July 24, 2018
Summer beets are a special treat, especially when you get them small and tender. This is a pretty and refreshing salad using the beets in a few different ways. I cooked the beets sous vide but you can roast them to equally delicious results. I then marinated them in a little olive oil and balsamic crema to impart sweet and tangy flavour. I then made a light mayo style dressing to which I... View Article
August 16, 2017
There is nothing like new potatoes lightly coated with creme fraiche and liberally sprinkled with fresh dill and it’s even better with buttery yellow beans fresh from the garden or your local farmers market. It’s one of my favourite summer dishes. I steam the potatoes whole and unpeeled, cook the beans separately in salted water (sometime in the water I steamed the potatoes in) and then combine them in a pot with either homemade or... View Article
July 14, 2017
One of the culinary treasures of southern Italy (Puglia) is the burrata: a creamy, perishable cheese that is shipped daily to vendors and restaurants in other parts of the country to be consumed the same day. Burrata means “buttered” and in the categories of cheeses it is not a mozzarella, nor a mozzarella di bufala, although it is made with buffalo milk. To make burrata cheesemakers fill a thin skin of mozzarella with a mixture... View Article
June 19, 2017
Beets and gorgonzola is one flavour pairing that was meant to be. The smooth, creamy, slightly pungent gorgonzola set against the sweetness of the roasted beets, nutty oil and sweet and tangy balsamic crema, you have to try it to understand. The added layer of walnut oil and crunch of walnuts make this a completely irresistible salad. I cut the beetroot into equal size cubes, toss them with the dressing and then distribute the cheese... View Article
June 16, 2017
Local farm cucs are not yet available here but I found these little ones the other day at the store and made this fresh cuc salad to go with a pasta dinner. I still had the elongated French breakfast radishes from this recipe and a bag of gorgeous wild watercress from our local forager Scott Moran, so I combined them with the cucs together with lots of fresh dill from my garden. Instead of cutting... View Article
September 19, 2016
How fun at the end of the summer to gather the best ripe stone fruits and a few others, shower them with a bottle of Vin Santo and simmer them together to a sweet perfection that you can then serve chilled in glass bowls. This to me is one of end of summer best treats. It is a dish I grew up with (minus the Vin Santo) where it was called a fruit soup. It... View Article
August 25, 2016
Corn hardly needs an introduction. Nothing says summer more than fresh corn on the cob with a little butter and a generous sprinkling of sea salt. A corn feast of eating a bunch of corn freshly picked that morning and bought directly from the grower is the best food memories of our summers. Leftover cobs can be stripped of their kernels with a sharp knife and the kernel used on their own with a little... View Article
July 28, 2016
There is an art to travelling as a vegetarian. You would think that with the abundance of gorgeous produce in the markets, especially around the Mediterranean, it would be easy to find vegetarian dishes in restaurants but somehow it is not. Now, I am interested in food and culture and will try other things even if they are not vegetarian, especially the local and traditional. I am certainly not going to travel without experiencing local foods.... View Article
July 18, 2016
Grain salads can be quite beautiful when combined with colourful seasonal vegetables. This salad would make a good option for summer entertaining because it is all inclusive: it has grains, vegetables and salad greens all in one dish. The barley can be cooked in advance and kept in the fridge, but the vegetables are best cooked the day you serve it. I made this salad with three colours of cauliflower: white, orange and purple, but... View Article
June 3, 2016
Not every dessert has to be complicated. Sometime what is best after a meal is a bowl of beautiful fresh berries drizzled with luscious local dessert wine. If you want to indulge, whip up some cream to go with it. If you want to make it vegan make a cashew cream with this recipe. Serves 4 Ingredients: 1 container Strawberries 1 container Blueberries 1 container Raspberries 1 container Blackberries Okanagan dessert wine of your... View Article
May 21, 2016
Summer is teasing us, offering a few days of sunshine and blue skies only to retract its promise and send clouds and rain next. To be honest, I love cloudy, rainy days and often use them to catch up on my reading. After indulging in Roman history before and after our extended stay in Italy, I have moved on to the Russian dynasty in preparation for an upcoming trip to St Petersburg to visit its... View Article
September 10, 2015
This was one of the best corn season I remember in the Okanagan. Almost every day I picked up delicate and sweet cobs of corn with pearly, crispy, juicy kernels at local markets, still cool from early morning picking. It was a memorable treat all summer and I have not tired of it yet. My quickest and easiest method for cooking corn is in the microwave. I place the husked cobs in a sturdy ceramic... View Article
