Food In The Hills

SP R ING|S UMMER 2011

The New Farmer Cool summer soups

The buzz on honey Heidi’s contemporary kitchen

Strawberry fields

welcome to Food In The Hills When I was growing up in the Caledon Hills way back in the last century, food was an afterthought. Sure, my family had an overgrown vegetable garden that mostly consisted of a few raspberry canes, a rhubarb patch and some gone-to-seed asparagus. And sometimes my dad would actually make pancakes from scratch on Sunday mornings.

But we all knew that real food came from the supermarket in cans and freeze-dried packages. Convenience was everything in those days. Remember Tang? Instant coffee?

Processed cheese? TV dinners? Powdered milk? Instant potatoes? Not only did we eat that stuff, we celebrated it. Cooking was considered passé, a ball and chain that had enslaved generations. Instant was the way of the future. And taste? A small price to pay for freedom.

Food In The Hills editor Cecily Ross is the former food and wine editor of The Globe and Mail and author of Love in the Time of Cholesterol, a memoir with recipes.

Thankfully, times have changed. And nowhere more so than here in the hills, where as recently as a decade ago, finding a good restaurant was like looking for the proverbial needle in a haystack. These days, the Headwaters region is a veritable Eden of farmers’ markets and organic growers, of food festivals and great restaurants. And far from being a community of fast-food consumers, we have shunned convenience in favour of all things seasonal, local and organic. Overnight, it seems, we have fallen in love with food.

So it seems like exactly the right time to launch Food In The Hills, a magazine devoted to celebrating everything that has to do with food in our own backyard. A magazine that promises to introduce you to the hard-working people who produce the things you eat, to the creative cooks who prepare it, and to the activists and policymakers who care about it.

Twice a year, in the spring and late summer, these pages will be fi lled with stories focussed on the terroir (loosely translated as “a sense of place”) that the Headwaters region has become. We will honour the power that food has to bring people together in a fragmented world. And of course, you will find recipes, recipes and more recipes created by local chefs, food writers and home cooks too.

In this inaugural issue you will meet organic growers Brent Preston and Gillian Flies, you’ll sit in on two gorgeous country weddings. You’ll learn how to make the perfect omelette, visit a sleek new kitchen and listen in on Caledon’s fi rst official Kitchen Table Talks. You’ll find out about organic honey and the delights of cold soup. And of course, we will feature the best of what’s in season, from rhubarb and strawberries to peaches and plums.

In between issues, you can keep up to date with local food news, events and recipes online at www.foodinthehills.ca.

I would like to thank all the writers, photographers and designers who worked hard to produce a magazine I am very proud of. And of course, toques off to In The Hills publisher Signe Ball whose idea this was. I hope you find enough to whet your appetite for more. Let us know what you think.

Bon appétit!

Cecily Ross

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a taste of our spring|summer issue 46 | Sweet or savoury, chilled soup in summer is as comforting as it is cool There’s more to cold soup than cucumbers. Local soupmeister Jennifer Clark shares tips and recipes for this perfect starter to any summer meal, featuring everything from spinach and

soup’s on… ice 19 | You know it’s truly summer when Ontario’s first berries appear on local market stands Everything you need to know about strawberries: how to pick ’em, store ’em and best of all, eat ’em.

Jennifer Clark on how to hull and more.

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pete paterson

leeks to watermelon and mint.

strawberry fields

food the way it was meant to be br ad gosse

what would granny say?

26 | Move over pine and calico – sleek and modern is

coming to a country kitchen near you Writer Nancy Falconer tours a bold contemporary kitchen. “Pine is fine,” says designer Heidi Baufeldt of Granny Taught Us How, “but it’s just not me.”

more seasonal specials

always on the menu

The New Farmer | 12 Nicola Ross asks the burning question: What made an urban couple leave the city for life on the farm?

Off the Shelf | 9 Gadgets and goodies for those on the go.

Valley of the Bees | 22 Monica Duncan reports on a Hockley Valley couple spreading the gospel of organic honey.

A Tale of Two Weddings | 36 Chef Rose DuPont offers tips to make your big day a delicious one.

Dairy-Free Delights | 42 Freshalicious author Stacey Fokas cooks up lactose-free family food.

Kitchen Table Talk | 50 Nicola Ross reports on the local roundtable for People’s Food Policy.

Digest | 10 Food for thought.

Cooking with Rose | 32 Chef Rose DuPont demonstrates the art of the French omelette.

natural wholesome organic local non GMO fair trade nutritious delicious

Rhubarb Index | 54 All about Rheum rhabarbarum.

What’s Cooking Calendar | 56 Food events throughout the hills.

End Note | 61 Food not aggregates.

Best Bites | 62 Charlene Nero’s cinnamon buns.

HARMONY WHOLE FOODS MARKET 163 First St., Orangeville 519-941-8961 www.harmonymarket.com spring summer 2011 | food in the hill s

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Food In The Hills is an independent, local magazine, published twice yearly in mid May and mid August. It is a sister publication to In The Hills.

10,000 copies are distributed through restaurants, inns, specialty food stores, markets and tourism locations throughout the Headwaters region. publisher Signe Ball editor Cecily Ross oper ations manager Kirsten Ball art direc tor Kim van Oosterom Wallflower Design web manager Valerie Jones Echohill Inc.

editorial Jennifer Clark Monica Duncan Rose DuPont Nancy Falconer Stacey Fokas Douglas G Pearce Nicola Ross

photogr aphy Andrew Adams Lisa Clements Brad Gosse Joseph + Jaime MK Lynde Mike McColl Pete Paterson

proofreading Susan Robb

illustr ation Shelagh Armstrong food st yling Rose DuPont

advertising sales Jennifer Payne Roberta Fracassi Julie Lockyer advertising produc tion Marion Hodgson Type & Images to advertise Jennifer Payne 519-925-1851 jennifer@inthehills.ca

advertising deadline The advertising deadline for the Autumn|Winter issue is July 8, 2011. subscrip tions Subscriptions are $11.30 per year (includes hst).

published by MonoLog Communications Inc RR 1, Orangeville Ontario L9W 2Y8 519-940-3299 519-940-9266 fax info@inthehills.ca foodinthehills.ca inthehills.ca kidsinthehills.ca

let ters Letters to the editor are welcome; email cecily@inthehills.ca.

Broadway Farm’s Market is Proud to Introduce our new Signature Product:

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A product for the Beginner to the Gourmet Purveyor of quality kitchen & tableware Zwilling J.A. Henckels ceramic pans, knives and more, Staub cast iron pots, Riedel glasses, Denby, Breville, Saeco, Krups and more!

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off the shelf Our roundup of fabulous quality items produced by local artisans.

Dead elm, fresh pepper

Better than sex?

A country girl at heart

A friend tells us that she first saw one of Cam Lavers’ dead-elm pepper mills sitting on a table at her sister’s home in Singapore. Turns out her sister found it online and immediately ordered it as a birthday gift for her foodie husband.

“Imagine my surprise,” she said, “when it arrived and I realized it was made in Erin,” where the sisters had grown up. Since then, our friend has ordered several of these handsome quirky mills for herself and as gifts for other friends.

No trees were cut down to make these mills, which are handcrafted from already fallen branches. They bear the intricate scars of the tree’s battle with Dutch elm disease, yet are guaranteed bug-free. Cottage mills also come in solid maple, cherry and other woods.

Available at www.peppermills.ca, in sizes ranging from 6.2 inches ($59) to 22 inches ($199).

Well, at least as good. That’s what chocolate-makers Mark Handy and Bridgitte Longshore of M&B Alchemy in Orangeville would have you believe.

Handmade from raw, organic chocolate, BrainOn chocolate bars are also dairy-, lactose-, gluten-, soy-, nut- and refined sugar-free. But pleasure-free they are not. It seems that raw cacao paste contains something called PEA, or the “love” molecule, which is destroyed when it is cooked. Ditto anandamide, the “bliss” molecule, a mood enhancer called tryptophan and good oldfashioned serotonin. Eating one of these bars can be a very intense experience.

As for the sex part, we’ll let you be the judge. BrainOn bars come in six flavours – original, mint, spicy, orange, mocha and ginger. Available at M&B Alchemy and Harmony Whole Foods in Orangeville, and The 100-Mile Store in Creemore. www.mbchocolate.ca

For years, the hives on Marci Lipman’s Mono property have been producing an abundance of sweet, natural honey that she shares with friends and neighbours. One day, Marci got a bee in her bonnet. Although she has always been a wannabe farmer, her real genius lies in packaging. So she talked to her country neighbours and began bottling their honey and maple syrup, their homemade jams, jellies and mustards and selling them at farmers’ markets and local stores. There’s nothing new about local honey and syrup, but you’ve never seen it done up like this – in elegant bottles and jars bearing the quirky and quaint Marci Lipman Country label. Gift-giving has never been easier. Marci Lipman Country products are available at the Creemore farmers’ market May through October or online at www.marcilipman.ca

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digest

compiled by dougl as g pearce

meaningful mouthful “‘Eating is an agricultural act,’ as Wendell Berry famously said. It is also an ecological act, and a political act, too. Though much has been done to obscure this simple fact, how and what we eat determines to a great extent the use we make of the world – and what is to become of it. To eat with a fuller consciousness of all that is at stake might sound like a burden, but in practice few things in life can afford quite as much satisfaction. By comparison, the pleasures of eating industrially, which is to say eating in ignorance, are fleeting. Many people today seem perfectly content eating at the end of an industrial food chain, without a thought in the world; this book is probably not for them. There are things in it that will ruin their appetites.

But in the end this is a book about the pleasures of eating, the kinds of pleasure that are only deepened by knowing.”

From The Omnivore’s Dilemma, by Michael Pollan (Penguin Press, 2006).

local steak at stake “Some abattoirs need to be able to stay small so they can continue to meet the needs of farmers who provide meat to the growing numbers of eaters committed to local food.

Farmers interact with small abattoir owners on a daily basis and know they are committed to safe food, and are hard-working, honest and trustworthy.

They also know how many small plants are working at, or close to, full capacity.

Each time a small abattoir closes, our options as farmers to sell to local markets decreases. For farmers selling local food, the ability of small abattoirs to stay small and survive is not a luxury – it is a necessity for the survival of our relationships with our customers and the survival of our farms.”

From “Is Staying Small a Luxury?,” by Ann Slater in Canadian Organic Grower, Summer/10. www.cog.ca

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acquired taste “Amir Bramell has been tending the bar at Russian River’s microbrewery for six years and has seen some fascinating demonstrations of the power of extreme beer. He recalls one man who came into the pub to try one of Cilurzo’s infamous sour beers – a brew variously described as containing notes of barnyard, horse blanket and wet dog in a phone booth – at the strong recommendation of a friend.

‘He really hated it, but he came back every day to have another,’ says Bramell. ‘It took him two weeks to really like it. By then he was hooked.’”

From “No Accounting for Taste,” by Lizzie Buchen, in New Scientist, Dec25/10–Jan1/11. www.newscientist.com

hops scotched “Hops were introduced to Canada in the late 1600s, as French colonial administrator Jean Talon settled into New France. In the late 1800s, hops began appearing regularly in agricultural history records, with B.C.’s Fraser Valley and Ontario’s Prince Edward County eventually becoming key hop-producing regions in North America. However, by the mid-1970s, both regions had succumbed to the centralization of the industry in Washington and Oregon, and Canada now produces a tiny fraction of world production.”

From “How to Grow Hops,” by Heidi Oran, in Canadian Organic Grower, Winter/11. www.cog.ca

hard rock “Imagine an island where 90 per cent of fresh vegetables and 98 per cent of red meat come from away, chickens eat imported feed and the perishable vegetable supply would last three days if mainland contact was severed. Welcome to Newfoundland, whose vulnerability became apparent

when Hurricane Igor forced many communities to seek food relief. Island life wasn’t always so dependent on external inputs. People once used fish, seaweed and manure to enrich soil in traditional, raised ‘lazy beds.’ They preserved and stored food in root cellars.

‘We’re in a dire state,’ says Wilson [Mark Wilson, farmer and activist].

‘We can do better. We have to move – quite literally – back to our roots.’”

From Anuradha Rao’s “Food on the Rock,” in Alternatives, Mar–Apr/11. www.alternativesjournal.ca

potato lumps “‘Potato preservationists’ with the Global Crop Diversity Trust plan to send seeds of more than 1,500 types of Andean potato to the Svalbard Global Seed Vault, 1,300 kilometers north of the Arctic Circle.

The seeds come from Potato Park, a 10,000-hectare reserve in Peru established by indigenous groups to preserve potatoes and their role in local culture. In the Andes, potatoes are a cultural symbol and dietary staple that come in thousands of varieties, including the ... ‘bride’s potato,’ which is so bumpy it’s considered a test of a newlywed’s peeling skills.”

From Science, Feb18/11.

the honest way Food crops and the continued health and fertility of the soil was vital to the new nation [America], both to guarantee self-sufficiency and independence from Britain, and also as the hoped-for source of its future wealth. In 1769, Benjamin Franklin listed the three ways by which a nation might acquire wealth: ‘The first is by War ... This is Robbery. The second by Commerce which is generally Cheating. The third

by Agriculture the only honest Way.’” From a review of Andrea Wulf’s The Founding Gardeners (Heinemann 2011), by Katherine Swift in The Guardian Weekly, Apr22/11.

big rules Neil Currie, general manager of the Ontario Federation of Agriculture says that “... the 37,000 farm families he represents want government to adjust policies that favour imported goods at the expense of domestic ones. It’s a situation brought home

by Stephen Chase last November in The Globe and Mail. While small producers ... are forced to certify their kitchens at considerable expense, Chase notes that virtually none of the more than 33 million litres of apple juice from China, 11.8 million kilograms of pickles and relish from India and 4.9 million kilograms of cashews from Vietnam were touched by federal inspectors.”

From “Evolution/Revolution,” by Nicola Ross, in Alternatives, Mar–Apr/11. www.alternativesjournal.ca

rogue gene “When this book was first published in 1977, I suspected, but could not know for sure, that a day would come when increasing populations and increasing costs of producing and transporting food with fossil fuel, fossil fertilizers, and genetic manipulation would cause food prices to rise so high that more traditional production methods – organic, natural, low-labour, and local – would begin to rule the economy. Thirty years later, that is exactly what is happening. Whenever in history a new, more economical way to do anything is discovered, it will take over the market, no matter how hard entrenched big business and government try to stop it.”

From Gene Logsdon’s introduction to the second edition of his book, Small-Scale Grain Raising (Chelsea Green, 2009). 왖

spring summer 2011 | food in the hill s

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the

NewFarm

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mer

From big city to back forty, an urban couple leaves the world of cappuccino and concrete for a better life … on the farm | by nicol a ross

photos mk lynde

What if you pull your aging station wagon into the parking lot at your local farmers’ market and a sleek black Mercedes slides in beside you? Out hops the farmer who sells you those delicious carrots and mixed greens.

His face is sunburned and freckled; there is dirt wedged into his cracked, work-worn hands, so he’s a farmer all right. But a Mercedes? Shouldn’t he be driving a mudsplattered pickup? No wonder those carrots cost so much.

Now imagine it was your lawyer or financial advisor who jumped out of that shiny car. Would you resent his or her success?

Changing the “must-be-destitute” view of farmers and farming is part of what Gillian Flies and Brent Preston want to do. The couple, who gave up successful – and well-paid – careers in the city to become farmers, aren’t particularly interested in driving a Mercedes. They simply want farming to allow them to send their kids to university, take a vacation, go out for dinner once in a while. And what’s wrong with that?

Currently, the margins for Gillian’s and Brent’s organic farming venture – The New Farm near Creemore – are so tight that they won’t be trading their pickup for a Mercedes anytime soon. In fact, to make ends meet, Gillian works as a management consultant during the winter and Brent earns a small salary now that he has been elected to the Clearview Township council. And they are not alone. The need to supplement income is common on farms across the country.

Despite their financial challenges, however, these universityeducated 40-somethings donate food to The Stop food bank in Toronto as well as local charities. They belong to a new breed of farmer: environmentally conscious, latte-drinking oenophiles who happen to love digging in the dirt and feeding their kids the freshest, healthiest food available. 왘

Brent Preston and Gillian Flies “The goal is to make the farm a closed system. We want to prove that a small diverse farm can be profitable.”

spring summer 2011 | food in the hill s

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the new farmer

When I first met the couple, the lateafternoon July sun beat down on us as we toured their pancake-flat fields. “We started out planting about 100 different crops. Now we’re down to 40,” explained Brent. “We took a hard look last year at what we grew, what it cost and what sold.” They gave up onions and kale, and reduced their varieties of heritage tomatoes. Now they sell virtually all of the salad greens, beets, carrots, potatoes, tomatoes, cucumbers, radishes, zucchini, broccoli, beans, peas and salad turnips that they grow.

And just as their list of produce has changed, the market for their vegetables has evolved too. When the couple began farming in 2007, they sold any produce they couldn’t eat themselves at the Creemore Farmers’ Market on Saturday mornings.

Two years later, swank Toronto restaurants purchase 40 per cent of what they grow and Brent’s salad turnips, which are served at Marben restaurant on Wellington Street,

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have become the culinary talk of the town.

In 2010, their market expanded again.

The demand for their goods in Collingwood’s restaurants caught up to Toronto when a local distributor, Sanfi lippo, came along.

“Sanfi lippo,” Brent explained, “bought samples of our vegetables, took them to the chefs in Collingwood’s restaurants, told them that this local produce could replace what they were now buying from California, and then clinched the deal by charging them four times as much as the chefs had been paying.”

But the chefs aren’t complaining. As Jeremy Korten, the executive chef at Oliver & Bonacini at Blue Mountain, told me, “Brent respects food. Their arugula is amazing and their greens are awesome.”

With dusty brown suntans on their work-lean frames, Gillian and Brent are clear about what they are trying to accomplish beyond affording a vacation.

“The goal is to make the farm a closed system,” said Brent. “We want to prove that

a small diverse farm can be profitable.”

This means minimizing farm inputs.

Their fertilizer is produced mostly by a few chickens, ducks and a pig that poke around in open pens. Their pig arrived from überchef Michael Stadtländer, in exchange for cabbages. They buy diesel for the tractor, but use as little as possible. And they apply organic soil amendments to replace the nutrients that leave the farm in their vegetables. Gillian reminded me, “You are what you eat, and what you eat eats.”

Cover crops are their preferred method for building up the soil. As we walked by what looked like an empty field, Gillian pointed to tiny shoots of rye grass that will be ploughed back to enrich the soil at the end of the season. They cultivate a total of 12 acres – but only half of those in any given year. The other six get 12 months off to recuperate – a practice once common, but largely replaced in “modern” times by the addition of chemical fertilizers.

Field of greens Brent brings home the lettuce; Gillian’s heirloom potatoes are perfect for her potato salad, recipe on next page.

The science with which they grow, the panache that characterizes the marketing of their goods, and their commitment to health, the environment and social good comes in part from their eclectic backgrounds.

Gillian grew up in Vermont, which, she says, is miles ahead of Ontario in its commitment to local food. Her father ran the New England Culinary Institute and she studied mathematics at the state university. Gillian spent years working in developing countries, mostly in Africa. “I met Brent when he picked me up at the airport in Malawi.”

They soon paired up, but after almost 10 years, they were both disillusioned with the foreign-aid business and decided to move “home.” They chose Toronto because Brent’s family was there and, quipped Gillian, “because Bush was President.”

Soon they’d set up shop in downtown Toronto; Gillian was consulting and Brent, who has a geography degree from McGill, was producing the CBC-TV

show CounterSpin. But after the arrival of a son, Foster, who is now almost 10, and a daughter, Ella, who is nearly eight, the country beckoned. For $315,000 they bought a fi xer-upper of a house and 100 acres of prime farm land. They decided to pursue organic farming after visiting a similar establishment in Quebec.

How many people, I asked, warned them against such a crazy venture? “Everyone,” admitted Gillian, “except my parents.”

After touring the farm, we sipped cold lemonade from glasses that were sweating in the July heat. We watched their seven interns toiling away. Brent admitted, “The hardest thing to learn has been to control the stress.”

When I visited again, this time in December when a foot of fresh snow blanketed the farm’s new solar installations, the couple were happy to report that income from a bumper crop would cover their winter expenses. “We had a good year,” Brent explained. continued on nex t page spring summer 2011 | food in the hill s

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the new farmer

But the war is certainly not won. The Toronto market for their produce is steady, but it’s not growing. And they have been dumbstruck by peoples’ reluctance to pay for quality. “We have to stop subsidizing bad food,” Brent warned. “We have this crazy addiction to cheap food.”

But perhaps even more important than the price factor, is time. People don’t take time to prepare food. He told me that the beets they donate to the food bank often go unclaimed because, unlike carrots, they have to be cooked. He said he’s heard that breakfast cereal sales are slumping because cereal isn’t convenient enough – you can’t eat it while driving your car.

Although it’s been slow, there has been progress for local food. The Ontario government has been handing out money to help small producers market their goods and has an aggressive program aimed at getting institutions such as universities and hospitals to source their food locally. But

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even this is difficult, given that many other policies conspire against local food. For example, Brent explained, the hospital in Barrie agreed to buy and serve local potatoes until it discovered that peeling potatoes was not included in the kitchen staff ’s collective agreement.

Despite the challenges and regardless of the irony of upscale urbanites who find organic carrots too expensive, Gillian insisted, “We want to be part of the solution.” And although on that July day she looked drained by the midsummer heat, her skin was clear and her eyes shone. Brent added, “This is the first time in my life that I could see doing a job for the next 20 years.”

Caledon born and bred, Nicola Ross is the author of the books, Caledon and Dufferin County. She is the editor-in-chief of Alternatives Journal, Canada’s national environmental magazine.

Cultivation recuperation Brent and Gillian cultivate a total of 12 acres – but only half of those in any given year. The other six get 12 months off to recuperate.

The New Farm Produce from The New Farm is available at the Creemore Farmers’ Market on Saturdays from 8.30 am to 12.30 pm from Victoria Day to Thanksgiving.

For more information visit www.thenewfarm.ca

Gillian’s potato salad ingredients dressing 4 tbsp fresh lemon juice 1½ tsp Dijon mustard 1½ tsp Worcestershire sauce 2 garlic cloves, pressed 1 tsp black pepper ½ cup mayonnaise ½ cup vegetable or olive oil ½ cup Parmesan cheese, grated potato sal ad 8–10 medium German butterball or French fingerling potatoes 2–3 tbsp vegetable or canola oil ½ lb (250 g) bacon 2 bunches green onions, finely chopped prepar ation Place 4 tablespoons fresh lemon juice, mustard, Worcestershire sauce, garlic and black pepper in a small bowl. Whisk until blended. Add mayonnaise and whisk until smooth.

EAT LOCAL AND TASTE THE DIFFERENCE Visit our new greenhouse for fresh cut flowers, hanger & patio plants.

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all Ontario produce as in season fresh picked strawberries, u-pick strawberries June 20 farm fresh eggs, baked goods • fresh baked pies preserves, jams & maple syrup

905-584-9461 • 16930 Airport Rd, 2.5 kms N of Caledon East Open every day from April 1

Bert Nieuwenhuis

Whisking continuously, add oil in a thin, steady stream.

Continue whisking until blended.

Stir in Parmesan cheese.

Lamb & Wool Producer Amaranth Township 519-941-0479 bertslamb@bell.net Find us on Facebook

Cover and refrigerate until ready to use.

Preheat oven to 400°F. Wash potatoes and cut into 1½-inch cubes. Pour 2–3 tablespoons oil into the bottom of a glass baking dish and roast the potatoes until tender, about 45 minutes, stirring once or twice.

Cook bacon, remove from pan, reserving the fat, and crumble into small pieces. Sauté the roasted potatoes in the bacon fat. Add the green onions and sauté for another 2-5 minutes. Remove from heat and add the bacon.

Add dressing to the potatoes, toss lightly and serve warm or cold. Serves 6–8.

Division of Stayner Meat Packers Ltd.

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No Sunday calls, please.

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Eat Fresh for Better Health!

Market Fresh Foods Deli Trays & Prepared Foods Specialty Foods Organic Foods Bakery In Season

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Tea Boutique – Caledon’s Best Kept Secret Home of Ontario’s only exotic fondue dinner! bison, kangaroo, pheasant, ostrich, rabbit, venison

We also serve Cheese fondue Vegetarian Hot pot style

The Globe Restaurant Fine dining in 19th century surroundings

beef, chicken, pork Our meat fondues are cooked in homemade bouillon – we never use oil.

Fondues are by reservation only.

2XU H[FHSWLRQDO IRRG FUHDWLRQV DUH PDNLQJ ZDYHV Emma St at Airport Rd – Caledon East – 905-584-7227 – teaboutique.ca 18

spring summer 2011 | food in the hill s

***** Lunches • Teas • Dinners (Closed Tuesdays)

***** Reservations (705) 435-6981 In Rosemont, Hwy. 89, east of Airport Rd.

Strawberry fields don’t really last forever, but thanks to some of the newer varieties, now you can grow, pick and eat them all summer long | by jennifer cl ark

Fraise fever

“Doubtless God could have made a better berry,” wrote the 17th-century English writer, Dr. William Butler, “but doubtless God never did.” 왘

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fr aise fever

Of all the produce that arrives

Berry tips Strawberries freeze beautifully and can be used all winter to make smoothies, jam or sauces.

Just wash and hull the berries, pat dry and spread on a cookie sheet. Put the cookie sheet in the freezer until the berries are frozen. Then pack them into a freezer bag or container and return to the freezer.

Bigger is not better when it comes to flavour, so if you are picking your own, choose medium berries over those that are excessively large. Once they are off the plant, strawberries do not ripen further, so avoid any that are unripe.

Do not wash or hull your berries until you are ready to eat them.

The longer you leave on the caps and stems, the longer the fruit will keep.

Strawberries should be stored in the refrigerator and any mouldy or severely bruised berries should be removed so that they do not contaminate the rest.

in local farmers’ markets each season, nothing ignites as much passion as that first batch of sun-ripened, fresh-from-thefield strawberries. Their fragrance is so intoxicating that you can smell them before you even see them. So it’s no coincidence that their French name, fraise, means fragrant. And the instant that you bite into the season’s first strawberry, your taste buds know that summer is truly here.

The strawberry plant is native to North America and is a member of the rose family.

The exact origins of the name “strawberry” remain uncertain although there are a few theories. One holds that the name evolved from “strewn berries,” a reference to the way that the berries appear strewn all through the plant leaves. Another tells of English children in the 19th-century who tied the berries to blades of straw and sold them at the markets as “straws of berries.” Yet another contends that the name originates from the practice of using straw in the colder months to protect the fragile plants.

For a long time, the only strawberries I knew were the plump red ones that arrived during the last week of June and, we hoped, lasted through most of July. That was until a couple years ago, when I was touring a friend’s garden in the fall. It was early October, sometime after the first frost, and I was surprised to see that her “Fragoo” strawberry plant still had some intact berries. When she urged me to try one, I did not have high expectations, assuming that

Strawberry farms in the Headwaters region Bailey’s Farm 3634 King St. Caledon 905-838-3204 Downey’s Farm Market 13682 King St. Caledon 905-838-2990 www.downeysfarm.com

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spring summer 2011 | food in the hill s

the small, white berry was surely unripe and tasteless. Yet what I tasted was one of the best strawberries I have ever had.

I later learned that there are three main types of strawberries: June-bearing, Everbearing (including Fragoo), and Dayneutral. The June-bearing plants provide a single annual and abundant crop that lasts for approximately two to three weeks and generally produces large berries. They can be further classified into early-, mid- and late-season varieties. Ever-bearing and Day-neutral types produce multiple harvests through the season, and tend to produce smaller, but intensely flavoured berries.

Ever-bearing varieties generate two to three harvests at various stages in the spring, summer and fall. Day-neutral varieties turn out strawberries on a continuous basis all season long.

The majority of the strawberry farmers in these hills choose to grow June-bearing varieties due to their larger berry size and crop yields. The first batch is usually ready for picking by June 21 and farmers employ certain strategies in an effort to maximize the season. They grow several types of June-bearing varieties so that berries will be ready for picking at different times, and they stagger the removal of the protective winter straw in order to influence the speed of plant growth and fruit production.

If you would like to pick strawberries throughout the growing season, pick up some Day-neutral or Ever-bearing plants at your local nursery this spring. Find a sunny

Jenala Farms 475080 Cty. Rd.11 Amaranth Twp. 519-925-5464 www.jenalafarms.com Kang Farm 14507 McLaughlin Rd. Caledon 416-520-8701

Lennox Farm 518204 Cty. Rd.124 Melancthon Twp. 519-925-6444 Rock Garden Farms 16930 Airport Rd. Caledon 905-584-9461

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area in your garden and dig a hole that is deep enough so that the midpoint of the crown (the part between the leaves and the roots) is at the soil line. Mix some compost into the soil beforehand, keep the plant hydrated, and you are well on your way to your first strawberry crop. Keep in mind that for these varieties, experts recommend removing the flowers up until July 1 in the first year of planting to ensure a hardier long-term crop. Also, remove all runner plants to ensure that the original plant’s energy remains concentrated on producing fruit through multiple harvests.

This season, whether you enjoy strawberries fresh from the field or market, or from your own garden, be sure to savour and eat as many as you can. 왗 Born and raised in Caledon, Jennifer Clark is co-ordinator of Eat Local Caledon and operates a small catering business. From June to October you can find her on Wednesdays at the Inglewood Farmers’ Market, selling her locally inspired soup creations.

THE SHOP A RT I S A N A L C H E E S E , B E LG I A N C H O C O L AT E , LO C A L & I M P O RT E D G O U R M E T D E L I C AC I E S

Strawberry and Garlic-scape Salsa This salsa has become a hit at the Inglewood Farmers’ Market during strawberry season. The timing corresponds with the arrival of garlic scapes, the green curly stalks of garlic plants that farmers cut off so the plant can concentrate on producing sizeable garlic bulbs.

Strawberries take centre stage in this salsa, although all the flavours complement each other wonderfully.

Serve this salsa with grilled chicken or fish, or tortilla chips and cheese.

ingredients salsa 1 cup strawberries, hulled, chopped 4 garlic scapes, finely chopped, flower buds removed ½ medium red onion, chopped ¼ cup cilantro leaves or mint, finely chopped ¼ cup fresh orange juice 2 tbsp balsamic vinegar 2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil 1 tbsp honey 1 tsp jalapeno, seeded and diced ½ tsp salt 1 tsp black pepper

THE BARTLETT ROOM W I N E D I N N E R C LU B S E R I E S W I T H C H E F G I L L E S RO C H E

prepar ation Wash and chop strawberries, garlic scapes and onion, and place in a mixing bowl. Combine orange juice, balsamic vinegar, olive oil, honey, jalapeno pepper, salt and pepper. Pour over strawberries. Makes 1½ cups.

16023 Airport Rd, Caledon East 905-584-0005 gourmandissimo.com Enjoy our services at the award winning Best Western PLUS Orangeville Inn & Suites

spring summer 2011 | food in the hill s

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valley of the bees

Hockley honey comes from happy hives | by monica duncan When Dan Garyfalakis gave his wife Nina two beehives as a gift almost five years ago, little did he know that the rolling hills and meadows of Hockley Valley would turn out to be a source of liquid gold.

Organic honey, like fine wine, depends on “terroir� for its character and complexity, and the Garyfalakises discovered they were living in a unique environment within the Niagara Escarpment and the Nottawasaga River valley featuring a rich variety of nectar-bearing flowers and trees.

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photos courtesy dan garyfal akis | aerial photo eric dumigan

What began as a hobby has burgeoned into an award-winning passion. Today, with 90 hives scattered among strategic sites throughout Hockley Valley, the Garyfalakises produce five different types of honey, including early season Liquid White (soft scents of pine, lilac, dandelion and black locust flower), late-summer Golden (sweet aromas of cut grass and the first hints of crisp autumn aspen and sugar maple), late-season dark Amber (hints of goldenrod and purple aster), and two varieties of their silken creamed honey.

Hockley Honey is certified organic by EcoCert – one of several certification bodies in Ontario – according to strict standards (for more information, see the links with this story at www.foodinthehills.ca). Organic certification is the subject of controversy among some producers, who point out that there is no way of controlling bees’ foraging

habits. Still, like other beekeepers pursuing organic methods, Dan works very hard to make sure his honey is free of man-made chemicals and toxins.

Dan and Nina report that the comment they hear most often is: “I haven’t tasted anything like this in years.” Dan insists this is not just sentiment. This is honey that rivals the honey Nina remembers from her childhood in Switzerland, where, as a little girl in pigtails she played in the flowering coniferous forests near the Jura Mountains as her grandfather tended his beehives. If you could bottle bliss – the softly warming earth, the cool shade of a deep pine forest – this would be it.

Why does Hockley Valley honey taste so good? Dan says it’s because over the past 50 years most bees have been dependent on commercial agricultural crops for nectar and pollen. Eighty per cent of the time

Bird’s eye view Dan Garyfalakis surveys surrounding fields from the air to determine likely places to site the beehives.

A light touch Nina and her son Ben gingerly open a hive to remove the combs.

continued on nex t page spring summer 2011 | food in the hill s

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valle y of the bees

Home is where the hive is One of the requirements for organic certification is that all hives must be constructed of new, natural materials only.

that means they are collecting pollen from monoculture crops, such as canola and corn, that have been sprayed and/or genetically modified. The result is a lack of complexity in what the bees amass and honey that may have been exposed to the very toxins that are suspected of contributing to the precipitous decline in bee populations around the world.

Harvesting an organic product from bees, which can’t be contained like chickens, is no simple feat. Organic certification requires that hives must be located on sites that have a six-kilometre buffer zone free of crops that have been sprayed or are genetically modified. “Our bees,” says Dan, “collect natural nectar and pollen, feeding on wildflowers and natural tree blossoms exclusively.”

The hives themselves must be constructed of new, natural materials only. Hockley Honey Farm bees live in handmade hives.

“We do not use any plastic components common to commercial operations,” says Dan. As well, the Garyfalakises do not treat their bees with antibiotics or chemicals to prevent disease or control mites, and that means inevitable losses of hives and smaller yields than conventional producers. It can, some days, feel like a state of siege: beekeeper and bee against climate, microbe and mite.

And of course, all Hockley Honey is raw, which means it is unheated, unfi ltered and has been produced with a minimum of human and mechanical intervention.

Unless you count the airplane.

Dan, who is a licensed pilot and sits on the board of the Edenvale Classic Aircraft Foundation, uses a World War II Tiger Moth

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spring summer 2011 | food in the hill s

For more information about beekeeping The Ontario Beekeepers’ Association provides educational and government lobbying support on behalf of about 2,600 beekeepers in member associations across Ontario.

See www.ontariobee.com.

For information about local beekeeping, contact the Dufferin County Beekeepers’ Association (which also serves Caledon) at 905-880-7846, or the Wellington County Beekeepers’ Association at 905-873-7592.

biplane to conduct air searches of Hockley Valley and surrounding area, looking for large isolated areas free of commercial farming. Then begins the long process of knocking on the doors of landowners in optimum locations to ask if they will consider having hives on their property.

“It usually only takes one knock on the door,” says Dan. Most of the people Dan and Nina approach are happy to host hives, some of them remembering when their property had once had beehives, or a relative who kept bees.

“Being organic beekeepers in Ontario is turning out to be a huge undertaking,” says Dan, “with little or no support and many

trial and error discoveries. Our ingenuity is being challenged to the max; our learning curve is steep.”

For instance, Dan says that while conventional producers use chemicals to remove bees from the honey frames so they can collect the honey, he and Nina blow the bees out using a modified leaf blower.

Getting equipment into the remote sites of their hives has also proven to be a challenge over the years. Now Dan and Nina use a small four-wheeler fitted with a special platform to hold three boxes of honey to trek across the uneven terrain and narrow bridges that lead to many of their sites.

Then there are what Dan refers to as the “many expensive fires.” The couple has had to burn hives after one of beekeeping’s nastiest diseases, American foulbrood, spread to their hives after coming into contact with sick bees from other hives. The only way to treat the disease is with antibiotics, which the Garyfalakises never use.

Still, the couple believes it is worth it, that the excellence of their honey speaks for itself. A quote from Cesare Pavese, a 20thcentury Italian poet, hangs in their kitchen.

“We do not remember days, we remember moments,” it reads. And then, “The richness of life lies in memories we have forgotten.”

For the Garyfalakises that richness is represented in the beehives scattered throughout the forests and meadows surrounding their Hockley Valley home. 왗 Monica Duncan is a freelance writer who enjoys discovering the many treasures hidden in these hills.

Liquid White Honey Spring and early summer honey.

Nectar is collected from several trees and multitudes of owers.

Plant types and moisture levels play an important role.

Liquid Golden Honey Late summer and fall honey.

The same bees and location that produce white honey except that the bees feed on different wild owers in hotter, dryer conditions. The roots of the plants go deeper and more minerals are absorbed.

Liquid Amber Honey Depending on the year, weather and wildower abundance, a darker amber honey comes from mostly goldenrod and purple aster owers.

Gourmet Patties | Beef Quarters and Half Sides Available Home-Bred, Home-Raised, Home-Grown Feed, Hormone-Free Freezer Beef, Home-Fed in the Hills of Caledon Your Sunday Night and Every Night Dinner “I can taste it now!�

Rick & Vicki Craig | inafieldfarms@xplornet.com | www.inafieldfarms.com

519-927-9915

Creamed Honey This all-natural honey with its silky ďŹ ne natural crystal is produced from wildowers that grow in Hockley Valley in early summer. The natural crystal produces creamed white raw honey.

Reid’s Farm Market & Potatoes

Cinnamon Creamed Honey Cinnamon combined with creamed honey is a 2,000-year-old recipe used by the Egyptians for medicinal purposes. The best organic cinnamon from Indonesia gives this honey an outstanding taste.

Hockley Honey is available in Hockley Village at Hockley General Store; in Orangeville at Pia’s Bakery, Dave’s Butcher Shop, Dragony Arts, and Aardvark Music and Culture; in Erin at What’s Cookin’; in Belfountain at Tammeron Centres for Wellbeing; in MansďŹ eld at The Olde Stanton Store; in Creemore at The 100-Mile Store; and in Caledon at Heatherlea Farm Market. For more information, visit www.hockleyhoney.com.

Steps from Broadway the taste of Italy comes to you

fine dining . special occasions . take-out 20 Dawson Rd, Orangeville 519.941.1009 www.ilcorsoristorante.ca

ˆ”‡•Š Ž‘…ƒŽ ’”‘†—…‡ Čˆ ‡‰‰• Â•Â‡ÂŽÂˆÇŚÂ•Â‡Â”Â˜Â‡ Â?ƒ”Â?‡– ŠƒÂ?†Â?ƒ†‡ “—‹Ž–• ’‹‡• Čˆ ’‹…Â?Ž‡• Čˆ ’”‡•‡”˜‡• ͺ;;ͳ͡; ‘—”–Š ‹Â?‡ ‹Â? ‘Â?‘ Œ—•– ‡ƒ•– ‘ˆ ”ƒÂ?‰‡˜‹ŽŽ‡ Â?‘”–Š ‘ˆˆ ™›͝ ”‡‹†•’‘–ƒ–‘‡•Ǥ…‘Â? ˆƒÂ?‹Ž› ‘™Â?‡† ˆƒ”Â? •‹Â?…‡ ͡͞ͺ͝ spring summer 2011 | food in the hill s

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What would Granny 26

spring summer 2011 | food in the hill s

왘

Sleek and sexy, this young couple’s country kitchen simmers with urban chic

| by nancy falconer “I really believe country living doesn’t have to include plaid curtains

Tranquil space Heidi and Roman prepare a simple supper in their clutter-free kitchen.

her own country home and in her professional life.

Two years ago, when Heidi took over as manager of Granny Taught Us How, a country emporium and home décor store founded by her mother Maureen in 1978 in the hamlet of Violet Hill, Heidi decided to introduce a “modern elegance” to the store’s traditional country photos br ad gosse

say?

and rooster tea towels,” says Heidi Baufeldt. And indeed, this conviction is reflected in both

continued on nex t page

spring summer 2011 | food in the hill s

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Abracadabra With a now-you-see-it-now-you-don’t magic, the day-to-day paraphernalia of a family kitchen disappear behind Roman’s finely-crafted macassar ebony cabinetry.

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spring summer 2011 | food in the hill s

what would gr anny say?

inventory. Now, the hugely successful Heidi’s Room occupies the back quarter of the store and its collection of contemporary accessories, furniture and art has livened up the shop’s country look.

“There wasn’t anything up here for contemporary people, so I brought in what the city offers – downtown modern – to show people how they can add a few contemporary pieces to their home and suddenly have it look new and fresh.”

At 38, her views have some authority.

Growing up with parents whose talent for period restoration and antiques was the source of many well-read magazine features, Heidi speaks highly of their passionate eye for detail and history – clearly she learned well – but her own taste leans toward contemporary design.

Both she and her husband, fine cabinetry artisan Roman Altmann (whom Heidi describes as “brilliantly talented”), are drawn to the clean lines and open feel of the modern look. In recent years they bought, gutted and redesigned an old A-frame chalet-style house in the hills of Mulmur, creating a stunning and airy contemporary interior that walks the talk.

“While most people dream of a cottage, we dreamt of a condo,” says Heidi. “We have the best of both worlds here. We love the city, but here we can look out our windows and see deer eating the shrubs.”

No period pine, no hand-hooked rugs, no Restoration Hardware, their kitchen simmers with a sleek sophistication and urban chic that by no stretch of the imagination is related to traditional country, yet is classic in its own right.

An integral part of the main floor’s open-concept design, the kitchen’s clutterfree approach is Zen in its tranquility.

With a now-you-see-it-now-you-don’t magic, the day-to-day paraphernalia of a family kitchen disappear behind Roman’s stunningly beautiful macassar ebony cabinetry. The floor-to-ceiling storage units feel and look more like fine furniture than

kitchen cupboards.

“There is no such thing as clutter in contemporary design,” explains Heidi, “so the eye flows effortlessly through the space.”

This is the critical element that makes the kitchen’s atmosphere so powerful. Heidi expresses it in visceral terms: “There is an instant sense of calm and tranquility for me.”

It is the perfect antidote to the young couple’s busy lives. Roman runs an established high-end cabinetry business that has him in Toronto much of the time (www.romanaltmann.com), and Heidi manages both the store and her mother’s popular Mrs. Mitchell’s Restaurant across from it. Too often they find themselves “working 80-hour weeks.”

Roman’s innovative design contributes to the sense of calm. The look is seamless.

The sink is mounted under the counter, the glass stove-top flush to the counter, the push-button exhaust fan disappears when not in use, the wine fridge and dishwasher are built into the island, the refrigerator is panelled to match the cupboards.

Everything is flush, nothing protrudes, nothing sits out on the counters, except an occasional accent piece.

All dishware and pots and pans are stored in drawers (much easier to find and reach than in deep cupboards). Small appliances stay stowed behind Roman’s cabinetry or in soft-slide drawers in the island. There are no floating upper cupboards. Nothing impedes the eye from moving through the space in a smooth and continuous flow.

“It was important when we designed the space to keep a visual flow,” explains Heidi. “The lines are clean right down to the hardware on the cabinets and the chairs at the table and the island. The chairs are not above counter height, so they don’t break the flow.”

To visually balance the large island they placed a simple glass dining table adjacent to it, “so the entire space didn’t feel weighted down.” White walls (Benjamin Moore Cloud White), white counters (man-made

Fine Dining Casual Atmosphere on Hockley Road 307388 Hockley Rd • Orangeville 519 938 2333

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Gardens CSA LLandman a nd ma n G ardens C SA (519) 928-3275 (5 (519 19)) 92 9288-32 3275 75 Landmangardens@hotmail.com Land La ndma mang ngar arde dens ns@h @hot otma mailil.c .com om

continued on nex t page

Becky Landman Be Beck cky y La Land ndma man n Grand Valley, ON Gran Gr and d Va Vall lley ey,, ON L0N 1G0 L0N L0 N 1G 1G0 0 spring summer 2011 | food in the hill s

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A feminine touch Accessories, like the light fixture over the dining table with its crystal drops, add some sophisticated dazzle to what could otherwise be a rather masculine space. “That’s our bling,” says Heidi. “I’m not a girlie-girl, but I love sparkle.”

Light bright With 23 pot lights throughout the main floor, as well as the lighting fixtures, six dimmers control different areas of the lighting. “The lights go up and down,” Heidi admits wryly, “but eventually we find a place we can agree on.”

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spring summer 2011 | food in the hill s

what would gr anny say?

Silestone – an extremely hard surface with an antibacterial protection and uniform colour consistency), dark wood floors (recycled from a country and western bar in Barrie, sanded and re-finished by Roman), and dark cabinets (macassar ebony).

The dark/light contrast “can make the room feel very masculine and cold,” admits Heidi. “It’s the accessories and artwork that add life and a touch of femininity to our space.”

Those accessories, like the light fi xture over the dining table with its crystal drops, also add some sophisticated dazzle. “That’s our ‘bling’,” says Heidi. “I’m not a girliegirl, but I love sparkle. The light fi xtures are the jewellery.” The brushed-nickel light fi xture over the island provides another sensual accent and, like all the lighting, is on dimmers.

“It’s a fight we have all the time,” says Heidi. “Roman likes full light, I like mood light.” With 23 pot lights throughout the main floor, as well as the lighting fi xtures, their compromise is to have six dimmers that control different sections of the lighting. “The lights go up and down,” she admits wryly, “but eventually we find a place we can agree on.”

Using dimmers adds ambience.

“Lighting can make the mood,” says Heidi.

“Dimmers give the island quite a loungey feeling at parties, which I like.”

Whether for cooking, conversation or cocktails, the many lighting moods of the island make it the natural gathering spot for entertaining. Which makes the two years they spent living in the basement with a microwave and toaster while Roman gutted and reinvented the upstairs all the more delicious.

Loungey, sleek, metropolitan: What would Granny say? 왗

Served at Better Cafés, Restaurants and Fine Food Retailers Tel: (519) 940-7081 Fax: (519) 938-5407

Nancy Falconer is a freelance writer who divides her time between the Mulmur Hills and the South of France.

spring summer 2011 | food in the hill s

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cooking with Rose

by rose dupont

French omelettes

photos pete paterson

An omelette is elegant in its simplicity: eggs, butter and seasoning.

Well prepared, this uncomplicated dish is a miracle of taste and texture, but cooked badly, it can be a struggle to eat.

My first attempt at omelette-making was during the first year of my apprenticeship at the Windsor Arms Hotel in Toronto. Most of the hotel’s chefs were European in 1979 and their omelette of choice was the classic French. Preparing this Cadillac of omelettes requires a bit of joie de vivre and a copious amount of pan shaking and technique.

To a young apprentice, omelette-making belonged in that same flashy, magical world as igniting liquor in a hot pan: It was fun and very impressive-looking.

One day, during a lull in the breakfast service, I finally had my chance. As I looked at the rather uninspiring ladleful of beaten eggs that I held in my hand, I fretted with second thoughts. Was I ready for such a difficult task? The English chef, who stood by my side, nudged me in his no-nonsense way. So, with no time to waste, I emptied the eggs into the hot pan.

Co-ordination – in a pat-your-head, rub-your-stomach sort of way – is the key to creating this dish. While pushing and pulling the pan back and forth on the gas burner, I simultaneously swirled the eggs quickly with a wooden spoon. When the eggs were cooked to the chef ’s liking, I reversed my grip on the pan handle and, tilting the pan up, tapped its edge lightly on the stove to loosen the egg. With one quick movement, I flipped the finished omelette over and on to the plate. Voilà! In one minute, I had created my first masterpiece.

After waiting proudly for a few moments to allow those around me to catch their breath and exclaim hearty congratulations, I glanced around and realized that there would be no such acclamation. To cover my disappointment, I placed the pan on the burner for omelette number two. After all, practice makes perfect.

continued on page 34

i

Melt a pat of butter in a non-stick pan on medium to medium-high heat. When the pan is hot but not smoking, add the beaten eggs and stir with a wooden spoon.

ii

Stir the eggs quickly in a circular motion while pulling the handle of the pan towards you and then away from you in a rapid movement to prevent the eggs from sticking to the pan.

iv

Carefully fold the upper third of the omelette over the filling and, still using an underhanded grip …

iii

Once the eggs are cooked to your liking, reverse your grip on the pan handle, tilt it and lightly ease the egg to the lower side of the pan with the spoon. The fillings can be added at this stage.

v

… flip the finished omelette, folding it as you go, onto the plate.

Voilà. A perfect asparagus and cheese omelette, pale in colour and oblong in shape.

spring summer 2011 | food in the hill s

33

cooking with rose

Asparagus and Goat Cheese Omelette Some form of the omelette has

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spring summer 2011 | food in the hill s

been around practically since humans first learned to crack an egg. A version of the omelette can be found in the earliest known book of recipes, Apicius, dating back to second-century Rome. One dish in this ancient book is called Ova spongia ex lacte.

The short list of ingredients included eggs, milk and oil which were beaten together, baked in a broad shallow dish known as a patina, then drizzled with honey. Even by modern epicurean standards, this recipe still passes muster and is very similar to the Italian frittata or the Spanish tortilla.

Before attempting to make a perfect omelette, you will need the right equipment.

A non-stick omelette pan is essential. The pan must be durable, yet light enough to manoeuvre easily, and it must maintain an even, consistent heat. The sides should slope slightly outward to facilitate the removal of the finished omelette. In the past few years, the once-popular Teflon non-stick pan has received negative publicity due to chemicals used in its production. As well, Teflon’s nonstick surface will only last two to four years at most. In response, cookware companies have developed a plethora of non-stick pans, making it a challenge to assess their safety and durability.

The two omelette pans best suited to French-style omelette-making are ceramic-coated or carbon-steel. Ceramiccoated, hard-anodized aluminium pans are preferred by cooks who don’t want to season a pan themselves.

The hard-anodized process produces a metal twice as hard and durable as steel, yet is comfortably lightweight and maintains an even temperature. Some brands feature a stay-cool handle and all have a scratch-resistant surface that is non-toxic and chemical-free. Cleanup is quick and easy with warm water and soap. Expect to pay $50 to $70 for this type of pan. I use a Cuisinart Green Gourmet 10-inch skillet and have been very pleased with its performance.

My second choice, the carbon-steel or black Lyon pan, is not well-known outside professional kitchens; however, it is making a well-deserved comeback among a new

ingredients 3 large eggs 1 tbsp water or milk lk (optional) Salt and pepper 4 spears asparagus, s, lightly blanched 2 tbsp soft goat cheese heese 2 tsp butter for thee pan Makes one large omelette.

generation of chefs. This lightweight pan d steel and must be is made of hammered seasoned before first use. Once seasoned, it produces a reliable non-stick surface at The pan can be with a quick, even heat. found online only and instructions on how to season it are included with the purchase. I purchased my 9½-inch pan from abestkitchen.com for a very reasonable $20.

How to make a French omelette

1

Start with the freshest eggs possible, ideally purchased from a local egg producer. Beat the eggs well and add seasoning (salt, pepper, chopped herbs) as desired. There has been much debate over the years whether to add liquid, either water or milk, to the beaten eggs. Although the addition of water creates a fluffier omelette, it dilutes the flavour of the egg. Adding whole milk or cream produces a heavier, denser omelette. Neither way is right or wrong, it is a matter of preference only.

2

Heat a non-stick pan on the stove to medium or medium-high heat. The right pan temperature is crucial. The pan should be hot enough to cook the eggs quickly, but not smoke. Add a pat of butter to the pan and swirl to melt. Do not let the butter burn. Add the eggs.

3

Using a wooden spoon or non-stick utensil, stir them quickly in a circular motion and, at the same time, pull the handle of the pan in towards you and then push it out and away, all the while, keeping the pan on the burner (see photos on page 33). This rapid movement ensures evenly cooked eggs and prevents them from sticking to the pan.

4

Once the eggs are cooked to your liking, turn the pan handle to 90 degrees. Tilt the pan and lightly ease the egg towards the lower side of the pan using the spoon. A fi lling may be added at this stage, if desired. For this omelette I have added lightly blanched asparagus and soft goat cheese.

5

Now fold the upper third of the omelette over the fi lling (if using).

Grasp the handle of the pan underhanded (palm up). Hold a serving plate with your other hand and fl ip the finished omelette, folding it over as you do, onto the plate. The resulting omelette should be pale in colour, have a smooth surface and be oblong, or cigar shaped.

Your first attempts at this type of omelette may not be perfect, but be forgiving and try not to focus on the end result. It also helps to have a few hungry participants on the receiving end. Continue to practise the technique, adjusting the burner temperature as you go. Then, after a few trial omelettes, shift your attention to the look of the finished product.

Creating this style of omelette may seem daunting at first, but as I discovered as an apprentice so long ago, learning this skill is much like riding a bicycle, master it once and the skill will last a lifetime. 왗

Fresh, local seasonal produce and freezer meats from your neighbourhood farm gate market.

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716 Victoria St, Shelburne

519-306-0307 Rose DuPont is a professional chef based in Caledon. She has cooked at the Windsor Arms, Oliver’s Bistro and Scaramouche in Toronto, and at Ottawa’s Château Laurier. She is also a food stylist, a wedding co-ordinator and owner of Real Love Weddings.

Find us at the

MARKET ON BROADWAY Orangeville Join our group on facebook for “just picked” updates!

Open 24/7 at the entrance to Shelburne Corners of Hwys 89 & 124

519-925-1901 spring summer 2011 | food in the hill s

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a tale of two weddings On the biggest days of their lives, the Gauthier brides decided to pull out all the stops | by rose dupont

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spring summer 2011 | food in the hill s

When Jennifer Gauthier became engaged to John McEachern, she knew immediately where she wanted to be married. The romantic young woman had dreamed of having her wedding on the family farm ever since she was a little girl. Last summer, her dream came true.

Jennifer’s parents, Willa and Rip Gauthier, had purchased the picturesque horse farm, poised on the Caledon-Erin border, more than 30 years ago. As a fulfi llment of their own dreams, they called it Someday Farm, and Willa says, “It has become the heart and soul of our family.”

Just three years before Jennifer’s wedding, on a beautiful August day, her older sister Kelly had married Alun Ackery on the same sweeping lawns surrounded by rail fences and towering maples. The sisters’ decision to hold their ceremonies at home was also a poignant tribute to their father who had died a few years previously.

photos andrewadamsphotogr aphy.com

On the morning of July 17 last year, a light rain began falling just minutes before the ceremony was to begin. Willa recalls a panicked last-minute meeting with the wedding party and the caterers: “There was a quick discussion about plan B. Then we prayed a lot, watched the sky and, lo and behold, a wind came up, blew the clouds away and the sun emerged – spectacular!”

The mother of the brides knew from experience that the weather was in the hands of fate, but for the menu she wanted no such uncertainty. For Jennifer’s wedding, as she had for Kelly’s, Willa turned to chefs Gilles and Adriana Roche of Gourmandissimo in Caledon East.

Deciding on a menu for the well-travelled couple, who live in London, England, required a flurry of emails and eventual meetings to come up with a menu that reflected the tastes of both the bride and the groom. The hors d’œuvres included lightly battered zucchini flowers, a favourite of Jennifer’s, as well as refreshing veggie spring rolls with a Thai dipping sauce.

(See recipe on page 40.)

Weather or not The Gauthier's Caledon farm (left) made an idyllic setting for two country weddings.

Even the weather co-operated. above left : Chalk boards spell out the seating plans. above right : A trio of appetizers to start the semi-formal dinner.

continued on nex t page

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a tale of t wo weddings

Kelly and Alun, August 2007 right : Stilton crostini topped with pears and pecans.

In recognition of their adopted home, Willa surprised the couple with an ice sculpture of London Bridge to hold the cocktail shrimp. Recalling the success of Kelly and Alun’s wedding feast, Jennifer and John decided on the same kind of semi-formal, sit-down dinner. When the couple met with the caterer to discuss the menu, John, a self-professed foodie, bashfully mentioned that he loved Jell-O. So Gilles and Adriana created a one-of-akind intermezzo course of rosé Champagne gelatine with rose petals. For the main course, they offered a choice of roasted beef tenderloin or black cod. The meal ended with a red velvet cake with cream-cheese frosting, another favourite of the groom’s.

As a tribute to Jennifer’s late father and John’s mother Luci, both single-malt Scotch fans, the couple decided to add a Scotch bar to the festivities. “We were unsure of how well our guests would enjoy it. But to our surprise it was a big hit with quite a number

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of our guests,” says Jennifer. The partying continued into the wee hours and guests were thankful for a late-night snack of pulled pork sandwiches and fish and chips.

Jell-O with rose petals, ice sculptures, a Scotch bar, midnight snacks. These are the creative personal touches from which wonderful memories are made. Jennifer’s older sister Kelly’s August 2007 wedding followed a different but equally original blueprint for success.

This young couple knew they wanted the menu to have as much variety and as many distinct flavours as possible. “When I meet with a bride and groom,” says Adriana Roche, “I always start with this question, ‘What do you like to eat?’”

At the reception Kelly and Alun served ice-cold lemonade alongside a cool, sparkling Prosecco. The hors d’œuvres ranged from seared tuna tataki and Moroccan lamb skewers, to crispy sweet potato pancakes with smoked salmon and dill sauce. (See recipe on page 40).

When the 225 guests sat down to the semi-formal dinner, they started with spiced

shrimp on jicama slaw, greens and smoked duck. The refreshing intermezzo course was a dish of hand-peeled, frozen grapes. This special request from Kelly was a spectacular success, although Adriana admits that peeling all those grapes “was definitely not an everyday job for us!”

The main course was beef tenderloin, and for dessert, chocolate truffle cake and berries. Later, the guests danced the night away nourished by a late-night snack of grilled cheese sandwiches and crisp French fries in paper cones.

A wedding lasts only a few glorious hours. All that planning and preparation: the rural setting, friends, family, the high emotions, the flowers and, most of all, the food. Was it worth it? Oh yes, because Jell-O and ice sculptures may not last forever, but the memories go on and on. 왗

Rose DuPont is a certified wedding coordinator and head of Real Love Weddings in Caledon. A professional chef, she has worked in fine restaurants across Canada.

photo joseph + jaime

Jennifer and John, July 2010 The young couple knew they wanted the menu to have as much variety as possible.

Country wedding

tips

There’s more to throwing a country wedding than getting to the church on time. Here are a few reminders to help ensure your special day goes beautifully.

Set a budget and stick to it. Who needs the added stress of overspending?

Buy insurance. A wedding is a big investment and you want to be prepared for the unexpected: severe weather, vendor no-show, illness or accident.

Be sure to research your obligations when serving liquor. Visit the Ontario Alcohol and Gaming site (agco.on.ca) for more information.

Rent a tent for the big day. It’s a big expense, but if the weather doesn’t cooperate, you’ll be very glad you did.

Ask your caterer to provide you with a quote in writing and then a written contract.

Sit down dinners like the Gauthiers’ are undeniably elegant, but Jo Fillery of What’s Cookin’ (whatscookin.ca) in Erin notes there are also virtues to a more casual (and less expensive) buffet approach. “People love to choose for themselves and it’s a way of offering more variety on the menu.”

Request a menu tasting prior to the big day so that you can fine tune it as necessary.

Keep in mind that summer is the perfect time to highlight Ontario’s local bounty when planning your menu.

Choosing wine for a large crowd can be a daunting task, so we asked Rick Kitowski of The Wine Coaches in Caledon (www. thewinecoaches.com) for advice.

Allow for ½ bottle per person.

Italian Prosecco is a good and increasingly popular substitute for more expensive Champagne.

Support your local economy by choosing one or more of the many excellent Ontario wines in the $15 to $20 a bottle range.

For a red, Rick suggests a mediumbodied unoaked Ontario Pinot Noir. For a white, he recommends a medium-bodied Ontario Pinot Grigio.

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a tale of t wo weddings

Smoked Salmon Sweet Potato Pancakes kes ingredients

dill sauce 1 cup sour cream 1 tbsp red onion, finely chopped 1 tbsp green onion, finely chopped 1 tbsp fresh dill, finely chopped Salt and pepper 5–6 slices quality smoked salmon prepar ation In a medium bowl, combine sweet potato, red onion, green onion, egg, salt and pepper. Add flour, a tablespoon at a time, until mixture holds together.

Allow to rest for 10 minutes.

Heat medium-sized pan to mediumhigh. Add two tablespoons of oil and one tablespoon of butter. Place tablespoonsful of sweet potato mixture into pan to form mini pancakes. Cook until lightly browned around edges, adjusting heat as necessary. Turn and cook on the other side. Remove and drain on a paper towel. Repeat with remaining mixture.

Mix sour cream, red and green onion, dill and salt and pepper in a small bowl. To assemble, top each pancake with a teaspoon of sour cream sauce.

Circle a small piece of smoked salmon around the sauce. Garnish with a sprig of fresh dill. Makes 12 to 16 pieces.

Recipes are adapted from Gourmandissimo Catering and Fine Foods. For more wedding ideas, visit gourmandissimo.com

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photos pete paterson

pancakes 1 medium-sized sweet potato, peeled and grated ½ small red onion, finely chopped pped 3 green onions, chopped 1 large egg, lightly beaten ½–¾ cups all-purpose flour Pinch of salt and pepper Vegetable oil and butter for frying

Savoury starters Vegetarian Thai spring rolls. inset : Smoked salmon sweet potato pancake.

Vegetarian Thai SpringThai Vegetarian RollsSpring Rolls ingredients 4 oz (125 g) rice vermicelli noodles 1 medium carrot, peeled and julienned 1 medium white turnip, peeled and julienned 3 green onions, chopped 3–4 sprigs fresh mint, stemmed and chopped ¼ head iceberg lettuce, finely sliced ½ small jalapeno, finely chopped 2 ⁄ 3 cup roasted peanuts, chopped 15–20 8-inch round rice paper sheets prepar ation Soak rice noodles in large bowl of warm water until pliable, about 10 minutes, then strain and set aside.

Bring a medium-sized pot of water to boil on the stove. Have a mediumsized bowl of ice water ready. Add carrot and turnip to the boiling

water and cook for 30 seconds.

Using a slotted spoon, remove the vegetables to the ice water to cool, then strain vegetables and place in medium-sized bowl. Add the green onions, mint, iceberg lettuce, jalapeno pepper and peanuts.

Place the drained rice noodles in the pot of water and return to a boil.

Cook for about 1 minute, or until soft.

Strain into a colander and rinse with cold water. Using kitchen shears, cut into small pieces. Add noodles to the vegetable mixture and mix well.

Place a large piece of parchment paper on the work surface. To soften rice paper sheets, fill two cake pans or pie plates with warm water. Add 1 rice sheet to each. The sheets will soften in approximately 30 seconds.

Remove the sheet from the water to

Award of Distinction FODOR’S CHOICE

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Thai Dipping Sauce ingredients 1 cup sugar ½ cup water ½ cup white vinegar 2 tbsp chopped garlic 2 tbsp fish sauce 1 tsp oriental red hot sauce prepar ation Place all ingredients in small pot. Bring to boil and then simmer for 10 minutes. Allow to cool, remove to a sealable container and refrigerate. The sauce can be made ahead and refrigerated for 3 to 4 days.

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drain, and lay it flat on parchment paper. Add another rice paper sheet to the empty cake pan to soften.

the Sweetest Place on Earth Place approximately 2 tablespoons of the vegetable mixture in the middle of the rice paper. Roll over once, then fold sides inward and finish rolling tightly to form an enclosed parcel.

Place roll on serving platter. Remove the next soaked rice paper, replace with another one, and continue the process until the mixture is used up.

Cover the finished rolls with a damp cloth or damp paper towels to keep moist. Refrigerate. Serve rolls sliced in half or whole with Thai dipping sauce. Makes 15 to 20 rolls.

at

lavender hill honey U maple syrup U mustard U lavender

Note: Make spring rolls just a few hours before eating or the rice paper will harden.

Our handmade truffles and chocolates are created from Belgian chocolate, cream, butter, nuts and fruits.

Fudge • Candy • Custom Orders Find us at Creemore Farmers Market www.marcilipman.ca

114 Broadway, Orangeville 519-941-8968 www.thechocolateshop.ca spring summer 2011 | food in the hill s

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photo lisa clements

No more ice cream?!

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A mother rises to the challenge of cooking dairy-free for her family | by stacey fok as

spring summer 2011 | food in the hill s

photo mike mc coll

what?

Imagine waking up one day to discover you must radically change the way you shop for your food, the way you prepare it, and what you can eat from that day onward.

My story revolves around my daughter, Anastasia. She was born anaphylactic to dairy products. This means that foods such as milk and cheese could put her life at risk. She was also allergic to eggs, tomatoes, olives, olive oil, sulphites – and the dog. It became my job to keep her out of harm’s way, to educate my family and myself, to read all food labels and, as Anastasia grew, to teach her that all Healthy, happy Stacey Fokas foods are not for her. with daughters When you think of Anastasia and dairy, you may think Nicoletta. of milk, cheese and butter, but there are also the by-products of milk – whey, whey protein (liquid and powder), modified milk ingredients, lactose and artificial flavours. Milk and milk products seem to be in almost everything that is pre-packaged. And many other foods that are served fresh can also contain traces of milk. For example, read your bread labels – most breads now contain one or more of these dairy products.

Think about what it’s like to have to avoid the dairy section to protect your son or daughter, and what it would take to change your whole way of thinking about food: the way you cook lasagna and pizza, or bake your cookies and cakes. That’s exactly what I went through when I was effectively forced to create a brand new lifestyle for us. I am thrilled that I can now share with you what I have learned over the past 10 years.

Initially I thought, “What am I going to do?” To accommodate our daughter’s diet, we stopped eating out at restaurants. We packed her special meals wherever we went.

We also stopped eating any dairy in our home to avoid cross-contamination.

One of the biggest eye-openers occurred when I started reading food labels. I quickly discovered scores of other things that I also wanted to avoid – glucose,

fructose, dextrose, hydrogenated products, preservatives, dyes and white refined foods, such as white flour and white sugar. What happened to healthy, natural ingredients?

What about ingredients with names we can understand?

I learned that many of us really have no idea what is in our food, or where it comes from. I also found out what the names of some of those mysterious ingredients actually mean. Dealing with my daughter’s serious food allergy made me serious about controlling what my whole family eats. And, as they say, knowledge is power.

As I lived with Anastasia’s allergy, I discovered a positive side to our new lifestyle. Eating dairy-free turns out to have many health benefits. My husband’s cholesterol is now manageable without medication. We’ve both lost weight because, although we are eating more, we are not eating foods that are high in unhealthy fats.

Furthermore, my skin is clearer and I feel far more energetic.

If you discover you have diabetes or a lactose intolerance, or you are diagnosed with a life-threatening disease, your doctor may suggest that you change the way you eat to improve the quality of your life. Eating dairy-free is a great supplement to a healthy lifestyle. I’ve discovered, for example, that I can taste the natural flavour of my food now that it is not coated in butter, creams and gooey cheeses.

When I talk with family and friends about living dairy-free, their most common reaction is, “What do you eat if you don’t eat dairy?” As though milk is somehow the only available food source! I laugh and say, “Eat everything you usually eat. But without dairy!”

I also advise them to look at their food more closely and start supporting producers of local fruits, vegetables and meats. It seems silly to buy apples imported from China, when tonnes of apples grow “right in our own backyard.” Have you thought about garlic, baby food, canned goods and tomatoes? Do you know how they were produced? Were they packaged safely?

What about the fertilizers and pesticides that were used? Besides, supporting our

communities, our farmers and our food producers ultimately supports us.

Because I cook from fresh every day, I have rewritten many old family recipes – lasagnas, pizzas, cakes, cookies and muffins, to name a few. All the recipes I have recreated are dairy-free and prepared with flavour, texture and freshness in mind.

Getting the kids involved in the preparation of any meal is a fun way to spend time with them, and provides an opportunity to talk to them about healthy foods. It’s amazing how excited kids can get when they make the connection between their food and where it comes from.

On the next pages, I share two of my favourite recipes. Here are a few tips to make the most of your dairy-free adventure: Try substituting white flour with whole wheat. This enhances the taste and texture in cookies and baked goods.

Why not add nuts and whole grains?

Because Anastasia is allergic to olive oil, I switched to sunflower oil that is locally produced. It makes all the food I prepare light and flavourful. And it works really well in baking because it has no aftertaste.

All ovens are not equal, so if you cook with gas as I do, the end result will be different than if you cook with electric. That’s why I give approximate cook and bake times, allowing you to discover what works for you.

I am very specific about the kind of baking tray I use. Sometimes I call for a glass baking dish or a cast-iron pan – the pans you use can affect your results.

Cooking dairy-free opened my eyes to a wider variety of foods and allowed me to reconnect with a healthy, sustainable lifestyle that I can share with the kids. Now we eat so much more, read all labels, and source local, in-season foods. Anastasia’s food allergies have been a challenge, but they’ve also been a blessing in disguise. 왘 recipes on nex t page

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what ? no more ice cre am?!

Stacey Fokas is the author of Freshalicious: Eat Fresh, Eat Local, Eat Healthy (infokas Productions, $29.95). She lives near Alton.

To find out more about food allergies, please visit www.anaphylaxis.ca.

For more inspirational recipes, visit www.freshalicious.ca.

Pastichio-Macaroni Pie filling 1½ lb (700 g) ground lamb or sirloin 2 onions, chopped 2 or 3 garlic cloves, chopped Sunflower oil, for frying Sea salt and pepper 3–4 tomatoes, finely chopped 1 cup white wine 2 lb (900 g) penne ¼ cup sunflower oil 1½ cups toasted cornflake crumbs, seasoned with chopped fresh parsley, thyme, salt and pepper 3 eggs, beaten béchamel sauce 6–7 tbsp sunflower oil 7–8 tbsp flour 4 cups plain soya milk Sea salt and pepper 2 egg yolks prepar ation

Heart warming Pastichio-macaroni pie is comfort food without the cheese.

Cook penne until tender. Drain and rinse with cold water.

Divide the penne between two bowls. Drizzle each with sunflower oil and divide ¾ cup of the seasoned cornflake crumbs between the two bowls. Divide beaten eggs between the bowls and mix well.

Preheat oven to 400°F. Sauté meat, onions and garlic in a little oil until meat has browned.

Season with salt and pepper. Add finely chopped tomatoes to the meat mixture. Add wine and simmer until liquid is reduced. Set aside.

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Mix one of the bowls of penne into the frying pan with the meat mixture.

For the sauce: Heat oil in small pot.

Whisk in flour, one tablespoon at a time, stirring constantly until mixture begins to brown. Meanwhile warm

the soya milk in another pot. Whisk soya milk into flour mixture stirring constantly until thickened. Remove from heat and whisk in egg yolks.

Place ½ cup of the seasoned cornflake crumbs over the bottom of a 9-inch by 13-inch lasagna dish. Layer in half of the plain penne, then all of the meat penne, then the remaining plain penne.

Pour béchamel sauce evenly over the penne and sprinkle with remaining cornflake crumbs. Bake for 40 minutes or until top is browned.

Let cool for 30 minutes. Cut into squares and serve. Serves 4–6.

photo mike mc coll

ingredients

70

Peach-Plum Shortbread Tart ingredients crust 1 cup non-hydrogenated lard 1 cup brown sugar 1 tsp vanilla 3 cups whole wheat flour 1 cup coconut (toasted for 5 minutes in a 350°F oven) ½ tsp salt filling ½ cup local honey 2 cups peach (or plum) jam, preferably homemade 7 or 8 firm Ontario peaches, thinly sliced 2 or 3 firm red Ontario plums, thinly sliced Lavender flowers for garnish prepar ation Preheat oven to 350°F. Mix lard and brown sugar until creamy. Add vanilla, flour, coconut and salt, and mix until crumbly.

Pour mixture into a 12-inch tart pan. Press firmly onto bottom and sides to make a crust. Bake for 15 minutes until just cooked through.

Remove from oven and set aside.

Heat jam and honey in a frying pan on medium heat. Carefully add the peach slices. Cook gently for 5 to 7 minutes until fruit is tender but not mushy.

Pour peaches into tart shell.

Arrange plum slices on top. Sprinkle with lavender.

Return to oven and bake for 30 minutes more or until crust is brown. Serves 8. spring summer 2011 | food in the hill s

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ic e

Sweet or savoury, chilled soup in summer is as comforting as it is cool | b y jennifer c l a rk

Summer sipping Sweet watermelon, salty feta and savory mint make an easy and refreshing soup.

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photos pete paterson

S ou s o p’

People say that nothing warms you up like a hearty bowl of soup.

Unfortunately this means we tend to avoid serving soup during the hotter months. That’s a shame, because soup is so easy to prepare and such a simple way to get more fruits and vegetables into your diet. Here’s an idea that just might open up a whole new culinary world for you. This spring and summer, try beating the heat with some refreshing cold soups.

C

Cold soups are fabulous on a hot day as a light lunch, an addition to a barbecue dinner, or as the first course of a gourmet meal. A delightful way to showcase the local summer harvest, they can be made with vegetables or fruits, cooked first and chilled, or made from raw ingredients and chilled.

My first experience with cold soup was the well-known Spanish gazpacho, a mélange of raw tomato, bell pepper, cucumber, garlic, olive oil, wine vinegar and salt. Simple, healthy, refreshing and so delicious!

I then tried my hand at the French vichyssoise, a cook-and-chill soup that is simply potato-leek soup served cold. Also delicious. From there I began experimenting with other cold soups. Some of my favourites include springtime stinging nettle, midsummer cucumber-dill with yogurt, and late-summer roasted red pepper, as well as the recipes I have shared below.

For cold soups I prefer to use a vegetarian base rather than chicken or beef stock, because it gives the soup a lighter taste.

Making your own stock is easy and much healthier than buying commercial soup stock with its high sodium content.

To save time, I have learned to build the base of vegetable soups as I go. For cooked soup, the first step towards achieving a full flavour is to combine chopped onions, carrots and celery. This trio is well known in the culinary world as a base for sauces, soups and stews. The French term for it is “mirepoix;” the Creole call it “the holy trinity;” and the Italians say “soffritto.”

To this medley, I add other aromatics such as chopped garlic, fresh herbs such as

Chilled WatermelonMint Soup This recipe is based on a classic salad created by the eminent French chef, Jacques Pépin. As a bonus, watermelon is rich in lycopene, a phytochemical that helps protect against sun damage. A sweeter wine, such as Riesling or Gewürztraminer, is recommended for this soup. ingredients 10 cups watermelon, cubed with seeds removed 2 medium cucumbers, peeled and sliced with most of the seeds removed 10 mint leaves 1 tsp black pepper ½ tsp salt 2 tsp hot pepper of your choice, chopped Feta cheese prepar ation Place all ingredients in a blender or food processor and purée. Place in refrigerator and serve chilled, with crumbled feta cheese on top. Makes 6 servings.

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soup’s on… ice

est.1989

Top 500 in Canada 150 Mill Street in Creemore www.chezmichel.ca 705.466.3331 Wednesday to Sunday lunch and dinner Private catering for small groups

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basil, oregano and thyme, and spices such as cinnamon, cumin and cayenne. I find that adding mushrooms to the mix helps to give the soup a fuller taste. To maximize fl avour, I add some salt and cook the mixture over low heat for about 25 to 30 minutes, letting the vegetables fully release their juices into the soup pot. This process is known as “sweating.”

Once the vegetables are soft and their juices released, the other ingredients and water can be added to the soup pot. Bring the soup to a boil, and then simmer over low heat for at least 30 minutes. I often try to make soup a day or two prior to serving in order to let the flavours fully develop.

When it comes to cold soups made from raw ingredients, a soup base is not required thanks to the flavours of the uncooked

fruits and vegetables. Raw soups are very refreshing and work particularly well with fresh local fruits. They are so easy to make, with such intense, fresh flavours, you will wonder how you ever got through summer without them. 왗

Born and raised in Caledon, Jennifer Clark is co-ordinator of Eat Local Caledon and operates a small catering business. From June to October you can find her on Wednesdays at the Inglewood Farmers’ Market, selling her locally inspired soup creations.

Calm, cool, collected Spinach and wild leeks add a seasonal twist to an old standby, vichyssoise.

Springtime Spinach Vichyssoise This soup is a variation on traditional vichyssoise, a cold potato-leek soup.

It is a perfect soup for springtime when spinach and wild leeks are flourishing and winter-storage root vegetables are still available. It goes well with chilled Sauvignon Blanc.

Great coffee, delicious homemade locally-sourced food in a warm inviting atmosphere Open Daily 9-4 Fridays for Dinner 6-9 Closed Tuesdays

ingredients 4 tbsp sunflower oil 2 cooking onions, chopped 8 wild leeks, white and green parts, chopped (or 2 regular leeks, sliced) 2 medium carrots, sliced 1 celery stalk, sliced 2 cups mushrooms, sliced 1 tsp salt 1 tsp black pepper ½ tsp nutmeg 4 cups water 3 medium white potatoes, peeled and chopped 8 cups spinach, chopped 1 cup half & half cream 1 tbsp freshly-squeezed lemon juice Sour cream (optional)

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prepar ation Heat oil in a heavy-bottomed soup pot on low heat. Add onions, leeks, carrots, celery, mushrooms, salt, pepper and nutmeg. Sweat the ingredients for about 20 minutes until the vegetables are soft and have released their juices.

Add water and potatoes to the soup pot. Turn heat to high and bring soup to a boil, reduce heat and simmer for 20 minutes. Add spinach and simmer for another 5 minutes.

Remove soup from heat and add cream and lemon juice, as well as a pinch more salt to taste. Refrigerate soup and serve chilled with a dollop of sour cream. Makes 6–8 servings.

Special Events May 21 June 4 June 25 July 16 July 30 Aug 27 Sept 3 Sept 24 Oct 8

Season Opener Music at the Market Strawberry Festival Health and Wellness Day Eat Local Copper Kettle Festival Birthday and Kids Market Young Artists’ Exhibit Thanksgiving Market

Saturday mornings from 8:30 to 12:30 Victoria Day to Thanksgiving Weekend Station on the Green, Creemore

spring summer 2011 | food in the hill s

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What happens when five of Caledon’s most committed local-food mavens get together to share coffee, muffins and some big ideas? | by nicol a ross

illustr ation shel agh armstrong

O

Kitchen Table Talk

On a clear morning last October, with fall’s first frost still two weeks away, I met with a handful of Caledon’s most diligent foodies at Palgrave’s Community Kitchen in the town’s United Church for our first official Kitchen Table Talk. Over mugs of steaming organic, fair-trade coffee and homemade pumpkin-cranberry muffins, we set about discussing a subject dear to our collective hearts: how to continue to advance Caledon’s burgeoning local food movement.

Last fall, Kitchen Table Talks like ours were taking place in communities across Canada. They were the brainchild of the People’s Food Policy Project (PFPP), a grassroots, pan-Canadian network of citizens and organizations that is proposing Canada’s first food sovereignty policy. The network, founded in 2008, includes eaters, farmers, community and health workers, academics, cooks, small business owners and others who believe that ordinary citizens should have a say in their food system. The purpose of the talks is to gather grassroots input to help fi x Canada’s “broken” food system. This

spring, PFPP will present the “cures” that emerged from the Kitchen Table Talks and other forums to the federal government in the hope that our voices will be heard and acknowledged.

There were five of us at the table: Barb Imrie, who is responsible for starting Palgrave’s Community Kitchen, a certified kitchen that can be rented by local producers and caterers who need an inspected facility in which to prepare their goods and meals; Karen Hutchinson from the Caledon Countryside Alliance; Jennifer Clark, who manages the farmers’ market in Inglewood and heads up Eat Local Caledon; Amy Darrell, who occasionally works with Everdale, an educational organic farm in Hillsburgh that operates a Community Shared Agriculture program; and me, president of the Belfountain Community Association.

We were there to discuss ways to make local food a bigger deal in Caledon. Proud of how far we have come since the Caledon Countryside Alliance began promoting local food more than a decade ago, we were

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kitchen table talk

hungry for more progress. What can we do to put local food and agricultural produce squarely on the dinner plates of more Caledonians? Can our backyard become a proving ground for the systemic changes promoted by PFPP, an organization that believes food is inextricably linked to our economic, social, environmental and, most important, physical health, and that food is not simply a commodity that is traded to maximize private profits? Can we help to promote “food sovereignty,” a concept that is embraced by PFPP and was originated internationally by the Indonesia-based organization La Vía Campesina?

PFPP would like to see more government support for small-scale, organic and environmentally sustainable farms.

However, according to Neil Currie, general manager of the Ontario Federation of Agriculture, which represents some 37,000 farmers (most of whom are tied into the conventional industrialized food production

system), some PFPP recommendations are controversial. They include the network’s recommendation to take food out of trade agreements and establish a moratorium on genetically modified products until the government has implemented provisions put forward by the Royal Society of Canada’s Expert Panel on the Future of Food Biotechnology. (For all PFPP’s recommendations, see peoplesfoodpolicy.ca).

Back at our kitchen table, though, ideas of a more local nature bubbled up like yeast in warm water.

We recognized that Eat Local Caledon is already doing a lot to promote local food. In addition to its involvement in both the Inglewood and Caledon (Bolton) farmers’ markets, it compiles a directory of local agricultural producers (available at eatlocalcaledon.org), and organizes an eat-local month held each September featuring a seven-day eat-local challenge.

Its Chefs’ 50K Commitment program

The PFPP would like to see government support shifted to small-scale, organic and environmentally sustainable farms from conventional ones.

Organic Vegetables & Flowers

ANGUS BEEF hormone & antibiotic-free natural dry-aged 21 days

We serve and sell premium, top-quality, great-tasting beef. Always tender and juicy - there’s no taste like it.

Our mobile kitchen serves smoked beef, all-beef franks and sausage on a bun, as well as peameal, egg and cheese on a bun.

Find us at farmers’ markets, fairs and at the farm by appointment.

OUR BEEF IS SMOKIN’ “Your meat is the best!” - Pat “Best brisket ever” - Sandra & Barney “Fantastic...best ribeyes we’ve ever had” - Amanda

Wayne Speers & Laura Jean Tovell Orangeville 519-941-2708 speersfarmsamaranth.ca

Real Food, Real Fresh, Real Local 873393 5TH LINE MONO EHS

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spring summer 2011 | food in the hill s

involves several Caledon restaurants that include local options on their menus. This year, the organization has linked up with the Palgrave Community Kitchen to offer cooking classes hosted by local chefs who will use local products.

To raise awareness about local, healthy food among youth, Eat Local Caledon also organizes the playful Caledon Crunch. It asks 4,000 students at eight elementary schools to crunch on a local apple – all at same time. The event is broadcast on B105.5FM. Eat Local’s parent organization, the Caledon Countryside Alliance, encourages policies at both the municipal and provincial level that promote local food. And last fall, Karen Hutchinson herself harvested Caledon’s first crop of red fife, a heritage bread wheat.

This spring, the Palgrave Community Kitchen is embarking on an exciting community garden project in the Albion

Hills Conservation Area. Many of the vegetables grown in the new garden will eventually be cleaned and chopped in the Palgrave Community Kitchen for use in meals served to students who attend programs at the conservation area.

All those things gave us lots to chew on besides our muffins. But there is still much more to be done. Located in Toronto’s densely populated urban shadow, Caledon is well placed to help realize many other PFPP goals.

Two of the project’s recommendations are particularly relevant. First, Caledon needs to develop regional networks to promote, market and distribute food. This would make local produce more readily available to restaurants, grocery stores and residents alike.

Second, Caledon needs to develop, implement and fund local-food purchasing policies in public institutions including hospitals, schools and government buildings. Imagine the health, economic

Award-winning sweet & hard ciders Wood-fired oven artisan bakery Ontario cheeses & preserves Light meals served in our Tasting Room

and environmental benefits that would result if public pools, arenas and schools served fruits, vegetables and beef patties produced by local farmers rather than salt- and fatladen, pre-packaged burgers imported from who knows where.

These were the ambitious goals generated by our the fi rst (and we hope not last) Caledon Kitchen Table Talk. We recognized that some PFPP policies are a long way from being realized. Still, it is gratifying to know that our small group is helping to kick start a national food movement that, with or without government buy-in, is destined to evolve – even it it’s just one local apple at a time. 왗 Caledon born and bred, Nicola Ross is the author of the books, Caledon and Dufferin County. She is the editor-in-chief of Alternatives Journal, Canada’s national environmental magazine and president of the Belfountain Community Association.

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spring summer 2011 | food in the hill s

53

the rhubarb index Rhubarb n. a large-leaved plant of the dock family which produces thick reddish or green leaf stalks; the cooked leaf stalks of this plant, eaten as a dessert Oxford English Dictionary

venerable Rhubarb was first referred to in China in 2700 B.C. It was grown for centuries in Russia along the River Volga and was more valuable in Medieval Europe than cinnamon, opium or saffron.

medicinal Its dried and powdered root has been used in medicine for at least 5,000 years and is highly effective as a laxative and can be used as a dieting aid.

prac tical Settlers brought rhubarb to North America in the 1820s.

humble Rhubarb is also known as “pie plant.” Author Laura Ingalls Wilder refers to rhubarb as pie plant in her novella The First Four Years.

toxic The leaves are toxic, containing high concentrations of oxalic acid salts and should never be eaten by man nor beast.

beneficial 왗

Rheum rhabarbarum Rhubarb is a close relative of garden sorrel.

It is high in vitamin C and dietary fibre.

In 1921, a British colonial doctor, Dr. Burkitt, reported in The Lancet that he knew of “no other remedy in medicine which has such a magical effect” as powdered rhubarb in the treatment of acute dysentery.

edible It wasn’t used as a food until sugar became affordable to common people in 17th century England.

fruitful Rhubarb is one of the first foods ready for harvest, usually early May in Ontario.

colourful Green-stalked rhubarb is more robust and has a higher yield, but red stalks are more popular with consumers.

animal vegetable mineral Although it is used as a fruit, rhubarb is actually a vegetable.

versatile The Iranians use it in stews; the Italians use it to make a low-alcohol apéritif; the Polish as a tart accompaniment to potatoes.

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local Lennox Farm near Shelburne produces about 240,000 pounds of rhubarb a year, making it one of the largest producers in Ontario.

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55

KNOW WHERE IT GROWS AT ORANGEVILLE’S FARMERS’ MARKET

what’s cooking in thec ahills lendar of food happenings community may 21 & june 18 Pancake Breakfasts The Caledon Navy League flaps jacks and dishes up sausages and drinks at the Bolton United Church at Nancy St and King St, 9–11am. Admission $5; kids and seniors, $3. Proceeds to the Bolton Sea Cadets.

647-233-7182.

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spring summer 2011 | food in the hill s

may 26 Eat Local Dinner Series begins Each month through to the end of the year, a chef at a Caledon restaurant prepares a special, locally inspired three-course meal for a fixed price of $30–$35 per person.

The series kicks off at Ray’s Bakery in Alton.

For reservations, call 519-941-6121.

For a list of participating restaurants, visit www.eatlocalcaledon.org. may 28 Perfect Pairing A selection of fine wines accompanies a fabulous, seven-course meal prepared by the chefs at Glen Eagle Golf & Country Club. The evening includes a show and sale of works by local artists. Tickets are $125, with proceeds to support Caledon Community Services’ Bus for Seniors program. 6pm at Glen Eagle, Hwy 50, north of Bolton. To reserve, call 905584-2300 x260.

may 28 Grand Valley Lions Community Breakfast reakfast Enjoy sausages, eggs, pancakes, k ttoast, t juice and coffee, 8–11am, at the Grand Valley Community Centre, 90 Main St. N. The breakfast is free, though donations are appreciated. After breakfast head over to Hereward Park and enter a rubber duck in the Lions’ Duck Race on the Grand River at 2pm. Duck $5, with $4,000 in prizes. www. grandvalleylions.com

june 1 – dec 1 Chefs’ 50K Commitment Participating chefs in the Caledon area have committed to including local options on their regular menus and to source ingredients from local producers. See www. eatlocalcaledon.org for details.

june 10 Wines of the World ld The Palgrave Rotaryy Club’s 14th annual wine tasting features es more than 60 wines from 13 countries, chosen by Steve Thurlow, senior editor at Wine Access magazine. $40 lets you taste an array of vintages and dine on beef on a bun, sandwiches, cheese and fruit. 6–8:30pm at the Palgrave Equestrian Centre, Birch Ave. Reserve at www.rotary clubofpalgrave.com or call 905-880-1590. june 11 Brood in the Barn Support sustainable local farming and provide fresh, healthy organic food to people in need. Join Musical Wrecking Ball Elliott Brood, and Olenka and the Autumn Lovers for a night of great music in the barn at The New Farm. Proceeds go to Grow for The Stop at The New Farm. The Stop provides fresh organic food grown at the farm to more than 16,000 people every year. $45 for dinner; $25 for music only.

To reserve, contact sara@creemore.com or call 705-466-9906. july 17 Explore Everdale Everdale’s annual open house is a great way to get back to the land. Enjoy handson workshops on organic gardening and sustainable living. Tour a straw-bale home.

Let the kids collect eggs and pet the farm animals. There will be baking demonstrations in the earth oven, story walks for the kids and tours of the farm, as well as lots of homemade organic treats to sample.

Everdale is an environmental learning centre and organic farm near Hillsburgh.

See www.everdale.org or call 519-855-4859.

july 31 – august 7 Creemore 100-Mile Food Challenge The village of Creemore wants you to practise what they’re preaching and eat local for one week this summer. The event kicks off at the Creemore Farmers’ Market with a pancake breakfast. Participants get a scorecard that is stamped when they make purchases at local restaurants, food shops and breweries. For a list of retailers, visit www.simcoecountyfarmfresh.ca.

Cuisine-Art

bridget wil son | all meshed up

art, food & wine

july 22 – 24 4 Orangeville Rotary Ribfest Roll up your sleeves and fasten your bibs, this year’s annual pork festival features the talents of five international “ribbers.”

There’ll be lots of other food and drink, a beer tent, a midway for the kids and live music all weekend long. Admission is free, donations are welcome. Proceeds support Rotary projects in Orangeville and around the world. www.orangevilleribfest.com

alton mill presents the third annual

Delicious art, beautiful fare

SAT JULY 16 & SUN JULY 17|10AM—5PM Food tastings & cooking demos by award-winning local chefs Art & Drink pairings (wine, cider, beer) | Outdoor Marketplace Outdoor Live Theatre Fri July 15 & Sat July 16 (evenings) Humber River Shakespeare Co. “The Comedy of Errors” featuring 25 studio artists plus shops , galleries & café

altonmill.ca | 519-941-9300 | Alton | Caledon

festivals june 11 Highland Fling Dust off those kilts and sample a little haggis while you listen to the pipes during an afternoon of all things Scottish at St. Andrew’s Stone Church, 17621 St. Andrew’s Rd, Caledon. There’ll be step dancers, traditional shortcake and the acclaimed women’s quartet, Allure. Everyone is welcome, even the Irish. 1–4pm; $10 for adults, $5 for children 12 and under. See www.standchurch.org or call 905-584-5001. july 1 Strawberry Fields: Celebrate Canada Day Strawberries, pancakes and patriotism!

Come out and enjoy live music, vintage cars, crafts, a silent auction and a Bavarian beer garden in honour of Canada’s 144th birthday at the Caledon Fairgrounds.

Grounds open at 10am. Admission is free.

Information at www.caledonfairgrounds.ca.

spring summer 2011 | food in the hill s

57

what’s cooking in thec ahills lendar of food happenings july 16 & 17 Cuisine-Art at Alton Mill This celebration of food and art showcases more than 40 visual, performing and culinary artists. Toonie Tastings let you sample local, artisanal and organic offerings for just $2 each. Barbecue demos feature local chefs.

Outdoor performances of Shakespeare’s The Comedy of Errors take place both evenings. 10am–5pm at the Alton Mill.

Proceeds support the Alton Millpond Rehabilitation Project. www.altonmill.ca august 16 – september 4 SummerFeast For 19 mouthwatering days, the finest restaurants in the hills offer special menus at affordable prices. Three-course prix fixe meals are $15–$20 for lunch and $25–$30 for dinner. Diners also have the chance to win a $100 certificate to the SummerFeast restaurant of their choice. For information on participating restaurants, call 519-9420314 or visit www.thehillsofheadwaters.com.

Congratulations to

on your inaugural issue!

Dufferin is home to an amazing variety of food producers.

Set your table with food grown or raised by your neighbours. dairy • potatoes • beef • grains • pork oilseeds • lamb • vegetables • poultry specialty meats & crops

Dufferin Federation of Agriculture

Proud to Farm!

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spring summer 2011 | food in the hill s

fairs june 10 – 12 Caledon Fair The 151st Caledon Fair kicks off at the fairgrounds in Caledon Village with more than 1,000 competitors strutting their stuff in everything from home-baking and crafts to tractor pulls and equestrian events. There’ll be midway rides for the kids, the Agricultural Awareness Pavilion, even a lawn tractor challenge. Admission: $10 on Friday night, $8 on Saturday and Sunday or $15 per car. Children under 14 accompanied by an adult, $2. www.caledonfairgrounds.ca

talks may 24 Local Food, Imported Workers Much of the food we eat in Canada is produced by some 30,000 temporary

foreign agricultural workers. A vital part of our food industry, they remain largely invisible to the Canadian public. Janet McLaughlin discusses the circumstances of migrant farm workers, as well as the impact of migration on both the workers s. 6:30–8:3 :30p :3 0 m. and Canadian communities.

6:30–8:30pm. restt Kitchener Public Library, Forest rHeights Branch, 251 FischerHallman Rd, Kitchener.

courses june 6 Cook Like a Chef Series The series kicks off with “Grilling to Perfection” by local chef Jason Taylor.

Learn to cook the local way using local, seasonal ingredients. Hands-on classes take place on the first Monday of every month at the Palgrave Community Kitchen, 6:30–9pm. $30. Call 905-584-6221 or see www.eatlocalcaledon.org for details. june 26 Raising Chicks This workshop explains all the needs of chicks, including brooder set up, what to expect when the chicks arrive, and how to graduate them to an outdoor coop. 1–4pm. $45. It is one of about two dozen small farm workshops, from beekeeping to canning, offered this year at Everdale Organic Farm and Environmental Learning near Hillsburgh. For the full workshop calendar, see www.everdale.org, or call 519-855-4859. july 17 – 30 Permaculture Design Course Permanent agriculture, or permaculture, is based on the interconnectedness of all things; the outputs of one become the inputs of the other, as sustainable land-use design maximizes effect and minimizes work. This intensive 13-day course offers practical training in techniques to create sustainable environments that provide selfreliance in food, shelter and energy. Whole Village Farm, Caledon. Call 519-942-4010 or email bdolling@wholevillage.org.

markets Farmers’ Market Openings It’s market season in the hills as local producers pitch their tents and present their wares, everything from meat and produce to baked goods, preserves and crafts. Check individual websites for details on special events at each venue throughout the spring and summer.

may 7 (Saturday): Market on Broadway.

Weekly until Oct 6. Second St. and Broadway. 8am–1pm. Orangeville BIA, 519-942-0087; www.marketonbroadway.ca may 22 (Saturday): Creemore Farmers’ Market. Weekly until Oct 6.

Station on the Green parking lot.

8:30am–12:30pm. 705-466-3591; www.creemorefarmersmarket.ca june 15 (Wednesday): Inglewood Farmers’ Market. Weekly at the Inglewood General Store, McLaughlin Road. 3:30–7pm.

905-584-6221. www.eatlocalcaledon.org

Celebrating local food & farming Inglewood Farmers’ Market

Who’s Servin’ Local?

Enjoy this charming country market on Wednesdays from 3:30–7pm on the property of the Inglewood General Store.

Each week from June 15 to October 5, you’ll find a variety of local foods, live music, food on the BBQ, cooking demos and other fun activities!

A program and guide that recognize restaurants, shops, on-farm markets, cafés and caterers in Caledon who are striving to include local foods on their menus and shelves.

Eat Local Month, September

Cook Like a (Local) Chef Series Taught by local chefs, using locallyinspired recipes, these hands-on classes take place on the first Monday evening of each month at the Palgrave Community Kitchen, 6:30–9pm. $30 per person.

Eat Local Dinner Series june 15 (Wednesday): Amaranth Farmers’ Market. Weekly at the Township Municipal Building, 6th Line Amaranth and 10th Sideroad, across from Laurelwoods School. 5–8pm.

519-941-1007; www.amaranth.ca june 16 (Thursday): Caledon Farmers’ Market. Weekly at the Albion-Bolton Community Centre, 150 Queen St. S., Bolton. 3–7pm. 905-584-2272 or www.caledon.ca/farmersmarket june 19 (Sunday): Hockley Valley Farmers’ Market. Weekly at Hockley Valley Resort, Third Line Mono and Hockley Road. 10am–3pm. 519-942-0754; www.hockley.com 왗

These dinners take place at rotating Caledon restaurants on the last Thursday evening of each month. The host chef develops a three-course meal featuring local ingredients for a fixed price of $30–35 per person.

This month-long celebration of local food and farming includes workshops, wine tastings, guest speakers, local dinner events, film screenings and more!

Canning Bees/Workshops Interested in learning how to preserve the local harvest? Join one of our canning bees, and learn how to stock your pantry with your very own homemade jams, chutneys, pickles and sauces.

2011 Farm to Table Directory This directory lists local farmers, producers and micro-processors interested in selling locally, including contact and product information.

For more information, visit eatlocalcaledon.org facebook and Find us on twitter Or contact us at eatlocal@eatlocalcaledon.org, 905-584-6221.

Supported by

spring summer 2011 | food in the hill s

59

We hope you’re enjoying the inaugural issue of Food In the Hills and that you’ll look forward to the next issue published in August

In the meantime, you don’t have to wait for

more news about local food – just visit www.foodinthehills.ca!

At our online home, you’ll find recipes and more recipes, details of local food festivals and fairs, and plenty of tips from our foodie bloggers on cooking, growing and eating local.

There are also links to any of the restaurants, markets and other advertisers in these pages, as well as an archive of the popular Homegrown columns, featuring profiles of local producers, from the past five years of In The Hills.

And while you’re there, don’t forget to nominate your candidate for Best Bites in the hills (see page 62). You can also comment on anything you’ve read here. Or just send us a note.

We’d love to hear from you!

foodinthehills.ca

end note

You can’t eat aggregates.

Or drink cement. Or greet your neighbours across a 2,300 acre pit.

In the mid 1970s, I attended a large and boisterous public meeting aimed at protecting the Peel Plain, prime agricultural land in Caledon at the south end of the Headwaters region. More than three decades of relentless urban sprawl later, that land is all but gone.

What farmland remains is in the so-called White Belt, undesignated land (read, open for development) on the southern fringe of the Greenbelt.

Now, the other major swath of prime agricultural land in our Headwaters region, at the north end of Dufferin, is also seriously threatened.

In one fell swoop of rural blockbusting, Highland Companies bought up more than 7,000 acres, mostly potato farms, in Melancthon Township. The company, owned by a Boston-based hedge fund, razed 28 farmhouses, cut down hedgerows, and has now fi led an application for a 2,300-acre aggregate quarry that will plunge 200 feet below the water table and is situated at the headwaters of the Grand and Nottawasaga rivers. The aggregates will be hauled away at the astonishing rate of 150 truckloads an hour (coming and going, that’s 300 trucks an hour on our rural roads).

Highland promises to restore the floor of the pit to farmland, but that will require the mechanical diversion of some 600 million litres of water, every day – forever. It’s a scenario that even the minister of Natural

Resources, Linda Jeffrey, apparently finds ludicrous. “This will not be going back to agriculture,” she told Melancthon officials, and advised them to think “nice golf course.”

One of the problems back in the seventies was that Ontario didn’t have any effective legislation to protect agricultural land. It still doesn’t. However much it may stick in our collective craw that American financiers can muscle in and eviscerate our food resources, the real problem is with our own provincial policies.

In Ontario, aggregate extraction trumps all other land use. An aggregate application such as Highland’s requires no demonstration of demand and effectively no rehabilitation plan or environmental assessment (something farmers need if they want to dig so much as a cattle pond). And unlike our prime agricultural resources, prime aggregate resources are strictly protected by provincial legislation from other forms of development.

The McGuinty government has made great fanfare of its progressive environmental legislation and loudly claims support for local food initiatives, but legislation to protect farmland, and farm communities, has not kept pace. When even the Ontario Municipal Board – notoriously considered pro-development – declares, “It is time for alternatives to aggregate for infrastructure construction to be found,” as it did in its recent rejection of the Rockfort Quarry application in Caledon, surely it is time for our government to take note.

North Dufferin Agricultural and Community Task Force: www.ndact.com

Citizens’ Alliance for a Sustainable Environment: www.citizensalliance.ca (and follow on Facebook)

The Highland Companies: www.highland companies.ca

Also see Hobo Wally’s musical protest “Walk with Me, Stop the Quarry” at www.foodinthehills.ca

The Highland quarry application runs to 3,000-plus pages. In light of the complexity of the application, the minister of Natural Resources has bowed to pressure and extended the deadline for fi ling objections by 75 days, to July 11. You can read the minutiae of the pros and cons of the application at the links noted above. But we would argue the whole decision comes down to a matter of first principles, represented by a choice between two simple and compelling equations: Food plus water equals life. or Aggregates minus food minus water equals profits for American financiers.

And that doesn’t seem like a complicated choice at all. 왗

publisher, food in the hills

spring summer 2011 | food in the hill s

61

best bites Charlene Nero’s Cinnamon Buns “We had to do a lot of tasting before we came up with just the right dough,” says Nero.

Charlene’s cinnamon buns can be eaten hot out of the oven on Saturday mornings at the café, though on market days you may have to wait in line. Or Charlene will sell you six or a dozen partially baked buns with a tub of glaze on the side. Take them home, put them in the freezer, then when you’re ready, bake them and ladle on the warmed glaze. A true champion of breakfasts.

—Cecily Ross

photo mk lynde

These are the most decadent cinnamon buns we have ever tasted. Really.

Created by Charlene Nero, owner and chef extraordinaire at Creemore’s Bank Café, they come studded with toasted pecans and local dried cranberries, and slathered in a house-made caramel glaze that is a symphony of demerara sugar and fresh butter and cream from the Alliston Creamery.

Nero cooks the glaze until it forms a gooey, silken sauce that is literally finger-licking good. The bun itself is made from a brioche dough that has been lightened with Danish pastry. The result has an almost flaky texture that is still substantial enough to hold the glaze. The bun swirls around a cinnamonspice-crumble mixture.

best bites The Bank Café and Catering 179 Mill Street, Creemore www.bitemefoods.org 705-520-2233

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spring summer 2011 | food in the hill s

Whether it’s a veal sandwich in Bolton, or a butter tart in Erin, wings at your local pub, or a chocolate sundae at the diner down the street, we want to hear about the best kept food secrets in the hills. You tell us and if we agree, we’ll reveal them right here. Submit your nominations at www.foodinthehills.ca.

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