As I previously mentioned in last week’s Fiddlehead Frolic part one, I’ve been doing some research into pickling fiddleheads. There aren’t too many recipe books that include recipes for fiddleheads, so I’ve had to experiment a bit. I really enjoy … Continue reading
… Or a short you-tube video. 
My colleague and I collaborated with really wonderful local filmmaker to put together a 4 minute video about our work at the Ecology Action Centre.
The Our Food Project combines the food skills work that you see here on this blog, with the urban garden work (which you can read all about at the Halifax Garden Network blog) to build positive food environments. What’s a positive food environment, you ask? Well, we want to encourage the growing and eating of local, healthy food in our community and we want to create spaces in which people are excited about doing that.
Garity (of the urban garden project) and I (Marla, of the Food Connections Project) have been doing this work for over 5 years and in the past year we’ve been able to bring this work together under the Our Food Project. We have had an amazing year, working with so many great organizations and communities and learning so much along the way.
We are, unfortunately, facing a funding shortage at this time. If you’re excited about this work and have the means to make a financial donation, please visit the Ecology Action Centre website for more information. Regardless of whether you are interested or able to donate, we truly appreciate the feedback, comments, emails and photos that we receive from our wonderful readers.
And don’t worry, a funding shortage won’t stop the blogging. We have some fabulous summer students and volunteers who will be keeping the blog posts coming all summer long.
Yours in food,
Marla
This Saturday we had a great workshop on how to grow sprouts at home. Shelley Skedden from the East Coast Family Market, AKA Blois Family Farms, was on hand to teach us the ins and outs of growing your own greens throughout the cool months when fresh veggies are hard to come by.
Here are the steps to successful (and safe) sprout growing:
1. Start with certified sprouting seed. This is an important step.
Theoretically, any seeds or legumes can be sprouted, but you don`t know where those seeds have been! One of the participants familiar with the industrial food chain reminded us that commercial seed is often scooped up from the ground in warehouses with front end loaders. For example – just because some lentils are safe to cook and eat, doesn`t mean that they`ll be safe to consume raw in a sprouted form. Organically certified sprouting seed will have been tested to ensure it`s free from salmonella and other toxins that are very harmful to your health. Shelley couldn`t stress this point enough: Buy Certified Seed!
2. Keep things CLEAN
The basic tools you need for sprouting is some mesh fabric, and a jar or a sprouting tray. Make sure everything is really clean by washing them in a mild bleach solution. You also want to make sure you`re using clean water: those of us living in the city don`t need to worry about municipal water, but if you live in a rural area with well water, you will need to use bottled water if you don`t have a purification system that will kill any stray bacteria.
3. Get Started!
Soak your seeds for 2-6 hours. If you`re using a glass jar, soak your seeds in the jar and place your mesh fabric over the top and keep it in place with a rubber band. Shelley suggests using bridal veil fabric which is pretty cheap at fabric stores, and comes in different mesh widths which is handy for large and smaller seeds. After the soak time, you can dump the jar over to drain in a bowl or in the sink at a 45 degree angle.
4. Add water, swish, rinse, repeat.
Twice a day for the next 4-7 days, you`ll want to pour a bit of water into your jar, swish it around to make sure your seeds are all nice and wet, and then dump the jar and drain it at a 45 degree angle. Keep the jar out of direct sunlight, and keep it at an upside down angle in the hours between rinsing. After a day or two you`ll notice the seeds starting to grow.
Fuzzy roots are ok to eat!
Some people get discouraged about sprouting because they think their sprouts have gone moldy, but Shelley reminded us that some sprouts just have really fuzzy roots. The daikon sprouts in the picture to the right looked like they were full of white fuzzy mold, but they were just the thirsty roots spreading out. As long as you leave your sprouts draining at an angle so air can come into the jar, it will be unlikely that you`ll grow mold, especially in winter and spring when your house is still quite cool.
5. When they look tasty enough to eat, eat em!
There`s no strict rule on when sprouts are ready to eat. Some people like them when they`re still small and crunchy, and other people like them to grow a little longer. Try shaking some out of the jar at different stages of growth to see how you like them best.
Lots of people like eating sprouts on top of their salads, but we shared our favourite ways to eat them: sprouts and hummus sandwiches, sprinkled on scrambled eggs, and even mixed in with mashed potatoes or spaghetti sauce. At the end of the workshop, we enjoyed them in a lovely mixed sprout salad with a sweet vinaigrette, which was an absolutely lovely way to enjoy the different flavours of the mung bean, fenugreek, lentil, and broccoli sprouts.
Get Sprouting!
I know that a lot of us are pretty tired of eating root vegetables – but honestly? I don’t think I can get sick of potatoes.
I’ve written about my love of potatoes before… I think my favourite thing with these starchy tubers is that so many cultures around the world have figured out how to incorporate them into tasty food. While they’re not exactly transformed in these dishes, they remain an excellent vehicle to transport flavour.
Case in point? Veggie Samosas.
We all love ‘em, but did you know how easy they are to make? And how impressed your friends will be when you take them to your next potluck?
Spicy Potato Samosas (Aloo Samosas) by Julie Sahni
For the filling:
2 to 3 Tbs. ghee or vegetable shortening
1 tsp. coriander seeds
1/4 cup minced shallots
1 tsp. freshly grated ginger
1-1/4 lb. baking potatoes, boiled until just beginning to fall apart; cooled, peeled and cut into 1/2-inch cubes
1/2 cup frozen green peas, thawed
2 tsp. fresh lemon juice
1-1/2 tsp. kosher salt
1 tsp. garam masala
1/4 to 1/2 tsp. cayenne
For the dough:
5-1/2 oz. (1-1/4 cups) unbleached all-purpose flour; more for dusting
1/2 tsp. kosher salt
1/8 tsp. baking soda
1/4 cup vegetable shortening
2 Tbs. plain yogurt, mixed with 1/4 cup water
2 Tbs. unbleached all-purpose flour dissolved in 3 Tbs. water
Peanut oil or corn oil, for deep-frying
Make the filling:
Heat the ghee or vegetable shortening in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add the coriander seeds and cook until they darken slightly. Add the shallots and ginger, and cook until soft, about 2 minutes.
Add the diced cooked potatoes to the skillet and sauté until slightly golden, about 3 minutes. Remove from the heat and add the peas, lemon juice, salt, garam masala, and cayenne, tossing gently to combine. Let the filling cool completely.
Make the dough:
In a wide, shallow bowl, mix the flour with the salt and baking soda. Make a well in the center and drop the shortening into the well. Pick up some flour and fat in one hand. Rub the other hand lightly over this mixture, moving from heel to fingertips, letting the fat-coated flour fall back into the bowl. Pick up more fat and flour and continue this rubbing action until the flour is evenly coated; it should have a fine texture with no lumps.
Add the yogurt-water mixture a little at a time. Add just enough liquid until the dough comes together in a mass. Depending on the the flour and humidity, you may not need all the liquid; if you need more, add plain water a tablespoon at a time. Knead the dough until it’s smooth and elastic. The dough is ready when it’s no longer sticky and feels as soft as an earlobe, after about 5 minutes of kneading.
Roll the dough into an 8-inch log, wrap it in plastic, and let it rest for about 15 minutes. (The dough can also be wrapped tightly and chilled for a day. Bring it to room temperature before continuing.)
Assemble the samosas:
Cut the dough into eight even pieces. Roll each piece into a ball and flatten slightly. Keep the pieces you’re not working with covered with plastic wrap. Roll one flattened piece of dough into a thin 6-inch round, rolling from the center of the round and turning the dough frequently to achieve a uniform thickness. Cut the rolled circle in half.
Pick up one semicircular piece of dough and moisten half of the straight edge with a little flour-water mixture. Create a cone by bringing the dry half of the straight edge over the moistened half. Press the seam together to close. Be sure to pinch closed the point of the cone as well; a good seam will keep the stuffing in during frying.
Fill the cone with two heaping tablespoons of the spicy potato mixture. Hold the cone about a third of the way up to keep it from collapsing as you fill. Brush one open side with the flour-water mixture and pinch the opening closed. To give the samosa its characteristic flared ruffle, continue to pinch the straight edge to slightly thin and extend it. Use remaining dough and filling to make 15 more samosas.
Fill the cone with two heaping tablespoons of the spicy potato mixture.
Fry the samosas:
Fill a heavy, deep pan with 4 inches of oil and heat it to 350° F (use a deep-frying thermometer to monitor the temperature). Add the samosas in batches of four or five, being careful not to crowd the pan. Cook the samosas, turning often, until they’re golden brown, at least five minutes. Transfer samosas to a paper towel-lined plate to drain. Serve immediately or let them cool to room temperature.
Serve with bought tamarind sauce or homemade chutney.
Reason #387: …Because you will fall down on your knees, weeping with pleasure, from the taste of last season’s tomatoes when early spring finally arrives. Your canned salsa will give you hope that summer will appear once again.
Ok, this is a little melodramatic… but homemade salsa does help when it comes time to eating leftovers. This afternoon I was looking at a pretty empty fridge – some leftover baked beans, eggs, sprouts, and the usual condiments – and inspiration hit!
I took the leftover beans and added some garlic-chili paste, and mashed them up a bit. I spread this on some warm corn tortilla, and topped it with some scrambled eggs, salsa, and sprouts.
Delicious!
Do you have any stories of using up your leftovers in creative ways that turned out really great? Share your stories in the comments below!
Yours in Food,
Alison
Early spring can be one of the trickiest times for local eating in Nova Scotia – to continue finishing off last autumn’s root vegetables can be tough, especially when the grocery stores are full of spring veggies that won’t be harvested here for at least another month like asparagus and strawberries…
We’re shaking up our cooking class routine this time around by focusing on building food skills in one cooking class and two workshops that are designed to make this tough time of the local-food-year a little more fun to deal with.
Sprouting Workshop
Date: Saturday, April 14, 1:30-3:00 PM.
Location: Ecology Action Centre kitchen
Cost: $5
Learn how to grow sprouts! Shelley Skedden from the Blois Family Farm will give us some pointers on growing sprouts at home. We’ll have a wide selection of sprouts to snack on, and all participants will go home with a make-your-own sprouting kit.
Spring Cooking Class
Date: Monday, April 16, 6:00 PM
Location: Local Source Market
Cost: $15-25 (sliding scale)
This cooking class will focus on teaching how to adapt basic vegan, gluten-free recipes to in-season produce. We hope to have a CSA box brainstorming session as part of this class to collectively brainstorm about how to build meals around local veggies.
(Please note –this kitchen is not a gluten-free space. This workshop may not be suitable for those with severe wheat allergies.)
Mozzarella Workshop
Date: Saturday, April 21, 1:30-4:30 PM
Location: Local Source Market
Cost: $25
Learn how to make mozzarella! Using fresh Foxhill milk, we’ll demonstrate how to make a stretched curd mozzarella, and then all participants will get to try it out!
Method of payment and Cancellation Policy:
Participants must pay upon registering for the class. We can accept cash, cheque or credit card. We require a credit card number or payment to secure your spot. Please note that we can only refund your registration fee if you cancel a minimum of two business days prior to the class. If you are unable to attend, you are welcome to invite a friend to come in your place. (Please be conscious of allergies and dietary needs).
To register, please complete the information below and contact Alison at alison@ecologyaction.ca.
Registration Form
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 and the #2, 4 and 52 buses have stops along North Street. We will also attempt to match participants interested in car pooling if possible.
Thank goodness for groundhog day.
Shubenacadie Sam recently took a walk outside and determined that we would have an early spring in Nova Scotia this year. That means its time to start planning our Spring cooking classes!
We’re thinking about doing things a little differently this spring. There seems to be a lot of desire for skills-based classes surrounding the preparing and appreciation of local food, and we’re thinking about mixing some workshops in with our cooking classes. Marla and I were brainstorming for ideas last week and came up with some ideas like…
1. CSA food box meal planning. It takes a bit of a knack to use all your CSA veggies every week, and we think it would be fun to have a class or workshop based around collaboratively figuring out what to eat right away, what keeps for later, and how to incorporate lots of veggies in your favourite dishes.
2. Local Meat and What to Do With It. Lots of folks are getting interested in using local beef, pork, and chicken, but working with larger cuts of meat can be a little intimidating for some. We could have an explanation of different cuts of meat, and the proper ways to cook them. Or have a workshop based around whole chickens and show how to cut apart a bird into more usable parts, and how to make stock from the meaty bones. Or we could even have a class on basic meat curing – pancetta is pretty easy to make, and can add so much flavour to all those greens you’ll get in your CSA boxes in early summer!
3. Micro Greens/Sprouting. The Halifax Garden Network recently had a blog post on how to grow micro greens and we were thinking it might be fun to hold a workshop on growing and eating these year-round fresh greens. Eating local can start to be a bit of a drag in late winter and early spring, and these greens are such a great way to get some GREEN into your spring diet!
These are just some preliminary ideas of where we might go with our Spring cooking classes – this is not a schedule that’s set in stone.
We’d like to hear if some of these ideas sound interesting to you. Do you have other food skills you’re dying to learn? Or do you have any food skills that you’re willing to share? We like to have volunteers teach our workshops, so we’d love to hear from you if you’d be interested in helping to teach a class or workshop. Leave a comment below, or contact me at Alison@ecologyaction.ca if you have some ideas for a great local food workshop!
I wanted to share an exciting piece of news with you all!
The NS Food Security Network and the Participatory Action Research and Training Centre on Food Security won the 2011 Partnership award from the CIHR (Canadian Institutes of Health Research). (I have been co-chair of the coordinating committee of the NS Food Security Network for the last several years.) The award comes with $25,000 that will go to supporting the work of the two organizations.
Dr. Patty Williams, of Mount Saint Vincent University, and I were in Ottawa earlier this month to accept the award on behalf of the two organizations. We also met briefly with the Minister of Health.
Marla MacLeod (left) and Dr. Patricia Williams (centre) with the Honourable Leona Aglukkaq (right), Minister of Health.
And here’s some info about the organizations (From the CIHR website):
In 2000, community members and other partners concerned with sustainable food systems came together to discuss food security in Nova Scotia. The workshop resulted in a unique collaboration between the Nova Scotia Food Security Network (NSFSN) and the Participatory Action Research and Training Centre on Food Security (PARTC–FS). Together, they have challenged old assumptions and generated new strategies for improving access to healthy, affordable food.
Through the partnership, researchers, representatives from family resource centres and the Nova Scotia Nutrition Council, and people who have directly experienced food insecurity have come together to calculate the cost of a basic healthy diet in their communities and identify barriers to accessing safe, nutritious food. They have also examined the issue from the suppliers’ side, looking at the capacity of communities to produce their own food and support local farmers and fishers. The partners have used this research to create a more comprehensive definition of food security and they have developed new tools to help communities and policy makers build better food policies. Two of these tools, a workbook called Thought about Food? and a DVD entitled “Food Security: It’s Everybody’s Business”, have been distributed to policy makers and resource centres in over 800 communities across the country.
Dr. Patricia Williams, Director of PARTC–FS, and Marla MacLeod, Co-chair of the Coordinating Committee at NSFSN, say that these resource materials are designed to start discussions about food security at local, provincial and national levels. The partnership has also led to a multi-year, community-university research alliance to explore what community food security (CFS) looks like in four Nova Scotia communities and strengthen their capacity for policy change to achieve it.
“The idea is to take what we learn here [in Nova Scotia] and, in partnership with others across the country, apply and share those lessons,” says Dr. Williams.
The CIHR Partnership Award recognizes partnerships with one or more external partners from the private, voluntary or public sectors which exemplify excellence by bringing health research communities together to create innovative approaches to research questions; to develop research agendas that are responsive to the health needs, concerns and priorities of Canadians; and to accelerate the translation of knowledge for the benefit of Canadians.
Want to know more about the work of the NS Food Security Network and sign up for our e-newsletter? Visit nsfoodsecurity.org.
You may have noticed that our blog has been a little quieter than usual. Conference season has hit, and I’ve been out of town.
I just got back from a conference in Toronto, where I had the privilege to met a number of wonderful people working on food security initiatives in other provinces.
Here are some blogs to check out:
Our Food, Our Health, Our Culture is the blog of Food Matters Manitoba. Their most recent entry covers the anatomy and traditional uses of caribou.
Root Cellars Rock has been on our blog roll for a while now. This blog is a project of the Food Security Network for Newfoundland and Labrador. It covers a wide range of food issues, including, but not limited to, root cellaring.
I also had the opportunity to visit The Stop Community Food Centre in Toronto. It’s an inspiring organization that grew from being a small food bank in the 1970s to a community food centre that included drop-in meal programs, community gardening, community kitchens, and a whole host of other programming.
Yours in Food,
Marla
Today marks one year since we launched “Adventures in Local Food”. A huge thanks to all those who have contributed articles, comments, clicked the like button or quietly stopped by to read about what we’ve been up to. It’s been a great year and I’m looking forward to many more!
Because I’m curious about what draws people to the blog, I decided to pull a couple of stats for you. Here are the top five posts most read posts over the last year:
Pining for Parsnips
2011 Canning and Preserving Classes
Preserving Our Harvest Contest
The Little Box That Could
Root Cellar Basics
The top 5 search terms that brought people to the blog have been:
parsnips
bread
leaves
adventures in local food
parsnip
Looking at the above, it makes me wonder if there’s a lack of good information about parsnips on the internet that this blog has somehow filled. Or perhaps people just love parsnips?? I find the parsnip thing rather baffling, but hey, glad to help.
A longer look into the stats reveals that there’s a lot of interest in root cellaring in general. And a lot of interest in CSAs (Community Supported Agriculture). Also, our site viewings spiked in August when we were canning and preserving like fiends, which makes me think that there’s demand for that information too.
If you have any requests for topics or want to write a post for us, leave me a comment below. I’d love to hear from you.
And many thanks for your readership over the last year.
Yours in Food,
Marla
PS I’ve got some exciting blog posts in the works for next week. Pop by for photos and stories from the Preserving Our Harvest Contest, more about kimchi, and shark news from the other side of the Atlantic.
