Hoisin Beef Short Ribs

This recipe is a mishmash of a bunch of different food inspirations and can generically be labelled as an "Asian" meat that will be tasty in almost anything. I decided to make beef short ribs because Jess and I were reminiscing about these steamed buns we used to get in New Zealand for a buck at this International Cafeteria near our apartment.
I don't have a steamer so I decided to bake the buns using the recipe for Chinese Cocktail Buns I used a while ago. I had extra meat while I was cooking and ended up making some Banh Mi subs that were amazing. After making the Banh Mi I had an even better idea and cut the buns in half and stuffed in the carrots, cilantro, cucumber, and other sandwich fixins to make mini Banh Mi subs. I didn't get a photo because we had company over but they were fun little snacks to fill up on.

Ingredients:

• 3 lb boneless beef short ribs 
• 1 medium onion
• 2 medium carrots
• 2 ribs celery
• 1 1/2 cup hoisin sauce
• 2 cup beef stock
• 1/4 cup brown sugar
• 3/4 cup orange juice
• 1/2 can tomato paste
• 2 tbsp vegetable oil
• 2 cups water
• Salt and pepper
   

Directions:

1. Heat 2 tbsp oil in a large, heavy pot over medium-high (I used the liner to our slow cooker). Sear the ribs 2-3 minutes per side.
2. Add  the onion, carrots, and celery until soft and a bit browned, 10 minutes.
3. Add the tomato paste and stir to coat. Cook for 2 minutes.
4. De-glaze the pan with the beef stock.
5. Add the hoisin, orange juice, brown sugar, and water. Bring to a simmer.
6. Cook in the slow cooker for 4 hours, stirring every hour.
7. Remove the ribs and chop to serve.

Sweet as...

Vector Crunch French Toast

I am sorry for being absent on the blog but I've been busy since our little baby Jack was born. To get back in the swing of things I figured I would start out with something simple with ingredients that most people would have in their kitchen. I crusted French toast with cereal and it was the perfect way to take a fairly pedestrian breakfast and make it a memorable one.

Ingredients:

• some form of sliced bread
• 3 eggs
• splash of milk
• 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
• 1/2 tsp cinnamon
• 2 cups crushed cereal (I used Vector)
• syrup and jam to top it

Directions:

1. I only had two cups of cereal so I just took the bag out of the box and smashed it up on the counter.
2. In a bowl mix up the eggs, milk, vanilla, and cinnamon.
3. Dunk the bread in the wet mix then coat it in the cereal crumbs.
4. Brown the bread in a buttered skillet then top with syrup and jam.

 

Beer Mignonette

Drinks and seafood are something that most people have together, but not necessarily mixed into one thing. One of my favourite drinks is a Caesar (a tomato and clam juice, Clamato, mixed with vodka and spices). While traveling internationally people would cringe at the idea of a mussel and a refreshing drink together.  I think that beer and various seafood's were made for each other and it makes sense to have the salty fresh taste from the sea and the cool refreshing flavours of a good beer combined. In the last couple years I have taken my addiction of bivalve molluscs to another level starting with a beer and oyster combo in New Zealand (see below).

After a long afternoon of Stand Up Paddle Boarding the pairing of a a couple beers and a couple oysters was exactly what I needed to recover. If you can throw an oyster in your beer you might as well put some beer in your oysters.
This beer based mignonette is the perfect way to ensure that you still taste the natural greatness of the oyster while tempering some of the flavours so that no single flavour is overwhelming.
My friend hosted an amazing dinner party where different beers were used to enhance every dish from the appetizers to dessert. I swung by early to help and ended up shucking the oysters that we covered with the mignonette. I have a new appreciation for oyster shucking because I felt like I was going to lose my hand at any moment. These were some of the better ones that I miraculously did not mangle. Try to keep the beer intake to a minimum when shucking or you probably will lose a finger or two (safety first).

Ingredients:

• 1 shallot
• 3 tbsp red wine vinegar or champagne vinegar
• 1 beer (We used Creemore Springs - Premium Lager)
• salt and pepper

Directions:

1. Open the beer and let stand for 20 min so that it loses some of the carbonation.
2. Mince the shallot.
3. Mix the ingredients together and season with salt and pepper.
4. Let sit for 30 min to 1 hr to let the shallots absorb some of the beer and lose some of there potency.
5. Spoon over fresh oysters and top with a squeeze of lemon.

Salsa

The bruschetta was so successful I decided to see what else I could whip up with minimal effort and pretty much the same ingredients. Salsa is a mostly tomato dish that has a totally different flavour profile than bruschetta. To take it to the next level I grilled most of the ingredients first to char them and infuse a bit of a smokey flavour.

Ingredients:

• 4 cups tomato
• 1/2 medium white onion
• 1 jalapeno
• juice of 1 lime
• 4 garlic cloves
• 1 handful of cilantro

Directions:

1. Cut the tomatoes, onion, and jalapeno in half.
2. Peel the garlic.
3. Grill 5 - 10 min or until the skin on the tomatoes and jalapeno is starting to char.
4. Put everything in a food processor and chop until fine.
5. If required drain some of the liquid of in a mesh strainer.
6. Add some salt and pepper.

Bruschetta

If there is bruschetta out I usually can't stop myself from devouring it. It is something you can whip together in 10 minutes and you can't beat the fresh burst of flavours. If you can let it mingle for a couple hours in the fridge it is perfection.
You can buy French/Italian loaf or make some yourself  or find another recipe here (I made a half recipe of the sub buns).


Ingredients:

• 4 cups tomatoes
• 3 cloves garlic
• 2 tbsp extra olive oil
• 2 tsp balsamic vinegar
• 6-8 basil leaves
• salt, to taste
• 1/2 tsp  black pepper
• 1 tbsp white onion (optional)

Directions:

1. Chop in a food processor.
2. Enjoy!

Raspberry Sherbet

It is a sad day in our household... this is the last creation in our ice cream maker before it cracked and had to be thrown out. It has been a bit of a heat wave here so a fresh raspberry sherbet is exactly what we needed to take the edge off. This was our first venture into making a sherbet and it was pretty much the same as the Philadelphia style ice creams.

Ingredients:

• 4 cups frozen raspberries
• 2 cups buttermilk
• 1 cup sugar
• juice of one lemon

Directions:

1. Blend the raspberries, milk, and sugar in a food processor.
2. Strain the mixture to remove the seeds.
3. Sir in the lemon juice.
4. Freeze in your ice cream maker.

Beer Battered Onion Rings

This post is dedicated to two good friends of mine. One is close by and and one is across the world from me. One of my closest friends, Travis, works for Molson and has supplied beer for more occasions than I can count. My favourite is the simple refreshing "Canadian" lager. This was the perfect beer for battering because it is light enough that the food doesn't weigh you down but still provides the flavour you are looking for.
My other friend, Ben, met Jess and I on our adventures through New Zealand and Australia. His hobby of metal working produced the amazing bottle opener shown above. "Canadian's" are convenient twist offs but I couldn't help but team the beer and the opener up to make beer battered onion rings for a BBQ.
At the BBQ I went crazy deep frying anything I could get my hands on. I started with some french fries followed by the onion ring then followed them up with fried jalapeno's and banana peppers. The rings and peppers disappeared pretty quickly right out of the frier, but we did have enough to snap some pictures and some of them even made their way on to the burgers.

Ingredients:

• 3 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 tsp chili powder
• 1 tsp paprika
• 1 tsp garlic powder
• 2 tsp sea salt
• 1/2 tsp pepper
• 1 tsp cumin
• 1 tsp cayenne
• 1/2 tsp mustard powder
• ~ 2 bottles of beer
• 2 large white onions
• canola oil, for frying

Directions:

1. In a large bowl, whisk together 3 cups of flour with the spices. Separate one cup.
2. Whisk in the beer until the mixture is well combined. Let the batter rest at room temperature for 10 minutes.
3. Slice the onions into 1/2-inch-thick rings and toss them with the remaining dry cup of flour.
4. Add the oil to a large, heavy-bottomed pot (or fryer) heat until a thermometer reaches 375°F.
5. Working in batches, dip the onion rings into the prepared batter then immediately drop them into the hot oil. 
6. Cook the onions in the oil, for about 3 minutes.
7. Immediately season them with salt.

Caprese Salad

This is a really quick and easy salad to throw together. It is a summer salad from the island of Capri in Italy. We have visited Capri but don't remember the salads being any better there than anywhere else. The island is mostly known for their Grotta Azzurra - "Blue Grotto" (see below). Jess and I traveled through Italy for 3 weeks about 4 years ago and it is where I really started getting into food, (not surprisingly it is when I started getting fat as well), and we learned that one of the best things you can do when traveling is to travel with luggage light enough to carry - I should be in an ad for MEC with both Jess and my bags on while waiting for a ferry back to the mainland.

It was a simple way to showcase my home made mozzarella and is a great cold salad to have on a hot night. My favourite part of it is the burst of freshness from the basil and tomato and the mix of vinegar and oil. You can eat it with a fork and knife or put the whole stack on a cracker or crostini .

Ingredients:
I started with a couple tomatoes and tried to use up all the cheese

• mozzarella cheese
• tomato
• basil
• olive oil 
• balsamic vinegar
• sea salt
• black pepper

Directions:

1.  If you are ambitious, you can thicken the balsamic vinegar by simmering it with some honey.
2. Slice the tomatoes, season with salt and pepper.
3. Top with a full basil leaf and slice of mozzarella.
4. Drizzle with the balsamic and olive oil.

 

Chevre Cheese - Homemade Goats Cheese

Jess and I were on Vancouver Island visiting my family and we took a day trip to Salt Spring Island. We were planning on going to a market but when we got there we found out that they weren't going to run the market for another week (typical island time starting something three weeks after it's planned). We decided to just go to the places that were supposed to be at the market. One of our favourites was the Salt Spring Island Cheese    company. They are mostly known for a fresh goats cheese that they pair with different things to flavour it. After touring the facility and abusing the samples I decided that it would be a good challenge to make it on my own.
I found it to be very easy to make a cheese that was just as good as Salt Spring and about a third of the cost.

Ingredients:

• 2 liters goats milk
• 1/4 tsp mesophilic culture  (Bought online from http://www.thecheesemaker.com/)
• 1 drop liquid vegetable rennet mixed in 1/8 cup water
• cheese cloth
• sea salt 
• flavouring of your choice (I used garlic chili and olive tapenade)

Directions:
* Plan to make this recipe 2 days before you plan on eating it. It is not time consuming on your part, it just requires a lot of setting and draining time.

1. Heat the milk to 75 degrees F.
2. Sprinkle the mesophilic culture on the milk and let it dissolve for a couple minutes.
3. Stir the milk with up and down motions of your spoon.
4. Add the rennet mixture and gently stir.
5. Cover the pot and set aside for 16 hours at room temperature.
6. After culturing it will look like yogurt sitting in whey (the clear liquid).
7. Line a colander with a couple layers of cheese cloth.
8. Pour in the cheese then tie the corners up and hang it from a cupboard handle to drain.
9. Drain for 6 to 8 hours.
10. Remove from the cheese cloth and add some sea salt. If your going to add herbs line a short glass with olive oil add the herbs then the cheese.

This is an easy recipe that produces amazing creamy cheese that you can kick up to another level with herbs or sauces that you probably have in the refrigerator.

Fresh Mozzarella Cheese - Updated

I finally caved and bought some cheese making citric acid and some liquid vegetable rennet and remade my mozzarella cheese. It turned out way better than the original. It stretched like I imagined it would and had the perfect creamy texture. I used 1/4 tsp of the liquid rennet.

 

I have been wanting to make fresh mozzarella for the last year or so and I finally got around to it last Sunday. It turns out that it is really cheap, easy and delicious. I made about half a pound of cheese that I divided in two flavoured balls; half with hot pepper flakes and the other half with rosemary. We used it in a salad and I dragged a couple pieces through bread crumbs and lightly pan fried it for the best mozzarella sticks ever. It took less than an hour and I think I am going to make it a regular thing. I am hoping to work my way up to make cottage cheese or ricotta cheese to use as perogy filling.

Here are photos of some of the process (full directions below).