Seasonal Ontario Food

Hey - onions are vegetables too! Here's a very simple way of serving them that goes excellently well with roast or broiled meats. Really, you can season them however you like.

1 onion - 2 servings
1 hour - 10 minutes prep time



large yellow onions
sunflower seed oil
salt & pepper
fennel seed, hot chile flakes (optional)

Preheat the oven to 400°F

One large onion will provide 2 servings. Peel the onions*, and cut them in half along the equator. Coat them lightly in oil, and put them in a roasting pan. Sprinkle with a little salt and pepper, and some ground fennel seed and hot chile flakes, if you like.

Bake for 40 to 50 minutes, depending on the size of the onions and how soft you would like them to be. That's it! You're done. Eat them while they are hot.


* If you are quite confident there is nothing under the skin of your onions that you should know about (and remove) you can leave the skins on. Just cut off the poles (north and south) and proceed as above.




Last year at this time I made Louise's Emergency Salsa Dip.

We liked these - the rum and raisin sauce added a nice touch of sweetness to the sweet potatoes without making them too sweet and gloopy. The orange juice adds some depth to the classic rum-raisin combo. I used two different colours of raisins, and thought they looked better than just one colour would have. Watch it towards the end of the baking, though: those raisins will burn if you give them half a chance.

6 servings
1 hour 15 minutes - 30 minutes prep time


Bake the Sweet Potatoes:
3 large sweet potatoes

Preheat the oven to 400°F.

Wrap the sweet potatoes in foil and bake at 400°F for 45 to 5o minutes, until tender. Meanwhile, make the sauce.

Let the sweet potatoes cool just enough to handle. Remove the foil, and cut the sweet potatoes in half lengthwise, arranging them in a shallow baking dish. Score the flesh of each half into a diamond pattern. Spoon the sauce over the sweet potatoes evenly, and return them to the oven for 25 to 30 minutes, until sauce is bubbly and caramelized. Watch them to make sure the sauce doesn't burn.

Make the Rum & Raisin Sauce:
1/3 cup raisins
1/3 cup rum
1/4 teaspoon finely grated orange zest
the juice of 1 small Valencia orange (about 1/4 cup)

2 medium shallots
2 tablespoons butter
1/4 teaspoon rubbed oregano
1/4 teaspoon rubbed thyme

2 tablespoons honey, or more
2 tablespoons sherry vinegar
1/8 teaspoon salt


Put the raisins, rum, orange zest and orange juice in a small bowl and set aside to soak.

Peel and mince the shallots. Put them in a small saucepan with the butter, oregano and thyme, and bring to a simmer. Simmer for about 15 minutes, until the shallots are soft and starting to show some colour. Stir frequently.

Turn off the heat, and mix in the honey, sherry and salt. Add the raisins and their soaking liquid. Taste the mixture, and add a little more honey if it seems required - it will depend on how sweet the orange is. Set the sauce aside until the sweet potatoes are ready for it.




Last year at this time I made Lemon Squares.

Jellied salads - I mostly hate 'em. Of course, people mostly make them with Jell-O, which is nasty, sweet and chemically, and frequently they don't stop there. Tinned fruit, tinned veg, salad "creme", even marshmallows are not unheard of. No wonder they have such a terrible reputation.

There are a few times when a jellied salad - lets call them aspics, and not confuse them with the nasty stuff - is a good idea. For a long time, Mum made a tomato aspic with shrimp in it for Christmas. That was lovely. Beets make a nice aspic too, with just a little touch of sweet and sour flavours and a little bite from some horseradish. They make a nice light and cool spot in a hot meal.

6 servings
30 minutes prep time - plus 3 hours waiting times


Cook the Beets:
3 or 4 medium beets ( 2 cups when cooked & diced)

Put the beets in a pot with water to cover, and bring to a boil. Boil steadily for about 45 minutes, until tender. Allow the beets to cool. Reserve the cooking water. Peel the beets and cut them into fairly fine dice. You may wish to reserve a slice or two of the beets to decorate the mold.

Make the Aspic:
1 stalk celery
2 tablespoons lemon juice
6 tablespoons cold water
3 tablespoons sugar
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup pure cranberry juice
1 tablespoon powdered gelatine
3/4 cup boiling beet cooking water
1 tablespoon horseradish

Wash and trim the celery, and chop it finely. Set it aside.

In a small mixing bowl, mix the lemon juice, water, sugar, salt and cranberry juice. Sprinkle the gelatine over this and let it sit for 5 or 10 minutes.

Meanwhile, bring the beet cooking water to a boil.

Add the boiling beet cooking water to the gelatine mixture, and stir well, until the gelatine and sugar are completely dissolved.

Put a little of the gelatine mixture into your mould, and place the beet slices (presuming you have saved some beet slices) into position. Chill the mould until the gelatine has set; hopefully about 15 minutes. Leave the remaining gelatine mixture on the counter.

Mix the diced beets and finely chopped celery into the gelatine mixture. Spoon it into the mold and return the mould to the refrigerator until set; allow at least 2 hours.

To unmould the aspic, dip the mould into a bowl of very hot tap-water up to the line of the aspic, until you can see it melting around the edges. Lift the mould from the water, and give it a little shake from side to side to loosen the aspic. Put the serving dish over the top of the mould, and quickly flip it over so that the aspic lands in the middle of the serving dish. Return the aspic to the fridge for at least a few minutes to firm up again. Don't take it out until just before you want to serve it.




Last year I was posting right through Christmas, and I made Smoked Salmon-Trout Paté, Bacon & Potato Chowder and Aunt Helen's Raspberry-Rice Squares.

We're off for the usual Christmas cross-province driving adventure, and with good luck and good weather should be back in a couple of days. No posting, then, for a few days to come. To hold you over, have some panettone french toast. No recipe; it's french toast made with panettone. I will just say no need to add sugar or seasonings to the milk and egg mixture as the panettone should supply the flavour. Best with jelly rather than syrup, although a tiny touch of honey and butter might be good instead.


Hope you all have a good holiday and year end, as festive or as quiet as you like. And hurray! The days are now getting longer.

Decent chicken is surprisingly hard to get your hands on; thank you Chicken Farmers of Ontario. There's plenty of bland and woolly factory-farmed chicken out there, but it's not worth eating on several different fronts, not least the blandness and woollyness. Duck and other forms of poultry, however, are becoming more readily available and I'm starting to investigate them more and more as an alternative.

The first time I had duck was back in the mid to late '70's, when my mother decided to get a couple for Christmas instead of the usual turkey. For some reason it was a one time thing - actually I'm pretty sure they were not cheap and that Mum found the quantity of fat that they exuded disconcerting. Mum was a fat-conscious cook long before it became a general cultural obsession. Now, we all know that duck fat is not only delicious and versatile, but better for you by far than the margarines and shortenings that prevailed at the time, but at the time we just regarded it as a shocking amount of grease. When you get some, put it in a jar in the fridge and save it to roast potatoes in. It's good stuff; people rave about it.

However, that was the first and only time I was involved in cooking duck until I decided to try making Duck Schnitzel just a little while ago, and discovered that duck could be lean and easy to cook.

Not only is duck less expensive (relatively speaking) and easier to find than it was back in the '70's, you also no longer have to buy a whole duck if you don't want to. It's common to see breast pieces, with or without the skin and bones, and legs being sold separately. They are a good place to start experimenting with duck. Well, I say common. You are going to have to find a butcher who deals with duck; they don't have it at the corner store by any means. Yet! Maybe the day will come.

2 servings
3 1/2 hours - 1/2 hour prep time


2 cups peeled, diced rutabaga
2 cups peeled, diced celeriac
1 medium leek
2 medium duck legs (500 grams, 1 pound)
1/4 teapsoon black peppercorns, crushed
1/2 teaspoon juniper berries, lightly crushed
1/2 teaspoon rosemary
3 bay leaves
1 teaspoon sea salt
2 cups duck or chicken stock*, or stock and white wine combined

Peel and dice the rutabaga and celeriac. Trim the roots and any dark, tough leaves from the leek, and cut it in half-inch slices. Rinse and drain it well. Set the vegetables aside.

Cut any large, loose bits of fat from the duck legs, and render them slowly in a heavy skillet, with a little water if necessary. Once you have a good amount of fat cooked out (and no more water, so don't add much) and coating the bottom of the pan, add the 2 duck legs, and brown them well on both sides.

Preheat the oven to 250°F.

Remove the duck legs to a shallow roasting pan, placing them with the best browned skin sides up. Drain most of the fat from the skillet and reserve it for some other use. Leave about a tablespoon of it in the skillet though, and use it to slowly cook the vegetables. Turn them regularly, until they are softened and slightly browned in spots.

Sprinkle the seasonings, except the bay leaves, over the vegetables, and mix them in well. Remove the vegetables to the roasting pan, arranging them around the duck legs. Tuck in the bay leaves.

Deglaze the skillet with the stock or stock and wine mixture (use about 1/2 cup wine, if you have it.) Add any juices that were in the packet of duck legs. Pour the stock carefully around the duck legs, without wetting the tops of them if you can help it.

Braise the duck legs for 2 1/2 hours at 250°F, then turn up the heat to 375°F for another 30 minutes. Serve with mashed potatoes, rice or noodles.





*Or even water will work okay, although stock is better if it can be arranged.

I got some grapefruit on sale a while back, and forgot to eat them promptly; I am so unused to having them around. It turns out they go really very well with beets. Yes, it's another recurring theme around here: salad with fruits and nuts. I eat more fruit that way than any other.

You will need to use hydroponic lettuce no doubt, but I can't help boasting about the fact that that's lettuce from our garden in that salad. I picked most of the remaining lettuce in the cold-frame just before it got really snowy about a week ago. That's the last of it for the year I'm pretty sure, but wow. Score one for the cold-frame. Co-operative weather, too, but still, wow.

6 servings (side salad)
30 minutes prep time, not including cooking the beets


Cook the Beets:
4 medium-small red beets (450 grams; 1 pound)

Either wrap them in foil and roast at 400°F until tender, about 45 minutes, or put them in a pot with water to cover and boil until tender, about 45 minutes. Let cool and peel. Cut them into bite-sized wedges. You can - and probably should - do this the day before. Keep them in the fridge until wanted.

Make the Dressing:
1 tablespoon honey
3 tablespoons hazelnut oil
1/4 cup raspberry or other fruit vinegar
1 teaspoon grainy Dijon mustard
salt & pepper to taste

Put it all in a jar and shake. I found it helpful to heat the honey in the microwave for 20 seconds or so, until it was quite runny before adding the remaining ingredients.

Make the Salad:
2 large red grapefruit
1 head (hydroponic) lettuce
1/4 cup shelled pistachios or other nuts

Peel the grapefruit, and divide them into segments, removing and discarding the membrane and seeds. This can be done ahead of time as well, and the grapefruit segments kept refrigerated until wanted. Wash, dry and tear up the lettuce.

Arrange the lettuce on serving plates, or in a salad bowl. Arrange the beet slices, grapefruit segments and pistachios over it. Drizzle with the dressing and serve.





Last year at around this time I made Vegetarian Lentil Tourtiere.

The thing about making the Basler Brunsli is that then you have 2 leftover egg yolks, about which something must be done. Consequently, these rich and rummy eggnog shorties have been a Christmas custom for about the last 25 years as well. They make an excellent foil to the crunchy, nutty, chocolatey Brunsli, being soft, buttery and melting in texture.

The rum and nutmeg, along with the egg yolks, give them their flavour of eggnog. Unlike the Basler Brunsli which have some claim to being real food, it has to be admitted that these are evil through and through. Good thing they are strictly once a year.

40 to 42 cookies
1 1/2 hours prep time, divided into 2 sessions



Mix the Dry Ingredients:
2 1/2 cups soft whole wheat flour
1 teaspoon (1/2 large) finely grated nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon salt

Mix and set aside.

Mix the Wet Ingredients & Finish:
1 cup softened unsalted butter
3/4 cup sugar
2 extra-large egg yolks
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 teaspoon lemon extract

Put the butter and sugar in a mixing bowl, and beat with an electric mixer until soft and fluffy. Beat in the egg yolk and the flavourings.

Stir in the dry ingredients by hand, until well blended. (Be sure to scrape off the beaters into the bowl as quite a bit of butter will stick to them.)

Preheat the oven to 350°F, and line 2 cookie trays with parchment paper.

Use a 1" disher or tablespoon to scoop out cookies, and place them, reasonably well spaced, on the prepared trays. Press each cookie with a fork to flatten.

Bake the cookies for 12 to 16 minutes, until just set. Let them cool completely before icing.

Ice the Cookies:
4 tablespoons softened unsalted butter
2 cups icing sugar
4 tablespoons dark rum
nutmeg to grate over

Cream the butter, and work in the icing sugar alternately with the rum.

Place a dab of icing on each cookie, and spread it out as best you can. Top with a grating of nutmeg. Let the icing set before stacking the cookies for storage.




Last year at this time I made Brussels Sprouts & Carrots. Sounds like a good idea after all these cookies.

These are not the most beautiful cookies in the world, but they are perhaps my favourite cookie of all time, although it's true that whatever cookie I'm eating tends to be my favourite cookie - at the time. At any rate, these have been a Christmas custom for at least 25 years now. They are also notable for being wheat-free and dairy-free (yay!). They should be crunchy around the edges, with a hint of chewiness in the middle. I use the egg yolks left from this recipe to make Eggnog Shortiebread.

The name translates, more or less, as Brownies from Basle. A good Swiss chocolate would not be inappropriate.

45 medium cookies
2 hours prep time



2 cups ground blanched almonds
1 1/2 cups icing sugar
1/4 cup cocoa powder
3 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1/8 teaspoon ground cloves
100 grams (3 ounces) unsweetened or bittersweet chocolate
2 extra-large egg whites
1 teaspoon almond extract

Preheat the oven to 325°F. Make sure the rack is in the middle of the oven. Line a couple of cookie trays with parchment paper.

Put the ground almonds, icing sugar, cocoa, cinnamon, cloves and salt into the bowl of the food processor. Process until well-blended and until the nuts have been ground to a fine powder; stop and scrape down the sides of the bowl if necessary.

Add the chocolate, preferably broken into manageable chunks, and process again, until the chocolate is very finely ground.

Add the egg whites and almond extract, and process again, until the mixture is completely blended and forms a solid mass.

Remove the dough to a sheet of parchment paper, and let it rest for about 5 minutes.

Brush your rolling pin lightly with oil, and roll out the dough to about 1/4" thick. It is a very sticky dough, so work carefully. You will likely need to use some icing sugar to prevent it from sticking to the rolling pin. I coat the rolling pin rather than sprinkling it onto the cookies, in the hopes of achieving evenly brown cookies instead of ones covered in white spots, but good luck with that.

Cut out cookies with cookie cutters, and move them to the prepared cookie trays. Re-roll and cut the scraps; the dough should be easier to work with the second time around, and the re-worked dough produces fine cookies.

Bake the cookies in the centre for 10 to 12 minutes, until firm and slightly puffed looking. Let them cool completely before removing them from the paper.




Last year at this time I made Cocoa Sponge Cake, with Rum Balls in mind. This year I've made them already. Also a favourite cookie - if that's what they are - of all time.

I think I did roasted Brussels sprouts with shallots and squash not long ago, but I still have them and they still go together, so here they are again, in a salad this time. This is a good salad to make ahead of time as it holds well. It also makes quite a lot so it is ideal for entertaining; it will serve 4 easily if you are not serving much else, but as part of a party spread it will naturally go much further.

4 to 8 servings or more
1 1/2 hours - 45 minutes prep time; plus allow time to cool


Cook the Wild Rice:
3/4 cup wild rice
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 1/4 cups water

I like to cook this in the rice cooker (put in, close up, turn on and wait) but you can do it in a pot on the stove as well, in which case you will need to watch it more closely. Bring the rice, salt and water to boil, reduce to a simmer and cook until tender, probably half an hour to 45 minutes. Drain (if there is any water left) and let cool.

Roast the Vegetables:
450 grams (1 pound) Brussels sprouts
300 grams (2/3 pound) butternut squash
200 grams (1/2 pound) shallots
2 or 3 tablespoons mild vegetable oil
1 teaspoon sea salt
1/2 teaspoon rubbed rosemary
1/2 teaspoon rubbed oregano

Preheat the oven to 400°F. Trim the Brussels sprouts and cut them in quarters. Peel and seed the squash, and cut it in pieces about the same size as the Brussels sprouts. Peel the shallots and cut them in halves or quarters to be of a size with the other vegetables.

Toss the vegetables in a large shallow roasting pan (lasagne pan) with the oil and seasonings. Roast for 35 to 40 minutes, until they are tender and lightly browned. Let cool.

Make the Dressing:
1/4 cup sunflower seed oil
1/4 cup balsamic or sherry vinegar
1 teaspoon grainy Dijon mustard
1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper

Mix or shake together in a small jar.

Assemble the Salad:
2 to 3 stalks of celery
1 medium carrot
1/2 cup dried cranberries

Clean and chop the celery. Peel and grate the carrot.

Mix the celery, carrot and cranberries with the cooked, cooled wild rice and the roasted vegetables. Toss in the dressing.

If you are making this in advance, you may wish to leave off the dressing until shortly before the salad is to be served.




Last year at this time I made Instant Biscuits.

Last week I got an email from Monforte Dairy about their CSA subscriptions. I've written about their innovative way of raising funds to build their new dairy operations before.

Ruth Klahsen has now set a deadline to subscribe to their investment CSA offer of $300 worth of cheese for $200, $750 worth of cheese for $500, or $1,500 worth of cheese for $1,000, all to be received spread over 5 years. (Click through to their web-site for more details.) It's a darn good deal for some of the best and most innovative cheese in Canada, and Ruth has lots of exciting plans underway.

However, you need to sign up by December 31st to get that deal. In the spring they will be starting production again, and they will be back in regular business. I'm really looking forward to that!


p.s. No need to eat all that cheese yourself... if you need a gift for a cheese-lover, a subscription would be just the ticket - or should I say, voucher.

Another variation on the rolled cookie theme. This one takes the flavours of Lebkuchen, and it's probably my favourite version so far. As with the lemon cookies, you could omit the sugar if you want to ice them. I think these should keep quite well, but who knows? We certainly won't; they are disappearing very quickly.

36 to 48 cookies
1 1/2 hours prep time



Mix the Dry Ingredients:
3 cups soft whole wheat flour
1/4 cup sugar (optional)
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon ground ginger
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
1 teaspoon anise seed
6 to 8 pods of green cardamom
1/4 cup candied peel, finely minced
2 tablespoon preserved ginger, finely minced
the finely grated zest of 1 orange

Mix the flour, sugar, soda, salt, ginger, cinnamon and cloves in a mixing bowl. Toast the anise seed lightly in a dry skillet, and grind them finely, with the cardamom. Sift them into the bowl, discarding the papery husks of the cardamom. Mince the peel and the ginger, and add them to the bowl with the orange zest.

Continue:
1/3 cup mild vegetable oil
1/2 cup dark maple syrup
1/4 cup orange juice

Measure the oil and maple syrup into a glass measuring cup, and heat for a minute or so, until the maple syrup is very liquid. Mix with the orange juice, and stir into the dry ingredients.

Mix the dough well, and turn it out to knead for a minute or two. Roll the dough out to about 1/4" thick, or slightly less, on a floured surface or - better - on a sheet of parchment paper.

Preheat the oven to 350°F. Line 2 cookie sheets with parchment paper. Cut out shapes with cookie cutters, and place them on the trays. Bake for 13 to 16 minutes, until firm and just lightly browned. Re-roll the dough and cut out cookies until the dough is all used.

It isn't very often that you see a cookie recipe where the sugar is optional. The thing is, though, if you just use the honey these are not very sweet cookies. If you propose to ice them I would suggest that the honey-only cookie is the way to go - icing will provide more than enough extra sugar. However, if you are going to eat them plain they are perhaps better with just a touch more sweetness. Or not; a cookie with some subtlety has it's charms too. If you ice them, use a lemon icing - the lemon flavour of the cookie is mild; I think next time I would put in the zest of 2 lemons. Excellent with tea.

36 to 48 cookies
1 1/2 hours prep time



Mix the Dry Ingredients:
2 3/4 cups soft whole wheat flour
the finely grated zest of 1 lemon
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup sugar (optional)

Mix 'em, in a mixing bowl.

Next:
1/3 cup mild vegetable oil
1/3 cup honey
1/4 cup lemon juice (the juice of 1 lemon)

Measure the oil and honey into a glass measuring cup, and microwave for 1 minute, more or less, until the honey is melted. Stir in the lemon juice.

Mix the liquid ingredients into the dry ingredients to form a smooth dough. Turn the dough out and knead it for a minute or two.

Roll the dough out to about 1/4" thick, or perhaps slightly thinner. You can do this on a lightly floured surface, but I prefer to do it on a sheet of parchment paper. This is a very non-sticky, easy dough to work with.

Preheat the oven to 350°F. Line 2 cookie trays with parchment paper. Cut out shapes using cookie cutters, and place them on the tray, fairly well spaced. They do expand a little.

Bake the cookies for 13 to 16 minutes until firm and just lightly browned. They will firm up more as they cool, and should end up fairly crisp.





Last year at this time I made Butternut Squash, Carrot & Potato Soup.