Fresh Chicken Sale at Duenk Family Farms

Chickens | Photo Credit: Karen Eatwell On Saturday, June 25 Karen Eatwell and Peter Duenk will be having their Annual Fresh Chicken Sale. Eatwell Foods at Duenk Farms is a small scale farm operation with a big heart! They raise pasture fed chicken, ducks and black angus beef. They are also an amazing farm to visit because there are always a few big friendly black labs and border collies there to greet you with a tail wag and friendly nose nudge. There is also a horse, and a goat called Moonshine. Duenk Farms is one of my favourite places to be and Karen and Peter are some of my favourite people! Karen and Peter raise their chickens with no growth hormone, they let the chickens out in the pasture during the day to forage and frolic and do what chickens do, naturally. The great thing about going to the farm on chicken day is that you can see for yourself where your food was raised and you can ask Karen and Peter anything. Chickens Foraging | Photo Credit: Karen Eatwell Chicken Day Eatwell Foods at Duenk Farms Saturday, June 25, 2011 10 am – 3pm Call ahead: 519-232-4105  Read More

Berkshire Pork, Ambrosia Apple & Le Bonparte on Naan

This was delicious. I was reminded recently that I still had a coil of Berkshire Honey & Garlic sausage waiting patiently for me in the freezer. I bought this at the Slow Taste of Ilderton Food Show back in the fall from Eatwell Foods at Duenk Farms. I have no idea how it has managed to escape being gobbled up by now, but that has now been taken care of! I pulled the coil out and thought that it would probably be quite delicious on its own – but then I remembered how good it is with apple. I settled on an interesting sort of pizza, but with naan bread taking the place of the pizza dough. With this, I paired some Le Bonaparte cheese from Quebec. I found this cheese at  the London Food Co-op on Princess off of Adelaide Street. Lastly, the delicious flavour of an Ontario Ambrosia apple rounds out all the savory with a little nod to the sweeter things in life. Delicious, easy and speedy. Here is how you do it. One Ontario Ambrosia Apple (large) – sliced One coil of Ontario raised Bershire Honey & Garlic Pork Sausage 1/2 small Ontario red or sweet onion, thinly sliced Some creamy Canadian cheese (Bonaparte from Quebec is delicious) Drizzle of extra virgin olive oil (you could use a local safflower here instead) A sprinkle of your favourite dried spices Cut up your pork coil into bite sized pieces. Cook over medium heat, until sausage is browned, cooked through and no longer pink. Meanwhile, preheat your oven to 450 degrees. Line a baking sheet with parchment and place 4 naan breads (or similar type of flat bread) on pans. Thinly slice up your onion and divide among breads. Cut apple into bite sized slices and also spread these on the breads. Take wedges of the Bonparte cheese and divide among naan bread. Finally, top with the fully cooked sausage, drizzle a tiny bit of olive oil and add any spices you wish – I went with the herbs de provence blend. Pop into oven for 10 minutes, or until cheese is melted. You can eat this as is. Sean decided he wanted his with grainy mustard for a little kick. I had some left over tomato chutney  that went really well with it. Sean also picked out the wine this week. He chose this Ontario wine which is a Baco Noir from Prince Edward County”s Sandbanks Winery. This wine was really light and packed alot of plum punch, it went very well with this fun little dinner. Hope you are all well, this winter is almost over, the dark days of food will be over with soon. Do not despair, as asparagus and rhubarb are just around the corner, behind that lump of a groundhog”s butt!  Read More

Rainbow Chard-a-lish-ous

That is a meatball-on top of some Rainbow Chard. Yummy heh? Chard, Chard! I have got it coming out of the garden like crazy. To tell you the truth, I am not even a huge fan, I grew it simply because I love the way it looks as it grows in the garden. Beauty aside, it is quite good – in a spinachy sort of way. I thought I could impress you with some fun facts on chard, but it is hard to find out any information on chard. I will tell you this, Swiss Chard is said to have been discovered by the Swiss. The legend states that a Swiss gardener thought this vegetable to be a beet that had special leaves/greens that kept growing and growing and then later deciphered that it was in fact different from the beet and hence named it Swiss Chard. Yes, these are all Internet stories, so who even knows if this is true! Does anyone have an Encyclopedia Britannica out there? Anyways, the chard I have growing in my garden is not Swiss Chard, I have some sort of rainbow cultivar – purrrrty cultivar. The other chards come from Sicily, although it is thought the Far East and the Mediterranean also grew this vegetable. “Cicla“,the scientific name,is from “Sicula” which does refer to Sicily. Chard is an exceptional source of vitamin A, iron and potassium, rainbow chard contains a good source of calcium, vitamin C, and fiber. So, now you know it”s good for you and it”s tasty! Now all you need is a recipe, so here you go – I made one up for you. Kelly”s Meatballs 1 pound of local ground beef (I used Duenk”s Angus Beef) 4 small Ontario shallots, diced. (half for mix and half for pan) 1 clove garlic minced or crushed big handful of breadcrumbs handful of fresh basil, chopped small few sprigs of fresh rosemary few sage leaves, chopped few fresh chives, chopped teaspoon of cinnamon 1 egg salt and pepperhandful of flour for dusting Combine all these ingredients in a big bowl, take all your rings off and mix it all together. Shape into little big balls, lol. I got 11 meatballs out of my mix, but if you are a bit of a weirdo about even numbers – especially dozens, you could totally squeeze out twelve. Roll your formed balls into some flour. Heat up some oil in a pan, toss in your remaining shallots and then your meatballs and cook over medium heat until all brown and delicious. For the Chard A big bunch of Rainbow Chard 2 cloves local garlic (minced) 4 Ontario shallots (diced) knob of butter tablespoon oil Wash and dry your chard, cut off the stems and dice them. Get your pan hot and coated with oil and butter, toss in the garlic and shallots. Cook off for a few minutes until garlic turns golden. Add the chopped stems of chard, cook for about 5 minutes and then add in the leaves and cook for a few minutes, just until wilted. Remove from heat and chard will finish cooking on own. Get a glass of red vino and Belissimo!  Read More

Strawberry Jam Session!

I grew up in London. To me, London does not feel too large or too small. It just feels like what I have always known, I guess it feels just the right size. Actually, I feel a bit privileged to be the owner of that feeling. You see, I have made many connections with other Londoners starting from a young age – through school life and then later on in life – through work. Unfortunately, sometimes living in London you may find yourself feeling unconnected. Perhaps this is because when it comes down to it, London is in fact quite a large city. When I meet people that have come from smaller towns and then have re-rooted themselves in London for a new start, it is common to hear a little frustration. I hear that the city is “too big” to make some of those real “small town” types of connections. It seems that people begin to miss that sense of community and unfortunately it sometimes gets even more lost as the city grows larger. That “small town feeling” is a hot commodity. For instance, as you drive North out Highway 4, you will witness large billboards and slogans that housing developments are using to entice people to live in certain areas – “Lucan, come get that small town feeling”. I am guessing that this is a clear indicator that we are all on some level missing that “small town” feeling if it is being preyed upon my thirsty marketers. I believe most of Londoners are especially unconnected with another part of our community that is sometimes taken for granted and sadly, even forgotten – the vast,fertile farmland that surrounds us as a city. That is one of the main reasons I choose to write this little blog – I want you all to know it and live it. No matter which direction you take out of London – North,South, East or West, you will be met by cow barns, fields of hay, various croplands, sweeping green pastures and really, really friendly people that are working hard on farms – big and small. So what has me nattering on about feelings and small towns you wonder? Well, last night I enjoyed the company of about 10 woman in a large country kitchen and I felt I was transported to that very “small town” sense of community. It was a get-together at Duenk Farms to harvest and preserve the bounty of the current crop – strawberries! We knew that we shared a common goal, that we all wanted to know how to preserve jam. Strangers I thought, with a common interest – jam making. Strangers I thought, until we all started talking and getting to know one another. You see, as the evening progressed we learned that we all knew someone from somewhere or perhaps had worked at the same place at sometime or another – we were connected. As I said, I grew up in London and it does not feel too big to me, it feels just right. That said, I feel that the past two years on this little local food adventure of mine has really connected me to new people. Funny as it turns out, they were people that were there all along in my life – they were even feeding me dinner at times and I just was not aware of it. This new feeling and these new people, I can only explain it as more enriching, more rewarding then anything before. I am a foodie for sure, so I will admit I am quite a bit more obsessed with food than most people, but you all should try this adventure, I promise you will like it! Start at the market, introduce yourself to a farmer and you will make one new friend and then another and another and your own “small town” adventure will have begun. Details about last night: Our canning expert was Joan Brady who runs “Smokey Hollow Farm Market” in Dashwood (near Grand Bend). Joan can be found selling strawberries, lettuce, raspberries, peas, onions, beans, frozen pork and much more out of the St. Mary”s Farmers Market on Saturdays. She also frequents the Grand Bend Market and the Exeter Farmers Market. Joan”s farm includes a small strawberry portion that next year will be officially Certified Organic. The berries that she brought to the jam night were the small, sweet variety. Delicious! Oh, and she even whipped us up some fresh strawberry juice on our arrival. Our host for the evening was Karen Eatwell and it all took place in her lovely farm kitchen at Duenk Farms. Karen even treated us all to a burger when we arrived that was directly farm to plate. Thanks Karen! Our berry was the Strawberry. For anyone that is interested, Karen may host more of these events in the future and I will be sure to let you know about them through the blog. The Duenk Farms has fresh eggs, chickens and all cuts of Angus Beef for sale anytime – just call to arrange an order: 519-232-4105 I will be posting about the Duenk Farm in detail at a later date, I just have to get my pictures in order!  Read More

Bock Bock Bock..Cluck! Duenk Farms Chicken Sale

photo: unicornretreat from morgeFile.com If you are like me, you cracked open your freezer when barbecue season opened up, you stuck your head in there and you took a good look around. Then, with great dismay you concluded it was getting far too empty, I mean, come on now, you should not be able to stick your head in there, it should be jam-packed full to the brim! Well, I have some very good news for you if you are a chicken fan – Duenk Farms in Denfield is having their twice annual chicken sale! Yippee! I don”t know if I could fit a whole chicken on my bbq at once, but I will give it a try! Just kidding, I am roasted chicken fan, it is one of the good things in life. Here is the deal for this sale,you can call Karen directly and arrange ahead of time to pick up a chicken or two or three! Duenk”s farms is a small chicken operation that raises chickens for eggs mostly. They have about 65 chickens that lay daily. I have also been told and will report with great glee (yes I am a bonafide food nerd) that they have fresh turkeys around Thanksgiving time! Count me in Karen! This deal gets even better,the Duenk Farm chicken is ecologically raised (meaning indoor outdoor pens) and they mix their own seed blend on site out of flax and some other grains so I am pretty sure that increases the omegas in it (but I am no expert!) and of course the processing is government inspected (in case you like to know such things). Farm Fresh Chicken Saturday, June 20th, 2009. Pick up between 10 am and 5 pm Whole chickens $3.oo/pound Phone Karen Eatwell: 519-232-4105 Karen Eatwell Duenk Farms 25425 New Ontario Rd Today Karen emailed me some more info on another event that is taking place this month at the farm. She is involved with putting on a Jam Session. No, no no peoples! You do not have to know how to play the guitar, its a STRAWBERRY JAM session. This mini course will teach you how to make the jam yourself with local berries and then can/jar it up for some serious jam enjoyment later on in the winter. This course is only $10 plus the cost of the berries (approx. $4). Just bring 4 1/2 pint jars and your smile – everything else is taken care of. Call her very soon – it happens on Wednesday, June 24th in the evening. See you at the sale! kelly  Read More