Thursday, January 10, 2008

Guest post by Mick

My wife, Kathy was under the weather this past weekend with the Flu, so we didn't do our usual Saturday night dinner with Mick and Amy. Mick and Amy though troopered on and had a really good Saturday night dinner without us. Amy took some pictures and Mick was nice enough to write-up the dinner...

I had been planning to make one of my favourite recipes for dinner on friday night. It requires a can of Chipotle Peppers in Adobo sauce. Unfortunately I used up the last of it when I hit the diablo burgers with the spice weasel. All week long I had been meaning to pick up a couple cans to refresh my pantry, but I came up empty handed wherever I checked. Finally in desperation I jumped on google and searched for "mexican food store hamilton" and got a hit on a place called Mex-I-Can. I gave them a buzz and asked if they had stock, yes they did! Finally found a source for Chipotles in Adobo. Denninger's doesnt seem to have them anymore. I didn"t have enough time on friday to make the "Smokey Chipotle Tenderloin" so I decided to make it Saturday night.

I didn't think that would be enough food for Amy and I so I ran out to the store and bought 16 31-40 size shrimp and 7 slices of "the best prosciutto in the place". I ended up with $5 worth of Fini Prosciutto Parma. Expensive for sure, but hopefully worth the price.

The dinner plan called for a batch of my special Prosciutto wrapped curry shrimp followed by Smokey Chipotle Tenderloin over spring mix salad with clementines. Usually we have Robert Mondavi Riesling with the shrimp, but with only 2 of us, I figured it might not be a good idea. With the tenderloin, I knew I was serving Zin, just which one. I have a plethora of Zin in the cellar, many of them needing to be consumed soon. I chose a bottle of Dashe Cellars' "Dry Creek Valley" Zinfandel 2002. ($19 USD @ Premier Group, rated 83 by WineSpectator, 87 by Wine Enthusiast).


I grilled up the shrimp after letting them marinade for about an hour. One thing surprised me when I took them out of the fridge, the marinade was a dark red colour. Usually it is pretty thin and lighter in hue. I used up the same volume of marinade for a half serving of shrimp, drizzling the grilling shrimps with whatever was left in the marinading container. With no Riesling in sight, I served the next best thing. Alexander Keiths India Pale Ale. What could be a better match for Curry than an India Pale Ale?

The shrimps were without a doubt the best I have ever made, the prosciutto was worth every penny, it was strong in flavour but not as salty as the kind I usually get. It was also quite moist compared to the norm. Usually prosciutto is quite dry and sometimes hard to wrap around the shrimp, the Fini was nice and soft and easy to wrap. The extra marinade drizzled overtop made then extremely spicey. They were fantastic. The Alexander Keiths matched great with the shrimps. Amy (who despises beer) agreed with me that the beer was a great match, worth having again. I highly recommend trying some Keiths with curry. The beer is pretty light in colour, sweet in taste and dry to finish. It goes perfect.


Next up was the Smokey Chipotle Tenderloin. This is a recipe I initially pulled out of a grilling cookbook and adapted for winter cooking. I now roast it in the oven. Saturday night I decided to go back to its roots and grill it. Am I ever glad I did. It turned out better than ever, I doubt I will ever roast it again.

The wine was amazing. Mark would have loved it. Big, Bold in your face fruitiness and a strong alcohol finish that leaves your mouth tingling but not burning. It had that nice sweet middle flavour that I like in my zin, but it kicked like a mule. Considering the age of it (2002) I was expecting it to be pretty weak in the fruit department, but it did not dissapoint. Next trip down to the Premier Group, I will definitely be picking up another bottle or 2. The 2001 Dashe Cellars "Todd Brothers Ranch" Zinfandel we had previously was nowher close to as good as this one was. I quite liked the Todd Brothers Ranch, but the Dry Creek Valley absolutely smokes it.

-Mick

Prosciutto wrapped curry shrimp.

Combine in a bowl - 2tsp paprika, 1/2 tsp of Cayenne Pepper, 1/2 tsp Curry Powder, 1/2 tso Ground Cumin, 1/2 tsp Ground Coriander seed, 1/2 tsp Ground Sea Salt, 1/2 tsp Freshly Ground Pepper, 1 tbs Olive Oil, 2 tsb Sugar, 2 tbs Lemon Juice.

Add 20-30 peeled and deveined shrimp and stir to coat. Marinade in fridge for 30 minutes to 2 hours.

Skewer the shrimp, wrapping each shrimp with a 1/2" to 1" wide, 5" long strip of proscuitto.

Grill direct high heat for 3-4 minutes, turn and grill 3-4 more minutes

Smokey Chipotle tenderloin.

In a small skillet combine 4-6 cloves of diced garlic, 1 tsp ground cumin, 2 tsp dried oregano, 1/4 tsp cinnamon with 1 tbs of heated olive oil. Cook 1 minute.

Add 1 213ml can of Tomato Sauce, 1/2 cup of water, 1/4 cup of cider vinegar, 2 tsp sugar, 1/2 tsp salt. Bring to a boil and remove from heat. Allow marinade to cool.

In a blender combine the marinade with 3-5 whole chipotle peppers in adobo sauce (pluck the peppers out of the can and toss them in the blender, make sure the peppers are covered with adobo sauce). Blend untill smooth.

Put 1 or 2 pork tenderloins in a resealable freezer bag and add the cooled marinade. Allow it to marinade for at least 1 hour (3-4 is optimal).

Place the tenderloin(s) on an oiled grill rack, place a pan underneath grill rack and grill at med indirect heat for 40 minutes. Remove tenderloins after 40 minutes and grill an addition 5-10 at high direct heat. Slice and serve over spring mix salad with madarine slivers and balsamic vinegarette dressing.

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