Welcome to Tooch’s Kitchen ! Who’s Tooch? well that would be me ! it is what I am called by my closest friends and now all of you. I live in Toronto, Canada and I love to eat anything and everything. Everything I say and do is one way or another related to Food. Cooking to me consists of 3 things; Knowledge, Creativity and Lessons Learned. With the right mix of these 3 things cooking can be very enjoyable, especially if you love the eating part as much as I do. All of my recipes have been tested and retested. Nothing upsets me more committing to a recipe, buying all the ingredients, taking the time to make it and it just doesn’t work. That sort of injustice just won’t happen here.
I cook from the heart, and crave from the stomach ~ All Day, Every Day ~
My intentions for creating this site are simple: we are now living in a society where more and more meals are being hijacked by prepared, processed and preserved food. I did not grow up this way. I am Canadian with Italian blood. I spend every Labour Day long-weekend in my grandmothers garage making tomato sauce (we call it “sugo”) and I have learned to cure my own prosciutto, make pasta from scratch, and assemble lasagna like a pro. I grew up in the type of Italian family that LOVES to eat. Our holidays, Sundays, and every day in between center around food…. lots and lots of food. Sometimes (like Christmas Eve) way too much food! But food to me is a way of life. When new friends come into my life, I automatically invite them for dinner. Once we have eaten together, (probably along with a bottle or two of wine) they become a part of my “family”. I live to eat, not only eat to live. And I cook with my heart and soul when I cook for those I love.
Cooking is more and more become something of a “lost skill”. It is something that is almost feared. It does not have to be this way as your kitchen is your friend, and like most – the center of the home life. Cooking is theory and applied theory. Its understanding how to roast a whole chicken (then actually roasting the whole chicken) and being able to roast a turkey the next time using the same “theory” (with a few minor adjustments of course) and then using the left over bones and carcass (yes, I just said carcass) to make the most flavourful soup/broth you have ever eaten. It’s about using all the parts, properly. Let’s get something straight right off the bat, I’m not saying you HAVE to make soup/broth with the left over carcass (yupp, said it again!) but you can if you want to, because you know how to. (not to mention the money you will save. Next time you’re in the grocery store, check the price of chicken already cut and prepared vs. whole)
With a little knowledge you will be well on your way to conquering this possibly feared aspect of your life and hopefully ending all the “Bad Cook” jokes you may or may not have encountered. And let’s face it, were busy people! We live busy lives, always doing one thing or the other and more than likely never had the time, patience, or a simple enough teaching guide to learn to cook for ourselves and the ones we love. But that’s ok, because that’s life. I intend to give you the essential cooking skills and food knowledge that you can further adapt to fit your tastes. Don’t like fennel? Don’t use it! Not sure which potatoes to buy for french fries? You will soon! That’s the best part about cooking; everything can be changed so that it appeals to us, and what we like to eat. I also want to inspire you to go outside your comfort zone. This will be a place to ignite you and help get you back into the kitchen. Sure, most of us can live on pizza and burgers (I count myself as one of those people) but eventually we get bored. Spice it up and try something new! If it doesn’t work out, try to figure out where you when wrong for the next time and then order pizza for dinner 😉 The key is to try, and eventually you will nail it.
