I spent this past weekend at my brother’s place out in Burlington. We took advantage of the amazing weather on Good Friday and spent the afternoon at a conservation park, Mountsberg I think. They had some Easter events for the kids, and a Raptor area with several birds of prey. It was a great time! While we were out I had three racks of baby back ribs in the oven at 225 degrees slowly becoming mouth watering goodness.

Before loading up the oven I made a dry rub and liberally applied it to the ribs. Then into a roasting pan and into the low oven for approx 5-6 hours. When we got home the smell was heavenly! I made a quick coffee bar-b-q sauce and put the ribs out on the grill with the sauce and let them caramelize before serving.

The rub was:

Kosher Salt
Brown Sugar
Cinnamon
Garlic Powder
Cayenne Powder
Cumin Powder
Dry Mustard Powder
Ground Black Pepper

Sorry I don’t have amounts, I was hurrying so we could get to the park and didn’t have time to measure. I also usually include Allspice in my rubs but my brother didn’t have any at their place.

The sauce was:

Finely chopped onion
Unsalted Butter
Olive oil
The rest of the rib rub
Ketchup
Plain old yellow mustard
Cold Coffee from breakfast
Chipotle tabasco sauce

Started sweating the onions in the butter and olive oil. Added the spices and wet ingrediants and simmered for 20-30 minutes. Then I basted the ribs with it on the grill. I only had them on the grill for a few minutes per side, just to get some colour on the sauce.
The only thing missing from the ribs was smoke flavour. If I had been able to use the grill I would have added smoke packs and most likely a few of them as they burned up. The ribs were tender and juicy, with a pretty decent “bark” on them, the meat came away from the bone easily and cleanly though the ribs held their shape. Even my 9 year old nephew who won’t try anything new like them!

Chicken wings split into flappys and drummys

Flour I generally use a cup for every 2 lbs of wings

1 tablespoon garlic powder

1 tablespoon salt

1 tablespoon fresh ground black pepper

1 teaspoon ground thyme

2 teaspoons cayenne pepper

1 tablespoon chili powder

*Optional spices*

Curry powder

Allspice

Dry mustard

Different chili powders, chipotle, ancho etc

Hot Sauce

2 tablespoons of butter

2 tablespoons hot sauce (I usually use Frank’s Red Hot, but any “Louisana style” hot sauce will work)

splash of soy sauce

splash of sesame oil

I mix all the seasonings and spices with the flour and put it all in a large zip top bag.  I dredge the wings in this mixture.  Then I deep fry the wings for approx 8-10 minutes to make sure they are cooked all the way through, this time will vary depending on your fryer and the size of the wings.  Once I have removed the wings from the fryer and drained them of any excess oil I toss them in a large metal mixing bowl with a couple of spoons of the sauce.  The wings should be covered, but not totally saturated with the sauce.  You should need a napkin when eating them but not a complete set of coveralls. 

I usually fry in canola oil, but this will work with any high smoke point oil.  The sauce is also something that you can play around with and I have played with lots of different flavours.  The equal parts butter and hot sauce is the traditional “Buffalo Wing” sauce once you have that you can let your imagination run wild!

Ok so here is the basic risotto that I use:

1 cup of Arborio rice

3 cups of liquid, any combination of wine, water, stock

finely diced shallots or onion

1-3 flavouring agents such as mushrooms, sausage, bacon, peppers sweet or hot, seafood scallops shrimp etc, chicken, sun dried tomatoes, roasted red peppers, artichoke hearts.

freshly grated parmesean or grana padano cheese, please do not use the dried stuff that comes in the little plastic container.

a couple of tablespoons of butter and canola or olive oil.

Kosher salt and Fresh ground black pepper

Here is how it all comes together.  Melt the butter with the oil of your choice in a large saute pan.  Add the finely minced shallots and or onions.  Time to start the seasoning as well, a pinch of Kosher salt and few grinds of pepper, I often will add some ground thyme though you can certainly use fresh here as well.  Stir these around until the bits soften and start to turn translucent.

Next add your flavouring agents.  If you are using something like sausage or bacon you will want to have the pieces be uniform size and fairly small, you want them cooked before moving on.  if you are using scallops. shrimp or other delicate seafood you might consider cooking them till they are almost done and then removing from the pan until later in the risotto process.  Keep layering in the seasoning as well, you should add another pinch of salt and pepper.

Once the flavours have all had a chance to meld together you add your rice.  This step is instrumental in the risotto building procedure.  You want to get all the rice grains coated in the flavours that are in your pan.  You want to heat the rice and keep stirring until the edges of the grains actually start to turn translucent just like the onions before.

Now the liquid, I will add about half a cup or so of the wine I plan on serving with dinner.  This is a Food and Wine pairing trick, it makes for an instant match when the wine you are drinking is in the food you are eating.  Add the wine and stir around you are “deglazing” the pan and picking up all the stick on bits in the bottom of the pan.

Ok so here is the part that makes risotto the labour intensive scary dish.  The liquid needs to be added in small doses over a 20-25 minute period.  I use a ladle to add maybe 1/3 of a cup of stock or water at a time to the rice dish.  As you add each addition of liquid you stir the rice and wait for the liquid to be almost totally absorbed by the rice, then you add some more and repeat the process.

Now depending on your rice, the humidity in your kitchen, the other ingredients you have added you may need more or less liquid than 3 cups.  Once you are about 2 cups into this process try the risotto.  See how it tastes, do you need to add any seasoning.  The will most likely still be crunchy at this point but you want to gage it and see what it is like.  The finished product should be creamy but the rice grains should still have some firmness to them, think el dente pasta.

Once you get to the point that the rice is done and the consistancy is thick and creamy you add the grated cheese.  Add this to taste but remember the cheese will help to bind up the risotto and if you add too much you are going to get a stodgy mess.  If you go a little over board on the cheese just add a little more stock and stir until the risotto thins back out a little bit.  It shouldn’t hold it’s shape when you put it in a dish but you are not making soup either.

Ok so my Mushroom Risotto with Crispy Beef Strips:

2 cups of arborio rice (I was cooking for 5 adults)

6 cups of beef stock

2 cups of sliced cremini mushrooms

half of a med-large white onion finely chopped

1 cup of grated grana pandano

1 cup of red wine

Kosher Salt and black pepper

ground thyme

allspice

1.5 tablespoons of butter

1.5 tablespoons of canola oil

Fairly thinly sliced left over steak from the night before

I followed my method above for the rice.  I pan fried the steak strips making them caramelized and crispy.  When the rice was done I served it in a bowl with a few crispy steak strips on top.  I served it all with a 2006 Cab Sauv, the same wine I added to the rice.

I am still working out a posting/writing schedule that will allow me be prepared in a situation like this.  Anyways I will be posting today, it’s just going to take some time.  Hope your Monday is going smoother than mine!

Last night I opened a bottle of 2004 Hollick Coonawarna Cabernet Sauvignon.  I have had this sitting around in my “cellar” for a while now, I think I picked it up for Christas 2008 and just never got around to drinking it.  Last night I cooked up some striploin steaks with mushrooms and a quick pan sauce and I used the wine in the sauce.  So here is my attempt at a wine tasting:

Opening

First sniff: Berry aromas, and a bit of alcohol.

First taste: Strong spice, mostly pepper, there is a slight metallic flavour, the fruit taste is muted.

Served with: Pan seared striploin steak with sauteed mushrooms and pan sauce.

After eating

Second sniff: The alcohol aroma is gone, can really smell the spices now strong black pepper, not much fruit anymore.

Second taste: much smoother now, there is a ton of spice to this wine now, and the wine has a nice long finish.

Notes: Since this is a 2004 I think the wine benefits from some breathing time, I would even go so far as to say it would be good after decanting.  It’s a classic Cab Sauv, big big flavours, full mouth feel and strong finish.  It’s a great wine to serve with food, Steak, Lamb, Roast Beef.  The spicy-ness of the wine goes well with the steak I made, I like a generous amount of black pepper as well as allspice on my steak and the wine compliments these flavours very well.  The wine has a lot of “umami” which means the steak and mushrooms and are ideal to pair with it.

I really enjoyed this wine.  If I had tried it closer to when I had purchased it I would have gone back for another bottle or two to hold on to.  I am trying to build up an actual wine cellar, and I think this wine would have made a good addition.  It has enough flavour and tannins to handle aging well I think.

I am going to try and stick to this kind of format for each wine I try that way I will a good idea of each wine and I will be able to compare and remember what I like.

I will also try and make a point of posting the foods that I am pairing with the wine.  I will get my steak and mushroom recipe up soon.

I am working a few ideas about “theme’ days around here.  Some of my favourite blogs (Food related and others) have certain types of posts on certain days of the week.  Actually that is where I got my idea for the round up yesterday.  I’d like to do something like this:

Monday – Recipe post

Tuesday – Something Gadget related

Wednesday – Recipe post

Thursday – Blog Round up

Friday – Wine Review/suggestion (might be other drinks too, beer spirits etc)

Saturday/Sunday – Recipe post but something directed towards entertaining/hosting a dinner party.

These are just some ideas I have had kicking around in my head for a while.  And obviously it’s going to take some work and a lot of commitment on my part to come up with 6 quality posts a week.  Ultimately though it’s going to be up to you my readers to let me know what you think.  So please leave a comment and let me know what you think about my idea.  Am I being too ambitious, is there something better I could be writing about?

*Update*  I noticed that the feed link at the top of the posts was not working.  I have set up the RSS feed for TGK with feedburner, you should be able to click either the RSS link to the upper right of the page or the WWSGD plugin link and pick up the feed.

Wine tours are a great time, I have gone on a couple in the Niagara on the Lake area of Ontario.  You can find some amazing wines for very reasonable prices and also find things you will never see in the LCBO.  Gabi over at BrokeAss Gourmet went on a tour of wineries in the Alexander Valley region of California, sounds like she had a great time!

Kitchenhacker is not a fan of Anthony Bourdain.  I have to say I can see his point though I have been really big fan since I started watching Cook’s Tour on FoodTV.  I also read Kitchen Confidential and A Cook’s Tour the book Anthony wrote after filming Cook’s Tour.  I can see how someone might have the same opinion as Kitchenhacker.  Bourdain does often come across as a grumpy old man sometimes.

I have been looking for a baked bean recipe for ages.  I even tried without much success this past summer to make my own up.  I think I may have stumbled upon the recipe I am looking for, Tangy Barbecue Baked Beans over at Pithy and Cleaver.  These sound amazing, and I know what Shiv is talking about with the beans taking forever to soften.  Working with dried beans is tough, though very rewarding when you it get it right.

Looking for apple-y things to make, I found Apple Cider Doughnuts over at smittenkitchen.  I have never been brave enough to try making my own doughnuts.  I have vague memories of my grandmother making fried doughnuts when I was a very little boy.  Growing up I was always a cake doughnut kind of guy.  Once the first Krispy Kreme opened up here in Canada though I started to see the reasoning behind raised or yeast doughnuts though.  These Apple Cider Doughnuts are cake doughnuts and they sound delicious.  I think Deb’s description of the Autumn walk with warm cider and warm doughnut sounds perfect.  Autumn has always been my favourite season.  The leaves changing colour, Halloween, Thanksgiving, and the air starts to turn that cold crispy-ness.  This recipe sounds like Autumn embodied to me and I think it has given me the courage to try frying my own doughnuts.  Also Deb’s baby is super cute!

So just a few of the things that I have been reading this week.  Hope you find some of them interesting and get inspired like I have been.

4-6 med/large sweet potatoes chopped into 1 inch cubes (about 6 cups)

2-3 leeks chopped, white and light green parts only (about 1 1/2 cups)

1 large carrot chopped (1 cup)

6 cups of chicken or veggie stock

1 tablespoon of cumin

1/2 teaspoon of cayenne pepper

2 tablespoons of fresh ginger chopped

Zest of 2 limes chopped

Juice of 2 limes

1/2 cup of cream (for a very rich soup use 18% cream, for more healthy use half and half)

1 tablespoon of butter

1 tablespoon of canola oil

Kosher Salt and freshly cracked pepper to taste

The vegetables can be very roughly chopped, this soup is pureed so you do not need to worry about presentation at this point, you just want everything to cook at the same time.

Melt the butter with the canola oil in a large stock pot.  Once melted add leeks, carrots, a pinch of kosher salt (maybe a half teaspoon or so) and about the same of fresh cracked black pepper, you are not looking to add colour to these just want them to be soft and start to go translucent.  Add the cumin, cayenne, lime zest and ginger and sweat a little longer.  Once you can really smell the spices add the sweet potatoes and stir them around getting them coated with all that leeky spicy mixture.

After 3-5 minutes add the chicken stock, you want to just cover the vegetables, if you need to you can add some water.  Bring to a boil and if necessary skim the crud that can float to the surface.  Reduce heat to a medium simmer and let it cook until the potatoes are nice and tender, approx 20-30 minutes.  Test for seasoning at this point.  Depending on how salty your stock is you may need to add some more salt and pepper.

Once the soup is cooked it’s time to puree.   You can use an imersion or stick blender if you have one.  Make sure you get all the big chunks, you want the soup to be smooth.  If you are using a traditional blender be very careful when pureeing the soup.  Do not fill the blender to the top I wouldn’t go much over half full, and when you start the blender up make sure you put a folded kitchen towel over top of the lid.  Hot liquids expand when you blend them and not only can this make a huge mess, it can be dangerous!  Puree the soup in batches until you have it all smooth.

At this point you can cool and store the soup in the fridge, I often make this the day before Thanksgiving dinner.  When you are ready to serve slowly heat the soup, over med-low heat.  The soup is really thick and the bottom can get super hot and then start to spurt out of the pot.  I burned my hand during a soup geyser incident one year.  Stir the soup as it is heating to prevent this.

Once the soup is hot and just before you serve it, add in the lime juice stir it in to incorporate well. You can add the cream to the whole pot of soup and stir it in, or you can add a little to each serving and do a little swirl pattern.

This soup is always a huge hit at our Thansgiving/Christmas dinners and there are rarely any leftovers.

These days I take my coffee very seriously.  I buy whole bean, I grind just before brewing, my french press is my preferred method of brewing, I even roast my own beans sometimes.  So then why am I writing about instant coffee?  The no name Mac’n'cheese dinner of coffee?  Well I tried the new Starbucks Via instant coffee, and while it is easily distinguishable from real brewed coffee, for an instant it’s pretty good.  Starbucks was doing taste test challenges as a promotion when it was launched at beginning of the month.  Side by side with a cup of their regular brewed coffee, there was just no comparison.

If you want to have something on hand that is quick and easy, that has a much longer shelf life than roasted beans, then this is the stuff.  If you make it in the correct ratio that is.  The packets state 240 ml of liquid and if you go over that, it is quickly back to the standard watery crap that instant is famous for.  The interesting thing is that Starbucks claims that since it is “microground” you can mix it with cold liquid, i.e. milk if you wanted an iced coffee stat!  I haven’t had the chance to try this yet, but the coffee mixes into water really well.

I am not going to start drinking this stuff exclusively, but on a day when I haven’t roasted any beans, or haven’t gotten out to the store to buy more beans this is a reasonable substitute.

4 lbs skin on, bone in chicken pieces (I used drumsticks but I think this actually works better with all the parts)

1 cup of flour

1 tablespoon kosher salt

1 tablespoon fresh ground black pepper

1 teaspoon granulated garlic powder

1 teaspoon ground thyme

3-5 tablespoons canola oil (you may not need all of this)

2 cups of button mushrooms

1 cups of pearl onions peeled

1 cup of Red wine (to be authentic you should use a Cote du Rhone, but any medium bodied red will work)

2 cups chicken stock

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees.  Sift together the flour, salt, pepper, thyme and garlic powder.  Dredge the chicken in this mixture.  I find this is easiest in a large zip top type bag.  Put the flour mix in, add a couple of pieces of the chicken, toss about until well coated, repeat.

In a dutch oven or other thick bottomed large pot (that is oven safe) heat 2 tablespoons of the canola oil over med-high heat.  Once the oil is hot start browning the chicken in stages.  Do not add too much of the chicken at once or you will lower the temperature of the oil too quickly.  You also want to have the chicken in just one layer in the pot.  You want to just brown and crisp the skin here, you are not cooking it all the way through yet.  It should take maybe 2-3 minutes per side.  Take the chicken out of the pot and set aside while you finish browning the rest.  Add more of the canola oil as required.

Once the chicken is all done, make sure you have about 1 tablespoon of oil left in the pot, add a little more if you need it and put the peeled pearl onions in the pot.  Stir them around, you want them to caramelize.  Season with salt and pepper.  Watch the heat once you have finished with the chicken you may need to reduce the heat a little bit, you don’t want to burn the onions.  Once there is some good browning on the onions, add the mushrooms.  Depending on your mushrooms you may need to add a little bit more oil.  Season with salt and pepper.  Normally you would do some bacon lardons at the same time, for the work potluck I left out the bacon as we have people in the office that do not eat pork.

Once the mushrooms and onions are good and brown add the cup of red wine and deglaze the pan.  Make sure to stir with a wooden spoon at this point, you want to scrape up all the brown bits off the bottom of the pot.Reduce the wine by about 50% and then add the chicken stock.  Reduce this by about 25% or so, and then add the chicken back into the pot, stir everything to incorporate and the put on the lid and place in the preheated oven for about 2 hours.

After the two hours is up, check the chicken, make sure it is cooked through.  The juices should run clear and there should be no sign of pink to the meat.  If you have one you could check the meat with a thermometre, you want to at least 160 degrees.

You can serve this with rice, potatoes or noodles.  I like mashed potatoes because then you can pour the gravy over the potatoes.

Enjoy