A Portable Cheese Store in Catalafimi, Sicily

Is it silly that I am dreaming of picnicking when the view out my window is of 3 feet of snow?  No it is not-it is is one of the coping skills of hardy Winnipeg folks.

On a bench in Prairiano

Olive Choices in Nice (France) Market

Let me begin at the beginning.  My husband and I met in the hospitality business and so it is no surprize that we’ve been self-professed foodies before the word was invented.  We became a couple when D was home for his summer break between University semesters.  He had an amazing summer placement, working alongside Chef Tony of the St. Charles Golf and Country Club.  He was attending Ryerson for his degree in Tourism and Hospitality and when I went to visit him for the first time, he was living the life of a poor out of town student-“borrowing”  toilet paper from the pub and filling his grocery shelves with yellow generic labelled food.   I on the other hand was already working as Marketing Director for a local restaurant so I had some cash.  But because we have always tried to do more with less, we even spent that money wisely.  So instead of dining out…we picnicked!

On a bench in Nice (France)

D lived in residence next door to the Eaton Centre and at one time Eaton’s was THE place for gourmet food offerings.  We prided ourselves in being very adventurous in those days, even though our selections are now purchased during our monthly shops.  We would buy little tastes of dolmades, cottage pate, spicy olives, pickled herring (now we always choose Elman’s), smoked mussels and oysters, creamy Havarti cheese and crisp red grapes.  Then we would go across the mall to the LCBO and select a Alsatian white wine.  Each bite was savoured and we dreamed that one day we would have a six babies (we settled on 3) and travel (we have) and cook together (we do) and grow old together in rocking chairs on the front porch.  So dreams do come true (except that we’re not quite at the rocking chair part)!

Over the years we have modified the picnics to take the kids when they were little to Assiniboine Park and roll and wrestle on the riverbank and then walk across the bridge to Sargent Sundae. We also love having love happy hour on the beach with cocktails and appetizers.  We also have an end of summer cook which is a much loved tradition.

When we were travelling in Europe this September some of our favourite meals were our picnics.

So even if you can’t spread a blanket on the lawn, shop for a picnic supper.  Take little bites, savour and dream.

About this time of year my heart really starts yearning for a walk along the beach of Lake Winnipeg.  People that know me really well, can see that I am lying here.  I am yearning for a walk along the beach of the Is la Mujeres but this year that is not to be.  As I am a practicalist,  I just switch up a couple of details in my head-Lake Winnipeg it is.

ahh Isla

If you’ve never tasted Winnipeg Goldeye-you deserve to give yourself the treat.  It is a oilier and more solid fish than salmon and is fabulous in your favourite smoke salmon appetizer recipes.  We’ve also started enjoying White Bass from the lake.  It is easier to catch seems more plentiful these days.  Dusted in flour and fried in butter-we eat it by the basketful on the deck with ice cold beer.  There’s usually a horseshoe or boccie tournament going on.

But the prize catch of Lake Winnipeg is Pickerel. Just caught pickerel actually comes alive and dances in your mouth.  I kid you not-that is the most accurate way that I can describe it.  My family loves it very simply prepared but I’ve enjoyed many other versions over the years including fried in crumbled Old Dutch potato chips!

The Lobby's Pickerel and Chips

There are a number of Grand Beach area restaurants that do pickerel very well.  One of our favourites is the Idyl Thyme where we often celebrate our September wedding anniversary.  In Winnipeg, I’ve loved nut crusted pickerel at Restaurant Dubrovnik’s and panko crusted at The Lobby on York.

Fishing Lake Winnipeg at Sunset

The best place to buy just caught pickerel is from a local bootlegger but because I will try not to promote any illicit activities, I will not sketch any details here.  There are also multiple Gimli Fish locations in Winnipeg.  Our favourite is the heart of Winnipeg’s North End at Dufferin and McGregor which we always include when we a do a North End Shopping Spree.  I’ll include all of our stops in another entry.  The NE Gimli Fish shop is a corner store-literally.  When you walk in you are struck by the aroma of fish in a very pleasant way.  Perhaps it is made more pleasant by all of the helpful faces of the females behind the counter.  We buy our Panko flakes here as well as mixed seafood for “fruita de mare” recipes and everyone once in a while a treat of pickerel cheeks.  Also the only Winnipeg store that I know of that sells frog legs.  Neechi Foods is another great place to experience and pick up pickerel.

On this night ever cast produced a catch

The cheek is the little nugget of flesh that can be popped out when your are filletting a pickerel (demonstrated in this U tube link).  I have personally never had this honour but I understand it to be so.  We sautee them in lemon and butter and fresh dill.  They are the close to a small scallop in texture and the taste is totoally unique.  If you don’t live in Winnipeg-come visit us in the summer.  If you do-eat lots of pickerel…it is excellent for your health and the hard working fishermen of Lake Winnipeg will thank you.

Seafood Pizza

Another of our family traditions (we are a family who loves traditions) is Friday night pizza night.  We’re rarely order in-if we are heading up to the cottage we may stop and pick one up at Sobey’s on the way out of town or we also love the Oetker thin crust pizzas.  When our kids were young we would make ham and pineapple or triple cheese (so called because even when our kids were very young they were impressed with “gourmet” names to everyday food) it would have mostly mozzarella, a little but of cheddar and Parmesan.  Nowadays we love to experiment.  My husband has mastered a traditional margarita pizza with a homemade sauce: raw mozzarella and fresh basil leaves.  Last night we had a fruita de mare pizza because we searched in Cinque Terre when we were there this fall for the best that my husband had tasted on a previous trip but were unsuccessful.

Disappointing Pizza in Riomaggiore

We bought a frozen seafood mix which included mussels, shrimp, squid and octopus and let it partially thaw.  When the pizza was almost baked we put it under the broil to ensure that the fish was cooked enough but not too much.  The moisture in the fish spread around the pizza top and that makes all the difference in taste.  All it needed was a dash of pepper and a good glass of white wine.

I have a bread maker and make our pizza dough out of the basic white bread recipe on the dough setting.  I actually never bake anything in our maker as I find the shape too odd and also find that the bread sweats in the chamber.  We love our bread to be crunchy on the outside and light and soft on the inside so we have a tendency to make two long skinny loaves out of one batch. There are all kinds of other recipes that I use this basic dough for including submarine and hamburger buns, along with braided breads and pull-apart recipes.  My families’ favourite bread variation is this one:  from one batch of bread dough, roll out two long and skinny loaves.  Along one edge cut the dough with kitchen scissors every ½ inch (but not right through) so that it resembles a comb.  Then pull one piece of dough in one direction and the next in the opposite direction.  It doesn’t really matter what it looks like because the goal is just to create lots of uneven bread surface.  In the mean time melt ½ cup of butter with liberal amounts of dried herbs (fresh are to delicate for this robust taste) we like rosemary, oregano and basil and LOTS of garlic salt.  When the bread comes out of the oven, move to a platter.  Then pour all of the butter sauce directly onto the bread.  Encourage people to pull off a chunk and mop up the additional butter that will have pooled onto the plate.  In our house whenever I make this, my son says it smells like Christmas.

One of our little visitors

Once a month we invite four young families over right after work on a Friday evening.  We all sit down to a family dinner of soup or pasta.  We have booster chairs set up on dining room chairs and other portable high chairs all around.  The kids are learning some table manners like “may I be excused” and “thank you for dinner” but mostly it is the hands into mouth kind of experience that I miss from my family’s younger days.  This past Friday I made spaghetti and you can imagine the fun (and the mess).  I bulked my from scratch sauce up with some extra vegetables and Abby who seemed to enjoy it (for the most part) was able to pick and flick every little shred of spinach that she came across.  We finished with oreos smeared with peanut butter and a banana slice.  The parents go and have coffee and an adult conversation and we take the kids downstairs for a play.  The parents love the hour without worrying about the little ones and my husband and I love the pseudo Grandparent time-so everyone is blessed.

Another Little Guy

When our family was growing up we loved to go to the Old Spaghetti Factory.  We’ve have to put a halt to the number of sough dough bread loaves that we consumed before the pasta actually came.  The kids usually ordered spaghetti and meatballs but D&I had a special favourite.  We had the Manager’s favourite which was half white clam sauce and half burnt butter and mizithra cheese.  We blend it all together and it was absolutely delicious.

We still have many favourite places for pasta, as Winnipeg has a large number of great places to choose from.  Our favourites are Mona Lisa (at the end of our street), Tomato Pie and Colesseo.  I leave it to my gang to order new and different things-I have fruita de mare or clam sauce almost everywhere I go.  At Tomato Pie my choice is not on the menu but they are very accommodating.  From my guess at the recipe they sauté purple onion and garlic in a good olive oil add the clams and perhaps some white wine and then a bunch of fresh parsley-yum.

Shopping for authentic Italian ingredients is also lovely in Winnipeg.  Our favourite is De Luca’s on Portage Ave. as we used to live in the Wolseley area and it was a stroller walk away.  We typically pick up their olive bread, fresh mozzarella, Italian sausage and some good olives.  We are ever searching for the exact ones we had in the bar at our hotel on the Amalfi coast.

at Luigi's in Prariano Italy

When we asked the proprietor Luigi he said they were “small, round green” and the quest goes on.

Do you have a favourite Italian restaurant? A favourite place for Italian groceries?  A favourite pasta recipe?

I know that it is (coming on Christmas) when my sister sends out her annual cookie exchange email.  I don’t know how many years that this has been going on (I’m horrible with dates and numbers) but I do know that one of my first years I had a different kitchen table and so that must mean that it has been at least ten.  This is the way my memory works backwards…it would be a challenge for me to tell you how many months old my babies were when they took their first steps but I could tell you what they were wearing and what colours the leaves on the trees were.

There are usually eight of us and this year the list is shaping up like this: ginger cookies, almond bars, pistachio thimble cookies, shortbread and a pecan chocolate bark.  Baking day can be a bit harried because of the quantities required but when the exchange takes places-it seems like a breeze.  Sue has us all over to her place to drop off and pick up.  We have an eggnog together and toast the start of the season.  The bakers are very imaginative with their packaging and you come home with a beautiful bundle of sweet treasures.

I understand that the Costco here in Winnipeg now sells baking trays.  I recently sampled one at it tasted very authentic but was more the kind of selection that you would get at a baby shower not a Christmas party.  The craft and baking sales that occur at many Winnipeg church and community clubs at this time of year is also a great way to stock your freezer with Christmas goodies (and you’re helping a good cause as well).

It is important for our family who loves the Christmas tradition and the food that surrounds the celebration to give back in some way.  For years we volunteered at Winnipeg Harvest’s Share Your Thanks and often on the morning of Christmas Eve.  Everything tastes better when it is savoured with the knowledge that you did what you could to share your bounty.