Plantation XO Barbados 20th Anniversary

Today I'm going to go away from the whole food thing and go to one of the other things I like in life and that's a good drink. I'm a single malt kind of guy, but this rum is absolutely amazing and both run or whiskey lovers can enjoy. It's a rum that is aged in oak barrels which gives it a spectacular taste.

Plantation XO Barbados Bottling Note

A superb-looking decanter bottle of XO rum from Barbados, aged in bourbon barrels before being shipped to France for a secondary maturation in Cognac Casks from the Ferrand house... The result was awarded 94 points from the Beverage Testing Institute.

Taste

Nose: Hints of spicy oak on the nose, with guava, a little desiccated coconut and dried banana. Buttery.

Palate: Spiced, creamy palate entry, with sweet vanilla notes and caramel. Oaky spices.

Finish: Caramel. Toasted oak.

A little tip for this would be to get yourself a good whiskey stone. This is a premium drink and should not be ruined by watering it down by the same way you don't water down a good whiskey. 

If you can't find good whiskey stones give me a heads up and I can help you. 

Banana Bread Recipe

Banana Bread Recipe 

 

 

I'm a little fussy when it comes to bananas. I think they taste best when they are yellow but before the skin starts getting spots. I really don't like them once they get soft. So banana bread is a great solution. This is an easy recipe from my favorite cook book.

Ingredients

• ½ cup of butter
• 1 cup sugar
• 2 medium eggs
• 3 medium sized over ripe bananas mashed
• 2 cups all purpose flour
• 1 tsp baking soda
• ¼ tsp salt
• 1 cup sour milk*

Cream the butter and sugar together thoroughly. Beat the eggs well. Add eggs to mix and beat well. Sift the flour, baking soda and salt into the batter and mix. Add banana and sour milk to the batter and beat thoroughly. Grease a bread pan and pour mix in evenly. Bake in  oven preheated to 175°C for 60 minutes or until bread tests done.(use toothpick test)

*to make sour milk add ¼ teaspon lemon juice to milk and let stand for 20 minutes.

 

 

I've been BBQing all week. So what if it's raining every day.

grilled salmon

grilled strip loin

Homemade burgers

There are a few things that are important to insure that you get good burgers, the quality of ground beef should be the highest on your priority list. Get very lean beef that is freshly ground. Another big contributor is to make sure you don't over mix your burgers before pressing them. If you mix them too much you will end up with tough burgers. Another big thing for me is that you should NOT use bread crumbs.  Use freshly ground Parmesan instead.

recipe

• 4 pounds lean ground beef
• 3/4 cup grated Parmesan
• 1 onion grated into juice
• 1 tsp black pepper
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 pinch oregano
• 4 tbs tomato paste
• 4 tbs Heinz ketchup
• 5 egg yolks

Put all the ingredients into a mixing bowl and  mix until ingredients are mixed together. You can use a kitchen assistant or a hand held mixer with the dough hooks. Weigh your burgers and press them. I like to weigh mine in small freezer bags so they can be pressed in the bags and then frozen. This prevents the burgers sticking in the press and they will if you put them straight into the press.

If you don't have a a burger press you can cut the top ring off a plastic container and use the bottom to press the burgers in the ring. for every day burgers 100grams is a good size to aim for. I like to do some super burgers that can be used with or without bread at 225 grams. But burger size is a personal preference things. Test and see what you like.

Amazing full moon this week

Chicken wings today

Link to the Recipe 

Very nice evening and beautiful sunset

Grilled pork

BBQ is always the correct answer

12 months of the year using the BBQ is always the correct answer if you are looking for tasty and easy food. Remember when you are doing pork or chicken that it is important to add flavor. there is a reason they say everything tastes like chicken, because chicken doesn't taste like anything and spices rule. 

For pork you should try to marinade your meat at least an hour, a couple days doesn't hurt. You can even put your pork in a bag with marinade and freeze it down so that it is good and tasty when you take it up. 

Marinade

• 3 tablespoons vegetable oil
• 3 garlic cloves minced
• 1/2 Teaspoon chilli powder
• 1/2 teaspoon paprika powder
• 1/2 teaspoon ginger powder
• 2 tablespoons grated orange peel
• dash of soya sauce
• 2 tablespoons ketchup
• 1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
• water to mix and cover all the meat

Put a plastic bag in a large bowl. Add  all the ingredients to the bag except the water and mix it up. Lay in your pork and then add water to cover. Seal the bag and shake well. Put the bag in the bowl and put it in the fridge. Go back and turn the bag over and shake now and then. Sometimes I like to add half a can of coca cola about 30 minutes before I take the meat out of the marinade.

Make sure the grill is hot when you start and place the meat on the grill. turn after about 1 minute and let it cook. Remember searing the meat keeps the moisture in. Make sure you don't over grill or your will dry your meat. Pork should be about as soft as the center of your palm when it's done.

Oven baked potato wedges recipe 
Dipping sauce

Grilled cheese

 Easy food can be tasty

Grilled cheese is an old school easy meal, but you dont have to go straight old school. You can add thin sliced meats like smoked ham, turkey or even pastrami. Today I went with bacon and tomato. Adding some meat makes it more of a meal.

Fry up your bacon first and when it's almost crispy lay it flat on a paper towel to drain the fat.

 Clean your frying pan and leave the heat on medium.

MY PERSONAL PREFERENCE IS BUTTER!!! If your doctor has told you to use low trans fat margarine you should so so, but if you are healthy butter is natural and tastes much better. Margarine can also turn your grilled cheese into a really greasy mess because it's made from vegetable oil.

Butter one side of each slice of bread. Turn two buttered sides against each other so you can put your cheese++ on the sandwich. Lift up your top slice and lay the buttered side down, with the toppings on and put the other slice of buttered bread on top with butter side up. Use a lid to cover your grilled cheese while they fry. This allows the heat to be kept and your cheese will melt. If you do it without a lid you risk toasting the grilled cheese and having cheese that has not melted.

Bacon Pasta

Pasta rules!!

There is an unlimited amount of combinations you can have with pasta. It's an easy meal and can be amazingly tasty if you are willing to mix. Today I made bacon and mushroom pasta. It takes about 10 minutes to make and is absolutely delicious. 

Ingredients

100 grams lean bacon per person

100 grams fresh sliced mushrooms per person

1 small leak chopped

5 balls of Tagliatelle per person

a large spoon sour cream 34% 

fresh grated Parmesan 

Boil water and start bacon frying. You want the bacon to be fried, but NOT crispy. Remove the bacon to your cutting board and put the mushroom slices and leak into the bacon fat and fry it up. Cut the bacon into bite size pieces and put it back in the frying pan. Spice your mushroom and bacon mix with some salt pepper and garlic as they fry.

Put your pasta in the water and cook 30 seconds less than the recommended time. 

Use your spaghetti ladle  to lift the pasta from the pot to the frying pan and add a couple spoons of the water too the bacon and mushrooms. Add a large spoon of sour cream and mix everything and let it simmer for 2 minutes. Pour your dinner into a pasta bowl and top with fresh grated Parmesan Cheese.

 

 

Still waiting for warmer weather to come but at least it was a nice sunset today and that's never a bad thing. 

 

 

Grilled Sausage and oven baked potato wedges

BBQ season is great for the tasty food that can be made and for  the fact that it's not a lot of work to make the meals. Any kind of meat and you are half way there. Today it's a simple all beef chorizo sausage. The first thing I'll say about sausage is make sure you get sausage and NOT hot dogs. Hot dogs are the worst filth that is left when all the real meat has been used for other things. It's bleached into a massive pit of crud and then colored pink to make you think it's meat. IT'S NOT!! SO check to make sure what you are getting and if you can pick up some tasty sausages from your local deli.

Potato wedges are extremely easy to make. Cut your  potatoes and then rinse then in water. put a little oil in a large bowl and toss the wedges to get them covered in a light layer of oil. Then generously season with any mix you like on your wedges. You can go as simple as salt and pepper or try some Cajun or BBQ spice. Oven to 200C. Cover a pan with tin foil and lay the wedges on the foil. I use my pan with a rack but straight on foil works. After 20 minutes you turn them all over and after 40 you need to make sure your meat is ready to go because the wedges are done.

easy food rules!

The weather was really good today. Got to see and photograph both the sunrise and late in the evening a sunset. all in all a good day.

Today's sunset

Oven baked chicken wings

Buffalo wings

When I was 20 you could get wings for 10 cents a piece at any bar or pub. Popcorn shrimp were also 10 cents each as well. Those days are long gone. The chicken wing used to be scrap and thrown away but then one day, some very smart person, decided that it could be sold as a snack. In the beginning wings were fried and than put in a bowl of hot sauce. In the last 30 years they have figured out that all that fat is really bad for us so it was time to start baking wings instead. The good thing is baking wings is extremely easy. 

Start by putting a mix of your favorite spices in a plastic bag. Add the wings and shake them around to get spice on all the wings. I like to let them stand for an hour to make sure that the chicken absorbs as much flavor as possible. Heat the oven to 180 C. I have a pan with a rack that I like to use, but you can just put tinfoil in a pan and use that as well. Make sure the wings are spread out and put them on the middle rack in the oven. After 20 minutes turn all the wings over and turn the oven to 200 C and put the wings back in for another 20 minutes. 

Today I did a chili and ginger spice mix and then some Sweet Baby Ray's BBQ sauce when the wings are almost done, just a little. You can serve with carrot and celery sticks or just some fresh baked bread. Easy food for sure!