The Black Hoof

When you're feeling carnivorous, the Black Hoof has your fix. Delicious food, perfectly prepared, I always want everything on the menu but am usually full after two items (probably all that protein fills me right up). The cocktails are some special too. Very flavourful and very alcoholic, they require that you sip em' slow. Also a nice selection of beers at reasonable prices.

Meanwhile, I'm always somewhat surprised by the good behavior and temperament of the Toronto dining crowd at this restaurant. While the tables are very close together, it's always busy like crazy and there's no parking or reservations, I never hear anyone complaining. The menu is small and mostly meat (I'm not talking about pork chops here, meat as in brains, sweetbreads, livers, hearts, you name it), the diners order without modifications and they eat what they are given and never send anything back. Kudos to Torontonians on this one, and a big congrats to the Black Hoof for a job well done!

My first ever Manhattan. Tasted just how I always dreamed it would! Next to it is a Denisons Weissbier, cold, refreshing and banana-y.

Beautiful Charcuterie! Exceptionally buttery slice of foie gras pate, bison and blueberry salami, rabbit-something, duck prosciutto, and my favorite: horse mortadella. Comes with pickles of all kinds! Fennel, beet, cauliflower, carrot! I could eat all pickles! More pickles! Forever and ever...

OHHHH what a treat this was!!! Tongue sandwich on brioche with aioli, pickled celery and grape mustard. This was the best damn meat sandwich I've had since last eating at Montreal's Lesters and Shwartz's. For all you Torontonians wanting access to a good smoked meat sandwich, this tongue will give you what you need. It's a bit of a challenge to eat mind you, since the brioche really starts to crumble, but I've never been opposed to a good challenge.

Soup and snacks

Chinese Traditional Buns is an adventure in deliciousness. Don't really know what you're ordering or eating half the time, but the tastes are extraordinary. Great care is taken into the preparation of each dish, as easily observed by the diners vantage point into the restaurant's open kitchen. Everything is also home-made. Noodles are hand-stretched and and hand cut, dumplings are prepared to order, multiple sauces are ladled into dishes as finishes, and the service makes you feel welcome and at home.

Warm soy milk and green tea get you all warmed up and ready for what comes...

Chinese Traditional Buns has the most amazing soup dumplings I've ever had. Explosions of flavour and juicy soup! These buns are pork and shrimp.

This is a pulled pork on mini pita-like bread sandwich. This is the one thing that I MUST have every time. Savory and mouthwatering.

This braised pork belly in pancake has a sweet sauce and is wrapped up with green onion and other unknown stuff (deconstruction of the meal was not a priority when savouring and eating was first concern). The texture of the pancake which had been slightly charred was like a chapati.

Condiments! Must have condiments! I love condiments. Chinese Traditional Buns has a great vinegar and hot sauce which I mix together and dip everything into!!! Mouahahaha!

Alright this dish is a show stopper. Again, these noodles are handmade, and hand-stretched. The dish is described as vegetarian, probably to indicate the existence of vegetables such as bok choy and tiny macerated mushrooms, however there is surely pork included as well. Wonderful, harmonious, pork. This dish sings, in all domains of texture, flavour, presentation. This dish has it all. I want more.

Ah! And for the grand finale, home-made noodle and mutton soup. Perfectly tender and tasty mutton and refreshing broth makes this soup oh so comforting. This would be stellar in the winter but still happy to eat in the summer since I'm a soup monster. Oh CTB, I love you.

Souvlaki is a beautiful thing

Whenever I am in Montreal, I seem to quickly accrue a list of restaurants and foods that I must sample before my time in the city is up. Montreal smoked meat, Fairmont bagels, "Au Pied due Cochon," "Gibby's," all kinds of bakeries, Indian, Pakistani, Guyanese, "Orange Julep", Lebanese, greasy spoon breakfast at "La Binerie Mont Royal,".....

The list can go on and on and on....

All this to tell you that if I can't have it all, I only want one thing food-wise when I am in Montreal: Souvlaki!!!! Doesn't have to be fancy (although Montreal has some AMAZING fancier greek joints), just has to be garlicky, and juicy and smoky-charred and fresh.

Simple put, "Elatos" on Jarry St., has some of the best souvlaki ever.

Elatos offers pork and chicken souvlaki. Their chicken is without exception some of the most deliciously marinated and off the wall juiciest. Besides the standard souvlaki in pita, Elatos also offers three specials. These include pork and chicken souvlaki with french fries and feta (along with the regular accoutrements of tzatziki, tomato and onion). The third special is a pork and lamb gyro pita with french fries, feta, tzatziki, tomato, onion, AND MUSTARD!! I've been kind of obsessed with mustard these days, and was feeling adventurous, so I ordered the chicken souvlaki elatos special WITH mustard. It was wonderful.

Elatos has great greek salad dressing. I love greek salad. So refreshing.

We also ordered a small plate of gyro and tzatziki with toasted pita to make impromptu little sandwiches. The gyro is mainly pork with a light contribution of lamb. Just enough to deepen the taste and make their gyro extra savory.

I miss you already Elatos!!

PUG LIFE

I've just returned from an oh so lovely and restful trip to Montreal. I am pleased to report that I accomplished my two goals of the vacation: cook up a storm and hang with my aunt and uncle's pet pugs. Here is the documentation of said accomplishments!

A vegetarian summer delight:

First on the menu was sweet potato gnocchi. Technically this is more of a winter's dish than a summertime one, but frankly I just needed me some comfort food. I paired the gnocchi's with a light tomato and herb sauce and it turned out to be quite refreshing.

Sweet potato gnocchi:

2 sweet potatos, baked then pushed through a potato ricer

1 small potato, baked then pushed through a potato ricer

1/4 cup of labna (thick middle-eastern yoghurt) or ricotta cheese (strained)

1/4 cup of finely grated parmesan cheese

2 cups of flour

salt and pepper

Combine all ingredients except flour, season to taste.

Add flour a 1/4 cup at a time, and knead until the mixture resembles a dough. Feel free to add more or less flour depending on the texture of the pasta. It should be sticky, but not too sticky to handle.

Take a handful of dough and roll the gnocchi out into a long rope. Use bench flour to avoid the dough from sticking to the surface you are working on.

Cut the rope into one inch pieces. Roll each piece in some semolina. This will help the gnocchi from sticking and will give each dumpling a lovely texture.

Press your thumb into the center of each gnocchi to create a well.

Place the gnocchi on a thin wire rack to dry until you are ready to cook them.

Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil, and cook the gnocchi in batches. They are finished cooking when they float.

Transfer gnocchi to a large sautee pan.

Add some olive oil and butter.

Add half a diced tomato, 2 green onions (thinly sliced), orange zest, julienned basil, savory and a splash of white wine.

Cook on high heat, stirring occasionally for about five minutes.

Serve with fresh parmesan.

Next I made a tomato pie:

In an uncooked pie shell, spread dijon mustard. Add a uniform layer of caramelized onions to cover the dijon. Overlay with thinly sliced cooked potato. Fill the shell decoratively by overlapping thick slices of ripe tomatoes. Season the tomatoes with salt, pepper and fresh lemon zest. Egg-wash the crust and pop the pie in an oven set to 425 degrees (preferably on a convection setting and positioned near the top of the oven). After 15 minutes at this heat, turn the oven down to 350 degrees and cook for another 45 minutes or until the crust is cooked through and browned. About 15 minutes before the pie is done, sprinkle sliced aged goat cheese wildly on the top.

TA DA!

Give the pie a zest of fresh lemon and serve...

...with brussel sprouts!

I roasted these for 15 minutes at 375 degrees and then tossed them with a cranberry-pistachio pesto recipe I obtained from http://steamykitchen.com/.

1/2 cup pistachio

1/2 cup dried cranberry

1/2 cup parsley leaves

salt and pepper

3 cloves of garlic

Blend these ingredients with a hand blender or cuisinart.

Slowly add olive oil while blending until mixture resembles pesto!

Finish with strawberry-apple pie

7 royal gala apples, peeled and sliced into 1/4 inch pieces

pinch of fresh nutmeg

1/4 tsp salt

1/4 cup of sugar

1 tbsp of lemon zest

Combine apples with rest of ingredients and place in pie shell.

Top with strawberry butter (reduce 1 tbsp. of butter, 1/2 pint of thinly sliced strawberries and some salt in a saucepan until it the mixture obtains a thick consistency).

Crimp the top crust into the pie, egg-wash it, sprinkle on some sugar and slice an 'X' into the top for ventilation. Cook for 15 minutes at 425 degrees. After that lower the heat to 350 degrees and bake for another hour. Let the pie rest for at least an hour after baking so that the juices can thicken.