Friday, December 24, 2010

Day 80: Tourtiere...


‘Tis the eve of Christmas, and with it brings a special tradition.  My brood hails from Montreal and through the years have carried with it the Tourtiere.  This French meat pie is the delicious centerpiece of our Christmas Eve dinner.

However after years of buying store bought Tourtiere, I had that familiar thought which you know is coming, “Why don’t I make my own Tourtiere this year?”

It was a few years ago that I had that thought, and created this recipe.  I usually make a double batch, bake one, and freeze the second for later -Tourtiere is too good to have only once a year.

This pie is a special part of my Christmas, and since creating my own recipe, I’ve made it even more so.  It’s traditional to serve it up with ketchup, but I’ve found this home made version is so infinitely better than store bought, I’ve never felt the need for ketchup!

Welcome to a piece of my family tradition.

Enjoy...

Monday, December 20, 2010

A New Site, A New Name, A New Day. Let's Have Coffee...

To commemorate the new day for this blog, I thought I’d post a recipe that shows how I start the day.


Day 79:  Fresh Roasted Bridgehead Coffee...

I like Bridgehead coffee.  That’s no secret.  I go there at least three times a week with my fellow runners.  One could say it’s the headquarters of our merry band, either that or the Clocktower.

In any case, I’ve discovered that I prefer Bridgehead coffee the way I brew it.  I like a nice strong coffee, but not one overflowing with caffeine.  Over time I’ve managed to find my perfect cup, and here it is for you to try and...

Enjoy...


Friday, December 17, 2010

To Change or Not to Change?


As you may have noticed, I have included advertising to this blog.  I figured, "What the hell!"  If I post as often as I do, I might as well get paid for it, so here they are.  I will naturally need to do some tweaking, because the templates for Google Ads don't appear to fit the templates for Blogger page content.

So the next step is to change the name of this blog.  How much money you make off the Advertising is based on how many clicks the ads get.  So site traffic is essential.  Which bring me to my point.  Having a food blog who's name has nothing to do with food doesn't make a lot of sense.  It sure won't increase traffic, and it may DECREASE traffic.

This blog has been active since 2006, so with a heavy heart I will be changing the name of this blog from Doc Savageland to...

SAVAGE FOOD

and the domain name will be
http://savagefood.blogspot.com/

This change will take place on Monday, but I wanted to give viewers the heads up before I make the change.  I didn't want anyone to make the trip and suddenly find the page missing.

Please feel free to comment.

Thursday, December 16, 2010

Day 78: Thai Shellfish Egg Noodle Stir Fry...


Will eating Thai food give you superhuman Muay Thai powers?  Maybe hidden deep in an unknown location in Thailand there is a chef so great, so knowledgable that eating his/her food will grant you mastery of Thai Martial Arts, but mine won’t.  Mine just tastes good.

If I were a religious man, I would have faith in the stir-fry.  I am constantly amazed by how versatile and refreshing this method of cooking is.  By simply changing a few ingredients, you can take the same utensil, use the same cooking process and get a totally different dish.

I post maybe 10% of the stir-fries I cook, simply because I do it so often that I take it for granted.  I end up halfway through the dish and forget to write down the ingredients.

So join me in the last few days before the holidays, before the world is overrun by turkey and stuffing, to celebrate the wok and the stir-fry.  It may not grant you martial arts powers, but it will fill your belly.




Monday, December 13, 2010

Day 77: Vegetarian Dumplings...

Some of my best friends are Vegans, and one day while I was cleaning out my freezer I came across a lonely bag of frozen Edamame.  It looked at me forlornly and said, “Hey, remember me?  We were going to make roasted Edamame to snack on.”

I had originally opened the freezer to get at the ground pork.  I had a lazy Sunday coming up, recovering from a long run, and planned to make Chinese Dumplings.  I felt bad.  Those beans had been pushed further and further to the back of the freezer, destined to be forgotten.

Face with my neglect, an idea formed.  I have Vegan friends.  I’m making Dumplings.  Who says you can’t make vegetarian dumplings?  Really?  Who says you can’t?

The fact that it was something new and untried, by me at least, was what attracted me to the idea.  So when I took the pork out of the freezer to thaw, the bag of Edamame came out to.  The rest was history.

Enjoy...

Friday, December 10, 2010

Day 76: Mocha Coconut Milk Ice Cream...


With the holiday season at hand, there will be many gatherings at which we will be called upon to bring something tasty to satisfy and placate the dark god Cthulhu.  The best way to keep that shuddering wet mass from emerging from the pits of dreaded R’Iyeh is to never make the same thing twice.

Now I have friends who are vegan, so when there is a big gathering, in true Canadian fashion, I try not to let the majority oppress the minority, so I lean towards the vegan friendly if I can.  Which brings me to my point.

I have an ice cream maker, but so far I have not found a decent substitute for dairy.  You can make ice cream with soy milk or rice milk or almond milk, but if you try to place that before the altar to the Necronomicon, you will see the door between the two worlds break open, unleashing an army of the old ones led by an enraged Cthulhu himself.  Yes it’s just not good enough.  The fat content of whipping cream is what gives ice cream it’s smooth texture, and the non-dairy replacements just don’t have it.

So then I thought of coconut milk.  Why not?  It’s pretty fatty, isn’t it?  So I cracked open a can and came up with this.

Enjoy...

Wednesday, December 08, 2010

Day 74: Southern Tuna and Salmon Salad...

This is a really simple, fast, and easy to make dish.  You can eat it as is, or put it in a tortilla wrap and eat it as a sandwich.

Enjoy.

Tuesday, December 07, 2010

Day 75: Sunflower Seed Snack...

Another chapter in my attempts to eat healthy led me to create this.  One of the biggest culprits in weight gain is snacking, so I took some time to make these tasty sunflower seed snacks.

Enjoy...


Wednesday, December 01, 2010

Day 73: Simple Avocado Soup...

Avocados are supposed to be really good for you, and I had a few left over from the California rolls I made earlier in the week, so I threw this together.  Not only is it easy, but it’s quick.  Try to forget it’s healthy.

Enjoy...

Monday, November 29, 2010

Day 72: Shepherd’s Pie...


This may sound strange, but until I made this, I’m not sure I’ve ever eaten Shepherd’s Pie.  I grew up believing that Asian food was superior to Western food, so things like Shepherd’s Pie was something I’d avoid.  In the last five or six years, I’ve come to rethink my opinions and delved into Western food.

One day I had some potatoes left over, and so I decided to try making up a batch, and this was the result.

Enjoy...


Friday, November 26, 2010

Day 71: Pork and Shrimp Dumpling...

Let’s say you have an empty Sunday, not much to do, but maybe watch TV or a movie.  It’s raining and cold outside, so nursing a warm apple cider, tea or coffee while the screen flickers before you sounds in order.

If, when your cup empties, and you’re looking for something else to do with your hands, you can lay out the tools and ingredients to make some pork and shrimp dumplings.  After an hour or less, you’ll have a cookie sheet covered with Chinese Dumplings!  Freeze them and bag them, and then you can have them any time you want.

You want to impress guests?  Have some ready made, home made dumplings prepared.

Enjoy...

Thursday, November 25, 2010

Day 70: Pita Bread...














By popular demand I was asked to post this recipe.  I hadn’t planned on doing so, because it’s really just my old reliable bread loaf recipe, just shaped differently.  It however made such a positive impression I had no choice but to post it.

Enjoy...

Wednesday, November 24, 2010

Day 69: Wet Dream version 2


Please disregard my previous recipe for this drink.  When I originally made it the store I went to didn’t have all the liqueurs I wanted, so I made do.  Later I tried again with more ingredients from a larger store, and came up with a newer, better drink.

This could be the very best cocktail drink I have ever devised.  It’s a smooth chocolate drink with a very complex, dynamic flavour.

Enjoy...

Monday, November 15, 2010

Day 68: Dinner in a Pot...


I was caught in the middle of a firefight between militant wings of the Scientologist and Hari Krishna movements.  There were bullets flying everywhere, as the two enemies battled over control of the Ottawa International Airport lobby.  I was pinned down behind a ticket kiosk, hoping that the mound of plastic and metal would be enough to stop the high velocity 5.56mm bullets screaming past.  I knew I didn’t want to wait until I took a bullet to find out if I was safe, I did something I probably shouldn’t - I ran for it.

Spotting a nearby doorway, I picked myself up off the floor and ran.  I knew I could get there quickly, being a pretty fast runner, but once I got going, I suddenly had an idea what it was like to run across the 417 in traffic.  Only these bullets were much smaller, more numerous, and a lot, lot faster than cars.  It took everything I had to keep me from freezing in place as I felt the burning wind of SS109’s graze my flesh.

Reaching the door, my hand thrust out, hoping it wasn’t locked.  It wasn’t.  I bolted in, closed the door behind me, and locked it.  Once my breathing normalized I realized I was in a kitchen.  Since it was 5:45, and I was starting to get hungry.  I took a look around at what was available, and threw this meal together.

Monday, November 08, 2010

Day 67: Wet Dream...

I was going to a friend’s party, and it had become a tradition to mix up a batch of my Maple Cream cocktail to serve as part of the pot-luck.  Alas I was nearly out of the Maple liqueur I needed for the drink, so I thought, “It’s been a while, maybe I can come up with a new drink!”

I took a look at my selection of liqueurs for inspiration, and decided on chocolate.  Everyone likes chocolate, and since I already had the Maple Cream drink in mind, of which the primary ingredient is milk, I decided to marry chocolate with milk.  So this was to be a chocolate milk cocktail, but I didn’t want this to be a one note chocolate drink.  It needed to have depth, so I went for more than one type of liqueur to complement the milk and chocolate syrup I used to make it.

The cocktail went over very well, and after a brief discussion, a good friend of mine suggested a name for it, the Wet Dream, which I think is so much better than what I came up with.

Overall I’m not sure I haven’t created a monster here.  Once you have one, it’s hard not to have more, and given how tasty it is, you tend to drink it quickly, and out go the inhibitions.  Maybe it’s a great drink to serve at an orgy, and not really suitable for a casual gathering for friends?

I’ll let you decide...

Tuesday, November 02, 2010

Day 66: Thin Crust Pizza...

Between getting ready for the Ottawa Animation Festival, going to the Ottawa Animation Festival, and then getting sick, I haven’t had much time to blog.

With that in mind, I thought I’d return with a biggie!  My pizza crust is famous among those who’ve had the chance to try it, but there’s one problem with it, it takes time.  Often (and I include myself) people want pizza, and they want it now, not tomorrow.  So enter my thin crust pizza recipe.

A thin crust pizza dough doesn’t need the time to develop like a normal crust because the whole point is to keep it thin and not a thick, bready thing.  The only disadvantage to making the crust within an hour instead of 24 hours, is the dough doesn’t get the time to develop flavour, but I think I’ve gotten around this by introducing molasses into the mix.

So knock yourself out, and give this thing a try.  One tip, if you want the crust to be extra crispy, precook it in the oven for 1 to 2 minutes before topping, otherwise the crust will be thin, but not crispy.

Monday, October 04, 2010

Day 65: Basic Bread...


I’ve been baking bread for a number of years now, and through that experience, I’ve come to understand why bread-making has become an almost religion the world over.  In many parts of the globe, if you have only one thing for dinner, it better be bread.

So with all this in mind, I thought it was time to break out my own bread recipe, but I can’t really do this without talking a little bit about the process.  First off, if you really want to make good bread, you need to have patience.  Foster this skill, because it has many cross-applications.  To me, I see bread-making as being similar to raising a baby.  You need to be patient, understanding, and nurturing.  You are cultivating yeast bacteria within the flour, so in this sense, you are raising a life-form, a basic one to be sure, but a life-form nevertheless.  The more nurturing and patient you are, the larger it will rise, and the more flavour it will develop.

Every step of the way, you need to give it time to develop and adjust.  When you first add the water, give it time for the yeast to resurrect themselves.   Mix it and give it time to hydrate.  At every stage, you are taking care of it’s needs and ensuring the conditions are right for it grow into the biggest, cutest, bouncing baby bread it can be.

Only you don’t put babies in the oven once it’s done, unless you are a witch from a fairy tale!

It’s a given that we all lead busy lives, so speeding up the process is needed, and thankfully we have science to help with that.  Yeast thrives in sugar rich, hot and wet environments, so when I start, I always add some kind of sugar when I first mix the yeast with water.  I prefer molasses, but if none is available, honey works just as well (as long as it’s watery enough to pour).

Heat also comes into play to speed up the rising process, by making sure you use hot water to kick-start the yeast.  And DO NOT use tap water!  Tap water has chlorine in it, and that will kill your yeast!  Those precious buggers need filtered water or bottled water to thrive in.

I’ve found that working enough water into the dough to make it a bit sticky is a good thing.  It makes the dough lighter, more malleable, and easier to rise.

For the first rise, leaving your dough out in the kitchen will work just fine, but if you want to speed things up, turn your oven into a sauna by placing a baking dish filled with boiled water under the middle oven rack.  This will nearly halve the first rising time.  So when it’s risen, you’ve shaped the dough, and you are letting it have it’s second rise, it should still be warm to the touch, and the second rise will go faster.

Also get your hands on a digital meat thermometer so you can find out the internal temperature of your bread.  The shape of the dough will determine how long it takes to cook, and you can’t tell if it’s done by looking at it.

The last bit of advice is, the second rise is the last chance you get to make your bread the best it can be.  Skimp on this stage and you do yourself and your bread a disservice.  If it takes two hours, let it take two hours to rise.  You will be rewarded by the lightest, fluffiest bread you’ve ever eaten.

So that’s my Tao of bread, and I hope if inspires you to go out and start your own bread revolution, because I’ve never tasted bread better than this.  I’m not tooting my own horn, just stating a fact.  There is no bakery in Ottawa or anywhere else I’ve tried that tastes better than home made.

They’re trying to make a buck, but you, you can nurture.

Thursday, September 16, 2010

Day 64: Simple Salsa...



I’ve posted an earlier salsa recipe when I first stated this ongoing marathon of recipe postings, but this one is faster to make, and much more mild, so that it can complement and not overwhelm the flavour of the taco filling.

Enjoy...

Day 63: Beef Taco Mixture...

In my second part of my taco recipe, we have the beef mixture.  If you blink too quickly, you’ll have it done and cooked before you know it.

Enjoy...

Day 62: Tortillas...







 










On the weekend I had the hankering for tacos.  Normally I make my own salsa and mix up some ground beef with seasoning, and I’m done.  This time was different.  I decided to make my own tortillas...

So over the next couple of days, I’ll be posting everything you need to make tacos from scratch.

Enjoy...



Tuesday, September 14, 2010

Day 61: Sesame Tea Chicken...

Not much to say about this recipe, except that it saved my life, once.  The Koga Ninja clan sent one of their assassin’s to kill me, but I happened to be making these tasty chicken thighs, and the smell gave the killer pause.  I offered one, figuring I’d stall for time, and it was well received.  He asked for another.  I kept feeding him chicken thighs until he was bloated and unable to move.  I rolled him off my deck, let him fall ten feet and called the police.

I immediately moved, and so far they haven’t tracked me down, or maybe they didn’t want any more of their members having to face the humiliation of getting arrested.

Enjoy...

Saturday, September 11, 2010

Day 60: Everything But The Kitchen Sink Gumbo...

It finally happened.  After two attempts, and a short wait for the key ingredient (File Powder) to come in through the mail, I’ve finally managed to put together what I think is a great Gumbo.

Now first off, I should mention a few things about Gumbo.  If we cast off the mystery, philosophy, and near-religion surrounding Gumbo, it helps to look at this as a stew.  So other than some key ingredients, you can add whatever you want, and still call it Gumbo.

The key ingredients?  File Powder.  File Powder is made from dried, ground sassafras leaves.  You can’t call it Gumbo without it, plain and simple.  The other thing, is the Trinity.  The basis for Cajun cooking is the trinity, which consists of equal parts onion, celery and bell pepper.  The third ingredient, is a good roux.  Roux is a mixture of oil and flour, cooked and used as a thickening agent.  Anyone who has made gravy from scratch will be familiar with this process.

Where do I get File Powder?  The only place I found was Chily Chilies in the East end of Ottawa.  They are an online store, so if it’s a bit out of your way to get to, they can mail you the goods.

Once you’re familiar with the process, and you have the three key ingredients listed above, you can make your own Gumbo using anything you want.  So have some friends over, crack open some beers, play some blues and have some fun making a whole big pile of Gumbo.

Enjoy...

Thursday, September 09, 2010

Day 59: Japanese Risotto...

I’d recently watched a cooking show on risotto, and it got me thinking.  Most cultures across this massive globe make use of rice, so why does risotto need to be a strictly European thing?  I mean really, all you’re doing is cooking rice in a flavourful liquid to develop a creamy sauce out of the starches.  Everything else just adds to the taste.  Now, having a large selection of Asian supplies handy at all times, I decided on Japanese, because Sushi rice is similar to the short grain arborio style you normally cook risotto with, and I had plenty of that.  Then it was a matter of picking up anything Japanese equivalent to what you might find in Italian risotto.  The rest was just tasty.  I doubt it, but I like to think I’m the first person on the planet to try this.

Enjoy...

Day 58: Stir-Fried Dumplings...

This is the kind of thing I really like, a re-use of  previous recipe.  Often you can turn leftovers into a brand new dish, and that’s exactly what this is.  My Day 21 recipe was for Wontons, a simple Chinese dumpling recipe, that can be frozen and reused.  This time I decided to use them in a stir-fry.

Enjoy...

Tuesday, September 07, 2010

Day 57: Italian Style Rice Salad...

It’s fun to imagine that you are sitting out under the warm sun of the Mediterranean with a bottle of red, a rolling hillside covered in olive groves, and the hearty notes of debate in the air.  For those of us that can’t have that any time soon, there’s always this dish.  It’s great indoors, or outdoors on the patio.

Enjoy...

Day 56: Fruit Smoothie...

Smoothie’s are fast becoming the busy person’s answer to breakfast these days.  With so many variations, you could write a book, and many have, on the subject alone.  This is one I made on the weekend before a long run.

Enjoy...

Day 55: Chewy Chocolate Brownies...

People often refer to various foods or treats as being ‘better than sex,’ but this one is different.  This recipe for Brownies IS sex.  It’s hot, wet, uninhibited, primal sex.  But only when I make it, because I’m withholding the secret ingredient.  Sorry but once and a while you’ve got to keep one or two tricks up your sleeve.  They’re still good without it, though.

Enjoy...

Day 54: Carrot and Potato Soup...

If you’re looking for a nice, simple, and very tasty soup that warms the belly on a cold, rainy weekend, you can’t do much better than this.

Enjoy...

Day 53: Cheese Cake Ice Cream...

This ice cream recipe came straight from Hell.  Once dabbled with a Ouija board, and the legion of demons told me to write this recipe down.  Make at your own risk.

Seriously, don’t try it, unless you want to gain a few pounds.

Enjoy...