New Year's Eve Nibbles for the Parented - Part 1

Hello 2015!

It's no secret that the holidays involve some pretty epic food making. Cookies abound, turkey dinners multiply and gourmet deliciousness abounds, especially on New Year's Eve. Now, I'm no fan of the "amateur hour" NYE party at some random venue surrounded by strangers and overpriced drinks; I'm more of a "gathering with drunken friends at someone's house" kinda guy, especially since it usually involves an epic spread of food, but I've also enjoyed the "multi-course dinner at your favourite restaurant" route in some recent years. Since the kid was born, however, New Year's necessarily mellows itself out.

But mellow doesn't mean boring, at least not when it comes to food.

Knowing that it was very unlikely that I'd be leaving the house that evening, Kari and I started brainstorming our plan for what we were going to stuff in our gobs. I thought it might be fun to go with a small plate/hors d'oeuvre/buffet style-meal. She agreed and the ideas started flowing.
 

By the time December 31 rolled around, we'd settled on the following menu:

- Charcuterie Board w. Iberico Jamon, Pingue Proscuitto, Iberico Salchichon, Milkhouse Tomme Cheese and Pickled Onions

- Crab-Stuffed Mushrooms

- Caramelized Onion, Cranberry and Brie "Toastettes"

- Deviled Eggs à la Sriracha
- Veggie Plate -Cauliflower and Broccoli w. Basil-Goat Cheese-Balsamic Dip
- Beef Carpaccio w. Arugula and Lemon-Garlic Dressing




Not sure there's enough food for two people... Clockwise from top: Charcuterie plate w. baguette slices, Veggie Plate, Caramelized Onion Toastettes, Beef Carpaccio, Stuffed Mushrooms

So, what *is* all this stuff? Well, let's break it on down.

Charcuterie Board

I am a very lucky, or clever, fellow because I came across a fun little service back in the Summer called the Carnivore Club and signed up without a second thought. I regret it not at all; I've had the joy of tasting tasty cured meats from all across the country even the world, from Canadian salmon jerky to South African biltong to French Rosette de Lyon sausage. But the latest box might have been the best yet, with Spanish meats galore. It came with two huge cured sausages, one a Chorizo, the other a "Salchichon" (Spanish for sausage, I'm guessing), some Prosciutto from Pingue Prosciutto out of Niagara and a sampling of Iberico Jamon, one of rarest hams in the world. We'd already eaten most of the Chorizo so I saved it for another day, but the rest of the box had barely been touched. So, on the board you go! We also had a bit of a "Tomme" French-style sheep's milk cheese from Milkhouse Farm and Dairy left over in the fridge, nearly begging to be thrown into the NYE festivities so that was added, but we also needed a little bit of pickly vegetation on there. I almost picked up some gherkins, but decided instead to pickle some onions. I chose wisely.

So how did it all taste? I'll start with the Proscuitto, which I've had before at various restaurants but is somehow better at home. It was delicate and buttery, with a melt-in-your-mouth quality and a beautiful restrained saltiness. 

The Salchichon was reminiscent of summer sausage, but of a quality beyond anything I'd had before. Part of this was because of the Iberican pigs it came from, called "pata negra" or black hoof pigs. These are among the most prized pigs in the world and their diet consists mainly of acorns, lending their meat a wonderful nutty quality. This came across in the salchichon, as well as its fat having a soft, silky almost creamy texture and flavour. I don't usually rave about pig fat, but holy crap, PIG FAT!!!

Which brings me to the Iberico Jamon. Jamon is Spanish for ham, but there's no way I'm calling this 'ham'. Maybe us North Americans have degraded the true goodness of what ham is supposed to be by using this bland, processed stuff that is only truly delicious when smothered in dijon mustard or maybe the Spaniards just love to pimp their cured pork leg. Either way, to call this 'ham' doesn't come even close to evoking the delicacy and flavour of this meat. It was like a kiss from a salty, nutty, black-hoofed faerie queen. The meat pretty much melts in your mouth leaving a lingering flavour but not heavy on the tongue. I have no idea how they make this stuff, but it's a must-try for any discerning meatatarian. It's important to note however that the Iberico Jamon should be eaten by itself (with some good red wine, naturally) - no cheese or condiments or pickles should be paired to interfere with the nigh-ephemeral flavour. Yeah, that was some good-ass ham...

Hello delicious piggie!

It's a bit hard to describe the Tomme cheese because it had so many flavours at play. It had the dry saltiness of a parmesan, but much more restrained. Yet on top of that, there was a cramy, velvety quality that counterplayed against with the distinct "barnyard" aroma and flavour from the sheeps'milk. All in all, a really interesting bite.

To top the whole thing off, I pickled some onions, garlic and lemon, as described here:

Pickled Onions

Ingredients

- 1 small red onion, quartered and thinly sliced
- 2 bulbs garlic, very thinly sliced
- 1/4 lemon, scrubbed clean and very thinly sliced
- 1/2 cup red wine vinegar
- 1/2 cup water
- 1 tsp salt
- 2 tsp brown sugar
- pinch ground nutmeg
- pinch ground allspice
- 1 tsp coriander seed
- 1 tsp cumin seed
- 1/2 tsp smoked paprika
- 1 tsp thyme leaves, fresh or dried

Directions


- Place onions, garlic and lemon in a large clean mason jar.
- Combine all other ingredients in a saucepan and bring to a boil.
- Place a funnel over the jar's opening and pour boiling liquid into jar. 
- Using a knife or spoon or stick or something, make sure all veggies are covered by liqiuid. - Allow to cool to at least room temperature before serving or refrigerating.

These onions are *very* tasty (I frankly surprised myself with how good they are) and add a nice acidity to counter all the salt from the meat. That being said, the delicacy of the delicacy that is Jamon Iberico was not a good pairing with the onions. I've since found the onions also make a good side for meatloaf and pierogies. 


Moving on, our next appetizer was the Crab-Stuffed Mushrooms

I'd had king crab legs sitting in my freezer for a while and I really wanted to use them up sooner than later. Now, way back in the way back, I used to work for a middling seafood restaurant and one of their offerings was a crab-stuffed and cheese-topped mushroom appetizer. It was by no means a particularly creative or revolutionary recipe, but it works and it's a tasty way to use up a not-so-huge portion of crab meat. So, being a fan of mushrooms, cheese and seafood (and don't anyone tell you that seafood and cheese don't go together!), I put them together the old-school way, with some personal touches; specifically I added the light crunch of panko instead of regular bread crumbs and threw in some garlic and lemon juice to boot. Also, Olivia loves crabmeat. So proud! *wipes tear* 

Crab-Stuffed Mushrooms

Ingredients

- 2 cloves garlic, finely minced
- 2-3 legs worth of king crab meat
- 1/2 cup panko or bread crumbs
- 1-2 tbsp butter, melted
- juice of half a lemon
- 1 tbsp parsley, finely chopped (optional)
- salt and pepper to taste
- 12-15 mushrooms, stems removed (save the stems for whatever you might need mushrooms for)
- 1/2 cup cheese, grated (Swiss or extra-old cheddar)

Nummy filling!

Directions

- Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit
- Fry garlic in oil or butter until golden
- In a bowl, mix together crab meat, garlic, panko, melted butter, lemon juice, parsley (if using; I didn't have any in the house, but I would have used it if I had) and salt and pepper.
- Stuff mushrooms with mixture and top with cheese.
- Cook in oven for 10-15 minutes, until cheese is melted and golden brown. Serve hot!

Caramelized Onion "Toastettes" on the left, Crab-Stuffed Mushrooms on the right

The flavours of the mushrooms were very straight forward and complimentary: garlic, butter, crab, lemon and mushroom all play well together.  Next up were the Caramelized Onion, Cranberry and Brie "Toastettes"  (I have no better name for them), which were basically a variation on bruschetta, consisting of a kind of compote with caramelized onion and dried cranberries, topped with melted brie. It's just about the simplest way to whip together a quick appetizer. Here's the recipe!

Caramelized Onion, Cranberry and Brie "Toastettes"

Ingredients

- 1 tbsp butter
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 onion, minced
- 1/2 cup dried cranberries
- 2 tbsp port
- 1 tsp brown sugar
- salt and pepper to taste
- pinch dried thyme
- pinch cinnamon
- 12-14 or so pieces of baguette, about 1/2 cm thick
- 12-14 thin slices of brie

Directions

- Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit
- Melt butter and sauté onions and garlic for about 2-3 minutes, reduce heat to low-medium.
- Stir in cranberries, port, brown sugar and seasonings and simmer for 15 minutes
- Spoon onion mixture onto baguette pieces, top with brie and bake in oven for 10 minutes until cheese is melted and golden. Serve hot!

A fantastic mix of rich and sweet, this appetizer is a stalwart in my recipe book, especially since it's so damn easy to make.


So that does it for part 1 of our NYE snarf-o-rama! I'll be back next time to show off my carpaccio-making and more!  

Cheers!

Travels in taste - Charlottetown and Moncton - part 2

Hey howdy!

Back atcha with part 2 of our grand tour of Charlottetown and Moncton!

For Friday night's dinner, we partook of delicious sushi from a place called, in all its originality, Mr. Sushi. It was very good, better than anything I've had in Ottawa (but not quite as good as Banff), especially this one buttery bite of sashimi deliciousness that I think was white tuna. Not sure, but holy moley was it good!

Saturday was carb loading time in preparation for Kari's big race on Sunday! We started with pierogies for lunch at the local farmer's market, but that was insufficient. So, how do you carb load effectively? With a metric buttload of pizza, of course! To preamble, we'd taken to using Food Network's 'You Gotta Eat Here!' as inspiration to finding places to snarf some scran (on top of Tripadvisor) and we came across an episode (go to about 8:18) describing the wacky pizza-making skills of one Famous Peppers pizzeria. Their use of a maple-cream sauce as a base for a pizza had Kari practically licking the screen. So, when it was time to load the carbs, we took to tracking down the pizzeria (which turned out to be about a block from our apartment/hotel). Now, the menu is quite daunting and it took a couple of minutes to decide what we wanted. Kari's first choice was The Spud Islander, loaded with "thinly sliced potato, bacon and caramelized onions" on the aforementioned maple-cream sauce. Me, I went for the Donair Pizza, considering that I was in the Maritimes where donair originated in Canada (granted, in Halifax, close enough...); it seemed appropriate, especially when it consists of a "garlic butter base (who needs tomato sauce?), donair meat, red onion & mozzarella, topped with fresh iceberg lettuce, tomatoes and donair sauce". We also figured a third pizza would be in order; y'know, just to be safe. After a bit of hemming and hawing we decided on The Caribbean with "jalapeño, mozzarella, mango, seasoned chicken strips, jerk seasoning, red onion and a dusting of toasted coconut". Now, funny thing happened: they forgot the red onion while making it so they decided to give it to us for free and make another Caribbean for us! So, four pizzas for the price of three! Heck ya!

So how was the pizza? Simply put: amazing! The Spud Islander had rich, classic flavours reminiscent of a potato-bacon chowder, with a sweet twist coming from the maple-cream sauce. The Donair Pizza tasted like, well, a donair! A really, really tasty donair! Special kudos for the addition of the lettuce, tomato and donair sauce on top; they totally made the pizza unique with a crunch and juiciness that I've never had before. The Caribbean was another truly unique flavour combo; who has mango on pizza!?!? The whole combined for a kind of Thai-Jamaican fusion, which was pretty cool. All in all, a very impressive pizza feast.






Carb loading on Famous Pepper's pizza

So Race Day Sunday came and my girl KICKED BUTT!!!! She improved her previous half-marathon time by 30 minutes! (which, according to runners, is no mean feat!). To celebrate, we returned to the Big Orange Lunchbox, as mentioned before, for lunch and I can't for the life of me remember what we had for dinner, but I suspect it was leftovers from all the earlier feasts in the week, and possibly because Kari was done moving for the day.

Monday was travel day, we had to drive back to Moncton but decided to take the long way which was a lot of fun and it allowed us to track down what may have been the best peanut butter cookies ever at a gas station/convenience store, possibly in or near Crapaud.

And then there was the Confederation Bridge, Part 2 - The Windening. You know what's scarier than driving over a bridge suspended 100+ feet over the goddamn ocean? Doing it with a stiff wind pushing the car towards the side wall of the bridge!!! ACK!!!! But, we got over alive. Amen. Moving on...

So we drove in to Moncton to stay at the New Brunswick Casino and Hotel (mama deserved to play some slots as a reward for her half-marathon performance) and got there in time for an early dinner. We were a little disappointed to discover that the casino's buffet was located within the casino and was thus off-limits to our little Nutster. But Plan B! We'd assembled a list of restos to visit when we got back to Moncton and topping the list was a seafood joint called Skipper Jack's. It was a very 'mom and pop' kind of place, the decor reminded me of the old Ponderosa steakhouses that used to abound (they still exist in the States though). I partook of a giant "fisherman's platter" type deal, basically a mess of fried seafood (shrimp, scallops, clams and haddock) with coleslaw and fries. Healthy! I got about halfway through before calling it quits.

Finally Tuesday came along and it was time to partake of our final super-duper fancy meal of epicness (at 5 pm, because that's Olivia's dinner time) and not knowing where else to go, we made our triumphant return to the Tide and Boar. Whereas the week before we'd dedicated ourselves to partaking of a simple lunch, now it was time to get a little crazy.

I'd been mentally prepping myself for a plate that had been featured on their online menu: Bone Marrow!!!! Alas, it was not to be...

But, there was MORE than enough deliciousness to go around. So, first of all, we wanted to go full out with the house specialities, particularly their "boards". There was the Tide Board (seafood) and the Boar Board (charcuterie), or we could get them together as the Tide and Boar Board!!! DINGDINGDING!!!! I'll admit that after so many months, I can't remember exactly what was on the plate. I remember on the "boar" side of things, there was a serving of rilettes (duck, I believe), a dry sausage dealie made from boar (obviously) and all kinds of delicious...

The "Tide" side was, personally, far more impressive. Yes, I love my smoked and cured land beasties and charcuterie, but we were in the freakin' Maritimes and seafood is what I was there to eat! The Tide plate had so many tasty items: raw oysters on the half shell, scallops, smoked salmon, mussels and more. Also, one absolutely crazypants condiment: dulse. What is dulse? Well, basically, it's seaweed. But in the capable hands of the Tide and Boar's cooks, it becomes unbelievably good, treated with soy sauce and other delicousnesses. Apparently it's a totally common snack in the Maritimes, but over here it's 10 bucks for a tiny potato chip-sized bag. All in all, YAY TIDE!!!

We also needed to feed our little petunia, so we went with a cup of their Atlantic Tide Chowder, consisting of smoked haddock, mussels, shrimp, fennel and dill in a super-tasty creamy broth. Needless to say, she *loved* it. She also loves ice cubes (possibly because she was teething?) so she naturally did this:




A mouthful of Chowder and ice

We also had to partake of the in-house Boar Bologna. Yeah, you read that right, Boar freakin' Bologna!!! It was rich and super-tasty with a homemade mustard, but maybe a little grainy from the grinder. But so what? NOMZ!!!!

Well, there it is, a grand tour of the Maritimes filled with deliciousness. I wish I was rich enough to do this about 3 or 4 times a year.

Cheers!

Travels in Taste - Moncton and Charlottetown - Part 1

Hey there!

It's no secret that I wish I travelled more, but it's one of those things I simply can't manage very easily, both economically and logistically (considering the single income and toddler). We tried once to put together a cheap resort trip to the Dominican Republic, but there were too many variables to be comfortable with leaving the country for a week. So instead we wound up doing a combined Quebec City/Montreal trip and managed to eat like hell-damn-ass-kings, as evidenced here and here. Well, once again in the Spring of this year, we planned a little too loftily and thought we'd go to Seattle in September so Kari could run the "Beat the Blerch" half-marathon (basing a trip on my wife running 21 km... why not?). But once the planning got underway, it quickly occurred to us that a) we couldn't really afford to go that far, b) 7-hour flight + toddler = frak that noise, and c) newish driver (me) on a totally mysterious Seattle freeway system might not be the safest idea.

So, Kari decided to keep looking through the internets for half-marathons in a more affordable and nearby locale and lo and behold, we discovered the Charlottetown Marathon (in Prince Edward Island) taking place on October 19th! Now, it seemed a bit late in the season for a Maritime expedition and I had a "back-of-my-mind" fear of hurricane season, but it would be really low on tourists and we'd have the benefit of off-season prices on hotels.

We decided after looking at flight prices to fly into Moncton. New Brunswick and then drive to Charlottetown by way of the Confederation Bridge, a huge pants-crapping span that connects the island to the mainland and is over 100 feet high. Scariest. Drive. EVER!!! Backing up a minute, we started out staying at the Rodd Hotel in Moncton on October 13 (Thanksgiving Monday) and it being fairly late when we got to the hotel, we were stuck getting Subway. Ugh.

Next day, we had a lovely walking tour of the walkways along the Petitcodiac River, which has this really neat phenomenon known as the "tidal bore", which we managed to catch before heading for lunch at the Tide and Boar (clever, eh?). It was a really nice little gastropub and we were blessed with great weather that allowed us to eat outside. I had a fantastic burger, which was the hook, and it was a certainty that we would be back (foreshadowing). With a happy belly, I was able to manage the 2.5 hour drive from Moncton to Charlottetown, including the terrifying Bridge of Doom.

Over the course of our stay in Charlottetown, we were fortunate enough to have beautiful weather for almost the whole time we were there; it was sunny most days and-  the temperature stayed right around the mid-to-high teens. We were also fortunate that Charlottetown has a lot of really good places to eat. For the whole time we were there, we ate like kings and queens and princesses.

We started out with some lighter fare from the grocery store on Tuesday night, but by the next day we were heading into restaurants all over the downtown core. The first was the Big Orange Lunchbox (which, sadly, has recently gone out of business) where I had a delicious pulled duck burger on Wednesday, and I'd be back later on Sunday for a bacon-wrapped scallop burger (yes, you read that correctly) with onion rings.

Thursday was our day to explore the Island and we drove around for a few hours, starting our outing with some of the best French Fries EVER from The Chip Shack, then checking out PEI National Park and Cavendish, as well as enjoying a meal of fried clams and fried oysters at Carr's Oyster Bar. We ended up back in town in the evening hoping to have a nice sit-down meal at Terre Rouge, but an overtired toddler wasn't having it. So instead we partook of their "Boss Hog" pulled pork special to go. We just so happened to be in town during PEI Porktoberfest and many of the local restos were serving pork dishes designed for the occasion (including a plethora of varieties of pulled pork). The sandwiches we got were a-mazing, as described here: The Boss Hog is a take-charge kind of gourmet sandwich presented with Molasses Braised Pulled Pork, Walnut Pesto, Apple Sage Chutney, Crisp Apple Salad, and House Smoked Back Bacon on a Toasted Italian Roll with Thyme Lard Butter. Is it any wonder they won?

Friday lunch was pretty much the culinary highlight of Charlottetown: LOBSTER ROLLS!!!!!!! Now, I'm an admitted fan of using Tripadvisor when I travel, mainly because it's really hard to get good advice from friends on another town's food (except for 'go to Schwartz's.' *Always*go to Schwartz's), but when you get the consensus of strangers, chances are it's pretty good. So, topping the list for Charlottetown restaurants on Tripadvisor was Dave's Lobster, a very simply lunch counter specializing in that maritime delicacy which is the lobster roll. Traditionally a lobster roll consists of a mess of cold lobster meat mixed with mayo, celery, lemon juice and herbs. However, Dave's takes it a step further and offers both the traditional version (called "The Local") and a hot version (called "Some Fancy") done up with garlic, lemon and melted butter. They also offered lobster tacos and grilled cheese! But what was best was that they also have a "featured lobster roll" on occasion, which in this case was a half-"Local" and half-"Fancy". SOLD! Now, it isn't a cheap meal at 15 bucks for a roll, pickle and bag of chips, but keep in mind that it was nearly all lobster meat. And trust me, totally worth it! Easily one (two?) of the best lobster-based meals I've ever had. The meat was as fresh as I've ever had (and I've eaten more than my share of live-cooked lobster), the seasoning for both the cold and hot sides was spot on, I discovered that sweet potato chips and lobster are best of friends and, finally, PEI Brewing Company's Blueberry Ale to wash it down, making for an absolutely fantastic drink pairing). Totally worth the cost; this simple but decadent munch goes down as a meal for the ages.



HAIL LOBSTER ROLLS!!!!

Oh, and the pickle was delicious as well!

Just ask Olivia:

PICKLEFACE! Oh, it's deliciously pickleh!

Back soon with Part 2!

Not Your Average Sandwich! - Back from Obscurity with Pork Belly Banh Mi

Howdy all!

After 5 years of really slapdash blogging, it's easy to forget that you came up with some pretty neat blog post concepts. I was all kinds of crazy-excited about blogging about Char Siu pork and turning leftovers into Banh Mi (a delicious, decadent Vietnamese variation on the submarine sandwich) and totally forgot about the fact that I've already done a series of posts on epic sammichery! So hey, let's bring it back from the dead!

So where to begin? Well, let's give a little backgrounder on the Banh Mi. Essentially, Banh Mi is the Vietnamese word for bread, but since bread in Vietnam was a colonial "gift" from the French, but the name is usually linked to these sandwiches that are a fusion of Vietnamese and French flavours and ingredients. The archetypal Banh Mi is a baguette sliced in half, slathered with paté and mayo, topped with carrots, daikon (usually pickled), cilantro and a bit of fish sauce (and hot peppers for good measure if you're brave enough) and filled with some sort of meat or eggs or even tofu. It isn't exactly diet food, but if you're lucky enough to have a local Banh Mi shop, it's an awesome meal to try, AND usually cheap.



Bow down to epic sammichery!

Now, this particular Banh Mi experiment came about as a result of leftovers from the night before. I had decided I wanted to try making the famous Chinese Char Siu-style pork using pork belly. If you've ever had a BBQ pork bun from a Chinese bakery, you'll know the deliciousness of which I speak. Now I don't really know if it's commonly smoked (I think it's usually baked or, possibly, "red cooked"), but I knew that's how I wanted to cook it (I mean, come on, I'd smoke ice cream if I could...). But the key isn't the way it's cooked, it's the way it's marinated/coated.

From what I've read and what I've eaten, Char Siu should pop with sweetness and saltiness and have strong accents of hoisin, anise and Shaoxing cooking wine, all of this achieved by marinating the meat for a good while (and then coating it in a very similar glaze/sauce). Now, slow-smoking it imparts the additional layer of smokey BBQ goodness (especially if you add a rub), so why would I not? I did some searching through Internetland and basically found a recipe here that was very similar to what I was going to do anyway, but I added some tweaks.

So, let's start with cooking the meat portion of the Banh Mi!

Smoked Char Siu Pork Belly

- 1 lb pork belly, skin removed

Rub

- 1 tbsp five-spice powder
- 2 tbsp brown sugar
- 2 tbsp kosher salt
- 1 tsp smoked paprika
- 1 tsp dried ginger

- Stir all ingredients together and apply liberally over meat, massage rub into meat.
- If omitting marinade, place meat in the fridge for 4-24 hours.

Marinade/Sauce

NOTE: In this case, the marinade portion is somewhat optional. First off, it's pork belly, so marinating isn't required to impart moisture, there's more than enough fat to do that. Second, you will be brushing delicious sauce on the meat no matter what, both during the smoking process and right before serving, so the signature Char Siu flavours will still be there. In my case, I'm pretty sure I did not marinate the meat since I'd used a rub (if my spotty memory serves me right), but in the future I think I'll go whole hog and use both (pun absolutely intended). But either way, the marinade is also the basis of the sauce that is later used to coat the meat before serving.

- 1 inch piece of fresh ginger, minced
- 3 cloves garlic, minced
- 1/3 cup hoisin sauce
- 1/4 to 1/3 cup soy sauce (depends on how salty you want it)
- 1/4 cup honey
- 1/3 cup Shaoxing wine (substitute with dry sherry if necessary)
- 2 tsp Chinese five-spice powder

- Mix all ingredients together with a whisk or fork.
- Place pork belly in large zipper bag and pour in half of marinade. Reserve rest of marinade and refrigerate.
- Shake bag to coat meat and place in the fridge for at least 2 hours (24 is better).

Preparing the Char Siu

- To prepare the meat, remove from fridge and zipper bag.
- Start a fire in your smoker. As always, I use lump maple charcoal. Soak two big handfuls of wood chips in water. I used cherry wood chips in this recipe as they seemed a natural pairing to the sweetness in the marinade from hoisin and honey.
- Once fire is going at 225-250, place meat in the smoker and smoke for 4 hours. Add small handfuls of wood chips every 30 minutes or so to produce additional smoke. Baste the meat every hour or so with some of the reserved marinade.
- About an hour before serving meat, place rest of marinade/sauce in a pot and heat at medium heat and reduce until thick. You might need to add extra wine to prevent it from getting too thick. Keep warm on low heat.
- Remove meat and let rest for 15-20 minutes.
- Cut pork into 1/2 cm thick slices and brush all pieces with sauce until well-coated.

Originally, this meat was part of a noodle dish, but we were too full to eat all the Char Siu, so it became part of awesome leftover sandwich goodness.

To assemble the Banh Mi, Slather paté and mayo on the bread. Traditional Banh Mi use paté and mayo, but I just used mayo in mine (mixed with a squeeze of sriracha and lime juice). Arrange slices of pork on half a sliced baguette. Top with julienned cucumber, pickled carrots, ginger and radishes (here's how to quickly pickle stuff) and chopped cilantro.

The flavours are so good! Sweet and licorice-y and salty and fresh from the veggies.

And there you go! Sandwich goodness of good!

A Toast To My Hometown's Better Eateries - el Camino

Howdy!

It's been a very long while since I've written about Ottawa's restaurants, and it isn't because I haven't been to any, I just didn't feel like having to keep track of the experience. But recently I've been so damn impressed by a certain place lately that I have to sing a few of its praises. It's no secret that the world of food is trend-based, which has its pros and cons, but as trends go, the hot new sh** for the past couple of years or so is/are/has been tacos. I, for one, could not be more pleased. What's easier and more fun to eat than a taco? They're tasty, messy goodness and allow for all kinds of creativity.

The taco craze came around our fair city a few years ago with a little shack called Tacolot. I was excited and tried their fare, but it didn't wow me the way I expected (and hoped) it would. But luckily they didn't remain the only game in town. Soon after, Sidedoor opened in the Market to great fanfare. Again, though, while quite good, it didn't quite wow me (although from the reviews I've read, I'm in the minority).

Cue Spring of 2013. Located at the corner of Elgin St. and Gladstone Ave. is a complex of storefronts that have gone through more incarnations of hair salons, nightclubs and restaurants than I've had new socks. But one staple for over 20 years was a little shop called Marroush who pretty much were the kings of shawarma in Ottawa. Sadly, for reasons I don't know, it shut its doors last year. Happily, in stepped Chef Matthew Carmichael with a walk-up/take-out window selling tacos starting at 4 bucks a piece. I first gave it a shot back in October of last year. I chose the Ox Tongue and the Pork. I enjoyed both, but the ox-tongue had a bit too strong of a charred and bitter flavour to make it AMAZING, but definitely interesting. The pork, however, was dead on; good and spicy and rich!

Next to the window is the sit-down/eat-in restaurant which I got to check out this past June and it was that visit that inspired to bring back the "Toast To My Hometown" segment. I originally figured I was just going to grab a couple of tacos and eat them in the nearby park. But then I figured "why not?" and waited a few minutes for a seat at the bar. I knew I wanted a taco to get the show on the road, but there was more on the menu than just tacos and one item that drew my attention was the Chilaquiles, which I will describe later.

Quick rundown on the atmosphere: it was really cool and easygoing, with a shared bar so I wound up sitting next to a couple; luckily I'm good at minding my business, and the food was my main focus anyway. So let's get to the meal! 

I started with the Lamb Taco, mainly because I hadn't yet tried it and it was something new and different. All I can say is WOW! FREAKIN' WOW! SOOOOOOOO GOOOOOOOOD!!!!!! It was a beautiful marriage of salty and spicy and rich, with a light gaminess (not too "lamby") with great little pockets of fat (this is a very very good thing); the whole affair was topped with avocado, radish, pickled jalapeno, cilantro and a lime wedge which just completed the whole deal. Honestly, this is pretty much the best taco I can ever remember having (except maybe my Fried Chicken Taco).

Lamb Taco - 10 out of 10

Next up was Chilaquiles, which were basically nachos on steroids with a distinctly breakfast-y slant. It was served in a stainless steel bowl, invoking a "bachelor chic" vibe that I enjoyed; it suited the dish well. So what went into the Chilaquiles? It was a bonanza of tortilla chips loaded for bear with spicy pulled pork, salsa verde, pickled jalapenos, fried eggs and delicious queso (cheese), which really tied it all together, topped with a subtle herby bitterness from curry leaves.
 




Chilaquiles - 8 out of 10





All in all, the Chilaquiles were super-awesome, but it was really hard to follow that Lamb Taco. Mmmmmm... Lamb Taco...

 

So, that's just a sampling of some of the tasty tasty goodness on tap at el Camino. Go. Now.

 

Cheers!

 

 

Fad or Discovery? feat. Cedar-Planked Arctic Char

Hey there!

The culinary world is full of trends, like jello in main courses (WTF were people thinking in the 50s?!?) or, more recently, bacon everything (more sensible than aspic, but that shizz has kinda gotten out of hand) and cupcakes (which now seem passé in favour of doughnuts). Sometimes, little trends come up that everyone tries and all the magazines feature, if only for a little while...

A few years ago, cooking salmon on a cedar plank kind of came out of nowhere to become all the rage in BBQing. Now, this is quite different than the other kind of planking. This was some time before I ever did more than grill burgers on a BBQ, so I never even bothered nor had much of a chance to try it out. I did a quick look-see on the Internet as I started writing this post and it turns out that the cedar plank technique is generally ascribed to the First Nations of the Pacific Northwest, which is cool since I'm always looking for more information on cuisines that aren't always prominent, and Aboriginal cooking is near the top of that list for me.

So, when I came across a pack of planks in the BBQ section of the local Canadian Tire, I thought I'd give the technique a try, especially since it's an excuse to cook fish, which I don't get to do as often as I'd like. And while it doesn't seem to have that "trendy" quality anymore, I might as well give it a shot! Anyhoo, the basics of cooking on a plank is to soak the heck out of the plank and place it over hot coals (but not too hot, more on this later) with the meat on top and smoke the fish through the plank.

Ready for planking

Now, I'm not sure if you've heard this from me before, but I have a soft spot for Arctic Char. It's a little bit like a midway point between trout and salmon. It's usually a farmed fish, but sustainably so, as opposed to Atlantic salmon and many species of BC salmon. It's generally cheaper than wild salmon which makes it an ideal choice in today's really freakin' expensive seafood market. So, instead of planking salmon, I planked char. Sue me...?

So, here's how to make the deal!

Cedar-Planked Arctic Char

Ingredients

- 1 cedar plank

- 1 lb arctic char fillet (boneless)
- 1 tsp vegetable oil
- salt and pepper to taste
- pinch smoked paprika
- pinch dried dill- 3-4 thin slices lime or lemon

fire + wood + fish = Huzzah!

Directions

- Soak cedar plank in water for at least 2 hours.
- Using a pair of tweezers, remove any pin bones from the fish (if required).
- Rub oil over fish and season with salt, pepper, paprika and dill. Top with lime or lemon slices.
- Light fire and get temperature up to about 300-350 degrees.
- Place fish on plank and put on BBQ.
- Cook for about 10-15 minutes until fish is cooked through. The plank might start smoking a little, but that isn't be a big deal. If it goes up in flames, you got a problem...

- Remove fish from plank with a thin spatula. If your Dex is high enough, you might be able to remove the skin without damaging the meat. Me, I like the skin, so I try to keep the whole thing together. Serve with whatever you feel like, but a wedge of lemon or lime is probably a must.

Beautifully cooked!

To accompany our dinner, we went with steamed asparagus and potato salad. I imagine it would also go well with fresh green beans, a good crusty bread or even a light pasta side.

Maybe not the lightest of meals after all...

And now for the important part: Did it live up to the hype? Does it taste as good as one might imagine? Thankfully, yes. The fish was moist and juicy and beautifully smoke-flavoured without being overpowering, which was my main fear since cedar has such a strong aroma. So, I'll chalk this one up as a discovery! Now, with five or six planks remaining, the question is when do I do this next, and what sort of fish will I use?

I have a rough life...

Cheers!

Saving Yourself from Culinary Idiocy feat. Haddock en papillote

Howdy!

There are things every cook should know and do, like how to boil an egg, julienne a carrot or peel garlic. There are others that tread on the far more intricate and obscure but are also damn useful. Being a culinary hobbyist has led me to research and attempt a variety of cooking techniques. One that I haven't attempted before is en papillote. En papillote ('in parchment') is a French technique where you steam a bunch of tasty goodness in a sealed package created out of parchment paper. I used the following recipe from Food Network as the basis for a recipe, but I had it in mind to use Thai flavours instead of classic French. So using the same basic ingredient list as the online recipe, I cobbled something together on one of my many loose bits of paper, including the side noodle salad(which I'll probably feature in another post since I make it fairly often):






My super-tidy professional recipe stylings

So far so good. I had a road map. (Wondering what the title is all about? Hang in there...)

Thai-Style Haddock en papillote

(Ingredients and Directions are per serving)

Ingredients

2 haddock fillets (or any firm white fish fillet)
1 small red or orange peppers, julienned
1 shallot, sliced
2 cloves garlic, minced or thinly sliced
1/2 inch piece ginger, minced
1 tsp fish sauce
1/2 tsp sesame oil
2-3 sprigs fresh mint
2-3 sprigs fresh Thai basil (didn't have any for this time, but it should be in the recipe)
1/4 lime, cut into thin disks (about 3-4 pieces)
3-4 kaffir lime leaves (fresh or dried)
2 tbsp dry white wine
1 tsp coconut butter or coconut oil (we used this stuff, and it's a-maaaazing!)

A rainbow of tasty!

Directions v.1

Because of the hilarious nature of this post, I'm going to tell the story of what I did with this recipe that led to the screw-up, and then I'll post the actual directions.

First, I mixed the vegetables, garlic and ginger with the fish sauce and oil and allowed them to marinate for a little bit.

Then, after futzing about on the Internet (again) to find the instructions on how to make the parchment pouch, I pretty much did my own thing. Basically, I took a fairly large piece of parchment paper and placed all the ingredients on one side of the about-2-foot-long piece of parchment layered it with fish, seasonings, veggies, herbs and coconut butter on top.

I then folded the paper over the food and then folded the edges super-tight going around the entire package, sealing the whole deal. It's important to make sure you fold each side about 5-6 times to make sure you're getting a tight seal. Squeeze the air out if you need to.

Now, here's where it all went wrong: "Hey, I can cook this on the BBQ!" I lit the fire, put the parchment package and thought all would be well. Turns out that while parchment paper doesn't catch on fire in the oven, it *does* when you put it on a fiery grill! I was in the kitchen making the salad to go on the side when I noticed smoke coming from the BBQ. Naturally, I'm used to seeing smoke come out of my BBQ/smoker. Then the light bulb of "oh sh**!" went off. First, this dish isn't supposed to smoke, it's supposed to steam internally, hmmmmm...  And two, HOLY CRAP THAT'S A LOT OF SMOKE!!!!!!!

Running out to the rescue the food, I flipped the BBQ lid open to find the edges of the parchment smoking and starting to blacken. EEEEEEEEEP! Luckily I have hands that are highly heat-resistant from my past as a line cook, so I was able to grab the almost flaming parchment package and remove it from the fire. Whew!

Never the twain shall meet...

Turns out that the food inside the parchment pouch was OK! (maybe slightly more smoky flavoured  than intended... oops). I could still save dinner! YAY!

Which leads me to the REAL directions for this meal:

Directions v.2

- Preheat oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit.
- Mix garlic, ginger and vegetables with sesame oil and allow to marinate for up to 20 minutes.
- Take a two-foot long piece of parchment paper and layer fish, fish sauce, vegetables, wine, lime slices and herbs on one half of paper, topping with coconut butter.
- Fold one half of paper over ingredients. Crimp and fold edges of package very tightly (about 5-6 times per side) to ensure a sealed package. Gently squeeze air out of package. Repeat per serving.
- Place package on a cookie sheet and cook in oven for 12-15 minutes, depending on thickness and desired doneness
- Remove package and cut open. Pour out contents into a high-rimmed plate or bowl and serve immediately.



Dinner is saved!

So, the food was salvaged from a fiery fate, but how did it taste? Actually, despite my boneheaded lack of understanding of physics (fire + paper = bad), it was a success! The Thai flavour profiles of fish sauce, coconut and basil came through beautifully in the broth, the fish was well-cooked (maybe a smidge overcooked) while the veggies weren't mushy, nor underdone (essentially perfect!). Above all, the whole thing popped with a light and fresh vibrancy thanks to the lime, mint, and white wine. I'm still amazed at how it turned out tasting EXACTLY how I wanted it to.

The whole experience of "setting dinner on fire but somehow saving it" struck me as a bit of a culinary miracle, but hey, I'll take it! I'm curious to see how it'll turn out next time when I know what I'm doing...

So, even the worst screw-ups can be salvaged, if you move fast enough...


Cheers!