BND

Buy Nothing Day is this Friday (Saturday for non-North Americans) folks.

For those who doubt in the effectiveness of BND or any other individual action, here is a very fitting quote from the late Anita Roddick:

Anyone who thinks he is too small to make a difference has never been in bed with a mosquito.

So don't forget this Friday: stay in, enjoy a day away from crowds, with your family, your new born child, your cats. Or go to work if you must, pack a lunch, and forget your wallet and car keys on the dresser, just remember your buspass or your bike lock.

Canada's next top model....

Kale is such a beautiful vegetable that I couldn't help myself from having a veritable photo session with the frilly greens!

As its dark colours can attest, kale is a real nutritional powerhouse, unfortunately, it isn't a well liked vegetable. Which is bizarre, because as far as green vegetables go, it isn't particularly strong flavoured (like cabbage), bitter (like rapini) or tongue rasping (like swisschard). No, I can't really figure out why so many people back away from this lovely green.

It is a most forgiving vegetable: first of all, it keeps for a ridiculously long time -these babies have been waiting in a plastic bag, out in my garden shed for close to a month, and they are still full of life! Secondly, they are one of the few vegetables that can take any amount of cooking. In fact, kale likes to be well done.

Unlike most other greens that are best eaten underdone, kale is actually more palatable if it is thoroughly cooked (6-10 minutes in boiling water), and cooked some more (drained, rinsed, then thrown in a pan with butter, or in some tomato sauce, or reheated with leftover mashed potatoes....) Indeed, if you like to have green bits in your stews and casseroles, kale is the veg for you: it will be more than happy to stew for a couple of hours in a Crockpot or braise in the oven with whatever you want. The green kales may lose some of their brightness, but they will not turn muddy like, say, swisschard.... and the purple and pink kales will pretty much keep their hues.

Kale, like many of its kissing cousins in the cabbage family, is a very hardy vegetable: you may have noticed pretty, pink cabbages in some gardens, frosted over or even covered in snow. Although these decorative kales were bred for their colours, they are actually edible, and repeated frosts and snow cover renders them more digestible (just like Brussel sprouts!) This hardiness makes it the ideal winter vegetable for our northern climate: it is, in theory, available until at least late February, however its low popularity makes it sometimes hard to find locally. I have seen imported kale at the supermarket, but they tend to come from warmer climes and are sometimes tough because they were not subjected to frost. If you must buy imported kale, cook it 'to death' or place in the freezer before eating.

Better yet, if you have room for a couple of planters, plant some kale by your door step. It'll make a beautiful, seasonal display, and subjected to the frosty winds and snow, it will provide you with several tasty meals!

You may recall my raving-ons about beet purée. Well here it is in all its glory: pan seared giant scallops on a bed of buttered kale and a lovely beet purée.

Bon app'!

CSA directory, part II

If you have read my previous post on CSA directories, you may have noticed that it was not very extensive. It was not for lack of searching! I did spend a couple of days researching, and that was all I had come up with at the time.

Fear not! I did not end my search then and there, and today has been fruitful! I have found some information for people living in Alberta and Saskatchewan. If you live in Saskatchewan and do not find what you want on that link, you can always try contacting the people at LoFo to find something more suitable for you.

It isn't much, I admit, but it is all I have found so far. If you happen to find more links, or would like to put in a plug for your own CSA, please do not hesitate to leave me a comment. I would more than happy to help you spread the word.

I'm off to eat the above celeriac, so todeloo!

The beet goes on

The shorter days and brisk morning air have had their toll on me, and all I want to do is burrow myself deep under my duvet... but I really was looking forward to going into work this morning. I had my my menu all planned out, and I had a pretty good idea how each dish was going to be plated. I could even taste how all the flavours would meld into beautiful combinations!

So you can imagine my disappointment when I got to work and was unable to find the beets I had asked for!!! I had a clear image of the beautiful, bright magenta purée contrasting with gorgeously seared scallops, a shot of dark green leaves underneath, and a streak of orange reduction.

I even brought my camera to work, so that I could show you the result.

But the beets had gone into a soup, and there was my dish shot to pieces... I made a sweet potato purée instead. The plate was still pretty. A Good seller in any case, but I was too heartbroken to take a picture.

I resolved to make myself some beets for dinner, but my Mum swung by with supper in hand, so there goes another photo op!

All this hoopla to say that the chilly weather has definitely settled in, no more talk of Indian Summer. The fields are pretty much bare around here, but one can still speak of 'seasonal products.' For one thing, if you are a meat eater, it's hunting season: duck. goose, and larger game are in, and fans of strong flavours are in for a treat. Unless you own a registered gun and a hunting licence, your best bet for getting your hands on real game is a good butcher. I must admit that I haven't actually stepped in a butcher shop in recent years, so I am not actually sure that wild game is legal for sale in Canada. Do any of you out there know?

I remember seeing wild hares, and geese hanging in butcher shop windows in Europe. I also remember seeing small game at the butcher shop when I was a kid, but I must say that I haven't seen a hanging carcass in Montreal of late. In any case, a butcher worth his mettle will carry farmed game, if not the wild stuff. You'll have to ask him for recipes though, because game meat is a little beyond me.

Seasonal products more in my range are all the root vegetables that are being kept in storage to last us through the cold weather... Beets are top of the list for me! They're sweet and savoury, and are such a cheerful colour, what's not to love about them? Apparently alot, but I say pshaw! Roasted beets, sliced or diced and rolled in brown butter with a dash of lemon juice or balsamic vinegar is a worthy side dish for duck or any other dark meat. Borscht is an absolutely heartwarming soup and could be a meal in itself. Warm beet salad with orange segments, pine nuts (or hazelnuts, pecans, pumpkin seeds, almonds...) and a sliver of goat cheese is practically a bistro classic, and made all the more pretty with rainbow hued beets. And, alas, my lovely beet purée that was not to be today... Silky smooth, and shockingly magenta, it is the perfect foil for tender, melt in your mouth, pan-seared scallops.

The sweetness of the beets really highlights the natural sugars in seafood and is a perfect accompaniment for fruit-friendly meats, like duck and pork... How does roast pork stuffed with prunes with beet sauce (basically a runny purée) sound?

Red beets are known to stain, though I find that roasting them makes them more colourfast-or maybe it's just because I shed my skin very quickly... I don't know, but my hands seem to stay pink much longer when I peel boiled beets. Either way, the only time I wear an apron in the kitchen at home is when I handle beets.

Another interesting fact about beets: if you have, or know of, young children who are just learning about digestion in their science class, beets can be a fun learning 'tool'. Indeed, the potent red pigments in beets are resistant to our digestive track, so kids can keep track of their food. Literally.

Oh come on! Everyone number-twos and number-ones! It's amusing to most kids (and a few adults), except for princesses, and it is one way to get even the most reticent child to eat beets.

So on that note, bon app'!

Chickens, it's all about the chickens...

no golden eggs today
Originally uploaded by frankieleon

I really wish that keeping chickens in Montreal were legal, but then I think about Montrealers' animal rights' record, I think it might be a good thing that we are not allowed to keep the pretty ladies in this fine, yet crazy city. Perhaps someday, we will have more sense, and will be allowed to keep a few hens.

In the mean time, to those of you who live in more advanced cities, I say 'Lucky you! I'm so jealous!' If you have yet to get your chicks, I will add 'What are you waiting for?!?!' And to those of you who are seriously considering keeping a few chickens -urban or not- here is a very useful link on chicken husbandry. I must admit that I did not find the BackYard Chickens all on my own, it was linked to on another useful blog written by Jenna Woginrich. You may have noticed that Coldantler Farm is a blog I frequently read. Jenna's adventure in the rural life are entertaining and heartwarming, but most of all she offers a realistic glimpse into the whole process of building up a farm. You will also find useful tidbits on a chicken's life(style).

By the way, I don't know if any of you noticed the release of the 2009 edition of the Red List? This is the list put out by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources. It made blip on the news last week: the numbers are not promising. Over one in five mammals, more than a quarter of known reptiles, and at least 70% of plants are on the endangered list.

It all seems overwhelming when written black on white, and you may feel that there isn't much you can do to save a South American tree frog, but all is not hopeless. Some of the endangered plants and animals on the list are from the agricultural domain: breeds of chickens, pigs and cows unsuited to factory farms; varieties of tomatoes, squashes and lettuces too fragile for shipping around the world. While saving Bengal tigers will require international efforts to halt the illegal poaching and trading of these majestic animals, saving farm animals and vegetables from extinction can be as simple as patronising a farmers' market and supporting small farmers.

Did you know that there over 500 varieties of potatoes grown in the Andes? Each variety is adapted to different soil, atmospheric and climate conditions. Many are unique to Peru, and even more stand to disappear if the climate warms up any more. Perhaps we cannot save all the potatoes in Peru, but we can make the effort of buying outside the big box. Of the thousands of varieties of named tomatoes in the world, less than 5 are regularly found on the shelves of North American supermarkets. So please, next summer, try some locally Black Krim tomatoes, or plant a few heads of Blonde Maraîchère in a window box. And if you do decide to keep chickens in your backyard, I hear that Chantecler -an old Québécoise, saved from the brink of extinction- is a very friendly creature.

Diversity, bio-diversity, is the key to our survival.

(p.s. That pretty chicken was not photographed by me. Click on it to find out more)