Traced Elements

Author: Erica Osburn

  • Satisfying Moose Meatballs with Pemberton Mashed Potatoes

    Satisfying Moose Meatballs with Pemberton Mashed Potatoes

    We are fortunate to have a freezer full of moose meat from the Yukon. A beautiful moose that my spouse and his sister bagged in September (after 3 unsuccessful hunting trips in the past few years).

    So we have moose sausages and stew meat and, of course, ground. I was craving meatballs so I searched my cookbooks for some recipes. One recipe from Sheila Lukins’ All Around the World Cookbook – called for allspice and nutmeg. No thanks! I do not enjoy nutmeg at the best of times, and certainly not in my meat.

    So I charted my own course.

    My thoughts on wild game are that one should not try anything too wild. The meat is wild, so when experimenting, go tame. That said, pecorino is a sharp and dramatic flavour but it worked. (I want to take a moment to thank the AMAZING Pemberton Valley Supermarket that always has pecorino in stock. PVS – you are the BEST.) As for spices, I went for dry mustard, paprika, S&P, oregano and basil – and not too much of any. And of course parsley. I rarely make anything that does not call for parsley or cilantro, my faithful culinary companions. When I do not have any of these two in my fridge, sure enough, I embark on a recipe that calls for one of them. So those two are always, always on my grocery list. Serve these meatballs with Pemberton mashed spuds and some broccoli or another green veggie. A good and satisfying fall dinner! Fall cheers to the hunters and the farmers! And thank you to Lisa always for being the amazing host of this food blog site!

    Flavourful Gluten-free Moose Meatballs: (yield: 4 servings)

    1 lb ground moose meat (or beef)

    ½ cup finely grated pecorino romano

    1/3 cup pure olive oil

    ¼ cup fine chop parsley

    2 small Pemberton eggs or one very large egg

    ¼ cup almond meal

    1 tsp salt

    1 tsp pepper

    1 tsp dry mustard

    1 tsp paprika

    1 tsp basil 

    ½ tsp oregano

    ½ cup finely chopped yellow or red onion

    Method: put all ingredients, except for olive oil, in a large bowl. Mix well and form into 1 tbs balls.

    Heat 1/3 cup pure olive oil in large skillet with sides at least 4 inches high (oil splatters). Heat oil on medium heat. Gently place meatballs in pan. Do not rush but gently rotate the balls so they brown and cook thoroughly.

    Serve with Pemberton russet mashed potatoes and a green steamed veggie. Enjoy!

  • The Chard Files

    The Chard Files

    Back at home after most of the summer on the coast, I am now blanching and freezing veggies from my in-laws’ garden. Chard and zucchini. The chard is a welcome addition to my chilli recipe, as well as the deer lentil soup that I make regularly in winter. The zucchini does an amazing job of fibre-ing up chilli, shepherd’s pie and other soups.

    I have mentioned blanching before but I wanted to share my storage technique which I just came up with. Instead of using medium ziplock bags for each portion, I decided to get away from the plastic and wrap 2-cup portions of chard and zucchini in parchment paper. I fold the parchment around the 2-cup portions and once wrapped nicely, place them in a large labelled ziplock. Thus, the ziplock stays clean and I much prefer my freezer food to rest on parchment paper. This is going to greatly reduce my use of ziplock bags, yet I still have the large freezer-weight ziplock to protect the food. As I work to de-plastic my lifestyle, I still want to have convenience and I think this technique will be useful.

    Happy fall preserving everyone! (The next level up is canning – we will see!)

    Blanched chard wrapped in parchment
  • Chicken Casserole for these Dark Times

    Chicken Casserole for these Dark Times

    Yes, it has been a weird year. And these are the shortest and darkest days of the year to boot. Right now I am craving calorie-laden stodgy food and damn the consequences. Lighter fare will appeal when the days brighten up.

    I have made this casserole with some good Pemberton veggies but the mayo, sour cream and cheese do not put this casserole in the healthy category. But dark days plus face mask-wearing at all times? Sign me up for a retro casserole.

    Here is to hugging family and friends in 2021 and to our Pemberton library being open for real – SOON! Happy Christmas to all!

    Chicken Casserole with Pemberton Veggies

    4 cups cooked Pemberton-raised chicken, diced

    2 tbs pure olive oil

    1 large yellow onion, diced

    2 cups blanched Pemberton-grown Swiss chard, chopped (Do NOT add raw – it MUST be blanched first)

    1 cup Pemberton-grown corn kernels

    1 cup chopped cauliflower

    2 cups chopped celery

    1 cup chopped cilantro

    1 cup diced tomatoes

    2 tsp dry mustard

    1 tsp cumin

    1 tsp paprika

    1 tsp sambal oelek

    1 tsp salt

    1 tsp pepper

    ½ cup mayonnaise

    2/3 cup full-fat sour cream

    1 8-oz package Pad Thai noodles

    1 cup mozzarella, shredded

    Method:

    Sauté onion, corn, chard, celery, cauliflower and cilantro in olive oil in a large cast-iron Dutch oven. Sauté until well caramelised. When caramelised, add cumin, paprika, dry mustard, sambal oelek, salt and pepper, tomatoes, and diced chicken. Mix well. 

    Cook Pad Thai noodles by pouring boiling water over the noodles and leave immersed for 5 minutes. Drain well.

    Add cooked Pad Thai noodles and mayo and sour cream to veggie mixture. Mix well. Sprinkle top with cheese.

    Bake casserole for ½ hour at 350C. Enjoy!

  • Amazing Pemberton Apple Muffins (and healthy too)

    Amazing Pemberton Apple Muffins (and healthy too)

    This is the time of year when the freezer can be very full (a good problem to have). If there is deer meat to go in, something must come out. In my case, the many bags of apples I peeled and sliced two months ago! This is a recipe that uses up those apples well and is seriously the best apple cake I’ve ever had – in convenient muffin form. It is also fairly healthy with good fats and whole grains.

    These apple muffins are an adaptation of Shelley Adams’ “Joey’s Apple Cake”, found in her first cookbook Whitewater Cooks – Pure, Simple and Real (2005). Shelley Adams is my food mentor (she doesn’t know that) and I have adapted so many of her recipes over the last 12 years. Her recipes have good bones. I have usually adapted them to be whole grain, reduced sugar and sometimes grain-free. This recipe was also altered by making muffins instead of cake (which is quite finicky as it calls for a Bundt pan and the cake always stuck to it). Enjoy!

    Whole Grain Apple Muffins (yield: 36 muffins)

    Ingredients:

    3 cups spelt flour (*you can also use 2 cups spelt and 1 cup almond meal OR you can use 2.5 cups spelt flour and 1/2 cup oat bran)

    1/2 cup white sugar

    1/4 cup brown sugar

    3 tsp cinnamon

    1/4 tsp cardamom

    1 tsp baking soda

    ½ tsp salt

    1.5 cups grapeseed oil

    3 Pemberton eggs

    3 tsp almond extract

    4 cups finely-diced Pemberton-grown peeled and cored apples (I use a Cuisinart and pulse the apples until they are just shy of applesauce texture. They should still have lumps).

    Method: 

    Preheat oven to 350C

    Blend pureed apples, oil, eggs and sugars in stand mixer. Blend well. Add cinnamon, cardamom, flour, baking soda and salt. Blend well.  

    Scoop batter into silicone muffin pans (I like silicone pans because the muffins don’t stick).

    Bake at 350C for 26 minutes. Cool 15 minutes in pans, then invert onto cooling rack. 

  • Rainy August Day in Pemberton – Make These Cookies!

    Rainy August Day in Pemberton – Make These Cookies!

    Torrential rain here in Pemberton today. A good day for baking. These cookies I adapted from a John Bishop recipe from his cookbook At Home. They are great for road trips. I have not had luck with PB cookies lately and have been disappointed with the recipe in the Joy of Cooking (both the original edition and the updated version published about a decade ago). This one is very good! John Bishop’s recipes have good bones…

    Not a recipe high in Pemberton ingredients this post except for the Pemberton egg – only the best!

    Gluten-Free Peanut Butter Chocolate Chunk Cookies (yield: 2 dozen)

    ½ cup unsalted butter

    ½ cup natural chunky peanut butter (I used Western Family brand)

    1/3 cup white sugar

    ¾ cup coconut sugar

    1 Pemberton egg

    ½ cup pulverized gluten-free oats (pulverize in Cuisinart until oats are the consistency of flour)

    1 cup almond meal

    ½ tsp baking powder

    ¾ tsp baking soda

    ¼ tsp salt

    4 oz Lindt 90% dark chocolate, chopped

    Cream butter and peanut butter in mixer. Add all other ingredients. Blend well. Stir in chocolate chunks. Use a 1.5 tbs-sized spring-loaded cookie scoop and use it to drop dough onto 2 parchment-lined baking sheets (these cookies spread quite a bit). Bake at 375C for 12 minutes. Cool and enjoy!

  • Thank you to the Vegans

    Thank you to the Vegans

    As discussed in my last post I think we owe vegans in particular an enormous debt of gratitude. These deadly viruses originate with wild animals in captivity caged inhumanely alongside domesticated animals for human consumption in markets mainly in China, but also it has been reported Indonesia and Thailand. What will happen in future and how and if this will be monitored is another matter.

    Vegans are against the use of any animal product for consumption and their choices are truly admirable. We have so many ethical food producers here and ethical and sustainable hunting practices yet unfortunately there will always be people who abuse a shared trust. Also, whenever we purchase packaged meat in the grocery store and are not connected with the hunting of the meat ourselves or the raising of the meat ourselves or by people we know in our own community (shout out to those very important and hard-working people in Pemberton now and how grateful I am to you) then we honestly cannot say for sure that the meat was raised ethically.

    So if you find this all too much to process (pun not intended) then you can just go vegan. And if that is too much to process then you can at least go partially vegan. I find vegan eating particularly easy at breakfast and lunch. Oatmeal and oat milk (yay – oat milk has 4g of protein per cup!), toast with peanut butter, etc.

    For lunch I like to serve bean dips and veggies and even a light lentil soup. I just tweaked a bean dip I found online that in its original posted form was bland and blah. This one is zippy and fluffy and very delish. Please enjoy and thank you again to the vegan community.

    White Bean Dip with Pemberton Garlic and Parsley:

    Ingredients:

    15 grams of small white cannellini beans

    **Method for dried beans: Soak a bag or two of dried cannellini beans overnight. In the AM, drain water and put beans in slow cooker and add water until beans are covered by two inches. Cook on low 8 hours. When tender, put 15 gram portions of beans in containers and freeze for future use.

    2 cloves Pemberton garlic

    4 dashes hot sauce (I like the Cholula brand from Mexico)

    1/3-1/2 cup pure olive oil

    3 tbs fresh-squeezed lemon juice

    1/3 cup Pemberton-grown parsley

    1 tsp salt

    1 tsp pepper

    1 tsp paprika

    Method: Blend all ingredients together in Cuisinart. Adjust salt and pepper to taste. Serve with sliced cucumbers, celery, carrots or sweet peppers.

  • Supply Chains…And a Challenge for Pemberton’s Non-Gardeners

    Supply Chains…And a Challenge for Pemberton’s Non-Gardeners

    How is everyone doing? I have been thinking about so many of our assumptions lately. That the tourists will come. That Whistler Blackcomb will open. That our kids will be in school. That I can get on a plane and fly to Italy. That I can ride the ferry. That I can go to the store and purchase what I need.

    Our supply chains:

    I read a locally published book about a decade ago called The Cucumber Tree – a memoir by a man growing up in Vancouver in the 1940s and 1950s. He recalled evenings with his family; dinner was always at home. Never would they go out for dinner or even out to other people’s homes for dinner parties. Dinner was prepared and eaten at home, every night.

    We just have assumptions that we can go out for dinner and that we will be able to travel. And this is a new assumption. It has only been since I was growing up that going out with the family was a thing. And to recall, it only occurred on a special occasion. I do not remember too much of it going on but if we did eat out, it was to a family-run pizza restaurant in my neighbourhood in Vancouver. We have so many lifestyle assumptions under fire right now.

    Back when my parents were growing up food supply chains were different and going back further your family and your home was a big part of the supply chain. You ate what you grew. You preserved what you could for the winter.

    Here in Pemberton yes, we are very lucky to have farmers and so we would assume that we will always have access to good healthy food. Yet…

    Many articles are being written lately about growing a “Victory Garden” and that if you can you should be more food secure within your own backyard. It is time to get cracking. If we are not gardeners then this would be the time to start. If you don’t grow anything then maybe this year grow one thing – one thing that you aren’t going to be reliant on anyone else for. If you live in a townhouse or condo in town, can you grow your own herbs? Sprouts? Micro greens? If you have a yard but simply don’t garden, start with one, two, or three items that will sustain you. I would lean towards items that are hardy like chard, kale and spinach. Fresh herbs – parsley, cilantro, dill, basil, chives – make a meal.

    A Note on Veganism:

    I am thinking vegans and vegetarians are pretty pissed off at the world, with Covid-19 originating from the filthy Wuhan, China wet markets and the disgusting treatment of wild animals caged for human consumption there. I think we owe vegans and vegetarians enormous respect, and I think they have every right to be angry. Maybe this is that time to pursue veganism or vegetarianism, or to pursue this way of eating as best we can.

    I read all the Little House on the Prairie books by Laura Ingalls Wilder when I was a kid. My favourite was Farmer Boy and how the Wilder family grew all their own food, spun their own yarn from the merino sheep they raised, and were successful in their efforts. Do you think there were any vegans back then? When the supply chain began and ended with you and your family throughout the year, where did alternative eating come in? Something to chew on. Respect the planet, have knowledge of where your food comes from, and if you can, raise it, grow it, hunt it yourself.

    What would you eat if you had to grow, raise or hunt it yourself?

    A meal from my own yard, by a minimal gardener (who may become a proper gardener this year):

    Sautéed garlic scapes (sautéed in hazelnut oil, which I would have to learn how to make)

    Spinach salad garnished with cilantro, dried saskatoons, and toasted hazelnuts, with a dressing of hazelnut oil and minced garlic

    Fruit salad of chopped apples, cherries, plums, and apple-pears

    Barbequed deer steaks (hunted locally by my spouse)

    If I were to get serious about my victory garden I would plant spuds, beans, hardy greens and romaine lettuce. I am considering a small backyard chicken coop. It would be a lot of work, but individual food security is a worthy goal. I consider weeding back-breaking labour after about 15 minutes of crawling around in the dirt, mosquitoes buzzing in my ears, and the relentless Pemberton sun beating down on me. Again, I salute the farmers. We are lucky to live among them, now more than ever.

  • Spelt Bread for the New Pemberton Bakers

    Spelt Bread for the New Pemberton Bakers

    Hi everyone, and thank you for visiting this website and thank you as ever to Lisa for running it. It is a lot of fun to contribute to – now more than ever. I see at the Pemberton Supermarket that there are store-packaged containers of yeast! The usual small amount of yeast that the store stocks in jars is apparently not enough for everyone (including myself) making bread these days. I think it is wonderful. I have been making my own bread for years. A warning however – do not buy large quantities of yeast at a place like Costco, in bulk. Yeast loses its power after a while, so buy it in small jars (after this Covid crisis is over). Bread takes patience and time and it is very disappointing when your bread doesn’t rise due to outdated yeast!

    This is the recipe I have tweaked over the years. I meant to post it last June but I scrolled down today and noticed that either the recipe got bumped off or I didn’t actually post it like I meant to! Sorry about that. This bread is especially good for toast in the am. There was a butter shortage last week when I got to the Pemberton Supermarket so I bought what was left – organic butter at $10.00 per pound – yikes! We were rationing it at that price. Thank you to the Pemberton Supermarket which during regular times is well stocked, clean, friendly, and bright, but during this crisis is doing a wonderful job supplying our community.

    Delicious Fibre-full Spelt Bread (yield: 2 loaves)

    Ingredients:

    7 cups whole grain spelt flour

    (I used the Everland brand this time but Bob’s Red Mill works well too. I have recently had all my Anita’s brand sprouted spelt flour go rancid on me recently even being kept in the freezer so I am not going to use it or recommend it for the time being.)

    4 tsp instant dry yeast

    1 tbs table salt

    1 cup ground chia seed (MUST be ground first)

    1.5 cups slow old-fashioned oats

    3 ¼ cup water

    1/3 cup unsalted butter

    1 cup oat bran

    Method:

    Put 4 cups flour into stand mixer, and add: yeast, salt, oats, chia. Mix well with dough hook.

    In saucepan place water and butter, over low heat. When butter has melted remove from heat and add to mixer, with mixer on low speed.

    When flour and water mixture are well incorporated, add oat bran and 3 cups of flour slowly.

    Increase speed to medium. When dough is elastic and well mixed (10 minutes), remove dough and place in a large buttered mixing bowl. Cover bowl with plastic wrap and place in oven with oven light on for 1 hour.

    After one hour, remove dough and divide in half. Take each half and roll into a cylinder. Place each cylinder into a greased loaf pan. You will have two loaves.

    Place loaf pans into oven with oven light on for 1 hour.

    Remove pans from oven after one hour and then turn on oven to 375C.

    Bake loaves for 30-32 minutes. Cool on rack. Enjoy!

  • The Frogs are Croaking!

    The Frogs are Croaking!

    In these strange times I have been waiting (impatiently) for the frogs to start croaking. First come the pussy willows, next comes the frogs. And tonight I heard them – over on Urdal Road. They will slowly migrate west to Collins Road and Pemberton Meadows Road soon but for now you have to tilt your ears to the east. I always am excited to hear the first frogs, but this year I have been really anxious for them – a sign that outside of the human species, life goes on as normal.

    Thank you to our farmers. This pandemic and crisis has re-alerted me to the importance of food security. When I first moved to Pemberton 16 years ago Anna Helmer explained all this to me. I hadn’t a clue, being raised in Vancouver and buying my groceries at Safeway. I didn’t know what the ALR was. “Pave paradise, put up a parking lot”, sang Joni Mitchell in Big Yellow Taxi. More recently, she wrote in her song Shine: “Shine on fertile farmland buried under subdivisions”.

    We need farmers. We need farmland. This cannot be outsourced. Farmland must be protected. We are learning this now during this crisis. The hard way.

    When the Hellevangs recently announced that they were selling big 50 lb bags of Yukon Gold potatoes I jumped on it. And for the last 2 weeks we have been eating a lot of baked potatoes. I visited the UK for the first time nearly 30 years ago, and my Mum and I stayed with her friends who had a very young and “highly-spirited” (bratty in our view) child. She would only settle down with the promise of a “jacket potato”. At a village tea room or at their home these jacket potatoes seemed to have magical powers.

    Not sure why it’s taken me so long to embrace the simple but sublime jacket potato – but if you have some chili on hand (my recipe for deer chili is posted on this blog), plus sour cream, chopped green onions, butter and crumbled bacon, and of course some beautiful Pemberton Yukon Gold or Russet potatoes, you have such an easy and delicious meal.

    Frogs, farmers, potatoes. Pemberton we will get through this!

    Pemberton Baked Potatoes: (serves 4)

    4 large Russet or Yukon Gold Pemberton-grown potatoes, scrubbed well.

    Method: Using the tines of a fork, poke the potatoes in 5 or 6 places.

    Bake 1 to 1.5 hours at 350F. (Time depends on size of your potatoes.)

    Serve with butter, sour cream, green onions, bacon bits, or chili.

  • Pemberton Blueberry Banana Muffins

    Pemberton Blueberry Banana Muffins

    These muffins are a great staple to have on hand at any time of year. And they make good use of “all the Pemberton blueberries you froze last summer”. You did that of course.

    Lisa has asked me to explain why I substitute spelt for wheat flour on every occasion. Well, a number of years ago my mother warned me that wheat is inflammatory and can cause arthritis-like symptoms in people after the age of 40. And like clockwork, after I hit 40, sure enough, my hands got stiff after I ate wheat. Didn’t matter if it was crackers or bread: after I ate wheat my hands were stiff the next day.

    So it was a no-brainer to switch to spelt. If you can get to Costco, some locations sell Anita’s Sprouted spelt flour which I really like. Some brands don’t work well. I tried the Everland brand from Amazon and my muffins did not hold together at all.

    Thank you Mum for this invaluable advice. I hope others will give it a go. Stiff hands and fingers are no fun at all, and it really is an easy switch to transition to spelt. I have no time for white flour anyway. No nutrition content and I prefer the nutty, complex taste of whole grains in most of my baking – with the exception of brownies and birthday cakes!

    Pemberton Blueberry Banana Muffins (yield: 15-18 muffins depending on size)

    Ingredients:

    1 cup plus 2 tbs whole grain spelt flour

    2 tbs corn meal

    1 tsp baking soda

    2 eggs

    ½ cup grapeseed oil

    ½ cup white sugar

    2 large very ripe bananas, mashed

    3/4 cup blueberries

    1 tsp cinnamon

    1/4 tsp sea salt

    Method:

    Place mashed bananas, oil, eggs, sugar, cinnamon and baking soda in stand mixer and beat well until combined. Add flour and cornmeal and mix until just combined.

    Preheat oven to 350F.

    Use a 3 tbs spring-loaded cookie/muffin scoop (I like the OXO brand) to place scoops of batter into buttered muffin pans. (I like silicone muffin pans as they clean easily in the dishwasher.)

    Press 3-4 blueberries into top each muffin. (I prefer adding my blueberries this way as then they look nicer but you can always add during mixing process.)

    Bake 20 minutes and check for doneness. May need another 5 minutes. Oven temperatures vary so baking times are not set in stone. Enjoy!

    ** Coming Soon: another cookbook review – thanks to Lisa. I tried one recipe from a very recently-published Japanese cuisine cookbook, but the result was ho-hum so it needs some more time and patience!