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MEAT & BREAD

Since there is not much excitement in my garden right now (besides that which I get from snipping arugula and spinach leaves and admiring flowers on potato plants…), I thought I would share my first experience at MEAT & BREAD in Gastown, Vancouver.

As I’ve always seen long lines plus a huge crowd of people inside and out in front of the restaurant, I was worried that we might not get seats when we arrived around lunch time. Thankfully, it turned out that just before 2 pm was no so bad.

The place was so photogenic that I couldn’t stop myself from quickly snapping a few shots. The photographs shown here are only the tip of the iceberg, and I cannot wait to go back with a faster roll of film, especially to capture interesting props in the backside of the space and of course, to try their other sandwich varieties!

My porchetta sandwich, and what seemed a bowl of wheat bulgur (correct me if I’m wrong) salad, were absolutely delightful. The salad reminded me of the dish I used to make with couscous in the heat of summer days. So here I did my best to simulate the delectable salad I enjoyed at this restaurant. Hope you can visit this cool place on your next trip to Vancouver!

Meat&Bread4 Meat&Bread5

Oat Groats and Radish Salad

I substituted wheat bulgur (I think) for oat groats, since this was the only close thing that I could find from my local organic store. In return, the salad got a chewier texture that I really enjoyed! Make sure you have extra, because it is so tasty the next day.

Serves 4 to 5

1 cup oat groats

3 cups chicken or vegetable stock, or water

¼ teaspoon sea salt

½ red onion, thinly sliced

1 cup cucumber, cut into ½ inch cubes

2 tomatoes cut into ½ inch cubes

1 bunch radishes, leaves removed and sliced

A few leaves of parsley, finely chopped

Lemon juice from ½ lemon or to taste

A few swirls of extra virgin olive oil

Salt and freshly ground pepper

Rinse the groats. Bring the groats, stock and salt to a boil. Cover, turn the heat down and simmer for 50 to 60 minutes. Remove from heat and let stand for 10 minutes.

Rinse the groats under cold water and drain well. Place in a large mixing bowl along with onion, cucumber, tomatoes, radish, and parsley.

Add the lemon juice and oil, and adjust with salt and pepper. Mix well and let stand for 20 minutes in a refrigerator or until serving time.

Pulled Pork and Coleslaw Dinner

Rain is finally here. My garden has been replenished after the long dry months but it’s been pouring all day (and for the past few days too). A day like this makes me feel like going back to using the oven. I want to savour the aromas of a roast and feel the comforting warmth of the fireplace. Also, I needed to use up cabbages that I just harvested from the garden. So I made a brightly coloured coleslaw salad, then I started wondering what could accompany it. Given my craving for an oven roast, pulled pork immediately came to mind. I tend to work backward all the time. Luckily, I have the perfect man to take charge when it comes to supervising long oven roasts. It is indeed a very important quality in a man.

Oven-Roasted Pulled Pork and Coleslaw Sandwiches

8 to 10 hungry people

2 tablespoons ground cumin

2 tablespoons chili powder

2 tablespoons freshly ground black pepper

1 tablespoon cayenne pepper

1 tablespoon paprika

2 tablespoons salt

4 tablespoons cane sugar

10 lb pork shoulder, skin on-bone in

2 cups BBQ sauce

8 to 10 Kaiser buns

Red cabbage coleslaw (recipe follows)

Combine all the seasonings in a small bowl.

Rinse the pork and pat dry. Remove the rind from the pork, rub the spice blend all over and marinate, covered in a refrigerator for about 1 hour.

Preheat the oven to 300 degrees F.

Place the pork in a roasting pan or heavy bottomed pot, and cover with a piece of aluminum foil. Roast for about 6 hours or until falling apart. A meat thermometer inserted into the thickest part of the pork should read 170F.

Remove the pork from the oven, transfer to a large plate and let stand, covered for 20 minutes.

Using 2 folks, pull the pork to form shreds and place in a large bowl.

Pour 1 cup of BBQ sauce into the shredded pork and combine well.

Assemble sandwiches by placing the pork on a half bottom of a Kaiser bun and topping it with coleslaw. Serve with the other half of the bun and the rest of the BBQ sauce on the side.

Adapted from www.foodnetwork.com

Red Cabbage Coleslaw

I always make this salad a day before serving in order to achieve the best taste and texture.

Makes about 4 cups

1 head large red cabbage, shredded or sliced thinly

2 large carrots, julienned

1 apple, cored and julienned

4 scallions, chopped finely

Dressing

2 tablespoons cane sugar

1 tablespoon white wine vinegar

2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar

1 tablespoon Dijon mustard

½ to ¾ cup mayonnaise

Salt and pepper to your taste

Combine the dressing and pour over the prepared vegetables in a large bowl. Mix well and let stand for at least a few hours in a refrigerator before serving.

Vietnamese Sandwich (Banh Mi)

When fresh cilantro leaves, green onions, vinegary pickled homegrown carrots, a luscious piece of meat and a generous amount of mayonnaise meet with a crusty baguette, the result is heaven! We used to live just around the corner from a place called Au Petit Cafe on Main Street, Vancouver. They make the most delicious, freshly made Banh Mi (Vietnamese sandwiches). We would purchase a few for picnics at Queen Elizabeth Park, one of Vancouver’s best viewing spots, and would feed to leftovers to the ducks at the nearby pond. It was a perfect way to spend a sunny weekend!

Now that we live a little farther away from the cafe, I was determined to experiment in order to create a sandwich at home that resembled Au Petit Café’s Banh Mi. It will never be as good as their sandwiches, but in its own right, it is the freshest and tastiest sandwich, made with seasonal organic ingredients that I grow myself. And that matters to me. I’m proud to say that I have dedicated a section of my garden exclusively to grow cilantro all year round just for making this sandwich! There are so many ways to use the cilantro in various dishes but how else can you really eat a lot of this plant in its raw stage? Tacos, guacamole and pozole! My friend would be screaming in Mexico where cilantro is king. I like the simplicity of this sandwich, which allows me to savour its distinctive flavour of cilantro. So you must grow your OWN cilantro! And it is easy.

Once you sow seeds, they faithfully self seed every year and look cozy in the same location for as long as I remember (a few seasons or longer!). You can let the plants go to seed, and then either you harvest the seeds after they dry out as coriander for cooking or let them fall on the ground. Then, harvest the leaves in the following spring as they mature to plants.

I have tried many different recipes for carrot and daikon pickles in order to create the perfect Banh Mi, but so far I like this recipe by Viet World Kitchen best. I used only carrot this time because my daikon hasn’t emerged from its seed packet yet this year! This is my way of gardening. I do things when I remember and repeat this every season and every year!

To warm up a baguette, just mist the bread all around and place in a 350F preheated oven for 5 to 7 minutes. It will give you a freshly baked texture! I learned this technique years ago from my twin sister who was at the time working as a baker in one of Tokyo’s most famous Italian restaurants. She even started having her own clients who came begging for her creative and sweet delectable treats. She used to treat me with a big plate of assorted desserts that she made including baked cheese cake with framboise sauce, cassata, panna cotta with caramel sauce, tiramisu, torta di ricotta, and a special caramel gelato with something to do with caramelized purple potato and mascarpone cheese… It is a distant memory but I just remember how fantastic every single dessert tasted!

Vietnamese Sandwich (Banh Mi)

For each sandwich

1 small baguette or a section of a regular baguette

Generous amount of mayonnaise

Meat of your choice (I use cooked turkey ham or regular ham for its convenience)

2 pieces green onions or few slices of red onion

Carrot pickles (see the link above)

A bunch of cilantro

Cucumber, sliced (option; I add cucumber when they are in season in my garden)

Hot pepper, sliced (option)

Warm up the baguette in the oven (instructions above) and slit the bread lengthwise. Spread the mayonnaise on both sides of the bread. Layer all the ingredients starting from the bottom part of the bread; the meat, the onion, the carrot pickles and the cilantro. Put the other half of the bread on top. Bite immediately!