I am sorry for my continued neglect. There was the holiday season. Then of course the weekly Occasions column plus a full time job keeps me pretty busy. But when another opportunity to collaborate with my friend and – let’s be real – mentor Kelly comes up, I make the time.

After posting about our squash, chorizo and blue cheese strata, we were contacted by Foodie Pages, Canada’s online farmers market connecting you to artisanal products from across the country, to try our hands at recreating a dish from Chef Jeremy Charles of famed Raymonds Restaurant in St. John’s, NL. THE Raymonds. At present, Raymonds is at the top of my must do list and I cannot wait to get to St. John’s for what some deem Canada’s best restaurant. Though I have no idea when we’ll get there, I’m already saving for it. Tasting menu or bust! 

Along with the recipes, we were sent January’s Chef’s Box curated by Charles himself with some amazing products sourced from NS, NL, and QC. So, with me rocking it in the kitchen and Kelly doing what she does best, we give you Pan Seared Duck Breast with Parsnip Purée, Kale and Orange Cranberry Jus (which you can find on Kelly’s blog) and Roasted Beet Salad with Apple Cider and Birch Vinaigrette. Though I helped style the food, all the cred really needs to go to Kelly on this one. Wow, girl has mad skills. 

I am simply in love with the atmosphere of these photographs. Warm and rustic yet elegant. I imagine it’s much like Raymonds but I’ll let you know when that dream comes true. 

But the fun doesn’t stop there. Foodie Pages is offering you the chance to win a trip for two to “Canada’s hottest culinary destination” for your own tasting menu and wine pairing at Raymonds. Fingers crossed.

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There’s been berry picking trips to the Valley, plenty of patio beers, BBQing, hiking, loads of friends visiting, beaching, ice cream binging, and a whole lot of camping. It’s been nothing short of incredible. Though sadly I haven’t been cooking much this Summer since, you know, I work when everyone else is eating. Luckily, one of our garden boxes – a self watering contraption made up of scrap wood that my own personal MacGyver fashioned – is overflowing with Summer greens. There’s super peppery arugula, both red and green lettuce, kale, mesclun, and a ton of gorgeous basil. Needless to say, green salads have been dominating all our meals. 

Welcome to the Summer of salads.

Though ridiculously simple, this tomato basil salad has become our go-to. Served alongside what has become my signature dressing, a maple balsamic dressing, this is pretty much Summer in a bowl. Our tomatoes are only now starting to pop up but the market is overflowing with juicy little cherry tomatoes just asking to be paired with the season’s basil. This salad also takes on alternate personalities depending on what else is in the fridge or needs to be used up, most notably black olives, avocado or, our new fav, grilled bread. A sort of panzanella, it’s about the best way to use up stale bread ever.  This salad also plays nicely with fresh mozzarella, bocconcini, feta or even goat cheese. I’m pretty sure you can’t mess this up. I’m also all about serving salad dressing on the side. A tossed salad can become one big mess, with the heavier items inevitably getting lost in the bottom of the bowl. But do your thing and toss away if you must. 

I don’t know about you, but I’m up for anything that doesn’t involve turning on the oven in this 100% humidity. I’m already planning the next salad.

And P.S., those little white flowers? Oh, that’s arugula and they’re just as delicious as the leaves. 

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I for one want to know as much as I can. I want to feel the satisfaction that comes with growing my own food. I want to have the confidence to identify all those edible plants.  I mean how cool is it to make something delicious with something others consider a pest? Damn cool I say. 

And so, enter stinging nettle. It’s one of those things I’ve heard about but only recently started eating. I’ve seen it in several markets and decided it was time. Stinging nettle, or rather urtica dioica, is a flowering plant found all other world that, you guessed it, stings the bejeezus out of anything that touches it. Well, honestly I didn’t find it that stingy though I wasn’t the one picking it either. It’s long been used as medicine, drank as tea or eaten as food. Nothing scary there. Generally you soak or blanch the nettle to get the sting out before consumption but apparently some folks fancy a little mouth sting. The World Nettle Eating Championship in the UK sees participants pick and eat as much raw nettle as they can. Now that’s just cray. 

Likened to a mild cross between spinach and cucumber, there are loads of recipes on the big ol’ intranet for nettle, most notable soup and pesto. My first bag of nettle got made into gremolata, a roughly chopped condiment of lemon zest, garlic and usually parsley. It was lovely on some grilled salmon. But then last weekend I hit up the Historic Brewery Market to find one of my fav stalls, Four Seasons Farm, back for the Spring/Summer season. Besides the awesome greens, they had giant bags of nettle for mad cheap. I kind of had to. 

So, it was back to the drawing board. I haven’t been able to indulge my cookbook lust for a long time now so I turn to the library. Lately, I’ve been quite taken with the books Jerusalem and Plenty from Yotam Ottelenghi. Fresh ingrediens and mad flavour make both these books home runs. If you’re looking for a few to add to your collection, I’d put my money on these. I’ve tried several recipes thus far and they’re all awesome. And like I said, this isn’t some sponsored post. I just love these books. I mean, hell, the Ottolenghi team has several restaurants, cookbooks, even an online store with preserves and spices. If that ain’t enough to convince you, here’s a small glimpse into their philosophy:

It’s full of harmonious contradictions: it’s vibrant and bold yet familiar and comforting; it’s beautiful to look at yet close to its original form; it’s full of surprising drama yet always comes together as one; it’s noisy yet peaceful, lip-smacking yet warm, simple yet daring.

Totally my style.

These stinging nettle fritters are based on a recipe for leek fritters in Plenty, the vegetarian of the two, so in no way is this some amazing recipe I dreamt up. It’s essentially the same with nettle in place of the leeks and the omission of parsley simply because we didn’t have any. Man, were these some good. Though I’ve made fritters before – and I guess ‘fritter’ is simply anything fried – these were a new experience. Crispy outside, soft and fluffy inside. Perfectly savoury with just the right balance of spice. Though if you want to make something that tastes like nettle – where you’d recognize it as nettle – this isn’t it. This could easily be spinach or any other green for that matter. But if you’re looking to make something delicious whether it’s nettle or leeks or spinach, then this is a winner. 

In the book, he also whips up a dipping sauce with yogurt, sour cream, lemon, cilantro and parsley. I’m sure it would have been delicious. I went with yogurt, lemon, cilantro, tahini, and garlic because that’s what we had. Simply mix or buzz it all together in a food pro and bam, dipping sauce. There are a few steps but nothing super complicated. 

If you’re looking for other ways to use nettle, think spinach. Once it’s soaked or blanched, you can pretty much go nuts. Nettle frittata, nettle soup, nettle pizza, anything. I also highly recommend heading over to Kitchen Vignettes for Aube’s nettlekopita recipe including a swanky video. That’s spanakopita – the delicious spinach and feta phyllo parcels – with a good dose of nettle instead.  With more than half the bag of nettle awaiting my next move, this may very well be it. Or perhaps nettle cordial. I guess you’ll have to wait and see. And for the record, nettle is mad nutritious. If you’re looking to get in the nettle game though, you better act fast since the leaves can generally only be eaten in Spring. Tick tock people. 

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It’s been a long hard Winter on the East Coast.  Finally, FINALLY, we’re starting to see the signs of Spring. Radishes, onions, micro greens, and a variety of greens are leading the way for the incredible variety of Nova Scotia produce we’ll see this season. It’s an exciting time. 

And Spring’s first harvest means but one thing: bring on the salad. How else can you let those new vegetables shine? A salad of peppery radish – local black radish who knew? –  crunchy micro greens, and creamy avocado was the perfect dish to usher in the season. It was all so earthy and fresh. A perfect balance of crunchy and creamy. Odd that I not so long ago hated radish. It was one of those vegetables – like celery – that I always thought I hated. Man, was I wrong.

This really is as simple as a salad gets in our house. A little slicing and dicing made all the more easy with the help of our trusty mandolin then a few simple ingredients get shaken together for a quick dressing. Sometimes I forget just how easy it can be to get fresh veggies into our bellies. Though put avocado with pretty much anything and I’m game. 

The dressing is also crazy simple, adding just the right amount of citrus, creaminess and garlic bite. It’s a dressing I’ve made a bunch of times though generally never the same twice. It’s the perfect recipe to build on; add fresh ginger, more lemon, toasted cumin seeds, sesame oil, whatever your heart desires. Besides I know you’ve all had a bottle of tahini in your cupboard for months now. It’s one of those things I always forget about which is weird because I used to eat that stuff on toast with a drizzle of honey. It works. 

Sometimes the tastiest things, the most memorable, are the simplest. I’m hoping to remember that as I wait patiently for the rest of Spring to arrive week by week at at the local market. I want to take the time to taste the season, to slow down and relish it.  I sometimes get carried away with all the food blog inspiration out there that I’m always looking forward and forgetting about what’s in front of me. Hell, even Pinterest is full of popsicles right now. Slow down people. It’s only May. 

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Though there are more reasons then I want to get into, things are finally turning around. Slowly, I’m regaining my life. Through a few job changes one thing became glaringly apparent, food is my life. Though it may not be our own restaurant space – and sadly I’m not sure it will ever happen – I am finding opportunities that make me feel whole again, that will allow me to do what I’m meant. 

So, while it’s been a few years here at eathalifax, only now do I feel I’ve found my place. I want to be here, really here, rather than popping in and out, whipping up recipes on the fly, scrambling to get posts up. What was enjoyable became stressful, tangled up in life’s struggle. This is supposed to be about passion, about falling in love with cooking, and maybe inspiring you to do the same. 

Hopefully, day by day, post by post, I’ll get there. 

In the meantime, I’ll be eating lentil salad. Oh, you don’t like lentils? I beg to differ. 

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Lately, however, I feel I’m constantly being taunted with the incredible recipes inspired by the Winter citrus season down south. I mean, here we are stocking up on roots while others are enjoying the grapefruits. lemons, and blood oranges that the season brings. What’s a girl to do? 

To be honest, I’m rather addicted to all things citrus right now. Perhaps it’s all those happy hours. A cocktail is a world better with fresh citrus and riming a glass with citrus peel is just about the best thing ever. I’ve even started leaving some of the peel on the citrus in our juice. It’s a game changer. Despite it’s hint of bitterness which I happen to enjoy, it brings a world more flavour to every juice. 

So, I couldn’t help but follow suit and hit those Winter salads with some citrus. This is everything you want in a salad in 5 easy ingredients – crunchy fennel so mild you’ll forget you ever thought you hated it, tart grapefruit, peppery arugula, sweet honey, and slightly bitter olive oil to bring it all together. Not that this salad can get any better, but some sliced avocado would also be right at home. 

This recipe is also not a recipe at all. A perfect picture of how we cook in the eathalifax house. Sometimes a cookbook gets opened or a recipe gets searched but generally we simply cook. It’s a skill I thought everyone had, the ability to open the fridge or pantry and whip something up. I think we all do it to some degree – the spaghetti sauce your family has been making for years, the anything goes stir-fry, or even the meat and potatoes we all grew up on. But with more and more convenience foods and commercials telling us not to cook, are we losing what was once an essential skill?

I think it’s time we all get back in the kitchen. No better motivation than a ridiculously easy fennel, grapefruit & arugula salad that brightens even the darkest of Winter days. 

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Lucky for this cheese lover, I’ve been fortunate enough to work on a few great cheese projects with Dairy Farmers of Canada. I also happen to know one Michael Howell, local chef, Slow Food NS powerhouse, Devour Film Fest exec and, if that isn’t enough, Mr. Cheese himself. Reppin’ DFC, he’s recently travelled the country from one end to the other spreading the love for Canadian cheese, most notably Canadian Cheese Grand Prix award winners. Yes, there’s a cheese Grand Prix. Since 1998, cheese experts across the country have gathered to judge our world class cheeses made from 100% Canadian dairy. Talk about dream job.

Most recent – ok, it was December- all the ingredients to cook up a recipe inspired by one such  winner was dropped off right to my doorstop – a crispy, buttery aged cheddar feuilleté atop creamy sweet potato purée and roasted tomatoes. Yes, yes, incredibly spoiled. Literally cheese wrapped in phyllo, the sharp aged cheddar was truly the star. A whole world better than that orange cheese you’ve been eating, Avonlea Clothbound Cheddar is rich and sharp, everything you want a cheddar to be. Cooked up by the folks at Cows in PEI, this aged cheddar is a local fav, even gracing restaurant menus around the Maritimes. I can’t help but feel proud.

Though the complete recipe makes an impressive albeit labour intensive appetizer, it seems more at home on the dinner table. Otherwise, skip all the roasting and mashing and simply go for the cheese. The feuilleté is also asking for more: to be dipped in some delicious jam or chutney or stuffed with any number of delicious ingredients. I tried the sweet potato purée right in the roll and, no surprise, delicious. When isn’t sweet potato delicious? Better yet, add cooked bacon, green onions, thinly sliced apples or hell, all of the above. I happen to think a sharp cheddar can pair with just about anything. Besides, if you’re already getting your phyllo on, might as really knock it out of the park.

For more recipes including award winning Canadian cheese, get yourself to allyouneedischeese. Because, honestly, all you need IS cheese. 

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I’m not quite sure how that happened but here we are. You know what that means? Time for the dreaded New Year’s resolutions. 

Unlike many this time of year, I’m not going to go on about my New Year’s resolutions swearing off this and only eating that. Health isn’t the number on a scale or even the size of your clothes. For me, health is about eating real foods, the kind grown in the ground by hard working folk. It’s about having a healthy relationship with food where cheat days and guilt don’t exist. It’s even about the pleasure that comes from cooking or the ecstasy of that perfect bite. A life where food is mere sustenance is one I never want to live. Now that’s not to say I eat sugar and butter with abandon but when I do, I sure as hell don’t feel bad about it. 

How about we all resolve to make up with food this year?  I mean, resolutions don’t get any better than this.

I will eat all food groups, most notably bacon. 

I will not cheat on my food. We’re in love.

I will never feel guilty eating anything. Not that burger and certainly not that cake I just ate for breakfast.

I will embrace moderation. 

I will eat real food grown close to home though the occasional bag of chips or hot dog is going to happen. 

I’ll gather around the table with friends and family as often as possible, celebrating the joy of food and cooking. 

There you have it. With resolutions like this, 2014 is all mine. And don’t think the irony of me starting the year off with a salad post is lost on me. I simply happen to love salads. Besides, I’ll probably eat bacon for supper. 

From warm roasted potatoes to cold rice noodles, I believe anything can make a salad. Though if your idea of a salad is that 1980s bowl of iceberg, chopped tomatoes and cucumber all smothered in Ranch, then we’ve got some work to do. Salads round here come in all forms – warm, cold, roasted, grilled, fruity, cheesy, and never boring. Lately, roasted roots are taking the place of all those Summer tomato, a heartier salad perfect for those days when it seems there’s no end to Mother Nature’s wrath. With a market full of local beets, celeriac, parsnips, squash, sweet potatoes, and carrots, I see many a Winter salad in 2014. 

In the first of many, beautiful local carrots become caramelized and sweet, the perfect backdrop for a seasonal salad. Peppery arugula, sweet pomegranates, crunchy pumpkin seeds and a smooth dressing of orange and miso round it out. Arugula is perfect added to pretty much anything – a salad adorned with a poached egg, a pear and prosciutto pizza or most recently roasted tomato pasta. If you’re not on team arugula yet, you should be. Plus, in Australia they call it rocket.  It’s the coolest green out there. I imagine, however, any of the dark, leafy greens of late would also be nice in its place. 

Whether it’s an interesting salad or a creamy butter laden pasta adorning your table today, resolve to love every bite and never look back. That Julia Child had it right you know. “People who love to eat are always the best people.”

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While hosting others can seem daunting, throwing together a few appys is mad easy. There is no easier appetizer than crostini, aka “little toasts”. Except maybe charcuterie. Both are based on the same principles of meat and cheese pairing which you can read all about in one of my latest Eat North pieces. Crostini is simply its assembled version that may very well be more economical.  

First things first, you’ll need to make the toasts. Slice up a baguette or bread of your choosing, brush both sides with olive oil, and bake til crisp. Easy. Now decide on your toppings. My advice, don’t complicate it. Simply imagine yourself in front of your favourite charcuterie and cheese board then go nuts.

If that doesn’t help, I’ve put together some of my favourite- and easiest- combos. 

Goat cheese + preserves

Literally any preserve will do. Red pepper jelly, partridgeberry jam (what up Newfoundland!), fig compote, onion relish – it all works. Even bacon jam. Especially bacon jam. A little chopped chives or nuts for garnish and you’re done. Goat cheese also rocks with sliced sundried tomatoes and basil. 

Cranberry sauce + brie

That leftover cranberry sauce is perfect wrapped in a warm blanket of Brie. A quick ride under the broiler should do the trick. 

Prosciutto, pear, caramelized onion+ blue cheese

This is one of my favourite pizza combos and it’s equally as good in toast form. Feel free to add some pesto and may I suggest the local Dragon’s Breath from That Dutchman’s or the award winning Bleu D’Elizabeth available at Ratinaud. You may just wow even the stanchest of blue cheese haters. 

Dijon, roast beef + horseradish

Got leftover roast beef? Thinly slice that bad boy and pack all the flavours of a roast beef sammy into a bite sized crostini. Go a step further with blue cheese, a pickle or even a pickled beet.  In fact, anything you’d put on a sandwich, works on crostini. Think turkey, cranberry sauce and squash or maple glazed ham, pickle, and aged cheddar. 

Mushroom brushetta

Traditional bruschetta is so much better in the Summer when the local tomatoes are at their best. This warm version full of mushroom love is perfect for the cold Winter months. Simple fry up your favourite variety of mushrooms in garlic and butter. Deglaze the pan with a splash of white wine if you like. Add a few splashes of cream plus a pinch of thyme and continue cooking til reduced and thick. Season with a sprinkle of sea salt and pepper then finish it off with shaved parmesan, Gruyere or, my fav, That Durchman’s Old Growler aged gouda. If you want to get fancy, garnish with chopped parsley or chives. 

Ricotta, lemon zest + honey

Don’t knock it til you try it folks. It’s especially perfect for those citrus junkies. Actually, ricotta plays well with just about anything – sliced radish, jam, avocado, cucumber, blueberries, you name it.

Cream cheese, smoked salmon + dill

Simplicity at its best. If you want to take it to the next level, add lemon zest, capers, a slice of red onion or some thinly sliced cucumber.

I could go on and on but you get the picture; the possibilities are endless. I dare you to search ‘crostini’ on Pinterest and not get inspired. Remember, however, entertaining should never be stressful. Go as fancy as you’re comfortable or throw some chips into a bowl and call it a day. Trust me, your friends won’t care. 

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This is exactly what I was thinking this morning as I was searching for something nutritious but a tad more exciting than the usual oatmeal. Bacon and eggs meet salad. And by salad, I simply mean a big handful of fresh peppery arugula dressed with a good dose of citrus. If you’re looking for a heartier salad, throw in a thinly sliced red onion, some shaved fennel, a handful of halved cherry tomatoes, or sauté a bunch of mushrooms with the bacon. Go nuts. And if you really must, skip the bacon and make the dressing with a bit of olive oil instead. I won’t blame you, I’ll just eat your share.  

A bowl of that so called ‘healthy’ cereal loaded with maltodextrin this and corn syrup that may be way less calories but it’s probably not going to get you to lunch like this will. And it sure as hell isn’t this delicious. Salad for breakfast, who knew. Plus, breakfast for dinner anyone?

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