Sweet Fruit "Pizza" made with Basic Sweet Roll Dough

I made this last week, but didn't have time to post it. Now it's probably rather late to find peaches. However it would be just fine with plums, or apples for that matter. You can use hard whole wheat flour for the spelt flour if it's easier to find.

The dough is a basic sweet dough that can also be used for cinnamon buns or a strudel-type loaf filled with poppyseed filling, nut filling or the streusel recipe below, with raisins. Any of those, or this pizza, could be made a bit sweeter by drizzling a simple sugar glaze over it. As it is, it's not too sweet to eat for breakfast which is how we had it. The sugar glaze would make it more suitable for dessert.

12 servings
20 minutes to make dough, 30 minutes bake time, several hours to overnight for rising


Sweet Roll Dough:
1 cup milk
2 teaspoons yeast
1/2 cup sugar
1 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 cups hard unbleached flour
2 1/2 cups whole or lightly sifted spelt flour
2 extra-large eggs
1/4 cup unsalted butter, melted and cooled
extra spelt flour to knead and roll out

Heat the milk until it is warm to the touch, but not too hot. Sprinkle the yeast into it and let it sit for about 10 minutes, until foamy.

Meanwhile, measure and mix the sugar, salt and flours, and melt the butter.

Whisk the butter and eggs into the yeast mixture, then stir in the flour and sugar mixture. When it becomes hard to stir, turn the whole mess out onto a clean board or counter sprinkled with flour. Knead the dough for about 5 or 10 minutes, incorporating a little more flour if needed, to achieve a smooth, soft and only slightly sticky dough.

Put a bit of oil in a clean bowl, and turn the dough in it until it is coated. Cover the bowl and put the dough in a warm place to rise. When it is doubled in size - and I find this dough quite slow-rising; you might want to leave it to rise overnight - roll it out to fit in a pizza pan.

Streusel Topping & Peaches:
3 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened
1/4 cup Sucanat or other dark brown sugar
1/3 cup soft unbleached flour
1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
6 large peaches or apples, or 12 to 18 German or Italian prune plums

Preheat the oven to 350°F.

Mix the butter. Sucanat, flour and cinnamon until the mixture forms coarse crumbs. If it seems too clumpy, add another tablespoon of flour.

Wash the fruit. Pit or core the peaches, plums or apples, and cut them into slices. Arrange the slices over the dough. Sprinkle the streusel topping evenly over the fruit. Bake the pizza for 30 minutes, until baked through and the fruit is soft.

Serve warm or cool, as-is or with a simple glaze drizzled over it. (One cup sifted icing sugar, with 2 tablespoons liquid - milk, lemon or orange juice, or even water. Mix well, until the sugar is completely dissolved. Adjust with a little more sugar or liquid if it is not the right consistency to drizzle over the pastry then set.)




Last year around this time, I made Braised Leeks with Mushrooms, Plum & Apple Compote with Custard, and Wild Rice Pancakes.

A Visit to Holstein Farmers Market

Where the heck, you ask, is Holstein?



It's a small village not far from Mount Forest, just off Highway 6, and for a village of its size (not large) it has a remarkably good farmers market. At least so I was told, and I believe it. It is certainly the friendliest farmers market we have been to so far. Unfortunately we were there on a Saturday when it was predicted to bucket rain all day, and about half the vendors had gone awol. But if the weather is good, and you find yourself scooting along highway 6 near Mount Forest on a Saturday morning, be sure to drop in.



The market is located in the middle of Holstein, in Egremont Community Park, which is a lovely long little park that leads to a walking trail along an old railway line, and contains a sprightly little river with a small dammed lake.



Somewhat to my surprise, I met an acquaintance from Cambridge on the dam; he had come up to fish for trout. Am I the last person to find out what a marvelous little place Holstein is?



Looking down at some of the market from the dam.



We indulged in some very nice baking from a local cafe - we had cinnamon rolls and carrot cake - and eyed the wooden items with interest. Unfortunately we had not brought very much money, and so I did not buy one of the attractive, affordable and practical looking little wooden spoons.



These vendors were a bit camera-shy, but as friendly as all the rest. We bought some zucchini and carrots, and were invited to help ourselves to as much of the beet greens as we liked, gratis, as a previous customer had discarded them and otherwise they were pig-food.



A nice selection of perennial plants.



I'm not quite sure what was happening that was so fascinating when I took this picture, but a number of vendors were hanging out by another source of baked goods, and chatted with us for at least half an hour. Like I said, a very friendly market.



The building in the background is an old school, which once housed about 80 students in 4 classrooms. Now it's used as a workshop for the fellow who makes these sturdy wooden cutting boards in a variety of woods. Most of them are one piece, which can be hard to find and expensive when you do. These were well within the expected range, and now that I know about them I plan to go back and request a couple in a custom size.



Here in the gazebo was a good selection of attractively mounted picture (prints) in a variety of subjects.

Missing were the sock-monkeys (aw!), a soapmaker, a couple of the produce vendors, a honey producer, a maker of adirondack chairs, various other crafts including knitting and crochet, and photos, likewise the musicians and the bicycle repair station. Last market of the season will be on October 25th. I'm definitely planning to get there again - sounds like it should be a great source of Christmas goodies.

Speaking of Christmas, one of the events in Holstein that we definitely plan to return for is their Santa Claus parade, on the second saturday in December, which is completely non-motorized. All the floats are drawn by horses and other draft animals. Apparently they also have a Maplefest in the spring. Later on, in mid July, they have the largest rodeo in Ontario. Wow, I'm kind of sorry we didn't move to Holstein!

Return of the Elms

We've been doing a lot of driving back and forth in the last month between our apartment (which is still our job) and our new house. It's a beautiful drive, and although I feel guilty about all the gas we are using, and although it can get a bit time-consuming and tedious, in general I enjoy the trip very much - especially when we are heading away from the work part and towards the home part!



It has also been making me very cheerful (or at least less gloomy than I tend to be generally) to see that the hedgerows have been busy sprouting elm trees these last 30 years or so. Elms aren't very noticeable as young trees, being thin and whippy. They need to reach middle age or so before they really fill out and develop that beautiful and very recognizable "vase" shape for which they are famous. In the last year or so, suddenly a new crop of elms has reached the size where they are easy to spot as you drive by.


The other thing elms are famous for, of course, is being dead. I am just barely old enough to remember when every field in southern Ontario was ringed with majestic old elms. By the time I was a teenager, they were almost all dead and decaying wrecks, and by the time I hit my early 20's even the stumps were disappearing. The culprit was Dutch elm disease, which is a fungus spread by elm bark beetles. There seemed to be nothing that could be done, and it seemed probable that the elm had pretty much gone the way of the American chestnut, which is now counted by the single specimen. I, like many people, felt their loss as keenly as I have felt the loss of members of my family to death.

So it is with a sense of a miraculous resurrection that I see them in hedgerow after hedgerow this year. Many of them are struggling; some like the ones above have succumbed. But it seems pretty clear that they are down, not out. I will never see the hedgerows filled with mature elms in my lifetime, but there is at least the possibility that it will happen. Enough resistant elms are reproducing, and their most resistant offspring are living to reproduce too. At some point, there will be a balance.


And when that happens, there will be a lot more graceful old elm trees around, like this one. (Although I don't think this one is as old as all that - but it's sound enough to have reached a a good size and a shapely form.) I expect to see many of the hopeful young elms we've been driving past this summer sitting as sad dead skeletons in the next few years to come. But I also expect to see more and more sturdy survivors.

Just Sticking My Head Up Above The Water

Well, we've moved, and the internet seems to be up and working. I'm still waaay too busy to post anything much. We're still spending most of our time at the apartment, cleaning and painting, and that will last for another week at least. When we are at our new home, we need to spend time getting it cleaned, painted and generally organized.

Inconveniently timed as it was, our trip to Nova Scotia was a much-needed break. I'm looking back on it with nostalgia already. Here's a picture of the reconstruction of the ship "Hector", the broken-down old smuggling vessel on which some* of my ancestors came to Pictou; 169 desperate souls packed into a space the size of what is nowadays a smallish living room, on a trip that was supposed to take 4 weeks and took 6.

Ours was a trip for looking at pictures and gravestones, the site of my grandparents cottage, since burnt down, and of course the "Hector". Above all, for telling all the old family stories. How my grandparents were married in the house of a total stranger who they never saw again. About Mr. Brown, the town drunk who went to sleep in a rough grave overnight and gave the cemetery workers the scare of their life the next morning. We remember cousin Robbie, the youngest miner killed in the Westray disaster. Lots of stories about great-uncle Harry, who survived 5 years in the trenches of WWI. We all love to tell the story of when he stole the train and went to Quebec City with a couple of French-Canadian girls...




*Not the guy transported for stealing sheep. He came later. I don't know why, but I was absurdly pleased to find out about him.

I'm Home But I'm Gone

I'm back from our trip to Nova Scotia, which was great. A week is not enough time to pack in all the things we wanted to do, but we managed to do a lot, as well as spend a fair bit of time with my great-aunt. We saw a lot of our cousins, including two who were supposed to be on the way to London via Zoom; we met them in the airport after they'd been turfed off their plane.

We managed a side-trip to Prince Edward Island, and we ate a lot of seafood, including lobster rolls, fried clams, and lots of fish-cakes with chow-chow. That's a recipe I may try to Ontari-ize, once we move to our new house near the shore of Georgian Bay.

And on that note, I'm signing off for a while. Starting this evening, we'll dismantle the computers and pack them. It is likely to be at least a week before we get them set up again, and even then, we'll be very busy with 3 units turning over back at the apartment, 2 of which will require some major work. I'll try to get back in the groove as soon as I can (if only because I am getting damn tired of restaurant food) but expect few to no posts for about 2 weeks.

Hope to "see" you soon!

Herbed Cream Cheese Spread or Dip

I really enjoy this flavoured cheese spread. Do watch the garlic; it will get stronger as the cheese sits so if you think it will not all get eaten within a day, you may wish to cut it back a little. In my experience though, this cheese disappears frighteningly quickly.

2 cups spread; up to 3 cups dip
15 minutes prep time - 1 to 24 hours chill time


2 cups light cream cheese
OR 1 cup cream cheese and 1 cup ricotta cheese
1 teaspoon cumin seed, ground
1/2 teaspoon black peppercorns, crushed
1/8 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1/8 teaspoon salt
2 cloves of garlic, peeled and minced
3 green onions, minced
1 - 2 tablespoons parsley, finely minced

buttermilk, yogurt or sour cream

Grind the cumin and black pepper, and mix them with the cheese(s), along with the cayenne and salt. Mince the garlic, green onions and parsley, and mix them in as well. Thin the cheese with a little buttermilk, yogurt or sour cream, until it reaches the consistency you like; either as a spread or a dip.

Chill the cheese spread or dip. It is not a bad idea to make it 12 to 24 hours in advance, in order to allow the flavours to blend. The prepared cheese should keep, well sealed in the fridge, for up to a week.





Last year on this date I made Chickpeas (Garbanzos) with Greens & Tomatoes, Greek Style and Fingerling Potato Salad.

Almond Jelly with Peaches & Cream

Almond jelly is one of my favourite dim sum dishes. It's usually (around here at least) a dish of almond jelly squares with tinned fruit salad and condensed milk. I don't quite know why I love it so much given I don't usually like tinned stuff all that much. I guess because it's such a great finish to a meal of rich, greasy starchy stuff.

When I make it at home, I take it back closer to it's British roots (I'm certain it has some) by using real cream and fresh peaches. It's a lovely cool and refreshing dessert, and not at all heavy. Great for hot August days, if we were in fact having any.

4 servings
10 minutes prep time - 4 hours or more chill time


2 cups milk, soy milk or rice milk
1 teaspoon almond extract
1 tablespoon gelatine
1/4 cup honey
the zest of 1/2 lemon

4 large ripe peaches
1/4 to 1/3 cup light cream

Put 1/2 cup of the milk in the dish in which the jelly will be made. Add the almond extract and sprinkle the gelatine over it.

Put the remaining milk in a pot with the honey and lemon zest. Heat slowly until the honey is dissolved and the milk is steaming. Stir occasionally.

Strain the hot milk into the dish with the cold milk and gelatine. Stir well, to be sure the gelatine is completely dissolved. Chill the mixture until it is set, at least 4 hours.

Cut the gelatine into cubes, and put it in individual serving dishes. Top each dish with a peach, cut into slices, and a generous tablespoon of cream.





Last year at this time, I made Caesar Salad.

Two Fresh Chutneys

Here are two traditional Indian chutneys. I've seen quite a lot of different recipes for the green chutney. Some call for more mint and some for more cilantro, so feel free to change the proportions around as you like and as seems appropriate to the meal they are to accompany. If you like, you could add a little ginger or garlic as well. The carrot chutney came from the book Seductions of Rice originally; I have added some cumin seed just because my semi-Mexican upbringing says that if you are serving a spicy carrot dish, it has to have cumin in it.

Serve these with a plain broiled or sautéed fish, chicken or tofu dish, and steamed rice, although they could go with simple lentil stews as well. I like to make both of them and also serve a little sour cream or yogurt to cool things down a little. Depending on the kind of chiles you use, and how many you use the green chutney in particular can go from having a nice little bite, to blowing off the back of your head: pay attention.

4 to 6 servings of each chutney
15 minutes each prep time


Green Chutney (Mint & Cilantro Chutney)
1 cup prepared mint leaves
1/2 cup cilantro
2 to 3 hot green chiles
2-3 green onions
the juice of 1 small lemon
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon sugar

Wash the herbs and let them drain quite well. Strip the mint leaves from the stems, and discard the stems. Remove the roots from the cilantro. Remove the stems, cores and seeds from the chiles. Trim the onions and chop them coarsely. Put all these into the food processor as they are prepared.

Add the lemon juice, salt and sugar. Process until fairly smooth, stopping to scrape down the sides several times.


Carrot Chutney
1 large carrot
1 Jalapeño chile
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon cumin seeds, ground
the juice of 1 small lime
2-3 tablespoons cilantro leaves

Peel and slice the carrot. Remove the stem, core and seeds from the Jalepeño. Put them in the food processor with the salt, ground cumin and lime juice. Process until fairly smooth, stopping to scrape down the sides of the food processor several times. Add the cilantro, and process until it is finely chopped.

Celery & Mushroom Soup

A fairly quick creamy soup combining two popular flavours.

4 to 6 servings
30 minutes prep time


1 small or 1/2 large bunch of celery
500 grams (1 pound) button mushrooms
4 tablespoons butter
1 teaspoon savory
salt & pepper
4 cups (1 litre, 1 quart) chicken stock
2-3 tablespoons sherry
1 cup cream
2 tablespoons arrowroot or cornstarch

Wash and trim the celery, and cut it in pieces. Clean the mushrooms and cut two-thirds of them into quarters. Cut the remaining third into slices.

Sauté the celery in a large skillet with 1 tablespoon of the butter. When quite soft, put it into a blender with half the chicken stock, and purée. Put the purée into a soup pot.

Sauté the quartered mushrooms in two tablespoons of the butter until tender and lightly browned. Season them with the savory, and some pepper. Purée them with the remaining chicken stock, and add them to the soup pot. Season with salt, according to the saltiness of the chicken stock. Add the sherry and cream with the starch well mixed into it, and heat through. Don't let it boil, but heat it long enough to thicken slightly.

Meanwhile, sauté the remaining mushrooms in the last of the butter. Sprinkle them over the soup as it is served.

Peppers Stuffed with Feta, Barley & Herbs

A nice vegetarian take on stuffed peppers.

2 to 3 servings
1 hour 30 minutes - 30 minutes prep time, not including cooking the barley


6 smallish mild green peppers

2 to 3 cups cooked barley
1/4 cup minced parsley
1/4 cup minced dill
1/4 cup minced chives or green onions
4 extra large eggs
150 grams (1/3 pound) feta cheese

1 1/2 cups tomato sauce

The barley can be cooked in a rice cooker; 1 cup of barley to 3 cups of water, with a little salt. I often cook barley ahead of time and keep some in the fridge for a few days, or freeze it.

Preheat the oven to 350°F. Cut the stems and cores from the peppers and remove the seeds.

Mix the cooked barley, minced herbs, eggs and cheese, and stuff the peppers. If there is any stuffing leftover, spread it in the bottom of a snug baking dish, and lay the stuffed peppers on top. Drizzle the tomato sauce over the top.

Bake the peppers for 1 hour, until tender.

Leeks Vinaigrette

I always think of leeks as a winter vegetable, but they are starting to show up at the markets already. This is such a simple, classic little dish, and it makes an excellent summer starter or salad. I left the roots on for the photo because I thought they made it more picturesque, but they do need to be cut off and not eaten. You will need a surprisingly sharp knife to cut the cooked leeks, even though they don't seem tough as you eat them.

2 servings
1 hour 15 minutes - 15 minutes prep time



3 to 4 leeks
2 tablespoons butter
1/4 cup chicken broth

1 tablespoon finely minced parsley
2 teaspoons Dijon mustard
salt & pepper
2 tablespoons sunflower seed oil
2 tablespoons sherry vinegar

Preheat the oven to 350°F.

Trim the dark green stems from the leeks, leaving the light green and white tubular portions. Slice each leek in half lengthwise, down to but not through the roots. Put them in a snug roasting pan, dot them with the butter and pour the chicken broth over them. Roast them at 350°F for 1 hour, turning them halfway through.

Meanwhile whisk together the remaining ingredients. When the leeks are done, remove them to a serving dish and pour the vinaigrette evenly over them. Let them sit until they are room temperature or still slightly warm before serving them.





Last year at this time I made Foolproof Banana Cake and Cocoa Buttercream Frosting.

Very Good Taste's Omnivore's Hundred

Okey-dokey. I am not actually around; I am on vacation. In Nova Scotia. Maybe I'll have a lobster, not-Thermidor. But, it was my birthday yesterday and thanks to the miracle of modern Blogger, I can set posts up in advance, and I have taken full advantage of this feature. This is not exactly a Quote of the Week; but I ran across this meme last week, and thought it would make a good little birthday review of my culinary life thus far. The source is here. Items in bold; I have had. Crossed out items, I would not have on a bet, and I would regard at least one as a form of torture. Here goes...

1. Venison
2. Nettle tea (Nettles yes; tea no.)
3. Huevos rancheros
4. Steak tartare
5. Crocodile
6. Black pudding
7. Cheese fondue
8. Carp
9. Borscht
10. Baba ghanoush
11. Calamari
12. Pho
13. PB&J sandwich
14. Aloo gobi
15. Hot dog from a street cart
16. Epoisses (Had not previously heard of it.)
17. Black truffle (Would somebody like to sponsor me?!)
18. Fruit wine made from something other than grapes
19. Steamed pork buns
20. Pistachio ice cream
21. Heirloom tomatoes
22. Fresh wild berries
23. Foie gras
24. Rice and beans
25. Brawn, or head cheese ('Cuz I head straight for the jellied tongue.)
26. Raw Scotch Bonnet pepper (Uh, how stupid do I look? Oh, yeah. That stupid.)
27. Dulce de leche
28. Oysters
29. Baklava
30. Bagna cauda (Should do this. Have had a variety of other fondu type things though.)
31. Wasabi peas
32. Clam chowder in a sourdough bowl (Clam chowder, check. Sourdough, check. But no. Not going there. Gimmick.)
33. Salted lassi(Salted...MILK??? No. Not gonna. Can't make me. I hate milk, even with salt.)
34. Sauerkraut
35. Root beer float
36. Cognac with a fat cigar (Banned by the Geneva conventions.)
37. Clotted cream tea (In Devon no less! Yes, I am boasting shamelessly.)
38. Vodka jelly/Jell-O (By the time you are old enough to do vodka, you are too old to do Jell-o. Srsly. Make one of my good real fruit juice jellies and skip that nasty vodka.)
39. Gumbo
40. Oxtail
41. Curried goat
42. Whole insects (Whether I want to or not. Bugs think my gullet looks like a good place to be. They are wrong, but by the time they figure it out it is too late. Gag.)
43. Phaal (Had not previously heard of it.)
44. Goat’s milk (It tastes like goat which is fine really. And milk. There's the problem. Must I? Why, no! I am an adult now. Phew!)
45. Malt whisky from a bottle worth £60/$120 or more(Why pay through the nose to suffer?)
46. Fugu (Oh pu-lease. Food for rich morons with a death wish.)
47. Chicken tikka masala
48. Eel
49. Krispy Kreme original glazed doughnut (Meh. It was a mass-produced doughnut. No need to repeat.)
50. Sea urchin
51. Prickly pear
52. Umeboshi
53. Abalone (Again, somebody want to sponsor me? But I would feel kinda guilty.)
54. Paneer
55. McDonald’s Big Mac Meal (I once had one bite of a Big Mac. Sufficient for a lifetime.)
56. Spaetzle
57. Dirty gin martini(Ugh, booze again.)
58. Beer above 8% ABV (What's with all the phreakin' booze?!?!)
59. Poutine
60. Carob chips
61. S’mores
62. Sweetbreads
63. Kaolin
64. Currywurst (Hey, I know what this is! LOL!)
65. Durian
66. Frogs’ legs (Although that was before a neighbour made of with Wyatt Burp, our friendly neighbourhood frog. I was very pissed. Eat your own damn frogs.)
67. Beignets, churros, elephant ears or funnel cake (Ha. All four.)
68. Haggis
69. Fried plantain
70. Chitterlings, or andouillette (I'm assuming tripe counts?)
71. Gazpacho
72. Caviar and blini (Not necessarily together. Still...)
73. Louche absinthe ('Cuz plain ol' booze ain't toxic enough?)
74. Gjetost, or brunost (Don't bother.)
75. Roadkill(Thought about striking this one out. What animal? Winter or *ulp* summer? And how... old....?)
76. Baijiu(I looked it up. Surprise! It's booze.)
77. Hostess Fruit Pie(Nope. Sorry. Calories get saved for real food.*)
78. Snail
79. Lapsang souchong
80. Bellini (Uh, booze, right?)
81. Tom yum
82. Eggs Benedict (Yawn. Not in the last 20 years. Aren't they passée yet?)
83. Pocky (See Hostess Fruit Pies. Yeah, they're exotically foreign. Still junk.)
84. Tasting menu at a three-Michelin-star restaurant. (As ever, now accepting offers of sponsorship.)
85. Kobe beef (Ditto.)
86. Hare (Only if rabbit counts.)
87. Goulash
88. Flowers (Not all of them, duh. A select few. Edible ones.)
89. Horse
90. Criollo chocolate (Should. Definitely.)
91. Spam
92. Soft shell crab (I wish! But I have had shad roe.)
93. Rose harissa (Rose harissa? Sounds interesting!)
94. Catfish
95. Mole poblano
96. Bagel and lox
97. Lobster Thermidor (Would never eat if I could get a PLAIN fresh lobster! With buttah! Slice of lemon good! And a roll! Corn on the cob? Why, soitenly!)
98. Polenta
99. Jamaican Blue Mountain coffee (Uh, maybe, but it's been decades since coffee pretty much went the way of the booze.)
100. Snake



*Mumble, mumble. Some exceptions may apply. Mumble.