Restaurant experience: L'autre Version

Last June we went to L'Autre Version. A trendy restaurant (without being too pretentious) in old Montreal. This was our second visit and I figured it was worth relaying our experience there. The setting is quite nice. The inside is dark, cozy and modern all at once. The terrace is great. We were sitting on these couches with a coffee table between us, which gave the meal a whole different feel to the usual restaurant sitting arrangement.

The greeting is quite friendly and warm. They don't take offense to the fact that you prefer having the municipal water instead of one of those fancy shmancy bottled water (I will never pay for bottled water if I can help it, it goes against my principles). They have a wonderful list of cocktails, a bit pricey but at least you get a big glass ;-)

On with the entree (first course if you're American). I had the Beef Carpaccio, Coppa sausage, fresh herbs emulsion, marinated white turnips, shallot butter confites blue potatoes. Now I must admit, this dish confused me when I it arrived. I had the Coppa sausage, which resembled home made cappicole, but no sign of any beef. At the time I dismissed it, assuming I have misread the menu. However, when checking the menu online later I see that it's clearly written beef carpaccio...so I don't know what happened. Maybe it was hidden underneath and I just shoved the food in my mouth without noticing, but I'd like to think that I have more class than that. Plus I usually savour my food, so I would have noticed if a piece of raw beef was lurking underneath the Coppa. Regardless of this mystery, it was still quite good and the sauce went superbly with the sausage. My husband had the Tartare duo Ostrish and smoked duck with citrus zest, Ratte potatoes and taro chips. Again, not quite what was expected. Tartare is raw, but there was clearly cooked pieces mixed in there. I reckon they came from the smoked process, which could cook the duck, but who knows. Trying this, it was good but not great (although the taro chips were neat).

The main dish was fun. I had the Seared scallops, lemongrass urchin cream, miso quinoa, little squids salad, sautéed bok choy, vegetable tartar. Really pretty dish and I'm a sucker for great presentation. It looked good and tasted just like it too. Each scallop sat onto of four different sides describe above, so you couldn't get tired of what you were eating.

Anthony had the Braised wild board shank, harissa sauce, parsnip purée, sumac powder white beans, smoked cabbage and calabrese. Again, presentation was awesome and I love anything braised (especially pork) so this was a winner for me. If I would go back I would definitely order this. Tender and tasty!

Yes we had room for dessert, because dessert goes into a different stomach (as we all know). My pick was Raspberry crème brulée scented Ras El Hanout, home made Dolce De Lecce.  You would think that a blend of Morrocan spice would not go with dessert, but it was subtle enough to be quite pleasant. I love creme brulee, and I wish they had given more of that divine Dolce de Lecce.

As for Anthony's dessert, well...I must confess, I didn't write a blog back then and didn't think I would be writing about this meal. So, I don't remember what it was and neither does he, as it happens. I looked through the menu, but for the life of me I can't figure out which one it was. It may have been a special that day.

So there you have it! Unknown dessert which Anthony vaguely recalls enjoying. It certainly looks fun in the picture below where Anthony's giving us his best Blue Steel look. Hope that was helpful...

So overall a good experience, with a few icks here and there. One of those was of course the price, which was expected but still hurt. For 2 cocktails each, entree, main dish and dessert, tip and tax the total was just over 200$ for two people. Then we passed a homeless man on the street which made us feel like crap and that put a damper on the whole evening. The End!



Franki's birthday!

My good friend Franki had his birthday a few weeks ago. Since we all ditched him for his celebration I wanted to make it up to him the best way I knew how...by cooking of course!

I started off with my spiffy cocktail Warp 9. Followed by Ras El Hanout Parsnip Foam with Shrimp. Then we had the main meal which was had three parts: Lemon chicken brochettes with red pepper aïoli, saffron roasted potatoes and strawberry walnut with goat cheese salad. All of which will be described in greater detail below. Last but not least dessert was served, Lemon mousse verrines.

Although the real treat for me was the movie Franki brought us. Now anyone who knows me or my sister know that we enjoy B movies, especially gory ones with lots of senseless violence and undead denizens. The movie is called Dead Snow. It's Norwegian and was at the Fantasia film festival a few years ago. We dismissed it back then, somehow thinking that it would too silly. Boy was I in for a surprise. Yes it was silly, but take some humour and gore and mix in a few undead Nazis and you've got yourself a hell of a ride! Recommended to anyone who enjoys a good horror flick!

Now, on that note and the very appetizing poster above, let's move on to the food.

All the recipes except for the salad are from my Diva cooking book, mentioned numerous times on this blog. I'm telling you, these recipes are fantastic for entertaining.

Lemon chicken brochettes with sage and croutons. Serves 8.

• 6 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
• 12 slices of prosciutto, each cut into 4 pieces
• 1/2 stick of French bread, cut into 32 chucks
• 32 sage leaves
• 3 garlic cloves, finely chopped
• 1 lemon, juiced and zested
• salt and pepper
• 4 tablespoons olive oil
• 16 wooden skewers, soaked in water for an 1 hour

Cut the chicken into 8 pieces each. Wrap a piece of prosciutto around each chunck of chicken. Assemble the skewers. Thread a piece of chicken, a sage leaf, a chunck of bread, another piece of chicken, sage, bread and a last piece of chicken. Repeat for all 16 skewers. This part is a bit long, so if you have people to help you out, all the better!

Mix together the garlic, lemon juice and zest, salt and pepper with the olive oil. Brush on the brochette and leave to marinate for 30 minutes. Sear or bbq the brochettes for 15 minutes, turning from time to time. Serve with the aïoli (below).

Red-pepper aïoli. 

• 2 tablespoons of white-wine vinegar
• 2 egg yolks, at room temperature
• 1 tablespoon of Dijon mustard
• 1 tablespoon of brown sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon each of salt and pepper
• 1 cup of sunflower oil
• 1 cup of roasted red bell pepper (jarred or home-made)
• 3 garlic cloves
• juice of 1 lemon
• 1 small handful of fresh basil

This is basically a mayonnaise with some fancy stuff added to it. Combine the first 5 ingredients in a food processor or blender. While the motor is running, slowly pour in the oil until thick. Add the last four ingredients and purée until smooth. Serve with the chicken skewers.

Saffron-roasted potatoes with rosemary and red onions. Serves 8.

• 1kg of large potatoes, peeled and cut into 6 wedges each
• 3 red onions, cut into 6 wedges
• 4 tablespoons boiling water
• a large pinch of saffron threads (real saffron people, not safflower)
• 2 lemons, zested and juiced
• 5 tablespoons of olive oil
• 6 tablespoons of butter, diced
• 1 teaspoons of sugar
• 3 tablespoons of chopped rosemary
• salt and pepper

Preheat oven to 350°F. Pour boiling water over the saffron and leave to infuse for 5 minutes. Mix lemon zest, juice, saffron liquid, olive oil, butter, sugar, rosemary, and salt and pepper Place potatoes and onions in a large roasting pan. Pour over the saffron dressing. Roast for 45 minutes to an hour, turning every 15 minutes.

Strawberry walnut and goat cheese salad. Serves 8. (Sorry, I can't remember where I got this recipe, so I apologize to the author for not crediting them.)

•  2 tablespoons of canola oil
• 2 tablespoons of pomegranate molasses
• 2 teaspoons of red wine vinegar
• 1 teaspoon of finely minced shallot
• 1/2 teaspoon of salt
• 6 cups of salad (any variety will do, except iceberg)
• 1 cup of strawberries, sliced
• 1/4 of toasted broken walnuts
• 100 gr of goat cheese, crumbled
• ground black peppe, for taste

Combine oil, molasses, shallots and salt and whisk together. Put salad, strawberries, walnuts and goat cheese in a large salad bowl. Pour over dressing and season with pepper. 

Ras El Hanout Parsnip Foam with Shrimp

Here's another great great recipe that is not difficult, but cannot be done without the right equipment. In this case, the right equipment consists of a culinary siphon. A culinary siphon allows you to create foams out of different liquids by adding nitrogen that will expand it and keep it stable with the help of either fat, egg, or gelatin. I use the ISI Gourmet Whip (500ml) which is great because it can be used with either hot or cold applications. It can be found at La Guilde Culinaire, which is located at 6381, boulevard Saint-Laurent in Montreal.

This is about texture and flavour. It's experiencing something that tastes as light as air but is packed with flavour. It's always a surprise at how wonderful the texture feels in my mouth when I use the siphon. To make four portions you'll need:

• 250 gr of peeled parsnips, chopped
• 25 gr of butter
• 125 mL of milk
• 125 mL of 35% whipping cream
• 2 tsp of ras el hanout spice (a blend of Moroccan spice, you can also use Cajun)
• 1 tbsp of olive oil
• 4 giant shrimps, butterflied 
• chives, chopped for garnish

Melt the butter in a saucepan. Add the parsnips and cook for a couple of minutes. Add the milk and cream with 1 tablespoon of the ras el hanout and salt and pepper. Simmer for 15 minutes, until the parsnip is tender. Remove from heat and let cool slightly. Blend to a purée with the help of a food processor or a blender. Pass the puréed liquid through a sifter to remove any possible chucks. This is to ensure that you will not clog up the siphon. 

Marinate the shrimp in the olive oil with1 tablespoon of ras el hanout and salt and pepper for about 10 minutes. Sauté shrimps until just done.

Now you are ready to make the foam. Fill your siphon with the parsnip purée and screw on the top. Add 2 nitrogen or cream capsules to the siphon, making sure to give it a good shake between each capsule. Turn the siphon upside down and dispense into 4 individual cups. Add a shrimp on top of each cup along with some chive to garnish.

Trust me, if you can get your hands on one of these siphons, it's totally worth it!

Warp 9!

Warp 9 is not science-fiction. It's in fact a fun and wonderful cocktail that will give your guests something to talk about. It was dubbed Warp 9 by my good friend Andras, who was one of the first to try this concoction of mine. On a side note, for those of you who are are not geeks, Warp 9 is a Star Trek reference.


This recipe uses the technique of spherification. Without going into too much scientific details, what this is is the creation of a gelatinous membrane that encases a sphere of liquid. It's not difficult to do, but you need special ingredients not readily available in your neighbourhood supermarket. The basic ingredients are sodium alginate and calcium salt. You can order them from DCDuby, which is located in British Columbia. You will also need a pipette or a syringe and pinch dash smidgen measuring spoons.


Okay, now that you have everything you need we can start! Here is the recipe:

• 1/2 cup of sugar syrup (to make sugar syrup, bring to a boil 1 part sugar and 1 part water, remove from heat and let stand for 5 minutes)
• 1/4 cup of Blue Curaçao
• 1 gram (2 dashes) of sodium alginate 
• 500 ml of water
• 5 grams (12 dashes) of calcium salt
• 1 bottle of your favourite sparkling wine 

Mix the sugar syrup and Blue Curaçao together with the sodium alginate. Mixing the alginate in a bit of sugar first will prevent it from clumping, which it tends to do.  Now, in a separate bowl, mix the water with the calcium salt until it dissolves. You now have 2 liquides, one with the alginate and the other with the calcium.

Using the pipette or syringe, carefully dispense the alginate mixture drop by drop into the calcium bath. Wait roughly one minute, scoop out the spheres using a small sifter and rinse them in cold water. Repeat process.

Once finished, divide the spheres among 6 to 8 champagne glasses. Top off with the sparkling wine and serve immediately.

What's great about this recipe is that you can create spheres using different kinds of liquid. You have to be careful, however, because if you're liquid is too acidic (meaning with a ph lower than 4) the alginate will not dissolve properly. In this case, you can always add some sodium citrate to buffer up the pH, however this can also alter the taste of you mixture.

So if you have the patience and you want to impress your guests with something different, try Warp 9 and bring a smile to their faces!

See how happy everyone is!