Sunday Dinner on a weeknight

Who says you can't enjoy the greatness of Sunday dinner on a Tuesday night?

BRAD'S ONE-POT CORNISH HEN, ROOT VEGETABLE AND GRAVY DINNER

Cornish hen; one large chopped sweet potato; one medium chopped white potato; two large chopped carrots; two large chopped stalks of celery; 2 crushed cloves of garlic (just popped, not chopped) chicken broth; tbsp corn starch

In a small roasting plan, place all the vegetables on the bottom and lay the hen over the top. Season the works generously with coarse salt and fresh pepper. Cook 375 for about an hour and 15 minutes, adding a big splash of chicken stock about half way through.

Remove everything from the pot, and while the chicken is resting (10 minutes) place the liquid in a clear glass measuring cup and let sit for a minute to let the fat surface to the top and then skim off. Pour it back into the pan and add a bit more stock if needed and bring to a boil. Mix corn starch with a splash of water and add to the liquid, season to taste. Serve with the gravy over everything!

Can't go Wrong on a Classic

This is another fast and simple favourite of mine, which works both as a quick meal in a hurry, and equally well for entertaining.

CLASSIC SAUSAGE AND BELL PEPPERS

4-5 chopped hot Italian sausages; bell pepper chopped into 1/4 inch strips; 1/2 chopped red onion; 3 minced cloves garlic; coarse salt and fresh pepper; olive oil

Sausage is a tough one to find quality and great flavour. Let's face it, Maple Leaf and, chances are, your local grocer just don't cut it. I suggest going directly to a butcher and describing the way you like your sausage and they will tell you what you're looking for and cut you off some fresh links.

Heat the olive oil to a light smoke and start cooking the sausage, adding the onion after two or three minutes. (Meanwhile, prepare rice for the side, if using). Then add peppers and sauté over medium heat until sausages are cooked through and starting to char and peppers and onions are very soft and starting to char. Then add garlic and sauté about a minute or two. Season to taste and serve with Jasmine rice.

In a Hurry?

If you're in a mad-dash and need to have cooked and eaten in less than 20-30 minutes, here's one for which you might want to keep ingredients on-hand.

ANCHOVY-PARSLEY PASTA

150-200 grams of your favourite thin pasta (spaghetti or spaghettini); fresh pepper; olive oil; sliced clove of garlic; can of marinaded anchovies chopped; handful of fresh parsley chopped; Parmesean

Boil pasta in salted water (TIP: When boiling water, for speed, efficiency and less electricity use, run your tap water until hot and bring your water to a boil with the cover on; although cook your pasta with the cover off). Heat a big splash of olive oil in a large pan and then add the garlic, sauté for about 60 seconds and then add the anchovies and sauté for about 30 seconds. Drain the pasta, add it to the pan and toss with parsley and fresh pepper. Sprinkle each serving with a bit of olive oil and Parmesean... That was fast.

Side Comment

As an avid animal-lover and an advocate of humane animal treatment (and monthly donor to both the World Wildlife Fund and the World Society for the Protection of Animals), I can in all sincerity say that I'm absolutely appalled by the EU's decision to move towards banning the import of seal products.

As a meat-eater in a society of 98% meat-eaters, I understand where my food comes from and it's important for people to realise the steps to getting it to your grocer. Slaughter of an animal is at best a horrid and gruesomely unpleasant sight, but we eat meat and that's how meat is rendered. The regular meat market is comprised mainly of farm-raised livestock kept in tiny cages, unable to thrive in their natural way, pumped up with hormones, and living in their own filth and feces. The EU has no objection to such practices, and to boot, allows the production, promotion, and sale of veal (calf forced to sit stationary by short chain until slaughter) and foie gras (force-fed duck or goose to tenderise liver). Due to a lengthy and despicably corrupt campaign of lies and manipulation by the FFAW and PETA, the EU has caved in a grotesque display of hypocrisy.

The debate about whether seals in the annual seal hunt are killed in a humane way is a long and divisive one and one that will continue indefinitely. But there's no denying that seals are not killed in a way any less humanely than any other mass-produced farm animal. And add to that, they live in the wild until their death - as we advocate for free range, hormone-free animals... well, how much more free range and organic can you get?

There are humane ways to raise and slaughter livestock and the EU has done nothing to push regulation on that front. I'm sure the fact that most of these animals aren't cute and cuddly looking, and the fact that so many Europeans don't want to give up their foie gras and veal (as opposed to seal, which is not quite as wide spread a choice of meat there) doesn't really help their cause for humane treatment.

So I would say this - It's a hypocritical and ultimately unfair choice to advocate protecting seals from inhumane killing, and at the same time not objecting to the treatment of other animals via an equally aggressive economic boycott campaign, and we're certainly not seeing that. My advice - buy organic, free range when possible and inform people on the issue. No one wants to see an animal unnecessarily harmed before it becomes meat, but numerous studies have shown that there's little more that could be done to kill seals in a more humane way and there's no more suffering on the ice than on the killing floor of the slaughter house.

A Taste of India on the Grill

Indian has to be by far my favourite type of international flavour. This one's super-easy and delicious and satisfies both the cravings for firing up the grill and getting your fix of Indian-inspired cuisine.

BRAD'S BBQ CHICKEN TIKKA

2 chicken breasts (bls, sls); 1/2 cup plain yogurt (8-10%); 2 tbsp tikka masala; 2 tbsp finely chopped fresh cilantro; minced garlic clove; juice of a lime

When I said easy I meant it. Stir the yogurt with the tikka masala, cilantro, garlic and lime and coat the chicken, cover and marinade in the fridge for about an hour or two.

TIP: When buying yogurt for cooking, or even for regular snacking for that matter, don't be too worried about reaching for lower fat content. The benefits of eating yogurt are at their best when you eat real yogurt that's gone through natural processes and there's no reason your yogurt should contain anything you can't pronouce. My advice - stay away from any yogurt that's less than 2.5% as these have a lot that you don't want in your body - you'd be better off with the extra fat... not to mention low-fat yogurt is horrid tasting.

Prep and oil grill and bbq about 6-8 minutes in each side until chicken is 170-175. Let rest and serve with naan bread and salad. Salad in the pic above is raw cucumber and cooked asparagus in a simple yogurt-cilantro-mint-lime dressing.

Creamy and Delectable

When you're in the mood for a savoury treat, risotto makes the best base for pretty much anything you can think of. I would bet that most often the best bet is a shellfish of some sort; mainly scallops and/or shrimp. While rich in protein, a meal like this is certainly heavy on the calories and fat, but hey, you have to treat yourself... you can't be good all the time.

BRAD'S CREAMY RISOTTO WITH SHRIMP

1 cup Aroborrio rice; 2 3/4 cups hot chicken stock; 1 cup wild mushrooms quartered; 1/2 finely chopped red onion; 2 cloves minced garlic; 300-400 grams of medium uncooked shrimp (deveined, peeled, tail off); coarse salt and fresh pepper; 2 tbsp unsalted butter; olive oil; Parmesean; white wine

The two keys to a good risotto are patience (i.e., not walking away from the pan), and hot stock.

Bring the chicken stock to a steam in a sauce pan next to a large grill pan or wok. Melt butter in the pan with a small splash of olive oil (just until light smoke) and then sauté the onion until very soft, seasoning with a bit of salt. Add the rice and stir to cover in oil (add a little more if necessary) and then add a large laddle of the stock. With a wooden spoon, stir constantly. Stir until stock reduces and then add another large laddle and repeat until stock is almost used up and rice is tender (TIP: if rice is still firm, finish the process off using hot water so it doesn't become too salty from too much stock). Add mushrooms, garlic, shrimp and a splash of white wine, and continue stirring while adding liquid until shrimp are cooked and liquid is absorbed. The risotto should have the texture of molten lava - if it's stands like oatmeal, add more liquid and stir. At the end, add a large handful of Parmesean cheese and some fresh pepper. Serve immediately.

Bâton Rouge Doesn't Come Close

Smoking meat with woodchips is one of the best things you can do in summer. When it comes to pork, the bbq smoker is its best friend because it intensely flavours the meat and makes it super-tender and delicious.

BRAD'S HICKORY-SMOKED BACK RIBS

Full Rack pork back ribs; dry rub; olive oil; juice of two lemons; S&P; bbq sauce; hickory wood chips

First thing's first - the dry rub. You can pick this up in any supermarket, but like everything, I recommend taking the time to make your own. Make a big jar of it and it's good for about a year. This is all a matter of personal taste, but your basics are chili powder, cayenne pepper, paprika, garlic powder, onion powder, coarse salt, black pepper, dried thyme, dried oregano, and ground bay leaf. Find the right combination and experiment. If you like the sweeter rubs, use brown sugar too.

Part two - the ribs. What's important here is to get the best cut possible, because a lousy cut is always going to result in a not-so-good bbq. By far your best choice here is a smooth uniform rack of pork back. Side ribs are good for kettle-cooked ribs but just don't cut it for smoking.
The trickiest part is before marinading, you need to strip off the membrane underlay of the ribs, otherwise they won't cook properly and will be difficult to eat. You can get a butcher to do this, but most often you're buying these pre-packaged, so here's a super-simple way to handle it. Lay the ribs meat-side down and take a sharp pointed metal object like a temperature gage or a metal skewer and slide it under the membrane of the first rib farthest to the left. Then lift it up until it tears and you have a little piece of membrane to grip onto. Here's the important part - don't attempt to pull it off with your hand or cut it off with a knife - it won't work. Take a dry cloth and grip the membrane and then slowly pull it to the right all the way down the ribs - it should all come off in one go... if you miss a bit repeat with those areas. After a bit of practice this becomes no chore at all. At this point it takes me about 20 seconds.

You can marinade ribs many ways. The most basic is simply to pour in the juice of two lemons and about and equal amount of olive oil, season and rub it all into the meat. You can also go the apple cider route. Cover and refrigerate an hour or two. Once that's sat a while, then rub on your dry rub and cover and marinade again for another hour.

Meanwhile, Part 3 - the smoker. You can pick up a bag of wood chips at any grocery store in the bbq section, or at any department store. For a rack of ribs you'll need two or three smoke pouches. For this, simply soak three big handfuls of chips in a bowl of water for about 30 minutes. To make the smoker pouch, take a sheet of foil (about 12 X 15"), place a handful of soaked chips in the middle, take the two long ends up over the chips and fold them over twice, then do the same with the short ends to make a pouch. Poke 5-6 holes in the top and one underneath.

When you're ready to start the cooking, preheat one side of the bbq on high (the side closest to the tank) with one smoker pouch directly over the flame. Let it heat cover-down for about 10 or 15 minutes or until smoke starts coming out of the pouch, then place the ribs on the cool side. Turn the heat down to medium. If you have a surface thermometer, the rib side should be no more than 275-300 on the surface. Add another smoker pouch about every 45 minutes to an hour (you'll need to jump the flame on high each time to get it to smoke, then reduce heat).

Part 4 - The Sauce. Again, personal taste is all that really counts here, and to be honest, a store-bought high-quality sauce like Bulls Eye tends to do the trick. For this, a hickory flavour is your best bet. I have made my own bbq sauces and they're good too. Your basics here are ketchup, tomato paste, chili powder, brown sugar and spices. But if you're going that route, I recommend googling a recipe and see what strikes your fancy.

About 20-30 minutes before you're going to serve, brush on the sauce.

Once you take them off, cover with foil and let rest for at least 10-15 minutes.

Pic above, served with grilled eggplant and zucchini.