Carrot Loaf

I’ve always loved banana bread (or bananas in any form: split, mashed with peanut butter, sliced over cereal), but if you are trying to eat ethically, bananas are not exactly the best choice (they are always imported, and Chiquita, the company who imports and produces them, won’t be winning any awards for corporate social responsibility). But banana bread: there’s a treat I grew up enjoying so much it could almost (almost) make you forget where its primary ingredient came from. You’ve got to love a baked good that turns blackened, mushy fruit into something spectacular.

But then again, what I loved about banana bread wasn’t so much the banana-ness, per se, but rather the soft crumb that went so well dipped in tea or spread with cream cheese. Last week I attended workshops with Keltie where we baked with squash, and I can really get behind this whole baking-with-vegetables thing: if you take a veggie with a high sugar content (like beets or squash) or one with a lot of moisture (like zucchini or eggplant) you can turn it into a truly delicious (and slightly nutritious!) baked good. Pumpkin swirl brownies, anyone?

But I digress. The point of this post is not brownies (Keltie covered that already),  but my new go-to replacement for banana bread: carrot loaf. I know we’ve all had carrot cake before, but this is carrot cake without an excess of sugar or gobs of icing: you can eat it for breakfast or after dinner (or late at night or in the middle of the afternoon…..)

Now, the recipes I used (found here) was not perfect. It was good, but a little dry. I’ve adjusted the portions to yield what I hope will be a moister loaf. And that’s the other thing: the name. Carrot loaf just sounds kind of…..boring. Not that I’ve ever been one to judge a dish by its cover. But if this blog is about convincing people to eat (local, organically grown, inevitably delicious) things they otherwise wouldn’t, we might need to work on the name. First: acknowledging the presence of walnuts, because walnuts are awesome. Adding a glaze of some kind might help with the moistness and the name. “Glazed Carrot and Walnut Bread.” Or you could simply say it in French: Pain au Carrotte et Noyer. There you go! Instant pizzazz.

CARROT LOAF WITH WALNUTS

1 large egg.
1 ½ cups of flour.
1 1/4 cup of shredded carrots.
½ cup of white sugar.
½ cup of brown sugar, packed.
½ cup of vegetable oil.
1/3 cup plain yoghurt
½ cup of chopped walnnuts.
½ cup of raisins.
1 teaspoon of cinnamon.
1/2 teaspoon cloves
½ teaspoon of baking soda.
¼ teaspoon of salt.
¼ teaspoon of baking powder.

Stir together the flour, cinnamon, baking soda, salt and baking powder.

In a separate bowl, mix together the white and brown sugar, shredded carrots, vegetable oil, egg and yoghurt.

Combine the two mixtures, then add the chopped nuts and raisins.

Spoon the mixture into a greased and floured loaf pan (about 8*4*2 inches).

Bake at 350F for about 50 minutes, until a toothpick comes out clean.

Allow to cool for 15 minutes. Store in an airtight container overnight.

(I sprinkled mine with icing sugar – you could also make a simple icing with icing sugar and water, or go full-tilt and slather the thing in cream cheese).

Local food for the holidays

This past weekend, my husband’s family came to town to celebrate Christmas with us. We wanted a nice celebratory dinner, but we’ll all be doing turkey next weekend, so that seemed like overkill. After some thought, and with the help of my good friend Google, I decided to go for a British style roast beef dinner, complete with Yorkshire puddings. I had fun, tried a few new things, and thought some of the ideas would be worth sharing in time for Saturday’s big dinner.

Menu

• Carrot-Potato-Cheddar Soup
• Roast Beef
• Garlic Mashed Potatoes
• Mixed Beans
• Corn
• Yorkshire Puddings
• Sour-Cream Rhubarb Pie

First stop was the farmer’s market, where we found a fantastic 3.5 pound tenderloin roast of NS beef. We also picked up local potatoes and green and yellow beans, and there were still eggs, carrots, garlic and onions at home from our weekly food box, and rhubarb in the freezer from our spring harvest. (Also needed: butter, flour, salt, pepper, olive oil, cheddar cheese, sour cream, sugar, tapioca mix… and anything else you may wish to add.)

The roast was rubbed with olive oil, minced garlic, sea salt and pepper, and roasted at 425 for 1 hour and 20 minutes. When finished, I removed it from the pan, wrapped it tightly in foil to trap the juices, and let it sit 15 minutes while making gravy.

Once the roast was in the oven, I started on the soup. The soup is modified from one found on Allrecipes.ca (I use veggie broth rather than chicken, and fresh onion and garlic rather than powdered). I peeled and cubed 4 large potatoes, 3 large carrots, and 1 medium onion. Then, I heated 2 tbsp of olive oil in a large pot, and added the vegetables plus 2 cloves of garlic, minced. I cooked the vegetables in the oil for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally. Then, I added 4 cups of vegetable broth, and simmered the vegetables until they were soft. Using an immersion blender, I pureed the mixture. (Can also split in halves or thirds and puree in blender.) 10 minutes before serving, stir in ¾ cup of shredded cheddar cheese.

The potatoes were my favourite recipe, from the classic Julia Child cookbook. I peeled and diced 6 medium potatoes and set to boil. Then, I boiled 1.5 inches of water in a small pan. I separated but did NOT peel one whole bulb of garlic. (Note bulb – all of the cloves. I did this wrong the first time and was disappointed.) I dropped the cloves into the boiling water and let boil for 2 minutes, then drained and peeled the cloves. Carefully. They were hot. Then I slowly cooked the garlic in 2 tbsp of butter on very low heat. When bulbs were soft, I added 1 tbsp of flour, and mixed to a paste, then added ¼ cup boiling milk. Mash the garlic – with a fork or potato masher.

Keep this paste on low heat, stirring occasionally until potatoes are ready to be mashed. (Add additional butter or boiling milk if potatoes take longer than planned.) Add garlic paste to potatoes as they are mashed (with additional milk if needed for consistency).

The beans were a simple recipe I adopted from about.com. Take 2 cups of green and 2 cups of yellow beans. Wash and cut into 2 inch lengths. Blanch for 8-10 minutes. Drain. Add ½ cup chopped onion, 2 tbsp of butter and optional pine nuts (2-3 tbsp). Cover and let sit 3-5 minutes. Serve. Even your husband who complained earlier that he doesn’t like beans will enjoy these. Trust me.

This was my first time making Yorkshire puddings. My husband’s mum is Scottish and he grew up with some traditional British foods. He loved the idea of me learning to make Yorkshire pudding. His Mum, Gran and Gran’s beau (an Englishman), were visiting so it seemed a fitting addition to the menu. They were easier than anticipated, but as they are best served immediately, timing was important in my small kitchen.

I premixed the wet & dry ingredients in separate bowls to simplify. In bowl one: 3 eggs, 1 cup milk, 1 tbsp olive oil. Bowl two: 1 cup flour (may use ½ whole wheat, ½ white), ½ tsp salt. When the roast was out of the oven, I quickly mixed the two, poured into greased muffin tins, and baked at 425 F for 20 minutes. Light, fluffy, delicious. Serve with gravy.

Added to this was low-sodium canned corn. Not local, but I have stomach issues and this is the only way I can eat corn – simply can’t digest the fresh stuff (not that you can find it these days anyway).

Last but not least: Dessert. Sour-Cream Rhubarb Pie. When we got married eleven years ago, one of my most used shower gifts was a Company’s Coming “Pies” cookbook. This recipe is from that book, and I have modified it to work with a smaller  pie pan, and frozen rhubarb. We have a very prolific rhubarb patch in our backyard and always have some in the freezer,  precut and ready to stew.

(Note: My plan had been to make my own crust with locally milled whole wheat flour. This did not work. I never did figure out why. I can only assume that with a house full of guests I must have been distracted long enough to add the wrong quantity of something to the bowl and ruin the dough. After 20 minutes unsuccessfully trying to make it work, I was rescues by a frozen crust in the back of the freezer.)

If using fresh rhubarb, cut into 1 inch chunks, and fill pie shell to ½ inch below rim of dish. If using frozen fruit, as I was, defrost and drain well. Pat out excess water with a towel. Sprinkle bottom of shell with instant tapioca mix, to absorb additional water. Fill pie shell with rhubarb as above. Mix 1 cup sour cream with1  ½ cup sugar and 1/3 cup flour. Spread over top of the rhubarb. Make a crumble top-crust with ½ cup flour, ½ cup brown-sugar and ¼ cup softened margarine. Sprinkle over top. Bake at 450 for 15 minutes, then reduce heat to 350 and cook another 30-40 minutes (edges are puffy, top is golden).

Enjoy! Merry Christmas and happy holidays!

Natalie Joan

Note: My camera was malfunctioning. Photos here are the best stock images I could find to represent what I cooked.

Lovers Love Local: An Evening of Local Aphrodisiacs

In love with local?
Why not spend Valentine’s Day in the kitchen?

Lovers Love Local: An evening of local aphrodisiacs

What: A cooking class inspired by our love for local food and taught by Elisabeth Bailey, a food writer from the South shore.

When: 6-8:30pm Monday February 14th

Where: Local Source Market (5783 Charles Street, Halifax)

Cost: $20 per person

Menu:  arugula salad with rosehip vinaigrette; grass-fed beef in a red wine sauce with saffron mashed potatoes & carrots with honey and parsley; chocolate love with raspberry vanilla coulis.

To Register: contact Keltie at 442-1077 or
keltie@ecologyaction.ca.
Registration Form
Please email to Keltie at keltie@ecologyaction.ca

Name:
Daytime phone:
Email:
Address:

Do you have any food allergies?

Are you interested in car pooling?  If yes, from which area of town are you traveling?
__ Driver   __ Passenger  __ Either
Please Note: The #7, 42, 80 and 81 buses have stops along Robie Street.  While #2, 4 and 52 buses have stops along North Street.  We will also attempt to match participants interested in car pooling if possible.

Method of payment: We can accept cash, cheque or credit card.  We require a credit card number or payment to secure your spot.

Deli-cious

Deli isn’t the bland-long-ago-sliced-meats-wrapped-in-plastic one finds at the local hyper-market. Who actually buys that stuff?

Deli – short for delicatessen – is the somewhat forgotten art of cured meats, the showpiece of 20th century Jewish urban restaurant culture.

If you’re in Toronto, visit Caplanski’s deli near Kensington or Panzer’s up north on the Jewish corridor of Bathurst St. In Montreal, hit Schwartz’s on the Main (St. Laurent) – wait in line, it’s worth it. In New York, go to Katz’s in the Lower East Side. Except for Caplanski’s which is relatively new, these restaurants are old and iconic centres of Jewish culture past and present.

In Halifax, well, unfortunately, there’s no where to go.

As a deli-loving Jew and former-Torontonian, I had to find a way to cure my favourite meats myself, because my mother was starting to suspect that the frequent flights back home weren’t to visit her. I decided to start learning how to make the delicious stuff here in Halifax.

I started with corned beef, which I consider the most-Torontonian of all possible deli meats (Montrealers have smoked meat, New Yorker have pastrami). “Corned” just refers to the salt brine used to preserve the beef – corns were bits of any thing, and you’ll use lots of “corns” of coarse salt in this recipe. It’s not strictly a Jewish food (more likely it is Irish in origin), and it is known as salt beef in Britain.

The most important ingredient in this recipe is the beef, and you’ll need to find a good supplier because deli-less Halifax also has no independent butchers. Brisket is the cut Jews like (apparently also Newfoundlanders and Texans) because it’s inexpensive and fatty, and is wonderful when cooked slowly. I ordered a few briskets at once from Oulton’s Farm in Martock (near Windsor NS), and their meat seems to be among the best in the province.  I hear the Newfoundland store may also be able to bring briskets in. Brisket is tough and useless unless you want to cook it a long time, which is why it is usually a cheap cut of meat.

Ok, let’s get to work.

ingredients:
250ml kosher/coarse salt
125ml brown sugar
15ml saltpeter
1 cinnamon stick, broken
5ml mustard seeds
8 whole cloves
5ml black peppercorns
8 whole allspice berries
12 juniper berries
2 crushed bay leaves
3ml ground ginger
2kg (circa) beef brisket

note: saltpeter is difficult to source as a consumer in Canada. It is a common preservative used in all manner of cured meats and sausages (potassium nitrate), but unfortunately, it is also an important ingredient in gunpowder. I called many pharmacists who at one time would have carried it in small quantities – and they all were very curious as to what I wanted to do with it; I said that if what I was making (i.e. corned beef) exploded, then something went very wrong. It is the ingredient that will give corned beef its normal pink colour – I left it out and other than the colour being all wrong, my corned beef was delicious. If you need pink beef, there are a few chemical suppliers in NS that will be able to source it for you. There are also butcher supply houses that would be able to mail order it.

1. add the brown sugar, salt and saltpeter (if used) to 2L of water and bring to a boil. Boil just until everything is dissolved, then turn off the heat. Add all the spices and let the mixture cool. Do not proceed to the next step until the brine is cool – if the beef cooks in the water, your corned beef will be ruined.

2. while the brine is cooling, trim the large areas of fat wherever possible – mostly from the bottom of the brisket. Do leave a little.

3. put the brisket into a bowl or bucket made of a non-reactive material (glass, plastic) – I found a food-grade bucket normally used for making wine was perfect. Cover the brisket with the cool brine from step 1. The brisket must be completely covered in brine – fill a glass jar with water to weigh the beef down and keep it below the water line. Put it in a refrigerator for 10-12 days. This is a long time. Distract yourself perhaps by watching this French action film.

4. After the 10-12 days have passed, remove the brisket from the brine and rinse it in cold water. Put the meat in a large pot and cover it with water. Bring the water to boil, and then reduce to a simmer. Simmer the beef for 4 hours.

5. Remove the beef from the water and serve. Cut into coarse slices, cutting against the grain of the meat wherever possible. May I recommend serving it hot, open faced on rye bread with some hot mustard? A little side of coleslaw or sauerkraut? A dill pickle?

My housemate came home just after I finished making my first batch and he found me dipping hot fatty pieces of the beef in mustard with my hands. He stared for just a moment before continuing on his way.

preserving notes: There’s only so much of this salty meat a healthy person should eat in a day, and to keep myself from having a sandwich every 5 minutes, I decided to freeze most of the meat and only take it out as needed. I cut the brisket into usable chunks (always cut against the grain) and wrapped it and froze it. I find it is still very good
after freezing. You could also just refrigerate, and as it is cured, it should last a good while.

If you’re interested in more deli news and lore – look for the book “Save the Deli” by David Sax. We went to summer camp together in Ontario long ago, and Sax knows more about deli than probably anyone on earth right now.

Next up: knishes. pastrami. chicken soup.

Adam Fine / littlezaide.com

(Marla’s note: When buying beef, ask for grass-fed, NS beef.)

‘Tis the Season for Cooking Exchanges … and Pork Tortiere

Once a month, the Food Action Committee of the EAC meets to discuss current food issues, reflect on what we’ve accomplished and plan our next course of action. There are always delicious nibblies being passed around the room – of course.

For our December meeting, we decided to continue the tradition of a cookie exchange. There were pumpkin and orange cookies, chocolate biscotti, almond squares, shortbread cookies, gingerbread and gluten-free carrot cookies – just to name a few. After taking a moment to highlight the included local ingredients – Speerville flour being a big one – we dove in. Luckily, a few people brought savoury snacks to share as well - a tasty collection of items one might call “the cookie cushion”. There was a South Indian curry dish, a hearty kale and quinoa salad [I got my hands on that recipe and already made it at home!], a batch of Pakistani-style curry, and a gorgeous pork tortiere. Everything was delicious!

Arriving just a moment late and thus making a well-desired grand entrance, the pork tortiere took the room by surprise. The scent filled the room as the large tortiere was uncovered and placed in the centre of the table. Cheri, the chef behind this beautiful tortiere, had brought along the recipe – anticipating the many requests from the room of foodies. Cheri even came equipped with homemade apple sauce to accompany the pork. Mmmm.

Quebec Tortiere

1 lb. local organic ground pork
½ cup water
1 tablespoon of salt
¼ teaspoon each: summer savoury, cloves, celery seed, cinnamon
½ cup bread crumbs

Place all ingredients except bread crumbs in a pot and bring to a boil. Simmer for 20 minutes. Add bread crumbs and cool.
Make double crust (see Pat’s Pastry recipe below). Fill and bake at 400F until brown. Continue cooking at 350F until the pastry is entirely cooked.

Pat’s Pastry

5 cups Speerville spelt flour
1 lb. shortening/lard
2 teaspoons salt
¼ teaspoon baking powder
2 dessert spoons of brown sugar
2 egg yolks
1 tablespoon white vinegar

Sift in all dry ingredients and cut in lard.
In a measuring cup, slightly beat 2 egg yolks. Fill to ¾ c up with cold water. Add 1 tablespoon of white vinegar. Add wet to dry ingredients by degrees.
Divide dough into two balls and roll out each.

Yours in food, Keltie

PS: If you want to share in the delicious treats and the thoughtful conversation, join us for our next FAC meeting on Monday, January 17th, 2011 5:30pm at the Ecology Action Centre!

Vegetable and Fruit Hideaways: Root Cellar Redux

I don’t have a root cellar in my house (yet!), so I’ve been particularly intrigued by the chapter entitled “Trenches, Keeping-Closets and Other Vegetable and Fruit Hideaways” in Root Cellaring by Mike and Nancy Bubel. (Someday I will return this book to the public library and let someone else have a turn.)

The chapter covers both outdoor and indoor methods of storing food. Outdoor methods include burying a barrel or creating a dirt mound, and insulating with straw, leaves or similar materials.  Indoor methods involve sussing out unheated areas of you home: attics, porches, unheated guest bedrooms.  Keep in mind that you are looking for a variety of types of spaces – cold and damp for root vegetables, cool and dry for onions and garlic, somewhat warmer and dry for squash.

So, now I’m on a mission to turn the cold and underused spaces in my house into vegetable storage empires!!

The possibilities at my house include:
- an unheated front porch
- an unheated back porch
- an unheated basement

The first step will be to put thermometers in those rooms.  They get really cold in the winter, but I don’t know if the temperature drops below zero.

I’ve been storing apples, potatoes,and  squash in the back porch all fall.  In general, it’s going well; however, I did lose a few small pumpkins early on.  Perhaps they weren’t properly cured, as the butternut squash have been doing just fine.

Under my back stairs

So, here’s my challenge to you.  Do you have a storage spot in your home?  Have you ever stored veggies there?  Or would you be willing to try?  If so, leave a comment below and tell us about it!

(And if you don’t have a storage spot indoors, but you do have a backyard, please tell Keltie.  She got inspired by the outdoor methods and is desperate to dig a hole somewhere. )

Yours in Food,
Marla

Baking with Veggies: THE Pumpkin Chocolate Swirl Brownie MMMMmmmmmmmmm

I have become a one trick pony in the kitchen.

I have become a one trick pony in the kitchen and it is all because of Pumpkin Chocolate Swirl Brownies. Honestly, they are amazing, simple but impressive, unique and local – oh, and addictive.

I came across the Pumpkin Chocolate Swirl Brownie recipe while searching for information on baking with Fall/Winter vegetables. My search began about three weeks ago now – necessitated by a relatively small pumpkin that seemed to be following me (even in my move to a new apartment). The pumpkin was actually very tasty looking – round and a bit squat, smooth, and bright orange – yet I kept avoiding it in the kitchen.

I have quite the sweet tooth so the logical thing to do seemed to be baking my handsome little pumpkin into something sweet and delicious – but what? Of course, there is the timeless pumpkin pie but, to be honest, I am not a big fan of pies. There’s the classic pumpkin loaf – an old favourite of mine – but not inspiring. There’s the pumpkin cookie – which I considered. (My mom has been raving about a pumpkin cookies recipe that she included in the beautiful cookbook she made me as a Christmas gift last year.) But even pumpkin cookies didn’t seem appealing enough to warrant cutting open my pumpkin, digging out the seeds, roasting the flesh and finally mashing it all up. So, I set out on a virtual hunt – a quest for knowledge on baking with pumpkin (and, while I’m at it, other late harvest veggies).

I came across many yummy recipes in my search – a number of which I have tried, shared, and enjoyed. In the last three weeks, I have baked pumpkin bars, savory squash scones, a flourless dark chocolate beet cake, and sweet pumpkin drop biscuits. I found one blog (http://blog.streaminggourmet.com/) that did a month (October) of recipes involving pumpkin – pretty much the Mecca that I was looking for – and this is where I first set eyes on the Pumpkin Chocolate Swirl Brownie. MMMmmmmmm.

If, in the last three weeks, you have been by for a visit or attended a potluck that I attended, then you have likely had a Pumpkin Chocolate Swirl Brownie because – like I said – I have become a one trick pony. Well, in an effort to let go and move on, I have decided to disclose my Pumpkin Chocolate Swirl Brownie recipe to you. Just be warned that this recipe may stunt the growth of your culinary skills!

Enjoy!

Pumpkin Chocolate Swirl Brownies

 

Ingredients

For the chocolate batter:

3/4 cup + 2 Tbsp all-purpose flour
1/4 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt

6 oz 70% cacao chocolate or unsweetened baking chocolate
1/2 cup unsalted butter

1/2 – 1 cup firmly packed dark brown sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 large eggs

For the pumpkin batter:

1 cup flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 cup white granulated sugar
1/2 tsp vanilla
2 eggs
3/4-1 cup pumpkin purée
1/4 cup unsalted butter, melted
Optional: 1 tsp ground cinnamon
                    1/4 tsp freshly ground nutmeg
                    1/4 tsp ground cloves

Method:

Preheat oven to 350˚F. Lightly grease a 9″ x 11″ baking pan.

Using a double boiler (or two differently-sized pots), melt the butter and chocolate together. [Everytime I make this recipe I forget how much 6 oz. of chocolate is. I still don't remember but a quick google will give you the answer time and time again.]Remove from heat and allow to cool.

In a medium bowl, mix the dry ingredients for the chocolate batter: flour, baking powder and salt. Set aside.

In another medium bowl, mix the dry ingredients for the pumpkin batter (flour, baking powder and salt in slightly different proportions).

In a third bowl or standing mixer, beat together the 2 eggs and 1/2 cup of sugar for the pumpkin batter. Mix them for 3-5 minutes until fluffy. Add the vanilla and pumpkin and mix thoroughly. Add the melted butter and spices and blend well.

Add the brown sugar and vanilla extract to the melted chocolate and blend well. Beat in the eggs and combine well.

Time to mix your wet and dry. For the chocolate batter, fold the dry ingredients into the chocolate mixture, stirring as little as possible but still blending completely. For the pumpkin batter, pour the dry ingredients into the wet and mix (use a stand up mixer if you have one) to combine thoroughly. Again don’t overmix.

Pour half of the chocolate batter into your prepared pan. Layer half of the pumpkin batter on top of the chocolate. Repeat with the reaming two layers. Using a spatula, swirl the two batters together by inserting the tip all the way to the bottom of the pan and moving it through the batters in an S shape. Try to swirl the bottom layer up toward the top while continuing with the swirly, s-shaped motions.

Bake for 30-35 minutes. Allow to cool in the pan.

Yours in food, Keltie

Root Cellar Basics

As a follow up from our Nov 21, 2010 root cellar tour, here are some of the tips we gleaned from our lovely root cellar hosts…

What is a root cellar?
A root cellar is simply a cold place to store vegetables and fruit for the winter months. It’s a way to store crops without using energy. A root cellar can be a traditional underground structure built into the side of a hill or an insulated basement room vented to the outside. It can be a large community root cellar or a small insulated box buried in the backyard. There are many different possibilities.

Building a root cellar or cold room
If you are planning to build a root cellar, we recommend checking out other root cellars in your area to get a sense of the size and type that would suit your needs. Additionally, Root Cellaring: Nature Cold Storage of Fruit and Vegetables by Mike and Nancy Bubel is a terrific resource if you’re thinking about building a root cellar. It covers all sorts of different types, from the simple to the extravagant! This book has been highly recommended by many people.

When creating and using your root cellar, keep in mind what root vegetables want which is to be in the ground – in a cool, dark, moist place. How can you create that situation?

Humidity
Humidity is key to a successful root cellar. The ideal humidity level about 95%. Consider buying a hygrometer to measure the humidity. If you have a concrete floor, you may have to work to increase the humidity. Some ways of achieving this include keeping buckets or flat containers of water in the cellar, or by hanging wet blankets or bed sheets in the root cellar. If you have gravel flooring, you may want/need to pour water on the gravel cellar floor.

Ventilation
Ventilation is also important to a successful root cellar. Proper air circulation helps prevent mold growth, and also moves ethylene gas out of the root cellar. Ethylene gas is given off by fruit and vegetables as they ripen and can cause other vegetables to sprout.

You should ensure that your vents are rodent proof. Use 1/4″ wire mesh to keep the critters out.

Temperature
The optimal temperature for a root cellar is 1-5 degrees Celsius. Building your root cellar below ground – ideally below the frost line – will help greatly in keeping it cool. Thermal mass, in the form of the structure, the concrete and/or gravel and the food itself, help the root cellar to retain the cold.

One of our root cellar tour hosts keeps a jar of water in her root cellar to monitor the temperature. When the water freezes, it’s time to close the vent.

Storage Vegetables and Fruit
Onions, garlic, pumpkin and squash do not belong in a root cellar but they can be kept well into the winter months. They should be stored somewhere cool and dry.

Keep carrots, beets and parsnips in sawdust, straw, sand, or dry leaves. Sand, with some water added, is great at keeping moisture in – BUT is it very heavy. Dry leaves are easy to come by and free.

Potatoes and apples can be left loose in bins. Many people suggest keeping apples and potatoes separately, as the ethylene gas given off by apples can cause potatoes to sprout. However, all three of our root cellar tour hosts keep their apples and potatoes in the same cellar and none have experienced problems.

A great way to store your apples is to have a barrel or box in your root cellar with apples layered – varieties that keep best should be placed at the bottom and the varieties that are quicker to spoil should be at or near the top. This will give you variety as you eat through your barrel of apples!

There is a variety of tomatoes that keeps well, ripening late. This variety is simply called “keeper tomatoes”. They, like all tomatoes, should NOT be stored in a root cellar. They can be stored on the vine (pulling out the whole plant at the end of the season) or they can lay as loose tomatoes on top of dry leaves as they ripen.

It’s important to monitor the veggies in your root cellar, removing any that have mold so that it doesn’t spread.

How much should you store?
Every family has different tastes and needs, so it’ll take some trial and error to figure out the amounts that work for you. One of our root cellar tour hosts shared her list with us. They store the following for their family of five:
100 lbs potatoes
75 lbs carrots (could go as high as 100 lbs)
30 lbs beets
20 lbs turnips
7 cabbages
7 chinese cabbages
10 lbs parsnips
100 lbs of apples
30-60 lbs pears (depending on the crop in their backyard).
100 lbs onions (but not in the root cellar)

Final Thought
Experiment! Unheated porches, basements, attics, garages all have potential to be mini-root cellars.

Additional Resources
Books
Bubel, Mike and Nancy (1991). Root Cellaring: Nature Cold Storage of Fruit and Vegetables. Second Edition. Storey Publishing.

Websites
Cornell Cooperative Extension. Storage Guidelines for Fruit and Vegetables. http://www.gardening.cornell.edu/factsheets/vegetables/storage.pdf
Complete with a table showing produce names, temperatures, relative humidity and length of storage.

Kerr, Bonnie. The Green Life Farm’s Blog: http://thegreenlifefarm.wordpress.com/

Maine Organic Farmers and Growers Association. (2008). “Root Cellars: Safe and Secure from the Corporate Food Chain” http://www.mofga.org/Publications/MaineOrganicFarmerGardener/Fall2008/RootCellars/tabid/984/Default.aspx

Maxwell, Steve. (2004). “Build a Basement root cellar”. Mother Earth News.
http://www.motherearthnews.com/do-it-yourself/basement-root-cellar-zm0z04zsie.aspx

Organic Gardening. “Building A Root Cellar”. http://www.organicgardening.com/feature/0,7518,s-5-19-173,00.html

Ries, Victoria (2001). “A Root Cellar for your Homestead”
http://oldfashionedliving.com/rootcellar.html

Tortorello, Michael (2008). Food Storage As Grandmas Knew It. New York Times. November 5, 2008. http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/06/garden/06root.html?_r=1

What I learned at Food Secure Canada: Top Ten List

On November 26-29 I had the opportunity to attend to the Food Secure Canada conference in Montreal, and while I was there I went to the Canadian Biotechnology Action Network’s (CBAN) annual general meeting and an additional meeting about the People’s Food Policy Project. It was a jam packed four days of connecting and reconnecting with foodies from across the country on a whole range of issues. Here’s a top 10 list of things I learned, with input from Angela and Katherine, two other Haligonians who were also in attendance.

In no particular order:

1) I went to an incredible presentation about new farmers and supports and mentorship for new farmers. The folks from Farm Start presented. One of the key points they made was that it takes about 10 years to be an established farmer, so we need to be planning a decade in advance and creating different supports for farmers in different stages. Some of their projects include:
• running the “Exploring the Small Farm Dream” course for people thinking about getting into farming;
• an incubator farm program for those just starting out;
• small start-up grants of $3-5000 for new farmers;
• and helping match land owners with farmers looking for land.

2) I’ve already written about the People’s Food Policy Project in a recent post, so I won’t go into the background details here. (If you’re interested in more the background, visit: http://peoplesfoodpolicy.ca.  However, I did want to give you an update. At the conference there was a workshop on each of the ten discussion papers (fisheries, health, sustainable livelihoods, science & technology, etc). This was an opportunity to deepen the discussion, identify gaps in the chapters and try to start to identify 3-5 policy priorities in each of the discussion papers. More details will come, but next steps include polishing up each of the discussion papers, putting together a summary document with priority policies, doing some advocacy and continuing the discussions.

3) One afternoon in the hallway (because some of the best conversations happen between the official sessions) I met Laura Reinsborough of Not Far From the Tree, a gleaning program in Toronto. She told me a bit about how they run their programs and suggested checking out the gleaning manual from Lifecycles in BC:

4) Genetically engineered animals. Scary. Enviro Pig made the front page of the Globe and Mail shortly before the conference began and was a regular topic of conversation. There’s a lot of work to be done in the coming year if we want to keep GE animals out of our food system. To learn more, visit: http://cban.ca/Resources/Topics/Enviropig.

5) Delicious Food. What’s a gathering of food lovers without lovely food. You know it’s going to be a good conference, when the conference packet includes a menu for the weekend. Crepes, quebec cheese, Montreal bagels, vegetarian shepherd’s pie, delicious salads… prepared by local restaurants and organizations (like Concordia University’s People’s Potato).  And on Saturday night was the Feast of Flavours, a buffet style dinner, with tastings from Montreal restaurants, who focus on local, sustainable food. Yum!

6) This graph from the National Farmers Union was shown in one of the panel discussions. It’s fascinating (and disheartening) to see prices skyrocketing at the retail level, and yet farmers are seeing little, if any, of that money.

7) Earth Grab. The conference opened with a panel discussion on land grabbing, the corporate rush to buy up land to use as biomass. Angela notes “ I loved hearing about what was really happening in Haiti and Mali from the people on the ground, and who are directly affected by these large multinationals in such a tangible way. We hear about Monsanto, and the earthquake in Haiti, but to hear the real deal was pretty darn cool, (and really infuriating all at once).”

8) Meeting others involved in provincial networks. Before the conference started, people involved in provincial networks met to discuss how we could better collaborate across the country. We’re still in the beginning stages, but I think it will be very beneficial as we are dealing with similar issues across the country.

9) Angela notes that one the highlights for her was the Weaving the Social Movements Panel. “It was really good to get everyone to think outside the box when thinking about food – even though we were there talking about food, there are so many interweaving layers involved when you’re talking about food security, and they are all important and pertinent to each other. So, the four issues that were discussed at the panel (farming, women’s movements, affordable housing, and aboriginal rights), all fit together, and if we want to really make a difference in creating a food system where all people can eat healthy food, we have to understand each other, and work alongside one another.”

10) Katherine notes that one of the highlights for her was the tour of the People’s Potato and the greenhouse at Concordia University. From the People’s Potato website: “The People’s Potato is a vegan soup kitchen run out of Concordia University. The project was initiated in 1999 in order to address student poverty. The student population at Concordia is typically in debt, and has little access to quality nourishing foods. Our soup kitchen emphasizes serving well cooked, wholesome foods.” For more information, visit: http://peoplespotato.blogspot.com/.

And a bonus highlight, because we couldn’t just pick ten!
11) Angela noted “The other thing that I loved were the personal conversations with people – the socializing was fantastic! I felt that people really were into what each other was doing wherever they lived, and there were so many ways to connect to other people working on very similar, or very different issues and projects. The camaraderie was quite intense and inspiring, sort of like the whole weekend.”

Yours in Food,
Marla

Winter Vegetable Curry + Homemade Naan

Hello readers

My name’s Christina and I am the newest contributor to Adventures in Local Food. As a longtime lover of a good meal and aspiring locavore, I will be bringing you recipes, reviews, and other miscellany to help you cook and shop your way to a more educated diet.

For my first foray into food blogging, I decided to tackle a problem that many face when trying to eat locally: how to bringing big flavor to our tables without relying on the global supply chain.

I have a longstanding passion for the big and deep flavors of Indian cooking. However, the flavors of Indian cooking are not readily available in the Maritimes—last time I checked, they don’t grow turmeric in the Valley. My challenge was to bring this very international cuisine down to a local scale.

Eating sustainably involves a certain degree of compromise. I, for one, am not willing to cut all imported products out of my diet. In this particular instance, I decided that the spices—which is what really creates the flavor in Indian cooking—would have to come from elsewhere. This compromise is also an economical one, because a pound of curry powder will take you quite far, whereas a pound of imported cauliflower will not. So I decided to use imported spices, but made sure that the substance of my curry—seasonal vegetables—were all purchased down the street, at the farmer’s market.

The second challenge came in the starch I would eat with my curry. Most curries are eaten with basmati rice, a fragrant rice variety grown in India and Pakistan. But curry is also eaten with naan bread, one of many different kinds of Indian flatbread (others include chapatti and paratha; each are eaten in different regions of India).

Naan is made from yeasted wheat dough and typically cooked on the sides of a tandoor, or clay oven. Finding locally grown basmati rice might be impossible, but the Maritimes do not lack for wheat. So I bought a five-pound bag of unbleached white flour from Speerville Flour Mill, lugged it home, and set about making my own version of Naan bread to eat with my vegetable curry.

The curry was exactly as I imagined it. The fiery punch of Indian spices was matched by the comforting robustness of late autumn produce: broccoli, potatoes, butternut squash, carrots and kale all went into the pot. The Naan bread was good, although it lacked the charcoal crispness of those breads baked in a tandoor

If you want to try your hand at naan and have access to a barbecue, I’d recommend grilling it. While it may have lacked the charcoaled je ne sais quoi of naan baked in the tandoor, my homemade version did provide the starchy base I needed for my curry, however, and was great for mopping up the sauce!

WINTER VEGETABLE CURRY

Note: this curry is extremely versatile. Basically, to create a decent curry dish, you need three components: flavor (curry powder or paste), liquid (milk, cream, tomatoes, coconut milk), and substance (vegetables, meat, or both). When you get used to making curry, you can play around with these elements. Curry powder is widely available in the grocery store, or you can mix your own using a blend of cumin, coriander, turmeric, and cardamom.

3-4 teaspoons curry powder

½ teaspoon ground cumin

½ teaspoon ground coriander

salt and pepper, to taste

3 cloves garlic

2 medium onions, peeled and diced

4 potatoes, peeled and diced

2 carrots, peeled and diced

½ butternut squash, peeled and diced

3 stalks kale, washed, ribs removed, chopped

2 cups chopped broccoli

1 can evaporated milk

1 14-oz can diced tomatoes

2 tbsp olive or vegetable oil

Quartered lemon

Plan yoghurt

Chopped cilantro, all for garnish

1. Heat the olive oil in a large saucepan on medium heat. Add the garlic and onion; saute, stirring constantly, until onions are glassy, about 5 minutes. Add curry powder and other spices and mix will with onion and garlic mixture for 2 minutes.
2. Add the evaporated milk and tomatoes and bring to the boil, taking care that the milk does not stick to the bottom of the put and burn. Add the carrots, squash and potatoes. Return to the boil, then simmer on medium-low heat for 10 minutes.
3. Taste the curry, and add more curry powder, salt, and pepper if needed. Add the broccoli and continue cooking for approximately three minutes, until potatoes and squash are tender. Add kale and cook for an additional two minutes.
4. Divide the curry into bowls. Pass around yoghurt, lemon and cilantro to garnish as needed. Serve with naan bread or rice.

Serves 4.

(this recipe was adapted from this one)

NAAN BREAD

Ingredients

1 tsp dry active yeast
½ tsp white sugar
½ cup hot water, about 110º F (45º C)
1 cup unbleached white or whole wheat flour
¼ tsp salt
2 tbsp canola oil
3 tbsp yogurt
4 tbsp melted butter, for drizzling
3 tbsp sesame seeds and/or 3 tbsp chopped garlic (optional)

1.In a small glass bowl, combine the yeast and sugar. Add the water and let it sit for a few minutes until frothy.

2.In a large bowl combine the flour and salt. Make a well in the centre and add the yeast mixture, oil and yogurt.

3.Knead together for about 5 minutes, adding more flour as needed. The dough is finished kneading when it is still tacky but does not stick to your fingers. Do not over-knead!

4.Oil a small bowl and place your dough inside. Turn it over once to coast. Cover and let it rest in a warm place for about 1 hour (if you have a very cold kitchen, as I do, preheat your oven to 100 degrees, turn it off, and place the dough inside with the door slightly ajar. The dough will not rise in a cold room).

5.Preheat the oven to 475 degrees (F), and place a baking sheet inside to preheat.

6.Punch down the dough and divide it into 4 balls. Roll each ball out on a floured surface until about ¼ inch (0.6 cm) thick (you can use a rolling pin or, if you don’t own one, a drinking glass will do just fine). Place rolled naan on preheated baking sheet and drizzle with melted butter. You can also add chopped garlic or sesame seeds, if you wish. You may only be able to fit two naan on your baking sheet, so either bake them in batches or use two sheets.

7.Bake in the oven for 6-8 minutes. The naan should be golden and slightly crispy on the edges, but still soft.

Serve hot.

(recipe adapted from  here)