Northern Kiwi, here in Ontario!

Posted on 15. Nov, 2011 by in Blog, Local Food, Recipes, Uncategorized

This week, we’re excited to be providing you with a special treat, Northern Kiwi, as well as other yummy veggies including two types of beets, butternut squash, living sprouts and spinach!  Enjoy!!

On the Menu this Week:

Fruit:

Northern Kiwi (Warner’s Farm)  Yes, you are reading the word kiwi!  A kiwi grown in Ontario!!  These little cuties taste just as delicious as your ordinary kiwi, but they are much smaller in size and aren’t furry, so you can eat the peel.  Not everyone can get their hands on these kiwis –only the top restaurants in Toronto serve them, so share them with your friends enjoy!  Note:  These kiwis may look a little wrinkly, but that’s a good thing!  They are at their optimal ripeness right now (nice and sweet!), so they are slightly soft and wrinkly.  Store: in the refrigerator.

Sovereign Coronation Grapes (Warner’s Farm)–These delicious seedless grapes will likely be the last ones of the season, so enjoy them while you can!  Here are some grape recipes from a past blog you may enjoy(scroll down the blog for recipes). And don’t forget, frozen grapes are yummy!  Simply wash, dry and stem grapes then place in a ziplock bag and freeze.  They don’t freeze rock-hard, so they’re easy to snack on.

Veggies:

Cioggia Beets (Hillside Garden Farms)–absolutely gorgeous candy-cane striped beets.

Golden Beets (Hillside  Garden Farms)–what’s the next best thing to a Cioggia beet?  How about a beautiful golden beet?  Golden beats have a more mild flavour than regular beets.

Parsnips (Hillside Garden Farms)–Try diced parsnips in soup–they are so sweet and delicious!

Red Onion (Hillside Garden Farms)

Arugula (Sleger’s)– a perfect green for a roasted beet and chevre salad!

Garden Greens  (Sleger’s )

Eggplant (St. David’s Hydro)–Likely the last eggplants of the season!

Butternut Squash (Sovereign Farms)

Purple Top Turnips (Zephyr Organics)

Loose-Leaf Spinach (Zephyr Organics)–This is hardy, cooking spinach, not the baby spinach that wilts down to nothing when cooked.  Great for steaming, sauteing, or for pastas and soups.  It’ll probably be pretty dirty too, so make sure to wash it well!.  To wash:  Place spinach in a large bowl.  Fill will water and swish it around.  Let it rest for a minute, then lift the spinach out of the water.  Empty water, rinse out bowl, then repeat washing process.  You may need to wash it 2-3 times.

Living Sprouts (Sleger’s)–a beautiful and flavourful garnish for any dish.  Also tasty in salads and sandwiches.

German Butterball Potatoes  (Brook’s Farms)  These are yummy, all-purpose potatoes.

Meat:

Ground lamb from Belanger Organics

Pantry:

Homemade Carrot and Sweet Potato Soup!  This week’s pantry item is  soup made by Chef Lisa Kates.  See Feature Below.  Please note:  This soup needs to be refrigerated, and will last up to 10 days.  You can also place it in the freezer for up to 3 months. 

Ingredients:  Carrots, Sweet Potatoes, Celery, Onions, Arugula, Garlic, Soy oil, Sage, salt & pepper.

Cheese:

Celebrity Chevre from Miraposa Dairy.  A Royal Winter Fair 2011 winner!!  This cheese just won second place at the Royal Winter Fair, in the cheese category for unflavored Fresh Cheese, Goat Milk.  This is a national competition, where cheeses from across Canada compete.

Chevre is the last Fresh Cheese we will be featuring this season.  French for “goat,” chèvre is a pure white unripened goat’s-milk cheese with a slight tang and a mild tartness, followed by a smooth finish and creamy texture.

Chevre is versatile because it is delicious warm, at room temperature and cold.

Here are some ideas on how to use Chevre:

  • Spread on warm crostini, or your favorite cracker, topped with sliced Northern Kiwi OR sliced Corornation grapes  OR grated raw beets, OR sliced roasted beets!  And don’t forget to garnish with some living sprouts!
  • Stirred into your favorite pasta dish
  • On pizza
  • Crumbled in a salad
  • Mixed with other cheeses in a quesadilla or grilled cheese OR in this crazy grilled cheese, with Chevre and beets from Chow.com!
  • In your favorite egg dish
  • Serve it warm on greens, like in this recipe by Michael Smith 

More chevre recipes below…

Storage–Unopened, check the best before date on the package.  Once opened, wrapped well with plastic wrap, it can be refrigerated up to 2 weeks.

 

Featured Producer:  Chef Lisa Kates

Chef Lisa Kates will create the delicious homemade soup in your OAS bag this week.

Lisa has enjoyed a varied career in the food business from being a barista, to working in cafes, to owning her own catering business.
Lisa Kates Catering believed in creating delicious food using only the freshest ingredients and using local, sustainable products and produce.
Lisa lived in Ottawa for four years and took her skills to Operation Come Home where she began a food program called Food Matters. She taught at-risk youth about nutrition, growing their own vegetables and creating wonderful simple meals.  She found this position both challenging and extremely rewarding.
When Lisa moved back to Toronto she knew she would work with what she knew best: food! She named hereself  @afoodgypsy and began cooking and delivering soups across the city.
She now cooks out of three different Toronto locations, including Culinarium!
She loves what she does and creates three different soups every week using as many local ingredients as she can.  For her, soup is a universal and communal combination of ingredients and delicious flavours.

 

Lisa’s soup for OAS will be made from veggies sourced from the same farms we feature in the OAS bag each week.  We are not using past-it’s-prime produce, but we will use some  “seconds”, which refer to veggies that may be mis-shapen or bruised.  These veggies are perfectly good and tasty, however, farmers have difficulty selling them at farmer’s markets and retailers, as they may not look “perfect”. In fact, using seconds helps farmers increase their revenue for product they would otherwise leave in the fields!
So it’s a win-win situation for everyone–you get delicious veggie soup, and farmers earn much-needed revenue.
We hope you enjoy it!  Tell us what you think!

More Chevre Recipes:

Chicken Breast with Goat’s cheese and Rosemary

Chevre will add delicious flavour to this highly-recommended dish from Epicurious.com

Get Recipe>>>

Chevre Swirl Brownies

Get Recipe>>>

The tart flavour of chevre goes well with the sweetness of chocolate.  This recipe is from Ontario Goat’s Cheese producer’s website.

Ontario Lamb Grilled Eggplant Rolls

It’s still warm enough (re: no snow yet!) to use the bbq for this recipe!

Get Recipe>>>

More Recipes:

Braised Roots

Here’s an easy way to use up many of your root veggies.  Cooking them on the stove will keep them moist.  It’s also a great alternative to roasting them if you already have something else in the oven!

Get Recipe>>>

Lucy Waverman, Food and Drink Autumn 2011

How to Roast Beets Video

A quick video by chow.com on how to roast beets

Get Video>>>

http://www.chow.com/food-news/54569/how-to-roast-beets/

Beet Stew with Lamb Meatballs

Here’s an interesting Middle Eastern dish.  You can use your golden beets for this dish.  The result will have a slightly more mild beety-taste.

Get Recipe>>>

Have a great week!

 

Leave a Reply