Cabane À Sucre: A Pictorial (and Gastronomic) Essay

After being on the waiting list for FOUR YEARS, some friends finally won Au Pied de Cochon's reservation lottery and got us into the Cabane à Sucre in St-Benoît de Mirabel, Quebec. And BOY, was it worth the wait! In fact, they are now doing an apple season menu in the fall, and I am on the waiting list to try to get us in for that. In the meantime, please enjoy our gluttonous experience vicariously through the following mouthwatering and nearly-edible photographs...

The GINORMOUS smoker out front in which they were cooking hams, among other good things.

 The Cabane à Sucre.

 Around back of the cabane.

 The front porch.

A packed house! (They sell out almost immediately after opening the reservations system in December.) And we could catch glimpses of famed Chef Martin Picard through the kitchen window in the back! 

 The cash register and other maple products for sale.

If you peek through these windows, you'll see the sugaring equipment. (It's a real sugar shack!)

Our dining crew (clockwise from left): Domenica, Cyd, Jaime, and Matthew (props to Jaime for scoring the reservation!)

Bread bowl filled with foie gras and oreilles de crisse (housemade pork rinds), served with maple baked beans and scrambled eggs cooked in maple syrup.

 
Sushi terrine with flaky pastry on the bottom, sushi rice, avocado, gelatin, and salmon tartare decorated with edible gold leaf.

 
Sturgeon quenelles in a sauce with mussels.

 
MAPLE DAIQUIRI! (Like sugar on snow for grown-ups!)

Omelette souffle on top of beef tripe and housemade chorizo in a spicy tomato sauce with these heavenly garlic croutons on top.

 
Wild creatures crawling around the ceiling beams!

The hams are cooked in the big smokers out front on a bed of hay...like the bedding the pigs would sleep on...for authenticity? (LOL!) 

Carving the ham tableside so that it stays moist.

BEST ham I've ever had! And it was extra-delicious with their housemade spicy maple mustard!

Baked sweet potatoes with spiced, fluffy marshmallow topping.

Squid ink pasta with cheese and crispy hunks of blood sausage drizzled with a spicy chili sauce.

We thought this was the best dish of all: Duck stuffed with its own entrails or some such delicious horror and flambéed at the table, served with a spicy red pepper sauce.

Light and crispy little cornmeal pancakes drenched in maple syrup...they tasted like upscale French toast sticks (tee hee).

They tossed the squid ink pasta inside a huge block of cheese tableside, scraping up bits of cheese as they went. YUM!

Coffee-infused mocha mousse cake, not unlike opera cake.

Left: Maple frozen yogurt doused in rum and sprinkled with maple candy bits
Right: Sugar on snow (naturally!)

Banana cream tarte with meringue (on the flakiest pastry in the world).

 Cyd enjoys a Lilliputian jar of espresso after our amazing meal.

The Best Gift is Time Spent with Friends

Once a person heads into middle age, it seems to more and more difficult to buy gifts for one's friends. They don't need anything, and anything they want, they just buy for themselves before their birthdays or other gift-giving holidays roll around. So more often than not, my local friends and I tend to give each other experiences in lieu of material goods. And this year, my friends, Lee Ann and June, outdid themselves!







In December, they asked me and another friend, Vicky, out to lunch and then presented us with these MAGNIFIQUE baskets filled with lots of goodies from Quebec: Maple leaf cookies and cookies with the Chateau Frontenac embossed in chocolate, Dark Chocolate Raspberry Whippets (like Canadian Mallowmars), and even a can of yellow pea soup (it's traditional--don't ask). But the best thing in the basket was a handmade coupon for dinner and a play in Montreal!

So yesterday, we finally took ourselves north to see The Book of Bob at The Centaur (the staging was inventive, but the play was just so-so), and then we had dinner afterwards at a nice wine bar in Old Montreal called Modavie. Everything we had was tasty, but the salad that June ordered looked especially scrumptious. The menu said it was made with frisee (which is why I didn't order it--I'm not a fan of bitter, spiky greens), but it came with mixed greens, lardons (crispy fried pork bits), and a softly poached egg on top. It looked incredible, and I thought, "Why can't I make this for myself at home?"

So...I did. I used smoky bacon ends from Oscar's Smokehouse, and though I admit, my freeform egg poaching skills are pathetic, a drizzle of Caesar vinaigrette covers a multitude of unsightly eggy sins. DECADENT and DELISH!

These are a few of my favorite things...

Last Friday, some friends and I decided to head north for a tour I might call, "You Show Me Yours and I'll Show You Mine: Sharing Our Favorite Places in Montreal." We visited the Dix-30 Quarter for some shopping and several bakeries (as I am still in pursuit of the most perfect croissant in the city). But two stops on our itinerary really stood out.

One was the Patisserie Au Kouign Amann. Their namesake pastry, from Brittany, is this absolutely decadent, flaky, layered confection which seems to be comprised entirely of butter and sugar. It is so sublime, that my friend, Martie, bought a piece, walked out to the sidewalk, took a bite, then walked right back and bought a whole one to take home to her family (or so she claimed)! I don't blame her. This is a must-try experience if you are ever in Montreal.

But the highlight of my day was visiting an Italian grocery called Milano's in Petite Italie near Jean-Talon Market. They have everything Italian that you can think of there, included a fabulous deli counter (imported meats and cheeses and a million kinds of olives), a dizzying selection of dried pastas, and a whole section of the store devoted solely to olive oils (pictured, right)! But one of the most wonderful things about Milano's is the fresh pasta counter. I would love to try them all, but I ended up choosing some lovely potato gnocchi to take home. And I was NOT disappointed!

For dinner last night, I created a dish with spicy sausage, Baby Bella mushrooms, and sweet corn in a roasted yellow pepper cream sauce with fresh herbs and those light-as-a-feather gnocchi that I bought. JUST AMAZING!

Potato Gnocchi with Spicy Sausage, Mushrooms, and Fresh Corn in a Roasted Yellow Pepper Cream Sauce with Fresh Herbs

1 tablespoon olive oil

1 tablespoon butter
1 large onion, diced
1 pound spicy Italian sausage, casings removed
8 oz. Baby Bella mushrooms, sliced
1 ear of corn, steamed for five minutes in the microwave, husks removed, kernels cut from cob
4 cloves garlic, peeled and minced
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
2 tablespoons white balsamic vinegar
1/4 cup white wine
1 jar roasted yellow peppers (12 oz.), drained and pureed in a food processor
1 cup cream or half-n-half
1 lb. fresh gnocchi
1/4 cup chopped fresh herbs (rosemary, parsley, basil--whatever you fancy)
grated parmesan to garnish
 
In a large skillet over medium heat, melt the olive oil and butter and saute the diced onion, Italian sausage, and sliced mushrooms until the veggies are tender and the meat is no longer pink. Add in the steamed corn kernels, garlic, and black pepper, and cook for another minute or two. Deglaze the pan with the vinegar and white wine, cooking and stirring until the liquid has mostly been absorbed. Stir in the pureed peppers and the cream, reduce to very low heat, and let it reduce while you prepare the gnocchi.

Bring a large pot of water to a rolling boil. Cook about half of the gnocchi at a time for about two minutes, until they float to the top. Skim with a strainer and add to the sauce. When the gnocchi are all cooked and added to the sauce, toss in the fresh herbs. Serve with a garnish of grated parmesan.

Hibernating for the rest of the Memorial Weekend....

2012-2013 was a very difficult academic year with much inner political upheaval, shall we say, at our institution. As usual, I taught full-time at the community college and part-time at the state university, so seven classes a semester plus a few extra-curriculars made Gina a very busy gal, and a very tired one by the end of the spring term and the academic year. Moreover, they are repairing the heating system in the main building over the summer, so I had exactly one day after the semester ended to finish all of my final grades, make syllabi for the summer sessions, and purge thirteen years' worth of crap in my office and get everything packed up before leaving for the annual SUNY technology conference in Utica for a few days.

If that weren't enough, I have been rocking a particularly vicious sinus infection for about three weeks that I am just now getting over. And as I blogged about yesterday, right on the heels of my conference, we had a day in Montreal planned to reconnect with some good friends who were passing through on their way to Quebec City, and we didn't get home until late last night.

Given all of these conditions, plus unseasonably cold, rainy, and windy weather, Cyd and I plan to relax by the fire, clearing out the dvr and watching dvd's, and napping alongside three snoring dogs until Tuesday when we are contractually compelled to return to work. So today, we stay home and recuperate, but tonight, we pay homage to our cosmopolitan neighbor to the north, Montreal, with a supper of Croque Madame and Croque Monsieur (the Madame has the egg on top, naturellement). And though I cannot source tamarind in my provincial little town to be able to replicate the Itacate house margarita, I have fashioned a tangy and refreshing ruby red grapefruit margarita that hits the same sweet and sour notes. C'est si bon!

Croque Monsieur and Madame
(Source: adapted from Gourmet, March 2007)

First you have to make a béchamel:
Melt 3 tablespoons of butter until it foams, then whisk in five tablespoons of flour and cook for a minute or two, whisking the whole time. Slowly pour in two cups of milk and cook until thick, whisking constantly.

Remove from heat and grate in some fresh nutmeg (1/4 teaspoon, or to taste), 1/2 teaspoon white pepper, 1/2 teaspoon salt, and about 1/4 cup finely shredded gruyere or emmenthal cheese (or your favorite aged, Alpine-type cheese).

 

Take one piece of bread and spread a goodly amount of the sauce on top (about 3 T?). Then sprinkle on another tablespoon of shredded cheese, a couple of pieces of ham, and another tablespoon of shredded cheese. Spread the top slice with a very thin layer of Dijon mustard, then top the sandwich. Brown the sandwich on both sides in a buttered skillet until golden. Top each sandwich with another few spoonfuls of the bechamel and broil for a couple of minutes in the oven until the sauce gets brown and bubbly. For Croque Madame, top with a fried egg.

Garnish with fresh chives if you've got 'em! YUM!

 

Ruby Red Grapefruit Margarita

 

1 cup ruby red grapefruit juice (I used "light")
1/4 cup frozen orange (or better yet, orange-pineapple) juice concentrate
2 tablespoons fresh lime juice
1/2 cup tequila of choice (I use Sauza silver)
2 tablespoons triple sec (or Cointreau or Grand Marnier if you're fancy)

ice to just BELOW the fill line of the Margaritaville blender (about 4 cups?)

lime wedge garnish for each glass (=three 16 oz. glasses)
rim each glass lightly with salt if you prefer

Memorable/Memorial Visit to Montreal

We had a delightful day in Montreal yesterday, despite the yucky weather. We started by checking out the Quartier Dix30, this huge shopping mall and "lifestyle center" in Brossard, a suburb south of Montreal. We found these depressing products at a fancy meat shop (boucherie) there. If you can't make it out, that's camel, kangaroo, and horse meat. OH, THE HUMANITY!


















I was thrilled to learn that our favorite Middle Eastern/Mediterranean market, Marché Adonis, now has a location in the Dix30 Quarter. My biggest and best score there? The omg-sized vat of pepperoncini for $8.99! Also, a sampler of little baklava-type pastries that are so delectable, their lusciousness defies description.

After the Dix30 Quarter, we headed into Old Montreal for a late lunch at a café called Olive et Gourmando. We shared a Cubano sandwich and a cup of homemade lentil and pork soup, with a glass of housemade raspberry lemonade. For dessert, we had what may be the best almond croissant in the city. YUM! (We have to go back sometime, because they were out of their famed truffled macaroni and cheese that we were dying to try.)


















After hitting a up a couple more bakeries--Premiere Moisson and Mamie Clafoutis--for round one of the new game I invented ("Who Has the Best Croissants in Montreal?"), we headed north to meet our dear friends, Jaymie and Audrey for a long, laughter-filled dinner at a Mexican restaurant called Itacate, that was recommended to me by two of my best "foodie" friends, Domenica and (a different) Jaime. There we enjoyed a veritable mountain of their signature guacamole, various delectable entrees, including Cyd's duck leg with a rich housemade mole and my burrito with shredded pork in a chipotle sauce (pictured below).  And the piece de resistance was their house specialty, the tamarind margarita. I won't even tell you how many of them the four of us drank! AY-YI-YI!


















So it may be near freezing here with the wind chill factor, but we won't let that spoil our fun over this Memorial Weekend!