Turkey Bolognese

Okay, so this recipe isn't actually bolognese but it does sound better to call it one. The ingredients make it a nice cousin with a killer twist!

(Recipe serves 4)
You'll need:

1 lb. ground turkey
1 heaping tablespoon green curry paste
1 tablespoon of Cumin
Black pepper
2 cloves of fresh garlic
1/2 dozen tomatoes chopped
2 or 3 green onions chopped
1 cup Parmesan cheese

and are you ready for this one...
100 g of Lachsschinken cured pork loin. Genießen Freunden!

and your favorite family size box of pasta or make it fresh, but make it for 4!

Brown you ground turkey in a large sauce pan, as it's cooking slice your Lachsschinken into long thin strips and add it in too. Season with pepper, cumin, and the green curry paste. As it's browning add the green onions and garlic continue to brown everything in the pan. Deglaze with white wine, I used tequila as I'm injured and all out of white wine, and beer... Now add your tomatoes, simmer everything down; I like my sauce saucy so I cook it pretty far down so that the tomatoes start to break but you could just hit it with some heat and have juicy chunks of tomatoes if that's what tickles your fancy. Stir in the Parmesan cheese and serve generously over a heap of pasta.
Serve alongside a spinach salad with strips of Lachsschinken, edamame beans, bean sprouts, paprika and honey dusted walnuts (Glass lock container, ingredients, shake), and Feige's Gourmet Oil and Vinegar Dressing which my mom lovingly brings from Listowel from time to time, it's such a sweet small town find. 2 part meals are always boring so have a nice warm loaf of bread to tear apart and try different dipping plates like red chili flake olive oil and balsamic vinegar.

liebe es zu kochen !

Zoup's up!

Fast food and chain food seem to have the same problem; their food is horrible for you because they're too busy worrying about a business model that can work everywhere with the same caliber of under qualified staff... No offense McDonald's employees but most of you don't have any business in the restaurant business. They make the jobs specific enough and simple enough that anyone can do it with little to no training, effort, or pay, and yet the "quality" is consistent and nobody get's food poisoning, that's really the bottom line for mass food.

However, there are a few chains that I like; had mentioned a few month's back that I'm a sucker for Chick-Fil-A. They just opened up a can 'o Zoup in Waterloo Town Square and I gotta say, I like it... They have a huge soup assortment and although most are loaded with salt and everything else that isn't that great for you in large quantities, their menu is attractive. Their double baked potato soup is great and I'm surprised that they make a lobster bisque, haven't had enough lobster bisque's to say how it is but I like it. Anyway, it's something different which is always nice, it's the first Canadian location also cool, and they have creative salads and sandwiches on their menu which is ingeniously displayed on TV screens behind the counter... Finally someone used TV screens for the menu, I thought McD would do it first but I'm glad it's done, if only tablet menu's were more practical we could do away with print all together...

I'm rambling, I may get onto my theories on print media and Canada Post later... Anywho, remember that every Zoup comes with a big 'ol bun (because it's an American chain and bread is cheap and fills you up!). Although they have lots of soup and cool other menu items, every drink is a fountain Coke product, sweet high fructose corn syrup!.. That's okay you can buy a bottle of Coke water... Most of their locations are in the Northeastern United States; and you can order online to make sure your lunch order is warm and waiting for you when you arrive. Grab a big 'ol bowl of Zoup today!

I've seen some of the early GrillPro YouTube video's, they're pretty good. I love teaching people, so hopefully this can be a nice way to teach people about all of the great grilling products out there... Manufactured by GrillPro... Who I work for... Well, you gotta eat!

Flat Tire

Friday,

I'm thrilled to announce that I sprained my ankle last night; in other words, this is day one of being a one wheeled man... PS. having one wheel sucks. I have a short attention span and not being able to come and go and ride, and run, and jump as I please is really my idea of hell. I use time off work to work on projects that I didn't have time to work on while I was working, relaxation is not my forte.
I'm sitting in my backyard watching the world go by because right now I'm too slow to catch it, I can hobble about with my crutches but it's no set of working legs. Side note, how do I get my dog to work with me in regards to lawn care? He pees on my grass and the patch he pees on dies while everything around it grows greener than the rest of the lawn. I have a chain of green islands running throughout my backyard... There must be a solution... More to come?

Days later
It's now Monday, I'm doing a poor job at staying down and keeping my foot up... I've been to the beach, a father's day get together and now back to work, aka doing more than I should be. The swelling in my foot tells me I'm doing something wrong and all of the muscles that are pulling the weight for one dead limb are exhausted.
Oh well, I'm coming up with a way that I can cook an entire meal in the kitchen without my whole foot filling with fluid. Good things to come! Dog note, apart from watering each dog urine spot in my backyard immediately after it's created there really isn't a great remedy for dog spotting on my lawn. Some people suggested training him to pee in a specific graveled or pebbled spot but that's not something I'm interested in doing, it's his yard too. I'm not giving the dog pills and the rest of the remedies are too weird to mention... Well he's lucky he's cute...   

Cooper!

F$@#%!

I have a personal policy where I never write anything on a bad day, it's generally negative and not your proverbial best foot forward. Although I'm having a bad day, I had a great time teaching and cooking lunch with some new recruits about barbecue headquarters today. And so here’s how that went, argh!..

Today was a little challenging, we had a few food allergies to contend with and I’m not a big fan of making one thing for the group and another for someone with allergies; we all eat the same thing and work together preparing it. I don’t do all of the cooking in these sessions either, actually I do very little of it. I supervise and instruct as much as possible and then demonstrate where necessary, it’s important for the process and I feel that people take more away from doing rather than watching.

Anyway, we prepared a simple menu: New York strip loin steaks with home made steak spice, a sesame stir fry, butternut squash and roasted garlic mashed potatoes, and grilled pork tenderloin.

Steak!

I’ve grilled a lot of steak, I spent the first two years working at Broil King grilling and steak was on the menu demo after demo store after store. People love steak and grilling it properly is important. Check out The Perfect Steak for grilling instructions and remember the rule of thumb. Before you start, make sure you have defrosted steaks, do not grill frozen steak. Once your steaks are defrosted pat them dry to remove any excess water or blood then make the following rub:

Homemade Steak Spice:

¼ cup course salt or salt flake

1 tablespoon fennel seeds

1 tablespoon of fresh minced garlic

1 tablespoon of fresh minced rosemary

1 tablespoon course ground pepper

1 teaspoon of fresh thyme, I use lemon thyme; easy to grow in Southern Ontario

Mix your spices, coat your steaks in olive oil and generously rub the steak spice on your steak. Let them sit out at room temperature for about 20 minutes while your grill preheats. Grill! 

Sesame Stir Fry

This one is easy on the grill; all of the work is in the vegetable prep:

You’ll need

A grilling wok, holes or no holes both work

Lots of heat, it’s the most important part of a stir fry

Carrots, julienne them

Green onions, julienne them also

Bean sprouts

Snow peas, clean them properly. Remove the head and tough stringy spine.

Chicken, cut into strips

Sesame seeds

Peanut oil

Sesame oil

Chili flakes

Fresh garlic, minced

Fresh ginger, also minced

Pepper

Coat your chicken generously in peanut oil and toss it in the wok, you want to hear insta-sizzle. The chicken will cook quickly so you’ll want everything else that you’ve prepared before hand nearby. As the chicken is cooking season it with chili flakes and pepper. As you chicken starts to brown add your carrots; wait a few more minutes and add the rest of your vegetables, they all cook at different rates so you’ll want to add them accordingly. For example bean sprouts cook in no time but carrots can take quite a while. As you add the last of you vegetables add your garlic and ginger, a dash of sesame oil and more chili flakes. Don’t over cook your veggies, once the carrots are soft enough to eat you’re pretty much done; nobody likes limp pea pods and dry chicken. Your medley should have a nice golden brown sear on it while maintaining that fresh vegetable crunch.

Butternut Squash and Roasted Garlic Mashed Potatoes

Super easy recipe ahoy!

2 lbs. of red potatoes

1 small butternut squash

1 clove of garlic

1/2 cup of milk or cream it’s your health we all know what tastes better

¼ cup of butter

Pepper

Wash and cut up the red potatoes, leave the skins on they won’t kill you. Put them in a pot completely submerged and boil until they’re soft enough to slide off of a fork after being pierced. While your water is heating peel, core and cube your butternut squash. Lay the cubes out on a baking tray and coat with olive oil, salt and pepper. Roast in the oven for about 20 minutes at 375°F turning once at the half. While you're roasting the squash, chop the top off of your garlic clove to expose each bud, then wrap it in aluminum foil and drizzle a little olive oil into the bulb; wrap it up and roast in the oven with the squash. Garlic is roasted when it feels squishy soft. Hold on a minute, Jen just found out what happens when you put hot parsnips in a magic bullet blender, boom!

Alright where was I, everything will probably finish cooking about the same time… Drain and mash your potatoes, mash the squash in also and squeeze the softened roasted garlic into the mix and as you can imagine keep mashing. Side note, Pampered Chef has the coolest potato masher ever! CHECK IT OUT! Add milk and butter, mash mash mash, season with pepper. Done-zo!

Grilled Pork tenderloin

I’ve been using this recipe for quite a few years, nobody complains so I keep using it. Add your defrosted pork tenderloin to a glass locking container or a zipper lock freezer bag. Add a generous amount of sherry, real maple syrup, and the steak spice from above… Steak spice not just for steak. Let this marinade for 30 minutes at room temperature or 1 hour in the fridge. Grill!

At this point you could slice and serve to your guests as a great piece of meat but the following is also fun. Toast some thin slices of French bread, sauté strips of red onion and red pepper in a little olive oil and lemon thyme. Stack it up! Toasted bread on the bottom, slice of pork tenderloin, sautéed vegetables, a drizzle of balsamic vinegar or balsamic glaze and to top it all off a pinch of alfalfa sprouts. A pretty handy appetizer.

Bon Appetit

Post from: Wednesday June 8, 2011

PS: I'm on YouTube, new line of Broil King Grilling Accessories. Great Stuff, the stone grill set is my favorite!

Mango Lassi?

This recipe is sort of a mango lassi; I say sort of because it's essentially the same ingredients but served more like ice cream less like a milkshake. I love this recipe as it's incredibly easy to make and a nice treat on a hot day. Easily pull this one out as a dessert or simply an afternoon cool down.

Buy:

1/4 cup sweetened shredded coconut
1 cup frozen cubed mango's
1/2 cup PC Greek 0% Yogurt with Honey

The yogurt really makes this recipe what it is. The Presidents Choice Greek yogurt is very thick and not overly sweetened; both characteristics are important so if you don't have access to a Loblaw's store look for a thick, lightly or unsweetened Greek style yogurt.

Add 1/2 of the coconut and all of the other ingredients into either a blender a magic bullet and blend until smooth. Pour into two small bowls and top with the rest of the coconut.

Enjoy!

Flavoured Oil

I made a flavoured oil recently to keep about my kitchen and found out the rules about flavored oils after, glad I did. I've only been using this oil for about two weeks, I researched the topic before posting it up here to avoid contracting foot in mouth disease. Despite what you may think flavored oils are not simply created by adding some raw ingredients to olive oil and letting those ingredients slowly infuse their flavors. In fact leaving raw garlic or chili's in oil at room temperature has about the same effect on the vegetables as leaving them out on the counter to rot. The rotting can produce bacteria or mold that you're probably not interested in ingesting.

A restaurant in Stratford ON I recently visited served olive oil with chili flakes in it alongside their gourmet pizzas. It's nice to have a spicy oil to drizzle over a slice of good pizza so I thought I'd do the same thing at home and dumped some chili's about a quarter cup into a small bottle with a pour spout topper and added about a cup or two of olive oil. Flavour wise it worked, after a couple days of infusing the oil took on some of the chili's colour and a lot of the spice; however, safety wise not so much success. What you should do is add the chili flakes and the oil to a pot with a pour lip and heat the oil, not to the point of boiling, you're just trying to kill any bacteria that may be present; give the oil enough time to take on some of the chili's colour. Add your infused oil to a incredibly clean and dry oil bottle with a seal-able pour spout topper. Don't make a huge amount of oil unless you're going to use it quickly, the shelf life should be from 2-4 weeks and I advise you to keep it in your fridge until you're ready to use.

Enjoy!