A recipe, but not for disaster

So, for my mother's birthday we ended up going to Play, Stephen Beckta's new restaurant at the corner of York and Sussex. It's a kind of tapas concept, with wine pairings. One of the starters we had there was grilled romaine hearts served with prosciutto, gorgonzola and crushed pistachio. We had it without the prosciutto of course, but considering they had the most amazing fine cheese selection there, I opted for a little cheese action. Shitty cheese is a no-no, but fine, local, artisanal cheese is something I just cannot resist. I think it's important to support ethical farming, after all! Anyway, the richness of this dish is an absolutely amazing appetizer that will have you thinking you just ate the meatiest cheeseburger ever in terms of satisfaction! Romaine hearts were on the 50% off rack at the grocery store so there was no better time than to try it at home!

Grilled Romaine Hearts

3+ romaine hearts

3 tbsp+ olive oil

1+ clove of garlic, crushed

Salt & Pepper

Dried basil or fresh basil, chopped (optional)

1/4 cup Pistachios, crushed

1/8 cup crumbled strong cheese OR nutritional yeast (vegan)

1. Preheat the barbeque to full flame. Charcoal barbeques add a great flavour (or charcoal chunks in the bottom of your propane bbq), but without it works too.

2. Chop the stems off the romaine hearts and separate them into leaves. Leave the smaller interiors together as one piece so they don't fall through the bbq grates.

3. Drizzle the leaves with olive oil and season with salt, pepper, garlic, and basil (optional). You can also do this while they're on the grill, which works well.

4. Toss the leaves on the grill. Agitate every once and a while with tongs. There is no need to flip them. It takes 5+ minutes to cook them- just until they are still crunchy, but with blackened and browned edges and are a tad wilted.

5. Top with pistachios & cheese while still hot, or nutritional yeast.

Enjoy!

Mangoes and strawberries were on special so for desert I made an amazing fruit salad too:

Strawberry Mango Salad

2 mangoes, cubed

2 handfuls of strawberries, quartered

1/2 lime

1/8 cup poppyseeds

10 mint leaves, chopped finely

2 tbsp sugar or maple syrup to taste

1. Mix the mangoes and strawberries together in relatively equal parts.

2. Sprinkle in the mint, poppyseeds, sugar/syrup and mix well.

3. Squeeze the juice of half a lime over top and mix again.

Enjoy!