Thursday, December 30, 2010

winter blues

I spent tonight curled up in an armchair, sipping peppermint tea and catching up on some cookbook reading. It had me dreaming about summer: homemade peach bellinis, berry tarts with a toasted nut crust, tangy marinated vegetables and sweet corn and heirloom tomato pizzas.


Will winter never end? Is it too late to start planning next year's garden? Time to start perusing the seed catalogues...

Sunday, December 26, 2010

apples at the farm

Pictures from Hart House Farm in October, on the Niagra Escarpment. It happened a while ago, but I finally had some free time on my hands to look through my photos. It's nice to think about the farm while in the middle of this cold, cloudy weather (without any snow to brighten things up... *sigh*).

butternut squash... again


I never knew butternuts last so long, but two of these ones, seen here in September, are still happily hanging out under my kitchen table waiting for this kind of delicious winter recipe:

Squash and Pear Soup

1 butternut squash, halved and de-seeded
olive oil
1 onion, diced
1 or 2 cloves of garlic, minced
4 or 5 sprigs of thyme
4 or 5 sage leaves
3 pears, peeled, cored and diced
4 cups vegetable stock
1 cup soy milk/milk/cream

Preheat oven to 375. Rub squash flesh with olive oil, and put facedown on a cookie sheet. Cook squash for 45 min to 1 hour, until tender. Meanwhile, saute onion in olive oil until translucent. Add herbs and pear and saute for another minute. Add vegetable stock and squash, and simmer for 10- 15 minutes, until pear is tender. Process the soup in a blender or use an immersion blender. Add the milk or cream and gently simmer until hot again. Serve!