Oscars...

So we had the Oscar bash and I did indeed make flat bread pizzas. I had a bit of trouble finding flat breads at Metro, but they have them in abundance at Loblaws. We got a giant sesame one and one of those President's Choice cheese ones... both amazing.


Here's what I did:

Steak Flatbread

Steak - I bought the cheap marinating steak. Big mistake, it was too chewy. Next time I'll splurge an extra two dollars on a higher quality steak.
Gloucester and Stilton - All in one delicious cheese
Provolone
Onions

Mushrooms - I bought cute button mushrooms

Worcestershire sauce

Thyme

First I marinated the steak in wine, beef broth, thyme and steak spice (I just use a pepper blend). Then I sauteed the onions and mushrooms with a little salt, pepper, thyme and Worcestershire. I layered the provolone on one half of the giant flatbread, then put the sauteed veg on top. After that I seared the steak and cut it into thin strips. I placed the strips of steak on top of the veg then added the Gloucester and Stilton.




Gravy
Butter
Flour
red wine
beef broth
seasoning

I made a roux with the butter and flour - essentially just slow cooked flour with butter. When it was brown enough I added the wine and let that simmer. Then I added the beef broth until it was the desired consistency and finally I seasoned with salt and pepper, and a bit of thyme and rosemary.

I poured the Gravy on top of the steak flatbread when it was finished.

Apple and Blue Flatbread

Apple
Farm Blue
Old Cheddar - I got an Ontario 6 year old Cheddar
onions
fig jam



I slow cooked the onions with butter and added a fig jam nearing the end and let it melt into the onions. I put a layer of cheddar cheese on the other half of the flatbread. Then I added the onions, layers of apple and a very small and evenly distributed amount of (the very strong) farm blue. Then I added another layer of cheddar cheese.

I put the flat bread in the oven and baked at 375 until the edges just browned and then broiled for the last bit so the cheese got bubbly and beautiful.

Potato Flatbread

Potato
onion
mushroom
mozzarella
roasted garlic
olive oil
rosemary

This was on the cheese flatbread. I just microwaved the potatoes then thinly sliced them. I used olive oil and roasted garlic as the base and just smothered that evenly onto the surface of the flatbread. Then added some rosemary, mozzarella, potatoes, onions and mushrooms. Finishing with more mozzarella and salt and pepper. Baked at 375.

What everyone thought of the food:

Steak Flatbread: Well the steak was tough so it took away from that dish... the flavour was good but a smaller quantity of higher quality steak would have made it better. It was a bit too much.

Apple Flatbread: Delicious! This had the perfect amount of blue and the fig with the onion was so good... the cheddar was also an amazing addition. It was a great combo of sweet and savoury.

Potato Flatbread: I usually like this with a white sauce on the base but this turned out great. used one small clove of garlic and it was perfect... good balanced flavours and a nice amount of carbs for a wine-drinking night! The mushrooms were unnecessary though, next time I'll lose those.

The clear winner was the Apple and Blue flatbread.

What did we think of the wines:

All of the wines were around the $15 mark.




Pierre Sparr - Pinot Blanc
Buttery with crisp apple aftertaste.... first sip was very buttery and sweet. ended with a bit too much alcohol. Overall a good wine. I'd buy it again on a hot summer day!

Queen of Syrah - Rose
HONEY. As soon as you sip it it tastes like watered down honey... then it just tastes balanced. A dry rose with a definite honey flavour... but not at all fragrant. It was interesting but I wouldn't buy it again... there are better wines out there.

Chateau des Charmes - 2007 Riesling
Fragrant with notes of pear, citrus and oak... Sweet but not overly. Very nice wine and I would buy it again. This was an end of the night wine so I'd like to try it again.

As far as the Oscars, what can I say. Who cares? Hunger and Sam Rockwell in Moon were totally ignored. I wasn't really behind any of the films this year. I am glad Christoph Waltz won though, he did an amazing job. Watching stars in high def is amazing... it is so nice to see them look like humans. Oh and I won the little pool we did... So now everyone owes me a drink. Perhaps a nice Pinot Noir... I'll post about that one later ;)