2012 CSA List

It’s still winter, but the ever growing pile of seed catalogues at my house suggests that spring is around the corner.  Another sure sign that it will eventually be spring: CSA sign up time!

What is a CSA or Community supported Agriculture? Read about it here. Curious if a CSA is right for you?  Here’s an article about the pros and cons.  Ready to sign up?  Here are some links to some great CSA farms and other community supported food businesses around Nova Scotia.  (A few CSAs have neither a website nor a facebook page, in which case, I’ve linked to their email address.):

Vegetable CSAs

Abundant Acres – Located in Hants County, drop-offs in the Halifax area

Avon River CSA – Based in Centre Burlington that focuses specifically on winter veggies. (Box delivery from October to March)

Cochrane Family Farm – Located in Upper Stewiacke, drop-offs in Brookfield, Truro, Stewiacke

Horse and Garden Farm – Drop-offs in Halifax and Windsor

Hutten Family Farm - Located in the Annapolis Valley, drop-offs in Halifax. Shares offered year-round.

Lafrayere Gardens – Located in Antigonish County, drop-offs in town, at the garden, delivery along Highway 337, Cape George.

Ironwood -Located in Hants County, drop-offs in the Halifax area

Local Motive Farm Drop-offs in Stewiacke, Elmsdale, Fall River, Dartmouth, and Halifax

Moon Fire Farm – Located in Hants County, drop-offs in Halifax area

Scenic Valley Farm – CSA in Central Cape Breton

Snowy River Farms – Vegetable CSA, with meat and egg add ons. Located in Shubenacadie with deliveries in Halifax and Dartmouth

Southfield Organics – Located in Hants County, drop-offs in Tantallon, Timberlea and Bedford

Taproot Farms – Year round Veggie, Meat and Fruit CSAs that has an extensive delivery drop-off  route

Vista Bella Farm– Drop-offs in Tatamagouche, Truro and Halifax

Waldegrave Farm– Based out of Tatamagouche

Watershed Farm – Based on the South Shore, drop-off locations on South Shore and as far as Halifax.

Waxwing Farm – new for 2012.  Will be offering a winter CSA. Drop-offs in Kings County and Lunenburg (and perhaps other south shore locations)

Whippletree Farm– Based out of Annapolis Royal, drop-offs in Annapolis Royal, Bridgetown and Middleton

Wild Rose Farm – Located in Digby County.

Wysmykal – Located in the Amherst area

Meat

Bruce Family Farm – Beef CSA that delivers to Halifax

Nature’s Script Farm – Located in Great Village, delivers to Truro

Shani’s Farm–  Produce, Meat and Preserves CSAs available, drop-offs in Halifax

Wild Mountain Farm – Drop-offs in Halifax

Fish

Off the Hook Community Supported Fishery– A Fish CSA (or CSF) that provides hook and line caught haddock, and delivers to Halifax, Wolfville and Annapolis Royal

Prepared Meals

Impossible Pie – Located in Hants County, with drop-offs in Halifax

Bakery

Gold Island Bakery – Halifax-based bread delivery (done by bike!).  Option to add cheese and baked goods.

Kingsville Farm – Cape Breton based bakery supplying weekly breadbags to local customers, and at Mabou, Sydney, Antigonish and Whycocomagh Farmers Markets.

Check out ACORN’s website to look for CSAs all over the Atlantic provinces:  http://acornorganic.org/acorn/databaseregional.html.

Am I missing any?  Leave me a note below and I’ll add them to the list.

Yours in Food,

Marla

Cod and kale and blueberries, oh my!

On Jan 25,  we had our first cooking class of the Wintertime Harvest series, and what a yummy success it was!

Our instructor, Katrina, a nutrition student from Mount Saint Vincent University and dedicated Food Action Committee volunteer, joined us to share some delicious and nutritious recipes with everyone. Being a nutrition student, Katrina planned a meal for us that was refined sugar, lactose and gluten free.  She was very informative about the health and environmental benefits of this kind of diet!

To begin, we started off with a massaged kale salad with roasted beets, Honeycrisp apples and sunflower seeds in an apple cider vinaigrette. Katrina demonstrated the proper way to massage kale (in olive oil, salt and lemon juice) to soften up the texture by breaking down the cellulose walls. Katrina admitted she is a kale fanatic! We spent a lot of time discussing the many different ways everyone prepares kale and discovered that kale chips and kale salad were quite popular. However, some participants suggested everything from a kale tomato pasta sauce to kale biscotti.

As an entrée we prepared delightful cod fillets in a basil pesto sauce. We purchased the hook & line cod from the Community Supported Fishery program, Off the Hook, facilitated through the Ecology Action Centre. We discussed the importance of purchasing sustainable seafood.  For more information about sustainable seafood, check out Seachoice.

As filling as the kale salad and pesto cod were, everyone somehow managed to save room for the delicious dessert Katrina had planned for us. Following Katrina’s refined sugar, lactose and gluten free diet approach, we made scrumptious blueberry squares. First we blended soaked raisins, sunflower seeds and unsweetened coconut in the food processor to make the crust for the squares. This was then pressed into baking pans and baked at medium heat until it was hard. A mixture of agar, arrowroot, silken tofu and blueberries were then blended and spread out over top of the crust and chilled.

We were fortunate enough to have Angus Bonnyman, a Nova Scotia wild blueberry farmer, join us for the dinner. Not only did we get to use his mouthwatering, organic blueberries in our dessert, but we also got to hear him talk about his farm and the process of growing and harvesting blueberries. His blueberries can be purchased in 5lb frozen boxes year round at the Halifax Grainery Co-op. They are definitely a great way to bring something new exciting to your wintertime produce.

Please check back next week to find out how our second class went. Lots of great recipes to come!

Blueberry cheesecake squares (serves 8)

Filling
1 cup apple/pear cider
1 Tbsp agar powder
2 1/2 Tbsp arrowroot
1 cup extra firm silken tofu
1 T vanilla
2-3 cups of fresh or frozen blueberries

Crust
2 cup of almonds (can use other nuts or a mixture of sunflower seeds, unsweetened coconut should work 1 cup of each)
2 tsp cinnamon
½ cup of raisins

DIRECTIONS
Preheat oven to 350F

Crust
Soak raisins in hot water for 5 min then drain. Put all crust ingredients in a food processor and blend until it starts to stick together. Press into a pan and bake for 10 min.

Filling
Mix first 3 ingredients + 1 cup of blueberries in a pot until thick. Allow to cool in the refrigerator. Add the tofu and vanilla to food processor until smooth.  Spoon chilled blueberry mixture into the food processor and combine. Pour filling into crust and chill for 2hrs.

Massaging the kale

Kale salad with beets and apples (serves 4 depending on how much kale you use)

Dressing
1/2 cup olive oil
1/4 cup apple cider vinegar
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1 tablespoon dijon mustard
1 scant teaspoon of salt

Salad
Bunch of Kale (stalks removed and ripped into small bit size pieces)
2 beets roasted and cubed
1 apples diced
1 small red onion diced
Handful of pumpkin seed or other seeds (optional)

DIRECTIONS
Slice beets in half or in quarters. Wrap in tin foil and put in the over at 375F for 30 min. Peel and dice.
In large serving bowl, add the kale, lemon juice, a drizzle of oil and a little kosher salt. Massage until the kale starts to soften and wilt, 2 to 3 minutes. Set aside while you make the dressing.
In a small bowl, whisk remaining oil, vinegar, dijon and lots of freshly ground black pepper.
Pour the dressing over the kale, and add the roasted beets, apple, onion and pumpkin seeds. Toss and serve.

Haddock with dairy free pesto sauce (serves 4)

Pesto sauce
1 ½ – 2 cups fresh basil
1/3 cup olive oil
1 cup pine nuts (other nuts, such as almonds, walnuts or sunflower seeds may be substituted)
1-2 cloves garlic
1/3 cup nutritional yeast
3/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon black pepper

Fish
4 pieces of haddock (or other white fish)

DIRECTIONS
Preheat oven to 350F

Pesto:
Toast pine nuts/sunflower seeds in a skillet until lightly brown. Place all the ingredients in a food processor and puree until smooth. Set aside.

Fish:
Lightly spoon pesto mixture over the fish and cook for 12 min until flaky.

Sharks are Jawesome!

… but bycatch is not.

What is bycatch?  Well, in short, it’s all the other things that are caught (that you didn’t mean to catch) when you’re fishing.  And in the case of longline swordfish, bycatch includes sharks, sea turtles, sea birds and other types of fish.  And yet the Marine Stewardship Council  is in the process of certifying the longline swordfishery as sustainable.

So, what’s a shark to do?  Well, Hector the shark is bicycling with friends to London, England to deliver a message to the Marine Stewardship Council.  How does a fish bicycle?  Well, you’ll have to check out Hector’s blog to find out:

http://hectoronwheels.org/

Or you can find him on facebook: http://www.facebook.com/#!/HectortheBlueShark

The Katimavik 100-Mile Diet Challenge

Today’s post was written by Fiona Tumner, our Katimavik intern.  Stay tuned for more posts from Fiona, who will be here in the office with us until December.

Can the world survive off a 100 diet?  While the concept of eating local is nothing new, the 100 mile restriction is a newer idea that has spread worldwide.    The popularization of this idea can be traced back to a Canadian book entitled “The 100-Mile Diet: A Year of Local Eating” by Alisa Smith and J.B. Mackinnon.  The book documents the journey of their entire year of eating food from within 100 miles of their home.

Some critics claim that it is simply a philosophical ideal, while others believe that it could be a sustainable solution to the global food issue.  The 100 mile diet won’t solve all the world’s food problems, but it can be a great challenge that any one person can partake in for a length of time.  The diet consists of eating only food that has been grown, produced and packed within a 100 mile radius of your dinner table.  The meals will enlighten you and make you aware of local problems and concerns facing your neighboring farms, as well as inspire you to try new foods.

I had previously had done a 100-mile diet challenge in Ontario, my home province, and now that I’m in Halifax with Katimavik, everybody in our house decided to give it a try for a week during my second week of house management.  We knew that this was going to be a massive undertaking. Being in a new province, I was unaware of Nova Scotia’s assets and limitations, so many hours of research were stretched out ahead of me in my hunt to find food for the twelve people of the house.

Throughout my research, I soon began to realize that Ontario and Nova Scotia held many resemblances – they both grow wonderful fruits and veggies of many different species.  Still, the greatest difference between the two is accessibility of the fisheries.  This is an obvious change which has impact my diet greatly by adding new types of fish each week.  We made seafood chowder from scratch, and served it with homemade biscuits.  The chowder included sustainably managed seafood from local fishermen and spices from the Annapolis valley. (Check out the recipe here: http://www.canadianliving.com/food/nova_scotia_seafood_chowder.php).   The biscuits were not light and fluffy because we were unable to use either baking soda or baking powder therefore local yeast was needed to raise them ½”.  Still all the food we prepared was edible and was received warmly – even the roasted chicken with yogurt.

However there was always the problem of finding the troublesome local oatmeal.  In the house oatmeal is eaten daily, for breakfast, lunch and midnight snacks so the lack of snack food was a problem.  The house filled with cries of “We need oatmeal,” until one day hidden away behind the other oatmeal out came Speerville New Brunswick oatmeal to save the day of complaints and groans.  It is not officially 100 mile, but everyone was thrilled by the prospect of once again snacking on oats.

Even without oatmeal there were still munchies made up every night of fruit crisp and potato skins.  That week also gave rise to premade breakfasts by the house managers of eggs, pancakes and crepes.  This did two things – it fed the crew a good strong breakfast and also kept the kitchen cleaner in the morning.  Before, there were mornings when the kitchen was covered in honey and everything was a sticky mess from top to bottom.  I am happy to say that people started doing their own dishes which made the house managers’ mornings easier.

Overall I believe that it was a great success and that farther along into the program, more of the house managers will take up the challenge, do the research and prepare the meals.

A week of CSA Meals

My roommates and I share a weekly CSA box from Ironwood Farm. With three of us in the house, the veggies get eaten quickly and sometimes we have to buy a little extra from the farmers market. However, they have both been out of town lately.  Plus my garden has started produced cucumbers, beans, and tomatoes.   This has left me with a fridge full of veggies and a lot of creative cooking to do on my own.

When my veggie box arrived this week, it occurred to me that perhaps there were others who felt overwhelmed by their produce.  In fact, one of the main reasons people don’t sign up for a CSA share a second time, is that they can’t eat all the veggies or don’t know what to make with them and they feel bad for wasting food.

So, I decided to share with you a week of meals cooked from my CSA box.

Wednesday afternoon, the box arrived:

It contained the following: parsley, green onions, a head of lettuce, 5 tomatoes, a small bag of beans, several potatoes, a bunch of carrots, a cucumber, kale, and a box of blueberries.

Thursday:  Several blueberries, along with some raspberries from my garden, went into my morning oatmeal (with maple syrup and a spoonful of yogurt).  I also had a boiled egg.  For lunch, I made a greek salad of tomatoes, cucumber, feta, olive oil and dill and ate it with a lentil & rice dish that I bought at the Middle Eastern restaurant around the corner from the office.  At dinner time, I informed my boyfriend, Adam, that he was now part of my CSA blogging experiment and that he was recruited to help me eat all the veggies this week.  He’s easygoing, and together we cooked up our Off the Hook hake into Noli Baked Fish (fish fillets baked with tomatoes, parsley, and spiced bread crumbs), with tabouleh, and hummus and pita on the side.  By the end of the day, I had used 4 of the tomatoes, all the parsley, half a cucumber, and some green onion.  I also decided to blanch and freeze the beans, as I have lots in the garden, and beans tend to go bad quickly.

Friday: My usual breakfast of oatmeal with fruit and boiled eggs.  Lunch was leftovers from Thursday’s dinner.  Dinner involved barbequed sausages and veggie dogs after a long afternoon of pickling with my friend Nicole.  Also, for dinner was a salad of lettuce, cucumber, grated beets and grated carrot.

Saturday: I was feeling inspired by the blueberries and the raspberries (that I was still picking from my garden).  Adam & I cooked up a batch of fluffy berry pancakes and roasted some potatoes.  Lunch: leftovers from Thursday & Friday.  (You’ll notice that leftovers are a common theme.  I always make lots in order to have leftovers.  It makes life easier on busy days.)  On Saturday afternoon I was puttering around the garden.  My arugula looked like it was going to bolt, so I decided to pick it and make pesto.  I also had brought some basil at the farmers market and was going to make that into pesto.  And then I had a idea – my garden is covered in nasturtiums, which have a similar flavour to arugula, and after a quick google search I learned that you can make pesto with nasturtium leaves too.  And then my CSA related dinner ideas went out the window, as I found myself food processing gobs of leafy greens into pesto.  I had two giant bowls of pesto pasta for dinner.

Salad Plate

Sunday: Breakfast was leftover pancakes and potatoes before heading back to Nicole’s house for a peach canning extravaganza.  For lunch I brought along lettuce, cucumber and tomato from my CSA box, as well as the last of the tabouleh.  While, I was finishing up the peach peeling, Nicole whipped up lovely salad plates (see right).  And for supper, Adam and I made a quiche of leeks (leftover from the previous week’s CSA box), beet greens, and goat cheese, as well as carrot beet salad, and some very burnt kale chips. (I had the oven turned up too high and kale chips were inedible.  Boo.)

Monday: Oatmeal & blueberries for breakfast and leftover quiche for lunch.  For supper, the second fish from our Off the Hook delivery got turned into a spicy, tomato-y fish soup with carrots and dill.  Yum!

Tuesday: Polenta with cheddar and salsa for breakfast.  (This didn’t involve any CSA veggies, but it is a recent addition to my culinary adventures. Very filing and delicious.) Lunch: More fish soup with biscuits from the bakery down the street.  I made a batch of kale chips for an evening meeting (and didn’t burn them this time).  And for supper, we barbequed some veggie burgers and made another carrot, beet, cucumber, green onion salad.

And now we’re back to Wednesday again.  Breakfast of biscuits with fruit and boiled eggs.  Lunch is leftovers.  Dinner will be pesto pasta. (I froze some pesto on the weekend.)  And this week’s CSA box will arrive any minute.

A quick check of my fridge this morning revealed the following uneaten (but still edible) CSA veggies:
2 small carrots
a handful of blueberries
1 green onion
2 potatoes

As I tallied things up over breakfast, Adam informed me that had he known about the potatoes, he would have eaten those.  All in all, a delicious week.

Yours in food,

Marla

Summer Cooking Class – Grilled Fish

Though the growing season got off to a cold and rainy start, it was summer in the kitchen of Local Source Market, as we kicked off our summer cooking series on Monday night.

The evening’s menu included grilled arctic char with herbed aioli and roasted asparagus, arugula and radish salad, and a fair trade chocolate hazelnut brownie cake garnished with strawberries and whipped cream.  Yum!  Ten of us bustled around the kitchen preparing the meal.   Local farmer, Amy Lounder of Avon River CSA, joined us for dinner, to talk about Community Supported Agriculture and her farming operation.

Sourcing sustainable seafood can be challenging; however, we’re fortunate to have the Marine Issues Committee staff just down the hall from us at the office.  The original recipe called for trout, and they suggested a sustainable farmed arctic char as a good substitute.  It was delicious!

Because its been such a cold season, zucchini isn’t yet widely available, but there is still asparagus, which went well with the fish.  Arugula and radishes are also plentiful right now, and strawberries are just beginning.  The key to local, seasonal eating is learning to cook with what you have and adapting your recipes to what’s available.

GRILLED FISH WITH HERBED AIOLI

6 fillets arctic char

olive oil

sea salt and pepper

Brush fish with olive oil and sprinkle salt and pepper. Grill 2 minutes with skin side up, then turn and grill 3 to 4 minutes. Pan sear: mix of oil and butter in medium to med-high pan, timing as above.

NOTE

General rule for cooking fish is 8 minutes per inch [measured at thickest area].  However, the fish will continue to cook when you take it off the heat, so remove from heat source at 6 minutes and keep warm while serving veggies and preparing plates.

ROASTED VEG
1 zucchini, halved, per person AND/OR
4 to 6 spears of asparagus
olive oil
sea salt and pepper
lemon wedges to serve
alt: crushed garlic [1 clove per person]

Brush zucchini with olive oil and sprinkle salt and pepper. Grill 3 to 4 minutes
each side [or roast 8 to 10 minutes in 400º oven.] When cooked, cut into 1/2
inch slices.
NOTE
If using asparagus, break ends off, brush with olive oil, add garlic, and grill
or roast 6 to 8 minutes, turning half way through.

HOMEMADE AIOLI

2 garlic cloves, crushed

2 egg yolks

1 tsp [5 ml] Dijon mustard

1.25 c [300 ml] olive oil

a squeeze of lemon juice

1 tsp [5 ml] lemon zest

1/4 tsp [1.23 ml] anchovy paste [optional]

1/4 c [50 ml] flat-leaf parsley

1. Put the crushed garlic cloves and egg yolks in a blender with Dijon mustard, blend to a paste and then with the motor still running add the olive oil in steady stream to make a thick mayonnaise.

2. Transfer to serving bowl. Add a squeeze of lemon juice, anchovy paste, and parsley and stir until mixed. Season well.

ARUGULA AND RADISH SALAD

DRESSING

1 small shallot, minced

1 rounded tsp [5 ml] Dijon mustard

1/4 c [60 ml] grapeseed oil

1 tbsp [15 ml] virgin olive oil

1/4 c [50 ml] balsamic vinegar

1 tbsp [15 ml] red wine vinegar

1/8 tsp [0.6 g] salt

freshly ground pepper

Small handful of arugula per person. 3 or 4 large radishes per person, with head and tail snipped off, sliced thinly. [or 8 to 10 small radishes, halved or quartered.] Cucumber is also great with this mix.

Wash and dry arugula. Arrange in serving bowl.

NOTE – Arugula will go limp when tossed with dressing, so add dressing only when serving. Let sit dry in serving bowl until ready to serve, then serve each plate and add dressing and radishes as garnish.

CHOCOLATE HAZELNUT BROWNIE CAKE

5 tbsp [75 ml] unsalted butter

6 oz [175 g] bittersweet or semisweet chocolate

1/2 c [125 ml] shelled hazelnuts

1 c [225 g] cane sugar

2 large eggs

1 tsp [5 ml] vanilla

GARNISH

1 c [225 g] whipping cream

4 tsp [20 g] sugar

1 tbsp [15 ml] Grand Marnier or other liqueur

1 tsp [5 ml] orange rind

5 or 6 mint leaves

1. Line 8 or 9 inch cake tin with foil. Grease with butter or oil.

2. Break chocolate into small pieces and put in an oiled bowl on top of simmering water until melted. Set aside to cool.

3. Toast hazelnuts on cookie sheet at 350º until lightly browned, 5 to 6 minutes. Let cool and crush into small pieces.

4. In a large bowl, whisk together sugar, eggs, and vanilla until smooth. Using rubber spatula, fold in hazelnuts and melted chocolate until incorporated. Pour mix into tart pan and bake at 350º until toothpick inserted in centre comes out with moist crumbs clinging, about 20 minutes. Let cool to room temp. on rack.

5. Garnish: In mixing bowl and using whisk or electric mixer, whip cream, sugar, liqueur, and grated orange rind until firm peaks form.

6. Pile cream on top of cake and garnish with mint leaves.

Vegetables of spring, unite!

As the sun finally makes it way out from behind the looming rain clouds, spring vegetables from Hutten Family Farms have been shinning strong in CSA boxes for weeks. With the arrival of shelling peas it was time to bring them together with their garden comrades, the radish.

Radishes usually find themselves entertaining parsley on the side of your entrée but cooking them can yield some interesting results. No more is the bitter snap of the breakfast radish but at last a whisper of sweetness.

Flax Crusted Haddock with Spring Vegetables, Quinoa and Honey Dijon Dressing
Serves 2
250 g Haddock Filets
2 tbsp Flax Seeds
½ c Quinoa, Cooked
2 tbsp Parsley
2 tbsp Toasted Almonds
1 Small Handful Arugula, Chopped
4-5 Radishes
¼ c Shelled Peas
1 Small Carrot, Make Paper Slices Using a Vegetable Peeler

Dressing
1 tbsp Dijon Mustard
2 tbsp Honey
1 tbsp Shallot, Minced Fine
¼ c Apple Cider
1 c Sunflower Oil

To make the dressing simply combine all in a mason jar and shake. Use only what you want, the rest can be stored in the jar in the fridge.
Spread the flax seeds on a plate and lay out the haddock on one side, covering with flax seeds. Heat a frying pan with a little butter and add the fish, flax side down.
When it starts to get golden in color, 2-3 minutes flip the fish and finish cooking for about 3 minutes.
Fill a small pot with water and add the radishes. Bring to a simmer until the radishes are almost cooked. Add the peas and carrot slices and cook for no more then a minute. Strain and mix with the quinoa, parsley, almonds and dressing.

Mason jar dressings are so easy to make, fill ¼ with vinegar and the rest with oil; add some flavorings and shake. They’ll last in the fridge for about a week and just as easier to make then just a few servings.

5 Spice Rhubarb Crumble And Sweetened Whipped Quark
Serves 4
1 CSA Bunch of Rhubarb Cut Into 2 cm Pieces
1 tbsp 5-Spice Powder
½ c Brown Sugar
1 tsp Corn Starch

Crust
1.5 c Oats
½ c Butter
¼ c Flour
¼ c Brown Sugar
1 Pinch Salt

Whipped Quark
¼ c Quark
¼ c Whipping Cream
2 tbsp Icing Sugar
½ tsp Vanilla Extract

Toss together the rhubarb, 5-spice, cornstarch and sugar until well combined. Fill up a small baking dish with a minimum 3 cm thickness.
Knead the flour and butter together until course. Mix together with the oats, sugar and salt. Cover the rhubarb with this topping and place in an oven at 350oF. When the crust is golden brown and rhubarb juice is bubbling take it out and cool.
While crumble is cooling, whip the cream until it starts to get thick. Toss in the quark, sugar and vanilla and keep whipping until its thick and would look good on some warm crumble. Apply to some warm crumble and enjoy!

~~

Jon Geneau is a member of the Hutten Family Farm CSA.  If you’d like to send in a submission to the Thinking Outside the Box column, please contact Marla.  For a list of CSAs in Atlantic Canada, visit the ACORN directory.

There’s still time to sign up for a CSA!

So, at this point – we all know what Community Shared Agriculture is all about, right?  Consumers develop a relationship with a local food producer and pay up front for a season’s worth of veggies, fruit, meat, bread or fish straight from the farm, orchard, bakery or ocean!  Admittedly, most CSAs in Nova Scotia are for vegetables and fruit, but more and more producers are exploring the possibilities to share their particular harvest with YOU!

CSAs are a win-win situation.  Farmers have a set customer base, so they know how much to plant and harvest, and they receive payment at the beginning of the season when they are ordering seeds and other supplies.  Customers benefit by receiving fresh, delicious food from a farmer they know and trust, delivered to a central pick-up point.  Many farmers and producers still have space in their summer CSAs and if you act soon, you could still participate this summer.

(Marla’s note: I just sent off cheque for my CSA subscription!  Veggies deliveries start mid-June and I’m really looking forward to a fridge full of delicious food.  I promise to post recipes as the season progresses.  If you’ve signed up for a CSA and want to write about it for our blog, please let me know.)

Here are some links to some great blogs and websites of farms around Nova Scotia that provide CSAs:

www.taprootfarms.ca\ – Veggie, Meat and Fruit CSAs that has an extensive delivery drop-off  route

http://www.localmotivefarm.com/ Veggie CSA that delivers to Stewiacke, Truro, Elmsdale, Fall River, Dartmouth, and Halifax

http://www.huttenfamilyfarm.com A year-round veggies CSA that delivers to Halifax.

http://www.lakecityfarm.com/?q=csa A Veggie CSA right in Dartmouth.

http://www.avonrivercsa.com/ – A CSA based in Centre Burlington that focuses specifically on winter veggies.

http://www.brucefamilyfarm.com/ – A Beef CSA that delivers to Halifax

http://horseandgardenfarm.com/ – A Veggie CSA that delivers to Halifax and Windsor

http://www.offthehookcsf.ca/ – A Fish CSA (or CSF) that provides hook and line caught haddock, and delivers to Halifax, Wolfville and Annapolis Royal

http://www.shanisfarm.com/default.html –  Produce, Meat and Preserves CSAs available, and delivers to Halifax

http://www.vbfarm.ca/ – Veggie CSA that delivers to Tatamagouche, Truro and Halifax

http://farm.waldegrave.org/csa-info-1 – Veggie CSA based out of Tatamagouche

http://wtreecsa.blogspot.com/ – Veggie CSA based out of Annapolis Royal that uses draft horses on their farm instead of tractors!

But please don’t discriminate against farmers that don’t presently have websites!  Check out Acorn’s website to look for CSAs all over the Atlantic provinces:  http://acornorganic.org/acorn/databaseregional.html

Yours in food,
Alison & Marla

Gourmet at Home with Chef Steven Galvin

Wow. When I asked Chef Steven Galvin to create a menu highlighting Nova Scotia’s winter fare, I did not expect this. Embracing the season, Chef Galvin sent me to the farmer’s market for turnip, beets, line-caught haddock, apples, winter pears, and goat’s cheese.

Menu:

Beet Salad with Honey and Apple Cider Vinegar

Line Caught Haddock and Baked Turnip Cassoulet

and Local Goat Cheese Cake with Nova Scotia Apple Caramel Sauce

This beet salad is no ordinary beet salad – trust me. Only a professional chef would come up with this. The secret, according to Chef Galvin, is the mix of raw and cooked, tender and crunchy, hot and cold. The recipe is not difficult but does require a few steps. It is a perfect dinner party salad. With the amazing array of beets being grown by Nova Scotia farmers, this dish can be bright and vibrant.

To make this recipe at home, begin by cooking a few larger beets – purple or golden – in a pot of water. Once they are cooked, their peels should come off easily. Slice the beets thickly. Glaze… While that is in the oven, grate a few beets – purple, golden and candy cane stripped – into a bowl…

The main course was perfect for a winter’s night - warm, flavourful and filling. …

Dessert. Goat’s cheese cake with an apple caramel sauce. Need I say more?

Okay, okay. This dessert was amazing – and oh, so Nova Scotian. (How can you go wrong with Ran-Cher Acres cheese and NS apples.  Unfortunately, we haven’t yet been able to snag the recipe for this one.  (And forgot to write it down during the class.)

Here are the recipes for the beet salad and haddock with turnip cassoulet if you’d like to try these out at home:

Beet Salad with Apple Cider and Honey Vinaigrette, Sesame and Mint

Ingredients for 4 people
The Salad:
3 red beets (equal in size)
1 honey crisp apple
Fresh mint to taste
Beet shoots (optional)

The Vinaigrette:
2 tbls apple cider vinegar
8 tbls grape seed oil
1 tsp local honey
1 tsp dijon mustard
1tbls lemon juice

The Glaze:
¼ cup honey
¼ cup apple cider
¾ cup apple cider vinegar
1 tsp sea salt

The Garnish:
Toasted sesame seeds

The Method:
Add 2 of the beets to a pot of acidulated water with sea salt and bring to a boil. Lower heat and simmer until the beets fall off the tip of a knife, this will take about an hour so please don’t keep jabbing the beet with the knife. When cooked, remove from heat and let cool in the water until you can easily handle them. When cool enough, gently peel away the skin with your fingers (it will be wise to wear gloves if you are worried about staining). Slice the beets into 4 nice thick slices and set in a pan with the glaze.

Place the pan in a 300 degree oven for about a ½ hour until the beets with a nice shiny glaze on them.

While the beets are cooking you can make your glaze. Combine all the ingredients in a pot and simmer to reduce slightly, by doing this the glaze will thicken slightly. You can tell when it is ready when the bubbles start becoming large, and holding the bubble longer. Once at the right consistency, remove from the heat and set aside so you can start the beet and apple slaw.
Before cutting the vegetables you will want to make the vinaigrette, to do this you will measure out the vinegar, cider and mustard into a mixing bowl, then measure out the oil and slowly in a steady stream add it to the vinegar mixture while vigourously mixing to emulsify the oil and the vinegar. For the slaw you will take your remaining beat and peel it. I would suggest gloves as raw beet juice stains. You will then slice your beet as fine as you can and then julienne it, meaning to cut into fine strips. If you have a mandolin, a tool that does this for you, consider yourself lucky. If not, this will be a great knife skill practice, once julienned, place in a bowl of cold water to leach out some of the colour. This will make it possible to distinguish the other ingredients otherwise everything will be a dark ruby red. Next you will julienne the apple and add it to the beets, tossing together. Next, chop or tear the mint into small pieces and add to the apple and beet, again toss together. Finally add some vinaigrette, just enough to coat, season, toss again and set aside.

In a frying pan over medium heat, add the sesame seeds and toast to a golden brown. Remove from the pan and set aside.

Remove the beets from the oven; they should have a nice shiny glaze to them. Place a slice of the beet on the plate and top with the beet and apple slaw, then sprinkle with the toasted sesame seeds. Drizzle with the excess glaze and vinaigrette and ENJOY!

Parsley Crusted Line Caught Haddock atop a Turnip and Cabbage Cassoulet

The Parsley Crust:
2 cups panko bread crumbs
1 cup parsley

The Fish:
4 fillets of Haddock

The Beans:
500 g white beans
1 onion
1 bay leaf
5 cloves
200 g smoked bacon
1 head of garlic
4 sprigs of thyme

The Cassoulet
Cooked  beans
1 turnip
½ head of cabbage
300 g bacon
500 g chorizo sausage
4 onions
1 cup celery root
4 cloves garlic
6 sprigs fresh thyme

The Method
Soak the beans overnight. After the beans have soaked, strain them and give them a good rinse. Add to a pot with a large amount of water. Half the onion and stick with the cloves, then add to the water and beans along with the bay leaf, garlic, bacon, and thyme. Bring the pot to a boil, lower heat and simmer the beans until tender. When tender remove from the heat and allow them to cool in the water. This keeps the beans from drying out, giving them a nice sheen.

While the beans are cooking cut up all the vegetables into a 1 cm dice. Dice the bacon as well and add to a pot to start rendering the fat. Fry the sausages at the same time, remove and set aside. Omit the bacon and the sausage to make it vegetarian. Add your diced vegetables to the pot and cook for a couple minutes. Stir to coat all the vegetable with the fat and season with a pinch of salt, this releases the juices in the vegetables.

Now that the beans are cooked and cooled, strain them of their cooking liquid. Be sure to reserve the liquid. Add the beans to the vegetables, and toss together along with the sausage that you will slice. Add the reserved liquid to just cover. Bring everything up to heat on the stove then place in the oven and bake for about an hour. Until the veg is tender and most of the liquid is absorbed.

To make the bread crust, simply add the panko crumbs with the parsley to a food processor, and process to a bright green.

Trim the fish to equal sizes and coat the top half with the parsley bread crumbs. When the cassoulet is just about finished, remove and place the fish (bread crust up) on top of the cassoulet. Return to the oven and bake until the fish in finished, about 5-8 minutes. Remove and ENJOY!

Recipes for Early Spring: Part II

The second class in the Spring Series was taught by two EAC staffers. Mark, the EAC Policy Director, recently impressed the whole office one afternoon with a big batch of spinach and egg drop soup with parmesan cheese. After eating most of what was meant to be Mark’s lunch, we all agreed that Mark just had to lead a local food cooking class. Mark decided we’d make this soup as our starter and a mussels with mint pasta dish. Both dishes were delicious!

Laena, cyclist extraordinaire, offered to take care of dessert. Being the very considerate gal that she is, Laena came up with a recipe that can be easily adapted to meant many dietary needs and restrictions. Laena shared her recipe for chocolate tofu “cheesecake” – fair trade chocolate, local tofu “cheesecake”  that is. This dessert was a big hit with everyone. I have since made this “cheesecake” about four times! I’ve made a spicy chocolate version with a cookie crumb crust as well as a Nova Scotia blueberry and vanilla version with a shortbread crust. The key to this recipe is terrific local – and GMO-free – tofu. Acadian Soy, a Nova Scotia producer, makes great tofu. You can find it at the Seaport Market, at Local Source, at Home Grown Organics (Allan Street) and at Pete’s Frootique.

Recipes:

Spinach and Egg Drop Soup with Parmesan Cheese

One of the many great things about this recipe is how easy it is to find the ingredients locally! The spinach came from Hutton Family Farm at the Keith’s Brewery Market, the free-range farm-fresh eggs can come from any number of vendors at the farmer’s market, and the parmesan cheese can be purchased from Foxhill almost any day of the week at the Seaport Market.

2 cloves garlic, crushed
2 tbsp olive oil
450 g spinach
750 mL chicken stock
2 eggs, beaten
2 tbsp parmesan cheese, grated, plus more as desired

In a saucepan saute two crushed garlic cloves in two tablespoons of olive oil until golden.  Add 450 g (1 lb) of cooked leaf spinach and toss it around in the hot oil.  Remove the garlic.  Pour in 750 mL (26 fl oz) of chicken stock.  Simmer for 5 minutes.  Stir quickly into the soup two whole eggs beaten up with two tablespoons of grated parmesan cheese and let them scramble.  Check the seasoning.  Pass more grated Parmesan cheese at the table.

Simple Tomato Sauce

1 small onion
2 cloves garlic, crushed
4 tbsp olive oil
1 knob of butter
450 g canned tomatoes, roughly chopped and undrained
1 tsp castor sugar salt
black pepper
6 fresh basil leaves (or a pinch dried basil)

In a saucepan, gently sauté a small, finely chopped onion with two crushed garlic cloves in four tablespoons of olive oil and a knob of butter until golden. Add 450g (1 lb) of roughly chopped, undrained, canned tomatoes, a small level teaspoon of castor sugar salt and milled black pepper. Cover and cook for 15 minutes. Add six torn-up fresh basil leaves (or a pinch of dried), uncover and finish cooking with five more minutes.

Cook enough pasta for 4 servings

Mussels with mint
1/4 cup olive oil
2 pounds mussels, scrubbed and debearded
1/4 cup dry white wine
1 tbsp hot red pepper flakes
1 cup basic tomato sauce (recipe above)
1/2 cup packed fresh  mint leaves

Heat olive oil over medium-high heat until smoking.  Add the onion and cook until softened, about 3 minutes.  Add the mussels, wine, and red pepper flakes, cover and cook until the mussels have just opened, about 2 minutes.

Add the tomato sauce to the mussels and bring to a boil.

Add cooked pasta to the pan of mussels.  Toss.  Add the mint leaves, toss the pasta to coat, and serve immediately.

Chocolate Tofu “Cheesecake”
These recipes are adapted from the cookbook, “How it all Vegan”.

Rolled Oat Pie Crust
2 cups rolled oat flakes (we used Speerville oats)
1/4 cup margarine or shortening (we used local butter)
1/2 cup sweetener (we used fair trade sugar)
1/4 tsp cinnamon

In a medium bowl, mix together all the ingredients. Press the mixture evenly onto the bottom of a pie plate or cheesecake pan, using your fingers or the back of spoon. Bake at 350 degrees for 10 minutes before using.

Chocolate “cheese” cake
3 cups medium tofu (we used Acadian Soy’s firm tofu)
1 cup margarine (we used butter)
1 to 1 1/2 cups dry sweetener (we used fair trade sugar)
3/4 cup cocoa powder (we are used fair trade cocoa)
2 tsp vanilla extract
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 cup soy milk (we used Foxhill milk!)

*We adapted the recipe slightly in the end to include some melted fair trade chocolate as well. Melt the chocolate in a double boiler and then add it to the blender.

Combine everything in a blender or food processor and blitz until smooth. Pour onto the prepared crust. Put the dish in the fridge to set for a number of hours.

Enjoy!

Yours in food, Keltie