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I just finished sending a message to my friend Chris regarding a Shawarma that is second to none. I realized that I must let everybody in on KW’s best kept garlic secret.

There is a little hole in the wall near Highland and Belmont aptly named “Shawarma”. It is really just a hole in the wall. Visited by devoted customers that are mainly comprised (it seems) of construction workers and desperate computer jockeys. Oh how often those two circles meet.

The menu is robustly composed of Shawarma and Falafel. I’ve never seen anybody order Falafel so I figure they offer it just to beef up that menu.

Why is this shawarma better than any other? The answer will vary depending on who you ask but here are some primary reasons:

1) The spiced chicken is incredibly tender, juicy and tasty. A big reason is that the owner uses 2 gi-normous spits that each hold (to quote Alex) A dinosaur thigh sized amount of sliced chicken. My guess is that they close on Mondays to load up this ridiculous amount of chicken and fire up the flames. Then, they go through the week serving off these spits until they run out, which according to my sources, is usually late on drunk Saturday or mid hangover Sunday. If you haven’t guessed, the shawarma is the ideal drunk/hangover food. At least, that’s what Ian says.

2) The garlic sauce. Probably the primary reason why most people order a shawarma. Well, this place is superior to all others when it comes to the garlic sauce. I’ve been told by some that one should only order a shawarma from here that contains double to triple garlic sauce.

3) The hot sauce and the pickles. The unique combination of these two ingredients takes this shawarma to new heights. I order my shawarma with ‘regular’ amount of garlic sauce and then double hot sauce and pickle.

So take 1,2 and 3 in whatever proportion and the whole combination provides the perfect texture and consistency that delivers a product that is greater than the sum of the parts.

Anyway, I’m hungry now. See you there!

NOTE: the owner has indicated he is working hard to open a new store near the university. Oh to get in on that investment!

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Sometimes on weekends I do find the time (or we make the time) to do some serious cooking. The same weekend I made the lasagna, I also made an excellent pork tenderloin dish. The reason is that we picked a basketful of pears the previous week from Sam’s tree and needed to start using them up. I have a pork dish I’ve often made using apples and cranberries. Usually during the festive season. But we wondered if the mellow sweetness of the pears would be a good, if not better, substitution for the apple/cran combo. Well, wonder no further for it is true. Here’s the general recipe:

1 good size pork tenderloin (or 2 smaller ones): about 4-5 lbs
chicken broth (1L)
white wine to taste (not too sweet)
stove top stuffing
pears
brown sugar
fresh rosemary
salt, pepper, poultry seasoning

Preparation: slice and fold open the tenderloin so that it is one ‘flat’ piece. You want it to be fairly even and flat…so take a meat tenderizer too it to make it so. At the same time, prepare the stove top stuffing. I would normally say you should make your own stuffing, and you can go ahead and do so, but I’ve done this many times before and it’s not worth the effort in my mind for the minimal (if any) added value.
Once the stuffing is ready, spoon it down the middle of the flattened out loin. You’re going to roll the meat around it so that the stuffing ends up in the middle. So don’t overspoon or it’ll get messy. Once you’ve done this and rolled up the loin, string it up with butcher string and store in the fridge

Prepare the broth. While it is being prepared, peel and cut about 10 or so pears. Place them in a bowl and coat with brown sugar. You want enough so that the roast plus the pears basically fill up the roasting pan. Not enough to completely cover the roast. Just enough to fill in the gaps around the roast.

Set the oven to 350
Take a roasting pan and set the pork into the center. Add the broth. Add the wine. I use about 1/3 to 1/2 a bottle. There should be a enough liquid to cover about 1/2 the roast. Add the pears around the roast.

Sprinkle poultry, salt and pepper to coat the top of the roast. add 4-5 sprigs of rosemary around the roast. I say around and not on top so that the rosemary will stay moist and work its way into the sauce. If you set on top of the roast it may/will dry up and not provide enough value to the subsequent sauce.

Cover and place in oven for 1-1 1/2hrs until pork is cooked and tender. Take the lid off with about 1/2 to go to brown the top. Once done, set roast on cutting board. Cut off string and slice the roast into 1 inch pieces.

Take a hand blender and blend the pear mixture that remains in the pan until smooth. If the sauce is too liquidy, add starch and boil. Pour into a gravy train and serve with the pork.

I like to make this dish with roasted new potatoes and fresh beans from the garden (or flash frozen from the garden).

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I haven’t been posting on this site lately. Been more active on OGD’s and Christien’s site now that they are both in full gear….they live far more interesting lives than me. Plus, keeping up with them leaves me no time (nor the want of it) for taking notes and observations of the world. I will do a 20 Words in the next week to wrap up the summer. Of importance to know is that my golf game has mysteriously deteriorated over the last month. But on the plus side….I’m leading my baseball pool.

Anyway, this year’s garden harvest has been of mixed result. The zucchini dominated the garden and yielded an army’s worth. The beans, after replanting them due to rabbit infestation, also did well. The onions and leeks are monstrous. The peppers….average. Still hoping to get more scotch bonnets than I see out there today. The tomatoes, the prize of the garden, have fared poorly. I think due to a mixture of my failing to rotate them to the other side of the garden, not enough nutrient replenishment this spring, and having the potatoes and zucchini nearby. Stole all the nutrients that were there.

However, I did get ’some’ tomatoes. And there’s still plenty more…just not enough to can, which is always my goal. Enough to get through to the next year. The farmer’s market can take care of that though. Won’t be the same, but I’ll get over it.

The tomatoes I have picked so far have been used to make sauces. And the new trick I’ve discovered is that roasting them before adding to the sauce results in an amazing complexity to any tomato based sauce. Combine that with roasted red peppers and you’ve got something god-like. Two experiments so far: black bean soup and lasagna.

Black bean soup (this is a rough recipe as I’ve never gotten to working out exact measurements):
- Chicken broth (about 1 L)
- 16 oz Black beans
- 2-3 roasted red peppers
- 8-10 roasted tomatoes
- cumin, coriander, salt, pepper
- lime juice

To roast the peppers and tomatoes I toss them in olive oil and a little salt. Throw them onto a hot bbq. For added love, the bbq could already be smoking with mesquite or hickory.
After the skins are crispy and falling off, take them off and put in a bowl or bags that are sealable. Place in fridge as long as possible. Preferrably until they’ve cooled. Take them out and pull off the skins.

Combine the broth, beans tomatoes, peppers and spices into a soup pot. Bring to a boil. Simmer for as long as you want (me: 1 1/2 to 2hrs). The longer you simmer the thicker the texture and deeper the flavour. When ready, take a hand blender to the soup to give it an even texture. Then add salt and lime juice to taste. I dollop sour cream when serving.

For the tomato sauce for pasta dishes, I roast the peppers and tomatoes as mentioned above. Add to pot. If you happen to have some open red wine around, add to taste. Use fresh basil, like a handful of it. And some (not a lot) of oregano. Salt and pepper. Then, to thicken, I add steamed zucchini and brocolli. Serves 3 purposes: thickener, sweetener and a kick of vitamins.

Make your lasagna with this base. Add ground beef to the sauce if that’s your thing.

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This year’s garden:

2 rows of onions
1 row of lettuce 1 row of spinach. Note: next time plant another row each 2 weeks after first planting
1 row of french beans – best yield to date
1 row of yellow beans
16 pepper plants
16 tomatoe plants
2 rows of potatoes, 5 or 6 seeds per row
cucumbers – too much space

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Salsa

2 large tomatoes, seeded (don’t have to) and diced
½ small sweet onion, like Texas sweet or red, finely chopped
1 to 3 jalapenos finely chopped
2 tablespoons fresh cilantro, chopped
1 large garlic clove finely chopped
2 tablespoons fresh squeezed lime juice
1 teaspoon olive oil
¾ teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon cumin
¼ teaspoon black pepper
Combine all the ingredients and chill for 2 hours before serving with chips.

Salsa Fresca

1 ½ pounds tomatoes, seeded and cut into small dice

1 small onion, finely chopped
2 jalapeño chiles, seeded and finely chopped
2 tablespoons chopped fresh cilantro
2 tablespoons fresh lime juice
¾ teaspoon salt

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The garden has been bountiful this year. With 4 plum tomato plants, 4 Early Girl, 4 Bonny Best and 1 Rutgers plant I’m swimming in tomatoes. Also with 12 sweet pepper plants, 8 jalapeno plants, 4 salsa pepper plants and about 5 dozen onions, I’ve decided to spice things up a bit when it comes to canning and preserving. I’ve already replenished my canned tomato store plus a lot more, so I’ve decided to can some salsa as well to use up the abundance of peppers. (Note: this is the 1st year that I’ve really reaped excellent large sweet peppers). Here are a couple of recipes I used that produced EXCELLENT canned salsa (i.e. not the fresh, use up immediately kind which I also have recipes for).

Mild Salsa for Canning [ canned ]

3 quarts tomatoes, peeled and chopped
3 large bell peppers, chopped
3 jalapeno peppers, chopped
4 medium onions, chopped
1 large bulb, chopped and minced
1 cup white vinegar
1 teaspoon whole oregano
3 tablespoons salt
1 tablespoon cayenne pepper (for hot), reduce the amount to make milder

Blend first three ingredients. Simmer until reduced to 2 quarts. Stir in remaining ingredients. Put 1 teaspoon vinegar in bottom of each jar. Fill with salsa and process 30 minutes in a water bath.

HOT Salsa for Canning [ canned ]

Servings: 4 to 5 pints

8 cups peeled, cored, chopped fresh tomatoes
1 to 2 cups seeded and chopped fresh mixed hot peppers; use more or less to taste. I used the following proportion to produce a nice burn hot salsa: 10% habenero, 10% thai chiles, 60% jalepeno and 20% salsa (or green) chile
2 cups chopped onion
8 cloves garlic, minced
½ cup chopped fresh cilantro
1 tablespoon salt
¾ cup cider vinegar
¼ cup fresh lime juice

Combine all ingredients in a large pot. Bring to a boil over medium high heat. Reduce heat and simmer about 10 minutes. Pour hot salsa into hot pint jars, leaving ¼ inch headspace. Seal jars with two piece caps. Process in a boiling water bath for 15 minutes.

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A couple of weeks ago my ’step’-Grandfather Ernie passed away.  Being a WWII veteran there was a military service followed by a family service at the funeral home in Ottawa.  That gave me an opportunity to visit with some Uncles, Aunts and cousins that I have not seen for 15-20 years.

It was a very interesting couple of days.  We stayed at my Uncle Roger’s place.  He has quite a few interests in common with myself of which cooking and computers are at the top. 

We won’t delve into the computer interests as that is way to boring.  But the cooking….

For the stay, Roger bought a 20lb shoulder of pork (for < $20 !!) and cooked it for over 24 hrs on his BBQ.  It was magnifique and there are 2 reasons for this:

1)  The Big Green Egg.  The world’s greatest smoker and grill (for the price you pay).  Now you’re cooking with flavour!

2)  Pre-mixed rubs from www.chefpaul.com The advantage is that they are well balanced and flavourful.  The disadvantage is that you’re subject to the amount of sodium put into them.

Potato Salad:  the secret is mustard seed soaked in rice vineger and the mixture added to the salad.  Use real mayonnaise and coarse seed Dijon mustard.

It was great to see some faces from so long ago.  Everyone looks pretty much the same as when I last met them and for some reason that felt reassuring.  Probably because I felt young again.

 It was fun taking the brother Luc out to the Elephant & Castle at the Rideau Centre on Friday afternoon.  We are able to check out some old stomping grounds.  I can’t believe how much I miss living there when I’m re-visiting.  But there’s no way I would ever want to be more than a visitor again.  Too expensive too overpopulated and too cold in the winter.

Interesting:  I flew up there for the 1st time.  1st time in the new T1 in Toronto:  very nice.  1st time in the Ottawa airport:  very small but easy to rent a car.  For about 150 it beats the extra 6 hrs I would have spent in transit by car not to mention that awful pass through Toronto on the 401. 

 Some closing notes:  It looks like my brother Luc’s hockey pool strategy may fall short this year.  He overloaded his picks on what he thought the 2 final teams in the Cup would be this year.  One of those teams are out and the other one has yet to lock in.  Good luck.

On another good luck note:  good luck to my uncle’s home team Sens as they have made it to the finals for the 1st time in over 80 years.  Let’s hope they pull it out and bring the Cup back to Canada and to the capital city.  Leafs and Habs fans should prepare to eat crow.

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Last year I brought up an interesting idea that I’m more prepared to take on.  I believe I have the confidence to pull this off now that I’ve had some education in creative cooking.  One step closer to switching professions to the more interesting and exciting culinary world.  Just need to come up with the right idea now…oh, and a little more experience.

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Last night I started a 4 week, 4hr a night cooking class with my pal Jason. It’s being offered by the Continuing Education faculty of Conestoga College. The location is at the Waterloo Campus which is on University across from the Taco Bell / Pizza Hut Cardiology Centre. It’s in the building where the old school for questionable characters used to be. (more…)

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I was reading in MacLean’s about a new trend:  cooking meals at home and charging the guests.  The case in study was preparing an extravagant 8-course dinner that included such items as “Foie gras soaked in red-wine”, “pan-fried striped bass with lemongrass” and “rice-milk flan with white-chocolate-pistachio emulsion”.  His ingredients consisted of the finest product he could find and multiple cooking trials and tasting experiences leading up to the day of the serving.  Included in the meal was wine, so for $50 in this case, a guest was receiving an 8-course 4-star (at least strived for) dinner with alcohol.  That is very reasonable assuming the ‘chef’ was able to pull it off.

This concept appeals to me in several ways.  First and foremost, if I am able to convince some friends to buy in, it allows me to experiment and put my skills to work to see if I show any promise in high culinary cuisine.  The cost of acquiring the finest ingredients will be defrayed so the expense on my part is simply the labour and time invested – which is more of a passion to me anyway.  Secondly, it adds a pressure element that kicks it up a notch over simply cooking a meal for friends and family.  With money being paid, it implies an expected return.  The guests will be there for the fun, but there will be an expectation of quality no doubt.  And as the article explains, if a guest doesn’t like it, he won’t be able to send it back.

So my first objective is to come up with my first menu.  It may seem like a cop-out, but with spring coming into bloom, I would like to show off my wizardry on the bbq.  I’ve got some ideas floating around but I think the meal will be broken out into a Tapas course including lots of surf and turf that is prepared on the grille followed by a sort of sausage feast with plenty of different types of grilled sausages and an abundance of unique sides (unique pickles, sauces).  Perhaps even a ’seafood’ sausage of a sort?

Anyway, I’m opening this up to you:  would anybody be interested in shelling out some coin to enjoy a night of restaurant calibre dining?  I would charge an amount that covers the cost of ingredients.  But these ingredients would be of the finest nature, implying that the cost wouldn’t be akin to a plate of burgers and fries.  But the meal received would run for at least thrice more from a restaurant.

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