Lemon Tart

Trofie al Pesto: Remembering The Cinque Terre

     

When I travel, one of my favourite souvenirs is food. Beyond the usual food products that I bring back, what I'm talking about today is food inspiration. Whether it be in the form of food products, recipes, flavour combinations or cooking styles, I love to come home with at least one new dish that takes me back to  places I've been. The dish above is one of those souvenirs.

Trofie al pesto is a dish of Liguria, the long narrow region along the topmost coast of Italy, stretching from the French border until the leg of the boot heads down. The capital is the bustling port city of Genova and the picturesque, quaint villages of the Cinque Terre are found here. I was lucky to have spent some time here in October and the moment we walked to the beachfront of Levanto I knew we had a problem. "Oh, no, 2 days, is so not going to be enough time here", I said to DG, full of wonder of the surroundings and a little bit of disappointment already setting in due to our limited time. But we made do, and somehow our limited time seemed enough.

This place messes up any travelers' momentum. After the bustling crowded art filled cities of Florence and Venice, this place was a dream, with little to do but hike, wander and lounge. Which we did to our hearts content, tickled at our luck upon arriving at the beginning of low season. A tiny area that two weeks earlier would have been bursting with tourists, was happily active with no crowds. With 30 degree weather, full sun, blue waters and so much sky around us...life was indeed beautiful!

Soupe Au Pistou : Dreaming of Summer

 

We've been blessed on the westcoast this past week with stellar warm temperatures and a generous amount of sun. The fluffy pink cherry blossoms are being pushed aside out by tender, green leaves and the streets are blanketed with pink. The arrival of days without need of a jacket seem imminent, if not already here, and the air smells of spring in its purest sense. Yes, summer seems to be be peaking around the corner, teasingly, and I'm craving getting my hands dirty in my little patio garden, eating al fresco and dusting off my sandals. Yes, I know, even in the West, summer is truly a full 2 months away, but its good to dream of lazy days ahead. When I dream, its no surprise its takes form in a food.  
 

After a double bill of dinner parties this past weekend, we had indulged in Boeuf Bourgignon and Halibut Beurre Blanc, Crepes Suzette and Profiteroles, and beautiful wines from Burgundy and Vacqueyras to close to home, Naramata. By Sunday night a simple and healthy dinner was what we craved. A cleanse if you will. Going local on produce is a tough one by this time of the year and I happened to have some bright green beans in the fridge. Thank you California! To round out my locavore karma, tender frozen peas from Canada and a handful of some local potatoes and carrots provided a nice variety of flavours for an impromptu soup. A peak in the freezer made more possible: one last jar of frozen pesto, made many moons ago at the height of basil season, sealed the deal and I knew what were were having for dinner that night...

Soupe au Pistou is a classic vegetable soup from Provence. Comparisons can be made to it's Italian cousin, Minestrone, but there are distinct differences here. It's a simple broth packed with the abundant vegetables of the region and topped with a dollop of Pistou - a provencal version of Pesto but made without the pine nuts and parmesan. The result is a bowlful of your daily serving of vegetables, bright with the flavours of each, and a lightness from no frying, butter, meat or even stock, with water being the cooking liquid. The day after cooking this soup the bright colours retreat and the flavours gain more depth. I've had more hearty longer cooked versions in restaurants, but when made fresh at home, its flavour and look is lighter and brighter and what one craves as the thermometer creeps. With all the components cooked just so, this is simple one pot cooking and perfect for capturing the feeling of summer, or wait until bright tender beans and zucchini are overflowing at the market and make a batch in the height of the season.

Getting the Most from your Restaurant Experience : Part 1

When I was contemplating starting a blog, I always envisioned restaurants reviews here. I love cooking, I love eating, and I love entertaining - all givens for someone with a food blog. It's no surprise that dining out is something I truly enjoy and is my preferred form of entertainment.  My style of cooking and entertaining is hugely influenced by memorable restaurants - from simple to grand, at home and while traveling. These dining experiences shape the kind of host I am and the type of cook I am, influence how I see food, and also how I want to share it. You will frequently find me peaking at restaurant reviews, making a dream list of destination restaurants, and constantly hunting for new  eating spots. When friends need the perfect restaurant for an Anniversary dinner, or just a cheap stop off before a movie, I'm always up to the challenge for the perfect recommendation, and when those same friends hear of or find somewhere particularly great, they are equally excited to share the experience with me. Given this love of dining out it would make sense that there be some sort of restaurant content here.

When Lemon Tart came into being it developed its own voice.  Yes, my voice, but somehow it told me the kind of space it was to be fairly early on, and  I decided this wasn't going to be that sort of blog. While I do believe I could do it,  I'll leave the reviews to the professionals. You see, I prefer not to draw attention to myself when dining out. Memorable meals tend to have the magic quickly taken out of them when I pull out a camera  and the flow of the experience is halted. I  want to be truly in the moment, focusing on the food, the people, and the atmosphere. DG's obvious abhorrence and annoyance by my  shots of a meal don't help my confidence in this area either, so I've stopped it altogether, preferring a discrete little notepad to jot down notable details I don't want to forget. But while I can't pull the food photography off without feeling like a total loser, I admire those who do  and do it well and I'll eat those well written, well shot blog posts with a sauce spoon.