Valentine's Day Dinner

Hello lovers and friends!

While I may be about a month late, I figured it would be fun to relate this year's Valentine's Day dinner extravaganza in a blog post. Better late than never!

I basically put this together off the top of my head, with a few bits of inspiration coming to me here and there, in the week leading up to V-Day. For example, for the dessert course, the use of pineapple was based mainly on the fact that it was on sale at my local supermarket.

So, let's just get into it and see how it goes! It must be noted that this is a meal that might require you to take the day off work, or at least cut out a few hours early! I guess it depends on your sweetie's schedule. I had the benefit of having the day off and my love, Kari, working till about 6 pm. It should also be noted that I made all three courses basically in one fell swoop instead of cooking then eating one course at a time. An oven on 200 Fahrenheit keeps food warm without cooking it further, as long as you don't leave the food in for very long: 15 minutes is fine, an hour might be a bit much.

Now, before we get into the preparation portion of the evening, let's assume that all these recipes serve 2 people.

Appetizer Course

For the appetizer course, I was partially inspired by a plate I had at Town Restaurant here in Ottawa last year, where they put some lovely brined green olive spirals over seared sea scallops. It was a beautiful flavour combination that I'd been meaning to attempt to re-create for a while and now was the time. But I also wanted to add some bacon flavouring to the dish as well. After all, scallops and bacon are about as good a flavour combo as one can find, no matter how cliché. Of course, when you rub and smoke your own pork belly for the "bacon", and throw on an olive "relish", maybe you're going beyond clichés...

Sea Scallops w. Pork Belly and Olive Relish

Smoked Pork Belly "Lardons"

Meat

- 2 pounds pork belly, skin removed; cut into 4 equal portions

Rub

- 4 tbsp Berbere spice
- 4 tbsp powdered lime leaf (available at Asian grocery stores, especially Thai)

- 1 cup brown sugar

- Mix well with hands and rub into meat. Seal in a large plastic bag and let sit in fridge overnight. Remove from fridge and pat dry with paper towel. Allow meat to sit out for about an hour to air dry.

- Smoke at 220-230 F for about 2 hours using lump maple charcoal and pecan wood chips.
- Once the pork belly has been smoked, take half and cut into small cubes.

- Fry until crispy and set aside on paper towels.

 



Pork Belly - ready for the smoker after 12 hours rubbed in the fridge

 

Olive Relish

- 6 Kalamata olives and 4 brined green Sicilian olives (they should be a darker green than Manzanilla, firm and come with the pit still in them), pitted and roughly minced.

- 1clove pickled garlic, minced (use raw garlic if you don't have pickled)

- 1 teaspoon each toasted cumin and coriander seeds (to toast spices like this, just put them in a non-stick frying pan at high heat for about 4-5 minutes, moving the pan constantly until the spices toast and become fragrant), ground fine in mortar and pestle or spice grinder (or using a mallet?)

- juice of 1/4 lemon
- Black pepper to taste

- Mix all ingredients in a side serving dish and set aside.

  


Olive Relish

 

Seared Scallops

- 6 large sea scallops, rinsed and patted dry

- 1 tbsp unsalted butter

- In a skillet, melt butter until nearly browning.

- Sear scallops in butter until cooked through (be careful not to overcook!)

- Place scallops on a bed of arugula and top with pork belly and olive relish. You can also add toasted pecans for some extra flavour and crunch. 

This dish should be paired with a nice New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc or a dry Pinot Grigio.


Appetizer course - Butter-Seared Scallops, Smoked Pork Belly and Olive Relish (forgot the damned bed of arugula!)

 

It turned out to be a really tasty appetizer (hell, it could have been an entire meal in itself!). The flavours complimented each other nicely, but I credit the ingredients for that. I just wish I'd remembered the bed of arugula, it would have added a lovely crispness and liveliness to the dish, but its omission didn't really take anything away.

Main Course


There's something about a good piece of beef grilled rare/medium rare that speaks to the sensual nature of Valentine's Day. It's rich, luscious and juicy, especially when it's a very tender cut. I lucked out when shopping for the meat because the butcher (Saslove's) had the tail ends of a beef tenderloin (which is the same cut used for filet mignon) for a very good price. I figured since it was V-Day, I had to go the decadent route with this bad boy. So, after having figured out how to make brown butter not too long ago, I thought a mix of that and truffle oil would be a good way to top the beef. As I made the sauce, I noticed that it lacked body, so why not add some blue cheese?

I wanted to keep the sides fairly simple, so I went with roasted potatoes (albeit purple) and carrots. Now, it's me, so the potatoes had to be topped with smoked blue cheese and the carrots had to be glazed with maple syrup, ginger and a bit of lime juice.

Grilled Beef Tenderloin with Blue Cheese-Truffle Oil-Brown Butter Sauce, Roasted Purple Potatoes and Maple-Ginger Glazed Carrots

In order to help with your time management, I'll be going in order of preparation.


Purple spuds a-roastin'...

Roasted Potatoes

- 1 pound new potatoes (or purple potatoes)

- 1 tbsp olive oil

- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1/2 tsp pepper
- pinch rosemay sprigs
- pinch thyme
- 100 g smoked blue cheese

- Preheat oven to 350 Farenheit.

- Clean potatoes.

- Toss potatoes in a bowl with olive oil, salt, pepper and herbs.

- Line an oven-safe dish with aluminium foil and spread potatoes out.

- Roast potatoes until they can be easily pierced by a fork or toothpick (20 minutes, give or take).

- Remove from oven, slice in half and crumble smoked blue cheese over top.
- Put back in oven until cheese is melted. Reduce heat to 200 F to keep warm.



A rainbow of carrots

Maple-Ginger Glazed Carrots

- 4-5 carrots, peeled and sliced

- 1 tbsp butter

- 1 tbsp minced ginger
- 2 tbsp maple syrup
- juice of 1/4 lime

- Set a pot of salted water to boil.
- Once water is boiling, add carrots and boil to desired softness (10-15 minutes).
- Drain carrots in a strainer.
- In pot, melt butter and sauté ginger for about 2-3 minutes.
- Return carrots to pot and stir in maple syrup and lime.
- Remove from heat and move to oven to keep warm.

Grilled to perfection!

Beef Tenderloin

 - 1 pound beef tenderloin tips

- salt and pepper to taste

- Season beef with salt and pepper

- Prepare fire in grill and get very hot (350 degrees or more). Sear meat for about 5 minutes on each side, getting to rare/medium rare.

- Tent in foil to rest for 10 minutes. Move to oven at 200 degrees to keep warm if necessary.

Brown Butter Sauce

- 1 tbsp salted butter
- 1/2 tsp truffle oil
- 1 tsp crumbled blue cheese (fairly mild)

- Melt butter on high heat and cook until it foams and browns.

- Stir in truffle oil and cheese, stir until cheese has melted.

To serve, slice beef into medallions and plate, spooning sauce over the meat. Serve with carrots and potatoes.  

Beef Tenderloin with Brown Butter Sauce, Maple-Ginger Carrots and Roasted Potatoes

Serve this with a big bold red wine, such as a California Zinfandel. Like this one:



The name says it all...





The result? Quite good I'd say! The beef was perfectly cooked (something I've never been the best at), the sauce was luxurious (luckily I didn't use too much of it), the potatoes were also really tasty. I found the carrots had a bit of a medicinal undertone, but Kari liked 'em!

Dessert


As I've said before, dessert isn't really my forté. I usually avoid making them altogether, but it was V-Day and I had to go above and beyond. Luckily the inspiration for this came pretty easily. We had a gorgeous meal at Play on New Year's Eve and the dessert was a Pineapple Meringue Pie (of sorts) with a Rum Caramel. Well, I didn't have the time or inclination to make a pie crust, but I figured some grilled pineapple would work well, especially if it was swimming in my own rum caramel! So, I picked up a little bottle of the 'good stuff' (Appleton Estate Rum) and made it happen. It helps that the recipe is ridiculously easy! 



Grilled Pineapple with Rum Caramel  



Pineapple

- 1 pineapple, cored and sliced into pieces a 1/2 centimetre thick (how big the actual pieces are is up to you)

- Place on hot grill and grill for about 6-7 minutes a side, until soft but not mush.

Rum Caramel  

- 2 tbsp unsalted butter

- 1 tbsp brown sugar

- 2-3 tbsp high-quality light/amber rum

- 1/4 tsp vanilla extract

- small pinch cinnamon

- Melt butter in a saucepan. Stir in brown sugar; keep stirring until melted.

- Add rum, vanilla and cinnamon.

- Cook sauce for another 3-4 minutes and spoon over grilled pineapple.

I paired this one with one of Kari's favourite drinks: Ice Cider. It's not well known outside of Quebec, we had only first tried it at this year's Wine and Food Show, but Kari was insta-hooked. I actually liked it too! And I HATE the cider you get in bars (e.g. Strongbow). BLECH! But Ice Cider tastes almost like an apple syrup. It's very sweet, but the acidity and tartness of the apple cut through it beautifully, unlike the more well-known Icewines of Ontario which I find achingly cloying.



Dessert - Grilled Pineapple with Rum Caramel; Ice Cider on the side!


This one was a pretty big hit for the Rum Caramel; the pineapple not as much (I undercooked it)... But yeah, I'm thinking Rum Caramel on good vanilla ice cream will be a popular dessert in Casa del Unicorn this Summer!


So there it is! A pretty successful Valentine's Day feast! What did you all make your sweeties? I'd love to hear what you have to say!

Cheers!

BBQ in Ottawa

I've declared it many, many times but I'll reiterate: I LOOOOOOOOOVE Barbecue. And I don't mean grilling a steak over charcoal, because that isn't real Barbecue. Real Barbecue involves cooking meat with indirect heat and smoke. As I've already mentioned a bunch of times (mainly in January 2011 with these two posts), I enjoy smoking/BBQing tremendously. But I'll be the first one to tell you that I'm not nearly as good at it as I should be - I still struggle with getting the tenderness and moisture levels right in my food. So, it's no surprise that I am always on the lookout for tasty slow-cooked smoky goodness whenever it comes to town.

Come June, Ottawa gets its annual visit from the Meat Fairy in the form of Ribfest, which just happens to be on the Sparks Street pedestrian mall, which just happens to be one street north from where I live. Imagine walking through two blocks of slow-smoking pork and chicken every day to and from work. It's a bit crazy. Unfortunately, it's also damned expensive: 22 bucks for a full rack of ribs, and that's just the ribs. Also, the line-ups are completely ridiculous and it's very much hit and miss when it comes to quality. I had a couple of half-racks last year that had the fall-off-the-bone tenderness, but were a big ol' sad trombone when it came to flavour. To be honest, what I really love about Ribfest is the Pulled Pork. It's better value than the ribs (6-7 bucks for a pulled pork sandwich), and pulled pork is a lot harder to screw up flavour-wise. I failed to notice an earthquake hitting Ottawa in June 2010 because I was too enrapt in my sandwich...

But Ottawa isn't exactly what you'd call a Barbecue mecca. At least it wasn't until some new culinary establishments hit town over the past year or so. The first of these was The Smoque Shack, which opened in August of 2011 on York Street, just past the corner of Dalhousie in the former digs of Caveau Szechuan. It was a bit of a revelation of tasty goodness, but I'll get more into that later. In November, Fatboys Southern Smokehouse opened up a few blocks away on Murray Street. Finally, in January 2012, the Mill Street Brew Pub opened up near the War Museum. In this post I'll be looking at all three establishments, but I'll be giving a special look at Mill Street in a future post, it deserves a fair bit of special attention for more than its BBQ offerings.

So in this post, I'll just be focusing on Smoque Shack and Fatboys.

Smoque Shack

There was a lot of excitement for both Kari and me heading into our first trip to Smoque Shack since it was the first time Ottawa had a proper Barbecue joint, or so we hoped. I figure it was around October, about a month or two after it had opened and we were hearing good things. It helped that Kari knew one of the owners, Warren, from his stint as Executive Chef at the now-defunct Sweetgrass.

We entered where we first saw the bar, it was a nice relaxed set-up, probably good for a quick lunch drink and nosh. They sat us in the back of the house where the majority of tables are located. The ambiance and atmosphere was a good mix of casual sports bar and slightly trendy. The clientele ran the gamut of hordes of university kids getting ready for a night out, first dates and 3-generational tables; no one really seemed out of place.

Our server came out to take our drink order and to my delight, it turns out Smoque Shack is a Mill Street purveyor, something that made me quite happy as I loooooove Mill Street's beers. It was here that Kari first tried Mill Street's Vanilla Porter and the love affair continues to this day...

A pint of Mill Street Vanilla Porter cures all ills...

Next came the menu, and what a menu it was! So many selections! And to my surprise, not only is Smoque Shack all about the BBQ, Warren also played up his Jamaican background by adding Jerk Pork and Jerk Chicken to the offerings.

The menu is set up in (what I guess is) the traditional BBQ/Soul Food way where you get your meat and add sides as you choose for whatever their cost. Example: You can get a half pound of Pulled Pork for 8 bucks, then add sides like Mac n' Cheese for $3.50 or Sweet Potato Fries for $5. So, it allows for satisfying a simple meat craving, or having a full-bore pigout. All depends on hunger and budget.

Now, what first grabbed our attention was an entry from the "Snack and Grazing" menu: Rib Tips. "Marinated and fried up crisp, served dusted in our special seasoning or tossed in one of our signature sauces: Hot, Pirri Pirri, Sweet Chili, Memphis Red Sauce, BBQ, Jerk Sauce". Yeah, this had to be in my mouth... So, as our server came back to take our order, we asked what sauce would be best and he suggested we stick with the simple BBQ. Thank you Mr. Server for that! It was soooo good! I seriously have to talk myself out of ordering the Rib Tips every time I go just for the sake of trying all the other tasty items on the menu! Imagine little nuggets of rib meat with just a bit of crunch from deep frying. They're not the same texture as actual smoked ribs (they're a bit tougher, but not in an unpleasant way), I guess you could say they're a porcine version of chicken wings. Regardless, should you ever go to Smoque Shack, I cannot recommend these enough to you. EAT THEM!!!!!!

Rib Tips, must eat, soooo goood!!!




































Now, since then, I've had all kinds of different goodies from Smoque Shack. I've had their brisket, which was heavenly (coffee-based BBQ sauce? Yes please!). I've had the Jerk Pork, which was perhaps a little tamer than the true authentic melt-your-face Jerk that a few friends of Caribbean descent have made for me in the past, but still delicious. Also had their chicken and pulled pork, both super-tasty as well. Oddly enough, I haven't yet tried the pork or beef ribs. Maybe due to cost, maybe because I just wasn't in a rib eating mood. Or maybe just because the goddamn Rib Tips keep calling me back... Either way, I will try their ribs next time I go and give y'all an update or comment.

A special note on their burger. I know, I know; getting a burger at a BBQ place seems a bit pointless. But to be honest, it was one of the best burgers I've ever had. There was a touch of chili powder in the meat and the patty was super-thick, but properly cooked and juicy (I don't care what anyone says about a 'rare' burger, pink in the middle of a burger is NOT a good thing!). Definitely something to try if you're in the mood for a burger.

And of course it has bacon!

The sides are also pretty good, but there are some hits and some misses. Their Greens are really tasty, as they use a variety of greens (kale, chard, etc.), not just collard greens. They cook them with bacon and there's tremendous flavour, but I still prefer the old school preparation with smoked pork hock that they serve at Jean Alberts. Other sides worth trying are the Mac n' Cheese (more bacon!) and Sweet Potato Fries (always perfectly crispy and really well seasoned).


Purple Greens?





So, that's Smoque Shack. Next, Fatboys.

Fatboys Southern Smokehouse

The anticipation for Fatboys opening was only a bit less keen than that for Smoque Shack. It's located on Murray Street just east of Sussex, right next to the building where Kari works (and I used to work for ten years, so familiar territory!). We went right after it opened, I believe its second week of business in December of last year. The interior is quite the marvel. It's a huge, almost warehouse-like location (which was a shock considering how small the space looks on the outside) with a grand open-concept kitchen. Where Smoque Shack has a cozy intimate feel, Fatboys is a bustling hive of activity. We met the owner who told us that the concept was to be as authentically Southern U.S. as possible, for good or ill.

As we sat down, a very young and cheerful young lady came up to take our drink order. Being a firm believer that good BBQ needs good beer, I asked what they had on tap. "Keith's, Bud, blah blah blah" I stopped her before she got going. "What sort of microbrews do you have?" I asked. The answer threatened any future visits from yours truly:

"I don't know what a microbrew is." Aaaaaaaand facepalm.

Now, I understand wanting to keep an authentic experience, but you should also know your potential clientele. This is Ottawa, not Florida, and no matter how authentic an experience you wish to give your customers, GIVE THEM THE BEST BEER POSSIBLE! We don't screw around in this town when it comes to our brewskis! (except maybe the idiot hipsters who have convinced themselves that Pabst Blue Ribbon is drinkable).

Anyway, with the disappointment accepted, I instead got a bottle of Busch beer (as in half of the Anheuser-Busch brewing company, the ones responsible for/guilty of brewing Budweiser). For a mass produced American beer, it actually wasn't too bad, but it sure as hell wasn't a Vanilla Porter or Steam Whistle!

So with this annoying, but not ruinous, strike against the experience, I was offered a bit of a tour of the facilities (the bonuses in a subtle mention of "I write a food blog" can be pretty damn cool at times!). We were shown the smoker up close and it was one hell of a contraption! Beats the hell out of my little amateur barrel smoker! Also met the "Pit Boss" and he seemed to know what he was doing - I was getting excited to try out what he was throwing down!




That is a whole lot of meat! - photo by kira_generika







































So, back at our tables, we figured it was time to get on with the whole "shoving smokey meaty goodness in our mouths" portion of the evening.  Between the two of us, we thought it would be best if we shared The Kentucky Trio, which is a 1/4 lb. each of three different kinds of meat with three sides. After some debate, we decided on Pulled Pork, Memphis Pork Ribs (so dry-rubbed with sauce on the side) and Smoked Turkey (I've never had it nor seen it in a resto before). For sides we had Smashed Potatoes with gravy, Creamed Corn and Mac n' Cheese. Now, none of the meats came sauced, which is fine since they have squeeze bottles of a BBQ sauce, a spicy sauce and a mustard-based sauce. They were all pretty tasty, especially the spicy, but nothing that made me gasp in pleasure or feel jealous.

As for the meat, well, it was kinda disappointing. The Ribs were a bit tough and they had no flavour on their own. I understand Memphis-style ribs don't come with sauce on them, but that's when you need to ROCK the rub and this rub tasted of mundane paprika and that's about it. The same applied to the Pulled Pork, also under-rubbed and bland. I wish I could say the sauces saved either, but they didn't really marry well.

We tried the sides and they too weren't remarkable: the Creamed Corn tasted fake-ish, as did the Mac n' Cheese, but the gravy on the Smashed Potatoes was really good.

What saved the meal, thankfully, was the Smoked Turkey. It wasn't super moist in and of itself, but tender and DELICIOUS! Especially when smothered in a metric ton of gravy. I would go back just to eat lots and lots of it and slip into a happy tryptophan coma. But unfortunately, that's about all I'd go back for, although they do have live Rockabilly acts now and then, so that might be worth another trip.




Fatboys' Kentucky Trio - photo by kira_generika

  

So there you have it, a backgrounder on the meager state of BBQ in Ottawa. I commend Smoque Shack for giving this town what we needed, and caution Fatboys to step up their culinary game and add some Canadian flavour on their drink menu. From what I've read on restaurant review sites and food blogs, my opinion is fairly common. Hopefully improvements at Fatboys will happen and help make Ottawa's downtown a "two-awesome-BBQ-joints area". Mill Street has shown themselves quite adept at making smoky goodness, but I wouldn't quite classify it as a BBQ joint. And in the end, I still, ecstatically, have Smoque Shack's tasty goodness to keep me happy. And my smoker on the back deck, of course...

Happy snarfing of smoke-kissed carcasses of joy! 

Your morning cup of awesome

Hi there! Just a quick rant on coffee, because why not?

If you're anything like most North Americans, you probably need a decent cup of coffee in the morning to get your motor running. Lord knows I do! Now, I've developed a caffeine sensitivity over the years, so I'm limited to 2 cups a day (albeit I've been known to drink 2 Large-sized cups a day from one of the 8 million coffee shops near home and work). With that limited capacity for consumption comes a heightened sense of discerning taste when it comes to what kind of java I want in my mouth. In downtown Ottawa, most people get their coffee from one of the following purveyors: Tim Horton's, Starbucks, Second Cup or Bridgehead The standard Tim Horton's is swill, Starbucks is meh, Bridgehead's dark roast tends to have a lovely caramel-molasses aftertaste (reminiscent of sponge toffee), while Second Cup is more chocolatey. And, as far as local purveyors go, Bread and Sons make the best brewed coffee around. But I find nothing beats the coffee you make at home, if you have the right coffee and system.

Now, like most people, I have a cheap Mr. Coffee that makes 8 cups of decent brewed coffee. I usually get President's Choice West Coast Dark Roast. But this does not a cup of awesome make, more like a cup of sufficient...

Looking back on the various cups of Joe I've had over my lifetime, I have to make a confession: when I was in university and still living with my parents, most mornings they'd make a pot of coffee stronger than Thunderlips. And they'd usually make it at 5 in the morning. By the time I got to it around noon, it had turned into a viscous grey-hued brew of doom. And that was how I liked it! So, my coffee palette was underdeveloped. At least until I moved to Vancouver for a few months and started making coffee using roasted and sold at a local Portuguese café. My method was to simply place the grounds in a conical drip filter over an empty cup and pour hot water over the whole thing. It was really really tasty and up until recently, that was how I drank my coffee when camping.

But it wasn't until I met the lovely and vivacious Kari that I discovered the best cup of coffee in the world is actually Turkish Coffee! Turkish coffee is a preparation where you take ultra-finely ground coffee, out a tablespoon or two at the bottom of a cup and pour boiling water over it. You let it sit for a while and all the grounds sort of gel at the bottom. This stuff is so good that I don't even put any milk or cream in it; it's the only cup of coffee I've ever had black. Now, granted that she gets the "good stuff" straight from the owner of Byward Fruit Market (I don't even know if he sells it to the public!), but if you get a chance to try Turkish Coffee from a reliable source using the best beans possible, DO IT! You won't regret it. Just remember not to drink it right away unless you like a mouth full of coffee grounds...

So, that's MY morning cup of awesome. What's yours?

Riffin' on the Classics, part 2

Hi all!

Picking up where we left off, today we're going to look at my take on Shepherd's Pie (a basic dish of layered ground beef, corn and mashed potatoes). First, let's examine the history behind this fairly common classic. Turns out, if wikipedia is to be trusted, that Shepherd's Pie traces its origins to the late 18th Century when potatoes were becoming a staple food in poorer parts of England and Scotland. What we commonly know as Shepherd's Pie here was (and still is) called Cottage Pie in the UK. Shepherd's Pie was similar, but used lamb or mutton instead of beef, which makes pretty obvious sense to me! And yet, the beef version is what we know as Shepherd's Pie here in North America (well Canada at least). Even more odd is the French Canadian name for it: Pâté chinois (Chinese pie). S'il y'a des Québecois/Québecoises qui peuvent me reconter l'histoire de ce nom, ça sera bien apprécié.

Shepherd's Pie is a fairly simple classic that pretty much screams 'comfort food'. The great thing is, no one ever said you have to follow the standard model of ground beef, corn and mashed potatoes. So, being the kind of guy who always likes shake things up, I went on my own path of Shepherdspie-y goodness (that's a word, right?) I used a chorizo-onion-garlic base instead of ground beef, I added olives to the "corn layer" and instead of mashed potatoes I used mashed sweet potatoes and topped it with a layer of breadcrumbs and Parmesan cheese. Also, instead of using just regular ketchup, I had the evil Ketchup of Doooooom as a condiment. What is the Ketchup of Doom? Well, I'll tell you!

Ketchup of Doom (spicy ketchup)

- 1 cup ketchup (I prefer organic or at least one with lower sodium)

- 1 chipotle pepper in adobo sauce, minced, seeds included

- juice of 1/4 lime

- Mix all ingredients well, preferably in a near-empty ketchup bottle with a silly hand-drawn (and possibly misspelled) label:

I think the evil-looking "e" saves it...

OK, play time's over. Now we have to actually get into the making of this tasty dish.

Shepherd's Pie à la Nick

Ingredients

- 1 large sweet potato, cut into chunks

- 1/2 cup milk

- 1 tbsp butter

- 1 dry-cured chorizo sausage (I like it spicy, but that's a matter of taste), finely chopped

- 1 medium onion, minced

- 4 cloves garlic, minced

- 2 tbsp olive oil

- 1 cup frozen corn

- 5 Kalamata olives, pitted and thinly sliced

- 1/2 cup breadcrumbs

- 2 tbsp Parmesan cheese, grated

- pinch dried rosemary and/or thyme

Directions

- Place a large pot of water on to boil. Once boiling, add sweet potato and oil until fork tender (about 20-30 minutes).

- Once cooked, drain the sweet potatoes in a strainer. Place in large bowl. Add milk and butter and mash until creamy. Set aside.

- Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees F.

- In a large skillet, heat olive oil on medium-high heat. Sauté chorizo, onions and garlic until onions are soft and nearly translucent (about 10 minutes)

- In a bowl, mix breadcrumbs, Parmesan and rosemary/thyme.

- Using a (nearly) square bake pan (like the one pictured below, I don't remember the precise measurements), layer the chorizo mix, followed by the corn, then olives. Spread the sweet potatoes out for the next layer. Top with breadcrumb mixture.

- Put in oven for about 20 minutes (until breadcrumbs are golden brown)

- Serve in a bowl or on a plate with your favourite condiment!

Baked and ready to go with some Ketchup of Doom and a cold beer...

...which later became a glass of Rioja... MAGIC!

So, that's another classic given a radical and delicious makeover. Enjoy!

Riffin' on the classics, Part 1 - Caesar Salad and Garlic Bread

Hello there!

Today I'm taking a look at some familiar meals/food items that can sometimes get boring when done the old-fashioned way. But with anything from a few twists to an utter reinvention, you can get the dual advantage of eating something you know that you like, but still make it your own and make it new.
For the recipes in today's post, I want you to project yourself into any 'run-of-the-mill' restaurant you've been to and think of a few items that are inevitably on the menu. One's on the Salad menu, the other under Appetizers or Sides. Starting to get the picture? You digging what I'm talking about? Why, it's Caesar Salad and Garlic Bread, of course!

Now, what's interesting about Caesar Salad is that it's not from Italy at all. This well-loved salad has nothing to do with Roman emperors. It gets it's name from the chef who invented it, Caesar Cardini (who, to be fair, was an Italian immigrant, so I guess it's inclusion on Italian menus isn't completely off the authenticity mark) who, according to most of the stories I've read/heard/seen on TV, put it together in a pinch after running out of a lot of "normal" salad ingredients. Disputes abound, as with all recipes, as to who really invented it, but it is generally attributed to Mr. Cardini.

As for Garlic Bread, it would seem that it too has its origins in North America, at least according to the Internet...

Anyhoo, enough of the history lesson, let's get to the food dammit!

1 - Caesar Salad

So, why Caesar Salad as a meal? Well, Kari and I decided to make these classic "sides" as a main meal, mostly because we're trying to cut down on our meat intake (bacon doesn't count!) and eat more veggies. So, this seemed like a light enough meal to fit the bill.

The first step was figuring out a good recipe for Caesar Dressing. Now, there are a few basics to most salad dressings, namely vinegar and oil. But there are a myriad of variations on Caesar Dressing, so I had to cannibalize a bunch of them.

Thing is about "authentic" Caesar Dressing is that is calls for raw egg yolk. Which brings me to today's 'foodie rant'. Something that has been cropping up a lot lately in the 'gourmet realm' is the use of lightly cooked or raw egg yolk in dishes. Apparently the egg yolk is supposed to flow over other elements in dishes to tie them together and add a vibe of richness. Well, it's no secret that I'm not the hugest egg fan and when I do eat them I want them cooked to death. Runny yolk is about the least appetizing thing ever. Now this is just my taste, but I do wonder if there's a deeper split over the yolk issue out there... I encountered this phenomenon was when I ate at Beckta last year and a dish was supposed to have the "break the yolk so that it runs over everything" element to it, but much to my surprise and joy, the yolk was nice and firm. In other words, the cook might have screwed it up, but it was a screw-up I preferred.

So, with all grumbling on eggs being done, I'm still without a replacement for egg yolk in my salad dressing. Buuuuuut, then I realized that I had mayo! That would work!

So, with my egg replacement on hand and a few ideas rolling around my head, here's what I came up with for dressing (with a lot of guidance from the Food Network Web site):

Caesar Salad Dressing

- 1/2 cup mayonnaise (that's mayonnaise, NOT imitation dressing-type crap. Why? THIS is why! - many thanks to The Oatmeal)
- 3 tbsp olive oil
- 1 tsp white wine vinegar (or red wine vinegar)
- 1-2 cloves garlic, finely minced
- 1 tsp Dijon mustard
- juice of 1/4 lemon
- a few dashes Worcestershire sauce
- 2-3 anchovy fillets, roughly chopped
- 3-4 capers, minced
- Freshly ground black pepper
- pinch smoked paprika
- 1 tsp freshly grated Parmesan cheese

- Blend all ingredients together in a non-reactive bowl or jar. Cover and refrigerate for an hour or so.

Next step is making the salad itself, which is ridiculously simple:

Caesar Salad

Ingredients

- 1 head romaine lettuce, base cut off, leaves washed and torn-or-cut into bite-sized pieces
- 1 portion Caesar Salad Dressing
- 3 strips well-cooked bacon (it should be crumbly)
- 3-4 tbsp grated Parmesan cheese
- 1 cup croutons (store-bought or homemade or Polenta Croutons - see below)
- black pepper to taste
- lemon wedges

Dressing

- In a large non-metal bowl, mix lettuce, dressing and bacon with salad tongs or by hand.
- Serve salad individually with a lemon wedge and top with croutons, cheese and pepper.

NOTE: In an additional effort to be original, we made Polenta Croutons. Essentially we took some pre-cooked polenta, cut it into cubes, tossed it with olive oil and baked until crispy. The basics of cooking polenta can be found here: http://www.wikihow.com/Make-Polenta. Essentially it's all about adding hot liquid into cornmeal a bit at a time and stirring constantly for 20-30 minutes. It's labour intensive, but think of how strong your forearms will be!

In the end, the use of mayo over egg yolk made it a lighter tasting salad, the Polenta Croutons were an interesting change of texture (crispy outside, slightly soft in the middle) and the addition of smoked paprika to the dressing added a little more 'oomph' to the whole thing. I was pretty pleased with the results! Also, it had bacon.

2 - Garlic Bread with Cheese (aka Garlic-Cheesy Bread)

Next on our list is a variation on the old standby, Garlic Bread with Cheese.

OK, I'm not going to go too crazy and start baking my own bread (although I do aim to try it one of these days), so I used a whole-wheat baguette from Hartman's (next time this comes up on the "to cook" list, I am definitely using the organic Sourdough Baguette from Bread and Sons Bakery). As for the rest of it, it got a bit tweak-crazy. First off, no garlic butter is complete without a splash or two of white wine; second, I figured caramelized shallots would be a nice accompaniment, so those went in as well; third, when you have a boon of fresh mushrooms, but they're getting a bit on the shriveled side, they really, REALLY, add some surprisingly delicious depth to Garlic Bread; and finally, who the hell said that the cheese has to be mozzarella? I see your mozz and raise you old Cheddar and Danish blue cheese!

Salivating yet? Well, let's get this sucker made then!

Garlic Bread with Cheese

Ingredients

- 3-4 cremini or white mushrooms, cleaned and thinly sliced

- 2-3 shallots, minced

- 3-4 cloves garlic, minced

- 1/2 cup salted butter

- 1/4 cup dry white wine

- 1 baguette, sliced in half and each half quartered (for a total of 8 pieces)

- 1 cup old Cheddar cheese, grated 

- 3 tbsp Danish blue cheese, crumbled

- In a saucepan or skillet, melt butter on medium heat.

- Increase heat to medium-high and add mushrooms, shallots and garlic.

- Sauté for 4-5 minutes, then add wine.

- Reduce heat to medium-low and let cook for another 4-5 minutes, until veggies are well-cooked. Keep stirring to ensure nothing sticks and butter doesn't burn. Remove from heat.

- Set oven to Broil.

- Using a spoon, carefully coat each piece of bread with layer of garlic butter mix. Top all pieces evenly with cheeses.

- Broil in oven until cheese melts and turns golden, pay attention to bread to avoid burning. Serve with Caesar Salad.

So that's it! Verdict? Really tasty Garlic Bread! Try this method out, I think you'll be very pleased. Lord knows Kari and I were!

Garlic Cheese Bread, as it was meant to be!

That's it for today but I'll be back soon with Shepherd's Pie that doesn't use ground beef or mashed potatoes. Am I blowing your mind yet?!?!? Tune in next time!

Cheers!