Archives: News

Ottawa culinary fundraisers persist and pivot, despite COVID-19 challenges faced by charities and restaurants. Read more

https://ottawamagazine.com/eating-and-drinking/its-been-a-real-privilege-to-do-this-pandemic-sees-chefs-restaurateurs-donate-thousands-of-meals/

You may not have noticed that we are now carrying a small and carefully curated selection of Ontario Wines. The newest addition to our Retail Team – Sheri – comes from the Restaurant Industry and does she know her wines! Sheri has an exceptional palate and knows how to pick winners. Armed with only the following instructions; choose Ontario wines from small producers and only select wines that are not available in the LCBO – Sheri has created an exciting selection to offer in store to our clients.

Our current line up includes:

Rosewood Pure Imagination Orange Wine – Rosewood’s inaugural skin contact white – a blend of Gerwurtztraminer and Pinot Gris with loads of floral notes, grapefruit and white nectarine. This wine is super interesting and bone dry. Bottled without fining or filtration this wine would pair well with our Indian & Middle Eastern dishes. Along with the beautiful labelling, Rosewood have added a fun and whimsical contest to keep the theme of the wine alive! 10

Rosewood Follow the White Rabbit Chardonnay -Most chardonnays can be rich and oaky, this chardonnay is much leaner and less oak dominated. With the addition of 10% Pinot gris the wine has lots of tropical, floral, and citrus notes. This would be great with our lobster roll, any fish dish, or lighter seasoned chicken or pork dishes. Serve well chilled.

Rosewood Night Moves Gamay – Living and Yum! This Gamay dances on your tongue, lighter bodied with loads of cherry and raspberry, this wine is smooth with a slight bitter finish. Pair with pretty much anything, can be enjoyed slightly chilled. Try it alongside charcuterie or some tasty appetizers.

Lightall The Fence Sparkling Rosé – We are thrilled to welcome Lighthall’s  2019 “The Fence” Sparkling Rosé to our roster of Ontario wines.
They are a small family owned and operated winery producing low intervention wines located in beautiful Prince Edward County. This Sparkling is made from Pinot Noir, then re-fermented using the Charmat Method. The nose features bright notes of strawberry, cherry, and raspberry. Wonderfully crisp and fruity while still refreshingly dry, this wine matches exceptionally with spicy red sauce and sweet red bell peppers.

Rosewood No Bad Days Sangria – This is just pure fun am I right?! This Sangria is a collaboration with WIllibald Distillery using their pink gin, this sangria has loads of blueberry juice, niagara peaches and the Rosewoods honey wine. Packaged in eco-friendly and recyclable wine pouches. They are freezer proof and an ideal drinking partner for the porch, backyard, park, beach or golf course. Store and serve well chilled over ice. Add your favourite fruit or sparkling water to jazz it up a few notches. Pair with anything. 

Like everything we do, as we move through the seasons our selection will change, and the wines have been specifically chosen to pair well with food.

This coming Sunday May 11 is Mother’s Day and like everything else in the world these days, it’s hard to know how to celebrate any occasion during a pandemic. Normally I would plan to have my Mom come over for lunch but since I work with the public, and she is a higher risk senior citizen, we won’t be doing that.

So how can we ‘Treat Mom’ during a pandemic. Here are some ideas I thought I would share:

The Garden Centres are now allowed to open and even the ones that are not fully open to the public yet are offering pre-order and curbside pick-up like Green Thumb Garden Centre in Nepean. You can pick up a hanging plant or some seedlings for Mom and leave it on her porch.

Many other small food businesses are creating Mother’s Day assortments that you can order for pick up or delivery. The Foodgressing blog has a good list of those that are offering a Mother’s Day Brunch for pick up or delivery. The Love Local Delivery site has a full list of locally owned restaurants offering food for delivery, and some of those restaurants are offering options for Mother’s Day.

Flowers are always nice, and as a Mom who LOVES flowers I can assure you that flowers are never a bad idea. Our good friends at Bloomfields are open for pick up or delivery and their bouquets are always beautiful.

A gift card to Mom’s favourite store as a great idea. You accomplish two things at once – support a small business that’s been impacted by the pandemic, and give Mom something to look forward to. Some of these shops, like Delilah’s are offering order by phone, curbside pick up and in some cases delivery. In her display window, Eva has given each item on display a number to make it easier for you to look and order. If any of my children are reading this, I really like these shoes 🙂

Lastly, since we all have so much more time on our hands, you could bake Mom a treat. These delicious scones make a great base for jam, clotted cream, or cheese!

Lemon Lavender Scones

4

cups all purpose flour

1.5

teaspoons baking powder

2

teaspoons salt

¾

pounds butter, chilled & cubed

4

eggs

¾

cups cream (35%)

½

cup maple syrup

juice from 1 lemon

zest from 1 lemon

2

teaspoons of organic lavender buds

Whisk together all of the dry ingredients until combined. Cut the butter into small pieces and work into the flour by hand until the mixture resembles small peas. Tip: we often do this step in a food processor on the pulse setting but be careful not to over mix.

Whisk the eggs with the cream and maple syrup & lemon juice. Make a well in the flour mixture and pour in the liquid. Add the zest & lavender. Fold gently until combined. Do no over-mix.

Scoop out the dough onto a baking sheet lined with parchment paper using a ½ cup scoop. You can also roll out the dough and cut with a knife or round cutter. The shape is really up to you. At this point the scones can be frozen and stored to be baked off fresh at a later date. The baking time might vary by a few minutes.

Bake at 325 degrees for 30 to 40 minutes or until golden brown. Test centre for doneness using a toothpick. All ovens cook differently so baking time can vary significantly.

Our industry has been hit incredibly hard by this pandemic, which is now in it’s 7th week of lockdown. The results of a recent Restaurants Canada survey are in, and the findings are deeply worrisome. One out of every two independent restaurants say they are worried they might not survive the next few months. The latest announcement about rent relief, although welcome by small business owners, has not been popular with all landlords. And truthfully, even paying only 25% of your rent is a hardship when your business has been forced to close, and your revenues are zero.

The most recent survey results from The Canadian Federation of Independent Business shows that even those businesses that remain open are seeing their revenue drop by more than half. With only 21% of independent business in Canada fully open at this time, we are feeling very grateful at the Red Apron to be one of the really fortunate few. The same survey showed that most businesses would need to see their revenue return to 75% of what would be ‘normal’ to even make it worthwhile re-opening, meaning that 75% of the ‘normal’ revenue is what is required to cover the costs of being open.

The government has facilitated a $40,000 loan for small businesses, but paying expenses with no revenue in sight means small business owners are racking up debt with no idea of when, or if they might be able to start earning money to repay the debt.

The Federal and Provincial governments are doing their best to help steer us through this crisis, and I appreciate their efforts and intentions. That doesn’t make it any less stressful for those small business owners who are trying to make decisions on the future of their businesses without a crystal ball to guide them. Premier Ford’s announcement yesterday did not offer up any clarity.

And still, with all of that uncertainty and despair, I see these same small business owners stepping up to do what they can to help their community. Chef Joe Thotthungal from Restaurants Thali & Coconut Lagoon is working with The Community Foundation of Ottawa to cook thousands of meals for those in need in our community, using out of work cooks from the industry who are volunteering their time to help with this effort.

Jo-Ann Laverty from Marcies Kitchen and Jessie Duffy from Arlington 5 are both working with Go Fund Me campaigns to raise money to cook and donate meals through partnerships with the Parkdale Food Centre.

Our own efforts to provide meals through Parkdale have resulted in more than 1600 meals going to our community to serve people living in rooming houses, seniors who are shut in with no family support, and women in shelters, through organizations like Cornerstone, and Somerset West Community Health Centre. If you would like to contribute to this effort you can donate here.

So what’s needed at this time to make things feel a bit better? How about a bowl of comforting soup and a delicious grilled cheese sandwich? For some reason this childhood combination always makes me feel better.

Classic Tomato Soup (available in our retail store)

Ingredients:

2

tablespoons canola or olive oil

1

medium onion, chopped

2

cloves garlic, minced

12

large tomatoes, chopped and (peeled & de-seeded if you prefer)

2

tablespoons sugar

½

cup water

4

sprigs thyme

¼

cup heavy cream

2

tablespoons butter

salt and pepper to taste

Heat oil in a large saucepan over medium heat. Add onions and garlic and continue to cook for 5 minutes until translucent. Add tomatoes and sugar. Continue to cook for an additional 5 minutes. Add water and thyme. Simmer for about 25 minutes.

Remove sprigs of thyme. Puree the soup in a food processor or with a hand blender. If you prefer a fine soup, you can pass through a sieve. If you prefer a more rustic soup you can puree until chunky. Pour soup back into the pot. Warm gently. Stir in the cream and butter. Season with salt and pepper to taste.

Best Ever Grilled Cheese

For the best ever grilled cheese sandwich I encourage you to study this video from the movie Chef, starring Jon Favreau.

If your mouth doesn’t water watching this clip then you are not ‘grilled cheese worthy’ and you should make yourself a peanut butter sandwich. The key elements for a good grilled cheese are white bread (sourdough is fine), butter is essential, and the oil stops the butter from burning. For cheese, you’ve got to go with your favourites. I’m a fan of sharp cheeses, so my favourite grilled cheese would include aged ‘Iles aux Grues’ cheddar, and because I’m all grown up now, it would also include a sliver or two of Mountainoak Black Truffle cheese – both of which we carry in our retail store.

Hang in there, stay strong and most of all, be kind, especially to small business owners who need your support now, and even more so when this is all over.

One thing I have observed about this difficult time, is that those who are staying at home are turning to activities that we can’t normally find time to do, like cleaning, gardening, and cooking. My guess is that you will see many more people planting vegetable gardens this year and if you have tried to buy flour or other basic ingredients in the grocery stores, you will notice that the shelves are bare.

Bread baking is becoming a national sport with people making their own sourdough breads and starters. You can order starters online from places like Almanac Grains, or try your hand at making one yourself.

If you looking for something a little more adventurous you can try your hand at making cheese. Glengarry Cheesemaking is a great source for recipes, equipment, tools and cultures. I suggest you start with something simple like yogurt, or ricotta, neither of which require any special tools or equipment. Once you have mastered those, you can progress to something a little more challenging like mozzarella!

My personal passion of late has been making fresh pasta. I’ve been experimenting with different grains from Almanac Grains which can be ordered for pick up curbside at Dominion City Brewery.

My recent effort utilized a new tool called a cavatelli board, that yielded this beautiful looking pasta, made using a combination of 00 Durham and Emmer wheats.

If you are looking for inspiration, we carry a number of beautiful books in our store which can be added to your delivery order. The most recent addition is Chef Lynn Crawford’s Farm to Chef. This beautiful book follows the seasons providing recipe ideas using local and in-season ingredients. Lynn owner the popular Toronto eatery called Ruby Watchco, where her format features a fixed price daily four course menu, focused on seasonal and local ingredients. Her approach to cooking and eating is very similar to ours which is why we are big fans of her business and her cookbooks.

Since we are serving up Fried Chicken this week, I’m sharing a link to Lynn’s recipe for Buttermilk Fried Chicken. To go with that delicious chicken, let’s celebrate one of the first vegetables of our local season. Below is Lynn’s Recipe for a Raw Asparagus Salad.

Serves 4

Lemon Herb Yogurt

½ cup (125 mL)

plain Greek yogurt

2 tablespoons (30 mL)

lemon juice

1 teaspoon (5 mL)

grated lemon zest

1 teaspoon (5 mL)

thyme leaves

2 tablespoons (30 mL)

flat-leaf parsley leaves

2 tablespoons (30 mL)

chopped chives

Kosher salt and cracked black pepper

Raw Asparagus Salad

1 pound (450 g)

asparagus, trimmed

4 cups (1 L)

frisée leaves

2 tablespoons (30 mL)

extra-virgin olive oil

Juice of ½ lemon

Kosher salt and cracked black pepper

To Serve

¼ cup (60 mL)

shaved Parmesan cheese

2 tablespoons (30 mL)

toasted pine nuts

1 tablespoon (15 mL)

finely chopped chives

Make the Lemon Herb Yogurt

1. Place yogurt, lemon juice, lemon zest, thyme, parsley and chives in a blender and process until blended. Season to taste with salt and pepper.

Prepare the Raw Asparagus Salad

2. Using a vegetable peeler, slice asparagus spears lengthwise into thin ribbons. Place in a large bowl and add frisée, olive oil and lemon juice. Toss to coat. Season to taste with salt and pepper.

3. Spoon Lemon Herb Yogurt onto a chilled serving dish. Top with asparagus- frisée mixture, then with Parmesan, pine nuts and chives.

The weather is warming, the tulip, crocus and daffodil buds are pushing their heads out of the soil, and it rains almost every day, so it must be spring! It was hard to notice that it came on March 19th, because it was just a few days after we went into full lockdown. But like it does every year, spring did come.

In a few weeks the trees and grass will start to green, and we might even see a flower or two. The days will get warmer, and longer. It’s hard not to feel optimistic when this transition is taking place.

Easter itself is a celebration of spring. For Christians Easter is associated with the resurrection of Christ. The Pagan ritual of Spring Equinox is a celebration of change and renewed life. Throughout history, spring is celebrated in many ways. In Northern India, Hindus celebrate Holi by wearing white and throwing coloured powders at each other. Thailand celebrates with a giant water fight. In Japan the appearance of the Cherry Blossoms in late March and early April is cause for celebration. And in Ottawa, we have typically celebrated spring with our Tulip Festival in May, which will be a bit different this year, but the tulips will still bloom.

So how can we celebrate spring during this time of isolation? My first thought is we can get out into our gardens. If you are fortunate enough to have a small yard, there is always work to do cleaning up after the winter. Maybe this year you can plant a few extra tulips? A number of places, like Brecks, will deliver the bulbs right to your home. If you don’t have a garden, you can plant the bulbs in pots in your home.

If you have been thinking about a new bike, there is no better time to order one from one of the local cycle shops. You can choose the bike of your dreams and have it delivered or made available for curb-side pick up. The Cyclery and Joe Mama’s are both fulfilling orders and offering repairs and tune ups.

There is always a good Spring Cleaning! I don’t know too many people who really enjoy cleaning, and these days there are a lot of us who contract out that task to someone else. But what better time to give your home and garage a deep clean? Make your grandmother proud of you and get down on your hands and knees and give your house a good scrub. Turns out there are lots of websites out there with step-by-step instructions on how do do it properly.

To help with your Spring Cleaning we are carrying the Lemon Aide counter cleanser and dish soap in our retail store, and these items can be added to your delivery orders too.

Finally, you can teach yourself something you don’t know. My sister taught herself how to repair her dishwasher by following YouTube videos. I know a number of people who are teaching themselves how to bake bread from scratch. Our good friends at Almanac Grains are offering their heritage grain flours for delivery by Canada Post or pick up at Dominion City Brewery and their website is full of great recipes including this one for sourdough bread.

This is a great base sourdough method which, once mastered, can be adapted to include other heritage flours.

Recipe

Ingredients

100g (1/2 cup)

active sourdough starter

200g (200ml)

water

300g (2 cups)

Almanac Red Fife Whole Grain Flour

6g (1 tsp)

salt

Instructions

Step 1

Mix starter and water with fingers until starter has mostly dissolved and mixture is frothy.

Step 2

Mix in flour with your hands just until it is well incorporated and there are no dry pockets of flour. Dough should feel slightly sticky, but not overly wet or sloppy. Add additional flour or water if needed. Let rest, covered for 20-30 minutes.

Step 3

Sprinkle salt evenly over the surface of the dough. With wet hands, dimple and pinch in salt to mix evenly, gently squishing and folding the dough in on itself, while trying to avoid tearing the dough (if dough seems stiff, now is a good time to add a small amount of additional water.) Let rest, covered for 20-30 minutes.

Step 4

Gently stretch and fold the dough over itself four times, rotating 90 degrees after each fold. Repeat four sets of stretch and folds every 20-30 minutes.

Step 5

Allow dough to rest, covered, at warm room temperature for a total of four to eight hours until it has a slightly domed top, visible bubbles on the surface, and has increased slightly in volume (in a clear container, dough should have evenly dispersed bubbles throughout)

Step 6

Gently ease dough out onto a lightly floured surface. Shape into desired shape and place into proofing bowl or basket, lined with a generously floured towel, or directly into greased loaf pan. Allow to proof, covered, at room temperature for 1-3 hours, until visibly increased by 25-50% in size and the surface of the dough springs back slowly when poked.

OR

Place in refrigerator to proof overnight (8-16 hours), remove from fridge immediately before baking.

Step 7

Preheat oven and baking vessel (if using) to 500 degrees for 30 minutes.

Turn out shaped loaf onto crumpled parchment paper, score with a bread lame or sharp knife, and carefully transfer into hot baking vessel (lifting the edges of parchment like a sling.)

Immediately reduce temperature to 475F and bake, covered, for 20 minutes.

Remove lid and bake for an additional 20-25 minutes, until desired colour is reached, and the loaf sounds hollow when tapped on the bottom.

Allow to cool for at least one hour before slicing.

Restaurants in Ottawa and eastern Ontario offering an Easter dinner for take out or delivery. Read more

We could all use a little good news and it’s out there, you just have to dig for it. In our own little world, we will have managed (by Thursday this week) to donate 1000 dinners to our community to help those in need through our partnership with Parkdale Food Centre. We feel very proud of this accomplishment because we achieved this at a time when the world was changing daily. Our team has worked incredibly hard to feed our customers, so it wasn’t easy to squeeze out an additional 1000 meals for donation, but we did it! The food has gone to organizations like Cornerstone Housing for Women, and Somerset West Community Health Centre, to name a few.

Similar initiatives have popped up in our community, led by a Restaurant Industry which has been devastated by this Pandemic. Over 800,000 restaurant industry workers have lost their jobs but some of them still find a way to give back to the community.

Jo-Ann at Marcie’s Cafe has a go fund me campaign that will allow her to cook for the community in need. Chef Jo Thottungal at Thali Restaurant has also partnered with the Ottawa Community Foundation to provide meals to our community, using chefs from Ottawa’s many closed restaurants to cook meals for those in need.

One of our clients was inspired by our efforts to feed our community, and wanted to donate to these efforts. It gave us the idea to create a page where others could donate too. If you choose to make a contribution to these efforts, we assure you that this money will go ‘exclusively’ towards providing meals through our Parkdale partnership – providing food to those in need in our community.

There are many other great examples of people in our community doing good things for each other. Even the smallest thing can be a big help at times like this. For example;

Check in on neighbours to see if they need help. The elderly or those with very young children might be struggling to get out for groceries. If you are healthy and able you might be able to run an errand or two on their behalf.

Order in dinner from your favourite restaurants. Many of them are starting to offer take away meals. They need your support right now. Edible Ottawa has created an excellent list of local businesses that need your support right now.

Support those on the front lines with meals and gift cards. For those providing front line services and support and working hard during this pandemic, finding time to shop or cook can be a real challenge. We have been overwhelmed with people buying food for others, like the client who is picking up 50 meals and 50 cookies this Saturday to deliver to the respiratory care ward of one of our Ottawa Hospitals. It’s a beautiful thing to bear witness to.

Give blood. We all have it and we can all spare a little.

Leave messages of hope and positivity. Whether it’s a picture in your window facing the street, a joke left on a billboard or signpost, or a message of love painted on a rock, there are so many ways to leave little ‘Easter Eggs’ of hope for people to find.

And finally, during this desperate time, look for the good things every day. They are there, in abundance.

Take care, be well, and be kind,

 

I will be honest with you, my friends. Operating a business during this time is like tip toeing through a minefield. The landscape changes daily, as to human emotions. The vast majority of us that believe that if we can continue to be kind, patient, and careful, we can get through this.

We are all having to learn new habits, and resist the urge we have to connect both physically, and emotionally with those we encounter.

At this time where what the people of the world need is a ‘hug’, we are being told not to touch. In those moments where we crave the company and companionship of others, we are told to isolate. When the thing that will soothe our anxiety is movement, distraction, and interaction, we are forced to stay home, avoid parks, and stay out of the gym.

People are being ticketed, warned, fined, chastised, shamed, and confronted. I understand the reasons why, but believe a more considerate approach might be as effective – a soft-spoken word, or a bit of patience, a kind reminder. Some people are becoming quick to jump to the wrong conclusion out of fear. Last week we were accused of ‘serving customers food to eat in our store’ (not true), ‘not caring about our community’ (not true) and ‘not taking any precautions to protect our staff and customers’ (also not true).

Yesterday I was in line at the grocery store and I asked the young woman who was serving me if people were ‘being nice’. Unfortunately she said ‘not always’, which made me sad. But she was cheery, and pleasant and helpful and I thanked her for keeping her spirits up and finding it within herself to still ‘be kind’.

‘Being Kind’ makes all the difference. You can take any difficult, challenging, and frustrating situation and make it 100 times better with kindness. I waited on hold for 3 hours this weekend with my bank. I needed an error resolved and I would have had every right to be frustrated. When I finally got through, the exhausted agent was so grateful that I was ‘kind’ that I knew that she had spent the entire day being yelled at. I asked her how she was doing. We chatted for a few minutes about how difficult times are and I wished her a speedy end to her shift. It took very little energy on my part and made her very long day a tiny bit better.

There are little things we can do to help ease the tension. Limit time on social media and news. I check in 3 times throughout the day, following only local news sites reporting facts, and checking in with Ottawa Public Health for advice and updates.

I am trying not to engage in conversations that are related to the epidemic. It’s OK to tell friends, family and coworkers that you would prefer not to discuss it. Keeping busy helps, and we certainly are busy here at the Red Apron.

For me, flowers help and many places, like our good friends at Bloomfields in the Glebe, are delivering to your door.

The Peace Room is offering guided meditations and workshops online, and asking us all to join them this Saturday for a worldwide meditation. Many other fitness and yoga services are offering online options for both group sessions, and one on one.

And bake cookies! The smell alone will make you feel better. You don’t even have to eat them if you are worried about your waistline. You can leave them on the doorstep of your friends and family members like a little ‘cookie hug’.

Follow this link to a recipes for cookies, loaves and bars we baked over the holidays a few years ago! You can let out your creative energy decorating some of them for Easter, which is just around the corner!