This week, we are excited to bring you gorgeous graffiti eggplant–the first ones of the season! And what better herb to enjoy it with than with some living basil!? Another great combination this week are russet potatoes and Hewitt’s Sour cream. Enjoy!!
On the Menu this Week:
Veggies:
Russet Potatoes (Thompson’s Potato Farm) — Russets are fabulous baking potatoes!
Graffiti Eggplant (St. David’s Hydroponics)–Yay! The first eggplant of the season, grown hydroponically in Ontario greenhouses. See feature below!
Celery Root (Green Acres)–A delicious veggie in soup.
Multi Colour Carrots (Hillside Garden Farms)–See carrot recipes below.
Rutabaga (Zephyr Organics)–I wish this vegetable had another name! I loved the rutabaga we had weeks before–so sweet, I served it raw, sliced with dip. We featured this veggie a few weeks ago–read about it here.
Onions (Green Acres Farm)
Mizuna Lettuce (Sleger’s Greenhouses)–this tender lettuce has a slight peppery flavour. Great on it’s own, or mixed with other greens.
Basil (Sleger’s Greenhouses)–A delicious living basil! Make sure to use it with your eggplant this week!
Fruit:
Apples (Lincoln Line Orchards)
Pears (Lincoln Line Orchards)
Cheese:
Devil’s Rock Blue Cheese by Thornloe Cheese–According to Good Food Revolution, this cheese has taken Toronto by storm! Cheese maker Martin Melendez has crafted a cheese that’s creamy and lush, with velvety veins that offer a subdued kick of sharpness–but not as strong as some traditional blue cheeses. Enjoy it along with some sliced apples or pears.
Pantry: We have two pantry items this week!
Hewitt’s Sour Cream! Yum–this is a delicious rich and smooth textured sour cream containing 14% butterfat. The traditional sour cream flavour and texture is derived through the use of live bacterial cultures. This is a natural product made without the use of additives or preservatives. You’ll immediately notice the difference in quality if you normally purchase commercial sour cream from the grocery store. TIP: need to use up some of those veggies? Make a dip by simply putting some of this sour cream in the food processor, along with a bit of mayo (optional), a handful of basil and a slice of onion. Season with a good amount of salt, then pepper. If you have any radishes from past bags, you may want to throw 1/4 of one in the dip too by grating it in at the end. yum! Make sure to have some raw rutabaga on that crudite plate too!
Red Tail Bread Flour from K2 Milling. We’re providing you with 500g, about 4 cups, of this amazing flour! Mark, from K2 says that “Our RED TAIL bread flour is like a white unbleached bread flour except it is slightly darker due to only one sifting. Fibre is higher and I actually call it the k2ompromise flour. It is exactly halfway in between a whole grain flour and an industrial white flour. “
They are a truly local producer. On their blog, they suggest that if you don’t live within the 167km of their mill,where their product is available, buy flour from another mill! When do you ever hear that from a business?
Use this flour in place of white flour in your favorite recipes.
Check out their blog:
http://www.k2milling.blogspot.com/
Meat:
Flat Iron Steaks from our butcher Guenter Gruener of Select Fine Foods. Back by popular demand, two yummy steaks.
Meet the Maker! St. David’s Hydroponics
We are excited to be providing you this week the first hydroponically grown eggplants of 2012 in Ontario from St. David’s Hydroponics! Hydroponic growing is an important method of Ontario farming….without it, we couldn’t provide you with fresh greens and sprouts all year long (these are from Sleger’s Greenhouses). And very soon, St. David’s will be providing us with bell peppers too!
Established in 1985 by three Dutch farmers, St. David’s Hydro grows delicious eggplants and peppers in their greenhouses, located in Beamsville Ontario and Niagara on the Lake. Amazingly, their greenhouses span a total of 57 acres!!
Their produce is grown in glass greenhouses, which allows them to control the environment for ideal growing. Temperature, humidity and especially sunlight are the vital components for delicious produce. This low-energy system is controlled by state-of-the art computer systems, managed by expert greenhouse growers. Their sorting is done using high-tech cameras and grading machines–these can take up to 16 pictures of each vegetable! But not everything they do is high-tech…the water they use is simply rainwater, collected from the greenhouse roofs and filtered using sand. And their produce is hand packed to ensure quality.
We hope you enjoy the eggplants this week! To read more about St. David’s Hydroponics, visit their website:
http://www.stdavidshydroponics.com/
Recipes!
If you have any carrots stockpiling in your fridge, check out these carrot recipes:
Moroccan Carrot Salad
Raid your spice rack and try this savory salad!
Spicy Carrot Sandwiches
Yup, a carrot sandwich….why not?
Carrots and Lentils in Olive Oil
This would be a great dish to bring to work for lunch the next day.
Warm Quinoa Salad with Carrots and Grilled Chicken
Carrot and Leek Frittata with Taragon
The colours of this dish are gorgeous!
Carrots and Rutabagas with Lemon and Honey
The lemon and honey sounds great in this dish!
More Recipes:
Try using your flour for these muffin recipes:
Cinnamon Carrot Muffins
Apple Oat Muffins
Mushroom Stuffed Eggplant
You can easily half this recipe for your two eggplants:
Vegetarian Moussaka from Foodland Ontario
Grilled Eggplant Parmesan
For those of you who grill at this time of year…
Enjoy your OAS bag!
Please do not give me th e wheat flour. Gluten allergies in our home so it will not get used. Thanks Jeannine
p.s. The recipes look grea.t