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!

Back at it

Back from a blogging vacation; one of my favorite analogies about life is also one of my favorite analogies about food. Variety is the flavor of life, too bad I don't have time to try everything. Summer just rolled into town I've been loving my local farmers market, commuting to work on my bicycle and obsessively grooming my work in progress yard; also had a little time to enjoy a little sun and a little beer from time to time to time. Aka, the blog, my guitar and for that matter my house plants go to the bottom of the maintenance pile. Never fear I have been cooking and chasing down more random knowledge and no house plants were harmed in the process...  Irreparably...

Random find #1, the Tank Drum. Somewhat of an odd musical instrument but considering you can make one for free why not give it a shot. I built a tank drum this week; it sounds cool, I know my backyard guests are going to have fun playing around with it and I've already had a blast playing it myself. So, check it out, build something. 

# 2, the Matador. A friend of mine carted over a bottle of tequila, pineapple juice and a bag of limes and mixed up a cocktail he found in a book of old man drinks. Old manish or not this sipper is amazingly refreshing and I've always loved to enjoy tequila rather than punish myself with shots. Also found the DrunkMansGuide's Weblog holy alcohol batman, you could get drunk reading it. Check it out.

# 3 I love wood fired pizza, although this isn't a new revelation. Ran into quite a few restaurants who do wood fired pizza lately and I can't help but order it. I love most of all the idea, of the wood fired pizza and the wonderful ambiance that the fire gives to any restaurant or bar. I love the care that goes into combining creative ingredients like goats cheese, pine nuts, grilled chicken, and fresh pesto, all on a thin crisp crust. If you find yourself in the area, the local City Cafe makes great wood fired pizzas for lunch as well as a slew of other amazing baked goods like croissants and bagels.  Find them here.
However, if you get the chance and are looking for something a cut above please visit the Salty Caper in Lake Norman, NC. This place has two really great, really important aspects. Authentic wood fired pizza and an amazing and thoughtful beer assortment; really they don't even need dining room seating just one big bar lined with taps surrounding a wood oven. I loved this place and will absolutely make it a must stop whenever I'm down there.

Anyway, that's all for now have to put together a menu for tomorrow's meeting. Fun recipes to follow including Ham Bone and split pea soup.

Peanut Butter Balls

Quitting sugar is hard, I would say harder in fact than quitting smoking. I've smoked and never been able to say to myself I need to keep doing this every day of my life, then again cigarettes are gross... Sugar on the other hand I could consume until it kills me; although if cigarettes contained sugar I'm sure big tobacco could kill a lot of smiling people. Side note, I wish I could market a product that is know to kill and be comfortable with the outcome; like poison pops, once you pop... you're dead... Not sure that will get off the ground though... Oh well teens can't spell emphysema anyway so I guess tobacco is the only poison they'll gravitate to for its coolness factor.

Anyway, coming to terms with the reality that I can't shake sugar I've come up with / found some easy ways to get it into my life. Eat fruit, duh... We all know fruit contains sugar, lots of it and it's natural. But for those days when you want a sugary treat, not too big but loaded with sugar try the following. At least you can say to yourself that there are far worse things out there for you.

Peanut Butter Balls,

These aren't your grandmothers peanut butter balls, there is no chocolate or smooth processed peanut butter in here... Steer clear the additional chocolate and sugar added peanut butter, this is a hippy friendly treat...

1 cup of natural peanut butter (the PB ingredients should be as follows: Peanuts.)
1 cup chopped dried dates
1 cup chopped dried apricots
1/4 cup toasted unsweetened coconut
1/4 cup chopped nuts, toasted almond slivers are nice, cashews are a also nice but more fatty

Mix it all up in a large mixing bowl and then form golf ball sized balls, then place them on a sheet of wax paper and put them in the freezer. Let them sit for a few hours and enjoy. If you're having a swanky hippy dinner party give everyone a peanut butter ball in a Chinese soup spoon, chic!

Check it Out

An old friend of my just put out a wicked EP on iTunes give it a download and check it out!

Melissa Börger - Dear Poet EP