February 03, 2020
There are only 11 days left until Valentine’s Day. Each year we theme our meal and have drawn inspiration from Julie Child, Frida Kahlo, Italian food, Spanish Food, and more. This year, being 2020, and knowing that Valentines’ Day occurs during Winterlude, we decided to take inspiration from all of the things we love about Ottawa.
Here is the full menu:
Appetizer
Ottawan’s love to ‘Do Brunch’. Enjoy appetizers inspired by some of Ottawa’s great brunch spots, without the lineups!
- Mini Quiche with Caramelized Leek & Beking’s Egg
- Shrimp with Bloody Caesar Salsa & Pickled Green Bean
- Everything Bagel Bites with Herbed Cream Cheese
Soup
One of the beautiful things about our City is that People from all over the world call Ottawa home, share their incredible cultures and inspire the fusion of flavours in our soup course.
- Vegetable Medley with Curried Coconut Broth
Mains
Ottawa’s street food and restaurant scene lets us enjoy foods from many different cultures. Our main course pays homage to some of Ottawa’s best street food in the comfort of your home!
- Mediterranean Spiced Breast of Chicken, Roasted Red Pepper Hummus, House Pickled Turnips
or
- Vegetarian Sweet Potato & Chickpea Cakes, Roasted Red Pepper Hummus,
- House Pickled Turnips
Both come with:
- Green Beans, Peppers, Roasted Tomatoes & Feta with Black Olives &
- Oregano Balsamic Dressing
- Oven Roasted Fingerling Fries with Garlic Aioli
Dessert
One of Ottawa’s great treasures is the Rideau Canal. It provides us with so many opportunities to walk, bike, boat, and skate! Ottawa would not be as ‘lovable’ without it so our dessert course is a tribute to this beautiful waterway.
- Hot Chocolate Mousse with Cinnamon Sugar Donut Holes
The meal is available for pre-order and pick up in our retail store on the 14th of February between 9am and 6pm and can be enjoyed on Friday or Saturday in the comfort of your own home!
If this menu is not what you are looking for, keep in mind that our Gourmet Shop will be well stocked with seasonal items, and our Thursday February 13 Fresh Meal Menu features Duck Confit with ‘Heart’ Beet Risotto!
February is a great month to LOVE Ottawa and until February 17 you can take in one of many Winterlude activities.
This month we are sharing a recipe for a Gluten Free Shortbread cookie, a Sugar Cookie, and Royal Icing so you can make your own cookie Hearts. We have these beautiful decorated and somewhat ‘cheeky’ cookies in our retail store, and for the week of Valentine’s we will be stocked with cookies, mini decorated cakes, and much more!
Gluten Free Shortbread Cookies
- 4 sticks (2 cup)
- butter
- 1 ½ cup
- granulated sugar
- 2 large
- eggs
- 2 tsp
- vanilla
- 3 ¼ cup
- white rice flour + ½ cup for dusting work surface
- 1 ½ cup
- arrowroot or corn starch
- 1 ¼ cup
- potato starch
- 2 tsp
- salt
- 1 tsp
- xantham gum
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper. Using a mixer with the paddle attachment, cream the butter and sugar on medium speed until light and fluffy. Add eggs one at a time. Mix for 1 min. Add the vanilla.
- In a separate bowl, combine 3 ¼ cups of the rice flour and all of the arrowroot (or corn starch), potato starch, salt and xantham gum. Add ½ of the flour mixture to butter and mix for 1 min. Add the rest of the mixture and continue mixing until ingredients are combined.
- Divide the dough into 3 balls. Set two aside. Dust your counter with flour. Press the ball flat with your hands first. Then roll dough out to just over ¼ inch thick. Using your favourite cookie cutter, cut out cookies and place them on prepared cookie sheets about 1 inch apart.
- Bake in preheated oven for about 12-15min. Cookies are done when they just start to get golden around the edges. Remove from oven and place them on a cooling rack. When cool, decorate cookies with icing.
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.)
Yield: 3 dozen 4-inch cookies
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.
