Recipe: Barley Risotto

When it comes to eating local foods you sometimes realize that substitutions need to be made.  Risotto is one dish that we’ve found we can eat in a 100% local version, so long as we replace the rice with a local grain.  

Barley lends itself well to replacing rice in risotto for a number of reasons.  Although the final taste and texture are fairly different from rice, it does just as good of a job at soaking up the flavours of the dish and holding its form.  Barley actually takes more liquid than rice which gives it a bigger opportunity to take on the surrounding flavours of the risotto.

There are a decent number of variations on this theme on the internet, including bacon barley risotto and mushroom barley risotto.  This recipe keeps it very simple and vegetarian, with just some onions and carrots for the additions.

We used our own hard cider instead of wine and it worked well, but you can just use whatever is easiest to find or whatever you already have.  You can serve the risotto as a main dish or a side.  We had it as a main but felt that the whole meal was sort of a meal of sides.  

A similar use for barley is in tabbouleh, where it replaces the bulgur wheat.  Another use is in a beef stew with lots of veggies.  We bought Oak Manor pearl barley (this barley is great for cooking as the husk has been removed) in the 12kg size from Bailey’s and assume this means we’ll be eating barley dishes all winter!  

Barley Risotto

Recipe from The Complete Vegetarian Cookbook, available at KPL.

• 4 cups broth (chicken or vegetable)
• 4 cups water
• 1 tbsp. oil
• 1 onion, finely diced
• 1 carrot, finely diced
• 1 ½ cups pearl barley
• 1 cup white wine or hard cider
• 1 tsp. thyme (fresh or dry)
• 2 ounces parmesan or other hard cheese, grated (about 1 cup)
• 1 tbsp. butter
• Salt and pepper

In one pot bring the broth and water to a simmer.  In a second larger pot or Dutch oven heat the oil and add the onion and carrot.  Cook the vegetables until they are soft.  

Add the barley to the veggies and stir until they are beginning to get lightly toasted, a few minutes.  Add the wine or cider and cook until it is fully absorbed.

Add the thyme and 3 cups of the warm broth.  Over the next hour or so continue adding broth to the risotto and stirring occasionally.  Any time the broth has mostly been absorbed add more.  As it cooks you’ll need to stir more frequently.  I recommend having a book nearby to read for a few minutes at a time between stirs….

When the broth is all cooked into the risotto or the barley is cooked sufficiently turn off the heat.  Stir in the parmesan and butter and season with salt and pepper to your liking.  

Serve with an Ontario white wine or a very local KW Craft Cider!

Recipe - Tofu Báhn Mì

My first memory of a Báhn Mì comes from about 5 years ago, and it is one of amazement.  A friend in Atlanta and I were going to a concert and she brought along some Vietnamese sandwiches from a shop near her house.  

I was seriously amazed.  How did I not know this existed?  It’s like the original fusion food, from long before the invention of Korean burritos and Mexican pizzas.

It was another few years before the thought occurred to me to make my own and I have to say that too often I forget about what a wonderful meal Báhn Mì sandwiches make.  Recently I remembered them and made them for dinner and we all enjoyed just how fresh and bursting with flavour they are!

You can make these with meat, tofu, tempeh, eggs, or even just a ton of delicious veggies.  As one blog has pointed out, a good Báhn Mì is the sum of its parts, thus the important thing is to have a nice array of super fresh fillings. 

Summer is the best time for these sandwiches because veggies are at their most abundant and tastiest.  Fresh cilantro, mint, lettuce and other greens, thinly sliced carrots, radishes, and cucumbers, peppers, grilled zucchini and other veggies, there is no limit to what you can put on these guys!  For garnish a bit of mayonnaise and sriracha sauce (Vietnamese sweet hot sauce) is enough, but you can certainly add more.

The marinade for the meat or protein can be a simple mixture of soy sauce, garlic, oil, and lemon balm (if you have it growing rampantly in your yard like we do!).  

This recipe is loosely modeled on The Kitchn’s recipe for Báhn Mì with Lemongrass Tofu, but we added a half pound of bacon for some extra fun and crispiness.  Almost all the ingredients can be sourced through Bailey’s, including the tofu!  Substitute a locally made hot sauce or salsa for the sriracha to keep things really local.  

Tofu Báhn Mì Sandwich

Serves 4-6

Tofu and Marinade:

1 package firm tofu, sliced into 6-8 long slabs

1 tablespoon soy sauce

1 tablespoon local oil

1 teaspoon sesame oil (optional)

2 handfuls lemon balm, minced (or lemongrass)

1 clove garlic, minced

Veggies (this is flexible so use what you have):

1-2 carrots, julienned (sliced in matchsticks)

1-2 cucumbers, julienned

1 daikon radish, julienned

1 red onion, thinly sliced

Rice wine vinegar

Salt and pepper

Cilantro

Mint

Lettuce

Jalapeño peppers, sliced

French bread or ciabatta bread

Mayonnaise

Sriracha sauce

Optional (but definitely voids the vegetarian/vegan aspect!):

Bacon!  

To make the marinated tofu, mix together the soy sauce, oil, lemon balm, and garlic, add the tofu and marinate in the fridge for an hour or more.  

Mix together the julienned veggies, add a few splashes of rice wine vinegar, salt, and pepper.  Remove long or tough stems from the cilantro and mint.

Fry the marinated tofu in a bit of oil over medium-high heat until it is golden brown on both sides.

Serve by putting all the fillings on the table, slicing open the bread, and let everyone make their own sandwich.

Recipe: Spinach Strata

Spring is finally here!  And while there are still winter storage vegetables left to use there are also new vegetables becoming available weekly.
Spinach is one of this year’s first spring vegetables and we’ve been loving having it.  It’s an easy one to throw into whatever you’re having for dinner, either fresh or cooked.
In this dish it is just one of many flavours present, accompanied by sautéed mushrooms, onions, carrots, and a bit of bacon.  And everything in this dish is available from Baileys! 
A strata is sort of like a frittata combined with French toast.  You chop up stale bread, throw it in a casserole dish with vegetables and some meat (if you like), and cover everything with a mixture of eggs and milk.  Then you refrigerate it for a day or more allowing the stale bread to soak up much of the egg mixture.  When baked it takes on a bread pudding sort of consistency—very custardy—but in this case nothing like a dessert thanks to the savoury vegetables.

Spinach Strata
2-4 slices of bacon (optional, otherwise use oil to fry veggies)
½ onion, sliced thinly
½ lb mushrooms, chopped
½ carrot, sliced into very thin sticks, or grated
Several handfuls of spinach, roughly ¼ - ½ lb (or more!), chopped
Salt and pepper, herbs
½ loaf of stale or several-days-old bread, chopped into 1 inch pieces
8 eggs
2 cups milk (or mixture of milk and cream)
½ cup grated cheese (your choice, but something on the stronger side is nice)
Heat a frying pan or skillet and fry the bacon.  (If omitting the bacon heat oil in the pan).  Once the bacon is finished cooking remove it and chop it up (leaving the bacon grease for frying).  Add the onions, mushrooms, and carrots and cook for 10-15 minutes, until the veggies are nicely caramelized and the mushrooms have released some of their juices.
Add the spinach and salt and pepper and fry for another minute or two, until the spinach is wilted.  Mix together the eggs and milk.  Put the chopped bread into a 9x13 casserole dish, add the cooked veggies and chopped bacon, and pour the egg and milk mixture over everything.  It’s okay if some of the ingredients are not covered completely with the egg mixture.  Top with grated cheese, cover and refrigerate for 8 hours or overnight. 
Preheat the oven to 350◦F.  Bake the strata uncovered for 30-35 minutes, until lightly browned on top.  Let the strata sit for about 10 minutes before serving.  Serve with different garnishes to add some more colour and interest, like salsa, hot sauce, sour cream and chives, etc.

Recipe: Winter Squash Apple Soup

We recently bought a half-bushel of Jonathan apples from the market.  We were told that they were quite similar to the Ambrosia apples that we had been devouring the week before.  Sadly while the flavor was similar the skin and the texture of the flesh was not nearly as nice.  So we were a little unsure of what to do with them all.  

We made an always tasty apple crisp, using Oh She Glows’ Mother Nature’s Apple Crumble, as well as more Winter de Gallo Salsa, but were still searching for a good idea of what to do with them.  The search brought us to The Ontario Apple Growers website where we found the idea for a soup.

Their recipe features sweet potatoes but we decided to substitute a winter squash. *Digression*

Why does everyone share winter squash recipes in the fall?  Now is the time when we need to be eating the appropriately named winter squash!  After a nice long time sitting in the cellar or pantry the squash have increased in sweetness and flavor and their beautiful sunset colors remind us of the wonderful summer that we hope will one day return!

Our recipe ended up combining elements of that recipe with a Martha Stewart recipe (yes, for some reason Martha keeps coming through for us!).  

The final result was a soup that was both sweet and savory.  The garnish of spiced nuts (walnuts or heartnuts) and diced apples gave the soup some pizzazz and excitement while the base was pure creaminess.  

Winter Squash Apple Soup

• 1 winter squash (about 2 pounds), peeled, seeded, and chopped
• 1 tbsp. butter or oil
• 1 medium onion, diced
• 4 apples, peeled, cored, and chopped, plus 1 extra apple, diced and tossed in lemon juice, for a garnish
• 2 tsp. coarse salt
• 1 1/2 tsp.ground cumin
• 1/2 tsp.ground coriander
• 1/2 tsp.ground ginger
• 1/4 tsp. black pepper
• 2 cups homemade or store-bought vegetable stock
• 2 1/2 cups water, plus more if needed

Spicy Nuts Garnish

• 1 cup walnuts or heartnuts, in large pieces, for a garnish
• 1 tbsp. butter or butter substitute
• ½ tsp. thyme
• ¼ tsp. cinnamon
• ¼ tsp. cayenne
• ½ tsp. salt
• ¼ tsp. black pepper

Preheat the oven to 400F. Roast the squash for 30-45 minutes, until it is fragrant and beginning to turn brown on the edges.  

Melt the butter in a large pot or Dutch oven and add the onions.  Fry the onions for 4-5 minutes then add the roasted squash, apples, salt, cumin, coriander, ginger, pepper, vegetable stock, and water.  Bring to a boil and simmer for 30 minutes, or until the apples are soft.  

Puree using an immersion blender or in batches in a food processor.  Add extra water if the soup is too thick, then serve.

While the soup is simmering make the spiced nuts.  Melt the second tablespoon of butter in a frying pan, then add the nuts, thyme, cinnamon, cayenne, salt, and pepper.  Fry, stirring frequently until very fragrant and the nuts are beginning to brown on their edges.  

Serve the soup with the spicy nuts and diced apple for garnishes.  

Recipe: Winter de Gallo Salsa

Inspiration for new cooking ideas for me seems to be limited to the spontaneity of the kitchen.

This was one of those moments.

I had decided to make up some breakfast burritos for lunch—does that mean they were lunch

burritos?  Well, they had scrambled eggs in them, along with some black beans left over from

another meal that I hastily fried up with onions, garlic, and cumin.

After dicing up a bit of extra onion and mixing it with some cilantro (yes, amazingly local

cilantro is available if you know where to look) I realized I might as well try to make a full fresh

salsa.

The apples are the last remaining fresh local fruit around here.  Granted, they’re not actually

“fresh” but are picked in the fall and stored at cool temperatures to be able to sell them all winter

long.  I didn’t have to think too long to realize this was my best option for the main ingredient in

my “Winter de Gallo” salsa.

Added last was one frozen jalapeño from last summer’s garden.  It was a red one which added a

nice color to the salsa.

All this on a breakfast burrito served for lunch.  It was awesome.  I had three.

I might try adding some finely chopped cabbage next time, but if so it will likely need to

marinate a while to let the cabbage soften up a bit.

Winter de Gallo Salsa

 ½ small or medium onion or shallot, finely diced

 ½ cup cilantro, chopped

 2-3 green apples (or any colour you have!), cored and diced

 1-2 frozen hot peppers, finely diced

 1-2 tbsp.  lime juice*

 Salt

 Pepper

Prepare all the vegetables, then mix together in a bowl with the lime juice and salt and pepper to

taste.  Eat on any food that seems appropriate!

*This is the only ingredient Bailey’s doesn’t have right now, but you could always substitute

some apple cider vinegar to keep things 100% local!

Ellie’s Green Bean Salad

There was a time when my family lived on green beans. 

We first began focusing on eating local, seasonal foods when we lived in Atlanta, Georgia.  The local food scene in Atlanta was in its beginning stages and we enjoyed the fledgling farmers’ markets that began popping up around town and meeting the new farmers. 

For some reason during much of the year one of the only reliable local crops was green beans.  Not just during the extremely hot and humid summer, but during most of the year.  Thus we would buy and eat green beans whenever they were local.  Which, like I already said, was for most of the year!

Basically we were eating green beans all the time.  This caused us to get just a little bit sick of them.  It also forced us to use them in more than one way.  We started thinking about how green beans didn’t just have to be boiled and served with a bit of salt and butter.

Fortunately one of our favourite farmers noticed the bean fatigue on his customers’ faces and he shared this family recipe with everyone. 

The recipe has become a family favourite and we love passing it along to others.  We’ve been using our own beans from our garden this summer which makes it extra exciting, but it will work wonderfully with any fresh local green beans.  Try mixing together a few colours of beans for some extra visual interest!

250g green beans, trimmed, chopped, and steamed

2 tbsp. walnuts, chopped and lightly toasted

2 tbsp. parsley, finely chopped

2 tbsp. red onion, finely chopped

1 tbsp. local oil

1 tsp. local vinegar

1 tsp. mustard (any kind)

Salt and cayenne pepper

To steam the beans bring an inch of water to a boil in a pot or pan and set a steamer over it, then add the beans and cover, steaming for 4-5 minutes.  Remove the beans after steaming and transfer them to a bowl.  Chop the walnuts, parsley, and onion.

Briefly toast the walnuts in a dry frying pan over medium heat, until they are fragrant (just a couple minutes).  

Make the dressing  by whisking together the oil, vinegar, and mustard.

Mix everything together in a bowl, but reserve some of the walnuts and parsley to top the salad.  Season lightly with salt and a dash of cayenne.  

Kohlrabi & Pak Choi Pizza

Sometimes there are vegetables that are readily available, in season, fresh, healthy, and um, well we don’t know what to do with them.  That’s how I felt about kohlrabi and bok choy recently.  But I got them anyways and through them on a pizza! 

Pizza is the great dumping ground for veggies that I am unsure of what to do with but I try to do some research before I get to that point.  As a leafy green the bok choy was at least similar enough to more common leafy greens that I’m used to.  With a bit of internet searching I found that bok choy had many good options beyond what I had already thought of… but then I forgot it in the bottom of the fridge for a few days and it lost some of its fresh-looking tastiness.  The kohlrabi was a bit more mysterious although there were plenty of recipes on the internet for it as well. 

It turns out that kohlrabi is part of the cabbage group of vegetables, thus the “kohl” in its name, like the “cole” in coleslaw.  Where it seems to differ from cabbage is that it’s a bit starchier and thus can caramelize a bit when cooked, and it kind of looks like some sort of alien.

Going back to the pizza I found one other person who had put kohlrabi on their pizza but pre-roasted it a bit to get some of that caramelizing action going on!  Since forgotten bok choy wasn’t the only leafy green lurking in the bottom of the fridge it seemed like a good idea to make a greens pesto, consisting of the larger leaves of the bok choy, some old kale, walnuts, goat cheese, and oil.

The pesto was the base for the pizza topped with a bit of mozzarella (Goatsarella actually!), the roasted kohlrabi, some chopped green onion, and one slice of crumbled bacon.  It made a wonderful pizza, full of rich and unexpected flavours but with the familiar taste of crispy chewy pizza crust and good cheese.

Pak Choi and Kale Pesto

·        1-2 small bok choy

·        2-4 large kale leaves

·        2-3 tbsp. goat cheese or goat cream cheese

·        ¼ - ½ cup walnuts or heartnuts

·        2-3 tbsp. oil

·        salt

In a food processor puree all the ingredients until smooth.  Adjust quantities to achieve the desired consistency—if you like it a bit chunky vs. very smooth.  Make it creamier by adding more nuts and cheese.

Kohlrabi and Pak Choi Pizza

·        ½ kohlrabi, sliced thinly

·        1 tbsp. oil

·        1-2 slices of bacon, cooked until crispy and crumbled or chopped (optional)

·        Bok choy or pak choi and kale pesto

·        Mozzarella or Goatsarella, enough slices to cover roughly half the pizza

·        Green onion, chopped

·        Crushed red chili flakes (optional)

·        Pizza dough

Preheat the oven to 500.  Toss the kohlrabi slices in the oil and roast them on a baking sheet for about 10 minutes while the oven is preheating.  Stretch out the pizza dough.  Spread the pesto on the dough then arrange the slices of mozzarella on the pesto leaving plenty of space between them because this pizza is not just about the cheese!  Top the pizza with the roasted kohlrabi, crumbled bacon, and chopped green onions.  Add a bit of crushed red chili flakes for some extra huzzah or a bit of salt and pepper. 

Bake the pizza at 500 until the dough is starting to turn golden brown and the cheese is bubbling. 

Jon Spee loves local food and seeks it out constantly.  It makes it hard for him to have very many favourite restaurants because he’s so obsessive about where the food is from.  Luckily he can cook and blog

Moosewood's Perfect Protein Salad - A Local Adaptation

According to cookbook author Molly Katzen, this recipe was the result of looking in the fridge and finding only some cooked soybeans and wheat berries.  Not bad for such humble beginnings, and this salad is a new family favourite!  The key for me was the addition of one habanero pepper from Mark Brubacher.  Be careful with those peppers, they are extremely hot.  But they’re worth it too, they have such great flavour and the spiciness helps warm your whole body!  But even if you leave out that extra kick of spice you’ll still find this a very satisfying salad. 

The name of the salad refers to the combination of a grain and legume, which results in the full range of amino acids we need.

Moosewood’s Perfect Protein Salad

Adapted from The New Moosewood Cookbook by Molly Katzen

Ingredients:

·        ¾ cups dry soybeans

·        ¾ cups dry wheat (or rye) berries

·        ½ red onion, minced

·        2 medium carrots, finely chopped 1 cucumber, seeded & finely chopped

·        1 hot habanero pepper, seeded and minced (optional)

·        1-2 cloves garlic, minced 1 Tbs. dried parsley 1 tsp. dill

·        ¼ cup mayonnaise (you could make your own if you want it local)

·        ¼ cup cider vinegar

·        ¼ cup tangy yogurt 

·        ¼ - ½ cup crumbled feta cheese 2 teaspoons salt

·        freshly ground black pepper, to taste

·        optional: add other diced vegetables like celery, tomatoes, or anything else that sounds good.

Soak the wheat berries and soybeans overnight in separate jars or bowls.  Rinse them several times the next day.  Cook the soybeans in one pot, covered completely with plenty of water, and the wheat berries in another pot with 2 cups water, over low heat simmering for 1 – 1.5 hours.  The wheat berries should be soft, while the soybeans will retain a bit of a crunch.  Drain, rinse, and allow to drip dry for a few minutes in a colander. 

While cooking the grains and beans chop your vegetables and mix together the vinegar, mayonnaise, and yogurt.  Mix these together in large bowl, adding in the spices and seasonings.  Add the grains, beans, cheese, and mix all ingredients together.  Test the flavour and adjust spices and seasonings to your liking.  Serve or refrigerate for later.  Makes a great lunch or dinner!

And by the way, look what ingredients Bailey’s has right now for the salad (basically everything you need to make it):

·        dry soybeans (from Round’s)

·        wheat berries (from Oak Manor)

·        red onion(from Bowman’s or Stevanus)

·        carrots(many options)

·        cucumber(from Roseland Produce)

·        habanero pepper(from Mark Brubacher)

·        garlic, (several options)

·        dried parsley (from Brenda Knechtel)

·        dill (from Brenda Knechtel)

·        mayonnaise (you could make your own if you want it local)

·        cider vinegar (from the Cider Keg or Filsingers Organic)

·        yogurt  (several options)

·        feta cheese (several options)

From Jon Spee, who shares more of his KW Locavore adventures at localkitchener.ca