Meat on a Stick

Hi there, 

I don't about you, but there's something super-fun about eating food on a stick. Popsicles, candy apples, lamb, Chicken n' Waffles; all made better by sticking 'em on pieces of wood. Food on a stick is kind of a universal fixture in pretty much all cuisines, but maybe the most widespread example is the Kebab. Kebabs are a cornerstone of all kinds of cuisines (CLEARLY!), but I've never made them before. 

The idea to make kebabs actually started with Kari having a hankering for roasted cauliflower, which to me always calls for Indian flavouring.  But, it was the night of SummerSlam and it seemed like a good night to fire up the BBQ and put some meat on a stick (with a bunch of veggies intertwined). With that in mind, I looked to the spice rack for some ideas on how to give the meat an Indian flair without relying simply on a whack of curry powder.  

Luckily, I still had lots of panch poran spice mix leftover from when I made Dal in the Winter. I find this is a great way to add lots of flavour to any dish and make it taste authentically Indian without relying on the more "pedestrian" curry powder. So, using that, a whack of other spices and a few other marinade/wet rub basics (ginger, garlic, oil, salt, etc.), I put together a very potent marinade for beef. 


Indian-Spiced Beef Kebabs

Makes 6 kebabs

Ingredients

- 1 lb. beef, cubed (I used hanger steak for this recipe because I love its deep beefy flavour, but stewing beef cubes will work, or really any cut of beef; it's up to you - Note on hanger steak: there's a lot of membrane and sinew to trim, so if you want to do things easy, stick to beef cubes)
- 1 large red onion, cut into large chunks
- 1 large red or yellow or orange pepper, cut into chunks
- 24 large cherry tomatoes 
- 6 wooden skewers, soaked in water for an hour

Marinade

- 2 tbsp olive oil
- 1 inch piece of ginger, minced
- 1-2 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 tsp panch poran spice blend
- 1/2 tsp coriander seeds
- 1 whole star anise
- 1/2 tsp fenugreek seeds
- pinch cayenne pepper (or more for more heat)
- 1 tsp favourite hot sauce
- salt to taste
- 1 tsp lime juice
- 1 tbsp orange juice 
- 1 tsp orange zest

Beef, meet a metric ton of flavour. You kids have fun. 

Directions

- Grind panch poran, coriander. star anise and fenugreek in spice grinder or mortar and pestle.
- Combine all ingredients in a large bowl. Add meat and toss together until well coated. 
- Place meat in a large zipper bag and marinate for at least an hour, 5-6 hours is best. 
- Thread meat and vegetables on skewers, alternating between meat and various veggies (tomato, meat, onion, meat, pepper, meat, etc.).  
- Grill kebabs on 350 degree BBQ until meat is well cooked, but not burnt (do as I say, not as I do).

Ignore the black bits, otherwise it's delicious

I might sound a bit conceited, but goddamn I make tasty meat! The marinade was perfect, instilling a lot of strong Indian flavours while doing its job to tenderize the beef (which is important for so many cuts of meat). Also, the veggies were cooked the way I like them, with the tomatoes being nearly stewed in their own skins, the peppers being balanced between crunch and soft and the onions being crisp without being raw. For my first attempt at kebabs, I think I nailed it. Well, minus the burnt parts. 

Now, this meal was inspired by a craving for cauliflower, so I needed to make the ever popular and easy Roasted Cauliflower:



Roasted Cauliflower

- 1 head cauliflower, cut into bite-sized pieces 
- 2 tbsp olive oil
- 1 tsp curry powder
- 1/2 tsp ginger powder
- 1/2 tsp granulated garlic

Directions

- Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit
- In a large bowl, mix cauliflower, oil and seasoning until cauliflower is well coated.
- Roast in oven for about 20-30 minutes until cauliflower is tender and golden.

Tasty veggie goodness!

This is one of those methods of cooking cauliflower that's become the norm in our household. It's simple, easy and the spices always bring out the richness of the vegetable. 

Now, just kebabs and cauliflower isn't quite enough to make a full meal, is it? I figured some potatoes would be a good idea. I also figured that just boiling wouldn't be quite tasty enough, so what I did was boil them, then pan fry them with some Indian-style seasoning. I couldn't come up with a clever name, so I'm just going to call them "Twice Cooked Potatoes":

Twice Cooked Potatoes

Ingredients

- 4 medium sized potatoes, diced 
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- 3-4 cloves garlic, minced
- 1/2 tsp white pepper
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1/2 tsp turmeric 
- 1/2 tsp dried thyme
- pinch cinnamon
- pinch nutmeg
- 1/4 cup cilantro. chopped
- juice of half a lime

Directions

- Bring water to a boil and boil potatoes until slightly tender.
- Drain potatoes in a colander. 
- Heat oil in large frying pan and saute garlic for 2 minutes. 
- Add potatoes and spices and fry in pan until potatoes develop a golden crust.
- Once cooked, toss potatoes in a large bowl with lime juice and cilantro and serve. 

Something different than "regular" potatoes, but still super-easy to make

Now, I am not the biggest fan of potatoes (my Irish roots are ashamed of my taste buds), so adding as much flavour to them as possible just makes sense to me. So, the seasoning gave some much needed flavour to them, but the lime juice and cilantro made them jump up and do a can-can in my mouth. I wouldn't be surprised if just boiling the potatoes and adding the lime juice and cilantro would be enough on its own to make a kickass side dish. But then again, might as well take the extra ten minutes to fry them in seasoning to add that much more flavour. Regardless, I'm calling this one a success. 

All in all, this was a fantastic late summer feast to enjoy while watching Daniel Bryan kick John Cena's head off... 

Enjoy! 

LunchQuest!

Hey there!

As a denizen of and worker in Ottawa's downtown core, I have a fairly unique perspective on lunch, specifically finding the jewels in a crowded field (of course, there are probably hundreds of people who work in my area who feel that way). Now, logically, I assume that lunch is the meal most eaten and prepared outside the home. While many folks are assiduous with their use of lunchrooms and thermos bags, the sheer volume of people eating out at lunch, especially in the heart of Canada's public service district, is amazing. There are literally dozens of shops that exist and are open only to correspond with the lunch hour.

The problem is that a LOT of them are either chains like Subway or Tim Horton's or serve somewhat uninspired, albeit somewhat satisfactory, food. If you've ever eaten at the Esplanade Laurier food court, you might get my point (although the Greek place makes a kickass moussaka). So in this post I'm going to share some of my discoveries! 

Note: The noontime feeding scenario has changed a bit since the advent of new food trucks and carts, as I've discussed in this post. 

Bread and Sons

Yeah, yeah. You'd think that with all the props I give these guys, I'm on the payroll or something, but they really are one of the better purveyors of lunch time fare. Their pizza is very tasty, all vegetarian fare with toppings like fresh mushrooms, roast garlic, cherry tomatoes, kalamata olives, sliced fresh jalapeno and many, many more, with cheeses ranging from good 'ol mozzarella to ricotta to gouda to feta. They even offer a vegan pizza that uses kale instead of cheese! They do soup, but I've never partaken. They have a pretty taste range of salad as well, but the big selling point for me is the pizza and their sandwiches, specifically their Avocado Sandwich. It got voted best cheap sandwich in the city on one Web site and I'm a big fan. Avocado slices, red onion, cilantro, tomato, lettuce, sunflower seeds and a touch of balsamic vinegar all served on organic sourdough bread. It's about as fulfilling a sandwich as it gets in vegetarian circles.
 

The King of veggie sammiches!

The German Town Deli

One of GovernmentTown's longest-serving noontime fixtures

It's good to know that there's still a throwback or two in the vast field of lunch providers. The German Town Deli is about as throwbacky as it gets! We're talking simple and cheap. This is probably the last place in town you can get a sandwich for under 2 bucks. Granted it's just meat and bread, but it's a good amount of meat, the bread's always fresh (and they use Rideau Bakery rye, which is pretty much the king of all breads) and they provide packets of mustard for free! What else do you need? Oh well, maybe a Landjager... They also make a ripping lentil soup (thankfully, *with* big hunks of pork in it)!

The latest offering for me was a Bavarian meatloaf sandwich "all-dressed" (meaning lettuce, tomato and mayo) for 3 bucks. Not too shabby considering Subway would be at least twice that much. All in all, the value for money is one of the main reasons I love this place.

Not bad for 3 bucks...

The Soup Guy at Le Muffin Plus


It's rare to find really amazing food offered in a mall food court, but that is exactly what happens every weekday at the World Exchange Centre at lunchtime. At a little sandwich counter, a gentleman named Claudio, better known as "The Soup Guy" whips up some of the most delicious and interesting soups this city, maybe even this world, has ever seen. Don't believe me? Well, I lay the gauntlet at your feet. In the few times I've been, I've had classics like gumbo and a cream of chicken variation, but it's the Soup Guy's inventiveness that really makes the food special. Just the other day he was serving up a roasted red pepper based soup with papaya, mango and pear. Crazypants!

A Bowl of "Island Breeze" 

But the REAL masterpiece is his Philly Cheesesteak Soup. It tastes just like the sandwich, but in soup form. If you never believed a bowl of soup could be a meal unto itself, this will likely change your mind. Unfortunately, it's not always in the rotation, but keep an eye out for it!

Well, that's about it for this post on lunch. I'm sure like any good tale, it'll have a sequel. 

Cheers!

The Food Trucks (and Carts) Are Here!!!!!!!! (pt. 1)

Hey kids, I'm back and super-excited about this post!


Ottawa has a poorly earned reputation for being the "town that fun forgot". I happen to know better, mainly because I hang out at the Dominion Tavern, as do some of the city's most creative people. But even though our arts, music and many other communities are small and somewhat overlooked, there is one area in which our town has a pretty strong following and community, and that's our food. Even though we might get overlooked in guides and "top 50 lists", Ottawa has a strong foodie culture (might have something to do with all those public servants and their disposable incomes). But up until recently, one thing had been missing to make Ottawa's food scene really exciting: a decent fleet of street food trucks and carts. 

For decades we were saddled with chip wagons and hot dog carts and almost nothing else (with some exceptions like Stone Soup Foodworks). Maybe this was a concerted effort by city authorities (who may, in fact, be the ones who want to keep the fun out of Ottawa) to prevent the city from developing a street food presence, or maybe the suburban mindset has taken over so deeply that Montana's is somehow considered the apex of good food... who knows? Luckily, city council eventually saw the light and as of May 2013, a whole slew of new and interesting food trucks and carts have come out of the woodwork. I'm doubly excited since one of my professional fantasies is to open my own food truck some day. At least the legal obstacles have shrunk!

I've managed to try out a few of the new spots, but there are many more to peruse. So, in this post, I'll cover the first three with more to come in the coming weeks. So, in order of when I tried them, we have Raon Kitchen, Ottawa Streat Gourmet and Angry Dragonz. Let's get at 'er!


Raon Kitchen

There’s something to be said for doing one thing and doing it really well. This is very much the case with one of the first entities in the great Ottawa Street Food Revival of 2013, Raon Kitchen. This simple little food cart located on Bank Street between Slater and Albert streets (conveniently around the corner from my office) serves the Korean dish Bibimbap, which is essentially a mix of rice, meat and veg. Kari and I got to give it a try on their second day and it was AMAZEBALLS!!! 

So much awesome from such a small contraption

The dish comes with seasoned rice (I think they use rice vinegar in it), mixed veggies, your choice of beef, chicken and tofu, egg and is served with a small container of homemade kimchee. It was a fantastic mix of salty, sour, sweet and spicy. The portion isn’t huge for 7 bucks compared to some of the cheaper, greasier selections available in downtown Ottawa (which is ridiculously packed with lunch places), but I think it’s a quality meal for the price. I was more than satisfied after devouring every last morsel.  

All kinds of goodness going on!

Ottawa Streat Gourmet

I have some aversion to the idea of clever puns in business names, but to each their own! Streat Gourmet (Str"eat", get it?) is a truck focused on fresh, tasty goodness. It's set up on the corner of O'Connor and Queen, so it's fairly busy during the week. On the day I went by (early June), the menu consisted of a Brie in Phyllo Pastry for 10 bucks and a Blackened Trout Sandwich with Slaw and Lemon Mayo for 12 bucks. Both came with a green salad on the side. Not one to resist either fish or blackening, I went with the trout sandwich. 

I dig the homage to Ottawa's old street sign design

My impressions were a bit mixed: In the sandwich's case, the fish was perfectly tender and flavourful (albeit the piece was a bit small), but it wasn't even close to blackened, more like bronzed. It wasn't spicy at all and there was no crust from searing spices onto the meat, which is what blackening is! The bun was fresh and tasty and slightly chewy, which was a bonus. The mayo was very low key and could have used a bit more zing and the slaw wasn't really all that interesting. As for the side salad, the green goddess dressing on it was superb, creamy and garlicky, but it was only greens. A few other veggies would have been nice. 

Mmmmm, trout...

Streat Gourmet is kind of the opposite of Raon Kitchen in that the menu is ever-changing, so I may have to give it another shot soon. 



Angry Dragonz

Angry Dragonz is a truck that, God help me, is about a 5 minute walk from my house. They serve what they call "Asian fusion", I call it damn good! 

That's a spiffy lookin' vehicle!

  
These cats are ambitious as heck, boasting a menu of over a dozen different items, with more in the works! I've been about five times now (proximity to home is a big incentive) and I'm amazed at how friendly, energetically and efficiently the staff works in such a small space, with three people milling about making egg rolls, tasty skewers, epic rice and noodle dishes, and crispy golden egg batter waffles. 

So many choices! 

So, here's a quick rundown of some of the dishes I've had:

- Egg Rolls: Egg rolls are one of those things that are best when you don't mess with them. After all, why change a classic. With that in mind, the Egg Rolls at Angry Dragonz are classic American-Chinese style done really, really well. I usually get them whenever I'm there. You can get a pair for 3 bucks or add one to your rice or noodle bowl for a buck. 

- Lamb Skewers: I can't rave enough about these. I bought them on my first visit after getting there a bit late and discovering all their rice had sold out. So, I figured I'd try the Lamb Skewers on a lark. Wow. Just wow. These things are meaty perfection. The lamb doesn't taste too "lamby" and it's marinated in a cumin-based marinade, then topped with honey, chili and some kind of saucy deliciousness. It is out of this world. Mind you, that's just my opinion because Kari wasn't as big a fan of the cumin-centric flavour (which is also how they season their beef skewers). They also offer chicken and tofu skewers, all of them being sold at 3 skewers for 5 bucks. 

Lunch victory!

- Chicken Panang: This dish was my first non-epic-win. It was a rice dish topped with, essentially, a Thai style red curry with chicken and coconut milk. Don't get me wrong, it was delicious, but it was also pretty damn spicy! Like, way more spicy than most red curries, including my own recipe. Maybe I'm a wimp, but the level of heat made it hard to scarf down. 

Yes I'm using a fork, sue me.

So, those are a few of the initial samplings from Angry Dragonz (I've had more since). Of the three trucks/carts mentioned in this post, they're by far my favourite, but that might be based on a geographic bias and variety. 

All in all, so far so good in the genesis of the Ottawa food truck scene, at least from my perspective. I'm looking forward to exploring all of them around the city. Any excuse for a bike ride, right?

Cheers!

Po' Man's Oyster Po'boy

Hey there,

It's an interesting and tragic development in the history of aquaculture that seaborne delights that were once so common as to be considered "peasant food" have become delicacies priced out of most budgets, more often than not. As an old story goes, lobster used to be so common in the Maritime provinces of Canada and the U.S.' New England that kids would trade in their "boring" lobster sandwiches for the luxury of peanut butter and jam.

Another story is how New York is a city founded and built up on oysters. Apparently these mollusks were so abundant that about 700 million were harvested from the Hudson River in 1880. Nowadays, there's not much chance anyone's eating anything out of the Hudson unless they're a fan of Hepatitis Rockefeller. Point being, oysters also have been one of the more common foodstuffs out there and been poor man's food. Which brings me to the "po' boy", a traditional Cajun sandwich served on a baguette, basically a kind of submarine. I had thought the name was some sort of reference to it being cheap food for the workin' man, but wikipedia is woefully unclear on the matter. Anyhoo, the Oyster Po' boy is one of the more common versions of this type of sandwich, even though most "poor boys" wouldn't be able to afford fresh oysters these days. There is a cheaper alternative though...

Smoked Oysters can be found tinned in any grocery store and supermarket and are often on special (usually they run about 3.50 Cdn a can, but they'll often be on sale for 2 bucks). Now, the smoked oysters you get in a can aren't the beautiful treats you get for 3-4 bucks a piece at oyster bars. Rather, they're a product of Chinese farming, but as it turns out, this is a sustainable form of production, so you can enjoy guilt-free! So, with that in mind, Kari suggested after sampling smoked oysters once, to try making an Oyster Po' boy using smoked oysters instead of fresh. After much delaying, I finally did just that for lunch one day!

Basically, I used a standard deep frying method to prepare the oysters, served it on hot dog buns, and topped it with a little twist on tartar sauce that used elements of tapenade, so I called it Taptar Sauce (clever, eh?).


Smoked Oyster Po' Boy

Serves 2

Ingredients

- 1 can smoked oysters (yields about 8-10 oysters)
- 1 egg, beaten
- 1/2 cup milk
- 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
- 1/2 cup panko or other bread crumbs
- oil for frying (at least 1/2 inch deep)
- 2 hot dog buns
- 2 lemon wedges

Directions

- First, drain and rinse oysters. I find using a wire strainer is the easiest and cleanest way to do this.

- Next, using a spatula, gently flatten oysters. Don't force anything or you might ruin the oysters.
- Whisk egg and milk together.
- Coat oysters, first in flour, then in egg mixture, then in panko. Try only using one hand to actually coat the oysters so as to not get both hands super-messy.

Ready for frying

- In a large pan or pot, heat oil until ready for frying (allow a drop of water to fall into oil; if it sizzles, it's ready).
- Fry oysters until crispy and golden on both sides (about 1 minute each side).
- Drain oysters on paper towel and keep warm under foil.

A crispy thing of beauty

- Next, make the "Taptar" Sauce:

Taptar Sauce

- 2 tbsp mayonnaise
- 1 clove garlic, finely minced (or pressed)
- 1/2 tsp capers, finely minced
- 1/2 tsp kalamata olives, finely minced
- pinch smoked paprika
- juice of 1/4 lemon
- salt and pepper to taste

- Stir all ingredients together until smoothly blended

To Serve:

- Toast hot dog buns if you want (I just put them in the toaster).
- Spread Taptar Sauce on halves of buns.
- Split oysters between buns and serve with lemon wedge.

Not bad for canned seafood!

And that's the "Po' Man's Po' Boy". It was actually really tasty and fun, with a good balance of smoky, fishy and crispy, not to mention the extra zing and salt from the sauce. All in all, a pretty good way to try out something that might normally be cost prohibitive, albeit in a lesser form.

Enjoy!

RIBFEST!!!

Living in downtown Ottawa can lead to a pretty awesome series of annual festival and event traditions. There's Jazzfest, Fringe, Canada Day, Bluesfest, and so on. But in the the past decade or so, one event has become a pretty integral part of creating a Summer worthy of remembrance in Ottawa. That event is the Ottawa Ribfest on Sparks Street. Basically, about a dozen competitive "ribbers" from Canada and the US line up the pedestrian-only street and fill Downtown with smoky meat awesome. 

In this post, I'll be giving you my account of the various porcine treats this year's event had to offer. I went a little more often than I usually do, like every day, but my girl was nearly 9 months pregnant! What was I supposed to do? So, let's go day by day.

Wednesday

The first night of the Ribfest was probably the least involved one for me. I had to work the night shift and had less than an hour to eat.

The first sampling came from the rib stand closest to home (go figure), the Blazin' Big Rig out of Chatham, Ontario. Kari got the standard "Vegetarian's Nightmare" plate of ribs, pulled pork and chicken with sides of beans and slaw. Me, I was intrigued by the Jumbo Turkey Drumstick. Luckily, the boys working the grill had an extra one that'd been left on the heat too long so I got two for the price of one! I also got the sides of beans and slaw.

Blazin' Big Rig

So, I thought it was a really tasty little bit of fowl and something unusual to kick off the Ribsfest. As I mentioned, I had two legs, one cooked "normally" and the other kind of "overcooked", but when you leave a sauce-slathered piece of meat on the heat, it creates a kind of crunchy coating of caramelized sauce that can't be beat. So, I ate the overcooked one and kept the other for later use. Verdict? Well, it was dry from being on the heat so long, but still really flavourful. The sauce was good, but not great. The beans were really tasty as well, but I would have better later on. The slaw, on the other hand, was exactly how I want slaw to be: creamy, tangy and crunchy; best of the festival by far.

Turkey Leg and sides from Blazin' Big Rig - also serves to club seals in a pinch

Thursday

If Wednesday was the tentative first step, Thursday was a full-on jump into the pool. Kari and I wandered around, unsure where to engage in our porcine goodness, but she managed to grab a twisty fried potato treat. We ran into to many of our friends, including my good friend Siobhan who, as a born-again carnivore, was enjoying her first foray into Ribfest and brought her three kids along to enjoy the ride. It was a lot of fun watching the kids' faces light up over ribs and corn on the cob and the frantic crowds. All in all, a good time was had all around.

Sticky Fingers

As for the ribs, we stopped at one of the less busy stands, Sticky Fingers. I only got a half rack, I wasn't in the mood for beans and slaw. The ribs were really well done, exactly the right texture between solid (which can sometimes mean 'tough') and fall of the bone (which too often means 'mush'). Unfortunately, there wasn't enough sauce on the ribs to get a really good idea of its flavour. I've noticed that some of the ribbers would have big bottles of sauce with a squeeze pump so you can load up your pork with as much sauce as you want. Unfortunately Sticky Fingers weren't one of them. Which is too bad, because from the little I could taste, it was a pretty decent, tomato-ey sauce. Oh well...

Half rack from Sticky Fingers

Friday

Friday was a quick trip through the festival for pulled pork as we were trying to get to Confederation Park in time to get a good spot to see Willie Nelson. Once again, we were looking for the shortest line, which we didn't really find, so we settled on Bone Daddy's for pulled pork sammiches.

Bone Daddy's

This is pulled pork the way it was meant to be: moist, greasy, smoky and loaded with sauce. It's hard to review food when it's nearly perfect since there's not much to say! I will give extra kudos on the sauce though, because all too often, the sauce used on pulled pork is "dumbed down" for public consumption and made less spicy and overly sweet. Luckily in this case, the sauce was the right mix of both. I was highly satisfied with this choice! And really, what says Summer more than an outdoor country show with BBQ on your face?

Mmmmmm, grease puddle...

Saturday

Sometimes, a weird serendipity comes along to make your whole Ribfest experience sing. In this case, the decision to meet friends at noon while it was pissing rain led to being able to access one of the rib stands that usually is impossible to get to without waiting for 2 hours in line. There are two stands that always seem to be in the most high traffic area of Ribfest between Bank and O'Connor Streets and are always packed with people: Camp 31 and Silver Bullet. I'd tried Camp 31 in the past (and it wasn't as revelatory as I'd been expecting, but that was mainly due a lack of sauce) and really wanted to give Silver Bullet a go.

Sparks St. in full porcine swing

It was the noon hour and I decided to basically skip breakfast so I could have lots of room to pig out. With that in mind, I got the ribs and pulled pork combo with sides from Silver Bullet. First, the bad news: the coleslaw was, unfortunately, prepared in the same style as that pale green slaw from KFC that I dreaded eating as a kid. Needless to say, I didn't eat all of it. Another downside was that the ribs were served with membrane still attached, a BBQ no-no if there ever was one. It's basically like eating paper.

Now the good news: The ribs, other than the annoyance of the membrane, were PERFECT! They were cooked exactly right and the sauce was one of the best I've had: sweet, peppery, smoky and rich. The pulled pork was also really tasty, but it was overcooked and stringy in parts. The beans were really good as well, nice and rich but not chalky the way beans can sometimes be. They also were chock-full of BBQ sauce flavour, which isn't always the way. Not sure why...

A Porkpocalypse from Silver Bullet

Sunday

By now, I have to admit that my arteries, and even my taste buds, were getting a bit overpowered by smoke and meat, so my review of the next feast might be a bit skewed. It was the last day and sweltering hot and we needed food for our D&D game, so I went out looking to get my pork fix fast. The only place that I hadn't tried that didn't have a ridiculous line-up was Texas Outlaws. I was impressed to see such a wide variety of foodstuffs being offered: pulled chicken, wings, brisket and many more. I decided on ribs and brisket since I have a soft spot for brisket. I wish the girl at the cash had been a bit less of a grumpy jerk, but I guess by Sunday, most of the ribbing staff must have been fed up with the masses of gluttony.

Texas Outlaws - definitely the most variety offered at one stand during Ribfest

So I got my mess of ribs, brisket, beans and slaw home and proceeded to mow down. My impressions were pretty straight forward: the ribs were good, but not great (the sauce had some mustard elements that I wasn't completely sold on), the sides were decent (slaw was kind of ho-hum, but in the way I wanted) and the beans were just a bit too ordinary (and I generally don't like beans most of the time). The brisket was really the saving grace, it was absolutely perfect; not too fatty, well smoked and very flavourful. But, because of the heat, I wasn't able to eat very much. Kind of an anti-climactic end to 5 days of pigging out on pig.

Brisket and Ribs from Texas Outlaws

And there you go; just one glutton's tales of a festival of gastronomic excess.

Enjoy!

Grilling Tip - Chicken + Lemon = Besties!

Hey there fire-o-philes!

I might be telling you something you already know, but there are some flavours that naturally compliment each other and one of the simplest of these pairings is lemon and chicken. Pretty much every cuisine out there has this pairing in some form or another. So, one surefire North American (by way of the Mediterranean) way to zip up your chicken on the BBQ is to marinate in a lemon-based marinade. Not sure how to make one?

Well, here you go!

Lemon Marinade for Chicken

- juice and zest of one half lemon
- 2-3 cloves garlic, crushed
- 1/2 cup dry white wine
- 2 tbsp olive oil
- 1 tbsp balsamic vinegar
- 2 tsp green olive brine (this adds an extra tang and salt element)
- 1 tsp dried basil (or 2 tsp fresh chopped basil)
- 1/2 tsp dried oregano (or 1 tsp fresh chopped oregano)
- salt and pepper to taste

- Whisk all ingredients together and transfer to a zipper bag
- Add about 1 pound of chicken (breast is quite good for this recipe as it allows the marinade flavours to be at the forefront).
- Marinate for at least 2 hours in the fridge.
- Grill chicken at 350 degrees for about 10-15 minutes until chicken is cooked through but not dried out.

A mess o' chikon

Of course, lemon also naturally pairs with fish, so I imagine this marinade would also work on a firm-fleshed mild fish like tilapia.

And there you go! Enjoy!

Bread, GOOOOOOOOD!

Hey there!

There are a lot of bread naysayers out there these days. Wheat Belly, a book by Dr. William Davis that has been all over the news, demonizes gluten and wheat in our modern diets, and I can't really disagree, considering that wheat is one of the most genetically modified crops in the world and gluten intolerance is on an astronomic rise.

But holy magilla, bread is sooooooo good when done well and it's one of the best canvases to make a meal of tasty goodness. Sure, there are gluten-free breads out there, but most of us are familiar with the tried and true bread made from good ol' fashioned wheat flour in all its mad-sciencey GMO goodness (well, badness, I guess).

So, with that in mind, here are a couple of bread-oriented meals that Kari and I whipped up recently.

The first was a "Stuffed Italian Bread" that Kari found on the internet. This one was pretty much a carb and cheese bonanza that was so apparently lacking in vitamins that we also had put together some veggies in the form of what I call an "Alternative" Green Salad. "Alternative" in that there was no lettuce in it, with the green coming from edamame beans, green peas and asparagus.

Alternative Green Salad

Serves 2

Salad

- 1/2 cup shelled edamame beans
- 1/2 cup shelled green peas
- 5-6 stalks asparagus, tender parts only, cut in to 1 inch long pieces
- 50 grams sopressata salami, sliced in to strips
- handful of toasted sunflower seeds

- Add water to a small pot to about 1 centimetre depth. Bring to a boil. Add edamame, peas and asparagus. Steam for 2-3 minutes. Chill in ice water for about 2 minutes. Drain and set aside.

Dressing

- 1 tsp olive oil
- 1 tbsp balsamic vinegar
- 1 tsp dijon mustard
- 1 tsp honey
- salt and freshly ground pepper to taste
- juice and zest of half a lemon
- 1/2 tsp dried basil or 2 tbsp fresh basil, finely chopped

- Whisk all ingredients together.

To serve, toss veggies in dressing and serve in large salad bowls and top with salami and sunflower seeds.

A little different, a lot delicious

The "Stuffed Italian Bread" was a fantastic recipe, easy and delicious. But me being me, I decided I need to add olives for a bit of extra flavour. Also, the "Italian loaf" aspect is purely optional, use whatever bread you want. 

Stuffed Italian Bread

1 Italian loaf, about 12 inches long 

1 stick butter, melted
1/8 cup olive oil
3 tsp minced onion
2-3 cloves garlic, grated
1 tbsp Dijon mustard
3 tsp chopped parsley (add more if you wish)
12 oz grated cheese

2 tsp green olives, minced (optional)

- Preheat the oven to 350 F.　
- Mix the melted butter, olive oil, onion, garlic, Dijon mustard, poppy seeds and parsley in a bowl.　
- Cut the bread into cubes with X-shaped slices without cutting all the way through the bottom crust.　
- Pour the butter-onion garlic mixture carefully into those X-shaped cracks using a small spoon and over the top of the bread. Fill those delicious cracks with the grated cheese (and olives if using).　
- Wrap the entire loaf with foil, sealing the sides properly and bake for 15-20 minutes. Remove from the oven and unwrap. Bake for another 10 minutes until the cheese is melted and gooey.

Stuffing the loaf - not a euphemism

Baked an' gooeh!

Next up is a little recipe that shows just how good a blank canvas bread makes for a tasty and filling meal. We all know about bruschetta and crostini and other ways in which bread is used as a delivery system for some kind of delicious topping. Well, it's also a good way to take an idea that doesn't really translate into a meal per se and make it one. In this case, it all started with figs. Figs are really super delicious when they're ripe, but pretty much useless when unripe. That is, unless you caramelize them:

- Caramelized Figs

- 1 tsp brown sugar
- 2 figs, underripe, sliced
- 2 tbsp butter
- splash Irish whiskey

- Melt butter in small skillet. Stir in sugar and figs. 
- Cook until figs begin to dissolve into tasty fruit goo. Add whiskey and cook off alcohol. Add butter as needed to keep from drying out. Keep mixture warm. 

All fancy n' tasty-like

Now, what to do with this gooey mess o' goodness? Well, slather it on bread and top it with proscuitto and blue cheese then bake it in the oven, of course (at about 400 for no more than 10 minutes)! Trust me, this is one of the best ways to use bread I've ever had. I believe we used a multigrain fennel loaf from Art-Is-In Bakery. And OH MAH GAHD! Pretty much the perfect carb-salt-meat combo on a lazy night where nutrition isn't quite on the top of your agenda. 

Ready for the oven

Crunchy salty good! 

And there you go, just a few ways bread goes a long way to making a meal.

Enjoy!