Shank You for a Delicious Meal!

We made a lovely road trip with the parents on Saturday, including a visit to Grammy, now aged 100. Side stopovers included Oulton’s meats, where we watched the talented team of butchers make short work of preparing a variety of delicious meats. In our case, we bought half a lamb, which included these two tasty shanks. We expect to be featuring all sorts of fall lamb recipes over the next weeks.

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We wanted to take advantage of local produce as well, including the delicious apples we picked up on our last trip to the Valley, and some potatoes we grew in our own plot. Here’s how we did it, for 2:

2 (12-ounce) lamb shanks, trimmed
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
2 garlic cloves, minced
3/8 cup alcoholic sparkling cider
2 large diced apples
A good handful of fresh basil, thyme and oregano, minced
1/8 cup chopped fresh parsley for topping

1. Heat oven to 300F. Heat a large Dutch oven over medium-high heat. Coat pan with cooking spray. Sprinkle lamb with freshly ground black pepper. Add lamb to pan, and cook 4 minutes on each side or until browned. Remove from pan. Add garlic to pan; sauté 15 seconds. Add cider; cook 2 minutes, scraping pan to loosen browned bits. Stir in apples and herbs; cook 2 minutes. Return lamb to pan. Cover with apples, cover pan and bake 1 hour. Turn lamb over; cook 1 hour more or until meat is done and very tender. Remove lid and cook until thickened if necessary. Serve sprinkled w parsley, and mashed potatoes on the side.

Get your Fill(ing)!

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Hand-rolled pasta may sound like a Herculean task for a weeknight, but last Thursday we made these ravioli to take advantage of some leftover spicy roast squash. (Other leftover mashed vegetables will work equally well). Check the recipe pages for the hand-rolled pasta. We rolled it out and used a small biscuit cutter to cut rounds – as many as we could get from the batch of dough. On each round, we placed about 10ml/2tsp of filling, then wet the circle, topped with another round of dough, and crimped the edges carefully (so as not to pierce) with a fork.

We cooked the pasta for about 10 minutes, and in the meantime made sauce:

Heat 30ml/2T butter w 15ml/1T flour. Stir in 125ml/1/2 c 1% milk and continue stirring until thick. Grate in 30-60ml 1-2 oz smoked Gouda and add a dash of nutmeg. Serve over ravioli and enjoy!

Start to finish, including making the pasta from scratch, about 45 minutes.

Packaged Goods

What’s a heritage recipe? All in a name, perhaps. When my daughter and I were making these pies, we were discussing the recipes…

“Do you remember your pumpkin pie recipe by heart, Mom?”

“No need…it’s on the back of the label of the E.D. Smith pumpkin”. Other foods that have solidly established themselves in the family repertoire are pie crust (Crisco), and the special squares we make at Christmas (Eagle Brand Condensed milk). For a family that cooks and eats healthy and local, we seem to be more than happy to rely on distinctly non-local influences for the holidays. Many of these were established as packaged foods were just taking off…and some when any food was rationed and out fore-mothers learned to work with what they could get.

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The last anecdote we shared was probably the best. Daughter and boyfriend were making their first Christmas cookies – shortbread. Each insisted their Mom had the best recipe, and set out to investigate. After their phone calls each sheepishly shared the source of the treasured family recipe – the back of the Canada Cornstarch package. Both moms were using the same “best recipe”.

What does this teach us? That the foods we love have been taken over by huge food conglomerates? That we can’t make recipes up by ourselves any more? None of the above. What it tells us is that love and holidays, for many of us, are bound up in the foods we eat. And sharing them with family is beyond compare. So thanks for the wonderful Thanksgiving dinner yesterday. Cranberry sauce, apple pie, Roxanne’s stuffing and potatoes, Dan’s chocolate cake, Beth and Eric’s salad, Portuguese chicken from Dad and Kath, and more…so good we’ll do another version with Mike and Aline later today. Happy Thanksgiving, all!

A Fresh Start

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Hurricane season is underway and here in Nova Scotia we spend a lot of time with our eyes cast skyward. Today we’re expecting a bit of weather…no hurricane, but definitely some serious wind and rain. On a day like that, a serious breakfast is called for. So we rolled out some green tomato bennies to get us started off on the right foot.

Top a toasted English muffin with sliced tomato and a little prosciutto, then a poached egg. For the blender hollandaise, blend an egg yolk, a small squeeze of lime juice, a little hot sauce and a dash of dry mustard. Blend, and meanwhile heat an ounce of butter in the microwave til boiling. Keep the blender running and pour the butter into the egg in a thin stream – it will cook while you do this.

Serve and enjoy.

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So…much…produce!

Wow! We are surrounded by a bountiful harvest.

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The consequence, of course, is that we have to find ways to use it all…and preserve what’s left for future use. So tonight’s adventure included a zucchini-orzo-pepper-goat cheese dish…after we finished putting two batches of roasted beets (golden and red), two batches of beet greens, and a couple of jars of pesto away for chillier days. Fortunately the orzo was quite a reward – reminding us why all our hard work has been worth it!

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Awesome Burgers with Sesame Orange Dijon Salad

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The evenings are starting to cool off and the days are getting shorter. In just a few weeks I fear we will be faced with the f word…fall.

But for now there is plenty of tremendous produce in the garden to make salad, and we grilled these juicy burgers. Putting a dent in the middle (in tribute to our daughter’s man-friend, we call it “Paulito style”) keeps the patties from shrinking. They didn’t need much to top them off…tomatoes, pickles, a little grainy mustard and some relish.

For the salad dressing:

15ml/1T Dijon
15ml /1T sesame oil
30ml/2T orange juice

Whisk until smooth.

Spice Up Your Salad!

La princessa and her parents left this morning and now the house is eerily quiet. We’re so grateful to have had them with us for a few days, and glad they enjoyed our city by the sea.

Today is also the day we get our diet and exercise routine back on track – so here’s an easy meal to kick things off, for two:

Leftover grilled steak, about 250ml/1c, sliced thin

In a medium nonstick skillet, heat 5 ml each butter and olive oil, and cook, covered, just til tender:

1 sliced onion
2 sliced mushrooms
1 sliced green pepper

Add steak slices and a sprinkling of chipotle powder or a minced Jalapeño.

Serve over 500ml/2c mixed greens.

We’re fortunate to have greens from our own garden, but use a variety to make it more interesting.

Enjoy!

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Pancakes Gone Wild

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We have almost completed our first year in our home near the ocean, and we continue to have new food discoveries every day. Our woods are full of blueberries – can you imagine picking fresh berries for breakfast, just outside your door? We can’t help but feel grateful.

The recipe for these under the recipe tab – Tuesday (or any day) Pancakes. Just add some fresh berries to the batter after mixing! We served ours with wild blueberry syrup.

What Goes with Veggies

We’re back from vacation with a distinct longing for vegetables – which seem to be in short supply when eating in many restaurants. Too much fat, salt and meat has left us hungry for fresh food. As luck would have it, our veggie garden has run rampant, so we have a surfeit of choice.

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Our choice? A combo plate of golden beets roasted in balsamic and garlic, green and yellow beans, peas, and beet greens, all steamed. On the side, fish poached in white wine, lemon pepper and tarragon. Feeling full (and full of gratitude that the deer left us something to eat!)

We Grew Our Lunch…and Have All These Veggies Left Over!

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Spoiler alert! We grew neither the tuna nor the ingredients for the dressing ourselves. But we did grow everything else (All seeds from Vesey’s or Halifax Seed) – a satisfying lunch after a morning of post-vacation weeding and laundry! Any combination of veggies would do, but we used:

Simpson lettuce
Vulcan lettuce
Green and yellow beans, blanched
Black Chinese radish, blanched
Golden beets, cooked and chilled
Thinly-sliced red onion

For two, top each plate of veggies with 1/2 can solid tuna in water

Drizzle w lime maple dressing (recipe for 2 – mix all together)

10ml/2 t mayo
5ml/1 t Dijon
Zest and juice of one lime
5ml/1 t maple syrup (we get ours from our neighbours at Acadian Maple)

Now to check the larder and get a few staples before settling in to enjoy what’s left of our long weekend. Happy Natal Day, Simcoe Day, or anything else you’re celebrating!