I had gone to my local grocery store for solace, but as luck would have it, solace was not to be found.  Cruising the strip, aka the produce department, I lamented the fact that all the lettuce is limp and the lettuce tips burned.  The selection is limited; red leaf, green leaf, romaine; the constant spraying of water on these already flaccid salad greens does nothing to save the day.  You would be forgiven for thinking these were the only lettuces available in the world because that is all that can be found summer and winter in your mill of the run grocery store.  Browse through any seed catalogue, however,  and you will find pages of lettuce varieties with enticing names: Lovelock, Red Deed Tongue, Plato, Cimmaron, Rouge d’Hiver.  A far cry from the blandness of red, green and romaine.

What to do about this pitiful display of salad greens?    First of all, a salad does not have to be made with lettuce.  If you look to what is available locally here in the Okanagan, you will find beets, potatoes, winter squash, carrots, red and white cabbage, celeriac, onions, shallots, garlic.  Okay, maybe these vegetables do not exactly scream “salad” to you but they are readily available and, with a little forethought, can be turned into something salad-like when the lettuce and tomatoes are too dreary, or too dear, to contemplate.

Winter Crudités Salad

Serves four

1 1/2 teaspoons white wine vinegar

1/2 teaspoon Dijon mustard

1 1/2 tablespoons olive oil

1 celery root

4 carrots

8 radishes

1. In a small bowl, whisk together mustard and white wine vinegar.  Whisk in olive oil until dressing is creamy.  Add salt and pepper to taste.

2.  Peel celery root.  Cut root in half crosswise and slice each half into julienne strips.  Put  julienne strips in a bowl of cold water.  Thinly slice radishes and thinly slice carrots into matchsticks or julienne.  I like long thin julienned carrots but you do what you like.

3.  Drain and pat dry celery root.  Place prepared vegetables into separate bowls.  Add about 1 1/2 teaspoons of dressing to each bowl and toss well.  Season with salt and pepper and toss again.

4.  Arrange vegetables in separate piles on a platter and serve.  It is that simple.

Thanks for following!  Next week – who knows. Come back (or subscribe) to find out!

Now, this isn’t exactly a “vinegar” recipe, but if you want to toss in a teaspoon, please feel free…..We are growers of grapes – both wine grapes and table grapes.  The table grapes are the Sovereign Coronation.  Now, these are lovely grapes with a velvety blue coating and fabulous flavour.  These grapes make delicious juice, pretty pies, juicy jam and jiggly jelly. They are virtually seedless.  Please pay attention to the word “virtually”.   This means there are some seeds but not many and the seeds are immature – not of the tooth breaking variety.  In science speak they are “vestigial” seeds.

  In the interest in science and just because I am of a curious nature, I attempted both the traditional way of making grape jam with seeds and what I like to the call the “Whole Grape No Muss, No fuss” method to see which worked better for Coronation grapes .  Virtually (see…there is that word again) all grape jam recipes instruct you to pick the grapes off their stems and then, one by one, squeeze the little beggars  until the pulp pops out of  its’ tight little skin, separating the pulp from the skin.  The skins are then put aside.  Truth to tell my interest in scientific research started to wane after I had separated one cup of pulp.  I only had five more cups to go.  I also had three bowls on the go because this pulp squeezing business requires one large bowl for the whole grapes, one bowl for the skin and one bowl for the pulp.

In the interest of time and to remind myself that I do actually have a life, I jettisoned the idea of using the traditional method of separating the skins from the pulp and went directly to the “put the whole grapes in a large pot” method.  Much less work and fewer bowls.

Fall Harvest Whole Grape Jam

Makes about 5 cups purple blue jam with intense grape flavour.

Ingredients

3 pounds sovereign Coronation Grapes (six cups)

3 cups sugar

Method

1.  Sterilize 5- 1/2 pint  jars, rings and lids.

2. Wash grapes and pick grapes off their stems dropping them into a large pot.

3. Place the pot of whole grapes over medium heat and bring to a gentle boil stirring occasionally.   Cook gently for 15 to 20 minutes.

Okay, in this picture you can just barely see a few seeds. Remember, I said Coronation grapes are virtually seedless.  In six cups of grapes you will find less than one tablespoon of seeds.  In past years I haven’t even bothered removing the seeds.  This year, however,  I am removing the seeds – for you.  As the grapes break open remove the seeds as they cluster around the edge of the pot.  If you miss a few – so be it.  Believe me, this is much easier than squeezing pulp.

4.  Gradually add the sugar one cup at a time.  Bring  grapes back to a rolling boil.  Cook rapidly for 10 minutes stirring frequently.   Remove from heat. Ladle hot jam into hot jars, leaving 1/4-inch headspace.  Run a clean, wet paper towel around the rim of each jar to ensure the rims are jam free.  Place a lid and ring on each jar and tighten the rings.   Let the jam cool and seal.   You will hear a pleasant “pop” as the lids seal.  Any lids that don’t seal properly should be refrigerated.

In deepest, darkest winter, breakfast can be transported back to a brilliant autumn day with this deeply flavoured jam.

What you accomplish with the recipes I share with you is what makes me eager to share more.   Tell me how you are doing.  Thank you for following.

This past week found me rummaging in the fridge admiring my expansive collection of yogurt containers.  Truth to tell, the yogurt containers don’t actually contain yogurt but rather the remains of meals eaten in the distant past.  In my search for the bottom of the fridge,  I found a big batch of dressed pasta I don’t remember making let alone eating.

I like to think of myself as a recycler so the idea of reusing yogurt containers and eating leftovers appeals to me.  Our chickens like the idea of eating leftovers as well and I indulge them often in their love of recycling.  I don’t really like using opaque containers for leftovers for the very reason they are “opaque” and the contents cannot be readily viewed.  I am of an out-of-sight-out-of-mind nature and those yogurt containers, more often than not, hide gruesome chemistry experiments showcasing the effect of mold on my carefully planned leftovers.  Mold is not a plant but a fungus.  It grows on food breaking it down into slime.  That is why, upon opening one of the many yogurt containers inhabiting my fridge, Saturday night pasta reveals itself as Saturday night slime. 

So, what does this have to do with anything?  Not much except that in my quest, I found a 140 gram container of Fromage de chevre emiette non affine a pate molle or soft unripened goat cheese crumbles (it sounds much more exotic in French.)  I purchased the chevre at a deep discount because it was close to the best-before-date. 

Not wanting to indulge the chickens in their love of Fromage de chevre emiette non affine a pate molle, I thought I’d better use it up pronto before it transformed into some slimy, unrecognizable mass.

If this exact type of cheese is not available at your local food emporium, any chevre, or feta will work. 

Red Wine Vinegar, Fresh Dill and Soft Unripened Goat Cheese Dressing

Ingredients

1/4 cup soft unripened goat cheese crumbles, chevre or feta cheese

2 tablespoons red wine vinegar

1 tablespoon finely chopped fresh dill

1 tablespoon finely chopped parsley

2 tablespoons olive oil

Salt and freshly ground pepper to taste

Method

1.  In a 250ml jar, combine cheese and vinegar until smooth.

If using feta this might take a bit of work, or if the feta is fairly dry, it may not be rendered entirely smooth.  That’s okay.  It doesn’t have to be perfectly smooth.

2.  Mix in olive oil until blended.

3.  Add dill, parsley, salt and pepper to taste.  Add more oil, vinegar, milk or water if the consistency of the finished dressing is too thick for your liking.  I use this dressing both thick or thin.  Thick it makes a great dip or spread for crackers or bread.  It also makes a great alternative to mayo in a sandwich.  Thin it can be drizzled on beets or other vegetables or simply used to dress a salad.

This dressing will keep for several days in the refrigerator if you don’t over indulge and devour it in one sitting.

What you accomplish with the recipes I share with you is what makes me eager to share more.  Tell me how you are doing. 

Thank you for following.

This recipe has been dragged out because the warm weather THIS spring has cranked up our, and probably yours too – rhuproduction. It’s delicious. “And the rhubarb continues to grow.  What a great summer… as long as you are a long, lanky stalk of rhubarb.   Rhubarb likes this cool weather and given that we have enjoyed (?) mostly cool weather this summer, it continues growing as high as an elephant’s eye – well, not quite, but the stalks are long and beautifully red.  You can see how our professional rhubarb model is dwarfed by this over exuberant and over abundant pie plant.  This over abundance requires some fresh ways with rhubarb.  We have been eating stewed rhubarb for breakfast…daily.  We have rhubarbed and rhubarbed and rhubarbed.  Make no mistake – I do love rhubarb even if it is a purgative.

A couple of weeks ago, some twenty of our cross-country  skiing pals met in Summerland for the 2nd Annual Post Olympic summer get together.  There was hiking.  There was mountain biking (along the newly built Trail for Humanity)   and leisure biking along the bucolic, rain slicked country roads leading to some of our Summerland wineries. 

On Friday evening we reviewed Kathy’s slide show of our Olympic travails and on Saturday evening, a movie under the big, old night sky and, it goes without saying given that summer is AWOL, we were wrapped in blankets and jackets.  

Of course, a big part of any gathering is the food.  “A Fish Called Wanda” was screened after wood fired pizzas and the Rhubarb Bar.  Rhubarb Bar is difficult to say at the best of times.  Especially after a cocktail.  It was determined that simply calling the Rhubarb Bar  “Rhubar” would give it a better mouth feel and it would be easier to remember.  Given stewed rhubarb has been a mainstay at our breakfast table for weeks,  it was not too much of a stretch to imagine stewed rhubarb as a topping for something other than yogurt. This is basically stewed rhubarb with a thickener. 

I present to you,   

The Rhubar

(serves a crowd – 13 x 9 inch baking pan. Recipe can easily be halved to make a 9 x 9 inch square)

Ingredients

 Crust:

2 cups all-purpose flour

1/2 cup whole wheat flour

2/3 cup granulated sugar

1 cup butter

1 egg, beaten

Rhubarb Topping

2 pounds rhubarb – about 6 cups, chopped in 1/2 slices

3/4 cup granulated sugar

1 tablespoon raspberry vinegar

2 teaspoons vanilla

3 tablespoons cornstarch

1/4 cup water

The Topping on the Topping

1 egg, beaten

1 cup sour cream

1 tablespoon granulated sugar

Method

1. Preheat oven  400 F (200 C) and grease baking pan.

2. Crust: Combine flour, sugar, and salt in a large bowl. Using knives, a pastry blender or your hands (I use my hands) cut in butter until mixture looks like coarse crumbs.  Add the  egg.  Using a fork mix lightly just to blend.  Press firmly into prepared pan in an even layer.  Not too firmly but then again not too loosely either.

Bake on bottom rack for 10 to 15 minutes or until toasty brown.

3. Rhubarb Topping: In a large saucepan, combine rhubarb, sugar and vinegar.  Bring to a boil then reduce heat to medium and cook for about 5 minutes, stirring frequently. Dissolve cornstarch in water; add to rhubarb mixture and cook for one minute stirring constantly. Add vanilla.

4. Pour rhubarb mixture evenly on crust.  Bake for 15 minutes longer.

5.  While the Rhubar is baking, combine egg, sour cream and sugar in a small bowl.

6.  Remove Rhubar from oven, reduce temperature to 350 F (180 C), and pour sour cream mixture over rhubarb (it doesn’t have to be perfectly drizzled) and cook for 10 minutes or until set.  Serve warm or cold.

What you accomplish with the recipes I share with you is what makes me eager to share more.  Thank you for following!”

Are you a young chick? Or a mother hen?  Are you cock sure?  Where are you in the pecking order?  Do you work for chicken scratch?   Have your children flown the coop?  Are you an empty nester?  How many times have you used one of these phrases?  These catch phrases belong to our agrarian past – a time when every family had a small flock of chickens for meat and eggs.  Today most people think of chicken as something that comes on a Styrofoam tray, without skin and under plastic.  I am sure there are legions who believe “fingers” or “nuggets” can actually be located on a chicken.

Here at the Valentine Farm Home for Wayward Roosters and Chickens, Easter is a big deal.   At this time of year, chicks are being hatched out – spring chicken (another one of those phrases).  A hen can sit on a dozen eggs which is quite a bit of work and there will likely be eggs that don’t hatch out.  Which is why you should never count your chickens before they hatch. 

The history of decorating eggs is a long one and it is fun to do even if you’re not an eight year old.  There are five reasons egg decorating therapy is good for adults: –

• egg decorating takes us out of our day to day drudgery,  if only for an hour;
• egg decorating brings out our creativity – nothing says “creativity” like colouring eggs;
• no latent artistic talent is required.
• hard boiled eggs are darn good to eat and a very versatile lunch choice; and
• who doesn’t love devilled eggs?

So, quit your squawking and let’s get cracking.

I like to use hard boiled eggs rather than blowing the yolk and the white out of a small hole drilled in the bottom of the egg.  Blown eggs keep forever if you are interested in keeping your small, perfect artwork.  I am, however, just interested in enjoying hard boiled eggs.  My art is only temporary.

The easiest way to hard boil eggs is to put the eggs in a sauce pan and cover them with cold water.  Bring the water to a full rolling boil, turn the heat down to a simmer, cover and start timing for 6 minutes.  When the 6 minutes is up, lift the eggs out of the water with a strainer and plunge them into cold water to which you have added a tray of ice cubes.  This ensures that you do not get unsightly black or green yolks.

You will need food colouring, white vinegar and  boiling water.  For every cup of boiling water you will need 2 teaspoons of vinegar.  Add food colour drop by drop until the desired shade is reached.  I find one cup of boiling water to 2 teaspoons of vinegar works best as the egg can be totally submerged in a cup of water.  The vinegar helps set the colour.  Try and recall from your hazy kid hood which colours, when mixed together, give you purple. 

Elastic bands and crayons are simple decorating tools.  

Wrap elastic bands around the eggs.  Gently place in the colour of your choice. Gently move the egg around in the color to distribute colour around the egg.  Leave until you are satisfied with the colour.

Using a wax crayon, draw your incredibly creative design on the egg. Gently place in the colour of your choice.  The wax crayon resists the colour.

You can remove the elastic bands and when the egg is dry carefully place it into another colour to colour up the spaces left by the elastic band.

Use a combination of wax crayon resist and elastic bands.

Now, that you have worked as hard as a hen hauling wood, go and make yourself an egg salad sandwich.  Art is so fleeting.

What you accomplish with the recipes I share with you is what makes me eager to share more. Tell me how you are doing. Thank you for following.