Union Street Kitchen Witch

East Indian Split Pea Soup

2012-01-17T08:41:00.000-04:00

A good split pea soup is one of winter's greatest pleasures. My mom made it often when I was growing up and she still reigns as the Pea Soup (or Sea Poup, thanks Dad) Queen. Hers used to be made with a meaty ham bone, but is now most often vegetarian, thick with sweet potato, celery, onions and carrot and spiced up with toasted cumin. At the Cafe, we've spiked our version with everything from pulled pork to maple sausage, always to good reviews.

Last week I was making shrimp curry for our buffet and wanted a soup to complement it. Usually I make dhal, an East Indian dish often made with red lentils. We had no lentils, but we did have lots of green split peas, and so this recipe was born.

East Indian Split Pea Soup

You can serve this soup as is, or have fun topping it: I suggest a dollop of plain yogurt, a spoonful of mango chutney, some chopped cilantro, a few toasted cashews...

1 lb. Split Peas (Mom says yellow, I say green)
12 C. Water
1 T. Oil
1 T. Mustard Seeds
1 large Onion, diced
1 T. freshly grated Ginger
3 cloves Garlic, minced
1 t. Turmeric
2 t. ground Cumin
1 T. Salt
1 medium Sweet Potato, diced
1 large Potato, diced
2 large Carrots, diced
1 large handful Spinach, chopped (optional)
1 T. Garam Masala (a blend of sweet spices, EOS and Superstore have it)

In a large pot, bring the peas and water to a boil. Reduce to a simmer and cook for about an hour, until the peas are mostly tender. Meanwhile, heat a large frying pan over medium high heat and pour in the oil. Add the mustard seeds. They will toast and begin popping after a minute or so. Reduce the heat to medium, then stir in the onion and cook until beginning to soften, about five minutes. Add the ginger, garlic, turmeric, cumin and salt, and cook for a minute before adding the sweet potato, potato, and carrot. Cook, stirring often, for five minutes, then shut off the heat. When the split peas are almost tender, add the spice and vegetable mix to the pot. Simmer for a half hour (the peas should mostly have fallen apart at this point), then check for salt and stir in the spinach and garam masala.

Season of Bread and Bonfires

2012-01-03T16:45:00.000-04:00

We live on the fringe of the woods, a mile's walk from the Bay of Fundy on the North Mountain. Christmas here means a big family trip to the woods to choose a sparse-but-beautiful tree. We're not going to miss the opportunity to build a big roaring fire to sit around. And if you give an Osburn a fire to sit around, she's going to want a snack. Or a full-on meal.

For this occasion, my Mom was bringing baked beans. I wanted to bake brown bread, but with only an hour before the slated trip, that was impossible.

I flipped through a few cookbooks and adapted a beer bread recipe to suit. It's a quick bread, so it only takes about 50 minutes from start to finish. I added molasses and used a bottle of St-Ambroise Apricot Wheat Ale. It baked up to be a very respectable stand in, with the added bonus of fruity, yeasty ale-iciousness. In this season of soups and stews, a loaf of this will fit in very nicely at your next gathering or potluck.

Locally, I think this bread would be equally wonderful made with Propeller's Honey Wheat or Pale Ale, or anything you like (maybe not stout, but you never know!) One more note: the bread disappeared before I could take a picture. Had it lasted, I would have eaten it toasted the next day with a big piece of cheese. It will keep for a few days if given the chance.

Hoppy New Year!!

Molasses and Ale Bread

1 C. Whole Wheat Flour
1 C. All Purpose Flour
1/2 C. Oatmeal
2 T. Baking Powder
1/2 t. Baking Soda
1/2 t. Salt
3 T. Brown Sugar
1/3 C. Molasses
1 341 ml. bottle Beer

Preheat oven to 350°. Butter a loaf pan. In a large bowl, whisk the flours, oats, baking powder, baking soda, brown sugar and salt. Add the molasses and beer and stir until just combined. Scrape into the loaf pan and bake for 40-45 minutes, until a toothpick inserted into the bread comes out clean. Cool on a rack or wrap in a towel on your way out the door!

Simple Pumpkin Cake with Brown Butter Glaze

2011-11-28T12:16:00.002-04:00

Lately all I've been wanting to eat is cake. I daydream about cupcakes piled high with frosting, layers of chocolate and cream, caramel sauce, raspberries. lemon curd. I've been firing up my oven at bedtime to make a quick batch of brownies and almost bought a box of crunch donuts from the grocery store last week. I am pregnant.

Since I've been rather absent here for the last few weeks, it should come as no surprise that I really haven't been doing much cooking. Nothing I really want to share with you, or even admit to. But now I'm feeling better and more energetic every day, and I've even started stocking my fridge with vegetables again!

Pregnant or not, most of us could stand to eat a little healthier. I'm not saying that the following recipe is actually good for you, but it certainly is better for you than some of the alternatives. The pumpkin makes the cake very moist and rich-tasting, despite the fact that there is less fat and sugar in there than in other cakes. The glaze adds a sugary, buttery flavour without being piled half an inch thick. The recipe makes enough batter for 1 cake and a dozen muffins to freeze and dole out in lunchbags.

If you're energetic, try roasting your own pumpkin or buttercup squash, it will make the very best cake. You will note that this recipe uses a whole large can of pure pumpkin, rather than leaving you with leftovers.

Simple Pumpkin Cake with Brown Butter Glaze
makes 1 cake and 12 muffins

2 C. Sugar (I use Just Us!)
1 C. Canola Oil
6 Eggs
1 T. Vanilla
3 C. cooked and mashed Pumpkin (or 1 large can)
4 C. Flour (try 2 C. white and 2 C. whole wheat)

4 t. Baking Soda
2 t. Baking Powder
2 t. Cinnamon
1 t. Ginger
1/4 t. Cloves
1/2 t. Salt

Preheat the oven to 350°. Butter a bundt or other large cake pan, and a 12 cup muffin tin (or use paper liners). In a large bowl, beat the sugar, oil, eggs and vanilla. Add the pumpkin and whisk to combine well. In a separate bowl, stir together the flour, baking soda, baking powder, cinnamon, ginger, cloves and salt. Add the dry ingredients to the pumpkin mixture, and whisk just until combined. Fill the muffin cups 2/3 full, then scrape the remaining batter into the cake pan. Bake the muffins for 15-18 minutes and the cake for 30-40 minutes, until a toothpick inserted into the middle of the cake comes clean. Let cool on a rack in the pan for 10 minutes, then remove the cake from the pan. Make the glaze, then drizzle it over the cake and muffins.

for the Brown Butter Glaze

2 T. Butter
1/4 C. Brown Sugar
1/4 C. Milk
1 1/2 C. Icing Sugar

Place the butter in a small saucepan over medium high heat. Watch as it melts, bubbles, and begins to brown. Whisk in the brown sugar, cook another 30 seconds, than remove from the heat and beat in the milk and icing sugar.

Curried Quinoa and Fruit Salad

2011-10-19T16:46:00.004-03:00

My restaurant, the Union Street Cafe, offers a popular daily Lunch Buffet. We serve a delicious hot entree like Chicken and Roasted Vegetable Lasagna or Handmade Pizza , a Made-From-Scratch Soup and a lineup of at least five Salads. On the weekends, we switch to brunch offerings including Fishcakes, Walnut Crusted French Toast, Scrambled Eggs, Bacon and Baked Beans and make sure there is fruit in the salad line-up.

Over the years, we've gotten many recipe requests for customer favourites! My policy on recipe sharing is simple: if I've got the recipe, I'll share it. The problem is, many of these salads are inspired by what's in the kitchen that day and aren't written down. Some glorious inventions have been made once, devoured, and never recorded. We're working hard to change that by keeping a book of notes right next to the salad bowls. If something works, I take quick notes on what went into it so it can be re-created.

This is the most recently requested recipe, and it is supremely tasty. It's also my sister Meagan's favourite buffet salad! The curry powder is cooked right along with the super-healthy quinoa (an infyooosion, as kitchen gals Annette and Alexis call it) and then mixed with other lovely things like pineapple and dried cranberries. It is a lovely home for local fruit in season and can likely survive any adaptation you can throw at it. You can bring it to a potluck, serve it as a side dish, or make it into a lovely wrap with chicken and greens tucked inside, like Meagan would do.

Curried Quinoa and Fruit Salad

If you haven't cooked with quinoa before, this is a great way to start!

1 C. Quinoa
2 C. Water
1 T. Curry Powder
1 t. Salt
1 stalk Celery, diced
1/4 C. minced Red Onion
1/2 C. minced Red Pepper
1 C. Seedless Grapes, cut in half (if you have all day)
1 C. fresh Pineapple, diced or 1 C. diced Apple
1/4 C. dried Cranberries
1/4 C. Almonds
2 T. Honey
1/3 C. Canola Oil or Mayo
2 T. Lemon Juice

Combine the quinoa, water, curry powder and salt in a small heavy pot. Bring to a boil, covered, then reduce the heat to a simmer and cook another twenty minutes. Turn off the heat and let stand while you prepare the rest of the ingredients. In a large bowl, combine the celery, red onion, red pepper, grapes, pineapple, cranberries and almonds. In a small bowl, whisk the honey, oil or mayo, and lemon juice until smooth. When the quinoa has cooled (you can spread it out on a tray to hurry it along if you like), crumble it into the bowl and add the dressing. Toss gently to combine, taste, adding a little more lemon or honey if you like, then serve.

Autumn Pizza

2011-09-30T11:50:00.001-03:00

This time last year: Kid Friendly Meals

Every Thursday morning at the Cafe I bake batches of Focaccia Bread. It's a soft, wet dough that bakes into a spongy, chewy bread full of holes and fragrant with olive oil and rosemary. We cut it into large squares and stuff them with chicken and roasted vegetables, or split them and layer the halves with ham, apples and cheddar. They also stand in nicely when we run out of hamburger buns, an inevitability on busy weekends. More often than not we mix up an extra batch of dough for pizzas. We let our imaginations run wild, usually inspired by a quart of just-picked strawberries, a bagful of fresh herbs, or a bowl brimming with colourful heirloom tomatoes. We're incredibly lucky. Many of Union Street Cafe's present and past staff are gardeners. And all the gardeners I know, especially my Dad, grow way too much for their own use. So in through the kitchen door it comes, in bags and baskets and boxes: truly seasonal inspiration. And always gratefully received.

Roasted Squash and Sausage Pizza with Greens
Here is last week's creation! Feel free to sub in pita or pre-made crust if you don't want to bother making your own. Just bake until the cheese is beginning to brown.

1 small Butternut Squash, peeled and cut in small dice
2 T. Olive Oil
1/2 t. Salt
1/2 recipe Focaccia Bread (make the dough and let rise)
generous 1/2 C. Alfredo Sauce, optional
1 bunch Rainbow Swiss Chard, chopped and steamed until tender, or 1 recipe Greens with Caramelized Onions
1 lb. Sweet Italian Sausage, cooked and sliced thinly (try Meadowbrook's in the Valley)
2 C. shredded Mozzarella
2 T. freshly grated Parmesan Cheese

Preheat the oven to 400°. Toss the squash with the olive oil and salt and spread onto a baking sheet. Roast for 20-30 minutes, until squash is tender and beginning to brown. Leave the oven on. Prepare the focaccia dough and gently press into a generously oiled 13x18" pan. I find this easiest to do in two or three stages, as the dough resists stretching and needs time to rest in between efforts. Spread the dough with the the Alfredo sauce. Top with the squash, the chard, and sausage. Sprinkle with the mozzarella and Parmesan cheeses. Bake for 15-25 minutes, until the cheese is bubbling and beginning to brown.

Slippery Jacks

2011-09-16T13:10:00.002-03:00

This time last year: Autumn Soups

Here it is, my first-ever guest post writer: my Mom. I've told you a bit about her, how she shaped my love of food and cooking, and what an inspiration she is in the kitchen. She's not afraid to make bagels from scratch, or complicated Mexican desserts, or a pickle that takes four days of attention.

It’s pickling season and if you have your own garden you’re probably trying to think of ways to preserve or use up the giant cucumbers that appear to grow to gargantuan size overnight. Recipes so often call for more normal dimensions and you can’t give them away either because everyone’s in the same boat…. or pickle. Well here’s a really weird cucumber pickle recipe that will use up about a dozen of those bloated gourds. There’s probably not a speck of nutrition left in them but pickles aren’t about that anyway and these are really good with your favourite curry dish, with cheese and crackers or just for when you want a pickle. This recipe comes from Riverport on the South Shore of Nova Scotia and though the method may sound as if they would end up otherwise, they really are sweet, crisp and tender!

Slippery Jacks

Wash 10 cucumbers, ripe and as large as they grow and cover with boiling water. Next day, drain and cover again with boiling water. Repeat this step on the third day. Next day peel, remove seeds and cut into strips. In a large pot, bring to a boil:

6 cups white sugar
2 tablespoons pickling spice or prepare your own using bay leaves, cinnamon stick, peppercorns, mustard seed and whole cloves. Bundle them up in cheesecloth tied with a string and hang them in the syrup.
5 teaspoons salt
4 cups white vinegar

Boil syrup for two minutes, remove from heat and add cucumber strips. Let sit for two days, then bring just to a boil without cooking. Put in sterilized jars and seal.

It's me again. I just wanted to thank my Anna Osburn (that's my Mom) for taking all the pictures and creating today's post! The song in the video clip is from my Don Osburn's (that's my Dad) album Small Fine Pleasures and it features Dan Whiteley on mandolin. That's also Dan Whiteley as our Slippery Jack spokesman and we think he did a fine job selling you on this unusual and delicious pickle. My Mom would also like to thank my aunt Jane for giving her the recipe in the first place.

Heirloom Tomato Pasta

2011-09-12T21:28:00.000-03:00

This time last year: Grilled Summer Vegetables

Sometimes the simplest things are the best. You could stand all day at the stove, stirring a simmering pot of tomato sauce. Or you could whip this up in the time it takes to boil the water for your pasta. Of course, you need some really flavourful tomatoes. You can find some great old-fashioned tomato varieties at most nurseries if you're up for growing your own, or you can buy a mix of tomatoes at a farm market (or even at the grocery store). This is a great use for ugly or less-than-perfect tomatoes since you chop them all up anyway. The inspiration for this recipe comes from pasta genius Ross Patterson, aka The Noodle Guy. Ross worked as a waiter in the early days of Union Street Cafe but he couldn't keep his nose out of the kitchen and we just loved him for it. If I remember correctly, his version included a touch of anchovy.

What makes this particular sauce so unusually delicious is that the tomatoes are essentially raw. Barely cooked by the heat of the pasta, their sensual flavours bloom. When I made this for myself last week, I added some fresh herbs that I collected by flashlight from my ridiculously overgrown garden and left out the anchovies because I didn't have any. Locally grown, quality garlic will certainly make this all the better.

Heirloom Tomato Pasta for 2

1 lb. mixed ripe Tomatoes, cut in 1" pieces (halve any cherry tomatoes)
2 T. Extra Virgin Olive Oil
1/4 t. Salt
1 juicy clove minced Garlic
2 T. slivered Red Onion
2 T. chopped fresh Basil
2 T. chopped fresh Parsley
1/2 of a 375 g. box Whole Wheat Spaghetti or Spaghettini
Freshly ground Pepper and Parmesan Cheese, for serving

Combine the tomatoes, oil, salt, garlic, onion and herbs in a bowl. Meanwhile, bring a large pot of salted water to a boil and add the pasta. Cook until just tender, then drain. Put the tomato mixture into the still-warm pot, then add the hot pasta. Return to the turned off burner for a moment before tossing the whole glorious mess together. Divide between bowls, adding generous grinds of pepper and Parmesan cheese to each serving.

Garlicky Green Beans

2011-08-27T08:23:00.001-03:00

This time last year: Blackberry Apple Pie

Well here's a deliciously simple way to consume mass amounts of fresh beans. My mom and I have each been cooking a version of this throughout bean season and are addicted. You should try it! It's adapted from Mollie Katzen's The Vegetable Dishes I Can't Live Without. You just trim about a pound of beans and snap them in half. Have ready about a tablespoon of minced fresh garlic. Heat your largest pan over high heat for a few minutes, then swirl in a couple teaspoons of vegetable or sesame oil. Keep the heat high as you pour in the beans. Stir the beans constantly for about five minutes, adding a sprinkle or two of salt as they cook. Add the garlic and cook for a minute or two longer, then remove from the heat. Serve as an appetizer with a little sweet chili sauce for dipping, as a side dish, or make a meal of it!

Creamy Peach and Tomato Soup with Fresh Basil

2011-08-20T09:30:00.001-03:00

This time last year: Zucchini Muffins and Zucchini with Olive Oil, Garlic and Parmesan

This soup doesn't have a story. It's just what results when you're driving to work with a bushel box of peaches from the Peach Pit Farm Market in the front seat and an enormous basket of fresh basil from your Dad's garden in the back. Before you know it, you're standing in the kitchen making a soup that's even better than you hoped it might be....

Creamy Peach and Tomato Soup with Fresh Basil

2 T. Butter
1 Onion, diced
4 Ripe Peaches, diced
8 C. diced fresh Tomatoes or 2 Cans Tomatoes (540 ml each), pureed
1 t. Salt
3 C. Chicken or Vegetable Stock or Water
1 C. Cream (optional)
1/4 C. Fresh Chopped Basil

Heat the butter in a large pot over medium heat and add the onion. Cook and stir until the onion is tender, about ten minutes. Don't let it brown too much! Stir in the peaches, tomatoes, salt and stock. Bring to a gentle boil, then reduce the heat and simmer for twenty minutes or so. Stir in the cream if using, and the basil. If you like, use an immersion blender to smooth the soup out a bit, though a few discernible chunks of peach are lovely. Taste for salt, and serve. This soup is great hot, at room temperature, or cold. Chill to store.

Cherry Raspberry Crisp

2011-08-12T13:54:00.002-03:00

Sixteen years ago, I sat overlooking the Dartmouth harbour and asked myself "What should I do? Which way to go?" I had just spent the year before attending college and working on the weekends, and now seven friends of mine were gearing up to head out West. I really wanted to go. I totally could not afford it. I headed back to Pleasant Street, pushing Daniel, my charge, in his wheelchair. When I arrived at his house, Daniel's mother was waiting. She wanted to discuss leaving me in charge of both her children for an entire week while she went on vacation. Since I would be responsible for them 24 hours a day, I would be paid for 24 hours a day. In a week, I would have more than enough to join my friends.

We left in May, eight kids in two unlikely cars: a 1962 Plymouth Valiant named Hal, and a 1980s Oldsmobile Toronado. We made our way across the country, stopping whenever we wanted, sleeping in our cars or pitching a tent. When Jody picked up his guitar somewhere around Port Parry and Rachael sang the opening line of "Pocahontas", the Northern lights spread up through the sky as if by magic. We experienced all the seasons as we drove: late spring in Ontario, deep summer heat in Manitoba, winter in Kananaskis.

We made it to Vancouver sometime in early June. We arrived late at night, with the loose plan of staying with Mari's brother. He wasn't home. You don't really want to sleep in your car in Vancouver! We thought of heading out of the city, but we were so tired. It was too late to call home to get the phone number of the one person I knew there, so we began walking aimlessly, hoping Mari's brother would get home sooner than later. As we walked, I saw two people sitting at a bus stop that looked familiar. It was my friend Amy. In a city of two million people, I found her. We offered her and her friend a drive home and she let us stay at her house.

Amy lives in Sweden now, with her lovely husband and a darling baby girl. Luckily for us, her parents still make their home in Nova Scotia, so we get to see her once a year. When Amy came over for supper last week, it was a great excuse to do some baking. I made this Cherry Raspberry Crisp. You might be aware of my passion for raspberry, but I admit they're a little seedy. So it's really nice to combine them with other fruits. I used sour cherries here, which I adore, but you could also use sweet cherries, or blueberries.

Cherry Raspberry Crisp

1 pint Raspberries
1 pint Sour Cherries
2-4 T. White Sugar, depending on how sweet you already are
1 T. Cornstarch
1 C. Rolled Oats
1/2 C. Whole Wheat Flour
1/2 C. Brown Sugar
1/2 t. Baking Powder
1/8 t. Salt
1/4 C. Butter, softened
1/4 C. Milk
1/2 t. Vanilla

Preheat oven to 350°. Combine the berries, white
sugar and cornstarch in a deep pie dish. In a large bowl, combine the oats, flour, sugar, baking powder and salt. Rub the butter in with your fingers until the mixture is crumbly. Mix the milk and vanilla together and drizzle over the mixture. Sir until well combined, then drop clumps over the fruit in the pie dish. Bake for 45 minutes to an hour, until juices are bubbling thickly and crisp topping is browned and beautiful. ♥


"only pick the ones that pull easily from the stem!" Grandfather Osburn

Niçoise-Inspired Potato Salad

2011-08-06T10:42:00.001-03:00

This time last year: Raspberry-Blueberry Shortcakes and Blueberry Gumbo

August is my favourite month for eating! Mostly right now I'm gorging on the huge raspberries at Gatehill Farm, finding new uses for Swiss Chard daily and eyeing my garden for the first ripe tomatoes. At Nova Scotian farm markets it is high season for cucumbers, broccoli, green and yellow and Roma beans, kale, basil and the first carrots and potatoes. With all this abundance, it is our duty to get into the kitchen and whip up some delicious, indulgent, once-a-year high-summer meals! With that in mind, I give you this lovely potato salad. Nicoise Salad is a classic French salad, usually "composed", meaning that all the ingredients are beautifully arranged. It contains potatoes, beans, tuna, eggs, capers, olives, sometimes anchovies, and fresh herbs dressed with vinaigrette. This is a simplified version, though you could certainly add any of what I've left out. I love how the yolk of the egg enriches the simple dressing.

Niçoise-Inspired Potato Salad

3 lb. small New Potatoes
4 Eggs
1 lb. Green or Yellow Beans, trimmed and snapped in half
4 T. Olive Oil
Juice of 1 Lemon
1 clove Garlic
2 T. Dijon Mustard
1/4 t. Salt
Freshly ground Pepper
1 pint Cherry Tomatoes
1/2 C. slivered Red Onion
1/4 C. Chopped Parsley
2 Cans Tuna, left in chunks (optional)
Handful of fresh Basil, shredded (optional)

Cut the potatoes in half if they are larger than 1" and place in a pot with the eggs and 2 t. salt. Add cold water to cover and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat to a simmer and cook until the potatoes are tender, about 12-15 minutes. Remove from the heat and fill the pot with cold water to cool the eggs and potatoes quickly, then drain. Steam or boil the beans until just tender. Peel the eggs and cut into eighths. Meanwhile, whisk the olive oil, lemon juice, garlic, mustard, salt, and plenty of pepper in a large bowl. Add the potatoes, beans, eggs, tomatoes, red onion and parsley and toss well in the dressing. Taste for seasoning, then add the optional tuna and toss again gently. Top with the basil if using, and another good grind of pepper. This is lovely served right away, while still slightly warm, or
chilled in the refrigerator for up to three days.

Creamy Broccoli Soup

2011-07-27T16:31:00.000-03:00

This time last year: Kale and Swiss Chard with Caramelized Onions and Chicken Penne with Greens and Raspberries

When do we become confident soup makers? When do we become confident cooks for that matter, counting on regular success in the kitchen and perhaps even believing that cooking is something we should do for a living? For something so basic to our survival, it is astonishing how much practice it takes to become a really good cook. Take soup. I know that if I start with some chopped onions, some garlic, and a few basic ingredients that I can make something delicious. But it wasn't always that way.

I had already mastered a few basics when I left home: macaroni and cheese, pancakes, stirfry. But far away on the other side of the country, I missed my mother's chicken soup. And she couldn't really tell me how to make it, because she Just Made It. Also, I was vegetarian at the time, so I couldn't admit it.

I was working at my first real cooking job, at a bowling alley on Saltspring Island, British Columbia. I didn't have a phone, or a house for that matter, but I had a job. I'd wake up each morning in my tent, shower at the marina down the road, and head in. If I was late, my boss would call the woman who owned the land I was camping on, and she would holler at me from her house up the hill. Kings Lane Recreation was a combination bowling alley/pool hall/arcade/restaurant beloved by Ganges locals. The food was great. Turkeys were continuously roasted, halibut filleted by hand for fish and chips, dough for butter tarts rolled out and filled. And big pots of soup were made from scratch.

After working for the owner, Ruth, for a while, I progressed from counter girl to gravy maker to full time cook. Following recipes that had been used for years, I slowly gained confidence in soup-making and most other kitchen duties. I also learned a great deal about being a boss and business owner. Ruth was generous, kind, crazy, and bursting with love for her family and community. She could flirt like nobody's business and always kept tubes of lipstick by the sink for applying when the rush of hardworking men would come in for lunch. I think of her whenever I choose the heel of the bread for my sandwich at work (it'd go to waste otherwise) or hire someone with no experience just because I like them. That's how Ruth would do it.

When I moved back home to NS, Ruth and I kept in touch. She was the last person I regularly corresponded with by mail and I looked forward to her letters filled with news about her amazing children, travels with her husband, and Saltspring gossip. Now it's only every few years that we check up on each other, but I'll always remember her taking a chance on me and giving me a start in the right direction.

Cream of Broccoli Soup

Choose a lovely bunch of local broccoli for this soup. That's the secret to its success!

1 large bunch Broccoli
3 C. Water or Stock
1 1/2 t. Salt
3 T. Butter
1 medium Onion, diced
2 cloves Garlic, minced
1/4 C. Flour
2 C. Milk (I use 1 or 2%)
Optional: 1/2 to 1 C. grated Cheddar

Cut the broccoli from the main stem and peel the stem. Cut all the broccoli into 1/4" pieces. Put them in a pot along with the water or stock and the salt. Bring to a boil over high heat, then remove from the heat and set aside for now. Heat the butter in a large soup pot over medium heat and add the onions. Stir and cook for about ten minutes, until the onions are tender and golden, then add the garlic and the flour. Let cook for a minute, then whisk in the milk. Stir or whisk continuously as it thickens and begins to bubble. Add the broccoli and its cooking water and stir to combine. Let the soup simmer for at least a few minutes, adding the optional cheese and lots of black pepper. Enjoy in the company of good people.

Strawberry Salsa

2011-07-19T22:12:00.001-03:00

This time last year: Sugar Snap Peas in Brown Butter

I hope you're as lucky as I am. I mean, I hope that all of you have a friend, at least one friend, that you can count on and love and who thinks you're wonderful even if you say things that are in poor taste sometimes. Also, for me, it helps if that dear friend loves food as much as you do! Last week at my friend Sarah's cottage birthday party, I knew that we'd eat some great food and have some great laughs, the kind that can only come when you're re-telling the same story you've told for just about twenty years, and have maybe drunk a few mojitos. I brought along some strawberry salsa....

Strawberry Salsa

1 pint Local Strawberries
1 medium Tomato
1/2 C. diced Onion
2 T. Chopped Cilantro
1 T. Chopped Mint
1 t. Sugar
1/2 t. Salt
1 t. Hot Sauce, or to taste

Dice the strawberries and tomatoes and combine with the rest of the ingredients. The mint is really lovely, but could be left out if you can't find any (not a problem for anyone who's ever planted it.)

Desperation Baked Tortilla Chips

We're short of snack food on purpose right now and it just wasn't going so well. I remembered I had some corn tortillas in my freezer and made these. Guess what? They didn't suck AT ALL. I'm going to be making these often.

6 Corn Tortillas
2 t. Canola Oil
1/2 t. Salt
1/2 t. Ground Cumin

Preheat the oven to 350. Stack the tortillas and cut into sixths. Transfer to a large bowl and drizzle the oil over. Toss, then sprinkle on the salt and cumin. Toss again and spread in a single layer on a baking sheet and bake for 8-10 minutes (chips will crisp as they cool).

Cilantro Avocado Dip with Yogurt

Can I convince you to try another guacamole recipe? This one is so yummy! "Some of the best guac I've ever had" says Sean Peori.

1 ripe Avocado
1/2 clove Garlic
1/2 t. Salt
1/2 C. Yogurt
2 T. Cilantro
1/4 C. minced Onion

Mash the avocado in a medium bowl. Mince the garlic with the salt and add to the bowl. Stir in the remaining ingredients and dig in. This will keep quite well for a couple days with plastic wrap pressed right to its surface (the only sure way to prevent browning).

Strawberry Summer: Chocolate Strawberry Shortcake

2011-07-10T16:07:00.004-03:00

This time last year: Steamed Lobster: A How-To Guide

My nephew Kieran and I have just returned from picking strawberries. In fact, this year, I have picked strawberries three times, a chore I would not usually look forward to! That's because I've finally discovered a lovely U-Pick just down the road. I might have gone there sooner, but it's not set up like your typical berry farm. First, you can't see the strawberry plants from the road. Second, there's a sign outside the farmhouse, but until you work up the nerve to knock on the door, there's no one in sight.

Gatehill Farm is on a quiet dirt road on the North Mountain. It's an old shingled farmhouse with a collection of outbuildings and it truly feels like you've stepped back in time when you pull into the driveway. Smoke curls out of the chimney, even in July.

Gatehill Farm doesn't use chemical sprays, yet their berries are magnificent. Some of the strawberries were the size of apples, and still they were amazingly sweet and delicious! Another bonus of this U-Pick is that it's always cooler on the Mountain, so picking is a lot more pleasant than in the Valley.

Some of my haul this week went to the Cafe, where we decided that since everyone is just about sick of Strawberry Shortcake, we would do something a little different. And so we made:

Chocolate Strawberry Shortcake serves 12

These scones are adapted from EveryDay with Rachael Ray (hey, a good recipe is a good recipe).

2 C. Flour
1/2 C. Cocoa Powder (we use Just Us!)
1/3 C. Sugar
2 t. Baking Powder
3/4 t. Baking Soda
1/8 t. Salt
1 C. Butter, cut into pieces
1 C. Chocolate Chips
3/4 C. Milk
1 T. Vinegar
1 Egg
6T. Sugar, divided
2 Quarts Local Strawberries, hulled and sliced
2 C. Whipping Cream
1/2 t. Vanilla

Preheat oven to 400° and butter a baking sheet. In a food processor, combine flour, cocoa, 1/3 C. sugar, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Add the butter pieces and pulse until coarse crumbs form. Place mixture in a large bowl and add the chocolate chips. Mix the egg, milk and vinegar in a small bowl, then add to the flour mix and stir just until the dough comes together. Divide the dough in half, shape each half into a 6 inch round, and place on the baking sheet. Using a sharp knife dipped in water, cut each into 6 equal wedges, leaving them in place. Sprinkle with two tablespoons sugar, then bake for 20-25 minutes, until firm in the centre. Let cool, then break apart into wedges.
Combine the strawberries with two tablespoons sugar. Whip the cream until soft peaks form, then add the remaining two tablespoons sugar and vanilla. Split the scones in half and layer with the strawberries and cream. The proper order is scone-berries-cream-scone-cream-berries in case you're unsure!

Little Vegetable Dishes

2011-07-08T12:49:00.003-03:00

This time last year: Honey Curry Dip and Hodge Podge

We just got back from a weekend camping trip at Kejimkujik. Six adults, three kids and a dog. Glorious weather. Lots of food. We returned to sites we've been camping on for twenty five years, in a warm forest that smells just like I remember every year and feels like home. I strung a hammock between two trees, set up a giant tent and a makeshift kitchen. The kids and I hiked, swam, threw rocks and pigged out. As I've told you before here, we like to eat well, and it can get a little out of hand. On our way home yesterday I was looking forward to a little balance! We decided to have a supper of vegetables.

One of the most memorable meals of my life was when I was living with some girls in a one room cabin on Saltspring Island. It was summer and we had gone to the market and come back with a huge assortment of vegetables. We cooked each in different ways, made some cheesy garlic bread, and sat down to feast. A meal of small vegetable dishes can be enormously satisfying (even without cheese bread). It doesn't need to be a huge production, and everything can be served at room temperature if that's how the timing works out. This time of year, markets and home gardens are vegetable bonanzas and you don't want to be limited to just a few at suppertime!

Some of my favourite simple vegetable dishes of the season are Swiss Chard with Caramelized Onions, Sugar Snap Peas in Brown Butter, Parsley Potatoes, and Roasted Asparagus. If you click around the All Things Vegetable section of this site, you'll find lots more ideas as well. And here's one more.

Warm Spinach and Tomato Salad

2 t. Olive Oil
1 Clove Garlic
8 oz Spinach, washed and chopped
1 medium Tomato, cut in chunks

Heat the oil over medium heat in a frying pan for a minute, then add the garlic. When the garlic sizzles, stir in the spinach and a pinch of salt. Stir for about thirty seconds, until the spinach begins to wilt, then add the tomato. Cook for another minute at the most, just until the tomatoes have heated through. Remove from the heat and serve hot or at room temperature.

Sweet and Spicy Shrimp with Asparagus and Snow Peas

2011-06-27T22:09:00.002-03:00

This time last year: Summer Solstice Soup of Greens and White Beans

My garden is coming along nicely! I've picked lots of asparagus and spinach, eaten plenty of tender baby green salads and (yes) one ripe strawberry. Bunches of self-seeded parsley, cilantro, mint and green garlic have leapt up in random places, too. I had the kind of lazy Sunday that only happens a few times a year yesterday, and it was just Sean and I for supper. I had spent the day reading cookbooks and found a recipe for Sweet and Spicy Shrimp, an appetizer from Julie Van Rosendaal's Grazing cookbook (buy this book! It's chock-full of amazing flavours). I was hoping I could turn it into a main course using up some of the stuff in my garden, plus some glorious green onions and snow peas I picked up at the Berwick Farmer's Market. It worked beautifully. Here are the delicious and easy results:

Sweet and Spicy Shrimp with Asparagus and Snow Peas

1/4 C. Sugar
2 T. Water
2 T. Fish Sauce
1 clove Garlic, minced
1/2 lb. Tiger Shrimp
2 t. Oil
1/2 medium Onion, sliced
1/2 lb. Asparagus, cut in 1" lengths
1 C. Snow Peas, tops removed
3 Green Onions, white parts cut in 1" lengths, green parts thinly sliced
8 C. Baby Greens or Mesclun
2 T. chopped Cilantro
2 T. chopped Mint (optional, but yummy)

Combine the sugar, water and fish sauce in a small saucepan. Bring to a boil and add the garlic and the shrimp. Cook, stirring near constantly, until shrimp are pink. Remove from the heat and drain, reserving the sauce. In a large pan, heat the oil over medium high heat and add the onion. Cook and stir a minute, then add the asparagus, snow peas, and white parts of the green onions. Stir-fry until asparagus is just this side of tender, then turn off the heat and add half the reserved sauce to the pan. Place the greens in a large bowl and toss with the remaining sauce. Divide the greens between two plates, then top with the stir-fry. Arrange the shrimp on top, then sprinkle with the sliced green onions, the cilantro and the mint.

Strawberry Rhubarb Shortpancakes

2011-06-22T22:40:00.000-03:00

Here's a quick idea for you: instead of time-consuming, heat-up-the-whole-kitchen biscuit baking, thrill your family with strawberry shortpancakes for breakfast! Just make up your favourite pancakes and top with lightly sweetened strawberries and whipped cream. Or, if you still have rhubarb, make this simple and delicious strawberry-rhubarb sauce!

Strawberry Rhubarb Sauce

1/2 C. water
1/4 C. Sugar
1 C. chopped Rhubarb
2 C. Strawberries, quartered

Heat water and sugar in a medium saucepan over high heat until mixture boils. Add rhubarb and cook for 2-3 minutes, until tender. Remove from the heat and stir in the strawberries.

I wish I had a picture, but we celebrated my cousin Melyssa's birthday with Strawberry-Rhubarb Sangria. Just pour 1/4 cup of the strawberry rhubarb sauce over ice in a wine glass and carefully add equal parts club soda and Prosecco (or any sparkling wine) to fill.

Itty Bitter Broccoli

2011-06-20T13:17:00.001-03:00

Broccoli Raab is a delicious leafy and slightly bitter version of broccoli. It has tiny florets on top of thick stems and is sold in bunches. I've been growing it in my garden for the last few years and it's really easy: the seeds can be planted directly in the early spring, and when the plants get about 8 inches tall you can start harvesting the tops (the plant will continue to grow). Like many of the greens I used to hate as a kid, they are addictive when braised with garlic and olive oil, and especially mouthwatering paired up with sausage and cheese. The blanching step here greatly reduces the bitterness of the raab. If you can't find it, substitute kale or Swiss chard or even spinach (no need to blanch chard or spinach first).
Incidentally, did you know that your tolerance (and hankering) for Bitter increases as you get older? Little kids are generally very sensitive to acrid tastes, but less sensitive than the grown-ups to sour. That's why they like to suck on lemons, and also why they will not like this. Our kids just had the sausage on bread with ketchup and mustard.

Broccoli Raab and Sweet Italian Sausage Sandwiches

1 Baguette, cut into 4 pieces
1 bunch Broccoli Raab
1 T. Olive Oil
1 Onion, diced
1 clove Garlic, minced
1 lb. Sweet Italian Sausage, cooked and sliced
1 C. Shredded Mozzarella

Preheat oven to 400. Slice each baguette chunk in half horizontally and place on a baking sheet. Bring a large pot of water to a boil and add 1 T. salt. Add the broccoli raab and cook for two minutes, until the stems are just tender. Remove and drain in a colander, then rinse with cold water. Chop into bite sized pieces. Meanwhile, heat the olive oil in a large pan over medium high heat and saute the onion. After a few minutes, when the onions have softened but are not browned, add the garlic and the chopped raab. Stir and cook a minute, adding salt and pepper to taste. Remove from the heat. Layer greens, sausage and mozzarella on the baguette halves. Bake for about ten minutes, until the cheese has melted and is beginning to brown.

Ravishing Rhubarb and Raspberry Pudding Cake

2011-06-14T17:10:00.001-03:00

Where oh Where Are You??

I whined last time about the lack of strawberries around these parts. Truth is, I have had this year's first strawberry shortcake and even made a batch of Rosemary Raisin Pecan Crisps to pair with strawberries and Dragon's Breath Blue Cheese for a special wedding last weekend (oh my god). However, today was my day off, and I really wanted to bake up a strawberry-rhubarb something (I thought about it all through my morning yoga class) and there was NOT A LOCAL STRAWBERRY TO BE FOUND. Granted, it was rainy, miserable berry-harvesting weather. And I certainly wasn't going to go and do anything drastic like pick my own or anything. So I hauled out a bag of frozen raspberries, sliced up some lovely pink rhubarb, and tweaked a recipe I found in a Canadian Living cookbook (which, good news, I won this week having stuffed Molly's Brownie fundraiser ballot box with tickets I was forced to purchase because let's face it I suck at fundraising and it's June and I've given up my thin veneer of being a perfectly organized mother and am even sending my kids to school with *gasp* pre-packaged snacks this week and they're lucky they have clean socks to wear even if they don't match).

Although this was not what I had in mind as I down-dogged and tree-posed, I was more than happy with how it turned out. Raspberries and rhubarb are a wonderful pair (am I the last to find out?), so much so that I am now planning to freeze some rhubarb for raspberry season!

I don't know about you, but to me there is no sweeter word pairing than "pudding" and "cake". Unless it's "summer" and "vacation". Or "strawberry" and "rhubarb". But that will have to wait.

Raspberry Rhubarb Pudding Cake
(adapted from Canadian Living Everyday Favourites)

Let's talk about flour for a moment, because this originally called for all-purpose and you know me, I can't help but try to sneak in at least some whole wheat. But whole wheat flours vary widely in texture and this can have some serious repercussions on the lightness of baked goods. So I recommend a whole wheat flour that has had some of the bran removed, like Speerville Whole White or President's Choice Organic Whole Wheat Flour.

4 C. Frozen Raspberries, thawed (a 600g package will do nicely)
2 C. Thinly Sliced Rhubarb
1/3 C. Sugar plus 1/4 C. Sugar

Cake Part:
1/2 C. Butter, softened
3/4 C. Sugar
2 Eggs
1/2 t. Vanilla
3/4 C. Whole Wheat Flour
1/2 C. All Purpose Flour
1 1/2 t. Baking Powder
Pinch of Salt
1/2 C. Milk

Preheat the oven to 350. Drain raspberries, reserving juice. In a buttered 8" square baking pan, combine the drained raspberries, rhubarb and 1/3 C. sugar. In a large bowl, beat the butter and sugar until creamy. Beat in the eggs. Combine the flours, baking powder and salt in a small bowl and add to butter mixture alternately with the milk starting and ending with the flour mixture. Scrape evenly over the raspberry-rhubarb mixture. Bring the reserved juice to a boil with the remaining 1/4 C. sugar and pour this over the batter. Bake until the cake is firm to the touch, about 50 minutes. Serve warm, making sure to top each serving with the raspberry rhubarb sauce underneath.

This 1950s KitchenAid Mixer was my grandmother's

Have faith, this looks weird but it's right!

Almond, Oat and Flax Thumbprint Cookies

2011-06-07T19:15:00.002-03:00

I live in Nova Scotia, a place where practically summery hot days can occur just after a snowstorm. Spring is more of a concept here than a reality, a very short season bridging winter and summer. This spring has been s-l-o-w to get going, with really not a lot of dependable lovely sunshine. Anyway, I'm not complaining, in two weeks the Union Street kitchen will be 40 degrees and sweltering.
You can well imagine my excitement when my friend Stephanie told me on Saturday that fresh local strawberries had been spotted! One of the Union Street girls just had a beautiful baby boy and I wanted to bring her strawberry something, but it was not to be: my favourite roadside stand just had a big "sold out" sign on it. Oh well. I made up these really good thumbprint cookies instead. They are nutty with ground almonds and oats and whole wheat flour (sub in light spelt if you like). I filled the pits of them with blueberry jam that I made last summer and some cinnamon-y apple butter that my good friend Melissa gave me. You know when you're baking/cooking/creating something and it turns out exactly as good as you'd hoped? Maybe better, even? Then you keep looking/admiring/eating it, thinking, wow, that's really good. I can't believe that I made that. So here you go, and welcome to the world, sweet little Joseph.

Almond, Oat and Flax Thumbprint Cookies
1 C. Roasted Almonds
1 C. Oatmeal
1 1/2 C. Whole Wheat Flour
1/4 C. Flax Meal (or grind flax seeds in a coffee grinder)
2 t. Baking Powder
1/4 t. Salt

1/4 C. Butter
1/4 C. Canola Oil
1/2 C. Brown Sugar
2 Eggs
2 t. Vanilla
Jam, Jelly, Apple Butter (it's fun and pretty to make different kinds)

Preheat oven to 350° and butter a large baking sheet or two. In a food processor, grind the almonds until very finely chopped. Tip into a bowl, then grind the oatmeal until it is a fine powder. Add the oat flour to the bowl along with the whole wheat flour, baking powder and salt. In a large bowl, cream the butter, canola oil and brown sugar. Add the eggs and vanilla, beat until smooth, then add the flour mixture. Stir (or mix with your hands) until combined. Roll mixture into 1" balls and place about 3" apart on the cookie sheet. Using your thumb, make a well in the middle of the cookie and fill it with jam. Bake for 12-15 minutes, until puffed and firm. Cool and enjoy. These are great in your lunchbox (or so the kids told me!)

Daisy, how'd you get in there?

Last Chance for May

2011-05-31T16:47:00.001-03:00

Last day of May. A spring that was slow to start but has exploded with a big ka-bang! Every year I vow to do something with the wild elderflowers that grow all around my house. I've heard you can make them into fritters, but I chose to make this elderflower cordial. It is lovely in a glass of club soda or champagne, or you can use it as a syrup on pancakes or to sweeten berries. It's simple to make. You pick ten bunches of elderflowers, and combine them with 3 cups of sugar, 3 sliced lemons and 2 litres of boiling water. Then it sits for two days at room temperature. After that, strain through a fine mesh strainer and pour into jars. Store in the fridge, or for longer storage, the freezer.

Elderflower Cordial

This time of year, things get a little crazy as I race from one early summer activity to the next. Flying from the kids' school to work to the grocery store to fitness class to the garden, I sometimes catch myself unaware of what I'm doing right now, too often thinking about what's next and how to cope with it.

Grow Spinach, Grow!!!

I was in the Cafe kitchen, hurriedly prepping lettuce before a busy dinner service last Saturday. I had too much to do and not enough time to do it. An old familiar feeling crept over me, a kind of stressed out resentment. And then, just as it came, it vanished with this thought: I am doing what I've always dreamed of doing. And I am alive to do it.

a Wine Tasting at the Cafe inspired this purchase

Our asparagus is bursting through the ground like mad, despite the fact that weedier asparagus beds never existed. We moved a few huge asparagus crowns to our main garden, where I hope to take better care of them.

I mulched this Asparagus right after I took this picture, honest!

The raspberry canes I planted last year have all multiplied...

And the garlic is already over a foot high.

Last week Rowan and I planted twenty different tomato varieties from Glad Gardens and he sowed a row of broad beans from a free packet he picked up at the local school's Edible Garden Grand Opening. We still have a long way to go before our garden's finished, but our spinach, kale and Swiss chard are up!

Bonus when you purchase Mushroom Compost at Valley Mushroom

About a week or more ago I made a pot of tea for a friend from mint in my backyard, and gave her some eggs for a new broody hen of hers to sit on.

In exchange she brought me a jar of Vanilla Bean Rhubarb Jam. It sat for about a minute on my counter before I had to toast some bread and try it out. Pink with flecks of vanilla seeds, it looked amazing and tasted even better....

It inspired me to make this dessert. I had wanted to try out a Panna Cotta recipe based on the recipe in Michael Smith's Chef at Home cookbook and knew it would be lovely with a sauce inspired by the jam. I made this in two stages: the Panna Cotta, a sweet custard-like dessert set with gelatin was made one day, and I made the Vanilla Bean Rhubarb Sauce the next.

Panna Cotta with Vanilla Bean Rhubarb Sauce

for the Panna Cotta:

4 C. Milk (whole Milk is lovely, but 1% will do)
2 Packages of Gelatin
3/4 C. Sugar
1 Bay Leaf
2 t. Vanilla (I used a vanilla bean, hence the little black flecks)

Choose 6 ramekins or teacups to mold your panna cottas in and lightly oil them.
Pour 1/2 cup of the milk into a medium bowl and sprinkle the gelatin over to soften it. Heat the remaining milk with the sugar, bay leaf and vanilla over medium heat until just beginning to steam. Pour the hot milk mixture over the gelatin-milk mixture and whisk gently to combine. Pour into your molds and put in the refrigerator to set for at least two hours, or overnight.

for the Vanilla Bean Rhubarb Sauce:

5 C. chopped Rhubarb (the pinkest you can find)
1/2 C. Sugar
pinch of Salt
1 Vanilla Bean

Place the rhubarb, sugar and salt in a medium saucepan. Cut the vanilla bean in half lengthwise, then scrape all the seeds out with your knife and add them to the pot. Drop the pod in, too. Place over medium heat and bring to a simmer (you shouldn't need additional liquid). After about five minutes, shut off the heat and let the rhubarb cool, then remove the vanilla pod.

To serve, unmold the panna cotta by dipping the mold into hot water, then run a knife around the edge. Place a serving plate on top, then flip over. Add a big spoonful of the rhubarb sauce and maybe some whipped cream.

What I Had for Lunch Today

2011-05-22T13:47:00.002-03:00

I'm home alone today. That means staying in my pyjamas, not brushing my hair and eating whatever I feel like for lunch. So I made this. It's a piece of homemade bread, toasted and topped with sauteed portabellos that I picked this morning. No, I'm not a fungus farmer, but I bought three bags of compost from Valley Mushroom last week and they often continue to produce mushrooms for some time if you don't disturb them. There is also asparagus picked from my very own weedy garden, and garlic I grew last year, and a poached egg from my own hens. I may drive a really old car, but I sure am rich.

Roasted Asparagus and Fiddleheads with Parsnip and Sweet Potato

2011-05-20T23:26:00.000-03:00

I had some of my favourite people over for supper last night. Roasted Chicken is always a crowd-pleaser in my house, so we had that, and mashed potatoes, and some lovely roasted vegetables. You may feel the same way I do about fiddleheads: I want to love them, but I need to grow up a little first. Their incredibly short season means that I diligently give them a try, expecting rapturous delight each time. This go-around, I decided to roast them alongside some of my favourite vegetables. I had bought some spectacular asparagus harvested that day from Glad Gardens just outside Berwick (mine isn't quite ready yet, and I'm impatient) and I had the last of my Dad's parsnips in the fridge. I cheated and threw in not-from-here sweet potato because I love it. Then I roasted everything with olive oil and voila: the perfect bridge between winter and spring. And I enjoyed every tightly curled emerging fern.

Roasted Spring Vegetables

1 large Sweet Potato, cut in 1" cubes
1/2 lb. Parsnips, cut in roughly 1" pieces
3 T. Olive Oil
1 t. Salt
1 lb. Asparagus, ends trimmed and cut into 1" lengths
1/2 lb. Fiddleheads, well rinsed and little brown ends trimmed off

Preheat the oven to 400. On a cookie sheet, toss the sweet potato and parsnip with the olive oil and salt. Place in the oven and roast for 15 minutes. Take the sheet out of the oven and add the asparagus and fiddleheads to the pan. Toss again, adding a little more oil if it looks like it needs it. Place the vegetables back in the oven and roast for about 20-25 minutes more, tossing occasionally, until the vegetables are tender and browned.

Pre-Dinner Refreshment

Lobster and Fiddlehead Penne

2011-05-11T09:40:00.002-03:00

There we go, once around the sun. It's been about a year since I started this adventure, cooking and sharing recipes with you. And now we've come full circle. Fiddleheads are in season again, along with spring rains and the promise of summer. Greenhouses are open, lawns are being mowed, spinach and lettuce are sprouting in the garden.

At the Union Street Cafe we've had a hectic week serving brunch to many many mothers and their families over the weekend and hosting the Lieutenant Governor (she had our Nearly Famous Fishcakes and Greek Salad). My sister Meagan and decided to have our own Mother's Day celebration at home. She had cooked lobster in the fridge, and I picked up some fiddleheads. We stole alfredo sauce, a baguette, and a beautiful salad of Penner's organic greens from the restaurant. And a bottle of Windermere wine.

Windermere is a gorgeous not-dry white wine made by Jost Winery. The grapes, romantically named KW 94-2, were developed from crossing grape varieties in the 1980s at the Kentville Research Station. They are grown just outside Berwick in Windermere by Jim Gray, one of our favourite raspberry growers. It goes well with some of the more wine-challenging dishes at the Cafe, notably our Chicken Curry. Of course, it is absolutely sublime with creamy pasta with lobster and the season's first fiddleheads.

Lobster and Fiddlehead Penne

Colours of springtime! Ribbons of beet greens or spinach would be welcome additions to this gorgeous dish.

1 lb. Penne
2 T. Butter
1 clove Garlic
1/2 lb. Fiddleheads, well washed (trim off any brown ends)
1 C. Whipping Cream
1/4 C. freshly grated Parmesan Cheese
Salt and Pepper
2 C. chopped cooked Lobster (you could use thawed frozen lobster meat or prepare your own)
more Parmesan for serving

Bring a large pot of well-salted water to a boil, add the penne, and cook until almost tender (the pasta will cook again later and you don't want moosh). Drain, reserving a little of the cooking water. Meanwhile, place a large saute pan over medium-high heat and add the butter. When it has melted, add the garlic and fiddleheads and saute for a few minutes. Before the garlic browns, add the cream and bring to a boil. Add the lobster meat, the penne, Parmesan cheese, a healthy pinch of salt and a few grindings of pepper to the pan. Using tongs, toss while the cream reduces to a sauce that just clings to the pasta. If you've gone too far and the pasta seems dry, add a little of the cooking water. Divide into bowls and top with a little more Parmesan.

The Sweetest Parsnips

2011-05-01T10:38:00.001-03:00

Parsnips may be a winter food, but it is in the spring that they are at their most sublime. Allowed to rest in the ground through the coldest season, starches in the parsnip convert into sugar. The same thing happens when commercial farmers harvest in the autumn and then store the parsnips at around 0° for at least two weeks. My dad just harvested his parsnips, a fine crop of huge but tender white roots that smelled sweet, earthy, and mysterious. As a kid, I thought parsnips tasted like unlit cigars. I still find something exotic about their taste, especially when roasted, a taste like incense, and well, tobacco. Maybe my taste buds are weird because I could not find them described this way anywhere.

Anyway, I've been hearing whispers of putting parsnips in desserts for years and decided that I had to try it. I used Union Street Cafe's Morning Glory Muffin recipe, tweaked the spices and grated in rich, earthy parsnips in place of the carrots. All went well. They baked beautifully, and when they cooled, Molly and I slathered them with Cream Cheese Frosting. They are subtly parsnip-y, a taste that fits very well, as it turns out, with cinnamon, nutmeg, and ginger.

Parsnip Cupcakes
I waited until the kids were halfway through eating their cupcake before I revealed the secret ingredient. They still ate them and asked for more.

2 C. Grated Parsnip
2 C. Flour
1 C. Sugar
2 t. Baking Soda
2 t. Cinnamon
1 t. Ground Ginger
1/4 t. Nutmeg (freshly grated is awesome, but pre-ground works, too)
1 t. Salt
3 Eggs
1 C. Vegetable Oil
2 t. Vanilla
Line a 12 cup muffin tin with liners or grease well. Preheat the oven to 350. Combine the parsnips, flour, sugar, baking soda,
cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg and salt in a large bowl. In another bowl, whisk the eggs, oil and vanilla. Pour the egg mixture over the parsnip mixture and mix gently until thoroughly combined. Spoon batter into cups and bake for 20-25 minutes, until springy and firm. Let cool on a rack while you make the frosting.

Cream Cheese Frosting

12 oz. Cream Cheese
½ C. Softened Butter
1 T. Vanilla
3 ½ C. Icing Sugar

Pulse in food processor just until smooth and creamy.Top each cupcake with a generous swirl of frosting and maybe grate a little nutmeg on top.

Roasted Parsnips
Perhaps the best way to prepare most root vegetables, roasting capitalizes on every bit of parsnip's natural sweetness and is super-easy to boot!

1 lb. Parsnips, peeled and cut into 1 inch chunks
2 T. (or more) Olive Oil
1/2 t. Salt

Preheat oven to 400. Toss parsnips, oil, and salt in a bowl, then spread in a single layer on a cookie sheet with sides. Roast for 20-30 minutes, stirring from time to time, until parsnips are tender and caramelized.

Easiest Hot Cross Buns Ever!

2011-04-25T16:30:00.001-03:00

Well, it's Easter: another food holiday! I thought I would share this amazingly simple recipe for Hot Cross Buns. There's no kneading or shaping, and they taste heavenly. These are best the first day, but can be successfully frozen: if you haven't iced them already, you can refresh them in a 350°oven for about 15 minutes.

Hot Cross Buns

2 C. Warm Water
1 T. Yeast
1/3 C. Sugar
1 t. Salt
Zest and juice of 1 Lemon
3/4 C. Raisins
4 C. Flour
1 t. Cinnamon

Frosting

1/4 C. Softened Butter
2 C. Icing Sugar
1/2 t. Vanilla
Enough Milk to make a smooth frosting

Combine the water and yeast in a large bowl. Let sit a minute, then stir in the sugar, salt, zest, juice, raisins and flour to make a sticky dough. I use a large wooden spoon to start and then switch to my hands to make sure all the flour is evenly incorporated. Sprinkle the cinnamon over the top and give another quick stir (it looks pretty just swirled in there). Leave the dough to rise in a warm place for about an hour, until it has doubled in size. Butter a 9x13 pan and scoop in the dough. Using buttered hands, gently push the dough to evenly cover the pan using your fingertips. If it resists, let it rest for five minutes and try again. Next, cut the dough so that it will pull apart into buns after baking: using a sharp knife, carefully cut the dough as if you were cutting brownies in a pan. You can cut them to any size you like, I suggest 4 down and 6 across to make 24 buns. Preheat the oven to 350° and let the dough rise again until it has doubled in height. Bake for 25-30 minutes, until lightly browned. Place the pan on a rack and let cool. Combine the butter, icing sugar, and vanilla. Add milk by teaspoonfuls until the frosting is smooth and spreadable. Use a piping bag or sandwich bag with the corner snipped off to pipe a cross on each bun.

Making Natural Food Dyes for Easter Eggs

Having a Snack while we Make our Eggs!

The Gorgeous Results

Longing for Spring Soup

2011-04-17T08:57:00.001-03:00

Around these parts, spring doesn't feel too spring-y. Although I've bundled up to dig around in my garden and all signs point to longer and warmer days, I'm still making roaring fires and pots of hearty soup. This is one of my very favourite recipes, both at home and at the Cafe. It has a very comforting, rustic, yet somehow exotic taste, as if the recipe had been passed down by my Italian grandmother (I don't have an Italian grandmother, but I like to pretend). Obviously, this is a soup that wants the company of some crusty bread and a good grating of Parmesan cheese.

Jacob's Cattle Bean and Vegetable Soup

You can substitute just about any dried bean for the Jacob's Cattle beans in this recipe.

2 C. Dried Beans (we use Webster's Jacob's Cattle Beans)
16 C. Water
3 T. Olive Oil
1 large Onion, diced
3 stalks Celery, diced
2 medium Carrots, diced
2 cloves Garlic, minced
1/2 small Cabbage, shredded or diced
2 t. Salt
1 t. freshly ground Pepper
1/2 bunch Parsley, minced

Optional: 1-2 C. chopped cooked Ham, Sausage or Smoked Tofu

Bring beans and water to a boil in a large pot. Reduce heat to simmer and
cook for two hours, until beans are tender and falling apart. Add the
cabbage to the pot with the beans and continue to simmer until tender, about
20 minutes longer. Meanwhile, heat the olive oil over medium heat and saute
the onions, carrot, celery and garlic until softened and beginning to brown.
Add the sautéed vegetables to the beans, along with the salt, pepper, parsley and
optional meat or tofu. Taste for seasoning, and let simmer another 20 minutes
before serving.

Funky Little Sugar Shack

2011-04-05T17:20:00.005-03:00

Nova Scotian Sugar Maple

Ahhhhh, maple syrup. So sweet, so delicious, so luxurious! Having a jar of it in my fridge makes me feel rich. I dole it out in little spoonfuls on the kid's pancakes, stir it into my coffee, and add a good slurp to my salad dressings. Maple syrup is incredibly expensive as far as sugar goes, which is a good thing. Just imagining how much work goes into its production heightens my enjoyment of it immensely.

Inside the Sugar Shack

Every year, my dad taps the sugar maples in front of my parent's house. He collects the sap in buckets, then transfers those to a large barrel, which he pools with sap from our neighbours. It all ends up at Eric and Noreen Clem's sugar shack, where long but pleasant hours are spent boiling the sap in open pans over an ancient wood stove. It's mostly the men sitting into the wee hours of the morning waiting for the syrup to hit just the right consistency before pulling it off the fire and divvying it up. You've probably heard that it takes 40 litres of sap to make just 1 litre of syrup, but that's not an exact science. Making maple syrup is an art, a passion, and a commitment.


Sap at a Rolling Boil!

What if all the food we ate was like maple syrup? What if the price we paid truly reflected the effort of its production? Would we enjoy more and consume less if just feeding ourselves cost 55% of our income, like it does for the average East Indian household? North Americans on average spend less than 10% of our salaries on food, leaving us with more money for bigger houses, leisure activities, and stuff. We also have the highest rates of mental illness and obesity. I don't think it is much of a leap to believe that if we were more connected to the food on our plate, we would feel more whole and satisfied. A little time spent with our neighbours wouldn't hurt, either.

If you don't have a shack of your own, you can still have great Nova Scotian maple syrup. Nova Scotian maple producers made 128,000 litres of pure maple syrup last year, and it can be found at farmer's markets, specialty shops and sometimes, your local grocery store. Buy a big jug, it's cheaper and lasts a long time if you refrigerate it. And you're gonna need it if you like the following recipe as much as I do!

Maple Syrup Dumplings

I did not invent this recipe. It is straight from March's issue of Saveur, and when I saw the picture, I had to make it, even though it uses a ridiculous amount of maple syrup. We had ours with vanilla ice cream, and I suggest you do the same.

SERVES 6

1 3/4 cups Maple Syrup
1 1/2 cups Flour
4 1/2 tsp. Baking Powder
1/2 tsp. Kosher Salt
4 tbsp. unsalted Butter, frozen
3/4 cup Milk

Bring syrup and 1 1/4 cups water to a boil in a 6-qt. Dutch oven over medium-high heat. Meanwhile, whisk flour, baking powder, and salt in a bowl; set aside. Grate butter on large holes of a box grater into flour and toss to coat; add milk and stir with a fork until dough forms. When syrup mixture reaches a boil, use a spoon to drop large clumps of dough into syrup. Cover pot; simmer until dumplings are cooked through, 10–15 minutes. Spoon dumplings and sauce into 6 bowls and serve.

Maple Balsamic Dressing
This dressing, made in quantity, lasts a long time in your fridge. I guarantee it will increase your salad consumption. It can be as simple as buying bagged greens from the market, and tossing them with enough dressing to coat. You might find that the olive oil solidifies in your fridge. Either remember to take it out half an hour before you use it, or warm it for about 30 seconds in a microwave.

1/4 C. Maple Syrup
1/4 C. Balsamic Vinegar
1/4 C. Apple Cider Vinegar
1 C. Extra Virgin Olive Oil (or substitute vegetable oil)
1 Clove Garlic, minced
1 t. Salt

Combine all the ingredients in a jar and shake. Taste, you might find it a bit sharp (I like vinegary dressings). If it is too puckery, add a little more olive oil.

Shack and Sugar Maple photos courtesy of Mom and Dad (thanks!)

A Sure Sign of Spring: The Local Hothouse Tomato

2011-03-26T12:29:00.000-03:00

See this? It is a Den Haan's hothouse tomato. It is not from Mexico, has not traveled thousands of miles to get here and is not months old. It looks like a tomato. It smells like a tomato. It even tastes like a tomato! Hallelujah! More sure than even the sight of Roll-Up-the-Rim cups littering the highways, its presence at your local grocery store is a sure sign of spring in Nova Scotia.

I really do limit my tomato consumption in winter. Den Haan's takes a break from growing during the darkest months, and tomatoes from Florida and Mexico are picked by people in seriously undesirable working conditions. You can read the article Politics of the Plate:The Price of Tomatoes here. Plus, they taste bad, not an insignificant factor for me.

Den Haan's tomatoes are as close as we can get right now to full garden flavour, and I'm grateful to them for providing this to us! We have been enjoying them chopped up and folded into scrambled eggs in the last minute of cooking, in thick slices on toast with a sprinkle of salt and pepper, and diced into a simple and delicious fresh salsa.

Union Street Salsa

At the Cafe, we make this in quantity with good quality canned tomatoes . It's great. But this, made minutes before consumption, is superb. You substitute 1 can diced tomatoes, drained slightly, if all the tomatoes at your store are imports.

2 C. chopped Tomato
1/4 C. minced Red or Yellow Onion
1 small Green Pepper, diced
1/4 C. Banana Peppers, minced
1 t. Cumin, toasted and ground
1/4 C. chopped fresh Cilantro
1/4 t. Salt

Combine in a bowl and taste. Add a little more salt if you like, maybe a dash of hot sauce, maybe a smidgen of garlic. Welcome spring!

A Saint Patrick's Day Birthday Feast

2011-03-16T22:01:00.000-03:00

Plate No. 1

Tomorrow is my son's birthday. He was born on St. Patrick's Day, six years ago. It was cloudy and grey, there was snow in the woods, and David Myles was playing at the Cafe. We loved the fact that there will always be a great party on his birthday. He has plenty of Irish heritage, so bring on the jigs and reels! And the Irish food.

We're celebrating tonight with Boiled Dinner with Grammie's Mayonnaise. Doesn't that sound delicious? How about Corned Beef with Winter Vegetables and Sweet Mustard Sauce...better? The sauce, my great-grandmother's recipe, is rich and vintage-ly scrumptious, and the rest of the meal can be too. You've got to start with a decent piece of beef, and cook it patiently. We buy our corned beef from Meadowbrook Meat Market, where they cure it themselves. A 2 lb. chunk will serve about 6 people. I'm not usually tempted by boiled vegetables, let alone meat, but you will have to trust me on this!

Corned Beef with Winter Vegetables and Sweet Mustard Sauce

2 lb. Corned Beef
10 Peppercorns
1 Bay Leaf
1 very small head Green Cabbage, cut into 6 wedges (leave the core in so it stays together)
3 large Carrots, peeled and cut into 1" chunks
1 small Turnip, peeled and cut into 2" chunks
6 small Potatoes, cut in half

In a large pot, place the beef, peppercorns and bay leaf. Add enough water to cover and bring to a simmer over high heat. Reduce to low, cover, and simmer for 3 hours, or until a fork can easily penetrate to the center. Remove the beef and let it rest while you cook the vegetables (leave the cooking water in the pot). Throw the cabbage, carrots, turnip and potatoes in, top up with water to cover and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat and cook for about 30 minutes, until the vegetables are tender. Slice the beef thinly against the grain and serve with the vegetables and Sweet Mustard Sauce.

Grammie's Mayonnaise (Sweet Mustard Sauce)

Don't ask me why it's called Mayonnaise

3 Egg Yolks
1 T. Flour
2 T. Sugar
1 t. Salt
2 t. Dry Mustard
1 1/4 C. Milk
1T. Cider Vinegar
3 T. Butter

In a small heavy pot, whisk the yolks, flour, sugar, salt and dry mustard. When they are smooth, add the milk and vinegar and set over low heat. Whisk frequently as the sauce heats and thickens, about ten minutes . Remove from the heat and whisk in the butter.

Happy Saint Patrick's Day!

Is it Spring?

2011-03-13T21:01:00.002-03:00

The snow melted. I know that it's still winter really, but I stepped outside barefoot today. It was squishy. Nova Scotia winters are strange, unpredictable from one year to the next. Tomorrow there could be a huge snowfall and we'd be back in wonderland again. There are reliable signs that spring is arriving, though; pussywillows, budding trees, and the drip of sap in the bucket. And light, beautiful spring light, creeping into our unconscious and stirring up feelings of new beginnings, renewed energy, and hard work ahead. Winter is restful if you let it be so. I loved the slow down of the restaurant, the early evenings in bed and lazy mornings by the fire. I am reluctant to see any season go.

Melting Snow Running off the North Mountain

Early Spring Bonfire

A Miracle in Cabbage

2011-03-03T22:09:00.004-04:00

Sean and I went out for a pre-Valentine's dinner a few weeks ago at the Library Pub, a lovely spot in Wolfville with fresh and lovingly made food. Love is an essential ingredient of good cooking, a seasoning that hasn't yet been duplicated by large scale food processors and never will be. We shared, among other delicious things, a red cabbage salad with feta and sesame. Only love could transform the stalwart cabbage; reliable, economical, and readily available; into a dish that we nearly fought over. It's perfect: salty, a little sweet from the cabbage and a touch of honey, nutty with sesame oil and a little creamy from the feta. This is my version, not theirs, and although I'm certain it isn't exactly the same, it is very delicious. Bonus:if you store the salad overnight, some juice will collect at the bottom of the bowl which you can pour off and let your kids experiment with. Rowan and I had a blast turning it pink with vinegar, dribbling in oil, turning it back to blue with baking soda, and so on.

Red Cabbage Salad with Feta and Sesame

1 T. Soy Sauce
1 T. Honey
1/2 clove Garlic, minced
2 T. Sesame Oil
1 T. White Wine Vinegar
1/4 head Red Cabbage, cut into small wedges, then sliced fine
1/3 C. crumbled Feta

In a large bowl, whisk the soy sauce, honey, garlic, sesame oil and vinegar together. Add the cabbage and toss thoroughly to coat, then sprinkle in the feta and toss again. This is great right away, but even better after it sits in the fridge a while.

Oh, Honey!

2011-02-18T14:03:00.001-04:00

Kate's Pantry at Union Street

My mom tells a story about when I was a baby and she had to leave me with a sitter. I was freaking out, crying and carrying on and making her feel so desperate that the babysitter started spooning honey into my mouth. Apparently this worked, because she kept on doing it right up to the moment that my horrified mother walked in the door. Honey is not for babies (there is a slight risk that honey can be contaminated with the spores of botulinum, not a concern for anyone older than one year of age).

Honey is a miracle of nature. When I imagine all those bees sucking up tiny slurps of nectar, then flying home, placing it in a honeycomb cell and fanning it with their tiny wings to concentrate it, it just seems unbelievable! I try to keep this in mind as I greedily devour honey by the spoonful.

The Annapolis Valley produces some really lovely honeys. Many beehives are placed in apple orchards to aid in pollination, and our honey often contains the nectar of the flowers of these and other fruit trees, plus berries and wildflowers. I love the honeys (and the beautiful packaging!) produced by Cosman and Whidden and Foote Family Farm.

I used to live on Saltspring Island, hippie mecca on the West Coast of Canada. My favourite coffee shop made a popular stoner snack called the E-Ball, and when my aunt Kate opened her beautiful coffee shop next door to our restaurant, I wanted to recreate them for her. They are full of honey and peanut butter, packed with fruit, and yes, dipped in chocolate. Skip the dipping if you like, it's a real pain in the ass (though it does hold the ball together nicely) and instead add 1 cup of chocolate chips to the mix.

Energy Balls

1 C. Peanut Butter

1 1/2 C. Oats

1 1/2 C. Sunflower Seeds

1 C. Raisins

1 C. Dried Cranberries

1/4 C. Honey

1/2 C. Coconut

1 C. Chocolate Chips

Line a baking sheet with parchment or foil. Mix all ingredients together in a large bowl. Using a 1/4 cup measure, scoop up the "dough" and roll it into a ball. Place in the fridge while you melt the chocolate. Get out a medium sized pot and add a couple inches of water. Bring that to a boil, then place the chocolate in a metal bowl that just fits on top of the pot. Stir it a bit as it melts, but be careful that no water gets in. Dip each ball into chocolate to coat, shake off excess and place on tray. Refrigerate to set.

Chicken Pickin'

2011-02-04T14:03:00.003-04:00

This winter, I couldn't get enough Christmas dinner, so we've been re-enacting it every couple of weeks. Roasted chicken is my absolute don't-mess-with tradition for this meal, and I need leftovers. In this land of plenty, free range chickens are available from many farmers, and my favourite is Maple and Ewe. Their chickens are large, like at least 6 pounds. This makes them a bit of an investment, but you can make at least three meals of one (and enjoy each immensely!) They take a couple hours to cook, and they are so flavourful that I just add salt and pepper, throw it in the oven, and back off. I roast mine at low temperature, about 300°, until it reaches about 175° in the thickest part of the breast. Then I cook a mini array of vegetables, make some gravy, and we're feasting like the Kings and Queens of Winter.

It is really worth searching out a decent bird for your family. Not only will you be supporting the local economy, you will be rewarded with unparalleled flavour for practically no effort. A larger chicken yields more meat per pound, so go ahead! Leftover cooked chicken can be made into chicken soup, added to salads and sandwiches, or incorporated into a new dish over the coming days. Maple and Ewe free-range chickens are available at Meadowbrook Meat Market and the Wolfville Farmer's Market.

Christmas Anytime Roasted Chicken

1 Free Range Chicken

Salt and Pepper

Preheat the oven to 300°. Put the chicken in a metal roasting pan and rub with salt and pepper-I use lots. Roast in the middle of the oven until the thickest part of the breast reaches 175°. Let the chicken rest while you prepare vegetables or whatever. Leaving the juices behind in the pan, carefully lift the chicken onto a serving platter. I remember it being a big deal to carve the holiday bird, but we don't need this kind of fuss. Just remove the leg/thigh after the bird cools a bit (resting will make the meat juicier anyway). Then cut them in half (there is a natural divide, so this is easy). Gently pull the breast meat off and cut it into several chunky pieces.

For the gravy, take the pan the chicken cooked in and set it over a burner. It won't fit, don't worry. Turn the burner to medium and scrape the pan with a fork. Sprinkle in a few tablespoons of flour and work it into the juices and fat. Add about two cups of water and stir it up like crazy (you might switch to a whisk at this point), getting into the corners of the pan so all of the liquid gets a turn directly over the heat. Add salt to taste, and maybe a little rosemary or thyme. Continue to stir and cook while the gravy bubbles and thickens. If it's too thick, thin with a bit more water. Serve the chicken and gravy with lots of veggies. Refrigerate the leftover chicken and gravy.

Later, or the next day, completely strip the chicken carcass of meat. Put all the bones and bits of skin into a large pot and cover with water. Set over medium-low heat and cook for several hours, then strain. This is now the base of a delicious chicken vegetable soup.

Chicken Vegetable Soup

Maybe you don't need a recipe for this. Maybe you do. In any case, feel free to add any vegetables you like, including whatever leftover cooked vegetables are in your fridge. I also like to add a handful of uncooked red lentils, quinoa, barley or rice just before stirring in the stock. Make sure your grain is cooked completely before removing the soup from the heat.

1 Onion, diced

4 stalks Celery, diced

3 Carrots, diced

2 cloves Garlic, minced

1 lb. Sweet Potato, diced (or Winter Squash or Potato)

½ C. Barley, Quinoa, Rice or Lentils, optional

the Chicken Stock from above

½ bunch Parsley, chopped

½ bunch Spinach, Kale, or Swiss Chard, sliced thinly
2 C. leftover cooked chicken, chopped

Your stock should have a thin layer of fat on top. Spoon a little of this off carefully and place in a large pot over medium heat (you can use olive oil if necessary). Add the onion, celery, carrot and garlic and cook for twenty minutes or so, stirring often and breathing in the amazing aromas as the vegetables caramelize slightly. Add the sweet potato, chicken stock and optional grains and bring to a near boil, then reduce the heat and simmer until the sweet potato is tender. Add parsley, chopped greens and chicken and simmer until greens are tender. Season with salt and pepper.

Valley Mushrooms

2011-01-20T14:49:00.000-04:00

Mushrooms. I used to find them unappealing, gross actually. And now I adore them, crave them, dream about them. This has happened with plenty of foods since I've grown up-eggplant and cilantro among them.

Luckily for me, a mushroom fix is always close by. Julia and Leonard North of Valley Mushrooms grow gorgeous Button, Cremini and Portabello mushrooms just down the road, and we've incorporated them into all kinds of dishes at the Cafe: a fabulous burger topped with Garlic Portabellos and Swiss Cheese, Spinach Salad with Button Mushrooms, Wicked Fries (our version of potato skins, with portabellos, bacon and green onions) and our ever-popular Cream of Mushroom Soup. At Christmastime, I was taken by a sign advertising oyster and shitake mushrooms for sale, an experiment that I hope Leonard repeats regularly! I sauteed them along with portabellos and garlic as part of our Christmas feast..they were amazing.

Mushrooms are a rich source of tasty. Their mouthwatering deliciousness is partly due to the presence of glutamic acid. You've heard of the fifth taste, or umami? This refers to a savouriness, a meatiness, that is present in foods containing glutamic acid, the natural form of monosodium glutamate. Mushrooms have it, so do tomatoes and dulse.

If you live in the Valley, choose Valley Mushrooms. Otherwise, the closest growers are in Ontario, and by the time their mushrooms get here, they are usually old and leggy (mushrooms keep growing in the box, their stems lengthening). You can buy Valley mushrooms at grocery stores, at the Wolfville Farmer's Market at Elena Basevich's Bakery stand (have a Pecan Cinnamon Bun for me, too) or at their retail outlet across from the Michelin plant in Waterville. Go ahead and stock up-mushrooms freeze very well once cooked!

Simple Amazing Mushrooms with Garlic

Use these as a pizza topping, omelet filling, accompaniment for steak or straight out of the pan, with or without garlic bread!

3 T. Butter

1 Onion, diced,

2 cloves Garlic, minced

3 lb. Mushrooms. sliced (any kind:Portabellos, Button, Shitake, Oyster, King)

½ t. each Salt and freshly ground Pepper

2 T. chopped Parsley (optional)

Melt the butter in a large pan over medium-high heat. Add the onions, garlic and mushrooms. Cook and stir as the mushrooms release their liquid. Continue to cook, stirring often, as the liquid evaporates and the mushrooms brown a little. Add the salt, pepper and parsley and remove from heat.

Cream of Valley Mushroom Soup

1/3 C. Butter

1 lb. Mushrooms, sliced (a mix of white, cremini and portabello mushrooms are nice)

1 Onions, diced

2 cloves Garlic, minced

1/3 C. Flour

5 C. Chicken Stock

3/4 C. Whipping Cream

1 t. Salt

1/4 t. freshly ground Pepper

1/8 t. freshly Grated Nutmeg

2 T. chopped Parsley

Heat the butter in a heavy pot over medium high heat and add the onions and mushrooms. Stir and cook until mushrooms have released their liquid, then add the garlic. Continue to cook, stirring often, until liquid has evaporated and mushrooms are beginning to brown. Add the flour and cook another minute, then whisk in half the stock. When the mix is smooth, add the rest of the stock. Whisking fairly frequently to prevent lumps, bring the soup to a boil. Remove from the heat and add the cream, nutmeg, parsley and salt and pepper. Taste for seasoning.

Handmade Corn Tortillas

2011-01-12T10:23:00.003-04:00

When I was a kid, we Osburns were obsessed with Mexican food. To be accurate, I should say we were obsessed with Tex-Mex food, which is what tacos, nachos, and quesadillas really are. My Dad had his first taste at Taco Bell as a young man and was hooked, then passed along his hankering to the rest of us. Our fridge was filled with hot sauces and spicy pickles, our cupboards with masa harina and cumin and coriander. My mom made giant layered dip platters for parties and special-ordered cases of exotic nacho chips from the health food store (yes, there was a time when they were unavailable). As a child, I bragged about having eaten seven tacos at one sitting! We even imported a tortilla press home from a visit to the States. With this we brought forth hundreds of fresh-cooked tortillas until the sad day when it cracked from overuse. We just could not pat out tortillas like the Mexican women did, so Mom and I figured out a new way. We put each ball of dough between two cutting boards lined with plastic bags on the floor, then stepped on it. This method produced beautiful, uniform rounds, even better than what our old press turned out.

Handmade tortillas are mostly made made from Masa Harina, a special type of corn flour that is treated with lime, or “nixtamalized”. Fresh masa used to be made in every community in Mexico daily, but apparently that has mostly fallen by the wayside and most folks are using Maseca brand, an instant masa that is milled in Texas. I was out shopping the other day and saw that our grocery store had recently stocked it. You just mix it with water, press out tortillas and cook them in a dry cast iron pan. Sean tried them for the first time and was shocked at how good they are, nothing like the dry stale tasting corn tortillas sold next to the wraps. Tucked into a napkin to stay warm, and filled with your favourite taco fixin's, they are heavenly. Serve these with beans and lots of veggies, and taco night is downright healthy. This is good, because Mexican food can really satisfy a junk food craving! They also make great quesadillas and can even be fried for nacho chips or tostadas.

You'll need a press or two decently sturdy cutting boards, ones that you don't think will break if you stand on them. You can use medium or large freezer bags to keep the tortillas from sticking to the board, or cut squares from grocery bags. This is way more fun with a kid or two on hand to squish the tortillas for you-if they don't weigh enough to flatten the tortilla out to 5 or 6 inches, jump up there with them!

Handmade Tortillas for Tacos

The recipe is right off the bag, but try our squishing method!

2 C. Masa Harina

1 ½ C. Water

¼ t. Salt

Have a cloth napkin lined basket or bowl ready. Heat a heavy frying pan over medium heat. Combine the ingredients in a bowl and stir until a soft dough forms. Divide into 16 equal sized balls (I ball up the dough and cut it in two, then cut each in half and then in half again). Place a cutting board on the floor, then a piece of plastic. Center a dough ball on the plastic, cover with another piece of plastic, then the second cutting board. Stand on the board sandwich, then take the top board off and peel the tortilla off the plastic. Place in the dry pan and let cook for about a minute. Turn, then cook on the other side. When the tortilla is cooked, place it in the napkin and fold over to keep warm while you cook the remaining tortillas.

Serve the tortillas at the table with Refried Beans, Salsa and grated Cheese, and any or all of the following veggie options: shredded Lettuce, diced Onion, Tomatoes, Peppers and Avocado, sprigs of Cilantro, Corn, fried Mushrooms, Banana Peppers, Olives....

Refried Beans

1 T. Olive Oil

1 Onion, diced

1 large clove Garlic, minced

1 T. Chili Powder

2 t. ground Cumin

1 540 ml can Kidney or Black Beans, pureed (not drained)

Heat the olive oil in a pan over medium high heat and add the onions. Saute for about five minutes, until softened but not browned, then add the garlic. Cook another minute, and add the chili powder and cumin. When the spices smell fragrant, add the beans. Cook, stirring occasionally, until mixture bubbles. Reduce heat to medium and let cook about ten minutes, until beans have thickened. Taste and add a little salt if necessary.

Back to School Pancakes

2011-01-03T12:50:00.000-04:00

I love Christmas. The planning, the preparations, the parties, the shopping, the cooking. The eating, the drinking, the excitement. The last minute wrapping, the pleasant fuzzy haze that is the result of too many late nights. The promising pile of presents under the tree. Irish Cream in your coffee. Believing.

However, by the time New Year's Day rolls around, I am thankful that it's all over. It's January, season of relaxation for a restaurant. We'll have time for all the things that we missed over a busy December, including our own Christmas party. The kids will go back to school, we will slowly un-decorate, and life will go back to normal. Around here, the bus pulls up pretty early: about twenty after seven. Molly and Rowan love a hot breakfast, and that can be challenging. Our solution has been to make up a breakfast menu and mostly stick to it. On Tuesdays, I drive them to school so we have a little extra time, and that means pancakes! This pancake mix was my Christmas present this year to my friends and family, along with a basket of eggs, some peach-ginger syrup, and a good chunk of scrapple, a Pennsylvania Dutch specialty that is a cross between polenta and sausage. You can make up this mix, store it in a cool place, and have pancakes on the table in no time flat!

Four Grain Pancake Mix

Pancake Mix all ready for giving

4 C. Whole Wheat Flour

1 C. Ground Flax Seed

1 ½ C. Oatmeal

1 C. Cornmeal

½ C. Baking Powder

½ C. Sugar

4 t. Salt

Combine in a large bowl and mix thoroughly. Scoop into a resealable bag or jar and refrigerate. When you're ready for pancakes, add to each cup of mix:

1 Egg, lightly beaten

3/4 C. Milk

1 t. Oil

1 t. Vanilla

Maple Syrup or Honey, for serving

Stir gently until combined. Heat a large, heavy frying pan over medium heat for a few minutes before adding a teaspoon of butter or oil and tilting the pan in all directions to coat. Spoon in pancake batter and let cook until the edges look dry and bubbles have formed on top. Flip, cook another minute or so, then turn onto a plate and eat with maple syrup or honey. Add more butter or oil to the pan for subsequent batches.

You can also add 1 C. fresh or defrosted berries to the batter, or 1 C. diced apple or banana. Or really any fruit.

Merry Christmas Cookie!!!

2010-12-24T11:47:00.003-04:00

On Sunday, my friend Stephanie hosted a cookie exchange. We've talked about it for years, but she took the bull by the horns last Christmas and now I hope it's here to stay. The idea is simple: everyone bakes 6 dozen cookies, then we get together for a potluck brunch and lay all the goodies out on the table to be admired. On their way out the door, each of us loads up a box with a variety of beautiful handmade cookies. There were chocolate orange stars and trees, iced snowflakes, sugar cookies with sprinkles, and Santa shortbreads. There were gingery molasses thins, pecan cakes dipped in powdered sugar and nut bars with dark and white chocolate (I brought those). There were buttery cookies with M&Ms! There are two kinds I can't name 'cause I haven't tasted them yet, but that's really only a matter of time. Minutes, actually.

Women used to spend the better part of December baking. I remember my grandmother, Peg Osburn, mailing carefully packed handmade cookies from Pennsylvania at Christmas. The box contained at least a dozen varieties, one of which was the time consuming but much appreciated springerle, an anise-flavoured cookie that was imprinted with a special mold. No wonder I have a hard time with keeping things simple: in my family, the more complicated the effort, the more love is being demonstrated. Unless the sheer enormity of all those cookies to roll, cut, and bake, and the pile of dishes and the mess that results turns you into a complete bitch.

Therefore, let's get real: find a few friends with good family recipes, make a simple cookie (bar cookies are the easiest) and get swapping!

Caramel Nut Bars with Cranberries and Chocolate

This recipe came out of tinkering with a Gourmet magazine pecan pie bar recipe.

3/4 C. Butter

2 C. Flour

1/2 C. Brown Sugar

1/2 t. Salt

2 C. Mixed Salted Nuts

1 C. Dried Cranberries

1/2 C. Butter

1 C. Brown Sugar

1/3 cup Honey

2 T. Cream

1 oz. Dark Chocolate

1 oz. White Chocolate

Preheat oven to 350°F. Cut 3/4 C. butter into 1/2-inch pieces. In a food processor process all ingredients until mixture begins to form small lumps. Sprinkle mixture into a 9x13 pan and press evenly onto bottom. Bake shortbread until golden, about 20 minutes.

In a heavy saucepan melt 1/2 C. butter and stir in brown sugar, honey, and cream. Simmer mixture, stirring occasionally, 1 minute and stir in nuts and cranberries. Pour nut mixture over hot shortbread and spread evenly. Bake in middle of oven until bubbling, about 20 minutes. Remove from oven. Melt the chocolates separately and use a spoon to drizzle each over the bars. Cool completely in pan and cut into 32 bars.

Merry Christmas!

A Wild and White Christmas!

2010-12-15T08:54:00.001-04:00

Needle Felting at Stephanie's: Christmas Gathering #1

Well, there. It's less than two weeks from Christmas, and it's starting to get crazy. The Cafe is buzzing with parties and shopping lunches (we are, after all, just across the street from Bargain Harley's) and the kids are wrapping things up at school. We're also trying to make and buy meaningful gifts for each other, find the perfect tree right on our own land, make new traditions and keep up the old ones. My friends and family and I are trying to keep it “simple”. That's not easy for a group of women that is driven to make everything by hand, plans about ten gatherings during the month of December and have a collective brood of about twenty kids, give or take (we're all waiting for a special baby girl right now!). But this year is a little different. This year, we're putting the hustle and bustle into perspective, trying to be grateful for all we have and sharing that with another family halfway around the world. This year, our thoughts will be with a young father and his two children as he returns home to Liberia from a refugee camp in Ghana that he has called home for nearly twenty years. My sister Meagan and her partner Sean know him from their time spent volunteering at Buduburam and organized the gift of money for travel and accommodations once they arrive. We will all breathe a sigh of relief when they get there.

Thinking of this, everything else drops away and all I feel is unbelievably lucky. It seems a little frivolous to extol the virtues of local food when for so many there is no food at all, yet I truly believe that we can secure our future food security and improve the lives of all of us by making these choices when they are available. Maybe then our economy will improve to the point where we can begin to help and be a model for others. We have so much already. Finding joy and richness in the simple pleasures of good food, locally grown and fairly traded, is a reminder three times a day of how very grateful we should be.

Nova Scotia Wild Rice Salad

Perfect for Christmas buffets and potlucks, this salad feels very special. You can leave out the dressing and stuff your turkey with it!

1 C. Wild Rice (believe it or not, there is a source in Amherst! Contact Dolphin Village to order)

4 ½ C. Water

1 C. White Rice

1 ½ t. Salt

½ C. each chopped Dates, Raisins, and Dried Cranberries

½ C. each Pecans, Sunflower Seeds, and Almonds, toasted and chopped

1 C. each diced Red Pepper, Celery, and Red Onion

½ C. Olive Oil

Juice of 1 Lemon

2 T. Red Wine Vinegar

1 clove Garlic, minced

¼ C. Honey

Salt and Pepper

Combine the wild rice, water and salt in a heavy medium pot. Cover, bring to a boil, then reduce the heat and simmer 20 minutes. Add the white rice and simmer another 25 minutes, then shut off the heat and let the rice sit, covered, while you prepare the rest of the salad. In a large bowl, combine the dates, raisins, cranberries, pecans, sunflower seeds, almonds, pepper, celery and red onion. Whisk together the remaining ingredients in a small bowl, then add this dressing to the large bowl. Add the warm rice and stir gently. Taste for salt and serve immediately, or let cool and refrigerate.

On the 1st Day of Christmas My True Love Sent to Me Some Garlic and it's Spray-Free

2010-12-05T16:50:00.003-04:00

Yes, Sir, that's my Garlic

Last Wednesday I planted fifty pounds of garlic. I had put it off for weeks, daunted by the task of preparing the soil. Finally, after much discussion and many appearances on my “to-do” list, I tilled it, and Sean made it into a nice wide bed. I scratched furrows and broke bulbs into cloves and stretched my entire body over the row to get the furthest spots (much more efficient I think than going back again the other way). I'm used to edge-of-my-seat tension in most tasks in my life-you're never quite sure if you'll be ready for a Friday night at the Cafe-so it's a mental challenge to get into the garden. Gardens plod. You can't really rush through the physical demands of this kind of work and do it for hours. I always feel anxious to get it over with until I get into the groove, just like when I run.

Garlic is easy to grow, but also hugely rewarding. For one thing, there is the cost. Garlic grown without chemicals is fetching up to $13 a pound retail in the Valley. This makes it really worthwhile to bother with the minimal hassle it is. I'm growing it for the restaurant and for us and my friends. I'm also growing it because my Dad is enormously proud of his garlic crop, whose lineage he can trace back to the purchase of a few pounds of “seed” garlic from the famous Fish Lake Garlic Man many years ago. Mostly I'm growing it because the flavour is way better then the dry tiny grown-in-China garlic that all you can find in most grocery stores. For someone who includes garlic in almost everything but dessert, that just means tastier food for the same effort.

Inspector Hen checking Garlic Clove Depth

If you can find some untreated healthy looking garlic, by all means plant your own. The time to do it is right now. Break each bulb into cloves, push them into decent soil at least 6 inches apart, and mulch heavily with straw. In the spring start watching for it to emerge (I'm always impatient and push the straw aside to peek). The little green shoots poke their heads up slowly, but grow pretty quickly once the ground warms up. Sometime in July you will notice a flower head emerge from the center. It's called a scape and I think they look like little elves with long pointed green caps. You must break this off mercilessly or you won't end up with nice fat garlic bulbs. I have heard rumors of large scale growers that slice off the whole top of the plant with a machete, but I go through the rows and snap them one by one. I love the smell of garlic on my hands after I'm done. The only other work to attend to is harvest. When the lower leaves of the plant die off in August, pull up the plants, give the bulbs a hosing and hang them up whole to dry for a week or so. Cut off the dry stem and roots, and store your crop in a re-purposed onion bag. It'll last at least until spring if stored in a cool dry place. If you can't find your own source of great garlic, come buy a pound from me at the Cafe!

Have your Chickens Prepare the Straw Mulch

Hang the Washed Bulbs to Dry

Cut off Stem and Roots

NS Local Food Hero 2010

2010-11-26T18:45:00.001-04:00

I haven't said anything about this yet here, but Meagan and I got to take a little trip to the city a couple weeks ago. We attended a Restaurant Association dinner where we picked up the NS Local Food Hero Award. It's given by Select Nova Scotia and the I'm super excited about it, because it really means something to me. It's given to a restaurant that promotes local food to their customers, and participates in activities to promote local agriculture and profile local food products. Previous winners Chives and Fid are great company. And it came with a whole bunch of Nova Scotian wine.

Coincidentally, this quote from Julia Child found its way to me this week:

The measure of achievement is not winning awards. It's doing something that you appreciate, something you believe is worthwhile.

Well hallelujah for that!!
Melyssa and I went on a little wine tour back in the summer to round out the Cafe's selection of NS wine and it really blew my mind. The wineries are all beautiful and the wines are great. If you're from here and want to take a little trip without leaving the Valley, it's a wonderful way to spend an afternoon! If you're not from here, it truly is a reason to come. For a guide, check out the Nova Scotia Winery Association's website.

Cheers!

The Carrotiest Carrots

2010-11-24T14:07:00.000-04:00

I've been holding out on you. I know where the tastiest carrots in the Valley are and I haven't told you yet. Let me just give you some clues. These carrots are organic. One of these farmers doesn't wear shoes unless he really has to. Another is the smiling face behind their beautiful veggie stand at the Wolfville Farmer's Market. And their son Nelson just opened a fabulous restaurant right behind Union Street Cafe called the Black Trumpet.

So the barefoot grower of tasty carrots is Henry Penner of Goldfinch Farms. He and and his wife Dora grow an amazing variety of vegetables on their farm on Willow Avenue, practically in the town of Berwick. From salsify to parsnips to a rainbow of peppers and tomatoes, squash, leeks that would set world records for their size, parsley root, spinach, even peanuts, they grow it all without chemicals and with, it would appear, a lot of love.

Henry and Dora now own the Rising Sun Health Food Store in Berwick, and they stock a fridge with their own produce. Henry will gladly fill orders for larger quantities if you just ask.

Sawler's carrots are also grown outside of Berwick and are widely available at grocery stores. They are the folks that produce a lot of the Valley's cabbage, turnips and onions and keep the kid's soccer program going! I love their trucks, retro green with red boxes. You are welcome to stop by their wholesale/retail outlet and stock up for winter (very inexpensively) at 189 Pleasant Valley Road. Just take Exit 15 off highway 101, head north, then take the very first right.

At the Cafe, we've been experimenting with Rainbow Carrots from Wilmar Acres. Marketed under the Country Magic label, they are a fun way to add colour and have great flavour, too! Today we made this wonderful salad for the buffet.

Roasted Moroccan Carrot Salad

12 Carrots (use assorted colours if you can)

1 Red Onion, sliced

3 T. Olive Oil

1 t. Salt

2 T. Lemon Juice

1 clove Garlic, minced

1 t. Cumin, toasted in a small frying pan until fragrant

1/2 t. Sriracha Hot Sauce (or not)

1/4 t. Cinnamon

2 T. Parsley

2 t. Honey

Pomegranate Seeds and Chopped Cilantro for garnishing, optional

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Peel carrots, and cut into 1/2" pieces. Place in a large bowl with the onion, olive oil and salt. Toss to coat the vegetables and spread onto a baking sheet. Roast for 35-40 minutes, stirring occasionally, until carrots have softened and are beginning to brown. Meanwhile, whisk the lemon juice, cumin, optional hot sauce, cinnamon, honey and parsley until combined. When the carrots are ready, scrape them back in the bowl with all their oil and toss with the dressing while still warm. Serve salad right away or chill until cold and serve, garnished with the pomegranate seeds and cilantro.

Honey Roasted Carrots

So simple, but so yummy. Try this for Christmas dinner!

2 lb. Carrots, peeled or just well washed

2 T. Butter, melted

2 T. Honey

Preheat oven to 400°. Chop the carrots into ½ inch chunks. Bring a pot of salted water to a boil and drop the carrots in, then reduce the heat and cover for about ten minutes, until carrots are tender. Drain and combine in a 9x13 pan with the butter and honey. Roast uncovered for 30-45 minutes, until carrots are glazed and browned.

On the Road Again with Sarah and Pat

2010-11-19T10:52:00.006-04:00

My mom Anna and her friend Pat started the second handmade soap company in all of Canada. It's hard to believe, with all the thousands of soap sellers at craft fairs and shops these days, but it's true! North Mountain Soapery started in a corner of Pat's house in Burlington, then moved to rented spaces including a dusty nook behind Ye Olde Curiousity Shoppe in Port Williams. In about 1985, when I was nine, they renovated a barn on Pat's property and went big-time, selling soap and potpourri and bath salts at shows in Toronto and even at Disney's Epcot Centre in Florida. I remember asking my mom to pack me up inside one of the boxes destined for Dopey Drive.

Me, Meagan and Sarah

Every few years, we sit down to watch and howl at Mom and Pat's appearance on “On the Road Again” with Wayne Rostad. In the video, Pat's kids, Sarah and Jesse, are joined by my sister and I in a highly staged portrayal of quaint rural life. Pat calls us from the barn and we come running, to wash up for supper, with North Mountain Soapery soap in an old washtub on the porch. Mom and Pat are so young and sweet in their interview, so passionate about what they were making, and with all that 80s hair going on, it is really a scream. Or, in the case of Pat and Sarah, a snort.

We lived just down the road from Pat and her husband Doug, and Meagan, Sarah and I were pretty much all the same age, so we were together fairly often. We played in Sarah's treehouse, gorged ourselves on fruit in Doug's orchard, and dared each other to walk across the beams of the barn next door. We went on picnics in the woods, swam in the pond stocked with salmon, and cooked supper together when our moms were away in Toronto (legendary meals cooked by our Dads included Kraft Dinner with ground venison, highly salted spaghetti that made me throw up, and burgers undercooked by me that made Sarah throw up. These recipes aren't included here).

Sarah and I were both home sick one day, and mom had to go to work, so I was to spend the day at Sarah's convalescing with her while our Moms worked next door. Pat had a Crock-Pot of baked beans on the go for supper. Somehow, one of us tripped over the cord and the whole thing came crashing down onto the floor. We were terrified. Despite our illness, we sprang into action, all the while on high alert should one of our mothers walk in the door. We scooped up the beans with a dustpan and hastily dumped them back into the pot. We added water to bring the beans back up to their original volume, plugged it back in and wiped everything up as best we could. Lucky for me, we went home for supper. Still, I couldn't shake the guilty feeling as I imagined her pretending to enjoy the tainted beans.

Me, Sarah, Meagan and Lyss in Cuba

Well, 25 years later, Meagan and I are still friends with Sarah. We can tell the same stories over and over and cry with laughter every time. Sarah and Jesse own a business together that Doug started towards the end of North Mountain Soapery (they sold it in 1989), Country Stoves and Sunrooms in Aylesford. And Mom and Pat are still wonderful friends, now working together on another big project, a book this time, about the history of the people of Burlington. We all have shared many meals together, with very few of them hitting the floor first. Pat makes an amazing Bok Choy salad that I first tasted when she brought me a meal after the birth of my daughter, Molly. Both Sarah and Pat are famous for the mouthwatering yet very simple Garlic Brie that makes an appearance at their parties, and Sarah willingly (I think) makes Peanut Butter Chocolate Chestnuts that her girlfriends clamour for each Christmas.

Garlic Brie

4 Cloves Garlic

2 T. Olive Oil

1 small wheel Brie or Camembert

Mince the garlic and combine with the oil. Place the brie on a pie plate and spoon the garlic oil over top. Bake at 350° for 10 minutes or simply heat in the microwave until the cheese is soft and warm, about 30-60 seconds. Serve with your favourite crackers to everyone at the party.

Bok Choy Salad serves many

Pat calls this "Sugar Salad" for obvious reasons. You can cut back on the butter (use 2-3 T.) and the sugar (use 1/2 C.) and it will still be good. I suggest making it as is and sharing it with your delighted friends.

1 large head Bok Choy, chopped (any cabbage will do nicely, really)

2 bunches Green Onion, sliced

½ C. Slivered Almonds

2 pkg. broken Ramen Noodles (throw out the seasoning and bash up the noodles while still in the bag)

½ C. Sesame Seeds

½ C. Butter

1 C. Sugar

½ C. Vinegar

2 T. Soy Sauce

1 C. Canola Oil

Place the bok choy and green onions in a large bowl. In a saute pan over medium heat, melt the butter and add the almonds, ramen noodles and sesame seeds. Stir and cook until everything is toasty. Drain on paper towels. In a medium bowl, whisk the sugar, vinegar, soy sauce and canola oil until sugar has dissolved. Just before serving, toss the bok choy and green onions with enough dressing to coat, then shake on the nuts and noodles and toss again. Oh boy.

Webster's Baked Beans with a little Union Street twist (thanks, Alexis!)
This traditional (almost) baked bean recipe comes to you straight from Webster Farms, a bean and raspberry grower in Cambridge, Nova Scotia. We use their Jacob's Cattle Beans for this, but you can use almost any white or speckled dried bean.

1 lb. Webster Farms Dried Beans
2 tsp. Dried Mustard
1/2 t. Ground Ginger
1/2 cup Brown Sugar
2/3 cup Molasses
1/2 C. Ketchup
1 tsp. Salt
1/4 tsp. Pepper
4 strips Bacon (or not)
1 tsp. Vinegar
1 medium Onion, diced
2 cloves Garlic, minced

Soak beans overnight in plenty of water to cover. Place beans in large pot with 6 cups of water, bring to a boil, and simmer until beans are tender, approximately 30 minutes. Eat a bean to make sure it's tender, they will not soften further once the remaining ingredients are added! Place in slow cooker (in a secure location:). Add remaining ingredients and stir gently to combine. Cook on high for 4-6 hours covered. Alternatively, bake in the oven for 4-6 hours at 300 degrees, checking in once in a while to make sure beans have enough liquid.

November Harvest

2010-11-12T08:40:00.000-04:00

It's getting to that time of year when you know it's all about to change. You may not know when, but it's coming. I've made my tire appointment, we've already burned through a noticeable quantity of firewood, and for a good two weeks before the clocks changed, the kids got on the bus in the dark.

Leaves have changed, been admired, and shaken themselves free. Giant bonfires of scraped-together cornstalks one night yielded a gorgeous and surreal autumn vista by morning: smoke hanging low over the Valley floor and all the colour and orange-gold light. In the garden, I'm still harvesting kale, swiss chard and broccoli and wondering how I'll find the time to plant the garlic. I can still pick raspberries a few at a time, and if I looked really hard, I could find a sound tomato. Still, it's after Halloween and long past the first pumpkin pie.
Last week, we ordered piles of last-of-season greens, beets and herbs from Katrina Fairn and Angie Schoonhoven. I'm sad to let this connection go for the winter, we've had such a good time at the Berwick Farmer's Market and I miss it. I'm wondering when it's going to get cold and stay cold.

Fall and winter are cozy time for me in the restaurant. In the summer, when we're sweating to death and wondering why in hell anyone would order French Onion soup, it's hard to remember that the kitchen can be such a welcoming place come cooler weather.

I'm looking forward to the dishes we cook for the holiday season: Carrots baked in Honey and Butter, Turnip with Garlic Cream, Sweet Potatoes and Maple Syrup, and Roasted Vegetables of all kinds, including Parsnips, Celeriac, and Beets. For now, though, I'm hanging on to end of fall. I made this dish for Sean and I a few nights ago, it's just the kind of thing when you have your foot firmly in two seasons at once.

Roasted Butternut Squash with Greens and Sausage serves 4

1 small Butternut Squash, peeled, seeded and chopped

2 T. Olive Oil

Salt

1 Onion, diced

2 cloves Garlic, minced

16 C. mixed Chopped Kale, Swiss Chard, or any kind of greens

1/2 lb. Cooked Sausage, cut in rounds (or substitute 6-8 oz Smoked Tofu, cut in strips)

Green Tomato Pickles or PC Fig and Balsamic Sauce

Preheat the oven to 350°. On a baking sheet, toss the squash and 1 tablespoon of the olive oil together with a little salt. Roast for 20-25 minutes, stirring after ten minutes, until fully softened and browned. Set aside. Meanwhile, heat two tablespoons of olive oil in a large frying pan over medium heat. Add the onions and cook for ten minutes or so, stirring often, until they are soft and caramelized. Fire in the garlic, kale and ½ t. salt. Stir and cook for a minute, then add ¼ C. water and cover. Cook for five minutes covered, then and add the chard or other greens and cover again. Cook for five minutes, until the greens are nearly softened, then uncover and add the sausage or smoked tofu. Toss and cook until the water has evaporated and the sausage is heated through. Divide the squash amongst four plates, then pile the greens on top and grind on some pepper. This is amazing served with homemade pickles, but if your auntie won't share with you, the fig sauce is rather good on top.

Down at the Cranberry Bog

2010-11-05T10:52:00.002-03:00

Cranberry Acres (and Acres!)

Folded into lemony muffins, baked into stuffing, stirred into freshly toasted granola and garnishing a spinach salad: we have come up with many uses for the tasty little cranberry. It's all for good reason. Cranberries are beautiful, nutritious and, around here, plentiful. In fact, cranberries grow wild around Nova Scotian brooks and streams and have become an important crop in the Annapolis Valley since at least the 1940s, when the first commercial harvest was made near Aylesford. Cranberries have been produced commercially in Nova Scotia since the late 1800s!

I had a chance to visit my friend Louise's Cranberry Acres last Tuesday. I was amazed at the complex machinery, their acres of irrigated fields, and a complex system of irrigation ponds and ditches designed to flood the cranberry fields on demand (most cranberries are harvested underwater: they float to the surface and are collected). Theirs is one of the largest of several cranberry farms in Nova Scotia, with more than 30 fields under cultivation and five different varieties being grown including Stevens and Pilgrim. On the day I visited, frozen cranberries were being packed in forty pound boxes destined for Russia! Our cranberries are exported all over the world and are renowned for their gorgeous colour: Louise told me that Nova Scotian cranberries are by far the reddest.

The Red, Red Nova Scotia Cranberry

We've been buying fresh and frozen SunValley cranberries for years. For a time, they also supplied us with dried cranberries, but have since discontinued that line. However, we were thrilled to discover an almost-local source of dried cranberries and cranberry juice at Terra Beata Farms in Lunenburg. They also dry and juice Nova Scotia cherries and blueberries!

The cranberry harvest will be over soon, but cranberries last for weeks in your refrigerator and longer when frozen. There's no need for fancy preparation, just throw the whole bag into your freezer and they will be separate and intact when you're ready to use them. Don't bother to defrost them either, just be prepared to add a few extra minutes' cooking time to your recipe.

Cranberry Chutney

This is our spicier, thicker version of cranberry sauce. At the Union Street Cafe, we serve this chutney alongside our North Mountain Free Rangin' Hot Chicken Sandwich and our version of Duck Confit. It's also great mixed with an equal part of mayo and slathered on a turkey sandwich. This chutney keeps at least a week in the refrigerator.

1 medium Onion, diced

1 ½ C. Sugar

1 C. Water

4 C. Cranberries, fresh or frozen

1 t. Chinese 5-Spice or Garam Masala

Combine all the ingredients in a medium saucepan and bring to a boil, stirring from time to time. Reduce the heat and simmer for 8-10 minutes, until berries have broken down somewhat. Let cool, then refrigerate.

Roasted Cranberry Vinaigrette

Serve this beautiful dressing on emerald Spinach leaves or mixed greens with Roasted Pears, Dragon's Breath Blue Cheese and Toasted Pecans as a celebration of the colder months of the year!

The Cranberry in its Natural Habitat!

2 C. Fresh or Frozen Cranberries

1/3 C. Sugar

½ t. Salt

2/3 C. Olive Oil
1 T. Balsamic Vinegar

1 t. Dry Mustard

Freshly Ground Pepper

Red Wine Vinegar, optional

Preheat the oven to 350°. Toss the cranberries, sugar and salt together on a baking sheet and roast for about 15-20 minutes, until the cranberries begin to shrivel. Let cool, then scrape into a medium bowl and whisk in the olive oil, dry mustard and a few grinds of pepper. Taste and add a splash of balsamic vinegar if you like and thin with a spoonful of water if it's too thick. If you prefer, puree it in a blender for a smooth result. This is very pretty spooned over greens.

Cranberry White Chocolate Cookies

This is a tweak on Michael Smith's Chef at Home Chocolate Chip Cookie recipe!

3 C. Flour

2 t. Baking Powder

1/2 t. Salt

1 C. Butter

2 C. Brown Sugar

2 Eggs

2 t. Vanilla

1 C. Dried Cranberries

1 C. White Chocolate, chopped (I use 1 Just Us! white chocolate bar)

Preheat oven to 350. Butter a large baking sheet or line with parchment. Combine flour, baking powder and salt in a medium bowl. Cream butter with brown sugar in a large bowl until fluffy, then beat in eggs and vanilla. Add flour mixture, cranberries and white chocolate and stir until just combined. Using a 1/4 C. measure, scoop dough onto baking sheet, spacing them out (cookies will spread). Bake for about 15 minutes, until browning around the edges.

A little piece of Cranberry field

I read this morning that at the end of "Strawberry Fields Forever", John Lennon repeats the words "cranberry sauce".
According to the Pacific Coast Cranberry website, "he stated it was a kind of icing on the cake of the weirdness of song, where anything he might have imagined saying would have been appropriate."

Our First Eggs!

2010-11-03T11:35:00.000-03:00

My beautiful chickens laid two tiny eggs this morning. It was better than Christmas morning!

Happy 10th Birthday, Union Street Cafe!

2010-10-29T13:59:00.000-03:00

In the fall of 1998 I started watching a television show filmed in Prince Edward Island. It was called the Inn Chef, and it featured a tall, handsome man who was giddy with enthusiasm for the elaborate food he was preparing. The Inn at Bay Fortune, where Michael Smith both filmed the show and was chef of their fine restaurant, even maintained their own garden to supply the kitchen. Each episode featured a visit to a local farm or producer that supplied the food he was showcasing that day. I was hooked. Inspired by Michael Smith’s philosophy of garden to table cooking, I made a decision: I wanted to be….a farmer.

I would be the one in braids behind the beautiful overladen farm market table in braids and overalls. I would not only be able to grow the food, arrange it attractively for sale and price it accordingly, I would hand out cooking tips and recipes, too! I began work on a house on land my parents had given me, and they made room in their garden for me to experiment in.

The summer of 2000, my mother told me that her and my aunt Kate wanted to buy the Apple Town Café in Berwick. We had always talked about opening a restaurant, but mostly it was in the way of “when we win the lottery we’ll open a big Mexican place”. It had been an unrealistic fantasy, something we had dreamed about doing but knew would never really happen. Now they were talking about actually making a family restaurant a reality, and they wanted my sister Meagan and I to be partners in this ridiculous scheme! Of course we said yes.

The Apple Town Café was owned by our neighbour, Margo Armstrong, who had been running the place herself for eight years. She had a wonderful clientele, including us, who came for her homemade chowder and the beautiful sandwiches on thick sliced bread.

We dreamed and planned all that summer and a date was set: November 6^th2000. To get ready to transition into this new enterprise, we each spent a day a week working with Margo and learning the ropes. The week before we were to take over, we drove around the Valley together picking up carrots and onions from Sawler’s, feta and olives from Holmestead, and meeting with our accountant, who told us we were nuts. He wasn’t the only one. The current staff at the Café looked at our huge food purchases as we lugged them in and shook their heads. What were we going to do with all that food? Wouldn’t it go bad before we could use it?

That's Meagan, my Mom Anna, me and Kate in 2000

The four of us had come together for this project with a common goal: to showcase the local foods being produced right in the Annapolis Valley, to make healthy, flavourful dishes that people would savour, and to do it all with joy and love. It seemed obvious to us: Foods produced locally are fresher, so they taste better! If we bought them in large enough quantities, they would actually be cheaper than imports, which is not a small consideration for most restaurant owners. Since we came to this business with a love of cooking, we reveled in the labour-intensive process of working with these raw ingredients and helping them become something wonderful to eat.

My mother Anna had limited restaurant experience and had been working for Lois Hare, Naturopathic Doctor. In her time there, she had met many people with dietary restrictions recommended by Lois and she enjoyed helping them with cooking advice and recipes. She worked on a special menu catering to these needs, and we simply inserted this into the Apple Town Café’s menu for opening day. We decorated the glass topped tables with leaves we had pressed that Autumn along with an open letter to our customers new and old that said “welcome to our little Café”.

Since there were four of us, we figured we could cover everything ourselves and that meant working from 7am to 7pm every day, six days a week. Most days flew by, as word spread of good cooking from scratch made with local ingredients. You see, our first new customers were our suppliers, the first of many unexpected benefits of our method of doing things. They helped by supporting us, telling their friends that their own products were being used at the Café. The response was incredible. By our first summer, lineups were common and we were really overwhelmed. People were so enthusiastic, and we were delighted as sales quadrupled in our first year. We survived a restaurant review by Stephen Maher without one critical remark. It truly was a dream come true, albeit with much harder work and longer hours than I had ever fantasized about.

This is the simple truth: most people enjoy food more when they feel a connection to it. By drawing attention to the fact that the food on their plate not only looks and tastes better, but contributes to a healthier economy and planet, their enjoyment is heightened. Instead of consuming items of which we know almost nothing about and connect with almost no one to obtain, we can turn this transaction into a deeply satisfying human exchange. When I take Spinach and Tomatoes and Garlic grown by Dora and Henry Penner and bake it into a pizza with Holmestead Feta, it is a spiritual experience for me and maybe even my customer. Add a glass of wine made in the Grand Pre, and you truly are in heaven.

Of course, there are challenges and temptations along the way. It is understandable why some restaurants enjoy the convenience of one or two big trucks pulling up twice a week as compared to the constant stream of producers at our door. Some are too busy to deliver and that means if you want it, you must go get it, not always easy to do. But some of my best conversations in a week are held over a case of free range chickens or a box of portabellos and over the last ten years, that means a large part of my life has been shared with people I otherwise might never have met.

Focusing on local carries a responsibility to do the best you can. While we buy only local tomatoes from March to December. I still have a typical restaurateur disease: Fear of Not Serving Caesar. In the winter that means cases of romaine from California. I do dream of taking it all the way and shunning all reliance on foods grown outside Atlantic Canada. I’d turn our basement into a winter hydroponic garden and grow basil on the roof in the summer. But for now I try to take the responsibility of employing sixteen plus people and balancing that with pleasing the public and feeling good about the choices I make. Basically, if the product is available locally we will buy it! That’s what our customers expect.

Food consciousness is contagious. When you enter our Café, the names of our suppliers are proudly displayed around the diningroom in chalk. It’s a joy to watch that list grow and to let folks in on our enthusiasm for these products. We can tell them where they can buy the foods they’ve enjoyed in their dinner here. I hope that this can become a bridge from farmer to food lover.

Over the years, we have changed and grown. We moved in 2003 to the old Rice’s restaurant on Commercial Street. This location hosts many memories for folks who grew up around here and that history adds to the feeling that we’re here to stay. My partners moved on to other projects in 2006, but Meagan came back to work shortly after and I could not do it without her. She took the loving local thing quite seriously, and had a baby with a man she met when he delivered garlic to the Café! My mom Anna now does most of the baking at the restaurant, and Kate has a sweet little coffee shop out front.

I feel grateful to this small town for being wonderfully supportive. Our wonderful, ever evolving family of staff is truly amazing. And being in the Valley just makes it so easy to make great food. Thank you to all of the gardeners, bakers, cheesemakers, farmers and glorious food loving folks that make Union Street Cafe what it is. I love each and every one of you.

This morning, I got a phone call from Michael Smith congratulating us on our success and encouraging me to keep doing what I'm doing. I think I'm good for at least another ten!

Pears

2010-10-22T22:56:00.001-03:00

Pears are not my favourite fruit. I'm embarassed to tell you that the first time I enjoyed a pear, it was canned. In syrup. However, I have really come to appreciate pears, sliced raw alongside good crackers and cheese (That Dutchman's Dragon's Breath is my favourite right now), baked with apples in a crumble pie, poached in red wine with raspberries, and even roasted on a pizza with duck confit and bleu cheese. I've even gone so far as to come up with my own version of a Pear Upside Down Cake, baked in a cast iron skillet.

Pear trees abound in the Valley, and their early blossoms brighten up what can be a slow start to spring. In the cool of autumn, pears baked into warm desserts are homey and comforting. I'm waiting for a really nice cold day to try out an Apple and Pear Crostada. I'll ask Sean to build a fire and when the kids get off the bus, a warm treat will be waiting for them.

Beautiful local pears are available in stores and farmers markets right now. Noggins Corner grows 13 varieties including Bosc, Sheldon, Conferens, Bartlett and Flemish Beauty. Pears will ripen quickly if stored at room temperature, so store most of your purchase in the fridge and remove a few at a time for fresh eating. For baking, pears are fine straight from the fridge.

Roasted Pears

Serve these sliced with cheese and crackers, or with a drizzle of honey and a spoonful of vanilla yogurt.

They are also delicious with pancakes or hot cereal (and a weird but excellent pizza topping with bleu cheese).

4 firm-ripe Pears, any variety

Canola Oil

Preheat oven to 350°. Peel the pears and cut in half. Using a melon baller or small spoon, remove the core neatly. Place the pears in a small baking dish and rub all over with a little oil. Bake for 20-30 minutes, until softened and beginning to brown around the edges. Let cool and serve right away, or refrigerate tightly covered until needed.

Pear and Ricotta Upside Down Cake

Ok, I only partly made it up. The cake part is really a recipe for “Vanilla Ricotta Muffins” from Sunshine Cafe, an excellent breakfast cookbook from Mollie Katzen. Therefore, eating this cake for breakfast is fully justified.

1 T. Butter

3 Pears, peeled, cored and sliced thickly

¼ C. Maple Syrup or Brown Sugar

1 ½ C. Flour

½ C. Dry Milk Powder

½ t. Salt

1 ½ t. Baking Powder

½ C. Sugar

¼ t. Cinnamon

1 C. Ricotta or Cottage Cheese

½ C. Milk

2 Eggs

1 T. Vanilla

¼ C. Melted Butter

Whipped Cream or Vanilla Yogurt for serving

Preheat oven to 350°. Heat a 9 or 10 inch cast iron skillet over medium heat and throw in the butter. When it melts, add the pears. Cook the pears, stirring gently and often, for 8-10 minutes, until slightly softened. Drizzle in the syrup or sprinkle in the brown sugar and cook another minute. Remove the pan from the heat. In a large bowl, combine the flour, milk powder, salt, baking powder, sugar and cinnamon. In a second bowl, whisk together the cheese, milk, eggs, vanilla and butter. Add the ricotta mixture to the dry ingredients and mix with a spoon until just combined. Arrange the pears in the pan so they are in an even layer and pour the batter over them. Place the pan in the middle of the oven and bake for 25-30 minutes, until firm and browned. Cut into wedges and invert each onto a serving plate, topping with whipped cream (flavoured with a grating of fresh nutmeg if you like).

Pumpkins and Squash

2010-10-15T11:25:00.001-03:00

Last week I stopped at Forsyths's Farm Market just outside of Berwick to buy some pumpkins and gourds for decorating and was happy to see that Brice had grown some gorgeous Warted Hubbard squashes. Hubbards are huge and have a surprisingly delicious dark orange flesh. For $3.99, one could have all the squash a family could eat for months!

Large squash like these are a trick to break into, but a large knife and some care and patience will help. Once you've cut the squash into large pieces, discard the seeds and stringy pulp and cut away the peel with your knife. Pile the pieces into a roasting pan, cover with foil and bake at 350° until falling-apart tender. Pass the pieces through a food mill or process until smooth. Use some right away, and freeze the rest in 2 to 4 cup portions in freezer bags. I like to flatten the bags so they stack neatly in my freezer. Use your squash in “pumpkin” pies, in soups, cakes, or any recipe calling for squash or pumpkin puree.

Brice (King of Squash) Forsyth also had Sweet Mama, Ambercup, Acorn, Butternut, Buttercup and Sweet Dumpling squashes on display in bins, along with Pie Pumpkins. Many of these winter squashes store very well in a cool place for a few months, but they can also be frozen for longer storage. Simply cut in half, scoop away seeds and place face down on a baking sheet. Bake until very tender, then cool a little and scoop the flesh away from the peel. Process as above.

Sausage Stuffed Squash serves 4

My mom perfected this when I was a teenager. I loved it! I remember storing a squash in my dorm room closet and making this for my friend Mari. We were vegetarian at the time, so we left the sausage out and it is really good that way, too. You may want to add a little cooked bulgur or soy crumbles.

2 small or 1 large Buttercup Squash, cut in half and seeds removed

Pretty Little Pie Pumpkin from Waxwing Farm

1 lb. Sausage or ground pork

1 Onion, diced

2 cloves Garlic, minced

3 stalks Celery, diced

1 T. Flour

1 can Tomatoes

1 t. Dried Thyme or ½ t. Sage

Salt and Pepper

¼ C. Toasted Walnuts or Sunflower Seeds

½ C. Grated Cheddar

Preheat the oven to 350°. Place the squash on a baking sheet cut side down. Bake for about an hour, until the squash is tender when pierced with a knife. Meanwhile, make the filling. If the sausage is in casings, remove them. Place the sausage in a large pan over medium-high heat and add the onion, garlic and celery. Cook and stir until sausage has browned and onions and celery have softened. Sprinkle in the flour, then add the tomatoes and their juice, squishing the tomatoes in your hands as you add them to break them up. Stir and cook another five minutes, until the mixture bubbles and thickens. Remove from the heat. Taste and add a little salt if necessary, and season with black pepper. Turn the squash over and press down on them gently to flatten the bottoms so they are stable. Spoon the filling into the shells (there may be some leftover) and sprinkle with the walnuts or sunflower seeds. Top with the cheddar and return to the oven for 15 minutes, until the cheese has melted and is beginning to brown.

Pumpkin Gingerbread

I love baking with pumpkin, and this recipe is the result of years of experimentation! It's a delicious combination of gingerbread with a pumpkin pie filling. Why not? Gingerbread makes a great “crust” for pumpkin pie, and the swirling mosaic of pumpkin and cake is as beautiful as it is delicious.

Well, maybe not beautiful, but beautifully delicious!

Spice Mix

2 t. Cinnamon

1 T. Ground Ginger

1 t. Freshly grated Nutmeg

½ t. Cloves

1 t. Salt

Gingerbread:

1/3 C. Melted Butter

1 C. Molasses

1 Egg, lightly beaten

1 C. Orange Juice

2 ½ C. Whole Wheat Flour

1 t. Baking Soda

4 t. Spice Mix

Pumpkin part:

2 C. Pumpkin, cooked and mashed (or canned)

1 ½ C. Milk or Blend

½ C. Sugar

2 Eggs

4 t. Spice Mix

Preheat the oven to 350°. Butter a 9x13 pan. Combine all the spices in a small bowl and set aside. For the gingerbread, combine the butter, molasses,eggs, orange juice, flour, baking soda and 4 teaspoons of the spice mix in a large bowl. Whisk until thoroughly combined and pour into the pan. In the same bowl, combine the pumpkin, milk, sugar, eggs and remaining 4 teaspoons spice mix. Pour the pumpkin mixture evenly over the gingerbread. Bake for 40-55 minutes, until the gingerbread is firm and springy and the pumpkin custard is set.

Apples

2010-10-08T11:06:00.000-03:00

Just one of 6 Suprima Farm Apple varieties I tasted yesterday!

When I was eighteen, I announced to my parents that I was going to travel to British Columbia, to pick apples in the Okanagan Valley. This made no sense considering that I had grown up in one of the major apple producing areas in the world and had never once picked a bin. I didn't even know how to strap on the basket, which made it embarassing after telling our first farmer that we were experienced pickers. Apple picking is hard work, but it's fairly lucrative. It's gorgeous and cool in an orchard first thing in the morning, and you get to eat apples.

My favourites have always been the Cortland and Gravenstein, two older varieties that are best when freshly twisted off the tree. They are sweet and crispy with the sour bite that I love in an apple. The Valley grows a huge variety of apples, and hot new additions to the lineup just keep coming. This year our local growers harvested the first commercial crop of SweeTango. After the amazing success of the tasty and expensive HoneyCrisp, I imagine consumers will flock to the store for this newest trend in apples.

Be careful when shopping for apples in the Valley. Shockingly, despite all the wealth of locally grown fruit, apples imported from Chile, the USA and New Zealand are given ample shelf space in most grocery stores. Buy your apples at a market stand and your chances of landing local fruit improve dramatically. Apples are a great value when purchased in 10 or 20 pound bags, but if you can't stuff them in your fridge, you'll have to eat them quickly!

Better yet, visit a U-Pick. Boates even has organic apples in neat old varieties that you can pick yourself. Another favourite of mine is Dempsey Corner Orchards, where you can enjoy the beautiful view of the Valley as you pick from a tree halfway up the North Mountain. Noggins Corner has great apples and a wicked Corn Maze (try going after school rather then on the weekend, it's crazy-busy!). Although Richard Hennigar of Suprima Farms (the JuicePop Man) doesn't have a U-Pick, his was one of many farms in Nova Scotia that were open to the public September 19th during Open Farm Day. This is a great way to get a behind the scenes look at farms that are not normally open to the public.

At the restaurant, we'll be baking several varieties of apples into pies, crisps, and cakes. The best for baking include Northern Spy, Jonagold, Gravenstein, and Rhode Island Greening, esteemed by the Joy of Cooking as “perhaps the best of all for cooking” and available from Boates Orchards.

Bavarian Apple Torte serves 10-12

This recipe was one of our inheritances from the Apple Town Cafe, the Cafe we purchased that morphed into Union Street Cafe. Is it really Bavarian? I don't know. But it is certainly delicious!

Shortbread Crust

1 1/4 C. Flour

1/3 C. Sugar

1/4 t. Salt

1/2 C. Butter

Preheat oven to 350. Pulse in food processor until crumbs form and press into a 10-inch springform pan. Bake 15-20 minutes, until golden.

For the filling:

1 lb. Cream Cheese

2 Eggs

3/4 C. Sugar

1 t. Vanilla

3 lovely Apples, peeled, cored and thinly sliced

2 T. Sugar

1 t. Cinnamon

Blend cream cheese, eggs, 3/4 C. sugar and vanilla until smooth in a food processor and pour over baked crust in pan. Toss apples with 2 T. sugar and cinnamon and arrange over the filling in a pinwheel pattern. Bake at 350 for 35 minutes, until just set in the center. Let cool, then refrigerate for at least two hours before serving.

Annette's Apple and Cheddar Focaccia serves 4

This open faced sandwich can be made on any decent, sturdy bread.

¼ C. Mango or any other Chutney

¼ C. Mayonnaise

1 T. Dijon Mustard

4 pieces Focaccia

½ lb. Shaved Ham

½ small Red Onion, sliced

2 Sweet and Crispy Apples, sliced (Red Delicious need not apply)

1 C. Grated Cheddar Cheese

Preheat the broiler and move the oven rack to its highest position. Mix the chutney, mayo and mustard. Lightly toast the focaccia and spread with the chutney mayo. Layer with the ham, onion, apples and lastly the cheddar. Place on a baking sheet and slide under the broiler. Watch like a hawk while the cheese melts, then bubbles, and finally browns.

Applesauce Cake serves 12-16
This is a simple and nearly fat free cake that is delicious and homey. Try topping it with the leftover applesauce, lightly sweetened if you like, and vanilla yogurt or ice cream.

To make the applesauce, peel 3 pounds of apples and remove cores. Combine with ¼ cup water in a saucepan and cook, covered, over medium-low heat for thirty minutes, until falling apart. Let cool, then mash or process until smooth.

2 C. Applesauce

3/4-1 C. Sugar

2 C. Flour (can be whole wheat)

2 Eggs, lightly beaten

2 t. Cinnamon

2 t. Baking Soda

1 t. Salt

½ C. Raisins, optional

½ C. Toasted Walnuts, optional

Preheat the oven to 350°. Butter a 9x13 pan. Combine all the ingredients in a large bowl and whisk unitl just combined. Pour into the pan. Bake for 30 minutes, until springy to the touch.

Trouble at the Henhouse

2010-10-07T07:59:00.000-03:00

It is with sadness that I announce the passing of Cock-A-Doodle-Do, a fine and handsome rooster who met his end defending his flock. He had just learned how to crow. We will miss you, Cock-A-Doodle.

Fast and Picky

2010-10-02T16:09:00.001-03:00

My friend Katie has a truly funny mama blog. It's called Katie Anna. Don't read it while you're eating, because you will laugh out loud involuntarily and you may ruin your computer. Anyway, she suggested recently I come up with some good quick supper ideas that work for families, something I'd been thinking about a lot. That's because school has started, along with Brownies and Beavers. And I'm now packing two little lunches (the night before, so far, so good) with the kiddies' likes and dislikes in mind. Even someone who really enjoys cooking can get a little tired of the whole dinner thing, especially with children who don't appreciate their efforts. As my daughter gummed her Duck Confit at one year of age, I had hopes of raising mini epicureans, but now I keep it simple. That way, they don't cry when I put supper on the table.

My weeks go best when I plan a menu. If you enjoy reading food magazines or cookbooks at all (and I'm guessing that if you're reading this, you might) spend some time noting things you'd like to try. Then make a list of your family's tried and true favourites. Think about the week to come and slot things in accordingly. If you get really organized, you can take care of some things when you have the time, like on the weekend. Many prepared soups and casseroles keep well for up to a week, even improving (to a point). Make a grocery list so you're only running to the store once a week.

I was getting a lot of resistance at mealtimes until I discussed the issue with my co-worker, Alexis (remember, your childless friends often have the best parenting advice). She suggested to let the kids pick what's for dinner once a week, thereby winning cooperation, and it's worked really well. My daughter has even taken over cooking that meal (yes!), so we plan something she can handle, like quesadillas or macaroni and cheese. That inspired my son to want to help, too.

Perfectionist mommies and daddies, be flexible about what you call dinner. The first time we ate waffles at 6 pm, I felt guilty. Scrambled eggs and toast with a little fruit on the side might seem weird, but it's nutritionally sane and it's fun (hard to choose a wine, though). The same goes for sandwiches. Set up a Subway-style sandwich bar with roasted chicken or ham, sliced pickles, cucumbers, (in my son's world, these count as two separate vegetables) tomatoes, peppers, cheese and some good bread and condiments. Then place your order.

Other do-ahead Kitchen Witch recipes your kids might enjoy include the Baked Tofu and Thai Pork Burgers (while you top yours with cilantro and chili sauce, they can mask the taste of that nasty basil with ketchup and mustard).

Big Batch Chili

At our house, this is a favourite. The optional toppings make it fun and kid-friendly. You may notice it's vegetarian, but feel free to add a pound of browned ground beef or cooked diced chicken. It makes a big batch but it freezes brilliantly.

1 T. Olive Oil

1 large Onion, diced

2 cloves Garlic

2 Sweet Peppers, diced (green or red or one of each)

4 stalks Celery, diced

3 T. Chili Powder

2 t. Salt

3 Cans of Beans (Black, Kidney and White Beans are nice, but it's your choice!)

2 28 oz cans diced Tomatoes

1 small can Tomato Paste, optional

2 C. frozen or fresh Corn

Topping Ideas: Plain Yogurt or Sour Cream, Shredded Cheese, Sliced Olives, Banana Peppers, Diced Avocado, Hot Sauce, and Crushed Tortilla Chips

Heat the olive oil in a large pot over medium heat. Add the onions, garlic, peppers and celery, and stir and cook for about ten minutes, until softened and aromatic. Add the salt and chili powder, and stir another minute. Add the beans with their liquid, and the tomatoes with all their liquid. Stir up the pot and bring to a simmer, then reduce the heat to medium-low and let cook for about half an hour. Stir in the optional tomato paste and ground beef or chicken if you like, and the corn. The chili is ready to serve once the corn has heated through. Serve the toppings at the table and dig in!

Made-to-Order Quesadillas

These are really just Mexican grilled cheese sandwiches. Choose a decent whole wheat tortilla and talk your kid into as many vegetables as they can handle (sometimes, that's none). At the Cafe, we mix up a filling of black beans, diced mango, red pepper, charred corn and green onion and place a handful of that on top of the cheese. It's delish.

For each quesadilla:

1 large (or small!) Tortilla

a handful grated Mozzarella or Cheddar Cheese

Refried Beans straight from a can, or process 1 can Black or Kidney Beans with 1 clove Garlic and
1 T. Chili Powder until smooth

Optional Fillings: Diced Peppers, Green or Red Onion, Tomatoes, Corn, Pineapple, Mango, Diced leftover Chicken, Pork or Beef

Salsa and Sour Cream for serving

Preheat the oven to 350° if making a quantity of quesadillas. If you're making only one or two, just heat a large frying pan over medium heat. Spread some beans and sprinkle cheese over the whole tortilla and add as many of the optional toppings as you would like. Place the tortilla in the pan. When the bottom has browned and the cheese has melted, fold the whole thing in half and transfer it to your plate. If you're making lots of quesadillas, fold each quesadilla in half once filled and place on a baking sheet. Bake for 10-15 minutes until filling is hot. Serve with salsa and sour cream on the side.

From the Freezer Meatballs

I got this idea from Martha Stewart's Everyday Food. Meatball in the freezer=money in the bank. Saute them straight from frozen and serve with veggie sticks and mashed potatoes, bake them (no need to thaw) on top of a pizza, or add directly to simmering tomato sauce (yours or the store's) and cook for ten minutes before serving them with spaghetti. Isn't that brilliant? Thanks, Martha.

2 lb. Ground Beef or Pork (or a mix of both)

¼ C. Minced Parsley

3 cloves Garlic, minced

1/2 C. Grated Parmesan Cheese

¼ C. Breadcrumbs

2 Eggs

1 t. Salt

Pepper and maybe a grating of fresh Nutmeg

Combine everything in a bowl. Form into about 80 little meatballs, placing each one on a baking sheet. Freeze until solid and store in a resealable plastic bag.

Sister Witches in the Kitchen:Melissa

2010-09-28T10:13:00.000-03:00

My friend Melissa has excellent taste. When she calls to say “You have got to try this, it's going to change your life” I pay attention. Over the years I have known her, her recommendations have included Poulet Yassa (an African lemon chicken dish), seriously addictive Curried Popcorn and a Mexican Chicken and Bean dish that stews tantalizingly in a slow cooker. You wouldn't know it to look at her, but she has an appetite almost as big as mine. She loves wine and foods from places where she has lived and travelled: Bangladesh, Thailand, Africa, Vietnam. She doles out her love in recipes, home baked treats, and excellent advice. If you need to rant about the unfairness of life, she will patiently listen until you're done. If you need a recipe for butter chicken, or the best vegan power bar on the planet, she has it.

Even Mike Holmes is jealous of her biceps!

Melissa and I met at college when we were 17 and 18. Our dormitory had two beds to a room and as we shyly (well, I was shy, she was not) introduced ourselves to each other, we both thought, what the hell is this going to be like, sharing a room with a total stranger? I eyed her Gone with the Wind poster and music collection and fancy computer and straight-from-India decorations with trepidation. Was this girl way cooler than me? It took a while, but we found some common ground while jumping on our beds dancing to Courtney Love's screeching, and playing guitar (we even got up at open mic nights a few times) and sharing a birthday, almost (they are one day apart). One night after a few drinks, she spit in her hand and I spit in mine and we shook on everlasting friendship. It worked.

We lived together again in Halifax years later, and that's when we started cooking together. We worked late nights at bars and wanted to eat well, so every couple of weeks we would go on a big shopping adventure, then get to work in the kitchen. We froze burritos, Pad Thai, Shepherd's Pie, anything we thought would survive reheating in the microwave. We had big dinner parties and ate at fancy restaurants. We fought once and made up right away.

She's one of those people you could hate because she's funnier than you, more fit than you, and does everything she puts her mind to with irritating excellence. She gets away with all that because she truly is one of the kindest and most generous people I know. We're closer than ever because our lives have paralleled each others'. She was a bridesmaid at my wedding, then got married herself three weeks later on the grounds of my house (I got to make the food). We had babies at the same time, my second and her first. We've started businesses and read the same books and run in races. We now live about 100 kilometers apart and see each other only a few times a year, but I know if I need anything, anything at all, that she's there for me.

This Thai Corn Soup recipe is the latest of the must-tries. Although I've tinkered with it considerably (no lemongrass or coconut milk could be found in Berwick) I hope it tastes close to the original. Melissa suggests you invite your girlfriends over and make them this.

Thai Corn Chowder

1 C. Shredded Coconut (preferably unsweetened)

1 Lemon

1 Lime

6 Cobs of Corn

4 C. Diced Potatoes

2 t. Salt

2 T. Canola Oil

2 Onions, chopped

3 Cloves Garlic, minced

2 T. Grated Ginger

1 T. Toasted Coriander Seed, Ground

2 T. Cornstarch

1 C. Milk, Cream, or Water

2 T. Fish Sauce

Fresh Cilantro and Basil

Soak the coconut in boiling water to cover for ten minutes. Grind for 3 minutes in a blender and set aside. Zest the lemon and the lime, then squeeze the juice into a cup. Set both aside separately. Stand each corn cob on end on your cutting board, then cut the corn from the cob. Scrape the cob clean with the edge of the knife. Put all the bits of corn in a small bowl (save the cobs). Place the potatoes and corn cobs in a large pot and add 1 tablespoon salt and enough water to cover. Bring to a boil, then reduce the heat and simmer until the potatoes are just tender.

\ Meanwhile, heat the oil over medium heat in a large pot. Add the onion and saute for five minutes, until beginning to soften. Add the ginger and garlic. Saute for another five minutes, then add the coriander and lemon and lime zests and turn off the heat. When the potatoes are ready, remove the corn cobs and dump the potatoes and their water in with the sauteed onion mixture. Add the corn and coconut-water blend and bring the mixture to a simmer over medium high heat. Whisk together the cornstarch and milk, water or cream. Stir this into the soup along with the fish sauce. Let the soup simmer until it bubbles a little. Taste for seasoning and serve with chopped cilantro and basil on top.

Autumn Soups

2010-09-23T08:23:00.000-03:00

To everything there is a season. A time for beet greens, a time for peas. A time for strawberries, a time for peaches. And a time for squash, potatoes, apples, brussels sprouts, turnips and pumpkins. That time seemed to come early this year, right on the heels of the most glorious summer I can remember. Was it the time off I took thanks to my ever-so-competent gals in the kitchen, Alexis and Annette? Was it the fact that nearly every weekend, the weather was perfect? The new garden and the chicks in the laundry room that grew up to be the chickens running around the backyard? Living the summer in food and sharing it with you? Writing this has given me the opportunity to really reflect on the abundance and variety grown in our magnificent Valley (and Mountains!)

Sure, I haven't touched on all the things we can do with broccoli, and I missed peppers and eggplant completely. That's ok, because we're going to be together for a long time, right?

Nothing says autumn to me like soup. Summer can be hell in a restaurant kitchen, but when the temperature drops fifteen degrees and there's an avalanche of squash and apples at your delivery door, there's nothing like cozying up to the beastly stove and cooking up some love-in-a-bowl.

That's my boy, harvesting Sunflower seeds!

Butternut Squash Soup with Curry Spices

2 T. Butter

2 Onions, diced

6 cloves Garlic, peeled and chopped coarsely
2 t. Mild Curry Powder
1 t. Garam Masala (or substitute cinnamon)
1 Butternut Squash (about 2-3 lbs), peeled and cut in 2" chunks
1 T. Salt
2 T. Maple Syrup (or more, to taste)
2 C. Milk, Cream or plain Soymilk
Cashews, Yogurt and Chopped Cilantro for serving (optional)

Melt the butter in a large soup pot over medium heat. Add the onions and cook for about ten minutes, stirring often, until fully softened and beginning to caramelize. Add the garlic and cook another minute, then add the curry powder and garam masala. Stir and cook for about thirty seconds to release the delicious toasty flavours of the curry spices, then add the squash and enough water to just cover. Add the salt and crank the heat to high. Bring the soup to a boil, then reduce to medium high and simmer about twenty minutes, until the squash has fully softened and is falling apart. Use an immersion blender to puree the soup, or let it cool a little before blending it (in small batches, with a towel covering the lid and being super-duper careful) in a blender. Add the maple syrup and milk and whisk to combine. Taste for salt and add some pepper if you like. Serve steaming in bowls with the optional garnishes if you like. Extra yum credit: add a small dollop of mango chutney-we sell a good handmade one at the Berwick Farmer's Market!

Apple Cheddar Porter Soup

2 T. Butter

1 Onion, diced

3 Apples, cut into chunks (no need to peel) Boates is a good source in the Valley

1/4 C. Flour

2 t. Salt

6 C. Chicken or Vegetable Stock

12 oz Porter or your favourite ale (Propeller Brewery is my all-time favourite)

1 C. Grated Cheddar

1/2 C. Cream or Milk

1/2 t. Pepper

Melt the butter in a large pot over medium heat. Add the onion and saute for about five minutes, until starting to soften. Add the apples and stir and cook for another five minutes. Sprinkle in the flour and salt and cook for a minute, then whisk in the stock and porter. Turn the heat to high and bring the mixture to a boil. Simmer until the apples have softened and are falling apart. Remove the pot from the heat and blend the soup until smooth with an immersion blender (regular blender=yikes, unless you let the soup cool first). Place the pot back over low heat and add the cream and the cheese. Whisk until the cheese has melted, then add the pepper and taste, adding a little more salt if necessary.

A Rainbow of Tomatoes

2010-09-14T10:36:00.001-03:00

Last night we sat down to my daughter's cooked-all-by-herself macaroni and cheese and a giant plateful of sliced tomatoes, all different shapes and colours. There were tiny and sweet orange tomatoes, large brown and small red cherry tomatoes, bright yellow plum tomatoes, huge red beefsteak tomatoes, green-but-ripe tomatoes and a beautiful kind that is red with green stripes. There is even a kind with fuzzy yellow-orange-pink skin!!! All this is thanks to Josie of Seachange Naturals in Centreville, who grew tomato and other organic vegetable transplants to order this year. In March, I looked through a fantastical list of varieties she was planning to grow and picked 2 dozen to try. They arrived at the Cafe at the end of May looking healthy and lush, ready to bolt out of their already roomy pots. Josie uses only organic fertilizers and much larger containers than most nurseries, which means the plants were already well on their way by the time I planted them in my new and slightly less than ideal garden bed. There they have grown beautifully, and are ripening by the basketful. As long as I can keep the chickens out, we'll have more than enough for us and the Cafe.

We gratefully buy tomatoes from Den Haan's hothouse for most of the year. With a little time in the warm kitchen, they are very good. We have also obtained incredibly early organic tomatoes from the Penners of Goldfinch Farm, who also grow theirs in a wood-heated greenhouse, but on a much smaller scale. Henry and Dora, along with their son Nelson, grow a huge variety of spectacular produce on the outskirts of Berwick (just look for the sign on Willow Avenue or find them at the Wolfville Farmer's Market).

As a kid, I remember briefly preferring the plastic wrapped rectangular cage of hard winter tomatoes to the drippingly sweet and soft tomatoes of summer. I'm not sure what I was going through, but I'm over it now. This sandwich, my favourite of all time, sure helped.

My Favourite Tomato Sandwich

Don't make this unless it's tomato time!

2 Slices Whole Wheat Bread, as plain or fancy as you like

1 Clove Garlic, peeled

Mayonnaise

At least 1 perfectly ripe Tomato, possibly more, sliced thickly

A few Basil leaves, sliced into ribbons

Salt and Pepper

Toast the bread and rub one side of each with the garlic. Spread a little (or a lot) of mayonnaise on both. Stack one with as many tomatoes as will fit, sprinkle with salt and pepper and lay on the basil. Top with the other slice of bread, cut in half, and enjoy the rapture.

Grilled Summer Vegetables

Excellent just off the grill, but equally welcome warmed up the next day. May I suggest as a topper for otherwise vegetable-less mac and cheese?

3 medium Zucchini

2 Onions

1 large or 2 medium Eggplants

3 T. Olive Oil

Salt and Pepper

1 quart Tomatoes of any and all varieties you can obtain

2 Cloves Garlic

2 T. Balsamic Vinegar

Cut the zucchini thickly on the diagonal. Cut each onion into four wedges. Slice the eggplants thickly and put all the vegetables in a large bowl. Drizzle with the olive oil and sprinkle with a healthy teaspoonful of salt and some pepper to taste. Fire up the barbecue. When it's nice and hot, turn it to medium heat and place each vegetable one by one on the grill. Cover for a few minutes and cook, then turn each piece over with tongs. Meanwhile, chop the tomatoes roughly and place them in the same bowl the vegetables were just in, along with the garlic and balsamic vinegar. When the grilling vegetables have cooked to your liking (make sure the eggplant is completely soft), throw them all in to the bowl. Toss gently. You may want to cut the veggies into smaller pieces before serving, or just cut them up as you eat.

Peaches

2010-09-09T08:12:00.000-03:00

A few weeks ago, I bought a bushel of peaches. They are kinda rare around here these days, grown mainly tucked up against the North Mountain where they can enjoy some protection and extra heat. Luckily for me, this means a slight detour from my usual route to town and I'm driving right by the peach orchards. I took the box of peaches to the restaurant, where we ate as many as we wanted before adding them to mixed green salads, pasta dishes and whatever else we could think of. A wonderful discovery was the combination of peaches and kale with chicken and pasta. To try that, follow the directions for Pasta with Greens and Raspberries and substitute two diced peaches for the berries.

I used to peel peaches for baking, but I'm done with that. Aside from the very tedious boiling for ten seconds, cooling, and slipping off the skins, peeling peaches removes a lot of the flavour and beautiful colour from the skin. Just wash them, and cut them up. Done.

I found a lovely recipe for peach cobbler in a book titled “Cooking from the Heart”. I messed with the pastry a bit, and since it's also blackberry time, I added a few handfuls. A spoonful of whipped cream and it's end-of-summer bliss.

Peach Blackberry Cobbler

adapted from Rick Bayless

Filling:

6 Peaches, sliced thickly

1 Cup Blackberries

½ C. Sugar

3 T. Cornstarch

1 T. Lemon Juice

½ t. Salt

1 T. Butter

Pastry:

1 1/3 C. Flour

¼ t. Baking Powder

¼ t. Salt

½ C. Butter

¼ C. Sour Cream

1 ½ t. Apple Cider Vinegar

1 T. Milk or Cream, for brushing

2 t. Sugar, for sprinkling

Preheat oven to 400°. To make the pastry, place the flour, baking powder, salt, and butter in the bowl of a food processor. Pulse until crumbly, about 12 times. Whisk the sour cream and apple cider vinegar together along with 1 tablespoon of water. Drizzle this over the flour mixture in the processor, then pulse another 12 or so times, until the dough forms clumps. Turn it out onto a piece of plastic wrap, gather up the dough, and fold the plastic over the top. Flatten into a rough square shape and refrigerate while you make the filling.

Combine the peaches, blackberries, sugar, cornstarch, lemon juice and salt in a large bowl. Cut off 2/3 of the dough and roll it into a square roughly 10x10 inches. Fit the dough into an 8 inch baking dish, letting the dough hang over the edge of the dish. Pile in the filling, then cut up the 1 tablespoon butter and scatter it over the filling. Roll the remaining dough out ¼ inch thick and cut into squares or other shapes. Place these evenly over the filling, tucking some crust pieces into the filling here and there. Brush with milk or cream and sprinkle with sugar.

Bake for 15 minutes, then reduce the temperature to 350° and bake for another 40 minutes, until filling is bubbling thickly and pastry has browned.

Corn (and Tomato) Time!

2010-08-30T14:34:00.000-03:00

Oh Corn. You are so tasty when good, yet so bad when not. I think it best to avoid any early corn offerings at your local market, and get really tired of broccoli and zucchini and early summer vegetables while you wait for Perfect Corn. Then, right about mid August, when the price drops and the ears fatten, get yourself a dozen and have at 'er. This morning I had the pleasure of helping myself to beautiful corn for only $3 a dozen, at the same honour system stand that had provided me with most of the strawberries I ate this summer. Then I took the corn to the restaurant, shucked it, cut off all the kernels and made a beautiful and simple Corn Chowder, which I served at lunch. Courtney, my trusted salad gal, made Peach, Fresh Tomato and Corn Salad. For a couple of food geeks, this is what it's all about.
Steaming is the easiest and fastest method of cooking corn, requiring only an inch of water. Shuck and de-silk the corn, pile into a large pot with an inch of water at the bottom and set it over high heat. When steam starts billowing out, set the timer for two minutes, no more. Today's sweet corn really only needs to be heated through, then it's ready to eat. Try combining equal parts of butter and maple syrup with a pinch of cayenne or maybe a small spoonful of sriracha sauce, then brushing this on the corn after it's cooked.
The Corn Fritters have been part of my family's cooking repertoire since I can remember. They are almost as simple as corn on the cob and really delicious. The flour has gradually been reduced over the years, now just barely holding the sweet kernels together. Together with the emergence of Fried Green Tomatoes on the table, they are a sure sign that it is the end of August.

Peach, Fresh Tomato and Corn Salad

2 ears of Corn, shucked and kernels cut off
1 T. Olive Oil
2 ripe Peaches, cut in 1” chunks
enough assorted Tomatoes, cut in 1”chunks, to measure 3-4 cups
1 T. Balsamic Vinegar
Salt and Pepper to taste
2 T. Fresh Basil, cut into ribbons

Heat a small frying pan over medium high heat. Swirl in the oil, then add the corn kernels. Cook briefly, a minute at most, until heated through. Scrape into a bowl, making sure to include the oil. Add the remaining ingredients and toss gently.

Corn Fritters

I've been cooking half the batter plain for the kids and then adding the cumin and green onion to the bowl to cook for the grownups! These fritters are lovely as is, but you can't go wrong with a little maple syrup and even a pat of butter on the plain ones.

3 ears Corn (about 3 Cups)
2 Eggs
½ t. Salt
¼ t. Pepper
2 T. Flour
Canola Oil for frying
¼ C. Sliced Green Onion (optional)
½ t. Ground toasted Cumin (optional)

Stand the cob on end on your cutting board, then cut the corn from the cob. Scrape the cob clean with the edge of the knife. Put all the bits of corn in a large bowl and add the eggs, salt, pepper, flour and optional green onion and cumin. Heat a large frying pan over medium high heat and add 1-2 tablespoons of oil. Use a soup spoon to dole out the batter, spacing them for easy turning. Fry on one side for 2-3 minutes, until golden brown, then flip and cook a minute on the other side. Serve right away or keep the fritters warm in a low oven. They are also great at room temperature!

Fresh off the Cob Corn Chowder

6 fresh ears of Corn

2 large Onions, diced
1/4 C. Butter
8 C. cubed Potatoes
1/2 C. Flour
2 C. Milk or Cream
2 T. Parsley
1 T. Salt

Stand the cob on end on your cutting board, then cut the corn from the cob. Scrape the cob clean with the edge of the knife into a bowl. Place the scraped cobs in a pot and add 16 cups of water. Bring to a boil while you get on with the recipe. Heat the butter in a pan over medium heat and add the onion. Stir and cook for ten minutes or so, until the onion is softened and starting to brown. Add the flour to the onions and butter and cook another minute, then whisk in the cream or milk. Continue cooking, stirring the whole time, until the mixture bubbles and thickens. Turn off the heat.
After the cobs have boiled for 20 minutes or so, add the cubed potatoes. Cook for 20 minutes, or until the potatoes are tender. Reduce the heat to low. Pull the cobs out with a pair of tongs and discard, then stir in the onion and milk mixture. Add the corn and parsley to the pot and simmer for another ten minutes, then serve!

Blackberry Apple Pie

2010-08-26T09:14:00.002-03:00

After I write this, I'm going to pick some blackberries. In the spring, I planted raspberries and while I was at it, I gave the blackberries that surround the house some compost and a little extra water. They seem to have responded to my gesture, and are ripening by the handful. Hopefully you have some wild blackberries growing nearby, or you can head down any back road and likely find some in no time. They are beautiful plants, especially right now, when berries of all colours from green to red to black occupy the same branch. If you can't find them wild, they are available right now at many farm markets, and just a small amount of them will add a lot of flavour to your seasonal baking.

I can't get through this season without thinking about how I met the father of my kids. I was on Saltspring Island at the time, where the wild blackberries grow so profusely that you could live off them, like a bear. Bakeries in the town of Ganges buy berries from anyone who will bother to pick them. I was living in a tent at the time, and some friends of mine and I decided to pick some blackberries and take it one step further-bake Blackberry Apple pies and sell them by the piece, with ice cream, at the Farmer's Market. We picked gallons of berries near a construction site. Adrian and Dennis hadn't made pastry before, so they let me take the lead, buying flour and shortening and apples at the Thrifty's supermarket downtown. The three of us settled into a long afternoon and evening of peeling apples, measuring sugar and berries, and rolling pastry, using my friend Jill's kitchen.

The next morning, we set off to make our fortune. We had brought spoons, plates, and ice cream in a cooler along with our 15 or so pies. We had planned to cut each into 8 pieces, and sell it for $3. Sales were slow in the morning, but Adrian was a charming salesman and roved the market, directing people to us. A tall, dark and handsome man who I had seen many times, but to whom I hadn't been introduced, came and bought a piece. He was a friend of Adrian's and they settled into a conversation. Soon, he was heading to the nearest Cafe and came back with coffee for all of us. Another piece of pie later, and he and I were well on the way to everything that has happened since; a wedding, two beautiful and magical children, a home, a garden, and a restaurant. The marriage itself didn't work, but everything else has flourished, a sure sign that it was meant to be.

In the end, after expenses, we made exactly the same amount we would have had we just sold the berries to Embe Bakery. But I think we had fun doing it, and we got to eat a lot of Blackberry Apple Pie.

Blackberries are as mysterious and seductive as their colour suggests. Really a dark, dark purple, blackberries possess a strange and fragrant quality. Eaten out of hand, they taste like berries. But cooked and made into pies or crumbles, they are perfume-y, sometimes almost soapy. This was most apparent to me while eating a handmade blackberry ice cream at the Winnipeg Folk Festival. “It tastes like soap” I said, believing it must have been their failure to rinse their equipment properly. “That's the blackberries,” they explained, “they have a strange and surprising flavour”. It's like eating a piece of Thrills Gum: once someone assures you that it really is supposed to taste like that, you can revel in the exotic-ness of it.
I love this pie. Combining the blackberries with apples is like adding water to whiskey: diluting the flavours a little allows you to really taste them.

Blackberry Apple Pie

Use a deep pie plate for this recipe, it is a big pie!

10 C. Apple Slices
1 Pint Blackberries
1 C. Sugar
½ C. Flour
Juice of Half a Lemon
2 T. Butter, cut in little bits (Optional)

Preheat the oven to 350°. Combine everything but the butter in a large bowl. Make the pastry:

Food Processor Pastry (adapted from Canadian Living)

3 C. Flour
1 t. Salt
½ C. Butter
½ C. Lard
1 Egg
2 t. Lemon Juice
Ice Water

Combine the flour, salt, butter and lard in a food processor. Pulse about 25 times, until the mixture is crumbly. In a measuring cup, beat the egg and vinegar, then add enough water to measure 2/3 cup. With the machine running, pour the egg mixture in. Let the machine run for another 5-10 seconds, until mixture starts to clump, and then turn the contents out onto a lightly floured counter. Press the dough together, gathering up any straggly bits, and divide into two balls. You can chill the pastry for a half hour, making it easier to work with, or you can proceed straight to rolling out one ball into a circle 3 inches wider all around then your pie plate. Keep the surface underneath floured so it doesn't stick.

When it's the size you want, gently fold the pastry in quarters and place it in a quadrant of the pie plate. Unfold and ease the pastry into the pan, letting the extra pastry hang evenly over the edges. Tumble the filling into the pie crust (it will be very tall) and dot with the optional butter. Roll out the second ball, fold in quarters, and unfold over the pie. Fold the top and bottom crusts together all along the edge, trimming of there is too much pastry. Make sure you have a good seal so that the filling won't leak out (it will anyway, but do your best). Then you can make a decorative edge or not. Poke some holes in the top with a fork and brush the pie with beaten egg or cream and sprinkle all over with sugar (turbinado is pretty, I use Just Us! Of course).

Put the pie in the oven and slide a baking sheet onto the rack underneath. Bake the pie at 325° for about 2 hours, until the juices are bubbling thickly (most likely onto the baking sheet, that's why it's there) and the pastry is deep brown. Let it cool for at least a couple hours before devouring with ice cream.

Zucchini

2010-08-20T14:47:00.002-03:00

I bought a food magazine last week (hard to choose these days!) and was taken by a picture of the month's featured ingredient, Zucchini. A row of gorgeous specimens was laid out, all with flowers attached, in tight shiny skins. It made me feel sad for those grocery store zucchini, all pitted, dull, and half rotten. Zucchini is rarely displayed in the refrigerated section, where it really needs to be. This leaves us no choice but to buy our zucchini straight from a farmer, or find a little room and grow our own. I get my fill of zucchini every summer, when my plants produce enough for me, the Cafe, and our sweet little laying hens.

They love to wander the garden, pecking for slugs, snails, and the butt end of any zucchini they can reach. Almost all the zucchini I have harvested this year have had to be trimmed at the end to get rid of beak marks. I am happy to share, as zucchini is one of those garden treasures that rarely fails to provide. The hens were an addition this spring, when my daughter, who had wished on the first star she saw tonight for over two years now, finally got her dream of being a farmer. I may have influenced things a little, pointing out that while the pig, pony, goats and sheep she wanted would be very nice, chickens were probably all we could handle right now. We have a flock of 16 birds, including two young roosters who are in a contest for their very lives that they know nothing about. Unless they can work it out peaceably, it is likely one will get eaten for Thanksgiving.

My parents' garden one year produced an overabundance of baseball bat sized squash. I'm not sure how old we were, but my sister Meagan and I were determined not to let any go to waste. We decided to make zucchini loaf, something we had enjoyed at least once and that was supposed to freeze well (zucchini on its own is not a great freezer). My mother looked the other way as we blew through her baking supplies, using at least $30 worth of ingredients saving what most people would have thrown in their compost heap, or shoved into their neighbour's mailbox (not the kind of gifting I was referring to last week). In the end, we got super sick of zucchini bread, and threw many freezer burned specimens out the next spring. My strategy now is to pick zucchini small, 6-8 inches at most, and use it up right away in savoury dishes. There will always be one or two that escape your notice before turning into monsters. This is what you should use in baking, as it is practically flavourless. Or throw it to your chickens.

Zucchini with Olive Oil and Garlic
If you still don't like zucchini, try this simple but very delicious method.

4 medium or 8 small Zucchini sliced into 1/4” disks
2 t. Olive Oil
2 cloves Garlic, minced
Salt and Pepper
Freshly grated Parmesan, optional

Heat a large pan over medium high heat. Swirl in the olive oil, and let heat for a minute. Add the zucchini. Stir and cook for about five minutes, until the zucchini is hot and just tender. Add the garlic and salt and pepper to taste (lots of pepper is great in this). After another minute of cooking, the zucchini is ready to eat. If you like, you can sprinkle with an optional tablespoon or two of parmesan, then stick the whole pan under the broiler until the cheese is bubbling and browned.

Zucchini Muffins
These are great fresh. And still great frozen. But if you multiply this recipe and freeze it, it is at your own risk.

2 C. Whole Wheat Flour
3/4 C. Sugar (Just Us! has inexpensive Fair Trade sugar)
2 t. Baking Powder
2 t. Cinnamon (optional)
½ t. Salt
3 Eggs
1/2 C. Canola Oil
1 T. Vanilla
4 C. Grated Zucchini, squeezed of most moisture
1 C. Chocolate Chips or Toasted Walnuts

Preheat oven to 350°. Line a 12 cup muffin tin with paper liners, or grease well with oil. Combine the flour, sugar, baking powder, cinnamon and salt in a large bowl. In another bowl whisk the eggs, oil, and vanilla and pour over the dry ingredients. Add the zucchini and chocolate or walnuts, and then stir just to combine. Divide the mixture between muffin cups and bake for 20-25 minutes, until tops are springy to the touch.

Chocolate Zucchini Cupcakes

1 1/2 C. Flour (part Whole Wheat or all Spelt works great)
1 C. Sugar
1/3 C. Cocoa
1 t. Baking Soda
1/2 t. Salt
1/4 C. Canola Oil
1 T. White Vinegar
1 t. Vanilla
1 C. Cold Water
11/2 C. Grated Zucchini (about 1 medium)
1 C. Chocolate Chips
Preheat oven to 350°. Whisk dry ingredients in a large bowl. Add the oil, vinegar, vanilla, water, zucchini and chocolate chips and stir gently until just combined. Pour into muffin pans and bake until a toothpick comes out clean, about 20-25 minutes.

Veggies at Keji

2010-08-17T10:58:00.000-03:00

Lyss at our Kejimkujik Kitchen

We went camping last week. That's why I've been missing. We left for Kejimkujik National Park on Saturday and didn't return until Thursday afternoon. That's a lot of advance food planning, and a long time to keep a cooler cold. Camping at Keji has been a longstanding tradition with my family, my parents taking my sister and I nearly every year when we were kids. As I've told you, my mom is an excellent and adventurous cook, and cooking over a campstove in the middle of the woods with no running water is not going to deter her from making exactly what she wants, be it Coconut Curry with Cauliflower and Dhal, or Hodge Podge, or fresh Guacomole. This, after all, is the woman who has made risotto (for the first time!) during a power outage caused by a snow storm raging outside, using the same stove and hoping for the best as far as carbon monoxide goes.

I'm my mother's daughter, so I had to have a few essentials: Pepper Grinder, Homemade Granola Bars, Lobster, Pesto, Chocolate, Fresh Dates, Blueberries, Raspberries, Kale, Swiss Chard, New Potatoes, many Zucchini, Fresh Basil, Cilantro, Peanut Ginger Baked Tofu, Curry Sauce from the Cafe, Tomatoes, Lemons, Toasted Almonds and Cashews, a Baguette, some Pesto Hummus (my new invention), Roasted Eggplant, Mango Chutney, Bananas, Garlic, and of course, Sweet Thai Chili Sauce. And some hot dogs. I didn't panic when I discovered that I forgot the Parmagiano and a little cheese grater, because I knew my mother would show up with both.
My cousin Melyssa and my sister Meagan were among my camping companions, along with husbands, children, and an ever-changing roster of dear friends new and old. We did a little advance planning to cooperate on meals and Melyssa and I spent a few hours preparing some of the longer-cooking, more complicated menu items at home. My garden was exploding, so I did my best to hold it at bay by cramming many more vegetables than we could possibly eat into our cooler.

That first night, we enjoyed my Chicken and Vegetable Curry with Melyssa's Dhal and some Naan bread that she toasted over the flames, along with amazing Samosas my friend Melissa brought along. The meals all week continued in the same way. Every evening at dinner time, we laughed at ourselves for being so ridiculous, but also felt gratitude for being in the company of others who find such pleasure in these small luxuries. After all, we've got to eat! Might as well make it good.

Peanut Ginger Baked Tofu

Wrap this up with veggies, basil and cilantro and Thai Chili Sauce for a wonderful wrap, or serve it with steamed vegetables and rice. The tofu keeps for a week or two in the fridge, or forever in the freezer.

2 lb. Tofu (if you live here, use Acadiana!)
2 T. Peanut Butter
3 inch piece of Ginger
8 cloves Garlic
½ C. Soy Sauce
½ C. Canola Oil
½ C. Sugar
1 T. Sesame Oil
Blend everything except the tofu in the food processor. Cut the tofu in 1x2 inch pieces, and place on a baking sheet. Pour marinade over and bake at 350 until crispy...but not burned, about 25 minutes.

Granola Bars that are Good for You

This is a very flexible recipe-the last 7 ingredients can be changed up as you see fit. Try dried apricots, figs, dates, dried cherries or dried blueberries for the fruit. Cashews, peanuts, hazelnuts, really anything goes for the nuts. Just do not omit the chocolate. My daughter insists it is key to the success of this recipe.

1/2 C. Peanut Butter (or half Peanut and half Almond Butter)
1/2 C. Brown Sugar
1/2 C. Milk or Soy Milk
1/2 C. Honey
2 T. Oil
2 t. Vanilla
3/4 C. Whole Wheat Flour
3/4 C. Plain Soy Protein Powder (Look in the health food section or substitute whole wheat flour)
1 1/2 C. Oatmeal
1 t. Baking Soda
1/2 t. Salt
1/2 C. Raisins
1/2 C. Dried Cranberries (Terra Beata uses NS Fruit)
1 C. Chocolate Chips
1/2 C. Chopped Almonds
1/2 C. Ground Flax Seed or Sesame Seeds
1/2 C. Sunflower Seeds
1/2 C. Coconut

Grease a standard size cookie sheet with canola oil. Combine everything in a large bowl and mix well, then pack evenly into the pan. Use wet hands to smooth it down, then bake at 325 for 20 minutes. Cool for about half an hour, then cut into 32 bars. Freeze in an airtight container. These are great straight from the freezer, so hide them well. They will also keep for at least a week on your next camping trip, or in the glove box, or your gym bag.

Pesto Hummus

This is way easy if you have pesto, and really yummy, too!

1 Can Chick Peas, drained
2 T. Lemon Juice
1/4 C. Pesto

Throw this all in the food processor and blend, adding water as necessary, until smooth. Scrape it into a serving dish, or divide into 1 Cup plastic containers and freeze. The top will discolour quickly from the pesto, but stir it up just before serving and you will find it deelish!

PS My Mom and Dad wrote a great song about camping at Kejimkujik with deluxe food and the company of raccoons. They are famously clever at Keji and they always manage to get something, no matter how careful you are! Here are the lyrics, as my special bonus to you. Sing it to any tune you want, or buy a copy of the Lustre Brothers CD Live at the Whittle at the Cafe.

RACCOON BLUES
© Anna & Don Osburn 1994

Raccoon raid on our camp last night
Raccoons came, took everything in sight
Took my fresh-made pesto and a cheesecake, too
But they left the avocado, guess they didn’t know what to do

CHORUS:
With the avocado, the tequila, and the lime
I think they would’ve figured it out, if they only had the time
Well, the scene bordered on the bizarre
Some might say it was sublime
I saw `em feastin’ in the moonlight
Gettin’ mellow on my wine.

We had a merry little band of masked marauders
Every one one of them a sophisticated robber
Broke into the cooler with skill and ease
Solved a combination lock, and absconded with the cheese....

CHORUS:
But they left the avocado.... etc.

Breakfast this morning was kind of lean,
`Cause the raccoons left us with low cuisine
No bagels, no bacon, took the brandied jam
Now guacamole and a shot glass are lookin’ like the plan....

CHORUS:
`Cause they left the avocado.... etc

Blueberries

2010-08-05T14:09:00.000-03:00

I just want to say thank you to whoever dropped off the beautiful box of wild blueberries on my doorstep last week. An unexpected and anonymous gift of the season's best is a wonderful way of reminding us of the kindness and generosity of those around us. I love especially that everyone is suspect, making me feel a little more loving to all my friends and neighbours. I'm going to pass it on, and maybe at the farm market this week, you'll buy an extra bit of something to leave on your neighbour's doorstep too.

Fresh blueberries are a real treat, and this is the truly Nova Scotian way to indulge:

Blueberry Gumbo

2 pints Blueberries, wild or cultivated (we're loving Lazy Brook)
1/3 C. Sugar
1 T.Lemon Juice
1 T. Cornstarch
a pinch of Salt

Combine the ingredients in a large, wide pot and gently bring to a boil. Reduce the heat to medium low and let cook a minute while you make the dough:

1 1/2 C. Flour (Whole Wheat also works great!)
2 1/4 t. Baking Powder
1 t. Salt
2 T. Sugar
1 1/2 C. Sour Cream (Low-fat works very well)

Combine the dry ingredients. then stir in the sour cream to make a soft dough. Using a 1/4 C. measure, scoop up portions of the dough and place on top of the blueberries. Try to space them apart-they will grow together a bit as they cook! Cover the pot and let cook for about 25 minutes, until the dumplings are puffed and dry to the touch on top. Scoop out portions with a good measure of the sauce and serve with sour cream, whipped cream, or vanilla yogurt.

Basil

2010-08-03T10:49:00.000-03:00

When I was young, a friend of my dad's would often roar up from Delaware on his bike, blast into our lives for a week, and make everything interesting for a while. Often with a new pretty girlfriend in tow, Redz would soak up a year's worth of Nova Scotian life, telling ridiculous jokes, making my dad swear more than usual, and cooking. He also had a lot of energy for my sister Meagan and I, referring to us mostly as Rug Rat and Linoleum Lizard, names he had given us as infants. He drew us silly pictures and took us for rides on his motorcycle. Once he answered the phone with his Delaware accent, and the person on the other end thought they had dialed Luigi's, the pizza place in town. “Do you guys have turkey subs?” the poor sucker asked. “Well, we do”, he said, “only problem is, them turkeys are still runnin' 'round out back. Ain't had time to kill 'em today!”
Whether Redz introduced us to pesto or not is of some debate. I know he did, my mom isn't sure. Anyway, my mom was really into her herb garden at the time, and since basil is the queen of herbs, it was held in high esteem. She would sprinkle shreds of it on a tomato and mozzarella salad, and stir it chopped into green beans stewed with garlic and tomatoes. However we discovered pesto, even as kids, Meagan and I were hooked.
More recently, I've been including basil in wraps with baked peanut tofu and as a garnish for Pad Thai. I'm also growing Thai Basil this year, which has a hint of licorice flavour, and Ruben Basil, which is dark purple and makes a shocking pink herb vinegar. Basil is amazing in a grilled pineapple salad, and in my favourite sandwich: Just toast two slices of good bread, rub it with a cut garlic clove and a smear of mayonnaise. Top one with thick slices of tomato and whole basil leaves, then put on the top. Cut in half and devour!
Basil is easily frozen. Just strip off the leaves, put them in a food processor with about 1/4 C. olive oil to each 8 cups basil leaves. Pulse until well chopped, then transfer to small bags and freeze.

Pesto

Here is a good basic pesto recipe, one you can freeze in small bags for a taste of summer anytime!
8 C. loosely packed Basil
8 Cloves Garlic
½ C. Sunflower seeds
½ teaspoon Salt
1 ½ C. Olive Oil
2 C. Freshly grated Parmesan Cheese (I use Holmestead)

In a food processor, pulse all but the cheese until smooth. Stir in the cheese by hand. Package into small freezer bags and freeze. Pesto can also be stored in the fridge for a week or two. Make sure to tamp down the solids so there is a good layer of oil on top.

Green Beans with Tomato and Basil

1 T. Olive Oil
1 Onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 large Tomatoes, chopped (or half a 28 oz can)
1 lb. Green Beans, steamed or boiled until just tender
1/4 to 1/2 C. chopped Basil

In a medium saucepan over medium heat, heat the olive oil. Add the onions and garlic and cook, stirring often, until softened and beginning to brown. Stir in the tomatoes and cook until they have broken down into a sauce-like consistency, about 10 minutes. Stir in the beans and basil, along with salt and pepper to taste, and let cook a few more minutes. This dish is great hot or at room temperature.

Thai Pork Burgers

1 lb. Ground Pork (we love Meadowbrook!)
1 t. Salt
1 T. Fish Sauce
1 T. Sugar
1/2 C. chopped Basil
2 cloves minced Garlic
1/2 C. chopped Green Onion, optional

Combine everything in a large bowl. Form into 4 patties, or for cute mini burgers, form into 12 patties. Grill or panfry until no longer pink in the centre. Serve with Sweet Chili Sauce and sprigs of Cilantro, Red Onion slices, Mayonnaise and whatever else suits your fancy!

Raspberry Blueberry Shortcakes

2010-07-29T10:08:00.001-03:00

Well, raspberry fever continues. We found a u-pick right down the road from us with wonderful, huge berries. I'm not usually a berry picker, but I wanted my kids to experience the torture, and much to my surprise, they had a great time. While their boxes were nearly empty, their faces were smeared with red juice and they had the look of truly satisfied raspberry appreciators. At first I was concerned that they not eat too many, out of respect for the farmer and the fact that we pay for them by the full box, not the full belly. The solution is to guess how much they might have eaten and simply pay for it.
This recipe is so simple, but unbelievably good. If you live in the Valley, the some of the finest cultivated (and Organic!) blueberries are available from Lazy Brook Farm (year round, they freeze them). There are also dozens of blueberry u-picks open right now, and wild blueberries can be found growing all over the place...just look down! Collect your berries, make the Vanilla Cupcakes, whip up a little cream and make this tasty dessert in no time at all:

Raspberry Blueberry Shortcakes for 6

6 Vanilla Cupcakes (or use your favourite scone recipe instead)
1 pint Blueberries
1/4 C. Sugar
1 pint Raspberries
1 C. Whipping Cream
1 t. Vanilla
Sugar to taste

Heat the blueberries and sugar over medium high heat in a saucepan. When they are juicy and bubbling (after about five minutes), remove from the heat. Let cool about ten minutes, then fold in the raspberries. Whip the cream and add the vanilla and sugar to taste. Split the cupcakes, top with half the berries and cream, then replace the tops and spoon on the rest of the berries and cream. ahhhh...

Kale and Swiss Chard

2010-07-25T15:53:00.001-03:00

Kale and Swiss Chard are among the most beautiful of vegetables. Sold in enormous bunches, and in a multitude of gorgeous colours, these greens practically jump into your market bag (they do look stylish jauntily peeking out of there). It's only when you get home that you go "uh-oh! What was I thinking, buying this many greens?" Well, if you are crazy healthy like my two good friends named Melissa and Melyssa, you put them in a smoothie and head back the next week for more. However, the rest of us may want to dress it up a little, or at least cook it. Luckily, it's easy.

Greens with Caramelized Onions
1 T. Olive Oil
1 large Onion, sliced or diced
2 Cloves Garlic, minced
1 bunch Swiss Chard or Kale, chopped (stems are most welcome, but separate them from the leaves and chop them)
Salt and Pepper
Optional: Balsamic Vinegar, Raisins, Dried Cherries, Feta, Parmesan Cheese

Heat your largest pan over medium heat and add the olive oil and onions. Stir and cook for at least ten minutes, until onions have softened and are browned in spots. You may add a little water from time to time if the onions are sticking. Turn the heat to high and stir in the garlic and stems. Saute for a minute. If you're using kale, add the chopped leaves at this point and about 1/4 C. water. Cover and cook for about five minutes, until kale is tender. If using Swiss Chard, the water isn't necessary. Just add the leaves and stir until wilted. In either case, season to taste with salt and pepper. If you like, add a sprinkle of balsamic vinegar, and/or a small amount of any or all of the suggested toppings!

Chicken Penne with Raspberries and Greens

1 batch Greens with Caramelized Onions
1 C. Whipping Cream
1/2 C. Apple Cider (optional, I love Boates)
1 lb. Penne or your favourite pasta, cooked
2 C. cooked chicken, diced or shredded
1 pint Raspberries
Freshly Grated Parmesan Cheese and Chopped Parsley

Prepare the greens in your largest pan, then stir in the cream and cider if using. Bring to a boil over medium high heat and let bubble for a minute. Stir in the pasta and chicken. Cover and cook for about five minutes, until sauce has thickened and pasta is nicely coated. Season to taste with salt and pepper, and divide among 6 bowls. Garnish with the raspberries and sprinkle with the parmesan cheese and parsley.

Green Beans and Wee Potatoes

2010-07-23T11:57:00.000-03:00

Beans are not exciting to my children. In fact, my deepest, darkest confession to you is that, despite my boundless veggie enthusiasm, and my best efforts, my kids really don't like many vegetables. I'm not going to go to great lengths to disguise them (although I do like the idea of pureeing extra goodness into tomato sauce), I just want them to like them! My mother reminds me that we need to taste new foods about ten times before we start enjoying them, so that is why I turn a blind eye to the giant cup of plum sauce my daughter needs to get down 3 spears of broccoli. I don't care if they dip their peas in ketchup! Just eat it. On the list of acceptable: Carrots, raw. Sugar snap peas. Cucumbers. Pickles (I know they're cucumbers, but I'm desperate!) Red peppers. Potatoes. And, my son likes to eat green beans, but only the teeny babies out of the pod, thus reducing his consumption by about 98%.
Anyhow, company was coming, so I knew my efforts had a better chance of being appreciated. My friend Christy Ann's husband James has a gorgeous, neatly arranged garden that is apparently producing like mad. Along with the most beautiful head of cauliflower ever grown (about the size of the heads of three children put together) he brought along a bag of pristine fresh green and wax beans. I happen to know that if you have beans, you've got BEANS, and as a child I remember having to pick way too many from our garden. I mercilessly yanked the beans from the plants, hoping to uproot them and avoid having to do this duty again. Anyway, I didn't plant enough this year for our winter needs, so I was very grateful for the gift. And the fact that they were already picked.
Beans are a great favourite of mine now, and I love them roasted. This is another Mollie Katzen trick: Toss a great number of Green or Wax Beans with Olive Oil and salt, then roast them at 400 (can anyone tell me how to make a degree symbol appear???) for about 30 minutes, tossing them every ten minutes or so, until tender and browned in spots. Drizzle with a little balsamic or lemon juice.
As a kid, I had a big thing for Three Bean Salad. Still do. Since I'm sure you don't need a recipe for that, here's a variation on the sweet and sour theme, with a fresh hit of basil to keep it fancy enough for good company.

Green Bean Salad with Feta and Basil

4 C. Green or Wax Beans, stemmed and snapped in half
1 C. diced Red Pepper
1/2 C. fresh Basil
1 T. Sugar (or leave it out if you prefer)
1 clove Garlic
1/4 C. Apple Cider Vinegar
1/3 C. crumbled Feta Cheese
2 T. Olive Oil
Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Toss in the beans, bring the water back to a boil, and cook for 5-7 minutes, until just tender. Meanwhile, combine all the basil, sugar, garlic, vinegar, feta and olive oil in a food processor and blend until smooth. Once the beans are cooked, drain them thoroughly and combine with while still hot with the dressing and the red pepper. Serve warm, at room temperature, or chilled.

We had slow cooked barbecue ribs that I brought home from the Cafe for dinner with the bean salad, so we had to have potatoes in some form or other! This is my grandmother's method for pan-roasted potatoes. You don't want to turn on the oven, right? The parsley at the end is wonderful, but not essential. You could also use thyme, dill, or basil!

Parsley Potatoes

2 lb. little New Potatoes
2 T. Olive Oil
1/4 C. minced Parsley
Salt and Pepper

Wash the potatoes well and cut them in half. Heat a large skillet (preferably 12 inch, or prepare in batches) over medium high heat for a few minutes, then pour in the oil. Tilt the pan to coat it, then throw in the potatoes. Try to spread them in one layer. Cover the pan and cook for 20-25 minutes, shaking the pan from time to time. Test a potato to make sure it's tender, then stir in the parsley and salt and pepper to taste. These potatoes can be prepared at least an hour ahead and left to sit in the pan on the stove until everything else is ready.

Raspberries

2010-07-21T11:47:00.000-03:00

I've always been obsessed with raspberries. Raspberry iced tea at the Coffee Merchant when I was a kid, raspberry sorbet (once!) at Chez La Vigne, raspberry tart baked from an old Harrowsmith magazine, raspberry soda on a road trip with my parents to the States. I can't seem to get sick of them. Finally this year, I've planted a little row of them in my garden, but until they can provide the 50 pounds or so a year that I eat, I'll be buying them frozen from Webster's, a farm a few miles from the Cafe that also supplies us with our baking beans. They pack them solid in tubs, which isn't totally convenient, but I'll tell you this: those berries, defrosted carefully, look and taste so much like fresh it's ridiculous.

Strawberries are very nearly done for now, though I look forward to eating more in August when the later-season berries are ripening. I love how, just as they slip away, the pints of raspberries start appearing at little tables and stands. My favourite spot to buy fresh raspberries is at Darlene's in Windermere, where the Grays also grow wine grapes to perfection. These are expertly converted into the luscious Windermere white wine by Jost Winery. Last year, the kids and I stopped there and I spent ten minutes in their driveway madly hunting my car for 3.50 in change (this is a good reason not to clean your car!) and we returned home with our prize.

Just this evening my son and I wandered down our driveway and picked two small handfuls of raspberries from wild canes. A taste was enough for my daughter to get her mind off her missing chicken for a second and smile (the chicken returned a while later). Oh, July! If only we could spread your sweet summer excesses over the entire year. Well, get your freezer bags ready. Nothing freezes quite as well, or is more welcome in January, then a Valley raspberry. Buy a few pints and spread them gently in single layer on a cookie sheet. After a few hours, when they're frozen solid, shake them into a bag. Hide them away. There are plenty of lovely simple ways to enjoy raspberries, like on top of your hot cereal with a good hit of maple syrup, or gently crushed into a Raspberry Shortcake, or with creamy goat cheese and greens. For that one, I suggest the following vinaigrette:

Raspberry Balsamic Dressing

1 clove Garlic
1/2 t. Salt
2 T. minced Red Onion
1 t. Dijon Mustard
1 T. Honey or Maple Syrup (omit if using jam)
a few good grinds of Black Pepper
1 t. dried Oregano
1/2 C. fresh Raspberries or 1/4 C. Raspberry Jam
1/4 C. Balsamic Vinegar
1/4 C. Red Wine Vinegar
3/4 C. Canola or Olive Oil
Combine everything but the oil in a food processor and process until smooth. Transfer to a jar, add the oil, and shake until combined. This dressing will keep for at least 2 weeks, refrigerated and tightly sealed.

If you like your raspberry recipes a little more complex, this should keep you busy! It will also result in a memorable cake, one that you might think about more than you want to.

Lemon Raspberry Cream Cake Serves 16

You can make everything ahead of time and refrigerate, then assemble the next day!

The Cake:

2 C. sugar
4 eggs
1 C. oil
1 C. water
2 ½ C. flour
½ t. salt
2 ¼ t. baking powder
1 t. vanilla

Beat sugar and eggs, than add remaining ingredients and beat for 1 minute. Pour into two 8 or 9 inch greased and floured pans. Bake about 30 minutes at 350, until skewer inserted in middle comes out clean. Remove from pans and cool on a rack.

The Lemon Curd:
3 eggs
1/3 C. sugar
zest of 1 lemon
½ C. lemon juice
6 T. butter
1/2 C. Cream Cheese
Whisk together in saucepan, then cook over medium heat until butter is melted. Continue to whisk until mixture is thickened, then strain. Set aside to cool. Beat cream cheese until smooth, then whisk in the lemon mixture.

The Raspberry Sauce:

2 C. raspberries
1/2 C. sugar
1 T. Lemon Juice
1 T. Cornstarch
Combine in a sauce pan and heat gently until mixture bubbles and thickens. Scrape into a bowl and let cool.

Cream Cheese Frosting

12 oz. Cream Cheese
½ C. butter
1 T. vanilla
3 ½ C. icing sugar
Pulse in processor until creamy.

To Assemble: Split cakes into two layers. Top three of the layers with Raspberry Sauce and Lemon Curd, then stack together. Top with the plain layer. Frost all over with Cream Cheese Frosting.

Sugar Snap Peas

2010-07-15T08:57:00.001-03:00

My Uncle John was the first professional chef I ever met. The youngest of my mother's six siblings, John is now a dietician but still gives great advice when I'm stumped in my own kitchen. In fact, for a brief time, he had an apartment above the restaurant and I enjoyed him stopping in almost daily for a chat. I don't see him nearly so often anymore, but think of him whenever I'm frying fish or preparing sugar snap peas.

One summer, the sugar snaps were fattening up in the garden when John came to visit. I was probably about ten. My father, who is an incredibly enthusiastic gardener, is a Sugar Snap Pea Lover, and babies those things until they produce so many peas, no one knows what to do with them. At the time, my mom was following the Weight Watchers program and her and John were struggling to come up with a plan for turning a pile of peas into a side dish for dinner. John was suggesting a cream sauce, and that obviously wasn't going to fit the bill. There was a small argument about butter, and John won by assuring her he would only use a small amount. I'm not sure where he got the idea for making peas this way, but once we tasted them that night, we never went back. Yes, raw peas are great, but these are amazing. After a brief stir-fry in butter, these peas are sweeter, greener, and even Pea-ier than straight from the vine. Warm throughout, but practically still raw, they are pure sunshine in a bowl.

Sugar snap peas are available at farmer's markets in pints or by the pound. Buy a couple pints for this recipe, so you can snack on some while you drive home. You can sometimes find immaculate peas, but don't let a little white scarring scare you away. As long as the peas seem fresh and crisp, the scars will disappear in cooking. To get them ready for cooking or just popping in your mouth, snap the stem towards the curved side of the pea, then peel the string away with it.

Sugar Snap Peas in Brown Butter (serves 4-6)

1 lb. Sugar Snap Peas, stemmed and stringed
1 T. Butter (but you can use a little less if you like)
a pinch of Salt

Heat a wide frying pan over medium high heat for a couple minutes. Add the butter, and let it melt. After another minute, throw in the peas. They should sizzle immediately. Stir or toss until peas are bright green, glossy, and hot throughout. A little browning adds even more flavour! Sprinkle with just a pinch of salt and serve.

Lobster

2010-07-12T09:48:00.001-03:00

Nova Scotia. The land where lobster reigns supreme and is a treat, even for those who live close to a dock. If you're lucky, as I have been three times in my life (twice in the last week!), someone will give you some lobster out of the blue. Then, when you eat it, it tastes ten times as good for being a gift. Last Tuesday, at 9:30 pm, I got a phone call offering me nine lobsters if I would pick them up NOW. That meant starting a pots of water to boil at 10, mercilessly stuffing in blue and green lobsters in ones and twos (my pots are really too small), setting the timer, pulling them out when red, and finally finding room for the giant bowl that contained them in the fridge. Then, the next day, I pulled off all the tails, claws and legs, cracked them all open, and ended up with a pile of lobster meat.

The tails are easy. Just cup them in your hand, squeeze hard until the shell cracks, then open them from the front like you're shelling peas and pop out the meat. If you have a nice big one, those little mermaid fins on the bottom of the tail shell each contain a lovely little fan-shaped piece of meat, too. Personally, I like to pull back the top of the tail meat to reveal the intestine and get that thing the heck out of there. I also take the opportunity at this point to rinse off the tomalley (green mushy liver). The claws and sections of knuckles attached are a little harder. Separate them all from each other, then place each claw on a hard surface and whack with a mallet or the flat side of a hammer until it cracks from one side to the other. Pull it open until you can ease out the claw meat, wiggling the little pincer claw as you go (it might pop out attached, or it might break off. If it does break, you'll have to fish it out with a toothpick or skewer). For the knuckles, cut through the shell on one side with strong scissors or shears, then push the meat out. For legs (and only bother if they're from a large lobster) roll the meat right out with a rolling pin. You'll have a pile of meat that looks considerably small compared to your efforts. I like to slice the tail, leave the knuckle meat, and cut the claws in half horizontally so they still look like claws.

I have learned to really love lobster, but I don't like the hassle of dealing with the giant bug right at the table. So I go through the above fuss beforehand, preferably the day before. By the next day, I've forgotten how gross dealing with lobster is and how cranky it makes me. Then, I simply reheat the meat gently in garlic butter, pop a baguette into the oven, and make a salad. The lobster goes right to the table in the pan, we dip our bread into the juices and eat ourselves silly. No one gets spattered in lobster juice, or stabbed by prickly parts, or feels stupid because they don't know how to crack a lobster. Best of all, no one wears a plastic bib.

By the way, the second time the lobster miracle happened this week, it was at a cottage resort we were staying at over the weekend. Our neighbour two cottages down offered my mom a bag of five beautiful squirming lobsters. Apparently, the people at the next cottage over had turned them down. I felt bad when they were watching us devouring the lobsters at our outdoor picnic table, so we called them over for a pre-cooked, pre-shelled share. I think we were all happy with our luck, and very grateful to our lobster benefactor.

Steamed Lobster
My Dad and I argued about the relative cruelty of steaming versus boiling. I think I've convinced him that live steam is hotter, does the job quicker, and is way easier.

Lobsters (plan on at least 1 ½ lb. Lobster per person)
Salt
Big Pot

Put two inches of water in the bottom of the pot and bring to a boil. Add a couple tablespoonfuls of salt. Remove the bands from the claws if you're crazy (I'm not) and lower as many lobsters as will fit into the pot. Clap on the top and let the water come back to a boil. Start timing. For 1 ½ lb. Lobsters, cook for 12 minutes after the water comes back to a boil. For 2 lb. Lobsters, cook for 14 minutes. Add an extra 2 minutes for every ½ lb after that. Pull the lobsters out with tongs, then eat right away with garlic butter, or let cool (overnight in the fridge if you like) and crack as described above. To reheat, melt a couple tablespoons of butter over low heat in a heavy pan and add a minced clove or two of garlic. Toss in the lobster pieces and heat for about five minutes, turning them occasionally, until warm throughout. Serve straight from the pan at the table with crusty bread and a tangy salad. Lobster freezes very well packed in airtight containers. It's a fun thing to have tucked away in your freezer, and even a half cup adds an air of luxury to a pasta dish for unexpected company (especially from away), as a garnish for bruschetta topped with tomato and basil, or with a little good mayo, some chopped celery and freshly ground pepper in a sandwich. Let your enjoyment be commensurate with the enormous effort you've put in to preparing such a treat!

Honey Curry Dip

2010-07-08T12:15:00.001-03:00

We throw two official staff parties every year-one in January after the craziness of Christmas parties has died down, and the other on Canada Day, just before the craziness of summer begins. There's also a Halloween party whenever someone has the desire to spearhead it. Union Street Cafe's staff are a family, albeit somewhat dysfunctional, and we truly love one another. Just as we're getting on each others' nerves, a little festive fun time can lift everyone's spirits and help us remember it's just a restaurant we work at, not an emergency room.
Of course, food figures into the fun even more then drink, so a couple weeks beforehand, I dream up some tasty snacks that bear almost no resemblance to what we serve at work. This past Thursday, that meant Greek Chicken Pitas, Vietnamese Meatball Sandwiches, miniature Hamburgers and a veggie tray with a super yummy and somehow retro-tasting Honey Curry Dip. I highly recommend it with the sweet little Sugar Snap Peas that are hitting their stride right about now.
I can also tell you that mayonnaise, being so utterly commonplace, becomes somewhat of a miracle (and I don't mean Whip) when made with your five year old son and two year old nephew. For that kind of fun, take one Egg and put it in a blender or food processor. Add a big pinch of Salt and a teaspoon of Dijon, plus a teaspoon of Vinegar or Lemon Juice. Get the motor running, then drizzle in 1½ cups Canola Oil very slowly. Watch their amazement (and maybe even your own) as the mayonnaise thickens before your very eyes! Then use it in this dip, and refrigerate the rest for your sandwiches, potato salad or perhaps licking off the spoon (you know who you are).

Honey Curry Dip
1 T. Curry Powder
1 T. Canola Oil
1 C. Sour Cream
½ C. Mayonnaise
¼ C. Honey (I use Foote Family Farms)
½ t. Salt
¼ C, Chopped Cilantro (optional, but highly recommended)

Heat the oil with the curry powder over medium high heat in a small skillet. After a minute or so ,the mixture will foam and smell very aromatic. (This step will absolutely elevate your dip above all other curry concoctions). Remove it from the heat. In a bowl, combine the sour cream, mayonnaise, honey and salt, and scrape in the curry and oil mixture. Add the cilantro and serve with assorted veggies, crackers (rice crackers are especially good) or potato chips. After chilling, the dip is thick enough to be a delicious condiment for burgers or folded into diced chicken, cranberries, celery and green onion for a killer Chicken Curry Salad.

I have personally banned this dip from my refrigerator since I cannot resist its call, but if you make a batch, please invite me over.