Signe's Kitchen

Fresh oysters on the half shell are, to my mind, perfect just as Mother Nature made them. Sweet and briny, cold and full of zinc and protein. But in February, it’s kind of nice to warm these babies up. My favourite Oysterman - and foodies do tend to stay faithful to one oysterman - is Patrick McMurray of Ceili Cottage in the Leslieville 'hood of Toronto. Ingredients ½ cup panko bread crumbs ½ cup shredded Gouda or Swiss cheese 2 Tbsp. melted butter 2 Tbsp. finely minced chive

Originally posted on 2/23/2013 See this lovely picture by Photographer and Art Director, Colleen Nicholson? It shows just how incredibly simple and full of the good stuff this granola is. ​ Located in Parry Sound, Ontario, The Georgian Bay Granola Company is a little Canadian company and all they do is make small batches of this yummy stuff: Sugar Bush Maple (my fave!) and Honey Bee Crunch and other flavours, but these two are my top picks; both are delicious and not too swee

Originally posted on 2/2/2013 ​ ​This is Clan Davidson's modern tartan. There are many variations, for hunting, fancy affairs, ancient and others. Yeah, I know, I'm a wee bit late, and soon the world will be turned all pink and red by people in love, looking for love, dreaming of love, or just eating pink cupcakes pining for love. Never mind, my fun Burn's Night AGA dinner is worth revisiting (for me, anyway) even at this late date....because....Scottish descendants are a fie

Originally posted on 12/11/2012 ...Who gets a little self-conscious when she's drinking. Alone. Not drowning my sorrows, you understand, but not celebrating some great achievement, either. ​ That reminds me of something Yoko Ono once said: She claimed it had been possible (easy, really) for she and John to stop taking heroin no promleemo, because when they took it, it was in celebration, not to dull pain. OK. Sure. But I've listened plenty to Cold Turkey, and from the sounds

Originally posted on 4/26/2010 I'm sure I mentioned that I was judging at Bonnie Gordon's Cake Show, didn't I? I'm sure I've mentioned - perhaps even more than once - how much I enjoy a nice hunk of cake, with thick buttercream icing, non? Like this one from Bonnie.... Anyhoo...yesterday I was a panelist on the National Post's Shelf Life column, tasting, ugh, tofu. Ten freakin' blocks of tofu. Raw. Right out of the pack. Just slice off a bit from the anemic brick of hippie, v

Originally posted on 9/26/2013 Move over Jamie Oliver, we've got Chuck Hughes on the case now! And it's time we started taking the message of eating real food right to the kids. Quite frankly, I don't care if we have to circumvent the parents or go over heads...whatever it takes to get to those little, developing, taste buds, I say! And I can hear it now, all the local food hardliners; "You know, Hellmann's is owned by Unilever and they're owned by some other evil empire...bl

Originally posted on 7/22/2013 It's blueberry time, and it's always time for lemon curd. Not the kind that comes in a jar from the store: Homemade. It's dead easy and delicious. And with a shortbread cookie on the bottom and a handful of frozen wild blueberries on top, it's a ridiculously easy, fast, cool and lovely summer dessert. Here's my curd recipe. I use the whole egg, while most recipes call for just the yolks. Why? Because leaving the whites in makes for a fluffier cu

Originally posted on 10/3/2013 I'm willing to forgive the humiliation of having my picture taken standing beside a cardboard cutout of Miss Avocado, because Chef Jose Hadad - owner and chef of Frida - makes such bloody good food. And no, I'm not going to show you that picture. Gawd knows it's going to turn up somewhere courtesy of the heartless avocado people. But then this happened. Mini tacos with braised duck, guacamole, pico de gallo and - wait for it - duck crackling. I