Getting "Fresh" with Tyler Florence

Every few months, my friend Suzanne and I get together for a Cooking Day. We pick a book (or a theme), come up with a menu, gather in her kitchen to cook said menu, and hope we’ll have a delicious meal to reward ourselves at the end. We've cooked from the relatively easy (Dorie Greenspan's Around My French Table; various Jamie Oliver books) to the more complicated (Mourad Lahlou's Mourad: New Moroccan), and we're always looking through both of our rather large cookbook collections to see what will inspire our next cooking day.

So I was über excited when we both eagerly agreed on cooking from Tyler Florence's new cookbook, Fresh. Both of us being Tyler Florence fans, our cooking day was a great excuse to test out some recipes from his latest book. I first came to know Tyler Florence through his Food Network show Tyler's Ultimate, and was instantly drawn to his easy, no-fuss cooking style that focused on fresh, real food to feed the family. Fresh, however, is unlike some of his previous books he's published. It's a little gutsier and fancier, and challenges the home cook a little more, but by no means is it daunting or impossible to do. No, you won't find yourself slaving away for days in the kitchen. And you certainly won't need to run out and buy a sous-vide machine! It still retains Tyler Florence's signature cooking style, but brought out of the family home and into a high-class restaurant.  

Read more »

Summerlicious '11 Round-up: c5 at the ROM

Another summer. Another Summerlicious. Toronto diners rejoiced at yet another season of fabulous food at an affordable price. Whether chefs hate it or love it, it’s a chance for them to showcase their food and restaurant to potential new clientele, while still welcoming their regular customers.

I originally had reservations for three restaurants, but unfortunately, one of them got cancelled by the restaurant. In the end, my Summerlicious was themed around “museums,” as both restaurants I ended up going to were at Toronto’s two most well-known museums: c5 at the Royal Ontario Museum and Frank at the Art Gallery of Ontario.

Read more »

Lovely Jubbly Time at the Dish Cooking Studio

About two weeks ago, I went to check out the Dish Cooking Studio with my friend Suzanne. I happened across one of those group discounts in my email and sent it along to Suz, thinking it would be fun to spend a night cooking in the same kitchen. Before we knew it, we had signed up.

Rather than a cooking school, Dish describes itself as “a culinary destination for people to connect and have fun together.” If you're looking to pick up some kitchen skills, you're probably better off at, say, George Brown. Not to say that Dish probably won't walk you through some of the basics. It's just that their aim isn't to make a chef out of you. It's to ensure that you have a good time cooking in the kitchen, meeting new people, and enjoying a great meal at the end of it all.

Read more »