Marion Kane: Food Sleuth®

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Fall vegetables

Recipe for Success – or Failure

July 8, 2020

Failed carrot cake - instead, pudding!

Failed carrot cake - instead, pudding!

The Stuffed Carrot Cake I baked was obviously a failure but it was extremely tasty as a pudding

First, a little first-person backstory.

I quit my job as food editor and columnist for the Toronto Star, Canada’s largest newspaper, after 18 years in 2007. It was arguably the best job for a food journalist in Canada. Four years later, I re-invented myself as a freelance Food Sleuth. Meanwhile, I did a couple of community cookbooks with residents of Toronto public housing and for an advocacy non-profit group called FoodShare. Read more…

Filed Under: 9/11, Baking, Bonnie Stern, Chef Michael Lomonaco, Chicken, Chicken, Dessert, Fall vegetables, Mairlyn Smith, New York City, Podcasts, Recipe, Toronto Tagged With: carrot cake, Chicken, Ian Brown, Jennifer Segal, Jerusalem, Mairlyn Smith, michael lomonaco, mustard sauce, nigella lawson, pudding, recipe, recipe mistakes, Sittin' in the Kitchen, Yotam Ottolenghi

Greek Salad and Whole Roasted Cauliflower are Tops in “The Last Schmaltz”

November 8, 2018

Country Greek from “The Last Schmaltz” is a Salad Comprised of
the Usual Ingredients Plus the Welcome Addition of Chickpeas

What is a nice Jewish boy from North York doing with a mini-empire of quirky restaurants in a gritty neighbourhood of downtown Toronto? Doing pretty well is the short answer. Read more…

Filed Under: Chefs, Fall vegetables, Jewish, Recipe, Salad, Toronto, Vegan, Vegetables Tagged With: Anthony Rose, Greek, Greek salad, hummus, Jewish, restaurant, roasted cauliflower, Toronto, Vegetables

Mutual Love of Prunes is One Bond I Have with Gabriella

September 20, 2018

Prune Soufflé
The Prune Soufflé that my mother used to make from her 1940s edition of the ‘Joy of Cooking’

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It was May, 2004, during a glitzy dinner celebrating that year’s James Beard Awards at a mid-Manhattan hotel.

Gabriella Gershenson, at that time a fledgling food writer living in New York, was seated next to me. I discovered that I and this soft-spoken young woman with thick, wavy black hair and a winning smile were kindred souls. Read more…

Filed Under: Baking, Cookbooks, Dessert, Fall vegetables, Foodies, New York City, Recipe, Vegan, Vegetables, Women Tagged With: dessert, Gabriella Gershenson, Joy of Cooking, Lebanese, New York, prune souffle, recipe, stuffed zucchini, Vegetables

Chef Lynn Returns to Scottish Roots with Mince ‘n’ Tatties

October 15, 2017

This recipe is from the excellent cookbook ‘AT HOME with LYNN CRAWFORD’.

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When I was interviewing well-known Canadian chef Lynn Crawford for a podcast, we chatted about our long friendship, her TV career, our joint project that raised $40,000 for a new kitchen at a Toronto homeless shelter for women called Sistering – and what we like to cook at home. Read more…

Filed Under: Beef, Chefs, Fall Recipe, Fall vegetables, Peas, Potato, Recipe, Vegetables Tagged With: beef, Edinburgh, lynn crawford, podcast, potatoes, recipes, Toronto, TV

Linda McCartney Signed My Book “Go Veggie, Marion!”

August 22, 2017

This article by me appeared in the Toronto Star after I interviewed Linda McCartney in Toronto in October, 1991 about her vegetarian cookbook “Home Cooking”. Sadly, she died too young from breast cancer in 1998 at the age of 56.

In real life, Linda McCartney is nothing like the stilted photo that graces her cookbook.

And, say I, thank goodness for that. Read more…

Filed Under: Cookbooks, Fall Recipe, Fall vegetables, Recipe, Toronto, Vegan, Vegetables, Women Tagged With: chili, cookbook, Linda McCartney, vegetarian

My New, Improved Version of Chicken Marbella – and a Killer Side Dish of Fried Onions

February 24, 2014

When famous American chef/restaurateur Thomas Keller was in Toronto last year to address an auditorium packed with chefs, foodies and other ardent fans, he listed what he considers the keys to success in cooking: “Patience, persistence, practice.”

These three ‘P’s, it seems to me, go together. To persist, you need patience. It’s a case of constantly tweaking a dish – and practising it over and over again – until it’s close to perfect.

In this case, I’m talking about that iconic concoction called Chicken Marbella – one that’s been a crowd-pleaser at dinner parties since it appeared in that ground-breaking “Silver Palate Cookbook” by Manhattan caterers Sheila Lukins and Julee Rosso published in 1979. Read more…

Filed Under: Best Ever Chicken Marbella, Chicken, Chicken Marbella, Fabulous Fried Onions, Fall vegetables, Recipe, The Silver Palate Cookbook Tagged With: Best Ever Chicken Marbella, cookbook Jerusalem, cookbook The Silver Palate, Fabulous Fried Onions

Big Apple Bites: Weird Grasshopper Tacos and Superb Brussels Sprouts at Toloache

March 22, 2012

Brilliant Brussels Sprouts at Toloache

I recently spent four glorious days in midtown Manhattan.

For two of those, I was pretty much closeted in the Roger Smith Hotel attending back-to-back seminars at a cookbook conference. Read more…

Filed Under: Brussels sprouts, Fall vegetables, New York City, Recipe, Salad, Vegetables Tagged With: brussels sprouts, celebrity chef, comfortable shoes, epicurious, glorious days, grand central station, grasshopper, haunting photos, hubbub, jewish heritage, julian medina, lexington ave, midtown manhattan, minded souls, New York City, pumpkin seeds, roger smith hotel, sapporo, steak frites, tacos, toloache

Harvest Time: ‘Tis the Season to Veg Out with Peperonata

September 7, 2011

There’s a chill in the air. Time to get out the vintage velvet jackets and enjoy the onset of fall. It’s been a sweaty summer and I’m looking forward to a kinder, gentler season reminiscent of my formative spent in London, England, where spring and autumn actually exist.

It’s also time to savour some wondrous veggies now at their peak. Here’s a favourite dish in that vein that’s packed with flavour and a cinch to make. I like to use Loblaws’ PC mixed baby bell peppers sold in packages. This is delicious with any roast meat or fish. Grate or crumble some cheese on top for a veggie version. Read more…

Filed Under: Fall vegetables, peperonata, Recipe, Vegan, Vegetables Tagged With: harvest, nigel slater, peperonata, recipe, Vegetables

Fiesta Farms is one Super Supermarket

September 28, 2010

For an intrepid, always-curious food sleuth, finding Fiesta Farms is a real coup.

It’s strange that it took many years of living in Toronto (the store opened 20 years ago) for me to make this discovery but I have and, naturally, I must share.

Billed on its web site as “Toronto’s largest independently owned grocery store,” this wonderful food emporium is just that – and much more. Read more…

Filed Under: Fall vegetables, Farmers Market, Food Industry, Supermarket, Toronto Tagged With: apples, cashiers, food emporium, formal complaint, fruit and veg, grape tomatoes, hazardous materials, lettuce, ligament, living in toronto, metro location, nasty accident, novel concept, ontario fruit, organic section, parsley, peaches, scallion, slippery surface, supermarket chains, veritable cornucopia

Gordon, Angela Paint Camden Town Red

January 29, 2009

U.K. – In January, 2009, I wound up my annual trip to London to visit my mother with dinner at Gordon Ramsay’s newest restaurant York & Albany located at 127-129 Parkway in my favourite neighborhood, Camden Town.

After lack-lustre meals at longstanding vegetarian eatery Manna – bland fare that cried out for seasoning and meat – and the newish Market – bland modern British fare that cried out for salt and oomph – it was a godsend to discover a place in this trendy, gritty part of the city that had all the elements needed for a wondrous meal out. Read more…

Filed Under: Chefs, Dessert, Fall vegetables, London, My mum Ruth Schachter, Restaurant, Risotto Tagged With: Angela Hartnett, camden town, gordon ramsay, London, pumpkin, risotto, York & Albany

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Marion Kane, Food Sleuth®

Marion Kane, Food Sleuth®

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Marion Kane, Food Sleuth®

Marion Kane has been a leader in the world of food journalism for a few decades. She is an intrepid populist whose work combines social commentary with a consuming passion for all things culinary. For 18 years, she was food editor/columnist for Canada's largest newspaper: the Toronto Star. She lives in Toronto's colourful Kensington Market and is currently a free-wheeling freelance food sleuth®, podcaster, writer and cook.

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