Sunday Brunch ~ Rosso Pizzeria

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Oh brunch in Edmonton. Since visiting cities like Portland and New York, where going for brunch is a given, I'm always trying to find solid versions of the meal here at home. Giant lines twist outside of casual spots like Sugarbowl, High Level Diner and Urban Diner throughout the weekend, and my favourite homes to weekend brunch - Manor Bistro, Under the High Wheel and Next Act - can be just as busy. Fingers crossed Elm Café will one day add some sort of permanent brunch to their lineup on 118th Ave, 'cause the brunch offered during Deep Freeze was too delicious to just be a pop-up.

When we lived in Garneau, we regularly enjoyed large glasses of freshly squeezed orange juice and fluffy frittatas offered at then DaCapo. With that in mind, we met up with friends at Rosso to check out their weekend brunch situation earlier in February.

As assumed, patrons were lined up outside other spots at the intersection, but when I arrived at Rosso around 10:30 (a half hour before our scheduled meeting time, just in case), I had my pick of tables. I still miss the café style ordering system from DaCapo, but someone stopped by soon enough with a menu, and to take my latte order. It took a while for the latte to come out (at least 10 minutes), but their super milky version is wonderful. Sadly, the juice machine is no longer there, which means there is no orange juice on offer.

Other than the granola, all the dishes on the menu are savoury, and the general theme is, 'Put an egg on it'. Charles selected the Canadese pizza (sans the egg) whilst I went with the Calabrese pizza. Our friends opted for the granola and a 'breakfast skillet' of sorts.

I loved the topping combination on my pizza, with the bitter rapini and fennel sausage playing well. Unfortunately, the eggs on top suffered from the heat of the wood fired oven and weren't in a good state by the time they reached the table. Next time, I'll likely opt for a side of poached eggs and add them afterward.

A moment of praise, though, for the pizza crust. When I visited just after the DaCapo-Rosso changeover, I didn't notice much improvement pizza wise, but it seems they now know exactly what they're doing. Crispy, chewy, slightly charred - Hands down the best in the city.

The Canadese pizza - with potato, bacon, rosemary and olive oil - hit the spot, especially with that latte on the side.

They aren't kidding when they say 'large cup' of granola. It's really a gigantic goblet. The granola and fruit were very good, but what makes it is a generous layer of their house made ricotta. Very creamy and fresh.

And finally the 'skillet' (Patate arrostite con salsiccia e peperoni) - Probably the favourite of the table. Perfectly poached eggs, with their rich tomato sauce, potatoes, fennel sausage, peppers and some of their homemade bread on the side.

We wouldn't hesitate to head over for brunch again, especially with brunch lineups in the area being what they are. They lose points for lack of orange juice (and breakfast specific beverages), but they easily overcome that negative with those lattes, and pizza for breakfast.

The brunch menu is available from 10am-3pm on weekends and holidays.

Grilling Pizza

Awhile ago I bookmarked this grilled pizza dough from Chow and we finally got around to making a batch this past week. We got six discs out of one batch of dough, similar to the Neo-Neapolitan (from The Bread Baker's Apprentice) we usually stick with. Three discs were placed in the fridge overnight while the other three were frozen for a later date.

Round One

This was definitely the test day. I ended up stretching the dough far too thin and it was difficult to get the rounds onto the grill. That said, there was sure some exciting (and possibly dangerous) tossing action...

Success! Dough on the grill.

In the end we didn't find grilling added much flavour. The plus, however, was that we avoided heating up our entire apartment with the 500° oven necessary for pizza stone utilization. Toppings were Prosciutto from Valbella (they have quite the selection at the Lendrum Sunterra), onion, yellow peppers and bocconcini on a tomato base.

Round Two

With a little experience our most recent grilled pizza attempt went much better. The pizzas were smaller and easier to handle, and I made sure to keep the dough at about a 1/2" thickness. A little more thought also went into the topping situation this time round. We rode over to Sunterra Sunday afternoon and ended up with hickory-bourbon BBQ sauce and venison smokies (again from Valbella). I caramelized some onions and after discovering a block of cheddar gone bad, we utilized a wedge of the 'Drunken Goat Cheese' from Smoky Valley Goat Cheese (which is amazing, btw).

The combination of a little more heat control and the use of canola versus olive oil made this version far more enjoyable than our first attempt (and there was no scary throwing of pizza dough). Though I still don't think the grilling adds much flavour versus the pizza stone, we both agreed the chewy texture of the dough was a nice change. And I'll certainly trade the positives of the pizza stone for a cool-ish apartment over the next couple months.

P.S. Happy Canada Day, everyone!

Andy Warhol with a little Da Capo

This past Friday evening Charles and I ventured downtown to catch the Andy Warhol Manufactured opening at the AGA. After throwing around dinner suggestions we finally decided it would be easiest to stop off at Da Capo which was en route.

We ordered some favourites. I went for a Rochefort 8 and Charles a Chimay Blue, and food wise we shared the truffle salad and a Di Matteo pizza (tomato, mozzarella, prosciutto cotto, ricotta and black pepper). Everything was enjoyed on the patio - a little mosquito-y and slightly breezy, but pleasant and refreshing nonetheless.

 Almost done...

Must have been contemplating the pizza...

There was complimentary bubbly at the opening, and whilst speeches were on we made our way up to the third floor to check things out. This is definitely one to visit with a smaller crowd - it's fairly sizable and includes some of the Edie Sedgwick footage.

*Edit: Charles suggested I mention that I wasn't double fisting, but was holding both of our glasses whilst he took some pictures :-)

My favourite part was the Silver Clouds installation on the fourth floor. It's tons of fun and we can't wait to head back.

The ride home was particularly lovely.

*For some reason Blogger has been reducing the quality of our photos within posts themselves. If you click on the picture everything looks great though...

Pizza + Tosca

As I mentioned in the latest Meal Planning Saga post, this week has been disastrous plan wise. But on Tuesday evening we had to pull things together. For Christmas we had invited Charles' mom to come for dinner and to the final opera of the season - Tosca.

Charles managed to pull Peter Reinhart's pizza dough together on Monday evening and grabbed some topping on his way home from work Tuesday. Maybe I've forgotten other pizzas, but right now I'm going to venture out there and say that this version had the most glorious topping combo ever - tomato sauce, mushrooms, marinated artichoke hearts, ricotta cheese and plenty of black pepper. Thankfully I have a few jars of artichokes in the pantry - this one will make its way around again soon.

We certainly enjoyed each opera of our first ever season, but of course we each had our favourites. While Charles went for the humorous Abduction from the Seraglio, I was all about Tosca - dramatic, emotional and completely capable of transporting me out of paper writing mode for a few hours. As the Journal mentioned, the costumes were beautiful, as was the set, and Yannick-Muriel Noah brought the house down. The Edmonton Opera has already released their 2011/2012 season, and we can't wait to head out.

Meal Planning Saga: Week Eleven

We are creatures of habit...

Sunday - We began the week with a brand new recipe - a Vegetable Tagine from Chow. This was certainly easy to prepare and the smell was incredible. That said it seemed to be missing something when we finally sat down to it, even with the addition of almonds, green olives and currants. I've bookmarked a few more veggie tagines that we can hopefully try later on.

Monday - More pizza. This time it was tomato sauce, leftover feta, Gruyère, cardamom salami, mushrooms and green pepper (the last on Charles' side only). We also munched on some very peppery arugula.

Earlier in the day I met Charles downtown at Transcend. He's been stopping there on his way to work for coffee and apparently needed more than one latte that day. Though I've been enjoying their cappuccinos lately, I'm excited for the increasing tea additions (I had 'mountain dragon' at the Garneau location today - alongside a waffle - and it was a great way to start the morning - can't wait for more).

Tuesday - Once again, Kindra's slow cooker butter chicken. I think we had a better handle on the spicing this time and this version was far better than the first alongside some whole wheat rice. Charles stopped for naan and must have had some extra time on his hands. He did coconut, garlic and plain naan from Daawat, then walked down the ave. and picked up plain from Origin India.

I quite enjoyed the sweetness of the coconut version, but for both of us it was Origin India's version hands down (crispy exterior, with a far softer, less chewy texture overall). At any rate we have a nice bag of naan sitting in the freezer for next time.

Wednesday - Study Potluck Two. Once again a few of us met up with food at Rutherford South to simultaneously study and do some end of term de-stressing. There was Academy Pizza, Ho-Ho's, and I brought fruit salad and chicken salad sandwiches from Upper Crust.

We're planning on doing another one in the midst of exams and are attempting to make it a 'healthy' potluck (everyone's eating habits seem to tank during exams). If we organize things soon enough, I'll be sure to post the time and date (and rules like no laptops unless your notes are there or you're working on an essay) here for any of you students out there. Alternatively, feel free to e-mail me if you'd like details.

Thursday - Birthday dinner/Anthro 'field work' at Corso 32.

Birthday cake

Friday - What turned into a post-birthday beer at Sugarbowl with Brenna and Charles quickly became dinner. Charles simply went for some home-made spring rolls, while Brenna and I both did the lamb burger, recently made extra-famous in Avenue's Top 25 Things to Eat. Beer wise, I've been enjoying Nelson Brewing's After Dark recently - smooth, chocolate-y and a little hoppy (and only $5.50 per bottle).

Saturday - We spent some time at Charles' mom's Saturday afternoon and as we were about to leave we remembered we had left our second fillet of white fish in her freezer. It began to soften a bit on the bus ride home, so dinner was basically planned for us. Once again, the fish in parchment. Alongside this time was wild rice and the rest of the green beans picked up the Saturday prior at the market. The beans were sautéed with some chili flakes, salt, pepper and lemon juice, and were a nice crispy contrast aside the fish.

Charles and I tried to work a few new recipes into week twelve, though we admittedly kicked things off with a roast chicken and mushroom risotto, and Tuesday and Wednesday have been left open since Charles' sister is coming to town.

I'm quite excited for Thursday and Friday - noodle salad with peanut sauce and the lentil loaf from We Eat Together (Somehow I've never noticed the lentil loaf in We Eat Together before. It must be because it's tucked in just before the dessert section). On Saturday we're going to re-try the Frankies' meatballs, this time with some of the ground lamb tucked away in the freezer.

Enjoy the remainder of the week everyone!

Meal Planning Saga: Week Four

I can't believe we've made it a month. Though the whole meal planning process was a bit daunting, we're noticing the benefits - simpler grocery shopping, less stress around meal times, more 'rounded' plates on the table, better lunches via leftovers and, best of all, we're cooking together then sitting down for 45 minutes or so (depending on the meal) each evening. A big plus after busy winter days.

After last week's 'hiccups' we got back on track this week with some pretty enjoyable recipes. As per usual, we kicked the meal planning week off with Sunday dinner.

Sunday - Oven-roasted miso sesame salmon from Moosewood's Simple Suppers. The flavours here were great and I think we'll certainly be oven roasting more fish. But the texture of the 'glaze' was sort of 'starchy', and both Charles and I couldn't help but compare it to the dijon-maple marinade we usually love with salmon - I think we'll stick to the latter in the future. We served this with the 'Pan-Asian slaw,' also from Simple Suppers, and some of those soba noodles still kicking around the pantry.

Monday - was a visit to the Muttart for details on the newest Culina Family addition.

Tuesday - 'Greek' lamb burgers from Epicurious. These were really great, though I think a little less paprika would have been a good idea. We swapped the spinach for the arugula we had in the fridge and made a quick salad on the side. These were also great for lunch the next day with some pita and hummus.

Wednesday - Moroccan spiced 'fish' (trout, in our case), again from Simple Suppers. With a little less heat, and a little less of the spice mixture on the fish itself, this would have been great. Never the less we enjoyed it alongside salad and wild rice for a rounded mid-week dinner.

Thursday - 'Shortcut Chili' from what I'm now realizing is our fall-back cookbook. We were running around a bit this evening, and although this veggie chili from Simple Suppers only required a bit of heating, I put everything in the slow cooker so we could eat when convenient. This recipe called for an entire can of chipotles in adobo; I added four, freezing the rest, and there was a pleasant heat level. In short: don't use the entire can.

Friday - Pizza. Charles made dough from the Bread Baker's Apprentice on Thursday evening, froze four of the six pieces and we had two nice pizzas for a casual Friday evening dinner. One pizza contained tomato sauce, hot mortadella, artichoke hearts, mushrooms and bocconcini, while the other had tomato sauce, mushrooms, bocconcini, smoked bison and fresh basil. While we loved both, the latter was the clear winner - crispy, slightly smoky bison, soft cheese... we'll be combining these ingredients again.

Charles stopped on the way home from work to grab a couple items for dinner and found Crave Cupcakes (7929 104 Street) open, so he grabbed a dozen mini cupcakes ($16.95) for dessert (okay, dessert and snacking over the weekend).

Saturday - Goat cheese and squash ravioli with mushrooms and arugula. Four weeks ago when school was not yet taking up so much brain space, Charles made some pasta dough while I filled it with the squash-goat cheese mixture, freezing it for later days. We broke it out Saturday night, cooking down a mixture of mushrooms we'd picked up at the Italian Centre with some sage, onions, garlic and vegetable broth. Topped with more of that arugula that won't leave the fridge, this meal was one of the more nicely balanced ones we've created, with tangy goat cheese, silky pasta, rich mushroom 'sauce' and peppery arugula mixing well.

This week has been chicken, risotto, and soup so far. Tomorrow night is slow cooker goulash which we're looking forward to. Enjoy the rest of your week everyone!

Week One

After the Beijing Noodle success on Monday, we had a bit of a flop on Tuesday with Miss Dahl's spelt pancakes and squash-goat cheese-orange filling, but the rest of the week progressed well, and we're ready to go this week and the next.

Monday - 'Beijing Noodles' (well, sort of) 

Tuesday - Spelt Pancakes with squash and goat cheese filling. Decidedly a flop.

Wednesday - Definitely a mid-week day. 

The dish I'm serving up - Artichoke heart, spinach and feta 'sauce' with Charles' sheets of pasta (he made and froze them over the holidays), inspired by a dish from Simple Suppers. This one was a definite mid-week hit and I've already purchased another jar of artichoke hearts.

Thursday - Chicken curry made in the slow cooker, with saffron rice, samosas and naan from Origin India. So we cheated a bit...

Friday - The end of the week was slated for Moroccan spiced trout, but my parents called Friday morning to invite us for dinner so the dish has been moved to another week. I did take over the carrot salad, however, and it was a welcome fresh side along with the roasted vegetables my mum had made.

Saturday - We wandered up the street to Leva for a pizza and spinach salad, and subsequently found our friend and site volunteer, Doug, playing the blues all evening.

The pizza was thin crusted and topped with a thin layer of sundried tomato pesto, chicken, mozzarella and basil (Chris' recent post had left me with a craving). The whole thing was a bit bitter for me, even a little dry, and I gravitated towards the salad - baby spinach, roasted pear (sweet, soft, caramel-y - what an excellent thing to do with a pear mid-winter), blue cheese, balsamic vinegar and vanilla candied pecans - perfectly comforting and excellent for watching the snow fall and listening to some good acoustic blues.

We're beginning week two this evening with pulled pork ragu and polenta, and some spinach on the side. The pork shoulder has been in the slow cooker for a couple hours now getting friendly with tomatoes, garlic, sage, fennel and rosemary, and it's starting to smell pretty lovely in our apartment.

Have a good week everyone!

PS. The post below has more details on the week's recipes. Feel free to e-mail me if you're interested, and I'll send them on. Alternatively the EPL has all the cook books we used in their collection.