I carry with me many fond memories from my childhood of travelling the Huron County countryside to get food directly from the hands that grew it. I mean, I grew up in Hensall which is surrounded by some of the most fertile agricultural land in Ontario, so it wasn't a real stretch to find local sources for the staples that fed us. Being a small village, connecting with local producers was pretty easy. Every fall, we made our way to the local potato farmer to get our winter's share of potatoes - for a family of seven, that was a heck of a lot of potatoes! Sunday mornings after church, us kids were sent on a mission (all on our own, no less!) across town to get eggs from the woman who raised chickens in her backyard. Getting fresh corn on the cob was just a short drive out to the highway market stand where customers helped themselves and were trusted to leave their money in a bucket. We all know things have changed. But I can't help but feel a little nostalgic for the days when we not only knew where our food came from, but we knew personally who grew it. This has raised in me a bit of a passion for local food. And I'm not the only one - even supermarkets are listening to consumers demands for an increased connection to what they are putting in their shopping carts. Needless to say, I was pretty excited to see, after a long, hard winter, local hothouse peppers and tomatoes at the grocery store this morning! Soon Farmer's Markets will reappear and soon we will be working in our own garden as we are planning to grow a lot of our own vegetables this summer. In fact, I uncovered some oregano growing in the garden last week before the snow covered it up again!
Pair this with the local peppers and tomatoes I had just purchased, add some Pine River cheese that is back in grocery stores and the local eggs we had just received, and you have yourself a pretty yummy, and a pretty local frittata! Frittata
1 onion
3 cloves of garlic
1 red pepper
1 tomato
1 tbsp fresh oregano
8 eggs
1 C grated cheddar cheese
1/2 C milk
salt and pepper to taste
In a cast iron skillet, heat oil before adding diced onion and garlic. Fry until translucent. Add red pepper and continuing cooking. In a bowl, whisk together eggs, milk, cheese, oregano and salt and pepper. Pour into frying pan. Lay sliced tomato on egg mixture. Place in oven preheated to 350F. Bake for about 20 minutes, until eggs are cooked. Once set, broil for a couple minutes - just enough to brown top.
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, and added some lemon oil to enhance the springy flavour of the violet jam - form the dough into balls and press your thumb into the middle creating a nice little hole to place a small spoonful of jam in! Bake at 350F for about 8-10 minutes, until golden brown on the edges. Backyard deliciousness!
cookbook. This recipe has become a popular one in this house - I substitute the peanut butter for soy nut butter, and the maple sugar for rice syrup (a nice, less sweet alternative, which is needed on this day!)
