Roots and Shoots Farm – 5th Week of CSA Food 2011

This week I have set out a few objectives for our CSA food basket.

* Have my camera more on the ready to document our delicious dishes. I am constantly inspired when I see pictures of what others are eating and I also want to share in the love.

* Try roasting my beets on a cedar plank on the BBQ. I had heard of a very similar idea from food stylist, Ruth Gangbar, late last year. I have not forgotten about her recipe and it is still gnawing at me to give it a try! (Thank you for the inspiration, Ruth!!) When I picked out my beets, there as only one bunch of the candy cane beets in the box. I took them in a flash. They are going to be so pretty. Danny and Jess promised me that they would be sweet too.

* Make napa cabbage coleslaw. It has been forever since we have made coleslaw. And never with napa cabbage. We have the ingredients we need in this basket to make a winning dish.

* Try a new recipe for kale. I have been waiting too long to make the kale slaw recipe in the Summer issue of the LCBO Food & Drink magazine. It is on my must-try wishlist! I am debating between using my Russian red kale for that dish, but I am also finding the temptation to make kale chips very strong. Who will win out?

* Make recipes from the Roots and Shoots Farm the newsletter this week. They have some great ideas for fennel. We have often used fennel for a slaw type salad. Lets check out what is ‘cooking’ on the farm!

That is probably enough objectives for this week!

On a closing note, Food Day is this coming Saturday, July 30th. I hope you can have the opportunity to celebrate the day with food. Local food. Why not gather friends and family and salute our great fortune of bountiful food here in Canada. Salute the farmers who brought it to your table. It is truly a humbling experience to have so much.

Do you have any plans/objectives for your food basket? Are you making any special plans for Food Day this Saturday? If you sat down at my CSA dinner table, which plate would you want in front of you?

Fennel

Beets (candy cane)

Carrots

Onions

Garlic

Bunched arugula

Napa cabbage

Cucumber

Zucchinis

Head lettuce

Russian red kale

If you want to learn more about the farm, the contact information for Roots and Shoots Farm is:
ROBIN TURNER
robin@rootsandshootsfarm.com
www.rootsandshootsfarm.com
613.897.8975

Too Hot For The Oven? Try Pizza On The BBQ

When you are feeding a crowd, eating pizza out can get pretty pricy. With 8 adults having a summer ‘Za’ craving, we decided to make it at home on the BBQ.

Tips for the Grill:

• Heat the pizza stone when heating the BBQ
• Prepare your pizza on a round baking sheet to bring to the grill.
• Be liberal with your corn meal on the baking sheet so it is an easy slide onto the stone.
• Make sure to turn off the middle element to provide indirect heat. Direct heat will burn the crust.
• Put the heat down on the other elements and keep the lid closed for the baking duration.

My favourite pizza:

BBQ Chicken, Caramelized Onion and Goat Cheese Pizza

Homemade pizza dough
Corn meal for the pan
BBQ sauce

Toppings:
Mozzarella cheese, grated
Grilled chicken covered in BBQ sauce
Caramelized onions
Mushrooms
Bacon, partly fried
Ham, cubed
Goat cheese
Parmigiano-Reggiano

The other three pizzas had a delicious homemade sauce made with a can of whole San Marzano tomatoes, fresh thyme, oregano and basil. Plus salt, pepper and sugar.

The toppings included mozzarella cheese and then a selection of tomatoes, peppers (yellow, orange, red), hot pepperoni pepper, Genoa salami, cubed ham, bacon (partly fried), mushrooms, caramelized onions. Fresh basil for garnish.

Have you ever made pizza on the BBQ? Do you have any special tips? What are your favourite toppings?

Roots and Shoots Farm – 3rd Week of CSA Food 2011

Colour! This week has colour! Orange, Purple, Yellow, Red, Pink, Purple, More Purple.

I get a bit enthusiastic the day the CSA share is available for pickup. Maybe just a bit too rambunctious about it. When I pulled into the parking lot at 4:03 pm, Danny’s greeting was not surprisingly, “You’re late!” Well hello to you too Danny. 🙂

Doesn’t this week’s collection just make you crazy? Not just the colour. But the textures. The tastes. Look at the pictures and visualize the tastes. I feel my ‘mouth moisture’ welling.

Broccoli
Nutritional Highlights: Vitamin C

Bok Choy
Nutritional Highlights: Vitamin A and C

Onions
Nutritional Highlights: Vitamin C

Garlic
Nutritional Highlights: Vitamin B6 and C

Carrots
Nutritional Highlights: Vitamin A, K, B6 and C

Hakurei Turnips
Nutritional Highlights: Vitamin C

Radishes (Crunchy Royale and Pink Beauty!)
Nutritional Highlights: Vitamin C

Basil
Nutritional Highlights: Vitamin E and K

English Cucumber
Nutritional Highlights: Vitamin A, C and folic acid

Zucchini
Nutritional Highlights: Vitamin C

Beans
Nutritional Highlights: Vitamin B

Salad Mix
Nutritional Highlights: Vitamin K, A, B, C

If you want to learn more about the farm, the contact information for Roots and Shoots Farm is:
ROBIN TURNER
robin@rootsandshootsfarm.com
www.rootsandshootsfarm.com
613.897.8975

LUNCH: Working the Leftovers

Deep freezer diving uncovered a small portion of pea soup made late April. And no surprise, also a wedge of Art-is-in Boulangerie’s Dynamite Cheddar, Chive & Jalapeño Baguette.

Clarmell On The Rideau – Chèvre Goat Cheese is nearing the end.

Fresh heirloom tomatoes are abound.

The homemade pesto still lives on.

Now, time for lunch for me and the mister.

Our CSA Basket Continues To Delight – Kale and Egg Open-Faced Sandwiches

I am nearing the end of my first CSA basket from Roots and Shoots Farm. We are appropriately signed up for a half share as there is just the two of us most days.

The two weeks flew by and here I am, anticipating what will be in the next basket, soon to arrive.

I learned a lot last year about how to care for my produce to maximize shelf life. When I bring the items home, I give them a quick cleanup where necessary. I have a few plastic grocery bags I recycle for just the occasion. Most items are wrapped loosely, but well, in order to keep the moisture in.

A testament to the effort was the fact that tonight we enjoyed the Red Russian Kale.

Maybe it wasn’t as perky as pick up day almost two weeks ago but it was still fresh and raring to go.

The first Roots and Shoots newsletter for the season contained recipes to help us get started. In conversation with a few blog readers and fellow Roots and Shoots CSA’ers, it was clear that the Kale and Eggs dish was a hit.

Here is the Roots and Shoots Kale and Eggs recipe direct from the newsletter:

“Red Russian Kale: This can be used the same way as Bok Choy, in a stirfry or raw in a salad, but you should try one of our favorite farm breakfasts – Kale and Eggs. We fry up (quickly) some onions and scapes, throw in the chopped kale, add some soy sauce on top. Add a little water and cover, so the kale will steam a bit. Then crack an egg (or three) on the kale and re-cover. You can add a little water if there’s not much steam left. The egg should steam lightly on top of the kale, and in the time it takes for two sets of toast to almost burn, your breakfast is ready!! “

Our ‘toast’ was Art-is-in Boulangerie’s Dynamite Cheddar, Chive & Jalapeño Baguette. (We keep a stash in the freezer for such occasions.) We did not have any scapes remaining so the chef substituted minced garlic.

I dressed my Kale and Egg open-faced sandwiches with homemade red pepper and peach relish and a few toasted pine nuts.

Thank you Roots and Shoots for great produce. Thank you Ari for ‘egging’ me on. I finally made this breakfast dish. For dinner!

Cottage Life – Tranquility Has Found Me

Day is done, gone the sun,
From the lake, from the hills, from the sky;
All is well, safely rest, God is nigh.

Tranquility presents itself in many forms. For some it exists only in a setting of deafening silence. Others need a tactile experience. A sense of pampering – spa-like conditions.

For me, I experienced tranquility on the July long weekend while cottaging on the south shores of a large lake a short drive from Ottawa. We visited for just 7.5 hours, with an action packed agenda.

It started in high gear with a quick tour of the rustic cottage, bunkie, vegetable garden and the beautifully manicured acreage pushing out onto a topographically notable large point.

Then on to the first order of cottage business. With chairs in lakeside formation, we quaffed happy-hour drinks and nibbled salty snacks. For the indecisive, it meant two fisting their ‘balanced diet’.

The collection of young people congregated nearby to engage in the cut-throat card game, ‘President’. They incorporated well-timed, relaxing intermissions.

Fully refreshed, we scrolled the cottage road to do the land-side tour. The brother and sister of our host also have cottages just doors away. With all siblings propertied on the lake, so close together, it symbolizes a family bond of ‘compound’ status. We neighboured in, the gathering grew and the visiting continued dockside. More refreshments, salty snacks and good chats.

Dinner beckoned us as we wandered back to the point. The many hands of the hungry pitched in.

The cool breeze gently shouldered us as we dined just feet from the rocky shore with the last warm rays of the afternoon sun buoying downward.

There was a rapid gesture at cleanup.

As dusk settled in, we took the requisite party boat ride around the waters, now touring the neighbourhood lakeside. I was already dreaming of a strategically placed For Sale sign pounded in on the shoreline somewhere nearby.

With the sun tucked away for the evening, we took in a colourfully home-choreographed display of fireworks. Surgically executed, with a strong support team of testosterone. Me, I was safe behind the screened in porch, far from the munching of sparrow-sized mosquitoes.

Some huddled at the cozy pit fire, in the pitch black of the night sky that held a scattering of diamond glittering stars.

The closing of the day was celebrated with Strawberry and Lemon Curd Smartie cake, plus 4-Biter World Famous Butter Tarts. For some, seconds of both.

To the observer it would seem we were going at breakneck speed, considering our short stay. But I just floated on the ebb and flow of activities knitted together like poetry in motion. I found my place in conversation, behind the camera, prepping food, serving, cheering pyrotechnics.

I was somewhere I had never been before. For a brief period my troubles were pulled out onto the waves and hidden in the darkness of the night sky. I was surrounded by that family’s cottage life, including their family extensions. It was inviting. It was safe. It was beautiful. And for just a short time, tranquility found me.

Our CSA Basket is Sprouting New Dishes

Since we started using the fine specimens from last week’s CSA basket, we have been making new and different recipes. Measuring has taken a back seat to looks and taste. Many meals have been meatless. We do not feel as intimidated as we did last year. We are exhilarated and excited about ‘playing’ in the kitchen.

Here are a few things we have tried so far. I attempted to share measurements but they could be suspect as we weren’t really keeping track. Shake loose. Relax. Just go with your gut feel. Smell it. Taste it. It will speak back to you and you will understand.

Bok Choy Stir-fry

We loosely followed the recipe in the Roots and Shoots newsletter.

Bok choy
Mixed greens of spicy mustard and kale
sesame oil
soya sauce
fish sauce
jasmine rice

***
Red Leaf Lettuce Salad

Red leaf lettuce
spring onions
radish
cilantro
heirloom tomato

The dressing is yogurt, honey, lime juice, lemon juice, salt and pepper.

***

Garlic Scapes, Tomatoes and Kale Penne

cooked penne for two
1 pint garlic scapes
2 tomatoes, chopped
4 tablespoons pesto
4 Russian red kale leaves, chopped
3/4 cup Parmigiano-Reggiano, grated

Drizzle olive oil on the garlic scapes and season with kosher salt and freshly ground pepper. Grill the garlic scapes on the BBQ until tender and starting to caramelize. Rough chop the scapes. Save a few of the tops for garnish.

Heat olive oil in a skillet. Add kale and saute until wilted. Add the tomatoes and warm through. Add the chopped scapes, cooked penne and pesto. Combine. Add grated cheese. Combine and serve in pre-warmed pasta plates.

Rundles Sophisto-Bistro – A meal fit for a King

“Look at all my trials and tribulations.
Sinking in a gentle pool of wine…”¹

When trying to do a ‘food pairing’ with a production of Stratford Festival’s Jesus Christ Superstar, where do you begin?

Do you theme on the cliché of ‘body and blood’? Perhaps a wine bar?

Do you try to eat something more in keeping with the times? Rustic in its preparation and limited in ingredient choices in a world without refrigeration and electricity.

Do you imagine the potential gluttony of The Last Supper and go to a buffet?

Do you key in on music? Something more club-like?

When we did our ‘food pairing’ we decided to find a meal fit for a King. Where the focus on attentive service is what they are known for. Not too Mary Magdalene, but aware and well timed with the interactions. We picked a place also emblematic of the Stratford Festival – precise in its detail, global in its appeal, sophisticated in its setting.

We chose Rundles Sophisto-Bistro on Cobourg Street, overlooking the Avon River, a tributary of the Thames. Not a mistake. The pre-theatre dinner turned out to be a perfect match.

For those that are curious, it now stands that Jesus Christ Superstar is the best musical I have ever seen. And the best Stratford Festival performance I have ever attended. (I saw my first production there in 1975.) I wept. Even knowing the ending, I was riveted in suspense and foreboding.

I really want to experience Stratford Festival’s Jesus Christ Superstar again. I can also say the same for Rundles Sophisto-Bistro.

“Don’t disturb me now I can see the answers,
till this evening is this morning life is fine.”¹

¹ Lyrics from The Last Supper (Jesus Christ Superstar) by Andrew Lloyd Webber.


Two choices of bread made on the premises. And it just kept coming! (I favoured the olive.)

A sampling of RUNDLES’ CHARCUTERIE which includes cured meat and various types of sausage, pickles, and mustard.

LOBSTER BISQUE and salt cod croquettes.

HOT-SMOKED. KOLAPORE SPRINGS TROUT SALAD with grilled chiles poblanos, carrot and red onion escabeche (Mexican pickle).

BRAISED SHORT RIBS of BEEF garnished with fingerling potatoes and bacon, white turnips, yellow zucchini, and horseradish cream.

Rundles Sophisto-Bistro
9 Cobourg Street
Stratford, Ontario
519.271.6442
Website: www.rundlesrestaurant.com/SophistoBistro
Twitter: Rundles
Facebook: Rundles Restaurant and Bistro
Blog: rundlesrestaurant.wordpress.com

Tues: 5 – 7:30 pm
Wed to Thurs: 5 – 8:30 pm
Fri: 5 – 9 pm
Sat: 11:30 am – 1:3o pm; 5 – 9 pm
Sun: 11:30 am – 1:3o pm; 5 – 7:30 pm

Roots and Shoots Farm – 1st week of CSA Food 2011

Fresh. Local. Organic. Seasonal. Sustainably grown.

Yesterday was the first day for picking up my CSA veggie basket for the 2011 season. This is our second year with Roots and Shoots Farm. And this is their second year in the CSA farming business. It appears that things went well in 2010 as they have doubled the number of shares for 2011. Again we went for a half share. Picking up every other week suits our small family size and busy summer schedule.

What is CSA?
Simply put, share investors pay upfront in the Spring, with the arrangement that the bounty from the field will be made available to them once a week (or every other for half shares) during the harvest season. Usually this runs from the end of June for 16 weeks. Farmers need ‘seed’ money, literally, to get their crops in the ground. Very few farmers can stretch their crop right through the winter. So money is much needed come Springtime. Besides providing share investors with their baskets, farmers, like Roots and Shoots Farm, will also sell their produce at the local farmers’ markets, at the farm and at city market stands. As a share investor, you share in the goodness but also in the risk. If things go bad in the fields, then your crisper will be lean. If you are making your safe buying choices at the farmers’ markets though, you will likely be paying more overall.

Here is a recent article by Lifehacker about Community Supported Agriculture if you need inspiration on why you should join.

What has Proprietor and Farm Manager, Robin Turner been up to?
This year, in addition to farming a larger crop, Robin Turner is extra busy with his role as President of the Ottawa Farmers’ Market at Lansdowne Park.

Robin also started the application process towards Organic certification through EcoCert Canada.

The farm’s city market stands are in Manotick and Westboro. Roots and Shoots Farm sells at the Ottawa Farmers’ Market and the Kanata Farmers’ Market. They also have a stand at the farm.

A full acre has been dedicated to potatoes, carrots and onions this year to share with the Ottawa Food Bank. This acre is looked after by the Food Bank’s staff and also their volunteers. They are the first farm to participate in the Community Harvest Program. Last year, the produce was carrots. Imagine one acre growing 25,000 pounds of food.

The anticipation!
Robin’s Wednesday newsletter had us pumped for what was coming. With all the rain this spring, I wasn’t sure how this first week would go.

When I went for my pickup, I was thrilled to see that Danny, Expert Veggie Farmer, is back! He spent his winter working at a farm in England. At first I didn’t see the easily identifiable red pickup truck in the MEC parking lot. But the graffiti-ed white van in the usual spot seemed all Danny. I have to wonder if he had a hand in the purchase.

Being one of the first to pick up, the veggies were crisp and cool. All is well with the refrigeration units back at the farm.

It is a bit stressful trying to figure out what to do with all this good food. Especially when you want to have it all right away when it is the most fresh. The first newsletter came complete with cooking tips! Not a bad idea when some may unfamiliar with selections in this basket of bounty.

We are proud to be associated with Robin and the Roots and Shoots Farm team. We look forward to a wonderful season of great food.

Lettuce

Red Leaf Lettuce

Small bunch of radishes

Garlic Scapes

Hakurei Turnips

Spicy mustard and Kale stir fry mix

Head of Bok Choy, variety of Bok Choy called Joi Choy

Red Russian Kale

Spring Onions

Cilantro, our choice from a wide selection of herb bunches

If you want to learn more about the farm, the contact information for Roots and Shoots Farm is:
ROBIN TURNER
robin@rootsandshootsfarm.com
www.rootsandshootsfarm.com
613.897.8975

HAPPY HOUR: Guacamole and Mexican Pita Chips

A regular favourite kitchen game, “Move It Along”, gets our creative juices going when combating ingredients that are prime, prime-plus or just in surplus.

Today’s Problem: Two very ripe avocados and two pieces of two-day old pita.

Solution: Guacamole and Mexican Pita Chips for happy hour.

Luckily the avocados were in excellent condition considering their age.

It seems like a simple game to play but we tend to follow the rule of only using existing ingredients in the fridge, freezer, pantry and garden. You can count on staples like oils, onions, garlic and array of spices. We were fortunate to have a lime, a tomato, jalapenos.

Guacamole
2 ripe avocados, mashed
1 small clove garlic, minced
a taste of minced onion
jalapenos, diced finely (quantity to your taste)
1 tomato, finely diced
juice of half a lime
salt to taste

Combine and chill. Garnish with cilantro.

Mexican Pita Chips
2 pita breads
light oil
chili powder
garlic powder
ground coriander
celery salt
chipotle pepper
zest of one lime
juice of half a lime

Brush pita breads lightly with oil. Sprinkle the five spices over the pita bread. Sprinkle the zest of one lime and the juice of half the lime over the pita breads. Put in preheated 350ºF oven for 15 minutes until crisp. Let cool before breaking the pita into chips.

***

The weather was perfect for happy hour out on the deck. Warm, not too sunny and a light breeze.

Any suggestions for the happy hour drink?