eggs!

I love eggs!

Grillmaster

Yours truly has just recently purchased a used Weber 22.5" charcoal grill at a steal for seventy dollars. I opted for charcoal because a) I prefer the flavour, b) propane barbecues are a bit of an eye-sore,  c) true Grillmasters use charcoal (and I have decided this is a title for me) and d) I was reminded that with a little patience and a pan of water, you can turn one of these little guys into a smoker.

Today being Sunday, my friend came over and we made a barbecue dinner using the new household addition.
He came ready with some ground pork and bison from "Meat Island" and I was waiting for him with some butterflied pork loin chops and a fat bison steak purchased at Slater's Meats in Oak Bay, both of which are purveyors of fine island meats (Eat Magazine's most recent issue has done a story that I requested called "The Hunt for Local Meat." This made me feel very important and I'm really impressed with Gary Hynes', Eat's editor, quick response to my emails and fulfilled promise. Way to go!)

A few quick notes about using a charcoal grill

• Using lighter fluid or charcoal that is soaked in lighter fluid is cheating and will impart a funky flavour on your food.
• Chimney starters are a fun-to-use and effective replacement for lighter fluid
• Soak your wood chips overnight if possible, but at the very least for several hours
• Charcoal briquettes are slow burning, while Hardwood lump charcoal is fast burning
• When placing your hot coals on the grate, remember that when grilling most meat, a direct heat will lead to a burnt crust and a raw centre. Create an indirect cooking surface by only laying charcoal on half the grill or on both ends, leaving the centre without 
• Don't clean your grill super well right after you use it. The crust on the grate seasons it and keeps rust from developing. Instead, clean it each time you go to use it, while you wait for the grill to heat. The warmth will make it easy to clean and you'll scrub off any beetles that managed to find their way in there in the days between use
• Cover your grill when you're not using it! Rust is a nasty thing and propane or not, everyone likes a nice looking grill
• Grease your food not your grate

Phew! After all of that I'm sure you're done hearing from me. Instead I will provide you with photos of this evening's delicious dinner.

Brooding peppers! So artsy!

We roasted red pepper and tomatoes on the barbecue for the spaghetti sauce. I'm not sure if it was a placebo effect but the flavour was impeccable. It was full of herb's from my friend's apartment garden and their was a smoky depth to the dish.

Not local, but sure was worth it. Sweet, juicy pineapples grilled right where we had cooked our meat. Thus imparting a saltiness to pronounce the caramelized sugars of the pineapple. (For good measure we threw on a little extra sea salt too! I thought only south-Asians liked salt on their fruit, boy was I wrong, my Italian co-chef was gaga for it!)

Note the charcoals only on one side of the grill.

Hope this blog update was helpful to some of you and doesn't come off as too bossy. These are tips I picked up from being around kitchens and reading official Grillmaster websites. If there's anything I missed/got wrong or you have tips for my voyage to Grillmaster's paradise leave 'em in the comments.

grow: root veggies

With much joy and pride, I share with you our garden's beets and potatoes. Featured here are: (from left to right) "Detroit Red," "Yukon Gold," and "Cylindra."

baked: strawberry pie

Over the last few weeks the berries have come into full effect, much to the chagrin of pie crusts everywhere. By now, strawberry season is over (I may be incorrect, but I believe they make another cameo in a couple of weeks.) U-Pick at Oldfield Orchard is a lovely way to spend a day in the sun with friends and you save a couple of bucks while working on your farmer's tan.
On our first visit, we went a little crazy and spent a cumulative eighty dollars on strawberries and raspberries, not including the Oldfield's very own strawberry pie. Not only was the pie so good that we ate it with our hands (seriously!), I had to run home and give it a try at home.

Now it just so happens that several years ago, I made a list of Thirty Things To Do Before I am Thirty and mastering the pie crust (without a food processor (that feels like cheating. And I don't have one.)) was one of them. With one of Cook's Illustrated's many "Best of..." compendiums in my left hand and a trusty Good Grips Pastry Cutter (recommended for the comfy handle) in the other, I mashed away.
I made a few friends my guinea pigs to my pie and they all had lovely things to say about it. The secret? Maybe beginner's luck, maybe the touch of vodka in the dough. Either way, I feel like I can cross that one off my list!

The only thing I would have done differently about this: blind bake the crust. Strawberries covered in strawberry syrup is soggy stuff.

Note: Sorry about the crummy photos. I will have to make a light box come fall!

Sunday Dinner

Anyone who lives on their own knows the story - Buy groceries, make a meal that can feed four and after doing all the cooking and washing-up you watch a lot of perfectly good food go bad. OR, you're extra naughty and just go out for meals everyday.
Neither of these are financially friendly, thus a friend and I have started up a new Sunday dinner tradition and so far we are loving it. Cooking together is always fun and sharing a dinner is special but this way it comes the bonus of having just the right amount of leftovers to feed us for a few days, without getting tired of eating the same thing breakfast, lunch and dinner.

Our first dinner's menu was:

• Sauteed beet greens (Cooked with butter, salt and pepper mid-heat)
• Tortilla chips with salsa and spicy smashed black beans (Bacon fat, garlic, black beans, cumin, cayenne powder and smash them roughly with a fork. A personal favourite. Easy, tasty protein for when you aren't hungry but need to eat)
• Homemade "hamburger helper" (Cook ground meat, drain, add peppers, diced tomatoes, black beans, spices, water and/or milk (optional) corn and aromatics. Bring to a boil and add a bunch of dry pasta noodles and continue to boil until noodles are tender. Add cheese and you're done! One-pot meal!)

• Roasted Yukon Gold potatoes with onions (Quartered, tossed with olive oil, salt and pepper, 450 oven for 40-ish minutes)

• Arugula, roasted beet, walnut and goat's cheese salad (Roast beets skin-on and wrapped tightly in foil in a 400 oven for 40-ish minutes, toast walnuts and put it altogether)

• Homemade raspberry froyo with Nutella (With a hand blender, blend frozen raspberries and a dollop of vanilla yogurt. Serve with a teaspoon full of nutella)

 A great deal of our meal was picked by us and my buddy set our table next to the garden patch! A lovely way to spend a Sunday evening!