Wild Rice & Buckwheat Pancakes

I don't know where you would buy wild rice flour. I made mine; my blender has an attachment for grinding grain. Normally, I've made this with dark buckwheat flour and brown rice flour in the same proportions, and that makes a very good pancake, but I wanted to raise the Ontario quotient. These are not light, white, fluffy pancakes. They are a little thinner and denser, with a strong grainy flavour which may not be to everyones' taste. We love them though, and they are conveniently gluten-free as well.

I feel morally obliged to describe this as four servings, but ha-ha, yeah right. Not in this household. We've even been known to make a recipe and half, and scoff the lot, although in our defense we then don't bother with lunch.

8 6" pancakes (2 to 4 servings)
30 minutes prep time

1/2 cup wild rice flour
1/2 cup light buckwheat flour
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons baking powder
2 extra-large eggs
1 3/4 cups warm water

oil for cooking
butter and maple syrup to serve

Mix the flours, salt and baking powder in a medium sized mixing bowl. Heat the water (1 1/2 to 2 minutes in the microwave does it for me) and beat in the eggs and the water.

Meanwhile, put 2 plates in the oven to keep warm, at around 150°F. Heat 2 skillets (if you can) over medium heat. Pour a little oil into each one, and wipe with a paper towel to coat lightly. Keep that paper towel handy.

Pour 1/3 cup batter into each pan, tilting the pan to spread them out if necessary. Cook until the tops begin to look a little dry, and the pancakes can be easily loosened and turned - not more than a few minutes. Turn and cook the other side, just for a minute or two. Put them into the oven to keep warm. Use the paper towel to re-oil the pans, and repeat the process until all the batter is done.

Serve with butter and maple syrup.

Flemish Beauty Pears

As you can see, these are beauties indeed, with smooth green skins flushed with red and a classic pear shape. The flesh is very white and fairly dense, with a typical stoney pear texture. I found the flavour fairly insipid, although sweet and pleasant enough. The vendor assured us that these would sit out and keep quite well, and such was the case.

This is apparently the hardiest of Ontario pear trees - pear trees are not in general as hardy as apples - and OMAFRA describe it as very productive and vigorous, although susceptible to scale, scab and fire blight, and the trees may be short lived. Unlike most pears, it's also fairly self-fertile, although it will do better with another mid-season blooming variety nearby. Apparently the timing for picking them must be precise, or they do not reach their full potential. It's possible the ones we had were picked a tad early. They kept well enough on the counter that none of them went bad in the week and a half it took to eat them all. They did get softer and sweeter, but continued somewhat bland, and I found the skins quite tough as well. Not a bad pear overall, but not the best.

The OMAFRA site also mentions "breakdown" which I assume is the same problem I have always known as "going sleepy". Pears, unlike apples, cannot be stored for long, so unless you can or dry them they are a fleeting autumn pleasure. (They can be frozen if cooked.) When they go bad, they tend to do so from the core, leaving a good looking pear that proves to be full of brownish mush. That's why I always cut my pears in quarters to eat them, instead of munching them out of hand.

Plum & Apple Compote with Custard

This is such a simple, homey dessert, but it's the sort of thing I hold higher than gilded tortes on silver platters. You just can't beat a good homemade custard, and the apples and plums are a particularly nice tart contrast.

4 servings
30 minutes - 15 minutes prep time

Compote:
8 to 12 blue plums
1/4 cup apple cider or juice
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
2 or 3 medium tart apples

Wash the pums, pit and chop them coarsely. Poach them in the cider with the cinnamon until they are soft and falling apart. Allow them to cool.

Peel and grate the apples, discarding the cores. Mix the grated apples into the plum mixture. Spoon the compote into individual glass serving dishes and chill.

Serve with the custard.

Custard:
3 egg yolks OR 2 whole large eggs
1/4 cup sugar
a pinch of salt
1 tablespoon cornstarch
1 1/2 cups rich milk or light cream
1 tablespoon butter
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Beat together the egg yolks (or eggs,) the sugar, salt and the cornstarch in the top of a double boiler.

Beat in a small amount of the milk or cream, then increasing amounts once the mixture is smooth and free of lumps.

Cook, stirring constantly, until the custard thickens.

Remove the custard from the stove as soon as it thickens. Beat in the butter and vanilla. This can be served warm, or chilled and served cold.

Spoon the custard over the compote before serving, or if you prefer, pass the custard separately.

Braised Leeks and Mushrooms

Leeks are an awfully overlooked vegetable in Ontario, I think. Maybe because they are a member of the onion family, and so thought of as a seasoning rather than a vegetable? They do also tend to be somewhat expensive, but I got some at the farmers' market for 50 cents each; a bargain. If you have a garden, they are well worth growing yourself. They're not hard to grow, they just like lots of water and nutrients and are in the ground for a long time, and you should plant them in a trench then hill them up later. And you should start them inside in January. So, okay... radishes they are not, but unlike radishes they will sit in the ground and wait for you for quite a while. They're delicious too, being mild and sweet with just a delicate hint of onioniness.

2 servings
30 minutes - 10 minutes prep time

2 to 3 large leeks
1 cup quartered button mushrooms

1 tablespoon tomato paste
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon black peppercorns, crushed
1/4 teaspoon dried thyme
2 cups chicken stock

1 to 2 tablespoons butter

Wash and slice the leeks, discarding the roots and any dark green leaves. Rinse them well again, and let drain well. Clean and quarter the button mushrooms.

Mix the tomato paste, salt, pepper, thyme and chicken stock, and set aside.

Melt the butter in a large, heavy-bottomed pot or skillet, if it has a lid. Sauté the leeks and mushrooms in the butter until soft. Mix in the tomato paste and stock mixture. Reduce the heat to low, cover and simmer for 5 to 10 minutes, until the leeks are quite tender. Stir occasionally. If they are too soupy at this time, remove the lid and increase the heat to boil off any excess liquid - this should just take a minute or two.

Bacon Lettuce & Tomato Pasta Salad - BLT Pasta Salad

Well I did say I loved the BLT combination, so here it is again, also as a salad but with pasta this time.

Check out Presto Pasta Nights at Once Upon a Feast for more fab pasta dishes.

4 servings
30 minutes prep time

Salad:
200 grams (scant 1/2 pound) stubby pasta
225 grams (1/2 pound) bacon
450 grams (1 pound) tomatoes
1 small head romaine lettuce

Cook the pasta until tender in plenty of boiling, salted water. Rinse under cold water and drain well.

Meanwhile, cut the bacon into 1" pieces, and fry it until crisp. Blot well and let cool.

Wash and chop the tomatoes, and wash and shred the lettuce. Mix the pasta, bacon, tomatoes and lettuce in a large bowl.

Dressing:
1/4 cup buttermilk or yogurt
1/3 cup mayonnaise (light is fine)
2 tablespoons lemon juice
1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper

Mix all the dressing ingredients in a small bowl, then toss into the salad. It's my opinion you won't need salt, but it may not be your opinion - depends on the bacon, really.

Kale Soup

This was inspired by the Portuguese Caldo Verde, or green soup. It's one of the very few ways that my partner will eat kale with any enthusiasm, so you can take that as a recommendation, I guess. I think it's pretty good myself, and make it regularly in the fall and early winter.

Kale is a nutritional powerhouse, but it's also a strong-flavoured, toughish green. It's best in the fall once there have been a few frosts, as they sweeten it a little. Therefore it isn't a bad idea to put it in the fridge for a couple days before you use it, long enough to sweeten a little but not long enough for it to start going limp.

6 to 10 servings
1 hour - 30 minutes prep time

1 teaspoon sea salt
1 teaspoon black peppercorns
1 tablespoon fennel seed
1 teaspoon cumin seed
1/2 teaspoon thyme
1/2 teaspoon chile flakes

1 tablespoon olive oil
2 medium onions
2 cloves of garlic
450 grams (1 pound) ground turkey
8 cups (2 litres or 2 quarts) chicken stock
1 540 ml (19 ounce) tin diced tomatoes
2 medium potatoes
2 tablespoons red wine vinegar
1 large bunch kale

Grind and mix the spices. Set aside.

Peel and chop the onions, peel and mince the garlic.

Sauté the turkey and onions in the oil, breaking the turkey up into small bits. When half done, add the spices. When done, add the garlic and sauté a minute longer.

Put the meat mixture with the chicken stock into a large soup pot with the tomatoes, including their juice.

Wash and dice the potatoes. Add them to the soup, and simmer until tender, about 15 minutes.

Meanwhile, pull the kale leaves from the stems, and chop them finely. Wash and drain well. Add the kale and vinegar to the soup, and simmer for about 10 minutes more, until the kale is tender.

Beet & Plum Salad with Walnuts & Cheese

I've heard a few descriptions and seen a few recipes lately for salads combining beets and plums. The combination caught my imagination immediately, and now that I've tried it I'll be doing it again, for sure. It's a match made in heaven. The only thing I'll change is that in future I will cut the beets and plums smaller than I did for the salad in the picture - you want to be certain to be getting some plum and some beet in every bite.

4 servings
30 minutes prep time BUT start the beets at least 3 hours ahead

Salad:
4 to 8 beets, depending on size (about 450 grams or 1 pound)

1 small head of red leaf lettuce
8-12 blue plums
1/3 cup walnut pieces
1/3 cup crumbled goat cheese or feta

Preheat the oven to 375°F. Wash and trim the beets so there is just half an inch of stem or so on them. Wrap them in foil and bake them until tender, about 1 to 1 1/2 hours. Let cool. Peel them and cut them in 1 cm cubes.

Wash the lettuce and cut or tear it into bite-sized pieces. Dry well and arrange on individual serving plates or in a salad bowl. Wash the plums and cut them into 1 cm cubes, discarding the pits. Arrange the plums, beets, walnuts and crumbled cheese over the lettuce.

Dressing:
1/4 cup walnut oil
1/4 cup raspberry vinegar
1 teaspoon honey

Whisk together the walnut oil, raspberry vinegar and the honey. If your cheese is not salty, you may wish to add a little salt. Drizzle the dressing over the salad.

Redskin Peaches

This is another peach I have not previously seen. The Ontario Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs is fairly terse about them, saying only: " A medium-sized, good-quality, late ripening freestone with fairly good colour. Trees tend to be somewhat willowy, but are very productive." I'd say that's damning them with faint praise, myself. I don't think they are quite so super-spectacular as the Harrow Beauty, but they are very good indeed, with similar richly coloured flesh and red-flushed skins. They are not so intense in flavour or scent, and they are perhaps a little softer. The skins seem a little thicker and furrier, but I don't mind that; it's part of the peach experience, and the skins aren't tough.

I suppose I should remind myself that one of the reasons I am raving about tree fruit this year is that it has been a very good year for them. There was considerable fear that this might not be the case last winter, when it did not get cold until so late that many trees were showing signs of budding in December and early January; after which the arrival of winter would have destroyed them. Fortunately, winter arrived in the nick of time and they retreated to dormancy. This summer has been rather dry, which has caused problems with other crops, but created dense, richly flavoured stone fruits. Peaches from cool, rainy summers tend to be bigger, but blander and they may be mealy; always a big, big disappointment when that happens.

Blueberry-Peach Parfaits

I do like this - it's so rich and zingy, without being heavy. Don't be tempted to leave off the whipped cream. It might be a bit too zingy without it.

4 servings
20 minutes - 10 minutes prep time, plus chilling time

2 extra-large eggs
the juice of 2 large limes OR 2 small lemons
1/3 to 1/2 cup sugar
2 tablespoons cornstarch
1 tablespoon butter

4 ripe peaches
2 cups blueberries

1/2 cup whipping cream
1 tablespoon sugar

Put the eggs, the lime or lemon juice, 1/3 cup sugar, the corn starch and the butter in the top of a double boiler. Whisk well.

When the cornstarch is thoroughly dissolved, turn the heat on to medium. Cook, whisking constantly, until thickened. Taste it, and if you think it needs a little more sugar, whisk in another tablespoon or two until dissolved. Set aside to cool slightly.

Blanch, peel and slice the peaches. Wash and pick over the blueberries, and drain them well.

Arrange the peach slices, blueberries and lime or lemon curd alternately by spoonfuls in parfait glasses or individual glass serving bowls.

Chill, and serve with a dollop of the cream, beaten until stiff with the sugar.

McIntosh Apples

This is probably the best-known apple in North America, and it's an Ontarian native, having shown up as a chance seedling on land acquired by John McIntosh, near Morrisburg in Dundas County. It's a classic apple, straight out of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs; a piebald mixture of acid green and brilliant red.

The Mac, as it's often affectionately known, has fallen in favour somewhat in recent years, and not without reason. It's not a particularly good storage apple, although it was treated as such for decades. Many a dull, woolly McIntosh showed up in my school lunches, to the point that I thought I didn't care much for them. They don't cook wonderfully well either; collapsing to mush very quickly. On the other hand, they make good cider, and they are not bad to cook with if you mix them with other apples with more body. They make a decent applesauce.

However, when they are freshly-picked they are a very good eating apple; tart and sprightly and crunchy. They get sweeter, milder and softer as the season progresses, until eventually they reach the aforementioned state of dull woolliness. Eat them now and for the next few weeks - they will store for a little while. And after all, it's not everyday - okay, actually it is - that you get to eat the fruit of an almost 200 year old apple. Its anniversary will be in 2011. I hope there's a party.

Peppers Stuffed with Lamb

You can use whatever large mild peppers you like for this dish. Bell peppers are the easiest to find, and you can use them all year long as they are available greenhouse-grown. However, they give me vile indigestion, so I make these with Cubanelle peppers, or with Red Shepherd peppers as seen in the photograph.

I blew it when I made these, and mixed the meat with all of the cooked wild rice and barley, which did work out okay, although I think I prefer it as described in the recipe.

4 servings
1 1/2 hours - 30 minutes prep time

1/2 cup raw barley
1/3 cup raw wild rice
1/4 teaspoon salt

4 medium sized mild peppers

450 grams (1 pound) ground lamb, or beef
1 medium onion
2 stalks of celery

1 teaspoon dried mint
1 teaspoon dried dillweed
1/2 teaspoon black peppercorns, crushed
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 of a 540 ml (19 ounce) tin of tomato sauce
OR about 1 1/2 cups tomato sauce

Put the barley, wild rice and 1/4 teaspoon salt in a rice cooker with 2 3/4 cups of water. Turn on and let cook.

Core the peppers, and remove all seeds. Cook them in a lightly oiled skillet for a few minutes on each side, until slightly softened and browned in spots. Set them aside, and preheat the oven to 350°F.

Peel and chop the onion finely. Wash, trim and chop the celery. Sauté the onion and celery with 1/2 of the meat, until the vegetables are softened and the meat is no longer pink. If you are using lamb, you are not likely to need to add any oil to the pan, but if you are using grass-fed beef a little bit may be required.

Mix the cooked meat and vegetables with 1 cup of the cooked wild rice and barley mixture. Mix in the remaining raw meat and the seasonings. If it is very stiff, mix in a little of the tomato sauce. Use this mixture to stuff the peppers.

Lightly oil a casserole dish (I use a small lasagne pan) and arrange the remaining wild rice and barley evenly over the bottom of it. Put the stuffed peppers on top. If you have more stuffing than will go into the peppers, make meatballs and place them over the wild rice and barley. Cover the peppers and wild rice and barley with a thin layer of tomato sauce.

Cover the casserole dish and bake for 30 minutes. Uncover the dish and bake for 20 minutes more.

A Visit to Goderich Farmers' Market

We spent several days camping at Point Farms Provincial Park this week. On Saturday, we drove into Goderich to visit their Farmers' Market before heading back home.

Goderich is is famous for their unusual octagonal park, which also houses a handsome art-deco courthouse. On Saturdays from Victoria day to Thanksgiving, from 8:00 am to 1:00 pm, there is a small farmers' market on the south side of the park.

A stand with a good assortment of squashes, potatoes and gourds, as well as a few tomatoes and melons.

This farmer comes all the way from Harrow; a 3 hour drive! He says he likes the Goderich Market because the vendors are so friendly. We certainly found them very nice and chatty.

A very well-stocked stand from Hillsview Greenhouses & Market Produce.

Organic produce from Meeting Place Organic Farm. I didn't realize they had a stand here, and was surprised but very pleased to see it. In addition to their own produce and apple butter, they have honey from one of their neighbours. You can also see the weekly Community Shared Agriculture baskets for a number of their customers waiting on the back of the trailer.

Apples and pears have been grown in this area for a long time - Point Farms was full of old orchards to walk through - and so I expected to find some apples and pears at the market. There were indeed some apple farmers there, although not as many as I expected. Still, a reasonable selection.

Some of my favourite late summer flowers: bright pink cosmos, and zinnias in a range of colours including an irresistable pale green.

Sunflowers, zinnias and jewel-toned gladiolas.

We didn't buy a huge amount of stuff - our car was pretty packed with all our camping gear. (It's amazing how much going camping for three days is like moving out!) Nevertheless, we left with a nice range of goods: peaches, squash, a small red cabbage, a loaf of all-rye bread, ginormous shiitakes, zucchini, leeks, a selection of heritage tomatoes, and pears. (We also left with some cinnamon buns; so sorry, no picture. They didn't last that long.)

Overall I really liked the Goderich market. It isn't terribly large, but there is a good comprehensive selection of fruits and veggies, as well as baked goods. It does lack meat and cheese. The only meat I saw was a very small selection of cured sausages in a picnic type cooler. There was no fish either, which was a disappointment, since Goderich is right on the water. Prices seemed to vary a fair bit, but overall I thought they were quite reasonable.