A day off

The girls are working at camp for ten weeks this summer, and we’ll see them only on their handful of days off. Yesterday was one of those days, and they came home eager to catch up on their sleep and wash their clothes – and also, one hopes, to see their parents.

When I was a teenager I worked at camp for four summers, so I have a good idea how hard they’ve been working. Being a camp counsellor was one of the most challenging and most rewarding jobs I’ve ever had. This year my 19 year old is a counsellor and my 16 year old works in the camp kitchen. When I was preparing dinner last night, I deliberately didn’t ask for help, since I wanted to give them a complete break. My oldest daughter offered to help – she always does – and then my youngest surprised me by coming in the kitchen and asking, “Can I make the salad?” She proceeded to prepare the lettuce so efficiently and so attractively (and so helpfully) that I was tempted to take photos for the blog.

(She’d be mortified to know I was praising her publicly, and I can only do it because she doesn’t usually read my blog. If you see her, don’t mention this post, okay?)

As I write this, they’re on their way back to camp for Session Two. Today’s recipe is one I served for our family dinner last night, and one that I’ve been making for twenty-two years.

After I was married, and cooking for two on a regular basis, I wanted to expand my repertoire beyond the recipes I’d grown up making. And so I started to buy cooking magazines. This one came from the first issue of Bon Appetit I ever bought, in July 1992, long before those daughters were born. Now that I’m cooking for four – or for two, when they’re up at camp – we still love it.

Green Bean Salad with Basil Vinaigrette

(from the July 1992 issue of Bon Appetit)

2 pounds green beans, trimmed

3 shallots, minced

2 Tbsp balsamic vinegar or red wine vinegar

1/4 cup olive oil

2/3 cup chopped fresh basil leaves

1/3 cup grated Romano or Manchego cheese (first amount)

1/3 cup grated Romano or Manchego cheese (second amount)

Cook beans in large pot of rapidly boiling salted water until just crisp-tender. Rinse with cold water. Drain. Transfer to bowl.

Combine shallots and vinegar. Gradually mix in oil. Add basil. Add enough dressing to beans to coat. Gently mix in 1/3 cup cheese. Season with salt and pepper. (Can be made 4 hours ahead; cover and chill.) Place bean salad on platter and top with remaining cheese.

Thursday's Child: School and Farm visit, Guatemala

I've written before that one of our favourite parts of travelling is meeting the people who live in the country we're visiting. That's why a highlight of our recent trip to Guatemala was paying a visit to a small community, to see their school and have lunch in a farmhouse.

Before leaving the city of Antigua, where we'd stayed for two days, we stopped in a local market to pick up soccer balls to take as a gift to the school. We drove about an hour out of the city through winding roads, and pulled onto a dusty lane that led us through small cultivated tracts. We watched as farmers planted and fertilized some of these fields by hand. Horses are expensive, and the farms are small enough that these jobs can be done manually.

We pulled over to the side of the road to see the village school. The classroom was held outdoors, where five rows of desks were filled with hard-working children. I'd told the guide we didn't want to visit a "model school", where visitors are regularly paraded through, and we were pleased that this didn't seem to be the case. The children seemed genuinely excited to meet these odd visitors who spoke little Spanish and brought a couple of soccer balls with them. (To my relief, nobody asked us to inaugurate those soccer balls.)

Although the language barrier meant we couldn't speak directly with the kids, they enjoyed showing us their schoolwork. We loved communicating through smiles and laughter: two of the girls were thrilled to show me the pictures they'd drawn and stories they'd written, while Andrew bantered with the mischievous boys in the back row. They were particularly amused by Andrew counting "uno, dos, tres" before taking their photos - maybe it was his Canadian accent?

Waving goodbye to our new friends, we drove a few minutes further along the road. By North American standards, the farms are basic and the houses are compact. When we arrived at the farmhouse we'd be eating lunch at, we were greeted by our tiny, perfect hostess and invited into her home. We sat at a table in a small room next to the kitchen, with religious pictures and calendars on the walls around us.

When she brought us the meal, I asked our guide if we could say grace - given the sacred atmosphere of the room, I thought she would appreciate it. And sure enough, when we were finished, the first thing she asked him about us was "Catolico?"

Our meal was the best kind of simple, delicious food made by an experienced cook. A mile-high stack of tortillas accompanied our plate of rice, vegetables and chicken. We were each served a bowl of broth, which we ate with the other food as a kind of deconstructed soup. It was more food than I could possibly eat, and yet in this small, welcoming home, surrounded by fresh air and green farmland, I loved every single bite.

Guatemalan cook meets Canadian cook

Guatemalan beauty

Through the Evening

"So you whisper your arrival walking backwards to the
door, wonder briefly what it is you're hesitating for. All
the streets lie down, deserted in the darkest part of night,
to lead you through the evening to the light. Pulled along
in the tender grip of watches and ellipses. Small request:
could we please turn around?"

- from "Time's Arrow" by John K. Samson

Our summers always seem to rush past us, and we long to appreciate every minute of daylight. In early July, dusk lasts until nearly 9:30. We live five minutes from the Humber River and its beautiful walking path, and ten minutes from Lake Ontario. Most of the year, I enjoy those areas in my daytime walks, but in Toronto's glorious fleeting summer, I relish the extra few hours. And with the girls working at camp for most of the next two months, Andrew and I took advantage of having no particular plans one evening to go for a twilight walk.

I also took advantage of the very hot weather earlier this week to make this wonderful main-course salad. True, there's a bit of advance prep work, and the recipe looks involved, but most of the steps take just a few minutes. That means at mealtime, all you have to do is assemble this salad and eat it - giving you even more time to enjoy your lovely summer evening.

Southwestern Salad

(adapted from Backroad Journal) 

For the Vinaigrette: In a small bowl, combine 1/3 cup olive oil, 3 Tbsp fresh lime juice, 1/2 tsp cumin, 1/2 tsp salt and two shakes Tabasco sauce. Whisk well to combine.

For the Roasted Chicken: Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Drizzle one chicken breast with olive oil and squeeze a little lime juice over it. Season with salt, pepper and ground cumin. Roast for 30 - 40 minutes or until cooked. Let chicken rest for 5 minutes, then slice. Drizzle with a little vinaigrette.

For the Eggs: Peel 2 hard-boiled eggs and cut into quarters.

For the Black Beans: Wash and drain well 1 can (19 ounces/540 mL) of black beans and season with 1/4 tsp of oregano, and cumin, pepper and salt to taste. Add some of the vinaigrette, toss well and let rest for 10 minutes to allow flavours to mix.

For the Corn: Remove the kernels from one cob of corn (about 2/3 cup). In a skillet, add 1 Tbsp olive oil and sauté 3 Tbsp diced red onion until translucent. Add 2 Tbsp diced sweet red or green pepper and 1 minced clove garlic, and cook for 1 minute. Add corn, season with 1/4 tsp cumin and salt. Saute for about two minutes, then remove from heat and let cool.

For the Avocado: Cut an avocado in half, remove the pit, peel and cut into chunks. Squeeze a little lime juice over it to keep it from turning brown. Drizzle with a little vinaigrette and gently mix.

For the Cheese: Slice wedges of Manchego cheese, or crumble pieces of feta or goat cheese.

To assemble the salad: Add about 4 – 5 cups of romaine lettuce, washed, dried and cut into bite-sized pieces to a large bowl, season with a little salt and pepper and toss with just enough dressing to lightly coat. Place the lettuce on a large platter and arrange the chicken, eggs, beans, corn, avocado and cheese in neat rows along the top. Serve with any remaining vinaigrette on the side.

Thursday's Child: Kew Gardens, England

Last week I wrote about the Kew Village Market that we stumbled onto when we visited last May. Today I’ll write about the reason we were in the area in the first place – to see the lovely and impressive Kew Gardens.

George III and his beloved wife, Charlotte, spent their summers in Kew Palace, which at the time was set amid acres of farmland, with their fifteen children. George preferred the country lifestyle to living in the city, and hired several architects to build structures throughout the park, including the orangery and the pagoda.

The beautiful Kew Palace was home to both domestic happiness for the king and his family, and personal unhappiness, as George spent many of his later years here suffering from mental illness. We loved visiting this beautiful building. We may actually have enjoyed it with too much effervescence, as the photo above was taken about two minutes before we were kicked out of the Palace for going ‘up’ the ‘down’ staircase. (Okay, perhaps we weren’t kicked out, but we were scolded in a British accent, and that felt like being kicked out.)

Suitably chastened, we repaired to the adjacent Queen’s Gardens. These immaculate gardens include only plants that were grown in England as of the seventeenth century, and were an excellent place to lick our colonial wounds.

Temperate House, currently under restoration, is the largest Victorian-era greenhouse in the world.

Kew Gardens is so much more than simply a beautiful place to walk and learn about history. It hosts the most extensive collection of living plants in the world, with more than 30,000 different varieties. The Gardens are also home to eight million preserved plant specimens, and well over one million types of fungi samples.

And I've written before about my family's fascination with peacocks. This was an opportunity to enjoy watching peacocks stroll in the wild, with no annoying Ancient Wonder of the World to distract us.

Confessions of a Celebrity Judge

Photo courtesy of Ribfest

Yesterday was the culmination, and the ultimate payoff, of all my experience as a food blogger. The many years of testing recipes on behalf of my readers and posting them online paid off in the quintessential perk.

Yesterday, I was a celebrity food judge at Toronto Ribfest.

Here's what happens when you're a celebrity judge: You report to a VIP tent 20 minutes before judging begins. You meet the other judges, maybe even pose for a selfie with one of them. You proceed to a stage where you sit in front of a couple of hundred people who are prepared to watch you eat chicken for an hour. (Okay, maybe a few were there to watch the Colombia/Uruguay World Cup match, showing on the screen beside the stage.) You get samples of sixteen of the best pieces of barbecued chicken you've ever eaten, served up by vendors like Pistol Pete's, or Bad Wolf, or Hawgs Go Wild. You rank this chicken (identified by number only) in terms of appearance, flavour and overall excellence. And you do all of this while trying your best not to cover the table, and yourself, with barbecue sauce.

I had the honour of serving on a panel with Mark Giordano of the Calgary Flames (far left in top photo) and Ali Hassan, stand-up comedian and chef (far right). I sat next to Matt Hart (with me in the photo above) of Indie 88, the one radio station everyone in my family loves, and we talked about music between plates of chicken.

But the real celebrities are the people who run Toronto Ribfest, and who volunteer at the charities that benefit from it. People like my friend Hugh, who's a co-chair of the event, and who hopes to raise half a million dollars for charity over Ribfest's five days. People like Jennifer, who sat on my left side at the judging table, and who serves as chair for Stonegate Community Health Centre. Thanks to these dedicated people, and many others like them, our community is a little more welcoming to those who need the help most.

With co-chair Hugh Williams and fellow celebrity judge Maurice Blitz.
Photo courtesy of Ribfest.

There's no recipe for barbecued chicken today, because how could I compete with the sixteen best that Ribfest had to offer? (Also because I may be giving chicken a pass for a couple of days.) Instead, I'm sharing a recipe for risotto, something that will appeal to carnivores and herbivores alike.  This risotto is light and delicious and, contrary to popular belief, doesn't require constant stirring. Just give it a stir every couple of minutes, and you'll be a celebrity in your own home.

Corn, Asparagus and Basil Barley Risotto
(from Eats Well With Others)

Note: This risotto would also be great with sliced cremini mushrooms or garden-fresh peas.

Ingredients:

4 cups vegetable broth
4 cups water
2 Tbsp olive oil
1 onion, chopped
salt and black pepper, to taste
1 cup barley
1/2 cup white wine
1 pound asparagus, trimmed and cut into 1/2 inch slices
1 1/2 cups corn, fresh or frozen
1 cup basil, thinly sliced
1/4 cup parmesan cheese

Instructions:

Combine the vegetable broth and water in a medium pot. Bring to a simmer.

Heat the olive oil in a large pot over medium heat. Add the onion and a pinch of salt, and sauté until tender, about 3 minutes. Stir in the barley and cook for a minute, stirring constantly. Ad the white wine and cook until almost totally evaporated.

Pour 2 cups of the heated broth mixture into the pot with the barley. Cook, stirring frequently, until almost evaporated. Then add the broth mixture 1 cup at a time, only adding more after the rest has almost evaporated, stirring frequently. Repeat until barley is cooked through and tender.

Add the asparagus with the final cup of the broth mixture, simmering until almost evaporated. Stir in the corn and cook until heated through.

Remove from the heat. Season to taste with salt and black pepper, and serve with basil and parmesan.

Thursday's Child: Kew Village Market

Last summer, we were in England for Andrew's cousin's wedding. After a lovely ceremony on Saturday, we spent our final day visiting Kew, a village just west of the City of London. We went to see Kew Gardens, but we were fortunate to be there at the beginning of May, the first day in 2013 that their village market was open.

One Sunday a month, the streets in Kew Village are closed and the town opens up to a pedestrian market. The market is run by the community to raise money for local charities. It's a great cause, but even without the charitable aspect, it's a fun opportunity to enjoy a lovely town and support small businesses.

We counted between thirty and forty stalls at the Kew Village Market the day we visited. There was a beautiful assortment of seasonal produce; one retailer sold a great selection of British apple varieties. Quack's Pickles, whose sign is pictured at the top of this post, apparently specialized in Preserved Patagonian Squirrel Fish Organs. (Sorry, I can't vouch for those personally.) Other vendors sold an incredible array of goods from venison to ginger marmalade, from black pudding to Earl Grey macarons.

We were well-fortified by a delicious lunch at the Kew Greenhouse Cafe, and ready to tackle Kew Gardens. I'll write about that next week!

Trust me

I was walking
Sore-footed, under hot sun, hot pavements.
Was it then I bought a peach? That's as I remember.
From a stall near Charing Cross Station.
It was the first fresh peach I had ever tasted.
I could hardly believe how delicious.
At twenty-five I was dumbfounded afresh
By my ignorance of the simplest things.

- from "Fulbright Scholars", by Ted Hughes

Sometimes the simplest recipes are the best. I knew the moment I saw this simple, four-ingredient recipe that I'd love it. I tried it first with raspberries, and thought it was wonderful. But I couldn't wait to try it with peaches - even though they're not officially in season yet - and it was divine. Imagine how great it'll be when I'm making it with perfect, locally-grown fruit!

Trust me - this is one of those recipes that is easy to overlook, but don't do it. This dessert is sensational, and I'll be making it for the rest of the summer.

Peaches with Mascarpone, Pistachios and Honey

- from Rachel’s Everyday Kitchen

5 fresh peaches, skinned, halved, and stones removed (or 3 cups raspberries)

3 Tbsp mascarpone

3 Tbsp best-quality liquid honey

50 grams (2 ounces) shelled pistachios, roughly chopped

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees, and grease a medium sized ovenproof dish with a little butter, or line with parchment paper.

Place peaches, cut side up, in the ovenproof dish. Cover with foil and bake in the oven for 20 – 25 minutes or until peaches are soft. (Note: if using raspberries instead, roast for 15 minutes.)

While the peaches are cooking, mix together the mascarpone and honey in a bowl.

Tip the pistachios into a non-stick frying pan and toast over high heat for a minute or two, tossing regularly to avoid burning. Take off the heat and set aside to cool.

Remove the peaches from the oven and spoon the mascarpone and honey mixture into the cavity of each peach half, dividing the mixture equally. Serve the peaches with a little extra honey drizzled over the mascarpone and the toasted pistachios scattered on top.