Thursday, June 30, 2011

Lemonade

12 cups
50 calories/cup

Lemonade seems deceptively simple to make, but as they say, the devil is in the details.  Lemons can vary wildly in acidity and flavour based on season, location, and the method of cultivation.  Organic lemons are generally the best, and you can use the zest for other things as well.  The very best lemons aren't available until the fall, so "quick" summer lemonade requires you to be flexible in the quantities of lemon juice in the recipe.  Making a sugar syrup with the zest of the lemon also enhances the taste.

We like our lemonade tart, so there isn't a lot of sugar in the recipe.  Add more if you have a sweeter tooth.






Add:
1/2 cup of sugar
Zest of 1 lemon
2 cups of water
to a small saucepan over medium high heat.  Stir occasionally to make sure the sugar doesn't burn until all of the sugar has dissolved into



Roll:
4 lemons
under the heel of your hand (this will ensure you get all of the juice from them) and cut them in half.  Juice them and pour the juice through a small sieve to remove the pulp and seeds into a 12 cup pitcher.  Half fill the pitcher with water, and then pour in the hot sugar syrup (this will prevent the glass from cracking) and then top up with water. 


Taste the lemonade to make sure it is sufficiently tart and flavourful, and adjust by adding the juice of another
1-2 lemons.
If neccessary.  Chill and serve over ice.

Tip: Assuming you've sprung for organic lemons, rather than waste the peels zest them and dry the zest for use in baking, or candy the peels as a treat!

Wednesday, June 29, 2011

Herbal Iced Tea

12 cups

Iced tea is so simple to make that it's practically criminal that they let people sell it in stores.  Rather than fall for the old con job you can make it yourself for pennies a serving in virtually no time at all.  This recipe will serve well for most any herbal tea, the better choices are those that include fruit for more pronounced flavours.Our particular favourites are Southern Belle (peach) and Razzmintaz (raspberry and mint) from Tealish.

For iced herbal teas a longer than normal steep is also beneficial to ensure that the flavours are strong enough when chilled.  Avoid buckwheat and darker honeys as they are too strongly flavoured for the tea.

Bring a kettle full of:
Water
To a boil.  Pour a small amount into a 12-cup teapot and swish it about to warm the pot and clear away any residue from previous steeps.  Pour out the water from the teapot and put in an infuser containing:
4 heaping teaspoons of herbal tea
Take the kettle off the heat, and when the boil subsides fill the teapot to the top, making sure to pour through the infuser.  Steep for 10 minutes and remove the infuser.  Do not cover with a cozy.  Allow the tea to cool for 30 more minutes, and then pour the tea from the pot into a 12 cup pitcher. 

Add:
1/4 cup of light honey
Stirring with the measuring cup to ensure all of the honey dissolves.  Chill and serve with:
6 frozen strawberries, blackberries, and/or raspberries

And Now For Something Completely Different

It's time for a bit of a respite from asparagus before a fresh onslaught this weekend.  Canada Day is also coming up, and we're having some family and old family friends over to celebrate.  So it's time to get cracking.  The menu will be simple as befits a barbeque, but that still doesn't mean there aren't things to prep in advance. 

First up is non-alcoholic beverages.  We generally don't serve pop except as a mixer for mixed drinks, and while other options have multiplied dramatically over the past few years on store shelves, it seems silly to pay a premium for something that you can make at home yourself.

Two favourites are chilling in the fridge as we speak. 

First is Southern Belle iced tea,which is made from an eponymous herbal tea from Tealish.  Located on Queen Street just east of Triinity Bellwood's, the good quality and great service at Michael Rachmel's tea shop means it remains our favourite Toronto source for tea despite the multiplying number of shops in the marketspace.  His only real competitor for our tea buying affections is the incomparable Mariage Freres of Paris, but that's more in the order of a special treat than everyday pleasure.


The other is homemade lemonade.  We've refined our recipe over the years, and believe that it is second to none as a refreshment for those hot summer days.  It's winter counterpart is lemon squash, but that will have to wait until the great fall lemons.

Look forward to the recipes in my following posts!

Roasted Asparagus

2-4 servings
50 calories total

There seems to be an international conspiracy to over-cook asparagus, and even a number of sources I consider to be extremely sound recommend overlong cooking times, resulting in a less than perfect eating product.  Freshness is also critical, so much so that we simply don't eat asparagus out of the local season.  It's far better to wait until next year than have to consume some poor spear that's travelled half way around the world, losing flavour by the minute.  When juicing the lemon, don't worry about the seeds, as they will be left behind when you remove the asparagus.

Bend to break:
1 pound of asparagus
Put in a roasting pan and toss with:
1 tablespoon olive oil
Juice of one lemon
Salt and pepper to taste
Put under the broiler for three minutes, toss, and then broil for two more minutes.  Remove from the pan and serve hot or cold.

Tip: There is no need to cut your asparagus, simply bend it until it snaps.  This will be the natural point when the edible asparagus is separated from the woody end.  Also, if it doesn't snap, but just bends, it's not fresh enough to eat!

Monday, June 27, 2011

Vertical Farms

As an advocate for the consumption of locally produced foods I was fascinated when I ran across this article promoting the concept of high-rise greenhouses in the urban core:

Building Up Instead of Out: The Rise of the Vertical Farm

That said, having just had a salad with local greenhouse tomatoes and cucumbers with dinner, the words that best described the produce were bland and woody respectively.  It was a reminder that human ingenuity has yet to catch up with mother nature in the department of flavour and texture.  For now I'll have to be more patient and wait for Ben Sosnicki's cucumbers and Jim Hayward's tomatoes to come into season.

Cream of Roasted Asparagus Soup

About 4 quarts
150 calories per cup

This rich and creamy soup is a spring treat that you can serve hot or cold to suit the occasion.  Broiling the asparagus beforehand makes for a more interesting flavour as well.  If you are using whole asparagus you can reserve the roasted tips and add them at the end for a more rustic soup. 

The soup is rich enough that a large serving should be avoided for all but the most insatiable of appetites... A cup and a half will usually do. 

Like all soups, it is best made in large batches, and can be frozen for storage if you leave the cream out and only add it when you have thawed the base and are preparing to serve.

Cut or break into 1" pieces:
3 pounds fresh asparagus with woody ends removed
Put half of the asparagus in a roasting pan and toss with:
1 tablespoon olive oil
Put under the broiler for 3 minutes, toss again, and broil for 2 more minutes, and then repeat for the second half of the asparagus.  If you are using whole spears of asparagus you can reserve the tips to make a chunkier soup.  Melt in a saucepot over medium heat:
4 tablespoons unsalted butter
4 tablespoons of olive oil
Add and sautee until tender (but not browned):
1 cup of chopped sweet onion
1 cup of chopped spring onions
Add the roasted asparagus and sautee five more minutes.  Stir in:
1/2 cup of all purpose flour
Turn the heat to high and slowly stir in:
8 cups of asparagus stock
When the stock comes to a boil reduce the heat to medium low and simmer partially covered for ten minutes, stirring occasionally.  Add:
1 1/2 tbsp of fresh tarragon leaves
2 1/2 tsp of coarse salt (or to taste)
1/8 teaspoon of fresh ground pepper



Simmer for five more minutes or until the asparagus is tender.  Remove from the heat and puree the soup with a hand blender.  When ready to serve add:
2 cups of half-and-half cream
Reserved asparagus tips (optional)
and bring back up to temperature to serve. Garnish with:
Parsely sprigs

Tip:  This is an ideal recipe to make from leftover trimmings on a day when you are making pickled asparagus.

Asparagus Stock

Makes 6 quarts

Stock is so easy to make if you have an active kitchen that buying it is like paying top dollar for other people's throwaways.  Add in the confidence of knowing what's going into your food and being less wasteful the advantages of making it yourself become apparent. 

Asparagus stock in particular is a rich, subtly flavoured foundation for vegetable soups and dishes that cannot be had any other way than making it at home.  Generic off-the shelf vegetable stocks can't really compare to it's spring freshness.  Don't overcook, or the flavour can become unpleasant, just like overcooked asparagus.  Note that we also don't salt our stock while we're making it, only when we use it.  This allows finer control of the flavour of our recipes.  Finally, thanks to Julia Child we know the secret to great stock is to never let it come to a boil, only a simmer...

Heat a large stockpot over medium heat:
4 tablespoons olive oil
4 tablespoons butter
Add and cook, stirring until softened:
The woody ends of 12 pounds of asparagus
2 large chopped onions, with their skins
8 chopped or broken celery stalks
4 chopped or broken carrots 
A handful of lettuce
12 parsley sprigs
36 peppercorns
Add:
Cold Water to cover
Bring to a simmer over high heat, and then reduce the heat to maintain the simmer for an hour mostly covered, and then taste the stock.  It should have a noticeable flavour, but don't expect a richness yet.  If it tastes watery, cook another ten minutes and try again, repeating as neccessary.  That said, never cook it for longer than an hour and a half.  Strain into a large bowl and mash the vegetables to get every last bit of liquid out.  The stock can be used immediately, frozen, or canned in a steam pressure canner.

Tip: If you have any loose vegetable trimmings while the stock is simmering throw them in, as there's no point in wasting them!

Sunday, June 26, 2011

Pickled Asparagus with Tarragon

9-10 pint jars
25 calories a jar

Pickled asparagus is a delicious treat combining the spring freshness of asparagus and sourness of the brine.  Properly prepared you can also preserve a bit of crunch that will make your own stand out from the over-processed ones available on store shelves.  Make sure you only get the freshest asparagus; firm long stems with tightly closed buds are they key signs.  Thick or thin make no difference, although we prefer thick.  Using fresh garlic scapes available at the same time as the asparagus also makes for a milder but still enjoyable garlic flavour than last years cloves from the cold cellar.  Finally, tarragon is the perfect complement to asparagus, and is essential to the recipe.

This recipe is best made in large batches as the jars are quicker to prepare than the setup, and you'll find they fly off the shelves whenever entertaining or a hostess gift is required.

Wash and bend to snap:
12 pounds fresh asparagus
Save the woody ends for stock, and then snap to approximately 4" in length.  Save the remainer for soup or make a jar of pickled offcuts for salads. Place them in large bowl or clean stainless steel sink and cover with cold filtered water and cover generously with:
Ice
Allow the asparagus to plump for at leastt one hour in the ice bath, or refrigerate overnight if time is tight and you want to split the process. Prepare a vinegar brine consisting of:
8 cups of white vinegar
8 cups of filtered water
16 tablespoons of salt
in a large pot and bring to a boil. 
Place in a jar hot from the oven (see Pickling Tips):
1 large sprig of tarragon
3-4 pieces of garlic scapes
Spicy pepper of your choice (optional)
Tightly pack the jar with tip down asparagus spears taken directly from the ice bath, and fill the jar with the brine, and then seal.  Put on a wire rack and leave overnight to cool, and check seals in the morning.  Store in a cool dark place.

Pickling Tips

We take a slightly simplified approach to pickling in brine here on Cavell avenue.  In particular, we find that processing your brined pickles takes away the better part of the crunch and freshness that makes pickling fresh vegetables worthwhile.  So, we have a slightly modified approach that has been very successful over the years; we have lost one jar of pickles to a failed seal and bacteria out of several hundred over the last three years.  We have also streamlined the process to make it faster, allowing larger quantities to be produced in less time.

Sterilizing the Jars

After washing the jars by hand or in the dishwasher, we sterilize them in the oven.  Simply put the jars in at 235 degrees for at least ten minutes and they'll be ready to go without the trouble of fishing them out of a boiling water bath.  You can also fit a lot more in the oven, as the picture shows.  It also reminds me it's past time to clean the oven!




No Processing Required

Always use 2 part lids and rings, or new one piece lids to seal the jars.  Put them in a pot of water at just under medium heat (in a lid holder if you have one) to prepare the seal.  When you have filled your jar with the pickles, seasoning, and brine, simply put the hot lid on, fingertip tighten the ring and put it on a wire rack to cool.  You will find your jar is almost guaranteed to seal, and simply pop the rare one that doesn't in the fridge.  It will be ready to eat in a month.  Another advantage of this technique is that headspace is less of a concern.  As long as you cover the pickles and leave approximately a quarter inch at the top and you're good to go.

Finally...Use a Good Pot

The better the pot you use the faster it will bring the brine to a boil and the better your control of the temperature.

Saturday, June 25, 2011

Asparagus Anyone?

The asparagus has been outstanding again this year, and pickled asparagus is a specialty of the house.  We bought thirteen pounds of Welsh Family Organics asparagus from their neighbour Ben Sosnicki at the Withrow Park Farmers' Market today.

Since it's best to lay up pickles when the produce is fresh, I went to work as soon as Aija, Nyls, and Suzy went up for an afternoon nap.  Not long afterward twelve pounds of asparagus had been rendered into nine pint jars of pickled asparagus.  We normally lay up two to three dozen jars of asparagus, so there's more work to do in the coming weeks, but it will be available for some time to come.



The only problem with pickling asparagus is that there can be a lot of waste.  Fresh asparagus spears are longer than fits in a jar even when the woody ends are broken off, so there were a couple of additional things on the go today.

First up was vegetable stock with the woody ends as it's foundation instead of turnips and parsnips.  This makes a delicious stock that is perfect for cream of asparagus soup... of course.  So, while the stock was simmering I prepared the ends of the asparagus left over from the pickling and Suzy and I made cream of roasted asparagus soup. 





So the net product of the day was nine jars of aspargus, four quarts of the soup, and three and half quarts of asparagus stock left over after the soup was made.  All that, and not an ounce of the asparagus left to waste!

Dinner time came and Nyls was asleep (he's only three weeks old), and Aija was out at a party, so Suzy and I sat down and enjoyed a delightful dinner of the soup complemented by an Ace Bakery organic baguette with echire from The Friendly Butcher and a trio of local cheeses from the Montfort Dairy



When everything was cleaned up we finished off with a gin and tonic featuring Hendrick's gin, Fever-Tree tonic water, and a twist of organic lemon rind.  Perfect!

Good Ingredients

First and foremost we believe the foundation of good cooking is fresh, local ingredients grown or raised organically and ethically whenever possible. 

To that end our number one shopping destination is the Withrow Park Farmers' Market. Since the spring of 2007 it has provided us with great indredients for our meals and home preserving, and we have built great relationships with a number of farmers and vendors.

Among our favourites are:

Jim Hayward's Haystrom Farm provides us with great quality - in bulk!  Beets, San Marzano tomatoes, potatoes, green, yellow, and purple beans, squash, and thermonuclear chili peppers are a few of the things Jim and his trusty assistant Dave provide us by the bushel over the course of the year.

Ben Sosnicki of Sosnicki Organics is another favourite.  Whether it's corn, cabbages, carrots, onions, cucumbers, asparagus, lettuce, and much more, Ben has it in bulk quantities of the highest quality.  His Purple Haze carrots are not to be missed!

Last but not least is Laurel Fortin's Small Potatoes Farm.  It's amazing what an acre of land can produce!

Riverdale is also home to a number establishments that supply our humble abode.  Of particular note are:

Fresh from the Farm has supplied the neighbourhood with local meats and produce from Amish and Mennonite farmers since 1996.  A combination of great service, great quality, and great prices make it a weekly destination.

A relative newcomer, The Friendly Butcher, has made a very good impression as well, providing a selection of fancier meat offerings that are simply delicious.

Organic bread made in the french tradition is the hallmark of St. John's Bakery.  Add in it's community outreach program that teaches people who are struggling people a valuable trade and it's hard to say no to their superior breads.

We hope you have the opportunity to sample some of these wares; you won't be disappointed!

Welcome to the Hotel Cavell

Built in 1893, our home is the original farmhouse south-east of what is now the intersection of Pape and Danforth Avenues in Toronto.  Since being constructed it's gone through several owners and incarnations, from farm house to a boarding house known as the Hotel Cavell.  Later it was restored by award-winning filmakers John Zaritsky and Virginia Storring.  While in their care the house maintained it's pseudonym while hosting  members of the international arts community.

Today it is home of the Cioran Family: Nicholas, Suzanna, Aija, Nyls, and our ineffable nanny Jane.

We still play host to our friends and family, whether for short visits or extended stays.  One of the features of visiting is the food.  Those who find their way to our door will find that there is always something to eat, be it lunch, tea, or dinner.  We always do our best to ensure that the fare served is as good as our culinary skills allow, and we doubt you will find anyone who would disagree that it is always excellent.

This blog will give you a peek into what's cooking in the kitchen or on the grill at the Hotel Cavell.  Here you will find original recipes, anecdotes, and links to the suppliers of fine foods, both prepared and ingredients. 

We hope you enjoy your visit!