Recipes, tips and reviews
These recipes are developed, tested and re-tested until perfect. Try one at home tonight.
I used the Japanese Kuri squash which is a fiery red colour. It roasts well. You can use any drier variety of squash for this curry.
The best Scottish shortbread handed down through my family. Crumbly, sweet and buttery.
This dish has a salty, savoury sauce with a little bit of a kick. If you don't want the spice of the jalapenos, leave it out, and finely diced onion can be used instead of the shallots.
This is the one hors d’oeuvre that I keep being asked for time and time again. It’s crunchy, creamy, spicy and hits all the high spots.
Mushrooms and squash have a real affinity and this soup proves it. I like to use oyster mushrooms, but chanterelles, which I found at the supermarket this week, provide the best flavour.
The fifth taste, umami, has much to do with glutamate, an amino acid found in such foods as prosciutto, soy sauce and a number of cheeses. Umami can show up in your glass, too (fermentation is glutamate’s old friend).
When this recipe originally ran in The Globe and Mail, I received a lovely note from reader Barbara Zuchowicz. This dish reminded her of a wonderful meal she had in Italy: "It brought back joyful memories of a trip to Italy my late husband, an exceptional cook, and I took a number of years ago.
These are a family favourite. I buy Miami ribs, which are thinly sliced, cross-cut short ribs that are available at butcher shops and many supermarkets. They need to be marinated for tenderness and take a couple of minutes to cook on a very hot grill.
Read MoreThe best cut for this recipe is short ribs on the long bone or English style, and I plan for one per person. They are at their finest cooked slowly, until the meat falls off. The fat content bastes the meat, making it juicy and full-flavoured.
Read MoreLamb breast looks much like a rack of spareribs and is available at European butchers as well as many others. I could not find them at the supermarket, but they are worth the hunt. They are succulent and tasty – a real treat for bone lovers.
An easy custard dish that tastes like a Spanish flan but is much easier to make. Garnish with seasonal berries.
Read MoreDuck, cherries and peas have a natural affinity for one another. I find that four breasts for six people is plenty, but you could use more for larger appetites.
Read MoreCombine vinegar and sugar in a pot over medium heat and simmer until sugar is dissolved. Place onions in a bowl, season with salt and pepper and pour warm vinegar over them. Leave for at least 2 hours, stirring occasionally. Reserve onions and drain when needed. These will keep for a week refrigerated.
Greek-style yogurt gives this sauce a lovely flavour and texture. If you can't find it, add 1 tablespoon lemon juice to the sauce just before serving.
This is one of my favourite way to do salmon – the tanginess gives the fish a nice kick. Serve with Pickled Onions and Spinach Mayonnaise, which is a great enhancement to all poached fish.
Read MoreThis Asian-style preparation is perfect with rice and stir-fried baby bok choy. Serve with Pickled Onions and Spinach Mayonnaise, which is a great enhancement to all poached fish.
Read MoreOne of the classic ways to poach salmon, this is very herbal and refreshing. Serve with Pickled Onions and Spinach Mayonnaise, which is a great enhancement to all poached fish.
Read MoreThis recipe is adapted from Chilean chef Christian Correa. Sopaipillas are a kind of Chilean doughnut usually served with sugar and cinnamon, although he has turned it into an elegant dessert.
Read MoreServe with hot sauce and pebre (recipe below), along with a lettuce, tomato and cucumber salad with a peppery vinaigrette. Traditionally you would serve it with mmilcao, a potato pancake.
Read MoreMove over cutlery, food on sticks is the next big food trend and we're talking about more than just your average kebab. A little creativity is all that's needed to successfully serve almost anything on a stick and inject a whimsical twist to your cocktail hour.
Read MoreWith this dessert, guests will think you've been busy churning all afternoon. The salted pistachios help cut the creaminess of the ice cream. I scoop the ice cream out about an hour earlier and place on a cookie sheet in the freezer so it's easy to assemble.
Read MoreThinly sliced vegetables combined with ham or smoked salmon make a fabulous main course presented on a plate just like a beef carpaccio. Add a great bread and some artisan butter or excellent extra virgin olive oil and the meal is complete. If you can find them, long French radishes are superb in this.
Read MoreI adapted this recipe from the fine cookbook Moro, from the restaurant of the same name in London's East End, where the food reverberates with the passionate flavours of Spain and the Eastern Mediterranean. The quality of the olive oil, vinegar and bread will make a big difference to the flavour of this classic Spanish soup.
Read MoreI had this sandwich at Enoteca Sociale, an Italian wine bar in Toronto's buzzy Dundas West area, and fell in love. Developed by Chef Rocco Agostino it highlights great quality bread, cheese and anchovies.
Read MoreThis recipe comes from Mike Dolegowski and Mackenzie Chiu, who are partners in a catering business (M3 Foods in Toronto). They will be opening a new sandwich shop called Fuel House in the fall. This sandwich is a modern take on the classic Vietnamese banh mi, replacing the standard cold cuts with a more indulgent pork belly.
Read MoreHotel Gelato's Chef Dan Hoffman makes spicy sandwiches have layers of flavour and are also good cold.
Read MoreCorn is in abundance right now. Look for heavy ears and avoid corn that is half stripped of leaves as its sugar turns to starch very quickly. Keep corn refrigerated to help prevent starch issues. Tomatoes are finally hitting their stride, too, and I try to find multicoloured ones for a prettier look.
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© 2018, Lucy Waverman.
