November 20th, 2010 by Dawn Becker

With the holiday gift-giving season around the corner, I thought I’d share what’s on my bookshelf. While I’m not a voracious reader like my sister, Belle, a.k.a Ms.Bookish.com, I do find myself eating up cookbooks and food-related memoirs at a fairly steady pace. I think it’s my way of becoming sated… without the calories.

A week ago, Belle and I met Nigella Lawson at the Fairmont Royal York for cocktails and dinner using dishes created from her new cookbook, Kitchen: Recipes From The Heart Of The Home.

Admittedly Belle is the sincere Nigella fan while I went more curious to see if she was in real life the luscious persona you see on TV. I was delighted to find her charming, genuine and very relatable – in between book signings she had to pause to discreetly blow her nose. And though she had a cold it didn’t deter her from engaging with everyone along the way.

Celebrity chefs are loved because of their personalities and not just for their cooking techniques. Having met Nigella in person, I am now a convert and more of her books will find a way on to my shelf, starting with Kitchen. This book is not just a collection of recipes as her voice comes through the whole book from the stories, anecdotes and tips that go with each recipe. You don’t have to be a cook to enjoy reading this and drooling over the beautiful food shots.

Pictured are the two entrees, prepared by the Fairmont Royal York kitchen. Above is the Redcurrant and Mint Lamb Cutlets, Red Leicester Mash, Seasonal Vegetables (lamb recipe found on page 67). To the left is Halloumi with Beetroot and Lime served with Cherry Tomato Couscous (halloumi recipe found on page 212-213).

I am fond of snout-to-tail cooking and I love the idea of using all parts, wasting as little as possible. Culturally speaking, the Chinese are huge proponents of this, making all sorts of unusual bits, innards and appendages taste shockingly delicious. This leads me naturally to being a fan of Anthony Bourdain and Michael Symon, both known for a no holds barred approach to food and also for being a sort of kitchen bad boy (a personal weakness). Chris Cosentino fits the bill too but I haven’t seen a book come out from him yet. Hopefully it’s in the works.

If your holiday gift shopping list includes someone with similar interests, you might want to pick up Michael Symon’s Live To Cook: Recipes and Techniques to Rock Your Kitchen.

I love the “Symon Says” wisdom boxes that appear on random pages of this cookbook, like on page 99 where he states “Don’t throw pig skin away!” At his restaurant they end up as cracklings to garnish salads. I have a whole sheet of smoked pork rind in my fridge right now that I got from my butcher for FREE. There’s not much of a consumer market for it so it seems I’m the lucky duck. I’ll be sure to use Michael’s book to guide me with ideas on what to do with it today.

Having been a committed Bourdain-ian for years, I couldn’t wait to get my hands on his recently released book, Medium Raw. Aptly named, the cantankerous adventure seeking eater-of-all-things-remotely-edible, whom we have faithfully followed all these years, the chef-turned-TV-celeb cynic we know and love as Anthony Bourdian, has officially gone soft. Well, not fully soft just maybe a little limp. And that’s the point. While he doesn’t exactly wear rose-coloured glasses, this book is not the raw and gritty Bourdain we couldn’t wait to read in his earlier books like Kitchen Confidential. This is a more grown-up version of Anthony Bourdain. Fear not, because he is still wonderfully opinionated yet strangely sincere. This book is not an apology for past digressions but rather a well-timed continuation demonstrating what inevitably happens to people in life. Age. And hopefully what comes with it. A little well earned wisdom.

My absolute favourite book this year has to be Born Round by Frank Bruni, acclaimed journalist and former restaurant critic for The New York Times. This is a very intimate, revealing book about a man living with his weight challenges. This book is uplifting and inspiring without trying to be. It isn’t really a food book and yet it is at the same time.

If you’ve ever struggled with your weight or body image or self-confidence due to either, then this book will really relate. I’ve struggled with my own dichotomous thoughts on fat versus thin and this book reminded me that I wasn’t alone. Frank Bruni’s ability to pull you in right from the start and engage the reader is a genuine gift. Born Round is a page turner and I couldn’t wait to see how he handled his weight issues under the pressure of eating out two meals a day, seven days a week, during his years as a restaurant food critic. It’s no easy task, made more difficult by someone who truly enjoys eating on a visceral level. I think there are a few of us out there who might understand that type of passion for eating.

November 1st, 2010 by Dawn Becker

After making a hefty round of delicious wontons earlier this week, I noticed there was an open package of wonton skins remaining, sealed in a plastic bag and tucked away in the vegetable crisper. My first instinct is to try not to let things go to waste so I find myself discovering bits of meat and rinds of cheese and tops of celery or fennel that I’ve saved in small plastic bags throughout my fridge. While I can’t say I don’t sometimes go ick at the sludge-like remains inside a forgotten leftover bag that immediately gets tossed into the garbage, at least I can say I had good intentions.

Having filled ourselves to the brim with Chinese-style dumplings in the days leading up to the leftover wonton skin discovery, I needed to think of something different to sate my taste buds. I decided to go with Italian influenced flavours and used the wonton skins to house some easy ravioli fillings.

Daniel was over – as I was recovering from some kidney troubles that knocked me out for about ten days – and thankfully he helped me make swift work of stuffing the wonton skins to make three types of delicate and savoury ravioli: Sweet Potato and Maple Syrup Ravioli, Shiitake Mushroom and Shallots with Vermouth Cream, and Buffalo Mozzarella with Parmesan and Fresh Thyme. I think Daniel was impressed by how quickly we churned out the fillings and stuffed the wonton skins to make the ravioli.

Once you have your fillings made, you simply dollop a teaspoonful of the filling in the centre of the wonton skin, wet the edges, fold and lay them out on a tray or wire rack to dry, preferably not overlapping too much before they’re dried. I fold my ravioli in half to make triangles for quick assembly and even cooking but you can also stack one wonton skin on top of another to make big ravioli squares if you prefer. The wonton skin ravioli are ready to be cooked once they are completely dry. At this point you can throw them in the freezer or boil or deep-fry them, depending on your recipe and preference.

Three quick filling recipes follow. Note that the number of ravioli made will depend on the amount of filling you use in each one. Or, if you’re using leftover wonton skins, you might have leftover filling that you can freeze or refrigerate for a discovery another day.

Sweet Potato and Maple Syrup Ravioli Filling

1 or 2 sweet potatoes (or yams)

1 Tbsp unsalted butter, melted

1 Tbsp maple syrup

To prepare the sweet potato, just wash the skin and poke it with a fork all around before cooking. I’ll be honest and rather than waiting for the oven to heat up to to 375 degrees F baking a single sweet potato for 1 hour, I just threw my large sweet potato in the microwave on high for 10 minutes, turning it over at the half-way mark. Microwaves vary so you’ll have to experiment by starting with 5 minutes and testing for doneness. The goal is to have the sweet potato cooked through till very soft.

Allow to cool, cut in half and then scrape the sweet potato flesh into a bowl, mashing with a fork and removing any hard bits like sweet potato eyes or stringy parts. Add the butter and the maple syrup and mix thoroughly. Taste and adjust for flavour as desired by adding more butter or maple syrup to your preference. It’s now ready to be filled into the wonton ravioli skin. Allow ravioli to dry before cooking. Boil* and serve with a Sage Brown Butter Sauce.

Sage Brown Butter Sauce

4 Tbsp unsalted butter

4 sprigs of fresh sage

1 tsp lemon zest

salt and pepper to taste

Heat the butter in a pan on medium high until the butter begins to brown about 3 minutes. (Be careful because it can go quickly from browned to burnt if you get distracted at the wrong moment.) Once the butter is browned, noticeable when it emits a hazelnutty scent, you can add the sage lemon peel. Remove from heat and season with salt and pepper. Pour over the cooked Sweet Potato and Maple Syrup Ravioli and serve immediately.

Shiitake Mushroom with Shallots and Vermouth Cream Ravioli Filling

1 Tbsp olive oil

1/2 lb shiitake, stumps removed and sliced (preferably organic)

1 shallot, minced

1 splash of vermouth

1/4 cup heavy cream

salt and pepper to taste

Heat oil in a skillet on high and add the sliced mushrooms stirring to cook through until tender about 3 to 4 minutes. (Alternatively you can chop the mushrooms so they can be stuffed a little easier but I like the meaty texture of using sliced mushrooms.) Turn the heat down to medium high and add the shallots. Once the shallots are fully cooked and translucent, add a splash of vermouth and the heavy cream. Allow the mixture to continue cooking until the cream begins to evaporate and thickens slightly about 5 minutes. Season to taste. Once cool, stuff the mixture into the wonton skins. Allow ravioli to dry before cooking. Boil* and serve in a bowl with chicken stock topped with a healthy grating of parmesan cheese and a sprinkling of chopped fresh parsley.

Buffalo Mozzarella with Parmesan and Fresh Thyme

1 ball of buffalo mozzarella, drained and chopped into 1/2” squares

1 Tbsp of grated parmesan

1 tsp of thyme leaves, crumbled

salt and pepper to taste

Combine all of the ingredients above. Stuff the mixture into the wonton skins. Allow ravioli to dry before cooking. Boil* and serve with your favourite marinara sauce topped with a sprinkling of fresh basil.

*Heat a pot of water to boiling. Add the wonton skin ravioli and boil until the wonton skins are cooked through, tender and opaque about 2 to 3 minutes. The ravioli will float to the top fairly quickly as the filling is already cooked so you’ll need to eyeball the wonton skins for doneness as floating ravioli is not a true indicator of doneness in this case.