Shopping for flavour

It kind of stands to reason that the type of people who won't accept the drivel foisted upon them by mega-breweries (and unfortunately, some of the small ones) are usually the type of people who'd get a kick out of hitting up a grocery store other than your standard big box feed lot.

Nicole and I are two such people. We hit up Dino's (460 Notre Dame) the other day and came home with a nice selection of tamales, short grain rice, naan bread, manitoba made corn flour tortillas and such. It's inspirational to sniff your way through the aisles and stand there trying to figure out what your next great experiment will be.

The beauty in Dino's lies in the fact that you'll be standing in one aisle eyeing up the industrial sized can of White Hominy Corn and you'll smell something two aisles away that piques your interest. I usually find myself wondering, "what do they cook with that?" or "wouldn't it be neat to try making those myself?"

Here's a couple of recipes you can play with for the pre-beer hours...

Grits & Eggs
1 can white hominy corn (drained and rinsed)

Pop the corn into a pot and cover with about an inch of water. Boil for 5 minutes, then take a hand blender and roughly blend up the mixture. It should look something like a chunky cream of wheat when you're done. Stir in two tablespoons of butter and grind in some fresh pepper.

Optional additions:
1/4 cup of cheese (Cheddar works well, but so does Jarlesberg or your favorite)
1 crushed garlic clove
chopped chives
finely diced hot peppers

How do you like your eggs? I prefer mine poached soft, or over easy - to each their own. I usually serve the eggs on top of the grits in a bowl. Sometimes I like a slice of thick buttered toast from Tallgrass or a heavily caraway'd rye toast with this, too.


Papa Farley's (Originally Uncle Ed's) Beer Cakes

This one's simple:
Your favorite "add water" pancake mix (minus the water)
Your favorite beer (Half Pints, of course)

Use the beer to make the pancakes. You won't be dissapointed. My grandpa guarantees it - so does Uncle Ed. I'd have to say that the Stir Stick Stout would make an excellent choice for this one, but it's up to you.

Serve it with warm manitoba maple syrup (you're worth it) and butter.

Labels: Breakfast, Savoury, Stir Stick Stout