Top 10 Cookbooks - Suggestions from a committed food nerd

It must have been something I ate - J. Steingarten
For sheer entertainment value, plus exquisitely mouth watering and complex recipes. Look no further, I've read this book 4 times over just for a laugh, and used his pizza dough recipe to great acclaim countless times.  This from Vogue Magazines myth debunking, food writer extraordinaire, Jeffrey Steingarten. He's way nicer in writing than on TV, you'll love him, I swear.

Ratio: The simple codes behind the craft of everyday cooking - M.Ruhlman
Trains you to become a more intuitive cook.  Great basic recipes for a burgeoning chef from sauces to pasta to consomme.

On Food and Cooking - The science and lore of the kitchen - H.McGee 
For food nerds, biologist chefs and farmer scientists that want to understand why cakes rise, just how long those eggs will keep and the history of smoked fish.


Rebar Cookbook - Alsterburg/Urbanowicz
Health nuts, vegans and vegetarians love this book.  I must confess, I make fun of every one of my friends that professes that their potluck dish is 'from the rebar cookbook'.  I hate hippie food, but must confess that this book is worth it's weight in gold.  And the restaurant is in Victoria, BC, so support local:)

The River Cottage - MEAT - H.Fearnley-Whittingstall
Just to counter the Rebar book, all meat eaters must get this one. If you eat meat, you should know about it from all aspects; farm to table as they say.  This book is a candid look into how your meat gets to your table, why knowing about your farmer is important and how to prepare the bounty that comes from proper butchering of well cared for animals.  Great recipes on how to use all of the animal and how to make brains taste like a million bucks:)


The America's Test Kitchen Family Cookbook
From one of my favourite magazines, Cooks Illustrated.  This is the easiest cookbook for new chefs to use as the instructions are very explicit.  You almost can't mess any of the 1200 recipes up.  If you want to know how to cook the basics of everything perfectly... this is the book for you.

Taste - Sybil Kapoor
Sour, salty, bitter, chili, sweet and flavours are the categories for this amazing distillation of what makes our tongues tick.  The recipes are simple and beautiful, just like Italian food.  I can't recommend this one enough, but it may be out of print, not sure.

Alinea 
These books are mainly for super foodies, as you need nutso things like vacpac machines to actually make the food.  I use them for inspiration; the flavour combos are mind boggling in this cutting edge culinary manifesto.  This book is Grant Achatz's of Alinea Restaurant, Chicago which is consistently rated as one of the top restaurants in the United States. A former sous-chef at The French Laundry, Achatz won the James Beard Foundation's Outstanding Chef Award for 2008.

Moosewood Cookbook - Mollie Katzen 
This is my #1 hippy, vegetarian go to cookbook.  One of the worlds top selling cookbooks from the former Moosewood Restaurant, New York.  Why?  Because, purely, the recipes are simple and so yummy (love the stuffed zucchini). No pictures in this book though, booooo.

Wood-Fired Cooking - Karlin
One of my favourites for the backyard backyard barbequer or the camp cook.  Fire does make things taste better, it's not just because you're hungrier outside.  Gorgeous recipes from super simple cast iron bread (I get comments on this one all the time) to fire roasted marinated vegetables.

Enjoy!
Chef Robin

Snowshoe Feast Tour

Hot Apple Cider in the clear air of the North Shore Mountains, nothing is better. Except the 3 course menu we serve on the peak...

Peak Menu
1. Smoked leek & White Truffle soup with Bee pollen breadstick
2. Duck Confit, ginger cranberry sauce, purple cabbage & fennel slaw
3. Sticky Toffee Pudding with pistachio crumble & whip

Come with us! Snowshoe Feast info

Cocktail for a Rainy Day

Amontillado Sherry Hot Toddy
Just what you need on a dreary Vancouver day to warm you up and get you giggling. I created this for the Down the Rabbit Hole - Alice in Wonderland pop-up restaurant last year. It's all about the Amontillado, yummmmmmy!

Serves 4

Bring to a boil...
2 Lemons juiced 1 Lemon rind zested Cayenne - pinch 1/4 c Sugar - add a little more or less depending on how sweet you like it

Reduce heat to a simmer and add the booze...

2 shots Alvear Amontillado Sherry 2 shots Ballentine's Whiskey
Turn element off and serve in classy tea cups Add a tarragon leaf - one in each cup

We're running a cocktail making event at a secret underground bar in a few weeks - Pearls & Cocktails

Augustus Caesars.... Sticky Toffee Pudding

This is a British dessert invented in 1907... but I've Italy-ified it with corriander and pistachio accents. A little Italy in Britain can't be bad.

Preheat oven to 350F Sticky...

Equipment: Baking sheet, 8 - 3inch ramekins greased with butter

Serves 8

Ingredients

6 oz pitted dates, chopped

1/2 tsp vanilla

2 tsp coffee essence (just brew up a strong pot)

1 Tbs ground corriander seed

3/4 tsp soda

3 oz butter, room temp

5 oz caster (berry) sugar

2 lg eggs, beaten

6 oz flour (self raising or just add 1 1/4 tsp baking powder + 1/2 tsp salt)

Sauce:

1 lemon zested

6 oz brown sugar

4 oz butter

6 Tbs whip cream

Topping:

1 oz chopped pistachios

Whip Cream (unsweetened)

Method:

Begin by putting the chopped dates in a bowl and pouring 6 fl oz (175 ml) boiling water over them.

Then add the vanilla extract, coffee essence, corriander, lemon rind and soda and leave on one side. Next, in a large mixing bowl, cream the butter and sugar together, beating (preferably with an electric hand whisk) until the mixture is pale, light and fluffy.

Now gradually add the beaten eggs, a little at a time, beating well after each addition.

After that, carefully and lightly fold in the sifted flour using a metal spoon, and then you can fold in the date mixture (including the liquid). You'll probably think at this stage that you've done something wrong, because the mixture will look very sloppy, but don't worry: that is perfectly correct and the slackness of the mixture is what makes the puddings so light. Don't overmix.

Now divide the mixture equally among the eight containers, place them on a baking tray and bake in the centre of the oven for 25 minutes. When they're cooked, leave them to cool for 5 minutes, then, using a cloth to protect your hands, slide a small palette knife around each pudding and turn it out. Next, make the sauce by combining all the ingredients in a saucepan and heating very gently until the sugar has melted and all the crystals have dissolved.

To serve the puddings: pre-heat the grill to its highest setting, and pour the sauce evenly over the puddings. Place the tin under the grill, so the tops of the puddings are about 5 inches (13 cm) from the heat and let them heat through for about 8 minutes. What will happen is the tops will become brown and slightly crunchy and the sauce will be hot and bubbling.

Serve with chilled whip cream and pistachios.

Cocktails & Oysters

Lûdzu, is my favorite cocktail making, evil genius.

The guy makes his own bitters. That takes a lot of time...and doesn’t make you any money. So if you do it, you do it because you have an obsession.

I was actually introduced to a bottle of his Pirate Rum before I ever met him.  It was clearly created by someone with a remarkable palate and attention to detail. I knew I had to work with him.

Don’t tell him I said this, but he eats a lot of weird stuff.

We were on a road trip once and stumbled upon this Bison farm. Lûdzu insisted we buy all the Bison tongue we could eat, and then fiendishly went to work preparing it back at camp into a fabulous pate. It was incredible.

So, i’m excited to announce that we’ve finally paired up to create something tasty for Dine Out Vancouver.... voila!

Cocktails & BC Oysters
Join us in a classy underground bar, hidden in a chinatown warehouse for Cocktails & Oysters.

Cocktails (4) 
Gin & Tonics are all well and good, but it’s easier than you think to impress dinner guests with first class cocktails. Let Lûdzu show you how!

• 2 Classic Cocktails. These are your Go-To’s for dinner parties
• Lûdzu explains when to shake, when to stir, and how to make them with style, while effortlessly rambling off fun facts about their historic significance
• Local Ingredients Cocktail
• Made with local herbs and ingredients, hand picked by Lûdzu himself.
• Molecular Mixology
• Crazy cocktail creations using foams and mists

BC Oysters (4) 
Curious Oyster Catering will lead a tasting of 4 distinct varieties of local oysters.

• Experience the intricacies of varying flavor profiles, in the freshest local oysters from Desolation Sound, BC
• Black Pearl - White shell with black stripes, light and sweet with hints of melon 
• Marina’s Top Drawer - Gold in color with a frilly shell. Sweet and smooth
• Beach Angel - Robust and briny flavor, with a long, clean, cucumber finish
• Outlandish Gems - Delicate meat with hints of green apple candy and a delicate, briny finish

• How to shuck without stabbing yourself :)
• What to look for when buying oysters
• How to detect red tide

Dates:
Sat Jan 28, 7:30-9pm - Sold Out
Sat Feb 4, 7:30-9pm - Sold Out

Ticket price -  $89
Double Date Rate (Group of 4+) - $79 

Email now to book - theswallowdive@gmail.com
Chef Robin

California Wine Roadtrip - Essentials...

Anyone going to California for some wine tasting soon? No? You'd be utterly insane not to. Here are some tips on where to go and how to bring it back to BC.

How to bring it back...
I packed all these puppies on the plane back to Vancouver in my checked luggage. You pay an 85% BC tax on each bottle brought back to Canada, but you'll never find any of these wines here and if you did they'd be marked up to that percentage anyway, so have at 'er. Whites have a cheaper tax rate than reds which is weird. Check your airline for baggage restrictions and pack really tight, lots of padding. You do run the risk of breakage, but I like living on the edge, I guess. I will do anything for the love of wine! Vivre les Vins!

On $236 worth of wine... (I got lots of industry discounts at the wineries so that's why the total value is so low) I paid about $11/bottle in taxes (13 bottles). The volume of wine and the price is how they calculate how much you owe. Take your 2 most expensive bottles and use them as your allotted exemption (1.5 litres). They didn't check my receipts which I found weird. I had some wines that were gifts from a winery, in that case, you just have to ballpark the prices.

Where to taste...
There are a LOT of wineries, plan your route and phone a week in advance to make reservations especially in Sonoma/Napa or you won't get in to the top wineries. Go to the Wine Ghetto in Lompoc, Central Valley, you'll taste a lot more wineries in that small area. It's not as glamorous as the vineyards, but if you are a serious taster, there are no lines here and the pourers can actually talk to you.

Get the Santa Barbara Vintner Wine Map for Central Valley, very useful (ask at the tourist info center or the wineries themselves). Wine tasting fees abound $10-20 for each winery, but they pour you a hefty glass so don't feel shy to share with a buddy. Central Valley was my favourite region, I almost couldn't find a bad bottle and the prices were kick ass. Really good range of big reds to light delicate sparklers too.

Here's the list of my favs:
Sta.Rita Hills and around...
Sanford Fleur du Domaine - V+R White Rhone blend '08
LaFont - Chardonnay '09
Palmina - Malvasia Bianca
Longoria - Syrah '04 & Vino Dulce

Sonoma & Carneros...
Benovia - Cohn Vineyard PN
Rochioli - Ranch Red
J Vineyards - ViognerTruchard - Napa Cab & Roussanne 2000
Copain - Chardonnay(Anderson Valley) & Syrah (James Berry, Paso Robles) '07

Not present cause I drank it already... Iron Horse - Brut Rose, Domaine Carneros - Brut Rose... both fabulous!!
Best Pinot Noir I tasted was, actually, in Sta.Rita Hills at Sanford Winery. Their $75 Vista al Rio goes toe to toe with the best Burgundy in a top vintage. You'll notice the glaring lack of Cabernet in my list... we ran out of time and I lean to lighter wines anyway:) That's for next year.

My last tip is make sure you do some spitting if you want to remember any of your wines and be sure about your capability to judge your purchases. Or just feck it and drink your face off, your choice.

Down the Rabbit Hole - a pop up restaurant

Nov 24th to Dec 18th 2011

Follow us down the rabbit hole to amazing food, wild performance in a mysterious underground space. Swallow Tail is joining up with the In the House Festival to conjure a restaurant & show out of nothing. It will live for one month only.

Book the whole show just for you, your friends, co-workers or what-have-you, min 25 guests. Price is $129 reg/$99 booked before Oct 30. Perfect for your business xmas party, convince the boss!

Email us at theswallowdive@gmail.com if you want first grabs at tickets and to keep posted on this event.

Open
Thursday - 7pm show
Friday - 7pm show
Saturday - 4pm show, 8pm show

Nov 24-26
Dec 1 (sold out),2,3,15,16(sold out),17