Tapas lunch

What a novel idea, I thought, when I first saw the noodle-wrapped shrimp, one of the tapas we had for lunch today at the West Hill Wine Bar.  The shrimp was wrapped in egg noodles and then deep-fried. The noodles protected the shrimp and sealed in the flavour, you get the crunch from the noodle instead of from the batter.  I can see this can be a fail-safe way to get crunchy shrimp and not having to worry about preparing a batter, avoid the mess often associated with it and the uncertainty when it comes to crunchiness.

Of course, when I looked it up on the internet, there is really nothing novel about it at all. There were lots of recipes and variations on this primarily Thai dish.  The shrimp could be wrapped in all kinds of noodles, from single strand egg noodles to a whole mass of egg noodles, tightly bound or loosely fluffed, vermicelli, or basically any kind of soft noodle - your imagination is the limit.  Some recipes called for marinating the shrimp but I would nix that as shrimp tastes best in its natural state.   At the Wine Bar, it was served with a mango slaw and a tamarind soy dip - all very refreshing contrast to the deep-fried shrimp.

We also had fried egg plant with sesame, wild mushrooms, grilled calamari, grilled sirloin, sweet potato tower and Baba Ganoush with nan.  All quite tasty although slightly on the salty side.  This is the first time we had tapas for lunch and when I come to think of it, it is actually a format more suited to lunch than dinner - rather like Chinese dim sum!

Noodle-wrapped shrimp with mango salad; fried egg plant with sesame

Grilled calamari

Grilled sirloin and sweet potato tower

Baba Ganoush with nan - such drama in the presentation!  Nothing Spanish about that but then this is a Toronto version of tapas - a celebration of cultures by Chef Chris Kanka, one of the competitors for the Top Chef of Canada title.  Good luck with his new restaurant - fine dining in "Scarberia".

Cajun Cooking at home

We had a different kind of meal last night at a friend's home - a New Orleans themed meal which was a first for us.  We visited New Orleans in the early nineties - it happened to be Halloween and our memories of the place were mostly of erotic costumes in rowdy parades down cobbled streets awash with beer.  It was fun - something I had always associated with New Orleans, in spite of the sombre stories coming out post Katrina.

But back to the meal.  Before dinner, I helped my hostess cut up the corn bread, and being a person who loves bread warmed up, I politely asked her if she would like to warm up the bread.  She said "no" and I  discovered the wisdom of that after we started the meal.

The jambalaya was delicious - rice with chicken, shrimp and the "holy trinity" of Cajun cuisine - bell peppers, celery and onion.  Made in a Le Creuset pot, it retained the moisture and the flavour of a ton of spices.  But the blackened chicken liver beat this hands down in terms of spiciness.  This is when I realized that the "cool" corn bread actually provided a nice soothing contrast to the hot spicy dishes that are the signature of Cajun cuisine.  It literally had a cooling effect - I must have doubled my bread quota for the day, as well as my wine quota.  The Oyster Bay Sauvignon Blanc was a perfect pairing for the spicy dishes and ample quantities were needed.  For spices typical of this cuisine, read this interesting article on Cajun cuisine.  

Delicious jumbalaya 

Blackened chicken liver in butter

Chorizo

Soothing corn bread to the resuce

Mellow George Dickel whisky and dark chocolate pecan pie with ice cream to finish the meal