It’s a mere 30 paces from our deck to the beachfront, which is really what these weekends are really all about.  Long lazy days are spent swimming, fishing and kayaking. Evenings are spent around a roaring fire, laughing, discussing and generally enjoying being together as a family .

What is most enjoyable to me about these weekends is that we choose to cook over an open firepit. Most Saturday mornings, after drinking a pot of campfire coffee, we drive to the Combermere Farmers Market and source out the ingredients for that nights dinner.

The market is not yet in full swing and the variety of vegetables is lean (growing season is slightly behind Ottawa’s). Nonetheless, we have been able to piece together some memorable meals.

Recently, our Saturday night ‘Farmer’s Market’ feast consisted of delicious ‘Schulist Family Farm’ grassfed beef T-Bone steaks.  We also purchased a pound of organic shiitake mushrooms from Henry at the ‘Aldergrove Mushroom Farm’ booth. After adding local organic asparagus to our basket and some of the world’s best butter-tarts, we were ready to head back.  A quick detour into Killaloe for a bottle of Bonneterra Organic Cabernet Sauvignon and we were set.

Escaping for the weekend always rejuvenates and prepares me for the busy work week that follows. This is truly our little piece of paradise!

It’s so easy and oh so delicious! Make sure to carefully wash and dry the herbs!

1 3/4 c. organic basil (from Roots and Shoots)
1/4 c. parsley
1/3 c. hemp seeds (Stone Farm)
2 cloves garlic, peeled and crushed (from Jambican)
3/4 c. Sheep’s Milk Nettle Pecorino cheese (Canreg Station)
1/2 tsp. Salty Don’s smoked maple salt
1/2 c. hemp seed oil (Stone Farm)

Pulse everything EXCEPT THE OIL together in your food processor until they are finely minced but not a paste.

Put in a bowl and mix in the oil.

You can freeze it in ice cube trays if you have leftovers, serve it with a pasta salad, grill it on chicken or fish, make potato salad, eat it from the spoon or use your imagination.

These events can sometimes be compared to sale day at Filenes Basement, with participants kicking, punching, and elbowing their way to the best goods.  But ours was quite civilized, although it did include mulled wine and spiked apple cider!

Who knows where this tradition started.  Many cultures share a history of community baking. The ruins of Pompeii show evidence of public ovens where people brought their bread to be baked and through the ages communities all over the world often shared public ovens which would be fired up daily, or weekly.  These ovens became a community gathering place, where stories were told, problems were solved, and women found companionship and support.   I like to think that this is the root of the Cookie Exchange.

Our staff work hard to put great food on the table for our clients and this time of year is especially busy.  It doesn’t always leave us a lot of time to do our own preparations for the holiday season. So last Saturday we closed our shop at 2pm and baked our tooshies off!

Many pounds of butter, chocolate and flour later – we went home to stuff our cupboards and freezers with a selection of tasty treats.  The favourites of the day were Justine’s Millionaire Shortbread cookies which took top prize for the most intricate and exciting cookie with layers of shortbread, chocolate and dulce la leche…mmmmm…  Jo-Ann’s Peanut Butter Chocolate Balls were the easiest no-bake kid friendly.   Jacqui’s Ginger Snaps took top honours for the spiciest cookie we have ever tried!  Christopher took home the ‘ how to impress your mother’ prize’. Our 18 year old dishwasher, cook in training, and in-house photographer took 12 dozen cookies home to share with his Mom.  We all enjoyed his Peanut Butter Oatmeal cookies too!

Season’s Greetings!

The process, I must tell you, is quite labour intensive.  First, we start with premium Ontario Duck Legs – which are slowly braised in a mixture of figs, white wine and aromatics for 2 hours.

When they are cool enough to handle, the meat is carefully stripped from the bones and set aside, while the bone and juices are dumped into a large stock pot and simmered for a day – to reduce to a rich, flavourful sauce.

For our first batch we started with 70 Kilos of duck!

Meanwhile, batches and batches of Pie Crust dough was made – using butter, lard, organic flour and local eggs.

Many cultures have a traditional food that resembles a meat pie in some way but the Oxford English Dictionary traces the first use of the word “pie” as it relates to food to 1303. In the Middle Ages, pies were the specialty of patissiers.