Carnage du Jour - 02 June 2015

Lamb chops.

Better: lamb chops on the grill.

I was perusing some old carnages des jours passés and came across a few things that made me want to try them again.
Well, almost - I seldom actually repeat a full recipe.

In this case, I've merged and modified a couple different carnages to create this wonderful dish.

• Start the grill (charcoal, of course).
• Lamb chops (at room temp before cooking, of course) seasoned with salt, pepper, and curry powder on the first side.
• While those chops took in that flavour, a bunch of asparagus was drizzled with a bit of olive oil and tossed with some herbes de Provence, then straight on the grill (away from the direct flames, of course).
• As those green spears approached roasted perfection, on went the chops (seasoned side down, of course) and a second dose of the same seasonings went on the second side.
• The chops got rotated for nice marks (it didn't really work though) and when they were flipped, I grated the zest of half a lime across the four chops, watching that beautiful green stuff basically dissolve into the juicy surfaces.

A bit of left-over rice was being warmed (it had been cooked in a really delicious mushroom stock a couple days earlier and this was some of the best rice I've ever made), and when the chops came off the grill (the asparagus having preceded them by several minutes), I gave the rice and asparagus one last dose of microwaves to make sure everything was piping hot and served it all up with no butter, no sauces, just the inherent flavours of the ingredients.

Heidi (who likes lamb quite well, but isn't really a lamb chop lover) said it was probably the best lamb she had ever had.

Who am I to argue?
Delicious and highly recommended.

Carnage du Jour - 01 May 2015

Pork Tenderloin.

"Again?" I hear you ask.
"Again," I reply.

Yes, that most versatile of cuts, the pork tenderloin was waiting to be transformed, and transformed it was.
Channeling my inner Jamaican, I whipped up a lovely jerk paste and cut the pork into nice medallions. For a good half hour they sat in that tasty goo, soaking up the allspice and cinnamon and scotch bonnets and goodness knows what all else. Then it was time for the grill.

Over a cheery bed of whitened charcoal, they took little time to reach perfection - cooked through, but with just that hint of pink remaining to let us know there was juice still left in the meat.
To accompany these morsels we had some grill-roasted rutabaga slices and a mixture of a few varieties of rice (brown, red, and wild if I remember correctly).

It wouldn't be dinner at our house without a sauce, though, so I created a sauce of plain Greek yogurt, some lime juice, and quite a bit of cinnamon. It seemed to thin and sharp, though, so I added a dollop of sour cream to smooth and thicken. It was delicious.

Each of the parts of this meal was tasty on its own, and they blended quite happily to make us feel as though we had taken a quick trip to the islands, mon!

Highly recommended.

RIP Jurgen Gothe

I don't even remember if it was Radio Two yet, but weekday afternoons nearly always found me listening to Disc Drive on CBC where Jurgen Gothe managed to move us all from the classical world to jazz and pop with a great mixture of banter and information.

We just got the news this morning on Radio Two that he had died, and I didn't want the day to pass without acknowledging his influence on my musical taste and knowledge, as well as on my taste and knowledge of wine. He was a gem on the radio and will be well and truly missed.

Carnage du Jour - 09 March 2015

Pork tenderloin. Yes, pork tenderloin again.

I've probably said this before, but this is one of the most versatile cuts in your meat arsenal. You can roast them whole of course, or you can slice them into medallions for a very quick dinner. That latter option is what we chose this time.

First off, a fine dice of red onion and broccoli was sautéed and crisped a bit in some canola oil and then removed.
The pork medallions were then dusted with a bit of beau monde, ginger, and Hungarian paprika. As they browned, I diced a few papadew peppers to add some heat and colour to the mix.
Once the second sides were beginning to brown, back in went the onions and broccoli along with the peppers and a dollop of sour cream.

With a side of mac and cheese and some (formerly) frozen peas, this was a meal to savour.

Highly recommended.
Enjoy!

Beverage du Jour - 12 February 2015

What could be more Canadian than this?

Imagine, if you will, a Soda Stream machine, and freshly carbonated litre bottle of cold water, and a bottle of delicious pure maple syrup.

What happened next can only be described as delicious.
Maple pop.
Yes, maple pop.

Maple syrup has about the same sweetness as the various flavoured syrups made for the Soda Stream (I tasted a bit. You're welcome.), so I simply added the same amount as would have come from one of those bottles and, voila!

Tasty good and quite Great White Northern.

Cheers!

The FCC Stole My Broadband!

All of a sudden, my internet connection seems so slow.
Until recently, I was thrilled with the speed of my downloads, the steady streaming of audio and video, even the speed of ftp uploads.
Now, I'm relegated to the other side of the digital tracks, the digital boondocks as it were.

Of course, nothing has actually changed.
The FCC has simply decided that "broadband" means 25Mbps and higher, and I'm no longer on the broadband side of the digital divide.

Fortunately, I'm happy with what I have, and I'm even happier not to have to pay for what they think I need. I can't imagine why I'd need 40Mbps unless I were hosting websites at home in violation of my TOS.

25Mbps? Really? That smacks of creating a controversy where none exists. What are they, political appointees?
Oh. Never mind.
Grr.

Kindle-age du Jour - 24 January 2015

Well, imagine, if you will, my surprise to find that I had neglected to create Kindle versions of two of the books I've published. Perhaps there was even a bit of disappointment mixed into that surprise.

Happily, I've now remedied that situation, and there are Kindle versions of both Bytes Akimbo - Cybersleuth and An Adventure with Guerrillas available for purchase at Amazon (they're also included in the free borrowing program through Amazon Prime).

Please feel free to take a look at them - and perhaps even to purchase one or both. I won't mind at all.

Enjoy!
Charlie