• The San Francisco International Chocolate Salon
• The Los Angeles Luxury Chocolate Salon
• The Chicago Chocolate Salon
• The Seattle Luxury Chocolate Salon
• The New Media Tastemakers Summit

I was looking for an easy place to stop for lunch on a recent spring drive from Ottawa to Québec City and was delighted when a friend suggested the Jean Talon Market in Montréal; tucked into the geographical centre of the city, but not so far off the highway as to get snarled in downtown traffic.

I had never been to the market in my previous visits to Montréal and was excited to see the number of stalls in the covered portion of the year-round market, featuring not only certain Québecois staples, such as, maple syrup, apple cider, cranberry products, but a full range of fresh greens and fruits, baked goods, fish, meats and poultry. Many vendors provided tastes of their Québec hothouse English cucumbers and tomatoes, which provided some welcome crunch and juiciness as the long winter Montréalers suffered through was finally coming to a close.

Montréal’s ethnic diversity is portrayed here as well, and I picked up a very reasonably-priced tray of phyllo pastry-based desserts from a Middle Eastern shop, along with a tub of assorted olives (everything from oil-cured Moroccan style, to Kalamata to tiny green olives stuffed with anchovy and tuna). For snacking in the car I avoided the maple sugar cornets and instead bought a large bag of dried cranberries that had been infused with cherry flavour. Chewy but still quite moist, they were a welcome hit of sugar along the rest of the straight-ahead drive to Quebec City.

In the streets surrounding the market building there were so many delightful offerings my head was spinning. Delicatessens featuring cured and smoked meats, cheese shops piled high with all the Québec specialty cheeses you could ask for along with those from around the world. And, at the William J. Walter Saucissier shop, which offers more than fifty varieties of European sausages, I found my lunch: a spicy sausage on a soft but substantial bun, loaded up with hot peppers, pickles, mustard and sauerkraut. 

The sun was shining, the air crisp, so my wife and I sat outside at a little table and watched the world go by as we munched our lunch. On the way back from Québec City to Ottawa we couldn’t resist; we stopped again at Jean Talon Market and picked up enough sausages and an assortment of cheeses and pates for our meal that evening. Très bon!

Jean-Talon Market
7075 Casgrain Ave.
Montreal, QC
(Metro De Castelnau/Jean-Talon)

You can find all the public markets in Montreal here.

Don Genova is a BC-based food journalist.  

Bazaar's Market posts are featured every Monday.

I knew this month’s Cooking Club Challenge would be popular! Who can resist brownies especially when they are Chef Michael Smith’s Chocolate Banana Brownies? Despite people’s legitimate concerns over calories (in the comments field Bev W did the math and figured 500+ calorie for a piece of brownie!), people are giving this recipe two thumbs way up. It might compete with October CCC: Chocolate Chip Cookies à la Anna Olson as our most popular recipe to date.

For those of who are concerned about the calories (myself included), some of our early submissions have some fantastic tips for cutting fat, including reducing the butter in half and adding flax seed oil (thanks, Elaine) and using just half the sugar and substituting in whole wheat flour (me).

Here's how the Foodtv.ca Cooking Club Challenge works:

• Make the chosen monthly recipe: Michael Smith's Banana Brownies.
• Feel free to follow it to a "T" or add your own creative flair.
• Email me (blogATfoodtvDOTca or using the contact form) a picture (in .jpg format) and a short descriptive paragraph (100-150 words) before May 31, 2008 for your chance to win prizes. (See original post for more details).
• Do check out past Cooking Club Challenge results.

From Todd who found success after making it a couple of times: They turned out pretty good we served it with a French vanilla sauce and raspberries. Not sure if I did something wrong when I made it, as they were really crumbly. It took a couple of attempts at making it. I used the wrong size pan and had it all over the oven the first time; I didn’t expect it to rise so much.





From Elaine who offered up this healthier version: I had made this recipe a few times so I was comfortable enough to play with it. I used  half the butter and added a little flax seed oil (omega-3). I also substituted nutri-flour blend for  the plain white and added some oats with some pecans. I also reduced the sugar content by more than half and used, instead of the brown sugar, Splenda mix. They were very good and with one batch I made it in a 12 muffin pan, which my boyfriend loved as he can warm them up in the microwave and top them off with some ice cream and chocolate sauce. I also put the rest of the batter in the bottom of a tart pan and presented it with some whipped cream mixed with some berries to top it off! It was all very yummy!

From Marlene who described them as yummy: I made the banana brownies; they were so yummy, and a big hit in the office (my office and my husband's office). I made them with a twist by adding toasted hazelnuts and vanilla and hazelnut liqueur.

From Corinne who didn't send a picture but loved the recipe: I had a little whipped cream left over, so I added some cocoa to it, and then layered some in my brownies. They were perfectly moist and wonderfully chocolaty! They were so good that my husband took a slice before I had time to take a picture. I loved them. They're going in the family cookbook!

From Carolyn who was concerned about the fat and calories and sent this modified version: I am an avid baker, but also health conscious, so I try to bake as lightly as possible. I really liked the idea of the chocolate-banana combo, so I started with an old Looneyspoons (Janet and Greta Podleski) recipe, and modified it. Bananas have a tendency to make a cakey (rather than fudgy) brownie, so I carefully watched the proportion of other ingredients. I'm very pleased with my significantly lighter version. It was moist but not soggy, dense, very chocolaty and rich, but not too sweet.

Here's my recipe for Chocolate Banana Brownies:

INGREDIENTS:

• 1 c all purpose flour
• 2/3 c cocoa powder (unsweetened)
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 6 tbsp melted butter
• 1 2/3 c brown sugar
• 1 c mashed, ripe bananas
• 2 eggs
• 1 tsp espresso powder dissolved in 1 tbsp vanilla
• 1/3 c chopped toasted pecans or walnuts

INSTRUCTIONS:

• Mix together flour, cocoa power and salt. Set aside.
• Stir together butter and brown sugar. Add bananas, eggs and vanilla mixture.
• Add flour mixture to butter mixture. Add nuts and stir gently.
• Pour in a greased 9"x9" pan. Bake in preheated 325 degree oven for 28-30minutes. Let cool before cutting.

From Roaa who served it with ice cream/whipping cream combo and chocolate shreds: I tried the banana brownies and they were wonderful! I loved them. I followed the recipe to a T but served it with ice cream/whipping cream that’s been in the family for generations. Mix whipping cream, add sugar (lots!), 2 tsp of honey, and 2 inches of vanilla ice cream. I also added some chocolate shreds on top. Get a bar of milk chocolates, take a knife and shred it as if it was a cat that you were combing. For small shreds use a fork.

From Farah who now wants to marry Michael Smith: After being on a brief hiatus (April was my birthday and our wedding anniversary and a trip to Cuba!!), I had to try this recipe, and let me tell you (forgive me for being out there), but it’s an orgasm in a baking dish!! I added chopped pecans and used organic dark chocolate to the brownie, and made two chocolate sauces to drizzle over the top: 150grams of dark organic chocolate melted with 25ml of double cream, and the same measurements using white chocolate. My goodness... that was incredible! A little vanilla bean ice cream oozing over the warm brownie won't hurt either!! The gym will be seeing a lot of me I tell you! Michael smith, will you marry me?

Last but not least, from me: I cut the sugar in half and used whole wheat flour for great results. They were moist and extra-chocolaty. I used two packages of Baker's Semi-Sweet Chocolate. These brownies freeze beautifully. I'm still enjoying them a week later, which shows amazing will power on my part.

While I was adding the latest critic reviews to our Momofuku Ko listing on Savory New York tonight I decided to take a few extra minutes to quickly catalogue all of the food-related quotations in one easy to scan page. Enjoy!

The Onion

The Onion nails it this week with its story "Potential Employee Uprising Quelled by Free Pizza."

"Everyone's been fed up and ready to explode at management for weeks," production designer Carolyn Wurster said. "But then all those pizzas showed up, and it just didn't seem like the right time to start demanding a legitimate healthcare plan or salary raises that reflect the amount of work we do." Added Wurster, "They ordered like 10 huge pies."

Heh. This is so dead on.