St. Lawrence Market

For many years I lived minutes from St. Lawrence Market.  I hardly ever went.  But then I hardly ever cooked.

On a beautiful Saturday morning, we made a trip all the way to St. Lawrence Market (10 minutes drive) and it was so much fun. First stop was the Farmers' Market  where I learned that pork is so cheap! 4 pork chops were $9.50, the same as the wild mushrooms that I purchased, imagine that.

A stop at the cheese shop for some goat feta cheese, I was almost ready to make dinner.  But not after we picked up some famous peameal bacon sandwiches for lunch!!

Carrot Soup with Dandelion Pesto


Once again, Lucy Waverman is a star!  Just the idea of carrot soup and pesto is enough to make me drool: the green punctuating a bowl of orange, I just wanted to see it first hand.

I do want to mention all my puree is still made from a hand blender but it is working out perfectly fine.  I was quite proud that there was hardly any mess except for a few spots on my sleeves.  The pesto is apparently also good for pasta or as a spread:

The soup was as good as it sounded on paper.  In fact, I just finished the leftover soup tonight and it really was perfect for a not so warm night like tonight.

Morton's Tuscan Pork Chops

From the Morton's cook book I made Tuscan Pork Chops.  Now that I know how much is the meat, I am dying to know how much they would charge for this dish at the restaurant.

I did learn a few new tricks during the preparation, compliments to Julius.  Bread crumbs can be made by toasting first and then blend the bread sans crust.  Dusting the chops was done by having a plate of flour and lightly dip the meat then shake off the excess.

The recipe recommends the meat temperature to be 150 degrees when it is done,  but I think next time I would take them out earlier since I found the middle to be a touch dry / overcooked. The breading with Parmigiano sure helped in keeping them mostly moist.

It was served with a pepper and tomato ragout with basil but it reminded me of fajitas.  Would someone please tell me why it is called Tuscan?

Grilled Mixed Wild Mushrooms in Aluminum Foil


Another recipe from my Izakaya book.  This time it was not a complete failure.  I made the packages ahead of time and just threw on the barbeque at medium heat for 10 minutes and voila!  Among the three kinds of mushrooms, the Shitake ended up being the least tasty.  The other two, whose name I cannot recall, were definitely fresh and savoury.  There were butter and lemon peel inside and a dash of soya at the end.  Next time I will definitely add some garlic, maybe a few pepper flakes and sake.

Seeing this picture reminded me how cute this side dish is, a dish fit for a fairy tale.  As I opened the package at the table, the aromas was not easy to forget.

That was how I spent last Saturday afternoon for 5 hours.  I cannot wait till next weekend!

Soup 8.5/10

Pork Chops 7/10

Mushrooms 7/10

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/life/food-and-wine/recipes/article2390891.ece

http://entertaining.about.com/od/productreviews/gr/mortonssteakhouse.htm

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When I started this blog, I thought what an easier way to share this adventure with friends.  Now I have noticed readers from Russia to Argentina,  I want to send you all a special thank you for joining me!  Just imagine, a little over 10 years ago this could have never happened this easily!