On Wednesday we had a very interesting lunch. It started as a recipe from Cooking Light, except we didn’t use any of the same ingredients. Theirs called for Serrano Ham, Manchego, sourdough bread and arugula. Instead, our quick trip in the rain and wind to Plank Road yielded multigrain bread, prosciutto, and Crotonese cheese. All good, nonetheless. On the bottom, a piece of toasted multigrain was spread with grainy mustard and just a little mayo. On top of this, the ham, and a grating of cheese. All that was heated under the broiler, then topped with some mizuna picked from our garden, a sliced apple, and a little grainy mustard vinaigrette (using Triple C from Kozlik’s).
Category: Salad
Thank you Jamie Oliver
What a great day it was when we learned
to make this delicious tomato salad from a Jamie Oliver cookbook! The farmer’s markets (or if you’re lucky, your back yards) are full of them now. Of course we’ve made it often enough we keep adapting it, so it’s not exactly as it was. In this case we used some red onion from the market, the usual dried oregano, balsamic, EVOO, and pepper. Then a chiffonade of basil from the urban farm, to top it off. Goes with anything, or itself. Mmmm.
Goodness Can Come from a Can
We made this tasty dish earlier in the week: Salmon Pasta Pesto Toss. It all started with some basil and walnut pesto, made from basil we grew here on our urban farm. So many good things to make!
We cooked some whole grain pasta from Better Bulk. In the meantime, we tossed some veggies together with a little EVOO and cooked them until they were tender-crisp. In this case, we used celery, broccoli, yellow peppers, red onions, mushrooms, and carrot, all from the East York Farmer’s Market. Then we stirred in a large chopped tomato from Larry’s garden (not for sale – neighbour-ness has its privileges). We put the lid on and let it simmer while the pasta finished cooking.
Then at the end, we stirred in the drained pasta, a heaping tablespoon or two of the pesto, and a can of wild salmon. We popped on the lid and let it sit for 3 or 4 minutes for the flavours to develop. Quick comfort in a bowl. (For cold comfort, you could easily refrigerate this and serve it as a salad!)
Cool as a Cucumber
Last week I tweeted about the cucumber watermelon salad we were making – some folks wanted a recipe. It’s not much of a recipe, really, but here it is:
Peel some English cucumber and cut into thick chunks. Cube some watermelon about the same size, and remove the seeds. Place these in a bowl.
In a small prep bowl, whisk together 15ml (1T) olive oil and 30ml (2T) cider vinegar. Drizzle this over and give it a toss. Grind on a few good grinds of pepper. Then julienne some basil leaves and sprinkle over the top. We’re lucky enough to have lots of fresh basil growing on the urban farm, but it’s plentiful in stores right now, or in farmer’s markets.
Put the whole thing in the fridge until it’s well-chilled. It’s a sure-fire solution to cool you off on a sultry summer day.
Ultimate Summer Coleslaw
No time for food styling, it’s coleslaw time! This is an ultimate summer dish 
because it’s cool, crunchy, and fast to make on a hot day. Given that we’ve been having record high temperatures for weeks on end, that’s vital!
Moreover, the great thing about coleslaw is that it only takes a few ingredients, usually easily available. In our case we went to Kelly’s Fruit Market and Plank Road Market for a cabbage and some carrots. We could have hand-grated, but in this case we used a food processor to shred them together. Then we mixed in a generous dollop of mayonnaise. (Disclaimer alert: the mayo wasn’t walkable, exactly. We walked to a store in France and we walked it home in our suitcase. It’s from Maille, the famous mustard people. And it’s full of egg-y goodness, just like mayonnaise you’d make yourself, if you had time. We also gave a good splash of white wine vinegar, and a liberal shake (probably a teaspoon, for a bowl this size) of celery seed. That’s it. Stir it all together, let it stand for a few minutes in the fridge (or longer if you’d like) for the flavours to develop. We served it with the amazing halibut in yesterday’s blog, and it was a big hit.
There's a Reason to Freeze your Beans!
Remember back in the spring, when we were baking and freezing batches and batches of beans? This was one of them – white beans with rosemary. Fast-forward to a blisteringly hot day, and those frozen beans came in handy. We put them on the counter to thaw in the morning, and stuck them back in the fridge when they were slightly icy, around lunchtime.
About half an hour before dinner, we mixed up a couple of tablespoons of white wine vinegar, a tablespoon of creamy Dijon, and some olive oil. We blanched some green beans, peas, and asparagus, then chilled them quickly in an ice-water bath.
We chopped in a litte oregano from the garden, and a green onion. Then we diced a couple of farmer’s market tomatoes. We grated in some cheddar from Montforte. Then we tossed it all together in a big bowl with some salt-cured olives from Plank Road Market.
Pair it with a light, bright, summer wine, and the heat will suddenly seem more bearable.
The Goddess is Green
If you’re of a certain age, you’ll remember Green Goddess dressing. But the old-school version was very creamy and very caloric. It also was often made like mayonnaise, with a raw egg, which doesn’t hold up to everyone’s food safety standards these days.
This version’s a simple homage to the original: whisk together a white-wine style Dijon (about a tablespoon), and a similar amount of olive oil, and lime juice. Give it just a pinch of salt and some finely chopped herbs (we had some tarragon, greek oregano, and garlic chives). Gently stir in about a tablespoon of plain yogurt and 1/2 a cup of finely diced cucumber. Pour over whatever veg you’re serving, and others will be green with envy
I'm Feeling a Bit Crunchy!
Wow! It’s been ages since our last post. It’s because of work – too much of it all at
once. But who can turn down exciting challenges and opportunities? Now there’s time to relax, but first I’ll have to get the kinks out – and eat some proper food.
When we’re feeling a little crunchy and out-of-sorts, we like to have a nice batch of fresh vegetables. These radishes and cukes were from the East Lynn Farmers Market. We dressed them with a little cider vinegar, a drizzle of olive oil, and some black sesame seeds.
Feeling better already!
Lettuce Begin!
The harvest has begun on the urban farm. (We’re also seeing some fabulous produce in the Farmer’s Markets at East Lynn and Coxwell). Most exciting, is when we can start clipping lettuce, right outside the back door.
Smokin' Bean Salad with Sprouts
Many years ago, when our kids were young, I copied a recipe from Lucy Wing for a delicious bean salad. Over the years, it’s been changed, adapted, and adjusted (and lost!) to the point where it doesn’t even resemble the original recipe any more. But I think fondly of the days when we were discovering our “family foods”. This one gets tweaked a little every time. Here’s today’s version:
Whisk together in a large bowl, 15ml Dijon mustard (1T), 30ml cider vinegar (2T), and 15 ml olive oil (1T). Trim and blanch very slightly, a good handful of green beans. Plunge into cold water, and cut into bite-sized piecees. Rinse about 500ml (2c) of bean sprouts and add to the bowl. Then dice a large tomato and put that in. Pit and chop (large or small, your choice) some black olives. Add 500ml (2c) of cooked white beans (I used Great Northerns, which I had cooked with onion and rosemary, earlier in the week). Lastly, cheese. something sharp. Feta works, or an aged cheddar. In this case, Plank Road had some delicious 
applewood smoked cheddar. For a large bowl of salad, you don’t need much – 60g (a couple of ounces) will do. Grate it in. Stir everything together, and let stand in the fridge for about 1/2 an hour (although it gets better overnight!). You can serve it as a side, but it’s really a meal. Add some homemade wholegrain bread, and you’re set!
We did have a little trouble finding bean sprouts on short notice. Next time I might just pick up some mung beans or lentils from Better Bulk and sprout my own.