Love may be in the air, but it’s also in the Red Apron Kitchen this February.  Pre-order your Valentine’s dinner for 2 and pick it up in our retail store on February 14 between 2pm and 6pm.  For a detailed menu, follow the link:

valentines 2012

If you are looking for a special gift, drop into our retail store and select from our assortment of local treats and we will wrap it up for your Sweetheart with a big red ribbon!

For what we believe is the 5th year, we participated last week in the Taste of the Glebe.  This annual event features food business from the Glebe and surrounding area, local micro breweries, and mostly Ontario wines.  Attendees pay $45 and get to stuff themselves silly with great grub, with proceeds benefiting the Glebe Community Centre.

Billed as a cocktail party, if you don’t leave this event full, then you weren’t trying.

We served our very popular Organic Shitake Mushroom Soup made with locally grown organic shitake mushrooms from Aldergrove Farm.  This is our regular Thursday soup on our lunch menu and has developed a very loyal following.  We accompanied that with our Grilled Cheese Sandwich with Smoked Cheddar, Apples & Caramelized Onion from our Wednesday lunch menu.  This addictive combination is pressed on our panini until the cheese is gooey and the Art-is-In buttermilk multigrain bread is crispy.

There were many other delectable treats to be enjoyed that night, but the highlight for me was the charcuterie display presented by a newcomer to Ottawa’s food scene -Seed to Sausage.  Located in Sharbot Lake, they are producing the most spectacular cured meats that rival anything you can get in Montreal or dare I say Barcelona?  My favourites were the cured duck breast & the copa.

The ever forward thinking supporter of all food local, Glebe Grocery Guru Jim McKeen of Metro has jumped on this product and is selling it out of the deli case.

We hope to be able to feature some of their products as ingredients in our Weekly Dinner Service meals and on future ‘Special Event’ Menus.

Another annual highlight is the food & entertainment trio at the Pelican fishery booth.  Jim, Paul and Noam always put on a good show served up with succulent smoked salmon on pumpernickel with sour cream & dill.

The Second Avenue Sweets display of delicious goodies is always favourite of mine, and this year I particularly enjoyed a nibble of her flourless chocolate cake which has the density of a brownie or torte.

A great event and we look forward to next year!

January 2012

We had been asked by the Winterlude organizers to participate in ‘A Taste of Winterlude’ this year and we had concocted a fun filled day of hearty lumberjack fare for the end of the month.  Unfortunately, with just over a week until the event, Winterlude had not delivered on the booked seats, so with much disappointment we made the decision to cancel the event this week.

So to cheer ourselves up, we dug out the moustaches we had been saving for that event and wore them around the shop for a few hours.  It did the trick.  After much giggling and photo taking, we were back to our joyful selves.

We are taking all that fine food we had ordered up for this event, including the whole organic pig ordered from the Pickle Patch, and turning it into hearty winter meals that will be available in our retail store throughout the two weeks of Winterlude.

Also, each Friday & Saturday through Winterlude (February 3/4, 10/11 & 17/18) we will be serving up hot bowls of Vegetarian Chili between 11am & 2pm in our retail store at 564 Gladstone.

Drop in and warm up, or else I’ll have to send this one after you.

Twas the day before Christmas
and all through the kitchen
all the food was disappearin’
and Jo-Ann was a bitchin’

The customers were coming
from far and away
hoping to buy what they needed
to put on the table Christmas day

Jennifer stood in the retail
and had such a fright
food flying from fridges
this couldn’t be right

Reliable Michael
couldn’t help but chime
the amount of food to prep
felt like doing hard time

Justine and Aiofe
they couldn’t understand
line ups of customers everywhere
just couldn’t have been
planned

Julie R. to the rescue
with her easy disposition
she was ready to talk them
all into submission

Megan stood in her corner
looking rightfully sour
boxes full of tourtière
her hair full of flour

Ivana tended lunch
harried and stressed
soup tureen empty
many sandwiches to be pressed

Julie H. offered to help
“I’ll work extra hours”
She quickly realized
It was no bed of flowers

Jayda worked hard
Always in a good mood
She toiled all day
to fill orders for food

Baby Robin and Sascha
were packaging with delight
if they didn’t hurry up
we would be there all night

Jo and Jen were yelling
‘the fridges are empty
you have to keep cooking
so there will be plenty’

Maria and Big Robin
were cooking full speed
multitasking like maniacs
they both took the lead

In back of the dish-pit
the suds were a flowing
Chris and Steven were at it
there was no sign of slowing

The pans were stacked high
With food coated slime
Ameya and Eric shocked
at the amount of thick grime

Morgan looked on
his face was quite stark
he took this job thinking
it would be a walk in the park

2 O’clock Christmas Eve
there was a wonderful sound
the doors had been locked
no customers around

Crack open the bubbly
lets all have a treat
our Red Apron Team
just Cannot be Beat

Have a wonderful Holiday
we wish you good cheer
lots of rest & relaxation
See you all in the New Year!

Jennifer & Jo-Ann

These events can sometimes be compared to sale day at Filenes Basement, with participants kicking, punching, and elbowing their way to the best goods.  But ours was quite civilized, although it did include mulled wine and spiked apple cider!

Our staff work hard to put great food on the table for our clients and this time of year is especially busy.  It doesn’t always leave us a lot of time to do our own preparations for the holiday season. So a few Sundays ago we gathered to bake.

Many pounds of butter, chocolate and flour later – we went home to stuff our cupboards and freezers with a selection of tasty treats.

Here are some of our favourite recipes!

Chocolate ‘Freezer’ Cookies

1 3/4 cups all purpose flour
1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder (preferably Dutch-process)
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup sugar
3/4 cup (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature
1 large egg
1/2 cup crushed candy canes or shredded coconut

Whisk together flour, cocoa and salt.  In a separate bowl, cream together butter and sugar then add eggs and stir in.  Mix in dry ingredients.  Form dough into a log, roll in crushed candy cane or coconut and freeze until ready to use.  When ready to bake, thaw log slightly and cut into 1/4″ rounds. Bake in a preheated 325 degree oven for 5-7 minutes, or until edges are set and centres are still a bit soft.

Justine thought these cookies would make the perfect base for an ice cream sandwich using Pascale’s Egg Nog ice cream!

Chocolate Peanut Butter Bars

Base
10 regular size chocolate chip cookies (you can make them from scratch)
1/3 cup butter, melted

Filling

3 cups icing sugar
1/2 cup butter at room temperature
1 teaspoon of vanilla
1 1/2 cups creamy peanut butter

Topping

4 tablespoons butter
2 1/2 tablespoons corn syrup (you could substitute honey or maple syrup)
4 ounces bittersweet chocolate, chopped (we used cocoa camino chocolate chips)

Preheat the oven to 325.  Line a 9 x 13 inch pan with parchment paper.  In a food processor turn the chocolate chip cookies into crumbs then add melted butter and pulse until the crumbs are wet.  Pat into the bottom of the pan.  Bake for 10 minutes.

Beat together the butter, peanut butter and vanilla until smooth.  Beat in all the sugar.  The mixture will be stiff.  Pat this mixture on top of the base and place in the fridge.

Combine the chocolate, butter and syrup in a metal bowl over simmering water and stir until melted.  Pour over the top of your pan and smooth. Refrigerate until firm and slice into bars.

Sugar Cookies

2/3 cup butter
3/4 cup sugar
½ tsp orange zest
½ tsp vanilla
1 egg
4 tsp milk
2 cups flour
1 ½ tsp baking powder
¼ tsp salt

Preheat oven to 350ºF.

In a large bowl, cream together butter, sugar orange zest and vanilla until pale yellow. Add egg and beat until light and fluffy. Stir in the milk.  In a small bowl, sift together flour, baking powder and salt. Add to butter and sugar mixture and mix until well combined.

Divide the dough in two. Flatten each half into a disk, wrap in cling-film and refrigerate for 1 hour.

Grease a cookie sheet. Remove one disk from the fridge. On a lightly floured surface, roll out dough to approx 1/8 inch thick. Cut out desired shapes (I used trees that were around 4-inches.) Place cutouts on prepared cookie sheet and bake for 6-8 minutes, or until slightly golden around the edges. Allow to cool, then decorate with Royal Icing (recipe below.)

Royal Icing

1 egg white
2 cups icing sugar
juice of one lemon
1-2 tsp water
food colouring (optional)

In a small pot, bring an inch or so of water to a simmer. Place a small bowl over the pot and add egg white. Beat egg white until stiff but not dry.  Remove from heat and add icing sugar and lemon juice, beating until well combined. The icing should be slightly runny so that when you drop a spoonful back into the bowl it melds with the rest easily with only a slight resistance. If your icing is too thick, add one teaspoon of water at a time until the desired consistency is reached.

Add food colouring if desired, mixing well. Fill a pastry bag with icing and pipe on cookies to decorate, starting by outlining the cookie and then filling it in. The icing should run together to fill in the gaps. Use different coloured icings to make patterns.

Allow to dry for 2 hours before storing cookies.

Gingerbread Cake

We served this cake with poached cherries & whipped cream

Bring ¼ lb butter and 1 cup molasses to boil in a small saucepan.  Remove from heat and allow to cool.

Whisk 1 cup sour cream and 2 teaspoons orange zest together in a small bowl.

Sift the following dry ingredients into a large bowl.

2 ½ cups flour
¾ teaspoon baking soda
2 teaspoons dry ginger
1 teaspoon cinnamon
¼ teaspoon cloves
½ teaspoon salt

Whisk together the cooled molasses mixture with the sour cream mixture.  Add this to the sifted dry ingredients along with 1/3 cups diced crystallized ginger and ½ cup diced dried figs.  Stir only until all dry ingredients are moistened – do not overmix.

Pour into greased loaf pans and bake for 30-40 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean.

Chocolate Truffles

450 grams of good quality dark chocolate, chopped (we used cocoa Camino)
300 ml of whipping cream
100 grams of butter
100 grams of chopped candied ginger
100 grams of grated fresh ginger

Coating

200 grams of the same chocolate, melted in a double boiler

Place chocolate ingredients in a metal bowl.  Melt cream and butter and bring to a simmer and add fresh ginger.  Allow to sit for 10 minutes to infuse.  Re-heat and add to chopped chocolate.  Stir with a spatula, being careful not to mix in any air.  When the mixture is smooth, fold in the candied ginger.  Cover with plastic wrap and let set in the refrigerator for 2 hours.  Remove from fridge and roll into balls about 1 inch in diameter using your hands.  Lay on baking sheet covered in parchment.  Place in the freezer for 10 minutes.  Dip truffles in melted chocolate to coat using a fork and place on clean parchment.  Decorate with a piece of candied ginger.

We made three kinds of truffles – Ginger, Orange and Tia Maria.  It’s pretty simple to change the flavour by replacing the ginger with grated orange peel and reduced orange juice, or some Kahlua.

Ginger Cookie

Ingredients

2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1 1/2 teaspoons ground cloves
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
1 cup dark brown sugar, lightly packed
1/4 cup vegetable oil
1/3 cup unsulfured molasses
1 extra-large egg, at room temperature
1 1/4 cups chopped crystallized ginger (6 ounces)
Granulated sugar, for rolling the cookies

Directions

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Line 2 sheet pans with parchment paper.

In a large bowl, sift together the flour, baking soda, cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg, ginger, and salt and then combine the mixture with your hands. In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat the brown sugar, oil, and molasses on medium speed for 5 minutes. Turn the mixer to low speed, add the egg, and beat for 1 minute. Scrape the bowl with a rubber spatula and beat for 1 more minute. With the mixer still on low, slowly add the dry ingredients to the bowl and mix on medium speed for 2 minutes. Add the crystallized ginger and mix until combined.

Scoop the dough with 2 spoons or a small ice cream scoop. With your hands, roll each cookie into a 1 3/4-inch ball and then flatten them lightly with your fingers. Press both sides of each cookie in granulated sugar and place them on the sheet pans. Bake for exactly 13 minutes. The cookies will be crackled on the top and soft inside. Let the cookies cool on the sheets for 1 to 2 minutes, then transfer to wire racks to cool completely.

It’s been too long since I have posted on our blog and for that I apologize.  It’s not because I haven’t had anything to say.  In fact, there has been so much going on that I haven’t had time to post.

This month Jo-Ann and I took a brief break from making and selling food, and entrusting our Red Apron Baby to our capable and overly competent staff, we embarked on and adventure to Niagara on the Lake for two solid days of touring wineries in both NOTL and the Bench.

Admittedly, being a lover of red wines, I have not been super satisfied with the selection and quality of Ontario wines available in our local LCBO.  Although many of our regional restaurants carry an exceptional list of Ontario wines, finding those wines has been a challenge.

Boy, were my eyes opened on this trip!  I can’t even begin to tell you what I have been missing out on all these years.

There are many good wines to talk about but the highlight of the trip was Foreign Affairs Winery.  This wine maker rents space for production in an former government building, while they grow their own grapes on a nearby farm.   Foreign Affairs was the the first in North America to introduce the appassimento style of wine making, where grapes are dried before the being pressed.  It’s a natural way to increase the concentration of sugar in the grapes but at the expense of volume. That’s why the famous dried-grape wines (like Amarone) usually cost a lot more.

The winemakers are very proud of their truly Canadian product which has been ‘informed’ by old world traditions which.  This marriage of  new and old worlds is reflected on their labels – an Italian landscape with Canadian iconic symbols (bear, moose, geese).

We first tasted their wines at DNA restaurant in Monreal and were blown away.  Te Amo is a full appasiemento wine where all the grapes are dried for 3 months then pressed.  It is a ‘one of a kind’ truly amazing wine and $110 a bottle, but strangely worth it.  While there we also purchased their 2009 Pinot Noir ($45/bottle) and their 2008 Ripasso which is exceptional value at $19.95/bottle.

Some others in North America have adopted this style of winemaking including Colaneri, which we also visited, but are kiln drying the grapes to speed up the process.  Foreign Affairs believes that this shortcut compromises the end result.

We tasted a 2008 Sauvignon Blanc with 20% dried fruit, at 2008 Chardonnay with 40% dried fruit, and 2009 Pinot Noir with 40% dried fruit (Gold & Bronze award winner).

The vines were imported from Europe and grafted on a north American root – a common practice.

I encourage you to go online and order a case of their wine.  You will NOT be disappointed.

On Saturday October 22nd, the Red Apron hosted our first ever sit down dinner.  Our 33 guests paid $125 to join us in a celebration of our local farmers and the produce that that grow.   The 8 course menu featured all Ontario & Quebec produce and was paired with a flight of Ontario wines.

The evening started off with an amuse bouche featuring house made pate with an Ontario cherry compote, and a local trout ceviche an apple & onion relish.  After the guests were seated we brought out the first course – an oven-roasted heirloom tomato soup with a charred cornbread crouton.

For many, this dish was a meal in itself, but it was only the beginning.  The key to the evening was to pace yourself!  There were still many, many more dishes to come.

The next course was a deconstructed salad featuring Ontario duck breast (house smoked) served beside a bed of local organic greens (wilted) garnished with a fried quail egg & roasted organic beets.  Then, on to a soft pillowy gnocchi made using organic pumpkins from Songberry farm, bathed in brown butter, and served on a bed of wild and cultivated mushrooms from Le Coprin near Wakefield.

Our main courses started with a rabbit ravioli, served with a sage and sunflower pesto, rabbit jus and garnished with sunflowers and pickled red cabbage.  This course was not only my personal favourite, but was the most difficult to execute as the pasta was made by hand.

Now we were heading into the homestretch.  Our we slowly braised ‘Fitzroy’ beef oxtail and cheeks until it melted off the bone, and served them on a puree of Jerusalem artichokes, with a thick sauce, garnished with crispy leeks and a brunois of vegetables.  For some, this course was just too much to handle as they were starting to reach their limit.  But for those determined to soldier on, they cleared their plates and got ready for the next course.

Taking pity on our guests who had been sitting now for 2 hours, we invited them to get up, stretch their legs, and enjoy a cheese course that featured 3 Ontario & Quebec cheeses, including Monforte Dairy’s creamy goat cheese, a lovely blue Ermite from the Fromagerie Abbaye Saint-Benoit, and La Liberte from the Fromagerie du Presbytere.  All of these cheeses are regularly available in our Retail Store.

After they had satisfied their cheese cravings and worked up a bit of an appetite again, our guests were seated for the grand finale – a rich dark gingerbread root cake, served with poached ontario stone fruits, and house made creme fraiche.

It was a wonderful evening and we will certainly do it again sometime.

As many of our clients are already aware, the Red Apron strives to reduce, reuse and recycle wherever possible.  Part of this effort includes saving all our vegetable waste and supplying it to our farmers.  Because our vegetable waste is so pure (no meat, bones, rubber bands or plastic wrap), it’s safe to feed to their animals.  According to our farmers, our vegetable waste is quite favoured by their cows, chickens and pigs.

Julie from Songberry farm sent us this beautiful picture of her animals feasting on Red Apron compost.  As you can see, it’s not only hundreds of humans that we feed, but also a number of very happy animals.  It’s very important to us that we be participating in our own little circle of life.  Songberry vegetables are delivered to the Red Apron, and used to feed Red Apron customers.  Red Apron compost is used to feed Songberry animals.  Songberry animal waste is used to fertilize Songberry vegetables, and the cycle begins again.

Happy Halloween!

Yesterday we had a lovely couple come into our store for lunch.  They were visiting from England and had read about us in a copy of Where Magazine which they found in their hotel.  It was a pleasure to host some out of town visitors to our wonderful city.

Our lunch service is becoming increasingly popular, especially since we have added some stools at our counter.  We now have an area where people can sit and enjoy their hot soup and pressed sandwiches, like these two Lovely Ladies Lunching at our counter!

A few weeks ago we had the great pleasure of meeting Lynn Orgryzlo, food, wine & travel writer, and her husband Jon Ogryzlo, Dean of the Canadian Food & Wine Institute.  They were in town promoting Lynn’s latest book, The Ontario Table.  In her book, Lynn takes us on a journey and introduces us to the people, food and culture of Ontario’s local food.

While promoting her book on a tour through Ontario’s Farmer’s Markets, Lynn is also encouraging every household in Ontario to spend at least $10 a week local food and wine.  If every household in Ontario met this challenge, there would be a 2.4 billion dollar influx into the Ontario economy each year.

This week the City of Ottawa jumped on the bandwagon.  In a detailed article by Centretown News you can read all about it!