If you're new here, you may want to subscribe to my RSS feed. Thanks for visiting!

On the past weekend while Colin and I were out on our errands (looking for lawn mowers) we decided to stop at Marche Adonis for some fresh steaks to put on the BBQ for dinner.

When we’ve been to Richmond’s house for a BBQ he always buys his meat from there, so we knew we were expecting good beef.

We walked up and down the fresh fruit and vegetables, not since we lived in England and bought from the local fruit market have we seen such beaufiul, undamaged, ripe and perfect produce! That is one thing I’ve always hated about Canada - is that you can only really get good produce for a short period of time each year.

Marche Adonis is Lebanese, and imports much of its fruit and vegetables this time of year (from Spain & Greece), but because they are a small market everything is well taken care of. There was little to none bruised fruit on the counters.

I was very impressed! (Remember I worked in a grocery store, so I’m a grocery snob as it were)

We continued onto the fresh cheese counter, the large Olive and anti-pasto counter, then to the glorious fresh meat counter.

We bought filet minon. 5 huge beautiful and tender steaks for $20.00. There was also fresh made souvlaki and brochettes as well sausages.

We checked out the fresh fish (which all looked great and very fresh!). Then onto the bakery and fresh bread. We picked up a still warm french baguette (that we ate in the car on the way home)

Pickled eggplant, jalapenos stuffed with feta cheese, fresh made spicy steak rub rounded out our purchases.

We quickly went home and got started. Colin being the master of the BBQ got to work on preparing the meat with the spicy steak rub.

I cut the vegetables up so we could grill them too on the BBQ (We have one of those grilling baskets, which is a MUST for anyone who BBQs alot like us)

The meat was by far the most glorious steak we’ve ever cooked at home. It was simply perfect!

The ingredients of the perfect steak are as follows:

• add one Colin who loves to BBQ, and understands the importance of tempurature on the BBQ
• add great and beautiful FRESH meat from a place like Adonis
• add good quality spices

I went back to Adonis last night to pick up some more steak and other fresh meats and vegetables. We plan on BBQing all week!

Yum!

Marche Adonis

4601 Boul Des Sources
Roxboro QC, H8Y 3C5

Phone: 514-685-5050
Fax: 514-685-9268

****Update May 11 2007**** As linked on Wikipedia for Grilled Cheese!  Congrats Colin!  hahaha

———————————————————————————————————————

We made grilled cheese tonight for dinner. As mentioned in a previous post, my husband makes the best grilled cheese. Its real comfort food, and when you have a rough day they really hit the spot.

Since I made my previous post I’ve received 5 emails from various people who stummbled onto my blog asking what Colin’s secret is to the perfect grilled cheese, today was the first opportunity to interview Colin. . .so as the master cooked his masterpieces, I took down the proccess - almost verbatim
Ingredients:

Very Soft Thick White Bread (For those in Quebec, Think POM ‘Ultra Soft’)

Cheese, two types (The better the cheese the better the sandwich, processed cheese is not real cheese - not matter what they tell you in the commericals) Colin likes to use Havariti and Extra Mature cheddar.

Margarine or Butter (the good stuff, not the low fat crap)

——————————————————–
Steps:

1. Butter the bread (remember you are buttering the outside of the bread, the part that will be on the pan). Butter all the way to the edge of the bread.
2. Preheat the pan to slightly under medium heat. (1/3 heat)
3. Put your cheese on the bread, and create the sandwich. Some people like to grate cheese, Colin doesn’t believe this is nessasary - but to each their own)
4. Don’t overfill your sandwich, usually two layers of cheese will do you. Otherwise its too much of a gooey mess. Colin likes to add extra ingredients, like bacon or sliced home made dill pickle - he says it adds colour and texture. Don’t bother with bicks - must be home made or gourmet.

   

5. You are just toasting the bread, so the cooking does not take long. If the bread sizzles when you put it on the pan, the pan is too hot. You are usually cooking for couple minutes on each side (depends on your stove). Colin likes to check his sandwiches often to ensure they don’t burn.

6. After you flip them (they should be golden brown) you press the sandwich down lightly. (La Belle Provience does this-again anyone from Quebec will appreciate this)

7. Then cut on the diagonal, serve immediatly with a dollop of ketchup and some soup, salad or chips.

In Summary,

the secret to the perfect grilled cheese sandwich is quality ingredients and control the heat.

Once in a while I get a real craving for the good ol’ soul warming panache of a steaming fluffy baked potato, so in that spirt I’ve been reading alot online about making the perfect baked potato.

Here are some of the secrets I’ve learned :::  (Please if you have any, share them!  Its for the good of all potato lovers out there)

•  For a crispy skin, and fluffy inside - DO NOT WRAP THE POTATOS IN TINFOIL.
• Many restaurants that serve their Baked Pots in tinfoil wrap them AFTER they are cooked!
• Wash and throughly dry the skins before cooking.
• When washing potatos, do not use HOT water.  The hot water will start to cook the skins for the rest of the potato.
• Baked potatos need to cook at high tempuratures.  Usually about 400 for anywhere between 3omins to 2 hours depending on your oven.
• Prick the potato before cooking with a fork.
• The fork should go right into the potato easily to show its done.  You cant tell when the potato flesh is nice and soft.
• a new, non-rusty, clean, sanitized nail pierced through the skin of the potato before cooking can speed up cooking.  The nail acts as a heat conductor helping cook the insides faster.  Be careful when removing the nail it will be hot.