Truffle Mutt

Blue Rare & Beyond

This is a little taste of the steak tartare that I've always known to be my Grandmothers.  I'm sure it seems yucky to some of you, but it's just something that I grew up with.  It might not be your standard comfort food, but piled atop fresh white bread it's one of the best things around.   

To make this batch I bought a sirloin from Hoven Farms at the Farmers Market and had them double grind it for me.  They trim all your meat right there in front of you.  What a great place! 

To make it I add all the seasonings to taste, so no two batches are alike.  Throw in salt, pepper, lemon juice, 1 egg, Maggi seasoning and lots of diced onion.  Then, if you have the patience, I let it sit in the fridge for awhile.  It does taste better when the flavors have had a chance to mingle a bit.

Be brave, give it a try.  You just might like it.

A Quick Fix

I'm sure this pizza is a totally unauthentic representation, but I love it.  Whenever my motivation is lacking this dinner can be thrown together easily using a pita bread base.  I take 1 pita bread slather it with tomato sauce and pile it with meat and veggies and a bit of cheese.  Done!  No, it's not the crispy, baked crust of a Chicago deep dish, or a even the greasy, cheesy Pizza Hut special, but it's good anyway.    

This one happens to be ham, ground beef, onion and cheddar with fresh tomato.  A perfect when-you're-in-a-pinch dinner idea.  Sorry I don't do delivery. 

Winter Grilling

Mmm...  Barbecued ribs. 

Yeah, I know it's -10 degrees Celsius outside and snowing to boot, but its March and that means it's spring.  So out come the ribs, off comes the BBQ cover and on goes my down filled jacket.  Now I'm all set.

I used a recipe from Olive Magazine that shows an image of grilled ribs that would make even a vegetarian drool.  The recipe starts with baking the ribs for about an hour at 350F in cola and star anise.  Then the ribs are slathered in a sticky, spicy, sweet and sour sauce and marinaded, before their long slow grill.

I must say this recipe produced some amazingly, amazing ribs.  I was originally apprehensive about the sauce because of its harsh acidic aromas while cooking.  There were several moments where I had to flee the kitchen just to catch my breath.  So needless to say that it was a huge relief when we ate them and found that the sour element had mellowed out during grilling.  I was also surprised at how well the star anise came through.  There was only one little star anise in a  litre of cola, so I wasn't  expecting it to power through the sauce and add such a distinct flavor.  I'd say if you're looking for a reason to fire up the barbecue that these should be it.  Even if, like me,  you need to dig out your barbecue and wear winter boots.

My Sweet Addiction

Warning this substance is highly addictive and in extreme cases consumption may cause hyperactivity and weight gain.  But trust me it's worth the risk.  This dense, caramel soaked confection is sticky toffee pudding, and I find that since I first had it at Simone's a few weeks ago I've developed a  sort of freakish obsession with it. 

I actually made this about a week ago, but as the result of various computer related issues, I couldn't post until this morning.  I've missed the official SHF deadline, but I'm hoping Debbie will have it in her heart to mention me anyway.  Pretty please Debbie, with sugar on top.   ;o)

To make this dessert I had to search various recipe sites for one I thought might produce a result similar to Simone's and I decided on this one.   I made some changes to the recipe, but sadly at least two of those were a direct result of not reading the recipe completely through.  How many times you ask, have I read the golden rule of using a recipe?  Apparently not enough times.  Okay leave me alone, so I didn't read the recipe, but I did skim through it.  That's kind of like reading. Right? 

Downtown Dining Week

Downtown Dining Week is running in Calgary from March 3-12 and it features numerous restaurants located in and around the downtown area.  All those participating have set menus for lunch and dinner for $15 and $25.  And to make it extra easy for all us epicures to shop around, the website lists the restaurants and their menus. What a fantastic idea to promote the downtown dining scene.  Let us eat!

Eager to get started, I hauled my faithful companion Lisa for dinner at Simone's Café on Thursday night.  The menu looked appealing, but I'd be lying if I didn't say it was the sticky toffee pudding that sold me on the venue. 

The restaurant is located in a rather industrialized area just off the train tracks on 10th Avenue, between two empty parking lots.  This was a rather unexpected location, but once inside, its surroundings were completely forgotten.  The décor was upscale and trendy with various works on display from local artists. 

The Dining Week menu was comprised of an appetizer, a choice of three entrees, and of course the dessert.  We ordered drinks (which were Coke, not wine, sorry) and placed our orders for dinner.  We checked out some of the art and watched a couple of trains as they went by.  Let me tell you those trains are close, and there's no doubt that in the case of a derailment the entire building would be completely leveled.  Well, there's nothing like living on the edge.

The appetizer was a tomato, red onion and basil bruschetta served on a toasted bun. It was slightly heavy on garlic, but still fresh tasting.  The dish was well plated and overall it was enjoyable. 

For the main course I ordered the pork tenderloin in a port fig demi-glace and Lisa ordered the chicken and prawn in the creamy lime sauce.  Our orders arrived in a timely fashion and were well presented.  The pork was served cut into 4 portions, specifically 3 medallions and a 4th much larger cut with roasted potatoes and steamed vegetables.  The vegetables and potatoes were good but the pork was very poorly prepared.  The larger portion was very rare, while the medallions which were about ¼ the size, were completely dried out and tough.  The fig and port demi-glaze was a disappointment as well, and could better have been described as simple chopped figs. 

The dessert (to their credit) was a huge improvement.  The sticky toffee pudding was a gooey brown-sugar cake that resembled a cross between pound cake and fudge.  It was amazing.  Oh no, wait.  After a few bites, Lisa discovered that hers had pieces of parchment paper stuck to it in several places.  Come on guys!   

I'd have to say that my experience at Simone's Bistro was not a superb one.  The decor was commendable and one of the waiters (who unfortunately wasn't ours) was positively charming, but after checking out their regular menu there's no way the food is worthy of the price.  As well, our waiter was not overly friendly or organized.  He visited our table twice to refill coffee, but left our empty dessert plates at the table both times.  In the end it was the other waiter that ended up clearing our dishes. 

In my personal, and certainly unprofessional opinion if a restaurant is going to participate in this type of event they should be striving to entice their guests, and should be prepared to go the extra mile to sell themselves.  So given that expectation, I was especially unimpressed by their efforts. 

If only there wasn't that sublime sticky toffee pudding.

Late Night Cravings

It was 9:00 and I was craving cake.  Chocolate cake to be more specific, and since it was late, simplicity was essential.  I’d seen a recipe for a dense chocolate loaf  in my copy of How to be a Domestic Goddess and it seemed fitting.  I took out the chocolate, chopped and weighed it, and then I seriously considered just eating the chocolate and scrapping the cake.  But I talked myself back into cake, and once I got over the eat-the-chocolate hurdle it went together quite quickly, even despite my lack of an electric mixer. As the recipe warned the batter was runny, watery even, but oh-so good.  At this point I seriously considered eating the batter and scrapping the cake, but I once again talked myself into making the cake.  I'd already gone through the trouble of lining the cake pan, so really.

Now all I had to do was bake it, but I’d like to reemphasize that the batter was runny.  So runny, that it ran freely underneath the liner in the pan.  I'm sure this might have had something to do with my inadequate job of lining the pan, but at the time I took no responsibility for this problem.  Not much could be done at that point anyway, so in the oven it went.  Remembering Nigella's warning that the cake might drip, I slipped a pan on the bottom rack to avoid any messes.  If you make this cake, heed this warning.  In the case of this cake, drip is a serious understatement.  This innocent looking loaf spews molten chocolate from its depths in alarming quantities.

See, I could have eaten some of the batter before I baked it.  I told you.

As it turns out the cake survived its purge and had all its innards intact.  It was deliciously moist and rich, and the chocolate is strong without being too sweet.  The finished product truly was better than the batter, so it’s a good thing I persevered.