PRESERVING THE HARVEST

Tasting fresh ingredients in your daily cooking is of course, one of the best rewards of the fall harvest. With such plenty, it is often the case that I develop facile ways of preserving quantities of foods that have made their way to my kitchen.  I often find that a neighbouring crabapple tree owned by a generous friend is easy to harvest, so whether it be offerings, foraging or simply buying in season at your local grocery store, seasonal foods are the best pick. Whether it be drying apples for easy munching later, freezing rhubarb for pies yet to be made, poaching or pickling in wine or cider , infusing herbs in oil, or making berry jams for breakfast, the first step is to determine which method of preserving suits the food and your culinary tastes. Always select fruits and vegetables that are in great condition and even slightly under ripe for your preserving.

Plum Crabapple Jam

This easy jam is tart, at the same time, sweet, and brimming with flavour. Plums and crabapples harvest at the same time so gathering is pleasant, the preparation rather simple in that there are only four main ingredients. 

6 cups quartered crabapples 1500 ml

3 cups water 750 ml

2 tbsp cinnamon

8 cups purple plums 2 litres

10 cups granulated sugar 2.50 litres

11/2 cups dry red wine 350 ml

Place crabapples and water in a dutch oven and boil over medium-low heat covered for 15 minutes until the fruit softens. Press crabapples into a sieve coarsely to remove pits, stems. Save the pulp and return to dutch oven. Add plums, sugar, cinnamon and return to a gentle boil until it forms a sticky gel (approx. 30 minutes). Stir frequently to avoid burning. Remove from heat and fill hot, clean sterilized jars. Process jars in a hot bath for 10 minutes, rinse and label.

Apple Plum Chutney

This recipe is so rich in spicy flavour that it becomes a frequent pleaser in the winter months. Try this as a spread in sandwiches, on potatoes or as a condiment on a great vegetarian or beef burger. Depending on the darkness of the plums you use, the colour is a gorgeous deep orange.

8 cups unpeeled pitted and quartered pums 2 litres

51/2 cups packed brown sugar 1350 ml

4 cups chopped golden onions 1 litre

1 head garlic

2 cups diced red pepper 500 ml

1 cup golden raisins 250 ml

2 tbsp mustard seeds 30 ml

2 tsp coarse salt 10 ml

1 tbsp each allspice, cinnamon, ginger 15 ml

4 cups cider 1 litre

Add all ingredients to a large dutch oven and bring to a boil reducing heat to simmer for at least an hour to allow the mixture to become a thick consistency. Stir frequently to avoid sticking. Remove from heat and pour into hot, clean sterilized jars. Process jars in a hot bath for 10 minutes, then rinse and label.

Spicy Crabapples

Once picked in September in quantity and pickled in a spicy vinegar, these spicy crabapples grace a thanksgiving plate beautifully. Sort through your pickings to find the best of the crabapples, keep the stems and begin this simple process.

41/2 cups granulated sugar 1125 ml

3 cups water 750 ml

21/2 cups cider vinegar 625 ml

1 cinnamon stick

1 tbsp whole cloves, allspice and caramon 15 ml

33/4 lbs. crabapples 1.7 kg

Combine sugar, water and vinegar in a large dutch oven. Prepare a spice bag with cinnamon, whole cloves, allspice and cardamon. Bring mixture to a boil for 10 minutes. Using cleaned whole crabapples and boil for approximately 10 minutes or until apples are tender. Gently place apples into large jars and pour spicy vinegar into them leaving 1/2 inch space.  Process jars in a hot bath for 20 minutes, rinse and label.

Roasted Red Peppers

With local sweet red peppers arriving into the marketplace at low prices, September is the time to bring them home and savour their flavours throughout the winter months. Thoroughly wash the exterior of the red peppers and place any quantity in a large bowl. Add 1-2 tbsp olive oil to glaze the peppers. Place them over the bbq under medium heat and turn them gently while they brown. Return them to a large clean bowl and seal it with plastic wrap to complete a steaming of the peppers. Remove after 10 minutes, skin and halve each pepper to place in a sealed bag adding some of the roasting juices for flavour. Use them on pizza, spreads, pasta dishes, and jambalayas.

Peach Orange Conserve

Conserves vary from jams or jellies of course so that you enjoy a mixed fruit dish that may be served with yogourt, ice cream or pound cake. There is also a vast difference this conserve has to its poor, bland, pale commercial cousin, canned peaches from the supermarket. To remove the peach skin, place the cleaned peaches in a large bowl, pour boiling water to submerge for approx 1-3 minutes, and drain. Follow this by ice cold water submersion and peel easily.

2 oranges unpeeled

1 rbsp grated lemon rind

3/4 cup water

8 cups coarsely chopped, pitted peeled peaches

6 cups granulated sugar

1/4 cup lemon juice

10 cinnamon stick

3/4 slivered almonds

Remove stem from oranges and place whole with lemon rind and water and bring to boil, reduce heat and simmer covered in a small pot for approximately 15 minutes. Let cool, slice coursely  and place in  a large dutch oven along with chopped peaches, sugar, lemon juice. Bring to a boil, reduce heat to a simmer for approximately 1 hour. Finally add almonds to the mixture and cook for 5 more minutes. Prepare 500 ml. jars in the oven and add one cinnamon stick to each. Pour mixture into jars. Process jars in a hot bath for 20 minutes, then rinse and label.

September Means Bringing in the Abundant Harvest!

SEPTEMBER

September brings an abundant harvest of local produce.  Russett apples, a light, flaky tasty eating apple is available to make applesauce, pies, cakes and muffins.  Fresh local peaches are delightfully versitile as they can be preserved in a sweet syrup, pureed with only a small amount of honey, or even pickled with delicates spices.  Large juicy local red peppers are abundant in grocery stores to process and quickly make rich, meaty red pepper spaghetti sauce.  Tomatoes are pouring into markets for many practical canning projects at home from tomato soup bases to hot salsas to  be enjoyed in the winter months.  Many varieties of squash in early September are making an appearance in local gardens and can add substance to soups, stews, pasta sauces.  Watch for golden onions, shallots, green onions and spanish from your local producers.  They all are harvested at this time and many varieties if kept in a cool, dry and dark location will last well into the winter months. 

  Chutney Appetizers

Oven Roasted Garlic

               Autumn Vegetable Soup

Italian Muffalata

Beef Nachos with Hot Salsa Sauce

Jambalaya with Hot Salsa Sauce

Sweet Pepper Spaghetti

Zucchini Loaf with Nuts

Corn Relish Skillet Bread with Mexican Hot Peppers

Vegetarian Chili

French Peach Cake

Apple Cinnamon Muffins

Apple Raisin Pie

Apple Plum Chutney

Crabapple Plum Jam

Damson Preserve

Peach Chutney

Roasted Red Peppers

Peach Orange Conserve

Spiced Pickled Peaches

Bread and Butter Pickles

Giardiniera

Espresso Liqueur

Autumn Vegetable Soup

This soup can be prepared on a Saturday morning when you have a few moments to gather what root vegetables have not been used during the previous week.  Each soup will have a slightly different selection of vegetables that has given it a particular warm autumn colour.  Each soup will have a slightly different bouquet and flavour as the herbs will vary, but the foundation is the root vegetable family i.e. potatoes, carrots, parsnips and rutabagas.  When your family is too busy for meal preparation, this soup with a scone or a slice of nutritious bread is a meal in itself.

2 tbsp olive oil  25 ml

2 whole golden onions diced

3 cloves garlic

2 large carrots quartered and sliced

2 parsnips quartered and sliced

3 potatoes diced

8 cups chicken, vegetable or beef broth 250 ml

2 tbsp each of basil, thyme, oregano and bay leaf

Using a large Dutch oven, heat olive oil and place diced onions and garlic to cook until translucent.  Add the root vegetables and cook for approximately 5 minutes stirring frequently.  Add a chicken, beef or vegetable broth and allow the soup to simmer for at least an hour.  Use a blender and a large bowl to puree about 1 cup (250 ml) of the soup mixture at a time and finally return the soup to its original dutch oven.  Add the herbs while it simmers for another 20 minutes.  When serving, add 2 tablespoons of rich cream and a leaf of basil or other herb.

Italian Muffalata

Using large baguette, slice lengthwise and remove soft bread with fingers.

Prepare 6 tablespoons of tempanade (mixture of finely diced olives and vinegar) and apply to one side of bread.

Apply 6 tablespoons  goat’s cheese  to other side of bread.

Roast 2 red peppers and lay them on the latter side.  Apply basil to the olive spread.

Close  the whole sandwich and let sit in saran wrap for 4 hours.   Slice diagonally  and serve with salads, and a sauvignon blanc!

Jambalaya with Hot Salsa Sauce

When there is a large gathering of family and friends, this dish is welcomed for its morsels of chicken and shrimp with bright additions of red peppers in season and available in abundance.  Use a slow cooker to provide an easy method of preparation putting the ingredients together early in the day, letting you plan the dinner party in a more relaxed way.  Serve with a fresh green salad and crusty European bread.

2 1/2 cups chicken broth

1-2 large chopped red onions

3 cloves garlic

1/2 pound skinless chicken breasts cut into cubes

1/2 pound hot Italian sausage

1 large chopped roasted red pepper

1 tsp turmeric

1 tsp fresh thyme 

black pepper to taste

1 cup white rice

1/3 wild rice

1/2 pound  shelled tiger shrimp

1 cup frozen peas

Saute onions, garlic and chicken with olive oil in a saucepan.  Add to your slow cooker.  Also prepare sausage pieces in the same way and add to the slow cooker mixture.  Add the broth and herbs as well and cook for 3-5 hours on HIGH.

After this initial cooking process has taken place, stir in the shrimp, roasted peppers and rices.  Cover and cook for another 2 hours.  In the last 15 minutes add the peas.

Corn Relish Skillet Bread with Mexican Hot Peppers

This very easy cornbread recipe can be made on an Autumn Sunday while preparing a hearty bacon and egg breakfast.  Once the bacon has cooked, reserve bacon drippings and 2 slices of bacon to be finely chopped into the cornbread mixture adding a smoked flavour to the bread.  I made this dish first on our farm in Prince Edward County on a charming wood-fired cookstove while staying at our friend's small home that we affectionately call the 'mini-house'.  The preparation was easy, the ingredients few, the rewards great.

Use an large old fashioned cast iron skillet for this traditional bread.  Pre-heat oven to 375-425 degrees.  Grease the plan with bacon drippings and return the empty pan to the oven for reheating.  

3/4 cup all purpose unbleached flour 175 ml

21/2 tsp double-acting baking powder 10 ml

2 tbsp  sugar 25 ml

3/4 tsp salt 3 ml

1 1/4 cups yellow cornmeal 300 ml

1 egg

2-3 tbsp bacon drippings 40 ml

2/3 cup milk 150 ml

1/3 cup corn relish 75 ml

1/2 jalepeno or habenero pepper 

finely chopped

1/2 cup shredded cheddar cheese 125 ml

Blend together dry ingredients in a medium bowl.  In a separate bowl, blend wet ingredients including the hot peppers.  Spread the batter into the hot cast iron skillet.  Sprinkle shredded cheese on the batter along with a sprinkle of parsley.  Bake for 25 minutes and serve with your favourite weekend breakfast.

French Peach Cake

This very traditional cake offers an easy way to serve fresh fruit to guests after the main course is being prepared.  Use berries in season, peaches, or any apple variety.  Pre-heat your oven to 425F.

2 cups sliced peaches 500 ml

2/3 cup white sugar 150 ml

1 tbsp cinnamon 15 ml

pinch of allspice

1 lemon

1 tbsp all purpose flour 15 ml

1 cup all purpose flour 250 ml

1/2 cup sugar 75 ml

1 tsp baking powder 4 ml

1/4 tsp salt 1 ml

2 egg yolks

1 tbsp melted butter 15 ml

1/4 cup milk 175ml

Slice fruit and place in a greased deep dish pie plate.  Sprinkle the peaches with sugar, cinnamon and allspice.  Grate the lemon and sprinkle on peaches, then squeezing the juice onto surface as well.  Dredge all with flour.  Finally, pour 2-4 tbsp melted unsalted butter over all.  To prepare the cake batter, sift dry ingredients together.  Then blend yolks, butter and milk.  Pour sifted flour mixture swiftly into the wet and spoon batter onto surface of cake.  Spread gently over surface and place in oven for 30 minutes.  Serve warm or with ice cream.

Split Pea and Ham Soup with Cheese Biscuits

Split Pea and Ham Soup

My dearly beloved Aunt is an excellent cook and has this rich soup as a family offering. The meat that has as its base is one pork hocks that is smoked. Its lovely smoked aroma come through along with a tiny dash of sherry. She finds that these cheese biscuits are a perfect accompaniment to a hearty winter meal.

1 smoked pork hocks

12 cups water

4 cups chicken broth

1 large onion minced

2 cups diced celery

6 cloves garlic diced

1 cup grated carrots

1/2 cup sherry

1 bag of split peas (450 gr.)

2 tbsp chopped fresh dill

2 tbsp chopped fresh thyme

pepper to taste

Boil the pork hocks in water for approximately 2 hours. Put the hocks and the broth in the refrigerator overnight to allow the fat to solidify. Remove the fat and return to the cooking process adding chicken broth and the balance of the ingredients until the soup is thick. Just before heating to serve, add the sherry, heat and it is ready to serve.

Cheese Biscuits

The fluffy biscuits have diced squares of cheddar cheese to flavour the biscuits in a delicate way.

2 cups all-purpose unbleached flour

21/2 tsp baking powder

1 tsp salt

1 tbsp sugar

1/4 cup cold unsalted butter

3/4 cup cream

1 tbsp finely chopped fresh dill

1 cup of old cheddar cheese cut into small squares

Sift the flour, baking powder, salt and sugar. Cut into the flour the cold butter with fingers until the flour becomes the texture of peas. Add the dill and finely quickly add the cream until it is a dry dough. Transfer to a floured surface, knead for a ‘scant half minute’, roll out flat and cut into rectangular squares approximately 6” x 12”. Stuff each of these rectangles into muffin tins while adding 3-4 squares of cheddar cheese. Bake at 450 degrees F. for 10-12 minutes. Serve warm with Split Pea and Ham Soup.

Liqueurs Made at Home Are Deceptively Easy

Fruit Liqueur

At this time of year, cranberries are a lively and accessible fruit to use during this month and an easy first step to making your own liqueurs at home to enjoy them throughout the year. Try diced pears for a ‘Poire William’. Strawberries and raspberries make a delicate liqueur as well.The simplicity of these methods reminds me that this tradition of fruit flavoured cordials, wines and brandies have a long history in early Ontario and Quebec.

In the Ottawa Valley where I spent my formative years as a teenager, my close friend’s parents kept a 'cellar' (kept at a cool temperature) filled with fruits, wines, dried meats, and herbs suspended from the rafters. There were jars filled with what seemed to be strange and exotics things that lay in wait for opening. Upon reflection, this family hunted, fished, and picked fruits and berries in season while still being able to ‘set aside’ the abundance that the land provided. That knowledge probably came from their French, Celtic and Native roots that thrive still in the ‘valley’ not a stone's throw from the nation’s capital.

1 storage jar

2 cups chopped fruit

1 cup vodka or equivalent 40% alcohol

1 tbsp brandy (optional)

1/2 granulated sugar

Place the chopped fruit in a clean 1 litre jar. Stir in alcohol. Marinate for 2-3 weeks in a cool dark place. After the marinating is complete, remove the fruit using a fine cheesecloth. Reserve the fruit for ‘another use’. Add sugar and mix the liquid and the sugar until the granules have dissolved. Pour into sterilized bottles, cork, label and store in a cool place. Wait one week before serving. Taste and serve in small fancy glasses.

Limoncello

1 storage jar

4 lemons

11/2 cupsvodka or equivalent 40% alcohol

3/4 cups granulated sugar

Peel the skin and rind from the lemons and follow the same process as fruit liqueur above. After 2 weeks, stir in sugar and let the sugar dissolve slowly for one week or longer, shaking it daily to permit the sugar to dissolve. Pour into sterilized bottles, cork, label and store in a cool place.

Coffee Liqueur

1 storage jar1/2 freshly brewed expresso coffee

1/2 cup brown sugar

1 cup vodka or equivalent 40% alcohol

1/3 cup brandy or rum (optional)

Place the hot coffee and sugar in a storage jar and blend well. Stir in alcohol. Pour into sterilized bottles, cork, label and store in a cool place.

A COTTAGE EVENING IN THE COUNTY

Truck tires crunched into the freshly fallen layer of dry fluffy snow as the truck turns into our new Milford lane on Old Milford Road in ‘The County’. We had already sited our winged flat roof of our ‘net zero home’ and shared a relieved smile that our newly constructed home was waiting for us still for our wintry January retreat.

Only three months ago, we were live-in guests at the little cottage built on our property we affectionately call the ‘mini-house’ and then Bob, the architect of our new home was on site with journeymen friends to close in the roof for the winter while the foodsmith rambler took to preparing nutritious snacks and meals for the crew. With that important step of the construction project behind us, we stuffed the truck with camping gear, construction tools, a hundred and thirty pound dog and bid farewell to the county for the fall season.

After the Christmas festivities in Kemptville had died away and New Year’s resolutions still ringing in our ears, our thoughts turned to a January retreat day on the land.

Our shared excitement began with mapping out our departure time and planning a warm winter menu for a cottage evening in the ‘county’. If this was to be an afternoon trekking in our juniper grove picking berries, the main dish had to be very minimal in preparation, hearty and seasonal.

Turning down our laneway 200 metres further, Bob checked our equipment on site and we stealthily surveyed our masonry walls, our roof trusses and the flat slab and it passed the inspection with flying colours with no winter damage.

Juniper berries need to be a frosty blue in colour for picking. They provide a delicious compliment to pork while also having aromatic and medicinal applications. January seems to be the right time to seek out the female juniper plant for harvesting. As this is our third season for harvesting we noticed that these wild berries were smaller and not as abundant as last year due to coyote and other small animal consumption.

Once we settled into the cottage, Bob began building a fire that held and grew into the afternoon so that I could prepare dessert in the wood stove oven. Our winter dinner began with rustic crackers, hot pepper jelly and apple plum chutney with thin slices of a local cheese producer from a farm in Oxford Mills along with a local wine from Sandbanks Winery called Waves. Next we prepared a light and flavourful raw salad we called Winter Cole Slaw that set the stage for the Pavarotti of all pastas we newly dubbed Carbonara Canadiana. This Italian dish with Canadian variations requires little preparation and is designed to simmer in one pan so I used a cast iron skillet on the wood stovetop. We concluded with a French Peach Cake using a Peach Almond preserve made in the fall with fresh Ontario peaches.

Jim and Michelle’s 500 square foot cottage is cozily tucked into a corner of our 34 acre property in the county, is powered by solar panels and heated with this charming wood burning cookstove that provides all our heating and cooking for our winter retreat. Within this tiny house lit only with candles, the fire crackling not far away, we shared this magical winter dinner with gently falling snow settling on the hushed landscape that was ours.

February Recipe List

Hot Pepper Jelly/Stuffed Dates Appetizers

Fine Herb Pate de Foie

Split Pea and Ham Soup with Cheese Biscuits

Rideau Lake Bouillabaisse

Winter Cole Slaw*

Sundried Tomato, Leek and Herb Quiche

Carbonara Canadiana*

Mushroom Risotto

Mushroom and Beet Tarts

Pork Medallions with Apple, Sage and Cranberry Jelly

French Peach Cake*

Date Nut Squares

Mincemeat Loaf

Lemon Torte

Seville Orange Marmalade

Orange Liqueur

Limoncello

Cranberry Liqueur

Winter Cole Slaw

This lovely fresh winter slaw defies its humble vegetable roots. Prepare this salad in larger quantity and have it waiting for you a few times during the week. It makes a lively colourful starter to a dinner, but consider it too as part of a light lunch as the bed for grilled vegetables or for added substantiveness, on whole wheat bread as a Danish sandwich.

4 cups finely chopped red or white cabbage 1000 ml

1 large grated carrot

2 small beets

1 cup sultana raisins 250 ml

1/2 cup sliced blanched almonds 125 ml

1/3 cup lemon juice 75 ml

1/3 cup olive oil 75 ml

1 tbsp dill seeds

Prepare by using a blender or hand mincing the first three ingredients. Blend the oil and lemon juice and toss into the cole slaw along with dill seeds. Use the almonds and raisins as a garnish on the plate.

Carbonara Canadiana

A Carbonara sauce is defined as a spaghetti sauce with bacon or ham, egg and cream. The origin of the word comes likely from ‘carbonata’ literally ‘charcoal kiln’ when salt pork would have been grilled and used in the sauce. This stovetop pasta recipe returns to its more rustic roots by using a Canadian peameal bacon rather than the Italian bacon or ‘proscuitto’. After a day out cross-country skiing at the cottage, this is a perfect dish to make on a wood stove and enjoy the sizzle and crackle of a wood fire.

6 cups water 1500 ml

1/2 tsp sea salt 2 ml

4 slices peameal bacon

fettucini pasta for 2-4

2/3 cup 35% whipping cream 150 ml

1/2 cup grated parmesan cheese 125 ml

In a large skillet, sear the peameal bacon strips. Add the cream and parmesan cheese while stirring to thicken. Bring water to a boil and add salt. Once the pasta is ‘elle dente’, transfer the drained pasta into the skillet and gently coat the pasta with the simmering creamy sauce . Add chopped parsley and last, drop one egg yolk and toss the pasta one last time before serving. Have an additional mixture of parmesan and parsley to garnish the steaming pasta.

French Peach Cake

This very traditional French clafouti offers an easy way to use preserved fruit prepare dessert before the main course has begun. Of course this dessert is useful twelve months a year while using fresh or preserved berries, peaches, or any apple variety. Pre-heat your oven to 425F.

2 cups sliced peaches 500 ml

2/3 cup white sugar 150 ml

1 tbsp cinnamon 15 ml

pinch of allspice

1 lemon

1 tbsp all purpose flour 15 ml

1 cup all purpose flour 250 ml

1/2 cup sugar 75 ml

1 tsp baking powder 4 ml

1/4 tsp salt 1 ml

2 egg yolks

1 tbsp melted butter 15 ml

1/4 cup milk 175 ml

Slice fruit and place in a greased deep dish pie plate. Sprinkle the peaches with sugar, cinnamon and allspice. Grate the lemon and sprinkle on peaches, then squeezing the juice onto surface as well. Dredge all with flour. Finally, pour 2-4 tbsp melted unsalted butter over all. To prepare the cake batter, sift dry ingredients together. Then blend yolks, butter and milk. Pour sifted flour mixture swiftly into the wet and spoon batter onto surface of cake. Spread gently over surface and place in oven for 30 minutes. Serve warm or with ice cream.