Light Italian Wedding Soup

There are endless variations of Italian Wedding Soup, but the main elements are meatballs and greens. Delicious and low fat, this spa-inspired recipe is made with lean ground turkey, plenty of fresh dill and baby spinach in a clear chicken-based broth. While the name suggests that the soup might be served at an Italian wedding, it's actually a mistranslation of Minestra Maritata - 'maritare' means 'to wed' - a reference that through marrying vegetables with meat, it becomes a complete and balanced one-course meal. 

These little 'meatballs' are actually made with ground turkey and turkey sausage

Normally pasta is added to the soup before serving, but for a lighter calorie friendly soup, the pasta was omitted in this recipe — who needs the extra calories. Turkey, being low in fat and high in protein, is made even more heart smart by baking the aromatic little polpette in the oven rather than frying them, for a healthier take on a wonderfully delicious classic soup.




Light Italian Wedding Soup

Serves 8

For the 'meatballs':

3/4 pound ground turkey

1/2 pound turkey sausage, casings removed

2/3 cup fresh white bread crumbs

2 tsp minced garlic

3 tbsp chopped fresh parsley leaves

1/4 cup freshly grated Pecorino Romano

1/4 cup freshly grated Parmesan, plus extra for serving

3 tbsp milk

1 extra-large egg, lightly beaten

Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper

For the soup:

2 tbsp good olive oil

1 cup minced yellow onion

1 cup diced carrots, cut into 1/4 inch pieces

3/4 cup diced celery, cut into 1/4 inch pieces

10 cups chicken stock

1/2 cup dry white wine

1/2 cup minced fresh dill

12 ounces baby spinach, washed and trimmed

Preheat the oven to 350°F. For the 'meatballs', place the ground turkey, sausage, bread crumbs, garlic, parsley, Pecorino, Parmesan, milk, egg, 1 teaspoon salt, and 1/2 teaspoon pepper in a bowl and combine gently with a fork. With a teaspoon, drop 1 to 1 1/4-inch 'meatballs' onto a baking sheet pan lined with parchment paper. The recipe should have about 40 meatballs. They don't have to be perfectly round. Bake for 30 minutes, until they're cooked through and lightly browned. Set aside.

In the meantime, for the soup, heat the olive oil over medium-low heat in a large heavy-bottomed soup pot. Add the onion, carrots, and celery and sauté until softened, 5 to 6 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add the chicken stock and wine and bring to a boil. Add the fresh dill and then the meatballs to the soup and simmer for 1 minute. Taste for salt and pepper. Stir in the fresh spinach and cook for 1 minute, until the spinach is just wilted. Ladle into soup bowls and sprinkle each serving with extra grated Parmesan.

'One' of the Best Samosas in Town

How far would you go for a great Samosa? How about "The Best Samosas in Town!" That's what A-One's website says — Simply the Best. A-One is a family owned business that started in England over 40 years ago, then set up shop in it's current location, an unlikely outpost in a nondescript building north of Pearson Airport, on Tranmere Drive. They claim to be the top selling samosa producer in North America. What makes their samosas special? They're made with the owner's secret recipe made famous in England, then brought over to Canada when they launched A-One. "Our customers come from all over the world for our savoury 'English-style' samosas". I love Indian cuisine and have tried many samosas in my time, but what on earth is an 'English-style' samosa? I made the trip up to A-One with one of their 'converts', a dedicated samosa connoisseur, to find out what was so great about A-One's tetrahedral treat. 

A-One Catering - 7875 Tranmere Drive #2 in Mississauga

A charming young Indian woman with a quick smile was serving behind the counter when we arrived. My friend knew exactly what he wanted. He'd been to A-One many times before, the only difference was that he didn't own a huge freezer anymore and was struggling with how many he could buy this trip. "How many did you buy last time?", I asked. "Oh, about 60." And that was just the Samosas, not including the pounds of vegetable and paneer Pakoras that would make their way back downtown. Some wouldn't even last that long. They must be good.

A-One's famous 'English-style' samosas

The Indian sweets and snacks looked fabulous, but some were unfamiliar to me, so I asked our server Tara, pointing to some thick fried triangles that looked like half a sandwich and asked - "What's that?" Smiling, she responded, "Two slices of bread filled with mashed potato and deep fried, it's a Pakoda". I saw what appeared to be spring rolls and asked "What's in that?" "Mashed Potato". I think they were samosa spring rolls, but can't be sure. Another snack looked particularly inviting, rather like a crab cake — "What's this one?" "Aloo Tikki," she smiled, "It's made with mashed potato." 

Aloo Tikki

But Aloo Tikki are more than that, they're delicious. You can taste the smooth salty taste of the potato along with the sweet flavors of curry, peas, and ginger and cumin seeds with a jolt of heat from the chili and ginger. Typically they're served with a chickpea curry, but they're absolutely amazing all on their own. The spicy vegetable pakoras were my favourite, made with fresh cauliflower, spinach, onion and potatoes mixed in a chickpea flour and deep fried into little savoury golden balls, they were bursting with flavour. Definitely the best I've ever had.

A-One's fabulous spicy vegetable pakoras

I can now attest to A-One's quality. Warm and fresh with a light delicate thin pastry, the triangle-shaped vegetable samosas had a wonderfully savoury potato filling, but not too spicy, which I guess makes them 'English-style'. I also discovered A-One's secret weapon — the batallion of Indian women they have rolling, filling and frying samosas in the back of the shop, along with the kilos of pakoras, aloo tikkis and Indian sweets, from saffron coloured Jalebis that look like glistening pretzels, Galub Jamun — an Indian version of round donuts floating in sweet syrup, and the festive looking Barfi and Kaju Katli, fudge-like sweets made with ground nuts, sugar syrup and spices topped with silver leaf, popular during festivals like Diwali. These women are amazing.

Jelebi, a popular Indian sweet

We finally left A-One, our bags brimming with warm and mouthwateringly fragrant samosas, pakoras and aloo tikki. As we went to place them in the car, the temptation was too great. With crumbs on our chin and a smile on our face, we headed back to the city with most of our golden treasure.

aonecatering.me

Fettuccine with Wild Mushroom & Truffle Sauce

There’s something deeply satisfying about making your own pasta, like walking down an ancient path of one of the world's eternal foods. A time honoured tradition dating back thousands of years, making fresh pasta is to witness the amazing transformation of blending flour and egg into dough, and the silky touch as it becomes smoother and smoother — it's a sensual delight! And the possibilities are endless.

Salsa Tartufata — Summer Truffle Cream Sauce

Italians have always had a love affair with mushrooms, which is no surprise. Mushrooms go extremely well with pasta, the rich earthy flavours a perfect complement to sauces, which vary from city to city and region to region. Truffle hunting is a popular pastime in Tuscany and Umbria, and in the summer months, white truffles are gathered to make Salsa Tartufata — Summer Truffle Cream Sauce — which is made with Italian black truffles combined with countryside mushrooms and black olives, cooked in olive oil with a touch of garlic and lightly seasoned with salt and pepper. A wonderfully aromatic and decadent condiment, I picked up two bottles of this marinated fragrant funghi at Antica Drogheria Manganelli in Sienna, the last time we were in Italy.

Antica Drogheria Manganelli in Sienna

With the jar of Salsa Tartufata, a pound of wild mushrooms, and Mario Batali's recipe for Tagliatelle al Sugo di Funghi from his James Beard award-winning cookbook, Molto Italiano: Simple Italian Recipes to Cook at Home, dinner plans were definitely underway.

Mario Batali's award-winning cookbook - 'Molto Italiano'

I'm an ardent fan of wild mushrooms but was surprised with Batali's recipe for Sugo di Funghi that called for finely chopping all of the lovely shiitake, oyster and cremini mushrooms that we just bought from the market, then braising them in tomato sauce and red wine. I shouldn't have doubted the big guy – the sauce was wonderfully aromatic and full of flavour. More so when two big dollops of the Salsa Tartufata went into the sugo. Heavenly.

Wild mushroom sauce made with shiitake, cremini and oyster mushrooms 

and two heaping spoonfuls of fragrant Salsa Tartufata

The next step was much easier — making homemade fettuccine with our treasured Marcato pasta machine. Using our successful pasta dough recipe from the evening before, we fed the sheets of pasta through progressively thinner settings up to #5 which provided the desired thickness of 1/16-inch, perfect for the fettuccine. Using the appropriate cutter attachment on the machine, the sheets were cut into 1/4-inch strips and then sprinkled lightly with flour, and allowed to relax while we waited for the water to come to a boil.

Making homemade fettuccine with our Marcato Pasta machine

Homemade fettuccine sprinkled with a little flour to stop it from sticking together

Popped into boiling water for 1-2 minutes, and presto! 

In an age where time is money, taking the time to make homemade pasta and sauce in one evening seems like a luxury. But it's actually not very difficult nor does it take much time, and the emotional satisfaction of making fresh taggliatelle, fettuccine or ravioli — that's next! — with your own hands, is enough to put a smile on anyone's face.

Fettuccine with Wild Mushroom & Truffle Sauce
Serves 4

1/4 cup olive oil
1 medium onion, finely chopped
12 oz wild mushrooms, trimmed and finely chopped (shiitake, cremini, etc)
2 tbsp Salsa Tartufata (minced truffles)
1/2 cup dry red wine
1 cup basic tomato sauce
1 tbsp unsalted butter
salt and freshly ground pepper to taste
Pecorino cheese, for grating
1 1/2 lb homemade pasta dough, cut into fettuccine


Heat olive oil in a large sauté pan over high heat. Add onion and cook until light golden brown, about 5 minutes. Add the wild mushrooms and cook until they've given off most of their moisture, about 8-10 minutes. Add the wine, tomato sauce, butter, Salsa Tartufata and salt & pepper to taste. Reduce the heat to medium and cook until the mixture becomes the consistency of a thick sauce, about 5 more minutes. Meanwhile, bring a large pot of water to boil, and add 2 tablespoons of salt. Cook the pasta until tender, 1-2 minutes. Drain the pasta and add to the mushroom sauce, tossing over high heat for a one minute to coat the pasta. Divide the pasta evenly among four warmed bowls, grate Pecorino over top and serve immediately.

Homemade Taggliatelle with Umbrian Ragu

Inspired by an upcoming trip to Umbria in a few months, I thought it was time to explore Umbrian cuisine and cross one of the first hurdles — making homemade pasta for the first time. There are many recipes from which to choose — Marcella Hazan, Mario Batali, David Rocco to name a few. The ingredients are pretty much the same: flour and eggs. Maybe some oil. Maybe some salt. Sometimes two types of flour. Sometimes no eggs, just water. Even the proportions fluctuate from one cook to another. It's a culinary maze.

Marcato Pasta Queen

Searching for a traditional Umbrian pasta dough recipe, it became clear that a mixture of 50% Tipo-00 flour and 50% semolina flour was the method of choice — the mixture of soft and hard flours giving the dough a firmer texture hardy enough to balance with robust Umbrian sauces. So with the decision made and my pasta machine dusted off and polished, I embarked on my first attempt at making homemade pasta dough.

Simple ingredients of flour and eggs 

It's actually pretty straight forward. I started by placing the flour on the countertop, making a well in the centre and cracking eggs into it. The eggs are beaten with a fork, then using the fingertips, the eggs are mixed with the flour, adding a little bit of flour at a time until it's all combined. The texture's a little crumbly but that's fine. Next, on a lightly floured surface, the pieces of dough are kneaded together for about eight to ten minutes until the dough becomes smooth and supple. It takes quite a bit of 'elbow grease' — some say it's how Italian grandmother's get such big biceps! When the dough's ready, it's formed into a ball, wrapped tightly in plastic wrap and set it aside for 30 minutes. 

Cut the ball of pasta dough dough into 1/4-inch slices

Next step — the ball of dough is cut into 1/4-inch slices, and passed through the rollers of the pasta machine one slice at time, beginning with the widest setting on the pasta machine — #1. The process of passing the dough through the rollers is repeated, decreasing the setting, grade by grade with each pass, making the dough thinner and thinner until it reaches the desired thickness. In short, after setting #1, the dough is passed though setting #2, then #3 all the way to #5. After running the dough through this final setting, the sheets of pasta end up being about 1/16-inch thick and very long. 


Passing the dough through the first setting - #1

The sheets are laid flat on a clean surface in preparation for cutting. At this point you have a choice — the dough can be hand cut using a pasta roller, or fed through one of the detachable cutters on the pasta machine, to make a uniform size fettuccine or spaghetti-shaped noodle. It's really a question of aesthetics. I made it both ways, hand-rolling and hand-cutting the dough the first time; processing and cutting the dough with the Marcato pasta machine on the second attempt. Both were great.

Cutting the Taggliatelle with a pasta roller

My first attempt at Taggliatelle — a success!

Taggliatelle cut using the pasta machine - looking very professional indeed

Once the noodles are cut, the only question is which delicious sauce to make the meal a complete success. Since Umbria is the only land locked region in Italy, meat is preferred over seafood as a rule, and pork in particular is very popular. Although beef would normally be used for a hearty meaty pasta sauce, this recipe for a traditional Umbrian Ragu calls for ground pork, chopped prosciutto, diced tomatoes and fresh herbs for a hearty, robust and delicious sauce for my homemade taggliatelle, which was absolutely scrumptious — Umbria here I come!

Homemade Taggliatelle with Umbrian Ragu
Serves 4

Umbrian Ragu sauce:
2 celery stalks, diced finely
1 medium onion, peeled and diced finely
6 garlic cloves, peeled and minced
1 lb ground pork

6 oz Prosciutto
, finely chopped
3 tbsp olive oil

2/3 cup red wine
28 oz can of chopped tomatoes
Salt and pepper

1/4 tsp dried chili flakes
1/3 cup fresh parsley, chopped
1/2 cup fresh basil, choppped

Pasta:


6 large eggs


1 1/2 cups semolina flour

1 1/2 cups Tipo 00 flour


1/2 tsp salt

1 tbsp olive oil

For the sauce, heat the oil in a large heavy saucepan and cook the celery, carrot, and onion over medium heat until tender, about 8 minutes.
 Add the ground pork and chopped prosciutto and cook until the meat is no longer pink and has begun to brown. 
Add the garlic and cook an additional couple of minutes.
 Next add the wine and cook until it has almost completely evaporated.
 Stir in the tomatoes, parsley, basil, salt and pepper, and bring to a boil. 
Reduce the heat to a simmer and continue to cook for an hour and a half until the sauce has thickened.


For the pasta, mound your flour on a large pastry board, counter or bowl, and make a well in the center.
 Break the eggs into this well and 1 tbsp olive oil, and start to scramble each egg with a fork as it is being added.
 Start to incorporate the eggs and flour by slowly bringing more flour in from the inside edges of the well.
 Continue adding the flour to the eggs until they are no longer runny.
 Using your hands now, bring the outside edges in, forming a large mass on your board.
Use only the amount of flour needed to form a soft ball.
 Begin to knead the ball of dough as you would bread, pushing it down with the heel of your hand, and continue kneading until the dough is smooth and satiny, for about 8 minutes.
 Wrap the prepared dough in plastic wrap with 1 tbsp olive oil, and let it sit for about 30 minutes.


Slice the dough into smaller pieces; take one to work with keeping the other pieces wrapped in plastic wrap until needed.
 If rolling by hand, place the dough on a lightly floured surface and begin to roll the dough out into a rectangle dusting with flour as needed.
 The dough should be about 1/16 of an inch thick. 
If using a pasta roller (which is much easier!) begin to roll the dough starting at the widest notch, dusting it with flour as needed to keep it from sticking.
 Continue to roll the dough, turning the knob to decrease the diameter until you get to the 5th setting. 
Run the dough through this setting then lay flat on a clean surface in preparation for cutting.


Using either a sharp knife or fluted pasta wheel, cut into 3/8-inch wide strips, or whatever style you prefer. Lightly dust the dough as you separate the strands and continue to cut the remaining dough.
 Use the pasta within about an hour of making it, or it may become brittle.


Cook the pasta in boiling salted water until it's cooked through and drain, about 2-3 minutes. Return the pasta to it's pot and add a large scoop of the sauce, tossing the pasta to coat.
 Serve the pasta in individual warmed bowls with a scoop of additional sauce on top and freshly grated Pecorino cheese on the side.

Nota Bene: Downtown Dining at Queen & University

Franco Prevedello’s name is synonymous with success. Over the last two decades, he's had a string of successful restaurant ventures in Toronto, including Splendido, Pronto, Centro, Terra, Acqua and now more recently, Nota Bene — considered to be one of Canada's top-ranked restaurants, according to En Route Magazine and many esteemed culinary pundits. Three years in, Franco Prevedello and partners Chef David Lee and Yannick Bigourdan have struck gold again: Nota Bene seats 170 and is always jammed with big spenders. The space, designed by KPMB, is a place to be and be seen. The night we're there, we're unfortunately seated beside a table of 10 posturing power brokers that are almost deafening with their noise.

Nota Bene Reception

"Nota Bene is the synthesis of entrepreneurial and design thinking to create a highly successful dining model where social, cultural, ceremonial and business needs converge", according to KPMB. But with all the design and planning that's taken place, they've overlooked one thing that you just can't manufacture — warmth.

Seven months and $3 million dollar later, you get to sit in a lovely room that exudes both power and grace. Walnut walls and Brazilian cherrywood floors give the space warmth, while the high ceilings and spacious seating exude an air of affluence. The 7,000-square-foot space is divided into a front bar and lounge section and a dining room. When combined, the rooms hold 110 seated and 200 for cocktail receptions. The restaurant is decorated with dark brown leather chairs and wood panelling, but splashes of colour show up in the chartreuse leather banquettes and a series of abstract urban paintings by Canadian artist Alex D'Arcy.

Artist Alex D'Arcy brings life to Nota Bene

'Cadmium Red Variations 2' by Alex D'Arcy

Prevedello has always relished the details involved in creating a restaurant. He points out the dark brown leather chairs from the Italian firm Cassina, which look much like the oxblood ones he put into Centro back in the ’80s. “I wanted oxblood again. KPMB wanted black. We compromised.” Lee and Bigourdan had balked at the price—$1,400 a chair—but Prevedello persuaded them to buy 135 of them. “They will last 20 years. A restaurant is only as good as its chairs. And these wine glasses. I found them in Verona. Nowhere else in Canada has them.”

The main Dining Room

The Bar at Nota Bene, where some singles choose to dine

Born in England, Chef David Lee is the third generation in a family line of chefs. He began his apprenticeship in the village of Hertfordshire where game meats and local produce were in abundance. From there at age 17 he made the move to London and the Hotel Intercontinental in Hyde Park where he worked under the tutelage of Executive Chef Peter Kromberg at Restaurant Le Soufflé, where he got his first taste of cooking Michelin starred food and was exposed to such masters as Raymond Blanc and Michel and Albert Roux. In 1992 he was recruited by Anton Mosimann to work at his eponymous restaurant, and at age 24 moved to Canada and was hired as the chef de cuisine by Marc Thuet, executive chef-owner at Centro. Five years later, David teamed up with Yannick Bigourdan to acquire Splendido, and in August 2008, David opened Nota Bene, with the idea of bringing the quality of food from Splendido, to those who might not want to pay Splendido prices. That is not to say that it's cheap, it's just that the value oriented prices are a little lighter on the wallet. 

Chef David Lee, co-owner of Nota Bene

Starters include a selection of 'NB Classics' and 'Raw' dishes such as Nova Scotia Lobster Salad, Yucatan Hot and Sour Soup and Salmon Sashimi. I ordered the delicious Tunisian Octopus with braised greens, cannellini beans and Iberico chorizo topped with a drizzle of olive oil and fresh basil, which was perfectly cooked, and prepared with a restrained hand, allowing the simple ingredients and flavours to shine through.

Tunisian Octopus with braised greens, cannellini beans, Iberico chorizo and basil

A tempting list of side dishes, designed for sharing, include Chef Lee's impossibly thin Shaved Onion Rings, which are quite possibly the best I've ever tried, and a mound of Pommes Frites finished with a generous grating of Pecorino cheese. Oddly enough, I spotted one table tucking into Nota Bene's Stilton Beef Brisket Burger, which at $22 with Pommes Frites, makes for an affordable high-end Burger night. However, that's where the frugality ends. 

Shaved Onion Rings with sea salt

Pommes Frites with shaved Pecorino

Entrées at Nota Bene include Roasted Sea Scallops with bacon cauliflower purée, fingerling potatoes and shaved black truffle, which sounded great but arrived overcooked in a rather tame sauce. The shavings of black truffle, with all its pomp and glory, was devoid of flavour and quite disappointing. The evening's dinner special, which fared slightly better, was a Ragu Bolognese served on Fettuccine topped with micro-greens. The winner of the evening was undoubtedly the NB Hogtown Classic Pulled Suckling Pig & Boudin Noir Tart with maple bacon, Tallegio cheese and truffle vinaigrette topped with pork crackling. The thick flaky pastry was just the right base for the rich maple-smoked bacon and intense blood sausage, all finished with a truffle vinaigrette. A fabulously presented and well flavoured dish, The Hogtown Classic is filling to say the least and extremely rich. But what the heck, "carne diem".

The Thursday Special — Ragu Bolognese with fettuccine, basil and micro greens

Roasted Sea Scallops with bacon cauliflower purée, fingerling potatoes and shaved black truffle

Nota Bene Hogtown Classic of Pulled Suckling Pig & Boudin Noir Tart with maple bacon, 

Tallegio cheese and truffle vinaigrette topped with crackling

The dessert offerings included a sinful selection of eight decadent desserts to tempt the weak, from Sticky Toffee Pudding served with pecan pralines and spotted dick ice cream, Double Chocolate Brownie with banana ice cream, cornflake crunch and Kahlua caramel, and an Apple Galette with vanilla ice cream and blueberry compote. A quiet word to our server earlier on, resulted in a thin wafer of chocolate being brought to our table, with the words 'Happy Birthday' piped on top and finished with a little birthday candle, for the birthday boy at our table. A nice touch. For those heading to the opera or ballet at the Four Seasons Centre for the Performing Arts, Nota Bene's Pre-Theatre menu makes a fine dining option, with two courses for $34 or three for $42. 

Apple Galette with Vanilla Ice Cream and Blueberry Compote

Cheese Plate with Chamblé, Sainte Maure and Rocchetta with a small bowl of honey

The only problem is that Nota Bene was designed from the start: the food is interesting, unfussy and well prepared, the service professional, the overall mood unpretentiously sophisticated. On the technical side, I’d say they've nailed it, although at the expense of any feeling of warmth or romance. But when you're courting account execs with large expense accounts, something's got to fall off the back end. The night we were there, service was friendly, polite, and efficient. But friendly? No. The partners have always prided themselves on attention to detail, but one detail you can't fabricate is 'heart'. 

www.notabenerestaurant.com