Seasonal Ontario Food

I've always really loved bean thread and sweet potato noodles, both hot and cold. Here they are part of a light and lively salad with some Japanese flair.

It did have the usual problem with salads; a little of this, and a little of that, and then there was enough to feed an army. This is not a salad that keeps well, either, what with the bean sprouts. If you want to stretch the salad out over a couple of days, just put bean sprouts in the portion you expect to eat. The rest should hold for a day in the fridge.

On the other hand though, Mr Ferdzy performed heroically and in spite of the mounds of salad produced (not all of it shown below) we had very little left. It is the sort of thing you can eat quite a lot of, and still feel okay about yourself.

4 to 6 servings
45 minutes prep time


Make the Salad:
1 medium carrot
2 cups finely shredded cabbage
2 - 3 green onions
1/4 teaspoon salt
200 grams (1/2 pound; 1 bundle) sweet potato starch noodles
8 packed cups raw spinach
2 cups bean sprouts

Peel and grate the carrot. Wash, trim, and finely shred the cabbage. Wash and trim the green onions, then chop them finely. Mix these in a bowl, and sprinkle the salt over them. Massage it in well with your hands until the vegetables are soft. Set them aside for the moment.

Put a large pot of water on to boil. Boil the noodles according to the directions on the packet; probably for about 10 minutes. Meanwhile, wash the spinach well and pick it over.  Chop it a bit and lay it in a large colander.

Drain the noodles over the spinach, wilting them thoroughly. Rinse them at once in plenty of cold water, until cool. Drain extremely well, pressing to extract all liquid (especially from the spinach). Chop the noodles and spinach until they are a good texture for your salad, and put them into a mixing bowl.

Rinse the carrot, cabbage, and green onions and drain them very well. Squeeze them to remove as much moisture as possible and mix them into the noodles and spinach. Mix in the washed and drained bean sprouts.

Dress the Salad:
2 tablespoons toasted sesame oil
1 teaspoon sugar OPTIONAL
3 tablespoons rice vinegar
3 tablespoons tamari OR soy sauce
freshly ground white OR black pepper to taste
2 - 3 tablespoons sesame seeds, toasted

Mix the sesame oil, sugar, vinegar, tamari, and pepper, and pour over the salad. Mix well.

Toast the sesame seeds over medium heat in a small, dry skillet until lightly browned. Scrape them out as soon as they are done, onto a plate, to cool. Sprinkle them over the salad just before serving it.





Last year at this time I made Spring Salad with Honey-Yogurt Dressing.

It's my favourite kind of dish: something that looks fancy, but is really no more difficult to put together than any other salad. The extra requirement is simply a little roasting time. This would be a good dish for New Year's Eve or New Year's Day, when lots of people eat beans for good luck. They represent little coins, perhaps, and the carrot slices will reinforce that idea very well.

You could serve a simple protein dish with this salad, but some nice crusty bread would make it a meal in itself.

If you can only get pumpkin seeds that are already roasted and salted, don't add them in to the vegetables to be roasted, but put them in with the lettuce. I'd cut the salt back quite a bit too, in that case. 

4 to 6 servings
1 hour - 15 minutes prep time


Roast the Vegetables:
1 540 ml (19 ounce) chick peas
250 grams (1/2 pound) medium sized but thin carrots
3 or 4 shallots
1/3 cup raw pumpkin seeds
3 tablespoons sunflower OR olive oil
3/4 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon cumin seeds, ground
freshly ground black pepper to taste
1/2 teaspoon Aleppo pepper

Preheat the oven to 400°F. 

Rinse and drain the chick peas well. Scrub or peel the carrots, trim them, and cut them into slices not too much larger than the chick peas. Peel and sliver the shallots. Toss them all on a large baking tray with the raw pumpkin seeds and the oil.

Grind the cumin with the salt then mix in the pepper and Aleppo pepper. Sprinkle over the vegetables and toss again.

Roast for 20 to 30 minutes, stirring once in the middle, until done to your liking. Put the tray on a rack and let them cool for another 15 minutes.

Finish the Salad:
the juice of 1/2 large lemon
1 tablespoon sunflower OR olive oil
1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
half a bunch of greenhouse lettuce OR 2 cups pea or sunflower greens
  OR 1/2 cup chopped parsley and other herbs

Juice the lemon and mix it with the oil and mustard while the vegetables are roasting. As they cool, mix the dressing in with them.

Wash and dry the lettuce, and chop it fairly finely. Toss it with the cooled vegetables and transfer everything to a serving platter. Serve at once.

Lettuce could be replaced with pea or sunflower micro-greens, or if making this in the spring, with parsley and a touch of chives, cilantro, dill, or mint.




Last year at this time I made Oyster Mushroom Chowder with Saffron

Beets and feta cheese are a very popular combination and when you throw in some lentils along with cabbage, nuts, and cranberries you have a complete meal. The sprouts gave it some greenery and crispness but they can be hard to find these days. You could use micro-greens or even just hydroponic lettuce shredded up fairly finely instead.

As usual, very easy and quick to put together once you have done the advance cooking which is very easy too, just not so quick. No problem to cook the beets and lentils a day in advance if that is helpful.

2 to 6 servings
allow 1 hour plus cooling time for the beet and lentils
20 minutes prep time to assemble the salad


Cook the Lentils & Beet:
1/2 cup brown or green lentils
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 cups water
1 large beet

Put the lentils into a rice cooker with the water and salt; turn on and cook. Let cool. (If you cook lentils some other way, or use tinned ones, you will need about 1 1/2 cups, well drained.)

Put the beet into a small but deep pot and cover with water generously. Bring to a boil and boil steadily for about 45 minutes, until tender. Drain and let cool.

Make the Dressing:
the juice of 1 large lemon
1/4 to 1/2 teaspoon ground Aleppo pepper
1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
1/4 teaspoon salt
freshly ground black pepper to taste
3 tablespoons walnut or hazelnut oil

Squeeze out the lemon juice and strain out any seeds. Put it in a small bowl or jam jar and whisk or mix with the remaining ingredients.

Make the Salad:
1 1/2 cups coarsely grated or finely chopped red cabbage
1 1/2 to 2 cups sprouts or micro-greens
1 small head Belgian Endive
1/3 cup chopped walnuts
1/3 cup crumbled feta cheese
1/3 cup dried cranberries

Peel the beet and coarsely grate it. Wash, trim, and coarsely grate the cabbage. Mix them with the well-drained lentils in a mixing bowl.

Wash the sprouts and drain them very well. Pull them into little clumps and mix them into the salad. Wash, trim, and chop the endive and mix it in. Arrange the salad on a flattish salad dish or platter, and sprinkle the chopped walnuts, crumbled feta cheese, an cranberries over it.

Drizzle the salad with the dressing and serve.




Last year at this time I made Cocoa Crepes. Wow, was that just a year ago? I've made them several times since then and they are good. They are even on my new diet!

First thing out of the garden - green onions! We have quite a few this spring as they did not die down properly last fall and we never picked them. You are unlikely to get any this early though, if you don't have them in your garden. Never mind, they are on their way.

This is usually made with pork but I had turkey, so that is what I used. Otherwise this is consistent with most of the recipes out there. I have to say if I make this again I will be inclined to add a little grated ginger and a handful of bean sprouts. Otherwise, this was a quick and easy dish.

There is no doubt a particular noodle used in Taiwan for this, but it is a wheat noodle and lots of people seem to just use a fine spaghetti, which is what I did.

2 servings
30 minutes prep time


Make the Sauce:
1 teaspoon 5-spice powder
2 tablespoons soy sauce
3 tablespoons rice vinegar
1 cup chicken stock
1 teaspoon toasted sesame oil

Mix all in a small bowl and set aside.

Make the Noodles & Topping:
225 grams (1/2 pound) dry noodles
2 or 3 shallots
2 or 3 cloves of garlic
6 to 8 green onions
225 grams (1/2 pound) fresh shiitake mushrooms
225 grams (1/2 pound) lean ground pork, turkey, or chicken
1 tablespoon bacon fat or mild vegetable oil

Put a pot of salted water on to boil to cook the noodles. They should be done at the same time as the topping, which will require 8 to 10 minutes in the pan. Time the noodles accordingly.

Peel and slice the shallots. Peel and mince the garlic, and set it aside by itself. Wash, trim, and chop the green onions, keeping the green and white parts separate. Remove and discard the stems of the shiitake mushrooms, and slice the caps.

Heat the oil in a large skillet over high heat. Add the meat and brown it, breaking it up into small pieces. As soon as most raw spots are gone - 2 or 3 minutes - add the shallots and shiitakes. Cook, stirring frequently, until they are softened and reduced in volume, another 3 or 4 minutes. Mix in the garlic and the white parts of the green onions, and cook for another minute or so.

Drain the noodles and divide them between 2 large bowls.

Pour the sauce over the pan of meat, etc, and let it boil up. Stir in the remaining green onion tops, then divide the mixture over the 2 bowls of noodles, being careful to give each equal parts of the sauce as well as the meat, shiitakes, etc. Serve at once. 





Last year at this time I made Okonomiyaki... Waffles!

Well, what is there to say about this? Other than that it's lovely to have a crisp green salad in the middle of winter, which can definitely be a bit salad deficient if you aren't careful. I mean, if I'm not careful. You know.

Mr. Ferdzy liked this better than most things I make with Belgian endive (not a fave of his) because there were lots of other strongly flavoured, and sweet things to balance it out. I just thought it was very tasty and hit the salad spot perfectly.

2 to 4 servings
30 minutes prep time


Make the Dressing:
the finely grated zest of 1/2 lemon
the juice of 1/2 lemon
1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
salt & freshly ground black pepper to taste
2 teaspoons honey
3 tablespoons hazelnut OR walnut oil

Wash the lemon and grate the zest into a small mixing bowl or a jam jar. Add the rest of the ingredients and stir well. Set aside. 

Make the Salad:
1/3 cup hazelnuts
2 medium-large carrots
1 or 2 heads Belgian endive
1 1/2 cups chopped pea shoots or other micro greens
1 1/2 cups chopped hydroponic lettuce
1/3 cup dried cranberries

Toast the hazelnuts in a dry skillet over medium heat, shaking or stirring regularly, until fairly evenly showing toasted spots all over. Tip them onto a clean but not elegant tea-towel, and let cool. Rub them in the towel until most of the skins have come off. Discard the skins.

Wash, peel, and grate the carrots, and put them in a mixing bowl. Wash, trim, and chop the endive. Wash and drain well the pea shoots and lettuce, then chop them and add them to the bowl with the other ingredients. Add the cranberries and hazelnuts. Toss well.

Transfer the salad to a serving bowl or individual serving dishes. Drizzle the dressing evenly over them and toss gently. 




Last year at this time I made Ham, Cheese & Belgian Endive -bwahaha - in Buckwheat Crepes with Mushroom Sauce.

It seems I've gotten a bit out of the habit of making salads, so I am trying to do more of them this winter, which is never the easiest time for salads but it can be done. It helps that I've been really quite impressed with the greenhouse lettuce I've been getting this winter. There is a lot more variety of types than there used to be, and the quality seems better too - more substantial. The price is still higher than imported lettuce, but given how the droughts down south have been driving up prices, the differential is better there too than it used to be.

At any rate, this salad has been a regular this winter. All the flavours of a Vietnamese fresh spring roll in a salad, with a little grilled chicken to make it a meal. You could replace the chicken with beef, pork, or tofu for a change if you liked.  

1 hour prep time
4 servings


Make the Dressing: 
1 clove of garlic
the finely grated zest of 1/2 lime
the juice of 1 lime
2 tablespoons fish sauce
1 teaspoon honey
1 teaspoon chile-garlic sauce

Peel and mince the garlic and put it in a small bowl or jam jar. Wash the lime, and grate the zest into the container with the garlic. Add the rest of the ingredients and mix well. Set aside.

Make the Salad:
2 bundles cellophane noodles
2 cups bean sprouts
1 medium carrot
2 mini greenhouse cucumbers
1 cup finely shredded cabbage
1/4 cup chopped fresh mint
1/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro
500 grams (1 pound) skinless, boneless chicken breast
1 tablespoon bacon fat or mild vegetable oil
1/2 cup finely chopped peanuts (optional)

Prepare the cellophane noodles according to instructions, or soak them in boiling water for about 10 minutes, until there are no white bits left and they are completely translucent. Drain well, and cut them with scissors into manageable pieces. Put them in your salad bowl.

Wash and drain the bean sprouts very well.

Peel and grate the carrot. Trim and grate the cucumbers. Trim the cabbage and shred it finely. Rinse and drain it well.

Wash, dry, and chop the mint and cilantro.

All these vegetables go into the salad bowl, being sure to leave the sprouts and cabbage until well drained. Toss well and divide amongst individual plates.

Cut the chicken into bite-sized strips. Heat the fat or oil in a large skillet over high heat. Add the chicken pieces and cook, stirring regularly, until done; about 5 to 7 minutes. Let them cool for a few minutes before arranging them over the salads. Drizzle over the dressing, sprinkle with chopped peanuts if desired, and serve.

I really hate making other peoples' recipes. Sure I will take inspiration from things I see out there, but then I want to get my own mitts all over it, and tweak it this way and that way, and make it mine.

Of course I have changed this but that has more with my inability to follow the bloody directions than with making it my own. This one is still Tesco's recipe. Yes, I said Tesco. English supermarket food, who would have thought!?

Mine wasn't as pretty because I am no food stylist and also there is no arugula (they are calling it rocket) here in January. Hence the sprouts, which were very nice. I would make this again in the spring once the arugula is up though, and use it then. Moreover our most productive sweet potato is Georgia Jet, which claims to be orange but which is in fact a muddy yellow at best. Fortunately it tastes just fine.

I served it all up between us and thought I would make the usual cheery claim that we ate it all, but in fact it is a mighty substantial salad and we gave up two-thirds of the way through. Even if you are serving 4 people with this you will not need to serve much else.

I thought it could have used just a touch more spice. Maybe a little cumin and coriander in with the roasted veg, or perhaps a little rosemary, but we did enjoy it very much as it was. They say 30 minutes to roast the vegetables; I say, ha-ha good luck with that.

3 to 4 servings
1 hour 15 minutes - 30 minutes prep time


Cook the Lentils:
3/4 cup green or brown lentils
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 1/2 cups water

Put it all in your rice-cooker; turn on; cook.

OR you can do it on the stove if you really must, but why? Get a rice-cooker already.

Put it all in a pot, bring to a boil, reduce to a simmer and cover; simmer very gently until cooked - about 45 minutes. Check water level regularly.

Roast the Vegetables:
2 medium-large sweet potatoes
2 medium carrots
1 large red or pink onion
2 tablespoons mild vegetable oil
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 to 1/2 teaspoon red chile flakes
freshly ground black pepper to taste

Start preheating the oven to 400°F.

Wash, trim, and cut the sweet potatoes into bite-sized chunks. Peel and cut the carrots ditto; just a little smaller. Peel and sliver the onion.

Toss these in a 9" x 13" shallow roasting pan (large lasagne pan) with the oil and the seasonings. Roast for 45 minutes, stirring once in the middle. Let cool for about 10 minutes.

Finish the Salad:
1 tablespoon olive oil
2 to 3 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
75 grams (3 ounces) feta cheese
1 cup (60 grams; 2 ounces) sprouts or other microgreens
OR arugula (rocket) 

Mix the still-warm lentils in with the still-warm roasted vegetables, and drizzle with the oil and vinegar. Toss well.

Crumble the feta cheese over the salad, and mix in gently. Wash and dry the sprouts well, chopping them a little if they are large. Pull them apart (if required) and mix them into the salad as well. Transfer to a serving bowl or individual plates. Serve at once.




Last year at this time I made Roasted Parsnip & Carrot Kugel.

Gado-Gado was one of the first explicitly vegetarian dishes I was introduced to as a teenager back in the '70s. My vague memory is that I thought it was okay; but I never felt much need to pursue it. However, when I was wracking my brains for a crunchy winter salad the idea came back.

In fact, a well-made Gado-Gado is delicious! Sweet and sour coconutty peanut sauce over crunchy vegetables with eggs and tofu? Yes indeedy. It's possible that that first Gado-Gado I had included tempeh, which I have to admit I have loathed from my first meeting with it. It's moldy soybeans and no-one will convince me otherwise. Feel free to use it if you like it, though, as well as or instead of the tofu.

This was a bit time consuming, what with cooking everything in advance. It can be simplified; if you live in the right place you can buy both tofu and shallots pre-fried. The shallots at least won't be local in that case, but there goes three-quarters of the work right there, which is worth considering. Otherwise, without much effort, the potatoes and eggs can be plan-overs from the day before. After that, everything is fast.

I say the fish sauce and cilantro are optional, but really they are the 2 ingredients that do the most to make this taste like something exciting from tropical lands, so please do include them if you possibly can. I talk about draining the tofu in the second part of the instructions, but it should be started the very first thing.

4 servings
1 hour 15 minutes prep time


Make the Peanut Sauce:
1 tablespoon finely grated ginger
2 to 3 cloves of garlic
1 teaspoon chile-garlic sauce
2 tablespoons apple butter
2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar
2 tablespoons fish sauce, optional
3 tablespoons soy sauce
a little finely grated lime zest
the juice of 1 large lime
2/3 cup peanut butter
2/3 cup coconut milk

Into fairly small bowl grate the ginger. Peel and finely mince the garlic and add it. Add the chile-garlic sauce, apple butter, apple cider vinegar, fish sauce, and soy sauce. Grate in just a little of the zest from the lime, then add the lime juice. Add the peanut butter and coconut milk. Mix everything together gently (you will need to work the peanut butter without splashing other things around) but thoroughly. Set aside until wanted. 

Prepare the Cooked Ingredients:
200 to 225 grams (1/2 pound) firm tofu
8 shallots
3 tablespoons mild vegetable oil
125 grams (1/4 pound) potatoes
2 or 3 large eggs

Cut the tofu into 8 thin slices, and put them on a perforated tray or shallow strainer, and weight them to remove as much liquid as possible. Let rest for 30 minutes or so - do this just before you make the Peanut Sauce.


Peel and slice the shallots into rings. Heat 2 tablespoons of oil in a medium skillet over medium heat and add the shallots. Cook, stirring regularly, for about 30 minutes until crisp and golden. If they show any signs of browning too fast, reduce the heat. Turn them out onto a plate to cool.

While the shallots cook, heat the remaining oil in a large skillet over medium heat and cook the slices of drained tofu for about 30 minutes, turning them as needed. They should be lightly browned and crisp on the outside when done. Turn them onto a plate to cool. Chop them roughly. 

Wash and trim the potatoes, and cut them into bite-sized pieces. Put them into a pot of water with the eggs, and boil until tender; about 15 minutes. Remove the eggs at the 10 minute mark and cool them in cold water.

Finish the Salad:
2 cups finely shredded green OR green and red mixed cabbage
2 cups bean sprouts
1 large carrot
1 or 2 small greenhouse cucumbers
1 greenhouse tomato (optional)
1/2 cup chopped cilantro (optional)
1/2 cup finely chopped roasted peanuts

Wash, trim, and shred the cabbage. Rinse and drain the bean sprouts well. Peel and finely grate the carrot. Wash, trim, an slice the cucumbers. Wash, core, and chop the tomato, if using. Wash, dry and chop the cilantro. Chop the peanuts.

Toss the raw chopped vegetables together and spread them out on a platter. Arrange the cucumbers, the cold boiled potatoes, the shallots, the eggs peeled and sliced or quartered, and the tofu over them. Sprinkle with the cilantro and the peanuts. Serve with the peanut sauce.




Last year at this time I made Pink Fir Apple Potatoes Fried in Duck Fat.

Doesn't look like spring rolls, does it? This is a Philippine stir-fry dish with a joking name - the typical filling ingredients of lumpia (Philippine spring rolls) are sautéed and served with a typical lumpia sweet peanut sauce. As with skillet lasagne, cabbage roll casseroles, or tamale casseroles, people have taken a beloved but very time-consuming traditional dish and made something with most of the flavour but far less work.

Lumpia vary a lot in what may be put in them, and this is a pretty flexible recipe too. Many of the versions I saw called for green beans, which are not available right now (frozen I guess, but I think them too soggy for an application like this) but most of the other commonly used vegetables are surprisingly available winter vegetables for us. I've categorized this as an all-year-round recipe though, because you can adjust the veggies according to what is in season.

As a stir-fry, it is really quite plain. It is the sauce that makes it distinctive, and it should be applied lavishly and mixed in well for best results. You can make it with or without meat added; most recipes I saw called for a mixture of chicken or pork with shrimp. I would think tofu would also work quite well here if you wanted a vegetarian version. In that case I would press it and sauté it until quite crisp before continuing with the recipe.

I'm calling for chopped peanuts over the top as most recipes do. I think they would really improve it, but alas, there were none in the house in spite of my distinct recollection of having purchased some recently. Mr. Ferdzy tends to regard them as his own personal snack (not without reason as I don't eat peanut products often) aaaand, yeah. Next time. Oh, and none of the recipes I saw called for ginger, but I think it needs a little bit of oomph, especially since I have stripped out most of the sugar.

3 to 4 servings
20 minutes prep time to make the sauce
40 minutes prep time to make the stir fry


Make the Sauce:
6 to 8 cloves of garlic
1 tablespoon finely grated fresh ginger
1 tablespoon peanut or mild vegetable oil
1/2 teaspoon arrowroot or cornstarch
3/4 cup chicken stock or water
2 tablespoons soy sauce
1 tablespoon honey
1/2 cup peanut butter

Peel and mince the garlic. Peel and grate the ginger. Put the oil in a large skillet and heat over medium-high heat. Mix the remaining ingredients, except the peanut butter, in a small bowl. Set aside.

Add the garlic and ginger to the pan and cook, stirring, for one or two minutes until the garlic just begins to colour. Stir up the bowl of sauce ingredients and pour it in. Cook for 2 or 3 minutes, stirring frequently, until it thickens and clears. Remove it from the heat and mix in the peanut butter, working it well to avoid lumps.

Scrape the sauce into a serving dish and set it aside. Return the pan to the stove top - if you have scraped it out well you will not need to wash it - to use again for the stir fry.

Make the Stir-Fry:
125 grams (1/2 pound) bean-thread noodles
1 medium onion
1 medium carrot
1 small sweet potato
6 large white mushrooms
2 cups finely shredded green cabbage
2 cups bean sprouts
250 grams (1/2 pound) chopped raw chicken and/or pork OPTIONAL
2 to 3 tablespoons peanut or mild vegetable oil
2 tablespoons soy sauce
1/2 cup chopped peanuts to garnish

Soak the bean-thread noodles for 15 minutes in warm tap water. When they soften, snip them up with a pair of kitchen shears into manageable lengths. Put a pot of water on to boil and boil them for 1 minute, then drain well.

Meanwhile, peel and cut the onion into slivers. Peel and grate the carrot. Clean and trim the sweet potato, and grate it with the skin on. Clean the mushrooms and cut them into slices, first one way and then the other (to form fairly long thin pieces). Trim and finely shred the cabbage. Rinse the bean sprouts and drain them very well. If using the meat, trim it of excess fat and chop into bite-sized pieces.

Heat 2 tablespoons of the oil in the skillet over high heat. If using meat, add it now. Add the carrots, sweet potatoes, and onions, and cook, stirring constantly, for about 2 to 3 minutes. Add the mushrooms and cabbage, along with spoonful of water, and continue to cook and stir for a few more minutes. You may need to add a little more oil at this point. Season with the soy sauce.

When the mixture appears to be essentially cooked - you are particularly observing the meat, if used, add the drained noodles and bean sprouts and mix them in well; continue to cook and stir for a few minutes until they are well amalgamated into the mixture and the bean sprouts are slightly wilted. Turn the stir-fry out onto a serving dish (or dishes), serve with the sauce and sprinkled with chopped peanuts.




Last year at this time I made Scotch Broth with Dried Peas & Barley.

When we go to a Korean restaurant for a meal, we generally enjoy the main dish, but the really fun part is all the little banchan that come with it; anywhere from just a couple to 6 or 8 little side dishes. Are they salads? Pickles?  Often slightly pickle-y salads, but we've had bits of pancake, and fishy things, and, well, you just never know quite what will turn up!

Oh, that's not completely true. This one almost always turns up, as does kim-chee. This dish is milder than most, and mostly provides a nice juicy, crunchy texture that's very refreshing.

This recipe is essentially from Maangchi's food blog.

4 servings
10 minutes prep time; 1 hour rest time


350 grams (12 ounces) bean sprouts
1 green onion
1 clove of garlic
2 tablespoons fish sauce (or soy sauce)
1 teaspoon toasted sesame oil
2 teaspoons sesame seeds

Wash and pick over the bean sprouts. Bring a pot of about a litre of water to a boil, and boil the sprouts for 1 minute, then immediately drain them and rinse them in cold water to stop them cooking further. Drain them well and put them in a mixing bowl.

Wash, trim and chop the green onion finely. Peel and mince the garlic. Add them to the sprouts with the remaining ingredients. Toss them in, then let rest (in the fridge) for 30 minutes to an hour before serving.

As has been the case on other occasions, I ordered a dish at a restaurant, and was so horrified by the results that I felt obliged to rush home and make it properly. I've read recipes where people are admonished that there is no ketchup in Pad Thai, and snickered. Who on earth would do that - beyond perhaps a not very noticeably tablespoon or so - I wondered?

I now wonder no more. I would swear that the so-called Pad Thai from the restaurant in question consisted of noodles in a sauce of ketchup, sugar and chile-garlic sauce, a little third-rate chicken, and nothing else. Oh, some oil in the pan, no doubt. An insult in fact, although I haven't yet decided if the insult was more to me the customer, or to the noble dish of Pad Thai. What a nasty, gummy mess.

I'm always a little surprised that a dish from a tropical country like Thailand is so suited to Canadian winter vegetables, but there you are. It is, and so much the better for us. I have on occasion tried to Ontario-ize this a little more by replacing the lime juice with apple cider vinegar, but while the results are reasonably pleasant, the lime juice is definitely better; or lemon juice will do too. Still, something to keep in mind for emergencies, since most of the other ingredients are pantry staples.

If you don't want tofu you could replace it with similar sized bits of chicken or pork, cooked pretty much as described, or with a couple of eggs, in which case scramble them with a couple teaspoons of the oil, remove them from the pan and continue with the onions and carrots going into the now empty pan, and add the eggs back in with bean sprouts at the end. 

2 to 4 servings
1 hour prep time


Make the Sauce & Cook the Noodles:
225 grams (1/2 pound) broad rice noodles
1/4 cup apple butter
3 tablespoons fish sauce OR light soy sauce
the juice of 2 limes (about 1/4 cup)
1 teaspoon chile-garlic sauce
1 teaspoon finely grated peeled fresh ginger

Put a pot of water on to boil for the noodles.

Mix the remaining ingredients together in a small bowl and set aside.

When the water boils, boil the noodles according to the package directions - usually 4 to 8 minutes. Drain and rinse briefly in cold water. Drain well again.

Prepare the Vegetables, Etc. & Finish:
2 cups mung bean sprouts
2 cups finely shredded green or Savoy cabbage
1 medium onion, peeled and slivered
1 medium carrot, peeled and julienned
2 stalks celery, trimmed and sliced
8 to 12 button mushrooms, cleaned and quartered
150 to 200 grams (1/3 pound) firm tofu
3 tablespoons mild vegetable oil
2 tablespoons chopped roasted peanuts (optional)

Rinse and drain the bean sprouts. Wash, trim out the tough stem ribs, and shred the cabbage. Peel and liver the onion; peel and julienne the carrot. Wash, trim and slice the celery. Clean and quarter the mushrooms. Cut the tofu into bite-sized cubes. 

Heat the oil in a large skillet. Cook the tofu gently for 6 to 10 minutes, stirring regularly, until it is lightly browned all over. Turn up the heat, add the carrots and onions, and cook for another few minutes until they are softened, stirring frequently. Add the mushrooms - ideally the noodles are going into the boiling water to cook right about now too - and cook and stir for another few minutes. Add the cabbage, the drained noodles, and the mung bean sprouts, cooking and stirring for a minute between each addition. Once the sprouts go in, give the sauce a stir to reblend, and dump it in. Mix it in thoroughly. Once the bean sprouts have mostly wilted down but are still reasonably crispy, you are done. Remove the Pad Thai to a serving dish, and serve it. Sprinkled with a few chopped peanuts, if you are so inclined.




Last year at this time I made Cocoa Cream Roll.

I have to say, I never order egg fu yung in a restaurant. If I'm in a Chinese (Canadian) restaurant, I'm always convinced there are much more interesting things to order. As a home-made dish though, this was good - really good! I'm going to make it a regular item in the rotation.

If, perchance, you don't wish to make the sauce, add a bit of salt to your eggs. Otherwise, - don't! Rice is the obvious thing to serve with this, but I thought it was a substantial enough meal without any. Of course, the two of us ate it all. I used 5 eggs for the two of us; to have it serve 4, add the extra egg and serve it with rice.

I had tofu to use up, but if you prefer it you could use a skinless, boneless chicken breast or thighs, likewise cut into smallish cubes and cooked ahead of the other ingredients. 

2 to 4 servings
45 minutes prep time


Make the Sauce:
1 teaspoon arrowroot or cornstarch
1/3 cup water
2 tablespoons apple cider or rice vinegar
1 tablespoon soy sauce
1 tablespoon oyster sauce
1 teaspoon toasted sesame oil

Mix the arrowroot and water in a small bowl until well dissolved, then add the remaining ingredients, stirring after each addition. Set aside until needed.

Make the Egg Fu Yung:
200-225 grams (scant 1/2 pound) firm tofu
125 grams (1/4 pound) button mushrooms
3 cups mung bean sprouts
3 to 4 green onions
1 to 2 cloves of garlic
OPTIONAL: 1/4 red or orange pepper,
1 stalk celery
OR 1 medium carrot
2 to 3 tablespoons mild vegetable oil
5 to 6 large eggs
freshly ground black pepper to taste

Cut the tofu into 1/2" to 3/4" cubes. Clean and quarter the mushrooms. Rinse and pick over the bean sprouts. Rinse, trim, and finely chop the green onions. Peel and mince the garlic. Optionally, chop up a quarter of a pepper, or clean and slice a stalk of celery, or peel and grate or julienne a medium carrot. Don't use all of these; one will be sufficient.

Heat 2 tablespoons of the oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add the tofu cubes, and cook them, turning occasionally, until they are lightly golden brown; this will take about 10 minutes. Remove the tofu from the pan and set aside.

Heat the pan on high now, and add the carrots, if using, along with a tablespoon of water, and cook, stirring around,  until the water is evaporated. Add the mushrooms, along with the celery or pepper is using, and continue cooking and stirring until the mushrooms are softened and slightly browned. Add the bean sprouts, and stir them in; continue cooking until they are just shiny and slightly wilted; about 1 minute. Next add the green onions, cooking again for just a minute or so. Finally, in goes the garlic and again, just mixed in and cooked for about a minute. Finally, add the tofu back into the pan and reduce the heat to medium. Add a little more oil to the pan if you think the eggs will stick if added at this point.

Whisk the eggs together in a small bowl, and add about a tablespoon of water to them. Pour them evenly over the pan of vegetables, season with a little pepper, and cover the pan with a lid. Cook for about 5 minutes more, until the eggs are set. For the last minute of cooking, turn the egg fu yung over if you can - ideally all of it at once, but just by the egg-lifterful if that's what you can do (raises hand.)

While the eggs are cooking, heat a very small skillet or pan with the sauce ingredients in it, until they come to a boil. Simmer until thickened and clear; just 1 or 2 minutes.

Serve the egg fu yung with rice, if you like, and with the sauce ladled over the top of it.




Last year at this time I made Potato & Sorrel Salad.

Winter has hardly started and I am already finding that I'm not serving enough salads... here's one that should take us right through to spring. I put the cottage cheese into the dressing and puréed it this time, but I decided it's better to mix it in at the end and have the texture of the cheese.

This is best as a side salad, but if you wanted to make a meal of it, you could add some grated Cheddar cheese, more cottage cheese, hard boiled eggs, or tuna to take it there.

Pass the dressing and let people put on their own; that way if there's leftover salad, you can toss it in a stir-fry the next day.Oh; and if you have any winter storage radishes a bit of grated radish will go nicely in this too.

4 to 8 servings
40 minutes prep time


Make the Dressing:
1/2 cup yogurt
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1 green onion
1/4 cup chopped parsley
1 small clove garlic
1/2 teaspoon Dijon mustard
a pinch of cayenne
1/2 teaspoon cumin seed
1/4 teaspoon black peppercorns
1 cup cottage cheese

Put the yogurt and lemon juice in a blender or food processor. Wash, trim and roughly chop the green onion, and add it, along with the chopped parsley. Peel and slice the garlic and add it. Add the mustard and cayenne. Grind the cumin and pepper, and add them. Process until quite smooth.

Mix with the cottage cheese.

Make the Salad:
2 medium carrots
2 cups peeled, diced celeriac OR 2 to 3 stalks celery
2 cups bean sprouts
3 cups finely chopped savoy cabbage

Peel and grate the carrots. Peel and dice the celeriac, or wash, trim and chop the celery. Rinse the bean sprouts and drain them well. Finely chop the cabbage, and mix the vegetables together. Top with the dressing. 




Last year at this time I made Kipferl, Nut Crescents.

This is, admittedly, a rather simplified version of Jap Chae, a traditional Korean dish. However, it's quick and tasty and easy to make - a good thing for a week-night supper. You can make it any time of year as the vegetables can easily be changed around to reflect what's in season. Right now it's the the good old trio of cabbage, carrots and onions, with beansprouts and mushrooms to keep them company.

The only hard part is finding the sweet potato noodles (also known as glass noodles). They cook clear, and really have very little flavour of their own. However, they have a great texture and soak up the flavours of the sauce beautifully. If the directions on the package are different from mine, by all means use the ones on the package.

3 to 4 servings
30 minutes prep time


Cook the Noodles:
225 grams (1/2 pound) sweet potato noodles
1 tablespoon mild vegetable oil
1 tablespoon rice vinegar

Put a large pot of salted water on to boil. When it boils, add the noodles and stir well. Cover the pot and turn off the heat. Let the noodles sit for 10 minutes, then drain them. Rinse well with cold water, then drain again. Toss them with the oil and vinegar, then use kitchen shears to snip them into shorter, more manageable pieces.

Prepare the Vegetables:
2 cups chopped cabbage or spinach
1 large onion
1 large carrot
12 to 16 button mushrooms
2 cups fresh bean sprouts
1 or 2 green onions, if available

Wash, trim and chop the cabbage or spinach. Peel the onion and cut it into slivers. Peel the carrot and cut it into slivers as well. Clean and slice the mushrooms. Wash and drain the beansprouts well. I would put in a green onion or two if they were in season as well - trim them and cut them in inch long pieces.

Finish the Dish:
3 tablespoons sugar
4 tablespoons soy sauce
1 tablespoon toasted sesame oil
1 tablespoon finely minced peeled ginger
3 cloves garlic
2 tablespoons mild vegetable oil
lightly toasted sesame seeds (optional)

Mix the sugar, soy sauce and sesame oil and set them aside. Peel and mince the ginger and garlic.

Heat the oil in a large wok or skillet. Add the slivered carrots and a tablespoon or two of water, and cook for about a minute, stirring the carrots around, until the water evaporates. Add the sliced mushrooms and cook them for a minute or two, stirring only once or twice, until they are nicely browned. Then add the onion and cabbage (if using), and cook for another minute or two, stirring frequently. Add the garlic and ginger and stir in. Finally add the bean sprouts (and spinach and green onions, if using) and cook until just wilted, another minute or two.

Finally, toss in the noodles and drizzle the sauce over them. Continue to cook for a minute or two, mixing well until the vegetables and sauce are evenly distributed through the noodles.

That's it! This is often served cool as a salad, but at this time of year I am happier to eat it hot. It's sometimes served with rice but that seems a bit excessive to me.




Last year at this time I made Meatloaf. It was also Christmas cookie baking time. I made Rolled Lemon Cookies and Rolled Spice Cookies.

I have no idea if this was any good since I don't eat cucumbers. However, it was rapidly and completely consumed so I have to assume it was okay at least. It certainly looked very pretty, with all the colours, and it smelled good, if slightly fish-saucey. Nothing wrong with that. Fish sauce and peanut butter; two great tastes that taste great together, especially if there's some ginger in there too.

6 to 8 servings
30 minutes prep time


Make the Dressing:
2 tablespoons honey
2 tablespoons peanut butter
1/3 cup rice vinegar
1 teaspoon finely grated fresh ginger
1 tablespoon soy sauce
1 tablespoon fish sauce

Put the honey, peanut butter and vinegar together in a small jar, and heat (microwave) until the honey melts. Stir well until the peanut butter and honey are both totally dissolved and blended in. Peel and grate the ginger and add the rest of the ingredients. Mix well.

Make the Salad:
1 cup finely shredded red cabbage
2 cups finely shredded savoy or green cabbage
2 cups mung bean sprouts
1 large carrot
4 mini greenhouse cucumbers
1/3 cup chopped peanuts

Shred the red and savoy or green cabbages. Rinse and drain the bean sprouts and chop them roughly. Peel and grate the carrot. Trim the ends from the cucumbers, and cut them in quarters lengthwise, then cut them into pieces crosswise.

Toss the vegetables together with the salad dressing. Serve topped with the chopped peanuts.




Last year at this time I made Flax & Ryemeal Crackers.

Here's a nice simple side-salad. Greenhouse cucumbers were on sale this week, so a cucumber salad seemed in order. Also, it was HOT! And I do mean hot. Not like April at all.

It's too soon for radishes or green onions, but in a month they will be around. Or sooner, if this weather keeps up. I used some onion tops from the garden. They are the first thing up in the Spring, and even if you have a very small garden I think it's worth finding a few square inches for some chives and welsh onions. Carrots are still around, but not for much longer. I always try to buy a couple of bigs bags around now to tide me over the period in early summer that they are not available.

2 to 4 servings
15 minutes prep time - 30 minutes to marinate


Make the Dressing:
1/2 teaspoon Dijon mustard
2 tablespoons sunflower seed oil
3 tablespoons dill pickle juice
pepper to taste

Mix them up and set them aside.

Make the Salad:
2 or 3 mini greenhouse cucumbers
1 cup sunflower or other sprouts, chopped
1 medium carrot
OR 2 or 3 tender young radishes
1 green onion, or equivalent onion greens or chives

Wash the cucumbers and trim the ends; cut them in dice. Rinse, drain and chop the sprouts. Peel and dice the carrot or radishes, a little finer than the cucumbers. Rinse, trim and chop the green onion.

Toss with the salad dressing, and let marinate in a cool spot (fridge) for about 30 minutes to allow the flavours to blend.




Last year at this time I made Maple Gingerbread.

I wasn't going to post this; it's just a salad, I thought. But after I found myself making it for the fourth time in two weeks I have to say it's a good salad. Nice and crunchy and juicy. You could dress it up some more with some nuts and dried cranberries if you liked, but it's perfectly good as-is.

2 to 6 servings
20 minutes prep time



Make the Dressing:
1/3 cup hazelnut or sunflower seed oil
1/3 cup cranberry juice
1/3 cup raspberry vinegar
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper
1 teaspoon Dijon mustard

Whisk together in a bowl or shake in a jar. The jar is a better idea, as there will likely be some left over.

Make the Salad:
2 1/2 cups shredded green cabbage
1/2 cup shredded red cabbage
1 medium carrot
1 1/2 cups sunflower sprouts, chopped finely
1 1/2 cups pea sprouts or other micro-greens, chopped finely
2 medium apples

Shred the two cabbages and put them in your salad bowl. Peel and grate the carrot and add it too. Chop the sprouts and mix them in. Wash the apples, quarter and core them, then chop them up and throw them in. Toss with as much of the dressing as seems good to you.




Last year at this time I made Chocolate-Chip Peanut-Butter Cookies.

I have not seen local squash for sale for some time, then suddenly I saw some in 2 different stores. Why that should be I don't know, but I was happy to take advantage of it.

The squash can be roasted ahead of time. Indeed, it would make sense to roast twice as much (or so) as you need a day or two in advance, eating part of it plain and saving the rest for this curry.

3 or 4 servings
20 minutes prep time - plus 1 1/2 hours to prep and roast the squash


Roast the Squash:
1 kilo (2 pounds) butternuts squash
- (about 6 cups when peeled and cubed)
2 tablespoons mild vegetable oil

Peel the squash, remove the seeds, and cut it into pieces to roast. Toss them with the oil and bake them at 400°F for about 1 hour, or until tender.

Make the Curry Sauce:
2 medium onions
2 tablespoons finely minced fresh ginger
2 cloves of garlic
1 tablespoon mild vegetable oil
2 tablespoons mild curry powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
500 ml coconut milk
1 tablespoon arrowroot
100 grams (3 ounces) pea sprouts
OR 1 cup frozen peas

Peel and chop the onions. Peel and mince the ginger and the garlic.

Heat the oil in a large skillet, and sauté the onions until soft and slightly browned. Add the ginger and garlic, and cook for a minute more. Sprinkle over the seasonings, and blend well. Add most of the coconut milk, and allow the mixture to simmer until well amalgamated, about 5 minutes. Meanwhile, mix the arrowroot with the last few tablespoons of the coconut milk.

When you are about ready to serve, add the roasted squash and heat through. Add the pea sprouts or peas and allow them to heat through as well. Mix in the last of the coconut and arrowroot, and cook for about a minute, until thickened. Serve with steamed rice.




Last year at this time I was working on perfecting Almond Pound Cake for my cousins wedding in the summer.

Last week, I visited a very small farm. How small is it? Well, this is it... you are looking at the whole thing. It fits inside Sharon Zoschke's utility room very nicely, on shelves she built herself.



Sharon's sprouts start off as organic seeds and peas, which are soaked, drained and sprouted in these glass jars.



Nylon mesh circles in the mouths of the jars (cut from embroidery "canvas" bought at the craft store) keeps the seeds from getting too soggy and going bad. There's an art to keeping the seeds moist enough, but not too wet.



The sprouted seeds are then densely planted in a blend of seed-starter potting mix and vermiculite, and grown until they are dense and green. Then they are snipped and packed in 5 ounce bags, where if kept properly stored (refrigerated) they will keep for at least a week.



Sharon grows pea shoots, radish sprouts, sunflower seeds and what she calls buckwheat "lettuce". These are all micro-greens (small young plants) rather than actual sprouts, although they are marketed as sprouts since people are more familiar with that term.



The different plants have different requirements. For example the sunflower sprouts are started with weights on top (in this case trays of radish sprouts) otherwise they won't root down properly. Then they are exposed to the light to green up. The resulting greens look large and coarse for sprouts, but are surprisingly tender and delicate, with a lovely sunflower flavour.



These are well-established plants when they are cut, although still young and tender. They are fed with an organic mineral solution only. The buckwheat lettuce takes a bit of grooming, as otherwise it tends to hold the hulls.

The harvested greens are sold to a local store and become part of a CSA share. Soon, they should be appearing on the menu in a couple of local cafés.

The CSA was what got Sharon started. She asked the farmer who runs her CSA if there was any chance of sprouts being available during the winter. He said he could not do it as he was too busy, but perhaps she could do it. So she did. At this point, micro-farming doesn't produce much in the way of income. However, it's a way for Sharon to get her micro-greens in the winter and share them with others. She won't be producing them in the summer; she feels it's better to eat plants grown in the sun and (actual) earth during that time.



Sharon with a small tray of radish sprouts. Sharon is happy to tell you all about how she does it. She'll be running a class in sprouting at the 100 Mile Market in Meaford on February 23rd, and if you can't make that you can contact her about setting up other classes. (Grey-Bruce area.)




Last year at this time I made Sunflower-Vegetable Paté.