The Yum Yum Factor

I made some really delicious Manchego Stuffed Meatballs with Romesco recently to serve as tapas style appetizer. In fact, they have been such a huge hit that when I found out that Mushrooms Canada was holding their annual mushroom appetizer contest for the members of the Food Bloggers of Canada, I looked no further, although it required a bit of tweaking. The original recipe called for serving meatballs on a plate, sitting on a thick smear of romesco, the Spanish sauce made from almonds, bread, olive oil and roasted peppers. Don't get me wrong, I love serving them like this but it really only works when we are actually sitting down to dinner as the whole idea is that you spear one with a fork and drag it through the sauce on it's way to your plate. For this contest, I know they are looking for an appetizer that can be eaten out of hand so what could make more sense than using an actual mushroom cap as a little bed for the meatball right? It's not like ...

I am on a mission to come up with a bunch of tapas style dishes that I can whip up for my summer entertaining because although I love to have guests over, I get in trouble for spending too much time in the kitchen while they are here. I have vowed to serve fewer items, served at room temperature or cold and that require very little last minute prep. Your guests want you to spend time with them, not leave them alone while you make magic happen in the kitchen, right? One quick search of this blog will tell you two things: I LOVE a meatball and I love to add mushrooms to my ground meat a la Blend and Extend. Inspired by my most recent  recent farm tour with Mushrooms Canada and Ontario Beef  , I couldn't stop thinking about doing a meatball stuffed with a bit of Manchego and served on a smear of spicy Romesco sauce. It's all the flavours of Spain that I love - nutty manchego cheese, garlic, smoked paprika and the ubiquitous, slightly chunky romesco sits somewhere be...

Hurry up, get off your butt and get down to Fort York for the annual Taste of Toronto festival, on until tomorrow, Sunday June 18. This is one of the first outdoor food extravaganza's in Toronto and it's always packed with vendors offering old favourites as well as the odd new discovery.  The skinny: general online admission tickets are $21/session for adults, $10 for 12-17 and under 12 is free but it's $26 at the gate so make sure to use  this link  to buy them online before you get there There are premium VIP tickets that get you all kinds of extra stuff so you can see if those are sold out or not In the past, they used a "crown" system where you had to keep reloading a card with crowns (worth a buck each) but this year, the only way you can pay is with a debit or credit card. To be honest, I think it's a good thing because it's easier to budget when you are spending actual dollars and it means no more lining up to refill your...

There are two ways to travel. One way is to plan and book months in advance. This usually means that you can get reservations at at least a couple of really hot restaurants, get tickets to popular shows and show up knowing exactly what you are going to be doing for the next few days. I have a certain admiration for people who are this organized. Then there is MY way, which is to look over at each other on a Thursday night and say "hey, do you have to work this weekend?" and then spend the next few hours on Expedia looking for the best deal for air/hotel from Friday to Monday. What starts as a desire to fly to Mexico City for the weekend, ends up with me pulling the trigger on a combo that includes non stop flight with AA and three nights at the tony, boutique hotel, The James for $620 Canadian each. The hotel, alone, would have run us over $1000 CD for three nights so it was almost like they threw the flight in for free! Okay, so we now have a flight booked and ...