We humans have more in common with honey bees than we give them credit — both our species are attracted to colourful food. The inspiration for this has been a few weeks coming. It all started when I received “red” potatoes in my CSA… or at least, I thought they were red. But when I…
Scallops with Sorrel-Butter with Sweet Pea and Pancetta Dust
Life is filled not only with sweetness, but the tartness of it can also surprise … and reward. The Back Story: I know my most recent CSA Mystery was a tough one and even you had a chance to see the plant growing, I’m sure it didn’t make it any easier to identify. If you…
Fettuccine Carbonara with Grilled Garlic Scape Pesto
To reveal the second mystery from yesterday’s post is to reveal that what you saw were garlic “scapes” aka the ‘spring’ shoots of the garlic plant. Where garlic is commercially cultivated, these fine morsels are often just clipped and discarded and never see the market. The scape is the young stem and budding “flower” of…
Tropical Banana-Pineapple Burgers
What gave you the idea to put bananas in your burgers? That’s what Anne asked after she figured out the mystery to what was in her mouth. The truth is I don’t really know what deviant brain cell in my head concocted the idea. I know I was looking at a half-eaten banana in the fridge…
Spring Tarts
“In the Spring a young man’s fancy lightly turns to thoughts of love” … and, for me, chives. The new spring brings the promise of much new food, a promise of much love for a foodie … but it brings very little in the way of actual food. However, it does bring chives. So when…
Beef Sliders with Barbecued Bacon and Cheddar
What’s better than burgers and beer? Well, little burgers … and beer. Enter the beef slider, the little burger that could …. I know they’ve been all the trend for awhile, but there is good reason for it. Firstly, in an ethical and more conscious world, we don’t need to be eating 16 ounces of…
Potato Leek Soup — Inside Out
I find it fascinating how our meals change through the course of a year as the things in season change, from the new tender veggies of spring to the hardy, substantial offerings of the fall. Nothing better describes this change in seasons than the emergence of potatoes and leeks … and nothing, if not this,…
Maple and Bacon-Smoked Turkey Breast
Here’s an antidote for the boring, bland and dry bird … also known as the turkey breast. When Anne and I decided to have her parents over for a Thanksgiving brunch last weekend, I hummed and hawed over whether to do a small turkey for 4 people in the early day or whether to opt…
Swiss Chard with Bacon and Cranberries
When a rainbow of Swiss chard showed up in my CSA Bin this past week, I was in the midst of a bacon and pancetta obsession. In one meal, bacon showed up in three separate dishes (Caesar Salad, Tuscan Chicken, and Risotto) … but not fully sated by just this, bacon then swept into my…
Fettuccine Carbonara with Sweet Peas
The sweet peas that arrived in my CSA share this past week have been screaming “do something different with us.” And really, who’s to argue with talking veggies? For some reason pasta came into my head and when I added the bacon and then the lemon zest in my brain, I had arrived at the…