Sunday, February 13th, 2022 (Toronto, ON): Knopf Canada has announced a new novel from Maggie O’Farrell, author of HAMNET, the national bestseller, winner of the Women’s Prize for Fiction 2020 and the National Book Critics Circle Award. THE MARRIAGE PORTRAIT will publish on September 6th, 2022 in hardcover, e-book and audio.
Is there anything more lavish than having a donut for breakfast? Inspired by Italian bombolone—a fried pastry coated in granulated sugar and piped with pastry cream—our fluffy and tender donuts are bursting with a decadent chocolate hazelnut center. Made 100% dairy-free thanks to a double rise and a coconut base, our Chocolate Hazelnut–Filled Donuts are for mornings worth celebrating.
Everyone has gotta have a good go-to bolognese recipe in their back pocket, and this is mine. A classic ragu bolognese is not a super tomatoey-saucy sauce, as it’s made with ground meat and its juices. I used mushrooms because they’re superior to meat and just as juicy! Sure, there’s usually red wine in the base of the bolognese, but I made the executive decision to not do that—you can also tweak this to your liking. It’s also traditional to use a flat pasta like pappardelle or tagliatelle, and you want to kiss and coat the noodles, not drown them in sauce!
This is the brunch recipe you should make if you’re looking to impress guests but want to put in zero effort . . . which probably describes every person who has ever hosted guests for breakfast. These require almost no prep work and come out of the oven looking gorgeous every time. I love prosciutto here because it’s leaner than bacon and crisps up perfectly in the oven—it has just the right amount of crunch, and it goes so well with eggs. If you can’t find Manchego cheese, try Parmesan or crumbled feta. The spoonful of fresh chive pesto adds nice color, too. This dish is delicious and beautiful, a perfect individual meal in a little cup. How else could you cook up a dozen eggs for guests without any stress?
I love a pork roast, but part of me loves the next-day pork bap, apple sauce and stuffing even more. The addition of pear to this roast gives it something extra special, but don’t feel guilty if you’re more excited about a bap now.
Tuesday, February 8, 2022 (Toronto)—McClelland & Stewart proudly announces the forthcoming publication of The Series: What I Remember, What It Felt Like, What It Feels Like Now by Hall of Fame goalie and bestselling author Ken Dryden, a book that celebrates the 50th anniversary of an entirely improbable, near-month-long series of games that changed the course of hockey on and off the ice.
Nián gāo (黏糕, in Mandarin) are the fruitcake of Chinese desserts. The difference is that they’re steamed, not baked, and made of glutinous rice flour instead of wheat flour. But like fruitcake, they show up (sometimes inconveniently) on major holidays. Nián gāo means “sticky cake” and is also a pun for “a year better than the last,” so around the new year, you make it to bribe the Kitchen God and glue his mouth shut, as he’s to report on everything he’s overheard in your kitchen the past year. That classic texture can be polarizing for people who are unfamiliar with it, so for this version, I looked toward butter mochi, a favorite from the 1970s era of Oriental-style convenience baking. Baking turns nián gāo into a cake of wonderful contrasts—still chewy but topped with a golden crust. Winter is peak nián gāo season, so I use brandied cherries, like Luxardo, but feel free to use other dried fruit; rehydrate for fifteen minutes in some hot water, rum, or brandy, then chop into ½-inch pieces so they stay evenly distributed throughout the cake.
This is probably my favourite meat-based soup. The soft sour flavour of this soup comes from the tamarind paste. In northern Thailand we use chicken thighs to add flavour to the broth. My mother would grill the chicken skin just a bit before making the soup. The smoky flavour from the chicken, with a topping of grilled chili, added so much depth to the soup.
My brother-in-law introduced me to this dish, called plah tort samun plai, on my first visit to Thailand. After eating it at a restaurant, he declared that his was much better. So he cooked his own delicious version that very evening—sourcing better-quality fish and palm sugar made all of the difference. Sure enough, he was right—and I’ve used his recipe ever since. This versatile dish works with whole fish, fillets, or fish chunks.