Simple Lamb Chops With Roasted Peach and Shaved Fennel Salad

Dan    Mains, Recipes     awesome, delicious, fennel, fresh, lamb, meat, recipes, salad, summer

What you’ll need…

Fennel Salad:

1/3 cup red wine vinegar

1/3 cup white wine vinegar

1/3 cup water

1 TBSP sugar

2 TSP salt

1 bulb fennel (very thinly sliced)

2 peaches (halved and stoned)

1/4 red onion (thinly sliced)

1/2 cup feta (loosely crumbled)

zest of one lemon (and juice of one half)

1/2 cup fresh mint (coarsely chopped)

olive oil

salt and pepper

Lamb chops:

4 lamb chops

1/2 yellow onion (sliced)

1 cup shiraz

salt and pepper

Before we talk about anything else, I just realized that this recipe has no garlic in it. That breaks my heart a bit. Oh well, it happens…I’ve been in love with shaved fennel salads for awhile now, most specifically because of one that I frequently order here in Calgary at Charcut Roast House. Consider this an ode to them.  Since I’m not a huge fan of mint jelly with my lamb, I opted for some fresh mint in the salad, and as for the roasted peaches, well, it is summer after all. I made this dinner inside, but it might be a little extra summery if you grilled both the lamb and the peaches. Just saying…

Start things off by preheating your oven to 425 degrees. In a small pot combine the water, two types of vinegar, sugar, salt and let it come to a boil, about 4-5 minutes. Place the fennel (I used my highly under-used mandolin for this, so in-lieu, just slice as thin as possible) in a medium-sized bowl and pour the boiling liquid over top of it. Using a spoon, toss the mixture a few times, and then let sit for 5 minutes. This is a simple ‘technique’ I have come to call ‘quick half pickling’. I like doing it to the fennel, because I find it softens it a bit, but not too much, and gives it a bit of a tangy bite. After 5 minutes, discard the liquid from the bowl and set the fennel aside.

Next, drizzle some olive oil on the peach halves and pop them in the oven for 12-15 minutes, or until they have started to caramelize on top. In the meantime, you can add the remaining salad ingredients to the bowl of fennel, drizzle with olive oil, and toss until evenly combined. Add some ground black pepper, have a taste, and add salt if needed. Once the peaches are appropriately roasted, let them sit to cool down a bit before adding them to the salad. Feel free to slice them up or keep the halves intact. (leave oven on for the lamb chops!)

The lamb chops will be pretty straight-forward. Season each side of the meat with some salt and pepper. Then, in a medium-sized pan, sear each side of the meat on high heat, approximately 1 minute per side. Transfer to prepared baking dish, and place in your (still) preheated oven for 8-10 minutes, or until desired ‘done-ness’ has been achieved. While the chops are in the oven, add the onion to the pan and deglaze with the wine. Stirring occasionally, let the mixture reduce by two thirds, about 5 minutes, then remove from heat.

Once everything is ready to plate, top each lamb chop with some of the red wine reduction, along with a helping of the fennel salad on the side. Enjoy folks!

Serves 4

Total cook time…35-40 min

If you’re wondering why there is not a picture of the lamb chop in the recipe photo…

It’s always a sad day when a food blogger forgets his/her camera elsewhere, which was the case on the summer evening that I chose to cook this pretty little number up. I did take a picture via iPhone’s application Instagram, but felt like it just didn’t cut it…Well, it’s not bad…for an iPhone 3G. Anyway, here is that photo! Happy eating!

From The Ground Up: Top Chef’s Mike Isabella on Opening His First Restaurant, Graffiato, in Washington, D.C.

Dan    Restaurants, Thoughts, United States     awesome, delicious, interview, Mike Isabella, pizza, Top Chef, Washington DC

It’s odd, whether it’s watching someone of television, following them on twitter, or, god forbid, hearing about someone before meeting them (I’m talking real-time here), you never quite know what’s going to happen when you finally meet face-to-face. That being said, I had an amazing opportunity to sit down with Chef Mike Isabella from Top Chef: Las Vegas, and most recently Top Chef: All Stars, where he was the runner-up, to talk about his restaurant, Graffiato, which is slated to open soon in the heart of Washington, D.C. in just a few weeks.

Needless to say, I was excited to finally meet the man behind the pepperoni sauce.

What was it like transitioning from an executive chef to a first-time restaurant owner? It was scary. You know, I had a great job, a lot of control, they were talking about partnership, and giving it all up, not taking any pay and putting it all into [my own] restaurant. Now, being three or four weeks away from opening, it was the best decision that I have ever made. We just have to get the people in here now and see if they enjoy the food.

Would you say it was a smooth or bumpy road? You have to sacrifice a lot. My wife knows what goes on, she helps me with this, and all of those people who you’ve done favours for over the years, you reach out to them too. Once Graffiato opens, I’ll be here seven days a week, open to close.

Has the idea of opening Graffiato been in your mind for quite some time? For the last couple of years, I’ve been working on this concept, trying to make it great. I really wanted to encorporate eveything to get that perfect restaurant, and this is the first of hopefully many. Graffiato [will be] my ‘home base’…simple food, but fun. I want to do different concepts. I want to open all the different types of food I like to eat, then open up those concepts, and be good to go!

I love the fact that you’ll be curing all your meats in-house. My favourite restaurant in Calgary, Charcut, boasts a signature pig’s head mortadella. Any signatures you forsee for Graffiato? I like to do everything in-house. The down side is that you can make something that takes three months to cure, then taste it, and realize it’s not what you want it to taste like, then have to start over. Lomo is my favourite cured meat. You take the whole pork loin, brine it for a few days, then marinate it, brine it, marinate again, and hang it for awhile. It’s simple, and it tastes great.

Pizza bar in progress

You’re setting up Graffiato as an open concept-feeling establishment. With a butcher bar and seating in front of the wood fire oven, what do you think will be ‘the’ place to sit here? People have been asking me that a lot lately. I think probably the pizza bar. Lots of people want to see the chefs doing the work. I’ll be here 7 days a week, open to close, for the first while, so if people want to see me in action, they can come on down!

What do you think the menu at Graffiato says about you, both as a person and as a chef? I think if you read the menu, you’ll think ‘This is Mike Isabella’s menu’. When we talk about Graffiato being ‘Italian-inspired’ the best way to put it is that I take flavours that I can remember tasting when I was a kid…

To read more of my interview and to see some great pictures of Graffiato in it’s completion, head over to Food Network Canada’s site here.

Channelling Your Inner Homer: Jelly Modern Doughnuts

Dan    Calgary & Area, Restaurants     calgary, desserts, doughnuts, eating out, new to town

It’s time to kick that cupcake to the curb. The bourgeois that is ‘doughnut’ has finally said: ‘Enough! We shall no longer eat [cup]cake!’

Jelly Modern Doughnuts just recently opened up in downtown Calgary and has dubbed itself as ‘Canada’s original doughtnut bakery cafe’. Whether that’s actually true or not, I can’t say, but I what I can say is that these are some of the best damn doughnuts I’ve ever tasted.

Modern’s bright pink interior captures your attention as soon as you step in, as does the smell of freshly baked goods.

The majority of the doughnuts are the same blank canvas, but each with their own unique topping. The pastry chefs and bakers behind the scenes put an emphasis on sourcing ingredients locally, to ensure premium flavours and freshness! The day of the week you stop by their shop will dictate what types of sweets are available to you. For example (and much to my dismay) I was unable to taste the Peanut Butter and Jelly doughnut, as it is only available on Mondays and Tuesdays. I’ll have to make a trip back especially for this one. Worried about missing your favourite doughnut? Don’t fret, as you can check out the weekly baking schedule on their website so you’ll be able to time your cravings accordingly.

On this particular morning, I had a variety of doughnuts to choose from. Although they all looked delicious, I felt as though purchasing more than three would be too much for one man to handle/eat. I settled on the Maple Bacon, Seasonal Fruit-Filled, and Banana Chocolate Chip.

I also grabbed a cup of coffee, which was surprisingly good, as I don’t usually associate doughnut shops with fantastic coffee (sorry Timmy’s fans…). They have a traditional espresso machine as well, so you can also get your latte/cappuccino/etc…fix as well as your sugar.

The Seasonal Fruit-Filled variety when I stopped by was raspberry. I’m rarely let down by anything raspberry-related, so this doughnut was a winner. It was nice, light and cakey with a whole bunch of sweet raspberry preserve (the best part, obviously!). The seasonal fruit option is available every day of the week.

Next up, Banana Chocolate Chip. A banana bread cake doughnut with mini-chocolate chips, dipped in a carmelized banana glaze to finish. The doughnut itself was a bit dry, but the banana glaze was amazing, and made up for it. This one is only available on Saturdays and Sundays, so banana fans are out of luck during the work week.

Since bacon is everyday nowadays, why not throw it on top of a doughnut right? Maple and bacon has forever been a solid combination, so it was no surprise that the Maple Bacon selection was my favourite of the bunch. (It’s also available every day of the week)

Other notable baked goods worth coming back for include Jelly Modern’s cinnamon buns (available on weekends) and bags of mini-doughnuts, which are only available on Saturdays, but, hey, it beats having to wait for your summer fair, right?

If I haven’t convinced you yet to pop by for a taste, let me also mention that any baked items left over at the end of the day (they close at 6PM, 5PM Sundays) are donated to a local charitable organization, so that nothing goes to waste. They also showcase local artists in the cafe each month, as well as offer a community room for private functions. I see a lot of children’s birthday parties in Jelly Modern’s future, don’t you?

Chai-Spiced Salmon Steaks with Lemon Dill Potatoes

Dan    Mains, Recipes     awesome, chai, delicious, dinner, fresh, potatoes, salmon, summer, tea

What you’ll need…

Lemon Potatoes:

4 cups baby potatoes (halved)

1/2 cup fresh dill (chopped)

1 lemon (juice and zest)

1/4 cup butter (melted)

salt and pepper

Salmon Steaks:

1 TBSP Indian spiced chai tea

2 cloves garlic

1/4 cup yellow onion

1 lemon (zest, juice of 1/2)

1/2 chili powder

2 TSP cane sugar

1 TSP salt

1 TSP black pepper

olive oil

4 salmon steaks

If you asked this salmon what food trend is ‘so last year’, it would probably say cedar planking! Now, these fish are all about getting a chai tea-based paste rubbed all over them. Trust me, I did a poll. The taste of these salmon steaks had me proclaim: ‘This salmon must have swam upstream in awesome before being caught!’. Yes, it was that good. I know a cook with tea a fair bit (examples A & B), and it may seem a bit odd to some of you, but I guarantee it is most often rewarding. Unless you do something really weird and add Earl Grey to a cream-based soup. That would be a disaster….or would it? I’ll try it and let you know.

First things first, preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Place the potatoes, dill, lemon (even the lemon halves, post squeezing!), and butter in a medium-sized mixing bowl. Toss to combine. Season liberally the salt and pepper, place into a medium-sized prepared baking tray, cover, and let roast for 40 minutes. Take out once or twice to turn the potato halves.

While your potatoes are roasting away, it’s time to make your paste. You can quite easily take all of the salmon steak ingredients, aside from the salmon itself obviously, and use your food processor to combine. However, I much prefer using a mortar and pestle. It’s a good workout, and also works well if you need to get some anger out. Mash, bash, mash! Once you get the paste to a, well, paste-y consistency, rub it lovingly on each of your salmon steaks. Place into a prepared baking dish, top each steak with a slice of two of lemon as well. Cover, and place in the oven for 15 minutes.

(just in case it’s not clear, you can pop the salmon in while the the potatoes are still cooking, so both can finish up at around the same time.)

If you want to be a little bit fancier with the steaks, I like to sometimes uncover them a few minutes early, sprinkle some sugar on top of each and place under high broil to caramelize them on top. Feel free to try it out! As well, the rice-like item in the photo is kamut. It’s a cool grain! I’ve never used it before, but my mom decided to send me a bag of it? Anyway, place the salmon and potatoes on whatever type of grain/rice you please!

Dish out some salmon and potatoes to each plate, and enjoy!

Serves 4

Total cook time…50 min

Creamy Coconut & Apricot Couscous ‘Cake’

Dan    Recipes, Something Sweet     awesome, coconut, couscous, dessert, quick and easy, summer, sweet

What you’ll need…

Cake:

1 1/2 cups coconut milk

1 1/2 cups homogenized milk

1/3 cup sugar

2 TSP vanilla

1 TSP cinnamon

1/2 TSP nutmeg

3 cups couscous (uncooked)

1 cup apricots (dried, chopped)

1/2 cup butter (melted)

Walnut sauce:

1 cup walnuts

1 cup homogenized milk

1/2 brown sugar (firmly packed)

shredded coconut (for garnish, optional)

(Disclaimer: Please look away if you like rice pudding) I’ve never liked rice pudding. Ever. I didn’t mean to break any hearts, but I really can’t stand it. Consider this my ‘ode’ to questionable dish that is rice pudding. Anyway…I first tried out a version from FoodNetwork.ca of this couscous-based dessert in my Kick The KD  Start From Scratch class, which went over very well. The coconut milk adds a nice creaminess. Although not completely guilt-free, you won’t feel too bad after eating a generous portion of this!

 Place the coconut milk, milk, sugar, vanilla and spices in a medium-sized pot. Bring to a boil on high heat, stirring regularly until the sugar has dissolved. While you’re waiting for that to heat up, place the uncooked couscous in a large mixing bowl. Once the liquid begins to boil, remove from heat and pour over-top of the couscous. Give everything a good stir to ensure that the liquid will be evenly absorbed. Cover, and let sit for 5 minutes.

Next, add the apricots, melted butter and give a few good stirs until the mixture is nicely combined. Now, to form the sweet couscous into ‘cakes’ you’ll need six ramekins. In lieu of ramekins, feel free to use some short tumbler glasses, small bowls, or any other item in your kitchen that may fit the bill. This is purely for shaping the ‘cakes’. Place spoonfuls of the mixture into each ramekin (or similar facsimile of…), and firmly pack it in. Set aside until to dish them out.

Now, for the sauce…Place the walnuts, milk, and brown sugar in a blender and puree until smooth. Place in a small pot and leave on low heat, just to warm the sauce. When it’s time to serve the dessert, take a plate, place on top of a ramekin, and flip it over. Then, left up the ramekin and you should have a beautiful looking couscous cake on your plate. If it does not simply slide out, give it a few taps and it should come out intact! Spoon some sauce on top and top with some shredded coconut for good measure. Yum!

Take that rice pudding!

Serves 6

Total cook time…20 min