a peek inside the fishbowl

You know what makes me really happy? Good food, a sunny day, a good wander, and taking photos. I need to do this more often.

Until now I have generally steered clear of gluten-free products because, historically-speaking, I haven’t had much success finding anything I liked. It was no biggie, really. No one in my family has issues with gluten so when I shopped for bread, crackers, or pasta I just bought our usual stuff. However, we DO know people who have allergies and health issues as it pertains to gluten, and have had these people over for dinner. So the issue of gluten-free dining hasn’t been completely off my radar.

Awhile back I was approached about trying Catelli’s GF pasta*, and I accepted, along with a Serious Degree of Severe Skepticism. Would it be dry as dust? As palatable as a cardboard box? Or would I be pleasantly surprised? Well, spoiler alert, it was the latter. This stuff actually tasted good! It’s a blend of four grains – white rice, brown rice, corn and quinoa – and here’s something that’s good to know, it’s produced in a gluten-free facility.

There was also a contest. My mission was this: to come up with a recipe, which will be judged by Chef John Higgins, Director of Toronto-based George Brown Chef School, judge of The Food Network’s Chopped Canada and former personal chef to the Queen Mother (!) according to “creativity, taste and overall culinary experience.” First prize is $5000, and since everyone in my family couple could use a new bike I thought I’d throw my hat into the ring. I am crossing my fingers that Chef Higgins chooses my recipe. To be honest I am a little worried because I opted to take a more traditional route instead of something a more offbeat that taps into certain food trends e.g. a GLUTEN-FREE KALE FRUIT INFUSION SMOOTHIE WITH BLACK QUINOA SPRINKLES. This is not that. I chose tradition, and family dinners, and kids at the table, instead of jumping on a food trend. :)

If anything, Mark has declared this recipe to be “a keeper.” He can be a bit fussy, so even if I don’t win I’m happy to have a new pasta recipe in rotation around here… whether our GF friends are coming over for dinner or not. :)

Read on for the recipe I submitted:

Jacked-up and gluten-free roasted veggie and cheese pasta toss

Roasting the vegetables really brings out their flavour in this recipe, and using a jalapeño Monterey Jack elevates the flavour combo a bit. If you think it might be too spicy for the kids, use regular Monterey Jack cheese instead.

You will need:

A couple splashes of olive oil
4 plum tomatoes, sliced in half lengthwise
1 red pepper, cut in half and de-seeded
250 g package of Monterey Jack cheese with jalapeños, grated
½ cup pancetta
2 cloves garlic, roughly chopped
½ cup whipping cream
60 g baby spinach, roughly chopped
chopped basil for garnish
350g package of Catelli Gluten Free fusilli
Salt and pepper to taste

Instructions:

1) Preheat oven to 400F. Brush cookie sheet, tomatoes and red pepper with olive oil and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Roast for 45 minutes.

2) While vegetables are roasting, sauté pancetta and garlic in a large frying pan until pancetta is cooked through. Add chopped baby spinach and toss until just wilted. Set aside.

3) Prepare pasta as per package directions until it is al-dente. Reserve ½ cup of water before draining. Return to cooking pot.

4) When the vegetables are roasted, peel skin from the red pepper. (It’s easiest if you let it “sweat” in a paper bag for five minutes!) Chop into smaller pieces and add to the pancetta and garlic mixture. Mash the roasted tomato with a fork and add that as well. Stir to combine and add vegetables to cooked pasta.

5) Using the same frying pan, quickly add the whipping cream and the ½ cup of reserved pasta water and heat on medium. Add grated cheese – keeping ¼ cup aside for garnish – and stir until it has melted. Add to pasta and vegetable mixture, stirring well to combine.

6) Serving options: Spoon pasta into casserole dish and garnish with remaining cheese and basil (as picture above) or divide between four plates and top with remaining cheese and basil. Serve with a tossed salad.

* Opinions, as always, are my own. I was given a case of pasta (!) with which to experiment for this recipe. I used one box, kept a couple, and am donating the rest to the food bank because I felt that was the right thing to do. :)

(Psst! Read the first part of this post here.)

How does food figure into your ideal holiday? Are you one of those people who views food as fuel, so it’s kind of a non issue? Or do great meals figure prominently in your vacation? And is a vacation supposed to be a holiday from your own kitchen as well?

I have to admit that I was a bit nervous about the food situation as we were booking our holiday. The last time we were in Punta Cana (at a different resort) the food wasn’t much to write home about. There was a lot of fried foods, but not much variety overall. I was craving something healthy by the end of our stay. I got ill at one point, which didn’t help either. So, yes, I was wary, but as it turns out I needn’t have worried too much this time around.

For the most part, the dining at Majestic Elegance comes in the form of the all-you-can-eat buffet. The AYCE concept tends to a pretty bad rap overall, but I was impressed with the spread here. It IS possible to eat well at a buffet. There was truly something for everyone. The main one is called Flavours. It’s big, and although it seats hundreds of people at a time, the seating and service is so quick and efficient you hardly notice. (Also, not everyone sits down to eat at the same time.) Think white table linens and silverware here, whereas the second buffet, right on the beach, is more casual. This is where we ate lunch almost every day.

This is a much smaller venue than Flavours, but we enjoyed it very much. The mango they served there was unlike any I’d ever tasted. We were MANGO CRAZY.

Sidebar: I’d love to know more about what goes into the planning of this kind of dining service, especially one that caters to an international palate. How many “familiar” foods should be served? (Read: should there be fries and burgers at every dinner buffet?) How much are people willing to try something new? How do you make sure guests with special dietary needs are taken care of? How much food is enough and how do you prevent food waste?

There are a few restaurant options at Majestic – Italian, Japanese, a steakhouse and a seafood place where you sit down for traditional dinner service – but if I had to go back and do it all over again I would skip them all and stay with the buffets as the food served in the restaurants was mediocre for the most part.

The buffet served a lot of the basics people would be happy to find on their plates: meats, carbs, veggies, pasta etc. and every night there was variety within these staples. So for example, pork one night, beef the next. There was always tons of fruit and veggies too. Fish. Bread and cheese. No shortage of desserts either. The variety really came into play during different theme nights at the big buffet. So for example, additional foods were served to fit the theme of “Dominica” night or “Spanish” night. I think there was a Chinese night but we missed that one. The food was consistently good, and in many cases the way it was presented and served – even in buffet format – was downright decorative. Think hors d’oeuvres, fans of cheese, and small glasses of bright and pretty chopped salads. What I saw was presented with care.

I don’t actually have many pictures of the buffet, mostly because I felt like a total goon snapping photos in the restaurant. But here’s one, although I don’t feel like it’s a very good example of what I’m talking about:

It’s funny. When first faced with a holiday buffet I’m like, I MUST EAT ALL THE THINGS. This is especially true at breakfast. Bacon! Crepes! Fruit! Pastries! Oh, there’s the omelette station! But within a couple of days I was more than happy with a plain yogurt and fresh fruit (although I think I ate eggs florentine at least four times). At lunch, amid the sandwich and salad and pizza bars I usually found myself heading to the seafood counter where I had fresh grouper, mussels, and other delights grilled up fresh right in front of me:

I ate a record amount of fruit and veggie salads, cheese, and soft tacos.

I’m not much of a dessert person, so I can’t really comment there. I preferred to save the room in my tummy for cheese and slushy drinks by the pool. (And I consumed quite a few of those.)

The girls never ceased to surprise me. They made good choices and ate well for the most part. Both took advantage of the variety of fresh fruit and always found a preferred vegetable. The buffet is a good opportunity to try new things, and we all did a lot of sampling (while being careful about food waste… which is a pet peeve of mine).

There was a beach BBQ set up one night during our stay. It was a nice change to shake up the dining routine:

The AYCE idea extends, of course, to the bar. There are many throughout the resort. Here’s a view of the bar just below the lobby. It was a nice place to hang out if we wanted to get out of the sun during the day. It’s a totally different scene at night as this is where people stop to have drinks en route to dinner.

Speaking of drinks: the house wine was part of the deal, as was bottled water, pop, and basic mixed drinks. At no point did I crave a Johnny Walker or a brand of top-tier vino, so I was perfectly fine. The four of us brought reusable mugs and would get them filled at the various bars. We used these about half the time we were there, which cut down on the plastic cups and trips for refills. You know what was heavenly? Having a mimosa at breakfast and never worrying about having to carry cash or a credit card. Sometimes I even had a beer with lunch, or a cocktail on the beach. Now THAT is my idea of a holiday!

Next up: a bit about some of the fun we had, including two offsite excursions around Punta Cana.