On the Menu this Week:

Veggies:

Carrots (Hillside Garden Farms)

Yellow Sweet Potatoes  (Round Plains)

Red Onion  (Hillside Garden Farms)

Baby Kale (Sleger’s)–Kale is a superfood, and this baby version is much easier to eat and prepare than grown-up kale.  Great for salad, stir-frys and tossing into pasta.  One cup of kale has only 36 calories, 5 g of fibre and contains and 15% of the daily requirement of calcium and vitamin B6 , 40% of magnesium, 180% of vitamin A, 200% of vitamin C, and 1,020% of vitamin K. It is also a good source of minerals copper, potassium, iron, manganese, and phosphorus.

Living Sprouts (Sleger’s)–Because these sprouts are alive until you “harvest” them with your kitchen shears, they contain 100% of their nutritional goodness.

Portobello Mushrooms (Pfennings)–Brush the caps with canola oil and roast or broil them for a portabello sandwich or burger.  You can also slice and sautee them–delicious on a bed of lettuce for a warm salad.  TIP:  if you’re cooking them for a pasta or another dish, to avoid the whole dish from turning brownish-black, simply scrape off the dark brown gills with a spoon before cooking.

Watermelon Radish (Pfennings)–Beautifully hot pink on the outside, and whitish-green on the outside.  Try grating a radish onto a salad, or mix some grated radish into some plain yogurt or sour cream for the base of a “hot” veggie dip.

Fruit:

Red Delicious Apples (Warner’s Farm)

Yogurt!

Hewitt’s Dairy Goat Yogurt!!  Since we don’t have many fruit options to choose from, we thought you’d enjoy some delicious fruit-bottom yogurt!  You’ll receive 4 yummy flavours:  blueberry, strawberry, peach and raspberrry.

Pantry:

Heirloom beans from Grass Root Organic Farm

We are VERY excited to be providing you with these heirloom beans! You can’t get these beans everywhere–these are truly rare and special.  In fact, we had to recruit some help to scour Ontario farms to find enough beans for everyone at OAS!  See feature below!

Cheese: 

Niagara Gold Upper Canada Cheese–back by popular demand from previous seasons, we’re sure you’ll enjoy this cheese!  Niagara Gold is an Oka-style semi-soft, washed rind cow’s milk cheese fashioned after recipes developed by the Trappist Monks of the Loire Valley. This is a cheese with nutty, earthy overtones and mellow, buttery flavours. This luscious cheese is delicately mild and sweet when young and gains pungency and piquant qualities with age. The rind may be eaten or trimmed depending on your taste. It’s sold after 5 months of careful aging in their cellars. Under good conditions, it ages well for months and continues to develop unique flavours over time.

Meat:

Pickerel from Purdy’s Fisheries–see recipes below

Featured Ingredient:  Ontario Heirloom Beans!

Produced by nature and cultivated by world cultures through thousands of years, heirloom beans are untouched by genetic science or modern technology. Today there are over 10,000 known varieties of heirloom beans throughout the world that have been handed down from generation to generation!

These Ontario Heirloom beans are from Grass Root Organic Farm.  These are absolutely gorgeous-looking beans!  You’ll want to place a bowl of them next to your computer and just stare at them, or slowly run your fingers through them!

Beans are an economical, delicious and comforting way to eat and to feed your family well. They are an excellent source of protein, very low in fat and exceptionally high in fiber. They are also a very good source of calcium, iron, folic acid and potassium.

These heirloom beans are not easy to come by, and required some heavy-duty work!

Shelling the beans:  We have to thank the staff at Culinarium who spent SIX hours over the weekend just shelling the beans (this does not include bagging them)!!  I always thought that beans are grown, shelled then dried.  But actually, when you harvest dry beans you harvest the whole bean pod and dry it in the pod, and shell it once they dry. On a large scale you would have a machine shell the beans but unfortunately, for these small-scale heirloom beans, we don’t have that option!  So the shelling was hand-done!

Here’s the process:

1.  place beans in pods in pillow case (basket-weave pattern on pillowcase not necessary)

2.  smash pillowcase against wall

3.  remove empty pods and discard

And voila!  You get beautiful beans!

Here are the varieties we’re providing in your bags…you’ll each be receiving one type of heirloom bean:

Yellow-eyed:  Yellow-eyed beans are dense and have a creamy texture.  The also have a bit of a chowder taste to them.   Use them in recipes that call for navy beans.

Red Turtle:  These small, red beans are similar to the popular black turtle bean.  Great in Mexican recipes

Adzuki Beans:  Widely grown in Asia, these small beans have a slightly sweet flavour.

Marrow Beans:  These are large, plump white bean which have a distinctive creamy texture and a flavor which reminds some people of meat!  Cava restaurant in Toronto currently uses them in their cassoulet dish and they are great for baked beans too!

Scarlet Runner Beans:  These gorgeous large beans pack a lot of flavour and aren’t as starchy as other beans.  Great for recipes that call for Lima beans

Jacob’s Cattle Bean:  Jacobs cattle beans are kidney-shaped with an earthy flavor and a slight sweetness and mealy texture.  Also great for baked beans

Pinto Beans: Pinto means painted or spotted.  These beans are most used in Mexican dished–great for refried beans!

Smilyan Beans: These are a beautiful purplish black colour.  Great in soups or cooked then sauteed with onions, leeks or shallots in butter with herbs.  Add a splash of cream at the end for richness.  These beans were actually brought back (re: smuggled) from Italy recently, while the bean-lover was attending Slow Food’s bi-annual gathering, ‘Terra Madre’ in 2010.  Click here for an interesting article about them and their growers in Bulgaria.

Soldier Beans:  A white beans with reddish specks, these beans are popular in the Maritimes, and are great for baked beans or soups.

To Prepare Dried Beans:

All dried beans should be soaked overnight in tepid water.  8 hrs is good, 12 hrs is better, and you can even safely soak them for up to 24 or even 48 hrs (and they do not have to be refrigerated when soaking).  The food-science here is that you are ‘waking them up’ from their long winter nap, almost encouraging them to sprout.

Adding a little bit of whey or lemon juice to the soaking water is supposed to help with digestibility (about 1 tbsp per 1 cup of dried bean).

When ready to cook, drain, rinse, cover with fresh water and bring to boil.  Simmer until soft and creamy – this could be 30 to 45 min for more tender types (pinto comes to mind here), or up to 2 hrs for beans such as chickpeas.  The smilyan beans are good at 45 min to an hour.  The type of water (hard or soft) used will influence cooking times too.

 Recipes:

White Beans with Pesto

A simple recipe that would work with any of your heirloom beans

Get Recipe>>>

Baked Greek Beans with Honey and Dill

This recipe is not a traditional baked bean recipe, but would work well with many of the beans mentioned above.

Get Recipe>>>

Bean Confit

Cooked in oil, this recipe will really highlight the creaminess of beans.  Decadent and delicious!

Get Recipe>>>

Ten Pickerel Recipes

Check out this link which provides 10 pickerel recipes from Canadian Living

Get Recipes>>>

On the Menu this Week:

Veggies:

Russian Blue Potatoes (Brook’s Farms)–a great way to add colour to any plate!

Carrots (Hillside Garden Farms)

Golden Beets (Hillside Garden Farms)

Cioggia Beets (Hillside Garden Farms)

Jerusalem Artichokes (Cedargrove Farms)–see this veggie featured below, along with some recipes

White Mushrooms (Sharon Mushroom Farm)

Parsnips (Hillside Garden Farms)

Leaf Lettuce (Sleger’s Farm)

Garden Lettuce (Sleger’s Farm)

Fruit:

Gala Apples (Warner’s Farm)

D’Anjou Pears (Warner’s Farm)

Pantry:

Elderberry & Wild Ginger Fruit Butter–the newest flavour from Mill Pond Brands.  This delicious fruit butter is made from Ontario-grown fruit and will pair well with your duck this week.  Mill Pond doesn’t use any preservatives, additives, commercial pectins or refined sugars in their products.  To read more about them, check out their website:  http://www.millpondbrands.ca/

Cheese:

Extra Old Goat Cheddar Cheese from Fifth Town Cheese – aged 18 months – it’s VERY exclusive. They only make of limited supply of this stuff, and we at OAS bought half of it!!  This is a totally yummy RAW goat’s milk cheddar cheese, and is best enjoyed and savoured straight up on a cheese plate with some fresh baguette and paired with port, scotch or dark beer.  And don’t forget to put some of your sliced pears or apples on your cheese plate!  Enjoy this premium-priced cheese, since it will be a while before we can get our hands on it again!

What makes Cheddar, cheddar?  It’s cheddaring!  Cheddaring is the extra step taken to produce cheddar.  As with other cheese making, the curds and whey are separated using either rennet or another enzyme.  Then, the cheddaring occurs, where the curd is kneaded with salt, cut into cubes to drain the whey, then it is stacked and turned.  After this, it is aged at a constant temperature.  The longer it’s aged, the stronger and more complex the flavour.

Meat:

Duck!  This is half of a pre-cooked duck from King Cole Ducks, back by popular demand from our Summer OAS program!

To cook:

For Oven:

Preheat oven to 375 F.

Place defrosted duck in a shallow baking tray on middle rack of oven.

Bake 15-20 minutes, until heated through to internal temperature of 160 F.

For BBQ:

Pre-heat grill to MED.  Open defrosted bag and place duck on grill.

Start skin-side up for approx. 7-8 minutes.

Flip the duck skin-side down to crisp the skin (approx. 7-8 minutes)

Enjoy!

For more information, visit the King Cole Ducks website:

http://www.kingcoleducks.com/home.html

 Featured Ingredient:  Jerusalem Artichoke

The Jerusalem artichoke, (also known as Sunchokes), is a species of sunflower native to the eastern and southern United States.  These plants are cultivated across temperate zones, including Ontario, for its tuber (similar to a bulb) which is eaten as a root vegetable.

Despite it’s name, these “chokes” have no relation to Jerusalem, or to artichokes (they are more like cousins, as they both are related to the Daisy family)!!  Therefore, to avoid confusion, some people have started to call them “Sunchokes.”

Jerusalem artichokes are similar to potatoes.  Raw, they have the same crisp texture, and can be thinly sliced and eaten raw are part of a salad.  They can also be boiled, steamed or sauteed, which brings out their subtle nutty flavour.  They are often used to make delicious soup.  Plus, how cool is it to be eating a root of this flower in the middle of winter!

Tip:  Jerusalem Artichokes should be stored in a cool, dry area away from light.  They can also be stored in the vegetable drawer in the fridge, wrapped in paper towel or a tea towel, and sealed in a plastic bag for up to 3 weeks

 J-Choke Recipes:

Celery Root and Potato Puree with Roasted Jerusalem Artichoke “croutons”

Celebrating root veggies, this recipe is the best of both worlds…a creamy puree with crispy roasted J-chokes.  I would probably not use the potatoes in this week’s bag, as the puree will have a slightly purple tint to it.

Get Recipe>>>

Roast Chicken with Parsnips, Golden Beets and Jerusalem Artichokes with Beer Pan Juices

This is such a great recipe for us this week, since you can use your OAS parsnips, beets and j-chokes all at once!

Get Recipe>>>

Jerusalem Artichoke and Arugula Salad with Parmesean

Jerusalem Artichokes can be eaten raw!  Get inspired by this Bon Appetite salad recipe, and feel free to use your lettuce from the OAS bag, and maybe even your cheddar cheese instead of the parmesean!

Get Recipe>>>

Jerusalem Artichoke Pickles

These pickles, also from Bon Appetite, sound yummy!

Get Recipe>>>

Root Vegetable Recipes–Need to use up some of your roots?  Then look at these recipes!!

Here’s a little interactive feature from the New York Time’s Food and Wine section.  I love it because it states what may not be the obvious…basically, you can interchange almost any root vegetable in any root vegetable recipe you like.  So if you like the parsnip gratin, but have a celery root you need to use up, then feel free to use the celery root!

Also–is it just me, or does that root vegetable sautee look amazing?  The fact that it’s so simple is kind of mind-blowing to me, because I’ve never really thought of just grating root veggies and sauteeing them!  Why don’t I do this all of the time?  I’m constantly grating veggies for raw salads!  Tip:  A delicious, but simple meal would be grated root veggies with a poached or fried egg on top!  add some freshness with a topping of sprouts or greens,  and you’re done!

Get Root Vegetable Recipes>>>

On the Menu this Week:

Veggies:

Frozen Edamame! (Pristine Gourmet)–Fresh, frozen soybeans…a delicious and healthy snack!  Boil edamame in salted water for about 3-4 minutes.  Serve sprinkled with sea salt.

Firm Tofu (Ying Ying Soy Food)–see feature below

Shallots (August Harvest)

Sprouts (Greenbelt Farms)

Multi-colour Carrots (Hillside Farms)

Kennebec Potatoes (Rose Farm)–These are thin-skinned potatoes that hold their shape well during cooking.  They are known for being used for french fries, but they are also good when baked, mashed, roasted and in soup.

Savoy Cabbage (Top Tomato)

Tatsoi Lettuce (Sleger’s)

Mizuna Lettuce (Sleger’s)

Daikon Radish (Zephyr Organics)

Turnips (Zephyr Organics)

Fruit:

Mutsu/Fuji Apples (Warner’s Farms)

Pantry:

Sake Kasu (Ontario Spring Water Sake Company)–this is not sake you drink!–  see feature below

Sesame Kasu Dressing (Ontario Spring Water Sake Company)

Cheese:

Smoked Gouda from Thornloe cheese.

Meat:

Stir Fry Berkshire Pork from Perth Pork Products.  This pork is fresh, not frozen.

Meet the Maker:  Ying Ying Soy Food

Ying Ying Soy food uses traditional, artisanal methods to make their delicious tofu.  And it’s for this reason that it recently celebrated it’s 10 year anniversary!

Ying Ying Soy Food is a small family-owned and operated artisan tofu producer. Their tofu finds its roots in its 2000-year-old tradition and processing technique. They use a traditional coagulant, Nigari (magnesium chloride from sea-water), and hand-coagulate and hand-make their tofu in small batches in the traditional way. Nigari has been used in tofu making since 200 BC. (compared to most tofu made today uses Calcium Sulphate).

Their products are all hand-cut and wok-cooked to perfection without using any additives.

They use only locally-grown Ontario certified Organic soybeans, grown by Klondike Farms in Dashwood Ontario.

Besides the plain tofu you’ll find in your bags this week, Ying Ying also makes flavoured tofu (which we included in one of our OAS bags this summer), smoked tofu, miso paste, tofu burgers and more.

Visit them at the St. Lawrence Market (downstairs, near the Stonemill Bakery), or look for their products at stores throughout Toronto.

To read more, go to their website at http://yingyingsoyfood.ca/index.html

Featured Ingredient:  Sake Kasu!

Unless you’ve been down to the Distillery District, or noticed it at the LCBO, you may not know that we make Sake in Ontario.  Since we legally cannot include alcohol in your OAS bags, we have decided to provide you with Sake Kasu from the Ontario Spring Water Sake Company.

Sake Kasu is a highly valued food ingredient for adding non-fatty lucsiousness to food.  Is is the rice lees (residual yeast) left over from the production of sake.  It has a sweet, strong fruity taste (like sake) with umami notes.  It can be used as a cooking paste, as a marinade and as a pickling agent, as well as in sweet desserts.  Ontario Spring Water Sake Company has provided some recipes for you to try.  I have also found some basic recipes below.

Sake Kasu can also be used as a skin-care ingredient– sake kasu soap is available at the store, and you can make your own face  mask with it by simply  mixing it with warm water, as described here.  This type of mask is also used at Iyashi Bedrock Spa on Yonge Street.

Storage:  Keep Sake Kasu in the refrigerator.  It has a 6-month shelf life, so you have plenty of time to try it!

Sake Kasu Recipes

Easy Sake Kasu recipes:

Here’s a website that gives you basic ideas on how to use it.

Get recipes>>>

Sake Kasu Marinated Sea Bass with Coconut Green Curry Sauce

This recipe from Epicurious is all over the internet, so I had to include it (even though it uses non-Ontario ingredients)

Get Recipe>>>

Here are three Sake Kasu recipes in one blog, including a basic one for fish (or pork).

Get Recipes>>>

Sake Kasu Facial Mask

If cooking with it doesn’t appeal to you, here’s an alternative!

Get Recipe>>>

More Recipes

Savoy Cabbage and Rutabaga Slaw

The Rutabaga from last week’s bag was so crisp and sweet, I don’t think you need to blanch it, as recommended in this recipe.

Get Recipe>>>

Daikon and Carrot Pickle AND  Sweet Carrot and Daikon Salad

Here are two recipes using daikon and carrot…

Get Recipe for Pickle>>>

Get Recipe for Salad>>>

Stir-Fried Quinoa with Vegetables and Tofu

Quinoa and tofu–the perfect healthy combo!

Get Recipe>>>

Black Pepper Tofu

This recipe looks delicious…if you don’t have all three soy sauces, try adding some honey, as suggested

Get Recipe>>>

Stir-Fried Pork and Greens with Noodles

Here’s a stir-fry recipe where you can use your pork or tofu or both!

Get Recipe>>>

This week, we hope we’ll be able to help you fulfill any New Year’s resolutions you may have made.  I thought I’d share some resolutions made by some of us at OAS.

Mine are (unfortunately) the same as last year…1. to eat more dried beans, and 2. to eat more peanut butter (I have a severe weakness for cheese!).

Kathleen writes she’s  “…resolved to eat more beans and lentils and to pack a lunch!  I know I know, given I own a grocery store you’d think I could just eat off the shelves but really I never take the time to do so.  So I’m keen to pack a brown bag lunch at least 3 times a week for my hubby and I.”  My advise to her is to freeze soup in mason jars and bring it to work.  See soup recipe below.

Grace’s are:

1) also beans…which is a bit odd that three of us want to eat more of them.

Jason’s, to my surprise, is to eat more cheese!  and to be more adventurous about it.   OAS will certainly help him with this!

If eating more locally, eating healthier, eating more veggies, (especially cruciferous veggies), eating more beans, getting to know where your meat comes from, etc. are any of your resolutions, then you are in luck being part of OAS!  Enjoy!

On the Menu this Week:

Veggies:

Watermelon Radish! (Pfennings) These are gorgeous!!–light green on the outside and pink on the inside…it’s not hard to figure out where its name comes from!

Carrots (Hillside Farms)

Rutabaga  (Zephyr Organics)–see feature below

Celery Root  (Zephyr Organics)

Cipollini Onions  (Pfennings)–these are small, squat onions that are sweeter-tasting than regular cooking onions.  TIP:  if you’re planning on cooking them (like in the recipe below), and need to peel them, simply drop the onions in boiling water for about 2 minutes, then drain and rinse under cold water. The skins will now be easier to peel off.

Baby leeks  (Pfennings)–a smaller and more tender version of leeks.  see recipes below

Sweet potatoes (Round Plains)

Sunflower Sprouts  (Greenbelt Farms)

Fruit:

Apples  (Warner’s Farm)–see an apple and pear crisp recipe below

Pears  (Warner’s Farm)

Pantry:

Dehydrated Blueberries from Sandy Acres–these are dried blueberries that need to be re-hydrated before adding them to your favorite recipes.  Warm some water and sweeten it with sugar or some honey.  Leave the blueberries in the water for a few minutes to soften them, then add them to your favorite recipe…they can be used in pancakes, muffins, smoothies and even added to an apple and pear crisp (see recipe below).  You can also try throwing them into your oatmeal as it’s cooking.

Cheese:

Cheese from Quality Cheese–This is a Tuscan-style Caciotta cheese made with Truffles.   It’s a cow’s milk pressed cheese (not cooked or stretched) made like cheddar, with a mild flavour.

Meat:

Ground Beef, from John Nyman in Prince Edward County

Featured Food:  Rutabaga!

Rutabaga is a root vegetable that is part of the brassica family — other members include turnips and  kohlrabi.  What’s great about them is that they contain many of the same antioxidants as cabbage, broccoli, cauliflower and kale…and we know how healthy these veggies are to us!

Rutabaga is the common  Canadian term for the plant, which dates back to 1620. The name originates from an old  Swedish word Rotabagge, meaning simply “root bag”.  In England, Wales, and Australia, they call rutabaga “Swede”, and in the U.S., the plant is also known as “Swedish turnip” or “yellow turnip”, while in Ireland, it is referred to as “turnip”.  Not surprising, it is believed rutabaga originated in Scandinavia.   It was introduction to North America came in the early 19th century with reports of planted rutabaga crops in Illinois as early as 1817.

Cooking and Eating:

Rutabaga has a rough, brown skin on the outside that must be peeled off before eating.  You may notice in the grocery store, some rutabagas are covered in wax.  This wax is used to help preserve them, yet it also makes them more difficult to peel.

Inside, the flesh is a light yellow-ish orange colour.   It’s  flavour  is sweet and slightly bitter.  Sliced thinly or julienned, it can be eaten raw, but it is usually eaten cooked.  The best ways to prepare it is either roasted, pureed, or in soups.  It goes well with other root veggies, so combine them with turnips, beets, potatoes, carrots, etc. when roasting them.

Buying:  Look for rutabaga that is heavy for it’s size, otherwise it could have a woody texture.

Storage:  Rutabaga can be stored in the fridge for around 2 weeks.  If left at room temperature, it should be good for a week.

If you want to freeze it, peel then dice it into chunks.  Quickly cook it  in boiling water for about 3 minutes, then cool, place in a freezer bag and freeze.  This is a great way to save your rutabaga to add to soups or to roast them at a later time.

Enjoy!

Rutabaga Recipes:

Rutabaga Puree

This simple recipe uses only rutabaga and butter

Get Recipe>>>

Roasted Rutabagas with Maple Syrup and Chili

A little sweet and spice works well with rutabaga.  This recipe is from Martha Stewart

Get Recipe>>>

Hearty Rutabaga, Turnip and Carrot Soup

Try freezing this in 500ml mason jars and bring it to work!  When using glass jars, make sure to leave generous head space (at least one inch) so that the glass doesn’t crack.

Get Recipe>>>

Root Vegetable Gratin

You can use your rutabega, celery root and even your radish, carrots and sweet potatoes for this warming recipe

Get Recipe>>>

Rutabaga or Parsnip Muffins

Something Different?  How about this Rutabaga muffin recipe from Foodland Ontario

Get Recipe>>>

More Recipes:

Open-Face Butter and Radish Sandwiches

This is a favorite French sandwich.  How gorgeous would it look with watermelon radishes??  Nice and light, a great party appetizer that’s easy to whip up anytime.  The key is to make them with delicious local butter.

Get Recipe>>>

Feta Dip with Watermelon Radish

Here’s a dip recipe that uses the radish as the veggie.  Cool dip with hot veggie is a tasty combination!

Get Recipe>>>

Pickled Radish

This quick pickle can be stored in the fridge for up to a month.  You can also just slice the radish when preparing it.  Pickled radishes are a great side to sandwiches (also great inside a sandwich) or in simple green salads.  A great side too when eating cheesy items like grilled cheese, fondue or raclette.

Get Recipe>>>

Roasted Baby Leeks with Thyme

Here’s a simple recipe for roasting Baby Leeks, by Jaime Oliver

Get Recipe>>>

Braised carrots and Leeks with Tarragon

Here’s a healthy recipe using carrots and baby leeks, from nytimes.com

Get Recipe>>>

Simple Vegetarian Soup video, chow.com

I may have posted this video before, but here’s a refresher on how to make an easy soup using any veggies you like.

Get Video>>>

http://www.chow.com/videos#!/show/all/76491/how-to-make-a-simple-vegetarian-soup

Honey Roasted Chipollini Onions

This side dish by Tyler Florence is simple and looks delicious.

Get Recipe>>>

Cipollini Onion Hummus

The browned onions bring a sweetness to this hummus recipe.

Get Recipe>>>

Apple and Pear Crisp

Who doesn’t love and apple and pear crisp?  This one by Ina Garten has rave reviews.  You can try added your dehydrated blueberries to this.

Get Recipe>>>

Enjoy your OAS bag!

This week, we’re providing you an array of delicious food items that will come in handy while entertaining over the holidays!  Planning on making some roasted veggies?  how about mashed potatoes?  a baked Brie with pears?  Hot apple cider?  And how about some crostini with smoked Trout?  You’ll be proud to serve your guests these delicious items, especially knowing that they all come from Ontario.  Enjoy!

On the Menu this Week:

Fruit:

Pears  (Warner’s Farm)

Frozen Cranberries  (Johnston’s Cranberry Marsh)

Apple Cider  (Warner’s Farm)  This  1L of cider is yummy either hot or cold.  Last week, I included some boozy recipes using cider.  Click here to go to that blog entry (cider recipes are near the bottom of the blog).

Veggies:

Shallots  (August’s Harvest)

Multi-colour beets  (Hillside Garden Farms)

Parsnips  (Hillside Garden Farm)

Turnips  (Hillside Garden Farms)

Yukon Gold Potatoes  (Thompson’s Potato Farm)  We’re giving you a couple of pounds of these, enough for a good serving of mashed potatoes!  See video on how to make creamy mashed potatoes below.

Carrots  (Hillside Garden Farms)

Acorn Squash  (Brook farms)

Garlic  (Farintosh Farms)

Salad Greens  (Greenbelt Farms)

Pantry:

Honey!   Located just North of us in Stouffville, this 500 ml jar of Meadowview honey is delicious to drizzle over cheese, in hot tea, and in baking.

Cheese:

Brie--Quality Cheese.  This cow’s milk cheese is always at hit at parties.  See recipes below for baked brie and other apps.

Meat:

Smoked Trout–Purdy’s Fisheries.  Serve this yummy, perfectly-smoked fish on it’s own with crackers, or see recipes below

Holiday Recipes! 

We’ve decided to skip our usual features to focus on holiday entertaining recipes, using your OAS  ingredients.

Appetizer Recipes

Smoked Trout Toasts

A simple spread that packs a lot of flavour

Get Recipe>>>

Bruschetta with Swiss Chard and Smoked Trout

A beautiful little snack that will be eaten up in no time!

Get Recipe>>>

Smoked Trout and Watercress on Tart Apple Slices

No need for bread for these apps!.  You could also use a hard bosc pear as the base.

Get Recipe>>>

Baked Brie with Caramelized Pear

Is there anyone out there that doesn’t like warm brie?  Paired with pears, this will be a huge hit!

Get Recipe>>>

Cranberry Brie Puffs

Again, brie + fruit + heat = gone in seconds.

http://www.lcbo.com/lcbo-ear/RecipeController?language=EN&recipeType=1&action=recipe&recipeID=1400

Get Recipe>>>

Beautiful Leftover Bruschetta–2 Ways

Got some leftover roasted veggies?  Then grab some herbs and try one of these ways to make some yummy non-tomato based, root veggie bruschetta for the-next-day-party apps.  Mash it or slice it, you decide!

Get Recipe>>>

Side Dishes/Salads

Warm Winter Vegetable Salad

Feel free to throw in your parsnips and potato into this roasted veggie salad.  This recipe can be easily doubled or tripled to feed a crowd.

Get Recipe>>>

Roasted Beet Salad with Pumpkin Seeds

Everyone loves roasted beet salads, as you’ll notice them on so many restaurant menus.  Try this one with your multi-coloured beets!

Get Recipe>>>

Crunchy Raw Beetroot Salad with Feta and Pear

I tend to eat most of my beets raw.  Here’s an easy salad to make with raw beets and pears.  You could also slice the beets and pears really thinly, instead of matchsticks.

Get Recipe>>>

Creamy Mashed Potatoes

Watch this video on how to make delicious creamy mashed potatoes

Get Video>>>

Sauce/Chutney

Tangy Cranberry Sauce

Cranberry sauce is so easy to make, there is really no need to buy it!  And it can be made days in advance, so no need for last-minute stress on this one!

Get Recipe>>>

Cranberry Apple Chutney

This goes well with turkey, duck and other meats, or it could be served with your cheese plate.

Get Recipe>>>

Dessert:

Upside-Down Pear Gingerbread Cake

Spice things up with this warm, dark gingerbread cake.

Get Recipe>>>

Spiced Cranberry Bundt Cake

Who doesn’t love a bundt cake?

Get Recipe>>

Happy Holidays from the OAS team!

On the Menu this Week:

Fruit:

Apple Cider (Warner’s Farm)–Last year, this was a huge hit!  Is there anything better then a glass of apple cider, or a cup of warm apple cider?  A great alternative to OJ for your Ontario-themed brunch!  See recipes below

Pears (Warner’s Farm)–We’re getting a few varieties, so I can’t specify what you’ll get in your bag this week.

Veggies:

Button Mushrooms (Sharon Mushroom Farm)

Mosaic Tomatoes (Sovereign Farm)–roasted tomatoes go great with eggs!

Multi-colour carrots (Hillside Garden Farms)

Onions (Hillside Garden Farms)

Fingerling Potatoes (Brooks Farm)

Acorn Squash (Zepher)–squash for breakfast?  maybe not, but you’ll enjoy it!

Boston Lettuce (Sleger’s)–a perfect lettuce for a green salad for your brunch

Watercress (Sleger’s)–watercress is a beautiful garnish on any brunch dish, or would work well in an omlette–just place the uncooked watercress in the omlette…the heat from the eggs will make it wilt.

Pantry:  we have 2 pantry items this week:

Eggs! (Homestead)–a dozen fresh, delicious eggs!

Oats (Oak Manor)–These old fashioned large flake oats are toasted rather than steamed to preserve their hearty, nutritional quality and their nutty flavour.  Great for breakfast or on top of  an apple or pear crumble.

Cheese:

Grated mozzarella & cheddar (Jensen Cheese)–see Jensen Cheese featured below

Meat:

Peameal Bacon!–you’ll love this peameal, butchered by Fred Demartins

Meet the Maker:  Jensen Cheese

The cheese in your OAS bag this week is a delicious mozzarella-cheddar blend.  Once you try this cheese, you’ll be tempted to eat the entire contents straight from the bag!  Just wait, you’ll see.

Jensen Cheese is a third generation family business established in 1925 by founder Arne Jensen, a Master Cheesemaker from Denmark.  Currently, Eric Jensen, son of Arne Jensen, is the owner and president of A.M. Jensen
Limited.  He is now preparing his son Scott to be the next president, making
Scott the third generation of Jensen Cheese.

Jensen’s cheese is produced at The Wilton Cheese Factory, located in Wilton, Ontario, just five minutes North of the 401 highway at Odessa (between Kingston and Belleville, Ontario).

Jensen Cheese makes delicious hand-made artisan cheeses.  Each cheese is
made under the direct supervision of their master cheesemaker,
Ernie Wilson,  made with the utmost care and attention to guarantee that their textures and flavours are at their best. An  Old World Curing Process is still being used to ensure their old fashioned, full bodied natural flavours.

Besides making delicious cheeses, one thing of note is that as part of their manufacturing process, Jensen cheeses use microbial enzymes instead of animal rennet, making their cheese suitable for vegetarians who do not eat rennet.

To find out more about Jensen cheese, including when to visit their retail store, or how to order a cheese wedding cake (no, not a cheesecake, but a tower of various cheeses, which looks like a wedding cake), visit their website at:

http://www.jensencheese.ca

Breakfast & Brunch Recipes:

Eggs:  First, the basics

How to boil an egg video

Get Video>>>

How to remove a broken shell from a bowl of eggs video

Get Video>>>

Scrambled Eggs with Herbed Croutons

This Food and Wine recipe is an easy way to up the ante on regular scrambled eggs.

Get Recipe>>>

Bacon, Cheese and Scrambled Egg Sandwiches with Hollandaise

A faster way to make eggs benedict-like eggs for a crowd–with no poaching involved!  And this recipe uses peameal bacon.  It’s also from Food and Wine.

Get Recipe>>>

Eggs Canadian

Think there’s peameal bacon in this Canadian Living recipe?

Get Recipe>>>

Grilled Peameal

This Canadian Living recipe can be done on the stove top too

Get Recipe>>>

Oatmeal Buttermilk Blueberry Pancakes

You can use Ontario Frozen blueberries for this New York Times recipe.

Get Recipe>>>

Boozy Apple Cider recipes from the LCBO’s Food and Drink magazine:

Cold:

Maple-Orange Cider

Cider and maple syrup?  yum!

Get Recipe>>>

Spiced Apple Cocktail

A super-easy cocktail…

Get Recipe>>>

Hot:

Autumn Warmer

Get Recipe>>>

I’ve always been passionate about food, and last year I decided to take a plunge and get involved in the local food movement. My education dealt with the science and history behind agriculture and our food systems, but I felt I needed to understand more intimately how food was grown. To pursue this, I spent the last seven months as a full-season farm apprentice on The New Farm, in Creemore Ontario. Alongside farmers Brent Preston and Gillian Flies and four other interns, I grew organic vegetables for the local farmer’s market, Toronto and Collingwood area restaurants, The Stop Community Food Centre, and the OAS. You may remember the Pink Fir Apple potatoes and rainbow carrots and beets in the first OAS box of this season, or our salad greens if you were a member during the summer!

My season on the farm was amazing – one of the best experiences of my life. Growing food is harder work than I anticipated (organic vegetables need so much weeding!), but when the crops were finally ready to harvest it was incredibly rewarding. There is certainly nothing quite as delicious as eating a 100-metre diet. The farm also gave me a perfect gateway into the local food community, and it was refreshing to meet so many enthusiastic young people interested in farming.

When the season started to come to a close, I knew that I needed to stay involved in local food when I moved back to the city. Working for 100KM Foods and the OAS has been a perfect transition. I’ve spent the last few weeks doing pickups and touring around many of the farms that supply the OAS, and I’ve been amazed by the diversity of foods that Ontario has to offer, even as winter approaches. I’m excited to bring my knowledge and passion for local food to your table!

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.

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!

On the Menu This Week:

Fruit:

Sheldon Pears (Warner’s Farm)–Never heard of Sheldon pears?  These pears are a roundish brown pear that are crisp and juicy, like an Asian pear, but not as sweet.  It is a very old variety, growing on trees at Warner’s Farm that are over 100 years old!!

Gala Apples (Warner’s Farm)

Veggies:
Black Radish (Zephyr Organics)–A winter variety of radish, this crispy veg can be peeled and grated or sliced thinly to add to salads or sandwiches.  You can also cook it, which will reduce it’s heat.  see recipes below.

Red Cabbage (Top Tomato)–read about it’s nutritional benefits below!

Celery Root (Green Acres)

Jerusalem Artichokes (Zephyr Organics) To store:  in a cool, dry area away from light.  They can also be stored in the vegetable drawer in the fridge, wrapped in paper towel or a tea towel, and sealed in a plastic bag for up to 3 weeks.  We featured these last year–Click here to read all about them and for a simple recipe (you’ll need to scroll down to the middle of the blog).

Pea Shoots or other sprouts (Sleger’s Farms)  I loooove pea shoots and sprouts!  Delicious in salads and on sandwiches!  Great as a fresh garnish over a stir-fry too.

Sweet Potato (Round Plains)

Multi-Colour carrots (Hillside Garden Farms)

Leeks (ANC Farm Produce)

Garden Salad (Sleger’s Farms)

Pantry:

Extra Virgin Canola Oil from Pristine Gourmet–see feature below

Meat: 

Smoked Duck Breast from King Cole Ducks–This delicious duck breast is pre-cooked, so all you have to do is re-heat it and enjoy!  To reheat in the oven, thaw duck breast then place in a 325 degree oven for 15-20 minutes, or until warm.

Cheese: 

Fresh Ricotta Cheese from Monforte Dairy.  This rich fresh sheep’s cheese is slightly grainy but smoother than cottage cheese. It’s white, moist and has a slightly sweet flavor. Most  ricottas are made from the whey drained off while making other cheeses such as Mozzarella.  In North America, ricottas are usually made with a combination of whey and whole or skim milk. The word ricotta  means “recooked,” and is derived from the fact that the cheese is made by heating the whey from another cooked cheese.

Ricotta is often used in lasagnas and manicotti.  You can also add a dollop of it to any pasta dish.  It works well in breakfast and brunch dishes–stir it into scrambled eggs, as a filing for an omlette,  in a quiche or a frittata.  Or what about in pancakes?  You can also use it as a pizza topping or as a dip base.

Try spreading some on warm crostini, with a drizzle of your extra virgin canola oil and some sprouts on top.  yum!

Storage:  Fresh cheeses don’t have a long shelf life, so make sure to check the best before date.  Once open, ricotta will last about 5 days.

Here’s a recipe for Spinach and Ricotta Gnudi–slightly similar to gnocchi , but easier to make!  It’s kind of like the inside filling of a delicious ravioli.

Get Recipe>>>

Featured Product:  Pristine Gourmet’s Extra Virgin Canola Oil

This week, we are thrilled to be bringing you extra-virgin cold-pressed canola oil from Pristine Gourmet.  If you’re used to buying a big jug of canola oil at the grocery store for use in baking or frying, this will offer you a completely different take on what canola oil can be.

This oil has a strong, nutty, grassy taste to it.  Our usual canola oil is so over-processed that the taste of canola is barely apparent (that’s why it’s usually used when a “neutral oil”, re: no flavour, is called for in a recipe, so we encourage you to take the time to savour this flavour.  Many chefs love it; one commented that the colour and earthiness of it made him feel like he was in the field, and Jamie Kennedy has said it has a  forward character which makes it foxy!  Who can go wrong with that?  You can find out lots more information about this oil from a fabulous Globe and Mail article printed on August 30 of this year.

We recommend that you first try it out with a good, crusty bread and some balsamic vinegar.  You can also use it in a salad dressing if you are looking to complement nutty flavours in a salad.  Pristine Gourmet also recommends roasting potatoes and herbs in their canola oil.

Nutrition News: Cruciferous veggies help ward off colds and flu (as well as other illnesses)!

Lucky for us, we’ll be providing you with many of these veggies throughout the season.  Cruciferous vegetables include cabbage (in your bag this week), cauliflower, broccoli, Brussels sprouts, bok choy, etc.  To read about their health benefits and how they boost your immune system, along with some cooking tips, click on this Globe and Mail article published just last week!

Here’s a Braised Cabbage Recipe cabbage recipe to get you started…

Get Recipe>>>

Black Radish Recipes:

Black Radish Salad

Here’s a simple black radish recipe from Epicurious.   Feel free to grate in one of your carrots too.

Get recipe>>>

Black Radish Chips

Try this black radish chips recipe from the popular blog, Chocolate & Zucchini:

Get Recipe>>>

Black Radish and Potato Salad

Also from Chocolate & Zucchini, this recipe is simple and would work very well with your Canola Oil–the oil will really compliment the walnuts!

Get Recipe>>>

Enjoy your OAS bag this week!!

On the Menu This Week:

Fruit:

Blue Plums (Warren Farms)–Enjoy them while you still can!

White Grapes (Warren Farms)

Veggies:

Boston Lettuce (Sleger’s)

Mosaic Tomatoes (Sovereign Farms)

Multi-Coloured Beets  (The New Farm)

Parsnips (Hillside Garden Farms)

Green Beans  (Sovereign Farms)–this will probably be the last green beans of the season, so enjoy!

Multi-Coloured Carrots (The New Farm)

Coloured Cauliflower  (Top Tomato)–you’ll receive either an orange, green, or purple cauliflower!  Their colour is derived from an heirloom variety–they’re not dyed like some people may believe!!.  And as a bonus, they contain more nutrients than regular white cauliflower.  They will lose a lot of their colour if you cook them–steaming is the best way to keep their colour mostly intact.

Pink Fir Apple Potatoes (The New Farm)–see feature below

Pantry:  Cranberry Beans from Pristine Gourmet–see how to prepare these beautiful dried beans below.

Meat:  Flat iron Steaks from one of our favorite butchers, Guenter,  from Select Fine Foods.

Cheese:  Ewenity dairy,  Brebis Frais, Chive and Pepper.  This is a fresh, unripened sheep’s milk cheese, similar to a chevre, but made with sheep’s milk!  It has a creamy texture with a mild tangy flavour.  It is often compared to a cream cheese, but it has no cream, so it’s lower in fat and calories than regular cream cheese.

To Use:  It’s ideal for spreading on crackers, bagels or crostini.  Great for appetizers!  It could also be used to top a bowl of pasta or on top of warm potatoes.

Featured Ingredient:  Pink Fir Apple Potatoes!

Pink Fir Apple is a fingerling variety of potato.  It’s a traditional variety, originating from France and being over a hundred years old.  But luckily for us, it has been enjoying a revival in recent years.

Pink Fir Apple potato is a long tubular-shaped, knobbly potato with a pink skin and a creamy white-yellow flesh.   It is a highly flavourful potato, which is one of the reasons we chose it this week!  Because it’s  a waxy potato, it’s best boiled or steamed.  It works really well in salads and taste delicious room-temperture or cold.  It can also be sliced and gently fried in butter with garlic and onions.

We hope you enjoy them!

Recipes using Pink Fir Apple Potatoes:

Boiled Potatoes with Dill (Kartupeli ar Dillem)

Try this Latvian recipe for a simple side dish.  It’s from the May 2011 issue of Saveur magazine.

Get Recipe>>>

Arugula Salad with Potatoes and Green Beans

This recipe from Food and Wine magazine will work well with your Boston lettuce, with or without arugula.

Get Recipe>>>

Potato and Chorizo Omelette with a Kinda Parsley Salad (yes, this is the name of the recipe!)

This simple dish by Jaime Oliver is perfect for brunch or dinner for two.

Get Recipe>>>

Recipes Featuring Cauliflower:

Cauliflower Salad with Capers, Parsley and Vinegar

Mmmm, I love cauliflower with a bit of tang!  Try this easy and healthy salad.

Get Recipe>>>

Pasta with Cauliflower

Check out this Mark Bittman video for a simple pasta dish.  You could top it with a spoonful of your Brebis Frais cheese, to make it extra special!

Get Video>>>

Roasted Cauliflower with Mustard Seeds

This easy recipe has an Indian flare.  It’s by Lucy Waverman, published on theglobeandmail.com

Get Recipe>>>

How to Prepare Dried Beans

Tip:  One pound of dried beans makes about 5 to 6 cups of cooked beans.

Quick Soak Method
1. Place beans in a large pot with tight-fitting lid and cover with cold
water by 2-3 inches.  Bring to a boil and boil beans uncovered for 2
minutes. Cover the pot, turn off heat and allow to soak for 2 hours.
2.  After 2 hours, taste. If the bean is tender (but not done), add a large
pinch of salt and some pepper.  Make sure there is at least 1 inch of water
covering beans.  If not, add more water.  If the beans are not yet tender,
DO NOT add salt, and ensure the beans are covered by 2 inches of water.
3.  Bring pot to a boil, then reduce temperature to a gentle simmer.  Cover
partially, and cook, stirring occasionally and tasting a bean for doneness
every 10-15 minutes.  You may need to add more water.  If you haven’t yet
added salt, add it once the beans are tender.  Once the beans are done,
adjust seasoning and use in recipe.

Long-Soak Method
1.  Place beans in a large pot with tight-fitting lid and cover with cold
water by several inches.  Soak overnight, or for 8-12 hours.
2.  Drain the beans and return to pot.  Check for doneness.  If they are
tender, add a large pinch of salt and some black pepper and cover beans by 1
inch.  If not yet tender, DO NOT add salt, and cover by 2 inches of water.
3.  Bring pot to a boil, then reduce temperature to a gentle simmer.  Cover
partially, and cook, stirring occasionally and tasting a bean for doneness
every 10-15 minutes.  You may need to add more water.  If you haven’t yet
added salt, add it once the beans are tender.  Once the beans are done,
adjust seasoning and use in recipe.

Recipe:  Beans Confit

Here’s another interesting way to cook your beans–in oil!  Normally, we associate the word “confit” with duck.  But here, you’re using beans!

As mentioned in the article, they would be delicious tossed warm with your mosaic tomatoes, or with boiled potatoes.  And although the recipe calls for olive oil, you could use Ontario extra virgin canola oil instead.  This is from nytimes.com.

Get Recipe>>>

Enjoy your OAS bag!  Your next bag will be in two week, on November 3rd.