The Great Gadget Challenge

The Breville Fast Slow Cooker, Joule Sous Vide, and Smoking Gun, as well as the Himalayan Salt Block Cooking Plate, are courtesy of d.a. Niels Gourmet Kitchenware. Speciality oils, vinegars, and salts used in our recipes are available at Frescolio Fine Oil + Vinegar Bar.

By Mike Muirhead, Saralyn Mehta, and Kurt Marykuca

Photos by Ian McCausland

What foodie doesn’t love a good kitchen gadget? Playing with recipes and wine pairings is one of the great perks of working with wine nerds—people who love wine invariably also love a great meal. Facing the Great Gadget Challenge, we reached out to Winnipeg’s foodie destination, d.a. Niels Gourmet Kitchenware. They set us up with three of their most popular kitchen gadgets—the Breville Fast Slow Cooker, the Joule Sous Vide, and the Smoking Gun—and we challenged our food and wine experts to bring their best recipes and wine parings. With food prices soaring, Mike Muirhead loves using sous vide (a process of slow-cooking meat in a carefully temperaturecontrolled water bath) to get prime rib tenderness and flavour out of less expensive cuts of beef. Saralyn Mehta brought us a great slow-cooker chicken cacciatore that can be prepped in the morning and enjoyed in the evening. And WOW Catering’s Kurt Marykuca, an avid fisherman, tackled the Smoking Gun—a new way to infuse smoky flavour into food and drink! He smoked salmon fillets—and to be honest, it was so much fun, we tried smoking almost everything in the kitchen that day! Mike and Saralyn paired incredible wines to make these meals extra special.

ROSEMARY ROAST BEEF WITH CRISPY SMASHED POTATOES

GADGET: Sous vide cooker | Serves 4–6

4 lb chuck roast 6 sprigs fresh rosemary, split 6 cloves of garlic, split 2 tbsp butter sea salt & pepper for seasoning

In addition to the sous vide cooker, you will need a large pot of water and a vacuum sealer or an extra-large sealable freezer bag.

Remove the roast from the fridge 1 hour before cooking and salt liberally on all sides. Place your sous vide cooker in the pot of water and set your temperature to 130°F (this will give you a perfect medium-rare roast). Strip 4 sprigs of rosemary and roughly chop 4 cloves of garlic. When your water is to temperature, pepper all sides of the roast, rub it with the rosemary and garlic, and place it in the freezer bag or vacuum sealer bag. If using a vacuum sealer: vacuum seal the bag. If using a freezer bag: slowly lower your freezer bag into the water—this will expel the air so the roast will remain submerged in the water (air bubbles make it float to the surface). Seal the freezer bag once the air is expelled. Attach the bag to the side of your pot with a clothespin or bag clip so it does not float into the sous vide machine. Leave the meat submerged for 20–24 hours.

30 minutes before serving: Preheat oven to 250°F. Remove the plastic bag containing the roast from the water bath. Remove the roast and discard any garlic and rosemary.

PAIR WITH:

Ray Signorello 2019 S Cabernet Sauvignon Napa Valley, USA ($132.99) Barbacan 2018 Rosso Di Valtellina Lombardy, Italy ($36.99) Jan Harmsgat 2020 JHG Chardonnay Western Cape, South Africa ($23.99)

Preheat a cast iron skillet to medium-high until it is very hot. Add olive oil and sear the roast on all sides until a brown crust forms. Once you place the beef in the pan to sear, leave it alone for 2–3 minutes per side—try not to move it until you flip it.

In a small pan, melt butter on medium-low heat. Sauté 2 cloves of minced garlic and the remaining fresh rosemary for 2 minutes. Spoon the garlic rosemary butter over the roast. Put the pan in the oven until it is ready to serve. (No need to rest the meat.)

Smashed Potatoes

2 lbs baby potatoes (yellow are best for smashing) 1 tbsp olive oil 2 tbsp fresh rosemary, chopped 2–3 cloves garlic, minced salt & pepper Boil the potatoes in salted water until a fork can easily pierce them through (15–20 minutes). Drain and let them cool in a colander. (At this point, the potatoes can be refrigerated overnight if you are serving them the next day.)

To bake: Preheat oven to 400°F. Place the potatoes on a parchment-lined cookie sheet. Using the back of a spatula, smash the potatoes flat (till they are about 1/4-inch thick). Drizzle with olive oil.* Season with salt and pepper and sprinkle with rosemary and garlic. Bake for 40–45 minutes until crispy brown, flipping after 20 minutes.

*Frescolio recommends using their Garlic- or Rosemary-infused Extra Virgin Olive Oil for the potatoes and a robust varietal like Italian Peranzana for the beef.

CHICKEN CACCIATORE

GADGET: Slow Cooker | Serves 4

1 whole chicken, in pieces (skin on) 1 tsp sea salt ½ cup flour

1 tbsp Italian seasoning ½ tsp sweet paprika ½ tsp smoked paprika 2 tbsp olive oil* 2 cups mixed mushrooms (morel, cremini, portobello), sliced 1 medium yellow onion, diced 4 cloves garlic, minced 1 red pepper, diced 1 green pepper, diced 3 bay leaves 1 tbsp dry thyme 1 tsp black pepper 3 sprigs fresh rosemary cup chopped basil 800 ml can San Marzano crushed tomatoes 1 cup beef stock pasta of your choosing fresh Italian parsley and parmesan cheese to garnish

Mix flour, Italian seasoning, and paprika. Season chicken pieces with salt and dredge in flour mixture. Heat olive oil on medium-high, then sear the chicken until the skin is crispy.

In the slow cooker, add chopped mushrooms, onions, garlic, red and green pepper, bay leaves, dried thyme, and black pepper. Add the seared chicken, then pour crushed tomatoes and beef stock over top. Cook on low for 9 hours. One hour before serving, add fresh rosemary and basil.

When ready to plate, cook pasta to al dente. Gently remove chicken pieces with tongs and a large spoon (it will be falloff-the-bone tender) and serve on a bed of pasta. Spoon the cacciatore sauce over the chicken and garnish with chopped Italian (flat-leaf) parsley and parmesan to taste.

*Frescolio’s oil experts recommend using the Tuscan Herbinfused Extra Virgin Olive Oil to heighten the herbal background in this recipe. PAIR WITH:

Monteraponi 2017 Il Campitello Chianti Classico Riserva, Italy ($96.99) Il Palazzo 2021 Vermentino Tuscany, Italy ($17.99) Fabio Motta 2019 Pievi Rosso Bolgheri, Italy ($33.99)

APPLEWOOD SMOKED SALMON WITH MANGO SALSA

GADGET: Smoker Gun with applewood chips | Serves 4

4–8 oz salmon fillets 1 tbsp olive oil* ½ tsp sea salt cracked pepper 1 ripe mango peeled, cored, and diced small ½ cup red bell pepper, diced small ½ cup orange bell pepper, diced small ½ cup red onion, diced small ½ cup pineapple juice ¼ cup lime juice (about 2 limes) ½ cup chopped cilantro 1 tbsp ground cumin ½ jalapeno, minced (or to taste) sea salt & fresh cracked pepper

Salsa: Starting with mango, mix together the next 10 ingredients for the salsa. If you want less spice, strip the seeds out of the jalapenos and discard before mincing. Refrigerate for a minimum of 2 hours. This salsa keeps well in the fridge for up to 5 days and also goes well with tuna or as a turkey burger topper.

Salmon: Fill the smoking gun chamber with applewood smoked chips. Place the salmon in a bowl and cover with plastic wrap. Place the hose under the plastic wrap, with the plastic sealed around it. Following the smoking gun instructions, fill the bowl with dense smoke and seal tightly (so no smoke escapes). Refrigerate for a minimum of 4 hours or overnight, re-smoking once or twice if the smoke dissipates.

To cook: Brush salmon with olive oil* and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Bake in the oven for 15 minutes.

*Frescolio suggests amping up the smoky flavour with Cold Smoked-infused Extra Virgin Olive Oil and Applewood Smoked Sea Salt. For the salsa, substitute half of the lime juice with Jalapeno Lime White Balsamic Vinegar for extra zing.

SHOP LOCAL: Ingredients

One of our secret flavour weapons is using the infused extra virgin olive oils, vinegars, and salts from at Frescolio Fine Oil + Vinegar: check the bottom of each recipe for their recommendations. We got our meat at our local butcher, Marcello’s Meats, and salmon at Gimli Fish Market. Fresh herbs and produce are from Jardins St-Léons Gardens and De Luca’s. PAIR WITH:

Primosic 2015 KLIN Reserve Collection Bianco Friuli/Venezia Giulia, Italy ($71.99) Stågard 2021 Urban Rose Zweigelt Niederosterreich, Austria ($22.99) Lelièvre 2020 Pinot Noir Alsace, France ($28.99)