Well, two things are driving me back.
One, a couple of my daughter’s friends – you know who you are Evie and Hannah! They found out I have a blog and now call me “tjthefooddude” incessantly. With that kind of advertising by 10 year-olds, you don’t want to have a stale blog:)

Secondly, the YYC Coffee Disloyalty Program.

The Calgary coffee scene is incredible these days with all of the boutique coffee houses, local roasters and award winning baristas.

And that leads me to the reason for this post – I laid down the gauntlet for myself to complete the YYC Coffee Disloyalty Card in two days. And @yycdisloyalty has retweeted my twitter and suggested people follow me, expanding my potential audience for success or failure in this quest!

So, first, I promise to complete my quest in the allotted two days, potentially having to cut back my coffee consumption to do it – only 7 americanos in two days? Really? Can you say massive withdrawl?

Secondly, my next post will include pictures and brief reviews of the coffee I consume at each location, thus “unstaling” my blog and beginning a new life as a food loving writer…after my day job is done of course.

BakerTweet from BakerTweet on Vimeo.

Well, this is it! Day three of the boys weekend and you would think we would be fat, happy and contented to just lounge around and not eat a thing. But no, much to our bulging belly’s chagrin, we load up at last on a RED MEAT FRENZY! A beautiful, mustard, garlic and thyme crusted beef striploin, beautifully marbled, juicy, succulent…. on garlic ciabatta bread, roasted veggies… I think there was more but I was feeling too satiated to shoot anymore pics. Oh yeah, Werther’s for Dessert:)

Enjoy the pics and as always, if you want recipe’s, send me an e-mail and I will oblige (eventually!)

Garlic, Mustard & Thyme crusted Striploin

DESSERT!

Wertther's - the perfect end to a weekend of indulgence!

The main course here comes from a lingering obsession of mine to create a veggie burger that actually has decent flavor AND texture, that you can throw on the BBQ next to the steaks and not feel like the “98 lb weakling”. The obsession spawned this creation which can easily be turned into “meat-loaf”, burgers or as I did here, steaks (truly just meatloaf sliced and grilled…) It has gotten universal rave reviews by carnivores and herbivores alike. Enjoy!

Wild Rice and Portobello Mushroom “steak” with Basil Pesto and Kalamata Olive Tapenade  

Wild Rice and Portobella mushroom "steak"

1 cup rice, seven grain
3 cups mushrooms, quartered
1 cup cheese, fruliano, grated
1 egg
1 cup bread crumbs (I like Panko)
1 garlic clove
1 small onion
olive oil, sea salt/pepper, basil pesto, ”olive” oil to taste and to garnish

• Cook rice according to directions
• Saute or roast mushrooms, tossed in olive oil and sea salt/fresh pepper
• Food process 1/2 cup of rice, 1/2 cup mushrooms and egg
• Mix all the rest of the ingredients together with the processed mushroom and rice mixture
• Press mixture into a parchment lined 9×9 pan (or make into burgers)
• Bake until firm. Chill and slice into whatever shape you wish. Re-heat under broiler or on BBQ until hot and golden brown
• Serve with basil pesto or oil and olives food processed with olive oil till smooth

Course 4 – dessert… FINALLY!

Wild Turkey Bourbon Creme Brulee
So this uses the remainder of the Wild Turkey that almost de-railed this cooking class right off the bat. And while this recipe is not a “tjthefooddude” original, it does come  from my days as a pastry chef at Savoir Fare, but is one of my favorite creme brulee recipe’s EVER! 

Wild Turkey Creme Brulee

4 extra large egg yolks
1/2 cup cream
1/2 cup half n half cream
1 1/2 oz bourbon
1/4 cup sugar

• Place sugar, cream and half n half in a sauce pan and bring to a simmer over medium heat
• Slowly add hot cream to the egg yolks, whisking constantly to temper yolks. Once it is all combined, add bourbon
• Pour mixture into creme brulee ramekins set into a baking pan. Put warm water into pan (creating a water bath) and place into a 350 degree oven
• begin to check after 18 minutes or so. Creme Brulee is done when the middle centimetre only still jiggles
• Remove and chill
• To serve, sprinkle sugar on top and caramelize under broiler or with a propane/butane torch
• Serve with caramel sauce and a WICKED ESPRESSO!

Espresso time!

But my compadres, Darren and Rohit, weathered through the haze and after bravely working through the bourbon induced fog, the meal which came out was awesome…and yielded at least 3 unique and new recipes which I am glad to share over a few separate posts.

First the appy course… One of the requests from the dudes was for some sort of pepper dish, maybe stuffed; some sort of eggplant dish and please use feta and cilantro in some way, shape or form. Well, I decided to tackle the peppers and eggplants in the appy section. Now, let me say, I have NEVER had a stuffed pepper I liked and Eggplant to me was filler when you had run out of everything else. Needless to say, I felt a bit challenged to come up with something I would eat AND that would be loved by all. Well, I did it, with a little inspiration from D and R… So, here it is, the appy of appies! 

Coconut and Panko Crusted Sweet Pepper Rings, served with an Eggplant Thai Chili Oil “salsa”
This one started out as vegetarian “calamari”. And even though that was the inspiration, I have this issue with duplicating meat dishes with vegetables. But oh well, it tasted AWESOME! So it is what it is! 

Sweet Bell Pepper Rings in Coconut Milk

3-4 Sweet Bell Peppers, seeded, sliced into 1/4 inch rings
1 can unsweetened coconut milk
1 cup medium, unsweetened coconut
1 cup panko breadcrumbs
1 egg
1 cup all-purpose flour
Oil for deep frying
Sea Salt to taste 

• Toss the pepper rings in the coconut milk and let soak for an hour or longer. Drain
• Set-up a breading station, flour, egg with water for egg wash and panko/coconut mixture. Bread the pepper rings and place on a sheet pan
• Heat oil to 375 in a sufficiently large pot or deep fryer and fry in batches till golden
• Serve with Eggplant Thai Chili Oil “salsa”

EggPlant Thai Chili Oil “salsa”
A little side note – have have hated eggplant for most of my life. When discussing the dinner, one of the items on the “coaching” agenda was eggplant. Oh lord! Generally I have just not purchased it in the first place. Well, this recipe I created has made me an eggplant lover…well, I tolerate it anyways:) 

Coconut & Panko crusted Sweet Pepper Rings with Thai Eggplant Dip

1 small Eggplant, enough for 2 cups diced
1 medium white onion
1/4 cup sugar
1/4 cup cognac
1/4 cup tomato sauce
Thai chili oil to taste
Sea Salt and Pepper to taste 

• Peel eggplant, cut into 1/4 inch slices and lightly sprinkle with sea salt. Place in a colander to drain for 1-3 hours
• Dice eggplant into 1/4 inch cubes and sautee over medium high heat in olive oil until starting to caramelize
• Slice onion into 1/8 inch slices and add to eggplant mixture. Once the onions begin to caramelize add sugar
• Deglaze with cognac
• Add tomato sauce and cook until thickened 
• Season with sea salt, pepper and Thai Chili oil. If desired, food process slightly to a consistency you like
• Serve with pepper rings

Hope you enjoyed the appy round! See you on course 2 in a couple of days!

Butternut Squash Soup 
I first published this recipe at the beginning of January. You can link to it here… http://www.tjthefooddude.com/recipes/soup/butternut-squash-soup/ The addition of the feta cheese and cilantro was something I tasted at the Rocky Mountain Flatbread Co. in Canmore, Alberta. Wicked little restaurant and their garnish on this soup was fantastic. I loved it. And it just happened to include two of the items my buddies wanted in the menu, cilantro and feta. 

Roasted Butternut Squash Soup

Course 3

Grilled Romaine Salad with oven-dried tomatoes and roasted capers
This was a new one for me in that the dressing is something that was perfected by Rohit, one of the people who was in on the culinary coaching fun. The unique twist to this is that being vegetarian, the pungent tang in the dressing comes not from anchovies, but from roasted capers! AWESOME! I had never done this and was blown away by the flavor!  

Grilled Romaine Salad

Dressing 

"Official" bevy of the boys winter weekend 2009

Not much according this food dude!

Crown Royal BBQ Ribs

Sides of deep fried Plantains, Balsamic fig and Mandarin Vinaigrette, Lemon Potatoes, not-so-french onion soup (I think the cook is from Winnipeg:) and upside down apple pie! NEW BELTS for ALL!

Lemon Potatoes

Sauteed Plantains

Balsamic Figs and Mandarin Ginger mixed green salad

As always, if you really, really want a recipe, I’ll write one:)

tjthefooddude on a ski break

Day 1 - Appie Mayhem! Paprika Garlic Shrimp, Thai Potstickers, Artichoke and Asiago dip with whole grain pita’s, Pecan Blue Cheese and Honey pepper crackers and a bevy of beverages…

Paprika Garlic Shrimp

Thai Potstickers

Artichoke and Asiago dip

Blue Cheese, Pecans and Honey on a Black Pepper Cracker

"Official" bevy of the boys winter weekend 2009

A WICKED, BELT LOOSENING TIME WAS HAD BY ALL!