Travels in Taste - Le Boucan - Montreal

And we're back to our travelling ways...

Once in a while, it helps to have foodie friends in another city. In this case, my friend Regina recommended to me months ago that I forego some of Montreal's more well-known gourmet pig-outs like Au Pied de Cochon and Garde-Manger and try out some old-school BBQ a little off the beaten path (well of my beaten path in Montreal, at least) at a little resto called Le Boucan. Turns out it got a bit of exposure by being one of the restaurants featured on the Food Network program The Opener, but luckily I learned this fact after we got there. I think I might have had some odd bias against the place had I known it was pseudo-famous for being on TV. I know I'm weird, I accept this.

But that doesn't really matter. All I knew was after a slightly disappointing outing at Pied de Cochon back in September, mostly because of the oppressive heat due to sitting at the bar right in front of the open-concept kitchen, I was ready to take an insider's advice rather than general Internet and TV hoopla. Also, RIBS!

So, after our gourmet sojourns in Quebec City, it was back to Montreal for some good old-fashioned meat. Located on Notre-Dame West in Montreal's Saint-Henri neighbourhood, Le Boucan was definitely a step outside where I'd usually hung out in Montreal (Downtown, Old Montreal, The Plateau, etc.). Luckily it was still walking distance from our hotel, but it was a fairly long walk, which served us well because we get there right on time for our reservations. Unfortunately, no one had passed the memo on to the people sitting at the table that was supposed to be ours! So, we had to wait at the bar for a little bit, but that was fine in itself! It gave us a chance to get to know the staff and take in the whole atmosphere of the place. I really liked that it was cozy and dimly lit, it made me think of a get-together at a ski chalet.

As we were waiting, we took in the food and drink menus and I was trepidatious at the lack of microbrews at the bar: on tap was Keith's, Bud and so on. Luckily, there was an item that caught my eye: Bierbrier Premium Ale. I'd never heard of it, so I was intrigued and asked the bartender about it. Turns out the brewery is a few blocks away from the restaurant. So, yeah, that was absolutely going into my gullet. And, much to my delight, it was really freakin' good! Too bad it's only available at restaurants or by going to the brewery itself. Hopefully it'll be available a little more broadly in the future, I'd love to be able to pick up a six-pack sometime soon.

Bierbrier Ale - a local discovery

So, after enjoying a beer and meeting pretty much the whole serving staff and chatting a bit with the cooks, we finally got seated at what might have been the best seat in the house: a snug little two-person table right at the front window. I'll admit, it was chilly (Montreal still being blanketed in early March Winter grossness), but I liked being able to look out onto the street while eating.  

It didn't take much perusing to decide what the starter would be: Smoked Tomato Soup? Damn right! Oh man, it was really tasty. I can't tell whether the tomatoes actually went in the smoker or the smokiness was achieved through the use of liquid smoke, but either way it was a great variation of a classic. The cheese toast on the side didn't hurt either!

Smoked Tomato Soup!

But let's be realistic, I didn't come here for the soup. Next up was the real star of the show: the MEAT! Now, I'm a big fan of all things pork, but I also like a good hunk of BBQ chicken, so I thought it would be a good idea to go for the chicken n' rib combo. As with most BBQ places, you get to pick your own sides. So, naturally I went with cole slaw. But I had to pick another side. Hmmmmmm, what to pick, what to pick... Well, the other choices were fries (yawn), potato salad (in Winter? Naaaaah), green salad (yeah right) and cheesy corn. Wait, what? Cheesy corn!?!?!? YESSSSSSSSS!!! And hey, guess what? Kari picked the exact same sides for her full rack of ribs!

Ribs n' Chicken w. Cheese Corn and Slaw

So, once served (and the service was fantastic - friendly, polite, attentive and fast!), it was time to get down with the meaty good times!

My thoughts? Well, let's start with the sides and work our way in.

The cole slaw was a good, basic slaw. Not really mind-blowing or anything, but it served its purpose to add crunch to the meal and to make the guilt of eating a pound of meat less acute.

As for the cheesy corn, I gotta say that it tasted a bit weird. I figure they used frozen corn, which is fine, but there was a "fake cheese" kind of coating to the tongue reminiscent of Cheeze Whiz. I imagine that was something to do with how it was cooked, because I doubt they'd use that nasty stuff in a resto with a strong reputation for its food, but it is Quebec, and Quebecers like some weird food.

OK, on to the chicken. It was AWESOME! Great sauce and tenderness to the meat, loaded with smoky goodness. I do wish the skin could have been crispier, but that's an eternal lament when dealing with BBQ chicken. If there's some pit master out there who has perfected crispy-skinned BBQ chicken, I will trade favours for your secret. Lots of favours...

Finally, on to the ribs. Oh the ribs. Some of the best I've ever had and I've had a LOT of ribs. They had the perfect texture of 'fall off the bone' but not mushy. They were well smoked but not overdone. The rub was pretty basic, certainly not intended to be the star of the show (unlike when I make ribs and obsess about making the ultimate rub). But what REALLY made the ribs was the sauce. OMG, the sauce... It was delicious and unique, which are the two necessary hallmarks of a great BBQ sauce. It had a low-medium spice level, so very accessible, it had good sweetness without tasting like candy, but what set it apart was that the most forward flavour I could taste was cumin. I know what you might be thinking: "Cumin? Whoop-di-doo, it's just freakin' cumin." But in this sauce, cumin is the spice of the gods.

I was able to finish the chicken, but the ribs did both me and Kari in. We got them to go (they made for a tasty midnight snack and road food on the way home) as well as being gifted a piece of Buttermilk Pie! I can't remember if it was because we had to wait for our table, because I mentioned the blog, or because of the general awesomeness and gratitude Kari and bring to the table when we eat out. It's kinda awesome!

Buttermilk Pie - too much for our full bellies! Will eat later...

How was the Buttermilk Pie? Damn tasty, but I can't say I've become a convert. Give me Bread Pudding any time.

And so, that's it for another fun travel in taste to Montreal. And by no means coincidentally, the next day was lunch at Schwartz's before hopping the train back to Ottawa.

Life (and food) is good on the road!
Cheers!

Travels in Taste - Pain Béni - Quebec City

It's travel time!

Back in early March, my girlfriend and I decided to take a short trip to Quebec City. The trip was originally supposed to be a jaunt to a tropical paradise, but there were several factors that changed our minds about leaving the country for some all-inclusive dealie in Dominican Republic and a big one was our shared concern over food quality. After months of living on inspired food made by ourselves or others, the last thing we wanted was to be eating a week's worth of "Denny's" buffet food. Maybe we were being too harsh, but I'd heard enough horror stories to feed my concern.

With the plan in mind to go to Quebec City for a few days, I looked up a few suggestions on tripadvisor.ca, which provides rather reliable restaurant, hotel and destination information. As I went down their list of top restaurants (#1 being a sushi place, oddly enough) all the places recommended were pretty damned expensive, with the exception of #6 (Le Lapin Sauté) and #7 (Le Pain Béni). So, I figured I would choose one of these for our Wednesday night dinner (we arrived on Tuesday and wanted to forego anything planned that night). I can't remember why I chose Pain Béni (means 'blessed bread') over Lapin Sauté, but I did. I'm very glad I did, because we tried Lapin Sauté on Thursday night and it was VERY disappointing. Great service, but the food was worse than sub-par. I'd avoid it if I were you. Instead, maybe try their partner restaurant Le Cochon Dingue - our lunch there was very good. Or maybe what happened to me was a combo of exhaustion and the cook having a bad day. Who knows?

Either way, I don't like writing posts about lousy food, so let's move on.

Something really interesting about all the restaurants in Quebec City is that they offer a 'table d'hôte'-style menu on top of à la carte. We had already partaken of this the night before our outing to Pain Béni, so we stuck with our menu items this time, but I still found that an interesting aspect of the city's culinary culture. Now, on to Pain Béni itself!
What surprised me about this place is how unassuming it was. It was just a little bistro tucked in an "auberge" (a classically styled inn) near the Chateau Frontenac where we were staying. It was very small, only a dozen small tables at most. Now it was Wednesday night in the city's low season (the Carnaval de Québec had ended a couple of weeks previously) and there wasn't much going on. We had made reservations regardless, but there was no need; there weren't a whole lot of people.

The service was nice, straight-forward and friendly. There was the slightest air of "stuffiness" at first, but once Kari poured on her charm and the server saw how much I was enjoying the food, that attitude vanished. It even wound up in an extra glass of Ice Cider for Kari! Now, on to the meal!

First up, we ordered drinks. Kari ordered a sparkling wine of some sort while I indulged in a sampling of Quebec microbrewed goodness in the form of a bottle of Dieu du Ciel's Route des épices (literally "The Spice Road"). This was a rye beer (weird, eh?) that was utterly delicious. It had a kind of rye/gingerbread kick to it that I'd never tasted in a beer before. It was a total 'find' and I hope I get the chance to try it again some time, over and over again!

Rye Beer, who knew?

So, beer in hand, it was time for the first course. Now, it must be taken into consideration that both Kari and I were suffering with very nasty colds and my appetite wasn't the most ravenous at that point. So, I decided that instead of going full bore with a meal, I was going to have two small plates in succession, saving room for dessert (which, as we'll learn, was a stroke of genius on my part).

The menu is French, 'fancy' (I saw one review call it 'fussy') and very rich - foie gras, boudin, fondue and so on... (although there were some items with more 'global' flair) So, I figured I'd go all in with the luxury. I decided to order the 'Ris de veau' (Veal Sweetbreads) and the Seared Foie Gras. For her part, Kari was focused like a laser beam on the Cheese Fondue (she'd been pining for it as soon as we decided we were going to Quebec). It worked out well since it was a pretty big pot of fondue so there wasn't any period of either of us waiting for the other to finish eating.

The Fondue was pretty tasty (of course I sampled some) and I liked the added touch: (from the menu description) Quebec cheese fondue with apple cider, served with country loaf pieces and fresh fruits. I think Kari was happy:

Yay Fondue!

So, on my end, I decided to go with the classic French glandular/organic feast. First up was Ris de veau croustillant, Crème de topinambour, tombée d’épinards au beurre noisette, noix d’acajou. Which means Crispy Veal Sweetbreads, Sunchoke Purée, Spinach in Brown Butter and Cashews. Now, in case y'all didn't know, sweetbreads are NOT brains (although they look similar) nor are they testicles. They are, in fact, the thymus gland, usually of veal, young beef , lamb or pork. Also, sunchokes are also called Jerusalem artichokes (but aren't artichokes - it's complicated) and are very sweet.

So, how was my first foray into the world of glands? Really freakin' tasty, actually! The sweetbreads themselves were simply prepared in a cornmeal crust, having a rich yet oddly bitter flavour. I really don't know how to describe it. There are elements of the flavour of organ meat, but lighter, even fluffier, if that makes sense. Either way, I thought them to be delicious, especially when offset by the sweetness of the sunchoke purée, the richness of the spinach and the nutty goodness of the cashews. All in all, a decadent treat that I'll remember for years to come, especially paired up with the Route des épices beer, which just made the whole flavour profile more striking.

Tasty glands...
  

Up next was the Foie gras poêlé, purée de courge, pickle de figue, ail noir et mélasse, toast de pain d’épices. Translated: Seared foie gras, squash purée, pickled fig, black garlic and molasses, and spiced bread. Wow, what can I say? It's muthafreakin' FOIE GRAS! Just about the most unctuous, decadent food item in existence. And paired with the black garlic-molasses purée? Fugedaboudit... SO GOOOOOOOD!!! If I have one complaint about this dish, it's that the spiced bread was too strong, it overpowered anything else. It was tasty, but not a good element in this dish. White toast would have been better! But, everything else was a symphony of flavour when put together. I'm definitely going to have to experiment with black garlic... The server recommended a Pinot Noir pairing so I enjoyed a glass of Blackstone Pinot Noir out of California. It was a really tight pairing, the wine didn't overpower the food and was given a lot more flavour thanks to the food, which is exactly how good wine pairings should work, right?

Unfortunately, I was too busy enjoying this plate that I totally forgot to take a picture of it... Oops.

Next up, dessert!



So, once again, Kari was easy to convince as to her choice of dessert - they had a Lemon Crème Brulée. Me, I wasn't quite as sure until I saw "aged cheddar ice cream" as part of one of the selections. Cue the brakes! SKKKKKRREEEE... Cheddar. Ice Cream. YES!!! So, I ordered Pomme “Cortland” et courge confite, érable et sauge, glace au cheddar de l’Île-aux-Grues, crumble aux épices, espuma à l’érable. In English: an apple and squash layered confit (essentially a layered square of thinly sliced apple and squash baked - I think - with maple syrup and sage), cheddar ice cream(!), a spiced crumble and maple 'foam'. I wasn't sure what to make of what was being described on the menu, but I HAD to try it if only for the ice cream.

When it arrived, I was surprised to discover that it was essentially a deconstructed apple pie. The 'confit' was the filing, while the crumble served as the crust. And the ice cream served equal purposes. I was a little worried when I saw "maple foam" on the English menu, I was worried about getting one of those molecular gastronomy foams that looks a bit like spit. Luckily, what they called 'foam' was more like a mousse. Phew!
So, how did it taste? OH MY GOD!!!! Everything was amazingly delicious. The confit was firm and tasty, the crumble a perfect crunchy bite, the maple mousse light and sweet and rich. And then there's the ice cream. Wow. Just... wow... Imagine the best cheesecake-style ice cream but instead of some sort of questionable cream cheese, you're using premium extra-old cheddar. It was one of the tastiest things I've eaten in a long long time.

Paired with a glass of Ice Cider, a Quebecois speciality, it made the evening complete. And I'm not a big dessert guy!

Deconstructed Apple Pie. MORE PLEASE!

So there you have it, our night out at Pain Béni! I'd say give it a try if ever you're in Quebec City. That being said, there are so many restaurants in Old Quebec that this might only be one of many spectacular gourmet outings. All I know is that I am very, very happy we decided to go there.

That's it for now! Stay tuned for the next Travel in Taste where we head back to Montreal to see what an up and coming BBQ joint has to offer!

Cheers!

Smoked Fusion - Thai BBQ

And we're back!

Over the course of my-ever evolving exploration of BBQ, and cooking in general, I find myself looking beyond the confines of tradition to other continents and cuisines for elements to incorporate with classic techniques. We generally call this 'fusion cuisine' and the type of cuisine that I go back to most often is Thai. There's something so satisfying about Thai food; the richness of coconut milk, the spice of a good curry paste, the brightness of lime leaf, the pure tastiness of Thai basil, and so on; these all make for such delicious dishes that I could argue that Thai is one of my favourite cuisines. The only problem is that, like all great cuisines, it can over-saturate the market and become almost pedestrian and boring as it goes from exotic treat to common mall food court offering. While that's fine for a quick lunch, it makes it less special somehow. Or, to paraphrase the hipsters out there, "I liked Thai food before it was cool."

And maybe that's why I recently looked to apply these flavours in new and interesting ways, specifically using the smoker. Over the past year, I've been coming across dried versions ingredients commonly found in Thai cooking. First it was dried lime leaf, next was lemongrass powder, then I found dried galangal. Somewhere in the back of my mind, mischievous (and brilliant) voices were whispering make a ruuuuuuub, make a ruuuuuuuuub. Who am I to ignore those crazy voices? They usually know of what they speak! Just as a reminder, a rub is a mix of a bunch of seasonings and (usually) sugar that you rub all over a piece of meat before smoking or slow cooking it and you do this a day or so in advance to let the rub penetrate the meat. The 15-year old in me is having giggling fits right now over the terminology...

So, here it is!

Thai Spice Rub (to be used on any kind of meat)

Ingredients

- 6-7 dried lime leaves
- 1 tsp cumin
- 1 tsp coriander
- 1 tsp lemongrass powder
- 1 tsp galangal powder (I had dried galangal pieces and it was really hard to grind into powder myself if you can find it pre-powdered, use that!) or ginger powder
- 1 tsp salt
- 1/2 tsp black pepper
- 3-4 arbol chilies (or other dried hot chillis)
- 3-4 guajillo chilies (optional)
- 1 star anise pod (optional)
- good pinch cinnamon
- good pinch turmeric
- 1/2 cup brown sugar

Directions

- Take all unpowdered elements (lime leaves, chilies, start anise) and grind into powder using spice grinder or mortar and pestle.
- Mix all spices together, add brown sugar and stir until well-mixed.
- Rub on meat and let sit overnight.


Don't let the light colour fool you, she's a spicy one! This is pre-brown sugar being added





I used this rub on some beef ribs, but I made the mistake of getting short ribs and didn't smoke them for the 6-7 hours I should have, instead only cooking them for just under 5 hours. The result was that the meat was undercooked and tough. I even tried using a technique I'd seen on TV where the cook smoked the ribs above a pan of really hot water with some carrots, celery and onion, but whatever effect it may have had was wasted because of the short smoking time. Dammit. That being said, they were tasty (especially with the BBQ Sauce whose recipe is coming), just not much fun to eat...

Luckily, it was beef and there were no potential health effects. But, to be clear, if you're stuck with beef short ribs, smoke those suckers for AT LEAST 6 hours. Next time I'll look harder for beef back ribs which will likely take less time.

Trying out a new twist on smoking ribs.

Now that we've dealt with the cooking of the meat using Thai flavours, let's look at how we can use these flavours in making a delicious BBQ sauce for our ribs. I think the key in making this sauce unique is the use of coconut milk and using a few Asian ingredients to replace traditional American BBQ sauce elements. For example, instead of using cider vinegar, I used rice wine vinegar; instead of Worcestershire sauce, I used fish sauce, mango instead of onion, and so on... The sauce still relies on the fundamental sweeteners - brown sugar, molasses and honey, but the flavour was nothing like any previous BBQ I've  made or tasted.

Red Curry BBQ Sauce

Ingredients

- 1 398 ml can coconut milk
- 1 tbsp red curry paste
- 1 cup chopped tomato (or 1/2 cup ketchup)
- 1/4 cup rice wine vinegar
- 1 tbsp fish sauce
- 1 cup mango chunks or purée
- 1/2 cup pineapple juice
- 1 cup brown sugar
- 1 tsp coriander, ground
- 1 tsp cumin, ground
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 3-4 drops liquid smoke
- 2 tsp molasses
- juice of half a lime
- 1 tbsp honey
- 1/4 cup chopped Thai basil

Directions

- Heat saucepan on medium heat and add half the coconut milk and all of the curry paste.
- Heat and stir until coconut milk begins to thicken (5-10 minutes).
- Add tomato, vinegar, fish sauce, mango and pineapple juice. Mix all ingredients well, reduce heat to medium-low and simmer for 10 minutes.
- Add brown sugar, cumin, coriander, salt and liquid smoke. Simmer for another 5 minutes.
- Add molasses, lime juice and rest of coconut milk. Increase to medium-high heat and cook for another 10 minutes. The coconut milk should start roiling and thickening at this time.
- Remove sauce from heat and add honey.
- Allow sauce to cool to about 100 degrees Fahrenheit and stir in Thai basil.

Now, you can glaze your ribs with this sauce by cooking it on the grill, or, if you're like me, pour it directly over the meat. What really made this sauce exceptional was the added depth of the coconut milk, it was phenomenal! I wasn't sure coconut milk would work in BBQ sauce, but my doubts were completely and deliciously alleviated.

I can't think of classier way to serve a mess of sauce.

So, there you have it, a fun fusion of Southern BBQ cooking with Thai flavours. Looking back, while I may have screwed up the ribs somewhat, coming up with the sauce more than made up for it. As a side for this meal, I made a quick salad of sweet potato, wild rice, cilantro and a lime-based dressing. That recipe will be featured in a future post covering vegetarian goodness.

Until next time, don't be afraid to fuse your food!

Cheers!

Eureka! - Surprising discoveries in the kitchen

Hello!

As I've said before, one of the things I love about cooking is the chance to experiment. You can experiment with new flavour combos, new ingredients, new methods, and just generally try out anything your mad scientist brain comes up with, and the mad scientist approach is fine if you're going for over-the-top combinations. But often other discoveries are far more subtle and are sometimes a matter of taking little risks with ingredients and getting startlingly good results. One case is finding a new ingredient that brings out unique flavour combinations. Another is pairing ingredients that you wouldn't think work well together, but somehow do. There's also trying a few new and unexpected, but reliable, twists on an old classic and yielding results that go far beyond your expectations.

So here's the scenario: it was an average winter's night and my girlfriend and I had decided to go with a comforting "chicken, potatoes and vegetable" trio for dinner. Now, I was out shopping for dinner supplies, when I happened upon a new ingredient that really got a ball rolling in my head. It was at La Bottega Nicastro and they were selling something called 'Nduja. 'Nduja is a spicy spreadable salami. It has the flavours of a hot Soppressata salami, but is soft, almost like using sausage meat. I looked it up online and it turns out its origin is that it was a kind of an Italian take on Andouille sausage, a classic smoked French sausage, most often seen in Cajun cooking. However, 'Nduja and Andouille taste completely different; Andouille is smoky and full of herbs, 'Nduja is fiery and tangy.



'Nduja on, um, bread...

 Anyway, now that I had my weird salami to play with (wait, that sounds wrong...), I decided I was going to make a stuffed chicken breast, mixing the 'Nduja with some bocconcini and black pepper as the stuffing, coating the chicken in in bread crumbs and baking it all. The end result surprised me in that it looked very much like a sort of reverse version of an old classic with a lovely little twist on its flavours, but still tasting somewhat familiar. What am I talking about? Well, with its vibrant red colour, the 'Nduja stuffing looked a lot like (and surprisingly tasted like) the tomato-parmesan sauce/coasting we find on Chicken Parmesan. So that brings us to our first recipe.

1 - Food in Disguise - 'Reverse Chicken Parmesan' - Chicken Breast Stuffed with 'Nduja and Bocconcini

Serves 2

Ingredients

- 2 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
- 1 egg, beaten
- 1/2 cup breadcrumbs or panko
- 2-3 tbsp 'Nduja
- 2-3 bocconcini balls (if balls are about 1 inch thick, more if using the smaller kind)
- 1 tsp black pepper

Directions

- Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit
- Carefully cut a slit along the side of the chicken breast, creating a pocket for the stuffing.
- In a bowl, mix together 'Nduja, bocconcini and black pepper with a fork. You'll have to mash the mixture somewhat forcefully to really soften up the cheese, so use a sturdy fork. As with anything, feel free to add some other spices or herbs to the stuffing; I would bet that some fresh basil would be nice. I don't recommend adding salt as the 'Nduja is pretty darn salty as is.
- Stuff each chicken breast with half the 'Nduja mixture.
- Coat each breast with egg and dredge in breadcrumbs until fully covered. (I forgot the egg part when I first made this, hence why in the picture, the chicken looks kinda naked).
- In a baking dish or on a baking sheet, place chicken in oven and bake for about 20 minutes, until coating is golden, stuffing is bubbly and chicken is cooked through.
- Serve hot with broccoli and potatoes (recipes to follow).

Next on our adventure in flavour discovery we have what I'd like to call 'unlikely pairings' in the flavour department. Think about food combos that you would never think to put together but when tried, they're awesome! Chocolate and bacon is a good example; you wouldn't think they go together, but we all know now that they work wonderfully together! Just ask Homer Simpson! There's also blueberries and blue cheese (Kari gave me that one), not to mention peanut butter and Sriracha (easy Satay!). I had a friend who refused to eat fruit and meat together because she just couldn't get her head around the concept. Too bad she had to miss out on Bacon-Wrapped Peaches! But I'm sure she isn't alone in her aversion to 'odd' food combos.

OK, so clearly bacon goes with everything. But broccoli, on the other hand, doesn't really go with a whole lot of other flavours; cheese sauce, beer, slivered almonds, there really isn't a whole lot, is there? And yet, with a the simple decision to add toasted pecans to a side dish of steamed broccoli and sauté the lot, culinary history was made. Well at least, it was made in my kitchen! As I was tossing in the pecans, I kept thinking this NEEDS something... What goes with broccoli that also goes with pecans? Now, I drew a blank when thinking of pairing something with broccoli, but I then thought about pecans and praline and what flavours praline and then, SKA-BOW!!!! It hit me! VANILLA!!!!! Now, I know what you're thinking, Dude, vanilla? As if! I'm outta here... But I kid you not, it works! It works BEAUTIFULLY! What's the worst part about broccoli? The bitterness, right? Well, really good vanilla extract (or vanilla bean I suppose) does a wonderful job of getting through the bitterness and adds an unexpected sweetness that broccoli has been missing for a long, long time. Of course, an added touch of butter helped it all come together as well.


A culinary odd couple!


























So, here's how to put together this surprisingly good side dish:

2 - Odd Flavour Combos - Broccoli with Pecans and Vanilla

Serves 2

Ingredients

- 1 head broccoli, cut into florets
- 1/2 cup pecan halves or pieces
- 1 tsp pure vanilla extract (you really don't want to use the fake stuff. Trust me.)
- 1 tsp butter
- salt and pepper to taste

Directions

-Toast pecans in a frying pan on medium-high heat or in the oven (which is hopefully already on and cooking chicken!). Be careful to ensure they don't burn! Set aside once toasted.
- Fill a pot with about half an inch/one centimetre of water and set to boil.
- Once water is boiling, steam broccoli for two or three minutes, until it's a vivid green.
- Strain broccoli in a colander and rinse with cold water. Set broccoli aside until chicken is nearly done.
- Once ready to serve, set a frying pan on medium-high heat and melt butter.
- Sauté broccoli and pecans in butter for a minute or two.
- Drizzle vanilla over top and continue cooking for another minute. Serve hot.

If broccoli and vanilla qualifies as our "never would have expected it to be good but it is" entry, our next exploration is along the lines of "why have I never tried this before?!?!?" It's amazing how we get caught up in the idea that the 'old favourites' have to follow a simple flavour profile. But they don't have to! Who says Shepherd's Pie have to be the same old boring beef, potatoes and corn? I don't!

And then there's our old friend Mashed Potatoes. Potatoes, milk and butter... whee... And yet we all have grown to be so comforted by our traditional flavour combos that we rarely think to get creative with these foodstuffs. Well, luckily most of us have a fridge and pantry full of flavours to raid. Now, think of potatoes and what might accentuate the flavour of your old school mash. Maybe some chili powder? Maybe some dried and powdered mushrooms? Bacon (duh)? That's what's great about potatoes: they're like a blank canvass for cooking. In this case, my own thoughts were of light and fresh and bold. So, I was hit with the inspiration of using lemon juice and rosemary in the mash. And then my inner hedonist added blue cheese... that jerk!

3 - Tweaking Comfort - Smashed Potatoes with Lemon, Rosemary and Blue Cheese

Serves 2

Ingredients

- 2-3 large potatoes, cleaned and cut into large chunks (peel if you want, I never do)
- 1/2 tsp fresh or dried rosemary leaves
- 1/4 cup milk
- 2 tsp butter
- 2 tsp blue cheese, crumbled (I prefer a milder cheese, like Danish blue)
- juice of 1/4 lemon
- salt and pepper to taste

Directions

- Set a pot of water to boil. Once boiling, add potatoes and boil for about 10-15 minutes, until potatoes are tender (if they can be easily pierced with a fork, they're ready).
- Drain potatoes in a strainer and return to empty pot.
- Stir in milk, butter, rosemary, lemon, salt and pepper.
- Mash roughly with a potato masher of sturdy fork. I like a rough texture (hence 'smashed' instead of mashed). If you really want a smoother texture, keep mashing until smooth. This might make the tougher texture of the rosemary stand out too much though.
- Serve with chicken and broccoli

A plate full of discoveries! - "Reverse Chicken Parmesan" (Chicken stuffed with 'Nduja and Bocconcini), Broccoli with Vanilla and Toasted Pecans, and Smashed Potatoes with Lemon, Rosemary and Blue Cheese.


And there you have it! An entire meal full of surprises and none of which are terribly difficult to put together. I hope you enjoy one or all of these dishes in the near future.

Cheers!

Not Your Average Sandwich! - Episode 3: BACON!!!! Taking the BLT to New Heights!

Hi, I like bacon! You like bacon! Let us rejoice in its joyous salty smoky porcine goodness!

Commence drooling...

Everyone knows and loves the BLT: bacon, lettuce and tomato on toasted bread with mayo. But like all good things, with some love and effort, you can take a well-loved, but fairly mundane, standard and kick that sucker up to heights undreamed of! How?, you ask. Well, one way is by replacing boring old iceberg lettuce with something more snazzy, like arugula or red leaf. Or heck, omit the lettuce altogether and swap in some avocado!

But if you really want to take it to a new level, make your own bacon. Yup, you heard me: Make. Your. Own. Bacon. It's craziness, I know, and it takes a fair bit of time. But wow, there's something beyond satisfying about taking something as ubiquitous and fantastic as bacon and making it all your own.

So what is bacon exactly? Well, according to wikipedia, it's cured pork meat. What cut of meat and how it's cured varies around the world and even across the street. Your standard bacon in North America is made from pork belly, but other nations use the shoulder, loin, fatback, and so on. Our neighbours to the south often refer to a cut known as Canadian Bacon, which we call back bacon. It can be brined (or 'wet-cured') and it can be dry-cured. It can be used directly after curing (so-called 'fresh bacon') or it can be dried or boiled, but I think the best bacon is smoked to get that extra level of flavour. Some people even double smoke their bacon (cold-smoked for days at first, then hot-smoked for a few hours). But, I figured I'd keep it a little simpler than that.

Now, my way of making bacon has two basic steps: curing and smoking. As I mentioned, you can skip the smoking step, but why would you want to??!?! So, let's get to it!

Making Bacon (anyone else remember that Maple Leaf ad from the 80s with the little kid saying "makin' bacon, makin' bacon" over and over again?)

First off, you need to pick up some pork belly. It's available at most butchers and supermarkets. How much you pick up depends on how much bacon you want to make. I noticed that, as opposed to store bought bacon, when frying up homemade bacon, it doesn't shrivel up as much. That might be because I cut my strips very thick, but I think it has something to do with the quality of the meat; I somehow doubt that the meat used in the giant bacon factory is as high quality as that which you get at the local butcher. All this to say that a little pork belly goes a fairly long way. I think I picked up maybe a little over a kilo or so (about 2 pounds), so that's the weight I'll use for proportions in this post.

Once it was home, I cut the skin and a few millimetres of fat off the pork belly, cut the belly in half to make two square pieces, and placed them in a non-reactive dish. A glass-pyrex lasagna pan works well.

Next, it's time to make the cure. I happen to be lucky enough to have Sriricha Salt on hand (that Kari made from the Sriracha Cookbook by Randy Clemens), so I used a bit of that, but it's by no means necessary. Then again, I could use this opportunity to reprint Mr. Clemens' recipe for you so you can use it yourselves!

Sriracha Salt

Ingredients

- 1/2 cup kosher salt
- 5 tsp Sriracha sauce

Directions

- Line a baking sheet with parchment paper
- In a bowl, mix salt and Sriracha. Spread out mixture thinly over baking sheet and allow it to dry uncovered for about a day or two, stirring once or twice.
- Store in an airtight container for future use.

And there you go! So now let's get to our cure!

Bacon Cure

Ingredients

- 1/2 cup mixture of kosher salt and Sriracha salt. How much Sriracha salt you use depends on how spicy you want your bacon. I used a tablespoon which wasn't really enough for my taste, I didn't get much heat off the bacon. So, I'd say 2 tablespoons of Sriracha salt and the rest plain kosher salt
- 1/2 cup brown sugar
- 2-3 tablespoons maple syrup (optional)

Mix all the ingredients in a bowl, but only add the maple syrup if you're going to be curing your pork belly right away.

If you're not planning on curing the meat right away, put the mix of the other ingredients in some kind of sealable container or plastic bag until you're ready to use it.

If, like me, you got an instant hankerin' to get that piggy goodness a-curing, you'll get to it right away.

Curing Bacon

Take the bacon cure and apply it liberally to all sides of the pork belly, pressing it into the meat. You want to get a crust of cure on all sides of the meat. It's going to be sitting around for a while in this cure, so you need a good layer.

Once you've applied the cure, wrap the meat in plastic wrap and put it in the fridge in some sort of bowl or pan that can collect any moisture that will leak out of the meat, because it will, and that's all part of the process.

Leave the pork belly in the cure for anywhere from 4 to 7 days. During this time, the salt and sugar will be absorbed into the meat, causing it to dry out and contract a little bit. You'll see this happen within a couple of days. You can reapply more cure if you like, but I found it unnecessary to do so. As I said before, there will also be some liquid collecting at the bottom of the container. Leave it there, or you can rub it back into the meat (that sounds messy though, since the liquid is mostly maple syrup). Either way, it'll get reabsorbed and keep adding flavour to the meat.

When you're ready to get the meat on the smoker, take it out of the fridge and let it sit out for an hour or two to warm up a little, it helps the smoking process. Now, should timing issues arise, as they did with me, you might not have time to smoke the meat after 7 days. I suggest you freeze the cured meat in a ziploc-style bag. Once you're ready to smoke it, let it thaw out overnight in the fridge. It'll be ready to go, but when you remove it from the bag, pat it dry with paper towel. You don't want any moisture on the meat before it goes in the smoker.

And now, let's smoke our bacon!

Smoking Bacon

So, we've talked at length about smoking on this blog, so check the link for this post to get the detailed basics. In this case, the desired smoking conditions are 225 to 250 Fahrenheit for about 4 hours for 2 pounds. The more meat you smoke, the longer it'll take. As usual, I use lump maple charcoal to build the fire. For smoke, I used a handful of apple wood chips, soaked in water for about 30 minutes (hence, apple-wood smoked bacon!). As you smoke the bacon, rotate each piece every 30 minutes or so to ensure even smoking on all sides. Because the bacon is already cured, there's nothing that needs to be added while it smokes. Once you've smoked it for 4 hours, it's ready to go. Remove it from the smoker and let it rest for 30 minutes before slicing.

You can slice the bacon however you want. I like thick slices of bacon, so I just used a kitchen knife and sliced about 3 millimetres thick. If you prefer your bacon to be the same thickness as what you get at the supermarket, you're going to need a deli slicer, or surgical precision with a knife.



Bacon slices and slab

 
 






































Now, this is a post about making sandwiches, so we should maybe get on that!

Making the BAT (Bacon, Avocado and Tomato) Sandwich 

The regular BLT is a pretty damn tasty sandwich in its right, but I find ordinary iceberg lettuce utterly boring, except maybe on a hamburger. So, I picked up a box of mixed greens (red leaf lettuce, spinach and other greens) and decided that instead of using the greens in the salad, I'd have them on the side with a tasty little dressing. So, what the heck should replace the lettuce? Hmmmm, well, avocado's green, that'll do as a replacement (it's also really freaking delicious!). And with that, we have the BAT!

Fryin' up the goodness!

Bacon, Avocado and Tomato Sandwich

Makes 2 sandwiches

Ingredients

- 6 slices homemade bacon, cut about 3 millimetres thick
- 4 slices rye bread
- 1 ripe tomato, sliced
- 1 ripe avocado, pitted and sliced
- 2 tbsp mayonnaise
- black pepper to taste







Directions

- Fry up bacon slices in a skillet to desired doneness. Thicker-cut bacon can be cooked until very crispy (even a little burnt) on the outside while still being tender on the inside, so it's pretty hard to overdo it. Set done bacon on paper towels to drain.
- While frying bacon, put bread in the toaster and toast to desired doneness
- Spread mayo and pepper on bread and layer bacon, tomato and avocado. Slice sandwich in half and serve with salad.

Quick Dressing for Green Salad

- 2 tbsp avocado or olive oil
- 1 tbsp tarragon vinegar
- juice of 1/8 lemon or lime
- small pinch red pepper flakes
- small pinch kosher salt
- 1/2 tsp maple syrup

- Whisk all ingredients together and toss over greens.

And there you have it - a celebacon! (like celebration, but with bacon... shut up, it's funny!)

The BAT with the L on the side...

Enjoy!

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!