spiced bison & beet salad

back in the salad again… well, sort of. ;)

bison & beets in a salad, you ask? perhaps a bit of an unlikely combo, but somehow it just worked. and besides, i had to do something fun with the leftover roasted beets from this previous yumyumyummers recipe. oh, and the fabulous montreal steak spice that i picked up from spice station on my culinary travels out east.

montreal steak spice is a blend of pepper, salt, coriander, dill, mustard seeds, dehydrated garlic and onions, red pepper flakes, rosemary, thyme, paprika and caraway seeds. montreal steak spice is typically used as a rub for steaks… why not bison, too? oh yes.

en papillote (french for ‘in parchment’) is a cooking technique where you bake food in a folded parchment paper bag (placed in a baking dish) and essentially steam the ingredients to lock-in the juicy flavours. although some may think it’s fancy-schmancy, it’s quite a simple way to prepare fish, poultry, lamb and bison, too! check it out…

- pre-heat oven to 400F

the bison:
- 500g organic bison (wrapped in kitchen twine)
- lightly drizzle red wine over the bison (i used some leftover zinfandel in this recipe.)
- season w/ 1 tsp montreal steak spice

lamb ribs w/ spiced pomegranate

you just never know who you’ll meet at the market… and no, i’m not talking about the meat market, my friends. ;)

it was a local organic foods market – casel marché in calgary’s inner-city. i’d say it wasn’t your typical monday evening; however this is typically how mondays take shape at this neighbourhood marché. the community-minded owners organize weekly tweetups called #interactiveMonday, with the goal of meeting and bringing together 500 random friends and neighbours by the end of the year. (impressive, i say!) this was my first time checking out a tweetup ever, so i’ll admit that i was a little unsure of what to expect from essentially a dinner with strangers. but i was delighted to meet 12 new wonderful people from the local community who share a passion for good food and support the local food movement. cheers!

later that week, i created this hearty dish at home — pairing some organic, local ingredients from the market with some goodies from my pantry. check it out…

en papillote (french for ‘in parchment’) is a cooking technique where you bake food in a folded parchment paper bag (placed in a baking dish) and essentially steam the ingredients to lock-in the juicy flavours. although some may think it’s fancy-schmancy, it’s quite a simple way to prepare fish, poultry and also lamb ribs! perfect for an easy weeknight meal or sunday dinner…

- pre-heat oven to 400F

the ribs:
- 1 large rack of lamb ribs

the marinade:
whisk together the following ingredients in a small prep bowl:
- 2-3 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil
- splash of chardonnay
- 1 tsp dean & deluca quatre épices (spice blend of cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves and black pepper)

green chile habanero & honey basa w/ sweet peppers

channeling julia, perhaps? en papillote (french for ‘in parchment’) is a cooking technique where you bake food in a folded paper bag and essentially steam the ingredients to lock-in the juicy flavours. although some may think it’s fancy-schmancy, it’s quite a simple way to prepare fish and poultry. perfect for an easy weeknight meal…

- preheat oven to 350F

green chile habanero & honey marinade:
whisk the following ingredients in small prep bowl:
- 2 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil (evoo)
- 1 tbsp honey
- 1 tsp green chile habanero sauce
- 1/2 tsp lemon & herbs
- 1/2 tsp ground black peppercorns
- dash of salt

prep veggies & gluten-free pasta:
- 4 small shallots (rough chop)
- 3 sweet bell peppers (red, yellow & orange — pitted, seeded, sliced)
- boil 2 cups gluten-free brown rice fettucine (al dente). set aside.