Short trip to Rimouski and Matane, and a few gourmet spots

Quebec just experienced its first real heat wave of the summer, but we missed most of it, Sweetie and me : we went to le Bas-St-Laurent for a few days. Since we were not camping and did not bring any cooking gear, this post won't be about some recipe I made on the road; instead, I will write about places to visit, go eat and have a drink while in Rimouski and Matane.

Monday morning, we took the road towards Rimouski. Later in the day, we stopped in Pointe-au-Père to visit the Empress of Ireland Pavilion. Tragically interesting.

In the evening, first pit stop at Le Bien, le Malt craft brewery, located in center Rimouski : while rather good, the two different beers we tasted somehow lacked presence. They were a far cry from those fantastic beers we can drink at the microbrewery Archibald in Lac-Beauport, so close to our home we could just walk up there; let's just say that the Grande Barbue does not compare to the Ciboire or the Chipie. Very nice place to have an apero nonetheless, warm and welcoming.

Nine pm : the rain stops long enough for us to walk to Yin Yan Sushi nearby, where the kitchen was open until ten on this gray monday. Here sushi is the star, but there is also a great assortment of asian entrees. Very curteous and efficient service, delicious food, contemporary and sober settings, and reasonnable prices. Sweetie chose the General Tao chicken, I went for the Madras curry chicken, and we shared some potstickers for appetizers. I would definitely go back there without thinking twice.

First night was spent at Hôtel des Navigateurs. Bad experience! Our non-smoking room smelled like an ashtray, bed was old and not firm at all, and pillows were thick and too firm. As a result, I almost did not sleep, and I still have pain in my neck. While the advertising outside said "entirely renovated", it was obvious that our room had not been refreshed in a very long time. Much too expensive for the whole thing. The only positive aspect of it all : the young women at the frontdesk were very welcoming and professionnal.

Tuesday had to be sunny : we planned to go to les Jardins de Métis, or Reford Gardens. What a splendid place to visit! At lunchtime, we stopped at the little Café Jardin : we shared a big grilled brie-like cheese served on dried apricot and cranberry bread, and beet salad. Simple and delicious.

Around 3 pm, we left the gardens to go to our final destination, Matane. That evening, since we were in seafood country, we decided to spoil ourselves and went to le Rafiot, a nice fish and seafood restaurant close to our hotel. We had Le Naufrageur craft beer to begin with (good taste, but just a little on the watery side), Rafiot's soup as an appetizer (exquisite : a fish soup full of fresh salmon, cod, shrimps, scallops, lobster, celery, carot, onion, cream and a pinch of curry), and tha gigantic Gaspesian plate for 2 as a main course. Everything on that plate looked so good I forgot to take a picture before starting to eat... For the finale : chocolate mousse and crispy chocolate, a superbe dessert as good as everything that preceeded.

We booked a room at Hôtel Motel Belle Plage; build directly on the beach, this hotel is well taken care of, very clean and comfortable. You won't find trendy looks there, but the staff is very nice, and the place has a charming, even if old, style. To my absolute satisfaction, mattress and pillows were a dream...! And the ocean view was peacefully beautiful.

I love eggplant

After a long day kayaking at le Marais du Nord, a quick but satisfying meal was in order.  My sweetie suggested pasta, any kind : perfect idea.

Since the first day I tried my hands on pots and pans, italian cuisine has been a favorite of mine. And after spending two months travelling in Italy in 2008 (see http://danielleenitalie.blogspot.com) it remains one of the first thing I think of when planning a meal. Italian cooking is based on fresh, seasonnal products, and simplicity is a must. As David Rocco says in his cookbook : «The goal is to use the best ingredients you can get your hands on and to enhance their flavors, doing the very minimum.» I totally share his point of vue.

Today's recipe is a mix of two italian classics :  pasta alla Norma, and  pasta alla scarpariello, or «little shoemaker's pasta». And I took some liberties with the eggplant; I prefer to grill it instead of simmering it in the sauce : a light charring gives it a smoked, mellow flavor that is unique and matches well with the tomatoes.

Ahhh... Eggplants...I love eggplants. Too bad the english word is somehow lame compare to the french word (aubergines) or the italian one (melanzane).

Pâtes à la pancetta, aux aubergines et à la tomate - 
Pasta with pancetta, eggplant and tomato
 

A little olive oil, mixed with a garlic clove, finely minced (for brushing)
1 large eggplant, cut in thick slices
1 onion, minced
100 g pancetta, diced
1 can 28 oz whole italian tomatoes, drained and coarsely chopped
A few grape tomatoes or cherry tomatoes, halved (optionnal)
2 garlic cloves, finely minced
1/8 to 1/4 tsp. chili flakes
Salt and pepper to taste
A handful of fresh basil, chopped

Start with the eggplant : lightly brush the slices with the mix of oil and garlic, and put them on the preheated barbecue grill, direct heat. They are ready when they are getting softer and lightly golden. Take them out and let them cool down, then chop them.

The rest of the recipe will take about the same time it takes to cook the pasta.

While the pasta is boiling, heat up a large pan and pour in the olive oil; when the oil is hot, add the onion and cook over medium heat until the onion is almost translucide. Add the pancetta and cook 3 to 4 minutes, stirring frequently to prevent sticking and burning. Add the garlic and stir for 30 seconds, enough so it releases its flavor.

Add the tomatoes, the chopped eggplant, the chili flakes, salt and pepper; and since the pancetta is quite salty, be careful with the salt. While you are at it, mix in all those little shrinking grape tomatoes that lay forgotten on the kitchen counter : you wouldn't use them in a fesh salad, but they are surely good enough for this sauce.

Simmer for about 10 minutes, enough time for the sauce to thicken a bit and for the flavors to combine well. Add the basil at the last minute.

Mix the sauce with short pasta as penne, or over spaghetti or tagliatelle. And don't forget freshly grated parmigiano or pecorino.

Buon appetito!

Serves 4

Hot Saturday, fresh salsa

Once there was T-Bone : the quintessential star of the barbecue. Also co-staring : BBQ sauce, coleslaw and a potato. Good, very good. But boring if you barbecue intensely from April to October and it is your only plan.

Nowadays, however, an extraordinary amount of recipes feature varied products that are rubbed, marinated or sprinkled, and then put over direct (or indirect!) heat to be grilled and to tease our senses with delicious smells of charred something. And the good old potato is still there, sometimes. And sometimes it is altogether replaced with more sophisticated preparations.

Here is a salsa that goes well with any white meat, seafood and sausages. It is a melting pot of differents recipes that I saw here and there, and it includes everything I like in a salsa. Do it preferably a couple of hours before eating it, so the flavors can develop and mix well.

Enjoy this hot and sunny Saturday!

Salsa mangue, fraises et tomates - 
Mango, strawberry and tomato salsa

1 mango, finely chopped
12 larges strawberries, finely chopped (or 24 small ones)
1 large tomato, finely chopped
3 tbsp red onion, finely chopped
1 jalapeno, finely chopped
1 garlic clove, finely chopped
2-3 tbsp fresh coriander, finely chopped
Juice of 1 lime
1 tsp red wine vinegar
1 pinch of sugar
Salt and pepper to taste

Mix everything in a bowl, non metallic preferably.

...and the fabulous almond cake, at last!

Tomorrow became next week, sorry about that!



I am not one of those people who will deprive themselve in order to have room for dessert; I'm more savory than sweet. Nonetheless, I like sweet things now and then, especially if they are made with almonds.

Recently I fell upon this great recipe at Smitten Kitchen. Elegant and refined, that cake comes from Thomas Keller's Bouchon. I had to change the recipe a little because I don't own one of those super Kitchen Aid heavy duty mixer (I envy you, Audrey!), and forget about doing it with a handheld mixer : I would still be at it, trying to break the almond paste... So I used my food processor : fantastically easy. Once baked and garnished, the result was very impressive : it looks like you bought it at a very fancy French pastry shop half a world away and you paid a fortune for it.

Since in Québec, strawberries and rhubarb are not in season yet, I served the cake with cerises flambées au rhum, or flambéed Bing cherries, a recipe from Ricardo Larrivée's most recent cookbook.

Gâteau aux amandes - Almond cake

Adapted from Smitten Kitchen

200 g (7 oz) almond paste, broken in small pieces
1/4 cup sugar
4 oz unsalted butter (1 stick or 1/4 lb), cut into small pieces and chilled
2 tbsp honey
3 large eggs
2 tbsp amaretto, plus additionnal for brushing
1/3 cup all-purpose flour, sifted
Pinch of salt
1/3 to 1/2 cup sliced almonds, toasted
Confectioners’ sugar for dusting

Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C). Butter and flour the bottom and sides of an 9-inch round cake pan. You could also line its bottom with a circle of parchment paper; I didn't, because the bottom of my pan is made of tempered glass, and I left it under the cake for service.

Place the almond paste pieces and sugar in the bowl of a food processor. Pulse until the paste is broken into fine particles (see picture below).

Add 1/3 of the chilled butter at a time and mix well between each addition; the mixture should be light in color and airy; stop the machine and scrape down the sides as necessary. It is important to mix long enough or the cake will have a dense texture.

Add the eggs one at a time, beating until each one is fully incorporated before adding the next. Add the honey and amaretto and mix well; add the flour and a pinch of salt, and mix just to combine.

Scrape the batter into the prepared pan. If your not sure the pan is going to safely hold the batter, slide it on a large cookie sheet before putting it in the oven. Bake the cake for about 35 minutes, or until the cake is golden and springs back when pressed. Transfer to a rack to cool.

If you did put parchment paper, invert the cake onto the rack, remove the parchment paper, and invert the cake again on a service platter so that the top is once again facing upward. Brush the top of the cake with amaretto and sprinkle with the toasted almonds. Dust with confectioners’ sugar. The cake can be stored, well wrapped, at room temperature for up to 2 days. To serve, cut the cake into wedges. Serve with a side of flambéed cherries.

8 reasonable servings, or 6 huge servings...

And to go with the cake, a little color : flambéed cherries. In the originale recipe, Ricardo uses «griottes» a type of sour cherries (I think), but suggests to replace them by canned Bing cherries (be careful, not the pie mix but real canned fruits), which I did because they are much easier to find at the supermarket.

Cerises flambées au rhum - Flambéed Cherries with rum

Adapted from Ricardo - Meals for Every Occasion

In a medium skillet, melt 1 tbsp. butter on med-high. Add 1 tbsp sugar and stir for a minute of so. Add a 398 ml can (14-15 oz) of Bing cherries, drained (keep a little of the juice and add it to the pan to obtain a bit of sauce), and stir while they warm up. When the preparation is boiling, add 2 tbsp of rum and light up the cherries with a barbecue lighter. The flame should subside rapidely. Place the cherries in a bowl and serve alongside the cake.

Long weekend in Canada, and a first time dining outside

Last Saturday, we had dinner on Eric's and Audrey's terrasse, with a couple of friends, among them Frédéric, a long lost buddy from mine and Eric's days in graphic design at UQAM. Good, good times! We laughed so much I cried. Wine was good, company too.

On the menu : polish squewers and chicken drumsticks on the grill, greek salad and green and red salad, with mayonnaise-like dressing, and almond cake with flambéed cherries. «Life is hard...», Éric ironised, while contemplating all the food on the kitchen counter.

Salade fraîcheur - Green and red salad

A mix of romaine lettuce and red leaf lettuce (1 to 2 heads, depending on the size)
About 1 cup of red cabbage, minced
2-3 libanese cucumbers, chopped
1 bunch of aspargus, washed, base discarded and cut in 4 pieces, then blanched 3 minutes and immediately plunged in chilled water to cool, then drained
1 can of whole palm hearts, rince in cold water and cut in rounds

Vinaigrette crémeuse - Mayo-like dressing

Vinaigrette crémeuse - Creamy mayo-like dressing

Adapted from Coup de Pouce, vol. 5, no 2, 1990

1 large egg yolk
1 tbsp Dijon mustard, or more to taste
1 tsp salt
3/4 to 1 cup of light olive oil
1/4 cup red wine vinegar, or xeres vinegar
1-2 tbsp fresh lemon juice, to taste
2 garlic cloves, finely chopped

In a small bowl, whisk together the egg yolk, mustard and salt. Let the mix warm up at room temperature, about 5 minutes. This will ensure an easy (and successfull) emulsion.

Slowly whisk in the oil, drop to drop almost. But as soon as you feel that the mayonnaise has hold, it is possible to add good quantities of oil, and whisk it in nicely, without being afraid of everything going flat.

Once the mayonnaise is up and nice, add the vinegar in 2 or 3 additions, whisking between each. Add the lemon juice and see the mayonnaise becoming paler, almost white. Finish it by incorporating the garlic. If you want a dressing a little more on the liquid side, simply add a little water and mix well.

More to come tomorrow : the dessert recipe.

It was REALLY good.