Pumpkin Bread

Ingredients

·         1 1/2 cups flour

·         1/2 teaspoon of salt

·         1 cup sugar

·         1 teaspoon baking soda

·         1 cup pumpkin purée

·         1/2 cup olive oil

·         2 eggs, beaten

·         1/4 cup water

·         1/2 teaspoon nutmeg

·         1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

·         1/2 teaspoon allspice

·         1/2 cup chopped walnuts

Instructions

 Preheat oven to 350°F. Sift together the flour, salt, sugar, and baking soda. Mix the pumpkin, oil, eggs, 1/4 cup of water, and spices together, then combine with the dry ingredients, but do not mix too thoroughly. Stir in the nuts. Pour into a well-buttered 9x5x3 inch loaf pan. Bake 50-60 minutes until a thin skewer poked in the very center of the loaf comes out clean. Turn out of the pan and let cool on a rack. Can easily double the recipe.

Chris's Chocolate Chip and Walnut Banana Bread

Ingredients

• 2 cups all purpose flour
• 1 tsp baking soda
• ½ tsp salt
• 1 stick (½ cup) butter
• ¾ cup brown sugar
• 2 eggs, beaten
• 3 medium overripe bananas
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• ½ cup of chocolate chips
• ½ cup walnuts, roughly chopped

Instructions

Preheat the oven to 350oF. In a large bowl, combine the flour, baking soda, salt and cinnamon. In a separate bowl, cream together butter and brown sugar. Stir in the eggs and mashed bananas until well blended. Stir in the chocolate chips and walnuts. Mix well. Stir banana mixture into flour mixture, stir just to moisten. Pour the batter into meatloaf pan. Bake in preheated oven to 55-60 minutes, until a toothpick inserted into centre of the loaf comes out clean. Let the bread cool in the pan for 20 minutes then turn out onto a wire rack

A Gathering of Links and recipes #3

• Chris Cosentino gives a guide to his favourite spots in San Francisco
• Peach and Strawberry Crumble from Giada De Laurentiis
• Capellini Arrabiata, Orrechiette with asparagus,lemon, shrimp and cream, Cream of sweetcorn and Italian Panzanella salad from Gordon Ramsay
• Southern Baked Beans and Peach Cobbler from Paula Deen
• Bacon-Wrapped Splitters from the Food Network Website
• 9 Pickling Recipes for the Amateur Pickler from the Food 2 Website
• Alton Brown shows you how to brew the perfect cup of coffee
• World's 50 Most Delicious Foods according to CNN
• Bobby Flays Spice-Rubbed Chicken Breast Tacos
• Beer Can Grilled Chicken from Pat Neely

Fiasco Gelato Truck

The Calgary Food Truck revolution has hit the streets! There are currently 8 trucks on the streets and the first one that was on my list was Fiasco Gelato. The best way to find out where they are going to be serving their delicious gelato is to follow them on twitter @fiascogelato To see a list of all the food trucks visit the YYC Food Truck website. The first thing that I noticed was how friendly the staff was. We were the only customer at the time, but I got the feeling that these guys loved their job and their enthusiasm was nice. I had the bourbon french vanilla and mambi mango flavours. The mango was very good but it was also average. The french vanilla however was very good. I could tell by tasting as well as by looking at the gelato that they used fresh vanilla beans. The flavour was really good. The prices are a little bit expensive. I got a small for $4.50 which is pictured above. They also have a large for $6. You can get as many as three different flavours in one bowl which I appreciate because I usually have a hard time picking flavours.

My wife and I both think Amato gelato is better in quality but the service at Fiasco is WAY better. I would prefer Fiasco overall is the gelato is still very good.

Hello Stranger

Hey guys sorry for the lack of post this last month. It has been a busy summer and sadly I have not been cooking anything new lately. Nor have a been to many restaurants. I have been saving a whole bunch of twitter links which will be making an appearance in a blog later on tonight. I am on call this weekend which should give me a chance to do some cooking. I need to start cooking my way through James Beard's book.

In other exciting news I get to go to New York city on a business trip. I am not sure how much free time I will have but I hope to eat at at least one really famous high end restaurant. Right now the front runner is Le Bernardin. There tasting menu is only 140$. Check it out http://www.le-bernardin.com/tasting_menu.php

Hopefully you will see some more activity over on this site the next couple of weeks!

The Big Cheese Poutinerie

Address: 738 - 17 Ave SW Calgary, AB T2S 0B7

Website: http://www.mybigcheese.com/

Hours of Operation: N/A

Intro: A restraint that specializes in poutine, YES PLEASE! It is located right next to Melrose bar on 17 ave. It is a small but quaint place with a bench outside to enjoy as well. I discovered this restraint from the Mayor of Calgary who tweeted about how good it was.

The Food:  They have their bases covered; they have the classic poutine dish as well as many twists and options. The menu is basically broken down by protein. You have your classic poutine which is fries, cheese and gravy, and then you have the option to add assortments of Chicken, Pork, Beef and Vegetarian. They also have a custom section where they list all the ingredients that they offer and you can make your own poutine flavour. I sampled the Notorious P.I.G which as you can imagine is all about pork. It has the basic poutine plus they add Carolina pulled pork, double smoked bacon and Italian sausage! Surprisingly it was not overwhelming. I still tasted like poutine but had a nice smoky flavour from the bacon and the combination of gravy and BBQ sauce from the pulled pork was very good. All dishes come in a small and large size. I would recommend always choosing the small as the large is lots of food especially if you are adding lots of protein. They offer pop and water as well as red bull. However they are really missing the mark by not getting licensed and selling beer.

The Price:  The price can range depending on what you order. I would classify it as moderate; with some menu options (especially the custom menu items) can be pricey. The cheapest small is the classic at 5.49 and the most expensive is 7.99 (there are several at this price).

The Service: The service is pretty good. The staff are friendly the food comes quickly and the place was clean. No uniform, as staff are allowed to wear what they want. I got the feeling that all the staff were having a good time and liked their job

Other Items of Note: They music they play is a wide assortment. I am pretty sure staff are allowed to play their IPods’. They have lots of condiments for free for the poutine’s.

Lemonade with Watermelon Ice Cubes

Ingredients

·         1 cup fresh lemon juice, (4-6 medium lemons juiced)

·         1 cup sugar

·         4½ cups of water

·         3 cups cubed seeded watermelon

Instructions

In a blender, add the watermelon and puree.  Strain to remove any bits of seeds that remain. Pour into an ice cube tray.  Freeze until solid. Combine the lemon juice and sugar in a large pitcher.  Stir until sugar is completely dissolved.  Add the water and mix well.  At this point you can refrigerate the lemonade until ready to serve. When you are ready to serve add 2 ice cubes to each serving of lemonade.

Boiled Corned Beef and Cabbage

Success! First recipe of the book complete. Not too surprising since the first chapter is on boiling, but this dinner is really easy to make and taste pretty good. The corned beef turned out pretty well, and the sweetness of the onions was a nice counter balance to the saltiness of the beef. My only real problem was the potatoes needed longer than the 30 minutes the book indicates; however my guess is that my potatoes were bigger. This meal is more of a winter meal as opposed to a summer meal oh well!

 I hope to make it to recipe number 2 this Sunday!

A Gathering of Links and recipes #2

Chocolate Chip Cookie and Brown Butter Bacon Ice Cream Sandwich
http://www.cookingchanneltv.com/recipes/chocolate-chip-cookie-and-brown-butter-candied-bacon-ice-cream-sandwiches-recipe/index.html

A potato salad recipe from Gordon Ramsay
http://twitdoc.com/view.asp?id=14543&sid=B7Z&ext=DOC&lcl=POTATO-SALAD.doc&usr=GordonRamsay01&doc=59148150&key=key-juqkhn2gf84o9n0779d

BBQ Chicken Leg Recipe from Gordon Ramsay
http://twitdoc.com/view.asp?id=14342&sid=B2E&ext=DOC&lcl=BARBECUED-CHICKEN-LEGS.doc&usr=GordonRamsay01&doc=59016993&key=key-15a2cohvz999frwh9tnq

Homemade vegetable stock from Alex Guarnaschelli
http://blog.foodnetwork.com/fn-dish/2011/06/28/vegetable-stock-recipe/

Chipotle-Mango BBQ Chicken from Guy Fieri
http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/guy-fieri/chipotle-mango-bbq-chicken-recipe/index.html

Pulled Pork sandwiches from the Nelly's
http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/patrick-and-gina-neely/pulled-pork-sandwiches-recipe/index.html

Classic Fried Chicken from food network magazine
http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/food-network-kitchens/classic-fried-chicken-recipe/index.html?soc=tw

James Beard's Theory & Practice of Good Cooking

So my book finally arrived last week. Already one chapter in and I have learned something! Apperantly I was chopping garlic incorrectly.

First recipe to tackle is boiled corned beef and cabbage. Not exactly the sexiest pick to start them off. I am hoping to get a chance to cook this Sunday so stay tuned!

Old Picture of Me

This is a picture of me from the Calgary Stampede in 1999. I won the award for employee of the day. Which is pretty impressive since there are thousands of employees. That year I worked as a prep chef in the club house during the day. It was first taste of working in the kitchen and I loved every minute of it.

Spicy Teriyaki Beef Jerky

Ingredients

·         1 kg of top sirloin beef sliced 1/16 of an inch thick

·         2 cans of teriyaki sauce

·         1 tablespoon of garlic salt

·         1 tablespoon of onion salt

·         1 tablespoon of seasoning salt

·         1 teaspoon of chili flakes

Instructions

Put all the ingredients except the beef together in a large bowl. Mix for 3 minutes and then add the sliced beef. Let marinate for 24 hours. Soak approximately 10 shish kabob sticks in water for 10 minutes. Dry the sticks with paper towel. Hold the stick horizontal and then pierce and slide 6 pieces of beef per stick. Place the stick on the top rack of the oven and let the beef hang down between the wires. Do this until there is not more beef. Heat the oven to 180 F. Stick a wooden spoon in the door of the oven so it does not shut all the way. Let the beef cook for 6 hours. If you like your jerky a bit tougher leave it in to your preference.

Coconut Rice

Ingredients

·         2 cups jasmine rice

·         1 1/2 cups water

·         1 cup canned unsweetened coconut milk

·         1 teaspoon kosher salt

Instructions

Rinse and drain rice in cold water. Place in a saucepan with water, coconut milk, and salt. Place the pot over high heat and, bring the liquid to a boil. Stir and reduce the heat to the lowest possible setting and cover the pot tightly with the lid. Continue cooking for 15 minutes.Remove the pot from the heat and let stand 10 minutes, covered. Fluff with fork and serve.

Vanilla Panna Cotta

This is a delicious recipe and it is very easy to make. Splurge and get real vanilla beans instead of using vanilla extract. Enjoy!

Ingredients

·         2 cups of heavy cream (Or for a lighter version use 10% cream)

·         1 vanilla bean

·         1/2 cup sugar

·         1 1/2 teaspoons unflavored gelatin (about 1/2 packet)

·         1/2 cup whole milk (Or for a lighter version use skim milk)

·         1/2 cup whole-milk Greek yogurt (Or for a lighter version use non fat)

·         Sliced berries, for garnish (optional)

Instructions

Place the cream in a saucepan. Halve the vanilla bean lengthwise; scrape out the seeds with a knife, then add the seeds and pod to the saucepan. Add the sugar and bring to a simmer over medium-low heat, stirring occasionally. Discard the vanilla pod. Sprinkle the gelatin over the milk in a bowl and let stand until the gelatin softens, about 5 minutes. Stir the gelatin mixture into the hot cream mixture until dissolved, then stir in the yogurt. Divide among six to eight 4-ounce ramekins, cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate until set, at least 6 hours or overnight. Garnish each panna cotta with berries, if desired

A Gathering of Links and recipes

Barbecued rib-eye steaks and summer vegetable skewers with a tangy

lemon dipping sauce from Gordon Ramsay

http://twitdoc.com/view.asp?id=11322&sid=8QI&ext=DOC&lcl=Barbecued-beef-.doc&usr=GordonRamsay01&doc=56493156&key=key-2mbg2ttdx3n3yd6hsfkw

Grilled Pizza with Hot Sausage, Grilled Peppers and Onions and Oregano Ricotta from Bobby Flay

http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/bobby-flay/grilled-pizza-with-hot-sausage-grilled-peppers-and-onions-and-oregano-ricotta-recipe/index.html

Seared Sherry Chicken Breasts with Romesco sauce from Gordon Ramsay

http://twitdoc.com/view.asp?id=12544&sid=9OG&ext=DOC&lcl=Chicken-Romesco.doc&usr=GordonRamsay01&doc=57550834&key=key-3rlxg4h506zwo7e0sxu

BBQ Chicken burgers with slaw from Rachael Ray

http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/rachael-ray/bbq-chicken-burgers-with-slaw-recipe/index.html

Gazpacho from Alton Brown

http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/alton-brown/gazpacho-recipe/index.html

A really cool idea

http://www.seriouseats.com/2011/06/salad-dressing-bottle-recipe.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+seriouseatsfeaturesvideos+%28Serious+Eats%29&utm_content=Twitter

Homemade smoky cola beef jerky

http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/food-network-kitchens/smoky-cola-jerky-recipe/index.html?soc=tw

BBQ Chicken from the Neely’s

http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/down-home-with-the-neelys/barbecue-chicken-recipe/index.html

Chocolate Fondant

http://twitdoc.com/view.asp?id=13054&sid=A2M&ext=DOC&lcl=CHOCOLATE-FONDANT.doc&usr=GordonRamsay01&doc=57958435&key=key-vevj14wndautccercli

Herbed pork meatballs with apple compote and parmesan mash from Gordon Ramsay

http://twitdoc.com/view.asp?id=13148&sid=A58&ext=DOC&lcl=Meatballs-apple-compote.doc&usr=GordonRamsay01&doc=58055018&key=key-29y1heqfzpo89mevbh8s

I have not made any of these recipes so if you do try them let me know how they turn out J

Pineapple Mango Salad

Below is my recipe for a lovely summer salad. This would go great with grilled chicken breast and a cold beer and good friends.

Ingredients

·         2 cups of chopped fresh pineapple, (about half pineapple)

·         1 mango, peeled and chopped

·         1/4 finely chopped red onion

·         The juice from one squeezed orange

·         1 small minced jalapeño pepper

·         1 tablespoon of finely chopped fresh mint

·         1 tablespoon of liquid honey

Instructions

In bowl, combine pineapple, mango, onion, orange juice, jalapeño pepper, mint and honey. (Make-ahead: Cover and refrigerate for up to 24 hours.) 

Amato Gelato

Address: 2104 # 7 Kensington Road NW, Calgary, AB
Website: http://www.amatogelato.com/index.html
Hours of Operation: Forgot to capture them sorry!
Intro: This place won the best gelato in Calgary award in the 2011 FFWD magazine contest. I went to junior high right across the street. When I was in school the gelato shop was a Dairy Queen.
The Food:  I love gelato, and this place has really good gelato. The quality was really good. I had the caffe latte flavour and it had nice hints of expresso. There are 72 Flavours to choose from. You can enjoy the gelato in a cone or in a cup. They also have some take home options as well as they serve sorbet. They also have a lunch menu and serve Italian specialty coffees.
The Price:  It is a bit on the pricey side. For one scoop (which was enough for me) it was $3.50 in a bowl, $4 in a cone. For a double scoop it is $6.50 and $7.00 respectively
The Service: The service is what is holding this place back, the employee's seem to all hate their job, they don't smile. Also you need to pay before you can sample any flavours!
Other Items of Note: There is a patio outside for those nice summer days. Also there is a 25 cent charge to pay with credit/debit.

Cinnamon Buns and Caramel Sauce

Well I did not get a chance to make the corn fritters; I will try and get to those this weekend. I did however bake some cinnamon buns and make a caramel sauce, both recipes are below. I did not use as much sugar in the cinnamon buns as I knew I was going to make the caramel sauce. So if you are making both just beware that the caramel sauce is sweet!

Caramel Sauce

Ingredients

·          1/2 cup water

·          1 cup sugar

·          1 cup 35% whipping cream (or substitute with 10% Cream)

·          1 tablespoon vanilla

Instructions

Pour the water into a saucepan then pour the sugar in a pile in the middle of the water. Turn the heat to medium-high heat and begin cooking without stirring. The sugar will dissolve in the water and begin to boil. The water will evaporate, leaving behind a pure sugar syrup that will then begin to rise in temperature, past the boiling point of water, and into the flavour zone. When the sugar begins to lightly brown here and there, gently swirl the pan until all of the sugar is a deep golden brown. Carefully pour in the cream and vanilla and whisk until smooth. Cool until thickened or serve hot!

Cinnamon Buns

Dough Ingredients

·         ¼ ounce package yeast

·         1/2 cup warm water

·         1/2 cup boiling milk

·         1/4 cup sugar

·         1/3 cup butter or shortening

·         1 teaspoon salt

·         1 egg

·         3 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

Filling Ingredients

·         1/2 cup melted butter

·         3/4 cup sugar

·         2 tablespoons ground cinnamon

·         3/4 cup raisins, walnuts, or pecans, optional

Pastry Instructions

Heat oven to 350 degrees F.

In a small bowl, dissolve yeast in warm water and set aside. In a large bowl mix milk, sugar, melted butter, salt and egg. Add 2 cups of flour and mix until smooth. Add yeast mixture. Mix in remaining flour until dough is easy to handle. Knead dough on lightly floured surface for 5 to 10 minutes. Place in well-greased bowl, cover and let rise until doubled in size, usually 1 to 1 1/2 hours.

Filling Instructions

When doubled in size, punch down dough. Roll out on a floured surface into a 15 by 9-inch rectangle. Spread melted butter all over dough. Mix sugar and cinnamon and sprinkle over buttered dough. Sprinkle with walnuts, pecans, or raisins if desired. Beginning at the 15-inch side, role up dough and pinch edge together to seal. Cut into 12 to 15 slices.

Coat the bottom of baking pan with butter and sprinkle with sugar. Place cinnamon roll slices close together in the pan and let rise until dough is doubled, about 45 minutes. Bake for about 30 minutes or until nicely browned

ChuckWagon Cafe

Address: 105 Sunset Blvd, Turner Valley, AB,

Website: http://www.chuckwagoncafe.ca/

Hours of Operation: Weekdays 8AM – 230PM, Weekends 8AM – 330PM

Intro: This burger won FFWD Magazines best burger in Calgary award, so I thought I would go check it out. When you first see the building outside, you get a pretty good idea of what the place is going to be about. It is a small very homey and has a home cooked meal feel to it.

The Food:  They serve the breakfast menu all day. I did like their menu it was pretty simple, once side is breakfast the other side is lunch. I am course settled on the house burger. It comes with mayo (I did not have any on my burger), romaine lettuce, tomatoes, a homemade relish which was very nice, mustard, pickles, cheese and bacon on a sesame bun. The flavour is really good, the burger is seasoned perfectly, the smokiness of the bacon is nice, and while there are lots of toppings I could taste each one and thought that they each added their own flavour. I usually don’t like toasted buns, but I thought that this was a burger that could have benefited from a toasted bun. While my bun did stay intact the whole way, it was soft and starting to get soggy at the end. I also ordered the fries, and they were good but nothing special. You can also get a salad or soup with the burger. While the burger was good, I wouldn’t say it was the best burger in Calgary.

The Price:  I would classify the burger as expensive, it is $10.95 and to add a side it is $1.50. Not unreasonable but not cheap either. The lunch menu seemed to be more expensive than the breakfast menu.

The Service: The service was average, our waitress was nice, and did come check on us a couple of times.

Other Items of Note: There is a patio outside for those nice summer days.

My Favorite Celebrity Chefs

I thought I would share with you some of my favorite celebrity chefs. Below is the list (in no particularly order) and why I like them.

·    Michael Smith - The biggest reason why I like him is the fact that he is always encouraging to cook without a recipe, or you don’t like ingredients in a recipe to change them for what works for you. I think too many people get stuck on recipe. The only time I don’t change recipe’s is when it comes to baking. I also like the fact that Michael has visited and taught classes at SAIT on numerous occasions.

·    Michael Noble - The only “celebrity” on this list that knows me by name! I was the manager of his son’s hockey team. Michael was the first Canadian chef to appear on Iron Chef (the original) in battle potato. Michael was the chef at Catch as well as the menu designer for Earls Canada. He also competed for Canada in the famous Bocuse d’Or competition. He now owns a very delicious restaurant in the Bowness area called Notables. I always appreciated chatting with him. He always took time at the rink to chat with me about food and what was in season. It is nice to know somebody who has been successful in the restaurant business.

·    Guy Fieri - Guy is probably the chef on this list who I would most like to sit down and have a beer with. I love his energy and his pallet is very good. His ability to identify spices and ingredients is impressive. He has lots of charisma and is fun to watch. Plus DDD is one of my favorite cooking shows.

·    Bobby Flay - I love the fact that Bobby is always trying to heat things up. He is always looking to put his tex mexroots into classic recipes.

·    Mario Batali - I am always leaning something new from Mario. Whenever I watch him cook he makes me feel like I am being transported to the Mediterranean. He also is always calm and never panics.

·    Cat Cora - Cat just has that fun aura around her. Plus she always drinks after every round of Iron Chef America!

·    Masaharu Morimoto - Morimoto has the best knife skills in my opinion. I love watching him as he is so technical. Plus how can you not like a guy who has made a beer with the Rouge brewery.

·    Michael Symon - He is always smiling and having fun. Plus he has the same haircut as me! I also like the fact that he is into sports and loves his Browns, Indians and Cavaliers.

·    Alton Brown - I think of all the chefs on this list I have learned the most from Elton. I love his sense of humor and the fact that he is such a nerd just like me!

·    Ted Allen - Ted is another nerd just like me, I like how sophisticated his presentation is, also I feel like he transports me into the world of fine dining.

·    Chris Cosentino - What’s not to like about a guy that cooks with offal. He is always thinking of new ways to use every ingredient. Plus his salami store and restaurant are delicious.

·    Aaron Sanchez - My Latin brother, he represents the South American side of me. Cooking very traditional Mexican meals. And not afraid to be proud that he is latin.

·     Chuck Hughes - Chuck has so much energy; I like the food that he cooks and the concept of his restaurant. Plus I like the fact that he promotes indie music in his show.

·    Alex Guarnaschelli - Nobody describes food better than Alex; she has the ability to make me instantly hungry.

·    Gordon Ramsay - Gordon gets a bad rap IMO. I always learn some lessons from him and I love the fact that he shares his recipes on twitter!

E&O Trading Company Corn Fritters

Here is a recipe that I got from the E&O Trading Company restaurant while I was in San Francisco in March. Jenn and I went to the restaurant to try a specific appetizer, the corn fritters. We first saw the corn fritters on an episode of the best thing that I ever ate crunchy edition. We ordered this from the bar and we were chatting with the bartender and he offered to give us the recipe, I was quite surprised. That was the first time that I have ever been given a recipe from a restaurant. It is very good and was not greasy at all. I have yet to make this recipe, but I am planning to give it a go on Sunday June 5^th.

Ingredients

·         4 cups fresh cut corn kernels

·         1/2 cup celery, small diced 1/4"

·         1/2 cup Green Onions, sliced 1/8" thick (including white part)

·         1 teaspoon of minced fresh garlic

·         1/2 cup all purpose flour

·         1/2 teaspoon fresh ground pepper

·         2 eggs

Instructions

In a bowl, combine the corn, celery, green onion, flour and black pepper and mix well. Lightly beat the eggs. Combine with the vegetable mixture. Heat 2"-3" of oil in a wide deep pot to 350 degrees. Spoon the corn fritter mix into the hot oil. Using the back of the spoon coated with oil, press down onto the fritter to flatten. Cook until golden brown on one side and carefully flip over to cook the other side. Remove to drain excess oil onto paper napkins. Season with sea salt.

UPDATE: JUNE 12

I finally had time to try this recipe. The hardest part was trying to control the temperature of the oil. Another key part of this recipe is dont forget to salt the fritters when they are hot. That little bit of salt went a long way in the flavour of the fritters. I also decided to make a homemade spicy BBQ sauce. Below is the recipe.

Spicy BBQ Sauce

Ingredients

·         2 teaspoons dry mustard

·         2/3 cups apple cider vinegar

·         2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce

·         1/2 cup chili powder

·         2/3 cup brown sugar

·         2 teaspoons salt

·         1/2 teaspoon hot pepper sauce

·         2 medium onions diced

Instructions

In a saucepan combine all the ingredients and bring to a boil. Then add all the ingredients into a blender and blend for 5 minutes. Let cool before serving.

Anthony Bourdain

I am currently getting ready to watch the TV Show Anthony Bourdain: No Reservations. In doing so I was reading Anthony's bio on wiki and discovered a couple of good quotes I thought I would share.


"Known for consuming exotic ethnic dishes, Bourdain is famous for eating sheep testicles in Morocco, ant eggs in Puebla, Mexico, a raw seal eyeball as part of a traditional Inuit seal hunt, and a whole cobra — beating heart, blood, bile, and meat — in Vietnam. According to Bourdain, the most disgusting thing he has ever eaten is a Chicken McNugget"


"He has been known for being an unrepentant drinker and smoker. In a nod to Bourdain's (at the time) two-pack-a-day cigarette habit, renowned chef Thomas Keller once served him a 20-course tasting menu which included a mid-meal "coffee and cigarette": a coffee custard infused with tobacco, together with a foie gras mousse."

"Bourdain says he considers vegetarianism, except in the case of religious strictures as in India, a "First World luxury""

Cowtown Beef Shack

Name: Cowtown Beef Shack

Address: 5250 MacLeod Trail SW

Website: http://cowtownbeefshack.com/

Hours of Operation: Mon-Sun 11:00am to 8:00pm

Intro: Two of my friends have talked about this place on the past but I had given it a try yet. I was reminded about it again on Saturday, so I thought I would give it a try since I was going to be in the area. My friends were not wrong when they said blink and you will miss it. The shack is 8 by 12 feet. There is something kind of appealing about the concept of this restaurant. Do one thing and do it very well. This is not the place for a vegetarian, while there are some vegetables on the premise this is place all about meat, and that is not a bad thing. “Vegetables are what real food eats” is one of the quotes on the Cowtown Beef Shack website.

The Food:  The menu is based around the six sandwiches they offer; traditional southern smoked brisket, old fashioned smoked pulled pork, beef dip, Cowtown cheese steak, BBQ beef and beef and cheddar. They also offer a small variety of side which includes coleslaw and chips. On this particular day I was feeling like the brisket. When you order the brisket you have the option of BBQ sauce or no sauce as well as onions or no onions, I choose sauce and onions. The sandwiches only come in one size which a 8’ fresh French baguette. I was very excited after receiving my sandwich as it had a good weight to it. The sandwich is very good, good flavour, seasoned perfectly and the bread was real soft and French which I think is a key in this type of sandwich. The beef was so flavourful and was very tender. Having said that there were a couple of changes I would make to the sandwich. The first one is adding more sauce; the sandwich was a bit on the dry side. Next time I am going to try the beef dip so I will have my own dipping sauce. The next thing is not something I am sure that will work but I would want to experiment with; instead of raw onions that are diced, I would try sliced caramelized onions. The reason for this change is I found that the raw onions were too over powering; however I did like the nice texture contrast that they offered. I think the caramelized onions would fit the flavour profile better IMO. I did not try any sides; I will save that for next time.

The Price: All sandwiches are $8, the coleslaw is $1.50 as are chips and pop. There is also the option for additional meat $2 and additional cheese $1

The Service: The service was very good. The employee took the time to explain the sandwiches and the sauces as well. You could tell he was passionate about the product. The sandwiches were made pretty quickly. The employee did follow up once we had a couple of bites to ask what we thought. I always appreciate when restaurants do that.

Other Items of Note: They do accept debit and credit cards. There are two windows, one for walk up customers as well as one for drive thru customers. There is lots of parking if you are walking up, as well as 7 picnic tables for you to eat at outside. There is no dine in option.

Pimento's

Name: Pimento’s

Address: 911 General Avenue NE

Website: http://pimentos.ca/

Hours of Operation: Wednesday – Sunday 4PM- 10PM

Intro: Pimento’s is in its second location, owner and chef Mario used to have a location on 9th St and 5 Ave. He decided that he wanted to try his hand at a food truck. So he closed up his restaurant and was traveling around Calgary in a food truck. That was very successful but the customers kept telling him that they missed having a place where they knew they could go to get his food. So he is back with a restaurant in Bridgeland but he still has the food truck, in fact he has two!

One of my coworkers is of Italian decent. She and I often spend time talking about Italian food and restaurants. She knows that I really like authentic Italian Pizza. The best Pizza I have ever had in my life was in Naples. She emailed me on Tuesday to tell me that she had just visited a Pizza place that I needed to try. I am not a very patient man and when I want something I always want it right away. I decided that I would try Pimento’s for lunch on Wednesday, well as you can see by the hours of operation no pizza for Chris on Wednesday! So Jenn and I decided to try it for dinner on Friday. It is a very small building and is easy to drive by. I could smell the pizza as we approached the building, it smelt awesome. Once you get into the restaurant there are basically two counters the one to the right is the prep table where Mario makes the dough and pizza. The one in front of you is where there are beverages and other items. Notice in the back left corner is where the gelato is, and in the back right corner is the oven.

The Food: The menu is broken down into three sections. You have pizza/flowers, meat cones and desserts. There are 17 different pizzas to choose from. There are the classics like the Marinara, Margherita, Cheese and Meat Lovers. There are only two sizes 12” or Personal (flower). The reason the personal pizza is called a flower is because it is shaped like a flower. Take a regular pizza dough and add a hollow cone at the bottom and that is how Mario serves his personal size pizza. Toppings on the top, sauce in the cone. I did not try one as I was looking for a bigger meal. I happen to know that he imported a tool from Italy to press the flower dough. The meat cones are exactly what they sound like, a cone full of delicious deli meats. The gelato menu is pretty straight forward; there are 12 flavouers to choose from. All the dough is made fresh, so the pizza dough, flower dough and cones are all made by Mario.

I had the full size Pimento which has Pomodoro, provolone, bocconcini, roasted red peppers, red onions, Pimento’s made in house Italian sausage. I thought that it was missing a pinch of salt and that it could have been cooked for about 3 minutes longer. The dough was not strong enough to support the toppings in the centre of the pizza. Fresh dough and ingredients make such a huge difference. The basil gave it real nice flavour and I would eat the sausage all day long.

The Price:  The price seems about average. The flowers range from $5-$8 and the full size pizzas are anywhere from $13-$17. I can’t remember the prices of the meat cones, and the gelato was $5. There seemed to only be the option to have the gelato in a cone. My pizza was $16.

The Service: The service was really good. Mario obviously knows a lot about pizza and the importance of fresh ingredients. We did not have cash on us but they still took or order and started making the pizza before we had paid, which I really appreciated.

Other Items of Note: There are a couple of items to note. They only accept cash (there is a 7-11 right beside which has an ATM). Chef Mario’s Enviro Discount – $1 off when you bring your own plate. There is no dine in option. Everything is intended for takeout. There are a couple of chairs to sit down in while he makes your pizza, but not to eat in. There are also no picnic tables outside to sit down in. We ended up eating ours in the car. On a nicer day we would have went down the block to sit on a bench by the park. Parking might be tough as well, my advice is to park in the two hour parking in the streets beside the restaurant.