Meanwhile, at Elena...

fig. a: exterior shot

Meanwhile, at Elena, Michelle, Willow, Janice & co. have been in a full-on panettone frenzy (“pane-mania”?) mode for weeks now. And I’m happy to say that all the tests, all the reading, all the discussions, all the artisanal panetonne-making video-watching, and all the dough-whispering have paid off. The results have been spectacular.

See for yourself.

fig. b: cross-section

Live in Montreal? Haven’t had a chance to experience a Panetonne alla Elena? Never had the pleasure of tasting a true sourdough-based artisanal panetonne? There’s still time!

Just pick up the phone and give them a call.

fig. c: pane-phone

The number to call is 514-379-4883.

Or order one online.

Still need convincing? You can find more info about Elena’s panettone and all their other seasonal offerings here.

aj

All photos courtesy of Dominique Lafond and Elena. Follow Dominique @dominique_lafond

"Japanese Home Cooking" For a Year of Cooking at Home

Our good friend Joanna Fox has a timely rundown of great cookbooks from this past year in today’s Montreal Gazette, as contributed by a number of local Montreal chefs, food writers, and other tastemakers. Of course, this was a year when home cooking took on increased importance for so many people. Luckily, there were quite a number of new cookbooks that were released in 2020 to help inspire us, in addition to all the newspaper and magazines, the YouTube tutorials, the TikTok videos, the Instagram posts, and all the rest of our contemporary multi-platform culinary universe.

Joanna’s contributors include such luminaries as Meredith Erickson (Alpine Cooking: Recipes and Stories from Europe's Grand Mountaintops, Friuli Food and Wine: Frasca Cooking from Northern Italy's Mountains, the Joe Beef cookbooks, and others), Janice Tiefenbach (Elena), and Jonathan Cheung (Appetite for Books), as well as our very own Michelle (!).

If you’ve had any contact with Michelle over the last 8-9 months, her choice should come as no surprise. She first picked this book up from our local library late in the winter of 2020, and when the pandemic hit and the library was closed for weeks on end, the book was stuck with us for an indefinite length of time. We all got to know each other pretty well! And when the library reopened again, and they asked for all their books back, Michelle promptly made a point of returning this book to the library (what did you think?) and picking up her very own copy. Since then, she’s continued to cook from it with passion and abandon, and she’s talked about it at length with anyone who’ll listen, including Joanna, apparently. That book, of course, is Sonoko Sakai’s Japanese Home Cooking: Simple Meals, Authentic Flavors.

Here’s what Michelle had to say about the book in her own words:

This is hands-down the book I have used the most in the past year. It hits the right tone of home cooking without shying away from more technical projects for those looking for a challenge. Every single thing I have made from this book has turned out perfectly. When I suddenly had reams of time, but no ability to focus, I threw myself into hand-making soba noodles. Her method and recipe are spot-on — all you need is practice to get the thickness and cutting right. (Check out her soba noodle-making webinars.) Bonus: the book features a recipe for rustic buckwheat dumplings (sobagaki), which are much easier to make than soba noodles and give you the same great taste when you use fresh sobakoh flour.

And here are some shots of Michelle making Sakai’s soba noodles for the first time, back in late March:

If you’re curious about the method, here it is in Michelle’s own words:

I had ordered specially milled buckwheat flour to make soba noodles before the madness began. My cutting leaves a lot to be desired but believe me when I say that this flour has a texture and flavour absolutely unparalleled by anything I have ever had. In case your self-isolation needs soba noodles, here is the recipe:

200g soba flour
50g all-purpose flour
120g water, more or less
Sift the flours together in a large bowl, add water and mix until dough starts to come together. Add a bit of water if necessary and knead until smooth. Lightly flour your work surface with tapioca starch and roll dough out to 1/8” thick. Sprinkle with more starch, fold, and cut into thin noodles. Not as easy as it sounds!

Boil in salted water about 1-2 minutes and rinse noodles with cold water. Serve.

[The soba flour in question came from Soba Canada, Inc. If you live in the United States, another phenomenal option is the “ni-hachi sobakoh” from Anson Mills.]

So, has Sonoko Sakai largely been responsible for eight or ninth months of particularly inspired Japanese home cooking? You tell me.

Long live the cookbook! Long live home cooking, Japanese and otherwise! Thank you for a great year, Sonoko!

And it should go without saying, but, if at all possible, please support your local bookstores in this period of economic crisis, stores like Appetite for Books, Drawn & Quarterly, and others.

aj

The Time is Now 2: Fruit Cobbler

Here's the plan.

It's early September.  Find yourself the freshest, ripest fruit you can get your hands on.

Could be peaches.  Could be blackberries.  Could even be some early apples.

If you're lucky, it could be the last of your very own plums.  Plums that you picked off your own tree, and cradled just as carefully as you possibly could.

fig. a:  fresh plums

Now make a cobbler with them.  A drop-biscuit cobbler.  Using the recipe that follows.

The recipe comes courtesy of Melissa Hamilton and Christopher Hirsheimer.  But, this being the Social Media Age, I received it from Michelle via Facebook.  When I did, it looked like this:

fig. b:  all mod coms

Pretty cute, huh?

The cobbler that results is a thing of beauty.  It's everything you want in a cobbler.  Crusty and sweet on top, bursting with fruit flavour down below.

fig. c:  let 'em be

This is a recipe that embodies the simple elegance of late-summer cooking--when you're working with the best ingredients, and mostly you just want to let them be.

Remember:  the time is now.

Our plums are finished, but there's no question that we enjoyed them while they lasted.  

Hello, peaches!

aj

Holiday hosting made easy

Planning on hosting over the holidays?  Still searching for tantalizing holiday menus?  Look no further.

fig. a:  Team Foodlab

As you can see, Seth and Michelle are featured in the December 2014 holiday edition of Châtelaine, and they've put together a wonderful (and wonderfully simple), sure-fire holiday menu featuring AEB's off-oven roast beef (pictured below); creamed horseradish; a purée of potatoes, celeriac, parsnips, and white turnips; braised endives with mornay sauce; radishes & crème fraîche; a green salad with apples, pecans, and cranberries; Foodlab's elegant variation on cheese & crackers (homemade oat crackers, fresh fromage blanc, honey, herbs, and flowers); and, last but not least, Bourbon-soaked pear crêpes.

fig. b:  rosy roast beef

Frankly, the most involved recipe is probably the cheese course (pictured below), because it calls for you to gather a bunch of herbs and flowers and make your own oat crackers, but you could easily find a store-bought alternative, like Walkers Highland Oatcakes, if baking your own crackers seems like too much trouble (trust me:  it isn't).

fig. c:  Foodlab's crackers & cheese

None of the other recipes require any specialized techniques, many of them could be prepared well in advance, and all of them are guaranteed crowd-pleasers.  As the accompanying article puts it, these dishes are beautiful, delicious, creative, and perfectly designed for a holiday dinner party that's full of good cheer.

fig. d:  bourbon-soaked pear crêpes

You can find the entire menu HERE.  The recipes are in French only, but you'll be able to figure them out easily enough with just a basic grasp of French, and the entire spread comes with both metric and imperial measurements.

But if you'd like Seth & Michelle to prepare this menu for you themselves, all you have to do is visit them at the Foodlab sometime between now and December 19--they've got this exact menu on tap until then, and they'd be happy to host you.

And, yes, Michelle's authentic Bohus sweater did take two years for her to knit, and she does wear it proudly at every occasion she can, including holiday parties.

Tout le monde à table!  BYOB!*

aj

* Bring your own Bohus!

Oysters & Gumbo? Ya! Ya! (rev. ed.)

fig. a:  the oyster-stand

You heard right:  Oysters & gumbo.  

At the Foodlab.  This Friday, October 3rd, from 7:00 p.m. on.

And it's all for a great cause.

fig. b:  smoked cajun sausage

You see, Michelle & Seth will be shucking $2 oysters (12 for $20!) all night and I'll be serving smoked turkey & sausage gumbo (while quantities last!), and all the proceeds will go towards the Ange-Aimée Woods Memorial Bursary at Concordia University.  

We've said it before, but we'll say it again:  Ange-Aimée was a fantastic journalist and a devoted friend.  She loved great food and good parties.  She was also a big fan of the Foodlab.  We can't think of a better way to honour Ange-Aimée's memory and to benefit a bursary that will continue to share her incredible warmth & generosity with others for years to come.

Eat, drink, & be merry!  Give Generously!  And laissez bon temps rouler!

Oh, yeah.  One last thing:  There's going to be a raffle, too!

Among the many prizes:

--dinner for two + wine at Foodlab

--a Prospector Films Prize Pack (featuring DVDs of Rhymes for Young Ghouls and Last Woman Standing and posters for Last Woman Standing and Sorry, Rabbi)

--a haircut at Salon Sweet William

--a signed copy of Sean Michaels' Us, Conductors

&

--a Beaver Shepherd Prize Pack (featuring two limited-edition and out-of-print Beaver Shepherd LPs, 1 limited-edition Beaver Shepherd t-shirt, 1 limited-edition Beaver Shepherd print, AND 1 $40 gift certificate for dinner and drinks at Bethlehem XXX!)

Feelin' lucky?

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Oyster & Gumbo Feast

Friday, October 3, 2014

7:00 - 9:00 p.m.

Foodlab

1201 St-Laurent Blvd.

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aj