Walk Widely. Eat Wisely. Live Gratefully.
It’s corn season! There’s corn at all the small veg shops in the walkable neighbourhood, and at farmstands around the outskirts of the city. We boiled up a few delicious cobs (a little butter, and you’re good to go!)
Dinner last night also featured a great green salad, and some Chili Lemon Chicken.
Himself went to Royal Beef one day recently, when the skies were blue and cloudless, and the barbecue was calling his name. What he found was this tremendous-looking pork roast. He dressed it with a little salt and pepper, some dry mustard, and put it on the spit.
Slow, steady cooking was what it needed, and then a rest. Although there were juices on the board, with a little tenting, most were retained, and it was moist and marvelous.
Recently we had some Copper River Salmon from Hooked. It looked sublime, even before it was cooked. We took the fillet and rubbed it down with a little olive oil, then chopped some herbs over it – green onion, tarragon, oregano, and garlic chives. We sprinkled some dry mustard over, and gave it a very light grind of salt.
We cooked it on the grill, on a sheet of foil,
since we didn’t have a plank. The smell was glorious. While it was cooking, we boiled up some baby red potatoes, and sliced up a radish or two. We mixed those in with the bean salad from the day before. It was an amazing feast.
What would you eat on Canada Day? At our place, it’s nearly always barbecue.
We usually have our friends and family here, but this year Brother Rob is the cook and the host. We don’t know his plan yet, but it’ll be something just as good as these veal-and-lamb burgers from the Belanger Brothers, dressed with some home-made chili sauce from last summer, and Kozlik’s mustard.
Put a fresh salad on the side, follow it up with some strawberry shortcake (made with biscuits, the maritime way).
Oh, Canada!
When it turns unseasonably cold, you might have your heart set on a grilled dinner, but it’s too cold to eat outside, and salad just won’t cut it. That’s when we turn to the BBQ Potato Thing.
Pair it with a lovely striploin steak, or some lamb chops from the farmer’s market or Royal beef (check out the options in our blogroll!)
You’ll have the classic summer grilled dinner flavour, but it will still warm you against the summer storm.
So the other day we were at Belanger Brothers in the farmer’s market (see our blogroll!) and we picked up this awesome rack of lamb. One delicious thing to do with lamb is to make a mustard coating – some olive oil, Dijon mustard, and chopped herbs. In our case we used rosemary and Greek oregano from the garden.
Then we thought, why not make a mustard theme. So we proceeded to modify a 
recipe from Rob and Gwen in Bicester. They make an awesom mustard roast potato. To adapt for the grill, we parboiled some peeled Yukon Gold potatoes. We tossed the hot potatoes with a couple of tablespoons of olive oil, a splash of white wine vinegar, and a tablespoon of dry mustard. Then we put them on the grill to finish with the lamb.
Each dish had a little mustard, but none of the mustards tasted the same. On some, it was the feature. Others, it was the under-note. In every one of them, it was delicious! 
Lastly, we made our usual salad dressing like the one we used in the Salad Huroncoise…also featuring delicious Dijon. Here’s what the finished plate looked like. Now I’m going to head inside and beat the mosquitoes!
Pork Chops on the barbecue are an acquired art. It’s so easy to char them to a 
cinder, or dry them out, or undercook. (Mom would say, “either a burnt offering, or a bloody sacrifice”). But Steve’s got it down to an art. I admit it, I’ll cook almost anything. And gender lines are pretty well meaningless when it comes to division of work around here. But there are two territories where we never cross the line. I don’t grill, and his only involvement in breadmaking the occasional dough-watching or ingredient selection.
These ones turned out delectably moist and tasty as usual. The secret, he says, is patience. And not flipping too early. A good lesson in many endeavours.
I
t’s starting to taste a lot like summer…it might be a spring vegetable in some parts, but it takes ages before we reliably see it here. When we do, we like cooked almost any way at all. But probably our favourite is with some lemon zest and juice, a little pepper, a clove of garlic, and some olive oil. Toss it on the grill and voila, it’s magic!
It’s been a long week of travelling but we had a great visit with friends and family yesterday, and went to a few sites of Doors Open Toronto this weekend. After playing catch-up, gardening, and making a pilgrimmage to both Hooked and Better Bulk, we wanted a simple dinner.
We started by marinating some chicken in lemon, garlic, and olive oil (including the zest of the lemon, in long, gorgeous strips). While the grill was heating, we made the BBQ potato thing…today we had some small red potatoes, an orange pepper, and a red onion, plus some delicious rosemary.
Patience is a virtue when grilling chicken thighs, but they stay nice and moist and get that great smoky flavour. Served with the potatoes and veg, and a glass of wine, what else could we need?
I had thought I’d get burgers on the grill or take-out for my Mother’s Day 
dinner, but Steve surprised me. Walking about in the neighbourhood while I was at French class, he popped into Royal Beef, where they had some awesome lamb roasts.
He cooked this one one the barbecue with a marinade of Dijon mustard, olive oil, 5-spice powder, salt, and pepper. 
He served it with some new potatoes 
and spring asparagus.
Consider me spoiled.