Category Neighborhoods

Olive is happy to report that local field asparagus season has begun! Despite the looming storm clouds, I was determined to drive out to Andrews’ Scenic Acres yesterday morning to do something I’ve long wanted to do: pick my own asparagus. It turned out to be a beautiful morning.

It is early in the season and the asparagus has just begun to come up alongside the rhubarb. Farmer Bert Andrews says the asparagus season will run from now to about mid June; the first of June will likely be the ideal pick-your-own period. The pick-your-own rhubarb season will run from now to about the end of June.

The asparagus field looks like a a little comical with single spears poking up up from the ground, here and there. In the photo above, you can barely see them poking up along the horizon.

To ensure the asparagus will grow back again next year, cut the asparagus about one inch below the surface of the earth; it’s easy and Andrews’ will supply you with a knife. Wear rubber boots and protect yourself from mosquitoes.

You can’t get farm-to-table fresher than picking your own. I couldn’t resist trying a spear raw: it tasted green and robust and sweeter than the raw spears I have tasted from the grocery store. If you are tempted to try one of the many raw asparagus salad recipes that are trending right now, I recommend picking your own asparagus and eating the salad as soon as possible the same day.

I decided to treat my Dad to a bundle of ready-picked asparagus that Farmer Bert Andrews (below left) brings in from Simcoe County while his asparagus is still so early in the season. Manager Stephanny (below right) helped me pick out a bundle of Andrews’ ready-picked rhubarb; I’ll turn it into stewed rhubarb to eat with my breakfast yogurt. Oh my, how Olive loves spring!

Farmer Bert Andrews and Manager Stephanny

I prefer to eat my asparagus the day I buy it but it will keep in your fridge okay for a few days if you stand the stem ends in a jug of water or wrap them in a damp paper towel and cover the bunch in plastic wrap. I snap off the woody ends where they break naturally and wash each spear under cold, running water, paying special attention to the head where sand and grit get trapped. For tips on choosing, storing, and preparing asparagus visit Foodland Ontario.

My preferred method of cooking asparagus is oven-roasted. Oven-roasting caramelizes the asparagus and I find I don’t need to serve anything with it but a squirt of lemon juice. My Simple Oven-Roasted Asparagus recipe is here: http://olivetoeat.com/?p=858

But what better way to celebrate the start of the local asparagus season than with a splurge of hollandaise sauce? A dear friend (and fabulous cook) recently gave me a great recipe for an easy and delicious blender hollandaise sauce. Scroll down to the bottom of this post for the recipe.

Andrews’ Scenic Acres (established in 1980) and Scotch Block Country Winery (a fruit winery opened in 1999), is family operated and grows a wide variety of pick-your-own or fresh picked fruit, vegetables, and flowers. The barn market sells jams, jellies, pies, tarts, honey, maple syrup, juices and frozen fruit. House-made frozen yogurt and ice cream is made from farm-grown fruit. Family fun and harvest festivals.

Andrews’ Scenic Acres
9365 10th Sideroad
Halton Hills, Ontario

Telephone: 905-878-5807

Please call to confirm dates and time open.

Open daily: May 3rd to November 1st, from 9:00 am to 5:00 pm.

Open November 1st to December 31st, Saturday and Sunday plus the week before Christmas: 11am to 5pm.

Andrews’ Scenic Acres also sells their farm fresh produce at several local farmers’ markets. Click here for a list: http://www.andrewsscenicacres.com/farmmarket.php

Website: www.andrewsscenicacres.com
Twitter: https://twitter.com/AndrewsScenic
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/AndrewsScenicAcres

Easy Blender Hollandaise Sauce

Makes 1/2 cup

This recipe was passed on to me by a dear friend and fabulous cook. Use a blender or food processor for best results.

Ingredients:

3 large egg yolks
1 tablespoon of water
3/4 cup unsalted butter
Freshly squeezed juice of 1/2 a lemon
1/4 teaspoon salt
Pinch of ground white pepper, freshly ground black pepper, or ground cayenne pepper.

Directions:

1. Place butter in a small saucepan over low heat to melt.
2. Plop water and egg yolks in a blender or food processor; blend for about 90 seconds.
3. Turn the heat under the melted butter up to medium high, just until the butter starts to bubble.
4. With the blender motor running, slowly pour the hot melted butter through the feeder tube in a thin, steady stream (don’t include the milky, foamy bits); sauce will thicken at this point.
5. Again with the motor running, add the lemon juice, salt, and pepper through the feeder tube. Unplug the machine and taste to adjust seasonings, if necessary.
6. Serve immediately with steamed asparagus, steamed artichokes, steamed new potatoes, poached eggs, or roasted fish.

Though the eggs are lightly cooked by the hot butter, as a safety precaution follow all food safety guidelines concerning the consumption of raw eggs.

What makes my labours on this blog so rewarding are the exceptional people I discover. Perhaps the most inspirational is the poised and passionate Hoda Paripoush, founder and director of Sloane Tea Company. A Toronto-based alliance of boutique fine tea merchants, certified Tea Sommeliers, and culinary experts, Sloane Tea Company represents a guild of small-batch, premier tea gardens throughout the world.

Sloane Tea’s Founder & Director Hoda Paripoush

Hoda’s passion for tea is rooted in her childhood. Of Persian descent but born in India, she was raised in a family of tea lovers, who come from a land of tea gardens and perfumed flower blossoms. After her family immigrated to Brockville, a very young Hoda experimented in her mother’s kitchen, blending her tea with aromatics within her reach (orange blossom water, ginger, rose water or cardamom).

As a creative and ambitious young adult, Hoda studied perfumery in Grasse, France (the world’s perfume capital) and became a certified Tea Sommelier. Hoda now travels the world in search of the finest teas, individually sourcing them directly from point-of-origin. In the process, Hoda has built genuine, close-knit, and exclusive relationships with the world’s most esteemed artisanal tea gardens. Hoda brings these splendid loose leaf teas back to Canada. Using her perfumery expertise and exotic ingredients (such as herbs, flowers, and real fruit pieces), Hoda and her team of certified Tea Sommeliers and culinary experts blend some of the leaves into ambrosial teas with fragrant top, heart, and base notes that linger and enchant; others are offered unblended, straight, pure, and stunning. Hoda insists on perfection every step of the way, from crop to cup.

Sloane Tea selections are categorized by taste (citrus, sweet, fresh, spicy, floral, or creamy) or by type (white, green, oolong, black, herbal, and iced). Estate Reserve teas are rare, limited production, hand-rolled artisan teas from premier estates. Each tea is packaged in gorgeous tins with designs inspired from something meaningful on Hoda’s travels: a vintage Japanese kimono was the inspiration for one design.

I could pick a different Sloane tea to delight my every mood. My top favourites include the unblended, medium-bodied Estate Reserve Darjeeling 2nd Flush black tea, revered as the “champagne of teas”. Its designation of origin, highly prized tea leaves are plucked between May and July on the award-winning Jungpana Estate in Darjeeling (Sloane has the exclusive North American rights). I find it slightly brisk and incredibly refreshing.

Both my husband and I are enamoured with the silky Signature Blend Oolong Crème and its fragrant, buttery sweetness that reminds me of a hint of dulce de leche. Hoda shared a wonderful legend about this tea:

 “This signature oolong from the Wuyi Mountains in China is said to have come about when the moon fell in love with a comet. The comet passed her by, as comets will do. The moon cried milky tears which chilled the tea fields, withering the leaves and giving them a delicate creaminess.”

Hoda says Oolong Crème is also remarkably refreshing steeped as an iced tea. Scroll to the end of my post for Hoda’s Iced Tea Brewing Instructions.

Sloane’s most popular tea, Heavenly Cream, is a medium-bodied, smooth and creamy, long leaf Ceylon black tea blended with hints of bergamot and vanilla. It’s especially rich with a splash of whole milk.

The Shop For All Reasons recently invited Hoda to present her teas at Tea 101, second in a series of informative tasting seminars from some of The Shop For All Reasons’ outstanding suppliers. Hoda taught us how to taste tea (called cupping by the industry): taste with your nose first, inhaling the fragrance, and then sharply slurp the tea into your mouth, sucking in oxygen and rolling the tea along your tongue to reach all of your taste buds. We compared the exquisite notes between six of Sloane’s delicious teas.

I learned so much about tea. Black, oolong, green, and white teas are derived from the same plant, Camellia sinensis; the differences between them are the result of different levels of oxidation. More importantly, they need to be brewed using different temperatures of water; the easiest and most precise method is to use the Breville IQ Kettle (a variable temperature control kettle). Brewing instructions are on the bottom of each Sloane tin.

The Shop For All Reasons has apothecary jar testers (taste with your nose) of each of the teas in Sloane’s line. Drop in and marvel over the fragrant differences between each tea.

A luxurious Mother’s Day gift for the tea lover, Sloane Tea will transport Mom to an estate of old-world luxury (Downton Abbey’s Carson not included). And the tins are so elegant I am willing to bet she’ll find another use for them once they are empty.

Hoda’s Iced Tea Brewing Instructions (to make 1 litre/quart)

1. Boil 2 cups of water and pour over 7 tsp. (approximately 14g) of tea, in a heat-safe pitcher.
2. Steep for 12 min and then fill with 2 cups of cold water.
3. Remove tea leaves (Sloane Sachet) from pitcher.
4. Garnish with fresh mint, blueberries, or citrus slices.

Where to buy, how to make the perfect cup of tea, and more on Sloane’s website: http://about.sloanetea.com

Follow Hoda on Twitter and Facebook for information on upcoming Sloane Tea tasting events. Laura from Laura Slack Chocolates and Hoda will be conducting a Tea & Truffle Pairing at the Toronto Botanical Gardens on May 11th.

Twitter: https://twitter.com/sloanetea

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/sloane.tea

For upcoming supplier seminars at The Shop For All Reasons, visit their website or sign up for their newsletter.

Behold Streetsville’s newest legend: Burger Legend. I haven’t been this excited about a burger joint since Streetsville’s first take-out (the now long gone Terry’s Burger House) first moved to town.

What makes Burger Legend burgers, well…legendary? Start with a trip to the butcher every single morning to buy fresh, whole AAA Canadian beef chuck; additive-free, preservative free, ground fresh daily by Burger Legend. Yes fresh beef, never frozen (they don’t even own a freezer). Add real (not processed), aged Canadian cheddar cheese. Top with huge strips of thick-cut, smoky/sweet, maple smoked bacon so flavourful that you have to fight off sneaky fingers. Put it on a lightly grilled, freshly baked sesame seed bun. Finally, a burger we can feel good about sinking our teeth into.

Behold the Classic Burger: 100 grams of 100% pure beef (no fillers), juicy and flavourful, spiced just right, nestled on a bed of mixed baby greens, blanketed with melted cheddar, topped with thickly sliced tomato, and Bawss sauce (a delicious mayonnaise-based crossover somewhere between Thousand Island dressing and barbeque sauce).

And this beauty, the Veggie Burger: a huge panko-crusted portobello mushroom, crispy on the outside and juicy on the inside, stuffed with cheddar cheese, on mixed baby greens, topped with more aged Canadian cheddar cheese, thickly sliced tomato, and Bawss sauce. Oh yeah, come home to Mama.

How to decide between the Classic and the Veggie? Order the Fusion Burger to get both on the same bun. Man, that’s gotta be good!

There are ten burgers on the menu, including the Poutine Burger, the North Beach (with guacamole) and the All Day Burger (with fried egg and maple smoked bacon). But your first visit should be all about the Great One (named after another legend, Wayne Gretzky): with aged Canadian cheddar, maple smoked bacon, mixed greens, tomatoes, and Bawss sauce.

Fries are freshly cut (remember they don’t own a freezer) Canadian russet potatoes, double-fried in peanut oil; available with gravy or as poutine. It’s going to take all my strength to try to resist the Maple Bacon Poutine.

Burger Legend started out as a gourmet food truck and has now laid roots in our village (aren’t we the lucky ones). Kiss the drive-thru junk burgers good-bye and say hello to real, fresh flavour. Welcome to the village Burger Legend!

Take-out or casual, quick bite, eat-in. Last time I was there, they were still waiting for their interac to be hooked up so bring cash just in case.

Twitter: https://twitter.com/BurgerLegendFT
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/BurgerLegend

UPDATE: Crawford’s Village Bakery is closing November 30, 2014.

Happy Easter! This week, I’ve got notes on my ham and tips on potatoes and homemade desserts for your Easter feast, including a treasured heirloom recipe I served at our family Easter last weekend. Please scroll to the bottom for the recipe.

But first, here are some ways to put a little spring in your step this Easter. Easter is in full bloom at Terra Greenhouses – just look at the sea of gorgeous pink or blue hydrangea blooms.

And of course, there’s no place like Springridge Farm for Easter fun. Click here for what you need to know before heading out to Springridge Farm’s Easter Festival, held on Good Friday April 18, Saturday April 19 and Sunday April 20, 2014: www.springridgefarm.com/easter-egg-hunt.htm (be sure to check out the video link). Say hello to the baby chicks.

Every Easter, Starsky Fine Foods sells these adorable baked lambs that make a sweet table decoration.  And look at the colourful Easter palms.

You can find pussy willows at Herridge’s Farm Fresh Market, which opened yesterday.

By the way, the quiches we ordered last week from Crawford’s Village Bakery were as delectable as their pies: Crawford’s famous pie crust filled to the brim with a generous, flavourful custard that wasn’t too rich.

The Country Ham that I ordered from Heatherlea Farm Market was easy to prepare and I was pleased with the results. Basically, I just removed the skin, trimmed the fat and scored it, then placed the ham cut-side down in the slow cooker, added a bit of water, and let it slow cook until the fat rendered and the meat reached a safe temperature. After I let it rest, I glazed it according to the recipe (see Easter Feast: Part One), let the glaze rest, and then carved it. I have never smelled a more aromatic ham. It was so succulent and tasty straight out of the slow cooker. If you are planning on making this recipe, be aware that the six pound ham just fit in my oval seven quart slow cooker and served sixteen people with leftovers.

What goes better with ham than scalloped potatoes? If you are craving a casserole of thickly sliced potatoes in a rich and creamy sauce with lots of sharp cheddar cheese, I really like Chef Michael Smith’s recipe: Potato Cheddar Casserole.

Herridge’s Farm Fresh Market has Ontario greenhouse rhubarb, a harbinger of spring. Click here for an easy Rhubarb Torte recipe that will make a confident baker out of an apprehensive one and a rhubarb lover out of anyone: www.olivetoeat.com.

On her blog Cook Me Quick, my friend Carol posted the original recipe for the heavenly carrot cake that the Cheeseboard Café used to serve. Oh, I’ve got lots of good memories of waitressing with friends at the Cheeseboard during my school years; the food was so good that it sparked an interest in cooking in me. The Cheeseboard Cafe’s Carrot Cake recipe can be found here: http://cookmequick.com/2013/10/02/cheeseboard-cafe-carrot-cake/

Here is what I made for our feast:

Grandma Brown’s Broken Window Glass Cake

Makes one 9” x 13” pan, serving 16 +

I treasure my grandmother’s handwritten recipe for this family favourite we used to serve every holiday. It’s a ridiculously retro dessert but it’s light, refreshing, and appealing to all ages. The colourful cubes of Jell-O look like a church stained glass window. I am reviving this cheery cake to our annual Easter feast with a tip of my Easter bonnet to Grandma Brown.

Grandma Brown preferred strawberry, cherry, and lime Jell-O for the cubes; I like to replace one red coloured Jell-O with grape if I can find it (Walmart) or orange. Make the Jell-O cubes early in the morning on the day before you plan to serve the dessert; they need to chill until firm before you fold them into the filling. Defrost the Cool Whip in the fridge while preparing the Jell-O. Later that day, finish the dessert and let it chill overnight.

Special Equipment:
3 (8”) square pans
1 (9” x 13”) rectangular pan

Ingredients:

Jell-O Cubes:
1 pkg. 3 oz. (85 g) grape or orange Jell-O
1 pkg. 3 oz. (85 g) cherry or strawberry or raspberry Jell-O
1 pkg. 3 oz. (85 g) lime Jell-O

Filling:
1 cup canned pineapple juice
½ cup white sugar
1 pkg. 3 oz. (85 g) lemon Jell-O
1 container (1 litre) frozen Cool Whip whipped topping, thawed or 2 cups whipped cream

Crust:
2 ½ cups Graham cracker crumbs
¾ cup (scant) brown sugar
½ cup melted butter
Butter for greasing pan

Directions:

1. Place the frozen Cool Whip in the fridge to thaw for 4 to 5 hours while the Jell-O sets.
2. Jell-O Cubes: Prepare the grape, cherry, and lime Jell-O separately; empty each flavour into three separate 8-inch square pans. Add 1 cup of boiling water to each pan; stir well to scrape gelatin granules from bottom of pan and dissolve thoroughly. Add ½ cup of cold water; stir thoroughly. Cover with plastic wrap; chill in fridge until firm, at least 3 hours. When firm, cut into 1/2-inch cubes (but leave in pan) and proceed with next steps.
3. Filling: Empty 1 package of lemon Jell-O in a large bowl; set aside. Place 1 cup pineapple juice with ½ cup sugar in a small pot and bring it just to the boil, stirring frequently; watch carefully and remove it from the heat as soon as the first bubble appears. Pour hot pineapple mixture over Jell-O and stir thoroughly until dissolved completely.  Add ½ cup cold water. Mix well. Chill in fridge to partially set (set your timer for every 15 minutes to stir and check for readiness); it should be partially thickened and cool but still in liquid state.
4. Crust: Meanwhile, mix crumbs with butter, and sugar; stir well. Set aside about 1 cup for garnish. Pat remaining crumb mixture firmly and evenly over the bottom of greased 9×13-inch cake pan to make a crust; cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate.
5. Fold Cool Whip into partially set lemon Jell-O. Gently fold in Jell-O cubes. Pour into graham cracker crust. Sprinkle reserved 1 cup of crumb topping over top. Cover with plastic wrap and chill until firm, at least 6 hours or overnight. Serve chilled the next day.

UPDATE: Crawford’s Village Bakery is closing November 30, 2014.

Grab your Easter bonnets, ladies and gents, and follow me along the virtual bunny trail as I gather up some of my favourite local treats. This week, I focus on what you need to order ahead: hams, quiches, pies, and handcrafted Easter chocolate. I share a great tip on exceptional wines and my favourite fruit salad recipe (scroll down to the bottom for Mary Katherine’s Cinnamon-Scented Fruit Salad). Next week: potatoes, homemade desserts, and decorations. Make your Easter feast special for the loved ones gathered around your table. Hippety hoppety!

If you are looking for premium local estate wines and boutique imports (many of which are not available through the LCBO) at direct-from-winery pricing, contact Oakville’s Laurie Blaha. A broker for Sideroad Twenty Cellars, Laurie will suggest wines to pair with your Easter dinner and give you a $10 off your first purchase coupon. Order on-line. Delivery can be made to your home, office, or cottage. Ontario residents only. But hurry – orders should be in by Monday April 14th for delivery by Thursday April 17th in time for Easter.

Our sizable clan is planning an easy Easter lunch. I’ve pre-ordered freshly baked quiches from Crawford’s Village Bakery & Distinctive Foods; they also sell frozen, unbaked quiches. Crawford’s is brimming with a wonderful assortment of quality gourmet pantry products and freshly baked goodies. Easter suggestions include lemon meringue or Easter Egg pies (chocolate mousse  pie garnished with whipped cream and an Easter egg, available from April 18th through April 21st only), squares (including rhubarb or lemon on a shortbread base), and cookies (including Cottontail cookies). Crawford’s handcrafted Easter chocolate, made on-site using fine Belgian chocolate, has been a long-enjoyed tradition for our family. Look at the fine detail on Charlotte and Edward and the beautifully decorated large egg, ready to be filled with Crawford’s truffles, hazelnut crisps, and caramels.

Quiches in the oven, next stop: ham. My nephew-in-law, Jean-Yves, served a succulent slower-cooker ham at Christmas, so I am giving this recipe a try for the first time: Cook’s Illustrated Slow-Cooker Glazed Ham. Cook’s Illustrated recipes are from America’s Test Kitchen and are exhaustively tested and re-tested, so I am confident the recipe will work. I bought the magazine (Cook’s Illustrated Make-Ahead Dinners 2014) at Target a few weeks ago but you can access the recipe on-line here by signing up for a 14-day free trial membership: http://www.cookscountry.com (it costs a few dollars a month to continue with the membership).

You can’t use a spiral-cut ham for this recipe because it will dry out in the slow cooker. I’ve ordered a Country Ham (uncut, bone-in, skin-on, cured/smoked) from Heatherlea Farm Market in Caledon, ON. Heatherlea’s Country Hams are sourced from Stemmler’s in Heidelberg, Ontario and are excellent quality hams from local farms. Heatherlea Farm Market raises pasture-fed, free-run, drug-free Black Angus beef and sells local free-run, naturally-raised chicken, pork, lamb, and bison. Wild boar, Berkshire pork, and emu are available on occasion.

Especially lovely at Easter, this colourful fruit salad is enrobed with a cinnamon and citrus-infused syrup. I use a different combination of fruit every time: this time strawberries, kiwi, pineapple, mango, and oranges. Thanks to my bff’s sister-in-law, Mary Katherine, for the recipe.

Mary Katherine’s Cinnamon-Scented Fruit Salad

Makes about 6 servings (easily doubled)

This keeps well for a couple of days in the refrigerator.  Delicious served alone or over ice cream or lemon gelato. It makes a good breakfast topped with vanilla yogurt and granola.

Ingredients:

1 orange
1 large lemon
About 5 to 6 cups total of assorted, ripe but still firm fruits, peeled and cut into bite-sized pieces (combos of citrus, berries and tree fruit work well)
1 cup of water
1/4 cup of sugar
1 cinnamon stick

Directions:

1. With a sharp knife or vegetable peeler, remove only the peel (leaving the bitter white pith behind) of the orange and the lemon; slice peel into thick strips and set aside. Segment the orange, cut into bite-sized pieces and add to a large 8-cup capacity bowl; set aside. Juice the lemon; add about 3/4 of lemon juice to large bowl (reserve remaining 1/4 to adjust acidity level to your taste at the end).
2. Add assorted fruit to large bowl; stir gently to coat with lemon juice to prevent browning.  Chill in refrigerator.
3. Meanwhile, heat water to boiling in a small saucepan. Add sugar; stir until dissolved. Add cinnamon and reserved peel; immediately reduce to medium heat. Simmer gently until slightly reduced, 10 to 15 minutes. Remove from heat; cool to lukewarm.
4. Strain syrup; pour over prepared fruit and fold in gently so as not to bruise fruit. Discard peel but keep cinnamon sticks for garnish. Taste salad and if desired, add remaining 1/4 of reserved lemon juice; fold gently. Cover and store in airtight container in the refrigerator until ready to serve. Garnish with cinnamon sticks, if desired.