dip the finished sandweech in the beef broth.  Soggy bread anyone? Yes please! To quote Galdolf The Grey, "keep it simple, keep it soggy"or was it 'secret and safe', I can never remember. Lord of The Rings was about food, right?
Pats suck!

 Fig.2. Al's Beef, Chicago

 Fig.3. Al's wall decor, signed by Jay Leno.

 Fig.4. Italian Beef sandwich from Portillo's, where they also make a fine Chicago style hot dog.


Chicago Beef Sandwich
Makes 6 sandweech

Fig.5. My version, simple but good. The more beef the better. Not enough in this picture.

Ingredients

• 4 lbs of top round beef
• 2 tbsp salt
• 2 tbsp fresh cracked black pepper
• 1 tsp cayenne
• 1 tbsp paprika
• 2 tsp red chili flakes
• 3 tbsp olive oil
• 2 large onions, chopped
• 5 garlic cloves, whole
• 1/2 cup red wine
• 4 cups beef stock
• 2 bay leaves
• 6 sourdough baguette rolls halved, toasted (If your bread is very fresh, you don't need to toast it.)
• 1 cup chopped giardiniera vegetables in vinegar

Directions

Rub meat with dry ingredients, cover and refrigerate for 2 to 3 hours

Preheat oven to 275 degrees F.

Add 3 tbsp of olive oil to a roasting pan set over medium high heat.  Once the oil is hot, sear meat all around.

Add onions and garlic to the meat pan and saute for 15 minutes, deglaze with wine, beef stock and bay leaves.

Place roasting pan in the oven and cook for 3 hours, uncovered, or until an instant-read thermometer registers 135 degrees F in center. Remove, let cool, then slice very thin. (I like to put the meat in the freezer for a couple of hours, it makes slicing it a lot easier. It's what they do in Chicago.)

Cool broth in roasting pan (you can put it in the fridge overnight) and remove the fat that rises to the top.  Strain the broth into a medium saucepan. 

Reheat the broth, and add the sliced meat to the broth. Place some meat on each toasted roll, ladle with some broth and top with giardiniera vegetables. 

Fig.6. I like to wrap the sandwich in foil.  The steam help with the overall texture and brings the sandwich together. 

Leave The Cell Phone, Take The Cannoli

Fig.1. A burger at Mr Steer with a side of curly fries.

If I see one more hamburger, poutine, taco, pizza, or fish and chip joint open up within the Montreal area I’ll be one happy man. 

The majority of foodies tend to follow trends.  If an influential food “authority” proclaims the next best thing to be, let’s say, falafel, everyone jumps on board. Social media sites become plastered with falafel photos, a long falafel chat stream takes shape on Chowhounds filled with opinions on who makes the best falafel, and chefs from all over the city begin to think up new and exciting ways to serve falafel: falafel poutine, falafel pizza, and of course, falafel sliders.  Until such time when the once fashionable falafel goes the way of the cupcake, and that same influential, food shepherd tweets the phrase, “falafel? That was so yesterday”.

The food and restaurant scenes in most cosmopolitan cities have become less about food and more about image (and more often than not, the desire to be known and recognized by restaurant owners and glam chefs) we can thank television and our egos for that.

Fig.2. Yes I can eat what you see above by myself. Double burger with cheese flattened to perfection.

Take for example the ever-present hamburger rage.  There’s nothing new about a burger, like pizza in Italy during the 1800’s, the North American hamburger was something you ate if you were short on cash, or weren’t dressed well enough to go into a “real” restaurant.  But something happened to the Hamburger, it ascended up the food ladder and it’s status changed from Joe Hamburger to Charles VonHambuger the Third.  Present day burger palaces such as Mbrg, Mechant Boeuf and Brasserie T make a great hamburger no doubt about it, but along with the good food came an atmosphere conducive to be scene in: Food lovers became food socialites eager to tell the world where and what they were eating.  The trendy food joints now do more than fill our stomachs; they satisfy our esteem and make us visually valuable.  If your first thought when you walk into a restaurant is to get your “Tweet” on, for God’s sake it’s time to get hungry again.

Establishments such as Delallos, Dic Anns and Da Bologna have been making burgers any cow could be proud of for decades, but where’s their fanfare?  Sure these places—often referred to as “Montreal Institutions”—are tossed around Internet food forums; but these old, greasy spoons aren’t the spots certain people want to be seen in.  Walk into Da Bologna, log into Foursquare and nobody will give a shit.

Fig.3. Poutine at Decarie Hot Dogs.  They put the fork in the middle like that to prevent me from shoving my whole face in the poutine.

To enter a place like Delallos, Dic Anns, Momessos or D’Agostino’s means you’re there solely for the food.  It means that from the moment the food gets placed in front of you, you will stare at nothing but the glory on the plate.  And after you take that first bite, you won’t be worried about getting sauce on your chin or who’s sitting at the table next to you, or if the chef will appear from out of the kitchen, you’ll only be happy that you’re eating something wonderful, and proud that there’s sauce running down your arm. (and if you’re a hard-core fooder, you’ll lick that arm. Lick It Baby!)   

New restaurants are opening all around us, many of them pushing the food envelope and creating delicious stuff based on old ideas, and that’s great.  This hard-core food lover however will begin 2012 by paying homage to all the “old school” eateries in Montreal, the places where trends are both outlived and simply a way of life.

Please stand when I call out your name,

Dic Anns

Delallos

D’agostinos

Da Bologna

Shwartz Deli

Momessos

Café Milano

Pizzeria Dimenna

Copoli

Chez Ma Tante

Decarie Hot Dog

Chez Girard

Jarry Smoke Meat

La Banquise

La Paryse

Mr Steer

Chalutier MLM (For their fish and chips only)

If I’ve forgotten any, and I’m sure I have, please let me know.

Fig. 4. A burger at Copoli. I shared this burger with someone upon my first visit to this  old Westmount establishment, next time, I'm having one to myself.

 Inferno to the Rescue: A Karma-Christmas Story

Fig.1 The Inferno team. The funny thing is that Marcella actually ran away with the bowl of pasta she's holding as soon as the picture was taken.

Here comes another Christmas, and somewhere John Lennon is still asking, "So what have you done?"  Before you all stop reading, let me assure you there won't be any preaching in this post; rather, this post will bring attention to what a certain restaurant in Montreal has done to help embody the spirit of the season.
Karma Christmas is the brainchild of food writer and all around swell person, Marcella DeVincenzo, aka. EatalianGirl.  The idea behind Karma Christmas is simple.  Come to a restaurant and eat way too much food for ten bucks, all that is required of you is to bring a grocery bag full of non-perishable food items for Sun Youth.
We booked a restaurant and sold out of tickets very quickly. (Which is easy to do when tickets only cost ten dollars.)  The theme for the event was Italian Sunday Lunch, a la Nonna: Big bowls of pasta, meatballs, sausages, salad and dessert.
The proverbial unforeseen problem, (which always occurs when organising events such as these) came in the form of the original restaurant not being able to host the event then only two weeks away.  Enter Restorante Inferno (located on Dante and Ste-Dominique in Little Italy.) A plea for help was met by Chef Nick and his cohorts with a resounding show of benevolence.  Not only did Chef Nick open his restaurant on Sunday (a day the restaurant is usually closed) but he overfed us with delicious pasta, mounds of meat, and a dessert that perfectly possessed the essence of the "Italian Grandmother".  His staff not only worked for free, but also went above and beyond what Marcella and I expected.  Dante Alighieri would have been amiss with this Inferno: No hell or pergatory here, just good intentions.
I've since returned to Inferno for purely selfish reasons, I was hungry.  I had a bowl of perfectly prepared Trippa and sampled a deeply flavoured lentil soup.  I'll be back again soon to sample some menu standouts that connected with the food neurons in my head, namely, the Mac&Cheese Cavatelli and Shortribs. (The menu, written on a blackboard, changes regularly.)
So a big thank you to Chef Nick, Mark, Fabrizio, Piero, Tony and everyone who attended. As a result of everone's selflessness, over 50 heaping bags of food was loaded into the back of a Sun Youth truck.
Merry Christmas.

Fig.2. Can there be a more beautiful picture?

Fig.3. Filling up the Sun Youth truck with bags of food.

Fig.4. Sun Youth is always in need of food. If you have food or cloths to drop off they can use it.

Inferno. 6850 Saint-Dominique, Montréal, QC H2S 1J7, 514274-0666

Sun Youth 4251 SAINT-URBAIN RUE  Montréal, Québec (514) 842-6822

The Jean-Talon Market Gets a Book

Fig.1. This book is filled with beautuful pictures and great recipes.

As someone who spends a lot of time at The Jean Talon Market, it was about time someone wrote a book about Montreal’s oldest and biggest food market.  About time because aside from the façade of food visible at The Jean-Talon Market, there’s a lot of history embedded within the roots of all those vegetables being sold there: a tale of immigrants, of culture, and of a city.  Susan Semenak succeeds in adding all of those ingredients to her book. A book that's well written, engaging, and reinforced with many beautiful photographs. 

In The Market Chronicles: Stories & Recipes From Montreal’s Marche Jean-Talon,  Semenak touches on the history of Montreal’s largest market, on the food, and on eating locally and in season; but what really makes this book unique are the stories of the people behind the food.  Mushrooms at Les Jardin Sauvage taste great, but reading about how Francois Brouillard and acclaimed chef Nancy Hinton forged a romantic relationship over foraged fungi spoke to the bond between food and sensuality.  The vegetables at Birri are beyond reproach, but Semenak sheds some light on why Lino and Bruno Birri’s standards are so high.  Anyone who has been to the market will be familiar with the smell of grilled meat coming from L’Olivier, but Semenak captures the ambition and cultural nuance that resides within a tale of two immigrants.  

Fig.2. Photos of Semenak visiting a sheep's-milk farm in Ste-Helene-de-Chester. The where-a-bouts of the lamb Semenak is holding are still unknown.

Semenak also succeeds in establishing the connection between localization and The Jean Talon Market; all the while asserting a human face, and many dirty human hands, toward all of the food products we sometimes think just magically appears on grocery store shelves.  She removes the cheese from its vacuumed prison and the fruit from its cellophane container and reminds us all that’s it’s all right for hands to touch the foods we eat.  The book is also an important reminder of how blessed we are in Montreal to have such a wonderful farmer’s market.  

Looking for a great Christmas gift, here it is.

Market Chronicles: Stories & Recipes From Montreal's Marche Jean-Talon is available in English and in French at all book stores, as well as in Costco. Published by Les Edition Cardinal.

English verions have almost sold out, but I found some still available at La Maison de la Presse in Little Italy.

Here's just one great recipe from Semenak's book. A soup made for winter and the cold nights ahead.

Foraging For Real Mushrooms

Fig.1. The cool dude holding one porcini is Adriano.  The dorky one holding two is some guy we met in the woods and claimed to need a friend.  He's still following us.

Ask any mycophagist and they’ll tell you this was a great year to forage for mushrooms.  Chanterelles and porcinis were especially in abundance due to the damp, humid mornings, and wet nights.

Found so many mushrooms this year in fact, that after the freezer was filled to the door with porcinis, we had to dry the rest. 

Fig.2. Out of the freezer and lying in a row.

Porcini mushrooms, when fresh, are a real culinary treat.  Unlike the tough nature of the dried variety that requires re-hydrating however, fresh porcini are meaty, juicy, and overflow with fungal flavor.  The best way to eat fresh porcini mushrooms is to simply sauté them in some good olive oil and garlic, and add a pinch of sea salt to them once cooked.  You can also get creative should the mood strike you, as I did below.

Porcini Pizza

Fig.3. It's a pizza, but this one is all about the mushrooms

If you’re not up to making your own dough, just go to a good boulangerie and pick it up there.  This is a pizza “in bianco” so no tomatoes here, as they will take away from the flavor of the porcini.  Don’t skimp on the olive oil or your pizza will be dry.

Ingredients:

Good quality olive oil

4 cloves garlic, whole and crushed

12 to 15 porcini mushrooms, sliced to app. 1/4 inch  (if you don’t have porcini, use oyster, king, chanterelle, Portobello or even all of them.  There are many different mushrooms hailing from Quebec available at your supermarket right now.)

a pinch of chili flakes (optional)

sea salt

Pizza Dough
1/2 cup mozzarella di buffala, grated

Grated Parmiggiano cheese

Directions:

Preheat oven to 450 degreesF

Pour some olive oil into a large non-stick pan set over medium heat.  Add the garlic and cook for 2 to 3 minutes, add the mushrooms, chili flakes and cook until softened, about 8 minutes.  Remove the mushrooms from the heat, season with sea salt and set aside.

Knead out your pizza (shape is up to you) in a non-stick pizza-pan coated with enough olive oil to prevent sticking.  Drizzle the top of the pizza with olive oil and sea salt, and place in the oven for about 15 minutes, or until outer parts of the dough begin to firm up.  At this point, remove dough from the oven and add the grated mozzarella (make sure it's drained properly and not watery), and dress with the mushrooms. (but not the garlic, unless you want to)
Return pizza to oven and cook until dough is cooked through, about 10 to 12 more minutes.  Top with freshly grated pamigianno cheese and eat immediately.