One Whole Clove

Mini Réveillon

In some French Canadian families, the celebration of New Year's Eve, la veille du jour de l'an, is a louder and more jubilant fête than that of Christmas Eve.  Naturally, for the predominately Catholic Quebecois, la veille de Noël is consecrated through late night mass at the one's local parish.

The boot stomping, fiddle flying, spoon tapping, table slapping, booze slinging merrymaking is therefore delayed for one week and at that time, the Quebecois know how to party and eat.

In honour of la veille du jour de l'an, I prepared the usual réveillon fare in easy to transport bite sized morsels if anyone should feel the need to jump on the table and sing (a common occurance).

The recipes will follow in the weeks to come.  Happy New Year's Eve!

Confit of onion and maple syrup from dairygoodness.ca to pair with a selection of Quebec cheeses

Brandied meatballs recipe from Canadian House and Home.

Garlic and fine herb créton, country pâté recipe from Ricardo and veggie creton served with toasted baguette from La Vieille Alliance.

Salade de chou recipe from Au Goût du Québec served in small paper cuplettes.

Open faced mini tourtière recipe from Now...You're cooking.

Mini chocolate and dried cherry cookies recipe from Martha Stewart, mini éclairs and mini profiteroles.

Mini buttertart cheesecakes, mini fruitcake and mini bûche de Noël.

Christmas at Atwater Market

Where the orange and green metro lines meet at Lionel-Groulx and another block to your right at Atwater, you will find the appropriately named Atwater market.  A little lost?  Look up and follow the looming tower easily dominating the St-Henri district, aside the Lachine canal.

Originally coined marché St. Antoine, the building was erected in 1933 by architects Ludger and Lemieux.  In the day, it hosted many a political speech and the odd wrestling match, but the market was already noteworthy for its produce, meats and fish.

In the summer, Atwater is bustling with outdoor activity.  Fruit and vegetable stands monopolize the senses and we often forget the wonders which lay indoors, cheese and deli counters, pastas, sausage, bulk goods and flower shops and my favourite bakery Première Moisson.

But what happens to Atwater market's exterior come the long Canadian winter?

Besides being the optimum reindeer purlieu, it is comparably the ideal lot for pre-Christmas shopping. 

One beau sapin is a prerequisite and essential pit-stop to further accouter your chic metropolitan loft.  One is never to old to escape the "novelty" of a twenty foot flexuous Santa atop a "La Bolduc"-vibrating convertible home.

This is Christmas at Atwater market.

138 Atwater, Montreal, Quebec

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Première Moisson

Première Moisson is a chain of artisanal bakeries mostly located in the Montreal area although wholesome loaves of fresh baked bread are delivered throughout the region and province. 

The website is inspiring, rich with the history of the Colpron-Fiset family and their quest  to ingrain a special and important adage to the public, "artisans of really good bread with the taste of yesteryear."  Many large producers of baked goods lose that certain magic when quality inevitably succumbs to quantity.  It is this mission of Première Moisson to keep with traditional recipe, bringing consistency to the masses and in turn gaining customer trust.

A visit to a Première Moisson shop is atypical to the average bakery and in fact is like comparing apple "pie" to orange "soufflé".  Although the title boulangerie is unambiguous in the name, the shop is a colorful circus of specialty products and foodstuff.

To start on the long list of goodies, Première Moisson has a product line of their own.  From pastas to jams and chocolates.

My companion is an amateur of their meat sauce, beef or pork based, containing a special brown base made from veal bones, flour, water, sea salt, onions, garlic and spices.  Their procuitto plumped fresh perline pasta is divine.

I adore their spicy apple spread on morning toast, where my dear, old friends cinnamon and clove are decected in juicy chunks of soft apple.  It is reminiscent of a well-prepared applesauce.

The"nation" of Quebec dominates the cheese counter, naturally but international selections are represented.

White breads and baguettes alike are prepared with just four ingredients, flour, filtered water, sea salt and yeast.  Première Moisson presents these loaves in 14 shapes and sizes each requiring "it's own fermentation and shaping, giving each one a different crust, crumb and texture.  As a result no two breads taste the same."

Specialty breads embrace such savours and textures as old fashioned, onion, paysan, country-style, sunflower seed, cheese, hazelnut-honey-raisin, olive sourdough, Viennese, raisin, sourdough froment, lodève and ciabatta.  Bacon and cheese fougasse (among the fougasses pictured above) is formulated with local ingredients like year-old cheese and the boulangerie's own bacon. A suggested serving for their olive fougasse, a Mediterranean bread would have you "add(ing) a fresh tomato, your favourite cheese, a leaf or two of crisp lettuce or sprouts." 

The organic bread contains stone-ground wheat flour, organic white flour, filtered water, sea salt, sourdough and yeast.  The distinct character partners well "with duck foie gras and cranberry jelly."  The organic kamut is a favourite among the province's health food stores.   

At noon, any Première Moisson is assaulted with throngs of hungry patrons.  Lunch is served each day in the choice of many homemade salads and sandwiches (appropriately served on your preference of freshly baked bread).  Their maxim " l'art du vrai" is thus actualized.

As much fun as it is wading through the mobs of customers or perusing prepackaged fare, it is my impelling sweet tooth which dictates the reason I love Première Moisson so much.  They have the best desserts in town!  Charlottes, cheesecakes, crème brulées, mousses, éclairs, a sweet sea of creamy delectableness to tickle the taste buds.  I find myself drawn to selecting individual portions, optimizing my abilities to savour a few tastes at a time.

The moist crumb of their petits moelleux canneberges, amandes et beurre are so tender light while  raspberry linzertortes and the crusts of their other fruit based tarts are of shortbread cookie quality.

Première Moisson has 15 locations throughout Montreal proving the compulsion for distinction among French Canada is politically and edibly conclusive.

3025 rue St-Ambroise (Atwater Market), Montreal, Quebec

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Réveillon

Eliminating, amending, systematizing, cramming, squeezing and pressing, I have finagled a draft of my annual Réveillon menu. 

...and now the grocery list

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Olive + Gourmando

The first and only snow of the year fell silently on the cobblestone streets of Old Montreal, leaving a powdered sugar cookie effect in its rouse.  Presumably, the light flakes did all to muffle the clamor and furry that routinely ensues the tourist quarter of the metropolis.  Though it quickly became obvious that pedestrian traffic was scant as well.  On this day, a hush overtook the outdoor courtyards and entire street of Saint-Paul alike.  Being lunch hour, we seized the occasion to grab two seats at Olive and Gourmando, ordinarily notorious for long lines at noontime.

Olive and Gourmando was featured in March's edition of Gourmet magazine as one restaurant in their special tribute to Affordable Montreal.

Upon entry, the walls of the establishment are taxed with virtual eye candy, homemade products such as cherry jams, spicy nuts and homemade granola.  The promise of Valhrona chocolate takes the cake in brownies, biscotti and brioches.

Being December, festive selections of fruitcake and Christmas, chocolate and fig breads were on the menu.

Recovering from the copiousness of the store's inner sanctum, my lunch partner and I effectively scrutinized the day's specials on a chalkboard near the counter.  A delightful cold sandwich option included smoked trout with capers, sun dried tomatoes and spinach.  But it was the gooey hot paninis which seduced us both as the obvious choice on such a winter's day.  For myself it could only be Le Nouveau Chevre/The Goat Cheese, caramelized onions, goat cheese and a side of homemade ketchup

[Le Chevre, caramelized onions, goat cheese and a side of homemade ketchup]

and Le Cubain for my associate, packed and pressed full of Gruyere cheese, ham, pork, mayo and homemade Chipotle.

We sipped cappuccinos until too-piping-hot to-handle grilled sandwiches were delivered to our table. I became mezmorized between fine wisps of steam emitting  the slightly barnyard smell of soft goat cheese.  The zing of the soft onion cut the creamy richness so as to avoid overwhelming the senses.  The breakdown in texture from fresh, crisp baked bread to melting hot cheese was uncontested.  Le Cubain received comparable reviews.

For dessert,  O&G sells other local goodies.  I chose from a selected few of Les Chocolats de Chloé, two bars, one of cocoa nib the other of ginger & dark chocolate.  I decided they would make excellent stocking stuffers and bought two more.

The appeal of Olive and Gourmand is, no doubt, its ability to be simple while still adding a pinch of the acceptable whimsical edge.  It's all about taste and this is about as good as it gets at mid-day.

Olive and Gourmando, 351 Saint-Paul W., Montreal, Quebec (514) 350-1083

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Guy and Dodo Morali

Just because it is in a mall does not make it mall food and such is the case of Guy and Dodo Morali, the french restaurant located in the cours Mont-Royal. 

Guy Morali, executive chef and wife Dominique (Dodo), maître d'hotel, calmly produce a casual homestead to assuage the novice foodie and equally enchant the crusty veteran gastronome.  You will often see Dodo flitting around the room, folding napkins, chatting up customers or affixing her festive "toutous" in discreet dining corners.      

Apparently a covert for international celebrities, we felt among the jet set as we always do Chez Guy and Dodo where everyone receives the same warm reception.  Whether you allow Sharon Stone's choice of choucroute de poissons or Celine Dion's selection for the filet d'agneau en croute bias your preference is entirely up to the diner (in retrospect, perhaps the only reason my dining partner ordered beef instead of lamb).

To start, a Merlot Christian Moueix 2003 Bordeaux to ease the senses. 

As an appetizer, the petits feuilletés aux escargots au Saint-Émilion, was marginally altered from our last order of snails at G & D's, if only in aesthetics.  A respective dish of star ingredient-topped miniature puff pastry encircling a smallish bowl of simply sliced mushroom and escargot in wine sauce.  A sample of Guy's classic style to whet the appetite. 

Just as my  lips became sufficiently numb from wine and heated conversation our mains were delivered in a plume of gourmet steam.

My companion's decision materialized into the butter tender beef Onglet with French shallots, a French cut of beef with a delectably potent flavour.  He thought to have misunderstood the server when he promised to return with a side of fries but sure enough moments later crisp taters emerged from the kitchen.  Steak frites alors!

[Wellington de saumon au beurre blanc]

My usual, the Wellington de saumon is the alleged front runner in that it has been ordered by the likes of Edouard Lock, Michele Richard and Pierre Marchad, Montreal's MTV-esque manager.  This standard was again reinvented from my previous stopover and instead of a base of rich Quebec cheese I was rewarded with a drizzle of beurre blanc, a white butter sauce for boiled, baked or broiled fish and asparagus.   I still cannot decide which version I am partial to. 

With my lips barely buttered Dodo reemerged from the cavernous beyond,

"More beurre blanc."

"Yes, please!"

Dodo gallantly ladled more sauce onto my plate and I did not say "when". By now, my judgment was impaired by a spirited, fermented grape head.

Patting our bellies an hour later, we had room to discuss our next visit while sipping the last of the Merlot.  On our to do list, the fish and seafood choucroute, filet mignon de boeuf tartare, assiette de fruits de mer, salmon tatare and two starters of trio des fumets "Sylvestre" and duck terrine with onion marmalade.

Compliments brought us two dark chocolate truffles and fortune cookie tuiles allowing us time to muse over our next dessert.  The possibility of a mi-cuit au chocolat noir, mousse, profiterole or the highly enigmatic gourmet plate (a little nibble of all things sweet?) was proposed.

Whatever the future may bring, one irrefutable fact remains, good service, fine food and boozy winter long nights are awaiting us all at Guy and Dodo's.

1444 Metcalfe Street, (second entrance at 1455 Peel Street) Montreal, Quebec (514) 842-DODO

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Sugar Heaven

From splats to splashes, soothers to tear jerkers, kisses to jawbusters I am fueled by literal eye candy chez Sugar Heaven.  Salvating over vats of multi-coloured penny candy, I am suddenly catapulted twenty years into the past while visions of juicy plum gels, cinnamon big foot and hot lips, chocolate babies, malted milk balls, cola bottles, gummi worms, Swedish fish and sweet bananas, hyperactively gyrate in my head.

And then there are the Jelly Bellys, a selection of soda fountain favourites, root beer, cream soda and Dr. Pepper, the unmistakable pairings of chocolate pudding with peanut butter and buttered toast with strawberry jam, the decadent indulgence of strawberry cheesecake and my favourites licorice and buttered popcorn.  All these drinks and desserts can fit conveniently in one handful of magic beans and feed a sugar high for a full day of Christmas shopping.

My European roots lead me to some decent salty Dutch licorice too whereby paradise is truly actualized.

Some new finds for me on this trip display chocolate licorice twists, mint lentils, chocolate cookie dough, anise bears, Jelly Bean maple and chocalate Gummi Bears. So too the marvel idea of chocolate Pop Rocks advertised as milk chocolate with a kick. They didn't snap like the original but they were certainly offbeat.

If cavities are not your thing, there is a selection of sugar free candy and toys (some of the them naughty while others, nice)

Sugar Heaven is one of only two locations, Boston being the other.  This would explain the stock of Boston Baked Beans chocolate and peanut candy.

Be sure to realize your sugar fix this holiday season.

Eaton Centre, 705 Ste.-Catherine Street W., Montreal, Quebec

Carlos and Pepe's

Podemos comer hoy en este restaurante?

I am almost guaranteed both consistency and efficiency during the weekday, lunch time rush at Montreal's popular Peel street venue.

Established in 1984, Carlos and Pepe's ambiance satiates and readily nourishes a gastronomically green, student taste bud with effective pub grub.  Not that there's anything wrong with that.  You're not going to find authenticity save for some beguiling Mayan adornment and that's okay.  You were not expecting to.  Not here, not on Peel street in downtown Montreal.  It's ambiance surpasses that of Mexi's but the menu is run-of-the-mill standards, burritos, quesadillas and tacos. 

Lunch service starts with the classic tortillas and salsa while the menu is still being perused.  The condiment was a little runny and difficult to balance on broken chips.  When an order is placed, I, a roasted vegetable quesadilla, my dining partner, two classic beef tacos, adherence between waiter and customer produces the reward of a small bowl of forgettable soup.

My entrée is accompanied by the accepted and routine guacamole, sour cream and Mexican rice.  The quesadilla is less crisp than expected, a soft tortilla warmed through unconventional standards, zucchini, onion, red and green peppers are sautéed and paired with a low key mozzarella.  I pine for the sharp contrasting flavours of Monterey.

My dining partner, a carnivorous male dually enthralled by both haute cuisine and fast food alike loved the simplicity of his tacos as we know them.  These were not bona fide Mexican street tacos and he is appreciative of the dissemblance.   It is not that he is listless in always seeking out the genuine but dependent on the comfort, Tex Mex has more often than not provided to the people of this region.  He unapologetically recognizes a taco as such, a hard, yellow tortilla shell, always filled with ground beef.  The majority confirms this to be gratifying and so Carlos and Pepe's delivers.

Carlos and Pepe's is a happy place, an irrefutable fun haunt where culinary curve balls are never thrown.  Partial to dodge ball?  Continue your search for South American eats.

1420 Peel Street, Montreal, Quebec

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Ragôut de Pattes de Cochon & Tagliatelle with Pig's Feet

 
What can be achieved in 4 and 1/2 hours?

-One could fly from Montreal to Cuba, successfully pass through customs and arrive at one's Havana accomodations to sip a mojito on the terrace.

-One could watch 1.5 parts of The Lord of the Rings trilogy on DVD

-One could drive from Montreal to Toronto

On any given Sunday, one could purchase groceries, wash the floors, walk the dog, clean the refrigerator, scale the bathroom tiles, wash 3 or 4 loads of laundry, complete a pilates routine and still have time to prepare an average hot meal for two. 

Now, what did I do last Sunday for four hours?

I made an authentic Ragôut de Pattes de Cochon (roughly translated, Québécois Meatball and Potato Stew)

My mother's "quick" dish/"fast" food version of Ragôut, avoids certain steps and procedures.  Where she calls for prepared chicken stalk or broth, I used the strained juices from the meat of pork hocks (shanks), fresh herbs, spices and a medley of winter vegetables.  The preparation of the pig's feet stock alone realistically requires 2 1/2 hours from first chop to  last simmer.  Overcoming the first interval, I had to brown the flour, an undertaking of extreme prudence in itself.  Again, my Memère's words of wisdom rung through my head as it was once drilled into that of my mother's, DON"T BURN THE FLOUR!!!  We want the first signs of a caramel colour and must attend to the gentle flame for several excruciating minutes to attain such a hue.  All assignments are forsaken when the flour is carefully browning in the skillet.  In these crucial moments all I could think of was the second period (sorry "hockey" head, go Canadiens!)  and the fun of rolling the "boules".

The meatballs must be uniform and resilient (obtaining a "just right" consistency from the glue of the egg).  The addition of cinnamon and cloves make for an exceptional  bite.

Again, I found myself cutting up more root vegetables into hearty chunks (my second chop-block session of the day)

Packing all the carefully primed  ingredients into one heavy pot was my final step in the stew's operation, another 25-30 minutes, the home stretch.

Anticipation is further roused by the spicy notes of autumn seasoning and the magical concordance of thickened gravy, golden meatballs and plumped up, stock-enthused tubers and carrots.

The recipe yields just enough extra stock and meat to liven up tagliatelle noodles for another evening.  Tagliatelle with pig's feet, frozen baby peas, fresh basil and parmesan cheese are an interesting and sensational approach to switching up leftovers and a menu plan for a whole week!

Find these two recipes in Ricardo Holiday 2006.

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