Best Beef Tartar in the World

No these aren't little chocolates. Although they do look sweet!

They're the beautiful little quail eggs that my husband served with the tartar he made me on Valentine's Day (yes I'm a little late getting this up). I should also mention it was his birthday, you know, just to make myself look even worse. He insisted on cooking, honest!

We started off with some fried oyster mushrooms with romano and arugula. Soooo delicious.

Then this heavenly tartar that he finely chopped and mixed with capers, shallots, chives, hot sauce, dijon, worcestershire, truffle oil, salt and pepper and egg yolk. He separated the yolk from the quail egg and set it in salted water, which hardened it just enough to stay intact when placed over the mound of bright red meat. The salad along side, which had just as much detailed attention put into it with it's finely chopped sweet potato and beets, was mixed with microgreens and lightly drizzled in truffle oil.

Honestly one of the best meals I've ever had. Love, love, love tartar. I even had some leftovers for lunch the next day. Yum!

Breakfast Gnocchi

If you haven't picked up the new copy of Ottawa Magazine's Interiors Edition, I highly recommend you do. Not only is it filled with images of beautiful local homes, there's also a little food section at the back that's worth checking out.

This delicious breakfast was eaten almost a month ago, but I wasn't allowed to talk about it until the magazine was released. You see, my husband sometimes freelances for Ottawa Magazine and since he worked on the layout of this issue, had a sneak peak at what was coming. The result, his own homemade concoction of the breakfast gnocchi that is available at Art-is-in Bakery. So if you're not lucky enough to have my husband in your home cooking for you, you've got an alternative!

My husband served up two beautifully poached eggs over a toasted fennel and dill baguette and coated them with silky hollandaise. Off to the side, thin slivers of buttery baked potato. The eggs were then surrounded by chopped smoked bacon, halved cherry tomatoes, gnocchi and brussels sprout leaves. Probably one of the best things I've ever eaten in my life. (I must confess that mine was modified with my spelt and kamut bread from Wild Oat and rice gnocchi, you see, I have a frustrating wheat intolerance.)

Later this morning my husband will be treating himself though. We'll be heading over to chez Edgar for the Dutch Baby. Since he layed out the image of that golden pancake topped with caramelized slow-cooked pork belly, he hasn't been the same, waking up every Saturday morning from his dream and questioning "Is it time yet!?"

Asian Style Halibut

Amazing dinner from my husband. Halibut, fried quinoa, shredded carrot and snap peas doused in a delicious ginger, soy, wasabi, rice vinegar and sesame oil. Yum!

Middle Eastern Bison Meatballs with Cilantro-Yogurt Sauce

If the title of this post doesn't get you drooling, try walking into a house where these have been cooking. One of the most amazing dishes I've ever had, combining 2 of my favourite ingredients – bison and cilantro.

My husband got the recipe from epicurious.com. I love that site. And of course, I love my husband who chooses the best recipes to work from.

Mmm, fennel, cumin and coriander seeds, getting toasted for the cilantro sauce that the bison will eventually bathe in.

Alongside this heavenly concoction my husband served a radish, arugula and mint salad – absolute perfection.

Mother and Child Reunion

I love Saturday mornings because I love breakfast and my husband has all the time in the world to cook it for me! A bed of spinach, leftover ham and cheese stuffed chicken, and poached eggs all doused in a blanket of sinful hollandaise sauce and sprinkled with green onion. THIS is heaven.

Mmmmmm Sausage

As she does every year, one of my coworkers Jenn makes sausages with her family. They've been doing it for a very long time. And this year, for the first time without the help from her grandmother, actually spent a full 8 hours making these delectable, pork-and-garlic-filled tubes of goodness.

A special main ingredient deserves a special recipe, and my husband did not fail on that part! After barbecuing the sausage and slicing them, he mixed them with boiled red potatoes and celery root, mashed into and with green onion, flat leaf parsley and cornichons. For the dressing he mixed together dijon, brine from the cornichons and olive oil.

Lamb and Figs

My husband is the KING in the kitchen. I think I've said that many times before. As I sat watching him prepare this dish, my jaw dropped in awe and drool forming, I thought to myself – would I ever get this good in the kitchen? The answer, probably not. I don't have the patience.

After inserting the rosemary through the figs like a skewer, my husband sprinkled the figs with olive oil and salt and placed them on the grill. They were cooked beautifully. As was the lamb, tzatziki sauce and grilled asparagus that accompanied these purple round delights. Mmmmmm.

Lucky

As I sit in my lawn chair, with the sun peeking through the trees, I think back to last night and the dinner I had. Man, am I ever lucky. My husband prepares amazing meals, we have a ton of outstanding friends, loving family and good health. In life, what more could anyone want!? And I do not take any day for granted, ever. Today I am thankful for all of life's little pleasures. And I am especially thankful for my husband, he completes me and I would not be the woman I am today without him. And my mother, who always did so much for me. The older I get, the more I realize how much that actually is and how she always hid her challenges with a big smile.

Last night my husband served up the most incredible spread. Mouthwatering and rich maple smoked ham (he first brined the ham for a few days and then smoked it all day), a juicy 20lb turkey – golden and crisp on the outside, heirloom carrots, potatoes, squash, heavenly homemade stuffing, almond green beans, beets, cranberry sauce, pickles, confetti squares and pumpkin pie. Oh! And a new addition to the spread this year – glazed onions. An absolute must for next year.

We got the cranberry sauce (sweetened with maple syrup and honey) and maple syrup (for the ham) from the Lansdowne farmer's market.

Thank you Charlotte for all the fresh veggies from Acorn Creek Farm, and for the beautiful flowers. Gina thank you so much for the pumpkin pies, chocolate and soap. Lara thank you for the delicious almond green beans and yummy homemade pickles. Alan, the confetti squares were to-die-for. Colinda thank you for the delectable beets and homemade raspberry gin. Donnie for the Amarone and Andrew, for the plethora of wine - and everyone for all the yummy wine! And of course my husband, for making it all happen.

As usual, we got our ham from Aubrey's. Thank you for making it so easy to get local meats. (But no thank you for the dirty little trick you pulled, not allowing us to use our coupon. There was no small text when we bought it that excluded Thanksgiving. It's ok though, I'll keep coming by.)

Hot Salad of Mushrooms, Spelt and Arugula

If you think the beginning of fall means the end of salads, think again. This amazing salad is the epitome of comfort food.

Taken from his La Mia Cucina Toscana cookbook, my husband whipped this salad up for dinner. Pino Luongo, the chef in the book, often replaces the rice in risotto with spelt because the hearty grain maintains its character in the finished dish rather than simply becoming a backdrop for the others. The combination of the spelt, pancetta and mushrooms is heavenly.

What you’ll need

6 tbs extra virgin olive oil

1/2 medium onion, thinly sliced

2 cups spelt, soaked in cold water to cover for 2 hours and drained

2 garlic cloves, peeled and pressed flat

1/2 pound oyster mushrooms, cleaned with a damp cloth and sliced into thin strips

1/2 pound cremini mushrooms, cleaned with a damp cloth and sliced into thin strips

Fine sea salt

Freshly ground black pepper

2 ounces slab bacon, cut into thin strips or small cubes

1 bunch arugula, stems trimmed, washed and dried

What to do

Warm 2 tbs of the olive oil in a sauté pan over medium-high heat. Add the onion and sauté until golden, about 4 minutes. Add the spelt, stir and add enough water to cover by 1 inch. Lower the heat and cook, covered for 20 minutes or until the spelt has absorbed the water. Set aside.

Warm another 2 tbs olive oil in a sauté pan over medium-high heat. Add the garlic and cook until golden, about 4 minutes. Remove and discard the garlic. Add the oyster mushrooms, cremini mushrooms, 1 tsp sea salt, and 1 tsp black pepper. Stir and sauté until the mushrooms are softened, about 5 minutes. Set aside.

Place the bacon in a sauté pan and cook over low heat until the fat is rendered and the bacon is browned. Pour off the fat.

Transfer the bacon to a large salad bowl. Add the spelt and mushrooms and toss well. Add the arugula leaves, the remaining 2 tbs olive oil, 1 tsp sea salt, and 1 tsp black pepper. Toss well and serve at once.

Wash down this peppery salad with Traminer, a crisp white wine from Friuli or Trentino.

Emptying Out the Garden

Our garden is not very big. In fact, I think next year we should just do a tomato garden because they just take over anyway. And that's not a complaint. Tomatoes are awesome! Toasted tomato sandwiches, amazing gazpacho, and these yummy treats – fried green tomatoes.

My husband sliced up a ton of green tomatoes, dusted them with flour, followed by a buttermilk dunk and then finished them off in a bed of bread crumbs before frying them to perfection. A homemade basil mayo accompanied the dish. As did the sad little roasted parsnips and beets from our garden. As little as they were, they were still delicious.

Yummy Indian

Our friends Marc and Zoya were visiting for what we promised would be a weekend of pampering. Zoya's birthday is in a couple of days so we wanted to revolve everything around her. She loves Indian food so my husband made the most incredible spread. It still, after 12 years, blows my mind at how easy he makes cooking look.

Decadent palak paneer, spicy coconut curry tofu, delicious coconut curry peanut shrimp and baked eggplant from scratch. To that he added some samosas, pakoras and nan bread all from Nasa Foods. He also used some of the East India Company's spices which are available in a number of grocery stores around the city. Of those spices, what made me the most excited was the chai masala. The first time I tried this spice was at the East India Company restaurant in their chai brûlée and the entire time I ate it I thought of Zoya because of her love of chai tea. So for dessert, it was a must. Creamy, velvety yumminess. Like we had died and gone to heaven.

Massive thank you to my husband for a fantastic evening.

Leftover Pig

Ok, I lied a little bit when I said 62lbs of pig was gone in under 2 hours. There were some bits left. Probably about a pound worth. But don't even ask me what part of the pig these bits are from, I have no idea. What I do know is that fried up and served with poached eggs for dinner is the best trip down Saturday's memory lane. Especially the black crispy bit on top.

Along with the eggs my husband served a bed of arugula and asparagus topped with goat cheese and sprinkles of chives from the garden.

You Say Party, We Say Pig!

If you want a successful party, invite a pig. And a keg. And lots of wonderful people. Last night was our very good friends Dino and Keltie's going away bash and to make the occasion one to remember, we decided to roast a pig. Only we didn't do it on a spit, this one was done in a china box. Best pork ever.

We ordered the pig from Murray's Market where they brined it for over a week for us. Once we got it home, we splayed it out between two racks and sat it neatly inside a china box, not to be seen until a few hours later. In a china box, the pig cooks by placing hot coals over the top. The inside, which is all stainless steel, gets super hot and basically slow cooks the pig to utter perfection. We got this lovely contraption from Dennis, a wonderful gentleman up in Tremblant who runs his own South African catering business. About an hour before the end, you flip the pig skin side up and make some slices through the skin so that it gets nice and crispy on the edges. Opening the lid to flip it also gives you the opportunity to baste it in delicious homemade barbecue sauce. Our sauce was made by the lovely Charlotte, a deliciously smokey and spicy chipotle sauce.

Just to blacken it a bit more, my husband went over it with a blow torch.

Then Derrek, a good friend of Charlotte's showed up and spent the next hour and a half carving every mouthwatering morsel of meat for our guests to enjoy. Words cannot describe how happy and lucky we were to have a pro like him in the kitchen. Derrek, I can't thank you enough!

This pig was AMAZING! The meat was tender and juicy and with more of that heavenly bbq sauce, it was like a dream. Even a friend who eats only fins and feathers ate some pork. She has not eaten pork in 20 years! That's how good it was. 62 pounds of pig was literally gone in under 2 hours.

Along with the pork, we also served some corn on the cob that we cooked over the hot coals on the china box. We soaked the corn with just a bit of husks left on for 24 hours beforehand. We set out a large container of melted butter so guests could just dip their corn in. My husband also made a huge vat of coleslaw. And for the appetizer, he made a beer-up-the-butt chicken. I'm telling you, there was some good meat eating at my house yesterday!

And what's a pig party without pig cupcakes!? Leave it to Teresa to show up with the perfect dessert. These beauties went FAST. And as Teresa walked through the room with her trays of treats, the room lit up.

I love summer. And I love pig.

Easy Summer Dinners

I find it so wonderful that something so good can be so simple and easy to produce. Ok I say that, I have it double-easy in that my husband does it all for me. But I watch, and learn, and because of that I know that I could one day do this myself if I had to.

Bison meat from Aubrey's shaped into fat, juicy patties and thrown on the bbq, along with yellow and green zucchini, and yellow peppers grilled to perfection. Slather the burgers with goat cheese, top with veg and set on a toasted half bun and a bed of arugula. Set the rest of the veggies alongside and drizzle with balsamic and olive oil and some fresh tomatoes from the garden. Yum!

The Gift of Fresh Veggies

Nothing makes a more thoughtful gift, or a more complete meal, than fresh veggies from the garden! Our friend Glen brought these tasty beans, carrots and potatoes for us from his parent's one-acre garden outside Ottawa. Obviously their garden is growing much faster than ours. Potatoes already!?

Last night we paired them with steak sprinkled with smoked paprika and spot prawns. Tonight they're going alongside some maple, bbq salmon. What a treat!!

Oh, I forgot to mention that a full yogurt container of sweet raspberries were also included for dessert! Thanks Glen!

Summer Steak

One of the things I love most about summer – barbecued steak. My husband is the master when it comes to cooking things on the bbq and this dish shows that all the way around. Thick juicy steak lightly covered in a heart-melting chive, shallot and garlic butter sauce. The perfect carrots grilled barbecue-style. And sweet potato, halved and drizzled with honey, also over a flame grill. These are the kinds of meals you never want to end.

Not the perfect pairing for the dish but nice for sipping on beforehand, Château de nages rosé that I picked up at the SAQ this past weekend.

I'm Not Totally Useless – Really!

It's nights like these where my confidence in the kitchen rises. And so does my love for my husband.

As I'm sure you've seen over the past couple years, I really don't cook. I would like to point out though, that although not perfect, my ability to present a plate or even manage in the kitchen, comes from countless hours of watching my husband. If you're ever wondering how to get your significant other into the kitchen, start them off slow. And make it really easy for them (they can't fail!) – little by little, they will learn.

Tonight my husband left me with a lovely surprise in the fridge. Fresh salmon cakes! Only they weren't quite ready to eat. Follow instructions below. The results were AMAZING!

Best Chicken Ever

I've never been a big fan of chicken. It just seems to be so common, which is probably why I avoid it in restaurants. It wasn't until I met my husband that I actually fell in love with some chicken dishes. He really knew how to take something so boring and turn it into a true delight.

His specialty when it comes to chicken is his beer-up-the-butt recipe. But tonight, I think tonight that recipe had a little competition. The saltiness of the meat, crispness of the skin, and juices that literally squirted on my shirt when I cut into it all formed together to become the best piece of chicken I've ever had. Ok, the beer chicken still stands strong. But this one was amazing.

Fresh from Aubrey's, my husband started off brining a whole chicken in 1.5 cups water and 1 cup of kosher salt. This only needs about an hour but he did it for 3 or 4. Then he cut it into 8 pieces and covered it in oil and pepper.

Soak some wood chips for about half an hour and then put them loosely in some tinfoil, cut slits on the top and place them under the bbq grates. Get the barbecue started on high until it gets really hot and smoking (your backyard will smell like a spa), then turn off all burners except the one with the chips on it. Place the chicken as far away from the fire as you can, making sure the breast is farthest away (it'll get dry if not) and the thighs the closest. Leave on for an hour and a bit at about 300 degrees. Baste it with butter and thyme.

Your heart will melt at the first bite. Make sure to have an equally delicious side. Arugula with some blanched green beans and snow peas drizzled with olive oil, white balsamic, rock salt and chive flowers should do the trick!

It Doesn't Have to be Complicated to be Beautiful

It's all in the presentation. No my husband did not make these grape leaves from scratch. Nor did he marinate the meat before throwing it on the barbecue. But what he did do is take that extra few minutes to prepare each plate just so. Leaving my mouth to water in anticipation.

The salad greens used as a bed for the pork skewers were drizzled in cucumber foam. Sounds fancy doesn't it? That light and complementary dressing was the result of a failed homemade tzatziki sauce (too much water from the cucumber). The second version however, was perfect, with tiny bits of fresh cucumber throughout.

A little feta, a few black olives, grilled red onion and voilà.

Pulled Pork Tacos

As a child, whenever my mother would announce she was making tacos for dinner, a wave of excitement would rush through me. I'm not sure if it was the take-out essence of the dish that got me going so much as the act of trying to stuff way too many ingredients into one crisp shell. Either way, today I still get very excited when served tacos.

I've upgraded my tastes though. Old El Paso seasoning does not exist in the Rachelle dictionary anymore. But tacos filled with homemade goodies, now there's something to get excited about!

My husband never ceases to wow me with his culinary ideas. Even some of the most simple dishes to make have the illusion of being complex. It's just a matter of taking the time. And I'm horrible at that. For this, he slow-cooked pork shoulder (tenderloin would be excellent), seasoned with salt and pepper, for 7 hours – until it shredded easily. After shredding, pour in some green salsa, enough to make it a bit saucy but not too much. Then season with cumin, chili powder, smoked paprika (makes a big difference), garlic and cumin seeds and let it sit one day before indulging. You can eat it right away, it's just better if it sits for a bit.

When stuffing your tacos, start with the pork and then work your way through your choice of favourite fresh veggies. We used classic tomatoes, lettuce and red onions. The other wow ingredient was a spicy corn relish – AMAZING, and went so beautifully with the pork.

Last but not least, I would normally go straight up with a heated crispy shell. But adding a soft, warm tortilla to the outside acts as a support blanket to the entire concoction, helping you keep everything together, even after over-stuffing. Serve with a spicy Mexican rice or on it's own.