Saturday Night - Try Something New

Well, this is my paycheck for rent...so the next two weeks are a very tight budget. This also means I can not afford to go out! However, as I am sure anyone who follows me regularly will know that this does not stop me from eating well. I had two ingredients I had never worked with in my kitchen, so I decided to use them.

The first item was a cross rib roast, commonly referred to as a pot roast. While I have definitely had my fair share of pot roasts, I have never actually cooked one before. After a bit of research, I learned I should cook it for a few hours with some liquid to help keep it moist. I had a great rub to use so I was ready to go.

The second ingredient was celery root. I have never cooked with this, and as far as I can remember I have never eaten it either. Celery root has a lighter taste than the stalk and is less fibrous and more starchy. I decided to mash it with potatoes!

My spice rub consisted of dry mustard, garlic powder, smoked paprika and kosher salt. You should put quiet a bit on the meat, it needs to season the whole roast.It is important to sear the meat on all sides, I added a handful of carrots and some chicken stock for moisture and then it went straight in the oven at 325F where it sat for about two and a half hours.

Next I began to peel the celery root, and this is not an easy feat! Then I cut it up and put it in some salted water. I let this cook for about 5 minutes before I added the potatoes to the mix. I mashed it all together with a nice bit of butter and it was ready to go!

Finally, the roast was ready to go. The meat was moist and tender and very flavorful from the spice rub. The potatoes were spectacular, creamy with a slight taste of celery. The baby carrots were tender and flavored form the juices of the meat. Most of the liquid had evaporated, leaving a concentration of delicious jus.

This was a great dinner, fairly easy to cook. It was not something complicated, just something new to try on a Saturday night. It made me feel better about staying in:)

Tour du Chocolate - A Delicious Way to Spend a Few Hours

So, this month was Chocolatefest in Winnipeg. There are 25 restaurants that are participating with their own chocolate dishes. April 16th and 17th was Tour du Chocolate, for a mere $5 you receive all the chocolate offerings from The Forks Market. There were 21 vendors involved and it was a fun way to spend a few hours. For you chocolate lovers, it is a lot of chocolate...you will be in heaven...for everyone else, it is a lot of chocolate so be prepared!

My roommate and I went, for the price we knew it would be a great time. The Forks Market puts on quite a few events each year, and I have always enjoyed the ones I have gone to. It is wise to come early as they only sell a limited number of the passports. I must stress again that this is a lot of chocolate, it was just enough to have everything, anything else would have been too overwhelming. All the vendors were great but there were a few that stood above the rest.

The Almond Tree provided chocolate for fondue, I chose to have a fresh strawberry dipped in dark chocolate. It was amazingly delicious, a great way to start the sampling!

The next stop for us was Fergies Fish n' Chips where we had a Deep Fried Mars Bar. Yes, you heard it right. It was warm and contained melty, gooey Mars bar with a crisp batter on the outside. It just screams delicious, very rich! This could be a fun dish to bring home and share with a significant other...I am just saying;)

On to Caramel Crepe, they were offering a delicious Vida Crepe. This was a crepe made with a chocolate batter. It was then topped with a luxurious Grand Marnier chocolate sauce and almonds. The crepe was good but the sauce was amazing. I would eat it drizzled on...a spoon! It was so good, wow!

Next we went to Danny's All Day Breakfast. I have always loved their hash brown poutine(if you do not know what poutine is, ask a Canadian, it is so good!), so I knew this would be good. It was not a disappointment, they served us Banana Chocolate Chip Pancakes and they were wonderful. The batter contained the bananas, which is how I prefer it. It was light and fluffy and the bananas were nice and sweet. Then on top was a delicious chocolate sauce with chocolate chips. What a sweet breakfast, literally!

The next stop was Chile, and we did not even have to leave the building! The Chilean Corner had Palmiers, a Chilean pastry often found in pastry shops. It was delicious with a wonderfully flaky texture and a light chocolate coat on the tip. The taste reminded me of butter cookies, the ones I was addicted to as a child but only got at grandma's house. Anything that brings back pleasant memories, is good in my books!

The next item we had was very chocolaty, it was good but a lot of chocolate! Tall Grass Prairie Kitchen is a great local place and all the ingredients used are local and often organic. This was a Chocolate Banana Bread Pudding. It was soft with a wonderful texture and plenty of banana goodness.

Next, we visited Italy with CasaBella Deli & Market. I really enjoy the sausages they make and their meat is all local. I have never had any baked goods from them but the Italian Chocolate Amaretti was wonderful. Crunchy on the outside and soft inside they were chocolaty with a hint of what I believe was amaretto. It was superb!

The next place had a wonderfully refreshing dish, it was savory! This was amazing timing as I was beginning to bore of all the sweet dishes, I do not have much of a sweet tooth. Grass Roots made this unbelievable Manitoba Bison Mole Chili. It was spicy, a nice heat on the finish with nice bits of tender bison meat. This was definitely the highlight of the festival for me! I could have eaten 2 bowls.

Last, but certainly not least, another local delight. Locally made hard pretzels dipped in chocolate. They were a nice light finish to a super chocolate day. These were courtesy of The Almond Tree again!

My roommate and I had a great time. We spent $5 each, tried some amazing dishes, what could be better? It was definitely a delicious way to spend a few hours!

Pork Shoulder Blade Roast - Slow Cooked Heaven

Time for another lesson from your host, the Food and Drink Man, and tonight's lesson, pork(oh what a surprise)! Tonight we are going to talk about a very popular cut, the shoulder blade however you may not realize how popular it really is. The shoulder blade is my favorite cut for several reasons:

1. Cost - Usually one of the lower priced cuts of pork, I usually pay about $15 for a 9lb roast
2. Taste - Very flavorful due to extensive marbling, should be cooked low and slow
3. Simple - Great cut for slow cookers, can cook all day while you work
4. Versatile - Throw it in a slow cooker, pop it in the oven or slowly smoke it for hours

The majority of my exposure to pork shoulder was through barbecue, but it is used by almost every food culture. In fact, my favorite version, carnitas originated in Mexico and I used this very style with this roast, but this post is not about carnitas so I will stop there! This cut is very popular in street food too, but you may not realize it.

Sausage - I am going to have to blame Anthony Bourdain again on this one. Something about grinding pork and putting it in a tube that just seems right! Okay, so some may not appreciate that imagery as much as others but when properly seasoned, sausage can have some of the most amazing flavors. So many different varieties, but I bet you did not know that most of it comes from the shoulder blade.

Gyros - Yes, believe it or not but the pork version of gyros is often made with shoulder blade steaks. Stacked on a vertical rotisserie, gravity does the work basting everything in delicious pork goodness! Shave a bit off into a pita, yogurt, onions, peppers and olives. A bit of feta cheese, the ultimate street food!

Tacos - I already touched on carnitas, which is shredded pork shoulder. You will also find tacos made with shaved pork, using shoulder blade steaks roasting on a spit. Filled with a bit of avocado, tomato and cilantro and then topped with queso fresco. Sounds like a great snack to me!

Sandwiches - This is where I first got my start, pulled pork sandwiches. The ultimate in delicious, pulled pork starts as a shoulder blade roast which is slow cooked for hours until the meat can be "pulled" by hand. The meat is pulled and mixed with a house made sauce, put on a bun and topped with coleslaw. Oh sweet comfort.

That picture is meat mountain, taken after shredding the roast. Most beautiful mountain I have ever seen! The roast was slow cooked at 200 F for 12 hours, if using a pot or a slow cooker, do not add any liquid, there is more than enough in the meat itself, trust me on this one. After I shredded the meat, I mixed it back with all the juices from the cooking and fresh garlic, mustard and pepper. Then into the oven to crisp up the ends of some of those yummy pork bits.

In the end, I made a simple sandwich! Two slices of toasted bread, cheese, a little mayo and Sriracha...and of course pork. Now doesn't that look good? So get yourself a shoulder blade roast, and you too can experience slow cooked heaven.