With it being a long weekend, we’ll be closed on Monday. We’re normally open Monday through Saturday, closed Sundays.
But with the long weekend, we won’t be open Monday (May 24th) so we and the staff can enjoy the time as well. Our apologies if this throws off any plans you had for paying us a visit. Hope you’re all having a great long weekend (the weather in New Brunswick is stellar!).
I love making this type of salad, and on the weekend I took full advantage of my time and spent it doing other things rather than cooking.
The dressing:
Acids to oil ratio should be about 1:3 or 4. 1 part acid to 3 or 4 parts oil. I made enough dressing that could have done a serving for 4 or 5, so I only used a bit of it. I actually didn’t measure so my measurements are guesses, just so you know.
I mixed all of this into a mason jar, shook vigorously, and set aside.
Salad:
In a large bowl, I tossed everything but the shrimp with the dressing very well. A well-tossed salad needs little dressing. I shake my head at anyone who ever asks for dressing on the side, and then awkwardly tries to coat their salad on their plate, especially if they asked for it on the side to cut down on the amount of dressing on their plate. I then topped the salad with shrimp, and served some bread on the side.
Lemonade, two large servings:
I let it sit for a few hours and then I strained it, poured over two tall glasses of ice, and added another shot of vodka to each glass.
I filled each glass ¾ full, topped with sparkling mineral water, stirred, and served.
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Bio: Dan Jones is a food, drink, and travel writer from Saint John. Follow him on Twitter: @danjjj
This is just a quick note to let you know we’re open on Good Friday from 9am to 3pm. We will be serving a light breakfast from 9am to 11:30am. This is because it’s a holiday Friday.
Looking ahead to Saturday, and every Saturday onward, we’ll open at 9am and serve a light breakfast until 11:30am and then move on to our lunch menu.
This is a change to Saturdays. Previously, we were not open for breakfasts. But we will be now! So if you’re in the Uptown area on Saturday, drop by for a light breakfast. We would love to see you!
And we’d love to hear what you think of the breakfast menu and any suggestions you may have. We think of this as a starting point – a kind of “beta” breakfast menu – and we’d love for you to help us tweak it to make it better!
A group of twenty or so people convened at the Urban Deli on a sunny Sunday afternoon on March 14th to participate in the first cooking class hosted by UD. The restaurant is normally closed on Sundays, but Liz decided to open up for a few hours to host this reservation-only event. Bob McVicar was the instructing chef and the subject of the day was Italian-style cabbage rolls.
The afternoon began with some informal introductions and delicious snacks (check out this sautéed red pepper recipe), and then we all found seats at the communal table in groups of four. To ensure that the objective of the class was clear, Bob served us each a sample of his Italian cabbage rolls that he had put together a couple of days prior – Bob swears that they are better a few days after making them. We also sampled some homemade Italian sausage that UD has recently started making in-house.
Next, we worked in our groups of four to create some of Bob’s Italian cabbage rolls. We made half of the recipe below, which resulted in a roasting pan full of cabbage rolls. Bob did some of the prep work before we arrived and had already softened and peeled the cabbage leaves off of the head for us as well as having prepared the tomato sauce. Our main tasks were to create the filling and put the rolls together.
Bob’s recipe for the filling is simple to put together and rolling it in the leaves is pretty easy once you get used to it. You’ll need to be willing to get your hands dirty for this dish, so dig in and have some fun. Just follow the recipe and preparation instructions below and you’ll have no problems.
After assembling all of our rolls, we packed them up and topped them with some delicious tomato sauce. Each participant received a portion to take home, at which point they simply had to be baked and served fresh, saved for a few days before eating, or placed in the freezer to consume at a later date.
The cooking class was an enjoyable afternoon and a great value at only $12 per person, which was to help cover some of the costs. Beverages were also available to purchase and the snacks continued to flow throughout the afternoon. This cooking class was a successful first for UD and I suspect that there will be many more to come. Stay tuned to urbandeli.ca for info about future cooking classes that Liz has in the works.
Italian Cabbage Rolls – download recipe by Bob McVicar:
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This article was written by our guest author, Trisha Gallant, who is also an Urban Deli regular.
I thought I was going to make chicken fried rice, but I guess that bag in the fridge that my girlfriend took out of the freezer was actually pork.
I wouldn’t really call this a recipe because one could put anything they want in this dish and really, the only thing required is to cook the rice early and then cool it in the fridge. All Chinese restaurants use this technique for fried rice, or at least they should. Using freshly cooked rice will result in a huge lump of goo.
Mixing the other ingredients with the rice in a bowl and then serving isn’t fried rice, although it may also be tasty.
To start off, I seasoned some vegetable oil by combining it in a small pot with fresh ginger, garlic, lemongrass, a chili pepper, star anise, and white peppercorns. I let this simmer for about an hour, before straining and setting it aside until it was time to start cooking.
I used a couple hundred grams of pork, an egg, half a yellow bell pepper, a small handful of green beans, five small mushrooms, one stalk of celery, a small carrot, and 1/3 cup of frozen peas and corn (thawed in microwave, water drained).
I stir-fried the meat, veggies, and egg on medium high heat, and then added the cooled rice, along with several shakes of soy sauce, a few drops of fish sauce and sesame oil, and a small splash of rice wine vinegar.
I also toasted some sesame seeds and sliced a couple of green onions for garnishing the dish when serving.
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Bio: Dan Jones is a food, drink, and travel writer from Saint John. Follow him on Twitter: @danjjj
BBQ season is definitely in full effect, at least at my place.
BBQ doesn’t have to be all pulled pork and ribs though, so on a nice March evening I put together a lighter dish. Jasmine rice, grilled baby bok choy, and marinated chicken skewers.
The chicken was marinated in coconut milk, rice wine vinegar, fish sauce, lemongrass, hot chili pepper, and galangal. Everything was very tasty, take a peek.
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Bio: Dan Jones is a food, drink, and travel writer from Saint John. Follow him on Twitter: @danjjj
We’ve made a few additions to the beverage menu — beers to be specific.
Continuing our efforts to keep things close to home (as in, New Brunswick), we’ve added a few items from our friends at Pump House. They are:
These are joining what we already have on our beverage menu, which are:
We also have our sodas, iced drinks, waters, juices as well as milk, coffees and teas — all of which you can see on our menu (see the beverage menu link – it will bring up a .pdf file).
Our hope is that we’ve got all the bases covered for alcoholic and non-alcoholic drinks. (Yes, we have wines too.)
