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Aromas of Local Food

$10 challenge, beef, Canadian food, cuisine, culinary holiday, culinary tourism, farm fresh food, farmer, Farmers' Market, food, food tour, Lambton County, local crops, local food, lynn ogryzlo, Ontario local food, Sarnia, seasonal food, The Ontario Table2 Comments

It started to be a great weekend of farm visits and local food feasting in Lambton County. First, a visit to the Sarnia Bay Farmers’ Market. The market over looks the beautiful white boats bobbing in the blue water shimmering in the sunlight. Forest Glen Herb Farm was selling fresh herbs and dried bouquets of lavender, the pie lady was there was fruit pies, Williamson Farms had 3 long tables laden with fresh vegetables and Forest Glen Orchards has baskets of peaches, and nectarines; Lena’s Lamb, Bluewater Beef and The Whole Pig were there with frozen cuts of their naturally raised meats.

We were inspired to go out to Forest Glen Herb Farm but before we did, we had to make a stop to one of the many chip wagons under the bridge in downtown Sarnia. Sarnia chip wagons are famous for the best fries and I have to say, there is a lot of truth in that reputation!

Forest Glen Herb Farm is hidden away behind a row of bushes, but drive into the driveway and as it unfolds garden by garden, your eyes get bigger and bigger. It’s a beautiful and incredibly intense farm where every inch of property is filled with romantic colour and seductive aromas. Inside the retail barn there is barely a path to walk. Dried herbs hang down from the ceiling, reach out from the walls and The most romantic herb farm in all of Canada!posts in the room and baskets of dried herbs line the floor and spill themselves across tables. It’s a Willy Wonka wonderland of beautiful dried herbs and flowers. In the back is an ancient room with antique furniture where herb workshops take place. What a great farm that everyone should visit!

Feeling thirsty, we made a stop to Twin Pines Apple Orchard and Cider House where we sipped on delicious cider, Bluewater Beef to see the baby cow, we stopped off giada de laurentiis pokies at Volryk Farms where our city shoes got covered in beautiful sandy soil in the potato patch. Our last visit was to Sara’s natural pork. It was here when Jon and I got to the edge of the pig barns where the aromas were overwhelming.

We didn’t stay there very long but long enough to fill the car with pig aromas when we climbed in. As we drove through the countryside the smell lingered. Inspired to roll down the windows, we didn’t realize we were down wind of a farmer fertilizing his giant field with cow manure. The strong smells filled the car almost immediately and we choked as we hurried to roll the windows up while laughing hysterically.

All of a sudden I remembered the lavender bouquet from the herb farm in the back of the car and reached for it. I stuck my nose deep into the bouquet and took a huge whif. The lavender was strong and enough to give a bit of a reprieve until it was safe enough to roll the windows down again. No matter how long we drove with the windows open, when we closed them again, the familiar smell of pigs and cows seemed to be embedded in the car – or was it on our shoes. We stopped to wipe our shoes on a patch of grass. On the way home the lavender continued to help when we dug our noses deep into the bouquet and breathed deeply.

City folk like us aren’t used to the natural smells of live food production. It certainly isn’t for the faint of heart but it’s part of the job – and it’s the only time we get to enjoy those great belly laughs. Life is all about accepting the good with the bad and if this is as bad as it gets – I’m still a happy and well-fed food writer.

Food Day Canada Dinner

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It’s a long weekend and it’s Food Day Canada. Just outside Sarnia in the small neighbourhood of Courtright, farmers bring their food for a Food Day Canada farm dinner. It becomes a different kind of menu, one that centres around the food, its origins and its preparation. There is as much time and attention spent on the raising of animals and the butchered meat; the planting, nurturing and harvesting of produce, as there is time and attention paid to the preparation of the best food of the county into a delicious, memorable meal.

The site is the Smith Homestead Farm; this organic vegetable farm is picture perfect. A white tent is set up on the perfectly manicured lawn behind the retail barn and next to the labyrinth garden. The meal will be unlike any other strategically thought out dinner. Unlike the traditional 3 courses of appetizer, entre and dessert, this farm meal will be a collection of farmers, their food and whatever comes out of the kitchen first.

It starts with a cold beet salad tossed with beet greens and goes into pork, chicken, lamb, beef, then another salad of crisp, sturdy, bitter greens, the flavours are strong and excitingly refreshing. The dinner goes on with roasted garden vegetables, tomato sautéed chicken and pork. When you don’t think you can eat any more, a line of half a dozen people emerge from the retail barn each holding a pie in each hand. We end a feast of peach and cherry pies.

So what was everyone eating on? The Ontario Table brought the longest tablecloth in the world dedicated to Ontario local food. Each tablecloth, when joined end to end is over 150-feet long and on it is hundreds of dedications to farmers, home grown food and The Ontario Table. It was the perfect backdrop to a farm feast!

A true farm dinner is an appreciation to how our food is conceived, not procured; good soil, good climate and good weather. Like a generous act of Mother Nature, the evening ended with a rain shower that had everyone running, laughing to their cars.

Here’s the menu, the farmers and the amazing chef who brought them all together, Dave Duguay of Blackwater Coffee.

 

Smith Farms Organic Beet Salad

Forest Glen Herb Farm Mesclun with Garlic Herb Butter

Roasted Smith Farm Vegetables with Twin Bridge Lemon Honey

Swiss Chard and Feta Quiche with Noppen’s Eggs

Gwen’s Garden Produce Beans

Purdy’s Fish Cakes

Bluewater Beef Roasted with Blackwater Coffee Herb Rub

Sara’s Natural Side Ribs, Glazed with 5 Spice & Williamson Farms’ Maple Syrup

Vrolyk Farms Tomato Braised Chicken

Lena’s Roast Leg of Lamb with Peach and Mint chutney

Roasted Franz Turkey Breast Ballotine with Roasted Garlic Jus

Francy Tarts’ Peach Pie and Cherry Pie

Twin Pines Orchard and Cider House Cider

Munro Honey and Meadery Tastings

 

Take a look at some amazing pics of what you missed! Don’t miss Food Day Canada next year.

Radishes, fresh or roasted – yum!

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Radishes have to be one of the most visually appealing vegetables piled high at farmers’ markets and when I see a mountainfull of multi-coloured radishes at the Atwater Market in Montreal, I just can’t resist.

Not only am I addicted to the crunch and freshness of biting into a crisp radish, but the exciting part of being at a big city market is the huge volume of a good thing. There was a colossal pile of traditional red radishes next to an equally bountiful pile of sexy French radishes, you know the long ones with the white tips. Next to them were Easter radishes; they’re round and in colours of pink, purple and white, the colours we associate with Easter. Last were white radishes piled in a fourth impressive mound, but looking a bit pale and uninspiring.

We bought a bag full. My husband Jon loves the peppery bite of traditional radishes and I like the milder crunch of a French radish, so we split the bag half and half.

Radishes are a root vegetable related to the turnip and horseradish family. Traditional radishes are almost hot with a mean bite that puts me off. But if you’re like me and you love the flavour of radishes without the fierceness of its bite, you’ll love the crisp texture and a mild to delicately sweet flavor of a French radish.

French radishes, often called French Breakfast radish have an elongated shape that can grow to approximately three inches in length with a bright red outer skin that turns white at the root base.

I’m told by the market vendor that there are two main categories of radishes, spring and fall radishes and this is based on the time they’re harvested. Spring radishes are harvested early in the growing season resulting in a smaller radish. Fall radishes are harvested right now and they’re larger. Radishes have a relatively short growing season so they can be planted in the spring and fall, but they don’t like the summer heat. When they’re grown and harvested in temperatures that are hot, they become bitter.

We’ve all eaten radishes raw when they’re sliced in salads, served as hors d’oeuvres or added to a sandwich. They’re also great roasted, sautéed and braised, served as their own vegetable dish – try them as a new dish to accompany your barbecued meats.

Radishes are also great added to soups and stews, in fact, the greens make a wonderful soup all on their own.

My favourite way to eat radishes are on a large slice of rye bread, slathered with lots of sweet, creamy butter. I sprinkle coarse sea salt on the butter and place layers of thinly sliced radishes on top. It’s both crunchy and creamy, refreshing and soothing – guess what I had for dinner that night?

When you’re buying radishes at a traditional grocery store, choose the ones that are firm, crisp, and without blemishes. Remove the radish greens and place in the refrigerator, wrapped in plastic to keep fresh for several days.

Whether your barbecue dinner includes radishes or not, have a delicious summer with family and friends sharing the best food from the farmers’ markets.

 

Roasted Radishes with Candied Garlic

 

2 bunches small radishes

12 cloves of candied garlic or 1 head of fresh garlic, cloves peeled

2 tablespoons (30 mL) soy oil

pinch of salt

 

Preheat the oven to 350F (180C). Wash the radishes and place them in a baking tray. Add the candied garlic or the peeled cloves of garlic.

Drizzle the radishes and garlic in the soy oil and sprinkle with a pinch of salt. Stir well to make sure they are coated in the oil and seasonings. Roast in the oven for 30 minutes. Half way through, stir to make sure they are evenly cooked. Serve hot.

 

Yellow Plums, the lemon substitute

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It Niagara's alternative to lemonsI was sitting in the Glenlake Orchards farmhouse kitchen when owner Kevin Buis walked in with a basket full of yellow plums. “Make something good with them”, he said. So I took them home and put them on the counter. I had a pound cake in the refrigerator so I set out to make a sauce.

I put a little bit of honey and chopped up yellow plums in a saucepan thinking they would caramelize, but they just got soft and the honey didn’t change the incredibly sour flavour so I added a bit of sugar – they still made me pucker.

I took another look at the pile of yellow plums on my counter and wondered what the heck I was going to do with a fruit that cooks up like lemons.

Of course! I ran to my cookbooks and pulled out every recipe I could find for lemons and I began to cook. I started with lemon sorbet. Even though it had no milk or cream in it at all, once it turned in the ice cream maker, it came out creamy. I scooped it into some icewine glasses with a sprig of mint and used it as a palate cleanser between courses. It was really delicious.

I thought maybe adding a bit of creaminess to it would make a difference. So I cooked up a sauce with chopped up yellow plums, a handful of mint leaves, sugar and a bit of icewine. It cooked up beautifully tart but full and luscious at the same time. To add creaminess to it I whipped up some cream and when it was done, I added a bit of sugar and a few spoonfuls of ricotta cheese.

I took a tall champagne flute and put a spoonful of the ricotta cream and then a layer of minted yellow plum sauce. It was missing something so I took out some shortbread cookies and crumbled them up. I added a layer of shortbread cookies on top of the minted yellow plum sauce. Then I repeated the layering and the glasses looked beautiful. I topped it off with an extra spoonful of sauce, sliced yellow plums and a sprig of mint. It was a hit for dessert with layers of creamy sweet ricotta, crunchy, buttery cookies and rich, tart sauce. It’s a quick version of cheesecake!

But the last two recipes were really spectacular. I’ve always liked lemon squares but haven’t made them in years because I have too much local fruit to work with. So I whizzed up a yellow plum puree in the blender and used it in place of lemon juice in the recipe – it was spectacular! Not even my friends could believe they were not lemon squares!

But when I substituted the yellow plum puree for lemon juice in a lemon soufflé recipe it was to die for! Wow! I jumped in the car and took it over my friends. We sat around the kitchen table laughing with excitement and eating from the bowl until it was all gone – pure bliss this one was!

I’ve discovered another secret to yellow plums. That is they fall off the tree as soon as their ripe. Because of this, farmers tend to pick them green. The greener plums are perfect for squares and the soufflé, but if you leave them to ripen on the counter, they’ll soften and sweeten. Now they’re perfect for the ricotta cheesecake and sorbet.

Yellow Plum Squares

 

1 3/4 cups (430 mL) sifted all-purpose flour

1/4 cup (60 mL) cornstarch

2/3 cup (160 mL) icing sugar

1 cup (250 mL) cold butter, cubed

4 farm fresh eggs

1 1/2 cups (375 mL) sugar

1 teaspoon (5 mL) baking powder

1/4 cup (60 mL) all-purpose flour

1 cup (250 mL) yellow plum puree

icing sugar for dusting

 

Preheat oven to 350F (175 C). Grease a 9×13 inch pan. In a medium bowl, stir together flour, cornstarch and icing sugar. Cut in the butter with a pastry cutter or two knives. Press into the bottom of the prepared pan. Bake in the preheated oven for 20 minutes or until edges begin to turn golden.

In a large bowl, beat eggs until light. Whisk together the sugar, baking powder and flour. Whisk the sugar mixture into the eggs. Finally, stir in the plum puree. Pour over the prepared crust and return to the oven. Bake for an additional 30 minutes or until bars are set. Allow to cool completely before dusting with icing sugar. Cut into bars and enjoy. Makes 24 squares.

Yellow Plum Soufflé

 

2/3 cup (160 mL) granulated sugar

2 tablespoons (30 mL) unsalted butter, room temperature

3 large eggs, separated

3 tablespoons (45 mL) all-purpose flour

1/2 cup yellow plum puree

1 cup (250 mL) whole milk

dash salt

1/8 teaspoon (.7 mL) cream of tartar

 

Preheat oven to 350F (160C). In a mixing bowl, beat together the sugar and butter until creamy. Beat in the egg yolks one at a time. Gradually stir in flour, alternating with the yellow plum puree and milk; stir until well blended. In a medium mixing bowl, beat egg whites until foamy. Add salt and cream of tartar. Continue beating until the form soft peaks.

Fold egg whites gently into the plum mixture, just until incorporated throughout the batter. Pour into a 1 1/2-quart souffle dish. Set souffle dish in a larger pan with about 1-inch of hot water. Bake until top is set, about 35 to 45 minutes. Serve pudding hot with sauce. Serves 8.

Yellow Plum Curd

 

 

3/4 cup yellow plum puree

3/4 cup sugar

3 eggs

1/2 cup unsalted butter, cubed

 

In a 2 quart saucepan, combine yellow plum puree, sugar, eggs, and butter. Cook over medium-low heat until thick enough to hold marks from the whisk, and the first bubble appears on the surface, about 6 minutes.

 

Plum Puree

 

6 yellow plums, pitted and quartered

¼ cup (60 mL) sugar

2 tablespoons (30 mL) honey

 

Add plums, sugar and honey to a saucepan and bring to a boil over medium heat. Reduce to a simmer and cook for 5 minutes or until plums are soft. Set aside to cool. Puree in a blender. Makes 1 cup of puree.

Capturing Summer’s Sunshine

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My grandmothers cantina was most beautiful every fall. The room was approximately 10-feet by 10-feet and three walls were lined with short, narrow shelves, the perfect size for large canning jars. In the centre was a concrete wine press, the favoured cork screw kind of Italian home winemakers.

The large cantina was in the basement of the house with a few small vents that let in the outside air covered with mesh that my grandfather replaced each year to keep out the rodents who were eager to feast on our delicious work.

To feed a family of 13 over the winter the walls would hold well over a hundred jars of vegetables and fruit, sauces and jam. Sometimes the neighbours would collect in the garage with my grandmother and my aunts to help turn the bushels of roma tomatoes into tomato sauce for our all-time favourite meal, spaghetti and meat sauce. I was lucky enough to be part of these communal canning events. Some would can while others would cook. Perhaps it would be some fresh tomato sauce used to make cabbage rolls, lasagna or a meat sauce that was spooned over a board of polenta.

Peaches would be another great neighbourhood event of laughter, sharing food together and canning. We lived in an agricultural community where the Italian women worked on farms in the summer. After a hard day on the farm, they would bring us bushels and baskets of seconds. We would go into the house, put out a bowl of the best specimens and put a pot of water on the stove to boil for the rest. We would can them all. My favourite was the crimson jars of sweet cherries in a sticky syrup.

From our own garden we would harvest and eat what we wanted and then put the rest away. There would be green beans that stood proud and tall in the jars or a mix of vegetables, chopped and pickled. Braids of garlic and onions hung from nails pounded into door frames and wooden crates of potatoes and turnips lined a concrete step built to keep heavy items off the damp floor. Each day during the summer and fall a few more jars of delicious food would find their way into the cantina. Even when it looked full and the shelves bulged from the weight of the food, my grandmother would always find more room to store a few more jars of gooseberries soaked in white wine or burnt red peppers (that were a favourite on pizza).

Then in the winter when we opened a jar and sat down to eat, I would remember the summer days with my grandmother in the kitchen and feel like my world was right-side-up when Buy Ativan I tasted the bright flavours of summer.

For those of us who grew up setting summer food aside for a cold winter day we are blessed with family traditions and the most delicious of memories not to mention good food to eat. But the world moves too fast for most people to indulge in canning any longer – pity.

But lately there has been a resurgence in the activity of canning as a new generation of consumers concerned about food are collaborating with market farmers or growing their own food. This makes eating locally a year-round experience.

If you are one of those who hunger for the satisfaction of putting your favourite foods away, I’m sharing some great recipes with you. Won’t you please share with me?

 

Pictures of the canning.

 

 

Quiet Acres Sweet Cherries in Southbrook 2011 Triomph Cabernet Franc Rose, VQA

 

2 cups (500 mL)rose wine

½ cup (125 mL) sugar

3 cups (750 mL) whole sweet cherries

 

Add the wine to a large saucepan and add the sugar. Heat the wine to almost boiling, reduce heat to maintain temperature and stir to dissolve sugar. Add cherries and cook gently for 5 minutes. Remove cherries with a slotted spoon into 4, 250 mL canning jars. Increase the heat and boil the liquid for 6 to 8 minutes or until slightly syrupy. Pour over the cherries in the jars. Wipe the top of the jars clean and attach lids and rings. Process in a boiling water bath for 5 minutes. Remove from water and place on kitchen towel. The lids will ‘pop’ soon after.

Quiet Acres Sweet Cherries in Southbrook Rose Syrup

 

3 cups )750 mL) sweet cherries, stemmed and pitted

1 cup (250 mL) sugar

2 cups (500 mL) rose wine

2 teaspoons (10 mL) cornstarch

2 tablespoons (30 mL) red wine vinegar

½ teaspoon (2.5 mL) icewine (optional)

 

Heat a large, wide saucepan over medium high heat and add the pitted cherries and sugar. Mix a few tablespoons of red wine with the cornstarch in a very small bowl until it’s dissolved and set aside. Pour the remaining wine and the red wine vinegar over the cherries. Bring the heat up to a boil, then reduce the heat so it’s at a low boil and cook, stirring frequently for about 10 minutes. Add the cornstarch and let the mixture boil an additional minute or so to thicken. Turn off the heat and stir in the icewine (if using). Spoon into 6, 125 mL canning jars. Wipe the top of the jars clean and attach lids and rings. Process in a boiling water bath for 5 minutes. Remove from water and place on kitchen towel. The lids will ‘pop’ soon after.

Purple Daze Farm

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A former tobacco farmer, Robert Koprich now grows 17-acres of French Provencal lavender and English lavender on his 150-acre farm in Delhi in Norfolk County.  From the beginning of July to mid August the field is a beautiful blanket of billowy purple. Robert planted a large section of sunflowers in the middle of the purple to give his farm that “Monet look” as he calls it. I say it’s simply beautiful.

Like many other agricultural crops, there is good news and bad for this years harvest. The winter was very warm and the bushes didn’t get the blanket of snow they needed so there was some winter kill. The summer has been dry and windy resulting in only half the bloom of a traditional year, yet the colour is more intense. Like many farmers, Robert harvested early this year, which means he’s anticipating a second harvest from his crop. While this sounds like good news, the reality is that it will double his labour costs. Not good news for Roberts bottom line.

Lavender harvest takes place in the early morning hours before the sun evaporates the oils off the bushes. Robert removes about a foot off the top of the bushes that grow approximately 2-feet tall (English lavender) to 3-feet (Provencal Lavender). This year’s harvest is of super quality because the plants have an excess of oil, which means the dried lavender will have a much higher level of aromatics than in previous years – great news for lavender lovers.

Purple Daze (www.purpledazelavender.com) as Robert’s farm is now called, produces dried lavender buds, lavender honey, herbs d’provence, and lavender oil along with a variety of lavender bath products. There is an on-site retail store or you can find the Koprichs at the Simcoe Farmers’ Markets on Thursday, and the Port Dover and Brantford Farmers’ Market on Saturdays.

Lavender is a relatively new crop for Ontario. It loves dry, sandy, well drained soils, the same kind of conditions tobacco thrives on. So far there is approximately 100-acres of lavender beautifying Ontario’s agricultural landscape and it’s growing.

With the assistance of the University of Guelph, Ontario lavender growers are experimenting with the over 100 different varieties of lavenders in Ontario growing conditions. Currently, there are about 12 varieties that show promise.

Robert grows four of them; French Provencal, English, Melissa (white lavender, heavier in oil) and Purple Hidcote (super deep purple colour). An average lavender plant grows to 3-feet tall and English being the shorter variety at about 2-feet.

Second weekend in July Robert hosts the Purple Daze Festival that includes everything lavender, a community of artisans, yoga classes and belly dancing classes. “The colourful costumes of the bell dancers in the lavender field is just beautiful,” says Robert.

 

Purple Daze

2985 Rhineland Rd, Delhi

www.purpledazelavender.com

Retail store is open daily from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.

Lavender Coffee Cake

Recipe courtesy of Niagara Cooks: from farm to table (Epulum Books $29.95)

 

2 1/4 cups (560 mL) all-purpose flour

1/2 cup (125 mL) lavender scented sugar

2 1/2 teaspoons (12.5 mL) baking powder

1/2 teaspoon (2.5 mL) salt

3 tablespoons (45 mL) unsalted butter, chilled and cut into small pieces

1 tablespoon (15 mL) fresh lavender flowers (or 1 teaspoon (5 mL) dried)

1/2 cup (125 mL) whole milk

1 farm fresh egg, lightly beaten

1/2 cup (125 mL) apricot jam

4 tablespoons (60 mL) dried apricots, chopped

1/2 cup (125 mL) hazelnuts, chopped

Cooking oil

1 1/2 teaspoon (7.5 mL) sugar

 

Preheat oven to 375F (190C). Combine flour, sugar, baking powder and salt in a bowl.

Cut in butter with a pastry blender until mixture resembles coarse meal. Stir in lavender flowers. Add milk and egg, stirring just until moist. Turn dough out onto a lightly floured surface. Knead 5 times. Roll into a 9 x 7-inch rectangle. Mix dried apricots and hazelnuts into preserves. Spread apricot preserve mixture over dough, leaving a 1/2-inch border. Beginning with long side, roll up jelly-roll fashion; pinch seam to seal (do not seal ends of roll). Form roll into a circle and cut roll into nine 1-inch slices. Twist each slice, cut sides up, in an 8-inch non stick round baking pan lightly coated with oil. Sprinkle the slices with sugar. Bake for 35 minutes or until golden brown.  When ready to serve, drizzle with sugar glaze and sprinkle with dried lavender buds. Makes 1 ring.

Lavender Créme Brulée

Recipe courtesy of Niagara Cooks: from farm to table (Epulum Books $29.95)

 

4 cups (1 L) heavy cream

1 tablespoon (15 mL) dried lavender flowers

8 farm fresh egg yolks

1/2 cup (125 mL) sugar

4 tablespoons (45 mL) sugar

Preheat oven to 300F (150 mL). Butter 8 ramekins or custard cups and set them into a glass baking dish. In a large, heavy saucepan over medium heat, put cream and the lavender flowers; heat the cream until tiny bubbles appear around the edge of the saucepan. Remove from heat and allow lavender flowers to infuse with the cream for 30 minutes. Strain cream mixture through to remove lavender flowers. Reheat cream over low heat. In the meantime, whisk together the egg yolks and sugar until light and creamy. Slowly add the hot cream to the egg mixture, whisking continuously. Divide custard among the ramekins. Pour hot water into the baking pan to come half-way up the sides of the ramekins. Bake 1 hour or until set around the edges but still loose in the centre. Remove from oven and leave in the water bath until cooled. Remove cups from water bath and refrigerate at least 2 hours.

When ready to serve, sprinkle sugar over each custard. For best results, use a small hand-held torch and hold the torch 4 to 5 inches from the sugar, maintaining a slow and even motion. Stop torching just before the desired degree of doneness is reached, as the sugar will continue to cook for a few seconds after flame has been removed. If you don’t have a torch, place custards 6 inches below the broiler for 4 to 6 minutes or until sugar bubbles and turns golden brown. Refrigerate créme brulée at least 10 minutes before serving.

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