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Tag: potatoes

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.

March 28, 2020
Food and Feelings: Fromage

Bonjour*. When you think of France what do you think of? What comes to mind is probably different for everyone. For me, one of the thoughts that surface is about cheap and delicious cheese. After returning from my rock-and-roll honeymoon, I’m left missing the delicious croissants, cheese, wine and various other delightful foods.

Anyone who knows me knows that I LOVE cheese so this trip was full of dreamy surprises. My favourite cheese experience was when Shayne and I went to Le Fer a Cheval in Chamonix, France. We were looking for the best fondue in town and this was recommended to us by a local. This restaurant is so popular that if you don’t have a reservation you most likely won’t get a table. So, we made a reservation and I then counted down the hours, minutes and seconds until fondue-ville.

Le Fer a Cheval

Stoked on life, we ordered the fondue with tomato sauce and potatoes. The cheese had tomato sauce in it and it came with bread and a huge basket of potatoes. I guess you can take the girl out of Pemberton but you can’t take Pemberton out of the girl. It was filling. It was delicious. It was everything that I had hoped for. After this experience, I felt inspired to create a life where fondue was present on a more regular basis.

Fondue in Chamonix

A few years ago, I celebrated Christmas with my in-laws in Kamloops. They decided to have a fondue dinner instead of a traditional Christmas dinner. This, my friends, was amazing. It’s was a very social experience and made dinner super-interactive. There was cheese fondue, oil, chocolate and many food options. However, there were no potatoes.

It’s impossible to scarf down dinner because you have to wait for your food to cook, bite by bite. We did this for a few years but took a break last year. This year we are bringing it back, Pemberton style (in Pemberton) and I’ve decided to call it a Very Merry Fonduemas. And yes, there will be potatoes.

Fondue round two, HERE I COME!

BONUS: Did you know that fondue originated in Switzerland? Praise the Swiss. Also, fondue recipes vary depending on the region that you are in. You can learn more about that HERE.

*I speak very little French but do know a few words. Just ask Shayne (pictured below) because he was witness to me trying to communicate in French while in France (which, I’m sure, was a painful experience for him).

December 10, 2018
Pumpkin Gnocchi
The rainy days of fall have come at last and today even a bit of the white stuff. But thanks to our extended August weather my garden saw yet another expansion complete with an Asian pear tree, perennials, and flowering bulbs; plus I finally got the garlic planted. My focus has taken a small hiatus from planning out next year to filling my freezer with quick dinner options for the dark hibernating nights of winter.

I don’t have kids but I ended up with pumpkins and carving them didn’t happen. I also had potatoes – go figure. So, I thought I’d channel my inner nonna, combine the two and make some gnocchi. To say I followed a single recipe would be far from the truth… more like scoured through a ton of websites and drew on certain elements from each to make one. Biased opinion or not I think it turned out pretty delicious. They are in no way gluten-free or dairy-free but rich in flavour and love.

Step Uno: Roast your pumpkin – cook your potatoes
- Cut your pumpkin into half, gut it and then cut it into wedges (save the seeds to roast). Place on a cookie sheet skin side down, drizzle with a bit of olive oil and season with salt & pepper. Bake at 350°F for about an hour then remove from the oven and set aside to cool. Scoop out all the flesh and keep aside 1½ cups – freeze the rest for a rainy day. While your pumpkin is cooking place 3 medium sized russet potatoes into a pot and start to boil them. There is no need to cut or take the skin off just place them in whole! This will help you achieve the perfect texture – fork tender no more no less. Remove them from the water and allow to cool completely. When they’re ready peel the skin off and either grate the potatoes or use a potato ricer to process them.
Step Two: Prepare your dough
- In a large bowl add your pumpkin, prepared potato, 2 egg yolks, some fresh grated nutmeg, 1 cup of ricotta, ¼ cup grated parmesan, salt and approximately ½ cup+ of oo Italian flour. Now some of you are probably wondering; what the hell is oo flour? Basically, it’s more refined then normal flour and while it’s not necessary for this recipe I think it creates a superior, silkier dough and helps the pasta maintain chewiness once cooked. But use whatever you have on hand. I’d also like to mention that the flour amount will vary and this is where “channeling your inner nonna” comes in. As a friend recounted to me from her recent trip to Italy where she learnt to make pasta with a real live nonna, “they don’t measure – they feel; and just know when it’s enough.” Start with only ½ cup of flour and use a wooden spoon to bring all the mixture together, adding in flour as you go until the dough does not feel wet any more. Turn the dough onto a floured surface and knead until smooth.
Step 3: Make your gnocchi
- Cut a slice of dough off and roll it out into a rope about ½” thick. Using a sharp knife cut your rope into 1” pieces. Keep flour on hand for this stage as well, you don’t want your gnocchi sticking to the counter. Use a fork or a gnocchi board to gently roll your pieces, creating texture on top and a small indent on the bottom to catch your sauce. Continue this formula until all the dough is used.
Step Quatro: Cook & eat!
- Bring some salted water up to a boil, working in small batches to cook your gnocchi. When they float to the surface they are done… it does not take long – do not leave them unattended. At this point the rest is up to you: skies the limit. Sauce them up with whatever your heart is craving. For this round I used A LOT of butter then some sage, chili pepper, garlic and toasted hazelnuts (plus a little extra pancetta I had on hand). Like with pasta I added a bit of the water the gnocchi was cooked in to make it extra saucy.
Step 5: Freeze your extras
- This recipe produces a lot of little gnocchi so I froze the extras in a single layer on cookie sheet lined with parchment (as seen in the featured image).
In my kitchen I experiment just as much, if not more, as I do in my garden. I did not nail this recipe on the first try and it’s still not nonna’s gnocchi but it’s mine. It’s really about how the more I cook, the more I learn, the more I love to do it and the more I eat! And, let’s be honest, there are way worse problems to have then a full stomach and heart.

Buon appetito!
November 9, 2018