Goats

For some time I have had the somewhat odd dream of wanting to be a goat farmer. I would have an old house in the countryside (this you have probably heard me talk about already) and a whole bunch of really funny goats with lots of character. Early each morning I would wander over to the goats, bleary eyed and tired, and then the goats would do such funny things that I would perk up and have a great day milking them and making fresh cheeses covered with home grown herbs, vegetable ash and sea salt. I do realize that this is my dream sequence and probably not at all the life of a real goat farmer, but a girl's gotta dream!

Last week, in the Okanagan with L, we went to a goat cheese farm and the goats were just as I imagined. Full of character, each one doing a funnier thing than the next. They just seem like such funny animals to be around every day. And the cheese, well, it was incredible. Full of that earthy, barnyard flavour that is so characteristic of goat's cheeses. They also had homemade gelato that was so creamy and rich, but light at the same time. I was in heaven!

Here is a quirky photo of those goats to replace a recipe, which I don't have time for today. If you look at what the goats are doing it is such a funny scene. The one standing on the box just stood like that the whole time, there is a goat in the middle who was scratching her back with her horns, and the one sleeping in the food trough made me laugh. If these goats don't brighten your day, nothing will.

Pizza Dough!

I don't have too much time, but I know if I don't do this now I won't find the time till next weekend. So I will hastily give you my recipe for my much tested pizza dough. I have had 2 requests in the past week for this (thanks for making me feel like a real chef by asking me for recipes B and L!) This recipe is really not a recipe at all, and it has evolved over time to include a bit of whole wheat flour. Now before you try to tell me how un-Italian that is, and how true pizza dough is made with Italian "00" flour, the suggestion to include a small amount of whole wheat flour came to me from a true Italian Mamma. So there. Try it, it's really good!

My Pizza Dough

4-5 cups of white flour as needed

1 cup whole wheat flour

1 tsp salt

1 packet traditional yeast or a big chunk of fresh yeast (please don't use quick rise!!)

1-2 cups warm water, as needed

Dilute yeast in about 1/4 cup of warm (not hot) water in a small glass bowl. Set aside for about 10 minutes while you get on with the flour. 

Stir 4 cups of the white flour and the whole wheat flour with the salt together in a bowl. When the yeast is diluted, pour over the flour, then add the water a little bit at a time until you have a "shaggy mess" as Nigella would say. 

Then turn the dough out onto the counter and start kneading. As you go you will feel that the dough is either too wet and sticky or too dry and floury, just add more flour or water as needed as you knead. After about 5 or 10 minutes you should have a beautiful, elastic ball of dough. When you do, clean your bowl in hot water, give it a slick of oil and turn your dough around in the oil. Cover the bowl with a damp, warm, clean dish towel and put it aside in a warm and non-drafty spot in the kitchen.

After an hour it should be well risen. If you want to use it right away, go for it. If not, give it a punch and a couple of kneads and put it back in the bowl. If you want to make it a day ahead, cover it in plastic wrap and put it in the fridge. The next day leave it out for about 4 hours or until it comes to room temperature.

To use it, stretch it onto a cookie sheet that you have sprinkled with fine cornmeal, top with whatever you like and bake it for about 20 minutes at 400. These are guidelines only, you really need to know your oven to get the timing right, and it also depends how thick or thin you make your crust. Sometimes this amount gives me 2 cookie sheet sized pizzas and sometimes I just get one. Depends on my mood.

Buon Appetito!

Slow Food Manitoba

My life has gone from rather uneventful to a gong show in a matter of a month! It all started on a particularly quiet day. I had a break in the afternoon and was looking at a website that I had bookmarked, www.slowfood.com. I decided to contact Slow Food to see if we had a convivium in Manitoba, which we didn't. Then, a few emails were shot around and before I knew it I was co-founding a Slow Food Convivium here. Our first meeting was a huge success, over 35 people showed up to something we were planning to have in my living room. Luckily we had about 20 that rsvp'd and I decided at that point to move to a larger location. This city is really like a huge small town, word travels fast, and before we knew it my co-founder, N, and I were attending meetings for other food-related organizations, planning events for this summer and running a community garden that required a lot of weeding this past long weekend. I think I am more tired coming out of the long weekend than I was going in.

On top of all that I am still taking my writing course (which I am somewhat neglecting), trying to juggle two gardens in need of lots of love, reading a wonderful book that I must finish before book club (which I am hosting with a friend), and starting a new job on Thursday! Phew. Needless to say I have been completely neglecting this blog, which I promised myself I would keep updating. 

This weekend I will try to get a recipe up and take some photos. I promise!

Slowing Down

Sometimes it is important to slow down and take your time. Lately that is what I have been doing. I can't say I feel like I am getting much accomplished, but that will come with time I suppose. I have started a writing course, which I am very excited about. Also on my list of new things to do I am going to be starting up a Slow Food Convivium. Slow Food is an organization which promotes sustainable agriculture, fair pay for food growers and producers, culinary traditions around the world and much more related to good, clean and fair food. Slow Food was created to counteract the fast food phenomenon. 

I am hoping to organize outings to different local food producers to see where our food is coming from and to try change peoples habits when purchasing food. I also want to promote gardening and think it would be great to hold some gardening information sessions to learn about growing vegetables, composting, etc. Maybe we can even start up a community garden project!

I have a few people interested and I'm hoping more people will show some interest. If you are in my area and are interested, please send me an email or check out www.slowfood.com for more info.

Happy Easter weekend! Hope you have time to slow down and enjoy the sunshine!

Dreaming....

Tuesday, March 10th. 12:24 p.m. Current temperature -23C. Seriously. 

These are the kind of days that I retreat into my dream world.

The latest dream: finding a wonderful old mas in the south of France with an old olive grove and oil mill. Learning the art of making olive oil. Selling my award winning olive oil to the best restaurants across the world and delivering it to them personally.  Having a huge vegetable garden with fresh produce all year long. Keeping laying hens and a few goats for milk, a pig named Petunia and 2 or 3 horses, not to mention a whole pack of dogs. 

Okay, I'm awake, and I'm aware that this dream is a pretty specific one. Having said that I will continue to dream about it.

Today I have no recipe for you. Just a picture of France to help you go into a momentary dream world.

Chai

I have loved chai lattes ever since the mega coffee chains that you see on every street corner made them mainstream. Having said that, the syrupy sweet, not too spicy lukewarm chai lattes that you find in those types of shops could use some improvement.

My version may not be authentic, I have not consulted an Indian cook or even a cookbook. I just played around with spices, toasting them gently and then infusing them in roiboos tea and sweet milk. I have really made this to suit my taste, so feel free to adjust the spices as you like. JS finds my version a little heavy on the spice (just the way I like it!).

Please don't be intimidated by the list of ingredients, they are all easily accessible and you can omit the ones you don't have or don't like. I find that all these spices are used very frequently in my house.

This spicy, creamy and not too sweet chai has now got me thinking about incorporating these tastes into an ice cream or gelato since I now have an ice cream maker!! Imagine the spiciness in a cold ice cream with just a hint of sweetness....I'll work on that this summer!

My Un-Authentic Roiboos Chai

6 cups water

3-4 cinnamon sticks

5 cloves

8 cardamom pods

1 bay leaf

1 tsp coriander seeds

1/2-1 tsp black peppercorns

1 big piece of fresh ginger, peeled and sliced into large chunks

1 star anise or 1 tsp anise

3 tbsp sugar

2 tbsp loose vanilla roiboos (or plain roiboos, or if you insist, plain black tea)

1 cup whole milk

Toast all the spices except the ginger and the bay leaf over medium heat in a dry frying pan. When they become fragrant, after about 4 or 5 minutes, remove from heat and transfer them to a mortar and pestle. Gently crush them with the pestle until they are broken up, you don't have to grind them to a powder.

Put all the spices, including the ginger and bay leaf, into a pot with the water and the sugar. Bring to the boil, then turn the heat down to medium, cover the pot and simmer for about 30 minutes. Turn the heat off, then add the tea and cover to infuse for about 5 minutes.

Strain the liquid through a mesh strainer into another pot* then add the milk, add more or less to your taste. Put the chai back over medium heat for about 5 minutes to warm the milk.

Pour into mugs and enjoy!

*at this point, if you are not going to use all the chai, pour some of it into a pitcher, allow to cool then keep in the fridge for a few days. When you want a cup, just add some milk and heat it on the stove until warm.

My Birthday and a bowl of happiness!

This morning, after opening presents in bed, lovely dresses and a top and a jacket from my French family, I turned on the radio. The CBC morning show host was interviewing a guy from Gimli who has extended his carrot harvest into the long, cold Manitoba winter! All he does is cover his carrots with thick foam before the ground freezes and it actually insulates them enough that they don't freeze! He can only harvest about 2 or 3 times in the winter because every time he opens the sealed up foam the ground gets a little colder until eventually it does freeze. This story is so unbelievable to Manitobans, who woke up to -31 (not including the wind chill!) this morning. This kind of out of the box thinking could actually be used farther north where the produce is prohibitively expensive due to shipping costs and the growing season is extremely short.

Coincidentally, I decided yesterday to make a Carrot Orange and Ginger soup. It was delicious and looks so happy and full of vitamins in this very long and very cold winter! I needed a pick me up, and this soup fit the bill perfectly. 

Tomorrow the high is -8, so we are getting a bit of relief from the cold spell. Spring is around the corner and I know I'm not the only one with spring fever at this time of year. Just the thought of fresh asparagus and tiny carrots pulled from the earth are enough to make me swoon. But for now, I am just going to content myself with a brightly coloured bowl of vitamins!

Carrot Orange Ginger Soup or Happiness in a Bowl

2 pounds or just under 1 kg of Organic Carrots

1 small to medium sized onion, or half a large one, roughly diced

1 piece of fresh ginger about the size of a big fat thumb, peeled and grated

1 orange, zested and juiced

salt and pepper

a bit of olive oil

Peel your carrots if they are old and need it, if they are fresh just give them a scrub. Cut the ends off and chop them into large chunks. Don't worry about what they look like, they are going to get pureed in the end.

Saute the onions over medium heat in enough olive oil to coat your soup pot. When the onions are softened, add the carrots, grated ginger and orange zest and juice. Pour in enough water to just cover the carrots. Add a good pinch of salt and some freshly grated pepper. Bring the soup to the boil, then lower heat slightly but continue a very slow boil for about 30 minutes or until you can easily pierce a carrot with a fork. They should be very soft.

Have a large bowl and a ladle ready, then transfer the soup into the blender in batches and puree until smooth. Put the soup back in the pot and taste. If the soup is to thick, add a bit of water. Adjust salt and pepper. Serve with a sprig of parsley and a drizzle of good olive oil and some crusty toasted bread rubbed with garlic and olive oil and sprinkled with coarse sea salt. Eat and be happy!