Recently in Recipes Category

If your panties are always in a bunch about how much salt and corn syrup is in your everyday food, why don't you cowboy up and make your own ketchup? It's really not that hard, and if you have an excess of tomatoes this season, making your own ketchup would be a nice conversation piece next winter when you are eating mac and cheese. 

DIY Ketchup

Last week I was at the Cameron's cask night, and made a delicious bbq sauce to pair with their Dark266 lager blueberry cask, and some  delicious grilled organic beef from Vibrant Farms 
Recipe After the jump.

I know that many of you already have a few marinades that you love and stick to, here's a great guide if you feel like getting creative and and creating a few new recipes. Even if you are a seasoned marinader, you'll learn something from this great guide.

Marinade Chemistry

It's my favorite winter dinner of the year! Once a year it's fun to get a few friends together, and instead of spending what could be a month's rent in a restaurant, we buy out own ingredients and fantastic wine and cook at home... here's what on deck this year.

Course 1: (the wacky martini munchie course)
charcuterie, cheese, crackers, spicy hummus.
Paired with:  beer/cocktails -- try my garlic and herb de provence infused martini

Course 2: ( the soup and salad course )
Grilled butternut squash soup, mixed green salad, and my home made candied pork belly bacon bits
Paired with: Bollanger Champagne 

Course 3: (the i get an excuse to use my truffle slicer course)
cheese soufflé with shaved truffle, brioche with foi gras.
Paired with: 2002 vintage veuve clicot

Course 4: (the celebration of eating things with parents course)
treo of meaty: farmed venison loin chop, lamb loin chop, cherry smoked sliced duck breast  on a bed of cranberry wild rice topped with red wine reduction.
Paired with: 2007 pinot noir reserve - ontario

Dessert: (the blow you out of the water with the best ice cream ever course)
home made baked goods, 2007 Double Chocolate Cherry Stout Ice Cream.
Paired with:   double chocolate cherry stout, Peche mortal, creme brule stout, coffee, open territory on my liquor cabinet.

I've been playing with beer based ice creams for a few years now, my first attempt was Double Chocolate Cherry Stout Ice Cream back in 2007. Making beer ice cream is pretty simple using stout beers, so this one was an interesting challenge as i decided to use Cameron's Cream Ale. After a few tries and a fair amount of experiments that went down the sink, I Think I've got a winner here. Recipe after the jump.

Here's a quick a dirty recipe for brine similar to my Turkey Brine recipe using Cameron's Auburn Ale. This is the brine I used to make BBQ chicken wings at the Royal Ontario Fair. Recipe after the Jump.

Nice little video on how to grill fish, great looksee for all those that have had their fish stuck to their grill

http://www.houseandhome.com/videos/recipes-entertaining/video-grilling-fish

Stumbled upon this little guide... check it out!



Link

Every year sometime around Christmas I'm guaranteed to get a few phone calls from friends and family asking "how to brine"  Why brine your birds some of you may be asking? Think of it as extra insurance for a juicy juicy bird, a properly brined and cooked bird will not need to be smothered in gravy, it will be juicy, and buttery with lots of flavour. If you've opted to bbq/smoke your bird this year, cooking it slow and low it's very important to brine your bird, you don't want your breast meat turning into sawdust do you?

Here's Some key points, Start off with a fully defrosted or fresh bird, Stay away from kosher birds as they already have a brothy salt mixture added to them, and your bird will end up to salty.  Remove all the offal parts (giblets) before brining.

Recipe after the jump

Peach season is upon us here in Ontario, so I've been having some fun with peaches. Sangria is an excellent way to get everyone "lubricated" at a party, and you cant taste the booze!  Recipe after the jump.