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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.

 

Ahh.. an exercise is wrapping as much bacon as possible around a scallop... these puppies had bacon wrapped around them both ways and were cooked over high indirect heat for about 15 minutes... delicious!

It was rainy and I was hungover... I thought to myself, how do i make ribs with the smallest amount of effort? Ribs should never be boiled and should never be cooked above 250f.. Fish basket rotisserie attachment to the rescue! I took the membranes off put on a dash of liquid smoke & ballpark mustard and  sprinkled with some rub and threw them on the spinner for the afternoon! Ribs were nice and tender although I think this is the first time i've cooked ribs on my gasser in a few years and I did miss the smokey flavor of applewood and charcoal. Not bad for hungover ribs though!

In honor of my invitation to cook for the Cameron's Let's drink the cask night this coming Thursday May 29th, I've formulated a BBQ sauce using the Cameron's Dark 266 Beer. This beer has lots of character and I was able to pretty much throw the kitchen sink at it in and still be able to pick it out in a rich bbq sauce. After a few failed experiments I think I've got a winner here, note to self.. habaneros are HOT! and not to to handled without rubber gloves.This recipe is based on a Mexican Mole sauce so it's got chocolate and lots of kick. Recipe after the jump.