Our Italian adventure has begun

Liz and Michelle at work preparing our Italian menu. (Photo: - bite - bitebymichelle.com)

Liz and Michelle at work preparing our Italian menu. (Photo: - bite - bitebymichelle.com)

Fun. Scary. And a little bit exhausting. But well worth every moment we’ve put into our Italian adventure, Italian by Night.

We launched last night with a special Valentine’s evening as we kicked off our new Italian evenings, Italian by Night. And we are truly humbled by the turn out and support we have had.

To all our friends and customers … You are amazing!

We began Urban Deli in July of 2009 with a vision and mantra, “Old fashioned; slightly sophisticated,” which you helped turn into a reality. Continue reading

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Recipe for Italian Wedding Soup

Italian wedding: scene from The Godfather (1972).

You don’t have to be Italian to enjoy Italian Wedding Soup and, with our current weather forecast, you may find it a very tasty way to ward off the chill of the next day or two.

Janet, one of our Urban Deli customers, came by one day and shared a recipe for Italian Wedding Soup with us. Not only that, she also brought in the finished dish and it was wonderful!

It’s great with something as simple as bread sticks, Italian bread or baguette. Of course, a nice wine would be nice too. 🙂

Thank you to Janet for both the recipe and the sample.

Ingredients:

– 6 cups chicken broth
– 1 package mild sausage
– 3 tbsp garlic
– 2 cups celery (chopped)
– 1 large red onion (chopped)
– 1 – 16 oz (300g) frozen spinach (chopped)
– 1/2 – 3/4 cup pearl barley

Preparation:

1 – Remove sausage meat from sleeve and make into meatballs. SautĂ© with garlic in a frying pan until cooked.

2 – In a large pot, sautĂ© chopped celery, onions and garlic until soft.

3 – Add chicken broth, spinach and barley, sausage meatballs to cooked veggies.

4 – Simmer for 2 hours

Serve with freshly ground parmesan cheese and enjoy!

(Aside: according to Wikipedia, the phrase wedding soup, “… is a mistranslation of the Italian language, minestra maritata (“married soup”), which is a reference to the fact that green vegetables and meat go well together.”)

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Mulled wine Urban Deli style – our recipe

We’ve had mulled wine available throughout December and many of our customers have commented on how wonderful it is. We’ve provided the recipe to a few customers that have asked about. Then we thought, let’s put it in our newsletter so those who want to try it at home can do just that over the holidays.

So, here it is … Enjoy!

Urban Deli mulled wine

Yield: 4
Ingredients

  • 1 750ml bottle red wine (we use the Italian Mezzomondo Negroamaro Salento)
  • 1 cup mulled apple cider
  • 4 tablespoons honey
  • 2 fresh rosemary sprigs
  • 3 cinnamon sticks
  • 3 whole star anise
  • 3 whole cloves
  • 3 whole peppercorns
  • 1 orange, sliced
  • 2 ounces brandy

Directions

  1. Put everything in a pot over the stove.
  2. Slowly bring all ingredients to a low simmer for 20 minutes.
  3. Transfer to a crock pot and serve.

It’s actually pretty simple. Pulling all the ingredients together really what it all about. If you do that, the rest is easy. 🙂

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Chop Chop “Feast”ival for Foodies

Join us for a variety of Deli-styled Italian dishes which will be available for customers from November 1st to November 6th. Please call us at 506.652.3354 to make reservations for this event.

During our lunch hour, we will be presenting  an Italian pasta special ($12 plus tax) with the option of bruschetta or soup as an appetizer. Customers have the choice of a traditional Italian bolognese sauce or a creamy parmesan sauce which consists of pesto, sautéed mushrooms, roasted red peppers and spinach.

For the evening Chop Chop foodies, reservations can be made for a three course dinner for two ($30 plus tax). The three course dinner consists of bruschetta or soup to start and is followed by the pasta special. This will be finished off with a home-made dulce de leche meringa con gelato e cioccolato (ice-cream meringue topped with dulce de leche and chocolate sauce) dessert for sharing.

We look forward to seeing you during this eventful week!

Chef Andrew Brewer

Chef Andrew Brewer

Click HERE for the Chop Chop Chef Profile on Andrew Brewer

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