Good Eats in Ottawa

My wife and I recently went to Ottawa, Ontario and Gatineau, Quebec for a long weekend to visit with friends. Ottawa, Canada's capitol city, is beautiful and a lot of fun, as is Gatineau. During the cold and snowy winter these cities are great, especially during their Winterlude festival, which is when we were there. Our goals were to skate along the famous Rideau Canal, the world's largest ice skating rink, check out some of the ice sculptures and and snow sculptures at a couple of parks, and stroll the ByWard Market area. Now all of this walking and skating sure does work up an appetite, so there were some good eats along the way.

My first two food goals were to go to Swiss Chalet (a Canadian chain rotisserie chicken and rib restaurant) which I absolutely love, and of course to get some Tim Horton's coffee. Besides Buffalo, New York, I don't think there are any more Swiss Chalet restaurants in the US....what a shame. Friday night, a few hours after our arrival I was slurping down a bowl of chalet chicken soup, thoroughly enjoying a half rotisserie chicken with french fries, a roll and their wonderful chalet sauce, before forcing down a delicious slice of coconut cream pie. All this for less than $15. You really can't beat it.

The next morning it was off to the canal, where we enjoyed free hot chocolate and had a nice long skate up and down the canal. The place was packed and the snow was coming down all morning. While I did have beaver tails (fried dough doused with powdered sugar) on my to-eat list, the line was way to long to wait. After the skate I was craving my Timmies fix, and I quickly spotted one on our drive back to Gatineau. Here I got myself a large coffee with cream, and purchased three large cans of ground coffee to bring back home for myself and as a gift to my in-laws (who love the stuff). Next to Tim Horton's was a Chip Truck selling Poutine (only in Canada) and I was quite tempted to partake, however I knew their was poutine in my future in the next couple of days.

The next day we were in the Byward Market area and decided to stop into the Auld Dubliner & Pour House ( http://www.irishvillage.ca/dubliner.aspx) for lunch. This place had a really great atmosphere, and I can assure you that if I lived in Ottawa, I would be a regular at this place. The menu had just what I was looking for...POUTINE. As you can see in the photo below, this had very nicely cooked homemade french fries, a dark, rich, thick beefy gravy and a tonne of fresh cheese curds. It was heavenly.

Herb Roasted Chicken and Gourmet Poutine

I was in Maine a couple of weekends ago, and on the drive home we had to pass by the city of Portland. If you're a follower of this blog, you may remember that I spoke of Portland and one of it's best eateries in one of my first posts. The restaurant I am referring to is Duck Fat, where one of the finest poutines in the world can be had. Excellent french fries, great cheese curds and a rich flavorful gravy and you have a recipe for poutine success. A simple dish that requires nothing more than a few really good ingredients to make it one of my favorite comfort foods. It may not sound good to some, and it surely is not healthy, but let me tell you it tastes heavenly! Salty, cheesy, french fried goodness with gravy all over it...now honestly, how is that not good!

Anyways, to cut to the chase, I did not make a return visit to Duck Fat the other week as I had originally hoped. My wife's desire to have a Moe's sub won out. Nevertheless, I was able to get a gourmet poutine...I just had to whip it up myself. My homemade poutine consisted of herb roasted chicken breast, steamed broccoli (that makes it healthy) and salt and pepper oven fries with herb and garlic cheese curds, and a savory chicken gravy. Here's how I made it. Instruction based on a dinner for two.

Herb Roasted Chicken

While I usually like to brine or marinate my chicken, there is not always time, as was the case when I made this dish on a work night. The key for juicy, crispy and tasty chicken will be to cook it on a high heat, season it well, and do not over cook the meat. For white meat chicken breast, I use an instant read thermometer and remove the chicken from the oven the second it reaches 160 degrees in the thickest part of the breast.

Preheat oven to 425 degrees and add two large bone-in, skin-on chicken breasts to an appropriately sized roaster or Pyrex tray (or similar). Drizzle a little olive oil and using your hands, coat the chicken with the oil. Season all sides with kosher salt, fresh pepper, dry summer savory and fresh rosemary and/or thyme. Add a splash of water or chicken stock to the bottom of the pan. Cook in the oven, uncovered until internal temperature of 160 is reached...about 45 minutes. If the skin is over browning, cover with foil wrap, or conversely if it isn't crispy enough, use the broiler for a bit.

Chicken Gravy

Remove the chicken from the roasting pan so it can rest. Heat the pan on the stove top over a medium-high heat and add:
- 2 Tbsp of dry white wine, and begin "deglazing" the pan using a wooden spoon to scrape free all the browned bits. Those bits mean flavor.
- Add 1 1/2 cups of chicken stock/broth (canned is fine) and bring to a boil.

Now is the time to thicken the gravy. I use a small Mason jar as a shaker to make a slurry, which I make by combining a couple of heaping tablespoons of flour, a teaspoon of corn starch and about a 1/4 cup of water. Screw on the lid and give it a good shake until you have a think, smooth lump-free slurry. You may need to add a little more water if it is too thick. A pancake batter consistency or slightly looser would be fine. Once the gravy is boiling, slowly drizzle the slurry and combine vigorously with a whisk. You may not need all the slurry so keep adding until you reach the desired consistency. Reduce the heat and simmer the gravy for at least 2-3 minutes in order to cook off the raw flour taste. The gravy will continue to thicken slightly so keep this in mind. Taste the gravy and adjust the seasoning with salt and pepper if necessary.

For the oven fries, the recipe I always use is posted in an earlier posting. For this dish I used 4 medium potatoes and seasoned the fries with kosher salt, black pepper, and a little dried summer savory. With regards to the cheese for the poutine, it's very important to use real cheese curds, not grated cheddar or mozzarella if you want to have the real poutine experience. I'm fortunate that my local grocery store carries fresh cheese curds from a local producer. Better yet, they have some flavored varieties. For this meal, I used their garlic and herb curds, which paired very nicely with the chicken. They were quite garlicky, which is a good thing as long as your significant other is also eating them.

The steamed broccoli is super easy, and one of my favorite ways to eat a bunch of veg. I use fresh broccoli, wash it, cut it into smaller pieces, put a steamer basket in a large sauce pan, add an inch or two of water, bring to a boil, add the broccoli and cook for about 6-7 minutes. It doesn't get much easier than that. I like mine just with a little salt, but I don't mind a little pad of butter either.

Now you're ready to assemble your poutine. Using warmed plates (lay them in the oven for a couple of minutes before the gravy is ready. There will be enough heat left from when the chicken was cooking to warm them nicely), plate the chicken, and the broccoli, and next the fries. Scatter the cheese curds over the fries and begin spooning the hot gravy over the cheese and fries.

It does not get much better than this!

Duck Fat and Poutine

Since I've been living in the US, I've been able to do quite a bit of traveling throughout the northeast to all corners of New England, as well as New York, New Jersey and Pennsylvania. Along the way I've been in many neat towns and cities and before I embark on my roadtrips, I always do a little "research" on what I may except in terms of culinary treats. Along the way I've found some great spots, many in unexpected places, in cities such as Concord, New Hampshire, Newport, Rhode Island and Burlington, Vermont. My best find so far though was in Portland, Maine, at a place called Duck Fat.

I like Maine, as it's as close to Newfoundland as you can get in this neck of the woods; and I really like Portland. Even though I've only been there briefly a couple of times, it reminds me so much of St. John's. While there aren't rows of jelly bean colored houses it is a hilly port town, with a quaint downtown full of trendy shops, restaurants and galleries, etc. I would urge anyone to go there, and I hope to return for a weekend later in the summer to do some exploring and also to get me some more of Duck Fat.

For my last trip to Portland I was on a mission to go Duck Fat to sample their poutine, which they describe as "Layers of Our Duckfat Belgian Fries topped with 'Silvery Moon Creamery' Cheese Curd & Homemade Duck Gravy". Yeah I know, it was a good as it sounds. The portion was spot on and the taste was incredible. The hand cut fries were tender and crisp with a hint of extra flavor from being fried in the duck fat/vegetable oil blend, the gravy was rich and salty with incredible depth, and the cheese curds were just what they should be; chewy, tangy, squeeky and stretchy. It was heaven in a bowl. I savored every bite, sucking the insides of my cheeks, as I washed it down with a Geary's Ale. I also ordered the meatloaf panini but it was overkill as the poutine did an admirable job of filling my belly. It was one of the most enjoyable, no good for you meals I'd ever had.

Being the Poutine connoisseur that I am, I gave it a perfect score of 40 points (10 points each for the fries, gravy and cheese, and 10 more for overall taste).

Here is the link to Duckfat
http://www.duckfat.com/

Check it out and see their menu. If you're ever in the Portland you have to go there!
http://www.portlandmaine.com/