TUTTO POSSIBILE! TRADITION AND LOVE FOR NONNA! LOUSIE PRETE DOES IT RIGHT!

Long Lasting Family Tradition and Sun-kissed Ingredients…What Else Could You Ask For?

The Louise Prete Story…

Is the story of a young Louise born in Italy that immigrated to Canada with her family. As with many Italian families, hers was a large family and they all loved to eat. So do I. When the opportunity to attend the launch of a new line of traditional home-style tomato sauce came about I happily jumped at the chance.

The true test of a good sauce is simplicity...Sauce meets bread. Enjoy!

I would just like to say, that I am sucker for simplicity in cooking. Make no mistake thought, I WILL NOT sacrifice quality though, I would much rather take the time to cook from scratch than use an inferior substitute in its stead. This is particularly true about my pasta and pasta sauce. If I was asked, trust me, I HAVE been asked a lot…as a Chef what is my go to meal? I’d honestly say it would have to be spaghetti and meatballs. Simple, fun and really delicious. This is even more so now as the days get shorter and there is a bit of chill in the air. As with many, I gravitate towards comfort foods during the colder months soups, stews and oh yes PASTA is always on the brain.

Michael busy working on some really nice bites, really delish!

When I first learned about the launch of Louise Prete’s new Tomato and Basil pasta sauce I was intrigued. I have for the past four years since moving to my new home been growing, harvesting and making my own tomato sauce and I find it difficult to go back to generic jarred sauce from the grocery store. So I was a bit optimistic but still a bit of a skeptic…but I am very happy to say that this is a lovely sauce made with love and in the true spirit of Italian tradition. Taking a look at the care that they put into their production of this sauce it’s hard not to take notice. Speaking to Michael Malleau, Louises' grandson who has taken his inspiration from his Nonna and translated that passion into this new line of fine foods. He stresses the use of time honoured tradition, quality of ingredients, basil, olive oil and fresh onions and most importantly garlic. Made with care and love in small batches there is an incredible depth of flavour, beautiful body and richness in colour to their sauce. Not common in most run of the mill jarred sauces available to the consumer. You can really appreciate the aroma and taste when you prepare something as simple as a dish of pasta or used on pizza.

Mini pizza hot out of the oven were gladly received!

Fresh made pasta from the fun demonstration was really good and the sauce paired very well with it.

Michael as with Myself was inspired greatly by our Nonnas. Hours spent watching and learning how to cook and make quality good food for family and friends is a joy that he has truly taken to heart. You can taste it. It is with this joy that I am glad to say he has definitely made his Nonna proud.

Michael Malleau, Chef and Creator and most importantly Louises' grandson taking a moment to stand still at the lovely launch event!  Great food and passion taking his Nonna's inspiration and fond memories into this wonderful product.

I love their motto...Tutto Possibile!

Here are some more event photos from was was a wonderful fun product launch! Enjoy!

Wild Porcini Mushroom Risotto Arancini with Louise's Sugo Pomodoro e Basilico for dipping! 

Nonna's homemade meatballs simmered in Louise's Sugo Pomodoro e Basilico. I loved these!

As I said before...I am a sucker for a good meatball.

Demo station where there was fun and giggles as we learned how to make fresh pasta! It was so good!

VOILA! Look at how good that looks! Well done indeed!

Individual Lasagna's layered with fresh pasta and grilled eggplant, zucchini and sweet red peppers.

Really enjoyed this very much, the tang from the sauce really highlighted the pasta and the veggies. 

Having a look at what's smelling so good! Could resist the temptation...was getting very hungry!

Louise Prete Fine Foods

108 Mutual Street,

Unit 1162

Toronto, ON

M5B 2P7

416.988.6464

www.louiseprete.com

13TH STREET WINERY - SMALL BATCH...GREAT RESULTS

Their mission statement is simple and yet ambitious…

We are committed to creating authentic, natural and exceptional wines from the rolling acres of our estate vineyards in Niagara.

While attending the launch event for Louise Prete Fine Foods – Tomato Sauce launch I had the pleasure of enjoying some lovely wine. The 13TH Street Winery located in St. Catherines has been producing small batch quality wines with great success and has been adored by many and featured in prominent industry publications.

Their winemaking philosophy is quite straightforward and has been embraced by great wineries for centuries. To put it simply, “great wines come from the best grapes grown in the best vineyards and winemaking techniques are simply utilized to capture the essence of the grapes provenance and character.”  What that means is that they do not exclusively rely on their own grown grapes but seek out the very best that the Niagara region has to offer from various farmers, thus ensuring a consistent, high quality grape all the time. They go a step further by hand picking and sorting 100% of their grapes before the production cycle begins. Quality right from the very start!

If you are ever in the Niagara-on-the-lake region a visit to the winery estate is a must.  The 13^th Street Winery is located in a beautiful turn-of-the-century farmhouse has been fully converted to offer visitors a larger contemporary tasting and retail area, access to a private meeting room and a beautiful outdoor wrap-around deck where visitors are able to enjoy 13th Street wines by the glass with a plate of artisanal cheeses from Canada and Europe and locally crafted artisan charcuterie during the summer months. Throughout the year 13th Street Winery also hosts seasonal wine and food events utilizing many of the fresh, local fruits and vegetables as they become available from Whitty Farms and other excellent vendors combined with the extraordinary talents of some of the region’s top chefs.

Please visit their website to learn more about the individual varieties that are available.

13TH Street Winery Videos

 Awaken Your 13^th Sense When You Visit Us In St. Catherines Near Niagara Ontario

What Are The Elements Of A World Class Winery?

 Our Winemaker Jean Pierre Colas

Contact Details:

Thirteenth Street Winery

1776 Fourth Avenue,

St. Catherines, ON

L2R 6P9

www.13thstreetwinery.com

THE TWISTED DEVILED EGG CHALLENGE! WORLD EGG MONTH 2012

HAPPY WORLD EGG MONTH - SUPPORTING THE EGG FARMERS OF ONTARIO

It is that time of the year again as we celebrate World Egg Month and the Egg Farmers of Ontario and we go a bit egg-static about EGGS! ! am extremely honoured to have been asked again to participate in this recipe challenge!  

This year’s theme is the Deviled Egg, honestly one of my fave ways to enjoy these wonderful bites of yummy goodness. I think that it’s important to know how lucky we are to have such fine farmers working to provide us with some of the best. Did you know that there are approximately 400 egg farming families in Ontario that provide the fruits of their labour from their farms to our tables?  As a Chef, eggs are such a critical ingredient for all aspects of cookery. There are so many different uses and a multitude of ways to cook them up...sunny side up, scrambled, poached etc. it doesn’t matter the result is always fresh, delish and a great source of protein.

Now to make this a bit interesting for those who follow me and to bring out the awareness of the importance of what our Egg Farmers do to provide us all with their lovely produce. I am having a contest. Please visit www.eggfarmersofontario.ca and get informed with an “Egg-ducation” by watching one of their videos and leave a comment on this post with one fact that you learned for a chance to win a $50 gift card to the Egg-citing and ever so delish Chez Cora! I will randomly pick a winner and will announce the winner at the end of this month November 2012. 

From all of the proud Egg Farmers in Ontario, wishing you a Happy World Egg Month! They thank you for your support and keep eating fresh and delicious eggs!

For my spin on the traditional deviled egg, I gathered my inspiration from one of my fave type of meals, a lovely Sunday Brunch. I thought to myself how to incorporate my love of all things brunch into one simple dish?  This is what I’ve come up with...

 

Tiger Prawns, Parma-Deviled Eggs

with a Warm Truffled Potato Salad & Bacon Crisp.

I have always loved potato salad and have in my own recipe incorporated eggs as many do. Bacon has also made its home nicely with many of my potato salad recipes in the form of bacon bits…so it made sense to use these as my flavour base for this dish.  The spin on the deviled egg is the incorporation of freshly grated parma in the whipped egg yolks, dijion mustard, paprika, mayonnaise and seasoning blended until it is pillow light and fluffy and then piped back into the whites.

The presentation is a bit much but I thought that I would have a bit of fun with it…but you could just as simply plate it homestyle…I guarantee that it will taste just as good.

Enjoy!

THE BREAKDOWN - STEP-BY-STEP

1.  Prep your vegetable components for your warm potato salad. Keep in mind uniform cooking time. Season.

2.  Blanch off your potatoes in salted water until fork tender.

3.  Combine your veggies and your potato into a medium sized mixing bowl.

4.  Add mayonaise and combine. Remember to taste as you cook and season accordingly.

5.  I used these as my flavouring inspirations for the deviled eggs.

6.  Beautiful eggs ready to be filled with tasty goodness.

7.  Whipped egg yolk mixture ready to be loaded into a piping bag with the tip of your choice.

8.  I made bacon rings ahead of time, it's not necessary but it is pretty cool wouldn't you agree?

9.  The finished product, I added avocado to add more richness and colour. So good!

I hope that this inspires you to give Deviled Eggs a try. Simple and delish! If you want to learn how to make "BACON RINGS" leave me a comment!