Recipes

• Multipurpose Winter Vegetable Soup Recipe
• Goat’s Pride Berry Cheese Cake
• Seared Bayne Sound Scallop and Spot Prawn Gazpacho heirloom tomatoes, Eleni olive oil
• Locojo Breakfast Muffins
• Hearty Hopcott Beef Stew
  

This page is under construction, please check back soon for more local, seasonal recipes. (July 17, 2008)

Multipurpose Winter Vegetable Soup Recipe
Jeff Van Geest, Aurora Bistro www.aurorabistro.ca

This recipe can be adopted to suit different winter vegetables, different styles and textures and.  For the sake of simplicity, I will use roasted and pureed squash soup recipe.  Making soup is not a science.  It is however a labour of love.  Start with an ingredient or two that you want to be the main ingredients.  Use fresh, quality ingredients every step of the way. Then decide if you want a broth, a puree, or a chowder style soup.  This recipe is for a puree, but I have notes below on how to adjust the recipe for a different style of soup.

Main Ingredient:
2 pounds peeled and rough chopped squash

Mirepoix:
1 small onion
1 large or 2 small carrots
2 ribs of celery
3 cloves of garlic

Fat:
1/2 cup olive oil

Spices:
1 cinnamon stick
3 sprigs of thyme
2 bay leaves

Acid:
1 cup of white wine

Liquid:
4 litres +/- chicken or vegetable stock

Herbs:
3 sprigs of thyme
2 bay leaves

Seasoning:
Sea Salt
Freshly Ground Black Pepper
salt and pepper
lemon juice, fresh squeezed

Method:
-place the main vegetable on a roasting pan with the mirepoix and spices, drizzle with olive oil and roast until tender and nicely caramelized
-place in a small stock pot
-add white wine, bring to a simmer
-add stock and herbs, bring to a simmer and simmer for about 30 minutes
-adjust seasoning with salt, pepper and lemon.
-puree in a blender until very smooth, pass through a fine strainer.
-adjust thickness if desired by adding hot stock, or by pouring soup back into a pot and simmering very low until it has reduced to a thicker consistency.

Notes:

Main Vegetable - use whatever is nice and fresh. anything from sunchokes, to squash to carrots,  to potatoes and cauliflower in the winter and peas, favas, tomatoes and corn in the summer.  Instead of roasting you can also sauté the ingredients to keep a lighter colour for soups made with lighter ingredients like cauliflower, celery root and corn

Mirepoix:  For white soups like cauliflower, don't use carrots in the mirepoix, sauté instead of roast to keep the soup white.  Use lighter flavoured fats for lighter soups and heavier flavoured fats like duck and pork fat for heartier soups.

Fat: Butter can be used instead of olive oil, or you could use bacon fat or duck fat

Spices: you can adopt the spices to change the style of soup i.e.: curry, 5 spice, mustard etc.

Liquid:  Vegetable and chicken stocks are the best for most soups, but if you want to branch out, try a hearty bean soup made with pork stock or a nice fish soup or chowder made with fish stock.  You mad need to add stock to thin out the soups consistency.  Cream can also be added at the end of cooking to add richness.  Coconut milk could be added for a curried soup.

Seasoning: This is pretty standard.  Just make sure to taste lots and add in small amounts until it tastes right.

Style:  You could add a secondary ingredient like pear to this recipe to add more depth of flavour.  You could also chop all of the vegetables nice and neat and even and do this as a broth soup, or sprinkle the roasting vegetables with flour to thicken the broth and make it a chowder.  You can also add garnishes to a puree soup such as wild rice, lentils, or duck comfit.

Goat’s Pride Berry Cheese Cake
www.goatspride.com

Crust
½ cup butter or margarine
1 Cup Flour
1 Cup Brown Sugar
1 1/4 Cups Oat Meal

Melt butter, add other ingredients, mix. Press into bottom of 9-10” paper-lined spring-form pan.

Berry sauce
2 cups         fresh berries
½ cup         Sugar
                  Combine in saucepan on medium heat. Stir until boiling and remove from heat.

Filling
500 ml         Goat’s Pride Ricotta
500 ml         Goat’s Pride Chevre (can use all ricotta if desired)
1 cup           Sugar
4 Tbsp         Flour
Blend in mixing bowl, add
5         Eggs, mix after each egg.
1.5 tsp         Vanilla
500 ml         Goat’s Pride Blueberry Yogurt.
         Mix. Pour about half over crust. Add berry sauce to the remaining mixture. Pour on top and swirl as desired.

Bake at 350°F for about 1 hour. Cool over night. Serve.
Note: can be frozen for longer storage.

Seared Bayne Sound Scallop and Spot Prawn
Gazpacho heirloom tomatoes, Eleni olive oil
www.crestaurant.com

 

For the garnish:
18         whole                           spot prawn tails
6         large                           bayne sound scallops
2         tbs                           eleni olive oil
                                    sea salt
For the gazpacho:
   2    large                          red peppers, seeds removed
   1/3         medium                English cucumber -- seeded and peeled  
   2      cloves                          garlic peeled, cut in half -- center removed
   3      cups                           fresh heirloom tomato puree
    ¾         cup                         cipollini onion -- diced
   1/3          cup                    eleni extra virgin olive oil
   1/3          cup                    red wine vinegar
   3/4           cup                    fresh bread
                                              salt and pepper to taste
   2         teaspoons                  Tabasco

For the Gazpacho:
The day before:
Roughly chop the peppers, cucumber, and onion.
Mix all the ingredients in a non reactive dish and leave in the fridge over night.
To make the soup:
Place all the ingredients in a food processor.
Puree until smooth.
Strain the soup, then let sit in the fridge, or on ice for 30 minutes.

For the garnish:
Spot prawn:
Bring a pot of water to a boil, add enough sea salt to make it taste like the ocean.
Add the spot prawn tails and remove from the heat.
Let the prawns sit for 30 seconds to 1 minute, depending on the size of the prawns, and remove just before they are completely cooked.
Cool over ice. Peel and reserve.

Scallops:
Season the scallops with salt, at least 10 minutes before cooking.
Over medium high heat, sear the scallops with the olive oil, cook to medium rare then remove from the heat.

Pour the chilled soup into very cold bowls, garnish with the seafood and serve.

Locojo Breakfast Muffins
www.100milediet.org

5 large potatoes, peeled and cut in half lengthwise (save the peel!)
1 large onion, chopped
2 tbsp butter
1½ cups firm cheese, grated
4 eggs, beaten|
2-3 tbsp herbs (basil, oregano, etc.)
Optional ingredients: Bacon, Apple, etc.
These are a great local alternative to muffins, scones, bagels, granola bars, etc.
Boil potatoes until not quite soft throughout. Cool, then grate into a large bowl. Cut up peel and add to bowl. In a fry pan, sauté onions in butter until soft and add to bowl along with cheese, eggs and herbs. In a large bowl, stir together cheese, eggs, herbs. Spoon into a buttered muffin tin, pack down lightly with a spoon and bake at 350 F for 30 minutes or until golden brown on top. Makes 8 - 12 buns. Serve with apple sauce, gravy, or as a side dish.

Options: You can add cooked bacon, crushed up – or fresh cut up apple. This is an easy recipe to experiment with. Add a sharp cheese and some dill to one of the “cups” – add shredded carrots. Experiment and have fun.

Hearty Hopcott Beef Stew
www.hopcottmeats.ca

1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1 tsp. garlic salt
1 tsp. onion salt
1 tsp. seasoned salt
1/2 tsp. black pepper
2 Lbs. beef chuck - cubed
4 Tbls. vegetable oil
4 lrg. onions - minced
2 stalks celery - sliced
6 lrg. potatoes - peeled, diced
6 carrots - sliced
1 Tbls. dried parsley
1/2 tsp. dried thyme
1/2 tsp. dried basil
4 cups beef broth
1 Tbls. Worcestershire sauce
1 Tbls. cornstarch mixed with 1 Tbls. cold water
2 cups frozen OR fresh peas
-In a plastic zipper bag, shake together flour, garlic salt, onion salt, seasoned salt, and black pepper.
-Shake meat cubes in mixture, a handful at a time, until well coated.
-In a large pot, heat half the oil over medium-high heat.
-Brown half the coated meat in hot oil, about 1 minute per side.
-Remove the browned meat from the pan and repeat with remaining oil and meat; remove all meat from pot and set aside.
-Saute onions and celery in pot until soft, then remove from pot and set aside.
-Drain excess oil/fat from pot.
-Add potatoes, carrots, parsley, thyme, basil, beef broth, and Worcestershire sauce to pot and bring to a boil.
-Add browned meat, onions, and celery to pot, reduce heat to low, and simmer, covered, for 1 1/2 hours, stirring occasionally.
-Slowly stir peas and cornstarch/flour mixture into stew and simmer until thickened and peas are cooked.
Serves 12