Argentinian Blueberry and Chocolate Slab Cake

I know many food bloggers are all about the local, the fresh and the 100 mile diet, but I thumb my nose at the environmentally friendly and sustainable practice of the 100 mile diet. And I mean it. I'm not about to give up my bourgeois tastes in a multiplicity of things that must come across the sea to get into my belly. The lovely Persian dates that Ciaran recently brought me are a scrumptious example of that.

If it came to it, I would be reasonable, buy as many gai lan and Indian eggplant seeds as possible, attempt to grow my own curry leaf tree, and adopt the 100 mile diet. For now, I will indulge in certain naughty excesses like buying Argentinian blueberries at the end of November when I'm actually on a mission to buy leeks for Parisien Leek Soup. Buying blueberries from Argentina is something of a joke on the west coast of Canada. We're massive seasonal producers of blueberries. You can buy them by the crate for practically nothing during the summer.

What does a Canadian Sri Lankan Tamil do with fresh blueberries at the tail end of fall that really feels like winter? She uses it to crown her morning bowl of oatmeal, paired with freshly grated nutmeg.

Or, she could stud a decadent chocolate slab cake with them. I found the cake on a food porn site and was so taken with the image, I felt the need to replicate but modify the cake so that I could eat it. The results were deliciousness on levels that bordered the profane.

I feel the need to include a warning or disclaimer with this cake recipe. Once you finish slathering on the icing and studding the cake with blueberries, you will find it difficult to stop even after eating two pieces of cake. We found it nearly impossible to step away from the cake. I suggest wrapping the cake and putting it in the refrigerator to halt excessive cake consumption. This cake is guaranteed to seduce any man or woman, and might even possibly save marriages.

Here's the modified recipe I adapted from Picnics by Australian Woman's Weekly.

1/2 cup cocoa powder
1/2 cup boiling water
2/3 cup unsalted butter, softened
1 1/2 cups white sugar
3 eggs
1 2/3 cups rice flour
1 1/4 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda
3/4 cup Balkan style yoghurt
2/3 cup fresh blueberries

Chocolate Icing:
2/3 cup dark chocolate, chopped coarsely
1 3/4 tablespoons butter
1 cup icing sugar, sifted
1 1/2 tablespoons hot water

1. Preheat oven to 350 ºF. Grease 19cm x 30cm lamington pan; line with baking paper. Be sure to cut the corners of the paper on a diagonal so that the paper sits flat in the pan. Otherwise, your cake will have rippled corners.

2. Blend cocoa with the water in small bowl. Add the water a bit at a time to prevent lumps. Cool.

3. Beat butter and sugar in small bowl with electric mixer until light and fluffy. Beat in eggs, one at a time. Transfer mixture to a large bowl, stir in sifted flours and soda, and yoghurt in two batches; stir in cocoa mixture.

4. Spread mixture into pan. Bake about 30 minutes. Cool cake in pan 20 minutes before turning, top-side up, onto wire rack to cool. Don't remove the paper just yet.

5. Make chocolate icing: melt chocolate and butter in small saucepan, stirring, over low heat. Remove from heats; stir in sifted icing sugar and water until smooth.

6. Spread cold cake with icing, top with blueberries. Don't forget to take the paper off first. Cut cake into squares.

Serves 20.

Toronto Foodie: The Things Luscious Domestic Bought

Ever wonder why your dates are sold with that plastic stick in the middle?

For a foodie with diverse tastes, Toronto is a marvellous place to shop in. From the South Asian shops on Gerrard Street to the vast varieties of produce in the St. Lawrence Market, the fine bread in Little Italy or the Quebecois cheeses of the Distillery District, one only needs a fistful of cash and a large suitcase to lug the treasures home.

First stop: Gerrard Street. Also known as Little India, rumour has it that it's being taken over by Tamils. Being Tamil myself, it seemed like a logical thing to check it out.  I couldn't resist fresh dates for $3.99 a pound. Fresh dates are surprisingly good with Hendricks gin.

After picking up some fresh curry leaves I vowed to dry later, I hopped back onto the public limo and wended my way up to the St. Lawrence Market.

Curry leaves are instrumental in southern Indian and Sri Lankan cooking. Curry powder is not made with curry leaves. When they're fresh, they have an aromatic, distinct tannic scent that's unique to the leaf. The Toronto foodie series will have a feature on Tamil love food. Curry leaves will definitely be included.

Lugging my bag of fruit, curry leaves and some miscellaneous steel cookingware I picked up in Little India, walked past the Sultan's Tent and Cafe Maroc (a great place to eat in Toronto) and finally arrived at the St. Lawrence Market.

I was a little pinched for time. I was supposed to meet an old friend for dinner in less than an hour at Guu Izakaya. I had just enough time to wander for a little bit.

The St. Lawrence Market has been around for over 200 years. It is primarily known for its fruits, vegetables, meats, cheeses and other fine produce.

After longingly eyeing cataracts of jewel-toned fruit and conceding I could only purchase something small, I came across a stand that specialized in selling only mustard and horseradish.

The word "mustard" comes from the Middle English word "mustarde" which means condiment. Although mustard was first cultivated in India around 3000 BC, Canada now produces 90 per cent of the world's mustard and has the world's oldest mustard mill.

I picked up some eye-watering horseradish whose pungency won me over at first taste.

The proprietor gave me some good advice. Always store your horseradish upside down on its lid. It retains its pungency much longer this way, and lasts for about three to four months in the fridge.

A few days later, I recklessly purchased four types of goat cheese in the Distillery District.

I was so excited to share the cheese when I arrived home that I forgot to photograph them before we opened them up.

However, here are the four types: ash-cured Fromages Chaput Prestige, le Moutier, Fleur des Monts and la tomme du Haut-Richelieu. All from Quebec, all entirely amazing.

Le Moutier is my favourite with its sweet, grassy taste. It's made in the only cheese dairy in North America that's run by Benedictine monks.

The final foodie damage was committed at an unassuming Turkish bakery. There was a marvellous assortment of baklava, pastries and cookies, but as I can't eat them, I settled on lokum.

Three kinds of lokum, to be precise. All delicately flavoured, not too sweet and not too starchy. Lokum is known by many names across the Middle East, Central Asia and Southern Europe.

The sort pictured here are not the jelly-like soft and saccharine squares of Turkish Delight you might find in a North American candy shop. These pieces were almost too beautiful to share. Thanks to Gokhan and Heather for gifting an entire bagful of these to me.

Toronto. How I love your foodie friendly shops.