Happy Birthday, Richard Dean Anderson!

Yes, it's the birthday of the man who portrayed everyone's favourite secret agent - Angus "don't call me Stacey" MacGyver.
A great show (despite the laser error in the pilot), and one that still holds up.

How fun was it to see RDA as Jack O'Neill on Stargate SG-1 when Sam told him they had to MacGyver the stargate to get it to work.

It's only a couple months until it's MacGyver's birthday, so make sure you're carrying a paperclip and a Swiss Army Knife on March 23rd!

Carnage du Jour - 24 July 2014

This time I don't have to share credit with my normal flavour consultant.

Christian was over for dinner, and there were steaks in the fridge, so it only made sense to fire up the Weber and cook them.

As sides we had a mess of kale (fresh from the garden!) with bacon, shallots, and a few peppers, and then a nice pot of yellow rice with some caramelized onions.Both sides were excellent.
 
As to the steaks, they were nice thick strip steaks, so while the coals settled in, it gave them a nice dose of salt and pepper, seasoning the second side as the steaks hit the grill seasoned side down.
I'm not sure whence the inspiration, but I was thinking about oranges and lemons as they cooked. Well, there were a couple nice lemons in the basked, so I got my microplane and as the steaks finished up on the second side, that nicely seared first side received a dose of lemon zest. It smelled great, and the zest seemed to melt into the juices collecting on the steaks, so they didn't really look very different from any other steak.

However -
Both Heidi and Christian are likely to add some steak sauce when enjoying a steak, but both tasted first and then totally refrained - the steak needed no enhancement.

I still think I'd like to try this with orange zest, but the lemon was so delicious that I can heartily recommend this to any and all.

Enjoy!

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!