Gifts for Foodies

Time is running out and, as you may be realizing in a panic, this is your last weekend to gather up any -- or all -- Christmas gifts. At the risk of promoting stereotypes, I would venture a guess that perhaps some of the men reading this column may find themselves in this very predicament. But then some of us females are relatively last-minute, too. I'm (slowly) learning not to be. In either case -- whether you're done or you're scrambling, if you've got some time to be in the kitchen, homemade treats are always a lovely gesture.

Gifts from your own kitchen are perfect to give to co-workers, hosts, teachers -- all those people you'd like to give just a little something to. Cookies are always lovely but even better is to give something with more lasting power. People are usually overwhelmed by treats at this time of year. I think we have all watched someone joke, "Please don't tell me this is something sweet," while unwrapping a gift of homemade baking or a box of Turtles. Meanwhile, I'm not sure they're really joking. A treat that can be tucked away and enjoyed later is a good compromise.

In preparation for this piece, I polled several foodies in the region: what do they like to make and give away at this time of year?

Dana Shortt, of Dana Shortt Gourmet in Waterloo, said she likes to give away homemade hot chocolate mix and chocolate-dipped marshmallows. Easy enough -- there are lots of variations on hot chocolate mix, most of which are some combination of cocoa powder, powdered milk and sugar (sometimes chopped chocolate, too) but you can experiment by adding spices to make it more interesting. You could dip store-bought marshmallows in melted chocolate, or, if you're feeling really ambitious, make your own marshmallows relatively easily. A quick Google search will give you tons of recipes to choose from.

Granola came up as a gift idea from Nina Bailey-Dick, a resident of Waterloo and a champion of local eating. She recommends using locally grown grains (look for Oak Manor Farms brand from Listowel or ask for what's local at the farmer's market or health food store). Granola can be eaten now or popped into the freezer for the new year. It's great with yogurt or milk and it's healthy. The Moosewood Restaurant New Classics recipe for Maple Nut Granola is one of my favourites, passed onto me by a friend who always has a supply of it in her kitchen. But there are gazillions of recipes out there worth trying.

In years past, I've given away little jars of homemade chai tea -- also really easy to do. This year, my big project was salted caramels. I came across the recipe in A Year at Les Fougeres, a beautiful cookbook from the restaurant of the same name in Chelsea, Quebec. (If ever you are in the Ottawa area, do make the trip across the river to eat there).

The recipe below is halved from the original and I made a couple other minor adjustments, too. I always find making caramel somewhat terrifying on account of all that beyond-boiling sugar. (I also have the scars to back up the fear). Be sure to use a deep pot so there is no risk of boiling over, and if things start to get scary, turn the heat down and take your time bringing the mixture up to the right temperature. Finally, when adding the cool ingredients (like the cream) into the boiling caramel, pour slowly and carefully.

Fleur de Del Caramels

One 9x13 inch pan

2 cups sugar


1/2 cup water


1-1/2 cups glucose or white corn syrup


1 tsp salt


1/2 cup butter, cut into pieces


2 cups cream


1 cup sweetened condensed milk


1/2 tbsp vanilla extract


1 to 2 tbsp fleur de sel for sprinkling

Combine sugar, water, corn syrup and 1 tsp salt in a heavy-bottomed pot. Stir to combine then bring to a boil over medium to medium-high heat, washing down the sides of the pot with a wet pastry brush. Place a candy thermometer in the mixture and let it cook without stirring until the thermometer reads 250F. Wash down the sides of the pot again.

Add butter, stirring gently to help it melt. Gradually stir in half of cream. Bring to a boil and let it cook to reduce to almost half. During this time, the mixture will begin caramelizing and changing to its distinct colour. Stir in the remaining cream. Continue to boil, stirring in a figure eight motion, until the temperature reaches 250F again. Remove from heat.

Stir in the condensed milk. Return to heat, stirring constantly, until the mixture reaches 244F. Remove from heat and continue to stir for two minutes; it will start to thicken. Stir in the vanilla. Pour into parchment-lined pan. When cooler but still tacky, sprinkle with fleur de sel. Leave uncovered at room temperature over night. Unmould and cut into squares with a cold knife.

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The Perfect Cheese Tray

I am not the first person to write about a cheese tray this season, and I won’t be the last. It’s a no-brainer as an appetizer when you’re harried and busy. Unwrap a few items and plunk them on a platter and there you are. It never goes out of style and people gobble it up happily.

At this time of year, cheese and some yummy accompaniments are perfect by the fire as a Christmas Eve starter, or an ideal way to kick off (or wrap up?) your New Year’s Eve festivities. And, on a quiet, cosy Saturday night when you’re not in the mood to cook, who says it can’t replace dinner?

While the idea of a cheese tray itself may be nothing new, I do have a few ideas on how you can make one that’s uniquely local. Should you find yourself in Kitchener this weekend -- or on any other Saturday, for that matter -- a trip to the downtown market will have you in very good shape for putting together a gorgeous cheese course.

This is one of my favourite things to feed people whether I’m hosting or whether I’m headed elsewhere. It’s lovely to serve (or take) to out-of-towners because it allows you to impress with (and be an ambassador for) some of Waterloo region’s best eats. But it also introduces locals to things they might not have known existed in their own backyard.

Cheese, naturally, is the place to start. Designers love things in odd numbers, and plating food is design, isn’t it? Three to five cheeses is about right, depending on how many people you’re feeding. There’s no shortage of wonderful cheese at the market but I like to head to Knechtel’s to pick up a few types by Millbank’s Monforte. Knechtel’s carries a handful of the 25 types made by Monforte cheesemaker Ruth Klahsen. Three to try: Belle, a smooth, lemony chevre; a hunk of smoked cheddar (regular or chipotle); and a wedge of Piacere, an oozy, buttery, French-inspired, herb-encrusted thing of beauty.

Now the fun begins. What else to buy? To start, I head to Doug’s Honey for a piece of honeycomb. Honey is a fabulous partner to cheese. It creates some opportunity for salty-sweet contrast and it tempers the flavour of particularly strong cheeses. There are also all manner of pickles, sauces and relishes available from a couple spots, including those from Kountry Kitchen Cupboard, made in Winterbourne.

With some almonds and a little jug of Mennonite country’s finest maple syrup, you can make a quick batch of roasted nuts at home. Just toss a pound of skin-on almonds with 1/3 cup of syrup and a tablespoon of vegetable oil, spread on a parchment-lined baking sheet, bake at 325 about 20 minutes, then sprinkle with coarse salt.

And a bag of Oak Manor Farms flour, which you’ll see displayed and sold on the main level, will serve you well if you’re up for making your own crackers, which is much easier than you’d think. See the recipe below, if you’re game.

As for some deliciously salty meat, I hit up Unfactory Farm, one of my favourite booths (they also sell the flour), for organic beef pepperettes, which come in spicy and not-so-spicy. They’re perfect sliced up on the diagonal. But the market is certainly your oyster as far as cured meats go.

Lastly, a trip across King Street to Golden Hearth bakery for a couple of loaves of just about anything. Especially beautiful when left whole on a tray is their Epi, a leafy-looking version of the baguette.

Once home with your spoils, all that’s left to do is assemble. A big wooden board is the perfect canvas, if you’ve got one. A few cheese knives, some cocktail napkins and some vino, et voila. Beautiful.

For those who actually want to turn the oven on and tinker around a little further, here’s that cracker recipe, adapted slightly from Lucy’s Kitchen, by Lucy Waverman. Happy feasting.

Walnut Cracker Bread

3 cups all-purpose flour (feel free to try subbing in whole wheat or other kinds)


2 tbsp granulated sugar


1 tsp kosher salt


1 cup cold butter, cubed


1 tsp fennel seeds


1 cup chopped walnuts


3/4 cup water

Topping:


1 egg, beaten


1 tsp kosher salt or Maldon salt

Combine flour, sugar, salt, butter, fennel and walnuts in food processor and process until butter is size of peas. Blend in enough water to bring dough together (you may need slightly more or less than 3/4 cup). Transfer dough to a bowl and knead lightly until it forms a ball. Flatten dough into a disk and wrap in plastic. Chill for 30 minutes.

Preheat oven to 350F. Divide dough into four pieces. Roll each piece as thinly as possible on a floured surface (shape can be irregular). Transfer to ungreased baking sheets and prick with a fork. Brush with beaten egg and sprinkle with salt. Bake in centre of oven (you may have to bake these one at a time) for 18 minutes or until golden and crisp. Cool on a rack. Break up crackers into smaller pieces.

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Persimmons

On a recent weekend with girlfriends in snowy Quebec, much of which was spent cosying up inside either eating or thinking about doing so via the browsing of food magazines and cookbooks, my friend Amy asked me, ‘What do you know about persimmons?’ The answer was not a lot.

Like my friend, I’d seen the fruit in the aisles of the grocery store and been struck by its taut, shiny skin and brilliant orange hue. Really, I’d thought more about persimmons as something that would look beautiful on a holiday mantle than I had about what I could do with them in the kitchen.

The conversation, however, led to some surfing over a glass or two of wine -- both online and in cookbooks -- in search of inspiration of what could be done with persimmons. Much oohing and aahing ensued. And since, I’ve done some experimenting.

Now that we are officially immersed in winter, the fresh produce choices have narrowed. Diehard locavores must commit themselves to several long, dark months of cabbage and potatoes or look toward eating at least a few imports.

For those in need of at least a taste of fruit, there are still, at this time of year, some local apples and pears. There’s citrus coming up from the States and little mandarin oranges coming from much further. There is also the mighty pomegranate, which, at this time of year, clearly has some kind of insane powerhouse marketing firm behind it -- when I hit up the supermarket near my house last weekend, I encountered a virtual house made of pomegranates.

Then there is the oft-overlooked persimmon -- two varieties to be exact -- which come up from California in fall and winter. The Fuyu is short, shaped more like a squat, firm tomato, and best eaten out of hand like an apple. The Hachiya, taller, acorn-shaped and more jelly-like when cut open, is typically used in baking -- puddings, often. Both are the same perfect, glossy shade of orange, and taste sugary sweet like a mango.

Some grocery stores have a fresher looking supply of persimmons than others, so do check around. They make a lovely, bright addition to a salad at this time of year -- think of arugula, prosciutto, some toasted hazelnuts, perhaps a bit of blue cheese, and maybe a few pomegranate seeds to further brighten things up.

Here is a recipe from Bon Appetit magazine for persimmons and arugula wrapped in bresaola, a thinly-sliced cured beef that’s a nice alternative to prosciutto. These would make a great, pretty holiday appie to serve with cocktails. Quick and easy, too -- no cooking required!

Bresaola-Wrapped Persimmons with Arugula

1 tbsp balsamic vinegar


1/2 tsp coarse salt


1/4 tsp freshly ground pepper


2 ripe Fuyu persimmons (though Hachiyas would be fine, too) peeled and cut into wedges


slices of paper-thin bresaola (approximately 8 oz.)


3 cups baby arugula leaves

Toss first four ingredients together in medium bowl. Place 2 bresaola slices side by side lengthwise and slightly overlapping on work surface. Place 1 persimmon wedge and 4 arugula leaves across short end of bresaola, allowing fruit and arugula to extend past short end of bresaola. Roll up with fruit and arugula visible at ends. Repeat with remaining ingredients.

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Christmas Cookies

I am one of those people that really prefers to wait until December 1st to start embracing the holidays. I have long been determined not to get sucked into the madness in November.

And so it goes against my inclinations to reference Christmas in this column, considering it is still very much November (until Monday, anyway). But as I get older -- and busier -- I am becoming increasingly schooled in matters of practicality. There are only three pre-Christmas weekends in December and, realistically, they’re a write-off for many of us already. Cocktail parties, brunches, shopping missions, getting the tree up.

I am thus giving myself permission to think (and write) about Christmas in November. Because there has to be time for baking, which is, perhaps, one of the things I like best about the holidays. And it’s no fun if it’s rushed.

Holiday baking is probably the most loaded of all Christmas traditions. Every family has their legendary treats. In my family, there are a few items that make an annual appearance, most notably my mom’s famous chocolate-covered almond bark. I have eaten it every year since I can possibly remember, but only developed a true appreciation for it when I first made it myself a few years ago -- and literally scarred myself for life in the process. (A third-degree-burn-inducing blob of beyond-boiling sugar on the hand).

One of my new favourites is the sugar cookie, which is fun to tart up with icing and sparkles. I say “favourite” now because I have yet to undertake that project this year. It always seems like a great idea until it’s midnight and I’m covered in hardened green icing and picking up silver dragees off the living room carpet.

That and the cookies never look as lovely as I imagine they will when I begin. Some of that has to do with artistic talent (which I can do little to fix) and some of it has to do with creating the perfect icing (which, happily, I can). Thank goodness for science.

Last week I paid a visit last week to Yvonne Zensner at The Cake Box (www.cakebox.ca), who I thought would be the ideal person to offer some tips.

Zensner and her staff make picture-perfect cakes and cookies at their very-busy downtown Kitchener shop, which opened about 18 months ago. They also run decorating classes that, in her words, “teach you the techniques you’d see in Martha Stewart magazines that you don’t know how to do” -- how to bake and store the cookies, how to make icing that sets, how to tint it and so on.

Here are some of Zensner’s best tips -- and an icing recipe you can use with your own favorite sugar cookies.

- Be sure to chill the dough before rolling and cutting shapes to get clean edges. Keep a close eye when baking your cookies to ensure you get a soft inside and a crispy outside. (I also noticed that Zensner’s cookies are made nice and thick to stand up to all that decorative fare -- so don’t roll your dough too thin).

- Always use gels or pastes to tint your icing. “The colours are so intense that you need very little,” Zensner says. Liquid food colouring will interfere with the icing’s consistency.

- Use a thinner icing for “flooding” cookies (giving them an all-over base). Let it set, and then use a slightly thicker icing to pipe on details. If you’re using very dark colours for flooding, let the icing set overnight before you add detail or the colour will bleed.

- Zensner and her staff use sandwich baggies for piping -- they fill them up and snip off the corners. “Never fill the bag more than halfway,” she advises. “A third is best. You can control it better.”

- Hold the piping bag with the palm at the top and squeeze down, not from the middle. (Like a tube of toothpaste).

- If you’re adding sprinkles, be sure to do it when the icing is still wet.

Decorator's Icing

Zensner recommends you use a stand mixer to make this, if you can -- it has that extra oomph. Using meringue powder gives the icing that “beautiful, glossy look,” and is child-friendly and safer for pregnant women than recipes that use egg whites. A hint of lemon juice cuts the sweetness. This will make a fair bit of icing so you may want to try halving the recipe to start. You can always make more. Tint as desired.

1 kilogram confectioners sugar, plus more set aside

2 tbsp meringue powder


1-1/2 cups water


a squeeze of lemon juice (optional)

Mix above ingredients until smooth, shiny and pure white. This can take a good five minutes. This icing will be a thicker consistency. Set some of it aside for piping on fine detail. 

Slowly add a spoonful of water to remaining icing and blend until desired consistency. The ribbon test is a good indicator: run a knife through the icing. If the line disappears before five seconds, you need more sugar; if it remains after eight seconds, add more liquid. 

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Rose Murray

It should come as no surprise that Rose Murray’s latest book, A Taste of Canada: A Culinary Journey, includes many references to Waterloo region. Not only because Murray herself lives in Cambridge, but because, as she recently told me, this area holds an important place in the overall food culture of our country.

“It came naturally,” she said of including references to her home region in the book, like shout-outs to Barrie’s asparagus farm and Cambridge’s Portuguese groceries, and a recipe inspired by a breakfast pizza made at the U of W School of Architecture’s cafe.

“It’s not that I tried to make it important,” said Murray, who’s currently touring around Western Canada promoting the book. “Waterloo region definitely has prime agricultural land. It’s one of the best growing areas around. It’s a great food area. There’s the influence of German settlers and we’ve even got the fun things that come from the population of Newfoundlanders in Cambridge.”

Murray, who got her start writing about food for an Owen Sound weekly newspaper when her children were small, has written for a variety of national publications over the years, including the Globe and Mail and Canadian Living. She’s published several cookbooks and for years has appeared every month on CTV Kitchener’s noon show, talking about seasonal ingredients, where to get them and how to use them.

A Taste of Canada is a book, she said, that “it was about time” she wrote -- one that decidedly celebrates our homegrown cooking and ingredients. “We’re modest about what we have in the way of resources and the ideas that we have that come from other countries,” she said.

The book is traditionally organized by category (fish, desserts, vegetables, etc.); each recipe is prefaced by a chatty, anecdotal intro that reveals its Canadian roots. There are also menus included (A Midsummer Grill, A Prairie Brunch) and stories and features about Canuck regions and ingredients.

The tome wouldn’t have been complete, she said, without a contribution from her late friend and Waterloo region legend Edna Staebler, whose summer fruit shortcake recipe is included in the book.

“She was one of the first journalists in Canada to talk about the Mennonites and local food and regional food,” Murray said. “There were others, but she was one of the first, and she really brought Waterloo region to near mythical status in terms of cuisine.”

Murray grew up on a farm near Collingwood where the family grew their own vegetables, raised their own meat, and otherwise sustained themselves on what was grown around home. That upbringing has influenced her philosophies about food, including a desire to eat seasonal, local foods.
But, she said, just as her family purchased sugar and other imported ingredients when she was a child, she feels it’s important to supplement those foods we can find locally with treats that come from afar.

“I don’t think we should only have local ingredients,” she said. “I think that trend is here to stay -- I hope so. It’s good to support local farmers, for sure, and fresh food is more nutritious if it doesn’t have to be imported. But we shouldn’t deprive ourselves of those wonderful things like mango or chocolate or coffee, either.”

Though she’s travelled across Canada throughout her life, doing so while doing researching the book reinforced for her just how diverse our food cultures are from region to region, whether they’re innate or borrowed from immigrants.

“It’s time we had a few more books that celebrated our good food and the culture we have here,” said Murray. “It’s so diverse. Every region has something different about it. We wanted to have a book that gave Canadians a taste of their own food.”
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The Perfect Chocolate Chip Cookie

The first recipe I remember confidently making on my own -- my very own little go-to classic -- was the chocolate chip cookie. The recipe came from my mom’s Betty Crocker cookbook, which she’d received as a new bride in the early ’70s, and I had it more or less memorized by the time I was 12. My mom still has the book, and, to this day, it opens naturally to that buttery, floury page. Page 134, I believe.

When it comes to the chocolate chip cookie, everyone has an opinion about how to make it. More butter, less flour, a certain type of chocolate. Growing up, my girlfriends and I spent many after school hours watching Y&R while devouring one friend’s mom’s classic recipe. She’s still making them for us to this day (though the occasion is typically a little more special than just “after school”) and they are still exactly the same in flavour and consistency as they were 20 years ago. This is owed to a secret that neither mother nor daughter will ever reveal. We’ve all tried to guess, but they’ll never give up the goods.

Last summer, the New York Times ran a lengthy feature on the chocolate chip cookie, outlining the crucial criteria for the perfect specimen by way of interviews with highly respected bakers and pastry chefs.
In the end, they were able to narrow the deliciousness down to several crucial factors.

First, the dough has to be made ahead of time and left to rest in the fridge anywhere from 24 to 72 hours. This, the experts maintained, allows the dough to “fully soak up the liquid -- in this case the eggs -- in order to get a drier and firmer dough, which bakes to a better consistency.” Ultimately, it resulted in a richer, browner and more caramelized cookie.

Size, they insisted, also matters. There’s a reason bakeries make big, greedy six-inchers. The larger sized cookie allows for “three distinct textures.” The outside inch is crunchy. The dead centre is gooey and soft. In between is the sweet spot, where the two textures mix.

As for the chocolate, the New York bakers preferred high-quality imported brands like Callebaut or Valrhona, with a cacao content of at least 60 per cent. Not chunks, preferably, but thin disks. And, the ratio of chocolate to dough, they agreed, should be no less than 40 to 60.

Then there’s the salt. A pinch of fleur de sel on top before baking creates that irresistible salty-sweet dimension. And, of course, the Warm Rule. All cookies taste better straight from the oven.

Below is what they came up with as the consummate recipe. It’s adapted from one by New York bakery owner Jacques Torres and incorporates all the agreed-upon crucial factors from those consulted.

I first made it for friends at the cottage this summer and I kid you not when I tell you that, without knowing the back story, people were commenting, “This is the best chocolate chip cookie I’ve ever had.”

There’s nothing picky or difficult about these, really. Good quality ingredients make all the difference, though, and they’re worth seeking out. Visit a gourmet food shop for chocolate disks or chips that are higher in cacao content; with a little poking around, they can be found. The same goes for fleur del sel -- I used Maldon, which is relatively easy to get.

This recipe, which makes about 16 five-inch cookies, calls for a mix of cake and bread flour which I didn’t bother with. There was no explanation as to why this was necessary, so I went with unbleached white flour instead -- and had great results.

Use room temperature eggs and butter and consider weighing your ingredients (instead of using measuring cups) for greater accuracy. And don’t forget to plan ahead; your dough needs at least 24 hours to veg in the fridge and do its thing. Trust me, it’s worth the wait.

Chocolate Chip Cookies

2 cups minus 2 tbsps (8-1/2 oz) cake flour

1- 2/3 cups (8-1/2 oz) bread flour

1-1/4 tsp baking soda

1-1/2 tsp baking powder

1-1/2 tsp coarse salt

1-1/4 cups unsalted butter

1-1/4 cups (10 oz) light brown sugar

1 cup plus 2 tbsp (8 oz) granulated sugar

2 large eggs

2 tsp natural vanilla extract

1-1/4 bittersweet chocolate diks or feves, at least 60 per cent cacao content

Sea salt

1. Sift flours, baking soda, baking powder and salt into a bowl. Set aside.

2. Using a mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, cream butter and sugars until very light, about 5 minutes. Add eggs, one at a time, mixing well after each addition. Stir in the vanilla. Reduce speed to low, add dry ingredients and mix until just combined, 5 to 10 seconds. Drop chocolate pieces in and incorporate them without breaking them. Press plastic wrap against dough and refrigerate for 24 to 36 hours. Dough may be used in batches and can be refrigerated for up to 72 hours.

3. When ready to bake, preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper or a nonstick baking mat. Set aside.

4. Scoop six 3-1/2 ounce mounds of dough (the size of generous golf balls) onto baking sheet, making sure to turn horizontally any chocolate pieces that are poking up; it will make for a more attractive cookie. Sprinkle lightly with sea salt and bake until golden brown but still soft, 18 to 20 minutes. Transfer sheet to a wire rack for 10 minutes, then slip cookies onto another rack to cool a bit more. Repeat with remaining dough, or reserve dough, refrigerated, for baking remaining batches the next day. Eat warm, with a big napkin.

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Healthy Haven

Buying well-raised meat -- from reputable farmers who can tell me how the creatures who end up on my plate have lived and died -- is a commitment I’ve made for myself of late. On the whole, it’s been easy. But, as I’m discovering, it’s hard to be spur of the moment.

Buying in bulk and having a well-stocked freezer helps. But I’m not always that organized. On a recent cold and dreary Wednesday night I felt a sudden need to whip up shepherd’s pie -- but no ground meat handy. The farmer’s market was not an option, and I wasn’t about to make an emergency trek to the farm gate in the near-dark. So I skulked into the supermarket and bought a couple of pounds of generic ground beef. The pie was tasty; but having made a commitment to buying healthily-raised meat, (and knowing nothing about what I’d just bought or where it came from), I was feeling disappointed in myself. Convenience had won out.

Since then, Kitchener has welcomed the arrival of The Healthy Butcher, and picking up a pound of quality ground beef from a butcher you know after work is suddenly easier. This is the third store for owners Mario Fiorucci and Tara Longo, a married couple from Toronto who have had enormous success with their stores on Queen Street West and, more recently, Eglinton Avenue. 

The Kitchener location is part of the new, 12,000 square foot Healthy Haven, just off of Victoria Street on Bruce, overlooking the expressway. The open-concept market was the brainwave of David Ehrenworth, owner of the David’s Gourmet shops in downtown Kitchener and North Waterloo. He was looking to open a third location, and was interested in the old Cowan Insurance building, but the space was too large. Why not share the space with other vendors, he thought, and, within a matter of days, he found several interested parties. Fiddleheads, a well-established local health food store, was first on board. Next came Gerald Kara of Kara’s Smart Foods, who, along with his father, specializes in produce and has a long history at the St. Jacob’s market.

“They thought about it and were missing meat and fish, and they had heard of us so they gave us a call,” Fiorucci says of Ehrenworth and partners Jenn Arsenault and Kim Ziegler-Boril, who co-own Fiddleheads. “We originally said no, because we had just opened the Eglinton store, but we gave in because they had such a passion for what they were doing and they shared our philosophy for food and retail. It was a good opportunity and it’s a world-class store. It’s a great mix, these four retailers under one roof.”

Indeed, the Haven, which opened in late October, makes for a unique shopping experience. The four retailers are in one open-concept store, each in their own section, but with a single cash check-out.

You can pop by to pick up all the necessities for a lovely meal -- veg from Kara’s carefully-selected supply, meat or fish from the butcher (including over 50 varieties of housemade sausage and burgers), organic dairy, grains and legumes from Fiddlehead’s and pretty much anything else you can dream up from David’s. It’s also a good spot to source out a hard-to-find culinary item (duck fat, say) or to sit in the cafe area and have a latte, lunch or a scoop of ice cream. In the future, says Ehrenworth, they plan to have an outdoor patio and a learning room that features various clinics.

“It’s about good food, more than anything,” Fiorucci says of the owners’ shared philosophy. All meat at The Healthy Butcher, for example, comes from organically-raised animals on Ontario farms. Their goal, he says, is not just to educate people on eating local and organic, but to introduce them to the concept of nose-to-tail eating.

“It’s not just boxes of loins that we’re selling,” he explains. “That’s what sells, that’s what’s tender, but a cow’s not a walking loin. With every 40 pounds of striploin, there’s 600 pounds of everything else. Our deal with farmers is we buy the whole animal.”

As a result, Fiorucci says he tends to price prime cuts (like rib eye steaks) higher, whereas non-prime cuts (like ground beef) are comparable to supermarket prices. “We try to encourage people to look aside. Prime cuts are a nice treat, but there’s so much more than that.”

Fiorucci believes we need to get away from eating large quantities of cheap meat and instead move toward eating smaller quantities of high-quality meat. Despite having been warned that KW shoppers are “price-conscious,” Fiorucci says that, so far, the clientele here are proving more knowledgeable than in Toronto.

“People understand organic and what we’re trying to do,” he said. “They understand they’re going to be paying more. There’s been no one I’ve had an argument with about price. Maybe it’s because here, people are much closer to agriculture and to farming than they are in Toronto.”

The Healthy Haven, at 25 Bruce Street, is open Monday to Wednesday from 9 to 7, Thursday and Friday from 9 to 8, Saturday 9 to 5 and Sundays noon to 5. Check out their website for more information at www.healthyhaven.ca.
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Squash

This, as far as I’m concerned, is the best time of year to cook. So much is still in season and these brisk, sunny fall days are made for browsing around the markets or driving out to the country in search of farm gate fare. The cool nights warrant warm, cosy, comfort food, which, I think, is my favourite kind.

Over Thanksgiving weekend, we took a drive down to Shantzholm Pumpkins on Bleams Road near Petersburg . We certainly weren’t the only ones. The cars were parked up and down the road in both directions, not surprising given the unbelievable weather we had.

Most people had come with their little ones in tow to play, check out the corn maze, and pick out pumpkins for the front porch. We went to have a look at the squash selection, which was abundant. I don’t know all the varieties, I’ll readily admit, but in that twisty, lumpy, wart-covered pile, I’m sure I saw acorn, hubbard and celebration squash. Suffice it to say, you’d find pretty much any kind you were looking for if you made the trip there or to any other pumpkin patch. I came away with only a little pie pumpkin, which is staying cool on my front porch while I decide what to make with it.

In the meantime, I’ve gone through several butternut and acorn squashes since they came into season, both of which I get weekly through my CSA farm share. I can’t seem to get enough of squash this year. Smoky butternut squash bisque with chipotle peppers in adobo is a lunch staple for me right now; I make at least one big batch every fall.

In the last week couple of weeks we’ve supped on roasted butternut squash and sage with pasta and baked acorn squash filled with sausage stuffing; breakfast has been pumpkin muffins (made with whatever squash is handy) or oatmeal with apple-pumpkin butter stirred in.

One of these days, when I find myself a quiet afternoon (or rather create one, because we never do find them, do we?), I’m going to make up a big batch of squash-filled ravioli. M hardier herbs are still thriving on the front porch and they’ll be put to good use for this recipe, which is, like all the best dishes, homey and simple.

We’ll have some for dinner one night and I’ll freeze the rest, because it not only makes for a great, basic supper some night down the road, it makes an elegant starter for something a little more eventful. Two or three ravioli are plenty in this case. You don’t want to stuff people full of pasta before the main event, whatever it may be.

The crispy sage leaves in this recipe are to die for. They’re earthy, buttery little chips, and they make a great garnish for soups and things, too.

This is adapted slightly from last fall’s Food & Drink magazine and serves six. It calls for hubbard squash, but you could use any kind you have handy. It also uses wonton wrappers, but I’ve done it with fresh lasagna sheets, which I cut into squares. Both are tasty.

If you do freeze these, you can cook them without thawing first, which is handy. But don’t lump all your uncooked raviolis into a baggie or container before you put them in the freezer; they’ll stick together and form one big mass, then fall apart when you try to cook them. (Trust me, I know).

Squash Ravioli with Sage Butter Sauce

1 small hubbard squash

vegetable oil

1/3 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese, plus some shavings to garnish

1 tbsp rosemary leaves, finely chopped

kosher salt and freshly ground pepper

pinch ground nutmeg

1 egg white

1 double package (400 g) wonton wrappers (or equivalent weight in fresh lasagna sheets)

1/2 cup butter

36 fresh sage leaves

1. Preheat the oven to 400°F).

2. Cut the squash in half, remove the seeds and then cut into wedges, leaving the skin on. Place the wedges in a lightly oiled roasting pan. Roast the squash for 1 to 1-1/4 hours, or until the squash is soft. Remove from the oven and leave to cool.

3. Discard the skin. Pass the squash through a food mill or purée in a food processor (you need one cup).

4. Add the cheese and rosemary to the squash purée and season with the salt, pepper and nutmeg.

5. Whisk the egg white with a teaspoon of water. Place one wonton wrapper on the counter and top with two teaspoons of the squash mixture. Brush the edges of the wonton wrapper with egg white then top with a second wrapper. Press to seal well. If desired, trim the edges with a fluted pastry wheel. Repeat with the remaining wrappers. Place the ravioli in a single layer on towel-lined baking sheets, and cover with another towel.

6. Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil and drop in the ravioli. Cook until the ravioli float and become slightly transparent, about three minutes. Drain well.

7. While the ravioli are cooking, melt the butter in a large frying pan, over medium-low heat, add the sage leaves and cook, turning once, until the leaves are crisp and the butter begins to brown, about 7 minutes.

8. Serve ravioli on warm plates, drizzled with brown butter and topped with sage leaves and a few shavings of Parmesan.

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Oktoberfest

As I write this, Oktoberfest is just getting under way. But as you read it, we’ll all be lamenting its end. Although I wasn’t born and raised with Oktoberfest, I’ve developed a special fondness for it. I’ve been faithfully attending first Friday festivities since my late university days when my then-boyfriend (now husband) introduced me to the boozy interiors of Moses Springer Arena.

Perhaps it has something to do with a long weekend being part of the kick-off, but everyone I know in these parts gets giddy when Oktoberfest rolls around. The mini-steins come out from the back of the kitchen cupboards and go ’round the necks. And the passion for the oom pah pah band is again rekindled.

Tonight, we’re skipping a Mexican night with a group of friends in Burlington (to whom Oktoberfest means nothing) and are instead having our KW friends over for some pre-Concordia beers. And while I won’t be going Martha Stewart-style with pumpkins carved like Onkel Hans, trays of schnitzel and carefully crafted potato salad, I’m hoping we can at least get a few sausages on the barbie and maybe even partake in some sauerkraut.

The place to go for these essentials is, of course, Stemmler Meats and Cheese in Heidelberg. Those living north of the city are no stranger to this institution – they’ve been in business 23 years now. But city folk may be altogether unaware of its presence – and that’s what I would call a shame.

I stopped in at Stemmler’s a couple of weeks ago for a chat with Kevin Stemmler, who co-owns the meat shop along with his brothers. Six years ago, they purchased it from their parents, Gerard and Maryann, who started the original Lobsinger Line location in 1985. Now Stemmler’s is in its third year at a new, expanded shop just a few doors down.

Knowing that I had Oktoberfest on the brain, Kevin gave me a little tour of the store and pointed a few things out: four kinds of schnitzel – pork, veal, chicken and turkey; rolled ribs; cabbage rolls aplenty.
There’s much in the way of really traditional stuff, too, like pickled beef heart, blood ring and pigtails. The latter are a Stemmler specialty, in fact – the shop is the official pigtail supplier to Concordia Club.

If, like me, you’re not sure pickled animal parts will go over well (tongue, anyone?) then you can easily get excited about the house-made sausage. There are countless varieties of bratwurst, including Oktoberfest-style (regular or smoked and made with a spice recipe from Nuremberg). Beyond that, there are your basic pork sausages, but also some specialty ones, too – sundried tomato and feta, Mediterranean (with green olive and feta), maple, spicy salsarica and Texas jalapeno sausage. Not German, I realize. But still… Yum.

Sauerkraut, sold by the bagful, is made by a local woman who cans and pickles a variety of items for the store. And mustard is another must-have. A scan of the shelves reveals several kinds – roasted garlic, horseradish, dill and shallot, apple-cranberry and seed-style. There are a few off-the-beaten track accompaniments, too – apple-horseradish sauce and several chili sauces and relishes made by the aforementioned sauerkraut lady.

Best about Stemmler’s is its commitment to buying from local suppliers. All meat comes from regional farmers. “We choose not to buy international,” Kevin told me. “We’ve always felt it was safer, healthier, fresher and better tasting to stay local. It’s also important to us to support local farmers and the economy. It’s about staying home. And we’ve been doing that long before it was fashionable.”

In recent weeks, Kevin said they’ve seen a 25 per cent increase in deli business. He attributes the surge to the public’s desire to shop for meat closer to home in the wake of recent listeriosis scares.

Either way, it’s a busy time of year with people stocking up on comfort food, be it turkey or be it pigtails. “Oktoberfest is the German way to give thanks for the season,” Kevin said. “We call it Thanksgiving, they call it Oktoberfest. It’s the same thing done differently, that’s the way I look at it.”
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Beyond the Great Wall...

Sitting down with one of Naomi Duguid and Jeffrey Alford’s cookbooks is not something you want to do with a few spare minutes of time. It requires a big cup of tea (or maybe a glass of wine) and several uninterrupted hours.

The traveling couple’s latest big, beautiful book, Beyond the Great Wall: Recipes and Travels in The Other China, has looked lovely on my coffee table since I got it this summer, but has not made its way into my hands outside of the occasional browse, much to my chagrin. The day with nothing to do but read and sip has yet to come, so I’ve instead relinquished myself to taking it in in bits and pieces, and very satisfying bits and pieces, at that.

Duiguid and Alford, who live in Toronto, have carved out quite a niche for themselves in the cookery book genre. Self-proclaimed “professional travelers,” they say the rest of their crafts – photography, research, cooking and writing – started as hobbies. Put them all together and this is what fills their award-winning hardcover tomes – stunning photography, musings on food, history and culture and, of course, recipes. All are based on a theme –Hot, Sour, Salty Sweet took readers on a culinary journey through Southeast Asia; Home Baking documented their travels into kitchens around the world to learn the art of bread making (and more).

Beyond the Great Wall – well-timed to be released during a spring and summer when China was very much the hot topic – looks past the culinary traditions of Beijing, Hong Kong and Shanghai (the Chinese food we’re familiar more with). Instead, it examines how people live and eat in China’s outlying regions – places like Tibet and Inner Mongolia – and the effort their people put forth to preserve their food and culture.

On October 21, Duguid and Alford (or possibly just Alford – they haven’t worked it out quite yet) will be participating in a dinner celebration of Beyond the Great Wall at Hannah’s Bella Bistro in Waterloo, part of a new food and book series the restaurant is putting on in collaboration with Words Worth Books. For $110 (or $155 per couple), hungry participants will get a copy of the book and enjoy a four course meal chosen from its pages by restaurant owner Hannah Santos. There will be a slideshow, commentary on the menu and, inevitably, some great discussion.

Though they’ve traveled extensively to promote the book since its release in April, Duguid told me recently that no two events have been alike; the dialogue has flowed in countless directions.

“It really depends on the crowd,” she says. “You know how conversations can take shape.”

That said, Duguid admits that she and Alford have a special fondness for university towns. “They’re not enormous cities,” she says. “And people are interested in the wider world. Those are our favourite venues, where you’re not fighting for attention in a huge city and people are prepared to come out and engage and not be so cool that they can’t show they’re having fun.”

Among the items on the menu for the evening: cheese momos with fresh tomato salsa (Chinese-style, with sesame oil), Mongolian hotpot and chicken pulao with pumpkin. Choosing what to make wasn’t an easy task for Santos, who describes herself as more freestyle chef and less recipe follower.

“It was actually really nervewracking,” she says. “I’ve never really cooked someone else’s menu. These are celebrated authors and in picking the menu items, I wanted to best represent them and honour them.”

For Duguid, seeing how chefs put the menu together is part of the fun in this type of event. “To have someone take a fresh look at it is always interesting. They can take a recipe and pair it with something new.”

This event is the first event in what Hannah and the Words Worth’s Bronwyn Addico are hoping will be a series. Next month, they’ll play host to Bonnie Stern, who will be coming in support of her new book, Friday Night Dinners. The evening will follow a similar format.

“We had done author events and book readings before, but nothing specific to cooking so this is sort of new,” says Santos. “We’re really excited about them.”

As for Duguid, she and her husband are just happy to be involved in introducing readers to new cultures and experiences. “That’s our job – and our pleasure,” she said. “This isn’t Chinese food. It takes place in the People’s Republic of China. But it’s not even going against stereotype. It’s just something that people don’t know exists. We’re happy to have them see that.”

More information on the Words Worth Eating events at Hannah’s can be found at http://www.hannahsbellabistro.com/ or www.wordsworthbooks.com. And do check out Alford and Duguid’s recently launched website/blog, too, at http://www.immersethrough.com/.
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Thanksgiving Brussels Sprouts

Rarely – okay, never – have I had occasion to cook a big, fat turkey. Our little house is too small to host the myriads for holiday dinners, so it’s always off to someone else’s place where my mom, mother-in-law or an aunt takes responsibility for the bird. I wonder sometimes when I’m going to learn to cook the turkey myself if someone else keeps doing it. I suppose I should enjoy it while it lasts, though; getting it right is a lot of pressure, really. Too dry is awful. Undercooked is worse.

This isn’t to say that I don’t contribute to the meal. I can solidly be relied upon to provide cranberry sauce – mine is not a sauce at all, actually, but a confit. The recipe, which came from my mom, uses dried cranberries, fresh thyme and caramelized onions. It’s made an appearance at both Thanksgiving and Christmas for the last few years (except the Christmas I said I’d bring it, and not only forgot to bring it but forgot to make it – I was getting married four days later and my mind was a little taxed. Nevertheless, it’s fantastic; email me at the address below and I’ll pass on the recipe).

I also seem to be called upon – as of late, anyway – to make a vegetable dish. Veg at Thanksgiving always seems to lean toward the creamy and the cheesy, doesn’t it? For a while there, I favoured a baked broccoli, cauliflower and carrot dish with lots of sharp white cheddar, breadcrumbs and grated horseradish. So good. But this year, I’m thinking brussels sprouts.

Those of you who will be dining with children probably wouldn’t dare serve brussels sprouts. There’s no shortage of adults that won’t go near them, either. The recipe below involves shaving the sprouts and sautéing them with shallots (unsung heroes, those shallots). I challenge you to give it a whirl. You’ll fool the haters – they won’t even recognize them.

I first made this to accompany braised lamb shanks and gorgonzola polenta but it’s a welcome addition to the Thanksgiving table, too. The cheesy, gratin-style vegetable dishes, while so yummy, probably contribute overly to that bloated coma we all end up falling into post-meal (and blame on turkey tryptophan).

The basic flavours in this recipe allow it to go with a multitude of dishes, so if you don’t make it now, do tuck it away for later. But here’s a reason not to wait – both brussels sprouts and shallots can be found at the farmer’s market right now, if you search them out. You might even find the sprouts as a whole plant, still spiraling up the stalks.

And if you do find a vendor who sells shallots, stock up while you can – they’re great to have around, so totally different from onions and an excellent addition to salad dressings (especially when roasted first).

This recipe comes from Bon Appetit magazine and serves eight. Enjoy – and Happy (early) Thanksgiving.

Shaved Brussels Sprout and Shallot Sauté

1 and 3/4 pounds brussels sprouts, outer leaves removed
2 tbsp butter
3 tbsp olive oil
12 medium shallots, thinly sliced (about 2 cups)
6 garlic cloves, thinly sliced
4 tbsp pine nuts, toasted, divided
2 tbsp fresh lemon juice

Working in small batches, place brussels sprouts in feed tube of processor fitted with thin slicing disk and slice. (If you don’t have a food processor, you could slice the sprouts thinly by hand).

Melt butter with olive oil in large pot over medium heat. Add shallots; sauté until almost translucent, about three minutes. Add garlic; stir one minute. Add brussels sprouts; increase heat to medium-high and sauté until tender, about eight minutes. Stir in three tablespoons of pine nuts and lemon juice. Season with salt and pepper. Transfer to bowl. Sprinkle with remaining tablespoon of pine nuts and serve.
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Food for Thought

For those of us who read and enjoyed The 100-Mile Diet, Alisa Smith and J.B. MacKinnon’s chronicles of a year spent eating close to home, the past couple of weeks have offered up a plethora of opportunities to learn more.

The authors were here the week before last to do several readings in support of the region’s One Book, One Community project. And plenty of others around town who support local and sustainable eating have been offering up workshops on gardening and preserving, screening agriculture-related films, hosting local food nights and facilitating lots of discussion.

As things quiet down, we still find ourselves in the blessed midst of harvest season. But with the threat of the nighttime frost ever-looming and the inevitable stretch of winter ahead, eating close to home isn’t so easy. A little inspiration may be required, so I’ve put together a list of books to hunker down with on the chilly nights to come, ones that might further inform and inspire.

Animal, Vegetable, Miracle: A Year of Food Life
Barbara Kingsolver with Steven L. Hopp and Camille Kingsolver
American novelist Kingsolver and her family move from the city to their farm in Appalachia, where they make a concentrated effort to eat only what they or their neighbours grow. I read this book in July and immediately wanted to press it into the hands of anyone and everyone. It’s a perfect balance of politics, investigation and memoir and Kingsolver captures all the joys of local eating like no one else could. You’ll laugh, you’ll be appalled, and, when she finally becomes proud mama to hatching turkey chicks, you might even shed a tear.

Apples to Oysters: A Food Lover’s Tour of Canadian Farms
Margaret Webb
This book takes you along with Webb, a journalist who herself grew up on a farm, as she takes a series of cross-Canada trips over the course of a couple of years in an effort to attach faces and personalities to the growers of the foods we’ve come to think of as especially-Canadian – cod, flax, apples, potatoes, pork and the like. Webb describes the farmers as “chefs of the soil and the sea, tractor-seat philosophers, poet biologists, thingamajig inventors and zealous educators,” and argues that they are “the critical ingredient too often missing from our discussions of food.”

Slow Food Nation: Why Our Food Should Be Good, Clean and Fair and Slow Food Revolution: A New Case for Eating and Living
Carlo Petrini
Petrini, an Italian gourmand, is the Slow Food movement’s founder and guru. He outlines his philosophies in both books – the need for sustainable food production and fair treatment of food producers and the need for food to be both healthful and delicious. He also shows us North Americans how much we can learn from other countries and cultures when it comes to eating well in all senses of the word.

In Defence of Food and The Omnivore’s Dilemma
Michael Pollan
“Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants.” So sums up Michael Pollan in his In Defence of Food. The first two words of that statement seem unnecessary at first glance, but Pollan argues that what most of us take in is not food, but rather “edible foodlike substances.” Eek. He also reminds us that it’s not just about what you eat, but how you eat it, encouraging us to get “out of the car and back to the table.” (Eek again. Guilty as charged.) In The Omnivore’s Dilemma, Pollan investigates the good, bad and ugly of the journey our food, be it industrial or organic, takes as it makes its way to our plate.
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Little City Farm

Is it weird to want to stay in a B&B in your own town – and mainly so you can eat the breakfast? Maybe so. But Little City Farm in Kitchener makes it a tempting thought.

The eco-friendly guest house is run by Karin Kliewer and Greg Roberts who (along with new baby Maya) run an urban homestead of sorts on their Duke Street property near downtown. They grow much of their own food there in a massive garden, bake and cook in their backyard cob oven and are committed to supporting local farmers and eating organically and sustainably.

“It’s like a regular working farm,” Kliewer says of their home. “People come knowing it’s not a regular B&B. They end up interacting, helping with baking or helping in the greenhouse or weeding. We really encourage people to get involved.”

Kliewer says she enjoys knowing that they may be introducing guests to new ways of eating and living and inspiring them to adopt new habits. “Hopefully people will take a little bit home with them,” she says. “Much of it is simple stuff that we can all do. I hope we even just inspire guests to think, ‘Maybe I can plant some tomatoes next year.’ ”

As for those breakfasts, they look and sound fantastic. There’s plenty on the menu, says Kliewer – frittatas made with local goat cheese, organic free-range eggs, and herbs and vegetables from the garden; wholegrain breads from the cob oven with local fruit jams and honey; homemade organic yogurt with seasonal fruit and maple syrup. Kliewer even makes her own herbal teas.

Apparently my temptation to stay someplace a few kilometers from home isn’t out of the ordinary, either. Kliewer tells me they’ve had several local guests.

“People have biked and walked over," she says. "We had people from around the corner that had a new baby and never had a honeymoon. It’s an easy getaway and a neat way for people to get to know their own community. Often we neglect what’s right there in our backyard.”

If you can’t get your head the local travel idea, there are other ways to enjoy Little City Farm. Kliewer and Roberts regularly hold workshops that are open to the public – on subjects like canning and preserving, bread-making and gardening. Next Saturday they’ll run one on beekeeping, complete with a honey tasting. And they’ll be sharing their experiences this Wednesday evening when they speak at the Kitchener Public Library’s main branch. See the couple’s website at http://www.littlecityfarm.ca/ for more details.

I asked Kliewer to share a recipe and she provided this one, which I then made myself – and loved – on a recent, rainy Sunday. Now is certainly the time to enjoy pears.

Kliewer serves guests this cake (adapted from Mary Beth Lind and Cathleen Hockman-Wert’s Simply In Season) with homemade yogurt and garnished with edible flowers. I can't think of a better way to start the day.

Pear Gingerbread Upside-Down Cake

1/4 cup brown sugar
2 tbsp white sugar
1 tbsp margarine
1 tbsp water
2 ripe pears, peeled, cored and sliced
1/3 cup margarine
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 egg
1 cup all purpose flour
1/2 cup whole wheat flour
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp ground ginger
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp each nutmeg, allspice, sea salt
1/2 cup molasses or honey
1/2 cup buttermilk, soymilk, or regular milk

1. Preheat oven to 350F.
2. Prepare syrup by melting first four ingredients together in small saucepan. Stir until well combined. Pour into 8x12 glass baking dish.
3. Arrange sliced pears evenly on top of the syrup.
4. In medium sized mixing bowl, beat margarine, brown sugar and egg.
5. Mix all dry ingredients together in small bowl.
6. Add dry ingredients to creamed mixture alternately with molasses/milk.
7. Spoon cake batter over pears in baking dish.
8. Bake about 30 to 35 minutes or until knife inserted in cake comes out clean. Remove from oven, cool a few minutes and turn onto a platter.
9. Serve warm or cold with homemade yogurt or whipped cream.
Serves 8.
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Taste Local! Taste Fresh!

There are a million reasons to head to Victoria Park in Kitchener next Sunday afternoon for the fifth annual Taste Local! Taste Fresh! event, and though I’d had every intention of getting tickets eventually, a recent conversation with Anna Contini, who helps organize the outdoor local food smorgasbord, served as all the incentive I needed in order to stop procrastinating.

Perhaps it was the mention of braised short ribs with honeycrisp tartare and shitake mushroom salt. Maybe it was the thought of spit roasted lamb or the mouth-watering curiousity that came with the mention of basil and beet biscotti. All and more, no doubt, as each of those items and plenty of others are on the menu for the event, which pairs area chefs with local farmers in an effort to showcase and celebrate the best of what grows in Waterloo region.

Taste Local! Taste Fresh! is organized by Foodlink, a regional non-profit organization whose mandate is to link farmers, chefs, food processors and consumers with the hope of creating a more localized and sustainable food system. For its first three years, Taste Local was held at The Waterlot in New Hamburg; last year the venue changed to Victoria Park when the City of Kitchener came on as the event’s main sponsor. But, as Foodlink’s Contini points out, it’s also a more accessible – not to mention picturesque – venue.

There are nineteen chef/farmer pairings in all and, for the price of admission ($55 per ticket), hungry guests are given a passport and invited to hit every booth to sample the tasty wares – all to the sounds of live music (and, fingers crossed, under sunny skies).

“They’re like a team,” Contini says of the farmer/chef partners. “They serve the food together and the idea is for people to talk to the farmer about how the food is produced or grown or to the chef about how they’ve prepared it.”

Jennifer Pfenning of Pfenning’s Organic Farm near Baden, says she loves participating in the event simply because it gives her a sense of community involvement.

“Our product is well represented in the community but we don’t actually get a lot of face time with the consumer,” she says. “It’s a great time for me personally to stand there and talk to the people who eat our food.”

Pfenning is paired with chef Darryl Haus of New Hamburg’s Peel Street Bistro. Pfenning’s will provide carrots in a variety of shades from white to yellow to purple and Haus will be making three dishes, including a very intriguing sounding sorbet.

Gusto Catering Company is paired with Elmira’s Floralane Produce, who will provide chef Doug Westover with fresh tomatoes. Gusto’s executive director Dominic Ellis said they were linked with beef and emu farmers in years past and are excited about the prospect of a new partnership.

“We haven’t worked with Floralane before so we’re quite excited about it,” Ellis said. “We’d like to start using some of their product. It’s really important to us to support local farmers. The food just tastes better.”

Ultimately, Jennifer Pfenning says, the Taste Local! Taste Fresh! event serves as an excellent and all-important way of helping people contemplate what’s on their plate.

“I don’t think there can ever be enough work done to connect people to their food,” she says. “I view myself as very lucky to be on a farm and, with all of the food we eat, I know the people that grow it…Most people don’t have that opportunity. This gives people a chance to say, ‘Yeah, I met the people that grew that.’ ”

Tickets for Taste Local! Taste Fresh!, which runs from 2 to 5 p.m., are available online at foodlink.ca (where you’ll also see a full list of participating farms and chefs) or by calling the Foodlink office at 513-8998. You can also pick them up at a variety of restaurant around town, among them Charbries, The Walper Terrace Hotel, Hannah’s Bella Bistro and Golden Hearth Bakery.
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Thai Sweet Corn Soup

Nothing beats corn on the cob. The fresher and sweeter, the better – with butter, salt and pepper. It’s summer personified, and it was the late, great Edna Staebler (whose namesake public school opened its doors for the first time last week) who sang its praises best in the Vegetable chapter of her classic book Food That Really Schmecks.

“You don’t know how delicious corn can be until you taste it fresh off the stalk,” she wrote. “I phone the farmer’s wife down the lake to pick me some corn, put a big kettle of water on the stove, paddle down the lake in my canoe to get the corn, husk it, and pop it into the boiling salted water for 5 minutes. Then I eat it, 8 or 10 cobs of Golden Bantam slathered with butter; and that’s all I want for supper, thank you.”

I’m inclined to agree. When it’s in season, like anything, the temptation is to eat it in droves. The other night we had friends in for homemade pizza – with corn on the side. Not exactly a fitting accompaniment, but I’d just picked up a half-dozen pieces and it seemed disgraceful not to cook and enjoy it immediately.

Leafing through a favourite cookbook recently, I came across a recipe for Thai Sweet Corn soup. “Fresh sweet corn on the cob is the heart and soul of this recipe,” read the intro. “Summer is your only opportunity to make this soup, so don’t miss out.” I needed no further convincing.

I hit up the New City Supermarket on King Street in downtown Kitchener for some of the essential Thai ingredients – and came away with them for less than $10.

If you’ve never been to New City, do swing by. There’s all sorts of interesting produce and aisle upon aisle of all manner of cans, bottles and jars. Out of season, it’s an excellent source for fresh herbs – big, shrinkwrapped trays go for less than two bucks and are a far cry from the little packaged wisps you find at most grocery stores – you’ll be looking for new recipes to use up what’s leftover.

With the cooler nights upon us, this soup makes a great supper (8 to 10 cobs of corn, though, is a tempting alternative).Don’t be tempted to leave out any of the ingredients – they all add essential flavour. And for the love of Pete, don’t use frozen corn.

This comes from Rebar: Modern Food Cookbook, a collection of recipes from a well-loved vegetarian café in Victoria, B.C. It’s an essential cookbook for veggies and non-veggies alike.

Thai Sweet Corn Soup

Corn-Lemongrass Stock
8 ears fresh corn
8 cups water
2 lemongrass stalks
6 kaffir lime leaves, fresh or frozen
1 yellow onioin
1 garlic bulb
1 tsp salt

Soup
1 tbsp vegetable oil
1 small yellow onion, diced
1 cup minced shallots
6 garlic cloves, minced
1 lemongrass stalk, trimmed and minced
4 tbsp minced ginger
6 kaffir lime leaves
2 tstp salt
1- 400 mL can light coconut milk
2 tsp sambal oelek
1/4 cup chopped Thai basil
1 lime, cut into wedges

1. To prepare stock remove corn kernels from uncooked cobs and reserve (you will need about 4 cups). Roughly chop the onion, lemongrass and garlic. Place cobs and stock ingredients in a stock pot and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer 45 minutes. Strain and keep warm.

2. Heat oil in a soup pot over medium heat; add onion and sauté until translucent. Add shallots, garlic, lemongrass, ginger, lime leaves and 1 tsp salt. Gently sauté until golden and softened, adding a bit of stock to prevent sticking if necessary.

3. Add the reserved corn kernels, remaining salt and enough stock to cover. Bring to a boil, reduce heat and simmer until the corn is tender. Remove the lime leaves. Using an immersion blender or food processor, puree the soup (returning it to the pot, if necessary). Add the coconut milk, sambal and enough stock to make it the consistency of your liking. Simmer for 15 minutes.

4. Ladle into bowls and top with chopped basil and a squeeze of lime.
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Pickled Beans

A few weeks ago, I had the pleasure of visiting one of my best girlfriends at the organic vegetable farm she shares with her husband up near Thornbury. It was a great window into the workings of a farm and what day-to-day life at the height of market season is really like.

Naturally, I pitched in and got my hands dirty, as any decent visitor would do. And indeed, from early morning to dusk, there was no shortage of jobs to be done. I was Laura’s sidekick, busying myself by helping with her usual duties.

Upon my arrival, we started by prepping an enormous lunch for the rest of the crew (her husband Ryan, his right hand man and their crew of teenaged volunteers – and ourselves, too) – spicy red lentil dahl, brown rice, greens with maple vinaigrette and steamed rainbow chard. Not exactly a light lunch, but the midday meal on a farm is often the biggest of the day, and rightly so.

We chatted up customers while doing farm gate sales (with the regulars commenting on Laura’s burgeoning belly – she’s expecting her first baby this winter). We sorted through a bin that held the last of the farm’s peas and picked out the nicest looking ones for a chef who wanted “all you’ve got.” We then had some quality quiet time to catch-up on the porch while we shelled all the nattier looking peas for ourselves – which were, of course, equally delicious, if not as pretty as the chef’s on the outside.

We filled and dropped off vegetable orders at two local restaurants, listening sympathetically to one discouraged chef as he admitted that although he adores the farm’s purple heirloom carrots, he’d had a couple of complaints from customers who thought they were rotten because they weren’t orange. We also picked herbs, answered the endlessly ringing phone, swatted flies, made granola and ate divinely yummy cheese and tomato sandwiches (fresh from the vine) for dinner. Not surprisingly, we were in bed by 10 p.m.

A good part of one day was also spent pickling, a bit of an exploratory activity for both of us because although Laura is a farm girl now, our childhood and teenage years were spent together in Golden Horseshoe suburbia, where pickles tend to come from the supermarket. Given that Laura and Ryan were drowning in green beans, we opted to pickle those – with visions of garnishing many a Caesar with them in the months ahead.

We consulted a couple of cookbooks and liked this recipe best, which comes from Simply In Season by Mary Beth Lind and Cathleen Hockman-Wert – an indispensable book for those who like cooking and eating when food is fresh from the fields and gardens. This recipe makes 10 to 12 pints but Laura and I opted to do six quarts instead.

Pickled Green Beans

5 to 6 lbs (2.5 to 3 kgs) green beans (the bigger and straighter, the better)
chili flakes
10 to 12 cloves garlic
10 to 12 dill heads

8 cups water
5 cups apple cider vinegar
1/2 cup pickling salt

Put one large garlic clove, a pinch of chili flakes and one dill head in each pint jar. Fill with straight beans, packing them in as tightly as possible. Make sure the length of the beans is about one centimeter from the top of the jar.

Bring water, vinegar and salt to a boil. Fill jars with brine to one centimeter of top. Place hot lids on jars and process in boiling water bath for 10 minutes. (Consult a book or look online for safe canning basics if you’re not sure).

Let stand for two to four weeks before eating.
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Laepple's Organic Farm

Experimental as we’ve all become in our cooking – what with all the cuisines we’ve been introduced to and the widespread availability of so many ingredients – there’s still something to be said for a good old meat and potato dinner.

Whether it’s a wintry Sunday supper of gravy-topped roast beef and mashed spuds or a more summer-friendly barbecued steak and baked potato, traditional fare can be a welcome respite from exotic flavours and the constant desire to try something new.

You could find all the fixings for that kind of meal – organic ones, in fact – at Laepple Organic Farm in the wee village of Shingletown. Fritz and Linda Laepple, who have been farming at their spot on Bleams Road (just southeast of Baden) since emigrating from Germany 10 years ago, grow a half-dozen varieties of potatoes, including the ever-popular Yukon Golds, reds, whites and russets. Many of the farm’s 25 acres of potatoes are sold wholesale to Pfenning’s Organic Farm but there are plenty available to buy at the farm gate.

That takes care of the potato side of things. And the meat? That would be courtesy of the Laepple’s cattle, which are fed grass, hay and some of those homegrown potatoes, but never grains. Cows, explains Linda, are not, by nature, designed to eat grain but are often fed corn and the like in order to be fattened up quickly. Grass-fed beef, she says, makes for lean meat that requires very little trimming.

The Laepples have about 140 cattle altogether, and sell their naturally raised, certified organic beef by the quarter, side or cut. There are burgers (just beef, no other ingredients added), pepperettes, summer sausage and soup bones for sale, too. And while they don’t normally sell veal, Laepple mentioned she’ll have some available in the near future. A wet summer has made for poor haying – and when there’s not enough hay, there’s not enough winter feed for all those mouths. That means some of the little ones will have to meet their maker.

There are several other things on offer at the farm, too, which isn’t surprising given that Linda estimates 90 per cent of what her family eats is grown right there. When I visited recently, I also bought a dozen eggs – thanks to the free-running hens that I had to dodge when pulling my car up the lane (the little ones make their home in a doors-open, run down old van – “Makes for good recycling!” Linda points out). And I ordered a tub of flour from the family’s mini-mill, which is housed in a large, metal shipping crate next to the garage. They grow rye, wheat and spelt on the farm and use the mill to grind several varieties of flour. Depending on the time of year, there might be tomatoes or other veg on offer from the family garden.

A perfect time to head up to Laepple’s is next Sunday (August 31) when the family hosts their 6th annual Potatofest. There will be a fully organic buffet served featuring their own roast beef (cooked in the outdoor wood-burning oven) and salads prepped by partnering farms in the LOFT (Local Organic Food Team) Coop program (a community supported agriculture produce box program in which the Laepple’s participate).

There will be hay rides and exhibitors and kids are given a little bag and the opportunity to head out to the field to dig up some potatoes to take home. (Stock up on local potatoes now and stash them in your cold cellar – if you’ve got one – so you’ll have them through winter. Linda says they should be packed in a sack or crate, so the air can reach them, and that 4C is the ideal temperature).

Potatofest is free but tickets do need to be reserved for the buffet dinner. They’re $12 for adults and $6 for children under 12 (but children under six are free) Contact the Laepple’s directly for more information.
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Heirloom Tomatoes

I don’t know about you, but when the salmonella scare a couple of months ago had restaurants and supermarkets pulling American tomatoes off their sandwiches and shelves, I didn’t feel hard done by. I don’t buy them and am inclined to cast them aside when eating out. Not because I fear salmonella, per se, but because they don’t seem worth eating.

As Barbara Kingsolver opined so aptly in her book Animal, Vegetable, Miracle (a wonderful, essential read for anyone who eats– get thee to a bookstore), those blemish-free, coded and labeled import tomatoes “taste like slightly sour water with a mealy texture. I’m amazed those things keep moving through the market but the world apparently has tomato-eaters for whom ‘kinda reddish’ is qualification enough.”

Better, instead, to wait patiently to indulge in the feast, which starts about now (a little later than usual due to a cool spring) and lasts until frost. The real things are ripening on vines as we speak. They’re not always picture perfect – lumpy, oddly shaped and sometimes scabby. But, ah, the flavour. The juicy sweetness serves as a reminder that tomatoes are, indeed, a fruit. And the taste simply doesn’t compare to its imported counterpart.

There are actually thousands of varieties of tomatoes. Those we’ve become accustomed to pack up easily, travel well, look uniform and unblemished – because that’s what grocery shoppers want – and will last a very long time between picking and eating.

These days, you’ll see lots of locally grown romas, beefsteaks and cherry tomatoes at the farmers’ markets. But if you look a little closer, you’ll also find heirloom varieties. Their names alone will have you interested – Cherokee Purple, Persimmon, Hillbilly, Jubilee, Brandywine, Mortgage Lifter (named by its developer, who, legend has it, was able to pay off his house in short order after crossbreeding his best tomato plants and selling the resulting tomatoes for a good price).

Heirloom tomatoes range in colour from gold and green to dusky rose and purple. They come as tiny as a grape and as large as, well… apparently there’s a tomato named for Dolly Parton, so I’ll let you use your imagination.

Brenda Knechtel grows about 10 heirloom varieties (plus standards, like beefsteak) on the farm she shares with husband Maynard near Wellesley. Reading through the seed catalogue for tomatoes, she says, “is like having a history lesson” because, in some cases, varieties date back hundreds of years (the Persimmon, for example, traces back to 1781) and to places all over the world. Her Matt’s Cherry tomatoes are grown from seeds passed down by an aunt who sold vegetables at the Kitchener market for 50 years and was given the seeds by one of her customers.

Heirloom vegetables, Knechtel says, pull more nutrients from the soil than hybrids – so not only do they taste better, they’re better for you. The hybrids, she says, are all about “society’s need for perfection.”

Heritage tomatoes are certainly outweighed by standard types at the farmers’ markets but they’re there if you look for them. You can also buy from Knechtel Family Farm directly, where they welcome customers six days a week (no Sundays) between 8 and 6. There’s no stand, but they’ll pick vegetables (none of which are sprayed) right there for you – it doesn’t get much fresher than that. (“People come by expecting a stand and say, ‘Well, show us what you’ve got,’ ” laughs Knechtel. Gesturing to the crops around her, she says, “I say, ‘It’s all right here.’ ”).

For directions to Knechtel Family Farm, check out the Buy Local! Buy Fresh! map. And happy tomato feasting. Enjoy them while you can – the famine lies ahead!

Mapleton's Organics

Martin de Groot says he probably makes the best ice cream in Canada – he’ll even challenge anyone who thinks otherwise.

de Groot who, with his wife Ineke Booy, owns Mapleton’s Organic Dairy near Moorefield (not too far from Conestoga Lake), says his ice cream is superior to its kin because “it’s such an honest product.” Indeed, it has a rather simple ingredient list – cream from the farm’s cows, eggs from their chickens, fair-trade sugar, chocolate and vanilla. No “modified milk ingredients” here.

de Groot and Booy emigrated from Holland in 1980 and began dairy farming in the area soon after. They started doing so the conventional way but, after 10 years, were uncomfortable with the impact that type of farming was having on the earth, their health, and the health of their animals. They made the switch to organic and, in 1999, decided to start using their milk to make ice cream. They built a small ice cream plant on site and had their first batch by the spring of 2000.

Today, Mapleton’s, which is certified organic, produces ice cream, frozen yogurt and both fat-free and full-fat yogurt from the milk of their 75 cows. (The fat free and frozen yogurt were a natural progression – it allowed them to use what was left of the milk after the cream was skimmed off to make ice cream). Their products are sold across Canada, mostly in health food stores, although, as of about a week ago, they can be found at all Sobey’s stores in Ontario. Ice cream comes in vanilla, chocolate, strawberry, cappuccino and chocolate chip while frozen yogurt comes in vanilla, strawberry and lemon (so creamy, you’d never guess it was low in fat – try the lemon with some of summer’s fresh, wild blueberries – yum!)

Many commercial ice creams, de Groot says, are pumped full of air. And, he adds, “with three-quarters of the ingredients, you have to be a chemist to know what they are.” He also points out that his ice cream doesn’t leave one with that icky post-eating thirst – a sure sign, he says, of a product with added whey powder or salt.

For the full Mapleton’s experience, it’s worth taking a drive up to the farm, where there’s an ice cream café on site – and the added bonus of flavours beyond what you’ll find in the store (ginger, maple, chocolate cherry, dandelion – and seasonal ones like blueberry and pumpkin). The café also serves organic lunches and has other food products for sale. (There’s also plenty to do – they’re interested in showing visitors how the food circle works, so there’s a demonstration barn, wagon rides, mazes and various other activities on site).

de Groot says when his family started organic farming, they were “the weirdos in the neighbourhood. They all said, ‘It’s great in theory but you’re gonna go broke.’ ”

So much for that thought. “It has been quite a journey, but an exciting journey,” de Groot says. He’s heartened that customers are becoming more interested in local and organic eating. With that in mind, he feels that skyrocketing energy prices are nothing but a blessing.
“It helps us get back to the days of local food systems,” he says.

Once the “weirdo,” he now gets a kick out his young employees and interns. “They’re pushing me, now,” he laughs. “They’re so passionate.”