Farmer”s Market Holiday Open House

Image: stock.xchng The Convent Garden Farmer”s Market All Local Holiday Open House takes place on Saturday, December 11, 2010. You can find lots of farmers and local food lovers upstairs in the Market Kitchen. There will be food, decor, recipes, gingerbread house decorating for kids and door prizes. Admission to this fun event is free, but please bring a donation of food for the local London Food Bank. Happy Holidays! Kelly  Read More

Strawberry Black Pepper Sorbet

Strawberry Sorbet | Photo: Kelly Hunt Maybe you still have some strawberries in your freezer because you went a little crazy buying them up at the market last year and maybe you did not eat them all up by the time the next strawberry season came in. It”s just a guess, but maybe you want to use up those berries so you can buy fresh berries before the season is over for this year. Okay, you caught me, it”s me! I bought way too many berries last year and I needed to justify buying some fresh ones, so I hauled these out of the freezer and make this lovely creature (look at that hue!). A bit sweet, a bit puckery” and a whole lot refreshing, all rolled into one fantastic strawberry sorbet. It is very hot today, actually it is very hot these past few days and this is the perfect treat for a little July cool down. Do not be afraid of the pepper (I actually think it could use some more) but the pepper taste is there –  so slight, you only taste it after two spoonfulls, it just lingers there on the tongue. Lovely. I doubled this recipe and it turned out just great. Of course it is probably even better with fresh strawberries which only have about one more week until they are gone. You can find them at Heemans, Trails End Market, Masonville Farmer”s Market, Western Fair Market, Covent Garden Farmer”s Market, O”Sheas Farm Market and many other places, but only for a short time. Spiced Strawberry Sorbet from Gourmet Magazine, August, 1995 full recipe found here For the sorbet: 2/3 cup sugar 2/3 cup water 3 tablespoons black peppercorns, crushed coarse 1 quart strawberries (preferably local), hulled 2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar, or to taste To make the spiced strawberry sorbet: In a saucepan combine sugar and water and bring to a boil, stirring until sugar is dissolved. Stir in peppercorns and remove pan from heat. Cover pan and let syrup stand 1 hour. Strain syrup through a fine sieve into a food processor or blender and discard peppercorns. Purée hulled strawberries with syrup until very smooth and force though sieve into a bowl, discarding seeds and other solids. Stir in vinegar and chill, covered, until cold. Freeze mixture in an ice-cream maker.  Read More

Covent Garden – Last Market of the Season

Hello All, Tomorrow is the last market of the season for The Covent Garden Market. Some vendors still show up right until Christmas Eve Day, but for the most part it is shutting down for the season. Here is some really helpful info from the weekly newsletter from Candice Kish (CGM Outdoor Farmers Market Manager) to get you excited to get down there for the last big day. Maybe say good-bye and of course a big thank you to all the farmers that show up each and very week to provide us Londoners with fresh, local and delicious foods. Following information taken directly from newsletter: Rick from Eco-Logic Nursery will have Christmas greenery, holly, apples, beets, white potatoes, sweet potatoes, turnip, greens, leeks,parsnip,Spanish onions, cooking onions, carrots,chicken, beef, and pork at his stand this week. Joy from Empire Valley will join us with all of her Christmas decorations. Pick up a fresh Christmas wreath, swag, or holly before the big day arrives. Lorraine from LynchFarms is back this week with her maple syrup, maple syrup candies, maple syrup butter, jams, jellies, and preserves. Dee at Made from Scratch will have all kinds of squares, Christmas cookies, no-sugar granola muffins, mince tarts, and butter tarts at Market this week. Shirley from Blanbrook Bison would like to thank all of her customers for another great year. She will be at tomorrow’s Market with a good supply of the usual product. Keep in mind you can still order bison from Shirley in the off-season by e-mailing her at blanbrook@quadro.net, or by phoning her at 519-229-6316. Glenda from Fair Haven returns this week with her fresh trout, Christmas greenery, Osage oranges, baking, and preserves. —————————– Some other big news to share from the CGM is that Candice Kish is handing off her very important job as Outdoor Market Manager to Christine Sheer. It is very sad to say good-bye to Candice, her enthusiasm and organization will be missed greatly – but everyone join me in saying goodbye to Candice – see you at the market! Kelly  Read More

Buy Local, Share Local Coming Tomorrow to Covent Garden Market!

Tomato Gift | Photo: Kelly Hunt This Thursday at the Covent Garden Market you can buy yourself a load of fresh fruits and vegetables and at the same time you can buy someone else a load of fresh goodies! I am more than happy to tell you that the Buy Local, Share Local Program is coming to London. It is a great campaign, please see the press release below for full details. Any food donated tomorrow to this project at the Market will directly benefit the London Food Bank. It is such a great idea. Be a part of it! Kelly PS. My Irish mother would say “Make sure to get potatoes!!” RESIDENTS ASKED TO BUY LOCAL AND SHARE LOCAL AT LONDON COVENT GARDEN MARKET THIS THURSDAY ~ Market booth travelling across Ontario to accept donations of locally grown fruits and vegetables for local food bank stops at London farmers’ market London, ON (September 1, 2009) – The Ontario Association of Food Banks (OAFB) and the London Food Bank are taking a fresh approach to food drives at the Covent Garden Market this week by asking neighbours in London to buy and share fresh, local food with their local food bank at the market. “The Buy Local Share Local program aims to provide the hundreds of thousands of Ontarians who are forced to turn to food banks with fresh and healthy foods grown locally by area farmers,” said Adam Spence, Executive Director of the OAFB. “We are facing tough times in Ontario, and food banks are struggling to keep up with demand. We need all the help we can get.” Buy Local Share Local is presented by RBC, with Chef Anna Olson as its ambassador. On her Food Network show, “Fresh with Anna Olson,” Anna invites viewers into her Niagara-region home and creates unique meals using her mantra “eat fresh,eat local.” London residents can support the campaign by sharing in person this Thursday at the Covent Garden Market and dropping off their donation of fresh,local produce directly at the OAFB Buy Local Share Local booth. “Food is about sharing,” said Olson. “Buy Local Share Local gives us the unique opportunity to share Ontario grown apples, corn, peaches, squash and so much more with our local food bank and our neighbours facing hunger.” The Buy Local Share Local tour is travelling to over 25 farmers’ markets in 15 different cities across Ontario between July and October. Buy Local Share Local runs in partnership with the Ontario Federation of Agriculture (OFA), Turkey Farmers of Ontario, Homegrown Ontario, and the Ontario Farm Animal Council. Buy Local Share Local  Read More

Carrot & Cardamom Preserve

Carrot Cardamom Chutney I just wanted to say that this is simply, fantastic. I bought this in the spring from Stefanie at Bake*well. Let”s just say she is a little baking genius. I ate this on top of some stinky Quebec soft cheese, (which was in itself to die for) I added this on top and it sweetened up that stinky cheese just the right way. Sweet and savoury, savoury and sweet, love! I think I would even eat this preserve on its own, atop toast. You see, it possesses this marmalade-like citrus zing, which I think would be just perfect for sleepy weekend mornings. Stefanie can be found on Saturdays (and I think Thursdays) at The Covent Garden Farmers Market. She always has a variety of mouthwatering baked goods, quiches and she does some preserves as the seasons change. Go get some, tell her I say hi! Stefanie Bake*well Pastry & Preserves Covent Garden Market  Read More

Carnival Carrot Tart Tatin

Carnival Carrots | Photo: Kelly Hunt Carnival Carrots. Are these not the most fun carrots you have ever seen? I just love them. It is now guaranteed that these carrots will be on my grow list every year, I just can”t get enough of them. Last year I did see purple carrots for sale at Covent Garden Market – so, if you did not grow your own this year, no worries- keep your eyes peeled for them and I am sure you will nab some. I wanted to make a dish to showcase these spectacular beauties and I remembered seeing a recipe for Carrot Tart Tartin in The Organic Seasonal Cookbook, so with a little adjusting here it is. Try it! Carrot Tart Tartine Adapted from The Organic Seasonal Cookbook: Cooking for a Greener World by Liz Franklin one pound carnival carrots, or your favourite kind (about 8 -10 medium sized carrots) quarter cup of butter 4 tablespoons of local honey About 3 teaspoons of dried thyme (use a small bunch of fresh, if you can find it) Puff Pastry – most packs come in 450 grams, I used the whole pack Flour for dusting salt and pepper Preheat oven to 450 Peel and chop carrots into one inch chunks. Boil the carrots in a pot, just until tender (about 15 minutes). Drain, then toss carrots with honey, butter and thyme and add salt and pepper to your taste. Take this mixture and spoon it into a an 8 inch baking pan, or tart tatin pan (I used a cake pan with deep sides). The puff pasty that comes later on in recipe will rise while baking,so you need your pan to be at least 1 and 1/2 inches deep. Place carrot mixture in oven for 15-20 minutes,until you see the carrots caramelize. While that is happening, dust your work surface and roll out the puff pastry until it is in a rough circle shape. The circle should be able to fit over the cake pan with an extra inch or so. Take the carrots out of oven, lay the pastry over top of them and tuck the edges in so that it will form a type of crust when you flip it out later. Bake in oven for 20 minutes or until the pastry is puffed and golden. Remove from oven, carefully flip the tart out onto a plate to release and serve immediately. Enjoy!  Read More

Flavours Of Canada All-Local BBQ

I have not left the city yet – and I just received the Covent Garden Newsletter from Candice at the Covent Garden Market. There is something big happening there tomorrow you do not want to miss! I could not say it better than Candace so here is what she sent: Your Locavore LowdownGreetings Locavores!It’s finally here! Our Flavours of Canada All-Local BBQ will be held tomorrow, Saturday, August 1st from 11am-1pm. We’ve got a tasty menu planned featuring all the best in seasonal, local produce. While we’ve been busy preparing a ton of food, once it’s gone, it’s gone—so get here towards the beginning of the event if you can. Choose from a bison burger, a pork sausage on a bun, or vegetarian chili, then top that off with some green bean salad, Greek pasta salad, blueberry coffee cake, and a cold glass of lemonade. All of this for $5. Great,local food is the star of the day!  Read More

Smiths Cheese Covent Garden Market

Say Cheese! Who loves cheese? I love cheese! I love it alot, in fact if it were not so fattening and expensive, I may find myself eating it every day – oh who am I kidding? I think I do eat cheese everyday, and why not? Life is too short to deny yourself of good cheese. And cheese goes very well with wine, need I say more? Besides, a little extra “cheese” around the middle will help ward of the cold weather I am sure. The picture above is of one of my favourite kinds of cheese. Goats cheese, which is of course made from goat”s milk. All cheese is made from milk, all different kinds of milk. Some cheeses have rennet added to them to help them curdle, and some have mould or even spices added to them to give them colour and flavour. Cheese is good. There is ALOT of cheese available at Smiths Cheeses in the Covent Garden Market. I am posting about them because I noticed they have a local cheese section on the side bar of their display. I picked up some of this goats cheese, which was delicious and well priced, I think I may go and crack back into it right now. Warning, cheese may help you sleep,apparently is contains tryptophan,one more reason to love cheese, as we all need our rest.  Read More

The Covent Garden Outdoors Farmers Market

The Covent Garden Market is an amazing place. To be honest, I would need about 50 blog posts to cover the whole market…so I have decided to only focus on the outside farmers market portion for this post and will write more about the inside vendors at a later date. It was last Saturday that I was there. It was cold and rainy.. a lovely November 15th…pure misery! I was pleasantly surprised to see the amount of vendors still toughing it out at the market. They had a huge variety of fresh food available.. this is by no means all that was available, but I saw carrots, yams, squash of every colour, salad greens, parsnips, Osage oranges, baked goods, bison (more about THAT later!), chutney, jelly,breads,onions, garlics, cabbages, apples, potatoes, leeks, onions, herbs, brussel sprouts, shallots and even maple syrup! A few of the things that really stand out in my mind were the heirloom carrots – there were orange and purple ones. I bought some of the carrots, and I believe the purple carrots have a slightly spicier taste, very faint.. but it is there. Also, the Osage oranges are a really cool find – sadly, they are inedible. Osage oranges have a nice light citrus scent and are used for decoration only around this time of year.. as they are poisonous to eat! You have to get to the Covent Garden Market… and you have to get there soon! The farmers market is open on Thursdays and Saturdays up until the end of November from 8 am – 1 pm.  Read More

Spinach – This One Goes Out to the Little Popeye in All of Us

photo: wikipedia commons I should have written about spinach before strawberries, as it does come in much earlier than the little red berries. Good news though – now that the strawberries are in and the spinach has been in for a while (it likes cold spring weather) this means you can now make strawberry spinach salads with both tasty ingredients. There are not many other salad combos that are as delicious – and nutritious! I recommend hitting the Trails End Market, The Western Fair Farmers Market or the Covenant Garden Market for fresh spinach, they also have it at Mill Stream Farm in Mt. Brydges. Want some spinach facts? (These have been adapted from Wikipedia and its offerings on the plant, so take it with a leaf of spinach.) Spinach is a flowering plant. Yes, that”s right – it has flowers on it, I bet if you only ever bought it at the grocery store in those crinkly plastic bags, or in those new square plastic containers, you did not know it has flowers. Spinach is thought to have originated in ancient Persia (Iran). Catherine de Medici, of the 16th century, left her home of Florence, Italy,to marry the king of France,and when she did, she brought along her own cooks, who could prepare spinach the ways that she especially liked. Since this time, dishes prepared on a bed of spinach are referred to as “a la Florentine.” So now you can be all fancy when you go the market and ask for it, just kidding, I would not recommend messing with our local farmers, they are serious. Spinach is relatively high in iron, but it is a myth that it is the best thing to eat to increase the iron content in your blood – sorry to burst the iron bubble of all the spinach eating anemics out there! Alas, spinach is a wicked source of calcium, so eat it anyways, and eat lots of it. I do not wish to lead anyone astray on the nutritious values of spinach – so I went to Foodland Ontario for the these next vitamin facts: Spinach is an excellent source of both Vitamin A and folacin, and a source of both fibre, potassium and Vitamin C. Happy spinach eating!  Read More

Great resource for eating local

I have been in kind of a funk about the weather lately, so I have not been making it out to the farms too much. But where I have been, is to alot of garden centres as I attempt to get my garden ready…I was thinking about drafting up a post about planting your own garden, grow your own local, kind of deal – but it needs some more serious time alotted to get it just right – so I will at a later date. I will tell you this – I know for sure that you can find asparagus, lettuce, spinach, rhubarb, fiddleheads and even arugula right now, it”s out there – and its waiting to be eaten. If you have been procrastinating and have not been to a garden centre yet, you will be as surprised as I was to see that there are many more veggies available this year to grow in containers or in garden beds right at home – a heck of a lot more varieties than I remember seeing last year. I even heard that you can buy seedling heirloom tomatoe plants at the covent garden market on saturdays right now. What I do want to let you all know about is this great resource – every wednesday in the Londoner, there is a columnist – Christine Scheer that writes a column about eating with the seasons. Her section is always intelligent,with a delicious twist – apparently she was a chef for a number of years in london and she now grows and cooks local food and shares her adventures as well as her wonderful recipes in our local paper. I have been trying to add the links to her stories to this blog so that they are easier to find,but the latest one (on arugula!) can be read right here: http://www.thelondoner.ca/ArticleDisplay.aspx?e=1056235&auth=Christine+Scheer happy eating xo  Read More