The Van de Ven’s rooster
The handsome rooster here? He posed for this picture.
It sounds far-fetched, I know, but as I watched with camera poised as he and his lady friends strutted by, the rooster stopped to shake a tail feather or two and toss his waddles and comb. At first I thought he was defending his territory, but no. This rooster ...
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Comté cheese (Eastern France; unpasteurized cow’s milk)
The ingredients we use every day in our kitchens are elemental in the dishes we eat. This is the last entry in the current five-part series exploring good-quality pantry basics. (Previous series items: Sea Salt; Pasta; Oil; Baking Chocolate.)
Pantry items don’t generally reside in the refrigerator, but ...
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Callebaut dark Belgian chocolate
It’s easy to overlook the ingredients we use day in and day out in our kitchens, but often these workhorses are essential components of a dish. This five-part series celebrates good-quality pantry basics. (Previous series items: Sea Salt; Pasta; Oil.)
It wouldn’t be a stretch to say that the experience of unwrapping my ...
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Extra virgin olive oil
Top-quality basic ingredients have the ability to elevate a dish. This five-part series is dedicated to exploring good investments in some of the staples of everyday cooking. (Previous series items: Sea Salt; Pasta.)
Where would a kitchen be without cooking oil? Almost everything I make on the stove starts with a glug of olive oil, ...
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Orecchiette
Good-quality pantry items can often be the secret ingredient in a favourite dish. This five-part series is dedicated to exploring good investments in some of the most basic items for everyday cooking. (Previous series items: Sea Salt.)
Semolina flour made from durum wheat. Water. Sometimes egg. Those are the fantastically simple ingredients that come together to make pasta. With a ...
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Top to bottom: O&CO Portuguese flor de sal, Guérande grey fleur de sel, and Maldon sea salt flakes
I used to think that being a good cook was all about technique, about knowing how to do things like julienne, fricassée, and temper on demand. Technique is important, of course, but as any food enthusiast will tell ...
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Ontario-grown baby eggplant
It was early July when I fell in love with … oh, baby. Baby eggplant, that is.
These little beauties, piled under a hand-lettered sign advertising their Ontario roots, have been a faithful presence this summer at one of the local markets I frequent. In my kitchen they’ve found their way into side dishes with red onions, zucchini, and herbs ...
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Haymaker’s ginger switchel
It’s hot, people. As it should be in the throes of summer. Think back to late February and how loudly you grumbled as you had to pull on boots, a coat, hat, and mittens before heading out into the driving wind to shovel the umpteenth dump of snow from the stoop, front path, and sidewalk. Afterwards, cupping a mug ...
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The fruits do not yield their true flavor to the purchaser of them, nor to him who raises them for the market. There is but one way to obtain it, yet few take that way. If you would know the flavor of huckleberries, ask the cow-boy or the partridge. It is a vulgar error to suppose that you have tasted huckleberries who never plucked them.
—Henry David Thoreau, in Walden
In other words, you must become one with the fruit.
“Lazarus” trees at the Salvation Army Village on Broadview Avenue
The sight of the newly lopped trees was so shocking, and upsetting — they looked like mannequins stripped of their clothes and jammed feet-first into the earth, naked torsos exposed and outstretched severed limbs frozen in a gesture pleading for mercy — that my eyes received dualling messages from my brain, remaining ...
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