Family Secrets

"What is that smell!?!" my roommate exclaimed poking her head around the corner from our hallway into the kitchen."I thought you were making cauliflower, not something that smells that good!" 

In our house cauliflower dinners were me and my brother's favorite, we developed stealthy skills to steal a piece or two away from my mom as she was cooking and always invited friends over for a taste of our mom's culinary genius. 

This week when my mom decided to air-mail a full head of organic cauliflower, I had to use it up quick and could think of no better way than making my mom's famous dish. Not only that, but I decided to document it so that I could share it with you all!

With no further ado:

Mom's Cauliflower

Ingredients:

A head of Cauliflower sectioned up

4 eggs

2-3 cups of breadcrumbs

1 1/2 cup of vegetable oil

Steps:

Place all the cauliflower into a pot and cover with water. Bring water to a boil and boil until cauliflower is tender, but not soft. You should be able to stick a fork in it without resistance, however watch that you don't boil it till it falls apart. The difference between the two extremes is about a minute in boiling time, so watch closely.

Remove from water when the cauliflower is done and allow to cool.

Prepare your egg wash, by beating the four eggs until you have an even consistency. Coat your cauliflower in egg and then transfer into the breadcrumbs. Cover the cauliflower in a small mound of breadcrumbs, pressing firmly on top. Take out your little 'tree' and toss it back and forth between your hands to remove any excess crumbs, and then place on the side. Repeat until you have all your cauliflower covered. 

In a pan, heat the vegetable oil on a medium heat (this is important so that your cauliflower doesn't burn) and fry your cauliflower until golden brown. Rotate the 'trees' as necessary trying to get them as evenly brown from all sides as possible.  When finished place on a paper towel to absorb excess oil. When you put the next batch of cauliflower in, remember that your oil will be even hotter so watch more closely that your breadcrumbs don't burn.

Serve with tartar sauce and potatoes. 

My mom used to just make boiled potatoes with caraway seeds, salt and melted butter. 

The tartar sauce I got once again from Chuck's Day Off, though I didn't use the arugula I still found that it turned out great! Here is the recipe below:

Tartar Sauce

• 4 tbsp mayonnaise
• 1 bunch arugula, chopped
• 1 large shallot, finely chopped
• 1 large dill pickle, chopped
• 1 tbsp capers, chopped
• 2 anchovies, minced

 

Tartar Sauce

1. Place 4 tablespoons of mayo in a bowl and add all your ingredients finely diced.
2. Mix together. Mixture should be green, chunky and not too runny.

 

Market Daze

My mom's black-currant jam left me eating cheese like it was going out of style last week. Not that I am complaining, each time I dug in to the good stuff I had the company of great friends, but I could do without the breakouts and subsequent guilt of living off brie.

I decided to turn repulsion into prepultion and finally make good on my summer-long-promise to go exploring and seek out the farmer's markets around the city.

I did a little research and found a comprehensive list of Farmer's Markets in

Toronto here at the Toronto Farmer's Market's website.

After teaching a 8:30am yoga class on Saturday, I made my way down to the St.Lawerence Farmer's Market, which hosts a market that has been going since 1803 and continues to run every Saturday 5am to 5pm. Finding it was slightly trickier than I thought, as the market happens in the North building and spills on to Church as opposed to happening in and around the main South building. Happily, I found it and spent a blissful hour walking around, meeting farmers and buying their amazing goods.

I forgot just how good peaches can taste!

Other surpises included the selection of Ontario grown melons, amazing olive oil vendors (where I picked up an amazing Black Olive Tapenade) and amish ladies selling the most beautiful of Dalia's .

I quickly acquired a decadent bunch of goodies in my bag and set off home to put them to good

use.

I used my purchase of green beans (yeah mom, I am eating beans!), new potatoes and farm fresh eggs in an amazing salad I had seen featured on Chuck's Day Off, a great new show on the Food Network. The show follows Chef Chuck Hughes, who whips up recipes for his friends on his 'days off ' from running his successful restaurant Garde - Manger, in Old Montreal.

His hands on, simple cooking style peaked my interests so I decided to give his 'Warm Potato Salad' a go and use up some of my green beans.

I did have to change things up a little in lieu of some of the ingredients. I made the dressing out of 1tsp of Dijon and 1/2 tsp of Yellow Mustard, instead of white wine vinegar I used a 1/8 cup of white vinegar and 1/8 cup of rice vinegar, finally, I switched up extra virgin olive oil for the canola. This recipe was such a success that I think Chuck is in the running to replace Jamie Oliver as my fav. new celebrity chef. Check out the recipe and more here.