On Monday, We Just Need A Bit of John Taylor

I have two very special friends coming to town tomorrow and we are lined up for a lunch date on Monday. I was asked to pick the spot since this is my town. When I started to ponder this weighty decision a week or so ago, I had secretly hoped that Monday would see us sitting at Sunnyside and Bank, enjoying our lunch at Taylor's Genuine Food & Wine Bar. As the launch is still days away, to get our fix of chef John Taylor, we will instead be nestled in at his Byward Market establishment, Domus Café at 87 Murray Street. Ottawa is not a town my visitors come to often, so I hope that this experience will give them a taste for the depth of our culinary landscape here in the nation's capital.

As you can imagine the opening of Taylor's Genuine Food & Wine Bar is much anticipated and I too am on that list of those keenly waiting. There have been some great articles written up recently and I invite you to read more about this new additon to Old Ottawa South's food scene.

Our New Wine Bar by William Burr published in the May edition of The OSCAR. Page 9.

It's Genuine: John Taylor's Food and Wine Bar by S. Bergwerff published on May 5th.

Here's the exclusive inside look at John Taylor's new resto -- Video by Ron Eade posted on his blog Omnivore's Ottawa on May 7th.

For John Taylor, with all this interest, it must feel like a pretty nice way to start into this end of Ottawa.

Could The Simple Meatball Bring About World Peace?

A regular dish in our home is the meatball of my heritage. Frikadeller.

In Denmark, frikadeller is their national meat dish. These lightly seasoned, tender, juicy meatballs are traditionally eaten with braised red cabbage, rye bread, pickled cucumber salad and often pickled beets and gherkins. Sometimes they are served with potatoes too - boiled with a brown sauce (gravy), roasted or potato salad are quite common choices.

I also like Asier pickles with frikadeller.



When I don't have homemade on hand, I like the Beauvais brand. They also make a good pickled beet. Both can be sourced at the Hansen's Danish Pastry Shop in Toronto at 1017 Pape Avenue.



A proper meatball recipe takes time to prepare. Although it appears to be the food of peasants, there are many important culinary tricks to ensure the best texture, flavour and presentation.

My preference for the meat base is an equal combination of veal and pork.

The frikadeller is flavoured well with minced onion (I prefer minced over finely chopped), and then seasoned with salt and pepper. Although not considered traditional by some, I like to add a bit of nutmeg too.

The binding is a blend of flour, egg and whole milk. Some recipes call for water, but I enjoy the richness of milk and will use homo milk if I have it on hand.

It is important that once the ingredients have been pulled together, the mixture sits a while for the flavours to develop and marry. I usually plan on a good hour in the refrigerator.

As I laboured over making the perfect frikadeller, it dawned on me that my multicultural friends each have their own version of the meatball.

Finland - lihapullat
Albania - qofte të fërguara
Greece - keftedes
Belgium - ballekes
Austria - fleischlaibchen
Iran - kal-e gonjeshki
Indonesia - bakso
Netherlands - gehaktbal
Norway - kjøttkaker
Sweden - köttbullar
Denmark - frikadeller
United States - meatball
Lebanon - kafta
Spain - albondigas

and on and on the list goes.

My mind wanders and I am picturing the delegates sitting in the General Assembly of the United Nations. And instead of the name of their country on the front of their desks, there stands the name of their meatball. Wouldn't everyone be a bit more relaxed? Although they all have different names and are seasoned to a particular native culinary rule of law, deep down inside they are all the same.

Really, could the simple meatball bring about world peace?



FRIKADELLER

1 pound ground pork
1 pound ground veal
1/3 cup all-purpose flour
2 small onions, minced
2 teaspoons salt
1/2 teaspoon pepper
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
2 eggs, lightly beaten
1 cup milk, approximately
1/3 cup butter for frying

In bowl, combine pork, veal, flour, onions, salt, pepper and nutmeg; mix lightly. Stir in eggs and milk until well mixed. (Mixture should be quite moist; add more milk if necessary.) Let mixture stand for at least an 1 hour to let flour absorb milk.

Using a dessert spoon, shape meat to be a bit larger than an extra large egg. They flatten out a bit as they cook. In skillet, melt butter over medium heat; add meatballs and cook for about 5 minutes on each side or until no longer pink inside meatballs.

Serve meatballs hot or warm in chafing dish or warmed serving bowl. Makes approximately 20 meatballs.

I often make a double batch and freeze the meatballs. I find that they reheat well in my microwave laid out on a plate and covered with a sheet of wax paper to contain the spatter. My microwave has a 'Reheat' button. Works like a charm.

Caffé Mio Italian Bistro

Caffé Mio has become a bit of a 'go to' place for us when we are looking to go out for dinner, and want to still be pretty close to home and most importantly, know that where we do go, every dish will be really good. Thursday was a bit of a train wreck in that a lot happened that wasn't planned and as a result the biggest amount of brain power went into just trying to keep everything on the rails. I am not sure how you can plan for dinner when it seems that you may be hijacked at every turn. So we opted for getting help and took a very last minute reservation at Caffé Mio. My guess is that we got the last spot in the house. The place was packed! It seems a lot of people had a train wreck of a day!!

Our waitress was great. I had a terrible time concentrating that day though so I hope I have the food descriptions figured out. It may not be quite from her lips to your ears.

I couldn't pass on the soup of the day. A tomato soup with bacon and fresh herbs. Although well puréed, it was still meaty and textured and very rich in its tomato flavour. I liked the balance of herbs. Every once in a while I would spoon up bacon. To me it didn't add one way or another. The splishes at rim-side are probably an indication that the kitchen was really hopping that night!




My dinner date enjoyed the Beet Salad. Roasted beets on a bed of arugula topped with crisp pancetta & toasted pecans. The picture that they have on their website photo gallery shows a plate groaning in beets. Although this one is less sparse, the reviews were excellent. Again, lots of flavour and fresh, fresh greens.



I opted again for a special. This time the salmon. It had a topping of caramelized onions and feta and sat on a bed of fresh, fresh green beans and mushroom risotto. The portion of salmon was HUGE but I persevered to the very last bite, enjoying each lift of the fork.



Across from me, hubby picked one of his favourites, the Linguine Mio. Linguine with prosciutto, spinach & roasted red peppers in olive oil & garlic. His plate too was reduced to a shiny porcelain white. The amount of prosciutto was substantial as was the combo of vegetables. As I was quite heads down on my dish, I missed sneaking a bite.



I re-hydrated with water while hubby enjoyed a bottle of Tankhouse Ale, something he usually experiences on tap.



As usual, no room for dessert. We had to dash anyway since the family taxi service was being called back on shift.

I mentioned to a friend yesterday that we were out to Caffé Mio. Her eyes popped. It is a great favourite of theirs too and particularly their daughter's favourite place to dine. So it would appear that the full house on Thursday evening is just regular business. I suspect it is good advice to say call ahead for a reservation.

Caffé Mio Italian Bistro
1379 Wellington Street
Ottawa, Ontario
(613) 761-5510

Mon - Fri: 11:00 AM - 10:00 PM
Sat: 11:30 AM - 10:00 PM
Sun: 4:00 PM - 9:00 PM