Vert-à-Go

Today, in honour of my 1/8th Irish heritage (and the very pleasant months I spent in Dublin), I made a pot of soup with some green inspiration. Not so much the colour, (although there is some green in there), but moreso its low ecological footprint (thanks to vegetarian/home-grown/local ingredients).

I chucked the following into water with some canned tomatoes (after sauteeing the vegetables in olive oil with a bit of garlic):

• green lentils (grown on my parents’ farm)
• chopped Swiss chard (frozen, from our garden last summer)
• potatoes and carrots (farmers’ market)
• onion (Alberta-grown)
• celery (US organic)

Once the lentils are tender, season with salt, pepper and a splash of basalmic vinegar. Serve with hearty bread.

Appropriately enough, there was also–finally!–a hint of the coming spring on this greenest of days. On our way past Homestead Ice Cream earlier today, the kids spotted that the OPEN sign was lit. As it is closed for a few months in the middle of winter, they were starting to miss it. So we walked over after dinner for some made-in-the-same-block ice cream–since they were out of Guinness (one of my personal favourite flavours!), I made mine mint chip, of course.

Happy St Patrick’s Day–hope your day turned out as lucky as ours!

Local Bounty Saskatoon is a one-day conference organised by Tourism Saskatoon that brings Saskatchewan farmers and food producers together with local chefs. Learn more about how to buy and sell locally-produced food, enjoy a delicious lunch, browse the trade fair booths, and meet one-on-one with future partners. It’s a great networking opportunity that will strengthen the local food economy and result in some truly memorable meals!

Local Bounty Saskatoon

When: Sunday 8 March, 10am-4pm

Where: Saskatoon Club, 417 21st St E, Saskatoon, SK (Google map)

Registration: $30+GST (fax the registration form to Donna at (306) 787-0715 before 27 February)

For more information: Local Bounty, mahabir.r@sasktel.net (Chair), Tim.Ouelette@sasktourism.com

First two photos by Danny Pederson-Bradbury

Today is the first day of the Lunar New Year (also known as Chinese New Year, although it is also celebrated in parts or all of Vietnam, Korea, Tibet, and Mongolia). I started marking this holiday about a decade ago because a) the winters are very long here in Saskatchewan, and any extra excuse to do something special in January/February seems like a fine plan and b) I love the excuse to cook a big fun special meal for the family.

Those who celebrate this holiday usually have a big feast on New Year’s Eve. It worked out better for us to get together tonight, though, so I got started first thing this morning with the duck that I’d picked up from Pine View Farms on Saturday (that was the morning that it was -47C with the windchill–can you blame us for wanting a party?). After going over the bird and removing the remaining feathers/stems (ducks are notoriously difficult to pluck), I plunged it into a big pot of boiling water for a few minutes, then pulled it out, dried it, and basted it with a honey water mixture. Then I hung it up in the basement and turned the fan on it. It looked weird, but the only way to get a really crispy skin for Peking Duck is to make sure that it’s completely dry before you roast it. I left it to hang for over 5 hours–it’s best to leave it as long as possible, especially considering that you somehow still need to find time to make a whole whack of pancakes to wrap the duck in. I’ve tried a couple different recipes and methods and think there is just no getting round the fact that unless you can find someone to make them for you (or a store–please tell me if you find one that has them, because I’ve searched everywhere!), you’re just going to have to spend 1.5 hours in front of the stove making miniature pancakes if you really want to eat Peking Duck. Which I do, but this is probably why I don’t make it more than once a year.

Pancakes out of the way and covered with a damp cloth, I got started on the pork dumplings. I hadn’t planned on making these and was going to have a simple soup to start instead. But then I read about how it is considered especially good luck to eat jiaozi in Northern China for the New Year–so I threw caution to the winds and added them to the menu too. I didn’t have any wonton wrappers, so ended up making the wrappers from scratch for the first time (I’d actually never made dumplings before either). This was a mildly insane decision, but I followed these nicely detailed and extremely amusing instructions, making the filling out of ground pork (Pine View Farms), ginger, cabbage, and green onion, and rolling out 48 pastry discs (“GO FORTH! MAKE DISCS! TILL YOUR ARMS FALL OFF!”), then filling them, pinching them shut (which locks the luck in, apparently), and steaming them before serving with soy sauce for dipping. They really weren’t hard to make at all, but they just took A. Very. Long. Time. Pre-made wrappers would save time and energy. I would definitely make them again, and would probably even do my own wrappers, but would also put the rest of the family to work to speed things up, assembly-line style.

Back in the 1970s, my mom and grandma took a Chinese cooking class from a friend’s father who shared his yummy recipe for sweet and sour pork (it’s brown, not that scary bright red colour). It has become a family favourite, so I also whipped up a batch of that to go with some side/back ribs from Pine View. This made a lot of meat dishes for one meal, but it also produced a lot of leftovers, so I was able to give some to my grandma so that she wouldn’t have to cook tomorrow. It also meant that I wouldn’t have to cook tomorow, which was good, because by this point, I was starting to get fairly serious kitchen fatigue. I don’t know where the guy in Eat Drink Man Woman found the energy (note: that link is not for the squeamish)!

To go with the rice and spareribs (we ate the two previous dishes as separate courses), I also stirfried a big batch of vegetables in soy sauce, sherry, and sesame oil. Usually I would have done another vegetable dish, but after going all out on the dumplings, I figured we had more than enough food already and could eat salad tomorrow. It’s considered unlucky to cook white food on New Year’s Day (it’s the colour associated with death), so I used green ones instead, including locally-grown pea shoots (and a bit of garlic, shh, don’t tell). I left the pea shoots long because long leafy greens signify long life and are considered lucky too. They were actually quite fun to eat that way; rather like spaghetti, and they tasted just like spring.

The grown-ups drank Tsingtao beer (oops, I forgot to offer the green tea), and for dessert there were baby mandarin oranges (also lucky) and fortune cookies. I had planned to make ox- and goldfish-shaped cookies in honour of the day but simply ran out of time. Rather hilariously, my fortune read, ‘TAKE PAINS TO PREVENT GETTING COMPLETELY EXHAUSTED’. Ok, I won’t cook like that every day, I promise!

Chinese New Year Feast

• Pork dumplings (jiaozi), made with green local cabbage, green onion, ginger
• Peking Duck pancakes, served with green onion and cucumber strips and duck sauce
• Sweet and sour pork ribs
• Stirfried green vegetables (broccoli, organic celery, green onion, pea shoots, garlic)
• plain rice
• Mandarin oranges and fortune cookies
• Tsingtao beer/green tea

Mr Chan’s sweet and sour pork ribs

• about 2 racks (1.5lbs) of pork spare ribs (it’s also nice with chicken wings/drumsticks)
• 1/2 tsp ginger
• 1/2 tsp dry mustard
• 1/4 tsp garlic salt
• 4 tsp cornstarch
• 1 tsp salt
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1/3 cup vinegar
• 4Tb dark soy sauce
• 2 cups water

Mix together. Brown ribs, drain off fat and pour sauce over ribs. Bring to a boil and immediately reduce heat and simmer, covered, for 2 hours.

Today was Stop Climate Chaos Day–a day of action coinciding with the UN climate talks in Poznan, Poland. Events took place across the country and across the world, spearheaded by an umbrella group of organisations ranging from the Sierra Club, Oxfam, the World Wildlife Fund, Greenpeace, and Unicef. But it wasn’t all about marches and speeches. Organisers also urged supporters to hold potlucks and write letters to the editor to show solidarity and get the word out about the need for action to decrease the concentration of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere to 350 parts per million. Because the personal is also political, I cooked one of our favourite vegetarian dinners in honour of the day. In September, the UN declared that people living in the west could make a big contribution toward fighting climate change by eating less meat. It has been estimated that halving the average person’s meat consumption would make a bigger difference to CO2 emissions than cutting their car use in half.

I sometimes have difficulty balancing a vegetarian meal so that I don’t feel like I need to eat a bowl of pasta as big as my head to feel full. In my opinion, the true star of the vegetarian world is the humble lentil. Lentils are not only high in protein and fibre–they are also an excellent source of iron (80% of your daily dose in just one cup), magnesium, tryptophan, and folate. When you serve them wiith rice, they become a complete source of protein. They are therefore an excellent meat-free main dish that will leave everyone satisfied.

Monastery lentils have become my go-to dish on busy weeknights and I probably make it once a week. As you might infer from the recipe’s name, it has the added bonus of being incredibly easy to prepare as well as being extremely economical, hearty, and yummy (I think you could easily feed 4 people for about a dollar apiece). You can also easily substitute dried local lentils, homemade stock, or frozen tomatoes for the canned variety, thereby reducing both the sodium content (and its food miles/climate impact) even further.

Monastery Lentils (with thanks to Sam)

• 1 - 14oz can lentils
• 1 - 14oz can diced tomatoes
• 1 can (or 1 cup) vegetable/chicken stock
• splash of cooking sherry
• 1 medium onion, chopped
• 2 celery sticks (if large), sliced into bite-sized pieces
• 2 carrots (if large), sliced into bite-sized pieces
• 1 clove garlic, minced
• Italian seasoning (I used dried oregano, parsley, and thyme)
• 1 Tb olive oil

In a large pot, saute the onion, celery, carrots, garlic, and dried seasonings in a tablespoon (or thereabouts) of olive oil until softened. In the meantime, add the lentils, tomatoes, chicken stock, and sherry to a medium-sized pot and bring to a simmer. Add the lentil mixture to the vegetables, bring to a boil, and simmer for about half an hour. Check whether you need to add salt and pepper, then serve on boiled/steamed rice. A small sprinkling of shredded white cheddar cheese is nice on top. I also like a dill pickle on the side.

Serves 4

For more great lentil (and other pulse) recipes, including some by celebrity chefs, check out the Saskatchewan Pulse Growers web site–you can also sign up there to get onto a monthly email recipe mailing list, or buy a copy of their excellent cookbook The Amazing Legume. Saskatchewan farmers grow a lot of lentils, and it would be terrific if everyone in the province ate them at least once a week!

This weekend is the Saskatchewan indemand 2008 trade show, where our home-grown entrepreneurs get the chance to showcase and promote their Saskatchewan-made products and services.

Along with displays from a large number of vendors, there will also be some fun special events on the cooking show stage. On Friday night from 6:30-7:30pm, you can check out the 1st Annual Saskatchewan CCFCC Culinary Challenge, where members of the Saskatoon Chef’s Association will compete against the clock, Iron Chef-style, to create dishes made from Saskatchewan ingredients!

There will also be further cooking demonstrations throughout the weekend, as well as daily talks by local food expert Amy Jo Ehman (The Local Gourmet) and dietician Patricia Chuey (Meal Solutions for Busy Families) in the Information Theatre. You’ll even have the chance to see clothing made from locally-grown fibres in the Fibre indemand Fashion Show, which will take place on both afternoons too. Click here for the full theatre event schedule.

When: Friday 14 November (5-8pm), Saturday 15 November (10am-5pm), Sunday 16 November (10am-5pm)

Where: Hall E, Prairieland Park, 503 Ruth Street West, Saskatoon  (Google map)

Cost: $5

For more information: Saskatchewan indemand 2008 web site

photo by Sandy Pederson of Urban Land Army

September and early October were a complete washout for me on the blog posting front, so I really missed out on commenting on the Canadian election. I will be focusing much more on the Canadian food politics scene in the weeks ahead. But today (along with almost everyone else), I’m looking south of the border for the results of the US presidential election. It’s one night that I certainly won’t apologise for being glued to the TV!

Election Fever Pizza

• plain round focaccia bread (Bulk Cheese Warehouse) I had planned to try making homemade pizza dough today, but somehow forgot to buy yeast. Oops! Next time.
• homemade tomato sauce (from some of my roasted garden tomatoes)
• mild Italian sausage (Pine View Farms), pre-cooked
• green pepper (Grandora Gardens)
• onion (Saskatoon Farmers’ Market)
• mushrooms (Loveday Mushroom Farms, Manitoba)
• jalapeno peppers (my garden)
• part-skim mozzarella (Bulk Cheese Warehouse)

Assemble in the traditional fashion. Bake. Eat (preferably while exuberantly celebrating a major change of administration!).

Red, White & Blue Fool (I name no names)

• 1/2 cup strawberries (Strawberry Ranch)
• 1/8 cup blueberries (K-5 Market Farms)
• 1/8 cup raspberries (Rhodes’s Raspberry Patch)
• 1/2 cup whipping cream or plain (Balkan) full-fat yoghurt
• 1/2 cup full-fat vanilla yoghurt
• berry (castor) sugar to taste (optional)

(all the measurements and proportions for a fool are really up to you–you should really just chuck it together according to your mood and what you have on hand!)

Whip the cream until it forms soft peaks and fold in the yoghurt (or just mix the two yoghurts together). Sweeten with berry sugar to taste (if you like). Chop the strawberries with a fork (I used frozen fruit, so there was a fair amount of juice after defrosting. If you want the white part to stay mostly white rather than vaguely…(socialist commie) pink(o)…drain off the juice from all the berries first).  Stir in the strawberries and spoon into glass dishes. Top with raspberries and blueberries and refrigerate for at least an hour. Eat while gloating.

I’ll be opening a bottle of Liberty School (a Californian cabernet sauvignon), and have put a bottle of President Canadian champagne in the fridge. I’m crossing my fingers that we’ll have a very good excuse to pop the cork later tonight!

This past weekend, the six members of the Number One Ladies Jam Collective got together to exchange the (preserved) fruit of their labours: strawberry, raspberry, pear ginger, apricot, and peach/raspberry jam. Delicious! We will definitely be doing this again next year.

We enjoyed a few wines during the evening, including an organic Chilean cabernet sauvignon (Cono Sur) and a French merlot packaged in the more environmentally-friendly tetrapack (French Rabbit). We sampled homemade/Saskatchewan-grown salsa, pickles, and hummus, and to top it off, I served chocolate beet cake, made from some of my beets from the community garden plot. My recipe came from the City Gardeners Cookbook, but this recipe is virtually identical (except that they sprinkled chocolate chips on the top and used canned beets and beet juice instead of 1.5 cups of fresh beet puree).

I made two 8-inch round cakes instead of one 9×13 sheet and spread peach-raspberry jam between the layers. Then I mixed up 1/2 cup of sour cream, 6oz melted semi-sweet chocolate, and 1/8tsp of salt for a quick icing. Topped with the very last surviving sprig of white and purple pansies from the garden and a few small bunches of Concord grapes from a vine at my mom and dad’s farm, it made an elegant-looking dessert that quite belied its humble roots. Unfortunately, I forgot to take a photo of it before we devoured it!

It can be really difficult to find a good dill pickle. Either they’re too soft, or too salty, or the wrong kind of sour, or they’re just plain from too far away. Over the seven years I lived in England–where, inexplicably, grocery stores don’t carry them and most people have never even heard of them–I kept dreaming of those tall glass pickle jars lining my mom’s cold room.

I still haven’t lost any of my enthusiasm for them and have since introduced two small new pickle fiends into the world, so a jar doesn’t exactly last in our fridge for months at a time. I vowed that 2008 was the year that I was finally going to learn how to make them for myself! In August I picked up a couple of bags of small cucumbers (these are available pre-bagged at various farmers’ markets, although I got mine from Sobey’s, who had brought them in from Sovereign Colony near Rosetown). I didn’t have any canning experience, though, so I took them down to the farm to get some long-overdue instruction from my mom. We used her mother’s old recipe–and, I believe, some of Grandma’s old jars too!

Please note that this recipe assumes a familiarity with good canning practices (sterilising jars and following proper sealing procedures).

Olive’s garlic dills

Wash cucumbers. Pack into sterilised jars with garlic and dill. For each quart of cucumbers use:

• 3 cloves garlic
• fresh dill (4 good-sized stems of both leaves and flowers)
• 2 cups water
• 1/2 cup white vinegar
• 1Tbsp pickling salt

Bring the brine to a boil, pour into jars and seal immediately (no boiling water bath required). Takes six weeks to pickle.

These pickles will last for at least a year (if you haven’t already eaten them all by then), but we have eaten from older jars with no problem at all. I was surprised at how easy it was to do. I did the second batch back at home using snap lids. One lid hadn’t snapped down like the others by the following morning (until I pushed on it), so I stuck that jar in the fridge for its 6-week pickling phase and will use it first, just in case.

And if you don’t feel like waiting until November for your pickles, or you just don’t feel like canning right now? Here’s a great recipe for refrigerator pickles that can tide you over.

When you really want sour cream, there isn’t a whole lot that you can satisfactorily substitute for it–somehow I just don’t want to put plain yoghurt on a burrito or a baked potato. But while it does last for ages in the fridge, I rarely seem to be able use it all up in time simply by plunking it on as a condiment. It’s one of those things that can easily get pushed to the back of the fridge and forgotten about.

My neighbour gave me some perishable food items before she went on holiday a few weeks ago, including a partly-filled tub of sour cream. It only reached its best before date yesterday and was still looking fine, but I couldn’t see the point in putting it back into her fridge as a welcome home gift. Magically, the tub contained precisely 1/2 a cup of sour cream, and I also had small amount of rhubarb on hand that wasn’t really enough to make anything else. And as she was the one who gave me this incredible muffin recipe in the first place, it seemed only fair that she should find a few of them waiting for her upon her return.

Jenny’s rhubarb streusel muffins

• 1/2 cup sour cream
• 1/4 cup vegetable oil
• 1 egg
• 1-1/3 cup flour
• 1 cup diced rhubarb
• 2/3 cup brown sugar
• 1/2  tsp baking soda
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp cinnamon

Topping: Blend 1/4 cup brown sugar, 1/4 cup chopped nuts, 1/2 tsp cinnamon, 2 tsp butter (melted)

In a small bowl, blend cream, oil, and egg. Set aside. In another bowl, mix flour, rhubarb, sugar, baking soda, and salt. Stir wet ingredients into dry until just moistened. Drop into muffin cups and top with topping. Bake at 350F for 25-30 minutes.

What I have in the fridge:

• corn on the cob, new potatoes, broccoli, green pepper, yellow zucchini, green onion, cucumber (Saskatoon Farmers’ Market)
• cauliflower (Dutch Growers’ Farmers’ Market)
• green beans, cherry tomatoes, potatoes, turnip, carrots, lettuce, herbs, jalapenos, raspberries, a handful of ‘free range’ crab apples (various gardens)
• most of a large (6.5lbs) Pine View Farms chicken that I cut up yesterday

What I`ve made/am planning to cook this week

• barbecued garlic marinated chicken with grilled potatoes and corn on the cob (used 1/2 a breast)
• a double batch of beany broccoli soup (a pureed white bean and broccoli soup from The City Gardener’s Cookbook)
• chicken cauliflower curry (used the other 1/2 breast, and adding cherry tomatoes and crab apples)
• potato salad, green salad, Moroccan tomato salad, green bean/corn/tomato salad
• pasta–something involving fresh herbs or tomatoes
• zucchini tomato frittata
• French country chicken soup (great for freezing for winter)

I need to come up with something to use up some broccoli stems as well as the remaining half-cauliflower…possibly a vegetable pot pie or casserole, or a quick stirfry. I could always make more soup too, but it will depend on the weather.

Every time I walk past the dill in the garden I start dreaming of Taunte Maria-style summa borscht….and I must make another batch of this amazing vegetable chowder and put some away in the freezer. It is a fair amount of work, but so worth it. This past April I found a container of last year’s chowder in the freezer and when I heated it up, it tasted just as great as it had months earlier–it was such a morale boost to get a glimpse of the heady days of summer that still lay ahead.