Natchez Shrimp - Louisiana Purchase

Natchez Shrimp - Jumbo shrimp cooked in white wine & herbs with mushrooms & smoked Chipotle pepper butter (Dinner portion $22.95 CAD)
Alligator Lager - Alley Kat Brewing (apprx. $6.00 CAD)

***

CJ thinks it best to split this review in two:

The beer portion, and the meal portion.

Now, don't get me wrong - everyone likes a good lager, even CJ. But over the past 15 years, there isn't one beer from Alley Kat that I've enjoyed. Not one. I shouldn't have ordered it, but I was feeling open-minded. Foolish me. I didn't get a photo. It wasn't enjoyable. I really don't have much to say about it. Sorry for the short review. Just another disappointment. <Sigh>

Grade: 5.2 out of 10.0

Meal portion

This was much more enjoyable than my beverage.

The dish came out in a reasonable time, and included roasted vegetables (green beans and yellow squash) with a few grape tomatoes thrown in for good measure, and a sliced, roasted potato. The sides came out quite nicely, and dipping the potato slices (and complimentary bread) into the shrimp/mushroom/wine juice was well worth it. The sauce had a very nice "earthy" taste to it. Quite enjoyable. Not quite "hot", but just the right amount of creole and/or cajun spice to it. Definitely in the top 3 sauces of 2012 (at least so far!).

Both the shrimp and mushrooms were done to near perfection - not chewy due to being overdone at all. Very pleasant.

I suppose the only complaint would maybe be the price, but that's pretty minor.

Here's the photographic evidence:

And the grade: an 8.3 out of 10.0

Lemon & Herb Rubber Canadian Pork Tenderloin - Gingered Noodle Salad with Mango and Cucumber

Lemon & Herb Rubbed Canadian Pork Tenderloin

1 Canadian pork tenderloin, well trimmed, approx. 12 oz / 0.375 kg

2 cloves garlic, minced

1 Tbsp / 15 mL lemon zest
4 sprigs fresh parsley, finely chopped
2 sprigs fresh thyme, finely chopped

1 sprig fresh rosemary, finely chopped

2 Tbsp / 25 mL canola oil

0.5 tsp / 2 mL sea salt

0.5 tsp / 2 mL chili pepper flakes


Gingered Noodle Salad with Mango and Cucumber
(dressing and salad separated as per Lou's preference...)


Vinaigrette:
6 tablespoons seasoned rice vinegar
1.5 tablespoons vegetable oil (Chef Jebediah used canola oil)

1.5 teaspoons chopped peeled fresh ginger

1 teaspoon minced jalapeño or serrano chile (including seeds), or to taste

1 garlic clove, chopped

Salad:

0.5 pound bean thread (cellophane) noodles

1 seedless cucumber (usually plastic wrapped), halved lengthwise and thinly sliced diagonally 

1 bunch scallions, thinly sliced diagonally (1 cup)

1 firm but ripe mango, peeled. pitted. and thinly sliced

2 thin carrots, very thinly sliced diagonally

1 cup loosely packed fresh cilantro sprigs (CJ went a little light here, too)

***

Well, CJ had the good fortune to visit Calgary during the Stampede a few weekends ago. Between the rain and watching the Working Cow Horse Classic, CJ visited the agri-dome(?) where they showed city-folk where milk comes from, what's canola, eggs, chickens, etc... and pork, of course. CANADIAN pork, to be more precise, and they all had various recipes to (honestly, the recipe read "CANADIAN" pork tenderloin...)

So CJ picked up the postcard-sized recipe (along with my I (heart) Alberta Beef) tattoos, and decided it was time for another pork tenderloin dish.

The writeup on the card mentioned that it would be well suited with "...rice or pasta and your favourite fresh vegetables or a salad with citrus fruits and pine nuts". Wham! So a salad was found (maybe not the well-suited) to accompany the pork.

The rub was incredibly easy, and left overnight. Pork was popped into the oven, for about 10 minutes longer than suggested, and it was still moist and tasty! Good seasoning, not too overbearing. CJ was a little tight with the lemon zest, so a second or third lemon is recommended.

The Gingered Noodle Salad with Mango and Cucumber was up next. CJ has always had a soft spot for soba noodles, so this salad seemed like a good fit.

The vinaigrette wasn't processed in a blender, unless you consider CJ's powerful wrists and biceps as heavy machinery. A nice flavour, with little to no aftertaste. Refreshing, if you will.

As for the salad, not a lot of cilantro was used, probably less than 0.25 cup. Use more, next time, CJ will. And it was a little disappointing that the noodles didn't toss well enough with the fruit and vegetables. Why didn't it mix well enough? Were the noodles a little too well cooked? Still too wet?

Regardless, my little sous chefs are probably foaming at the mouth in anticipation of a photo of the latest culinary wonder ...

 Well, there you have it!

The Grade: Pork Tenderloin: 8.1 out of 10.0. Salad: 7.0 out of 10.0.

Griffon Extra Pale Ale

6 341ml bottles of Griffon Extra Pale Ale 5%alc./vol. - $13.99CAD plus deposit ($0.60)

***

Well, I had just recently received an email from Sherbrooke Liquor Store, about some new fancy beer that they were releasing on Friday. I went to an oak-aged beer tasting event in March 2011 that they sponsored, so I figure that's how they got my email.

Well, I wasn't too interested in their new beer release. But I did have a hankering for something different. Supposedly the liquor store has the largest selection of beer in western Canada? I'm not sure if that's true, but they got a pretty mean selection, no doubt.

I tend to like the pale ales, so I wanted to give this a try. I didn't pick it because it has the same namesake/mascot (albeit spelled differently) as my current employer. And speaking of griffons, doesn't the logo down below look like a cross between a rat and kangaroo? yeah, I'm sure that helps with the sales...

 "Yeasty", was how my brother described it Friday after work. Who am I to argue with him? It wasn't bad, but I certainly wouldn't put it at the top of my list for beers to try again.

That being said, I think Brewster's puts some berries in some of their beer (not sure if it's for the pale ales or not), so I figured to try it out. I added about 3 blueberries. Meh.

Photographic evidence:

The grade: about a 6.4 out of 10.0.