Poutine Pizza

Well, I gave the poutine pizza a try. I love poutine. I love pizza. But the two just do not go good together. I think it may be the combination of fries with pizza crust that just do not blend well together. The sauce is wonderful and the curds well what can I say. But the flavour combination just does not mix well together. Oh well back to the drawing board.

More Pizza Fun

I have been reading a lot about pizzas with different sauce toppings. So tonight I am trying a couple of quite different pizza recipes. These will be made on the BBQ. The first is the Chicken and Bacon BBQ pizza. I guess you could say it is the pizza version of the ever famous club sandwhich. I will let you know how it turns out. Here is the recipe for now.

Chicken and Bacon BBQ Pizza


6 to 8 slices  bacon, fried

2 skinless, boneless chicken breasts or chicken tenders fried

1 cup (250 mL) thick ranch salad dressing

3 cheese blend (mozzarella, provolone, cheddar) shredded cheese

Grape tomatoes or whole tomato sliced

¼ cup (50 mL) coarsely chopped fresh parsley

A sprinkle of Italian seasoning.

salt and pepper to taste

Method:

Make the dough. I use Peter Reinhart’s recipe for BBQ dough which can be found here on the site. Follow the BBQ instructions.

Cook the bacon, remove from pan and then cook the chicken in the bacon grease.

Put the dough on direct heat as per instructions. Once it is nicely grilled you flip the dough on the BBQ and put the dough on indirect heat, and top with ranch dressing, the cooked bacon, the cheese and then the chicken and tomatoes. Close the lid until the cheese is melted and the crust is golden brown.

The second pizza I will be making is my Montreal Poutine Pizza. Stay tuned for the recipe and the results.

Summer Pasta Revisited

Here are a few changes to a recipe I posted in 2008.  Changes are in bold. Here is my supper pasta supper revisited. I used four zucchini, three tomatoes, (I had to cheat a little here and added just a little clamato juice to add a little more liquid probably about 1/2 cup, about 12 fresh basil leaves chopped, I guess about 2 tablespoons, about a tablespoon and a half of fresh thyme, one onion finely chopped and 3 cloves of garlic minced and one tablespoon of extra virgin olive oil. About 7 large mushrooms sliced. I started by sautéing the onions and garlic and zucchini and sliced mushrooms and then added the tomatoes and spices. While I was doing this I boiled the linguini.  I then added the sauce to the linguini and served. Overall I would rate the meal a 9/10. The best part was taking this outside to the backyard and enjoying the meal with a well chilled bottle of white wine!

Summer Dinner

Dinner Party Time: Grilled Clams With Garlic Butter Sauce, Marinated Pepper and Tomato Salad, Marinated Grilled Shrimp Skewers with Grilled Tenderloin. This was my first time grilling clams. I think they turned out quite good. The garlic butter sauce was very strong. You have to like garlic to enjoy the sauce. I might cut down a bit from the 12 cloves of garlic next time. The marinated shrimp was really good and the tenderloin was fantastic. My cranberry Margaritas were a hit with some. Some thought they were a little too sweet, some thought they were great. Personally I think it is a good summer drink. The food was great but the company was better. Ricardo, Gail, Lianne, Sylvain always fun having you guys over for some good food and drink!

The Ultimate Burger Recipe

The Arrogant Chef’s Ultimate Burger Recipe

2 lbs of medium ground
½ package of dry onion soup mix
1 tsp onion powder
1 tsp garlic powder
2 cloves fresh garlic minced
Worcestershire sauce
one egg beaten
Montreal Chicken Spice
Diane’s Regular BBQ Sauce
3 jalapeno peppers finely chopped
Cream cheese
Mushrooms
Red pepper
Red Onion
Lettuce

Method:

1. Mix the 2 lbs of hamburger with onion soup mix, egg, onion powder, garlic powder, Worcestershire sauce (enough to moisten the hamburger)

2. Finely chop mushrooms, chopped red pepper, and fresh garlic minced and sauté until soft.

3. Make one patty, top with about 1 tablespoon cream cheese, and 1 to two tablespoons of sauté mixture and finely chopped jalapeno peppers cover and seal with another patty. These make quite large burgers.

4. BBQ the burgers. You can’t flip these so BBQ for about 7 minutes on one side and then flip another 7 minutes or so depending on doneness. Once flipped pour on BBQ sauce and sprinkle with Montreal chicken spice.

5. Lightly toast buns, and top with lettuce, thinly sliced red onion, mustard, thinly sliced tomato. (avoid using ketchup)

6. Dig in and enjoy.

The Ultimate Burger

Continued tonight experimenting with burgers. Used the same basic recipe on this site but this time sauteed chopped mushrooms, garlic, and chopped red peppers and stuffed the burgers with that. Like I said this makes one huge burger but this was truly a taste experience. Topped the burger with BBQ sauce, red onion, and mustard. OUTSTANDING.

Great Meal for Warm Weather

The weather here has been extremely hot. We were treated to a great summer meal by our good friends Sylvain and Lianne. They served lobster rolls with potato salad and of course a variety of tasty drinks. The rolls were huge served in small sub like buns. The basic recipe is as follows:
Ingredients


1 tablespoon butter, softened

4  kaiser rolls, split

leaf lettuce
1 1/2 pounds cooked and cubed lobster meat

2 tablespoons mayonnaise

1 teaspoon fresh lime juice

1 dash hot pepper sauce (e.g. Tabasco™)

2 green onions, chopped

1 stalk celery, finely chopped

salt and pepper to taste

fresh basil, parsley or tarragon or any other favourite seasoning
 
1.Lightly butter the insides of the buns or rolls and line with lettuce leaves. Set aside.


2.In a medium bowl, stir together the mayonnaise, lime juice, hot pepper sauce, salt and pepper until well blended. Mix in the green onion and celery, then lightly mix in the lobster so it just gets coated without falling apart.

3.Stuff the lobster filling into the buns and sprinkle parsley, basil or tarragon lightly over the filling.
 
These were outstanding rolls and a great treat on a hot summer night. The potato salad was Lianne's and I will have to get the recipe. It was one of the best I have ever had.
 
On the negative side this supper blew my carb count sky high but was well worth it.