Blood Orange & Ricotta Pound Cake

All things are only transitory. – Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

If you think it’s been a long time since my last post, you’re right. Things are very interesting around here right now. It’s like the Chinese curse “May you live in interesting times.” I feel pulled in about 4 different directions at once. 

I know Goethe is right, it’s just being in the middle of it that sucks. I won’t bore you with the details. Instead I’ll bore you with a recipe...

Blood oranges, also called Moro oranges, are a type of orange that has tart, sweet flesh that is unexpectedly red – hence the name. Although grown commercially in California, many blood oranges come from Southern Italy, particularly Sicily. They are usually available from January through April. So you have to take advantage of them while they’re around.

This is what "creamed" butter and sugar
looks like. Light and fluffy.

You can tell a blood orange (besides the name on the bag or the sign above them...) by the reddish blush that appears on the skin when fully ripe. They can be smaller or larger than a regular Valencia (common) orange, and contain very few seeds.

I find that the flavour of a well-ripened blood orange is still tart, but almost raspberry-like. They are quite delicious.

Here’s some orange facts, thanks to the folks at Sunkist®:
All oranges contain carotene — that's what makes them orange. Moros get their red color from high concentrations of a pigment called anthocyanin, a powerful antioxidant that neutralizes the effects of free radicals. Free radicals are the agents believed to be responsible for cancer, aging and other health ailments.

Since I’m on my third bag of blood oranges, I thought it might be okay to sacrifice one for a cake. Orange pound cake is always a favourite, especially for a dinner with one’s mother – which I had the evening I made this. She was pleasantly surprised. :-)

Abraham Lincoln said: “All that I am, or hope to be, I owe to my angel mother.” Show yours some love. Do something nice for her today. Just like blood oranges, you are only blessed with her presence for far too short a time. 

Blood Orange & Ricotta Pound Cake
Prep 15 min  |  Bake 60 min  |  Yield 9” loaf

The dough is pretty stiff. Don't worry.

1-1/2 cups white flour + 1 tbsp
2-1/2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp sea salt
3/4 cup butter, softened
3/4 cup low-fat ricotta
juice and rind of 1 blood orange
1-1/2 cups white sugar
3 lg eggs
1 tsp pure vanilla extract
icing sugar, for dusting after baking

Preheat the oven to 350°F. Grease and flour a 9-inch loaf pan.

Combine the flour, baking powder, and salt in a bowl and set aside. Wash, and then zest and juice the orange. Set aside.

Cream together the butter, ricotta, and sugar on medium speed until light, fluffy, smooth and no longer grainy. Scrape down the sides of the bowl as needed.

Add the eggs one at a time – beating just long enough that they are incorporated. Then beat in the rind, orange juice and vanilla.

Beat in the dry ingredients until mixed.

Scoop the batter out into the pan, taking care to not trap any air pockets in the corners and level the top with a spatula. 

Bake for about 50 minutes and then test the cake by inserting a toothpick in the centre. If the toothpick does not come out clean, put it back in the oven for 10 more minutes and test again. It may take longer than an hour to bake, depending on the amount of juice, moisture content of flour, wetness of the ricotta, etc. Toothpick testing is reliable. Mine took longer, by a fair bit.

Expect the top to mound up and crack open – it’s the sign of a classic pound cake.

The classi pound cake crack. 

Remove from the oven, let cool for 10-15 minutes; then remove from the pan to finish cooling on a wire rack. Dust with icing sugar after it cools.

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One lobster? 8 people! Handmade Lobster Ravoli

Handmade presents are scary because they reveal that you have too much free time. – Douglas Coupland

This is the last weekend of the holiday season for 2014/2015. Once again we soon will move back into “normal” life and the start of a brand new year. May yours be filled with dreams fulfilled. Mine will be filled with more blog posts. Or at least I will try – very hard.

Since this is the last hurrah of the holidays, some of us are still in entertaining mode. You might even still have a scheduled weekend get-together. That’s a plus, but the down side is that the entertainment budget has probably been stretched paper thin.

What if I told you that you could turn an average-sized lobster (currently about $7 in Nova Scotia) into a gourmet feast for a table full of friends? You would rightly be skeptical.

I am here to turn you into a believer.

This recipe makes 48 “not small” ravioli. If you count six for an appetizer or eight for a meal, that feeds quite a few. Also, all of this can be made ahead – days ahead.

I just checked the online menu for The Bicycle Thief, an upscale restaurant in Halifax. They are offering “Lobster Ravioloni” (small ravioli??) for $25 per plate. I’m assuming that is a maximum of six, but knowing the penchant for small plates I wouldn’t be surprised if it was four.

So as you can see, you would be treating your eight guests to a plate that would cost you $400 if you were dining out. That’s impressive.

This is one of the best pasta dough recipes I have ever made. It's pliable to roll and perfectly springy when cooked. Very nice. A keeper.

To gild the lily, I’m also posting a recipe for a rosé vodka sauce. Note the recipe makes 500 ml of sauce, so you may want to adjust it up or down. It's enough for 32 ravioli, but you may just want to make more. It's that delicious.

Since I wasn’t entertaining, I opted to freeze my ravioli in bags of 16. One down, two to go!

So without further ado...

Lobster Ravioli with Vodka Sauce
Time: 1.5 hours  |  Yield 48 (2” x 3”)

Freeze the ravioli, if not using right away.

special equipment: pasta machine
pasta dough:
1 cup unbleached white flour
1 cup semolina flour
1/4 tsp salt
3 lg eggs
1 tbsp olive oil
filling:
2 garlic cloves
2 tbsp yellow onion
1.25 lb cooked lobster meat, cleaned
250 g ricotta
1 tbsp brandy
1 tbsp dried tarragon
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp cracked black pepper

Frozen, and then bagged for later use.

Make the dough first. Place the two flours and salt in a bowl and whisk with a fork. Make a well in the centre and crack the eggs into it. Then add the olive oil. 

Using a fork, whisk the eggs and oil together, slowly incorporating the flour as you go. Continue until almost all of the flour is incorporated. The start to knead in the bowl until all the flour is combined. Transfer to the counter and knead for five minutes until the dough is smooth and elastic.

Wrap tightly in plastic wrap and let rest on the counter for at least 1/2 hour. This resting allows the gluten strands to align and makes the dough even more elastic.

To make the filling, roughly chop the garlic and onion and place it in a food processor. Pulse until fairly fine. Dice the lobster. Add the lobster, brandy, tarragon, salt and pepper and pulse until the lobster is minced. 

Add the ricotta and pulse until just incorporated. taste for seasonings and adjust. It needs to be well flavoured, since only a small amount is in each ravioli. To divide the filling evenly you can mark the top in quarters, so you know how much to use per sheet of dough.

To make the ravioli:
Cut the dough into four equal pieces. Starting on the widest setting, roll one piece out into a long sheet, ending on setting 6. Usual settings on a pasta roller go from 1 through 7 – 7 being very thin. You will end up with a sheet of pasta about 30” long by about 4.5” wide.

Dust a working surface with a little flour. Place the sheet down and begin to add filling. Using a teaspoon measure, drop 12 heaping spoonfuls onto one edge of the sheet, evenly spaced apart.

Using a small brush or your finger, wet the dough well around each pile of filling. Fold the dough up over itself. Seal each ravioli by pressing well using your palms and fingers. If you don’t do this step well they ravioli will come apart while boiling.

Trim off the far edges of the ravioli sheet and then cut between. Place on a lightly floured surface if not freezing. If freezing, place on cookie sheets lined with plastic wrap. Do not overlap.

Repeat with the other 3 pieces of dough.

To cook, bring lots of salted water to a boil. If cooking fresh, boil for 3-4 minutes after the water comes back to a boil. If using frozen, cook for 6-7 minutes.

Sorry for the out-of-focus photo.

Rosé Vodka Sauce
Time: 20-30 min  |  Yield 500ml
2 cups whipping cream
2 garlic cloves, finely minced
1-1/2 tsp dried tarragon
2 tbsp finely minced onion
1 cup plain tomato sauce
1/4 cup vodka
salt and pepper, to taste

Combine the cream, garlic, tarragon and onion in a saucepan. Bring to a gentle boil and let reduce to half, stirring often so the cream doesn't stick to the bottom and burn. 

Then add the tomato sauce, vodka, salt and pepper. Bring back to a gentle boil and let cook for another 2-3 minutes.

This sauce can be made ahead, sealed well and refrigerated for at least 3-4 days.

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Save money, make your own Mascarpone Cheese

Without frugality none would be rich, and with it very few would be poor. – Samuel Johnson 

The end result. Well worth the 2 day wait.

(This is a re-post, but who doesn't want to save money at Xmas!)

The Christmas season is probably for most people the most expensive time of the year. Even not counting gift buying, there's a thousand things to suck up your money. Food is often a big culprit.

This post covers how to make your own mascarpone cheese. It's disgustingly expensive in stores and is often called for in many "fancy" desserts. So if you're entertaining this holiday, you may want to make this. It doesn't take much active time, and very little skill.

This full recipe makes about 3 cups of mascarpone, which would cost you at least $12-$15 at the grocery store. Full cost of the ingredients is about half that amount.

Mascarpone is made by coagulating cream via acid – tantric, citric, or lemon juice. After coagulation the whey is slowly drained out. 

Aside from the 48 hours for the whole process, this cheese is a breeze. It makes much more than you probably need (word to the wise) unless you're making a big dessert, like tiramisu for 12 or so... 

So feel free to halve it. The result will be the same. Go big or go home, I say.

Mascarpone makes the cholesterol police go on red alert. I always remember Julia Child’s admonition: “Everything in moderation, including moderation.” 

This stuff should be treated with some respect. The finished product has about 60%-75% butter fat. We’ll just leave that fact to settle in…

Mascarpone is the colour of cream and is thick like a spread. It has many uses (including in tiramisu). It can be served in savoury dishes or as a fresh fruit topping. It can also be used as a substitute for butter, or for parmesan in pasta sauces or in risotto.

The important fact is that it is wonderfully delicious and addictive. But just like everything else in life, don’t overdo it.

Homemade Mascarpone

Time: 2 days  |  Yield about 3 cups

2 cups 36% whipping cream

2 cups 18% coffee cream

2 tbsp lemon juice

instant read thermometer

double boiler (or similar homemade contraption)

The cream mixture needs to be around 25% butter fat. To do so use the two different creams. The ingredients above make a combination of 27%. Close enough.

Combine the cream in the top part of a double boiler. I do not own a double boiler so I inserted a smaller pot inside another pot partly filled with water. It works just fine.

Raise the temperature of the cream to 185°F. Scalded milk is 180°F so a little beyond that stage. You really need to use a thermometer… (remember yesterday’s post?)

Once the cream reaches 185°F on the thermometer, reduce the heat to hold it at 185°F and stir in the lemon juice. This is barely a low simmer – certainly not a boil.

Mix well. Cover the pot, hold the temperature at low simmer and let cook for 5 minutes.

Remove the pot from the double boiler. You will notice that the cream has thickened slightly. It will thicken more as it cools.

Place the pot with the cream in the refrigerator for 24 hours.

After 24 hours you will see the cream has thickened more (second photo at top). Strain the cream/cheese over a bowl through fine cloth lining a sieve to remove the excess moisture. Let it sit, back in the refrigerator, for another 24 hours.

After 24 hours remove the cheese from the cloth and place in a storage container. The cheese will last refrigerated for about one week.

This is the cheese, plus all the whey that came out. keep that whey! You can
use in in making bread, watering plants, as a treat for your pets...

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Bistro French Onion Soup hits the spot in winter

When one is too old for love, one finds great comfort in good dinners. – Zora Neale Hurston 

Bistro Onion Soup. Welcome, my friend, it's a nasty day outside...

That's a bit of a silly quote. Surely no one is too old to give and receive love. I suppose, if I couldn't experience love, dinner would be in the running as a substitute. This is, at the end of the day, a recipe that I just love. There's something about it that is hard to define – a delicious "deepness" that is wholly satisfying – especially during sleet/snow days like today in Nova Scotia. Comfort x food = happiness.

Low 'n slow to caramelize onions.

I’ve been making this from memory for over 20 years. I have no idea where the recipe may have originated. Some cookbook now buried in a box in my basement, I would imagine...

This is a really good "meatless" soup, but it does use beef stock. The cheese substitutes for meat a little, as does the bread, so it's filling and delicious.

The way to make a delicious soup of any kind – meatless or not – is to introduce lots of flavour. There are tricks.

Caramelizing the onions is the first way. Caramelizing their sugars adds depth of flavour. But just like caramelizing sugar for a dessert, you don’t want to burn it. So caramelize on medium heat, slowly.

All ready for toast and cheese.

Next up is cooking a little flour with the onions until it takes on a bit of a nutty taste, like the start of a roux. This can be done in a short time (2-3 minutes), and really makes a difference. This adds body to the broth as well.

After that it’s really up to good quality ingredients – good beef stock, fresh herbs, and nice, flavourful cheese. And don’t forget the bread but any "country" style loaf will do. Traditionally it's a crusty French baguette. I used my homemade whey bread. It was an excellent choice too. Nice and "sturdy."

This is a really great way to drive away the winter storm blahs, and you really don't have to have a lot of ingredients in the pantry. The only thing you may have to venture out for is the cheese.

Bistro-style French Onion Soup

Fresh from under the broiler, and piping hot.

Prep: 10 min  |  Cook: 30 min  |  6 servings

1/2 cup butter

8 medium onions (good sized medium)

5 garlic cloves

1/4 cup flour

5 cups good beef broth

1/2 cup sherry
2 tsp Dijon mustard (optional)

1-1/2 tbsp fresh tarragon, chopped (1-1/2 tsp dried)

1 tsp cracked black pepper

salt to taste

1 French baguette, sliced and toasted*

2-1/2 cups gruyere cheese, grated (or Swiss)

Heat 1/4 cup of the butter in a Dutch oven or other oven-safe pot.

Slice the onions, thin but not too thin, and add to the pot. Then chop and add the garlic. Sauté the onions and garlic over medium heat, stirring often. Sauté until they begin to caramelize (turn golden), but are not burnt. While the onions caramelize, toast the baguette slices and set aside.

Add the second 1/4 cup of butter to the pot. After it is melted, sprinkle the onions with 1/4 cup of flour. Mix together well and let the onions cook for a further 2-3 minutes until the flour starts to colour slightly.

Add the beef broth, sherry, Dijon (if using), tarragon and black pepper. Let the soup come to a boil and then simmer for 5 minutes. Make sure to scrape any brown bits from the bottom of the pot as it simmers.

Taste the soup for salt. You may not need any depending on the saltiness of your stock. Adjust the pepper and tarragon at this time as well, if desired. Keep the soup hot.

Grate the cheese and set aside. Layer enough toasted baguette to cover the surface of the soup. Sprinkle the toast with 1/2 of the cheese. Add another layer of toast and finally the remaining cheese. If desired, sprinkle the top with a little pepper.

Broil the soup until the cheese bubbles. Serve immediately.

* You need to have enough toast slices to cover the top of the soup in two layers.

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Blackberry Lemon Ricotta Cheesecake

Lower your expectations of earth. This isn't heaven, so don't expect it to be. – Max Lucado

Sometimes you just have to suck it up and make your own.

Cheesecake + Halifax = Disappointment. I’ve had a bit of a craving over the last 3-4 months – a good piece of cheesecake. I think it was triggered by the tiramisu cheesecake we had in Moncton. Delicious.

Sadly, at least in HRM, there doesn’t seem to be much in the way of cheesecake unless you want to go to a restaurant. You CAN find it there. But It seems almost all of the “buy a piece and take home” places have evaporated from the face of our fair city. Where has all the heaven gone?

If anyone can let me know where I can buy – and take home – decent cheesecake in Halifax, please let me know. Please...

Don’t even think about buying cheesecake from a grocery store. I guess if I’m going to have a good piece of cheesecake I’ll have to make it myself. Luckily I do have a few good recipes just laying around. This is one from a couple years ago, when the black berries were ripe and juicy on the canes in our back yard.

I just hit the last flush from that year. The berries were not as plentiful as they would have been at their height, but the ones that were hanging were still excellent.

I wanted to do something a little different than I usually do (freeze and make trifle at Christmas) so I dreamed this up.

I don’t want to write a whole lot of intro, as the recipe is rather long and involved. So let’s just get down to it.

The day after I made this I took it to work with me to share with my coworkers. They had been putting up with a lot from me at the time because I had been having several difficult months. In a small way I hoped that it said “thank you.” The way to a coworker’s heart is through their stomach...

By the way, you can easily make your own Ricotta (search this blog). You can also make your own cream cheese. I’ve posted recipes for both. But I made neither. I was lazy. Making the cheesecake was enough for me for one day...

Blackberry Lemon Ricotta Cheesecake with Blackberry Glaze

This is both batters before swirling.

Prep: 20 min  |   Cook: 1 hr 20 min  |  Serves 12

Graham crust

1-1/2 cups graham cracker crumbs

4 tablespoons butter, melted

1 tbsp sugar

1 tsp cinnamon

Cheesecake

300 g whole milk ricotta, drained 

2 8-oz packages cream cheese, room temperature 

1 cup sugar 

1 tablespoon lemon juice

1 tbsp lemon rind 

4 large eggs

1-1/2 cups blackberries

2 tsp cornstarch

Blackberry glaze

1-1/2 cups blackberries

1/2 c. sugar

2 tbsp lemon juice

2 tsp cornstarch

Making the blackberry purée.

Make the blackberry purée for both the cheesecake and glaze by boiling the berries and straining out the seeds. Don't do them at the same time, but separately for each step.

Preheat the oven to 350°F.

Wrap the outside of a 9-inch spring form cheesecake pan with a layer of heavy-duty foil. This will protect the cake from amy water seepage during the hot water bath when it bakes.

Combine the graham cracker crumbs, melted butter, sugar and cinnamon in a food processor and process until the crumbs are moistened. Press the crumb mixture over the bottom of the prepared pan with a measuring cup. 

Bake until the crust is golden, about 15 minutes. Cool the crust completely on a cooling rack.

Tamping the crust down with a measuring
cup is a good way to do it.

Beat the ricotta in a mixing bowl until smooth. Add the cream cheese and sugar and blend well, stopping the machine occasionally and scraping down the sides of the bowl. Add in the lemon juice and zest. 

With the beaters running, add the eggs one at a time and mix each just until blended. Remove and reserve 1/4 of the batter. Pour the rest into the graham crust.

In a small bowl, mash the blackberries, then strain through a sieve to remove the seeds. Add the cornstarch to the resulting juice and mix well. Combine the juice with the reserved cheesecake batter and mix well. The result will be thin.

Gently swirl the two batters together and bake. This after baking.

Pour the blackberry batter on top and swirl the two batters together with a knife without mixing too much.

Anyone remember this? (It's Darcie and Kelly.)

Place the cheesecake in a baking dish large enough to hold the spring form pan with some room on all sides. Pour hot water into the baking dish to come halfway up the sides of the spring form pan.

Bake in the centre of the oven until the cheesecake is set and the centre still moves slightly when the pan is gently shaken, about 1 hour and 5 minutes. The cake will set up firmer as it cools. Let cool for 1 hour on a wire rack.

Pour the glaze over the cooled cheesecake and tilt it to spread evenly. You may not need all the glaze.

After the cheesecake has cooled, make the blackberry glaze. Crush the blackberries and mix with the sugar in a saucepan. Mash and cook until the juice is extracted and the sugar is dissolved. Strain out the seeds and pulp.

Pour the strained liquid back into the (washed) saucepan. Add the lemon. In a little dish mix the 2 tsp of cornstarch with 2 tsp of the juice. Pour back into the liquid and mix well. Cook over a medium heat, stirring constantly, until the mixture thickens. Cool slightly then pour over the cheesecake.

This cheesecake is not too sweet with hints of lemon and berry flavours.

Refrigerate until the cheesecake is cold, at least overnight. Cut the cake into wedges and serve.

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Mushroom & Brie Soup

Can anything be so elegant as to have few wants, and to serve them one's self? – Ralph Waldo Emerson 

If you are thinking of having people over for a dinner during the holidays, you may be looking for a first course. Here it is.

There’s nothing quite as delicious to start off a festive gathering as a rich, wonderful soup. It may take a little time, but can certainly be made ahead and then simply re-heated when ready.

One may not think of mushroom soup as all that elegant, but when you add melted brie cheese and wine something magical happens – something deep and unexpected. I don’t really know how to describe it.

This was inspired by a trip to Costco. They sell “family-sized” soups that actually sound interesting. One was mushroom and brie. I had never heard of it. Of course they add "stuff" to it to extend shelf life, so perhaps it’s better to make it at home. Soup is always better when made at home.

Except for the dicing and chopping, this soup was a snap. It would be great for a family or for a table of 8. As a first course always make your servings smaller so you don’t spoil anyone’s appetite for your main attraction!

Two ingredients are signature in this: the wine and cheese. Don’t buy anything that you wouldn’t serve on its own. The tastes really do come through. So make sure your wine is nice and your cheese creamy. Neither have to be expensive, just good.

Don't add salt until the end. The chicken stock and brie can both add saltiness to the finished soup, so adjust at the end.

I made this because I found white mushrooms on sale this week and already had some brie. In the recipe I call for cremini mushrooms. They will add a little more flavour than white. You could also use portobello or wild.

This does have an acceptable amount of mushroom pieces, always a necessity for mushroom soup. You may want to sauté more than the called-for 16. It’s up to you. It depends on how hearty you want your soup to be.

Each spoonful of this soup is bursting with flavour. Just make sure your main course can stand up to the competition!

Mushroom & Brie Soup

Time: about 35 minutes  |  4-8 servings

26 medium cremini mushrooms

225g brie, rind removed & cubed

1/2 cup butter

1 medium carrot, diced

1/3 cup onion, diced

2 tbsp flour

3 cups chicken stock

1 cup white wine

1 tsp dried thyme

salt and cracked black pepper, to taste

Roughly chop 16 of the mushrooms. Melt 1/4 cup of the butter in a frying pan and sauté the chopped mushrooms until golden. Do not add salt. Set aside.

Melt the remaining butter in a soup pot. Slice the remaining 10 mushrooms and add to the butter. Dice the carrot and onion and add to the pot. Sauté until the vegetables begin to soften, about 5-6 minutes. Do not add salt.

Sprinkle with the flour and sauté for a further 2 minutes, stirring so the flour doesn’t burn but darkens slightly.

Add the stock, wine, thyme and a decent amount (1 tsp) of cracked black pepper. Bring to a boil, reduce heat to medium and let cook for 10 minutes. After the 10 minutes purée until smooth.

Remove the white rind from the brie by barely cutting it away from the surface. Cube the cheese. Add the brie and browned mushrooms and stir until the cheese has melted.

Taste for salt and adjust. Serve.

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Dining in Halifax drove me to Anchovies

Just sit right back, And you'll hear a tale, A tale of a fateful trip, That started from this tropic port, Aboard this tiny ship. (if you’re of a certain age you know what that is.)

The solution to bad dining experiences in Halifax.

Or, as I like to call it, "the reason you take your chances when boarding the ferry in Dartmouth to dine out in Halifax."

When I visit my spouse at college we try to pack as much activity and enjoyment into 2 days as possible. We’re kind of “dating” again, which is really nice. Of course an important part of the whole process is eating.

One restaurant that we thoroughly enjoyed was Bistro Le Coq, a French restaurant on Argyle Street. Loved, loved, loved it. We had exceptionally good luck dining for the month of September, except for this weekend. It was an unmitigated disaster.

It all started on Friday night when three of us went out to eat. You know the phrase: “you can never go home again.” Well, you can never go back to your favourite bar again, either. I’m talking the Economy Shoe Shop. You used to be able to set the Town Clock by our arrival.

I always loved their nachos, and Marty always knew when to come by to see if you were “ready for another.” You used to get good food and friendly service there. We received neither. If I could have left a negative tip I would have.

The food, significantly more than sub-par, was expensive for what you received (not like before) and our waiter spoke so fast you could hardly understand what he was saying. The food was so bad that we ended up going to The Old Triangle for something else to eat to get the taste out of our mouths. 

Let me elucidate. The nachos were a mess – undercooked, cheap tasting cheese, too few actual chips, served with salsa that probably was from a jar. Enough said there. Easy to understand. 

We also had the Build-a-Board Antipasti. It starts at $3. It is “an assortment of artisan breads, house made chutneys and pickled onions.” You can add fresh fruit, olives and sun-dried tomatoes for $6. Additionally you can add cheese, cured meat and smoked salmon for $8 more.

We shot the works for $17. What did we get?The "assortment of artisan breads" was slices of dried, round bread. No “assortment,” unless they meant "more than one piece"...

The house-made chutneys consisted of blueberry and peach. You could tell blueberry season just ended. There was three times as much of it as the peach. The peaches had to have come from a can. A cheap can. Both chutneys were overbearingly cinnamon-y. At the time I said that they tasted like the inside of Cricket on the Hearth smells – Christmassy. And not in a good way.

The $6 addition consisted of 7-8 olives, around a dozen blueberries (a small assortment plate where the same ingredient is used twice?!?), four wafers of pear and 3 sun-dried tomato halves. 

But it gets better. For $8 extra, you get 3 small triangles of herbed havarti, two rolls of some sort of packaged sliced Italian meat and two pieces of smoked salmon.

Seriously? Not a good experience and one I will never repeat.

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Saturday night wasn’t any better. A couple weeks before we tried to dine at The Bicycle Thief, a trendy restaurant on the waterfront, but couldn’t because they were too busy. That's a good sign, so we tried again.

I can’t comment on the food, or wine, because we received neither. We were seated at the bar, which usually isn’t too awful an experience. But their bar was cramped – four chairs in a 5 foot space. We received menus and a wine list. But then we were completely forgotten. 

Should have put on six anchovies.

We waited a full 15 minutes and no one even so much as came by to ask us if we would like something to drink. The busy bar staff assiduously avoided eye contact with all of us sitting at the bar.

That’s a real shame, because I had my eye on a $90 bottle of wine. We could have dropped $200 on dinner easily. I was hungry.

But after 15 minutes we picked up our coats and left. I don’t even think anyone said “thank you” or “see you again” when we exited. We could have been there eating for hours for all they knew...

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Next stop, Pipa, a new-ish Portuguese restaurant on Argyle Street. Once again we waited and waited and waited and waited for someone to take our order. There were probably 12 patrons in the whole place. What gives? Are people incompetent, lazy or a combination of both?

But since we were exceptionally hungry we decided to order. Our server informed us they had very little red wine (in contrast to several on the wine list). So we opted for a Portuguese beer. There were two on the menu. They had neither.

Saturday night, in September – cruise ship time, and you have hardly any wine and no signature beer? I bet if we had ordered the Feijoada - their "Brazil's national Dish" (served only on weekends) they wouldn’t have had that either. So we showed our displeasure with the soles of our shoes.

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By this time we were pretty weary of poor service in Halifax’s finest dining establishments, but we made it to one last place: Baton Rouge.

As you can imagine our annoyance and disgust was almost palpable. We escorted to a (dirty) table, and when we asked for a clean one our second option was dirty as well. But by this time we weren’t even in the mood to eat. So we went back across via the ferry without so much as a crust of bread to show for our effort.

Saturday night left a metaphorical bad taste in our mouths, and Friday night a literal one.

The moral of this fateful trip? I have no idea, but writing about it certainly was cathartic. I guess, if anything, be careful of where you choose to dine in Halifax if you like your food “good” or “in a reasonable amount of time.” 

And if the entire population of Halifax thinks somewhere is good, then it’s probably not. It’s just trendy. This I know from past, as well as this weekend’s, experience.

So I’m in the mood for some real food, and for me that's anchovies. Lots of anchovies. I’m going to fry me a sandwich. 

This recipe is actually an Italian classic. It will be the first decent food I’ve had since Thursday.

Fried Mozzarella & Anchovy Sandwich

Time: about 10 min  |  Makes 1 really good sandwich

2 thick slices of sturdy bread

1 cm thick slice of mozzarella, about 150g

anchovy filets, to taste

torn oregano leaves

sprinkle of pepper

1/4 cup milk

1 egg

flour, mixed with salt and pepper

olive oil for frying

Place the mozzarella on the face of one slice of bread. Lay as many anchovy filets as you wish on top of the cheese. Then add the oregano and some black pepper. Close the sandwich up.

Heat a good amount of olive oil (1/4” deep) in a small skillet until it is fragrant. Reduce the heat to medium.

Take two plates. Mix the milk and egg together on one; the flour, salt and pepper on another. Dip the sandwich in the egg mixture, letting it soak a little and coating both sides well. Then dredge in the flour.

Place the sandwich in the hot oil and let it cook until the cheese has softened and the bread is deliciously crunchy and brown on both sides.

Remove from the heat, hide in a corner, snarl and devour it.

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