Rusty Coast's Next Top Model...NOT!

It’s been another one of those whirlwind weeks. I’m in Victoria, chaperoning DH for a surgical tweaking for his shoulder. So far, the tweaking is taking and he’s recuperating very well, thanks to a good dose of rest between rounds of Civilization IV on his PC. His arm is going to be in a hammock for at least a month so I’m playing Florence Nightmaregale for the next while.

I finally got to sit down and knit for a while yesterday while waiting for the DH’s shoulder to get overhauled. I’m near the end of the body of my ‘Broken Brocade’ sweater. I’m not sure what to do for the sleeves. I’m thinking a moderate dolman. The Rococco diva in me wants puffy sleeves trimmed in velvet and lace. I picked up a set of #0 Addi Turbos to do this up and it seems to be going a bit smoother. It definitely makes a difference for smaller needles. I don’t know if I would break the bank for anything larger than a #4. But then again, I’m knitting a bloody sweater for a full grown me in #0. I’m not the sharpest or smoothest needle in the knitting bag :p

I finally managed to get to take some photos of me in my latest round of knitting projects, at least the ones that I got to keep for myself. I never seem to have a camera around when I’m wearing my FO and I feel kinda goofy playing supermodel. So here’s some of the stuff I’ve knitted up this past winter with moi doing my best Zoolander. ( I had to edit out my face, my Blue Steel is so powerful that it would have taken away from my FO)

The Midsummer Night's Dream sweater. It's basic design is Knitty.com's Tubey Sweater. Then I have a few too many glasses of red wine....
















Zee back of the MSND sweater. The middle panel isn't perfect but I don't have to look at it :P


















Zee sleeve detail. I feel like Puck in this sweater!

















The Arachne capelet.
I worked in some tailored shoulder shaping. Not evident here but it does sit nicely on my shoulders ;) The spider is BW's Spider design.











Zee back. The lace is a couple of Barbara Walker patterns. It's supposed to resemble wolfbane leaves. I said 'supposed' to, not that it actually does...









The Honeymoon sweater!!! I've been living in this sweater ever since I've finished it. It's so much fun to wear! I still haven't found the perfect button. It's out there somewhere...












Da back of da sweater. I love Noro! Thank goodness I held onto all those Noro leftovers over the years. I knew they'd come in handy!

With DH’s arm out of service for the next several months, we spent this last week stuffing in as much climbing and outdoor fun as possible. Thank goodness I finally got a slow cooker. We’ve been living off of slow cooker dishes for the last week. We get to go off and play in the mountains and come home to a wonderful, hot dinner. Why didn’t I think of this before???

One more snow day!

Here’s a buffalo stew with Pete’s homemade noodles. I just browned the meat, cut up a bunch of local veggies and threw it into the slow cooker with some broth and some leftover Phillips Black Toque Dark Ale that had gone flat. About 20 minutes before serving, I dumped in the leftover noodles. So good. So easy.

Pete and Nat made one more pass through town on their way to a kayaking adventure in Clayquot Sound. They dropped off a couple of bags of stinging nettle that they had gathered. Such lovely muggles!

Nettles are out in force right now. Be careful, they do have a sting to them. Boil them for at least 10 minutes to neutralize the toxins. Use them as you would spinach. They also can be dried and made into a tea.

Gotta go. I’ve got my sister and her fancy man dropping for a visit this evening so I’d better get home and rustle up some dinner. I wonder if those UVic bunnies would be in a stew?

Have a great bunny zombie messiah weekend!

Happy Eating & Knitting!

Shank you very much!

Sorry, I couldn’t help it. Last night’s dinner has brought about a bad case of gastric punsters reflux.

We continued our St. Patrick’s Day weekend with an impromptu 100 Mile Diet potluck featuring another lamb dish last night, Moroccan Lamb Shanks. Actually, I didn't even ask our dinner guests to make their contributions 100 mile diet specific, they just knew me well enough and there's certainly plenty of local culinary goodies to bring for a potluck. So lucky to have such kindred dinner companions! (Thanks M,P&R for wonderful evening!)



One of our guests brought over a great selection of locally made artisan cheese from both Natural Pastures cheeses and Little Qualicum cheeses, a few locally grown apples and a pears for cheese & fruit plate. Our other guests contributed a couple bottles of Zanatta’s Ortega wine, a luscious full-bodied white wine that went very well with the spicy Moroccan dinner.













Instead of Guinness we opted for some Phillip’s Black Toque IPA, brewed down in Esquimalt. Before you start throwing Leprechaun scat at me, all my Irish friends and anyone who’s visited Ireland insists that Guinness that is sold here is nothing compared to the Guinness that comes out the taps in the pubs in Ireland. I will make sure I will have a pint or 10 of Guinness when I visit the Emerald Isle. Until then, there is no lack in tasty dark beers from our local microbreweries. Phillip’s Black Toque IPA is the older, more intriguing brother of their light IPA. It has a deep malty flavor with hints of licorice, at least according to my taste buds. Anyways, it was a great beer to sip away as we chatted our way into the wee hours of the night.

Here’s my Fast & Dirty recipe for Moroccan Lamb Shanks. The prep only takes about 15 minutes to do. It’s a slow cooking dish and definitely has me thinking again about getting a slow cooker. While it cooked away, I also roasted a local organic squash. Nothing more than cut it open lengthwise, gutting out the seeds and placing the halves cut side down into a roasting pan. I then added a scant inch of hot water into the pan and let it roast beside the lamb shanks. It took about an hour to roast. It should be soft and scoopable.

Moroccan Lamb Shanks

1 large lamb shank or 2-3 smaller ones

2-3 yellow onions – cut into 1/8ths

4 cloves of garlic- chopped coarsely

3 cups of diced vegetables – I used local carrots, parsnips, russet potatoes

handful of morrocan salt-cured olives – pitted and chopped coarsely

1 litre chicken stock

olive oil

2 tablespoon coriander seeds – toasted and ground up

1 teaspoon cumin

2 teaspoons curry powder

cilantro or parsley chopped – for garnish

1-Preheat oven at 300F.

2-In a oven-proof pot (dutch oven or similar style pot), heat up a couple glugs of olive oil over medium-high heat. Once hot enough, sear all sides of the shanks. Simply place them in the hot pot, let the heat do it’s magic. For crying out, don’t mess around with every 10 seconds. Just let it sit on the hot surface for 4-5 minutes and turn. Repeat until all sides are golden brown.

3- Remove shank from pot and throw in onions and garlic. Add more oil if needed. Bring heat down to medium and sauté until onions are translucent. Throw in the rest of the vegetables, except for potatoes, and let them cook for a few minutes.

4-Dump in spices and let them coat the vegetables. Add the shanks back in. Add in the olives and the stock and water. Don’t worry if it doesn’t totally cover the meat.

5-Cover pot with foil or lid. Throw it into the oven and forget about it for about 1hour or so.

6-An hour later, throw in the potatoes. Turn the meat over. Again cover it, throw it back into the over for another hour or so.

Garnish with cilantro or parsley

The meat should fall easily off the bone. The key is to cook it slow and at low heat. I literally torn the meat off the bone with my hands with little effort. Again, there really isn't much work involved, just sit back and bask in the inticing aromas. Such a wonderful and savory way to end the weekend!

Happy Eating,

Jen

Nanaimo’s 100 Mile Diet Challenge

Drunken lamb stew and canned summer

Just a quick update on my pre-St. Patrick Day’s dinner party last night. For the main course, I made up a lamb version of the bison carbonnade.

I used lamb stewing meat from Horizon Heritage Farm in Qualicum Beach, a bunch of roasted local veggies, a bottle of Phillip’s Double Chocolate Porter and some beef stock. The recipe pretty much follows the bison carbonnade recipe. This time, I didn’t bother thicken it as much because I wanted a ‘slurpable’ soup. It’s just seems more satisfying to slurp your way through a intense, meaty broth on a cold and rainy night, IMHO. I also planned to use the leftovers for a lamb and noodle soup.

The stew was delicious. I even impressed myself :)

The meat was tender and flavorful and worked wonderfully with the porter. I let it braise for 1 ½ hours at 300F. You could cut the lamb with a spoon and it had just enough at that unique lamb flavor to give the stew character without being overpowering. Definitely much better than any New Zealand lamb I’ve had to work with in the past. Even DH who isn’t much of a lamb fan loved it and if we didn’t have dinner guests, I think he would have licked his bowl clean. Instead, he had to resign to simply wiping away the last drop of stew with a homemade cheesy biscuit. The biscuits were a basic biscuit recipe with the addition of grated Rathtrevor cheese from Little Qualicum Cheeseworks. The nutty flavor of the cheese complimented the intense and savory stew.














I forgot to take a picture of the biscuits. They went pretty fast ;)

BTW, I got the lamb from Horizon Heritage farm as part of their lamb sampler package. Check out the Nanaimo 100 Mile Diet for info about getting some yourself yummy meats and for other farm gate sales. There’s a resource guide at the bottom of the page.

For dessert, I made a fast and dirty peach and apple crisp with fresh local apples and local peaches that I canned last summer. The peaches were so sweet that I didn’t bother adding any sugar to the fruit. Only a couple teaspoons of cornstarch, the juice of half a lemon and some cinnamon.

I topped it with a crumble topping made with 1/3 cup True Grain’s kamut flour, a couple tablespoons of butter, spoonful of organic cane sugar and pinch of cinnamon. Combine the mixture until it resembles coarse sand and sprinkle over the fruit. Pop it into a 350F oven for 30-45 minutes or until the topping is browned and the fruit is soft. If the topping is starting to brown too much before the fruit is cooked, simply cover your dish with some foil.

It’s certainly nice to have homemade local canned peaches on hand. It's a delicious and much bit of delayed summer gratification in a jar for these caliginous (oh, how I love that word) days.

Have a great weekend!

Jen

Nanaimo’s 100 Mile Diet Challenge

Powering up for Jean Crowder talk tonight

Just a reminder that Jean Crowder, MP for Nananimo-Cowichan , will be speaking on the issues surrounding our Canadian food supply system tonight at 7:30pm at St Phillips Cedar Anglican Church (1797 Cedar Road). I'll be there with a table for the Nanaimo 100 Mile Diet. Come out and support local farmers.

Yesterday, after wrestling with the website for a few hours, I was in need of some baking therapy. I made up a batch of my power cookies. These were originally concocted for our multiday paddling trips. They pack and travel well. What does end up crumbling works well as granola fodder. I needed a snack that would deliver energy without much fuss but wouldn't lead to a sugar crash. These are fairly low in added sugar, instead they depend on dried fruit for sweetness. The seeds, whole wheat flour and coconut also provide a more sustained energy source. They also can double as a breakfast cookie. They freeze well and are easy to make. I made this batch withl local eggs, local wildflower honey and local fruits that I dehydrated over the summer. I used Red Fife flour from True Grains bakery.















Here's the recipe for my Fast & Dirty Power Cookies:
Wet ingredients:
1 cup shortening
2 eggs
1/3 cup honey or brown or cane sugar

Dry ingredients:
2 cups whole wheat flour
1 cup whole rolled oats or any othey rolled grain
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/2 cup coconut
1 1/2 cup of seeds - flax, sesame, poppy, pumpkin, sunflower seeds
1 1/2 cups of any dried fruits - chopped if needed.
1/2 cup chocolate chips (optional)

1- Preheat oven to 350F. Line cookie sheets with parchment paper or silpat sheet.
2- Beat wet ingredients together until smooth
3- Measure and dump dry ingredients in the wet mixture.
4- Mix until just incorporated.
5- Scoop out about 2 tablespoons of dough and roll until fairly round. Arrange onto lined pan with at 2 inches between cookies. Press dough ball with fingers or palms. You don't want them too smooshed. More like pucks.
6- Bake for 10-12 mins or until edges are golden.
7- Let cool on rack.
8- Enjoy!

Since this week is pretty busy, I figured I'd make a big batch of stew last night to see us through these next few days. I excavated a package of local beef stew meat, beef stock and tomatoes from the freezer. With some local mushrooms, carrots, onions, parsnips and the last of our local garlic, I made a beef stew. After quickly browning the meat and veggies on the stove, I let the stew finish cooking up nice and slow in the oven, along with some roasted local Russet potatoes.

Viola!















I even found some parsley in the veggie garden that miraculously survived this last spell of epic weather. I love it when potatoes roast up all brown and crusty like that. I also excavated a loaf of multigrain seed bread from the freezer that I served with some roasted garlic that I threw in with the roasted potatoes. So yummy!















I gotta go back to fixing the 100 Mile Diet Nanaimo website. Can someone please pass me the sledgehammer?

Happy Eating!
Jen

Crumbs and other bits of weekend musings

In response to Bruce’s question, I made moose sausage stew. From frozen sausages to yummy stew in under 30 mins. Nothing more that browning the frozen whole sausages, some onions, carrots and celery and topping it with stock. I only had a few cups of stock left so I added a parmesan rind, some Moroccan olives to add more flavour to the diluted broth. I let it all simmer away for 20 mins. The last of the roasted veggies went in at the end. I cut the sausages with a pair of cooking shears while they were still in the pot so not a drop of savory moose juice would be lost to a cutting board. The sausage was made from a moose that Kev’s uncle took down this fall. Lucky for us, Kev’s folks were willing to part with some of their stash. Moose is so tasty. It has a rich taste but not gamey like you would think a moose would be.

I made enough to see us through the weekend because I had a pretty full dance card and also wanted to do a bunch of reading, baking and knitting.

This is what I’m reading:

I heart Julia Child.

This is what I baked:

I made a batch of Pesto-parma bread, a hearty peasant rye and a kasha seed bread. All made with flours milled by True Grains bakery in Cowichan Bay. The flours are such a pleasure to work with. It makes up such a soft and supple dough. Hopefully this will last us for a couple of weeks.

I love breadmaking. Even though I have an awesome KitchenAid mixer that can handle most bread doughs, I still like to do most of the kneading by hand. One of the great by-products of making your own bread, is well, you get to make your own bread. The process itself is a joy, especially when you have freshly milled flour. I didn’t realize the different it would make until I started buying my flour fresh.

I love the process of taking a sticky mass and being actively part of the process as it evolves into a dough. With my feet firmly planted, channeling the energy from the ground, along my legs, through my pelvis and along the pliant curve of my spine, my shoulders and out along my arms and from my palms and fingers into the dough. I am a firm believer of we are what we eat. I also believe that we eat what we are. The foods we choose reflects the relationship we have with ourselves and the world around us.

When we cook, our energy, the thoughts that fill our heads and hearts go into our food. The intent comes through in the food we make. Bread is very sensitive food that absorbs whatever you put into it.

Never bake or knit when angry.

Though kneading bread is a meditative and sometimes cathartic activity, you do have to work the dough with energy. The energy is intuitive and aware, listening to what the dough needs (sorry about that pun) and slowly letting the dough form and strengthen it’s bonds to create a chewy, tasty bread. Using the dough as a punching bag to take out your frustrations will lead you to a sticky, gummy mass that may not rise simply out of spite;)

And for the knitting part…(drum roll please…)

I finished the kimono-shrug-wrap!!! Yippee!!

It took a whole week to finally finish up one of the straps and put on a collar but it’s done! I can’t believe I managed to finish most of a sleeve in one day but it took me a whole freaking week to do the finishing bits & pieces. Things just kept popping up, folks just kept popping by and I just kept popping around.

But last night, I managed to get to the final push and had it blocked by a quarter to midnight. Whew, no sweater turning into pumpkin fiascos here.

Like most of my pieces, I have only a vague idea of what the end product will look like. I had certain criteria to abide by.

- For function, I needed something I could throw on in the early morning as I worked at my desk. Generally it’s only my upper back and shoulders that get a chill thanks to the wonky insulation in this old house.

- I needed to use up the yarn leftover from a wedding afghan I made for Kev’s sister. I also had a gorgeous Noro yarn salvaged from a scarf that I got bored with. I supplemented this stash with more Noro yarn.

-And like every other sweater I’ve made, it has to be something I can’t buy at the mall because really, what’s the point of putting that much energy into something that doesn’t carry your personal stamp of style?

I chose to do something in the spirit of Kaffe Fassett and decided to go with this as my pattern motif. It’s from a Vietnamese planter that my mom got me years ago.
































(my interpretation of the above motif)

I am in love with sleeves. Full, wide sleeves that can house a bird’s nest and a quiver of weapons and my lipstick. It’s from watching too many Chinese historical movies ;) I’ve been playing around with deconstructing traditional Chinese and Japanese clothing for the last few years and reinterpreting elements in knit. Yes, there’s an Asian undertone to this whole piece with a Vietnamese inspired motif, Chinese clothing elements and Japanese yarn.

I can’t wait to wear it.

Jen

Yet, today I call you to my riverside,
If you will study war no more. Come,

Clad in peace and I will sing the songs
The Creator gave to me when I and the
Tree and the stone were one.

- Maya Angelou

Booze and a Fast and Dirty Stew

Well, the Nanaimo 100 Mile Diet Challenge Week is over. So, how it did go for you? What did you do? What wonderful culinary discoveries did you make? Enquiring culinary minds want to know.

I’ve heard folks have been hosting 100 Mile Diet potlucks and parties. Some have pledged to try one new local item a week. There are even some people that are hard-core 100 milers that are aiming to eating only foods grown within a 100 mile range. That’s awesome to hear! Of course, this is just the beginning. Next, we're aiming for a 100 Mile Thanksgiving. I'll post more info on that once I get my crap together.

One of my biggest recent discoveries was the local booze industry. Vancouver Island has some pretty fine wines and ciders. Unfortunately, the government liquor stores don’t carry any Vancouver Island booze. Fortunately for us, there are a couple of beer and wine stores in Nanaimo that are spirited enough to carry them. Black Bear Liquor Store, North Gate Liquor, Wellington Hotel Beer & Wine, Wheatsheaf Beer & Wine, and the Jolly Miner store are some of the Nanaimo beer and wine stores that carry Vancouver Island booze.

Cherry Point vineyards in one of the highlights of out of Cowichan Valley. They put out a great table white called ‘Coastal White’ which is a blending of Vancouver Island grapes. Their Bete Noire (Black Beast) 2005 is my favorite wine discovery for the year. Deep and complex, a bit fruity to keep all the wine snobs away. The wine comes with a great back story that reaches back in history to 1552 in Hungary. Winemaster, Simon Spencer, is planning on putting our three volumes of this wine. Each volume will continue on with this mythical black beast of a wine. The vineyard is now out of the first volume of this wine and so grab whatever you can find at the wine stores. They will be releasing a new batch of wines within a month or two.

There’s no barley grown here on the island, so no locally grown beer. I’ve heard rumors of island barley experiments but nothing on tap yet. There is cider though. And good, cider. Not the candy apple cider that you used to get drunk on and throw up all over the backseat of your boyfriend’s Impala. Grown up cider made from undiluted apple juice from the wonderful apple orchard that surrounds the Merridale Cider House. Everything from a traditional dry cider to a champagne-style cider is made on the premises. My favorites so far are the Scrumpy Cider, a sharp, dry cider made from crab apples and no sugar, and the Merri Berri which is a sweeter cider mixed with local berries. The ciders have a clean, crisp taste and none of that murky aftertaste that other ciders that have sulphur dioxides or are made from concentrated juice have.

They also make an apple cider vinegar but are out of stock at the moment. Never fear, many local apple orchards are making an apple cider vinegar. I picked up a bottle of First Fruits Farm Apple Cider Vinegar a few weeks ago at the Duncan farmer’s market. At $3 for a 16oz bottle! It’s an organic, unpasteurized cider that needs to be diluted before using, it’s so strong. They also do a milder vinegar with Jonagold apples. BTW, farmer’s markets are brimming with local organic apples. Last I checked, they were going of a dollar a pound and not a single mealy Red Delicious in sight. Instead, there’s a variety of apples that you probably never have heard of before but should get to know better. The farmers selling them will also be able to tell you which ones are best for pies, sauces and just eating. Westwood Orchard on 170 Westwood Road off of Jinglepot Road has been suggested as a great local orchard. I think I may have to give them a visit some time this week.

Speaking of vinegar, I have had some folks asking me about locally grown balsamic vinegars. So far, I’ve only sussed out one locally grown balsamic vinegar, Venturi-Schulze Aceto Balsamico. This is true, traditional balsamic vinegar with no fruit concentrate, no caramel colouring, no blended wine vinegars. This is true artisan vinegar. The sort of thing that the Foodies swoon over. A little goes a long way. You can order up a bottle from their website. MacLean’s Foods also carries the vinegar.

Marley Farms is also making fruit vinegars. They make a blueberry and a kiwi vinegar from fruits grown on the island. I picked up a bottle of each from the North Gate Liquor Store on Metral, just off the Island Highway. The vineyard themselves are out of the vinegars, so pick a some up while you can. A new batch won’t be released for a few more months yet. The blueberry vinegar is light and makes a great vinaigrette. You could also use it to tang up a chicken or pork dish. I’ve drizzle a bit over baked fruit.

So last night, to celebrate the end of the Nanaimo 100 Mile Diet Challenge Week, Kevin and I had an intimate 100 Mile Feast. With veggies and fruit from the Nanoose Edibles produce box and local farms, South African boerwurst sausages from Quist Meat Market in Duncan, and Cherry Points Bete Noire we had quite the meal.

I made a South African version of my Fast and Dirty stew recipe that tastes like something that took hours to make. Here’s the fast & dirty instructions. You can use any fresh sausage. Piper’s Meats has a whole line of sausages made with locally grown grain-fed beasts.

Fast & Dirty Sausage Stew:

1 to 1 ½ lbs fresh sausage

1 onion – chopped into big chunks

2 cloves garlic –crushed and chopped coarsely

2 cups tomatoes chopped in half or quarters

2 carrots –peeled and cut into bite size chunks

2 sweet bell peppers – chopped into chunks

1 stalk of celery – chopped

1 cup of good red wine (I used Cherry Point’s Bete Noire but you can use whatever wine you’re planning to drink with the meal. You have to drink wine with this stew. It’s the rule. I don’t make the rules. That’s just how it is. If you’re going to be a snot-nosed rebel and not use wine, you could use cider or a good stock)

Fresh herbs – ripped/ chopped right before serving

Also – a few glugs of oil, salt and pepper to taste

Preheat the oven to 350F. In a heavy oven-proof pot, heat up the oil and then brown the sausage on both sides over med-high heat.

Toss in all the veggies, pinch of salt and let the veggies get a bit of colour.

Dump in the wine (or whatever liquid you’re using) and scrape up all the caramelized goodness that’s stuck to the bottom of the pan. Throw the pot into the oven for 30-40 mins.

Since you’ve got the oven going anyways, you might as well wash up a bunch of potatoes (I used locally grown Peruvian Purple potatoes last night). Cut them into smaller pieces of needed. Toss them onto a small roasting pan with a drizzle of oil and a sprinkle of salt and slide those in beside the stew pot in the oven. You could just toss the potatoes into the stew pot too. They would help thicken up the stew. I just wanted nice crusty roasted potatoes last night so I did them separately.

I also threw in some unpeeled beets wrapped up in foil to roast beside the potatoes and stew. You might as well use the heat and roast up stuff for the next few days. Cooked beets keep a week in the fridge and can be used in so many ways. I’m thinking of making a fast and dirty borscht sometime this week.

Once the timer goes off and the stew is done, turn off the oven and pull out the beets to cool. I just leave everything else in until serving. I blanched up some local organic green beans for a side dish with the beets. Once the beets are cool enough to handle, you can peel them by simply slipping the skin right off. I do it under the tap of cold water to help the process and prevent my fingers from looking like Carrie’s after the school dance. I had some homemade pesto to accompany the side veggies.

A quick blueberry vinaigrette with Marley Farm’s blueberry vinegar and some oil would also go well with beets and green beans. One part vinegar to one part oil. Some dried herbs and a smidgen of Dijon mustard is all you need. Mix it up. Yep, fast and dirty.

Upon serving, cut/rip the fresh herbs into the stew and season according to taste. I used only basil and oregano since that’s all I have left in my garden.

For dessert, we had the last of a rhubarb and apple crumble that I had made a few nights back. Basically a bunch of rhubarb chopped into ½ inch slices and apples ( I used Brambley Seedlings and Gravensteins) chopped into 8ths. Altogether about 6 cups of fruit. A tablespoon of cornstarch and a 1/2 cup of local dark fir honey. You could also use regular sugar. I prefer organic cane sugar because adds a nice deep, caramel flavour. A heavy pinch of cinnamon, some ground ginger were also tossed into. Mix everything up. I chopped up a bunch of hazelnuts and tossed those as my crumble topping. Baked in a 350F oven for 30 mins. Drizzle more honey if you want it sweeter. Or top it with some local fruit syrup or jam. I popped a couple of blackberries I gathered.

So good. I’m having leftovers for lunch. I’m such a lucky kid!

Happy Eating!

Jen

Equinox Cafe Steps Up to the Plate!

I have some exciting news. This morning I got an email from Jessica and Sean from the Equinox Cafe in Duncan and they've stepped up to our 100 Mile Diet Restaurant Challenge and are offering not just one dish but a 3 course 100 Mile Diet meal! They'll be offering this meal from Sept. 14th to the 16th. Of course, much of their regular menu utilizes local products. It's so fabulous that they've gone out of their way to create a 100 Mile Diet meal. Bravo to them!

Unfortunately, no Nanaimo restaurant has stepped up to the challenge. I sent out someone else to get restaurants for the challenge so I didn't get a chance to talk to the restaurateurs and chefs around here myself but from what I gather there's a bit of bridge building that definitely needs to happen between farms and restaurants around here.

Oh well. I won’t allow myself to get too discouraged, especially when I look around and see other nearby communities that are embracing their local farms. To the south of us is the Cowichan Valley and southern island which are filled with restaurants that celebrate the local bounty. I heard that there is a group in Metchosin who are doing a 10 Mile Diet. 10 freaking miles! More power to them! As I mentioned in a earlier post, the Comox Valley has a great farm-loving community and the bakeries there are at the forefront of a artisan baking revival. That whole community is thriving. Now we just have to get Nanaimo’s head out of it’s SUV behind to see that the Wal-Mart food culture is not the way to go.

Let's hope the enlightened spirit of folks like the Equinox Cafe and other local farm loving establishments in nearby communities spreads over Nanaimo soon. But until then, let's reward those that do support local farms and food producers with our patronage. I am going to hit the Equinox Cafe for their 100 Mile meal. I may even drag the Mr. with me and make it a date night. For those interested, here's their fabulous 100 Mile menu:

First course - Potato and Zuchinni bilini, caramelized onions with blackberry and chardonnay drizzle.
Second course -Highland beef NY steak topped with charred cherry tomato compote. Served with fresh local vegetables and roasted Russian Blue potatoes.
Third course -Crustless apple and plum meringue.

(wipe drool off of keyboard)

***

Speaking of dinner, we had the most awesome bison smokie and roasted veggie stew last night. I did a small roast-up yesterday admist my last round of canning. From my garden, I picked 3-4 lbs of cherry and small heirloom tomatoes, tossed them into a roasting pan with a sprinkle of kosher salt and threw them into an 300F oven for an hour and half. I also threw in a couple cloves of garlic. In another pan, I was roasting up a turban squash, some yellow and purple carrots and peppers, all local, of course. I pretty much ignored it until the timer rang.

I didn’t get my canning finished until about 9pm last night. I canned up a batch of pickled beets and a batch of spicy pickled carrot sticks. Tired and running on fumes, I gathered the following:

-2 bison smokies from Island Bison, roasted tomatoes, garlic, peppers & carrots, leftover roasted corn from a few nights back, a few handfuls of spinach and a couple shallots from my Nanoose Edibles produce box, glassful of Cherry Point’s Coastal Pinot Noir.

I basically chopped up the smokies & shallots and threw those into my wok over medium heat. Let the meat carmelize a bit and shallots soften then toss in the wine to deglaze. Cook that down a bit and then simple toss in everything else except the spinach. Let it all simmer a bit for 10 mins. You can add some water or broth if it’s not soupy enough for you. Then right before serving, I threw in the spinach and a few fresh cherry tomatoes. I tasted and seasoned it accordingly. I had slices of Natural Pasture’s wasabi cheese and cucumber from the produce box as a side. Man, was it ever good. The bison was mildly seasoned to allow it's flavour shine through. It's definitely leaner than typical smokies. A couple went a long way. The roasted tomatoes provided a rich flavour base to the soup. It was a great 1st fall soup of the season.

There was enough leftover for lunch today. I love leftovers. Yes, it tastes better the second day. Next time, I just might add the spinach to the bottom of the soup bowl and pour the soup ontop and let the heat of it wilt the spinach. The spinach in the leftover batch tasted fine but it looked a bit grey.

(Update: I tried the soup again tonight but without roasting any of the veggies and with a white wine instead of red. The verdict. ..It's bitching.)

I found out that I’ve got another 4 weeks on my produce box. I guess had enough forethought in the spring to sign up for a whole 16 week program. Thank goodness, this week’s box included a bunch of local apples including some famous Bramley Seedlings which are some of the best baking apples. You know what we’re gonna have for dessert tonight. There amongst all the greens, tomatoes and apples was a small bunch of the most delectable grapes. They were divine. Small fruit with only a seed at most in each. They were tender and sweet, with none of that weird bitter aftertaste from the skin. The texture was a bit different with an almost velvety smooth flesh.

For all those whining that the produce box makes it soooo much easier to follow a 100 Mile Diet, get off my back and get your lazy asses over to a farmers market. It's harvest time and there will be a ton of stuff available there.

Until then, happy eating!

Jen

Nanaimo’s 100 Mile Diet Challenge