Tag Archives: Italian

Nora Gray brings Italian flare to Griffintown

16 Oct

I love when new restaurants pop up in my neighbourhood and I was particularly excited when I read about Nora Gray, a sleek new Italian restaurant on St-Jacques run by the former chef of Liverpool House. And judging by the full house on the Tuesday night when I visited, I’m not the only one. It’s clearly creating quite a buzz!

Although the food was good, the ambiance was the highlight for me that night. The space is cozy – relatively small and dimly lit with large banquettes and wood panelling - but also sexy in that brass and leather kind of way. In addition, there is a long bar where you can savour your meal while scoping out the hipsters. Oups! I meant clientele :-) If I’m not mistaken, I may have even caught a glimpse of one of the Satay Brothers – the guys who took the Atwater Market by storm this summer.

In terms of food, don’t expect a pasta joint. Nora Gray’s menu is more meat oriented and features suckling pig, rabbit as well as a few fish dishes and one vegetarian option. They only had three pasta dishes on the menu that night and I still regret not taking the mushroom cavatelli… I read it was amazing. Instead, I ordered two starters: the goat cheese and seasonal vegetables and the calamari and meatballs. Both were ok, but not dishes I would crave. The vegetarian dish that night – which is what my friend ordered – was a sort of chickpea stew in tomato sauce with kale. Again, good but didn’t knock our socks off. Nonetheless, I would definitely consider going back to try other dishes and enjoy the buzz in my hood.

You may also want check out the post (in French) about Nora Gray on the blog Clarah… Tout simplement!.

Nora Gray on Urbanspoon

The comfort of mom food (via A Posada Adventure)

16 May

I recently contributed this post to my friend Sarah’s blog. She’s a Montrealer now living in Tulum where she runs a hotel (Posada Luna del Sur) with her boyfriend, Marty. Hope you enjoy the sauce as much as I do. It’s a favourite of mine from my aunt Lise, and is awesome when looking for some heart-warming comfort food.

The comfort of mom food I have to admit, when Sarah asked me to contribute to her blog, I was enthusiastic but also somewhat concerned. I’m not living abroad, not expecting a baby or planning any major projects in the near term… My life is pretty stable right now. And thank God because I’ve had my fair share of life-altering events in the past few years. But what the heck would I write about? And then Sarah had a flash. Since I’ve been “food focused” lately with my own … Read More

via A Posada Adventure

Italian done right in the Old Port

2 May

After reading a few enticing blog posts and tweets about Osteria Venti, an Italian restaurant that opened two weeks ago in the Old Port, I decided to try it out last Friday night. I’m always weary of upscale Italian restaurants because to me, Italian food is comfort food. It’s best served family style and enjoyed in a very laid-back atmosphere. Osteria Venti put my concerns to rest. Everything was homemade with lots of attention to detail, and the service was friendly and unpretentious.

Inside of the restaurant before it filled up. Cozy and modern. It wasn't empty very long!

This post will be an exercise in culinary imagination because it was quite difficult to take worthwhile pictures without blinding half the restaurant… Let me try my hand at describing the highlights for you, and then please visit Will Travel for Food (an awesome food blog) where you’ll find a ton of pictures of the dishes.

Bread
First off, the bread.  I’m just talking about the stuff they serve in the basket while you wait for your meal. Here, it is definitely worth mention. In fact, it was one of our highlights! It’s homemade and will knock your socks off. The focaccia is crispy and salty on the outside, chewy and doughy on the inside. Perfection!

Wine
There were lots of choices under $50 and most or all are private imports. We were looking for a red with substance and body that wouldn’t overpower the delicate pasta dishes we ordered. The sommelière recommended a 100% Sangiovese Brunello di Montalcino that knocked our socks off: Le Potazinne Gorelli. If I ever find this wine, I’ll buy a caisse! It was $60 – a little above what we originally wanted to spend – but the sommelière’s description sold us on it and we were happy we spent the extra $10.

Salumi
We ordered the plate of homemade charcuteries as an entrée. It included mortadella, salsiccia, chicken liver pâté and porchetta. It came with crispy pieces of puffed and fried bread and pickled beets and green beans as condiments. The cured meat was delicious and rivaled with this city’s best Comptoir.

Homemade charcuteries

Pasta
We shared the agnolotti and the gnocchi. Agnolotti are small pieces of stuffed pasta. In this case, it was stuffed with peas and mascarpone cheese and served with sausage meat and pecorino cheese. It was our favourite dish.

Agnolotti stuffed with green peas and mascarpone cheese. Simple, but delicious.

The gnocchi was super light and fluffy, probably because it is made with ricotta. It’s served with a simple tomato sauce. We really enjoyed it as well.

As a side, we ordered rapini, which was nicely cooked – not too much, not to little – and well seasoned.

Dessert
For dessert, we had the bomboloni, or little doughnut holes, dipped in chocolate sauce. They were good but didn’t blow me away. I thought the dough was a little bready for a doughnut and wished they were coated with sugar. They came off kind of salty to me. But then again, I’d never had bomboloni before, so I can’t compare.

Overall, our dinner at Osteria Venti was a great experience. My only irk was the wait staff’s limited knowledge of the items on the menu. Everyone was very nice and helpful, but not all that convincing when asked to describe a plate. We asked our waitress to describe the porchetta and she said “c’est le flanc braisé” – braised flank. Not exactly the tableside romance we were hoping for but there were so many interesting options on the menu that it wasn’t a big problem.

Osteria Venti
372 Saint-Paul Ouest
Old Montreal

Osteria Venti on Urbanspoon

The bill for two including 2 glasses of white wine and one $60 bottle of red was $140, excluding tax and tip.

Same owner as 400 Coups and Bar&Boeuf.
Chef, Michele Forgione (who you can see at work in the open kitchen) previously worked at Koko, Méchant Boeuf and Verses.

Biscotti canneberges et pistaches

20 Apr

J’ai fait cette recette à Noël et étant donné température similaire aujourd’hui je me suis dit pourquoi pas ! Je vous promets plein de salades estivales sous peu. Côté soleil… Ce n’est malheureusement pas de mon ressort.

J’ai offert ces biscotti en guise de cadeaux d’hôtesse et je les ai adorés, tout comme ma famille, mes amis et… mon voisin :-) ! Pour une version extra gourmande, trempez-les (une fois cuits) dans du chocolat noir ou blanc.

À la sortie du four. Attention de ne pas trop cuire !

Cette recette donne 16 à 20 biscotti. Ils se conservent super bien dans un contenant hermétique ou au congélo. Dans la recette qui suit, l’ajout du zeste et jus d’orange sont ma touche personnelle. Si ça ne vous dit rien, vous pouvez simplement les omettre.

Ingrédients :

2/3 tasse de sucre
2 gros oeufs
1 c. à thé d’extrait de vanille pure
1 c. à thé de poudre à pâte
1/4 c. à thé de sel
1 3/4 tasse de fanine
1/2 tasse de pistaches hachées grossièrement
1/2 tasse de canneberges séchées
Zeste d’une orange
Jus d’une moitié d’orange

Méthode:

Préchauffer le four à 350 degrés F et placer une grille au centre. Tapisser une plaque à biscuits de papier parchemin et mettre de côté.

Dans un bol, battre le sucre et les oeufs à l’aide d’une mixette électrique à vitesse élevée jusqu’à l’obtention d’un mélange jaune pâle, épais et onctueux (environ 5 minutes). Incorporer la vanille, le zeste et le jus d’orange. Dans un autre bol, mélanger la farine, la poudre à pâte et le sel. Incorporer les ingrédients secs au mélange d’oeufs. Ajouter les pistaches et canneberges.

Transférer toute la pâte sur la plaque à biscuits et former un pain rectangulaire d’environ 12 po. de long et 3,5 po. de large. Mouiller vos mains pour ne pas que la pâte y colle. Mettre au four pour environ 25 minutes (le dessus doit être ferme au toucher). Sortir du four et laisser refroidir sur une grille à biscuits pour environ 10 minutes.

En plein processus.

Baisser la température du four à 325 degrés F. Couper le “pain” en tranches d’environ 3/4 de po. Étaler toutes les tranches sur la plaque. Remettre au four environ 10 minutes. Retourner et cuire pour 10 minutes de plus. Retirer du four et laisser refroidir.

J’aime ces biscotti parce qu’ils ne sont pas trop sucrés. Les canneberges et les pistaches leurs donnent un petit quelque chose d’unique. Délicieux avec un bon café.

Source : Joy of baking 

Osso Bucco and cranberry gremolata

17 Apr

What better way to warm up a cold and grey April day than to make one last pot roast before the summer gets here. Hopefully, that will be soon. But for now, I’m making Osso Bucco. I love this recipe because of its rich aroma. It’s made with an entire bottle of full-bodied red wine (the original recipe calls for a $30 bottle of Amarone, but what am I nuts?), San Marzano tomatoes and veal stock. The cranberry gremolata gives this classic italian recipe a little modern kick. It’s not exactly a cheap meal, but it’s a lot easier to make than you would think.

Osso Bucco with cranberry gremolata: Great one-pot dish for entertaining. Or not.

Ingredients:

1/2 cup of all-purpose flour
Sea salt and freshly ground pepper
4 pieces of veal shank for osso bucco
Extra virgin olive oil
2 tablespoons of unsalted butter
1 onion, diced
1 celery stalk, diced
2 carrots, diced
Zest of 1 lemon, peeled off in wide strips with a vegetable peeler
1 head of garlic, cut horizontally through the middle
2 bay leaves
1/4 cup flat-leaf parsley, chopped
1 bottle of full-bodied red wine
14 1/2 oz. of veal stock (or 1 can beef stock)
1 can (28 oz.) of San Marzano tomatoes, hand-crushed (yay! for playing with our food)

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F.

Put the flour in a large plate and season with salt and pepper. Dredge the veal shanks in the flour and tap off the excess.

Heat a large pot (dutch oven is even better) over medium heat and add about 3 tablespoons of olive oil. Add the butter, making sure not to burn. Sear the veal shanks, turning carefully with tongs, until all sides are a rich brown caramel colour (you can do this in batches to avoid over crowding the pot). Set the veal aside.

In the same pot, sauté the onion, celery, carrots, lemon zest, garlic, bay leaves and parsley over medium heat. Cook the vegetables until they start to get some colour and develop a rich aroma. Season with salt and pepper.

This step is when everything really starts smelling delicious.

Nestle the veal shanks back in the pot. Pour in the wine and let simmer for about 20 minutes or until it has reduced by half. Add the veal stock and tomatoes and stir everything together.

Hey Mat, keep a glass for the chefs!

Cover the pot and pot and braise in the oven for 1 1/2 hours. Remove the lid and cook for 30 minutes more. The sauce should be thick and the veal tender, almost falling off the bone. Nix that, mine was definitely falling off the bone!

Remove the bay leaves and serve.

Cranberry gremolata:

1/4 cup toasted pine nuts (cooled), finely chopped
1/4 cup dried cranberries, finely chopped
2 garlic cloves
Zest of one orange, finely grated
2 tablespoons of chopped flat-leaf parsley

Combine pine nuts, cranberries and garlic clove in a mortar and crush together using pestle (or combine in mini chopper). Fold in orange zest and parsley. Scatter the gremolata over the Osso Bucco before serving.

If you swear by your own Osso Bucco recipe, try this gremolata to change things up.

Source: Adapted from Tyler Florence, the Food Network.

Boulettes à l’italienne – des vraies de vraies!

6 Apr

Ouvrez grand vos yeux, parce que j’ai tout un régal pour vous! Cette recette de mini boulettes à l’italienne, je l’ai concoctée à partir de notes gribouillées en admirant une vraie maman italienne à l’œuvre. Si ce n’est pas la meilleure que vous n’ayez jamais essayée, je vous mets au défi de me proposer la vôtre ;-)

Juteuses à souhait, elles sont parfaites pour des mini sous-marins, en sauce ou avec des pâtes. Moi, je les aime bien telles quelles pour le lunch, mais bon, je prêche pour ma paroisse.

Faites avec de la viande de veau et de porc, leur goût est délicat mais distinctif. Les œufs, le lait et le parmesan assurent un facteur « juteux » maximal. De plus, comme je vous propose de les faire dorer dans la poêle avant de les enfourner, vous conserverez un maximum de saveur sans risquer un passage aux grands brûlés (le tablier et la grille anti-éclaboussure sont tout de même fortement recommandés!).

Recette
Donne environ 20 petites boulettes.

Ingrédients :

1 lb de veau haché
1 lb de porc haché
1 ½ tasse de lait
1 ¼ tasse de chapelure italienne
1 tasse de persil italien frais, haché
½ tasse de parmesan râpé
3 œufs
Flocons de piment fort (si désiré – j’en ai mis 1 c. à thé et ce n’était pas trop piquant)
1 c. à thé de sel (si désiré)
Huile d’olive pour la cuisson

Méthode :

Bon, disons que la méthode « à l’italienne » consiste à mettre la moitié de tout dans un bol avec la viande et d’y aller à l’œil pour ajuster. Mais comme on n’est pas toutes des mamans italiennes expérimentées dans l’art des boulettes, je me suis inspirée d’une recette similaire sur le blogue Annie’s eats pour vous proposer la méthode suivante.

Préchauffer votre four à 350 °F. Dans un grand bol, mélanger la moitié de la chapelure avec le lait et laisser imbiber 10 minutes. Ajouter le persil, le parmesan, les oeufs, les flocons de piment et le sel et mélanger à nouveau. Ajouter la viande et bien mélanger (avec vos mains – c’est votre meilleur outil après tout!) jusqu’à ce que le mélange soit relativement uniforme. Rajouter le reste de la chapelure en continuant de mélanger jusqu’à l’obtention d’une consistance vous permettant de former des boulettes. Truc : mouillez vos mains avant de faire les boulettes et la viande n’y collera pas.

Chauffer l’huile d’olive dans un grand poêlon (faites comme les Italiens et soyez généreux!). Faire dorer les boulettes, quelques-unes à la fois, environ 10 minutes. Déposer sur un papier essuie-tout pour absorber l’excédent d’huile. Transférer ensuite les boulettes sur une tôle à biscuits et poursuivre la cuisson 10 à 12 minutes. TA-DAM! Vous avez des boulettes Italiennes authentiques.

Présentation suggérée (fortement!) :
La présentation ci-dessous est également inspirée de Annie’s eats.

Mini sous-marins aux boulettes. Aussi bons qu'ils sont beaux!

Préchauffez votre four à 400 °F. Couper des mini pains à sous-marins (j’en ai trouvé au IGA) en deux, placez-les sur une tôle à biscuits et vaporisez-les d’huile (genre Pam). Faites-les dorer environ 10 minutes. Coupez vos boulettes en deux et placez-les côté plat sur la moitié du bas des pains. Recouvrez les boulettes de sauce marinara et de fromage provolone. Réservez les moitiés du haut des pains grillés. Remettre les moitiés garnies de boulettes au four quelques minutes afin de faire fondre le fromage. Rajouter de la sauce sur le fromage et environ 1 c. à thé de pesto sur tout ça. Refermez votre sandwich et équipez-vous de serviettes de table! Ça coule partout, mais c’est sublime.

Restaurant Jane: Great “hidden” addition to Griffintown classics

2 Apr

Restaurant Jane was a hit! Matt, Julie H. and I were happy to discover a new spot close to home. It’s a little hard to find because there is no sign on the façade and they don’t have a website, but people have clearly taken to the new “novelty pizza” joint in Griffintown. It was full!

Schwartza smoked meat pizza with all the toppings: smoked meat, cheddar cheese and mustard sauce.

Their menu is mainly composed of pizzas, which include some strange but intriguing twists on classic comfort food like Mac n’ Cheese, Souvlaki and Pulled Pork.They also have a pretty wide array of solid entrées and a couple of main courses. Yesterday, they were serving up a fried pork chop with spinach orichietti, beef wellington with foie gras and NY steak and fries, but I think they change up the main courses on a regular basis. We had the Schwartza smoked meat pizza and were all impressed by the “smell” effect. If you closed your eyes, you would definitely think there was a smoked meat sandwich in front of you!

Price was reasonable. I’d say it’s in line with Gepetto, the other great pizza joint in the area.The bill came to $104 (excluding tip) for the three of us and accounted for our $10 cocktails (don’t bother with the raspberry mojito…), $42 bottle of wine (which was an awesome Cotes du Rhône), 3 entrées and our Schwartza.

We had the grilled octopus ($18), endive and blue cheese salad ($13) and meatballs ($13) as entrees and they were all amazing. Meatballs were a little salty (and God knows I love my salt) but still recommendable. The octopus dish surprised me as I was a little weary of this delicate dish being on a pizza joint’s menu. Honestly, one of the best I’ve had!

Julie, Matt and I agreed on an overall rating  of 7.5 on 10. We would definitely go back, especially given it’s close to home for us and is a great option to our regular roster of Gepetto and Burgundy Lion.

Resaurant Jane
1744, Notre-Dame Ouest (close to Guy)
Check out their Facebook page: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Restaurant-Jane/140378979326052?v=info

Restaurant façade - terrible picture but at least it gives you an idea of what you're looking for.

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