Shrimp and Scallop au gratin

While visiting my Aunt in Northern Ontario in 2008, she had made Shrimp au gratin using a recipe that had been given to her by a chef in the area.

Shrimp au Gratin made by my aunt

She used escargot dishes and boxed shrimp ring for this appetizer.   The appetizer is very easy to make and very impressive when served with fresh French Bread, not to mention delicious.

Northern Ontario

 Method

Her recipe suggests to cut up the shrimp into small pieces, but I like the looks of the whole piece of shrimp and she did to.

The escargot dishes were filled with pieces of shrimp

Put tiny pieces of garlic in the each hole
Sprinkle with parsley, dried or fresh chopped parsley.
Pour melted butter on top.  I used a mixture of Olive Oil and melted butter.
Cover with grated Mozzarella cheese.
Bake for 15 minutes at 400

Aunt Florence enjoying the shrimp with dark rye bread

I decided to do this recipe for my husband's birthday.  I added a fresh scallop to the middle of the dish and baked it at a lower temperature as had other dishes in the oven.   

My table had been set but my grandchild thought it needed candles and that the wine glasses were perfect holders for the candles, all which were color coordinated, the blue in one glass, the white in another!

The littlest one at 7 months, just thought her blue plastic spoon was great!

Crusty Zucchini Rice Pie, a vintage recipe

One of my favourite past times is going through old newspaper clippings of recipes.  I think this must be an inherited trait as I have a an old Science scribbler that my Mom used to save clipped recipes from the newspaper.  

My cousin who is a food blogger, also features recipes in her blog that she has saved over the years. 

In organizing the most recent recipes, I did find a handwritten, well more like hen scratching as you certainly could not look up the recipe if you didn't copy it down correctly, so you had to be quick in writing the recipe.  I did try to find this recipe on line and was not successful!  The picture I posted on Gastropost, which is part of Canadian newspapers featuring photos from Instagram based on mission weekly challenges, remarked on the name. 

Having about a 1/4 of the giant zucchini left from my brother organic farm, I decided to make this as an appetizers for my son's birthday! 



Crusty Zucchini Pie


2 1/2c cooked rice
4 small zucchini 
4 eggs, lightly beaten
1 tsp curry powder
1 tsp dill
Zest 1/2 lemon
fresh grated pepper
1/2 c grated parmesan cheese or Romana cheese
I added 1 tsp fresh grated ginger
and also grated carrots, garlic and onion

Method:
Mix everything together
Heat a skillet, add 2 T oil
Add mixture to pan, pat down, flip over, after 15 mintues, place under Broiler

I decided that I would do these as an appetizer and not bake in a pie plate.  The only problem I did have was that they did stick to the gratin dish which had been sprayed.

Now maybe if I had read the above method, I would not have had the mixture stick to the gratin dish when I baked it.

However, they are lovely as appetizers and I would still bake them but on parchment.

These tester were delicious and I looked forward to making then for my son's birthday.
I should have baked them before taking them with me as the container did drop and the liquid ran out. They were still good but not as good as they had been the night before.  The flavor of these babies was well received by the guests!


Here is my recipe that I would have copied in the eighties based on the paper used. 

Yes, the Zucchini Rice Pie would be crispy if it was cooked in a hot skillet! Much like the traditional Swiss Potato Dish called Rosti.  

Coconut Chicken Squash Thai Soup

Using one of the Organic Green Squash from my brother's farm, I decided to make a squash soup.

The squash was baked at 350 for about 40 to 60 minutes. Using a fork, I had pricked the skin to allow steam to escape while baking, added a drizzle of olive oil and wrapped it in tinfoil

Scoop out the pulp from the squash when cooked.  Like my Mom always started her soups, saute onions until soft. Into a large pot, add the squash, grated fresh ginger, chopped hot pepper or dried red pepper flakes, lime leave, clove of garlic and the soften onions. 

A homemade chicken broth was added to the soup pot.   I tend to never use store bought stock as I like to see what's in it and control the amount of salt added to the stock

.  

The coconut milk I like to use is creamy and thick with little or no liquid. 

Using a hand blender, the whole mixture is blended.  I like to chop up some of the squash to add to the soup, as I like to see what I'm eating.  The chunks of chicken were added to soup. 

I garnished the soup with sautéed Shrimp and fresh basil which is optional!

Fritters, Pancakes, patties

I

Vegetable fritters

In reading the cookbook on the complete book of Ukrainian Cuisine and how Bohdan Zahny labels vegetable mixture fried as pancakes, patties, babka or dumplings if boiling made me wondered what exactly they were and the naming of them.

Serous Eats does a wonderful article of pancakes around the world, pfannkuchen okonomiyaki, dosa, crepes.

My mom used to make crepes which where known to me as Malysniki or Ukrainian crepes

A version of crepes I have made is Spinach Crepes which adds spinach to the crepe mixture, much like spinach in Tortilla.  The color is fabulous, but as in the purchased Spinach Tortilla one really can't taste the spinach! 

Having a very picky grandchild who always tells before any meal, "I don't eat vegetable!" and picks out any vegetables that may be on her dish, has had me making recipe with "hidden vegetable, something I didn't have to do with my own kids! 

It has been a challenge for me as my children generally ate all the vegetables and did not negotiate as to what they ate or did not eat! 

A recipe that I have modified and roughly followed is my Mom's Potato pancakes that she served with sour cream and apple sauce.  Raw potatoes and white onions were grated and mixed with a bit of flour and couple of eggs to form a mixture that was then fried as a pancake in a bit of oil. 

My recipe is  about 2 -3 cups of grated Zucchini and about half an onion.

I like the taste of Cabbage so I also add this to the mixture along with one grated carrots.

2 - 3 eggs along with about 1/3 cup flour. I also added grated ginger and 1 garlic clove. 

Mix, shaped into patties, balls and fry in a medium hot pan. 

This mixture can also be made larger and different toppings can be added to this, this Japanese street food is called Okonmiyaki 

Perfect for breakfast 

Harvest Pizza,

Pizza ready for the BBQ

Having fresh dough in the refrigerator, comes in very handy.    For an appetizer at my son's place, I made a pizza using Bartlett pears , Gorgonzola cheese and Prosciutto Parma.

Slice one onion thinly and sauté in 1-2 T of Olive oil until soft.  Add a bit of water to steam the onion.   Be patience in this steps, as the long you take to caramelized the onions, the happier you'll be.  

Using a seasoned cast iron pan, add a thin layer of dough.
Spread out the caramelized onions
Add slices of Pears in a decorative fashion.
Using kitchen scissors, cut strips of prosciutto and place between pear slices.  You can crumble cooked bacon in place of prosciutto.  
Crumble a little bit of Gorgonzola and mozzarella on the pizza
Crushed walnuts go well with  the cheese and the pears 
The layering can start with the cheese and end with Caramelized onions, but I like adding the onions first.

Bake in a hot oven until golden and the cheese melted.. 400 to 415 degrees for around 15 minutes or on your BBQ. 

For some sweetness, I drizzle some Pomegranate Molasses on the top

One of the comments as the guests dug in was that it was "almost restaurant quality."  Hmmm!

For my Granddaughter, a mummified hotdog! 

I think I need some work on this mummifying stuff!

Just delicious wrapped in dough!

Just for you Aline!

My son had slow roasted a pork roast which was delicious with the pizza.  

Increase of Organic farming in Canada

Fifty years ago, farming was very different.  Mixed faming, along with purebred Heifer cattle maintained a good standard of living for a family of six.  A large garden, the pride of my Mom’s kept us going through the summer and winter and also shared with others if their gardens did poorly.  

After my Dad’s death, the farm equipment and cattle were sold.  My brother has gradually developed the farm again and proudly as a certified organic farm.   

This  picture is taken 50 years later in the same field that I took a picture of my Dad and that year’s harvest.

Last weekend driving through the Okanagan and spending some time in the Penticton Farmer’s market to see an abundance of local products and vendors.  10 years ago had this same market had few vendors.  This explosion of organic farmers and selling products directly to costumers has done away with the middle man and the prices were on par with the supermarkets.  I walked away with 10 pounds of organic apples, two different varieties and pears all for 10 dollars! Slices of apples and pears were sliced with a paring knife for tasting; fingers were weathered and stained with black soil! Yes, this was a farmer selling me his products!

This trend in organic farming is also shown by Agriculture Canada, while the total number of farms in Canada decreased by 17% between 2001 and 2011, the national number of organic farms increased by 66%.
 

Dangers of Farming

50 years ago this fall, I took some pictures of my Dad’s harvest.  I was home for  the Thanksgiving weekend and took a few pictures of the farm.  I was living in a nursing residence in Winnipeg, and I was lonely for my family and the farm.

Little did I know this would be my Dad’s last harvest.  My Dad died the following May resulting from a farming accident; catching his fingers in the Auger Hopper and only treated with antibiotics by the local doctor.  My father as many at that time were not vaccinated for tetanus.  Yes, every time, I hear the arguments for not vaccinating children, I shutter to think of the preventable violent death my Dad experienced because of not being vaccinated.  Of note, when attending a lecture by an intern at the General Hospital in 1992,  a staggering number of middle-age farmers at that time had not been vaccinated.  A suggestion had been made that all patients should be asked on admission if they had been vaccinated. 

Looking at the picture taken 50th years ago, many wonderful memories of farm life come to mind.  

However, after the shocking accident in Alberta when three girls playing on a loaded truck of Canola, became buried and smothered by the seed in the truck, brings to mind the dangers of farming.  From 1990 to 2008, in Canada, there has been close to two thousand deaths, with 248 being children. 

For all the changes that have happened in the last 50 years in farming, farmers are still putting in very long hours, working from dawn to dusk, putting self into risk, yet accepting the risks as part of farming!

The question to be ask is what is being done to address the dangers in Farming.