Not-Beaver Beaver Tail (Pork Schnitzel) & Maple Cherry Sauce

Happy Canada Day!  (Don’t worry Americans, we’ll have a celebratory dish for you too.  As for the rest of the world, we will probably forget the date – I’m not so great about remembering birthdays.  We still love you!)

We had quite the brainstorming session as to what we should do for a special recipe to celebrate which resulted in 3 recipes today.  We came up with a short list of traditionally Canadian food (poutine, Nanaimo bars, maple syrup, moose meat, salmon, bannock- well, Native – Canadian Whiskey, Molson Canadian, and we wondered about the accessibility of Canadian goose eggs….  Can you think of any?  Add to our list using the comments below.  Canadian bacon – which of course we just call bacon, just like French toast is just called toast in Paris, hehe).  Holley had just listened to a hilarious episode of The Debaters arguing whether the beaver or the polar bear should be Canada’s official animal (maybe not the best episode, but I feel that it is still worth the $2 to purchase on iTunes).  And to save you the effort of hunting down the video of the polar bear eating a seal (I’m assuming you listened to the episode…).  And of course a quick video of a beaver slapping his tail.

What’s funnier than beavers?  So, beaver tails (not the deep-fried, sugared pastry) it is!  But we didn’t have access to any beavers to eat last minute, so flattened pork will have to do.

I think that Canada Day is one of those few holidays (other than Christmas, and St.Patty’s doesn’t count) that I really dig taking part in the events surrounding the day.  I’m proud to be Canadian and I really enjoy celebrating with my fellow countrymen and women.  The only other time we get this feeling is during the Winter Olympics watching our hockey teams show the world what they’re made of.  I’m going to have to find some maple leaf face tattoos for Canada Day…

There are a couple things that really fire me up with Canadian Pride.  There were some great beer commercials in the past.  But this piece by local slam-poet, Shane Koyczan, that was performed in the opening ceremonies of the Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympics, makes me well every time!  I’ve met Shane, and he’s a really talented guy.  If yoyou’veot time, get lost in YouTube land listening to some more of his works.

So again, Happy Canada Day!  (Enjoy the Canada Flag Beets!)

Not-Beaver Beaver Tail (Pork Schnitzel) & Maple Cherry Sauce

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• Author: Raj - www.ThePrimalDesire.com

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Description

“Beaver tails”, Canadian maple syrup, and local cherries: Happy Canada Day, eh!

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Ingredients

Scale 1x2x3x

• 3 center loin pork chops
• 1 egg
• 1 cup almond flour
• 1/2 tsp onion powder
• 1 tsp garlic powder
• 1/2 tsp fresh chives (finely chopped)
• 1/4 tsp pepper
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 3 Tbsp ghee

Maple Cherry Sauce

• 1/2 cup cherries (pitted and chopped)
• 1/4 Canadian maple syrup
• 1/4 tsp salt

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Instructions

1. Beat your meat: place each pork chop between two sheets of parchment paper and beat with a meat mallet to form your flat beaver tail (approximately 1/3-1/2 inch in thickness).
2. Beat your egg (not quite the same ring to it): in a flat container whisk an egg with a whisk or fork.
3. In another flat-bottomed container (large enough to accommodate your pounded meat), mix almond flour, onion powder, garlic powder, chives, salt, and pepper.
4. Dip pork chop in egg, covering entire surface. Allow excess to drip off meat before transferring to flour container.
5. Coat all surfaces of “beaver tail” with powder mixture.
6. Melt a tablespoon of ghee in a frying pan over medium to medium-high heat (that’s not like asking for a steak cooked between Medium-Rare and Medium, is it?).
7. Cook schnitzel until golden brown, then flip and do the same with the other side.
8. Repeat coating and cooking steps for remaining pork chops.

Maple Cherry Sauce

1. In a saucepan heat all 3 ingredients over medium-high heat until some liquid has evaporated and sauce begins to thicken. Stir frequently to avoid burning natural sugars.
2. Remove from heat and allow to thicken.
3. Serve over “beaver tails”.

Notes

If you don’t have a cherry-pitter, you can actually poke them out using a chop-stick. I didn’t use the bottle like they do in that link, but that would be pretty easy.

• Category: Canada Day
• Cuisine: Holiday

Canadian Flag Beets

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• Author: Raj - www.ThePrimalDesire.com

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Ingredients

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• 2 large red beets (cut in half and sliced)
• 1 large white beets (cut in half and sliced)
• a couple knobs of butter
• salt to taste

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Instructions

1. In a small saucepan, melt approximately 3/4 Tbsp butter and add white beets.
2. In another pot, melt approximately 1.5 Tbsp butter and add red beets (if you cook them all together you’d just end up with red colored beets).
3. Add salt and cook until tender-firm (not quite as tender as you’d cook a potato).
4. Plate in a fancy Canadian flag pattern.

Notes

Don’t throw the beet leaves away! You can eat those too (see recipe below).

• Category: Canada Day
• Cuisine: Holiday

Cooked Beet Leaves

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• Author: Raj - www.ThePrimalDesire.com

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Ingredients

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• 3 beets-worth of leaves (washed & chopped)
• 1 small red pepper (finely sliced)
• 1 shallot (finely diced)
• 1 clove garlic (finely diced)
• 1 1/2 Tbsp ghee
• salt to taste

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Instructions

1. In a medium-large pot, melt ghee over medium heat.
2. Soften shallot, garlic, and red pepper until shallots are translucent.
3. Turn heat up to medium-high and add beet leaves.
4. Stir often – you want to cook this fast.
5. Add salt.
6. Have cold water in the sink, deep enough to come up half-way on the pot.
7. Once the leaves are cooked (dark, soft, and wilted), put pot in cold water to shock the leaves. This helps prevent them from loosing their water content which would result in a lot of fluid in the bottom of the pot.

• Category: Canada Day
• Cuisine: Holiday