Get Fresh Blog

I love the great outdoors… it’s a great place to GET FRESH! This past weekend, Steve and I lucked into a nice forested site at China Beach Campground just past Jordan River, west of Sooke. And just because I’m not equipped with a kitchen doesn’t mean I can’t cook and eat well. The trick is to do a little planning and preparation a day ahead of time.

With our camping trip in mind, I toured the bustling Sidney Market last Thursday evening, stocking up on local food: potatoes, carrots, green pepper, tomatoes, blueberries, cherries, and cinnamon raisin bread from the Bread Lady.

Day 1 Dinner – Picnic Style: Galloping Goose Sausages with homemade local Potato Salad and Cauliflower Salad

Galloping Goose Sausage with Homemade Local Potato Salad and Cauliflower Salad

I picked up the Galloping Goose Chorizo Sausage from the source (a 10 minute drive into Metchosin) a day in advance and froze two of them solid. The potatoes and carrots were procured at the Sidney Market, while the green onion and cauliflower remained from Tuesday’s trip to Daisy Farm.

TIP: “Field refrigeration” was achieved by keeping only the sausages and eggs in a much smaller cooler, packed full with ice, and ONLY opened to remove said sausages or eggs. This left the much bigger cooler for the other foodstuffs that merely had to stay “cool” but not “refrigerated.”

Local Potato Salad

Local Potato Salad Ingredients

10 small potatoes (Dan’s Farm)
1/2 jumbo green onion (Daisy Farm)
2 celery sticks
2 carrots, grated (Michell Valley Plants at Sidney Market)
1 lemon, juiced (2 tbsp)
3 heaping tbsp mayonaise
chives to taste (home garden)
2 tbsp fresh cilantro (home garden)

PREP/COOK at HOME: Halve then quarter potatoes into small bite size pieces. Boil potatoes for 10-15 minutes until tender. Meanwhile grate carrot, small-chop green onion and celery. Mix mayo, lemon juice, minced chives and cilantro in a bowl then stir in carrot, green onion and celery. When potatoes are cooked, strain and mix into the mixture, coating completely. Prepare the night before and refrigerate overnight; also allows the flavours to mingle!

Simple Cauliflower Salad

Cauliflower and Green Onion from Daisy Farm Sooke

1 small head of cauliflower (Daisy Farm)
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 tbsp lemon juice
3 tbsp olive oil

PREP/COOK at HOME: Chop cauliflower into small florets and boil 2-3 minutes until crisp-tender. Strain and refresh with cold water. Meanwhile mince garlic and mince with 2 tbsp lemon juice and 3 tbsp olive oil. Stir all together and add salt, pepper and cilantro to taste. Refrigerate overnight.

Day 2 Breakfast: Cinnamon Raisin French Toast

Cooking Cinnamon French Toast on the Coleman

This delicious cinnamon raisin bread came from The Bread Lady, who had a packed stall at the Sidney Market and by the end was totally SOLD OUT! Getting the cinnamon raisin bread meant I didn’t have to bring cinnamon with us (one less thing to pack).

2 eggs
4 slices bread
maple syrup

Cinnamon French Toast made with bread from The Bread Lady

COOK: As usual: crack eggs and scramble in a bowl with a fork, dunking two slices bread for each egg then cooking on a hot oiled frying pan. (We could’ve used more eggs for this one actually, as the bread just soaked the eggs up, being so fluffy and thick.)

SERVE with maple syrup. (Local can be had from the Jam Lady I wrote about a few weeks ago, who taps their own maple trees in Cassidy, north of Nanaimo.)

Dinner Day 2: Mexican-Inspired Chorizo with Beans and Rice

Mexican-Inspired Chorizo with Beans and Rice

2 pre-smoked Galloping Goose chorizo sausages, sliced
1 can black beans, organic, strained
1/2 cup rice
1 green pepper, diced (Dan’s Farm)
1 tomato, diced (Dan’s Farm)
cilantro to taste (home garden)

PREP at HOME: Slice sausages and freeze overnight in a ziplock bag. Mince garlic, chop green onion, green pepper, tomato; seal in separate small reusable containers. Measure and contain rice. Can of beans is a can of beans – don’t forget a can opener, which is also useful for its bottle cap opener!

COOK at CAMP: Start the rice first; bring 1.5 cups water to a boil, add rice, boil, then simmer for 15 minutes until rice absorbs water. In the meanwhile, heat oil in pan, cook garlic and green onion until fragrant (30-60 seconds). Add green pepper, cook until soft (5 min). Add pre-smoked chorizo, cook until golden (5 min). Add beans, heat through (5 minutes). Add tomatoes, heat through (3-5 minutes). Around this time your rice should be done and you can fluff it with a fork.

Chorizo with Beans and Rice served with local Blue Buck Ale

SERVE over rice and with a nice cold local Blue Buck Ale, courtesy our neighbours who traded it in exchange for use of our stove.

Breakfast Day 3: Pancakes with Local Blueberries and Canadian Maple Syrup

Steve pours maple syrup onto his pancakes with local blueberries

PRE-MIX DRY INGREDIENTS at HOME:
1 cup flour (rice flour)
1/4 tsp baking soda
1 tsp baking powder

TAKE WITH YOU:
3/4 cup almond milk
2 eggs
oil for the pan
maple syrup
blueberries (local)

COOK at CAMP: Scramble eggs in a bowl with a fork, mix in almond milk, then dry pre-mix. Mix, but do not over mix. Cook as usual, flipping when bubbles form and pancakes are a golden yellow.

SERVE topped with local blueberries and maple syrup. Eat with whatever utensils you have left – our neighbour walked away with our fork, but they did leave beer after all!

A word about convenience… sometimes it just works out to stop on the way home.

It is a sunny Tuesday afternoon and I am taking Dad to the hospital for another CT Scan, a follow up to his brush with cancer. I asked Elisabeth for a quick local shopping route; she knows Saanich well and quickly responds with a one hour route and a one-stop route. Dad is feeling drained after the CT Scan, so when I ask him, “Scenic route or short route?” he chooses the short route.

We drive north on Helmecken and turn left on Burnside Road West, following Elisabeth’s directions. A short drive down the road and there it is on the right, with a big bold sign: Granny’s Farm Stand. I pull over and read the smaller sign that says “Eggs Only. No produce. Farm stand closed because Granny passed away.” Sigh, sad to see. So we turn around and head home.

“Do you want to stop at the grocery store?” Dad asks me.

“Nah, the point is to find local food.” Then the idea pops in there. “Actually, there’s a place I’ve been meaning to stop. – I see it every time I pass on the bus on the way to Victoria. It’s less than 5 minutes from home (in the 17 Mile area).”

Daisy Farm

Eggs and Produce says the sign hanging cheerfully on the sea side of Sooke Road. I make the left without holding up a line of cars behind me and drive over a wooden bridge, crossing Vetch Creek, into the beautiful shaded garden, complete with ponds and various statues.

I meet Diane, who moved to Sooke in 1973, but has been farming the current piece of land for the last 10 years – a labour of love. She was kind enough to take me for a tour. We cross the creek again by foot bridge, into the field and into the garden, guarded by a high deer fence. Her produce grows well here in the fertile, moist soil next to the creek. (Unfortunately I do not have my camera with me, or there would be WAY more photos here!)

Fresh Picked

She asks me what I would like (I feel like a kid in a candy store) and picks it right in front of me – you don’t get much FRESHER than that! I tell her I am working on a salad / greens / picnic theme this week and choose a bagful of spinach, large handful of Swiss chard, a huge head of “Cheddar” variety of cauliflower and gigantic, long and very fragrant green onions (cue up the very summery Booker T!) – all for $7. Also growing: broccoli, peas, zucchini.

Diane tells me the lettuces – although of great shape and size – were pretty well turned by the heat, which makes them become bitter. She gives me one, just to try, for comparison. “But don’t base a meal around it,” she warns. Totally ok, as I already have a yummy Spinach Salad in mind (see recipe below).

A Sweet Goodbye

As we head out of the garden, a beautiful scent catches my nose, “What is that?” I ask.

“Sweet peas,” and she proceeds to pick me a bunch and hand them to me. “They come from the owner of the lavender farm, who brought them over from England.”

“Oh, thank you so much!” They will be my centre piece!

Daisy Farm is located at 4939 Sooke Road (North Sooke area) and open for farm gate sales daily, 11 am to dusk.

Spinach and strawberries with toasted hazelnuts, raspberry goat cheese and lemon honey dressing.

(I made a variation of this as my first of a four course Valentine’s Day dinner this year and it’s been a hit ever since.)

Salad:
1 bunch spinach (Daisy’s Farm)
2 cups strawberries (home grown)
1/3 cup hazelnuts
2 tbsp goat cheese

Dressing:
2 tbsp lemon juice
2 tbsp honey (Babe’s)
1 tbsp almond butter
1/4 tsp ground ginger

Toast nuts until golden and fragrant (keep ‘em rolling around the pan). Rinse and de-stem spinach and strawberries. Mix toasted nuts (while warm) with goat cheese, stirring until melted. Gently stir in strawberries and dressing. Finally toss mixture with spinach until coated. Enjoy!

Stay tuned for next week’s posts, using up the remaining ingredients…
Any favourites or suggestions of what to do with cauliflower?

This week’s Local Food Cooking Challenge post is really a bonus-extension from last week’s trip to Niagara Grocery in James Bay. I would like to focus on one interesting vegetable new to my repertoire.

“Try one of these,” Elisabeth says as we pass the box of kohlrabi, the strange, turnip-meets-cabbage shaped green vegetable.

“What’s can you do with it?” I have to admit, it’s a new one for me. (Never even heard of it before.)

“Lots.”

So I wiki it… High in potassium, fiber, and vitamins A and C, kohlrabi is a member of the Brassica family (same as broccoli, cauliflower and cabbage) and comes to harvest mid-summer to first frost.

Taste Test

Kohlrabi cut open reveals pretty little air pockets

Intrigued by this strange hybrid, I cut it open to find it’s quite pretty inside, with little fractal-like air pockets, and try a piece, raw. Its flavour sits somewhere between the slight fresh-bite of cabbage and the sweetness of the stem of broccoli.

INGREDIENTS:
3 small potatoes (locally grown can be found at Niagara Grocery or Red Barn Market)
1 kohlrabi
1 shallot
1 tsp chives
1 tsp dill
4 eggs
1/4 cup flour (I used brown rice flour)
1/2 tsp salt
2 tbsp butter

PREP: Wash (and peel if needed) and grate potatoes. Wash kohlrabi, peel any soiled parts off, chop top and bottom off, quarter and grate. Squeeze out excess liquid. Peel and dice shallot.

COMBINE: Mix grated potatoes and kohlrabi, diced shallot, chives and dill with your hands in a large bowl. Whisk 4 eggs in separate bowl and mix into kohlrabi. Mix in flour a little at a time.

COOK: Heat butter in pan on Medium. Make a flat patty from a small handful and cook 1-2 minutes each side until lightly golden. You can dish ‘em out as they come off hot or reserve on a warming plate or in a warm oven.

SERVE warm with a dollop of mayo, fresh sliced apples and salt/pepper to taste. Serves 4.

Inspired by the Kohlrabi Latke recipe from Gaia Naturopathic Clinic
Kohlrabi & Potato Gratin and Kohlrabi Potato Bake also look delicious as well!