January 15, 2011

What's cooking?

 Nothing brings back happier memories of a year in Ain than a beautiful tarte aux pommes. It looks deceptively simple, belying the ridiculous number of hours required to produce this delicious dessert. It's a fabulous dessert to take to a dinner club, if all you have to make is dessert. This one is waiting to be scoffed this evening, the perfect end to a dinner which is to include raclette - a Swiss cheesy/potato dish that will be just right for this cold, snowy January evening. On the wine front, the perfect wine for raclette or cheese fondue is Chasselas, sometimes called Fendant, a dry, crisp, white wine prevalent in Switzerland and sometimes (like now) available in the LCBO. For the tarte aux pommes which, by the way, is wonderful with a scoop of creme fraiche, several chilled white dessert wines come to mind - Muscat de Beaumes-de-Venise, a nice Riesling icewine, or the Loupiac (similar to Sauternes, but less pricey) shown in the photo. Start the evening off with a yummy appetizer and a glass of bubbly, throw in a  crisp green salad along the way, share with some good friends, and you can't go wrong.

Here's the link for the tarte aux pommes recipe I use.
http://www.joyofbaking.com/FrenchAppleTart.html
Creme fraiche is everywhere in France, but very hard to find in Ottawa. You can make it but it's fiddly, takes time and doesn't always turn out right. Ottawa Bagel on Wellington sells two kinds, and I'm busy lobbying Loblaws at South Keys to start stocking it.

Cheers and bon appetit!

January 06, 2011

It's that time of year for haggis, pipe bands and Scotch whisky.................

 Happy New Year and lang may yir lum reek!

In addition to slightly longer nights, the promise of good skiing snow and the implementation of all those resolutions, January also offers the opportunity to celebrate the life and works of Robert Burns, Scotland's well loved bard whose birth is celebrated all over the world on or around January 25th.
Burns lived and wrote in Scotland in the late 18th century and his works continue to be sung, recited and quoted on many occasions. The last verse of his song "A Man's a Man for a' that" continues to be a hopefully prescient wish for the world.
"Then let us pray that come it may     
As come it will for a' that
That man to man the world o'er
Shall brithers be for a' that."

If you have a hankering to attend a Burns Supper in Ottawa, eat some haggis, hear a pipe band, listen to some singing and tributes to Robert Burns, and dance the night away, you'll find several of them happening in various venues across the city.

Here are some details about the Sons of Scotland Annual Burns Supper, one of the largest ones in Ontario (about 300 people)..........

Burns Night: Saturday, January 22, 2011
Crown Plaza Hotel, Kent & Lyon Street, Ottawa ON
6:00pm - Midnight
Entertaiment by soloists Garth Hampson and Carol Anderson, accompanied on the piano by Saundra Vandenberg.
Tickets $60.00 ($55.00 for members). Reserved seating at tables of eight. Order via donandkaye@hotmail.com  613-521-5625.

Hope to see some of you there!

The next Scotch Tasting at DiVinos on Preston Street is on April 14th 2011. For reservations, email events@divinowinestudio.com