The Food Corner

by Paul Cormier, Salamanders of Kemptville

I am a huge fan of eggplant. Whether it is served up as a vegetarian meal or accompanies meat or fish, it is versatile and very flavourful. Today’s recipe is Spicy Eggplant and if you like this fruit (yup, it’s a member of the aubergine family and so it’s really a fruit), you are going to enjoy this recipe.

Spicy Eggplant

Ingredients

1 or 2 small to medium eggplants (depending on how many folks you are feeding)

The white of one large egg

6 teaspoons of cornstarch

A cup of vegetable oil (for deep frying)

Mixed spices: 3 teaspoons of sea salt; 3 teaspoons of chili powder, 3 tablespoons of lemon pepper (or pepper); ½ teaspoon of cumin; 5 teaspoons of garlic powder; 2 teaspoons of ground mustard seed; 2 teaspoons of onion powder and 2 teaspoons of ground cloves. This mixture is sometimes called a Thaï 7-Spice Blend, though a good many other cultures use the same spices.

Preparation-

- Slice the eggplant into ½ to ¼ inch thick rounds (like pucks)

- Make an egg wash by beating the egg white till light and foamy

- Mix the cornstarch and spice mixture and spread onto a large plate

- Bring the oil to frying temperature in a shallow pan

- Dip your eggplant rounds in the egg wash, then coat with the dry mixture

- Deep fry the coated eggplant rounds, in batches, for about 5 minutes or until crispy golden

- As they are done, place the eggplant rounds on paper towels to absorb excess oil

- Serve while hot (warm them up very briefly in the oven if you need to)

You can dish these up as is or with a sour cream, Caesar dressing, salsa or Tzatziki dip. I think olive oil mixed with balsamic vinegar might be a good dip also.

I hope you are enjoying our early spring (at least we hope it’s an early spring). Best from pcormier@ranaprocess.com.

Concerns over Bill 23 loom during Heritage Week

by Brandon Mayer

The dialogue around Ontario’s Bill 23 has quieted down in the last few weeks after countless pieces published about it, both in the Times and elsewhere. The controversial Bill is called the “More Homes Built Faster Act”. It has taken criticism from many different angles. Such criticism has been renewed this week as it relates to Heritage Week, which is an annual celebration that takes place in the third week of February.

Conservation Authorities dislike Bill 23 because it strips them of their powers to prohibit land development where it may cause flooding or the destruction of protected lands. Many members of the public dislike Bill 23 because it limits the input of the public on decisions regarding land-use planning, and has the potential to redesignate needed farmland as residential land. This week in particular, historical societies are criticizing the Bill because of its effect on heritage properties. Bill 23 will make it more difficult for municipalities to obtain heritage designations, and will also impose a limit of two years for buildings to remain on heritage registers by being identified as having “heritage potential”. Within the next two years, this could potentially result in thousands of old, historically significant buildings losing their protected status. The Bill also removes requirements for additional considerations when a heritage building is recommended for demolition.

The More Homes Built Faster Act was created by Doug Ford’s provincial government to “cut red tape” that impedes housing development. The price of buying or renting a home in Canada has become prohibitive for many people in the last few years, driven by a number of factors including too many people and too few homes. Creating more homes –which is the end goal of Bill

23 – would certainly lower the prices of existing real estate, but opponents of the Bill are keen to point out that it goes too far and is too black and white.

Heritage sites don’t always serve a pragmatic purpose, but they have irreplaceable wisdom and information about the past which has value that is impossible to measure. This week, we are reminded of the importance of learning about our history and learning from it. In the last few years, concerns over past and present relationships with Canada’s Indigenous peoples have also shaped opinions of legislation such as Bill 23, which can negatively impact traditional, unceded territory. First Nations groups in Ontario have spoken out against the Bill.

The Ontario Government is unlikely to backtrack on Bill 23 on its own. Whether the mounting

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