Category Georgetown

It is mighty hard to leave a warm bed and face a cold, dark, winter’s morning; a little extra pampering is required. Here is how I got my motor running this morning: artisanal toast, but not at $4 a slice from a trendy San Francisco coffee shop. I’m talking about artisanal toast made at home by you, the artisan.

Artisanal Toast with Ricotta, Grilled Figs, & Honey

Special equipment: cast-iron grill pan

Ingredients:

Locally-baked, artisanal whole grain bread, thickly sliced
Olive oil
Fresh figs, sliced in half lengthwise
Ricotta cheese or cream cheese
Good quality honey
Shelled, unsalted, roasted pumpkin seeds
Ground cinnamon

Directions:

1. Start with a seasoned, cast-iron grill pan; get it good and hot (but not smoking) over medium heat.
2. Brush olive oil on both sides of the best artisanally-crafted, nutrient-dense bread you can get your hands on (see suggestions below); lay them on your grill pan. After 1 or 2 minutes, check the underside of the bread – when it has nice grill marks on it, flip it over and grill for 1 or 2 minutes more until both sides have grill marks; remove to a serving plate.
3. Place fig halves in a bowl; add a healthy dose of olive oil; toss to coat evenly. Place the figs cut side down on the grill pan. Grill for 1 or 2 minutes, until cut side has nice grill marks; flip to other side and grill until softened about 1 more minute.
4. Meanwhile, smear the best ricotta or cream cheese you can find on one side of your toast. Top with fig halves, drizzle with your favourite honey, sprinkle with pumpkin seeds, dust with cinnamon. Feel a smile draw across your face like the sun rising on the dawn of a bright, new day. Make a vow to treat yourself this well every morning. And then thank your local artisanal baker.

Some suggested breads from local artisanal bakeries:

Rye Walnut Bread from La Villa Bakery & Café in Port Credit, ON: baked using recipes and techniques passed down through generations of the Bozzo family.

Pumpernickel from Monestary Bakery & Delicatessen in Oakville, ON: baked fresh daily.

Fig, Raisin, & Walnut Filone from Pane Fresco in Burlington, ON: handcrafted and baked in a European Deck oven. Preservative free.

Hearty Seed from The Glen Oven Café in Glen Williams, ON: A golden flax bread with sesame seeds and poppy seeds.

Boston Mills Multigrain from Spirit Tree Estate Cidery in Caledon, ON: Handcrafted with cracked grains, seeds, and a touch of honey. Baked daily in a wood-fired oven. No artificial preservatives.

Chia Fruit Loaf from Cobs Bakery (click link for locations): Made with whole grain flour, cinnamon, chia seeds, sunflower seeds, dates, and raisins. Made without preservatives or added sugar. Cholesterol free.

Walnut, Fig, & Raisin Loaf from The Hot Oven Bakery at Cloverdale Mall: During the month of February all bread on the bread wall will be only $2.00 each.

Please check my Grocery/Gourmet Store Directory (Bakeries) for details on local artisanal bakeries.

I have a deep appreciation for good corn, rooted in the fields of Kent County that surround my mother’s childhood hometown of Chatham, Ontario.

I was raised to worship Kent County corn. My mom fondly recounted how her sister Jean would come home from work with an armful of the precious cobs, freshly picked and so sweet. Dinner that night would be a corn feast, honouring cob after sweet cob of golden summer.

The key to being crazy about corn is to buy the very best locally grown corn you can find; then cook it and eat it as soon as possible on the day you buy it. When you bring it home from the farm market, get it straight into the fridge and don’t husk it until just before you plan to boil it. Then boil it in plenty of fresh water without any additions: once the water is boiling, cook for 3 to 4 minutes for young cobs and 5 to 7 minutes for mature cobs.

Where can we find the best corn in the Peel Halton area? My answer is Allison’s Farm Market in Georgetown, Ontario.

The first time I tasted Allison’s tender, sweet corn I was hooked-at-hello. Olive Allison’s Farm Market corn so much that when the local corn season arrives, I make the journey to Georgetown from Streetsville. This year, I was so eager that I showed up a bit too early, LOL. Next year, I’ll call first to find out when the corn will be coming in from the fields.

Bob Allison was kind enough to invite me onto his corn fields recently, to teach me a bit about what makes his corn taste especially good.

The Allisons have been farming their land since 1965 and have been growing sweet corn since about 1975. They started out with an honesty box on their front yard and have grown into a permanent farm market where they sell their homegrown corn and pumpkins, as well as a bounty of fresh, local fruits and vegetables they bring in from other farms.

The Allison’s grow Gourmet Sweet supersweet corn: 1 acre of yellow corn and about 30 acres of bi-colour (Peaches & Cream) corn. Colour is just visual and doesn’t affect the taste of the corn. They plant a new patch of corn about every three days. The last patch is planted in early July and ripens the end of September. Bob’s crew looks for ripe ears on the stalks and hand picks them.

As soon as the corn is picked, its sugar starts to turn to starch. The hotter the weather, the faster the corn will deteriorate. That’s why Bob and his crew take extra special care to chill the corn right after it is picked. You will notice the difference between Bob’s corn and grocery store corn, which can get left out in warmer temperatures for a week.

When selecting corn, look for big cobs with moist, dark green husks and moist, stiff and dark silk.

All of these beautiful ears of corn that I bought from Allison’s Farm Market were perfect.

Please don’t buy already husked, cello wrapped, foam tray packets of corn. Please buy your corn locally and fresh, the day that you want to use it, ideally from a farm market. If you are a corn worshiper like me, it’s well worth the lovely country drive to Allison’s Farm Market in Georgetown. I often drive to Georgetown just to get their corn but come back with a bounty of fresh summer fruits and vegetables.

The Allisons also have a stand at Georgetown Farmers’ Market – so if you go on a Saturday morning, you can enjoy this lovely, vibrant market that runs along Main Street in historic downtown Georgetown.

Allison’s corn is so delicious that (dare I say it?) it is even better than the Kent County corn that my Chatham cousins brought to our cottage last week. Perhaps I overcooked the Kent County corn? I am grasping at corn stalks here, trying to remain in good standing with my dear Chatham family. I can hear the butter knives being dropped on the floor in Chatham right now. I will have a lot of explaining to do.

I don’t have a recipe for you because good corn should be served unadulterated…

Or perhaps with a splurge of Stirling Whey Butter smeared over top. Mmm…creamy, slightly nutty, all natural buttery goodness. Artisanally crafted in Stirling, Ontario at Stirling Creamery since 1925.

Tel: 905-873-8283

Open: 10:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. from June to Oct 31^st

On-Farm Market: Grow and sell their own sweet corn and pumpkins. Bring in strawberries, apples, tomatoes, potatoes, squash, green beans, blueberries, peaches, melons, preserves, pies, bread (weekends only), fall décor, mums.

Farm Market Stand at: Georgetown Farmers’ Market

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Stirling Creamery Butter: Available at Longo’s & Goodness Me! Visit Stirling Creamery’s website for other GTA locations.

I went for a lovely country drive with my Dad last Saturday to The Mill Street Cheese Market, just off Main Street in quaint, historic downtown Georgetown. The pretty little shop is filled to the brim with the best local and international cheeses, cured meats, charcuterie, and gourmet specialty food products, from as close as Caledon to as far away as Europe and Australia. Olive the Mill Street Cheese Market. Whenever I go, I feel like I am visiting a little fromagerie shop in France.

Like a kid in a candy shop, I like to start each visit by browsing every inch of the shelves for little gourmet treasures like preserves, olive oil, pasta sauces, and even artisanal limonade from France and the iconic St-Viateur Bagels from Montreal (you haven’t had a proper bagel if you haven’t had a St-Viateur Bagel).

It doesn’t take long before one of the staff tempts me with samplings of the fabulous cheeses and cured meats that this shop has to offer. Go with an appetite and the time to learn about each product. These people know their cheese and are passionate about sharing their knowledge with you.

The first nibble that I was offered was a little spoon filled with a tiny dollop of Rootham’s Tangy Red Pepper Jelly and topped with a sliver of Aged Farmhouse artisan cheese from Natural Pastures Cheese Company in Courtenay, on Vancouver Island, British Columbia.

Wow! The sweet and spicy tang of the jelly was a delicious match for this outstanding aged firm cheese that was rich and flavourful with slightly granular and sweet end-notes. Natural Pastures Cheese Company produces a variety of world-class,  award-winning cheeses. They use fresh, pure milk from grass-fed cows who live stress-free on the pristine farms of the Comox Valley on Vancouver Island.

Rootham Gourmet Preserves Tangy Red Pepper Jelly is all natural and gluten free. It is made in Guelph, Ontario with local Canadian ingredients, including fresh Ontario red bell peppers.

My next sample was Summer Sausage made by Mennonites in Stratford, Ontario. This fine textured sausage is all pork and sold whole, wrapped in a cloth bag which helps to preserve it.

As soon as you roll back the cloth, you are enticed by the piquant aroma.  A thin slice practically melts in your mouth but bursts with garlic, warm spice and smokiness. Irresistible.

I made my way to the cheese counter and tried a sample of a creamy Thunder Oak Medium Gouda made by the Schep family with fresh milk from their Holstein cows, on Thunder Oak Cheese Farm in Thunder Bay, Ontario.

Their lovely Dutch cheese is award-winning and free of preservatives or added colouring.  Dill or Jalapeno flavoured Thunder Oak Gouda was also available but I bought the plain medium to pair it with Roothman’s Tangy Red Pepper Jelly.

My final treat was Magie de Madawaska,  an artisanal washed rind cheese made from full cream cow’s milk by Fromagerie Le Détour in Notre-Dame-du-Lac, Quebec.  Soft, creamy, and full of flavour.

Just visiting The Mill Street Cheese Market is a joy in itself but I am pretty sure that you won’t leave the store empty handed. It is conveniently located just off Main Street, a few steps from where the wonderful Georgetown Farmers Market is held on Saturday mornings during the growing season.

If you would like to learn a little more about the producers of these fine products, please visit their websites below.