Showing posts with label these are just a few of my favorite things. Show all posts
Showing posts with label these are just a few of my favorite things. Show all posts

Thursday, April 15, 2010

Grilled Bison and King Oyster Mushrooms with Green Beans and Carrots.

Oh yes! My fabulous husband decided to stop by our favorite butcher the other day and pick up something nice. This butcher carries a lot of local meat which I really appreciate. Including this glorious bison.


For the bison, I mixed fresh rosemary and thyme with a touch of whole grain dijon mustard and olive oil. The bison is great on it's own, so my aim is not to flavour so much as give a hint of support for it. I rub the herb mixture on and then add fresh cracked pepper and a touch of kosher salt. I like my meat medium-rare to rare and I wouldn't recommend cooking something like this more than medium at the most.

One thing that makes a huge difference with meat, especially red meat, is letting it come to room temperature before cooking. This helps the meat "relax" a little (I believe) but mostly helps you cook the meat more precisely. You just can't cook a refrigerator-cold piece of meat properly all the way through because the outside will warm up but the center will still be cold. Yuck! So let it warm up for awhile! The time depends on many things such as size of cut and ambient room temperature. My house is typically around 18C until the middle of summer and I will leave it out for as long as an hour but usually 30 minutes or so. For chicken I would do 20 minutes at most, just because I'm paranoid (and can't often get local chicken, oddly).

But I digress! Those beautiful mushrooms are from a local mushroom farm and they arrive in my weekly produce deliveries. These are King Oyster or King Eryngii (pleurotus eryngii) and they are one of my favorites now. They have fantastic flavour and are quite "meaty". We like to simply cook them in a pan with a bit of butter (unsalted) and lightly salt and pepper them. As with most things this good, we prefer to let the natural flavours be centre stage.

The carrots and green beans were also cooked simply in a frying pan on moderate-high heat.  More fresh thyme and rosemary were sprinkled over the mushrooms and veggies. 

Enjoy! 

Tuesday, June 9, 2009

A Few of My Favorite Things

Horse of Course has a friendly challenge going. The best kind, if you ask me, because we get to think and write about our favorite horsey things.

This was more challenging than I expected! I knew I should really narrow it down to my very favorites and that required some thought. I expect they would change a bit if I owned my own horse, but not by a lot.

First on the list is Vet Wrap. It is not strictly a horsey thing but it's versatility is exactly why it makes my list. With it's ability to stick to itself and nothing else, it's perfect stretchiness allowing for different amounts of tension and the multitude of colours available, it is perfect for wrapping wounds in even awkward locations or simply keeping a tail clean and tangle free for a time. I would argue it's better than duct tape.One of the best purchases I made last year was a synthetic girth like this one. I was worried about buying a synthetic girth but I also didn't want to spend the money on a leather one. I love the way it moves with the horse, stays pliable and is easy to clean. It makes me happy every time I tack up. Note: I have heard that it is possible for a horse to have a reaction to the neoprene. Although no one I know who uses them has ever had a problem, it is something to be aware of, especially when first trying them out.

As a kid, I never rode in gloves except in the winter and they were not riding gloves. I'm not sure why, I just didn't need them I guess. Now, I really appreciate a good glove and I only ride glove-free on the occasional fun hack. I've used a number of types and my current pair the Ariat® Pro Grip Leather Glovesare my favorite. The leather is super-soft but has been very strong too. The thing I like most is that I don't feel like I'm wearing gloves at all. That is the mark of good equipment!




Finally, I have a very common grooming tool - the mane and tail comb. I have a "thing" for tangle-free manes and tails, so this is one of my favorite tools. Whether it's a newer model with rolling teeth like the Grooma comb or a plain old plastic comb, I love the finished product!


I hope you've enjoyed my list of favorites! This exercise made me realize how much I love almost everything associated with our equine partners.