le sauce

black olive bagna cauda

If you wander through le sauce, you'll start to notice that I enjoy black olives a lot. I cook them with pasta, I eat them with eggs, and there's not much that separates the recipe below from the black olive tapenade I make. Except that a bagna cauda is just way more sultry than a tapenade. It's heady with garlic and it's very much about the luscious, flavoured oil that the garlic, and usually the anchovies, swim in. A tapenade, like other dips, may come together with a lot of oil, but it's not left loose and silky like this is.

Not being an eater of anchovies, I felt I was being left out of the bagna cauda party, so I replaced them with black olives in this recipe mostly for their saltiness. Really, this time, the olives are just a means to an end--a way to get me as close to bagna cauda as I can. And their inclusion makes this a less-than-authentic bagna cauda--I even roasted the garlic to mellow and sweeten it, where it's usually simmered on the stove. But it's my version of a vegetarian bagna cauda and it was absolutely devoured at the start of the last dinner party I hosted. Ok, fine, I associate with the kind of people that eat everything in sight to begin with, but this went particularly fast, even for us.

homemade quick pickles, mustard and mayonnaise

(the most indulgent sandwich week ever)

If we're going to try to make the most awesome sandwiches, we can't overlook the condiments. They may not make or break a sandwich, but the best condiements catapult humble sandwiches to another level.

Store-bought mustards are ok, but you've compared them to the ones you get from artisans at the market right? Or brand-name pickles to your grammie's jars? This is a realm where the homemade stuff wins every time, and given how easy it is to make condiments at home, you can have one or two of them on hand, at least once in a while.

Plus you can make it personal. I'm talking about custom mustard.

Who doesn't want that?

Look! Links to the sammies from the most indulgent sandwich week ever!
Fried Oyster Mushroom Sandwich with Harissa Mayonnaise
Pulled Jackfruit Sandwich with Ginger Beer BBQ Sauce
The Poutine Sandwich with Tamari Gravy

tuscan white bean purée

one last look back at the decade i spent with the magazines. i did love them all, and working with the talented, passionate creators behind them. i got particularly excited when wish magazine (sadly, now defunct) came out each month, because it had an extensive food section. this recipe is from the cookbook spinoff from wish. having tried my share of them with great success every time, i'm willing to say every recipe in this book is a winner. it's no longer for sale, but the recipes are still available online.

i can't tell you how many times i've whipped up this white bean purée to take to a party or potluck. it comes together in minutes and seems to please everybody. i even made it last weekend for an al fresco dinner that i hosted in our backyard, and omitted the garlic since one of my guests doesn't digest it well. it still tasted amazing and drew approving comments from every single guest--including a discerning 13-month-old baby. i served it alongside very hearty crackers instead of on toasts which the original recipe calls for. i think it's also a great dip for just about anything, and i can even imagine it thinned out over pasta.

so i've gone from drooling over recipes to writing my own. i only hope mine are this good.

tuscan white bean purée crostini

(the wish recipes from both the magazine and the cookbook can be found on the 20-minute supper club website, including this one. i find this makes about 2 cups.)

2 tablespoon olive oil
1 large shallot, finely chopped
2 clove garlic, finely chopped
2 cup canned white beans, drained
6 sage leaves
2 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
2 teaspoon kosher salt
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1 slice whole wheat baguette, cut into 1/2 -inch

Preparation
Heat olive oil in a skillet over medium heat.
Add shallots and garlic and cook until soft.
Add white beans and mix thoroughly.
Transfer mixture to a food processor. Add sage leaves, lemon juice, salt and extra virgin olive oil. Purée until smooth.
Spread on toasted baguette.

i love you, gladstone fry bar

now i already loved me some gladstone hotel to begin with. i enjoy harvest wednesdays every year, their always tasty brunch--but how did i not discover the "fry bar" on their menu until last week?? first of all, they had me at the concept. i love fries, period, salted and otherwise undressed is just fine. but entice me with lots of extra toppings and i get excited (veggie gravy? thanks for thinking of me! really, thank you). but present me with toppings as varied and good as theirs and i become ecstatic and have to create a post on my blog to profess my love for you.

i ordered the cajun mayo dipping sauce, cuz i always do when given the choice, and kinda cringed when my friend chose the maple mustard dip (really?? okaaaaay...) but holy was i the one who chose wrong. i mean, the mayo was good. really good. but the maple mustard was...deep. sweet, but not overly sweet, in a caramel-y way, and the spice from the mustard was the perfect foil. you know when you were a kid and used to dip your mc-d's fries in the bbq, mustard and sweet & sour nugget sauce together? it was that sauce. ok maybe that's only a good taste memory for me...besides, even if you don't pick that sauce, you can choose, say, rye whisky bbq sauce, or maybe top your fries with quebec benedictine blue cheese or zucchini pickle.

and forget everything you think about sweet potato fries, even if you like them. we agreed these were hands down the best we'd ever had. thin yet meaty enough, and fried in a light batter so well seasoned that we didn't add a drop of salt or pepper. this is a dangerous find for me. i will be back all too soon and probably way too often.

banana peppers and onions in oil

i feel like in the last year i've developed a thing for onions and banana peppers sauteed together. i've definitely developed a thing for banana peppers over any other type of bell pepper, because they're spicier and i like almost everything to be spicier. in fact, if there's one thing i don't like about banana peppers, it's that they loose so much of their spiciness in this recipe, probably because they're cut up. when my aunt stuffs whole banana peppers, for instance, they stay good and hot. but cut them up, i must, so that those tasty pieces can be spooned easily onto a piece of crusty bread.

eating this with bread was what i'd intended when i made this, because it reminds me of the bread and oil served to dinner guests at one of my favourite restaurants, niagara street cafe. it's a lush little treat with a subtle, sweet flavour at first and i find that the heat builds later. because the oil itself is just as important as the other two star ingredients (bread soaked in this oil is addictive), i use extra virgin olive oil, even though this recipe calls for a lot of it. for some reason, i never thought of using this as a relish until i had some with a frittata this morning. now i can't wait to try it on a sandwich or burger.