Creole Envie

Looking for something new with a little spice!

Try Creole Envie, Scott and I last Friday night decided to go out for something different and found this little gem.

http://www.creoleenvie.net/

Try the fried green tomatoes and the shrimp hush puppies to start! We decided to try the sampler plate of gumbo, Jambalaya, red beans and rice, ribs, buttermilk fried chicken, cat fish and for dessert Bread budding. Very well prepared and the flavours were great they did not use a bunch of salt to flavour the food which I like. 

The service was great, our server was very informative when we asked about what was in the dishes. For all the individuals that require gluten free items, they accommodate that too!

You have to make reservations as it is quite popular and quaint. If you are a frequent diner they even put your name on your favourite table! Will definitely go back for a second time and bring friends.


Happy tasting!

Darlene B.

The KEG Early Valentine's February 13, 2013

Last night Scott and I decided to go out for an early Valentine's dinner. We chose the Keg north Edmonton, which has always been a go to place for dinner for us.

We were quite surprised to learn of the few cost cutting measures to the restaurant. I am getting ahead of myself. When we arrived at 5:00 pm we were greeted by friendly hostesses and promptly seated. Our server was very friendly and provided great service and we felt as if were important as we engaged in conversation.

That is where it ended, the food quality has always been of above quality; however this night it was not. The escargot was brought out so hot that all the moisture had boiled away. When the Entree's came out to my surprise, I ordered the steak and lobster, the butter came in a little cup on the plate and was cold. The whole idea of having lobster is being able to have hot butter to dip it in... as the lobster should just be at cooking temperature of almost finished... if this makes sense.  This, in my opinion, is how you are able to have a moist lobster rather than an over done one.

So not only did we not get our candle with butter out vegetables were ice cold, the steak was burnt on the outside and rare in the middle. The baked potato was the only thing hot on the plate. We asked for the Manager on duty, which turned out to be the General Manager. Only providing feedback, we told him of our experience.

Scott and I both said that our first impression was of being in a Red Lobster, the only difference being the glass butter container to a paper one at Red Lobster. We come to expect a certain level of standard with the Keg and did not receive it tonight. The GM was very helpful saying it was a corporate decision and not a restaurant one. He said he would address the meal with his kitchen staff and apologized for his staff not providing the level of standard that he would have hoped for.

He paid for our meal which was very appreciated, did offer to take it back however we declined we did not want to wait another meal to be brought out. We thanked him for hearing us out and looked forward to the next time we are in.

I also mentioned that the staff should realize that there are blogger's, like me, out there waiting to write about their food experiences and if there is to much negative feedback it will hurt business in the future.

Scott and I also said we do not mind paying a few dollars more for good quality food and service. We realize that cost of living increases need to occur. It is when those costs go up and service and food quality go down that one questions the motives of a corporation.

Business failure is in the "all in the name profit, mentality".

I hope everyone has a wonderful Valentines day!

Darlene B.

Wild Tangerine

Just recently stumbled accross a new restaurant that we think you would enjoy "Wild Tangerine" located at 10383 112 Street NW, Edmonton, Alberta, call 780-429-3131 for reservations.

Scott and I have been twice now and the food has been very well done both times. The menu is small, with a few appetizers, noodles, pastas and grains, and specialty items.

You will want to pay closs attention to the Shrimp Lollipops with wasabi yogurt. It plays well on your pallet, springing to life with just enough zing for your tongue to dance..... not spicey.

 Continuing with the first course of our meal, we tried the Caesar Oriental Salad with Oregano Vinaigrette, Candied Walnuts and a Crispy Pork Spring Roll  and Grilled 5-spice Octopus Salad with Spicy Tangerine Vinaigrette, these are both a must for someone wanting to try a different type of salad. The Octopus was done very well it was quite tender and the Caesar Oriental Salad's candied walnuts are a must to try.

We continued to the main specialty items having the "Cha-Siu Organic Pembina Pork Tenderloin * with Spicy Tangerine Glaze" and the "Most memorable Red Curry Mussels with Linguini " both great items. Our dinner guest tried the "Slow-Cooked Marsala-masala Spiced Lamb Loin Chops" and his comments were "I have not had lamb done as well as this in years. 

Customer service by the host was friendly, outgoing and has a great sense of humor.

So if you are looking for a new trendy place for an evening out with friends I recommend the Wild Tangerine! 

Sanjeev Kapoor's Khana Khazana

Sanjeev Kapoor is one of India's most popular chefs and author. The book is the first in the series called "Khana Khazana: Celebration of Indian Cookery" which has been planned in order to familiarize food lovers with long forgotten regional cuisines of India. These recipes will open the doors to the unexplored range of recipes that had been relegated to the archives. A lot of painstaking research has gone into collecting these recipes.
Each state and region included in this book has its own cuisine and local flavour. In this book the author introduces a variety of dishes that have been perfected by our ancestors. At the same time care has been taken to ensure that the ingredients used are easily available and if not, a substitute has been suggested. Chettinad Fried Chicken, Kombdi Wada, Chingri Malai Curry, Rayalseema Pesarettu, Kolhapuri Pandhra Rassa, Kesari Rajbhog, Khajoori Shahi Tukra are just a glimpse of the fabulous tongue tickling recipes you will find between the two covers of this book. They will not only bring in India's diversity into your home kitchens but also help you to satiate the best of gourmet palates.
‘Khana’ means dinner and lunch ‘Khazana’ means a big container of gold or money. Therefore I think it is grate combination of two names. When you try his dishes, probably you would also say “wow, it is real Khana Khazana”.
In addition, my sister suggest me some more books of Sanjeev Kapoor.
1. Any Time Temptations (especially for snack, starter, salad soup, pudding, sandwiches, and deserts)
2. Best of Chinese Cooking (especially for rice, noodles, vegetables, soups, chicken, lamb, rice, and noodles)
3. Italian cooking (pizzas, risottos and pasta including lasagne, cannelloni and ravioli)
4. Thai Cooking (fragrant Chicken in Green Curry, crisp prawn Firecrackers, crunchy Green Papaya Salad, spicy Massaman Mutton Curry, scented Jasmine Rice and velvety Coconut Custard)
Even you can ‘Google it’ by writing Sanjeev Kapoor’ recipes. There are so many videos available for different and tasty recipes. If the videos are available in Indian languages you can read ingredient that in English and you can get some idea by watching video.

Butter Chicken

One of the Indian dishes that I found is butter chicken. India majority people like butter chicken. Butter chicken is one of a delicious chicken dishes that can be made as hot or as mild as you wish - a perfect meal for curry lovers who want to keep it simple. I found how make the butter chicken in home. Here is method.
Ingredients
2 chicken breasts, cut into chunks
2 Tbsp vegetable oil
2 Tbsp butter
1 onion, chopped
¼ tsp cinnamon
1 tsp garlic, crushed
1 tsp ginger, crushed
½ tsp ground turmeric
1 tsp chilli powder
2 Tbsp ground almonds
8 oz can of whole peeled tomatoes
1 Tbsp tomato paste
1 Tbsp natural yoghurt
2 Tbsp fresh coriander or spinach, chopped
salt
pepper
1 large frying pan
1 spoon
1 tray
Methods/steps
Step 1:
Season the chicken.
Begin by seasoning the chicken with a generous sprinkling of salt and pepper.
Step 2:
Heat the oil and begin to fry the chicken.
Using a large frying pan, heat the vegetable oil and add the chicken.
Step 3:
Fry for 3-4 minutes.
Fry the chicken for 3-4 minutes until it turns a golden-brown colour.
Step 4:
Remove the chicken.
Take the chicken out of the frying pan and put it aside.
Step 5:
Melt the butter.
Use the same frying pan to melt the butter.
Step 6:
Fry the onion with the cinnamon.
Now add the onion and cinnamon and fry together in the pan.
Step 7:
Add the remaining ingredients.
At this point add the crushed garlic, crushed ginger, turmeric, chilli powder, almonds, peeled tomatoes, tomato paste and the natural yoghurt. Stir all of the ingredients together and mix thoroughly.
Step 8:
Bring to the boil and cook.
Bring the ingredients to a boil and stir for 4-5 minutes. Season with salt and pepper to make delicious taste.
Step 9:
Add the chicken.
Put the chicken back into the pan and combine with the other ingredients.
Step 10:
Add the fresh coriander.
To compliment the dish, add the coriander (or fresh spinach if you prefer) and mix with the sauce.
Step 11:
Serve while streaming and eat up!
Spoon the chicken and the sauce onto a large serving dish and serve with rice and naan bread. A perfect curry dish that goes down well with an icy Asian beer.
Try it at home.

Ernest's

We have a really great restaurant located right here at NAIT. It opened in 1963, known simply as NAIT's dining room, then renovated in 2005 and re named Ernest's. It offers a fine dining experience without the fine dining price tag.

All of the food is cooked by NAIT's Culinary Arts students using all local products. This includes daily lunch specials along with the regular lunch and dinner menu. One of the highlights is the Friday Student Showcase lunch buffet. The impeccable food service is provided by NAIT's Hospitality Management students.

Here is just a few examples of what you will find on the menu at Ernest's. The lunch menu ranges from a warm spinach salad with wild boar bacon, to a salmon blt, to a smoked pork tenderloin. You will find savory foie gras and a grilled thirty-eight day aged rib steak featured on the dinner menu. Both the lunch and dinner menus are followed by a delicious selection of desserts. If you choose to really indulge, Ernest's offers a fabulous wine selection as well.

The full lunch, dinner and dessert menus, along with the wine list, can be viewed on NAIT's website (http://www.nait.ca/). You will definitely not be disappointed with your dining experience at Ernest's!

Russian Blintzes

Many people know about Russian blintzes (crepes) with caviar. This kind of blintzes is not so popular in Russia. So let me introduce you real “blintzes” from Russia.

On the picture you can see blintzes with ground beef filling which I made by myself. I am not a good cook, so don't ask me to prepare them for you :-) As perogi and dumplings, blintzes can be with different fillings: ground beef, sweet cottage cheese (these two are my favorite fillings), chicken, different berries, and so on. You can put inside of blintzes whatever you want (almost). Moreover, often we don’t put any filling inside of blintzes, and eat them dipping in something like strawberry or cherry preserves, sweet condensed milk, honey, sour cream. You can use maple syrup in Canada to dip your blintzes in.

In Russia, we have a net of kiosks in big cities that sell hot blintzes all around the cities. I think, this is an excellent business. Equipment for these kiosks is not expensive and easy for use. It is very quick and easy to make blintzes. Besides, they have many different fillings prepared ahead. So, in 3-5 minutes you can receive hot, just made blintzes with filling that you like. I want to say that although this net of blintz’ kiosks works very well in Russia, I am not sure it will work in Canada.