Everything Cheese and Fig-licious Meals

 Everything Cheese - click here

A new cheese shop has opened in Edmonton. It was recommended to me by a friend in Vancouver and the grand opening was on Saturday. Located in Terwilliger, it is a little far away from our place...but to be honest, it only takes 10 - 15 minutes to get anywhere in Edmonton. Gone are the day of insane Vancouver traffic jams! 

The shop is tastefully designed with bright cherry red walls. Remember to look up when you enter; the ceiling is pressed metal - very cool! They offer a wide number of cheesey items, like knives, boards etc. There is also a lovely selection of mustards, jams, quice pastes, oils, vinegars and crackers to suit any cheese meal. Chad was in dairy heaven...he didn't talk for the first 10 minutes because of all the samplings he was devouring. 

We eventually made it to the cheese cabinet. It was heartily stocked and we gravitated to the King Island blue cheese from Australia. The tasting was ample, the cheese was soft, velvety-melt-in-your-mouth, but as we are going there soon, we thought we would be a little more adventurous. We asked for recommendations and here's what we bought:

Our choices...

Barely Buzzed: Utah

It is hand rubbed with a Turkish grind of the Beehive blend from Colorado Legacy Coffee Co. French Superior Lavender buds are also ground into the coffee, so the cheese has a unique lavender after taste. This was our favourite find of the day and it reminded us of Oguz, our dancing Turkish friend.

Le 1608: Laiterie Charlevois, QC

Made with raw Canadienne milk. Canadienne is the indigenous pedigree cow of Canada first bred by colonists in 1608. It is a lovely Oka-style cheese with a washed rind.

Queso Valedon: Spain Castilla Leon

A mix of goat and cows milk creates a smooth yet crumbly blue cheese.Wrapped in Sycamore leaves, this was my personal favourite. It is spicy, but not too strong. A sip of wine complements the taste beautifully.

Mimolette Extra-Vielle: France

Extra old, smoky and has a kick to it. It is like eating a curmudgeonly old man. Absolutely delicious when paired with a slice of Sopressata salami.

After the cheese shop, we hit up the Italian Centre for some cured meats. They had trays of figs on sale for $3.49, so I picked one up. We love the Italian Centre; the coffee is strong, the cakes are to die for and I always feel like the Godfather will walk in the door at any moment. Imagine the whole of Commercial Street in Vancouver within 3000 sq. ft. (minus the homeless) and you have The Italian Centre. It's the real deal.

Dinner:

I had more figs than I could poke a stick at and figured that if I didn't start cooking with them immediately, they would rot quickly. So, I got creative! I doused them in balsamic and roasted them for 20 minutes. I chopped up pecans and heated them in a pan with grape seed oil and honey. After I added the figs, I drizzled more balsamic and honey and let it simmer and reduce. I then peppered and salted chicken and pan seared it in the left-over fig juice on the baking tray. Meanwhile, I cut up strips of haloumi cheese and asparagus and cooked the two together in the cooked chicken juice. I roasted the butternut squash in the oven for 40 minutes. Below is the result. We began our meal with an appetizer of the yummy cheeses we purchased from Everything Cheese and sipped a simple glass of Rosemount Shiraz. Delicioso!

our appetizer of delectable cheeses...please excuse the football on the TV

fig and honey balsamic pecan reduction

chicken. self-explanatory, i guess.

haloumi and asparagus

a nice sunday meal

FIGS!

Pizza Fantastico!

Prosciutto Pizza and Phallic Banana Salami Pizza

We had our very first mini dinner at our new place last night. Inspired by our trip to 'The Italian Centre' in Little Italy, Edmonton, we thought that we would make pizza's. Is there a better way to feed three strapping boys than with a carb-injection of dough, meat and cheese? I would like to think that I was inspired by the film 'Eat, Pray, Love' (which I am really looking forward to seeing). I didn't divulge this information to the boys for fear of emasculating them. As it was, I made them eat the pizza with a knife and fork...

I can't take credit for any of the recipe's...I had a little help from Jamie Oliver, Curtis Stone and my good friend Steven. Here are the recipe's:

Jamie Oliver's Pizza dough (modified - original recipe here) 

To make 4 mini pizzas to feed 3 hungry boys and 1 female on a diet

3 cups of regular flour (Jamie recommends using semolina and Italian Tipo 00 flour, but when you are on a budget, regular flour will do)

2 1/4 cups of luke warm water

3 tablespoons of yeast

4 tablespoons of olive oil

1 tablespoon of salt

1 tablespoon of sugar

You can watch how Jamie makes the dough here:

The most important step is to flour the bowl right up to the rim and then set your dough in a warm place. I placed it near the stove as I was baking the pizza ingredients. Also, after you roll it and set it in your tray, spray it with olive oil before you put the sauce on.

Pizza Topping Sauce

I combined marinara sauce and tomato paste with ground chilli and pepper. It was spicy to taste. Mix well.

Pizza Toppings:

The first recipe came from my good friend, Steven. Perhaps he designed the pizza topping himself or he stole it from a shop in Brisvegas, I can't remember. But once you try it, you will dream of eating it every day.

Phallic Banana Italian Salami Explosion

2 Bananas thinly sliced

50 g spicy salami - calabrese salami
1/4 cup carmelized onion

Mozzarella cheese - enough to cover the pizza well

Try to make it so that you hide the banana...the thought of it makes people squeamish, but the taste is amazing.

Cover the pizza with the sauce. Sprinkle a layer of Mozzarella. Lay out the banana evenly on the dough following with the pepperoni. Sprinkle chilli over the toppings. Cover the entire pizza with mozzarella.

2nd Pizza
Proscuitto, Oyster Mushroom Pizza

Chad and I met Curtis last year in Vancouver. Chad was more excited than me. He has a thing for Aussie's.

Recipe inspired by Curtis Stone's Cookbook 'Relaxed Cooking with Curtis Stone'
2 bunches of Oyster Mushrooms
1/2 Eggplant chopped into thin slices
50 g Proscuitto
1 tomato chopped
handful of Arugula
1 onion, sliced for caramelized onions
4 cloves of crushed garlic
3 tablespoons Balsamic Vinegar
Slices of Brie

First, prepare the toppings:

Place cooking paper on a cooking tray. Place the mushrooms on cooking paper and spray them with olive oil. Bake for 15 minutes.

While you are baking the mushrooms, place the sliced onions and crushed garlic in a fry pan on low. Spray with Balsamic vinegar and cover. Stir occasionally. They are ready when they are brown and translucent. Keep spraying balsamic over them to give lots of flavour. Sprinkle pepper to taste.

When the mushrooms are done, set aside in a bowl. Repeat with eggplant.

Toppings on Pizza:
Cover pizza dough with sauce.
Sprinkle caramelized onion and prosciutto.
Arrange the mushrooms, eggplant, brie.
Sprinkle arugula, chopped tomato.
Finish with a dash of mozzarella.

Cook pizzas for 20 minutes on 350. Ensure you have cooking paper under the pizzas so that the base turns a lovely brown colour.

Wine Pairing:
'Harmony on the Plate' by Shari Darling suggests an off-dry rose with earthy flavour to match the earthy taste of the pizza. We unfortunately didn't have a rose, but paired it with XOXO Sauvignon Blanc.

The best part of the evening is making your guests guess the toppings!

Can you guess what is on it?