The Yum Yum Factor

When EarthFresh comes calling and offers me a couple bags of free potatoes so I can come up with a new recipe, I am always in. EarthFresh is a Canadian company that produce great quality potatoes, carrots and onions and my favourite thing that they do, apart from providing me with FREE BAGS OF POTATOES YO! is they pack the potatoes in a light blocking bag. I bet you didn't realize that potatoes can turn totally green after about 12 hours of fluorescent grocery store lightening - let's not even talk about how I look under those zombie lights. There is a reason that when you store potatoes it always instructs you to put them in a cool, DARK place. I buy these potatoes all the time, ever since whipping up these Indian Spiced Potatoes using their organic baby reds, so i am no stranger to these babies. Aaaaanyway, they were looking for me to come up with some sort of a potato salad and since this tomato vinaigrette is current obsession, I saw no reason wh...

Last week I hosted my monthly Supper Club at The Kingston Social, here in Toronto and the dinner was a Middle Eastern Feast with a touch of Jamaican thrown in for good measure. Each time I host, I like to try one new dish that isn't always mine but that I am dying to try out and this time, I really wanted to make this Moroccan Orange Cake  on the blog, Kitchen Confidante. I found the recipe so intriguing - using fresh bread crumbs in place of flour, the idea of soaking it in an orange syrup afterwards so it would almost like a cakey baklava was screaming YAAAAASSSSSSS. So, on the day, I realized that I only had an 8" spring form pan but the recipe called for normal cake pan so I borrowed one of those. I buttered and floured the pan and I made the cake only to discover that it WOULD NOT COME OUT! I had to, basically, dig the cake out of the pan as it stuck to the bottom and I found myself with three chunks of cake and a whack of crumbs on a day where I was going to have to...

I can't believe it has taken me this long to make yogurt in my Instant Pot but better late than never., right? I used this recipe from   Tid Bits  , which appears to be the standard recipe that everyone uses so I suggest you follow that link and use their recipe too. No need to reinvent the wheel when the wheel works like a charm. Because I was going to turn it into labneh, which is a Middle Eastern yogurt cheese, I omitted the vanilla. Labneh is like greek yogurt on steroids that has been drained to the point where it's so thick that you can roll it into balls if you want. Click here to see a great slide show with all kinds of amazing ways to use this stuff here it is at the Greek yogurt stage Okay, onto the yogurt: You need an Instant Pot Duo or the Smart version  To make a full batch of yogurt, you use a gallon or 3.7 litres of milk (in Canada, that equals three bags of milk. Yes, we have bagged milk in Canada and you should too world) 3 tbls of...

Nandos Look it, I love rotisserie chicken. I buy bubble chickens from the grocery store or I will line up for 30 minutes at the best churrasqueira in the city. I like it in a boat, I like it with a goat, you know what I'm saying? I was first in line when I was invited to come to their sneak peak of their newest restaurant in Toronto.  Nandos originated in South Africa in 1987 but didn't come to Canada until 1994 so some of you may be still living under a rock and have remained unaware of the wonder of this spicy, Portuguese chicken that is the love child of Portuguese explorers and the African Bird's Eye Chili. This addictive hot sauce is full of citrus flavours and garlic and I pour this shit on everything. I keep a bottle of Nandos Piri Piri in my fridge at all times but I have to say, I rarely visit the restaurant, only doing take out, because it seems like the only ones I ever see are in the suburbs and feel too fast foody for me, but their new spot on Qu...

Taste of Toronto So, the weekend of June 23-26 was the annual Taste of Toronto at Fort York here in Toronto and it was bigger and badder than ever, with a giant roster of guest chefs doing cooking demos, presentations, wine tastings and food to try from a veritable who's who of Toronto restaurants. This year, due to construction inside the Fort, it was held on the grounds surrounding the actual interior area of Fort York and everyone I spoke to preferred it. There was a ton of shade and it felt more spread out and less crowded than in previous year. Tickets to the three day event were $29 online and you purchased your food and drink using a "crown" system. You loaded up a card with "crowns" with the word crown really meaning $1, probably in an attempt to take the sting off paying $10 for a small plate of food. This is not a cheap event and it's best to go in a small group that so you can not only divide and conquer to avoid lots of line ups but so ...

It's summer. It's a bazillion degrees out there, you are invited to a BBQ and BAM! You are asked if you could bring dessert. If it were just your own family, you would throw a fiver at them and tell them to run to the store and bring back a bag of Mr Freezies but that isn't going to cut it. There is no way you are turning on the oven, so baking anything is immediately out. You could do an ice cream thing but you would have had to start planning that yesterday and you have to transport it without it melting all over the place. You could stop at the store and pick something up on the way to the party, which is actually a perfectly acceptable option but I have a job to do here, so, for today, that is out too. That leaves a trifle. Sure, you can make all of the elements yourself if you want, but why would you want to do that in this heat? Trifle requires no special skills, no craftiness and it is almost impossible to mess up but it looks like you took tons of time...