Although many of us grow basil, parsley and chives, oregano seems to be less popular in Canadian gardens. Part of the reason may be that we have more limited experience cooking with fresh oregano since this herb didn’t become popular in North America until after world war II when newly arrived European immigrants and returning soldiers - hooked on oregano’s peppery edge and heady flavor that develops with cooking - began to ask for it at supermarkets. Despite being quite new to Canadians, the culinary use of oregano has a very long European heritage. In fact, oregano was popular for cooking and as a perfume ingredient in ancient Greece where legend holds that the plant was a gift from the goddess Aphrodite. The word ‘oregano’ is, in fact, Greek and means ‘joy of the mountain’. Besides being popular in Grecian favorites like Mousakka, oregano is an important Italian flavor and one of the main ingredients in chili powder, too.

A few years ago I wrote about cooking with oregano and I interviewed herb expert Pat Crocker. She gave me her excellent oregano growing tips and I pass them along to you again today.
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• Oregano is a compact, bushy plant with small leaves and small white or pink flowers that form in clusters. It is part of the mint family and shares the family characteristic of tending to spread so plant oregano in containers or spaces where you don’t mind it wandering.
• Culinary herb gardeners should plant Italian oregano (O. x majoricum); it has the sweetness of sweet marjoram and a spicy zip, without the bitter undertones found in some stronger oreganos.
• Oregano thrives on hot, sunny, well-drained slopes. Sun helps to develop the essential oils, which give the aerial parts their fragrant odor and taste so an open location is important.
• Oregano can be grown from seed but the plants are very slow to germinate. Root division or cuttings are the easiest method of propagation since most oreganos develop roots easily. If starting from seed, definitely start indoors mid- to late March.
• Cut back up to two thirds of the plant each time you harvest and harvest regularly in the summer months to maintain good tasting stock.
• To dry your crop for use in the colder months, cut whole sprigs; rinse under cold water, pat dry and hang upside down in a dark, warm, dry place. Don’t try to pack too many sprigs together and remember that they will shrink as they dry, so tie the string tight. Label each bundle.

I’ve been working on a recipe development project that features fish recipes and I’ve realized from talking to people about what I’m doing at work that many people find choosing fish difficult.

To do my bit to help others cook, eat and shop for food with confidence, I’ve decided today to excerpt the advice I wrote about buying fish for my book Dana’s Top Ten Table. (If you’d like more great tips as well as 200 recipes for entrées your family will love, then please pick up a copy of my book at a bricks and mortar or online bookstore. US and other International customers can send me a request via email and I’ll ship a book directly to your door. And, yes this is a shameless plug.)

“A century ago when first nation’s fishermen returned to their camps with the day’s catch, their preferred cooking technique was to impale cleaned, freshly caught fish such as salmon on strong, green twigs and then plant the twigs into the ground so that the fish leaned over an open fire. Because they caught, cleaned and cooked their catch immediately, the resulting meals were no doubt delicious despite the lack of fancy marinades and interesting sauces.

Today’s home cooks seldom catch their own ingredients so we all need to know how to buy and store fish to ensure that the meals we serve will be as fresh and delicious tasting as possible. There are a number of fish counter options at most stores. In fact, frozen and fresh fish are sold whole, as sides, fillets, steaks, pieces and even chunks in the case of large fish such as tuna.

I always recommend buying fish in a store with a high turnover. Also, don’t be too shy to ask which days of the week fish are delivered and to buy accordingly.

Whether you purchase whole or semi-prepared fish don’t settle for anything less than fish that has firm flesh that’s moist without being watery. If pressed lightly with your finger the fish’s flesh should bounce back without leaving an indentation.

When purchasing whole fish, the eyes should be clear, shiny and not sunken. Regardless of cut, size or origin, truly fresh fish smells clean and sweet, never ‘fishy’ or similar to ammonia in any way.

Refrigerate and use fresh fish and seafood quickly, ideally within a day or two. In fact, if the weather is warm and fish is on your shopping list, take along a chilled cooler to transport the fish home.

If nice quality fresh fish isn’t available, frozen is a good alternative; however, inspect the packaging. If the fish is wrapped in a single layer of store applied plastic wrap, there’s a high likelihood that it was frozen because it was becoming too old to sell as a fresh product.

If your store carries plant packed frozen fish, opt for individually flash frozen fillets or steaks since they are usually more uniform and visually appealing than block pressed fish. Likewise, flash frozen fish fillets and steaks thaw considerably more quickly than blocks so you can be cooking (and eating!) sooner.”

Text excerpted from Dana’s Top Ten Table: 200 Fresh Takes on Family-Favourite Meals. Published by HarperCollins Publishers Ltd. Copyright (c) 2007 by Dana McCauley. All rights reserved. Reprinted by permission of HarperCollins Publishers Ltd.

Photo credit: http://www.italy-vacation.com/pages/bisteca-alla-forentina.php

Ethnic grilling trends are gaining popularity and spilling into the realm of home cooks via cooking shows, magazines and recipe books. With so many new international grilling influences to inspire us, there’s no way grilling will become boring this year unless you fail to learn how to differentiate your churrasco from your hibachi. Use this hastily prepared and ill researched glossary to help you stay in the know about summer’s most popular international grilling trends:

• Brazillian: Churrasco is the word used to described grilled meat in Brazil; however, it seems to also be used to reference the act of grilling itself. The picanha – a sirloin-style cut of beef – is the signature item cooked on a churrasco. Brazillian barbecued meals often use a spit (rodizio) to cook and serve a variety of meats. Unlike a North American rotisserie, these spits don’t turn. Instead they are cooked more like large kebobs suspended over coals.

• Japanese: Cast iron hibachi grills are compact charcoal fueled devices used to make sukyaki and other classic Japanese preparations. If you play Cooking Mama, then you know that they also need to be fanned occasionally to keep the fire burning evenly. Because hibachi are small and the grates are close to the coals, Japanese barbecuing most often entails cooking small items such as kebobs that take only a few minutes to cook through.

• Florentine: the cornerstone of Tuscan barbecue is a bistecca alla Florentine which is a porterhouse-style steak that’s grilled over very hot charcoal embers until the outside is well-charred but the inside is still rare. For authenticity, purists say the steak must be cut from Italian Chianina beef. As you can see above, the wood fired grate used to cook bistecca alla Florentine doesn’t have to be outdoors.

• Argentine: in Argentina, the barbecue is called an Asado and it’s used to cook not just beef and chicken but also chorizo sausage and variety meats such as chitterlings and sweetbreads. The sauce of choice for grilled meats of all kinds in Argentina is chimichurri.

Do you find Chuck E. Cheese and the Rainforest Café boring? Does Hooters fail to charge up your fantasy life? Is great food and good service just not enough to satisfy your appetite for adventure at meal time? If so, it might be time to make reservations at a cosplay restaurant.

Originating in Japan and then filtering through other Asian countries, cosplay restaurants are pop culture experiments as much as they are eateries. While mostly popular in Asian countries, cosplay restaurants are currently making inroads in the US and Canada. The most classic iteration of the trend is a Meido, where manga inspiration meets French maid costumes to create uniforms for waitresses who play their roles to the hilt. Don’t believe me? Check out imade café. (The picture above was borrowed from their website.)

Servitude not your thing? Check out these other cosplay restaurant concepts.

Indian: cutoff short clad waitresses wearing dream catcher earrings and head dresses serve Taiwanese food. This chain has outlets in Taipei and California.

DS Music Restaurant: the owners of this hospital themed Taipei eatery seem unaware that hospital food isn’t appealing to most people.

Class 302: a school themed restaurant with desks for tables and kilt wearing waitresses who serve food in lunch boxes. The menu is, of course, written on a chalk board.

Jurassic: just as the name suggests, this dinosaur themed restaurant looks like Wilma Flintstone went crazy with her credit card at the Bedrock Ethan Allen and then, too tired to cook, dropped into Ho Lee Chow for take out.

No, in fact, I’m dead serious. After playing tennis (okay, you can’t really call whacking a ball against the outside wall of the local elementary school’s gym playing tennis, but it’s a start, people! Work with me. Maybe if I do this long enough I’ll be good enough to play a game with a real live person some day), I don’t want to replenish the calories I’ve just burned so a salad is a brilliant meal choice. I’m also pretty hot and thirsty when I get back from roofing balls so a crisp, cold glass of white wine is indeed on my list of needs.

While old-school sommeliers eschew serving wine with salads at all, there are others who agree with me that it’s possible to match wine with a bowl of well-dressed greens. Since the dominant flavour of almost all salads is sourness, simple wines, either red or white, with high acid content are usually the best choices to serve with salad. (In other words, cheap stuff is the way to go when serving wine with salad).

Generally speaking, grapes grown in cooler regions (Canada, Germany, Oregon, etc) create wines with a fairly acidic character. If a wine and salad match is appropriate, the acid flavours in both items will be cancelled, letting the other flavours in both the drink and the food emerge to be enjoyed.

This radish slaw (made with garden fresh Ontario radishes, natch!) is delicious with an ice cold glass of off dry Ontario Riesling. Honest.

Radish Slaw with Miso Dressing

2 tbsp (30 mL) rice wine vinegar
1 tbsp (15 mL) soy sauce
1 tbsp (15 mL) white miso paste
1 tsp (5 mL) granulated sugar
11/2 tsp (7 mL) minced ginger root
1 tbsp (15 mL) toasted sesame oil
2 tbsp (30 mL) vegetable oil
1 tbsp (15 mL) chopped fresh coriander
4 cups (1L) thinly julienned large radishes
1 cup (250 mL) thinly julienned celery
1/2 tsp (2 mL) black or toasted white sesame seeds

Whisk rice wine vinegar with soy sauce in a large bowl. Add the miso and whisk until well combined. Stir in the sugar and ginger. Whisking, drizzle in the sesame oil and vegetable oil until well combined. Stir in coriander.

Add radishes and celery to the bowl and toss to combine. Sprinkle with sesame seeds before serving. Makes 6 servings.