A Menu for Yukon Blonde

            I do get excited about a great many things not the least of which is reconnecting with old friends. I had the opportunity to do so in the past week as some good friends of mine rolled into town. After a crazy couple of months which saw them take Europe by storm, release their new album, and tour across Canada, the boys from Yukon Blonde hit town. Now here comes the rave. This will be a bit biased but I don’t care because this is my blog. You need to see this band; you need to support them, full stop. Their new album, Tiger Talk is, simply put, awesome. In addition to being a wicked band that is bringing back the rock and roll into our lives, they may be the nicest guys out in the world today. Proof positive is the fact that they went out and signed autographs for a bunch of kids who were too young to get into the show. Now here comes a bit of an apology to John, the bass player. John joined the band a little late in the history of me knowing the boys and I don’t know him really well or at all really, but I will say Thank you John for those sweet bass riffs. So here are the recipes that were inspired by the boys I know in Yukon Blonde and their visit to my town. I hope you enjoy and go and buy the album because even if the recipes fail you will have great tunes to enjoy.

Braised Beef Brisket for Jeff Innes to the tune of Guns by Yukon Blonde

5-8lbs of beef brisket

Salt and pepper

4 tbsp onion powder

2 tbsp chilli powder

2 cans of lighter beer

1 liter beef stock

3 coarsely chopped onions

4 cloves of garlic whole

-Combine the salt, pepper, onion powder, and chilli powder. Rub the brisket down with the stuff and chuck it in the fridge over night.

The rub down before the sear

-Sear off the brisket on all sides to a golden brown.

-In a roasting pan toss in your onions, garlic, and brisket. Add in your beer and stock and then cover with foil.

-Toss it into a preheated 300 degree oven and let it work for about 6-7 hours. Let rest for 30 minutes before slicing. Serve on a roll.

That one is for you Jeff now you got your brisket done. Now, we move on to the sauce. The sauce goes out to the member of the band that I know the best Brandon Scott. We played music together but more than that we drank together... a lot. Brandon is known, in my world, as the Bear which is a long story but never fails to make me smile. So the sauce is inspired by Brandon.

Bourbon Barbeque Sauce for Brandon “The Bear” Scott to the tune of My Girl by Yukon Blonde

Saucy just like the Bear

2 cups ketchup

2 tbsp grainy mustard

2 tbsp Worcestershire sauce

2tbsp molasses

¼ cup bourbon

2 tbsp brown sugar

1 onion chopped as fine as you can get them

-sweat the onions down in a frying pan until they are super soft but not browned, medium heat lots of stirring.

-dump the rest of the ingredients into a sauce pan and add in the onions and let reduce until it is nice and thick like the stuff you get in the bottle.

-blend the snot out of it and you got your sauce.

There is the Bear’s sauce. Now we move on to the rhythm of the group. I am talking about the man, the myth, the legend... Graham Jones. This is the only recipe in this set that has a little bit of crunch which seems like it is appropriate for the sweet beats of Graham.

Raw slaw for Graham Jones to the tune of Radio by Yukon Blonde

Slaw

½ sliced green cabbage

¼ sliced red cabbage

2 granny smith apples cut into batons

3 grated carrots

Dressing

¼ cup olive oil

¼ cup apple cider vinegar

Salt and pepper

1 tbsp mustard

2 tbsp sour cream

-dump all the veggies into a big bowl.

-in a jar add in all of your dressing ingredients, put on the lid and shake it like your momma gave it to you

-dump the dressing onto the veggies and toss. Now you got the raw slaw.

There you have the menu inspired by the boys in Yukon Blonde. Give it a go and buy Tiger Talk you can’t make the food without the tunes. All the best to Brandon, Jeff, Graham, and John, I can’t wait until we meet again.

Johnny's Hangover Hash

            So I was asked by my friend Jill what were some good ways of re-purposing leftovers and as I thought about it I realized that it is not something that I do very often. I generally just grab the containers out of the fridge, give them a quick smell to make sure that they are still good and simply mow down. The more I thought about it the more I wanted to put together a recipe which allowed us to both use up the leftovers and not waste them and to make something that is fast and easy to satisfy that after work, I am starving, but I am lazy feeling that we all fall victim to. I have another motive for including this recipe and that is it is the best food in world to quell a hangover. Yep that is right you have all of the stuff that you need to get over the over. It is buttery and cheesy and meaty and good. You can and should use whatever you have in your fridge, this is one of those of fluid recipes that you just add what you have. So add what you have. You can make it full of meat or completely meatless the world is your oyster on this one kids.

Johnny’s Hangover Cure Hash

2 potatoes diced

½ onion finely diced

2 tbsp oil

Salt and pepper

Diced corned beef as much as you like or whatever you have in your fridge (in the picture I used leftover pork tureen courtesy of Toby)

 3 eggs beaten with 2 tbsp of milk

Cheese grated whatever you have on hand

2 tbsp Sriracha I love spice so I put more than this in mine, just saying

-Heat oil in a frying pan and add onion and potatoes. Fry until about half way cooked.

-Add in your meat and continue to cook until your spuds are done. Taste them to make sure.

-Add in your eggs and cheese and sriracha and stir to combine with the rest of your ingredients. Keep stirring until your eggs are scrambled the way that you like them.

-Dump the mess onto a plate and devour. Done.

Jill and Johnny's Vegetarian Lasagna

           

            Here we are off on another adventure with my friend Jill and you know what that means: a hopefully tasty dish that is meatless. Whenever I talk to Jill she is always filled with thoughts about what she wants to cook and, for someone who claims she has no skills in the kitchen, she thinks about food preparation more than almost anyone I know. She has a sense of adventure which is awesome and most of our food conversations start off with her saying, “I saw Gordon do this or I read about Laura doing that. Can we do that?” I find that it makes me smile as I try to wrap my head around what she wants to cook. So my mind started to work overtime when she told me she wanted to make vegetarian Lasagna. My trepidation about this suggestion was a two parter.  First, I have my own wonderful and magical memories of this dish all of which include copious amounts of both pig and cow. This was a special occasion meal in my family, and the only thing that I wanted to have for dinner on my birthday from the age of eight until, well, now. My Mom makes a killer lasagna and I love her all the more for it. Secondly, most of the vegetarian lasagnas that I have eaten over the years, well, sucked. I remember getting served plates of mushy, congealed.... stuff that always seemed to come with a disclaimer such as “you can’t even taste the tofu” or “you won’t even miss the meat.” For future reference, I always miss meat and tofu is not and will never be a viable alternative nor is it a replacement for meat. It is a good ingredient that I do use but crumbling it up does not make it hamburger. So there I was trying to come up with a good version of vegetarian lasagna. Here we go, I hope it doesn’t suck.

            So here are a couple of things that we did that seemed to work really well. The addition of some smashed walnuts to your tomato sauce will add some texture to and extra flavor to it. I like it but it may not be for everyone so feel free to omit them if you are not a fan of nuts. We used raw zucchini but if you have the time and the inclination you can grill it to add a roasted flavor. While we are on the subject of vegetables you can add whichever ones you like, grilled eggplant would work great and I have even used roasted carrots which add sweetness to the dish. This is all up to you. Cook your pasta about half way to being done before you layer it in. If you cook it all the way it turns into mush when you bake the lasagna as a whole, if you put it in raw it will still be crunchy when you pull it out of the oven. Let’s get to it.

Jill and Johnny’s Veg. Lasagna to the tune of Orange Sky by Alexi Murdoch

Tomato sauce layer

1 can crushed tomatoes

1/8 cup balsamic vinegar

1 onion finely diced

2 cloves minced garlic

½ cup smashed walnuts toasted

Salt and pepper

Put all of your ingredients into a sauce pan over medium heat and let reduce until thick. Part one is done.

Cheese sauce layer

¼ cup butter

¼ cup flour

2-3 cups whole milk

1 cup of shredded cheese whatever kind you like I would lean towards a milder cheese.

In a saucepan over medium heat melt your butter and then add your flour to make a roux.

Add your milk heat through, don’t let it boil.

Add your cheese and whisk until smooth. If it gets too thick add more milk and whisk more. It should run off your whisk not congeal on it. Part two is done.

The rest of the layers

2 cups of Ricotta cheese

A big handful of fresh chopped spinach

1 zucchini sliced, enough to make a good overlapping layer in your pan

Mushrooms, enough to make a good overlapping layer in your pan

Lasagna noodles, par cooked enough to make two layers in your pan

2-3 cups Grated mozzarella cheese

Grated parmesan cheese

Combine the ricotta and chopped spinach in a bowl.

Layer the sucker, noodles in first, tomato sauce next, zucchini, noodles, cheese sauce, mushrooms, ricotta and spinach, grated mozzarella and then finish with the parmesan.

Bake in a 350 degree oven for about 45- 60 minutes.

Let cool for at least 15 minutes so that the thing can set up before you cut into it.

There it is. Give it a go and let me know.

Finding A Rooster In Downtown Victoria

The "Polka"

            So there are some things that make me reminisce about the wayward way that I spent my younger years. Now I am not talking about some sweet memory of being hugged by someone I love and told that I am indeed a good person. This is more a memory of stumbling out of a bar at 2:30 in the morning, feeling fuzzy and knowing that if I don’t find something to eat I will truly die. My friends who are at my side are feeling the same way. We breech the door and our eyes fall upon what looks like a hotdog cart and we share a collective smile. But something is not what we expected, something is amiss. As we approach the cart there is the unmistakable smell of frying onions and bacon. My God this cart was serving Perogies. With a sort of manic glee we dove into bowls of fried dough, potatoes, cheese and sour cream. It was glorious.

            So Toby and I are walking downtown and he tells me we should check out this new coffee shop that just opened up. Needing caffeine something fierce I say that I am game. As we approach the shop we see a massive green food truck. Needing an infusion of wakefulness we stroll on past though I will admit my curiosity was piqued. We slammed down some espresso and decided to check out the truck. We checked out the menu and I felt my heart jump. It was a perogie truck. Awesome. We resolved to return and that was easily the best decision that we made that day.

            I am not the kind of guy that really raves about a lot of things when it comes to eating out; however, you my people, need to check out the Hungry Rooster. Toby and I called Tiff, my friend and Toby’s lady fair and she met up with us to give the Hungry Rooster a shot. Questions rocketed through my head, would this joint live up to the booze induced glory of the perogie stand of my college days. The Hungry Rooster kicked that memory’s ass. We all tried something different and it was all amazing. Toby opted for the traditional “Polka” a plate of perogies with all of the fixings which included, to Toby’s delight, cabbage. Tiff went with the “Poutinka” a crazy and awesome version of poutine with deep fried perogies and wonderful miso gravy. And finally I myself decided on a glorious, and I do mean glorious, thing called the “Slapdown” a perogie filled grilled cheese sandwich with bacon and onions. We snapped pictures like it was Christmas morning and then dove into the food. Sweet mother Mary it was good.

The "Slapdown"

            As if the food wasn’t enough to make you want to check this rolling joint out, which it should be, the two ladies who were manning the truck were amazing. Paulina and Janelle were great. Sharing a little bit of what they were doing and why, they made the visit even more enjoyable. The service was better than I normally get in sit down restaurants. The prices are more than reasonable and the food is awesome, and I could go on and on. So I will leave it at this, you need to check this place out. I want to keep eating there so we all need to support it. If not for Paulina and Janelle, then for Johnny and his love for perogies and all things perogie related.

The "Poutinka"

            You can find the truck on Courtney St. across from the Sticky Wicket, like them on Facebook: Hungry Rooster food truck, or follow them on Twitter, @hungry_rooster. Throw some support their way my Lovlies.  

Mmmm Western Chinese Food Part 2

            So here I set out to finish the buffet I have started. This is sort of a two fer. A lot of the same ingredients are used here and only some small changes in the cooking process. This comes again from my memory of eating Chinese takeout with my family. It will never fail to bring a smile to my face remembering my lovely Grand struggling to pronounce the name of the restaurant and my Gramps, I am pretty sure on purpose, pronouncing it wrong just to make her feel like it was right. The smiling continues as I as a very determined young man trying to teach Grand how to use chopsticks. It never worked but she tried her best. So these two recipes taste how I remember eating that food with my family so I hope you dig them.

            Okay so the cooking method is pretty much the same for both of these variations there is however a slight difference: for the ginger beef you want to use more oil in the initial cooking of the meat, this is going to give your meat a little bit more of a crunchy coating which is closer to how I remember eating ginger beef. If you have access to a deep fryer you can actually batter and fry your beef if you like but the method below works good enough for me. You can also mix up your proteins here if you like. If you feel like you have too many beef dishes sub in chicken or pork. All of these recipes will stand up to a swap in protein. So give them a go and serve with some simple rice. Your buffet at home is now complete. Grab some sticks and get at it.

Ginger Beef to the tune of American Slang by Gaslight Anthem

1 onion sliced

1 8-10oz steak cut into strips, I tend to go with middle of the road steak here; please do not chop up a piece of fillet for this recipe. A moderately priced piece of sirloin will serve you fine.

½ cup flour

Salt and pepper

¼ cup of soy sauce

¼ cup of water

3 tbsp honey

4 tbsp of freshly grated ginger, I go heavy on the ginger so do this to your taste.

1 tbsp rice wine vinegar, you can use cider or any wine vinegar if you don’t have rice wine.

6 tbsp oil, I use sesame but whatever you have will work

-Mix flour, salt and pepper in a bowl add your beef and dredge completely.

-Heat the oil in a large skillet over high heat. Add your beef and give it a quick and complete sear.

-While your beef is cooking whisk together soy sauce, water, honey, ginger and vinegar and put aside.

-Once your beef is seared off drain off the excess oil left in the pan, reduce the heat to medium and then add your onion. Let your onion cook down for a little bit and then add your liquid.

-Let your liquid cook down and thicken and then you are done.

The last of the recipes is one of my favourites. It adds a little bit of earthiness to your meal and is simply super tasty.

Beef and Shrimp in Black Pepper Sauce to the tune of Blackout by The Dropkick Murphys

1 onion sliced

1 steak 8-10 oz

6 mushrooms, I use whatever wild mushrooms I can find, shitake mushrooms are my favourite for this one.

1 sliced bell pepper

½ lb of uncooked shelled and deveined shrimp 31/40 count

Salt and pepper

¼ cup of soy sauce

¼ cup of water

3 tbsp honey

1 clove of minced garlic

A whack of fresh cracked black pepper, I use a lot, but 1 tbsp is a minimum

1-2 tbsp of oil

-Season your beef with the salt and pepper.

-Heat your oil over high heat and sear off your beef. Reduce the heat to medium.

-Add in your onions and garlic and let them cook down and then add in your mushrooms.

-Whisk together all of the other ingredients and add to the pan. And let reduce.

-Add in your shrimp and bell pepper, they should take very little time to cook. The last five minutes of cooking should be about right.

-Let the liquid reduce a little more until it becomes a thick and wonderfully gooey sauce.

The buffet is now complete. Sit down with some friends and enjoy.

Some Lemon Pepper Linguini from the Mind of Beer Run

One of the nice things about having the group of friends that I am lucky enough to have is that most of them are willing to share their food experiences with me. So this recipe comes from the mind of a good buddy of mine who goes by the moniker Beer Run. I met Run when I first moved to Victoria and found that we shared a love for food, moderately good booze, and really good cigars, among other things. He is one of those guys who you hand something weird to eat and after a single “just try it” he will give it a go. He may not love it but he will tell me that I had a set to try and cook it. So here is to the Run , and I hope you dig the offering that he has put forth.

Lemon-Pepper Shrimp Linguine

This is an easy to prepare and very delicious option for those of us who enjoy pasta and seafood.  All in cook time should be under ½ hr and there’s nothing fancy, just tasty.

You Will Need:

·          

L    Linguine for X number of people being served.  A standard package should serve four.

·         Shrimp or prawns for X number of people served.

·         A bit of basil.  Ideally a few fresh leaves, but dried would suffice.  About 1TBSP

·         3 TBSP parsley.  Again, fresh is ideal….it’s very cheap.

·         6 cloves garlic.

·         ½ cup chicken stock….home-made,  a carton from the store, oxo pack….whatever you can find.

·         1 fresh lemon.

·         ¼ cup melted butter

·         1 TBSP oil.  Olive best, vegetable fine.

·         ¼ cup white wine (That leaves most of a bottle for you!)

·         Dash of salt.

·         Black pepper to taste (I’m a fiend and use about 1 ½ TBSP)

Begin…

·          

pPrepare your chicken stock and melt your butter.  Set aside.

·          

PPre-heat a large frying pan or wok over medium-low heat.  Toss in your TBSP oil.

·  

     Finely chop your garlic, heat in pan 1 minute.

·     

    Add your chicken stock and white wine.  Zest the lemon in then cut it in half and squeeze the juice in as well.

SSimmer until it reduces down to about 50-60%.  Add salt and pepper when convenient.

·          

  While your pan simmers, boil a large pot of salted water.  Cook your pasta to your personal preference then strain.

·          

  Once your liquid has simmered down, add the shrimp, butter, basil, and parsley.  Cook 3-5 minutes until the seafood has become translucent (cooked!) and sauce mixed.

·          

  Toss in your cooked pasta and stir/blend until the sauce is soaked up and seafood mixed in.

Serve hot and enjoy!  Cold leftovers are great too.