Food for Thought with Alex Bielak - Sips and Bites – Holiday 2014 edition

SB Prime Chef, Sidney Brandt (r) 

and Ampersand Catering Chef, 

Christina Christiansen

Photo by A. Bielak

Sips and Bites – Holiday 2014 edition

I know how busy folks are in the lead-up to the holidays, so this column will be a short, sweet roundup of food and drink news and opportunities.

But first, last time around I wrote about a new book on gluten-free artisan bread. We’ve had the chance to test several of the recipes and chat with one of the authors, Jeff Hertzberg, and I hope to report more fully in the future along with pictures of some of the results. Bottom line is the book is a recommended “Buy” for those who have to deal with Celiac disease or gluten intolerance.

I also hope to offer reflections sparked by a tasting organized by Tourism Burlington in conjunction with SB Prime. The restaurant is, I’m given to understand (please correct me if I’m wrong), the only one in the area headed by a female Chef. It was good to visit for the first time and watch Chef Sidney Brandt, assisted by her colleague, Chef Christina Christiansen (she leads SB Prime’s parent group’s catering division) in action. The space was convivial, with lots of food and cocktails for the assembled bloggers and food writers to photograph, sample and tweet about (in that order). All in all it was a lively and fun event. A bonus was that I learned appetizers at SB Prime are ½ price from 4 to 6 pm every day. Go on a Monday and bottles of wine are half price as well!

Looking for a quick, easy advance Christmas present for your sweetie? The indefatigable Dave Hanley, owner of Popup Hamilton continues to grow his enterprise. His Holiday High Jinks event at the Hamilton Farmer’s Market this Tuesday (December 3rd) still has tickets available. This time around, Hanley has enlisted some star power: Proud advocate of aboriginal cuisine and third-place finisher in the last season of Top Chef Canada, Chef Rich Francis will be doing his thing along with Chefs Mark Farruggia of La Piazza Allegra, and Shane McCartney of McCartney and Son. There will be wines from Ridge Road Winery, live entertainment and more.

Or you could put tickets for “Pop Up Speakeasy” under the tree. The Valentine’s Day 2015 event sounds like a ton of fun: A prohibition-era Speakeasy will be the venue, with “authentic period cuisine, wine, beer, bawdy entertainment.” Tickets go on sale December 15th.

On the wine front I can recommend the excellent Tawse Winery Sketches 2013 Riesling ($17.95 LCBO Vintages # 89029): it was an excellent match for a spicy Singapore Prawn dish I prepared recently. I also had the opportunity to crack a 2011 Pillitteri Estates Winery Cabernet Sauvignon Icewine ($34.95 LCBO Vintages # 674812) and have it with a chocolate terrine with berry coulis. It was a fantastic match. (Thanks to my daughter’s friends for this generous house gift incidentally. Come back any time!)

Want to stock up for the holidays? I was recently informed by an impeccable, knowledgeable and trusted source that Niagara College Teaching Winery has some great deals on currently “like Dean's list 2009 & 10 Pinots and 2011 Chardonnay $20, DL 2010 Meritage $30, and 2010 Merlot, Cab Sauv and Cab Franc $15 by the case (can be mixed).”

In closing, sincere kudos to local restaurateurs Matt Kershaw and Erin Dunham. Their following have such regard for them that 174 of them stumped up over $100,000 in a crowd-sourced funding campaign to fund a new restaurant to add to their existing stable (The Alex, in Burlington, and Rapscallion and Two Black Sheep, both in Hamilton. For more on the story that can only be good news for the food scene in our area see this CBC report. Bravo both on pulling this off.

To see all past columns please see (and “like”) the Food for Thought Archives

Alex (Alex can be reached at fft@thehamiltonian.info or on twitter @AlexBielak)

Food for Thought with Alex Bielak- Artisan Bread – Gluten Free?

Gluten-free Artisan Bread

Artisan Bread – Gluten Free? 

One of the pleasures of this gig is getting to see some neat cookbooks. Danielle Johnson, Senior Publicist At BC’s Raincoast Books very kindly sent me several titles recently, and I am looking forward to perusing, and sharing thoughts about, them with readers in the coming months.

The one that first caught my eye was “Gluten-Free Artisan Bread in 5 Minutes a Day” by Jeff Hertzberg (an MD), and Zoe Francois (a Pastry Chef). It seems more and more people say they can’t handle wheat or gluten, but their options for truly great fresh, crusty bread appear pretty limited. I’d also like guests at my table to be able to indulge in one of life’s pleasures, without concern

The front cover attracted me because of the beautiful loaves featured. The resident baker was instantly sceptical saying something to the effect “there is no way those are gluten-free”. After an expensive trip to the health food store to acquire the various ingredients (which are going to see us thru about ten loaves) the yeast is doing its magic and the dough is rising.

The aforementioned baker is an adept of the Jim Lahey, ‘no-knead’, method of making bread popularised in a seminal New York Times Article. She learned the techniques from Marc Albanese at Pane Fresco when he himself was still actually baking his fantastic breads in the Burlington Store. The method is close to foolproof and we immediately ditched our bread machine as our ‘no-knead’ bread proved far superior in taste and texture, and was not appreciably more work. (We also reduced the frequency of visits to Pane Fresco, except for a few items they excelled in, but which were beyond us!)

Hertzberg and Francois previously authored “Healthy Bread”, “Artisan Bread,” “the New Artisan Bread” and “Artisan Pizza and Flatbread” (all “in 5-minutes a day”), none of which I was previously familiar with. Point is they seem to know what they are about: The family baker found plenty to give her comfort as she read through the key bits before acknowledging gluten-free could well work, and heading out on her shopping expedition.

The results of the first experiment (a standard white made following the basic recipe) won’t be in till tomorrow and, after that is mastered, there are plenty of great-sounding recipes to try. (Pumpernickel, date and walnut for one.) I’m encouraged too, enough to share the details with readers who might wish to acquire the book without delay. I will report later on how things turned out and also point readers to a coming cookbook giveaway (including this one), in the winter edition of BCity Magazine, where I also get to write about food and drink.

For more pictures. click here.

To see all past columns please see (and “like”) the Food for Thought Archives

Alex (Alex can be reached at fft@thehamiltonian.info or on twitter @AlexBielak)

Food for Thought with Alex Bielak - Cooking with Maharajas - Dining with Princes

Geeta preparing food at the tour launch event

Cooking with Maharajas - Dining with Princes

Diwali, the Indian festival of lights - marking the victory of light over darkness and good over evil - just came to an end. Given tragic recent events, culminating in the funerals of Cpl. Nathan Cirillo and Warrant Officer Patrice Vincent this week, one can only wish the gods are paying attention.

I’ve had occasion to mention Burlington-based Chef, Geeta Maini, before: she’s the author of a fine cookbook (An Affair with Indian Cooking) with another in the works. I’ve had the privilege of cooking with her on a couple of occasions and her recipes are delicious and practical.

She is a bit of a stickler for detail, but in a good way. This will serve her well as she co-leads a