Artichokes make a delicious addition to vegetable dinners and company lunches. Globe Artichokes - sometimes called the French Artichokes is in reality the bud of a thistle-like flower which is as decorative as the bud is palatable. A choice artichoke should have bright green leaves rather closely packed. Rusty spots or widely separated leaves indicate age or injury. The very small artichokes may be trimmed for artichoke hearts or used as small cups to hold hors d'oeuvres or hot food.
Braised Artichokes with Onions & Bacon
Traditional Tourtière - Canadian Meat Pie
Tourtiere is the creme de la creme of pies. Lightly spiced and herbed, this meat pie is especially anticipated for Christmas Eve celebrations, but it's equally tasty for the Thanksgiving dinner and any winter chilly evenings.
Dragon Fruit - What is it and how to eat it
Dragon fruit (Pitaya) is part of the cactus family, and has sweet, kiwi-like flesh. Dragon fruit is quite exotic for our latitudes and if your grocery store does not carry it, usually you can find this bright red skinned fruit, very rich in vitamins B and C as well as fiber, at your nearest Asian market. You can easily check if fruit is ripe by pressing on it, just like you’d choose ripe avocado, kiwi or peach. If it’s too soft that means it is overripe and the texture will not be as good. If it is too hard, you can still buy your dragon fruit but let it stay in cool dry place for few days to fully ripen. Any dry brown spots or dry spines on dragon fruit leathery skin are a sign to avoid it.
Russian Monday: Mushrooms with Sour Cream Sauce - "Gribi v Smetane"
Mushrooms are traditional ingredient of Russian cuisine. For centuries, our ancestors used bounty of forest to diversify their menu. And even today with enormous variety of options, ingredients, recipes from around the world available to us true gourmets love tasty and fragrant mushrooms in sour cream.
