22 October 2011 by pat.

JD’s got a small booth, but don’t overlook it. He’s a chef who has created a couple of sauces that he’s selling at the Delicious Food Show.

Two sauces:

And a bunch of bottles.

He had samples of the sauces, and some salmon in the sweet chili sauce. I didn’t try the salmon, but I did try the chili sauce on its own: it’s got nice slow heat from the combination of peppers he’s used, and it’s got flavour to go with it, so it’s not just heat and sweet. Good going, JD!

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22 October 2011 by pat.

Compare and contrast.

No, I won’t do that, because that’s comparing apples and …hmm. bread? Two vastly different categories, although both are in similar spaces.

Fifth town, if you read back in my blog, is an organic cheese maker based in Prince Edward County. And they’re here, at the Delicious Food Show. I picked up some of their Quark cheese. I had never tasted quark until this summer, when they drizzled some maple syrup over some and offered tastes. Yes, I’ll take that over dessert any day, thanks. It’s delicious.

The other was a maker, Daiya, that I had heard about, and I saw their products when the Foodist Mart was briefly open in Leslieville. They create a vegan product that tastes like cheese.

They had some slices of pizza out with their mozzarella-like cheese-like product, and I took one and ate it. It did have a cheesy flavour, it melted like mozzarella, and looked like it, too. So for vegans who miss the taste of cheese, there’s a product out for you! They also had some grilled cheese sandwiches with a cheddar-like product, but after wandering all the stalls, I confess, I was sated, and didn’t try it.

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22 October 2011 by pat.

Something else I saw at the Delicious Food Show today — it’s called the Thermomix by Vorwerk. It’s for sale in Montreal and at the show, and they ship, darling.

It measures by weight. It can do a lot of the work that a blender or food processor does. It’ll knead your bread dough for you. And it will cook your risotto or (absolutely delicious) carrot soup.

If you’ve got a small kitchen, this could replace a number of appliances. It holds 2.5 litres — Mme. Vineberg was generally working with 2L in it.

Here, have some risotto.

As you can see, it’s pretty compact.

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22 October 2011 by pat.

I was walking past St. Phillip’s booth, and accosted by a young woman bearing a tray of creampuffs. I was forced to accept (really). (Well, not really. But I really liked it.)

I took a look around the place and spoke with them briefly. They have two locations —  one in Woodbridge, one in Maple, and plans are underfoot to open one in Toronto (alas, nowhere near where I live).

The creampuff was tasty.

The visuals of some of their cakemanship (I’m sure that’s not a word, but I don’t know how to express the one-up quality and detailing of what they do).

This is the side of their booth. That torso in the dress? A cake.

 Clown? A cake. The chocolate brown thing to the right is the closest one comes to seeing a cake-cake.

But I have to call out the luggage.

 Woh.

Awesome.

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22 October 2011 by pat.

They’re at the Delicious Food Show. I hope more people try Kozlik’s mustards and horseradish. They are my absolute favorite purveyor of those items.

I usually buy their products at the Saint Lawrence Market. I’m a huge fan of their horseradish: it’s got heat and flavour. Totally clears out the sinuses. Has taste and works well in a Bloody Caesar as well as being served alongside a hunk of prime rib, or mixed in with some applesauce to go with pork (think I got that trick from the Joy of Cooking).

One of my favorite mustards is the triple crunch: it’s the caviar of mustards. Three different types of seed — makes a beautiful visual. Has an awesome flavour. Your teeth bear down on a seed that’s been softened and expanded with vinegar, and it explodes in your mouth with pure flavour, the way a fish egg does. It’s awesome. Put some on a slice of aged cheddar and eat it. Your toes will curl with pleasure.

One of the big reasons I love Kozlik’s is their customer service. My father can’t eat sulphites, and for years, this has meant the only mustard he could eat was the Keen’s powdered mustard, which my mother would add water to and make a paste.

I called to find out if any of their mustards or horseradishes were sulphite-free, and got a phone call back (I think it was Jeremy who called), and had a superb conversation. I couldn’t get my Dad a pure horseradish (it requires sulphites to keep it) but I could get him a horseradish mustard (wow, was it tasty). I was also given the names of two other mustards I could get him that were sulphite-free.

You treat a customer well, it’s remembered forever.

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22 October 2011 by pat.

Tracy knows what she’s doing.

Her booth attracted me because it was clean, well-laid out, organized. Her food was all there for sampling.  She reeled me in with a taste of her *no sugar added* bumbleberry spread, which was absolutely delicious.

She makes beautiful food. Look at this trio of drizzles.

And she recommends what to do with them. Sometimes it’s things I wouldn’t expect. Like… use the drizzles on meatballs. Genius. And the picture makes them look mouth-watering.

Then I had to sample more things.

So many choices.

Even more choices.

Delicious, jewel-like jellies. She uses Niagara wines, adds fruit, and reduces them.

I left with a Vidal icewine jelly and port jelly for myself, and a gift pack for my sister-in-law’s parents at Christmas (shhhh! don’t tell them!)

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22 October 2011 by pat.

Or looking for an interesting hostess gift?

How about a set of concoctions to add to bubbly? I’m not going to suggest you put these in a $200 bottle of Champagne, but a $15-20 bottle of prosecco, why not?

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22 October 2011 by pat.

A small booth with a couple of products. That’s all you need, when you do a great job with the products. Such is the case with Little Shop of Lobsters at the show (if you miss this show, they’ll be back for One-of-a-Kind).

I had real difficulties deciding between the crab mousse and the lobster mousse. In the end, I bought the lobster mousse. In addition to being good on crackers, I imagine it would be great with some linguine as a sauce — they recommended warming it in a double boiler so the sauce doesn’t split. Originally from New Brunswick, the owners of Little Shop of Lobsters are now located in the Niagara region, providing mouses (and chowders) to those of us waaaay inland.

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22 October 2011 by pat.

Beautiful wares and some gorgeous looking tins of hot chocolate are among the things that caught my eye at Wildly Delicious Fine Foods‘ booth at the show.

These ceramic dishes caught my eye with their color:

And I meant to buy a few of these. I might have to go back to the show — or go to their warehouse sale, which is scheduled for Nov 2-Dec 22nd.

These boxes of peppermint hot chocolate mix look like great little gifts:

And if your favorite chocolate lover prefers dark chocolate, they’ve got dark hot chocolate, too.

This looks like it could have many uses

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22 October 2011 by pat.

Sturgeon caviar is a product we associate with Russia. It’s a shame, but sturgeon has been driven to the brink of extinction there because of fishing practices. Sturgeon farming began in the US in the ’80’s, in California.

Sturgeon’s an incredibly old fish, dating back 200 million years. You can learn more about them on wikipedia.

Now we’ve got a Sturgeon farm based in New Brunswick, on the St. John River. Founded by Cornel Ceapa, who has a PhD in Fisheries Engineering, Acadian Sturgeon sells caviar and smoked sturgeon, and is selling sturgeon eggs and young sturgeon to European concerns to help replenish faltering European stocks.

It takes a long time to get a Sturgeon fishery going, and about 10 years for the fish to reach maturity. Dr. Ceapa is determined that a sustainable, environmentally correct fishery is the direction to be taking before the fish is annihilated, and has been developing the fishery since 2004.  The fish are raised in tanks with water taken from the St. John River. After use and cleaning through multiple filters, the water is returned to the river. It’s important to him that the water be clean both ways! Intake must be clean, or he’s risking his stock. Output must be clean, or he’s risking downstream destruction.

In the mean time, Acadian Sturgeon is selling sustainably harvested sturgeon, about 350 a year. The sale of wild sturgeon will wind down over time, but wild sturgeon will always be the standard against which Acadian measures its product.

The caviar is delicious: I tried some on a hard-boiled half of a quail egg.

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22 October 2011 by pat.

It should come as no surprise that I’m a big fan of garlic! One of the booths at the show was The Garlic Box, which has some glorious cloves of Music garlic at $1.00 each:

 Music garlic doesn’t play an instrument — it’s called that because Music was the last name of the farmer who developed it. It grows very well in Ontario. The garlic used by The Garlic Box is Ontario product.

Now — not all garlic heads look perfect to sell as full heads. What do you do with the rest of them? How about pickles, sauces, and spreads? The Garlic Box has a wide variety. One I couldn’t resist is pickled scapes and cloves.

 I was curious about how they create this combination, since they are harvested at different times. They put the scapes in brine until the cloves are harvested, and then create a layered pickle — scapes on the bottom, cloves on the top.

They have an interesting idea for a Bloody Caesar:

And lots more products.

 Dressings, beans and such.

And dried garlic products, too.

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11 October 2011 by pat.

I can’t remember buying molasses. We used to have it when I was growing up — it’s integral to Boston baked beans! Every once in a while, I used to spread some on toast in the morning — I think Mom told me about it, that a Newfoundlander she knew used to do that for breakfast, so I tried it one day. I liked it. But I forgot about it for a long time… and it’s just sugar, right?

Umm, no, it’s not.

I bought some (unsulfured) blackstrap molasses on the weekend at the Bulk barn to use as an ingredient in mahogany lacquered squab, which I made myself for Thanksgiving dinner. Here’s a shot:

The glaze is equal parts molasses and balsamic vinegar (don’t use the expensive stuff, just the moderately priced — you want some of the acid). Plus spices. I applied it before putting the squab in the oven, and brushed it with what collected in the pan twice while it was roasting.

I tasted the dribbles of molasses, and really enjoyed the flavour. Almost smoky. A tinge of bitterness. Rich.

I’ve been thinking of other things to do with it (plus have done a couple). A cracker with peanut butter and a little drizzle of molasses: that’s a good thing.

Cocktail? Hmm, maybe. Especially after reading this article about the nutrients (mostly minerals) that molasses provides. Although it might just taste like dark rum.

How about burnishing roasting vegetables, like onions and squash?

One tablespoon of blackstrap molasses is about 42 calories. One tablespoon of standard table sugar is 45, so they’re close to the same calorically, but molasses doesn’t taste as sweet.

Definitely an ingredient to investigate. Molasses: it’s not just for beans!

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4 September 2011 by pat.

Here in Leslieville, some of us celebrate Saturdays by going over to Stratenger’s at 2pm and having a few drinks. We’re usually done by 4:30, and then go on our way for the rest of the weekend and rest of the week.

Nancy (on twitter: @Nancy178) started off the summer season by hosting Patio Club on her amaaaaazing balcony. I decided to finish off the summer with Patio Club on my back deck on the Labour Day long weekend.

I prepped by sauteeing three types of mushrooms (oyster, beech, and Nebrodinis) and simmering a San Marzano tomato sauce. I pitted a variety of olives. I grated mozzarella. I oven-dried some yellow cherry tomatoes, and preserved them in olive oil.

I bought a bunch of jars of interesting things at Domino’s at the St. Lawrence Market: some black olive paste, some basil pesto, spicy eggplant strips (love them!), artichoke hearts, and upstairs at Scheffler’s, some pearl bocconcini, and a hot and mild sausage.

I also bought some 00 wheat flour from Domino’s, and made pizza dough. Warning: test your yeast first, hmmm? I didn’t, and… it didn’t, either. Flat icky mess.

First thing on Saturday morning I was over at Loblaw’s, buying their frozen pasta dough. Thawing it. Then cutting each ball into 4, and rolling, stretching, pleading with it to stop creeping back into a ball. Resting it, fighting with it some more. Then popping it in the oven long enough to bake.

I discovered with the first two that they blew up just like pita bread (heck what’s the difference?). I needed to be doing something like blind baking. It actually didn’t occur to me to put beans on the rounds (I just thought of that now: that’s something I’ve known for a long time). I did puncture the rest of the rounds with a fork multiple times. They still rose a bit, but not to full ballooned-pita-ness, if you’ve ever seen them in the oven.

Guests arrived,  and we started drinking! We also had some nibblies: I bought some strange things from the snack section at Domino’s: beet chips (they were great) dried/fried peas in pods (meh) and dried/fried okra (hmm. kinda meh). And some Fritos. Oh. And a contribution from @BeeRich33 — some Black Diamond cheddar that he cold smoked in sticks. I cut into cubes, they all disappeared. Everybody loved Rich’s cheese.

Then we made pizzas. Since everything had been precooked, it was really only a matter of choosing which ingredients to put on the ‘za, and put it on the barbecue for long enough to melt the cheese (and, one hopes, not burn the bottom of the pizza bread too badly).

We finished off with some Ontario peaches that @pronosher brought: I cut them in half, brushed olive oil on the cut side, then face down on the grill until they had good grill marks. Turned them flat-side-up, sprinkled a bit of Demarara sugar, broiled a bit longer, then let cool a bit. That was dessert!

All in all, a pretty good Patio Club. The last people left after dark, so I’ll take that as a mark of satisfaction

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8 August 2011 by pat.

By the time we were ready to hit the road on Wednesday morning, the rain had started. It kept up all day, making driving difficult and forcing Susan to be mindful of big puddles. The first place we went to was Fifth Town’s dairy, located on County Road 8 in Picton.

It was a rainy day, and fairly crowded in the little store. All those people who were on camping trips starting on the long weekend decided to go into Picton (we had the most amazing traffic jam going through — worse than Queen West when all the young’uns are out in their cars, cruising the strip) or to the wineries and cheese places!

I’ve been a fan of Fifth Town’s cheeses for a quite a while: Alex Farms sells some of them, and Fifth Town comes to the Brickworks market, so I’ve bought directly from them there.

I do like that they had samples of most of their cheeses out to try. Susan noticed there wasn’t any quark, though, and inquired about it. Out came a container of quark cheese, and the staff member did something I thought very odd: she opened the container of quark, and drizzled dark maple syrup all over it. Ewwwww, right?

Wrong. Quark with maple syrup is delicious. The cheese is very mild, slightly tangy like yoghurt is tangy, and has a consistency like a dry cottage cheese that has been tightly packed. With the addition of maple syrup, it becomes light and fluffy and creamy (even though it’s a low-fat cheese). I had some on crackers this evening when I started writing this entry. I’ve told myself I can have some more when I finish writing tonight.

Each of us bought some quark.  We also tasted other cheeses and bought some of them. From Fifth Town, I came home with some Lemon Fetish (feta-like round with some lemon zest in it) and some Bagel Chevre with Lavender. Susan was hoping to score some Rose Haus, their washed-rind cow’s milk cheese, but none was to be had: it’s so popular that they have problems keeping it on hand, and even sold some that wasn’t as ripe as they’d like it to be, because of demand.  Either Sandy or Susan picked up some Bedda Fedda, their version of a Greek feta cheese.

While we were in line to pay for our purchases, Fifth Town kept us entertained and educated by running two videos overhead about how their cheese is made. “First, start with some goats or sheep…”

Alas, with the rain, I didn’t get a picture of the underground aging caves or wander around at all. I did go through their website again when I got home, and they’re really quite the model company for the future: involved in their community, cherish their employees, do what’s right for the environment, and produce great product. Go have a look: they’re really upfront about what they do.

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7 August 2011 by pat.

Sandy and I went to Prince Edward County and surrounding areas for a speedy 48 hours this week. We took the train to and from Belleville, and were able to relax in the air conditioning and work, using wifi, both ways. It was a great trip, and I came back with some good pictures and wonderful things.

Susan, who moved to the area recently, met us at the train station in her jaunty convertible, and we began our adventures.

Our first stop was at Maple Dale Cheese in Plainfield. Unfortunately, I didn’t take my camera with me into the store! What a wealth of cheese, local preserves, and other goods that go with cheese. I came away with some roasted garlic oil, cheddar shortbreads, garlic cheese curds, Mediterranean Trimmings cheese (contains green olives, sundried tomatoes, roasted garlic and sweet basil) and a hunk of X-Hot Smoked Cheddar. Other interesting cheeses they have include a beer-rinsed cheddar, a horseradish cheddar, and a number of flavoured curd cheeses. I confess, a lot of it is now in the freezer as soon as I photographed it, because there is only so much cheese I can eat. Sandy and Susan also picked up some cheeses for our afternoon snack (more later).

After Maple Dale, we continued deep into farming country and ended up at the farm and red barn of Chef Drew Ferguson, who grows garlic and is a professor at the Culinary School of Loyalist College. What a beautiful place: the barn was filled with hanging garlic. Alas, Drew wasn’t there for us to winkle some recipes from him, but Betty was, fortunately, so we were able to purchase some.

Of course, we couldn’t walk away empty-handed: both Sandy and I got hanging bunches, and Susan got a big bundle of small heads of garlic. She’s planning on doing some garlic pickling!

From there, it was over to Susan’s place near Roslin, and a tour of her century home and the renovations she’s been making since she moved in in June. The next order of the day was to sit in the shade of the oak tree and eat cheese and pickles and drink wine. Sandy and Susan were in charge of the food: I hauled garden furniture.

We were joined for dinner by Carole and Margot, two of Susan’s friends who have homes in the area.

Susan slow-roasted ribs, made a wonderful salad, and we continued with cheese and olives and pickled garlic. Dessert was amazing polvorons - shortbreads with cinnamon and pork fat that Susan brought back with her on a trip to Spain.  Absolutely delicious.

After dinner, it was time to pull out the Bocce set, and play the game, until the mosquitoes got to us.

Getting dark, time to go in.

The next day, Wednesday, it rained until about 7 in the evening (when we got home!). Susan bravely soldiered on, driving us hither and yon, and we went to a number of places:

• County Cider,
• a house that had an honour system set up for buying maple syrup,
• Fifth Town Cheese
• Black River Cheese
• The Carriage House Cooperage
• and
• Highline Mushroom Farm.

More about them in future blog posts!

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