Carnage du Jour - 17 July 2014

Chicken.
Boneless breasts and thighs.
What to do with them to make them delicious on the grill?

How about this:

• Salt and pepper all around.
• A glaze made of spicy sweet mustard, maple syrup, Colman's dry mustard, and a bit of hot sauce.

 Smear that glaze on and grill, smearing more as they pieces turn.

Well, we'll say this about that - it was beyond tasty. It got the "you can make this any time you want" seal of approval from Heidi.

Enough said?
Highly recommended - please enjoy responsibly.

RIP Ollie Fretter

You may not remember him, but Ollie Fretter was the king of appliances back before the "big box" stores took over.
Fretter v. Highland Appliance was the big time - I remember an RA in college walking back and forth between the two with competitive quotes for his stereo rig until one of them couldn't beat the other and sent him back across the street to make his purchase.

Thanks for the memories (and the first colour TV we bought to outfit the library at Bob).

In honour of the "I'll give you five pounds of coffee if I can't beat your best deal" tagline:

Carnage du Jour - 28 June 2014

Ah, burgers.
Burgers on the grill.
Burgers on the grill on a Summer evening.

That's pretty darned good, but what if we make the burgers better?

That's just what we did this past weekend, made the burgers better.
A 50/50 mix of ground lamb and ground beef (chuck) was the base, but then we went to town.
Added into the meat were the following:
Old Bay and chipotle powder (a sort of North American harissa, if you will), pine nuts, and capers.
We mixed it all together, but without over-mixing, and onto the grill the patties went (about 6oz patties as an estimate) to cook to perfection.
An added benefit was the mayo with Old Bay and beau monde smeared on the buns.

Oh dear, these were quite the tasty burgers.
Highly recommended.

Pescage du Jour - 23 June 2014

Ah, those pesky fish. They're not really that hard to cook, they're just hard not to overcook.

At last, I success with fishy perfection. It wasn't paella, but it was paellish in some ways.
While a pot of yellow rice cooked on the stove, I prepared a nice swordfish steak with some curry powder, paprika, and salt on each side. That was seared in canola oil, flipped, and removed - at just the right time!
Into that skillet went chopped onions, some chopped piquillo peppers, and some diced button mushrooms. I had some leftover chicken, so about a thigh's-worth was diced and added as well.
When they were just right, in went the rice for a quick stir while I cut up the swordfish and added the pieces to the rice.
What a bowl of flavour!
Oh, I also added some chopped pistachios and cashews which had been spiced with curry powder and paprika as well. They add a nice flavour and a great occasional crunch to many a dish in our house.

This was extremely delicious and highly recommended.
Enjoy!

Carnage du Jour - 20 May 2014 (avec Fromages du Jour!)

Well, well, well. At last we've come up with an appetizer worthy of being shared here.

The main course was a lovely beef tenderloin roast. A simple seasoning mix (salt, pepper, chipotle powder, and a bit of beau monde) all over it and then a roast in a 425F oven for a while, just until the internal temp hit 140F. A rest while finishing up some pasta with roasted vegetables and a bit of plain greek yogurt was all it took before we could slice it and enjoy.
And enjoy it we did!

Ah, but what of the appetizer, eh?

In keeping with a couple of the latest crazes, we decided to do a riff on KFC's sandwich (that one with chicken instead of bread) and hit hard the old gluten-free trend as well.
So ... grilled cheese sandwiches.

"How?" I hear you ask. Thus:
Slices of Haloumi cheese were used as the ersatz bread were arranged with a slice of American cheese between them. A grilling in a skillet added the beautiful grill / char marks to the Haloumi, and the central cheese did a nice bit of melting.

Ah, but the proof of the sandwich is in the eating, no? Yes.

What a revelation! A beautiful saltiness with a squeak that was reminiscent of fresh curds greeted each bite. There really is no need for bread in grilled sandwiches anymore - Haloumi is the new Whole Wheat. (Feel free to quote me on that.)

Delicious!

Carnages du Jour - 23 April 2014

Well, the weather was nice enough to fire up the old Weber, and so I did.

As always, it seemed a waste to simply cook what we would eat that night, so a quick scan of the available foodstuffs was undertaken, and in addition to the day's burgers and cauliflower, a pork tenderloin was found and prepped.

First, the pork.
A quick blend of a small amount of cornmeal, some ground cumin seed, dry mustard, and beau monde was spread on the pork, and it was put over a slightly less hot part of the fire to roast without getting too charred. The pork was joined by a slightly broken-down head of cauliflower with a nice dose of butter and minced garlic, all rolled up in aluminum foil.

As those two roasted under the cover, I prepped the burgers:
Into a pound or so of ground chuck went a generous bunch of extra hot horseradish, some sesame oil, salt and pepper, and a couple tablespoons of capers.
Once it was all mixed nicely, three nice patties were prepped and cooked.

Everything finished up about the same time (including the bowtie pasta that hadn't been mentioned until now - dressed with a sauce of greek yogurt and cumin) and the burgers were greatly enjoyed with the cauliflower and pasta.

The next night, the pork was reheated along with the rest of the cauliflower and some peas with pearl onions dressed with greek yogurt . A yogurt and cumin sauce accompanied it all and all was delicious.

Both highly recommended.

Carnage du Jour - 16 April 2014

My trusty flavour consultant, Christian, has come up with yet another winner. (I'll take some of the credit, as I suggested part of this discovery, although at least partly in jest.)

There had been a pork butt waiting in the fridge for some time, so Heidi popped it in the oven for one of those lovely all-day roastings that end up in pork that doesn't really need to be pulled; it basically pulled itself with the help of mean old Mr. Gravity.
Salt and pepper were the sole seasonings, and it was just delicious.

Christian came over to have dinner: Heidi suggested mashed potatoes, I suggested sandwiches, Christian went for both.
Oh, those sandwiches I suggested were on cinnamon-swirl raisin bread. (I know, bear with me a moment.)
Heidi decided to forgo the sandwich and have her pork on her potatoes. That's always a nice combo, so it's hard to blame her.
Christian and I, however, decided on a mash-up of the two options.

The winning sandwich - and it really is a winner - was the following:
Very lightly toasted raisin bread, smear one slice with mashed potatoes, cover with pulled pork, drizzle with a bit of maple syrup, and close with the other slice of bread.

Please don't think ill of us - this sandwich was simply delicious.
Highly recommended.