Canadian Burgers

Known as Canadian bacon in the US, in Canada, it is known as peameal bacon or back bacon.  It's delicious when made right, and like salted rubber jerky when made incorrectly.  To the rest of the world, they think back bacon is ham.  IT IS NOT HAM!  Back bacon refers to either smoked or unsmoked bacon cut from the boneless eye of pork loin.  Peameal bacon is back bacon, brined and coated in fine cornmeal.  I especially like my peameal bacon on a bun with a fried egg and cheese....however, paired with Nick's burger, it's adds a whole new dimension.

CANADIAN BURGERS

Serves: 2

approx prep time: 15min

approx cook time: 15min

INGREDIENTS (Makes 2 burgers): 

- 1lbs Lean ground beef

- 2 slices of Peameal Bacon

- 1 small white onion (or 1/2 of a large white onion)

- 1/4 cup Bacon Bits (Simulated, or small pieces of crumbled bacon)

- 3tbsp Montreal Steak Spice

- 2/3 cup shredded Cheddar Cheese

- Toppings of choice (Pickles, Tomato, etc..)

- 2 large kaiser rolls

HOW TO MAKE IT:

- Pan fry peameal bacon and set aside.
- Finely dice onion
- Mix ground beef, diced onion, bacon bits, and steak spice thoroughly
- Shape beef mixture into 2 patties, roughly 1" thick.
- Cook patties to desired doneness in a frying pan, on an indoor grill or BBQ.
- Serve patty with bacon, shredded cheese and desired toppings on fresh Kaiser roll.

Beef and Veggie Pasta Bake

Baked pasta with crusty stringy cheese.  Totally simple to put together and hearty.  Unfortunately, it's almost mid-March, it's still snowing and freezing cold outside, so what could be better then staying in and the house filling with the aroma of baked pasta and cheese?  This should be an easy kid favorite, there's as much vegetables as there is pasta, but it's hidden under a layer of delicious cheese.  :-)  Heck, neither Nick and I are kids (we're still kids at heart though), and we still love this.  The leftovers are delicious reheated the next day as well. 

BEEF AND VEGGIE PASTA BAKE

Serves: 8-10

approx prep time: 20min

approx cook time: 40min

INGREDIENTS: 

- 2 cups leftover roast beef, diced/pulled or 1.5lbs ground beef, browned

- 1 package of Macaroni pasta (375g uncooked) - we used tri-colored pasta that worked quite well

- 3/4 to 1 bottle pasta sauce

- 1 red pepper

- 1 zucchini

- 1 large carrot, or 1 handful baby carrots

- 1 leek

- 2 bunches of green onions

- 3 cloves garlic

- 1 tbsp olive oil

- 2tbsp Italian seasoning

- 3tbsp veggie seasoning

- 4 cups shredded cheddar cheese

- 1/4 cup Parmesan

HOW TO MAKE IT:

- Dice all the vegetables into roughly 1/4 to 1/2 inch chunks and set aside. Chop or press garlic into very fine pieces and set aside.

- Cook the pasta you're using, per the directions, until it's al dente.
- While the pasta is cooking, saute the vegetables and garlic, along with the olive oil and vegetable seasoning in a fry pan, stirring often.
- Mix half the pasta sauce into the vegetables while still in the fry pan.
- In a large mixing bowl, combine meat, all the Parmesan cheese and 1 cup cheddar cheese.
- Add drained pasta, Italian seasoning, vegetables and 1 cup of cheese.
- Mix together thoroughly.
- Pour mixture into a large glass baking dish, making sure it's spread out evenly.
- Top the dish with the remaining cheese.
- Bake at 350F for 20min then broil for 3-4min to brown the cheese. Pay close attention to the oven while broiling to avoid burning the top.

Schwartz's Montreal Hebrew Delicatessen

Location: 3895 Saint-Laurent boulevard, Montréal, H2W 1X9

When in Montreal, we highly recommend that you have a Montreal smoked meat sandwich at Schwartz.  Schwartz is a famous Hebrew Delicatessen and they've been around forever.  It's one of those joints that look like a hole, but has a constant line-up of people out the door, no matter how cold, or windy or wet it is outside.  We went to this restaurant despite the 35km winds and -19 degree C weather in Montreal.  I know from now on ONLY to vacation in Montreal in the spring to fall, the winters are much too cold for me. 

As open the door to the restaurant and walk inside, you get a waft of amazing meat and spices smell.  We come here all the time.  Make sure you get your own plate, or else they charge a sharing fee of $3.  Here's what we got for dinner.  Note:  All of the plates are the same size, basically appetizer plates:

Smoked meat sandwich (medium fat) with mustard on light rye bread - $5.95
Montreal smoked meat is made from the chest of the cow, basically Brisket.  Brisket, when slow cooked, is absolutely amazing.  :-D  This is always the thing to get here, the smoked meat is steamed back to life and tender and moist.  I'm not a big fan of rye bread, but it does suit the sandwich, and mustard is always a must with a smoked meat sandwich. 

 

Nash with rye bread- $1.25

This was by far the cheapest thing on the menu.  I had always wondered what Nash was, and it turned out just to be thin pepperoni sausage.   It's not bad, I'd get it again if I need just a bit of extra food to fill up on.  We ordered them grilled, but they will give them to you cold and plain if you'd like.  It comes with 3 slices of light rye bread.

Giant Pickle - $1.75
The pickle does overtake the plate, but essential in enjoying the Montreal smoked meat.

Vinegar Coleslaw - $2.25

The coleslaw does come from a tub, but it's cold, fresh and crisp, a good compliment to the smoked brisket. 

This is definitely are must eat joints and cheap eat joints in Montreal and great on a budget.  They also have Schwartz beef and steak spice that you can take home with you for only $4 a bottle.  It's GREAT on slow cooked roasts, like our slow cooked roast beef (recipe HERE).  We use this spice quite often.  In fact, we just slow cooked a brisket with this spice and it was just heavenly!   This spice doesn't taste as good on steak though, only slow cooked roasts.  If you're not heading to Montreal anytime soon, you can actually call them and get them to ship smoked meat or spice to you.  It's pricier then eating it in the restaurant, but hey, if you can't go to Montreal....get Montreal to come to you.  :-)

Panago: Near perfect Pepperoni Pizza

Not every pizza is made equal.  Pizza Pizza has got to be one of the worst, eating their pizza is equivalent to eating a cardboard box and I'm sure the cardboard box is healthier.  Too bad Pizza Pizza is everywhere and cheap, so my company tends to feed customers that sad excuse of a pizza.  They also give me the second worst after lunch food coma (Indian food, all you can eat would be in first place).  After years of being fed that garbage, it's understandable why I told Nick that....I don't like pizza. 

But the boy likes pizza, so what can you do?  We walked by a Panago this summer and they had a large pepperoni pizza special for $9.  Nick went in and ordered it, I told him at most I'll have 1 slice.

The pepperoni pizza was pretty darn good, the crust was just the right thickness and chewiness, they did not skimp on the cheese or pepperoni, the pizza wasn't greasy, the tomato sauce had just the right tang.  I'm pretty sure I at least had 3 slices, while Nick devoured the rest of the pizza.  We went back to try fancier pizzas, but they never did compare the tasty regular pepperoni pizza.  We went back weekly till the end of the summer and sadly, the $9 promotion is over, it's $12 now....however we still get it occasionally and love it every time.

We've tried other types of pizzas from Panago, but the only pizza that is good at Panago is their pepperoni pizza.  Nick tried the Philly cheese steak pizza once and it was very very disappointing, there was almost no meat, it looked nothing like the advertising, basically cheese and cheese sauce pizza, which was so gross that he did end up throwing a lot of it out.  

All Panago pizzas comes with a free dip or shaker.  I always tend to get the chilli shaker as I like to douse my pepperoni pizza with chilli flakes.  :-)

Beef Stew Mini Pies

Any reason is a good reason to use the Breville mini pie maker.  It' makes picture perfect mini pies in 10 minutes, so what could be better?  :-D  I've yet to do a sweet pie with the Breville pie maker, but savory pies with the leftovers beef stew is just the thing on a cold night.  If you prefer Mini Chicken Pot Pies, check out this recipe HERE.  Enjoy!  :-)

 

Beef Stew Mini Pies

Makes 3 Mini Pies (machine has the ability to make 4 pies)

approx prep time: 10min

approx cook time: 10min

INGREDIENTS: 

- 1/2 pack of Pillsbury Pie crust (at room temperature)

- 2 cups of cooked beef stew leftovers leftovers (recipe HERE)

HOW TO MAKE IT:

1) Preheat the Breville Mini Pie Maker (Red light means it's heating, Green light means it's ready)

2) Take out beef stew, and cut any large chunks in the stew into smaller 1/2 inch cubes (such as potatoes)
3) Roll out the Pillsbury pie crust, stamp 2 bottom crusts and 2 top crusts. 
4) Recombine the remaining pie crust, roll it out thinly, and stamp the last bottom and pie crust (you should have 3 tops and 3 bottoms)
5) Place bottom crust into the machine, use the black push wedge from the pie maker to set it into the pan, fill each pie up to the top with beef stew and a bit more, making a mound on the top.  (You need really over full filled pies in order for the top crust to brown and cook evenly, otherwise the crust can get undercooked because it doesn't fully touch the top heating element.)

6) Top pies with the top crust.
7) Lock machine, bake for 9-10 minutes.
8) Serve immediately.

Beef Stew

This beef stew is one of my favorites beef stews out there.  Instead of just stewing beef, Nick often makes it with beef ribs and prime rib chunks that bring so much more flavor and much thicker then other beef stews because of all the bones and fat.  Easy to assemble in the morning, and then just set it and forget it till dinner!  Bake a batch of biscuits (if we're lazy we just use a tube of Pillsbury) to go with the stew for dinner, and you've got a hearty meal.  

BEEF STEW

Serves: 4-6

approx prep time: 15min

approx cook time: 7 hours

INGREDIENTS: 

- 3 to 4 large beef ribs, with as much meat on them as possible. (If the ribs you can get are a bit on the lean side, add in about 1/2lbs of stewing beef or a strip steak diced into 1 inch cubes)

- 1 large potato

- 1 medium size sweet potato

- 1 large carrot or 1 handful of baby carrots

- 2 celery stalks

- 1 red, orange or yellow pepper

- 1 handful of fresh green beans or sugar snap peas

- 1 large onion

- 1 beef bullion cube

- 1/2 cup all purpose flour

- 2 tbsp olive oil

- 2 tbsp oregano

- 1 tbsp vegetable seasoning

- 1 tbsp seasoned salt

- 1 tbsp Italian seasoning

HOW TO MAKE IT:

- Chop potatoes into 1.5" cubes, leaving the skin on the potato, but peeling the sweet potato first. 

- Chop vegetables into 1.5" cubes (leave peas and baby carrots whole).

- Dust all ingredients lightly with flour.

- In a slow cooker, combine all ingredients. I suggest placing the beef ribs in the bottom and stacking/cramming the vegetables on top. When the slow cooker is roughly half filled, add the beef bullion cube, seasoning, and remaining flour.

- Once full, pour in approx. 1/2 to 2/3 of a cup of water.

- Cover and cook on low for 7 hours. Do not remove the lid until the last hour of cooking.

- When cooked, remove beef bones, and stir thoroughly.

- Serve hot and with a side of biscuits (optional). 

The Black Tomato Ottawa

Location: 11 George Street, Ottawa, ON K1N 8W5, (613) 789-8123

I've been traveling to Ottawa for work for over 5 years now, and this is what I've learned:  Don't trust websites that say this is the best "Japanese food" in Ottawa, or best "Lebanese food" in Ottawa, because it's very likely that there's ONLY one sushi restaurant and ONLY one Lebanese restaurant in Ottawa.    It's sort of like telling your only sibling that they are the best sibling you've got.  That sibling just wins by default!!!    Well in all fairness, this isn't entirely true because we did see 2 sushi restaurants in Ottawa.  In any case, while researching what to eat in Ottawa, sometimes I just came to that consensus.

Throughout the years, I've always came back to my favorite haunt in Ottawa.   That would be The Black Tomato in Byward market.  It is housed in a wonderfully old building and has great atmosphere and music.  It's changed throughout the years, this time, I think it expanded into the lot next to them.  However, they always supported local farmers, their dishes were simple but delicious, and other then sometimes being very busy during dinner time, I've always enjoyed having dinner with a friend or companion whether or not it's at a perfect dimly lite table that made everyone look more attractive, on the patio, or at the bar when I was eating alone.  Best of all, the prices were reasonable, Lunch was between $10 and $17 dollars, dinner was anywhere from $12-$25.  The food always came out piping hot and fresh, the salads were crisp.  They cooked food like they cared.  Here's what we ate:

Fresh knotted buns with sesame seeds (complementary) with whipped herbed butter
The butter didn't taste like anything, but the knotted bread was hot and fresh out of the oven, fluffy and chewy. I always look forward to this starter.

WILD BOAR, BISON AND MUSHROOM STEW $16
Trillium Meadows wild boar and Maison du Gibier bison simmered in Big Dog Porter with roasted potatoes

This was absolutely delicious, while there was more wild boar then bison, this stew was exactly what I needed after a long weekend of very cold days and nights.  The stew was flavorful, the Big Dog porter definitely made the dish thicker and more flavorful, the potatoes were a tad more undercooked that I'm use to, but still delicious.  The slices of toast that came with the stew were amazing, just a little crispy on the outside, moist and fluffy on the inside, it was basically a larger version of the knotted bread starter.  What a steal at $16!  Most restaurants I've been to in Toronto/Montreal/Quebec City charge an "exotic" markup for game meats.  I will definitely get this again.

SMOKED BBQ CHICKEN SANDWICH $14
Lyons Family Farm smoked BBQ chicken served open faced with red onion & Glengary Lankaaster house-smoked gouda

Nick ordered this dish.  This smoked chicken was divine, I had no idea chicken could taste like that, it was lightly smoked and sweeter, even though I think the caramelized red onions and the BBQ sauce did help with the sweetness.  Nick thought the Gouda cheese was too mild for this sandwich, he felt the sandwich overpowered the cheese so he couldn't taste the cheese.  I thought it's a nice pairing as that means the cheese wouldn't over power the wonderful flavors of the chicken and the caramelized onions.  The salad was pretty standard, though I thought they poured too much olive oil on it.  The potatoes were the same slightly underdone that what we are use to (we're not use to crunchy potatoes), but they were still good.

 

Peanut butter Pie $5

This tasted exactly like peanut butter with whipped cream and cream cheese. It was a nice dessert, but it wasn't as mind blowing as I thought peanut butter pies could be.  Frankly I thought putting whipped peanut butter and melted lindt chocolate on to my french toast (recipe HERE)  but this pie was still tasty and a great end to a really nice lunch.

Overall, I would always come to The Black Tomato again.  They don't have an extensive menu, but what they do have they try to do well.  I definitely will go there again.  :-)

Paillard Café-Boulangerie Quebec City

Located:  1097 Rue St-Jean, Quebec City, QC G1R

Quebec City this weekend was cold.  It was -10 to -12 C, with the wind, it feels like -19 and -20.  It was absolutely freezing.  I was wearing TWO pairs of pants and I was still cold.  It's definitely not a winter vacation spot, I've learned my lesson...which is, ONLY go to Quebec City in the summer.  With that said, we were there anyways, and it was very pretty and european there.  If it wasn't as cold, we'd have a lot more fun wandering through the tiny streets and stores, beautiful old buildings and churches.  I mean, we still had fun this weekend, however, we also had to take measures to not get frostbite.  Vacations are better when you don't have to worry about body parts turning blue and possibly falling off.  :-P

However, on our journey to warm back up from being out and about in the cold, we stumbled upon a french Cafe chain in Quebec called Paillard.  They had the most amazing pasteries, and their gelato and sandwich stations looked really delicious as well.  The place was packed full of french speaking locals, which is the first sign that the place is actually good and not a tourist trap.  The prices were more then reasonable as they were larger, fresher, tastier and cheaper then Premiere Moisson in Central Station Montreal.  I didn't know there was a patisserie that would be able to beat Premiere Moisson but Paillards did.  Too bad it's in Quebec City and a good 3.5 hour train ride away.  

Here is a review of all the wonderful pastries that we were able to fill our bellies with:

 

Mille-Feuille ($3.75 ea) also known as a Napoleon.
This is the BEST mille-feuille I've ever had.  The vanilla custard cream was light, fresh and the perfect hint of sweetness.  The pastry is so light, airy and flaky it's to die for, and the raspberry jam bottom layer adds the perfect tart contrast to this perfect dessert.  We ate 2 of these in 2 days.

Almond filled flaky pastry ($1.95 ea)
Oh how I wish this were available in Toronto, even though that would mean I would be eating these from breakfast to dinner time and be twice as big.  Paillard definitely has one of the best flaky pastries I've ever had the pleasure to taste.  The ground almond center was perfect, not too sweet, hint of almonds, and just so delicious.  I purchased one for brunch, Nick had a bite, and he had to go buy one for himself, then I went back to purchase another one so I could eat it on the train.  We ate 3 of these in day.

Muffin ($1.95 ea)
This was the very last Blueberry muffin they had, Nick had to point it out as the lady at the counter thought they were all gone.  I can see why they would go so quickly.  It was delicious, filled to the brim with blueberries.  They are definitely not skimping on the ingredients here.  :-)

 

Cranberry walnut cookies ($1.95 ea)

These were almost like a large shortbread round of cookie stuffed with cranberries and nuts.  It was incredibly buttery, filling, and delicious.  Nick had to buy 3 of these for the train.  They were just as good the next day.  

I could eat at Paillard's all day.  Their breads also looks amazing, they have a Gelato, sandwich and soup station as well.  If we had room in our stomachs after stuffing ourselves full of pastries we would've tried that.  The quality is fresh, mindbogglingly amazingly delicious and place is packed full of locals.  I can't wait to go back to Quebec City in the summer to eat here again.  :-)