sadistick

Diva - Thanks! Not a restaurant owner, just a family who loves to cook good food. The Farm as we have dubbed it, is owned by my family, and has been for the past 30, about 15 acres with 2 ponds, a 100+ year old log farm house, and a guest house with forest and 2 dogs and 2 horses. We actually are thinking of starting to sell some of the heirloom tomatoes to local markets, as we went a bit crazy this year and planted...oh...about 120 plants I agree that the title was probably the wrong one to chose, and hastily done. Urg...too bad you cant edit those! Maybe some nice admin could change it for me...oh well, I just thought I would try to contribute something to the board...c'est la vie.

Over 60 views and no replies? Sheesh!! Maybe I put this in the wrong forum? Maybe the general food topics forum? If so, mods, please re-locate as you see fit.

Talk to any chef and they will almost always tell you that it's all about the quality of ingredients. Being that it is summer, I felt it might be an appropriate time to start a thread dedicated to raw ingredients we get from our local markets, or from lovingly tended gardens. This thread is meant as a precursor to the 'Dinner!' thread, to show what we will be cooking with, and even where we got it from. Then later on, feel free to link either back, or to a post (if you desire) in the dinner thread...thought it may be fun, I'll start off... Pictured is a part of our garden up at "The Farm" - a cottage of sorts 45 minutes outside of Toronto. The majority of our produce is grown from here, along with our smaller garden at home. Love using these baby spanish onions in salads and when roasting veggies - They are so sweet, and have almost no trace of that harsh 'oniony' flavour. Found this new variety of basil (new to me that is) earlier this year, its called "Greek Basil" and has almost the same flavour as its Italian cousin, and as you can see, yields a heck of a lot more per plant! Will be making some Greek Pesto soon, this is also great in summer salads, and pastas. My favourite heirloom tomatoes are almost ready...these wild shaped pink ones are full of flavour, very sweet, eaten with just some fleur de sel and a bit of pepper and evoo. Lastly - What I will be using for dinner in the next few days. Will be making some salsa with the purple tomatillos and the spring onions, and a pasta with the tomatoes and garlic tops. Thats it for now - Will report back as the summer goes along - Lets see what you all have found at your local markets, or in your garden! Cheers, -Justin

Oh Lucy...how envious I am! I still remember being introduced to great french cheese at age 15 when my uncle brought back some from his trip to France. I then recall vividly at age 16 going to my first cheese shop in Paris, and loading up this huge Tupperwear container with soft unpasturized cheeses stuffing it in the suitecase and hoping it made its way back with us through customs to Canada! This thread is amazing, I will have to take some pictures the next time I am at the local cheese shop down in Kensington Market (Global cheese)...They do have a great selection, but not comparable to that of the stores in Paris. Also may be interesting to note what wine (or other drink) you had with the cheese(s).

After exposure to real heirloom tomatoes, one should be able to tell a genuine from a fake, simply by looks, and definetly by taste. If I ordered something with heirloom tomatoes at a restaurant, and it was clearly not, I would send it back without hesitation (not sure why people dont do this) Lets not forget, lots of greenhouses grow heirloom tomatoes year round, so supply is available. I suggest to all of you to GROW your own heirloom tomatoes (seeds are VERY cheap!) this year I have 18 plants, all various types, some new, some old favourites. This year I have these gorgeous pink ones with the oddest shape, some orange/green ones that entrance you with spiraling colours. I will try to remember to take some shots once this 45 degree heat wave passes by.

Beau, dock...both those drinks sound really good, I'll have you try them out one of these weekends. I agree, this stuff goes down reeeeeaaally easy, it could do some serious damage I bet.

My aunt is going through a very tough bout (second time around) with Leukemia. My uncle, who is one of the most amazing and insparational people I know, cooks EVERY meal for her, and such, has to bring it PIPING hot to the hospital. She always has different cravings, be it risotto, pasta, or blue popsicles (current fix) One of the most important things is to keep everything EXTREMELY sanitary. That means - No berries, no lettuce - everything washed extremely well before cooking. Food must be HOT when served, cannot be allowed to cool off. Other than that, its all about personal preference. I wish EVERYONE who is battleing with this terrible disease, or knows someone who is, the very best. Be strong, and remember, a good chunk of the battle is MENTAL. All the best.

I only wish the LCBO carried more upper tier Oregon Pinot's...*grumble*...damn monopolies.

Made some Cherry vodka sours, as I have dubbed them last night. Cherry Vodka - Ice - Good shot of lemon juice...mmm good, I could drink a lot of these!

I do not plan on using that much vodka, just for a hint of cherry flavour and some nice colour.

I was also thinking about making a sorbet as a palate cleanser for a special dinner im cooking up for the GF with Lemon juice and cherry vodka...I think I am on to something!

I like the idea of sangria... I would suggest a drink with Campari. A summer drink, easy to make ahead of time, and serve them from pitcher's. I dont know exact measurements, so its to taste really. Very easy to make, just freshly squeezed OJ - Ice - Campari - and if you want, some soda water. Looks nice, tastes great.

Because of the sugar I added to the cherries to mascerate them, I dont think I will need any simple syrup at all, its sweet, and smooth! I will have to try some with some ice and lime juice though, that sounds tastey! Matt, I'm with you, I hesitate to try one of those cherries, one of my big pet peeves is overly mushy texture, and I think I would run head on in to that if I put one of these cherries in my mouth. Katie - How do you think the cherry vodka would go with rum?

Oooh that sounds good - gives me an idea of maybe doing a margarita with the cherry vodka instead of tequila, or maybe in addition to!

If I ever stuff zuc flowers, which I seldom do, I will almost always stuff with a fava bean paste (fava beans, roasted garlic, sauteed onions deglazed with white wine, evoo, and lil bit of lemon juice) sometimes adding some cheese. Typically we fry some baby shallots and spring garlic in evoo then add herb butter and flowers - deglaze with white wine and fry on high till golden. Eat as is or puree in to a paste and have on good bread.

Hey Folks, Katie - What else goes in to a Gimlet? Do tell...sounds interesting! I wanted to do a bit of experimenting, this being my first time making cherry vodka and all, so I decided to cut 90% of the cherries in half (more surface area exposed = more flavour). I wanted to see how they held up in the alchohol texture wise, to see if they would be usable as garnishes later on. This undertaking was before I made the cherry preserves, so at this point I did not have a pitter. I cut 90% of the cherries in half...(by hand! ) and placed in a large pickle jar. The rest of the whole cherries I just poked holes in them. Oh, and yes Katie, pits and fruit all went in. I read somewhere that the pits hold a lot of flavour as well! Added about 1/2 cup sugar and a few squeezes of lemon juice to the cherries to try to let the sugar and lemon extract the natural cherry goodness. Let that stand about 30 mins while half way through mashing it around a bit. I then added about 3/4 of a bottle of Smirnoff vodka to the pickle jar, shaked it around a bit, and its been sitting in a dark semi cool closet in the basement for 3.5 weeks now. Had to try some, so saturday night we had a little taste test, and boy was it good! Lastly, I have read that you need to let it stand 3 months...and I am not sure I necessarily agree with this, for one, the halved cherries are now almost the texture of baby food, and the whole ones are rapidly approaching the same state. The flavour is unbelievable. As well, I am not too sure how much more flavour can be emparted to the vodka...who knows!

I made a batch of some with some nice cherries from my neighbour's tree. It came out really well, amazing cherry flavour and quite smooth. Question is, besides drinking it on the rocks, what drink(s) would you make with it? I was thinking it might pair up well with some rum in a mixed drink...

I used to buy my wine glasses from Royal Selangor in Bayview Village - They had Spigelau (SP?) glasses for about $10 a pop...which worked quite well for me...(I dont need to spend $80/glass for thin crystal that breaks when you dry it) Unfortunetly, they closed down recently, and their only other location is all the way DT. I was wondering if any of you know of any places (preferably mid town) that sell good quality Bordeaux glasses which are reasonably priced. Cheers.

What do you guys think about the Pinot's that are in the next release? Any worth while?

Oh Pickles...How I love thee! There are 2 ways which I love to prepare 'fresh' pickles (ie just pcked from the garden) 1, Wash, and slice thinly on a mandolin - toss with some sea salt and let the salt extract some of the water. Add your vinegar of choice - I prefer a good quality white wine vinegar, a little sugar, and pepper, and you are set!!! 2, To attain a good pickle in a shorter amount of time, quarter them lengthwise. Coat with salt and a little sugar to extract water. Then take some preferred seasonings - I like dill and chili, but since you do not, why not some coriander seeds, black pepper corns crushed, a bay leaf, and submerge all in vinegar of choice.

Cant say I have ever had Old Dutch... I must inform you all of a relatively new find. Picked up some presidents choice kettle style chips...chili and lime flavour, and one other flavour which escapes me at the moment...YUM! On par with my current fav of Miss Vickies Jalapeno

Interesting, as this is close in age to the '82 Lynch Bages I will have for an upcoming dinner celebration. Daniel, would you be so kind as to give me any information on this wine, and possible food pairings not mentioned above? Cheers.

Dolphin, Sounds like a great idea, it sounds as if I would really like this friend of yours Give me a shout and we can arrange an order for you. Cheers, -Justin

I agree with most of this list...however, I would modify: Il Mulino up a point. Bistro Thuet and Lee down 2. Never even heard of Oro or Celestine, anyone??? Other than that it looks pretty good!

Yah, Its a pretty big kitchen with a large island facing inwards, so she gets to watch me cook, and she loves that. I wonder how Morels and Fava beans would go together, could be really nice actually! So the menu looks like this atm: 1, Peaches and Cream corn bisque with seranno ham 2, Sauteed Morels w/ fava beans 3, Duck breast with peaches and aged balsamico 4, NY Strip sliced with sea salt 5, Lamb seared and roasted coated in herbs n mustard with celeriac puree and roasted beets and yams 6, grapefruit and vodka granita 7, cheese course 8, Lindt chocolate soufles sounds good so far...