Rashers for the love of Bacon

RASHERS Makers of Quality Bacon Sandwiches

My blogger friend Vicky Weiss (MomWhoRuns) invited myself and a bunch of my other blogger pals to a blogger night of bacon of all sorts at Rashers on Ossington on a beautiful summer night.
Vickie's blogger dinners are always the best because she keeps it at about a dozen bloggers and most of us know each other because we are all out and about all the time so we all like to catch up and try new food.  In this case it was the fastest dinner ever.   We wolfed down sample sandwiches of  the sandwiches below in about 15 minutes.  The owners were super friendly and efficient and had everything ready for us to pig out on literally.  They have 2 locations one in Leslieville and this one that we visited on Ossington south of Dundas.

Normally these dinners take a couple of hours but because it was so quick we had time to take a group photo outside of the restaurant and since it was such a lovely day and we are all fed bacon we were a really happy bunch of bloggers.  Don't we look like a bunch of kids on the first day of school?

More importantly was the food.  The owner hails from the UK and thought what was missing from the Toronto market was a good bacon sandwich so he did that and more by focusing on the best pork products and trying to source the best local products he could find.  The sandwiches are simple but at the same time have developed flavour by using great ingredients.  They also had some really great garlic wedges that I couldn't stop eating.

They use Canadian Back Bacon, classic Canadian smoked bacon and English style bacon and mix their bacon into their burger even.  Served on white bread, brioche buns and ciabatta there is a bit of customization of the way you like your bacon in this bacon lovers shop.

Although I liked all of the sandwiches I think the Bacon and Brie was my favourite because I love gooey cheese and the caramelized onions really made it great.

There are a few more options but these are the ones we sampled:

Hogtown - Peameal bacon on a bun with ale mustard

Bacon Butty - British style bacon on white bread with brown sauce

Brie & Bacon - Smoked strip bacon with Brie and Caramelized onions, topped with garlic aioli

Apple & Maple Grilled Cheese - Maple glazed smoked strip bacon with cheddar and apple chutney on white bread

Bacon Caesar - Smoked strip bacon, romaine lettuce, caesar dressing and parmesan cheese on ciabatta bread

Bacon Burger - Ground beef & bacon patty with smoked strip bacon, lettuce tomato and chipotle mayo on a toasted bun

Locations:
182 Ossington Ave - 647-346-8230
948 Queen St. E. - 416-710-8220

Rashers website: http://www.rashers.ca/
Twitter/Instagram @rashersTO


Thank you Vicky and the owners of Rashers for a fun night.

Canada Day - Great Canadian Salad

CANADA  DAY is just a couple of weeks away.

Are you busy making plans for Canada Day and trying to figure out what you are going to eat?

Yes, I know you are.  Holidays always centre around food.

What's your must have dish for your Canada Day Celebration?  Do you include pulses in your famous salad? 

Tell us for a chance to win an Ipad mini or a $100 President's Choice gift card.  

Take the #PulsePledge this #CanadaDay

I took the #PulsePledge and created my own Great Warm Canadian B.L.T with Smoked Cheddar Salad (Bacon, Lentil, Tomato and Smoked Canadian Cheddar with a warm Maple vinaigrette on lettuce.  This really is a Canadian Salad that could be your Canada Day Lunch even.

It tastes great and is packed with things that make it a great addition to your BBQ fare.

Great Warm Canadian B.L.T. with Smoked Cheddar Salad

Here's my RECIPE:

1 small can of Lentils
2 whole lettuce leaves
1 garlic clove
1/2 pack of good smokey bacon.
1/4 tsp smoked paprika
6 cherry tomatoes
1 tbsp apple cider vinegar
1 tsp. grainy mustard
1 tbsp maple syrup
1/4 tsp salt or to taste depending on your bacon.
1 tbsp red onion diced
1 small bunch of parsley chopped
pepper or pepper flakes to taste *optional


DIRECTIONS:

Open a small can of lentils and drain and set aside.  I used Eden Organic green lentils.

I wanted to make bacon cups but they didn't turn out as planned because I was in a hurry but basically cut a pack of bacon in half and fry or bake the strips of bacon until they are crispy.  Whatever method you prefer.  Sometimes I bake off a whole pack in the oven and use for other things.  Less mess on the stove and you don't have to flip it.
If you are baking save some of the bacon fat and if you are frying leave about a tablespoon of bacon fat in the pan and drain off the rest.
In the frying pan with the bacon fat add a clove of garlic on medium heat and take it out when the garlic is golden brown and flavours the bacon fat and then add the drained lentils and add the chopped onions and the smoked paprika, salt,and pepper.  Stir to coat and mix the flavours.  Cook until the onions have softened about a minute or 2.  Add the vinegar, mustard, maple syrup and combine.  Add some the cherry tomatoes cut in half and toss until warmed and then add the parsley.

Place some lettuce on a plate.  I used Romaine but you could use iceberg or butter lettuce.  Add  the bacon strips or if you had more time than I did the bacon cups on top of the lettuce and then spoon the lentil mixture on top.  Sprinkle with more parsley and crumbled bacon and small diced smoked cheddar cheese.  I used St. Albert's Cheese from Ottawa, it's mild but has a great smokey flavour.

That's it... and eat.  You could also eat this salad cold if you reserve the lentil mixture separate from the lettuce and tomatoes.

NOW IT"S YOUR TURN!  Enter the Contest and show us your Great Canadian Salad - Take the #PulsePledge on Woodbox http://woobox.com/inhdq7  and and tag your photos on social media with the #CanadaDay hashtag so we can see them.  The contest closes July 4, 2016.

Don't forget to follow PulseCanada on Facebook

Getting Piggy with it at Bacon Fest 2014

It was the 3rd Annual Bacon Fest this past weekend at the Leslieville Farmer's Market.   I love this market because they have great products and it has a community feel with all kinds of people just hanging around in the park eating, shopping and listening to whatever music is happening that week.

The last time I went it was extremely hot and I left to a ticket waiting on my windshield.  This time I found a better place to park and tried again and participated in eating as much piggy products as I could stuff in my face.   Not as much as I thought I could apparently.

It was a beautiful day with big fluffy clouds in a bright blue sky.   And the smell of bacon wafting through the air.  What's not to love about that.

First I had to stop and get my favourite Sesame Seed Baguette before they got sold out.   Then I walked around to see what the Bacon Fest vendors were selling and seeing what else I needed from the market.    I picked up a dozen Organic Eggs, smoked sausage, some Back Bacon, some garlic, some amazing cream cheese and I split a basket of peaches with my friend.  She picked up some Callaloo leaves.  She is from Gyana so it is native to her country.  I have never cooked with it but maybe I will try to one of these days.


There were a few very long line ups... and as I walked around I stopped at some of the shorter ones that had some yummy looking things.   I tried the Le Papillon booth for some Pulled Pork Belly on a bun with coleslaw.  Messy but good.   Then over to the Hooked booth for some bacon and white fish fried fritters.  So filling.  They kind of did me in but I wanted to try a few more things.   I was going to try the Smoked Bacon on a bun but while waiting in the line they ran out.   Just as well as I wasn't sure I could even finish it.  But I had to try at least one more thing so I opted for Be Good Gelato's Ice Cream Sandwich "Breakfast of Champions" with double smoked bacon, pecans, caramel sandwiched between dark chocolate chip cookies with cafe mocha gelato.  It was frozen solid and so large that I couldn't finish it unfortunately.

    

My friend only eats Chicken so the Bacon didn't appeal to her but she tried a few vegetarian/vegan options.   She got some of the bacon tofu on a stick.  I tried it and it tastes pretty close to a bacon flavour.  My friend not ever having eaten bacon wasn't as impressed because she couldn't relate to the taste of it.   She also had another appetizer that used dried eggplant as the bacon substitute.  I didn't try that one so I don't know how it was.   And my friends final taste was the fruit and cream waffle.

There was so much more to try but my eyes are bigger than my stomach as my mom used to say.   Although lately it looks like my stomach is looking as big but really I can't eat as much as I used to.  Not so good for a food blogger I guess.

 And the Winner of the 3rd Annual Bacon Fest was Sweet Sammies.  There were 3 dessert places to try so I didn't get to try their ice cream sandwiches.  I hope I will see them again at another event soon so I can try it then.

Also in the top 3 was County General, and I didn't have room to try their dish either.  I guess I wouldn't have been much of a judge if I couldn't eat everything.

And an honourable mention went to the Smoked Bacon Tofu on a stick.   Everyone seemed to be impressed with that bacon imitation.

It was a fun day and I hope I can go again next year and have more room in my stomach to try way more things.

Canada Day Foods

  HAPPY CANADA DAY!

I wanted to make some food type thing for Canada Day and originally I was going to do a maple leaf out of Strawberries but that wasn't a great idea.  Then I thought the most Canadian thing is Maple Syrup and Bacon so I combined them to make Maple Candied Bacon which I may turn into Bacon Jam if I have any left.   Then I chopped up some farmer's market strawberries and put them into this Maple Leaf cookie cutter.   If it wasn't so hot today maybe I could have baked some cookies.  So this is what I thought was a good representation of Canada and especially Toronto, Ontario.

Here are some oods people generally think of when they think of Canada:

This is a photo of one of my farmer's market trips in Toronto.   All local Ontario Foods.

and there are lot's of other popular Canadian food and drinks.

Tim Horton's Coffee or in this case Ice Cappuccino and Maple Donut

Duck Poutine with an Egg from Cluny Bistro

Butter Tarts - This is a Bacon Butter Tart that I had at the Green Living Show

St Lawrence Market Peameal Bacon Sandwiches

Molson Canadian Beer/Cider

Canadian Cheese (Oka) from Quebec 

Here's a fun one.. Maple Bacon doughnut from Caplansky's food truck.

Then there's Nainaimo Bars, Montreal Smoked Meat and Maple Syrup.

People don't say I'm going to go for Canadian Food when they decided what to eat but wouldn't it be nice if they started saying that.   We have great chefs, restaurants, producers and food trucks showcasing some of our best foods that we have in Canada.

What do you think of when you think of Canadian Food.

Go out and try one of these soon.

New Organic Garage Store opens in Vaughan

One of my favourite Organic Stores in Oakville - Organic Garage  just opened a second store in Vaughan.  I am super excited about this because I fell in love with Organic Garage when I filmed Heather who was the subject of a documentary I was working on about making environmental changes in diet choices.  Heather lives in Oakville so we filmed her trying to find products without wasteful packaging and also as close to local and Organic as we could find.  It was a challenge for Heather but Organic Garage had a lot of great products for Heather to switch to.  I liked how the store had a large variety of Organic products at prices that were competitive to your usual grocery store.   The Oakville store is a tiny little efficient store in a little strip mall in Oakville.   The new Vaughan store is just off Bathurst at New Westminster, it's just north of the Promenade Mall for those of you that live in Vaughan.  It takes over for a previous Organic store called Planet Organic I think that's what it was called.  I went there a few times and found the prices very high and the selection not that great, although they had a whole counter of prepared foods.  Organic Garage is a compact, efficient set up with great people running it.   They also have a huge boot at the Green Living Show in Toronto that I like to always stop by at to say hi and see what they have.  The people that run the store are really great and it's a pleasure shopping there.   On my visit today I saw Randi who takes care of all the marketing and she was surprised to see me there.  She thought I lived in Oakville near Heather I guess, I live in North York so this store is a lot closer to home.  But she was very happy to see me there.  It's always nice to support great shops with people that care about their customers.

On today's shopping trip I picked up a few things I like to get Organic and a few of my favourite things.   The things I like to buy organic are the Granny Smith Apples and the bacon and the turkey luncheon meat.   My favourite things I picked up were Camino Espresso chocolate, ShaShaBread cookies and Mad Mexican tortilla chips.  I also needed some white wine vinegar so I picked up a new kind to try and I also picked up some 100% buckwheat noodles that were on special.  I was inspired by a dish Gordon Ramsey made on tv before I left the house.    TIP:  Don't watch the food network or go to the grocery store hungry unless you want to buy a whole bunch of things you weren't planning on buying.

I also picked up a few other things like Organic tomatoes, another vegetable that is good to buy organic and I also picked up some bok choy because I could buy individual portions instead of a whole bag of them like they sell in Asian stores.  I find I use a few and then waste the rest.  This way I could buy 3 which is all I need to make a great Asian Soup.  By the way this bag of food was under $40, and I probably would have spent about $60 if I would have bought the same at Whole Foods.  I didn't even shop for deals, I just bought things I wanted.  They have a weekly flyer that they send by email to their mailing list if you are looking for the specials.

I hope that Organic Garage does well in these 2 locations and is able to open more stores in the future.  The only thing that I miss that Whole Foods has is their huge Cheese Section... yeah I am a cheesehead.    So I guess I will still have to hit more than one grocery store to fill my fridge and pantry but I hope to be able to shop at Organic Garage a lot more and get fresh Organic produce at a reasonable price closer to home now.