I am writing this as part of the Canadian Food Experience Project which began June 7 2013.  As we the participants, share our collective stories across the vastness of our Canadian landscape through our regional food experiences, we hope to bring global clarity to our Canadian culinary identity through the cadence of our concerted Canadian voice.

Our topic for this month is “Preserving: Our Canadian Food Tradition”.  I am not a “canner”.  I so wish I was.  I even purchased my first preserving recipe book this spring and then life swept me away this summer (new grand-baby and all) and I didn’t get a single jar into the larder.

I am fond of pickled beets and a really good polski ogorki.  I also love jams and jellies of every kind but my very favourite food is jarred beef (believe it or not).

This Canadian Food Experience takes me back to my little Polish Grandma as it did in my previous month’s entry: http://foodmusings.ca/recipes/desserts/grandma-felicias-polish-cake/.  Living in southern Saskatchewan there was always plenty of beef and often a surplus.  Every fall, Grandma Felicia would “put down” (her slang for canning) jars and jars of beef stew.  I am surmising that the reason was financial as well as practical.  Although there was always food on the table, cash flow must have been an issue for my grandparents.  In addition, they did not have a chest freezer in those days and the small one on top of their fridge could not accommodate all the meat required for a winter.  When winter storms hit and they often did, a jar could be fetched from the hand dug mud cellar, and a warm dinner could be on the table in minutes.  Boil some potatoes and root vegetables. also from the cellar and presto-fast food!

The other reason that beef was jarred was that it made the meat taste so darned good.  The preserving process contributed to the tenderizing of the meat producing a tender and savoury mound of beef, onions and gravy.  Homemade bread would be cut into thick slices, speared with a long fork and toasted over the coal fire that was lit summer and winter.  We would tear the bread into kid sized pieces to mop up that gravy.  Oh my, I can taste it now…..  I have never tried to do this myself and I do not have Grandma’s recipe to follow, but here is a link to a recipe and process that must be pretty close: http://www.wikihow.com/Can-Meat

The only time that I have even heard about canning meat is when my eldest daughter asked me if I wanted to volunteer to can meat because the Mennonite Central Committee’s  mobile canning unit was going to be in town.  Here is some information about this resourceful practice that feeds people all around the world.

 Today the canning unit is mounted on a flat-bed trailer, enclosed with fold-up sides. Four MCC volunteers operate the canning unit, traveling to 34 locations in 13 U.S.A. states and two Canadian Provinces: Manitoba and Ontario.  Operating a seasonal schedule from October to May, local meat canning committees purchase meat and arrange for facilities, fundraising and volunteers. The work of the local committees is the heart of the program.  Currently the canning unit processes an average of 9,000 pounds of chunked turkey thighs per day; 9,000 pounds of pork; or up to the equivalent of 20 head of cattle per day.

Who knew?

Kath’s quote: “The rule is jam tomorrow and jam yesterday, but never jam today.”-Lewis Carroll

Love-that is all.

On a weekend where we had already gathered for a casual help-yourself breakfast, been out for a dim sum lunch and had plans to celebrate a monumental birthday in the evening at a cocktail party reception, we decided to assemble for a supper of salad at a neighbourhood restaurant.  We have dined at Ferraro many times over the years that Bro D has lived in midtown Toronto and we have visited and stayed with him.

All the ingredients that are assembled into salads, pastas and pizzas are hand-made on premise with a light tough.  Their tomato sauces as I recalled and then tasted again that evening allowed the fresh tomato taste to shine through,  without masses of garlic and/or herbs.

There was no tomato sauce on our salads, but one member of our group couldn’t resist his favourite item on the menu and ordered the Pescatore Spaghetti.  This is how I got to sample the delightful sauce that I remembered.  Pescatore means fish and this dish was chock full of mussels, calamari and shrimp.

When Bro D drops in for a quick salad dinner, they often select the Griglia con Pollo.  We are crazy for grilled red peppers and zucchini that provides the base of the salad. The addition of chicken tossed in balsamic vinaigrette with more dressing on the mixed greens provides deep and pungent flavours.

Montagna is another of their favourite.  Black olives, roasted red peppers & feta cheese are also tossed in balsamic vinaigrette before being laid a top of more mixed greens.

I knew that the Eggplant & Arugula would be my favourite taste of the evening as soon as I spotted it listed in chalk on the black board and my hunch was right.  The thinly sliced, crispy breaded and lightly fried eggplant was a delight when complemented by freshly sliced tomatoes and buffalo mozzarella.  The dish was a bit like Eggplant Parmigiana meets Caprese Salad.  I was in heaven.

Kath’s quote: “When I was alone, I lived on eggplant, the stove top cook’s strongest ally…. “-Laurie Colwin

Love-that is all.

I have had a few more occasions to visit Deer + Almond this summer and I continue to enjoy the food and atmosphere of this trendy little tapas restaurant in Winnipeg’s Exchange District. 

My bestie was in town to celebrate her 50^th so I thought Deer + Almond would be a place where she would enjoy the food and we could have a leisurely visit with a couple of cocktails.  As usual our dinner started with a bowl of seasoned popcorn, an on-the-house amuse bouche to get your appetite going as you review the menu.  From the regular menu we tried the house salad of thinly sliced beets, creamy goat cheese, mixed greens and pecans in sherry vinaigrette.

I have long wanted to try the grilled zucchini which in reality has very little zucchini but lots of hummus, tabouleh salad and tzatziki sauce.  It is served with lightly toasted pita, which we could of used a few more slices of to scoop up all that goodness.

From that night’s special board we selected a prawn dish cooked with cilantro and tomato and served with garlic toast.  I liked it but long for the return of Chef Mandel’s Sultry Prawns. We also tried the steamed pork buns which I thought rivaled any I have had at a dim sum house. 

Being a special occasion we had to finish with dessert.  The sound of the affagato appealed to my friend so that is what we ordered. Although this dish of ice cream with crumbled amaretto biscuit and espresso had an enjoyable flavour, it is not an easy dish to share as by the end it is more a coffee drink than a dessert.  

My most recent visit to Deer + Almond was for lunch.  Members of our department are spread out among three hospitals so we often meet in the Exchange District as it is a central location. The gang was looking for recommendations, so this was my recommendation. The tastes and levels of adventure when it comes to food are diverse in this group, so my hope was this place would offer something for everyone.  I must say I was impressed with the value at lunch. 

The sandwiches and wraps included your choice of house salad or grilled corn on the cob. 

My boss tried the soba noodle salad which proved to be too much food for her but was apparently still delicious as lunch the next day.

A few of my coworkers had the smoked lamb pita which they thoroughly enjoyed.  A few of us had the chicken salad sandwich. Chunks of chicken with grapes, cherries and walnuts, however I could not find any cherries.  It was topped with alfalfa sprouts and served on delightful toasted pumpernickel.  Others had the pulled pork wrap from the daily feature board which met more mediocre reviews than the regular menu items.

The dish that most intrigued me was the sprouted pulse ancient grains salad.  A mix of butter lettuce, radish, beets, carrots and grapes, enoki mushrooms with hemp and chia seeds in a goji dressing.  It is then topped with a soft boiled egg that has been soaked in beet juice making this a visually stunning plate.  I can’t wait to try it on a future visit.  

Kath’s quote: “As the deer panteth for the water, so my soul longeth after thee”.- Martin J. Nystrom

Love-that is all.

I was treating a friend to lunch and needed a place that was close to my office that could feed us within my one hour time limit.  As my friend is a bit of a foodie and we were doing some brainstorming about food related things I thought I should find a place where the food was the star.  Fitzroy seemed like a logical choice to fit that bill and we were not disappointed.

Our waiter was attentive and displayed an obvious passion for the food he was serving. The menu is not extensive, which suits me fine.  I would rather see a menu with twelve items done well that with fifty items that are so-so.  Even with limited choices we had a hard time deciding as it was all tempting. We knew we wanted pork and shrimp as those are favorites of both of us.

We started by sharing the warm pretzel with soft brown butter.

We loved the sticky pork with corn and crackling.  I’m still not sure why it is called sticky as nothing about it was sticky but it was no less delicious.  The pork is prepared sous-vide, meaning it is vacuum packed in plastic then cooked in a water bath at a very precise temperature. This process allows the meat to quickly absorb flavors and break down connective tissue making the final product melt-in-your-mouth tasty.  The pork was served with corn that was creamed as well as crunchy corn nuts and crispy chicken skin. I thought they might have selected pork crackling instead of chicken but this was good too. This dish reminded both of us of our Mom’s pork roast dinners with cream corn and scallop potatoes, a classic in both our households growing up.

Next we tried the buttery shrimp on parsley sauce with horseradish.  I was expecting much more heat from this dish but it was none the less, scrumptious.  The shrimp were nicely seasoned and perfectly cooked and the creamy puree complemented the lovely texture of the shrimp.

On our waiters recommendation, we added the chopped salad, a smart idea as there were no vegetables with our other three dishes.  The salad was very pretty, crunchy and I really enjoyed the zingy dressing.  At $11.00 for a small bowl however I’m not sure the value was there.

Overall I really enjoyed our lunch.  I personally found the prices a bit steep for the neighborhood but the atmosphere is sleek and hip, the service efficient and friendly and the bites yummy.

Kath’s quote: “It is not elegant to gnaw Indian corn. The kernels should be scored with a knife, scraped off into the plate, and then eaten with a fork. Ladies should be particularly careful how they manage so ticklish a dainty, lest the exhibition rub off a little desirable romance.”-Charles Day, 1844

Love-that is all.

My Mom is Queen of Cabbage Rolls.  Her recipe took years to perfect: getting the right proportions of ground beef and bacon, the correctly matured cabbage leaves, using tomato juice instead of sauce so that the acid in the juice would permeate the cabbage and add to its tenderness.  She has instructed me in all of these nuances but I have actually never made her cabbage rolls.  That is because, I will confess, I am a lazy cook.  My favourite dishes are big platters of delicious ingredients that you just kind of throw together at the end, stroll it into the dining room and have the family go-ahh!

So I am a “lazy” cook, but I am also a frugal one.  We have had beautiful cabbage in our garden share boxes this summer and I have made a couple of slaws to have as a salad or as a topping for pork sliders but I have not been able to keep up to the quantity.  So a couple of weeks ago, I took two complete cabbage heads and blanched them as I have seen my Mom do.  When they were tender, I cooled them and carefully removed the cabbage core, and placed the intact leaves between paper towel and placed them in the freezer for future use.

This week, now that my fall routine of teaching an evening class is upon me, I made up a couple of casseroles in the morning.  I say a “couple” because I find that these kind of meals are just as easy to cook up a double batch and then freeze one or drop it off at the home of a new Mom or elderly neighbour.  In this case, I delivered one to a family who has recently arrived from Great Britain.  I thought that they would get a kick out of tasting stick-to-your-ribs prairie food.

But because I am always trying to find ways to increase fibre and reduce fat in our meals, I modified the more traditional ingredients a bit by using brown rice instead of white, sliced lean ham instead of bacon and replaced the salt with extra garlic.  I think that the experiment was a success.

Sorry, I didn’t get a photo of the finished product because, when I got home that evening, it was gone.  Must have been a hit!

Kath’s quote: “Cabbage as a food has problems. It is easy to grow, a useful source of greenery for much of the year. Yet as a vegetable it has original sin, and needs improvement. It can smell foul in the pot, linger through the house with pertinacity, and ruin a meal with its wet flab. Cabbage also has a nasty history of being good for you.”-Jane Grigson

Love-that is all.