Sweet Asian BBQ Sauce - Gluten Free

So how was everybody's long weekend? By everybody, of course, I'm blatantly ignoring all of you wonderful people who, like me, didn't have Monday off for Memorial Day - sorry! I mean, May 21 was also "Memo Day", "Waitresses and Waiters Day" and (my favourite of the three) "Strawberries and Cream Day", so there's no excuse not to celebrate something!

Given that the weather around here is turning warmer (or scorching, as it was yesterday!), our neighbourhood has begun to transform into a street of delicious-smelling BBQ. Whether you're a charcoal or a gas chef, a steak and burgers, salmon and shrimp or veggis and tofu aficionado, there is something to be said about the allure grilled food has. And while sauce is not necessary (and some would argue drowns the flavour of the food), I believe that a well-made, lightly applied condiment can turn already delicious cooking into something special.

Because so many ketchups and barbecue sauces are rife with sugar, we don't tend to buy them very often knowing that my diabetic stepdad would abuse the privilege. Then it occurred to me that if I could make a sauce that was a bit better than the pre-bottled kind and not full of chemicals, why not? As a bonus, I made it completely gluten free so that my stepsister-in-law could also enjoy it with her sensitivities! The original recipe came via The Beeroness, where she paired it with beer-braised chicken. I smeared it over zucchini "steaks" and I bet it would make a perfect marinade for tofu, chicken or fish too!

Congrats to the Winners of the 9th Annual Ontario Brewing Awards

Media Release:

Ontario Crowns it’s favourite Beers and Brew Masters at the 9th Annual Brewing Awards

Toronto –The results are in for the 9th Annual Ontario Brewing Awards presented by Toronto’s Festival of Beer!

The Gold, Silver and People’s Choice Awards, presented at Beer Academy in Toronto, were given out by Roger Mittag, the “Professor of Beer” on Thursday, May 17th.

The annual award ceremony has become a tradition for beer lovers around the province, giving them a chance to meet the people that make their favourite brews as well as allowing them to test out something entirely new.

The following are this year’s winners for the 9th Annual Ontario Brewing Awards:

North American Light Lager
Gold: Cool Beer Brewing Company - Stonewall Light
Silver: Labatt - Rolling Rock Extra Pale
People’s Choice: Hogsback Brewing Company - Vintage Lager

 
North American Lager
Gold: Labatt - Blue
Silver: Hogsback Brewing Company - Vintage Lager

European Style Lager (Pilsner)
Gold: King Brewery - Pilsner
Silver: Kichesippi Beer Co. - Natural Blonde
People’s Choice:Kichesippi Beer Co. - Natural Blonde

Amber Lager
Gold: Cool Beer Brewing Company - Millennium Buzz
Silver:Great Lakes Brewery - Red Leaf Smooth Red Lager
People’s Choice:Nickel Brook Beers - Märzenbier Bavarian Style Red

Dark Lager
Gold: Cameron’s Brewing Co. - Cameron’s Dark 266
Silver: King Brewery - Dark Lager
People’s Choice: Mill Street Brewery - Rauchbier

Bock
Gold: Amsterdam Brewery - Spring Bock
Silver: Cameron's Brewing Co. - Cameron’s Deviator Doppelbock
People’s Choice: Amsterdam Brewery - Spring Bock

   
Honey/Maple Beers
Gold: F&M Brewery - Stone Hammer Maple Red Ale
Silver: Railway City Brewing Company - Honey Elixir
People’s Choice: F&M Brewery - Stone Hammer Maple Red Ale

German Style Wheat Beer
Gold: Denison’s Brewing Company - Weissbier
Silver: Magnotta Brewery - True North Wonder Weisse
People’s Choice: Denison’s Brewing Company - Weissbier

Belgian Style Wheat Beer
Gold: Amsterdam Brewery - Oranje Weiss
Silver: Mill Street Brewery - Belgian Style Wit
People’s Choice: Amsterdam Brewery - Oranje Weiss

Cream Ale
Gold: Muskoka Brewery - Cream Ale
Silver: Grand River Brewing - 1913 Traditional
People’s Choice: Muskoka Brewery - Cream Ale

British Pale Ale
Gold: Black Oak Brewing Company - Pale Ale
Silver: Grand River Brewing - Plowman’s Ale
People’s Choice: Grand River Brewing - Plowman’s Ale

North American Pale Ale
Gold: Nickel Brook Beers - Naughty Neighbour Pale Ale                  
Silver: Great Lakes Brewery - Crazy Canuck Pale Ale
People’s Choice: Black Creek Historic Brewery - Pale Ale

British IPA
Gold: Grand River Brewing - Curmudgeon IPA
Silver: Mill Street Brewery - India Pale Ale
People’s Choice: Mill Street Brewery - India Pale Ale

North American IPA
Gold: Cameron’s Brewing Co. - Cameron’s Rye Pale Ale
Silver: Muskoka Brewery - Mad Tom IPA
People’s Choice: Cameron’s Brewing Co. - Cameron’s Rye Pale Ale

Amber Ale
Gold: Amsterdam Brewery - Big Wheel Deluxe Amber
Silver: The Clocktower Brew Pub - Clocktower Red
People’s Choice: Amsterdam Brewery - Big Wheel Deluxe Amber

Dark Ale
Gold: Muskoka Brewery - Dark Ale
Silver: Black Oak Brewing Company - Nut Brown Ale
People’s Choice: Black Oak Brewing Company - Nut Brown Ale

Porter
Gold: Mill Street Brewery - Coffee Porter
Silver: Black Oak Brewing Company - Nutcracker Porter
People’s Choice: Mill Street Brewery - Coffee Porter

Stout
Gold: F&M Brewery - Stone Hammer Oatmeal Coffee Stout
Silver: Railway City Brewing Company - Black Coal Stout
People’s Choice: F&M Brewery - Stone Hammer Oatmeal Coffee Stout

Imperial Stout
Gold: Wellington Brewery - Wellington Imperial Russian Stout
Silver: Nickel Brook Beers -Bolshevik Bastard Imperial Stout
People’s Choice: Wellington Brewery - Wellington Imperial Russian Stout

Fruit Beer
Gold: Amsterdam Brewery - Framboise
Silver: The Clocktower Brew Pub - Raspberry Wheat
People’s Choice: Amsterdam Brewery - Framboise

Flavoured Beer
Gold: Grand River Brewing - Highballer Pumpkin Ale
Silver: Sawdust City Brewing Co. - Skinny Dipping Stout
People’s Choice: Cameron’s Brewing Co. - American Whiskey Barrel

Strong Beer
Gold: Niagara College Teaching Brewery - Rudolph’s Red Nose Ale
Silver: Mill Street Brewery -Ambre de la Chaudière
People’s Choice: Niagara College Teaching Brewery - Rudolph’s Red Nose Ale

Newcomer of the Year: HogsBack Brewing Company

Beer of the Year: Mill Street Brewery - Coffee Porter

Rich Vegetable Curry with Chicken

Curry is one of the great "catch all" dishes of the world. Just like stew, stir fry, and the ubiquitous casserole, it's more or less simple to throw anything you find in your fridge into a flavourful sauce and have it come out tasty (and if nothing else, edible). Getting the spicing right for things like a good curry is critical, but once you get that down, anything goes. Curry can be dry, or super-saucy, red, yellow, or green, 100% vegan or packed with any and all meat or seafood under the sun. It can have nut or dairy butter, coconut, or cream... or none of the above. The "heat" of the resulting mixture is totally up to you too, from mild Tikka and sweet Kashmiri to the scorching hot Thai "Red Curry" and spicy-sour Vindaloo.  And one of the best things about making "a curry" for dinner is that it can be as expensive or as cheap as you care to make it.

Case in point? The student-style chicken dish that was originally posted by Carla way back in 2007, shortly after this blog premiered! She was in college at the time (sounds familiar!) and made a lot of it at home before getting herself published!

I've written about the versatile recipes in The Healthy College Cookbook before, both in a review and when I made Carla's incredible Thai Inspired Beef and Noodle Stir-fry earlier this month. Mom's a big fan of the book, and when I told her that Carla mentioned her curry in the book, she asked to see the recipe (followed shortly with "do you think you could do this for me for your review?"). Her only request was to use up the dearth of veggies in our fridge befor that week's grocery shop. Given that putting away the produce from our grocery hauls is always touch-and-go with fridge space - we could have a walk in and it would be stuffed! - I had a bit of work to do. In the end, what started out as a chicken curry turned into what I jokingly called "vegetable curry with a smattering of chicken". Even though there was only a single chicken breast for two servings, the bulk of all the veggies made the servings more than satisfying. Spooned over just a single cup of brown Basmati rice (mom's favourite) she stretched it to three filling meals without a problem!

What's your favourite catch-all dish?

Soused Strawberries

We had strawberry packed summers when I was a kid. Two or three of my neighbourhood friends had plants in their backyards (ironically, where we discovered my best friend's strawberry allergy!) and it was almost a ritual that if we were over at someone's house, the fruit and veggies in the garden were fair game. Since our house had raspberries, tomatoes, chives and mint (and for one fateful year, habaneros!), our next door family had zucchini and bell peppers, and a few houses away had carrots and cucumbers, there was a non-mediated trade of sorts going on our block. I can't count the number of veggie-and-dip trays we all consumed those years, usually before we were allowed to have the usual "summer" treats like popsicles from the Dickee Dee guy.

To add to the strawberry glut every year, we also had a strawberry pick-your-own place close by that a few families would clump together and go to with their kids. I remember fondly lugging white plastic buckets (which over the years turned an odd salmon pink inside) up and down the rows of low, slightly prickly bushes, eating easily as many as I put into the pail, and coming out of the field completely covered in dirt and juice with my mom trailing behind. I'm sure she was thinking the same thing she does every time we go apple picking: "What the heck am I going to do with these now?". You and I both know that the whims of children are flighty, especially when it comes to "food jags", but between giving my jam-making grandma a ton of them and eating a lot of strawberry shortcake (my mom still makes the best in my opinion) we somehow survived the summer.

While I'm pretty sure most of the neighbourhood parents never took this approach to a strawberry topping, I'm sure they would have approved of the tipsy berries with most of the neighbourhood clan running from house to house over the summer holidays.

I'd only ever take the week to make Soused Strawberries with fresh, in season fruit, and in an ideal world, locally grown as well. Our season hasn't quite started (my farming friends are saying 2-3 weeks yet), but I like to make a point of hitting our local farmers markets to buy the good stuff when I can. I've resorted to buying fruit in recent years, since none of my childhood friends live around me any more and my family has no interest in a 40 minute trip to the nearest field (our old haunt has long since closed). In a pinch, berries that have been imported to our supermarket fit the bill just fine (as is evidenced by the photo), provided it's still strawberry season (I know, I know - I'm human, come on!).

Like I said, they do take at least a week to reach "maturity" - sorry those celebrating Memorial Day on Monday - but like most booze, they get better with age (and you can use any of your favourite tipples for the booze, especially for those who are GF - Ipersonally would have used all Godiva but ran out). There are a few Summer holidays coming up, though (Flag Day, Father's Day, beginning of Summer, St. Jean-Baptiste Day, Canada Day, Independence Day...) so you can make these ahead of time to go with whatever goodies are on the dessert table. Angel food or pound cake, shortcake, waffles, or even as part of a grown-up sundae bar - anything is fair game. Mind you, out of the jar straight in the middle of the night is good too... just sayin'!

Watermelon Meyer Lemonade

As much of a lemonhead as I am, I'm a latecomer to the wonderful world of the Meyer lemon. My excuses were (at least in the beginning) lack of availability in my neck of the literal woods - unlike the "big city" Toronto, all the really fun stuff doesn't filter in as quickly. When the grocery store finally did start carrying the tiny, sweet-tart fruit, it was only in mesh bags of 10-12 and exorbitantly priced. So I did what any rational foodie / wannabe gardener would do: I bought a Meyer lemon tree. If you think that's a little extreme for a lemon, I also own a fig tree. We're growing olives, horseradish, Jerusalem artichokes and grapes along with the rest of the (in my case, heirloom) tomatoes, peppers, beets and carrots too. But I really wanted that Meyer lemon tree.

That was three years ago. After buying the few-years-old dwarf tree, I had to wait "patiently" for it to mature enough to both bear fruit and be strong enough to support the lemons (which, although small, are heavy for the little tree). Then there were the bugs (spider mites to be exact) - this year I almost lost the whole plant, and only through babying and watchful waiting did I finally get my first two lemons.

As soon as those two lemons turned yellow, I knew exactly what I'd be doing - lemonade, baby! I supplemented the two lemons of my own with a few I bought downtown (where the fruit stall had them cheaper than our supermarket!), and picked up some watermelon cubes that looked, if not juicy and ruby-red, at least decent. A quick spin in the blender later and I had myself a 100% sugar free drink, sweetened with naturally super-sweet stevia, that was perfect for today's 30°C weather. Had I thought of it, I would have added some frozen berries in place of ice cubes too - I love using frozen fruit as ice cubes in drinks: one, they don't water the beverage down and two, they're edible!

What's your favourite warm-weather drink?