roasted tomato soup

When Ontario tomatoes were in season, I made this roasted tomato soup on the regular. It's really easy to throw together, tastes even better on the second day, and is the best when paired with a gooey grilled cheese. 

5 large plum tomatoes or vine tomatoes, halved
1 package of grape tomatoes
5 cloves of garlic
2 medium sized onions, halved
4 C chicken stock
2 bay leaves
3 tbsp olive oil
1 tsp fennel seeds
salt & pepper
4-5 fresh basil leaves (optional)

1. Heat oven to 425 degrees. Place all the tomatoes, garlic and onions on a baking tray and toss with olive oil and salt and pepper. Roast for 30 minutes, or until everything starts to blister and caramelize.

2. Place all of the roasted vegetables into a pot and add chicken stock, bay leaves and fennel seeds. Bring to a boil, then lower heat to medium and cook until liquid reduces by a third. Remove bay leaves.

3. Add basil if using, then puree everything in a blender or by using an immersion blender, until smooth. Return soup to low heat and season to taste. If you find your soup to be too acidic, a tablespoon of honey will balance things out. If your soup is too thick, just add more chicken stock. If you want to get fancy and get rid of any seeds or skin, you can strain the soup through a sieve before serving.

seven lives tacos

I came across Seven Lives tacos while strolling through Kensington market in search of bread and cheese. More akin to a takeout counter than restaurant, it's hidden within the shared El Gordo space on August Avenue. Seven Lives specializes in fish and seafood tacos, but have options for non-fish lovers too. I really wanted to try the ceviche, but it was sold out. Since I have a hard time passing up on tacos, I settled on two for the road (though there is a back patio so you can sit down and eat). 

The condiments: lime wedges, pickled red onions, salsa verde and red salsa. The salsas were really flavourful and I topped my tacos with both.

The baja fish taco came with a freshly battered, deep-fried piece of fish tucked in doubled blue corn tortillas, then topped with cabbage, fresh salsa and sour cream.

The camarones a la diabla came with plump shrimp and peppers on corn tortillas topped with melted cheese, fresh salsa, shredded cabbage and sour cream.

Messy (in the best way) and made with fresh fish and seafood, these tacos were mighty satisfying. Now I have another reason to hit up the market more often. You can follow Seven Lives on Twitter to find their daily menu.

Seven Lives

214 Augusta Avenue

baked brownies

The infamous Baked brownie has made its round all over the interweb these past few years and with the overwhelming success of their peanut butter cookies last week, I decided to give this popular recipe a try.
These rich brownies were definitely decadent. More fudgy than cakey, I recommend cutting them small and having a tall ice-cold glass of milk handy or you may go into chocolate overload. I'm partial to the crackly corner piece, slightly chilled, eaten in silence. 

You can find the recipe here or buy the cookbook, here. 

north of brooklyn pizzeria

Good pizza is hard to find around my neighbourhood, so when I saw a new pizza place setting up shop just one street over, I was pumped. I've had pizza twice now from North of Brooklyn Pizzeria and I'm happy to say that this is some good pie. The first time I called ahead for pick-up. Joe went to grab the 'zas and he said that service was painfully slow (the pizzas were sitting on the counter for 15 minutes before anyone decided to box them up). So slow that the pizzas were lukewarm by the time he got them home (even though we literally live a block away). Luckily, they still tasted awesome. The second time we stopped in for a couple of slices. We enjoyed those (hot!) fresh out of the oven. Delicious.

My favourite so far is the pepperoni. Thin, bubbly crust topped with cheese and some really good pep! Slightly spicy and uber flavourful, this pepperoni puts the generic kind to shame. The classic margherita is also a reliable standby with fresh basil, tomato sauce and mozz. 

It's been pretty dangerous having such good pizza so close by. Dangerous, but also convenient.

North of Brooklyn Pizzeria

650 1/2 Palmerston Ave.

peanut butter milk chocolate chunk cookies

Peanut butter is one of those things that I rarely crave, but when I was trying to think of a new cookie to make, peanut butter somehow made its way into my head. I decided on these peanut butter milk chocolate chunk cookies from the Baked cookbook that promised to be chewy and full of flavour. I ate three as soon as they had cooled, so that means they were real good.

You can find the recipe here.

cne eats 2012

Oh the CNE! Where carnies, crowds and over-priced deep-fried food abound. I usually get suckered/forced to go every year. I didn't eat the deep-fried butter like last year and was tempted by the pulled pork red velvet pancakes and bacon sundae funnel cake, but I think those things sound better in writing than in person. Here's what I did try. 

Obligatory corn dog. It tasted like a corn dog. Should have went for the deep-fried dill pickle instead.

Kalbi bao and spicy fried chicken bao from Far East Taco. I was going to try their Korean-style tacos, but thought the bao bread would be a better vehicle for the saucy fillings. I think I was right. Though these were pretty good, they got nothing on the Banh Mi Boys.

Tiny Tom donuts for dessert. I considered going for something a bit more crazy—deep fried rice crispy squares maybe—but I can never say no to these greasy little bites of dough.

banana layer cake

This cake is one the best things that I’ve baked in a long time. Two super moist banana cake layers sandwiched with fluffy cream cheese frosting, then topped with even more of that luscious frosting. 

I’ve been eating this straight outta the fridge. A nice, cold slab to end my day. Perfect.

The recipe is actually so simple that I made this cake on a weeknight (a very, very rare occurrence over here). And you only have to dirty two bowls, one for the cake batter and one for the frosting.

for the cake: makes two 9-inch round cakes
2 C cake flour
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
pinch of salt
1/2 C butter, softened
1 1/2 C sugar
2 eggs
1/2 C buttermilk, divided into two additions
1 tsp vanilla
3 very ripe bananas, mashed

1. In the bowl of a stand mixer (or by hand), mix flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt until combined. Add in the butter, sugar, half of the buttermilk and the bananas. Mix for one minute.

2. Add in the eggs, remaining buttermilk and vanilla. Mix again for one minute.

3. Line the bottom of two 9-inch round cake pans with parchment paper. Grease the pans. Divide the batter evenly into the pans. Bake at 350 degrees for 40 minutes.

for the frosting:
1 pkg cream cheese, room temp
1/4 C butter, room temp
1 tsp vanilla
1 C icing sugar, sifted (or more)

1. Using a stand mixer, beat cream cheese until fluffy. Add butter and vanilla and beat until combined.

2. Add in sifted icing sugar until the frosting reaches the consistency and sweetness that you like. For me that was about a cup.

sariwon

The tough thing about not having a backyard—especially in the summertime—is not being able to have a bbq. Especially a Korean bbq. Joe and I usually head to my mom's one or twice in the summer to get our grilling fix, but this summer seems to be flying past and we've been just too busy. So we did the next best thing: head to a Korean bbq restaurant. I'd heard good things about Sariwon at Yonge and Steeles (quite a trek from downtown) and decided to give it a try. For bbq, we had the marinated kalbi (Korean beef ribs). This was some good quality meat! Tender and flavourful—almost as good as my recipe. Almost. When the waitress started laying out all of the complimentary banchan (customary Korean side dishes like kimchi) my eyes grew with excitement. I love banchan!

Making ssam (lettuce wraps): Take a piece of lettuce, smear it with some salty-sweet bean paste, add some rice and meat and wrap it all up. Lettuce makes it healthy, right?

We foolishly ordered a bowl of spicy soon dubu chigae (soft tofu and seafood stew) too, not knowing that the bbq came with a bowl of doenjang chigae (soy bean paste stew). Both were really good, but we obviously had way too much food for just two people.

Luckily we were hungry because we may have also ordered a broiled mackerel...our eyes are definitely bigger than our stomachs. Surprisingly (or not) we actually polished off almost all of this feast. There's something about delicious Korean food that makes it so irresistible.

Sariwon

7388 Yonge St.

Thornhill

sanagan's meat locker

Sanagan's Meat Locker in Kensington Market recently moved from its original location in the old Max & Sons butcher shop into the space that was once European's Quality Meats & Sausages just down the street.

The new location is much bigger. The meat, as always, is sourced from small Ontario farms. They now offer a variety of cured meats and terrines as well.

And there's a hot food counter!

Here's the roast beef sandwich—a pile of juicy shaved roast beef piled onto a fresh bun and topped with caramelized onions, mushroom gravy and old cheddar. It was messy, but delicious. 

Sanagan's Meat Locker

176 Baldwin St.

kanto

I first mentioned Kanto at the Scadding Court Market way back in February when they hadn't even opened yet. Well, it's been months and I've walked by so many times without stopping in, so last week when my mom was in town we picked up some food for a quick dinner. 

Kanto's menu is focused on convenient Filipino street foods. We grabbed an order of lechon kawali (crispy pork belly) and lumpia shanghai (spring rolls). 

The lechon was awesome! Juicy with a bubbly, crispy skin—just like it should be. And the lumpia (we had the chicken version since they were sold out of pork) were little deep-fried bundles of flavourful ground chicken wrapped in a thin and crunchy spring roll wrapper. Not gonna lie, I ate most of this straight out of the container before we even got home.

Kanto

707 Dundas St.W 

@ the Scadding Court Market