Sunday 30 October 2011

Hot Borsht in the City



Sorry!

Once again, i've failed to regularly deliver our sumptuous cooking blog for all to enjoy. What can I say? Sometimes a girl's gotta live off of staff meals and granola bars- and play musical chairs with her priorities. But the procrastination is coming to an end! The same can be said for Slumlord itself, with upcoming shows at Gus's Pub November 4th and 12th PLUS a week long tour planned for the end of the month with Whiskey Bent and Hellbound. I'm giddy like a bunch of balloons.




















Last time, Momma brought veggies fresh from the garden- too many for TJ and I to consume with our busy schedule of working and feeding our freeloading cat. I'm sorry to say that some cukes and tomatoes festered away to mush over the weeks that followed. But one bag of rock-hard bastards prevailed! The beetroot (and, miraculously, the beet greens) survived the odds and caught my eye when I was rummaging around for inspiration.











I love beets, but I'd never made borsht before. After some research, I realized that you barely needed anything at all to make this dish, and the few ingredients that were called for happened to be all I had in the fridge and freezer. The hot, stew-like Ukranian version seemed like a perfect choice for our jam feast- I felt like a sturdy soviet housewife, making use of what scraps she could find lying around in the basement. There were many variations but I used what I had, and added apple cider vinegar because I do what I want. This recipe is obscenely simple, and the outcome blew our minds out of the back of head. It does take plenty of time on the stove, but will warm your house up right good. Don't touch that thermostat just yet, cheapos.



LONG LIVE BORSHT


First make a stock.

5 cups chicken or beef stock
1 lb beef shank, bone in
2 ribs celery, cut into sticks
1 large onion quartered
Splash of shitty red wine
one bay leaf
1 Tbsp veg oil
S & P

Heat oil to smoking on high in a heavy bottomed stock pot. Season meat on both sides and sear severely on either side. Add the celery and onion and sear for a few minutes evenly- don't be afraid to really brown everything. Add your wine then chicken stock and bay leaf. Bring to a boil then lower to medium and let simmer partially covered for about an hour. The shank should be tender and falling off the bone; set it aside and once it cools, remove bone, trim fat and dice the meat up for later. Strain the stock and set it aside. I skimmed the fat from the stock as it rose to the top. If you have the time to cool it fully in the fridge, the fat will solidify at the top and can easily be picked off. Or you can be a big fatty and use as is. That works too.




for the soup that will fill your tiny apartment and heart with the smell of love:

2 beets, peeled and diced
2 potatoes, diced
1 chopped tomato
1 chopped carrot
2 cups of water
6 large leave beet greens, sliced thin
Tbsp Apple cider vinegar


Put everything but the greens and vinegar in a pot with the strained and skimmed stock. Boil until the veggies are tender, then stir in the greens and season with vinegar, salt and pepper. I splurged and ran out for some sour cream and dill to top it off.


Tasha didn't have time to enjoy our borsht fun this jam, but she did show off her sexy cupcakes- made especially with a horror theme for our friend Helena Darling's birthday!















Adorable!! And I would've eaten every one if she had turned her back for a second.


Another delicious event! May this borsht urge us to fight through these icy rains to jam again- and bring me some vodka. This meal has no honour without it.


-Sev

Sunday 11 September 2011

Zucchini and Sausage Ragu with Momlord.













My Mom made the trip up from Moncton to join the fun, bringing along a bounty of fresh veggies from her garden. I found myself surrounded by tubers and leafy greens. Beautifully fresh green beans, cucumber, tomatoes, and beets had somehow found their way into my kitchen and were closing in on me, calling out Why? Why do you exclude me from your digestive tract??? A massive zucchini pushed the smaller veggies aside and finished me off. I decided to make a ragu.



















It was a quick and easy solution to dinner amidst our busy schedule, and a comforting, stew-like ragu with spicy sausage and rice was just what we needed to soothe our hangovers (or drunken munchies?). This takes pretty much no time to make and is similar to a dish my great-grandmother used to make my old man, known simply as "moving day casserole."


Day of Reckoning Casserole


about a 1/2 lb of beans, chopped
1 zucchini (or 1/2 of a giant one) diced
1 small onion chopped
2 cloves garlic, thinly sliced
a loving handful of spicy sausage, gently removed from casings
large can of whole tomatoes and juice
2Tb tomato paste
2Tb olive oil
2 tsp oregano
salt and freshly cracked pepper
3/4 cup of red wine
juice of one lemon

Heat the oil on medium-high in a large pan or pot. Once hot add the onions and garlic and cook on high unitl slightly brown. Add in your tomato paste and cook briefly while stirring. Add the sausage and oregano and stir until the meat is nearly cooked through, then deglaze the hot pan with red wine. Add all of the other ingredients except the lemon juice, salt and pepper, and bring to a boil. Lower the heat a bit and stir every once and a while. It should be nice and thick when ready, with less liquid than the average stew. When it's been at least 20 minutes and you finally have time to eat, season to taste and stir in the lemon juice.




It was good shit and we totally burnt our mouths on it. We ate it with rice but it would have been perfect with pasta or even just some fresh bread for dipping. My secret rice recipe is located right on the back of the bag- just don't skimp on the margarine.


So we all ate healthy this week- and you can too! Don't be afraid to jazz this recipe up with 10-12 beers and a glass of bubbly like we did. You won't be disappointed. A Special thanks goes to everyone who helped and participated in both shows- especially Ryan Smith for driving our asses around as usual.

Thanks mom- never give up your dream of getting me to eat more vegetables.

-Sev

Friday 26 August 2011

Rock n Roll Rib Platter

    technical difficulties.
  • Slumlord wishes to apologize for posting this late. We were very busy with preparing for our CD release party this past weekend. After which we were far too hungover to accomplish anything other than eating McDonalds and watching trashy television programs. Take it away, TJ

Hey there Slumateers, have we got a treat for you this week. Last week's prime rib was such a success we decided that we must try our hand at the one of the most addictive and powerful substances known to man; slow cooked pork ribs.

Speaking from my own perspective, nothing makes me feel more powerful than viciously beating someone weaker than myself. Tearing meat from bones with my teeth however is a close second, but lord knows I hardly had to tear because these ribs turned out to be so goddamned tender and juicy the meat was falling right off the bone.



Severine Kavanaugh was our saucier for this the diabolically delicious feast we prepared for ourselves this week.

Sold Your Soul for BBQ Sauce

1/2 can of tomatoes
3/4 cup of tomato paste
1 medium onion
3 cloves of garlic
2 tablespoons fresh ginger
1 tablespoon oregano
1 tablespoon cumin
1 tablespoon chili powder.

The preparation of this sinful sauce is as follows:
Roughly chop onions, ginger and garlic. Fry in oil on medium heat until browned. Add tomato paste, cook on medium heat for a few moments and then add a tallboy of your choice (we used a can of killkenny). Add the rest of ingredients and bring to a boil. Once it has reached a boil, lower heat and allow the concoction to simmer for about an hour or until the beer's bitter flavour has been cooked off. Stir often. puree (hand blender works great), season then cool.



To prepare the ribs for the grill this week we used a very simple spice rub.


SlumSpice mix

Salt
Pepper
Cumin
Chili Powder
Cayenne
Sriratcha sauce
Smashed up garlic cloves



I did not measure the amounts of any of these, instead I proceeded to dump large amounts of each spice into a bowl, stir them around with my grubby mitts, and then proceeded to pound them into to meat. I also smeared the garlic all over the place, then stabbed little holes into the ribs and stuffed them with the remaining garlic pieces.













We sat the rubbed pork on the counter, and proceeded to annoy our neighbours for two hours. Upon completion of our strange rock n roll rituals in Artz Street's noisiest three bedroom unit, we quickly brushed a thin lair of Severine's Sinister Sauce in the final preparation for this portions of a pig's journey to my BBQ.

I fired up trusty ol' rusty and kept it at maximum heat, occasionally scraping charred bits of our last delicious creation off the grill. When the thermometer reached 600 I tossed the ribs on searing each side for about 3 minutes.


I lowered the BBQs heat to it's minimum setting, the ribs were then wrapped in foil, covered with sauce and allowed to cook in their own delicious juices. We did not flip them. We generously applied more sauce, every ten minutes or so for about 40-45 minutes- At which point the ribs were  removed from the foil so the sauce could become crispy and caramelized, more sauce was then generously applied. Allow ribs to sit for 10 minutes before cutting.



Since most of today's creative juices went into preparing the ribs, we decided to make an easy side. French Fries. They were prepared more or less how you would expect them them to be. Potatoes were chopped, quickly boiled to de-starch, blanched then deep fried until crispy, salted, and serves with ketchup, feel free to make your own variations.

When these bad boys were cut into individual ribs my god were they saucy and delicious the meat was tender juicy and falling off the bone. The fact that I am writing this on an empty stomach makes this entry torturous, because I can almost taste the beauty the three of us created this past week. I'm not certain what we were listening to while preparing this, I wanna say "Animals Eat Em" by Antiseen. But it was more likely we were listening to Wu-Tang.
Bon Apetite until next week.

Love, Slumlord.










Sunday 14 August 2011

Backyard BBQ with Slumlord.

                   

This is only our third blog so far, but you may have noticed we definitely prefer working with meat in all of its glory. This week Tasha, TJ and I (plus a few extra pals) aim to enjoy the mother of all tasty dead cow chunks: prime rib roast! The lovely Tasha also provided the jam with unbelievably juicy bacon-wrapped-pork-tenderloin-kabobs: because nothing goes with meat like a nice side of meat. And what BBQ would be complete without a hearty horseradish potato salad/ bottle of Jack Daniels? Seriously, I dare you to argue with me.



So last Sunday Tasha calls me up in enthusiastic spirits. She informed me that a backyard BBQ of epic proportions was well underway at our friend Andy's place, that it was nearby, and that he would be more than happy to host our Slumjam. I thought to myself that if something was to get in the way of our Rock, it may as wells be this- what a delicious setback! "Can we still get a little jam in?" I asked her in a nasally voice.. she assured me we would.       

                                                    
     
  
I did some prep for the potato salad at my place before heading over, but I just kinda threw the meat into a cooler with random stuff. I wasn't sure what would be available for use in this strange, foreign kitchen, and I didn't even really know how I wanted to prepare either dish. So, half my pantry ended up coming along for the ride- right down to the salt and pepper. You just never know when you're on location! TJ met up with us after work at the pita plant and here's what we came up with- it was pretty damn tasty if you ask me.



  • The 3-Horseradish-of-the-Apocalypse Potato Salad

About 3 lbs Yellow fleshed potatoes, medium diced
1/2 cup bottled Horseradish (or 1/3 cup grated fresh)
2 large Dill pickles, chopped
1 1/2 cups Sour cream
Splash apple cider vinegar
1/2 onion, minced
3 Hard boiled eggs, chopped
1 Tbsp paprika
1 Tbsp olive oil
2 Tbsp salt
S & P 


Place potatoes in a large pot and cover generously with cold water and the 2 Tbsp of salt. Bring to a boil on high, then lower heat slightly and cook for about 12 minutes or until potatoes are just tender. If you're really impatient or in a hurry (like I usually am), cool your potatoes quickly by gently running cold water over them. 
For the dressing, place all other ingredients in a large bowl and fold them together. Check seasoning and adjust as needed, then add your cold, cooked potatoes and stir carefully until totally coated in the dressin. It really couldn't be any easier, and does anyone ever notice the salad anyway? 






  • Double-Pig Shish Kabobs 

2 Pork tenderloins, silver skin removed and cut into large chunks
Your fav BBQ sauce
An assortment of veggies cut into large chunks; we went with red onion, whole button mushrooms, red and yellow peppers.
Skewers 
1 lb Bacon
2 Tbsp Olive oil
S&P


Toss pork in the BBQ sauce, then wrap individually in bacon strips. Toss veggies in the S & P and oil. Skewer meat; alternating with the veggies at your pleasure. We just slow cooked these guys on med-low alongside the roast, turning them occasionally as we leisurely smoked cigarettes.


  • Prime Roast of Thomas Kavanaugh




For the roast, I simply followed my heart. I crushed 3 large cloves of garlic with a generous amount of both salt and pepper, plus about 2 Tablespoons of olive oil and 1 Tablespoon of dry thyme. Fresh thyme would have been nice too, or even some rosemary if you're feeling frisky. I rubbed this all over the roast, then stuck a steak knife lightly into either side about 3 times, then crammed the remaining garlic pieces right into the protein. We let this sit for a half hour or so, then TJ hit the grill. He cooked this beast on high for 5 minutes either side, then reduced the heat to medium-low and cooked for 45 minutes. He was careful to keep an eye on it, flipping the roast every 10 minutes and moving it around the grill to ensure and even heat. 


Meanwhile, he was also cooking like thirty frigging pig-kabobs on the same grill, rotating them and basting them in BBQ sauce! The meat was flowing like sin through our hearts, as TJ cooked up plate after plate. What an artist. 

Success! When all was said and done, we were all way too full and there were tons of leftovers to be enjoyed for generations to come. Can you believe that we ended up practing anyway? They say it's not art if you haven't suffered. But I'm starting to think we'd really have something if we just sat onstage, drinking whiskey and eating BBQ at every show from this point on.









Thanks goes to Fresh Prince of Bel-Air Andy for allowing us free range of his kitchen- and to everyone else who helped enjoy this BBQ! 


- Sev



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