Fresh Favas

Simple recipes using good fresh, local and seasonal ingredients make the best meals! This Canada Day I spent the afternoon in my backyard under the cloudy skies shelling and peeling fresh fava beans!

Back inside I had a pot of water boiling away where I briefly cooked up these peeled fava beans and then with beans and fresh baugette in hand I headed back out where it all came together in the mortar and pestle ...  a clove of garlic, a squeeze of lemon juice, a drizzle of that yummy fresh olive oil (From Olive That!) and finally those warm vibrant green fava beans.  Don't forget that final sprinkling of sea salt and that's it!

As I enjoyed these fresh buttery favas spread on pieces of bread I was thinking to myself how this is one of the best things I've ever eaten!

Canada Day 2013

Drinks - Lemon Strawberry sodas (recipe below) 

Salad - Variety of heirloom tomatoes sliced, seasoned with sea salt and drizzled with sweet 18 year old balsamic vinegar and fragrant Organic Olive oil from Olive That! in Whitby, Ontario

Pasta - Genovese Style Pasta. Recipe from Jamie Oliver Site.  We used a different variety of pasta and omitted the pine nuts (due to my sister's allergy)
Thanks to Country Cheese Shop in Ajax for the delicious cheese used in the pasta dish

Beef Tenderloin medallions, seasoned with sea salt and grilled.

Dessert - Luscious Orange Creme Brulee with coffee ice cream, berries and fruit!
We used Alton Brown's creme brulee recipe and infused the cream with zest of one orange while heating it then removed the zest and continued with the recipe as usual.


Lemon Strawberry Soda Stream drink:

Add equal parts water and sugar, about 3/4 cup each in a saucepan, throw in one big piece of lemon zest (use special zester tool or vegetable peeler to peel outter zest layer and throw into the sugar)  Bring to a boil and make sure all the sugar dissolves.  Remove from heat.

Squeeze juice of  3 lemons and add to syrup.  Allow to cool then remove zest pieces and set the mixture into the fridge.

When it's time to prepare the drinks pour some syrup into a glass, top with homemade carbonated filtered water (using SodaStream) and add desired garnishes:

- Lemon slices

- Slices of strawberry 

- Mint or basil leaves

I carbonated 4 bottles of filtered water to take along on the picnic, keeping them nice and cool.  Alternately use regular club soda or favourite brand of carbonated water!

Bouquet: 

Next time instead of a flower bouquet try an herb bouquet, here I used fresh sage, mint and purple basil (or thai basil) 
Throw in a few pops of colour like the pink roses and it's an easy last minute (and edible!) arrangement! 

Keep things eclectic and fun with many different colours of plates!

Here I'm using glass straws by GlassDharma perfectly washable, reusable and environmentally friendly!
I'm not a big straw user but got these around the holidays and excited to be trying them out!

Fabulous selection of fruits and vegetables from Highland farms  and Loblaws 

Biosnackysprouts Day 8: Lentil Sprouts

Lentil sprouts are some of my favourite, I love these little starchy crunchy sandwich stuffers! 

For day 8 of the biosnackysprouts challenge I'm cooking these little guys up with some eggplant! 

Lentils are super easy to sprout, just wash and soak overnight in a shallow plate of water, they should be half in the water and half exposed (like on a shallow beach!) OR throw them in your A.Vogel biosnacky original sprouter tray and water twice a day along with the other sprouts!

They sprout very quickly, in about 3 days!

- Lentil sprouts (2 tbsp black lentils sprouted in the biosnacky sprouter, takes about 3-4 days) 

- 1/4 red onion, finely minced

- 1 clove garlic, minced

- Olive oil

-Dash of turmeric

-Curry powder (optional!) 

-Salt & black pepper (to taste) 

Fresh mint

-  1 dollop Yogurt

- Sprig of Cilantro 

-1 medium eggplant cut into small cubes

- More olive oil for roasting

- Salt for seasoning eggplant

- Wedge of lemon for squeezing

Salt the eggplant and allow it to release it's water in a strainer (the sink is an ideal place) 

Once most of the water is released simply rinse all the salt off with running water (tasting it is ok to check for excess salt) and using your hands squeeze all the water out. 

Lay on a flat piece of parchment lining a tray and drizzle with olive oil. 

Bake in a preheated oven on 375, they will cook roast fairly quickly. 

Remove and set aside. 

In a saucepan sautee onion until brownish, add garlic and then spices and sautee.  Add sprouts and sautee a little more until lightly wilted. 

Toss eggplant pieces in and add chopped tomatoes too if desired (completely optional) 

Add a squeeze of lemon to your taste. 

Top with yogurt and fresh herbs like mint and cilantro! 

The Re-enactment of the Battle of Stoney Creek - Hamilton 2013