Pretty Patty Pans..

These are patty pan squash. They look kind of like little flying saucers, would you not agree? Well, the French thought they looked like little cakes that were baked in moulded pans and decided to call them pâtisson, which in Provence, France means “cake from a scalloped mould” and the English shortened that up to “patty”. No matter what they may remind you of, I am here to tell you that they are delicious. If you like the taste of zucchini, you will most definitely love the flavour of these little patty pans. My vote says that these are better than zucchini. I will not deny that they are very similar, but they stand on their own as something different – more nutty, with more substance. Many people remove the insides of this squash, then cook it up and mix it with garlic and other ingredients and then stuff it back into the pretty pan shell,but I decided to slice them up and fry them with some olive oil,garlic and red onion and then made it a meal by serving them along side a quick pesto pasta made with some over abundant basil from my front door pot. Delicious! I found these patty pan squash at Ann Slater”s organic booth at the St.Mary”s Farmers Market, but I am pretty sure I saw these at the Covent Garden Market this time last year, also check for them at Trails End and North London Market as well as at those handy side-of-the-road farm stalls.  Read More

Stratford Garden Festival

Attention all budding gardeners and of course all experienced gardeners too! Thought you would all like to know that the Stratford Garden Festival is on this weekend. For the record, we have been promised a beautiful weekend of weather, making this the perfect time to hop, skip, jump or drive to Stratford for a pre-spring day trip. Peruse the Garden Show, pick up a sandwich at York Street Kitchen and then go look at the swans in the Avon River! There are going to be 9 display gardens set up by local gardeners and more than 40 vendors selling seeds, pottery, solar lighting, garden furniture and more. Some cool things I read at the website that have me super excited: Growing Vegetables Organically: Ann Slater, organic market gardener - Ann Slater runs a certified organic one and a half acre market garden in the St. Marys area. She sells most of her produce in the St. Marys area, at the St. Marys Farmers” Market, through a Community Supported Agriculture program,to Woolfy”s at Wildwood restaurant and direct from the farm. She also facilitates courses on organic farming and market gardening and acts as a phone advisor for the Ecological Farmers Association of Ontario. I buy lots of food from Ann throughout the summer,she is a goldmine of information. and… How to Comply with Ontario’s New Cosmetic Pesticide Ban: Ed Lawrence, author and media gardening guru Okay I am not so excited about the title of the talk but some of you may recognize the name Ed Lawrence from CBC Radio, he really is a garden guru, it is not an exaggeration! If you see me there please say hello! Stratford Garden Festival Stratford Rotary Complex, 353 McCarthy Rd., Stratfordmap Tickets: $8 at the door. Kids 12 and under free. For details, call the Lung Association at 519-271-7500, or e-mail dherman@on.lung.ca http://www.stratfordgardenfestival.com/index.html View Larger Map  Read More