Hello everyone, here are February's newsletter highlights:

Making the most of your grocery dollar
Osso bucco recipe
Vert Gastro Club
Vert Catering in the community

Making the most of your grocery dollar
In today's busy lifestyle, coming home to a comforting meal is the one thing you can do to help you appreciate the little things in life. There's a few things you can do to organise your shopping to make this meal easier and more economical.

By having the basics in your pantry, a few items pre-made in your fridge and basic vegetables, this allows you to buy the freshest and most appetizing protein available which you can shop for daily, or weekly. Go to the oldest butchers in your neighbourhood, and you will get the cheapest price for the cuts of meat you are purchasing. Good value protein is ground or chuck, chicken legs and piece of fresh fish.

Stock your pantry and fridge with the following and you will see savings by the end of the week:

Seasonings: kosher or sea salt, peppercorns, garlic powder (not salt), bay leaf, paprika, chili powder, chili flakes cumin and dried oregono

Non-perishable items that help you complete recipes: canned beans (lentils, white kidney beans and romano beans), canned whole tomatoes, vinegar (try to have a light and a dark such as red wine, balsamic and apple cider, white balsamic, or rice wine vinegar)
oils (vegetable oil and olive oil, grapeseed oil - very healthy)
dried mushrooms, sundried tomatoes, olives, honey, dijon mustard
rice, flour, baking powder, sugar, cornstarch, several shapes of pasta, breadcrumbs

Pre-made in the fridge for convenience and health: tomato sauce, salad dressing

Fridge basics: red and white wine for de-glazing, 35% cream to cook a cream sauce for 2-4 people, parsley, cilantro and thyme
Root vegetables: potatoes, carrots and onions all year round, celery or any squash.

- Pedro

Osso bucco
An example of a cheaper cut of meat are unpopular cuts of meat such as beef shanks to make osso bucco.

Beautifully marbelized beef shank seared and place in a tomato orange broth; slowly braised with savoury root vegetables and aromatics. Served with fluffy garlic mashed potatoes.

Ingredients
2 medium sized beef shanks (never veal)
1 can tomatoes, crushed
2 cups flour
2 cups celery root, diced
2 cups carrot, diced
2 cups onions, diced
2 cups celery, diced
1 orange, halved
pinch allspice
two pinches smoked paprika
pinch oregano
salt and pepper
1 litre beef or chicken stock
2 cups white wine
vegetable oil
6 potatoes, peeled and halved
3 cloves garlic
2 tbsp butter
1 cup milk
In a bowl, season the flour with salt, pepper and a little paprika
Evenly coat the shanks
In a pot, heat up some oil (¼ cup) and sear shank well, a nice dark golden brown on all sides
Take out the meat, and drian and wipe away any excess oil
Sautee your veggies with a tablespoon of oil
Deglaze with white wine, add spices and halved oranges face down.
Reduce liquid a bit then add the stock and crushed tomatoes
Stir well and place meat into broth, season with salt and pepper
Preheat oven to 475F and place pot with lid in oven for 1 hour and 45 minutes, and finish with lid off for 15 minutes oafter that
While osso bucco cooks in oven, boil potatoes in another pot and strain when cooked
Mash potatoes with garlic, milk, butter, salt and pepper and let stand until osso bucco is finished.

Vert Gastro Club

Thanks to everyone who came out and enjoyed Vert's rustic elegant cuisine at our premier Vert Gastro Club night. We transformed a cozy new space into a unique culinary experience located on Dundas Street and Beaconsfield. The depARTment is a space for artists and an event space we have partnered with to bring you the Vert Gastro Club.

Join the Vert Gastro Club facebook page to stay informed about the club's next club night!

A special thanks to Zach Kellum who is the visionary behind the depARTment, Marc Rochette our fabulous photographer, DJ Honeypie for the rad tunes and MADE Design who generously loaned us their beautiful hanging lights and milk crate credenza.

Valentine's Day was an opportune night to launch, we plan on having many more interesting evenings of gourmet food and fun. Here are a few photos of the transformed depARTment.

Vert Catering in the community
This is what we've been up to in the community in February:

Donated a gourmet macaroni and cheese dinner, enough to feed 15 people to the Toronto Community Hostel.

Donated 2% of our Valentine's Day party evening to The Stop Comunity Food Centre.


We look forward to seeing you in the store soon!

Marilyn, Conor and Pedro