Working My Way Through The Works: Blues Burger

A popular gimmick for food blogs is to eat and review every item on a restaurant's menu. This blog is no exception. These are the observations I've had while eating my way through the burger menu of The Works, a Canadian burger restaurant with locations across Ottawa and Ontario.

The WORKS (900 Watters Road)
Burger Description: "Blue cheese, blue cheese ranch & bacon"
($11.97)

September 24, 2019
I wasn't planning to review the Blues Burger today, I only made the change after scanning the Lunch Menu specials. Blue cheese has as many detractors as it does defenders.  My wife and son aren't fans of its smell or the idea that it contains mold, but they do like its sharp and salty flavours when I add a bit of it to the cheese sauce I use when making macaroni and cheese. Today I sat in a booth with such great lighting overhead, I wished I was a better photographer. For the first time, I noticed the burger patties for the Lunch Menu look smaller than the other offerings available, but given that they are cheaper than the other burgers available, that's not surprising. The bacon added its usual salty smokiness. While there was lots of the blue cheese dressing on my hamburger, there was only a sprinkling of actual blue cheese. The ranch dressing was a bit on the watery side, but I was surprised at how much blue cheese flavour I got in every bite.  Overall, if you like blue cheese, and you're hungry between 11 a.m. and 3 p.m., you owe it to yourself to give this a try.

4 out of 5 stars - So good you'll wonder why it wasn't named after local boy and legendary Blues Brother Dan Aykroyd.

Legends of Canadian Pastry: The Sugar Pie

The Sweet Canada: Domestic stamps series

This Thanksgiving weekend, consider ending your holiday feast with a dessert rooted in French culture. For the early settlers of Québec, brown sugar was rare, and it something needs to be sweet, maple syrup was the only available sweetener  While the tarte au sucre is a common pastry in France, the use of maple sugar or syrup is what gives the French-Canadian version its distinct taste. With the recipe below, you can quickly see why this treat has been enjoyed for centuries.

Happy Thanksgiving to you and yours.

Ingredients

1 pre-made pie crust
(If you have a favourite homemade pie crust recipe, feel free to use it; if you need one, here's a good recipe.)
1 egg
375 mL amber maple syrup
125 mL 35% heavy cream
15 g cornstarch
15 g unbleached all-purpose flour

1. Preheat the oven to 200°C. Adjust the rack in your oven to the lowest position.
2. Combine the cornstarch and flour in a bowl. Add the maple syrup and whisk until the mixture is smooth and the cornstarch has dissolved completely. Add the cream and egg. Whisk everything until smooth and pour into the prepared pie crust.
3. Bake for at least 45 minutes or until the filling has set. A good test is to shake the pie back and forth a bit. If the center is still liquid, it needs to bake some more. When shaking produces a movement that looks like soft pudding, it’s ready. Let cool at room temperature for at least 2 hours before serving.

The Get It Together BBQ Grilled Cheese Sandwich

You never know you'll find at your local public library until you look. I was pleasantly surprised to find "Beastie Boys Book" waiting for me at the pick-up shelf, I had reserved it so long ago I had forgotten I wanted to check it out. It was through my best friends in elementary school back in the 80s that I discovered the groundbreaking white rappers; it was around the same time I got into their future touring partners in RUN-DMC. The beat from the streets of New York made quite the impression to three kids in Ottawa's suburbs. "Brass Monkey", "Paul Revere", and the classic anthem "Fight For Your Right (To Party)" were my favourite songs from Ad-Rock, Mike D, and the late MCA, but I drifted away from the Beasties by the time "Paul's Boutique" came out. Other than "Hey Ladies", I didn't care for the sample-heavy future masterpiece that it was (all I wanted was another "Licensed to Ill"), but I have liked at least one single from every album they've put out since "Check Your Head". Though mostly written by the surviving members, the memoir includes entries by some of their famous fans turned friends, such as celebrity chef Roy Choi. As the Mac My Cheese Fest is happening this week, I thought I'd pay tribute to one of the recipes Choi contributed to this absolute must-have for any serious Beastie Boys fan; grill these up the next time you're listening to "Sabotage", or if you're still hungry after you check out the festival.

Ingredients:

250 g shredded cheddar cheese
230 g dry macaroni
225 g butter
250 mL of your favourite BBQ sauce
125 mL milk
60 mL olive oil
1 loaf of sourdough or white bread
1 pineapple, peeled and cored

1. Cook the macaroni in boiling water according to the directions on the package. In another saucepan, melt the cheese over low heat with the milk. Mix the drained macaroni and the cheese sauce together and set aside.
2. Drizzle the pineapple with the olive oil, and sprinkle with a bit of sugar and salt. Roast at 177 °C until brown and soft, for about half an hour. Take it out, chop it up,, and puree it in a blender with a splash of water. Add the pineapple mixture to the BBQ sauce and combine.
3. Spread the butter on the outside of the bread slices, then layer the macaroni mixture inside. Drizzle the BBQ all over the macaroni, then close the sandwich. Cook the sandwich on a griddle on low heat until each slice is crispy.