Creole Dijon Pork Loin and Grilled Peaches

When we were living in Ontario, my girlfriend had fallen in love with a bottled sauce manufactured by Renee's Gourmet. I don't know if their sauces are available outside of Canada but I do know that the Creole Dijon sauce she was so crazy about is not available in New Brunswick. So two bottles of the stuff followed us back into New Brunswick.

To our utter dissapointment, the sauce tasted nothing like we remembered it. Think sweet but with a dijon tang and a balance of creole spices all getting gooey on a barbecued pork tenderloing - which is a wonderful vehicle for sticky and tasty sauces by the way. This sauce tasted like, well, like it came from a bottle. A bottle that came from some manufactury. Maybe I'm too spoiled now but I don't particularly care. Whether it's massed produced or only made for home, it's got to be good or it's not worth the effort. Sorry Renee. But I'll make it myself next time.

The saving grace of our barbecue were the grilled veggies. This is nothing new. I've made it and written about it before. But I've got some techniques now. The mushrooms go on first, gill side down. They've got to be almost completely dehydrated so that they become chewy and really concentrated in their flavour. The zuchinni, on the other hand, musn't be cooked for too long or it get's all limp and watery. It needs to retain it's crunch so it goes on last.

The really cool thing was that in between the mushrooms and the zuchinni I grilled some fresh halved peaches. My girlfriend, like so many other times, looked at me like I was crazy but the end justified the means...or the madness. Grilled fruit is great. Watermelon. Peaches. Lemons. Pineapple. Whatever. It's all great. And it compensates for the icky junk sauce you might buy to slather on your tenderloin.

Busy Times

I've recently chosen to change waitering jobs from Cora's Breakfast to the Barn Yard BBQ. It's a smaller restaurant that's closer to town and because it's not a chain, it's more informal...hell, my uniform consists of a plaid shirt, jeans and a tool belt. Plus the food is really great. Everything is smoked for hours. Whole chickens. Pork ribs and roasts. Beef brisket. It all comes out beautiful. Plus I get to sneak some of my own food in if I catch the guys at the right time.

The unfortunate things about this move is that, being the nice guy that I am, I gave my old boss a 2 week notice and worked at both places for 2 weeks. So 8:30 to 5:00 at the day job, then working nights at the barnyard plus weekends at Cora's. I'm tired and had little to no time to myself which means that the food takes a backseat.

Pretty much the only time I had to make food was in the mornings. So I made loads of egg sandwiches, omellettes and fruit plates but really nothing worth writing about. The only good thing related to these breakfasts is that I've discovered the organic section of my grocery store. I now buy my coffee from the absolute best coffee company Just Us! Coffee Roasters Co-op. Their coffee is fair trade, organic, and the company is a co-operative. You can't have any less capitalistic and environmentally friendly than that. Also in this section of the store I've found soy cream cheese, soy milk, Bob's Red Mill products, organic cereals, hand crafted sodas, organic beans and pastas and so on. It's all a bit more expensive but worth it in an overall view.

Anyways, I'm back in the kitchen now. Like tonight I made a whole chicken in the crock pot with yellow cury paste and coconut milk. I've noticed that things cooked in the crock pot tend to loose any oomph they might have unless they're meant to cook for a long time like sauces or stews or soups. I mixed the chicken with some of the juice and couscous but the result was uneventful. Even the rice krispie squares I made were more exciting than this.

Barnyard Barbecue Rules

I'm choosy when it comes to restaurants. If I can make it better at home or don't find the price matches the decor more than the quality of the food, I'm out. But the Barnyard Barbecue on Mill Street in Moncton is a guaranteed winner.

As the name would suggest, their specialty is barbecue. I mean I had roasted and smoked chicken with beans the other day and they even manage to make that taste delicious. The flesh was smoky, the skin with crispy, the bbq sauce they slathered on top of the chicken was delicious and even the beans were tasty.

You see that's what's great about restaurants that aren't chains. They have to make everything themselves or are doomed to mediocrity. I had a burger at the Barnyard once that goes by the name of "the Burger that Ate Moncton". It was a huge beef patty, topped with shredded pork with all sort of other goodies inside, topped with fresh bread (a must!) and bacon with fries or whatever side you wish for. It's "oh my god" good. That's what it is.

Plus the great thing about the Barnyard is that it's located at the front of the Pump House Brewery. You've got all of the containers and equipment behind floor to ceiling windows that attest to the fact that the beer you're drinking couldn't be any fresher. So while you sit in the southern/hick/shed-like decor, you can watch honest men and women toil away at making the areas best beer.

My only gripe with the Barnyard is service. It could take awhile to get your food amongst other things. Like the other day when we went, we were sitting back in front of empty plates and the waitress looked at us but didn't take the plates. I mean I know it isn't your table but please think about overall customer service here. Come on!

Anyways I do recommend the Barnyard Barbecue. To get an idea of what to expect, check out their menu at http://www.pumphousebrewery.ca/foodmenu.htm. You'll have a great time and even better food and beer. One of the only musts I've found in Moncton so far.