To market, to market, away we did go

Weekends are glorious around here, no matter the time of year. The weekend is when I play in the kitchen for real and it all starts with a trip to the farmer's market. In the winter, the produce isn't always the greatest in the world, but the meats, cheeses and homemade goods are still fantastic.

But it's spring! And with spring comes some of the greatest choices for your dinner table. My daughter and I made our trek to the farmer's market Saturday and brought home a bounty of lusciousness. Strawberries, asparagus, snow peas, organic salad greens (I do so love arugula) and an entire flat of vine-ripened tomatoes from the local greenhouses.

What to do? What to do? My menu changes on the weekend as fast as new things arrive in my shopping bags. One thing cried out based on the wonderful spring bounty - a spring salad! It's accompaniment would be a chicken pomodoro on linguine from the fresh tomatoes. Too scrumptious.

The salad combined the strawberries, asparagus, snow peas and organic salad greens topped with fresh goat cheese and my spicy candied pecans. Loads of textures and contrasting flavours mildly dressed with a red wine vinagrette.

The evening was hilarious to watch as I created these dishes and photographed them for the book in the midst of remembering this was actually the family supper, not a book adventure. Mamboing around the dogs (who get very excited when I'm flinging food around the kitchen) and waltzing around the cats (one of whom believes he's a dog), grabbing the amounts of each ingredient and remembering that the instructions had to be written for even an amateur, I was spinning like a top.

But well worth it in the end. Too yummy.

And while at the farmer's market the day before, I discovered an interesting new food element. The cheese vendor had "end of vat" cheese. This combination of cheeses that didn't make it into their standard five pound blocks is never the same twice but is always delicious. I think tonight will have to feature this cheese - so break out the deep oven-proof pot and dive into the 'simplicity of mac and cheese - my way". Be kitchen brave. Eat well!

A for asparagus

Working alphabetically seemed like a good idea - but way too structured for me to be effective. Comes from having a creative mind, I guess. So instead, I just keep throwing things at the book, hoping they'll stick.

This week it's all about asparagus. Why? Because their adorable little heads are peeking up through the soil in my garden. And there's nothing in the world as fabulous as fresh, really fresh, asparagus.

In my world the worst thing you can do to asparagus is overcook it. The best thing you can do is harvest it, give it a quick steam and then a light sprinkling of salt just before it goes in your mouth - all in under 15 minutes. The joys of being a gardening spoiled brat.

But I do sometimes have to purchase asparagus from our local asparagus lady. She's a great woman of European heritage and has been selling asparagus from her barn for as long as I've lived in this area. Her asparagus is genius.

She and I have debated long and energetically the value of fat versus skinny asparagus. My fussy daughter prefers the skinny ones; my lovely European lady says the fat ones are the best. And I can see why - more flavour, more crunch. So to meet the needs of my daughter, I take the vegetable peeler to it - take off some of the woody outside. It makes an interesting presentation (green heads, white stalks) and really showcases the flavour.

Asparagus is tops in so many vitamins and minerals. A positive spring addition to your supper table. Whether cold in a salad (too yummy) or warm with butter or sauce, asparagus is beyond delicious.

Grab some asparagus and experiment. A quick asparagus salad would be built with these very loose instructions:

Boil water, add cleaned asparagus, let water come back to a boil. Drain immediately and rinse asparagus with cold water to stop cooking. (This just takes the raw edge off the flavour but leaves the asparagus green and crisp) Toss the asparagus in your favourite vinagrette (or create one with lemon juice, sugar, salt and oil). Add your favourite salad vegies - radishes, carrots, blanched green beans, etc. It's an exciting change from a regular leafy green salad.

Be kitchen brave! Eat well!

Not quite the beginning

So the deal was that I would work on the cookbook over the winter months. It's usually a lot quieter in my life then because I'm not out playing the garden. But guess what? Not only did I run into the fact that the local food providers are hiding during the winter months so I couldn't find the support from them I was after, but family and work stuff kept getting in the way.

I'm pleased to say that our local Dairy Educator, Barb Dickenson, is all over this project. But what is life when we need someone to educate us about dairy? (And this isn't a negative comment about you, Barb - it's a comment on the state of our food knowledge and caring.)

Folks - we have to get better at understanding our food and learning how to enjoy it again. There's so many store-bought solutions to feeding ourselves and our families, but seriously, how much salt does one person need to consume? Never mind all the mysterious chemicals on the ingredient list. If it isn't in English - I'd be wary of it.

So the cookbook....it's called "Right under your nose". This version is focusing on Lambton and Kent Counties. Lots of wonderful things to choose from to highlight - where to start, where to start.

And thank so much to Bluewater Beef, a local beef producers cooperative, and Field Farms, a great organic pork producer, for joining the ranks of support. I'm sure they're wondering whatever happened to getting the book published before the spring.

So at this point - I have the cover, author notes and a few apple recipes in place. With the beautiful spring weather and having harvested my first asparagus from the garden, we'll be hitting the book hard and heavy now. And finding those producers who need to be promoted in the book but spent the winter hiding in the house.

If you have astonishing recipes you'd like to share, send them along. You'll get credit in the book plus a great mention in the blog and on Facebook if your recipe is used. Watch here for the test recipes and you can let your opinion be known whether they should be included or not.

Be kitchen brave! Eat well!