No special day here or anything buts it’s not often I get to have  prime rib.

Was feeling a bit out of sorts earlier today on a personal level but I will say that spending a bit of time in the kitchen doing some prep lifted my spirits. There is something strangely & immensely satisfying about smashing the crap out of a whole bunch of herbs and garlic using a mortar and pestle. Today’s crust was made with a lot of savory, thyme, 6 cloves of garlic, some beautiful New Zealand sea salt (thanks Angie!!) , black peppercorns and some canola oil. I pounded my little heart out (seriously I really need to bring the mortar and pestle out more often) and came up with a lovely herb mash.

The prime rib was lovely. I just love the look of raw meat. I love seeing the striations of marbling. Just beautiful.this prime rib weighed approx 6 lbs

On went the slather and into the fridge for a couple of ours.

My children were seriously not impressed at this point. At this point they were giving me the oh my goodness you can’t possibly expect us to eat that for dinner tonight looks. Any parent can relate to that.

It was a lovely smelling prime rib and the color was coming along nicely. Off to the kitchen to prep some veggies to accompany our dinner. Had some portobellos with some Wisconsin Parmesan that I picked up on our last travels to the US. Its a nicely aged cheese. Lovely to eat on its own. Not sure I would use it again on the portobellos. Just didn’t have enough oomph.

Then one of my all time favorite veggies – asparagus! Love love love asparagus grilled. So do the kids. Ok 2 out of 3 of the kids love it. The other (Chaos causing , tiny terrorist also known as my son Gabe) child has determined it looks too much like a plant. I grated the rind from a really large lemon and sprinkled it on the asparagus as well as a really fragrant lemon olive oil. Salt & pepper was added as well.

The Natives were getting restless at this point and it took everything in me to keep them all (including husband) occupied until the prime rib had rested for enough time.

Overall dinner was lovely. The prime rib was delicious. I love herb crusts on beef.

Along with my love of BBQ and food in general I have a serious affinity for butchers shops. I have my own here in Barrie- Hovey’s Gourmet Meats and I believe everyone needs a good butcher. Last year I had the opportunity to do a Traeger demo at an incredible butcher store Schinkels Gourmet Meats in Chatham Ontario. Due to some technical difficulties (ok I admit it I lost the pictures) I haven’t posted before now but here are some pictures of this terrific butcher store. If you are ever in the area I suggest you stop in and pick up some of their great products.Additionally they have some of the nicest and most helpful staff you will ever encounter.

They have terrific meat counters that are full service

Great selections of lots of cheeses

Lots of spice mixtures and also BBQ sauces

Plus their owner is an all around great guy who really knows his stuff:

Stop in if you are in the area!

Schinkels’ Gourmet Meats
145 Richmond St.,
Chatham, Ontario.
Canada
N7M 1P1

Ph: (519) 351-2117
Fax: (519) 436-0961