ottawa foodies

Today before Aikido #1 asked if we could go to the chip truck for poutine if he was good in class. I reminded him that I don't have a job and so we don't have money, but I did offer to make him poutine even if he were not good in Aikido! So we stopped at Loeb on the way home and bought some potatoes. Oh, and my applause to both of the boys for understanding that me not having a job means we don't have money for stuff. I was actually laughing as #1 several times at Loeb ran over to something yummy-looking on the shelf and pointed at it, and hollered across to me very loudly "Popo, look, if you get a job maybe we can buy some of this?". It really was hilarious!

We got home and I fired up the deep fryer. While that was underway, I went down to retrieve a bag of grated mozza from the deep freeze, and a jar (250ml) of gravy from the canned goods. As I've reported in the past, we buy 2.5kg bags of grated mozza at Costco because it is the cheapest mozza we can find - even cheaper than the cheapest-ass non-grated stuff! We devide it into 10 x 250g ziplock bags, and each bag is perfect for 1 pizza.

The gravy was beef gravy I canned up in 2007. Not sure what the recipe would have been, but basically just beef drippings, and salt, maybe some pepper in there. I emptied the gravy into a small saucepan and added about 100ml of water, and 2 tablespoons of corn starch. I gave it the taste test and added another 1/2 teaspoon of salt because poutine requires really salty gravy!

When the fries were ready, I grabbed 4 ikea bowls that are about 500ml each. They are narrower, deeper bowls which is what you need for poutine. I put down a layer of fries in each, then some grated cheese (still frozen), then more fries, and more cheese. Then the gravy over top.

OMFG it was good! I will even be as bold as to say it was better than any poutine I've ever had from a chip truck. Even though yes I know that proper poutine is made from cheese curd and not cheese.

There's a new job for you- start your OWN chip truck.

Actually do chips and grilled panninis. There was this truck in the town I lived in in France that did wicked grilled panninis of all kinds. The fries were frozen but they were still decent.

Your poutine looks excellent and your kids are lucky to have such a great dad.

Awesome! That looks so good...I'm sure it could be done in a "healthier" way with oven roasted fries (I'm trying not to consume more than 1800 calories a day, gimme a break!)

Also, Zym, count yourself lucky that your kids understanding that no money = less stuff. My niece's mom is a single parent, and said niece really didn't get that concept when her mom was unemployed, no matter how hard any of us tried to explain it. Props to your kids!

That does not look poor it looks YUMMY! I would line up at your chip truck!!!

Next time you have roasted chicken or turkey have newfie leftovers the next day... Fries, Dressing & Gravy! Take the left over "stuffing" as you mainlanders call it (we call it dressing) put on top of fries and cover with gravy. You will not be disappointed. Pictured here with a piece a fresh cod to make "Fish, fries, dressing & Gravy) Ron; I was going to send you this pic for your bad food quest but it was taken home on the rock. You just can not find this goodness in Ottawa.