MarchQuebec Week!

Mostarda:Italian Essential

Easter at Ottavioplus more...

Boyajian Essential Oils

March 2012ISSUE 25

NEWSLETTER

Sheep Milk Cheese-try some today…

250-592-4080www.ottaviovictoria.com2272 Oak Bay Avenue, Victoria, B.C.

March 2012ISSUE 25

NEWSLETTER

Boyajian Essential Oils

Quebec Week!Once again we are proud to put the spotlight on our eastern neighbours with a weeklong focus on all things from la belle provence! Starting March 13th through the 17th we’ll feature 10% off any goods that are made in Quebec: artisan cheeses,

pâtés, maple syrup, duck products and more. In the café we will offer our Tourtière, Montreal Smoked

Meat sandwiches as well as the very tasty and popular Maple Syrup Gelato and Maple Tarts. We love Quebec year round and appreciate its passion

and innovation for all things culinary and invari-ably how it inspires other regions with its focus on

eating well and local! Joie de vivre indeed!

Celebrated by home and professional bakers and chefs, all-natural Boyajian infused oils, flavourings and extracts

add depth of flavour to cooking, baking, mixology and much more. Available in 30ml bottles, all fruit and citrus-based essences are cold pressed. It takes ap-proximately 80 limes to fill a bottle of Lime Oil! Used sparingly these oils are shelf stable and are a welcome addition to any pantry. Made in Canton, Mass.

and available here:Almond, Pure Lime, Lemon, Orange,

Anise and the intensely beautiful Maple, prices from $7,00 to $10,25. Special

“Bakers Box” for $29,95.

A common Italian condimento but seemingly not as commonplace here as Balsamico, it’s time to bring

mostarda into the spotlight! Made typically with fruits like quince, figs, cherries, and oranges and cooked in mustard

oil and honey syrup, the traditional application is with Bol-lito Misto or mixed meats that have been simply boiled in water. Imagine Easter ham with mustards and you get the picture except this is the Italian way. Our shelves are rep-resented by top producer, Lazzaris. Located in the Veneto region, they have been producing a variety of mostardas

since 1922. Found here are: Agrumi (Orange), Ciliegie (Red Cherry), Fichi(Fig). Prices vary from $9,95. Lazzaris also

produce quality spreads suitable for cheese and charcuterie boards: Salsa di Fichi (Fig) and Cotognata (Quince). Serve

with roasted meats and aged cheeses.

Visit Ottavio Online & follow us on Twitter

(www.twitter.com/ottaviovictoria)

for upcoming events, new products,

exciting arrivals & more.

Upcoming EventsQuebec Week

Cowichan Pasta Co. Tasting – taste fresh local pasta from Matt, the producer.

Vis-à-Vis Dinner – Join Monica & Andrew & our friend Jeff Keenliside, chef at the Penny Farthing & now of Vis-à-Vis (Ottavio’s original shop!), for our first celebration of Ottavio’s 15th year in Oak Bay Village! The four course meal including prosecco reception is $45. A great mid-week treat on Tuesday, March 27th, starting nice and early with prosecco at 5:30, dinner at 6:00. Call Vis-à-Vis to reserve (250-590-7424)….seats filling up quickly!

March 13th -March 17th

March 27th

March TBA

Did you know?All of our stocks are scratch made using local and, when possible, organ-

ic ingredients (vegetables from the peninsula, free range chicken from

Cowichan Valley etc). For only $5,50 per litre in our freezer section you’ll

find Vegetable, Fish, Chicken and Beef stocks and naturally reduced

Demi Glace in a convenient 4oz. container. Also, all of our containers

are food grade plastic and can be reused and recycled.

“Does it taste sheepy?”, we are often asked by many a curious customer. Many of which perhaps having heard word about the proliferation of chefs and restaurants featuring Manchego, Pecorino and Sheep feta on their menus. Rest assured the lanolin scent and flavour associated with lamb and sheep is not detectable in a piece of sheep milk cheese! This family of cheeses is delicious and more easily digestible than most cow’s milk cheeses. Although more commonplace on the tables of Europe (particularly the Pecorino cheeses of Italy), other cheese producing nations have embraced not just the cow but their other farm friends! Ottavio purveys only the best and here are a few of our favourites:Our cheese case features these beauties:

Sheep Milk Cheese

Pecorino – Italian stalwart and so many choices! ‘Fresco’, ‘Romano’, ‘Affienato’, ‘Stagionato’, all of these were featured in the September 2011 newsletter (available online @www.ottaviovictoria.com).Corsu Vecchiu - traditional sheep’s milk cheese from the island of Corsica, as it ages it develops a beautiful salty, grassy and carramel-like flavour with a lovely wild herb aroma. Manchego – often described as Spain’s version of pecorino. Ottavio offers a young and an aged version. Our 3-month-old baby partners perfectly with locally made Quince paste (aka Membrillo), while the 1 year old is a bit more complex and also works well as a grating cheese. Roquefort – amongst the oldest of cheeses hailing from France and what some call the “King of the Blues”, ours is by one of the top producers, Papillon. 100% sheep milk is aged in caves located at Roquefort sur-Soulzon in the Midi-Pyrenees region.Allegretto – Quebec is known for rind washed cheeses but is producing all styles of cheese now and this one is delicious! From La Sarre, PQ, where a cooler climate helps increase the sugar levels in the pasture and aged for 120 days with an ed-ible rind, this cheese works well both as a slicing or grating cheese.Brebiou – this creamy and delicious bloomy rind cheese from the Pyrenees region of France fools many. It shows like a ripe and runny Brie but wait, it’s made with sheep milk!

250-592-4080www.ottaviovictoria.com2272 Oak Bay Avenue, Victoria, B.C.

March 2012ISSUE 25

NEWSLETTER