Beef Shank Casserole

This is a super scrumptious hot comforting AND inexpensive dinner that can be made in 15 minutes! 

• 2 cups left-over beef stew (I did this the night before: 1 shank, braised in enough tomato sauce to cover the meat. Seasoned with thyme, garlic and chilli flakes (or any hot sauce you want). Simmered with a lid on for 3 hours before I removed the meat, reduced the sauce, pulled the meat then reunited the sauce. Tip: All stew is better the next day.) 
• 1 cup orecchiette or spirali 32 (shown)
• 1 cup frozen peas
• 1/2 cup aged cheddar, grated
• a little butter

1. While you are waiting for your (salted) pasta water to boil, gather your other ingredients - not that there are many. 
   
2. Sip some whiskey. If you’re making such a from-the-pantry dish, you may be tired, broke or just in need for some comfort, fast. You can also grate your cheese now. (Man I hope you don’t buy that pre-grated crap.) 
3. Butter your personal-sized casserole dish. I got mine at Winners. It may be a 2 person serving, but YOLO and I like to eat....a lot. The butter will help the pasta get a little crunchy on the edges, if you’re into that kind of thing. 
4. Test out your pasta. You want it under done but not crunchy. Drain and save a little water (always, with every pasta dish) in the pot and return it to the stove. 
   
   
   
5. Add the saucy braised shank and once it’s hot, throw in the peas, hot sauce and pasta. Give it a quick stir, taste and season then pour it into the casserole dish and top with cheese. 
   
6. Broil while watching through the oven window, face almost pressed agains it until your bubbly cheese starts getting crusty. Pull it out when you like how it looks. 
   
7. Good job, you deserve more whisky. Once you’re done eating, you should probably have some well-earned gelato too. 
   

Cakes I Bake

Jenny’s Cakes: I take pride in baking the following cakes from scratch using locally sourced, seasonal ingredients whenever possible. I don’t and will never use any artificial sweeteners or colours. All recipes are my own, inspired by my favourite flavours. The desserts below are all packed with flavour and have only a touch of sweetness so you put your fork down feeling satisfied rather sugar rushed.

100% Organic versions of the cakes below are available upon request

Type	Frosting	total price per 8’ cake
Bourbon Manhattan: Lemon Peel, Bitters, Marachino Cherries	Serve with a shot of Bourbon	$16
Pina Colada: Pineapple cake	Coconut Buttercream	$17
Triple Berry Twist: A swirl of colourful berries & orange zest	Citrus Sugar Glaze	$16
Carrot Cake: Rich with grated carrots. No raisins!	Traditional Cream Cheese Frosting	$15
Speckled Citrus : Grapefruit pieces & poppyseeds	Citrus sugar glaze	$16
Malva Pudding: Traditional South African cake soaked in Bailys just before serving	No frosting. Comes with Bailys mixture to warm on site and pour over individual servings.	$17
Caramel Peach Cake	(the caramel)	$15
Ginger Spice: Refreshing summer take on a winter classic		$15
Souflee Cheesecake:  Flavours optional: mango mint, strawberry rose, blueberry lemon or candied ginger caramel		Please note this cheesecake has a pastry crust so it is best consumed within a day of delivery. Must give 48 hours notice for this order.  $20
Plum Pudding: A moist and boozy cake perfect for welcoming in the fall and winter	Grandma’s Sauce Superb	$16
Boozy Banana Cream Pie: Chocolate glazed pastry with layers of bananas and caramel sauce under a orange rum cream cheese frosting. Decadent, rich and delicious.		Should be consumed within 1 day of delivery. Must give 48 hours notice for this order. $18
Lemon Tart	none	Must give 48 hours notice for this order.  $18
Chocolate Orange Truffle Cake (flourless too!)	Suggested: whipped cream or a citrus gelato	$17
Orange Date Cake: Orange segments and date pieces	Citrus Cream Cheese Frosting	$15
Pistachio Crunch	Orange Blossom Frosting	$17

FOODSTOCK

On Sunday October 16th, we drove north through the hilly Hockley Valley, up to Ontario’s roof: the highest and most fertile land in Ontario. From there, we tossed our map and followed the peloton of car-pooled cars to Foodstock.

Hockley Valley

arriving at Foodstock

Arriving at the edge of a golden-leafed forest, we submitted our donation towards the cause: to stop the mega quarry proposed by The Highland Companies, an American company which bought 7000 acres of farmland with the guise of using the land for potato production. The quarry would be the largest on the continent – deeper than Niagara Falls, and would not only take massive amounts of energy (i.e. pollution) to fuel, but would also contaminate the watershed of spring water that feeds into numerous rivers and streams. When The Highlands Companies has scraped up all of the limestone (used for highways and infrastructure), they propose to use the land again for farmland. If the farmland can be rehabilitated (the Minister of MNR is doubtful) it would still require 600million litres of water to be pumped in per day, perpetually.

The Conscious Food Festival Recap

This past weekend, at the Conscious Food Festival, breweries, wineries, restaurants and farms presented their sustainable products.

Under the shade of a large white tent, a cook from the Ancaster Mill was assembling and handing out juicy pulled pork, wrapped in a Boston (but really Toronto!) lettuce leaf, with a few croutons inside. Genius. The croutons provided the crunch required and the lettuce, the freshness. The rate at which I consumed this wrap is exactly proportionate to the number of saucy drips on my white dress. (note to self: no white dresses in the vicinity of local food consumption)

Chef Jeff Crump brought the Ancaster Mill back to life with his locally grown, and seasonal menu. With his experience passion and constant drive to learn, it is no surprise he has been named one of the most influential chefs in Canada.  Chef Crump, along with Ancaster Mill’s pastry chef, Bettina Schorman, have recently ( finally!) opened up The Bread Bar in Hamilton, serving up a golden feast of breads from around the world, made with Canadian ingredients ( Red Fife woot!)

I ate my wrap, one handed, tilting forward to avoid more drips, holding in my left hand a small cup of Mill Street Tankhouse Ale. Brewed right in Toronto, the Tankhouse ale cannot get any more local. Their new Lemon Tea Beer is surprisingly fantastic: it tastes like real brewed tea ( not that sickly canned stuff) with a little aftertaste tang of beer.

Next, I sauntered on over to visit the Harrison family, dishing out pork sausages for Cowbell. Handing my ticket to the assertive 8 year old, I was promptly handed a pork sausage in a soft brioche bun. Loading it up with their homemade sauerkraut and homemade mustard (Fact: Canadian mustard seeds are so great that we export to Dijon. Take that, Dijon mustard!). To be honest, my first bite was a bit strange. The flavour was there: fennel and caraway seed and and perfectly acidic sauerkraut, but the texture seemed…different. I was assured that the texture was what it was meant to be. The sausage was made in a ‘traditional’  way, the filling made up of ground pork and intestine. ( I should have asked: who’s tradition?) I decided I did not like this tradition.

Nevertheless, Cowbell is awesome for supporting locally grown and raised products. On Sunday, August 29^th , Chef Mark Cutrara will create a five course menu with products from Dingo Farms and paired with wine from Fielding Estates. Along with the pork, Chef Cutrara will also be featuring the farm’s beef and lamb. All of their meat is fed non-GMO grains and silage, dry hay and pasture (depending on the season).

Finishing my last bite, and requiring a non-meat intermezzo, I arrived to Rodney Bowers tent. “Chef Bowers” sounds too serious for Rodney, who is rosy-cheeked and shakin’ it to “Walking on Sunshine” behind crates of yellow cherry tomatoes and purple and red-splashed heirloom tomatoes.  All chefs should adore their products as much as Rodney does.  First teasing me with a yellow cherry tomato- firm and juicy and perfectly ripe- Chef Rodney prepared some bruschetta. After slicing five different types of tomatoes, and ripping up a big handful of basil, Rodney tosses them gently in his left hand, as he pours in olive oil and then a light balsamic with his right. On his wooden cutting board, he piles bruschetta on top of a garlic-rubbed crostini, finishing it with a drizzle of olive oil and a confident pinch of salt. I eat it in three bites. More stains on dress.

By this time, I am gitty, beer-infused and almost full. If I were not allergic, now would be a perfect time for Auld Spot’s oysters: Freshly shucked, plump and juicy. 

Instead, I visited Chef Tawfik Shehata, who although smiling, still intimidates me a bit. His intense eyes and furrowed brow oozes passion. At Vertical, he is no-nonsense and runs a tight ship to ensure that all the food is up to his standards. When using beautiful ingredients, the chef’s job is to highlight them, honor them by creating something beautiful. And that’s what Chef Tawfik does.

In a Poplar paper basket, with a Poplar fork, I tried Chef Tawfik’s Ontario tomatoes, oven-dried and sweet, a bit chewy and not at all bitter. Chef Rodney came over to visit us, and to try a sample himself. After gushing over the tomatoes, Rodney moved aside to let some shy foodies try Tawfik’s food. When the chefs weren’t visiting each other’s tents and exchanging food, they were promoting each other. The sense of community and camaraderie made me warm inside...the beer and humidity also helped.

By the time I left, I had forgotten that this festival was the Conscious Food Festival. It wasn’t “eat this because it is local” it was “ here, try this, I grew it and it’s fucking delicious”.

Sun-blushed and delirious with satisfaction, I strolled to work, stopping to buy some Ontario peaches, for my dessert special: Ontario Peach and Crystallized Ginger Caramel cake. 

Below is a list of every place mentioned, in the order it was mentioned:

The Ancaster Mill

548 Old Dundas Road

Ancaster, Ontario

905 522 2999

www.ancastermill.com

The Bread Bar

258 Locke Street

Hamilton, Ontario

905 648 1828

www.breadbar.ca

Mill Street Brewery

55 Mill Street

Toronto, Ontario

416 681-0338

http://www.millstreetbrewery.com

Cowbell

1564 Queen Street West

Toronto, Ontario

416 849-1095

www.cowbellrestaurant.ca

Dingo Farms

Dennis and Denise Harrison

Bradford, Ontario

905 775-5520

www.dingofarms.com

Fielding Estate Winery

4020 Locust Lane

Beamsville, Ontario

905 563-0668

www.fieldingwines.com

The Auld Spot 

347 Danforth Avenue,

Toronto, Ontario

416 406-4688

633 College Street

Toronto, Ontario

416 645-0285

www.auldspot.ca

Vertical

First Canadian Place

100 King Street West

Toronto, Ontario

416 214-2252

www.verticalrestaurant.com

Ontario Peach and Crystallized Ginger Caramel Cake

drool.


I found a recipe for a Spicy Pear Tart and was inspired. Since we had a basket of ripe Ontario peaches in our fridge ( hiding from the fruit flies), and since I love crystallized ginger, I thought that I would do a little experimenting. It turned out gooey, spicy, sticky and sweet. In one word: Delicious.

Here is the recipe, step by step, with pictures ( yay!):

1. Preheat your oven to 300F/ 150 C. Wrap the outside of your 10 inch springform pan with 2 layers of aluminum foil ( necessary holder-in of caramel goodness). No need to grease or flour the inside.

2. In a small pot, melt together:
- 1 cup packed brown sugar
- 1/2 cup ( one stick) butter

Stir every so often, and after about 5 minutes, it should look like caramel...because that is what it will be. Hooray! If it looks like the butter isn't stirring into the melted sugar ( mmmm) then take it off the heat and stir it vigorously with a whisk or fork ( but be careful! Hot sugar = bad burns) until it is one homogeneous mixture of goodness.

Pour into your springform pan and continue on with step 3.

3. In a medium sized bowl, combine the following:
- 1 1/2 cup all purpose flour
- 1 cup white sugar
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 1 1/2 tsp ground ginger
- 2 tsp ground cinnamon
- 1/2 tsp salt

4. In another medium sized bowl, whisk together:
- 2 eggs
- 2/3 cup vegetable oil

Then stir in:
- 1 peach, chopped up into little pieces
- 1/4 cup crystallized ginger, finely diced

5. Pour your dry ingredients into your egg mixture and stir just until combined.

6. Spoon the mixture over the caramel and smooth it into an even surface using a spatula. On top, arrange attractively:
- 4 peaches, sliced

7. Bake for 1 hour and 15 minutes. Then, turn down the heat to 250 F/ 120 C and bake for another 20 minutes. When the edges are bubbling and the centre is visibly cooked, take it out of the oven. Let it cool for 5 long minutes and then present proudly, stomach grumbling, with a creme anglaise ( or to cheat, melt some vanilla ice cream) zig-zagged across the plate before placing down the slice.

How I Grocery Shop: LOFT

First, I try to shop LOCAL:

Toronto has some fabulous markets and, if you are willing to travel so that your food doesn't have to, there are markets almost every day of the week. For information about what markets are near you, visit: Farmer's Markets Ontario. Making the trip to your farmer's market each week ensures your food is local and seasonal -- the most sustainable way to eat. Although local doesn't necessarily mean certified organic, that doesn't mean the products are not.  Organic certification is costly and so many farmers farm organically but cannot advertise they do so. The wonderful thing about a farmer's market is that most of the time the farmers are there. If you have questions, just ask! Remember that you are the customer and the farmers want you to enjoy their product. If you tell them you are interested in organic, I can guarantee they will go the length to make you happy. It is so satisfying to be connected to your food. You can serve a meal and say, "This red-wine braised osso bucco was from an Ontario calf raised by Gerald from Twin Creeks". It's ok to be a bit smug when you are proud of your food.

If I need groceries, and no Ontario products are available - and I absolutely need the ingredient - then I will make sure it is ORGANIC ( and GMO free, which now must be labeled by law in the UK. Hopefully Canada follows suit soon):

Pesticides are for mass production, and a cheap alternative to a bit of labor. It may mean your arugula has a few more holes in it, but it will be a healthier plant, that has grown naturally defend itself against bugs ( not "pests" ! ). We have to become more aware that food isn't perfect: Not every carrot is the same size,  apples get bruised and there is no such thing as a grapple.   Organic produce is a bit more expensive than a mass produced food, but you must realize that our notion of food costs have been severly altered. When you can buy a whole McMeal for $5, a bag of organic carrots at $3 seems expensive. But think about it from the farmer's perspective. Someone has sowed those seeds, tended to the plants, cared for them, pulled them from the ground and packaged them. The farmer won't even see the whole $3 -- much of that cost will go to the supermarket ( which can be avoided if you buy local). Also think of it from a food perspective. When oua re eating a carrot, you are eating something wonderful, natural and full of vitamins and minerals. A fast food meal will be made for 20 or more food products so deconstructed and reconstituted that they cannot even be called food anymore ( i.e. McThis and McThat)

Finally, if there isn't anything local and there isn't an organic option available, I choose FAIR TRADE:

Fair trade is absolutely necessary for products like coffee ( you must watch Black Gold!) and bananas. When you buy Fair Trade, you are supporting:

1. Environmental standards which focus on reducing the risk associated with pesticides and synthetic fertilizers as well as decreasing environmental degradation
2. Fair, consistent wages and safe working conditions for the workers in developing countries
3. Social premiums for communities in developing countries to provide infrastructure such as education and health care on their own, reducing their dependence on foreign assistance.


I hope next time you do your grocery shopping, you have LOFT in mind.

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

Plant a Nut Tree to Save The Planet

photo by William Gray Harris

Well, maybe not to save the planet, but it definitely helps. Totnes is overflowing with vegetarians and my guess is because the  people who live in and around Totnes are all very connected with their surroundings. Most buy groceries from Riverford, a farm just a 30 minute bike ride away. A recent report entitled "Can Britian Feed Itself"  on the Transition Towns website discusses that there is simply not enough land for every town to feed itself. The land required to raise cattle and sheep - delicious as they are - retracts from the ability for a town to grown enough food to eat locally.

Eating locally is now considered superior to organic for a number of reasons: local food may also be organic but may not have the expenses to pay for the designation and local food is not shipped to you by polluting trucks ( lorries) and planes. Does it not seem backwards that someone would pay for organic olive oil from Italy, and have the heavy glass bottle flown to one location and then trucked to another just to avoid pesticides? Eating locally is delicious, nutritious and sustainable - as long as everyone eats a variety and in moderation.

Tomorrow I will be volunteering in Bridgetown with a group of locals and together we are going to spend the day planting nut trees in green spaces around the town. We will also get a demonstration of how to prune the trees that were planted last year. Hopefully it doesn't rain.

We will be planting nut trees so that there is a  sustainable protein source in the future.  Walnut trees can take up to 20 years to bare fruit if they are not properly pruned in the summer, but it is reassuring to think that the Totnes population is thinking that far ahead.

100 grams of walnuts provides 24 grams of protein, 59g of fat (91% of your daily recommended allowance) and 10 grams of carbohydrates ( 7 grams of which are fibre). For complete protein they should be eaten with tofu or eggs.

Neither Britain nor Canada will be able to provide enough locally grown food for the population if everyone continues to eat so much. I am not promoting vegetarianism as the only way to live - I was a vegetarian for 13 years but I love meat too much to give it up now - but be aware of how much meat you eat and how often. The Canadian Food Guide recommends women and men aged 19-50 years old consume 2 and 3 servings respectively of meat and/or alternatives per day.

Examples of ONE SERVING:

• - 2 tbsp/ 30ml of peanut butter ( real peanut butter, not Skippy)
• - 2 eggs
• -3/4 cup/175 ml cooked lentils
• -75 g (2 ½ oz) / 1/2 cup cooked chicken or cooked beef or cooked fish/shellfish