Treasure Hunt at the Italian Centre Shop
We live about a 5 minute walk from the Italian Centre Shop, which has the most impressive deli in Edmonton, great produce, fantastic cured meats and all manner of surprising items. There is even a whole aisle devoted to nothing but imported European seltzers, mineral water and fruit juices. Each time I go, I am at risk of spending many, many times more then the 10 minutes and $10 for whatever it was that I'd gone there to pick up.
They make enormous Italian sandwiches for $6 and are the only place in town I've ever seen blood oranges. Every autumn they get in great shipments of all sorts of wine making grapes. You can place your order for at least 10 different varieties and I hear from my assistant, whose day home lady is a cute little Italian mama, that there is fierce competition amongst the Italian community for the best grapes and over who makes the best wine with them.
They also have the nicest and best shallots I've ever seen, which you can get pre-peeled for the same as not. If you, like me, have tried one too many times to wrestle a papery shallot skin off with wet fingers, you'll know what an attractive proposition this is. Of my most disliked cooking tasks, peeling shallots is, while maybe not in the top ten, certainly up there.
Tonight's adventure, ostensibly just a quick trip for some tomatoes, milk and the traditional Italian-Centre-Shop-Trip-Coconut-Cream-Ritter-Sport, yielded a few more finds than normal. And, if my husband had not been with me, there would have been a fair few more (like the big beautiful jar of honey-soaked pistachios, or the darkest, most enormous Mejool dates ever peeking wetly at me from their tray).
My first bonus buy this time round was four bottles of Sumol. It's a Portuguese version of Orangina (which, with it's dimply little bottle was always a favourite of mine). However, Sumol is not just about plain Jane orange. Nosiree. It comes in pineapple and passion fruit as well. I first had it at Portugalia, a little family run Portuguese restaurant near our house. I asked the mama of the place where to buy it although, in my heart, I already knew the answer: The Italian Centre Shop.
My next impulse purchase was chestnut puree. I have occasionally in my culinary adventures come across a recipe that sounds fabulous but calls for elusive Chestnut puree. I've never found it when I looked specifically for it. But, a little like love, it seems I found it when I was not in the market for it. Despite the fact that I now know where to get it, and could, presumably get some if the need arose in future, I couldn't resist the impulse to purchase some, albeit the small tin for $6.97, rather than the ginormous tin for $16.00. Admirably restrained, I know. Somehow Cakes didn't quite see it that way. Well, at least until I answered his question, "What the hell do you make with chestnut puree", with "really great chocolate cake".
Beside the display of chestnut puree was all manner of European tinned pie and cake fillings. Including something I never even knew they made, but which resonates so deeply with me and my memories of childhood snacks at my Ukrainian grandma's house that I knew that I had to have it! Sweet poppy seed filling. I am rolling around a dozen ideas in my head right now and will attempt to do it justice this weekend. I am thinking tiny, thinly doughed deep fried pastries (like sweet ravioli) filled with it and served with slightly sweetened creme fraiche. Or maybe a warm chocolatey tart with a layer of this in the middle... Any nominations or special requests? It's a HUGE tin, so I am sure it'll do 3 or four separate recipes. If anyone has anything they are dying to propose, I'll attempt to work it into the lineup and post about all of them over the weekend, which will be my first totally free weekend in 8 months. YAY!
Next in the bonus grocery item lineup is PÃO DE QUEIJO: delicious little Brazilian cheese pastries. They are made of tapioca starch and grated cheese and are delightful. Before the kitchen fire, I purchased some tapioca starch to make some of my own, but alas, didn't get around to it and then had to throw it out because it smelled all smoky. I'm sure I'll get around to it, but honestly, there's no real incentive as the ones made locally and sold at the Italian Centre Shop are so good. You just pop them in the oven for 20 minutes, and Bob's your uncle, or at least a sweaty old realtor who caused you to lose a deal on a house you wanted...but I digress. The Pao De Queijo are about the size of a small egg, crusty on the outside and when you break them open are chewy and cheesy and soft and a whole lot of good.
Next trip: Blueberry juice and those amazing looking honeyed pistachios...and, no doubt, something entirely unplanned.
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