Lobster and Lamb Surf and Turf

Lobster and Lamb Surf n' Turf with Avocado Salad
The Soundtrack: Songza's Players Holiday

I am back in Ottawa for another visit and hanging out with Matt and Matt.  Naturally, we fancy only the finest things in life so rather than go to some restaurant for a mediocre meal, we decided surf n' turf on the BBQ was the way to go.

To complement the feast, we pumped the Players Holiday playlist from Songza.  For those that don't have Songza, get it.  Its great for expanding the music variety.  The playlist was loaded with gangsta classics like Cube, Snoop, Pac, and C to the O double M O N. This was selected by Matt as the host of the festivities.

The lobster tails were split and grilled for about 4 minutes a side. We grilled them with a Chili-Lemon garlic butter which was served as a dipping sauce as well. Not much more to it than that!
The lamb loin chops were pre-seasoned with rosemary and who knows what else,  but it was delicious.  This was also cooked on the grill. Lastly on the grill was the Zucchini, which was coasted in sesame oil.

The Salad, put together by Matt, had peppers and avocado and was served with a fancy Oil and Balsamic combo.

All in all, a perfect mid-afternoon, post-gym snack.

Matty's Sweet Potato Simplicity

Sweet Potato Simplicity

The Event: Guest Chef #2
The Meal: Matty's Sweet Potato Simplicity
The Soundtrack: Classified
Drink of Choice: Tap water

Great Album

So after watching Matt eat the same thing again and again, I suggested his perfected recipe needs to go on Cooking to a Soundtrack.  Being that my blog has been light on posts this year, this was a good way to get some content to all of my loyal follower(s).

As a defining soundtrack of Matt's move to Calgary, Classified was the natural option.  We hit up his concert when he hit Calgary earlier this year and we've been bouncing to his new album since it dropped.

Sweet Potato

Ingredients:
Chicken Breast (Pre-cooked for convenience)
Broccoli
Mushrooms
Green Peppers

Secret Spice

Secret Weapon Spice (Le Clubs' Fiery Habanero & Roasted Garlic spice, limited edition of course)

Speedy Matt

Sweet Potatoes
Hummus

In preparation, cut the sweet potatoes, coat in olive oil and spread out on a pan for the oven.  Bake at 350F for 20 minutes, flipping once half way.

While the sweet potatoes are in the oven, cut up the chicken, peppers, mushrooms and broccoli and add to the pan with the secret weapon spice.
Serve with the Hummus as a delicious accompaniment.

Chef's Notes:  Lacking the culinary creativity of my host Dave, I do find myself making this meal about 4-5 times a week. I find it to be a quick and affordable way to make a massive quantity of healthy food. So as the great Classified would say, "That's what I do."

Steak and Onion Pie

Steak and Onion Pie

The Celebration: First Blog Post of 2013!
The Soundtrack: John Mellencamp - The Best That I Could Do
The Meal: Steak and Onion Pie

The Drink: 12YO El Dorado Rum

First off, happy New Year to any loyal follower that may have made it through this postless winter and is still actually checking for updates.  I've been exceptionally busy and while I have been eating quite well, its been a lot of travels and a lot of repeat meals.  I always fall back to the classics when pressed for time. For the record, I've had a few blog worthy meals during this drought, but I've had people over and my dedication to hosting trumps blogging.

It was time to pull out a classic for the evening's soundtrack.  John Mellencamp's The Best that I Could Do has always been a favourite of mine and I have listened to it many times.  He has a lot of great tunes on the album and its one of those ones that you can listen to all the way through and know every song.

Delicious

Since spring has finally sprung, it was time for a nice fresh bottle of rum.  I picked up a 12 year old El Dorado from the liquor store on the way home. The Guyanese make a delicious rum! Lots of ice as always.

As for the meal, it would be too cliche to slap a BBQ post and say, "hey it was over 15 degrees, lets slap some meat on the grill" (stay tuned for a later post where I slap some meat on the grill). Steak and Onion Pie is a recipe I randomly dug out of the cupboard.  Dusted off an old classic, just like The Best that I Could Do.  Meat is great, Pie is great, so what could be better than meat pie?

Ingredients:

Coated Cubes Getting Browned

1/4 Cup Flour
2 Tsp Salt
1/2 Tsp Pepper
1/2 Tsp Paprika
A little Ground Ginger
Titch Ground All Spice
1lb Cubed Beef (Round Steak)
Cooking Oil
1 Medium Onion Diced
2 Medium Potatoes Diced
2 Cups Water

Simmering the Filling

In a bowl, mix together the flour, salt, pepper, paprika, ginger and all spice. Coat the meat cubes in the flour blend and put them into a hot pan with the oil and brown on medium.  Add the onion, potatoes, the remainder of the flour mix and the water and simmer for 20 minutes until the potatoes are soft.

I've already covered the pie pastry in a previous post and once again I am digging into the freezer to grab a pre-made batch from the last time my mother visited.  Once the pastry is rolled and in the 10" pie plate, load the filling and top with another roll of pastry, seal the edges and brush with eggwash to help turn golden brown.  Cook at 450F for 20-25 minutes.

It's been a while since I've had a good pie related meal and this one did not disappoint.



Going forward, I probably won't have the time to do as many posts as I did in 2012, but fear not, the blog is not dead! There will always be new recipes to try and fun ideas to cook up!

Steak and Onion Pie with Grilled Vegetables