Be Inspired and Eat Local in January

My personal favourite guide to seasonal Ontario produce is Foodland Ontario. It isn’t impossible to eat locally all winter and it certainly isn’t boring!

Even if you can’t make it to a farmers’ market, all major grocery stores now have signs stating the origins of the fruit or vegetable so it won’t be difficult to choose local. 

Here is the list of vegetables that are grown in January with inspiring menu ideas and some recipes that are definitely not the norm. (Recipes and menu ideas that do not have a chef’s name afterwards are my own. If you would like the recipe for any of the dishes below, please email me. Click on the book title or Chef after the recipe for a link to buy the book)

Apples

Apple Soup (The New English Table by Rose Prince)

Melt 85g/3 oz of unsalted butter in a large pan. Add 1 large onion, roughly chopped, 2 garlic cloves, chopped, 12 apples, peeled, cored and roughly chopped, 2 celery stalks, chopped, 2 sprigs of thyme and 1/2 tsp allspice. Cook over low heat until the apples soften and then add 1.2 liters of chicken stock. Cook for 15 more minutes, then season with salt and pepper. Serve with bread and cheese. Serves 4. 

Beets

Beetroot Purée (A Year in My Kitchen by Skye Gyngell)

Purée 1.5kg cooked and peeled beets with 2 peeled garlic cloves and 1 large red chili. Wash 1 large bunch of coriander very well, then chop roughly and add to the beet mixture with 1/2 bunch fresh mint leaves, 1 tbsp freshly grated horseradish, 3 tbsp balsamic vinegar and 2 tbsp olive oil. Blend until a smooth puree and then fold in 125mL full fat Greek-style yoghurt. Serve as a garnish to a white bean soup, or as a dip with pita, or as a garnish to grilled fish. 

Cabbage

Sautéed Savoy cabbage with chili and garlic (A Year in My Kitchen by Skye Gyngell)

Cabbage soup with confit rabbit shreds (A Chef for All Seasons by Gordon Ramsey)

Carrots

Sweet Carrot Pickle (A Taste of Palace Life: Royal Indian Cookery by Manju Shivraj Singh)

Peel 1lb carrots and cut into small cubes. Put in a pot and cover with 2 cups water then bring to a boil and cook until tender. Drain, reserving the cooking liquid. Add 1lb sugar, 4 cloves, 2 sticks of cinnamon and 4 cardamom pods to the liquid and simmer covered with a lid for 20 minutes. Add the carrots and simmer until the mixture thickens. Cool completely, then spoon into jars. 

Cucumbers (greenhouse) 

Fried Cucumbers ( I learned this recipe while working in Ireland, at the Rathsallagh House Hotel)

Slice one cucumber lengthwise and running a spoon down the length of it, remove the seeds. turn over so that the cucumber is steady on the cutting board. Chop the cucumber into half moons, about 1/4 inch wide. Heat a pan until very hot. Add 2 tbsp butter and once bubbling, toss in the cucumbers, keeping the heat high. Toss them a few times until hot, then season with a generous amount of fresh ground pepper. Serve immediately. These are a superb surprise.

Garlic

Garlic white wine mussels

Leeks

Leek Chips ( A Chef for All Seasons by Gordon Ramsey)

Split open the white of a leek and cut the layers into large bite-size squares. Blanch for a few seconds and then pat dry and brush each side with truffle oil. Dry them out in a single layer on a baking sheet in the oven at the lowest temperature until crisp.

Saffron-scented leek soup with pickled girolles ( A Chef for All Seasons by Gordon Ramsey)

Lettuce ( greenhouse)

Heart of romaine with wood-grilled onions, radishes, fresh cheese and roasted garlic dressing (Rick Bayless)

Mushrooms (greenhouse)

Mushroom risotto garnished with chopped almonds and shaved pecorino

Mushroom caps fileld with bone marrow ( Jeremiah Tower)

Onions

Panade of slow-cooked onions with Gruyère (A Year in My Kitchen by Skye Gyngell)

Melt 50g unsalted butter in a large pan over low heat. Add 4 yellow onions, sliced very thinly and sprinkle over 1 1/2 tsp caster sugar and a pinch of salt.Cook gently for 20 minutes until very soft. Pour in 50mL brandy* (*Be sure to keep children well away as the brandy may ignite. If it does, don’t try to blow it out! Simply let the alcohol burn off and soon the flame will extinguish). Increase the heat and add 1 bay leaf, 4 sprigs of thyme and 750mL of chicken stock. Cook for 10 minutes and then remove the herbs. Toast some bread and rub with a clove of garlic. Ladle over the broth and onions and finish by sprinkling some grated Gruyère.

Parsnips

Smoked haddock chowder (A Year in My Kitchen by Skye Gyngell)

Woodcock with caramelized parsnips and chocolate sauce  ( A Chef for All Seasons by Gordon Ramsey)

Potatoes

Potato soup with a drizzle of truffle oil ( A Chef for all Seasons by Gordon Ramsey)


Rhubarb

Baby red mullets with choucroute and rhubarb  ( A Chef for All Seasons by Gordon Ramsey)

Rhubarb compote with seared foie gras

Rutabaga

Rutabega dip with sour cream and fried sage

Squash

Squash soup  Mantua style (Giuliano Bugialli’s Foods of Italy by Guiliano Bugialli)

Cut 1 butternut squash, about 2 pounds, into thirds then remove skin and seeds. Cut the squash into smaller chunks and soak in cold water for thirty minutes. Heat 8 tbsp butter in a large pot and once melted add 1 4oz piece of prosciutto and sauté over low heat for 5 minutes. Drain the squash and add it to the pot. Cook for 15minutes, then add 3 cups beef broth and then cook another 15 minutes. Remove the prosciutto and discard. Purée the soup, add salt and pepper to taste and then cook for 10 minutes longer over low heat. Serve hot, garnished with a basil leaf. Serves 6. 

Sweet Potatoes

Sweet potato stew with crab, coriander, lime and butter (A Year in My Kitchen by Skye Gyngell)

Food Competition at Fort York

For $30,  you will receive a tour of Fort York, while learning about the diet of Torontonians 200 years ago. Be assured you will be learning quiet a bit about what it was to eat local.

Next, you may choose between two workshops: Eat Green Through the Seasons and Growing Food Indoors.

Finally, chefs Ted Corrado and Scott Vivian - both proud locavores- will be presented with a secret 1812-era ingredient they must highlight and cook to perfection. All other ingredients used for the competition will be sourced from within 100 miles of the fort.

The winning chef will be crowned Fort York Food Fight Champion and receive a $2500 grand prize!
 
Date of Event: Saturday, January 29, 1-6 pm
Tickets available by phone (416) 392-6907 ext. 221

Seasonal Food Guide Tea Towel

Only one year old, Stuart Gardiner Design products can be found all over the UK.  To stay as green as possible, all textiles and prints are produced in East London. And, as most things coming out of East London these days, they are pretty hip. Their t-shirts are cheeky and a bit bizarre - something you'd expect to see at Magic Pony - and so are some of their tea towels. I especially enjoy the Teat Owl Tea Towel  and the Gentleman's Handshake. 

But a little more serious now. Stuart Gardiner Design also produces a variety of seasonal guides on mugs, aprons and tea towels. You can choose between a seasonal and sustainable guide to British fruits and vegetables; Seafood; Garden flowers; and Wild foods. All production is UK-based, and all cottons are organic in order to keep environmental impact to a minimum. The towels are only £10, and the seasons are fairly similar, so you can still use the tea towel in Canada as a rough guide. (Plus it's a really nice tea towel and you would be supporting the company's green intentions.)

Now we just need someone to make us a Canadian guide to seasonal things, produce it here, and stick it on a tea towel. Perhaps the folks over at Kid Icarus might be interested...

Gardening in May/June

On a beautiful sunny afternoon in late May or early June, do some gardening.

Beans - Plant seeds 1 1/2 - 2" deep in soil. Harvest in 60 days.

Beets - Plant seeds 1/2" deep in soil. Harvest in 40-70 days.

Cucumbers - Plant seesd 1" deep. Cucumbers will creep over your garden, so don't plant anything else within 3 feet. Harvest in 2-3 months.

Peppers - Set the small plants (without fruit or flowers!) in warm soil 1/2" deep. If the soil is too high in nitrogen, then you will end up with lots of plant and few peppers. Don't plant them next to other nightshades ( tomatoes, eggplant, etc), as they can all contract the same diseases. Harvest in 4 months.

Pumpkin - They grow and grow and crawl over everything, so plant them in an area where they have room to spread. Plant the seeds 3-4" deep and harvest in 4-5 months.

Tomato plants - Get those tomato plants in now, as in this week! Plant them deep in the soil. One nifty trick is to plant them close to marigolds, which will keep the aphids away. 

Things to Eat in May

So, April is coming to an end and that means if you've been buying local you have been eating a lot of kale, cauliflower, onions, parsnips and carrots and maybe you even treated yourself to some rhubarb pie, or rhubarb chutney (mmm!).

...boiled cauliflower, roasted cauliflower, stir-fried cauliflower, kale in miso soup, crispy oven-baked kale, parsnip chips, roast parsnip, parsnip soup, parsnip mashed potatoes...

I am ready and excited for May to bring me all sorts of vegetabley goodness. Our garden is bursting with herbs plus two scrawny asparagus that popped up over night.

Here is what's in store for May, so start your menu planning.

In Toronto:
Asparagus, Carrots, Mushrooms, Onions, Radishes, Rutabaga, Spinach

In Devon:
Asparagus, Cauliflower, Curly Lettuce, more rhubarb!, Spinach

If you'd like to keep up to date with what's in season, check out Eat the Seasons, a fabulous website that tells you what vegetables, fruits, fish and meat* are in season, week by week. They have information for the UK/Ireland AND North America. Fantastic.

*Yes, meat and fish are available according to the season.  During past few train rides across the Devon countryside, I have smiled at the little lambs hopping behind their mamas. Spring lamb, here I come (gotta wait a little longer though).


Pictured below: All organic and/or local: lettuce, grated carrot, alfalfa sprouts, cheddar cheese, sunflower seeds, pumpkin seeds