Canada Day Eats Part 4 - Poutine!

Raise your hand if you think of poutine when you think of Canadian food? (My hand is up.) Now raise your hand if every now and then you crave poutine? (My hand is up.) Okay, confession time is over. For Canada day I figured we needed some good old poutine but I don't want to fuss with deep frying the fries.  You can certainly bake them in the oven but if the BBQ is already hot and ready to go why not cut your russets into wedges, toss them in a little canola oil, and slap 'em on the grill?

Now for the cheese curds and gravy portion. I haven't made a roast lately and do not have the drippings to make a gravy.  I have chicken stock in the freezer but that just wouldn't make a proper gravy for this. I am actually resorting to a mix (some shame, but not lots, this is a time saver). Did you know that Clubhouse is a Canadian company founded in 1883 in London, Ontario? Why not use a Canadian product to help you out on Canada Day?  Basically use a gravy (or mix) that you (and your guests) will like. I am not here to judge.

(Clubhouse even makes a poutine gravy mix.....just sayin')

Grilled Potato Wedge Poutine

6 Russet Potatoes
Cheese Curds
Gravy of your liking
Canola Oil
Salt and Pepper

Scrub the Potatoes well  and pat dry. Cut each potato into 12 wedges and place in a bowl.

Drizzle with canola oil and toss to coat all of the wedges. Season with salt and pepper.

Place the potatoes a medium-high grill and close the lid.  Check after about 10 minutes. While the taters are cooking, prepare the gravy and get the cheese put in a bowl for sprinkling on the hot taters.

Flip the potatoes and continue to cook until golden brown and tender in the middle.

Pile some wedges onto your plate, top with cheese, the slather on some hot gravy!! Give a minute or 2 for the cheese to get all melty.

Enjoy!!
(these go soooo well with any BBQ or just on their own....)

Until next time, stay warm and eat well.

Canada Day Eats Part 2

Still testing out recipes for Canada Day in the Little Kitchen....Today's experiment was with beer....a truly Canadian beverage! When I was brainstorming ideas the other day, I knew beer needed to be incorporated not only as a drink but in the food as well and what better way to use the beer than to marinate some Canadian beef?

The Bison burgers were a hit but bison meat is expensive and may not be a feasible option when feeding a crowd.  One option if you want burgers is to use ground beef instead of bison.  A second option is to buy an inexpensive cut of steak, marinate it, cut it into strips, and thread them onto skewers.  Skewers are a great way to stretch meat when you need a few more servings.  I found a package of inside round marinating steaks at Costco for about $19.00. The steaks were thick cut and perfect for slicing for skewers.

Beer marinated Steak skewers

1 can or bottle of beer (a stout would go well here)

1 onion, sliced

2 cloves garlic, crushed or grated on micro-plane

 1 tsp dry mustard powder

Pepper - Fresh ground, as much as you like

1 round steak (or other marinating steak of your choosing: I used and inside round marinating steak)

a whole bunch of bamboo skewers

Trim the steaks of any visible fat or silvery skin (this stuff just means chewy steak) then place the steak into a zip top freezer bag (or other container for marinating).

This is maybe 1/4 of the steaks in the package...probably a little less than 1/4

Place in the fridge for a couple of hours, or overnight. (You can cut the steak into strips for skewers then marinate the strips. This would be good if you are planning on marinating for a short time.)

Take the steak out of the marinade, pat it dry and place the steak in the freezer to firm up while you soak the wooden skewers in water (soaking the wooden skewers helps prevent them from burning).

                                 

After 15 minutes in the freezer, the steak will be firm enough to slice thinly and neatly so take the steak out of the freezer and using your sharpest knife, slice the steak thinly (less than ½cm but not paper thin).

After slicing and letting the skewers soak for half an hour, thread the steak strips onto the skewers, sprinkle with a healthy dose of fresh ground black pepper and some salt.

BBQ until cooked through. (If you find the skewer handles are burning, place tin foil under the ends.)

We'll talk about those potato wedges another day.

Serve with your favourite steak sauce for dipping!

Until next time, stay warm and eat well.

We Be Grillin'

The fall weather is just so lovely right now we want to get every last bit of BBQ time in that we possibly can.  Tonight we grilled pizzas! I  made up a batch of pizza dough, the boys prepped the toppings, then out to the yard we went or our grilled pizza party!  You can either make your own dough or use store bought, it is up to you.  Get some help slicing up your favourite fixings, get everyone stretching their own dough and topping their own pizza and you get a whole lot of fun, with everyone pitching in!

Grilled pizza party

The boy works on his pizza

Pizza dough of your choice
toppings of your choice
pizza sauce of your choice
garlic oil
oil
pizza peel or non melting cutting board
tongs

Pre heat the grill, scrape clean, and oil up the grates.

Stretch out the dough into small pizza shapes....the fun here is stretching out your own dough, and making any shape the dough will go.

Brush some oil on to the dough and slap it on the grill.

no worries if some pizzas are funny shapes...it all tastes great!

Close the lid and let the dough bake for a few minutes.

Carefully remove the half baked dough from the grill and flip it over.  The cooked side is the side you will arrange your toppings on.

Slide the pizza back onto the grill, close the lid and let it bake a few more minutes.

Enjoy!!

Everyone made their own pizzas tonight and we all made extras for lunch tomorrow!

These pizzas were so darn tasty! They hit the spot and made a great lunch!

Until next time, stay warm and eat well!