Gearing up for the Holidays

We kicked off our week hunting for boughs and red twigs for our Christmas decorating.  Our friend Lynn was kind enough to invite us to her country property with our dogs and our clippers to harvest some of her beautiful dogwood.  

Another highlight was the Onward Manufacturing Holiday party, which was artfully organized and executed by Erin and her team.  Saturday morning in the bright sunshine they set up rows of Broil King, Broil Mate and Sterling barbecues and cooked 12 succulent strip loin roasts and 18 boneless turkeys to absolute perfection.  Both were simply seasoned with salt and pepper, but for the turkeys, they filled the drip pans with cranberry juice, and for the beef roasts, they used red wine.  The team members are true barbecue experts.  To learn how to set up your barbecue for this drip pan method,  refer to our Techniques section.

Amy, Erin, Dan, Anthony, Ben, Rich and Geoff preparing for the party.

 

The beef was grilled to perfection

Andy and his barbershop quartet provided entertainment.

  

We are also enjoying having our friends from England and Spain staying with us.  Wayne from Spain was so happy to come to Canada for the first time and to see Niagara Falls!  We fired up the smoker and filled it with beef and pork ribs from the Kitchener Farmer’s market and served them with a maple and rye whisky barbecue sauce to give it true Canadian flavour. 

In the spirit of finding ways to use our delicious leftovers, we have put together this recipe for Lamb Curry  to follow last week’s blog post.

Lamb Curry

2 tablespoons olive oil

1 medium onion, chopped

1 red pepper, chopped

1 medium eggplant, peeled and cut into ½ “ cubes

2 cloves garlic, minced

2 tablespoons curry powder (more to taste)

1 teaspoon ground cumin

1 teaspoon ground coriander

Leftover lamb roast, cut into 1 “ cubes

2 cups beef broth

1 rounded teaspoon cornstarch dissolved in 1 tablespoon cold water

Heat oil in a dutch oven over medium heat and sauté the onion and red pepper until softened.  Increase the temperature to medium high, add the eggplant and cook until slightly softened and beginning to brown, about 5 minutes.  Add the garlic and stir for 30 seconds, then add the remaining spices, lamb and beef broth.  Bring to a gentle simmer, then cover tightly with a lid and place in a 275° oven for 1- 1 ½ hours or until the meat is very tender.  Carefully place on the stove, and open the lid away from you to avoid steam.  Stir the water into the cornstarch and pour the mixture into the stew.  With the burner on medium, stir until slightly thickened.  You may repeat this step if you wish a thicker broth.

Serve over rice with a crisp green salad and mango chutney.