Doing my (very small/likely irrelevant) part to encourage people to go to Mexico

Mexico is going through a rough couple of weeks with this swine influenza. As soon as this 24-hour news network induced panic subsides, I assume that their tourism industry will continue to struggle.

I don't, however, know how people could resist going to a place that has such amazing food! I remember being in Playa del Carmen several years ago. It was 6 a.m, and the locals were all huddled around small food carts scattered around the centre of town. The smells were wonderful, and the taste even better. I love REAL Mexican food - as opposed to Tex-Mex, which usually puts people off Mexican food. That is a real shame.

So I've decided to take this opportunity of being home with my family (and having access to a new grill!) to make casual Mexican dinner for them. Last week I made fish tacos, which were incredible. That time, I used cornmeal dredged and fried pieces of Red Snapper. They were so good, that I decided to give them a go again, but this time, I used grilled wild cod. Here's what I did:

Meat: Wild Cod (But any firm white salt-water fish will do - Halibut, Snapper, Grouper, etc.)

Veg: Tomatoes, cabbage, onion

Herb/Spice: Cilantro, garlic, limes, salt, and pepper, fresh jalapenos

Garnishes/Fixins: Flour or Corn tortillas (the smaller the better), Pretty much everything above except the fish is a garnish (or will be made into a garnish)



What do to:

1. Make a "Pico de Gallo" aka Fresh tomato salsa: Chop and seed the tomatoes, and throw them in a bowl

2. Finely dice the onion, and jalapeno, and chop the cilantro - add to the tomatoes

3. Squeeze the juice of a couple of limes into the salsa

4. Salt and pepper to taste (Pretty much everything here is added to taste) - Set aside for at least 15 minutes to let flavours combine

5. Shred the cabbage

Photo: (Shredded cabbage, guacamole, cilantro, limes, jalapenos, and Pico de Gallo)


6. Mince a few cloves of garlic, and mix with the juice of a lime or two, and some salt and pepper - use this to marinate the fish (Not for more than 10 minutes, or the lime juice will "cook" the fish)

Photo: Marinade without the fish


7. Remove fish from the marinade, put on a hot grill and cook until fish flakes easily with a fork.



8. Time to put together your fish tacos! - freshen up the tortillas if necessary, and then add some a couple small pieces of fish, some cabbage, a spoonful of Pico de Gallo, and any more cilantro, jalapenos, or lime if you so desire. Wrap it or roll and the get up in them fish tacos!!




These are a classic, and delicious in my mind. I served them with some homemade guacamole (avocado, tomato, garlic, lime, salt and pepper mixed up) and chips (you can also eat any of your left over fresh salsa!), and some nice cerveza (I bought Sol and Negra Modelo - I LOVE Dos Equis, but the Beer Store was out).



Try it! Also, you can make a nice lime/garlic mayo to go on them if you want too. And if you don't have a grill, the cornmeal fried way is pretty traditional. If you don't like frying, just sear of the fish in a pan with bit of oil.

ALSO! If you like Mexican food, stay tuned for my first attempt at making my FAVOURITE Mexican dish: Mole Poblano. I just got a variety of dried chiles, which I've never been able to get before. This should come within a week or so!

Celebrity Chef Sighting

So I was sitting in the Winnipeg Airport yesterday waiting for my flight to Sault Ste. Marie (via Toronto), when I look up, and who do I see but David Adjey of Restaurant Makeover fame getting off a flight from Toronto. Sadly, he walked out of the secure area before I could ask him a question, or to get a picture....or challenge him to a cooking duel!

For those of you who don't know, before being on Food Network's Restaurant Makeover, Adjey worked in some of the top restaurants in the world, was named California's Best New Chef by Frommer's, and also appeared on Iron Chef America, where he tied Iron Chef Michael Symon (Oddly enough, he is the second Canadian chef to tie an Iron Chef on that show!).

I believe he was in Winnipeg for "Centrex", a hospitality industry tradeshow at the Convention Centre.

One from back in the day: Sancocho

Alright, I'm starting to get the hang of this blogging thing... maybe too much so because this is my third AND LAST, post of the day. I felt like dropping another recipe, and there is something I made last summer that I think I am going to make again very soon. It's Sancoho. This is a Colombian chicken stew that you can slow cook on the stove or in a slow cooker (but prefer the heat control of the stove for something like this) - I think you're going to start to see a trend in a lot of my cooking methods, haha - taking something cheap - give it the low and slow treatment - and badda bing some of the best food you've ever had.... But back to the Sancocho. I think I first got the idea to make this when I saw Tony Bourdain eat it in the Colobmia episode of No Reservations. I saw it and immediately said to myself "I want to eat that." So I looked at pretty much every recipe I could find on the web, and then made my own from what I thought sounded good, and came up with this! Pictures Below.

Meat: Chicken pieces on the bone, oxtails, and short ribs



Veg: Plantain, as many types of potatoes as I can find, yuca/cassava if you can find it (I couldn't, but I'll try harder next time), corn on the cob, onion, garlic, green onion, soffrito (tomato, onion, and green pepper), and red pepper.



Herb/Spice - Garlic, cilantro, oregano, olive oil, turmeric, cumin, salt, and black pepper.

Garnishes/Fixins - cilantro, green onion, and black pepper.

1. In a medium skillet, cook up the soffrito in olive oil with some garlic, cilantro, cumin, turmeric, oregano, and the red pepper until its all soft.


2. In a large stock pot, brown off all the meat

3. Then, put all the red meat (not the chicken), the cooked mixture of veg, and some more cilantro into the pot and cover with a mixture of cold water and chicken broth (or just one or the other if you want).

4. Bring to a boil, then reduce and simmer until the meat is tender (about 2.5 hours), adding the chicken about an hour in (giving it about an hour to an hour and a half to get all fall off the bone good.



5. With the chicken, add the plantain (sliced)

6. With about 40 minutes left, add the potatoes (cut into pieces) and the corn (cobs cub in half)



7. Salt and pepper to taste



8. When its done, serve garnished with green onion, cilantro, and a squeeze of lime.



This is a great meal for cold or warm weather. In the winter, it will warm you up, and in the summer it just cries for some mojitos, caparinias, or a good South American/Caribbean beer. The only thing I'd do differently, is that I will toss some avocado in at the end next time.

Try it, and I don't think you'll be disappointed!

Some books I've been meaning to pick up

These are some cookbooks that I really need to get very soon. They are all highly regarded in their areas or approaches, and look great to me. This is in order of which books I'd like to get the most/first. Lets take a look!


Wild, Wild East: Recipes and Stories from Vietnam by Bobby Chinn - I saw this book at McNally-Robinson a few months ago, and started reading it. Its in that narrative style that I really like in a cookbook, and the forward (at least I think its the forward) by Anthony Bourdain sings high praises of the man, the book, and his cooking. I love Vietnamese food, and think this will be a great addition to my collection of go to books!



Authentic Mexican: Regional Cooking from the Heart of Mexico by Rick Bayless - I've read in countless places that this book is the holy grail for authentic Mexican, which in my mind, is one of the world's top 2 or 3 cuisines. Once you've had authentic Mexican, you can NEVER go back to the Tex-Mex crap they serve at Carlos & Murphys (or Carlos & Pepe's for any Montreal readers!). I crave a great Chicken or Turkey Black Mole! Must get this book!



Charcuterie by Michael Ruhlman - When I first heard Ruhlman wrote this book, my first thought was: I need to make my own cured meats. So, I am going to pick this up and hopefully take a crack at making proscuitto and salami. This would be the biggest culinary endeavour I will have embarked on in some time.





Ratio by Michael Ruhlman - This book kind of represents my whole approach to food. You don't need recipes for everything. You just need to know ratios, and flavour combinations. With that, you can do anything. I think this will be an important book to have in the repertoire.





The Album Au Pied de Cochon by Martin Picard - I lived in Montreal for four years. I REALLY loved that place. The food scene there was probably the best in Canada. Au Pied du Cochon is a kind of a mix between the fancy and the humble. With a heavy focus on foie gras, duck, and other French home cooked classics, this restaurant is a miracle. I mean they have a foie gras poutine... how can you argue with that... unless maybe you are a cardiologist. In any event, this book is the mad man behind Au Pied's cookbook from the restaurant. Its full of great photos, and seeing what something should look like in the end is always a big help.

Whole Beast: Nose to Tail Eating by Fergus Henderson - I think this is a must have for anyone who wants to experience real food. I also think Fergus Henderson is probably the best person to guide us into the world of eating from nose to tail.








Fat: An Appreciation of a Misunderstood Ingredient by Jennifer Mclagan - Really just to add to my McLagan collection, which currently consists of Bones. I don't really know much about this book.







The River Cottage Meat Book by Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall - Can't have bones and fat, without meat, and this is the book for that.






Made in Spain: Spanish Dishes for the American Kitchen by Jose Andres - He's the man when it comes to Spanish cooking (unless you are talking Ferran Adria... but he's on a whole other level), and I've read great things about this book.






Tapas: A Taste of Spain in America by Jose Andres - Same as above. I love throwing tapas parties. A few friends and I put on two this year, and they were tonnes of fun. I'm always looking for new ideas







The Elements of Cooking: Translating the Chef's Craft for Every Kitchen by Michael Ruhlman - This, like Ratio, is another technique or preparation style book. It's always good to improve on the basics.






I think these are all great books to have on hand, and I can't wait to get them and start reading. That is one of the reasons I really like the more narrative style of writing in some of these books. You can in fact just sit down and read them. Even guys like Batali and Bittman who give pretty detailed comments at the start of their recipes help a lot with this. So that is something I look for in a book, although it obviously wouldn't prevent me from buying a cookbook. I look for reputable chefs in their type of cuisine, and well regarded food writers. One of those two things, and you probably won't be disappointed.

Real Food

Alright, here we go. I am blogging. I never thought I'd see the day. But here we are. Anyways, that aside I decided to start this food blog to contribute to the already great number of food blogs that have helped me out in my time of need when looking for that perfect recipe, or preparation. I cook enough that I get really engaged in my cooking, and I hope some people can try some things I make, give me feedback, as well as give me your ideas and recipes.

Today, after feeling the effects of a late night on the town in Winnipeg, I decided to make the classic french stew/boil "Pot-au-Feu". Earlier in the day, all I wanted for dinner was pizza, but as I came to life over the course of the day, I craved something that I could slow cook on the stove for a few hours. I pulled out my 4 core cookbooks. I'll just go into a little aside here on my favourite cookbooks! I use cookbooks for ideas, inspiration, and sometimes exact recipes. My go to books are:

The Best Recipes in the World by Mark Bittman -This book is a must have for EVERYONE, in my opinion. It had over 500 recipes, which are all relatively simple, from all over the world. There is a strong focus on Asian cuisine, which is great. The book explains ingredients, gives lots of variations on its recipes, has a region/country based index (best thing ever), and has sample menus divided by region/country. It is awesome.


Molto Italiano by Mario Batali - I just got this book this past Christmas, and already have read through it a couple times. It has about 300 recipes or so, and covers every Italian classic you could ever want. Most straight from the various regions across Italy, and others the New World variations. A good pickup for anyone that likes Italian food. Mario is the man when comes to everything Italian, as far as I'm concerned.



The Les Halles Cookbook by Anthony Bourdain - This the bible of bistro cooking. I use it anytime I have the urge to cook French food. Giving us the the recipes from Les Halles in Manhattan, where he used to be the Executive Chef, Bourdain narrates the recipes with his famous witty prose and don't mess with a classic mentality. Get it.

Bones by Jennifer Mclagan - All about cooking things on the bone (and cooking the bones!). This book has lots of recipes with GREAT pictures. I haven't made that many things from this book, but it often inspires me to cook something on the bone... although that is almost always.





Sorry for that aside. Anyways, I picked up Bourdian's Les Halles Cookbook, flipped to the "Big Classics" chapter, and saw Pot-au-Feu. I scanned the recipe to make sure I could get everything, or at least think of a reasonable substitute. This is often a problem if I don't want to run around to a bunch of stores, because the walking distance grocery store is pretty terrible. Regardless, I was able to get something to put together this, slightly different based on what I could get:


Meat: A bunch of beef short ribs, a large beef cross rib steak, and a couple beef shanks

Veg: Onions, green onions, celery, garlic, some red and green cabbage, potatoes

Herb/Spice: Cloves, bouquet garni (parsley, thyme, and bay)

Garnishes/Fixins: Hot prepared mustard, dijon mustard, medeteranian sea salt, fleur de sel, pink himalayan salt (haha, I got a thing of three different finishing salts for Christmas), black pepper, sweet gerkins, fresh baquette

What to Do:

1. Put all meat in a large pot, cover with cold water, bring to a boil

2. Remove the meat, pour out the water, and wash the pot (I don't know why, but Tony seemed pretty adamant about it in the book)

3. Put meat back into the pot, along with the onion (2 of em', halved with two cloves stuck in each end), the green union (chopped pretty large), celery (chopped), garlic (smashed), and the bouquet gari. Salt and pepper it up, then cover with cold water and bring to a boil

4. Simmer on medium low for about 2.5 hours (at least - when the shortribs are tender, everything else should be too)

5. Add the cabbage (cored and cut into wedges) and potatoes (peeled and cut into pieces) in the last 40 minutes of cooking or so.

6. Serve that steamin' heap of meat and a big plate with all the garnishes, and serve the broth as a soup on the side. Eat that mo-fo UP! Ya'heard?

That is it. Its pretty easy. And VERY tasty. The meat just falls apart, and that that was on a bone will cease to be on that bone. Yeah.

I drank some wine with this to start. An Australian Shiraz, but halfway through I realized that beer might be better. Eating the meat with the mustard and bread reminded me of German food, and it just cried out loud for beer! So I poured a Half Pints Little Scrapper Ale. It went well. Andrew (my roommate), and I a feasted for a while, until we could eat no more. It was awesome. Now I'm leaving to go to Sault Ste. Marie for a few days, so Andrew will have enough food to keep him going for a week!