Quaintrelle Weekender
Four ways (plus a bonus) to a better weekend.
Welcome to Quaintrelle Weekender.
This is a short list of things I am currently loving to make eating, drinking, and hosting easier and a lot more interesting.
To Serve:
A current fave in my cheese rotation, Tomme aux Fleurs is an Alpine cow’s milk cheese with a rind of wild flowers. Buttery, nutty, and slightly sweet, it’s so enticingly delicious everyone I’ve served it to has a) asked about it and b) gone out and got it for themselves. In Toronto, where I am, I buy it from Scheffler’s Deli in the St Lawrence Market, or Global Cheese in Etobicoke. But it’s pretty widely available at any decently stocked cheese shop.
Side note: I currently love this selection on a cheeseboard: Tomme aux Fleurs, Delice de Bourgogne, truffle pecorino. You can read more about wine pairings with cheese here.
To Drink:
Sparkling wine in 200ml bottles
The same student who asked me about good bubblies for mimosas, ended up not serving it. Her Easter plans were thwarted by guests being delayed in Europe (sounds so posh. My parents drove in from Guelph.) Anyway, I suggested she could have enjoyed a holiday mimosa without them by keeping a cache of of half-bottles of bubbly. I almost always have four or six of these tiny sparklers on hand so I can make a sparkling wine cocktail or two, and not commit to opening a larger bottle.
To Do:
Cooking Classes at George Brown College
Last week, I recommended Wine School – and I still, of course, stand by that as a terrific evening out. However, to prove that I am ultimately altruistic, this week we focus on the academia of George Brown College (where I am also an instructor however, I teach wine, not cooking.)
I’ve taken nine different courses so far, am currently enrolled in the Mexican program, and far from done with my culinary studies.
If you want to be a better cook, there’s no better place to improve your skills. Courses range from six to 12 weeks, depending on the topic and are also available online if you can’t attend in person. They are an investment, but I emphasize investment, because you will continuously draw upon what you’ve learned. Highly recommend.
Kitchen Tip: Citrus Salt
Don’t throw away that peel!
Years and years ago, when making margaritas, I had what I thought was a genius invention of mixing lime zest with the salt to give a little oomph to the glass rimmer. Turns out I wasn’t the unique bartending snowflake I thought I was. Citrus salt is an actual thing. A thing that can cost $10 or more for a tiny jar in a fancy store!
Before squeezing your next lemon, lime, or orange, zest it with a microplane first, add the zest to salt, and dry it out in a low oven. Use it to flavour fish, sprinkle on seasonal asparagus, add to a salad dressing, pasta sauce, a cocktail, or even on chocolates.
I generally eyeball my ratios, but start with 2 Tablespoons of citrus zest for every half cup of salt. I use Kosher salt, but you can use Maldon, flakey sea salt, or even standard, free-pouring table salt. Depending on how salty your salt is (it’s a thing!), you may want to play with portions. Spread your salt mixture on a baking tray and dry it out in a 200°F oven for an hour. Set a timer every 15 minutes or so because you don’t want it to burn. Once the citrus has dried out, let it cool and store in an airtight container for up to three months (but really, pretty indefinitely.)
BONUS: Frozen Kale – It’s a Lifesaver.
I wasn’t going to add this to the list, but my sister said it was a good tip after our shocking conversation. I called her around lunchtime.
“What are you doing?” I asked.
“Eating an apple.” She replied.
“An apple?!” (While my sister has certainly had an apple before, and probably will again, I wouldn’t classify her as an apple eater.)
“Ya, I’m starving.”
“Who eats apples? I’ve never heard of anyone just having an apple.”
“It’s worse that that. I’m eating it with cheese.”
“What? What’s happening right now?”
“And not just any cheese. It’s that grocery store, white-and-orange, marble cheese. There’s nothing to eat in this effin house.”
That’s when I told my sister about my lunchtime secret weapon of frozen kale.
Trust me. I gave up buying fresh kale ages ago. If you don’t get to it within a day it wilts, and when you do get to it, you’ve got to “massage” it like you’re working the brass pole with rent due tomorrow.
Instead, frozen kale comes already chopped, so you can just throw it in a pasta or soup; for salads, you just take it out of the freezer and lay it in a single layer on a plate, it thaws in 30 minutes, ready to throw into a salad for lunch… and because it was frozen, it’s already, uhhhh, massaged.
I’m curious, do you eat apples?
Here’s my recipe for one of my go-to lunchtime salads:
