Your "Eat Local" Library

In a jam

2009-08-05T08:21:00.000-07:00

I've always been a bit afraid of making jam...something about hot, sticky, sputtering fruit all over my kitchen I guess. But a while ago I ended up with a quart of fresh black currants from my CSA and didn't quite know what to do with them. I had never even seen fresh currants before, and they're beautiful fruits, but so tart you just can't eat them raw. I found a number of recipes on the internet for making black currant booze, but I was hesitant about wasting all that fruit if it didn't turn out, let alone all that vodka, so I decided to suck it up and make some jam last night and it turned out great!

Here's the recipe...this jam is quick and super easy and can be made with any fruit, not just currants. Enjoy!

Ingredients:
1/2 cup sugar
2 tsp. water
1 cup currants

Directions:
- combine sugar and water in a small saucepan over medium heat
- when sugar has melted, add the berries and turn up to high heat
- once it reaches a boil, boil for 5 minutes
- remove from heat and cool completely, and store in a jar in the fridge

I plan on eating the jam with scones and clotted cream this weekend. If anyone has a good (easy) recipe for scones...post it in the comments section!

Dig a little deeper

2009-08-05T07:59:00.000-07:00

Want to learn more about where the food in the grocery store comes from, how it's made and how it gets there?

We have a tonne of resources in our library that can tell you. We just today received Michael Pollan's "In Defense of Food". You can also find all of Michael Pollan's other books in our collection.

Find more books on where your food comes from, how to grow it yourself and even how to get cooking on our Eat Local display in the library. Or check out Bill Mollison's Global Gardener or The Power of Community from the film collection to get your own food revolution started.

You take the good with the bad

2009-07-15T10:41:00.000-07:00

The great thing about joining a CSA is that, as I've noticed, you can manage to avoid grocery stores for weeks on end. The not-so-great thing as that you no longer get a say in what ends up in your fridge.

For the most part I've really enjoyed the challenge of cooking with a such a wide variety of veggies each week. Having to come up with new recipes and work with what I have has re-ignited a smoldering passion for cooking. My lunches have been filled with fresh salads giving me the energy to really go to town cooking dinner. My most surprising discovery to date has been the versatility of bitter greens. Swiss chard and beet greens have found their way into soups, stir-frys, pastas and pastries. The snap peas have been snacked on, the broccoli braised, and this week I'll be turning out a batch of garlic scape and basil pesto. It's all been rather exciting.

But this weeks bag'o'food threw some challenges my way. For one, I now have 5 zucchinis in my fridge, on top of the dozens in my home-away-from-home garden, and I will soon have to confront this surplus. But worst of all, there it was at the bottom of the bag looming ominously... cabbage. And not the lovely kind you find in Chinese food or kimchi, but the big ol' round gassy kind that - for whatever reason - people seem to like pickled on their pork.

Not that I'm totally averse to cabbage...I'll eat pretty much anything, I'm just not cabbage's biggest fan and I don't really know where to start. I'm pretty coleslaw'd out thanks to 3 weeks of kohlrabi, and the only cooked incarnations of cabbage I've come across are cabbage rolls and borscht. Now I like a good perogie, but that's pretty much where my love of Eastern European cuisine comes to an end.

So I'm putting the call out. Send me all your cabbage recipes. I will pick one to use with this head of cabbage and the winning entry gets my next head of cabbage...deal?

If I don't get another cabbage, then I've got some Gold Rush and Costata Romanesca zucchinis with your name on it!

(You must be in the downtown Galt area to win...I doubt cabbage does well by Canada Post)

Update:

Here are the winning recipes, submitted by one of our own staff, Ewa (and no I'm not playing favourites, she was the only one to submit recipes):

VEGETARIAN CABBAGE SOUP

Ingredients:
2 cups chopped cabbage
1 can chickpeas, rinsed and drained
1 large gold potato
1 onion, chopped
2 garlic cloves, pressed
1/4 cup cilantro, finely chopped
4 cups of filtered or spring water or vegetable broth
Sea salt and black pepper, to taste

Directions:
1. Use 4 cups of water or vegetable broth to boil all ingredients except cilantro, salt, and pepper. Boil until vegetables are tender.
2. Transfer 3 cups of soup into a blender and blend until creamy.
Add blended mixture back to pot, adding cilantro, salt and pepper to taste.
3. Stir for a minute and serve.
Enjoy this delicious cabbage chickpea soup on its own or with a bowl of rice and a fresh vegetable salad.

KAPUśNIAK [kapooshniak]

Ingredients:
8 cups water
1 lb pork riblets
8 cups chopped cabbage
2 cups shredded carrots
1 medium chopped onion
2 garlic cloves
6 potatoes
1 bay leave
5 all spice corns
5 black pepper corns
salt
2 cups chopped peeled tomatoes
1/4 cup chopped dill
table cream (18%)

Directions:
Boil slow riblets in water with spices in a large stock pot over medium heat for 1 hour.
Add chopped onion, garlic, cabbage, carrots, and diced potatoes.
Bring to a boil.
Reduce heat.
Simmer about 30 minutes until cabbage wilts.
Stir in tomatoes and return to a boil, then simmer 20 to 30 minutes, stirring often.
Serve hot with dill and cream.

Local food... it's in the bag!

2009-06-23T14:23:00.000-07:00

Just got my first bag of fresh, local food from the LOFT Market CSA! It was overflowing, and the whole office now smells of fresh strawberries!!!

Also in the bag...

a huge pak choi
tat soi
red and yellow swiss chard
red and white onions
garlic
garlic scapes
a head of lettuce
a large bag of mixed greens
kohlrabi
potatoes

Can't decide what's for dinner yet, but strawberries and salad will definitely be on my plate!

Never heard of kohlrabi? It's a turnip-looking veggie that tastes a bit like the stems of your broccoli. It works well as a means for dipping, or grated and made into slaw. I also found this recipe that uses kohlrabi and 4 other veggies in the bag.

Hooray for Tuesday!

Sweet...peas!

2009-06-22T12:11:00.000-07:00

So the Cambridge Farmer's Market opened last Wednesday for the first time this year. Some of us wandered over during the day to see what was in stock. The season's first strawberries had arrived, but the sweetest ones are yet to come I think... (by the way, check out the patch growing in the School's Community Garden, it puts my own strawberry patch to shame. I'm berry jealous indeed.)

But the fab find of the week was most definitely Sweet Peas...and we've decided they're the perfect snack food. Why, you ask?

- they're green (=good for you)
-they're little things you can eat a lot of
-they keep your hands busy
-they're sweet
-they're crunchy
-they're cute
-kids like them!
- and best of all, there's no cooking, prepping, washing, slicing, dicing, or dishes

I thought about throwing them in the pan with some other veggies this weekend, but I couldn't do it...they're too perfect on their own.

Livin' la vida local

2009-06-16T09:26:00.000-07:00

This season, Michele, Linda and I are challenging ourselves to eat only (or mostly) local foods. Largely inspired by the 100-Mile Diet, we each have our own goals, rules and reasons for doing this.

We will be promoting local eating throughout the summer in various ways. Drop in to the library now to check out our display of student theses, library books and DVDs, and Eat Fresh Eat Local maps you can take home. We are also compiling a binder full of maps, articles, farms, CSAs, stores, restaurants and recipes. We are perfectly situated here to make the most of what's grown and raised in Ontario.

Try challenging yourself to eat locally this summer. It doesn't have to be 100%, start with one meal, check out the farmer's markets, sign up with a CSA. There are countless reasons to eat locally: the health of our environment, our own health, the consequences of peak oil and just getting to know your food - who makes it and where it comes from.

Keep an eye on our blog for tips, tricks, events, ideas, sources and more!