A Life, Lived

The Sage Beekeeper

It's been some time since I featured a cocktail on the blog. This is a good one to break that run.

There isn't a lot happening in this cocktail - honey, OJ, gin, and some sage.

Don't be fooled. The flavour is outstanding! So much that shaken up this cocktail a few times in the past few weeks.

The Sage Beekeeper

Honey
Ice
3 ounces gin
2 ounces orange juice
3 fresh sage leaves
Two 1-inch strips orange peel

Combine equal amounts of honey and water and stir until dissolved. 

In a shaker filled with ice, add the gin, orange juice, 1 ounce honey syrup and 1 sage leaf. Shake vigorously and pour into 2 up glasses. Garnish with each glass with1 sage leaf and 1 orange peel.

Concord Grape Focaccia

Grape focaccia, or Schiacciata All’uva, is a magnificent Tuscan tradition sometimes known as winemakers’ focaccia that’s homemade flatbread with a smattering of black grapes that’s roasted until it creates a wondrously jammy sweetness.

There are plenty of recipes out there for making it but none as easy as this one.

Traditionally, grape focaccia, or Schiacciata All’uva, takes its characteristic jamminess from native Tuscan wine grapes known as canaiolo, the small, dark grapes make up part of the blend of Chianti wine. It’s an Italian winemakers tradition. These days it’s usually made with the more common and fragrant concord grapes (uva fragola). Just be warned if you use grapes with seeds, the bread will be punctuated with bitter crunchiness.

While concord grapes have seeds theya re tiny and you wont notice them in the finished product. The combination of the grapes, sugar, and rosemary is delicious.

Enjoy!

Concord Grape Focaccia

1 lb pizza dough
⅔ lb Concord grapes (NOTE: I actually think this might be too much. I'll use less grapes next time I make this)
2 tablespoon olive oil
2 tablespoon granulated sugar
2 branches rosemary
2 teaspoon turbinado sugar

Spread/roll the pizza dough until it's about ½ inch thick then transfer to a parchment lined baking sheet. Cover and let rise 10 minutes.

Drizzle the olive oil over top and massage it into the dough, tucking a little of the oil under the edges of the dough too.

Let the dough rest 10 minutes. Meanwhile preheat the oven to 400ºF.

Sprinkle the granulated sugar over the oiled focaccia dough and scatter the grapes over top and then the leaves of rosemary (discard stems). Top with turbinado.

Bake for a good 30 minutes, until it is a nice golden brown color. Let cool slightly before slicing and serving.

Travel Tuesdays - Bologna

Friends of ours are in Bologna right now (or were when I typed this).

Bologna is one of my favourite cities in Italy - the food, the art, the architecture, the culture . . . it is all so good.

I can't jet off to Bologna right now but I can relive it through my pics . . .

Combating Climate Change

Critical Thinking

This is why a strong public education system is so damn important.

Travel Tuesdays - Battle of Stoney Creek Memorial

The battle of Stoney Creek National Historic Site of Canada is a memorial park built on the site of a battlefield from the War of 1812. It is located at the edge of the Niagara escarpment on the east side of the town of Stoney Creek, Ontario. The site includes the Gage House, the Stoney Creek, Smith’s Knoll and the Stoney Creek Cemetery Monument, the Dunnington-Grubb and Stoney Creek Cemetery landscape; archaeological resources; and objects held in repositories and on the site. Official recognition refers to the Battlefield Park and Smiths Knoll cemetery which encompasses the Stoney Creek Memorial, the cemetery and Gage House.

The Battle of Stoney Creek, which occurred on 6 June 1813, was a critical turning point in the War of 1812. During this battle, American forces under Generals Windler and John Chandler were driven back by the British 8th and 49th Regiments led by Lieutenant Colonel John Harvey and Major Plenderleath. This battlefield marks the most advanced position achieved by American forces on the Niagara frontier.

The importance of Stoney Creek Battlefield was first acknowledged when the Women’s Wentworth County Historical Society opened a commemorative park on the battlefield site in 1899, and shortly thereafter acquired the adjacent Gage property, which was also associated with the battle. Between 1909 and 1913, the County of Wentworth Veteran’s Association erected a monument and in the 1920s, the firm of Dunnington and Grubb formally landscaped the park’s grounds. Management of the park was taken over by the Niagara Parks Commission in 1963 and today is run by the City of Hamilton.

Paul and I visited the site on Saturday.

YUP

Corn Chowder

Don’t we all crave this time of year? Not only do we get those relaxing days spent outside, backyard cookouts, and weekend hikes to soak up that summer sun but it also means getting some of the best food of the year while all the fresh produce is in season.

It’s that time of year where you’ll find fresh corn on the cob galore, especially if you’re near the plethora of local growers. If you’re like us you’re likely eating it multiple times throughout the week and looking for more ways to use it and this corn chowder is one of the best ways to put it to good use!

It has everything you’d want in a corn chowder and then some. Nothing fancy, just tasty homestyle comfort food at its best!

There are lots of recipes out there but I went with this one from Recipe Tin Eats figuring that the flavour profile would be the best - you use the bacon drippings to make the soup base and after cutting the kernels off, throw the corn cobs into the broth to infuse it with extra corn flavour! The potato is cooked until very soft, so the edges are starting to breakdown and this helps thicken the soup.

I was right. This was an amazing soup!

We like to serve corn chowder with some grated cheese on top in addition to the green onions and bacon in the recipe.

Enjoy!

Corn Chowder

4 cobs corn
1 tsp butter
250 g/8 oz bacon, chopped
30 g/2 tbsp butter (use 3 tbsp if bacon is lean)
1 garlic clove, minced
1 small onion, diced (or half large onion) (yellow, brown or white)
5 tbsp flour
2 cups chicken broth, low sodium
3 cups milk (I used low fat but full fat will work too)
600 g/ 1.2 lb potatoes, cut into 1 cm / 2/5" cubes (about 2 large)
2 sprigs of thyme OR 1 tsp dried thyme
3/4 cup cream
3/4 cup scallions, green part finely sliced
Salt and finely ground pepper to taste

Cut the corn off the cob. This is how I do it: Place a small ramekin in a large bowl. Place corn on the ramekin then cut the corn off. See video. Keep naked cobs.

Place 1 tsp butter in a large pot over medium high heat. Add bacon and cook until golden. Use a slotted spoon to remove onto a paper towel lined plate. Leave fat in pot.

Lower heat to medium high. Add 2 tbsp butter, once melted, add garlic and onion. Cook for 2 - 3 minutes until onion is translucent.

Add flour and mix it in. Cook, stirring, for 1 minute.

Add broth, milk, potatoes, thyme and bay leaf. Break naked cobs into 2 or 3 and add into the liquid. Put the lid on and simmer for 25 minutes (adjust heat so it's simmering energetically but not bubbling like crazy or super gently).

Remove lid, remove corn cobs. Add corn and cook for 5 minutes or until cooked to your taste.

Stir through cream and 3/4 of the bacon and scallions. Adjust salt and pepper to taste. Ladle into bowls and garnish with remaining bacon and scallions.

Gemista - Greek Stuffed Tomatoes

When we visited Greece a number of the restaurants we went to featured stuffed tomatoes on the menu. In most cases they were stuffed with a meat, rice, herb, tomato mixture. You wouldn't think that they would taste amazing but they certainly did. When I was thinking for ways to use up the glut of tomatoes that we have I immediately thought of trying to recreate those stuffed tomatoes. Of course, with the joys of google you never have to recreate anything do you?

Since the temperatures have dropped below 'surface of the sun' I felt I might manage to turn the oven on and make this for dinner on Friday.

Three secrets to this amazing stuffed tomato recipe: a hearty, flavor-packed stuffing; sufficient amount of good extra virgin olive oil; and baking until the tomatoes collapse to tender perfection and the stuffing mixture inside is fully cooked through. Greek yiayias will tell you, if the stuffed tomatoes look too perfect, they're probably not very tasty!

These delicious, perfectly baked stuffed tomatoes may be considered a side dish in some Greek households; maybe served next to some lamb. But to me, these are delicious and hearty enough to stand on their own

I know these can be just a bit of a labour of love, but they are not complicated to make (and you can prepare them a little bit ahead of time.)

I made the mistake of using brown rice - it tends to not cook as well in preparations like this as white rice does. Needless to say there was some crunchy bits on the top of the tomatoes - not the end of the world by any measure. I think I'd increase the fresh herbs to really have that fresh flavour come through. Finally, my tomatoes were full of moisture - adding a cup of water to the dish was overkill. After an hour I was worried that the dish would overflow in the oven and sucked moisture out with a baster! You might want to try 1/3 a cup and add more if they seem dry.

Before:

After:

Enjoy!

Gemista - Greek Stuffed Tomatoes

8 peppers and/or tomatoes
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 onion (diced)
3 cloves garlic (chopped)
1 cup tomato sauce (I used a simple roasted tomato sauce)
1 teaspoon oregano
1/2 cup herbs such as parsley, dill and mint (chopped)
1/4 cup arborio rice
1 pound ground beef
salt and pepper to taste
1 cup water
2 tablespoons olive oil

Cut the tops off of the peppers and tomatoes and remove the seeds from the peppers and the insides of the tomatoes reserving them.

Heat the oil in a pan.

Add the onions and saute until tender, about 10-15 minutes.

Add the garlic and saute until fragrant, about a minute.

Add the reserved tomato guts, tomato sauce and oregano and simmer until it thickens and remove from the heat.

Mix the tomato sauce, herbs, rice, ground beef, salt and pepper.

Stuff the mixture into the peppers and tomatoes and place them in a baking dish.

Pour the water and olive oil into the baking dish.

Bake in a preheated 375F/190C oven until the liquid has evaporated and the peppers and tomatoes are roasted until slightly caramelized, about 1-2 hours.

Travel Tuesdays - Crawford Lake

Crawford Lake Conservation Area is a conservation area owned and operated by Conservation Halton. It is categorized as a regional environmentally sensitive area, an Ontario area of natural scientific interest, and part of the Niagara escarpment world biosphere reserve. The conservation area contains Crawford Lake, a meromictic lake, which makes the lake a prime site for archaeological and geochemical studies. The site was first discovered in 1971 after a study of the sediment of Crawford Lake. Using pollen analysis, reconstruction of the history of the area over several hundred years was possible.

The lake was named after the Crawford family, who originally lived on the site. Their house remained there until a group of teenagers burned it down, all that survived was the front porch that was constructed of cement. Photographs of the original house and members of the Crawford family exist.

The pollen analysis revealed the agricultural history of the native Iroquois Indians and the presence of their village. The Wendat village has been reconstructed in the conservation area and is based on many years of work by archaeologists. Moreover, geochemical analysis of sediment cores has allowed for the reconstruction of the pollution history of the area. This analysis revealed the trends and sources of air pollution over approximately 150 years.