Random Thoughts About Ottawa's CRAFT Beer Market

Ottawa has quickly become a hotbed for craft breweries, and the opening of the CRAFT Beer Market at Lansdowne has to have beer lovers very excited. With 14,000-square-feet to play with, and over a 100 beers on tap, this restaurant hopes to make as big a splash here as they did in Calgary, Edmonton and Vancouver. The official opening is May 12, but I was lucky enough to snag an invite to a sneak peek of the place (who says nobody ever wins Facebook contests?). Here's how it went and what I thought about it:

• The event started at 5PM, and by the time my friend Perry and I arrived at quarter to six, the place was packed. It looked like standing room only until we discovered the communal-style tables on the top level.
• Nice looking place, very open with the high ceilings and all the large windows.
• This was the second pre-opening party, as the previous night was for the local breweries and partners.
• No patio as of yet; it would have been nice seeing how warm and sunny like it was.
• Because we were invited to this shindig, we got two drink tickets each. I started off with a Ransack the Universe IPA, and Perry went with nut brown ale from Black Oak. No complaints with either choice and the beers came promptly, despite how insanely busy it was.
• They use the appropriate glass for the beer you ask for - you got to like that.
• With about 60 percent of the restaurant’s taps dedicated to Ontario brewers, and more than half of those dedicated to craft beer offerings, along with the remainder of the taps featuring beers from across Canada, the U.S. and overseas, if you can't find something you like to drink on the beer menu, you either just don't like beer, or you're not trying.
• No issues here with female staff in sexy uniforms or high heels, if that is a thing that concerns you when you go out to eat.
• I was expecting chicken wings as the complimentary food offering (not that there's anything wrong with that) but was pleasantly surprised with the steamed mussels and the pork belly with noodles that was offered. I also was a fan of the falafel balls in the house tzatziki sauce.
• Perry now thinks I'm a savage because I attacked my first serving of pork belly and noodles with my hands because I didn't see the chopsticks or forks available. Screw him, I was hungry, and it was good.
• Wandering around, I saw the mezzanine which will be hosting a Brewmaster’s Dinner next month, with a different local brewery pairing their beer with a four-course dinner menu designed to complement the brew. From what I could see, they got a nice kitchen area setup too.
• Maybe CRAFT's community focus has stemmed the tide with them having already volunteered with the Glebe Neighbourhood Activities Group, but I haven't heard any of the usual complaints about the noise from Glebe residents; maybe it's because I've been listening to less AM talk radio these days.
• Ordering off the menu, I decided to go with the fish tacos, while Perry chose the BLT. The food was OK, I'd probably order the tacos with guacamole next time; there's something about avocado and Mexican food that just makes it work for me.
• For our second free drink, Perry went with an ABC vanilla stout, but I couldn't make up my mind.  I asked my server for a recommendation, and she suggested one of her favourites, the Side Launch wheat beer. As I don't like the taste of bananas, I went with another of her suggestions, a white ale from Unibroue. I liked my choice, but Perry thought the vanilla flavour was too subtle for his tastes.
• We got a quick speech from the owner who thanked us for our support.
• Planning ahead for a ride home after going through the beer menu is a good idea.
• OVERALL IMPRESSION: As long as lagers and ales are still popular to drink, the Craft Beer Market will be THE place to go for a pint when you head to Lansdowne. You'll probably have to wait for a seat, but it will be worth the wait.

Year of the Lentil

As meat prices continue to stay high this year, people are looking for other sources of protein to add to their diets and dinner tables. A popular alternative is lentils, enjoyed by millions for their nutritional benefits, as well as for their versatility and ease of cooking. Full of vitamins, complex carbohydrates, and dietary minerals and fibre, lentils are such an important dietary staple that the United Nations declared 2016 the International Year of Pulses, the name of the food family lentils, peas, chickpeas, and beans are a part of. So much of a fan of pulses is famed chef and Food Network Canada personality Michael Smith, he is an ambassador for Canada's Year of Pulses (being the host of the web series "Lentil Hunter" doesn't hurt either). Farmers are also big fans of pulses because they are sustainable and net-positive for the soil, with the majority of Canada's pulses being grown in Saskatchewan. But there may be no bigger fan of lentils than my wife, who converted a dedicated carnivore like me with the recipe below - try it out if you're looking for a healthier meal option.

Ingredients

940 g dried lentils
1 796 mL can crushed tomatoes
120 mL cup red wine
15 mL olive oil
15 g basil
15 g cumin
15 g oregano
5 g cayenne pepper
5 g red pepper flakes
3 cloves garlic, chopped
2 carrots, peeled and chopped
1 large onion, chopped
1 green bell pepper, seeded and chopped
1 red bell pepper, seeded and chopped
Salt and pepper

1. In a large heavy pot, heat the olive oil and cook the onions until tender. Stir in green, red peppers and carrots and cook for 2 minutes. Add all the spices and toss to coat.
2. Stir in the lentils. Add the wine, tomatoes, oregano and basil. Bring to a boil and reduce heat. Cover and simmer gently for 1 hour. If more liquid is needed, add either water or chicken broth.
3. Stir the stew occasionally, and season with salt and pepper to taste. When ready to serve, garnish with some chopped parsley.
   
   Note: If you need to have meat in this recipe to eat it, you can brown 454 g of pork chops, and add them after the peppers and carrots have cooked. Once everything has simmered, remove the chops from the pot, pull the meat from the bones, shred the meat and return it to the stew.

Carpe Diem Eating - The Land Sea and Air Burger

"Part of the secret of a success in life is to eat what you like and let the food fight it out inside."

Mark Twain

Carpe Diem Eating is about food combinations that shouldn't work but do; food creations that work so well, you're amazed they haven't been done before; and food creations so extravagant and extreme that you owe it to yourself to at least try it once. Today, the focus is on the various customer-created food hacks of the posted menu offerings at certain restaurants, such as...

The Land Sea and Air Burger

Description: This burger is comprised of every McDonald's protein - beef (the Land), fish (the Sea), and chicken (the Air).

Creation: Order a Big Mac, a Filet-O-Fish, and a McChicken. Put the McChicken and Filet-O-Fish patties inside the Big Mac along with however many buns you want, depending on how wide your mouth can open.

Cost: $14.87, plus tax; extra if you order fries with all that.

Comments: Thirty minutes afterward, I felt stuffed and slightly queasy from the tartar sauce - yes, I'm blaming the tartar sauce. Recommended for anyone needing to satisfy a large craving for Mickey D's.

Kick Your Ketchup Up A Notch

Now that the Great Cauliflower Panic has subsided, Canadians are now abuzz about another vegetable, specifically about a product made from it. Thanks to a Facebook post that went viral, and a social media induced reversal of a decision to stop carrying the product in one of the country's largest grocery chains, people can't get enough of French's ketchup. When rival Heinz closed its plant in Ontario in 2014, and French's decided to go into the ketchup business to fill the void, the idea of buying a quality product made with homegrown ingredients, while keeping Canadians working, was made all the more appealing. With Primo Foods now claiming their brand of ketchup is more Canadian than the others on the market, the ketchup one uses is quickly becoming a source of pride, and a badge of honour. For those who need more than nationalism to make their ketchup better, the infographic and recipes below show several ways to upgrade everyone's favourite condiment.

Indian Spiced

120 mL ketchup

40 g onion

14 mL canola oil

2.5 g curry powder

1. In a small pan, heat the canola oil over medium flame. Add the onion and sauté until browned. 
2. Combine all ingredients in a food processor, and pulse until blended.

Suggested use: Try it on roasted fingerling potatoes.

Bloody Mary

120 mL ketchup

5 mL Tabasco

5 g prepared horseradish

2.5 g celery salt

1. Combine all ingredients in a food processor, and pulse until blended. 

Suggested use: Try it on eggs and home fries.

Mexican

120 mL ketchup

30 mL hot sauce

1. Combine all ingredients in a food processor, and pulse until blended. 

Suggested use: Try it on huevos rancheros.

Secret Sauce

75 mL ketchup

75 mL brown mustard

75 mL mayonnaise

3 cornichons (small pickled gherkins), minced

1. In a medium bowl, fold ketchup, brown mustard, and mayonnaise together using a rubber spatula. 
2. Add in cornichons and mix until evenly distributed. 

Suggested use: Try it on veggie and beef burgers.

Chipotle Lime

120 mL ketchup

7-ounce can chipotles in adobo, drained

2.5 mL lime juice

1. Combine all ingredients in a food processor or blender.

Suggested use: Try it alongside sweet potato fries.

Truffled

120 mL ketchup

30 mL black truffle oil

1. Pour ketchup and truffle oil into a medium bowl. Whisk until thoroughly combined. 

Suggested use: Try it alongside roasted potatoes or Tater Tots.

Southern

120 mL ketchup

75 g chopped onions

14 mL canola oil

10 g brown sugar

5 mL liquid smoke

1. In a small saucepan over a medium flame, heat canola oil. Add onions and sauté until browned. 
2. Pour onions, ketchup, brown sugar, and liquid smoke into food processor and pulse until onions are mostly (but not completely) pureed. 

Suggested use: Try it on a black bean burger.

Sweet + Sour

120 mL ketchup

60 mL apple cider vinegar

50 g brown sugar

1. Pour all of the ingredients into a medium bowl, and whisk until thoroughly combined. 

Suggested use: Try it over the top of cooked meatloaf.

Cherry Pepper

120 mL ketchup

113 g pitted halved cherries

1.25 g freshly cracked black pepper

1. Pour all of the ingredients into a food processor and pulse until smooth. 

Suggested use: Try it as a glaze for grilled chicken.

Carpe Diem Eating - Desserts Stuffed in Other Desserts

Carpe diem is a Latin saying that is usually translated to mean "seize the day", and interpreted to mean make the most out of the time you have by doing something extraordinary - YOLO, as the kids used to say. Carpe Diem Eating is about food combinations that shouldn't work but do; food creations that work so well, you're amazed they haven't been done before; and food creations so extravagant and extreme that you owe it to yourself to try it. This leads me to a poker game I regularly attend. Two of the best home cooks I know were there, and as the chip stacks rose and fell at a recent game, the conversation turned to one of their attempts at making the dessert sensation known as the pake, or piecakein - a pie baked into a cake. Jay, the game's host, had tried to make a coconut cream pie inside a Swiss chocolate cake, with a plan to do the same but with a Devil's food cake the following weekend. He said the coconut pie would have been better if he had pre-baked the pie crust to better support everything as it had sunk during the baking process. Tim, the other cook, suggested using a pie with a top crust for better results. Soon all sorts of tasty combinations were being through about: a caramelized banana pie inside a peanut butter cake; apple pie inside a spice cake; strawberry rhubarb pie inside a lemon cake; coconut cream pie in a pineapple upside-down cake. I was fascinated listening to this, mostly because I do very little baking at my house, and also because I was looking at a 7-4 off-suit at the time, with the blinds at 800 and 1600, a dwindling stack in front of me, and hitting nothing on the flop. Both insisted making the pie/cake combo was as easy as finding a recipe for your favourite pie, and baking a cake around it using your favourite box of cake mix, and the method did remind me of a dessert I have tried in the past from the Vulgar Chef's "Eat Like Shit Cookbook".  I like it because my baking skills are not to the point I can bake a pie on a whim, and the pre-baked goods I use as the substitute are just as good. Here is the recipe, edited for those who don't need the shock value of profanity in order to cook.

Oreo and Peanut Butter Stuffed Red Velvet Cupcakes

Ingredients

• 1 box red velvet cake mix
• 1 package OREO^® cookies
• 1 jar peanut butter

1. Mix the red velvet cake mix according to the instructions on the box (I like to use milk instead of water, and substitute melted butter for the cooking oil). 
2. Drop a small amount of the cake mix into the slots on your muffin pan.
3. Cover an OREO^® with some peanut butter. Stack another cookie on top of it and cover that with some peanut butter as well. Drop the cookies into one of the slots on your muffin pan. Cover with more red velvet cake mix (completely) and bake according to the instructions on the box. To make sure they are fully cooked, stick a toothpick in the cupcake- if it comes out clean, you're good to go.

Osso Buko - Irish Cuisine By Way of Preston Street

For this upcoming St. Patrick's Day, I've decided to make a dish from one of my favourite cookbooks, "The 4-Hour Chef ". It takes two Irish staples, lamb and carrots, combined with a savory Italian flavour. I'm sure there are some who would take offense at that combination, and hopefully, it's because the recipe doesn't use the traditional veal. If it's for another reason, tough. You're missing out on a great dish that practically impossible to mess up.


Ingredients

4 lamb shanks, about 340 g each
1 bag carrots
1 can whole San Marzano tomatoes
5 garlic cloves, or 10-15 g garlic powder
250 mL dry white wine (about a third of a bottle; try not to use anything too sweet)
30 mL extra-virgin olive oil
salt and pepper

1. Preheat the oven to 350°F (180°C). Thaw out the frozen lamb shanks, and peel and chop the carrots. Arrange the carrots in a pot, preferably a Dutch oven, and place the lamb shanks on top of them.
2. Open the can of tomatoes, and squish the tomatoes. Add them to the pot, then add the garlic. Drizzle everything with the olive oil, and pour enough of the wine to cover half to three-quarters of the meat - do not cover the meat completely, as you are braising the meat.
3. Season with salt and pepper. Cover the pot and cook for two hours.
4. Serve with either your favourite red wine or with a pint of Guinness.

The Foodie Handbook vs. How to Be a Better Foodie

People who call themselves foodies love showing how their love and knowledge of food is that much better than everyone else's. They pride themselves on being able to recommend a good restaurant within walking distance of any location without the need of an app; they know their way around a farmer's market better than the people selling produce there; their pantries are stocked and organized with almost military precision. But things like knowing how to cook, choosing the right wine, and trying lots of new and different foods takes time. How does one become a "true foodie", as opposed to being someone who just likes chewing and swallowing different edibles?  For those who want to fine tune their foodie credibility, there are two books available they can help them be all that they want to be. Popular food blogger Pim Techamuanvivit's "The Foodie Handbook: The (Almost) Definitive Guide to Gastronomy" is a great showcase for her knowledge of food, acquired by years of travelling the globe, trying and tasting lots of different foods, and writing about her experiences for such publications as the New York Times, Food & Wine Magazine, and Bon Appétit magazine. You may never have the funds to go to the French Laundry, but you can learn how to make the most of a visit there if the opportunity ever comes up by reading about Techamuanvivit's time at the famed eatery. For a more step-by-step approach to being a foodie, there is also Sudi Pigott's "How to Be a Better Foodie: A Bulging Little Book for the Truly Epicurious". Pigott also comes from a literary background, with her extensive knowledge of food shown in articles in The Sunday Telegraph, and in Seasoned by Chefs Food Magazine, and with appearances on BBC Radio 4 and London Live TV. Her book is such a wealth of information for both beginner and experienced gourmets that it can come off as a book parodying the pretentiousness that is associated with being a foodie. There will be a lot of eye-rolling when you read either of these books. Anyone hoping to learn to become a better foodie on a middle-class budget and without the access both authors have to top-level chefs will be disappointed. But if having to eat at a chain restaurant is something you, or someone you know considers unacceptable, either of these books would be a welcome addition to a library or reading list.

• The Foodie Handbook: The (Almost) Definitive Guide to Gastronomy by Techamuanvivit, Pim (2009) Paperback
• How to Be a Better Foodie: A Bulging Little Book for the Truly Epicurious