Poke Bowl 101: An Introduction to Awesomeness

This post comes from Matt, the Beer Baron.

Depending on where you live, poke bowls could be anything from a curiosity you’ve seen popping up at local restaurants or sushi counters to a mainstay part of your culinary world.

While they are ubiquitous in Hawaii, where the dish originated as a blend of Japanese and Hawaiian culinary traditions, a quick Google search shows a growing number of poke bowl shops in Toronto. Alas, in my hometown of London, Ontario, there isn’t a poke bowl shop to be found -- although I was lucky enough to discover the dish as a special at the best craft beer bar in town.

In Hawaiian, “poke” means “to cut crosswise into pieces” or even just “to cut or to slice”, and that alone should give you a pretty good idea of what the dish is and what you are in store for when preparing it. You can think of it as deconstructed sushi if that helps, but to me, the way a poke bowl eats makes it an even more satisfying meal.

For starters, the bed of rice served as the base of the bowl is warm, which gives the dish a balance of hot and cold that most sushi doesn’t have. From there, every mouthful is a wonderful mixture of salty and sweet, soft and crunchy. So, when I saw the beautiful, little piece of tuna below frozen and vacuum packed at my local Farm Boy, I knew it was time to make my first poke bowl. 

Before I got to work on all the cutting (with my slow and cumbersome but relatively effective knife skills), I got everything I needed together for a group photo:

First up, the marinade, so it can go back into the fridge to marinate the tuna while you do the rice and all your slicing. It was dead simple but very flavourful:


¼ cup soy sauce

2 tablespoons sesame oil

1 tablespoon grated fresh ginger root

Ginger root is one of my absolute favourite things and something I find more and more pleasing with each passing year. The lesson? Being old kicks ass. The is what is looks like:

And this is what the marinade looks like:

Now, onto the star of the show: the tuna! I am by no means an expert in the kitchen or with a knife, which is why I’m the Beer Baron and not the… Butchering Baron? Anyway, I still have a few tips to share:

1. Put the tuna in the freezer for 15 or 20 minutes. Not enough to freeze it solid, just enough to help it keep its form a little bit better and make your life easier when cutting it.
2. Decide how thick you want to cut the pieces. If you LOVE raw tuna, then go a bit thicker at about ½ an inch (just more than a centimeter too all you hosers) and if you are new to it and want a little bit less of the raw texture or fishy taste, go smaller. 
3. When you are cutting the tuna, pull your knife backwards towards you, starting at the heel of the blade and use the longest, sharpest knife you have. The goal is to try to make the cuts in one slice and avoid a front-and-back sawing motion.

Not all my slices were perfect, but I enjoyed the process and did ok:

Going from the thin slices to the cubes was a little more challenging, as the tuna was getting warmer having been out of the freezer for longer, as I’m so slow, but they were decent:

The tuna goes into the marinade and into the fridge. 

Start your rice cooking while you work on the rest of your cutting / poke-ing. Traditionally, you’d use short-grain sushi rice. But one of the great things about poke bowls is that there is really no right or wrong. It’s not a science like baking. I had long grain rice, so that’s what made it into my bowl.

Dice the mango:

Slice the red onions (or leave them out altogether if they are too strong for you and you aren’t crazy about red onions like I am):

Slice the jalapeno (which provide a nice bit of crunch as well as a little bit of heat):

Chop the green onions:

Slice the avocado: (I got lucky and mine was a perfect ripeness, which is a miracle unto itself. You kind of get used to picking the ever so slightly soft ones with experience, but if you want help, the internet is all about avocados: https://www.californiaavocado.com/blog/how-to-ripen-an-avocado.)

Now, it’s time to assemble your masterpiece. Keep in mind that no poke bowl is perfect for everyone but do your best to make it perfect for you. If you like more or less of any one ingredient, go for it. (Also, I dumbly didn’t include cucumbers in this dish, which would have been perfect. Radishes too, for that matter.) Lay down your bed of warm rice:

Top it with your marinated tuna:

Surround the tuna with the mangos and avocado:

And then add your final garnishes, including a sprinkle of sesame seeds and a little bit of freshly squeezed lime juice. (Don’t use the lime juice in the marinade or earlier in the process. The goal isn’t to cook the tuna with it, just add a nice hit of acid.) 

As the Beer Baron, I was thinking that a session IPA (nothing too crazy to wreck your palate), a fruity sour, or a weissbier with tropical notes would all be nice pairings -- and they certainly would have been. In the end, I chose a Riesling, as they tend to be great with lightly spicy foods and the balance of minerality and fruitiness was a perfect complement to the balance of the poke bowl. However you make your poke bowl and whatever you pair it with, I hope you enjoy it. Cheers!

Cranberry Sauce

Fresh cranberry sauce was one of the first things I learned how to make and it was my contribution to our family Thanksgiving dinner for years.  

And it's SO easy! There's no need to buy canned or pre-made sauce.  All you need is a $2.00 bag of fresh cranberries, some sugar and some water to make a tasty sauce.  I added a few extra flavours but they're totally optional. 

This recipe makes a lot of cranberry sauce, but it keeps for months in the fridge or freezer so use the whole bag.

When you cook the cranberries you'll hear them pop.  Cranberries are full of pectin so the sauce will thicken up as it cools.  

You can make this ahead and chill it for Thanksgiving day!

Here's the recipe: 

340 g (12 oz) bag fresh cranberries, rinsed well
1 cup water
3/4 cup - 1 cup sugar 
1 tablespoon freshly grated ginger (optional)
1 tablespoon freshly grated orange zest (optional)

Place the cranberries, water, sugar, ginger and zest in a medium pot. Cover and bring to a boil.  Reduce heat and simmer for 5 minutes until cranberries pop.  Remove from heat and cool.

Tart of the Month - Pumpkin Spice Tarts

It's that time of year!  Pumpkin spice is on everyone's mind. 

I was never a huge fan of pumpkin pie - it's a little dense and the texture isn't that appealing to me.  But these pumpkin spice tarts are lightened up with cream cheese, and I love the gingersnap crust.  

Here's what you need for these easy fall treats:

Cookies! Ginger Crackles

It's about that time of year.  Time for baking.  

I've made these cookies almost every year for a while now and they're very easy and delicious.

The recipe came from Chatelaine magazine.  It makes a soft and spicy ginger cookie that freezes well.

Here's what you need:

Pork Fried Rice

This is a combination of leftovers so delicious I actually planned ahead for leftovers to make it.  

I had leftover pork from this delicious pork roast, and I made rice the day before and refrigerated it because fried rice is best made with cold, leftover rice.  Cold rice lets the grains stay separate and whole when tossing them around in the pan.  You can use fresh, hot rice but the grains will break up and get kind of mushy.

I used these ingredients but feel free to mix up the vegetables and aromatics.

3-4 cups cold cooked rice

About 1/2 to 3/4 lb leftover cooked pork. You can use pork tenderloin, pork chops or pork roast.  You can cook it expressly for this recipe (I'd recommend roasting or grilling in a hoisin barbecue sauce), but leftovers are quicker and easier.

2 carrots, peeled and diced.

1 bunch scallions or green onions, sliced.

Green parts separate.  

2 garlic cloves and 1 inch of ginger, minced.

4-5 heads baby bok choy chopped (optional).

Plus 1 cup frozen peas, 3 tablespoons soy sauce, 2 tablespoons rice vinegar, and sriracha to taste (optional if you like it spicy)

Heat a tablespoon of oil in a wok or large pan.

Add the carrots, the white parts of the green onions and the garlic and ginger.  Stir fry for about 2 minutes.

Dice the pork into bite sized pieces and add to the vegetables.

Add the cold rice. 

Break up the rice and add the soy sauce and rice vinegar.  

Stir in the sriracha if you like it spicy. This amount gave it a big kick.  

Stir fry until the rice and pork begin to warm through.

Then add the frozen peas.

And the chopped, rinsed bok choy and green parts of the green onions.  

Toss together and stir fry until the bok choy is wilted and the rice is hot.

Serve it up in a shallow bowl or plate.

This is a one-pan meal made mostly of leftovers that only takes about 15 minutes start to finish. But it's packed with veggies and with flavour.   Give it a try!  

Butternut Squash Soup with Ginger

Canadian Thanksgiving is upon us and 'tis the season for butternut squash soup!  For me, soup is usually a meal (sometimes with a sandwich).  I don't serve it as a first course at home but if you do, this is a great one for Thanksgiving dinner or any time!

There are hundreds of variations on butternut squash soup.  Some have cream, some don't.    Some are just a simple squash purée and others have a multitude of ingredients.  It's easy to experement and use your favourite ingredients.  I've tried a few recipes and I don't really have a favourite, but this one is really delish! 

This soup has no cream, just vegetables and chicken stock, making it nice and healthy.  You'll need a large butternut squash, one large or 2 medium onions, 4 cloves of garlic, a 2-inch piece of ginger, chilis (optional), 2 celery stalks, 2 carrots and 2 small apples, plus about 4 cups of chicken stock.

Want a great tip for choosing a butternut squash?  Choose the one with the longest neck you can find!  Peeling and chopping a winter squash is no picnic, but the long neck part has no seeds so it's pure squash.  You'll end up with more squash and fewer seeds, and the straight neck is so much easier to peel than the bulbous part.  The seedy part of this squash was so small it was barely worth peeling and seeding.

I peel the squash with a sharp knife, setting the flat end on the board and slicing down.

Once peeled, chop into even-sized cubes.

Then chop your celery...

carrots...

onions...

and garlic and chilis.

You can grate your ginger but I find that a bit of a pain so I just quartered it and threw it in with the peel still on, then removed it before puréeing the soup.  It turned out very gingery so I think it was a success.

Lastly, peel and chop your apples so they don't turn too brown.

Warm a teaspoon of oil in a large pot over medium heat.

Then add your onion, carrot and celery and sauté for 5 minutes until starting to soften.

Next add the ginger, chilis, garlic, apples and squash and cook, stirring for another 5 minutes.  

Sprinkle with salt and pepper and toss in a bay leaf if you like.

Then add 4 cups chicken stock (or enough to cover the vegetables).

Bring to a boil and then simmer about 20 minutes until the squash is tender.

Once the veggies are soft it's time to purée the soup.  

But first remove the ginger and bay leaf.

I love using an immersion blender for this.  They're cheap and very handy for soup.  But if you don't have one you can pour the soup in batches into a regular blender.  Just be careful not to let steam build up inside.  Remove the centre of the lid and cover with a towel.

Once the soup is all smooth it is ready to serve.  

Ladle into bowls and serve with a sandwich, crusty bread, a nice salad, or just on its own.

This is also a great potluck dish.  I put it into a crockpot and warmed it up for my co-workers for lunch.  Just don't put the full crockpot on the floor of your car because if someone unexpectedly slams on the breaks in front of you, it's quite the seasonal mess to clean up.