Category Streetsville

I shared a spot of tea with my friend Christine recently, whose amiable British charm instantly wins over everyone. With the birth of several royal babies in my extended family (and oh yes, in the Royal Family too), we had a lot to talk about. Like a couple of birds, we perched ourselves in her enchanting backyard garden cottage.

Her garden cottage is so pretty and so tiny, it’s the perfect spot for a cup of tea or a midsummer night’s dream.

Her cottage is as dreamy as her delightful shop, Three Wishes, which Christine fills to the brim with the prettiest one-of-a-kind finds for home and garden.

I love Christine’s collection of shabby chic and antique furniture and accessories, all white and whimsical.

Look at this door that Christine turned into a chalkboard. The petticoat chandelier on the left would be darling in a little girl’s room.

In celebration of the royal babies, Christine and I enjoyed Ginger Tea Punch. My best friend’s mom, Mary, first served it to me at the baby shower she and her daughter hosted to celebrate the birth of my son. Olive it so much, it is now the only punch recipe I keep in my recipe files. It is light and refreshing and not too sweet, unlike most punches. Mary and her daughter are both talented cooks and lifelong friends. Mary and my mom shared a room in the hospital where Mary’s daughter and I were born, three days apart. We’ve been best friends ever since.

Mary’s Ginger Tea Punch

Makes about 12 cups

A light and refreshing punch. This recipe makes enough for a party. You can easily cut the recipe in half  but I am unable to find 1L ginger ale bottles. Be sure to make the lemonade ice cubes or ice ring (if you are serving it in a punch bowl). When the ice melts, it adds to the flavour of the punch.  The ice ring will stay frozen longer than the cubes.

Ingredients:

4 cups water

6 tablespoons white granulated sugar

1 teaspoon ground ginger

8 tea bags

1 2L bottle ginger ale, well-chilled

Lemonade to make lemonade ice cubes or ice ring

Directions:

1. The day before serving, pour lemonade into desired shaped mold (ice cube tray or Bundt pan) and freeze overnight, until ready to serve punch.
2. Several hours before serving, bring the water, sugar, and ground ginger to a rolling boil. Stir with a whisk. Add the teabags (do not stir), remove from heat, and steep for eight minutes. Gently remove teabags (without squeezing them) and refrigerate brewed tea until well chilled.
3. Just before serving, place brewed tea and ginger ale in a large container such as a punch bowl. Stir. Add lemonade ice. Serve immediately.

Here are my three wishes for you:

1) A few free moments to yourself to enjoy these beautiful, fleeting summer days.

2) A dreamy, enchanted space to steal away to (drop by Christine’s shop for some inspiration and a lovely chat).

3) Good friends, old and new, to treasure for a lifetime.

‘The best of British to you’ (good luck)!

Love,

Olive

Three Wishes

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What better way to celebrate the arrival of summer than under a perigee supermoon (the closest and largest full moon of 2013)…

with an equally spectacular strawberry tart?

My Strawberry Tart is a simple but elegant way to showcase the fragrant, local field strawberries that I picked up at Streetsville Farmers’ Market on Saturday.

Based on the gorgeous fruit tarts popular in France during festival time, my recipe is an easy and relatively healthy summer dessert that looks almost as stunning as a tarte aux fraises from a fine Parisian pâtisserie. After listening to the utterly charming audiobook French Women Don’t Get Fat (read by the author herself, Mireille Guiliano), I learned that the fattening pastry cream, that is often spread over the base of a tarte aux fraises, is not necessary. Great, because I am not crazy about pastry cream, but olive strawberries!

There are a few easy steps to this tart. You can make the simple syrup required for the coulis well in advance. It keeps for 2 to 3 weeks in your fridge and can be used to dress a fruit salad or to sweeten homemade lemonade or ice tea.

Bake the crisp, shortbread cookie crust in the morning, filling your kitchen with a delicious aroma, then set it aside to cool. It has a hint of ground almonds, which you can replace with flour if there are allergy concerns.

Later (at least two hours before you want to serve the tart), fill the tart with a concentric arrangement of the prettiest, similar-sized, scarlet-coloured strawberries you can find. Then make the coulis and glaze the berries immediately. The berries will glisten under the coulis; both will perfume the air with sweetness. Refrigerate the tart for at least two hours to allow the coulis to set. It’s best eaten the day it’s made but it is still good the next day or two, with a softer crust. Serve with a dollop of whipped cream if you wish.

You can use other seasonal fruit instead, such as raspberries, peaches, or apricots (but not kiwi, pineapple, papaya, or figs). Make sure you use the same fruit for the coulis.

Olive’s Strawberry Tart

Simple Syrup:

Combine the sugar and water in a saucepan and heat gently until sugar has dissolved, stirring a couple of times. When the sugar is completely dissolved, bring to a boil and reduce heat to medium. Boil for 5 minutes. Cool before storing in a covered jar in your fridge for up to 2 to 3 weeks. Can be used to dress a fruit salad or sweeten homemade lemonade or ice tea.

Shortbread Cookie Crust:

Preheat oven to 325°F. Lightly butter the bottom and sides of the inside of a 10” round tart pan with straight, fluted sides and a removable bottom.

Mix the flour, ground almonds, brown sugar, and salt in a medium bowl with a whisk until combined. Cut in the butter by rubbing the flour mixture and butter between your fingertips, until the mixture blends into coarse crumbs. Knead gently with your hands to form a ball.

Distribute pieces of the dough evenly onto the bottom and up the sides of the pan. Using the heel of your hand, pat the dough to cover the bottom and sides evenly. Make sure there are no gaps. Bake on the middle oven rack for about 15 minutes, until golden brown. Cool completely before adding the fruit.

Strawberry Filling & Strawberry Coulis Glaze:

2 quarts of strawberries, washed, dried thoroughly, and hulled but left whole

Pick out the best-looking, similar-sized berries and arrange them on top of the crust in an attractive, concentric pattern, with their tips pointing up and their hulled ends pointing down.

Note: You will need approximately 1 ½ quarts of strawberries to fill the tart and for the coulis but buy 2 quarts just to be sure and to allow you to pick out enough of the best berries for the tart. You will need 1 ½ cups of strawberries for the coulis.

Coulis Glaze:

Prepare the gelatin sheets according to package directions, first following the Basic Directions and then the Cold Preparation Directions.

Meanwhile, purée the raw strawberries with a squeeze of lemon juice in a food processor. Add the simple syrup and blend. Strain through a sieve into a bowl, rubbing through with a rubber spatula. Discard the seeds and remaining pulp.

Before the gelatin begins to set, fold the gelatin into the strained coulis; then immediately pour the coulis evenly over the tart to glaze each berry. Refrigerate the tart until the coulis is set, about 2 hours. Store any leftovers in the fridge.

Note: I learned the basics of simple syrup, coulis, and glazes from the Gordon Ramsay Desserts cookbook. He uses many interesting ingredients to whip up different variations of flavoured stock syrups, coulis, and glazes. It’s well worth checking out the cookbook, available from the Mississauga Library. I modified his recipes for Stock Syrup and Coulis to fit the requirements of this recipe.

Olive is on a mission. I would love to see a small-scale independent grocery store open up in the downtown core of the Village of Streetsville.

When I was growing up in Streetsville, there used to be two grocery stores downtown. One was the IGA (which is now Shoppers’ Drug Mart at Centre Plaza) and the other was Dominion (later Foodport, which is now the Portuguese Community Centre at Britannia and Queen).

I lived in Montréal for a period, where I could walk to a great fresh fruit and vegetable store,

a gourmet butcher, a baker, a full-service grocery store, and an ethnic grocery store (not to mention a handful of great restaurants!). And that was all within 4 blocks of my apartment. Streetsville villagers need a grocery store that we can walk or cycle to, on a short jaunt, to pick up fresh produce without making a car trip outside of the village.

I am so envious of the Mineola neighborhood in Port Credit, which has the fabulous, small-scale gourmet grocery store Cousin’s right in their neighborhood.

Todd Ladner, Chairman of the Streetsville Business Improvement Association would like to start a movement. He thinks the building currently occupied by the post office (at the southeast corner of Queen Street South and Kerr Street) would make a great location for a small-scale gourmet grocery store or co-op farmers’ market.  The post office at this location will be closing and then re-opening on a smaller scale in the former location of JOE LAD (on Queen Street South between Thomas Street and Pearl Street). So, this building will soon be vacant. The property will be sold by the federal government to a private owner. It has parking, a loading dock, and lots of space.

Imagine turning this

into something more like this,

or this,

or maybe even this. Olive The Apple Factory!

Todd would like to hear what you think. What kind of grocery store would you like to see in the Village of Streetsville? Please share your thoughts with us by commenting on this post. And forward this post to as many Streetsvillites as possible, so we can hear the voice of Streetsville loud and clear.

Long on my wish list, olive the idea of riding my bike (scarf in the wind) to a village gourmet grocery store to pick up a warm baguette, a block of fine cheese, some fresh produce, and some gourmet goodies. Let’s make it happen Streetsville! Cousins and The Apple Factory, I hope you are listening.

Great news for the Erin Mills area! On Saturday June 8, a new farmers’ market will be opening across from Erin Mills Town Centre and Credit Valley Hospital. The Backyard Farm & Market at Erin Mills will be bringing chemical-free, fresh produce from local farmers and delicacies from local artisanal producers right to our own backyard. According to Garden Coach and Project Lead, Deanna Berry, the market has sought out only organic or chemical-free farmers and producers and will host 17 vendors to start.

Located on 1.5 acres of land, the site will also include an urban educational farm, boasting a straw bale vegetable micro-farm, herb spiral, and compost demonstration site.  Kids will enjoy fun food education programs, a story telling circle, a picnic area, and play spaces (including straw bale forts and a labyrinth)! Wow, that sounds like fun! Olive labyrinths!

The project was initiated by The Daniels Corporation, who has donated the land and remain active partners with The Cutting Veg and Garden Jane in a collaborative effort to increase urban agriculture in the community. Their hope is that the site will become a community food hub that will encourage area residents to “grow, learn and enjoy local and sustainably sourced food in a fun community space”.

Oh how happy I will be on Saturday mornings this summer, getting up early to visit the Streetsville Farmers’ Market and then The Backyard Farm & Market at Erin Mills.

The Backyard Farm & Market at Erin Mills

Every Saturday from 10:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m., June 8th to October 12th, 2013.

Located at the northeast corner of Eglinton Avenue West & Erin Mills Parkway, just outside of Streetsville.

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Hallelujah! Brick House Pizza Company has finally opened in Streetsville. We’ve been waiting eagerly since they posted the sign “Saucy presents Brick House Pizza. Get ready Streetsville.” Saucy’s flavour-packed food had us at hello, since the moment the restaurant opened in November 2000. They are delivering big flavours again with artisanal, wood-fired, take-out pizza from Brick House Pizza Company. You can smell the wood burning in the brick oven from the parking lot. They don’t offer delivery yet, but olive that it is so easy to park right in front and pick up yourself.

The wood-fired crust on the Mama Roni that my son ordered was brushed with an herb-flecked tomato sauce made from puréed San Marzanno tomatoes (grown in the volcanic soil of Mount Vesuvio in Napoli, Italy – the birthplace of pizza), then covered with plenty of Mozzarella cheese and scattered with lots of crispy, spicy, dry cured pepperoni. It was pepperoni pizza done the way it should be.

I have been pining for a good pizza Margherita ever since I enviously watched Julia Roberts fall head over heals into a steamy affair with the Margherita pizza she ate in Napoli, Italy, in the movie Eat, Pray, Love. Brick House Pizza’s version satisfied my urge with a thin and chewy crust spread with olive oil and chunks of stewed San Marzanno tomatoes.  It was perfumed with strips of fresh basil, topped with gooey Mozzarella cheese and dotted with melted globs of Bocconcini cheese (fresh mozzarella balls).

Olived my husband’s own creation the best. Our teeth crunched salty prosciutto then sunk down through oozing mozzarella into sweet tomato sauce and chewy crust. The highlight was the tang of the creamy blue cheese as it hit our tongues (just the right amount of dabs here and there without overpowering you). My husband asked “How can I ever go back to chain store pizza when I can have this?” And thus begins our love affair with Brick House Pizza.

Not only is the pizza delicious but olive that they offer good, freshly made salad. The Caesar salad was full of crisp romaine leaves dressed in creamy vinaigrette with a kick of garlic and sprinkled with airy croutons, bits of shaved parmesan and chunks of real bacon that is cooked in the wood burning oven. One Caesar salad could feed 2-3 people if you are eating it with pizza.

I don’t know how I will find the strength to pull myself away from the pizza to try the rest of the menu but the sandwiches sound mouthwatering. Check out the link to their site below to see all of the alluring items offered on the menu.

www.brickhousepizza.ca