Nostalgic Trip to Fall Harvest Festivals

Just a short post... but I couldn't resist sharing tonights supper. Usually, people in the middle of freezing, blizzardy weather think of Spring or wish for Summer. Somehow my dinner reminded me of trips to St Jacobs, Ontario in the Fall where you can still see Mennonite farmers on their buggies, eat the most wonderful sausages, and pick up beautiful Brussels sprouts, beets and every other Autumn harvest treat at the farmers market.

Instead of St Jacobs market, my stash of Brussels sprouts, beets and the Sweet Turkey Fennel Sausages came from last week's trip to the Halifax Seaport Market. The Beet & Potato Hash comes from Mango Cheeks at Allotment 2 Kitchen - I've been dreaming about it for two weeks and finally got around to making it. It tastes even better than it looks and will be on my menu often. The Roasted Brussels Sprouts and Pecans is an old standby.

Local Delicacies Continue

I couldn't decide which view best showed off these Seared Scallops, Pickled Beets & Goat Cheese with Maple Buttermilk Dressing . The overhead shot above or the close up below.


Regardless of which photo you prefer, I'm glad that Chef Craig Flinn of Chives Canadian Bistro included the plating technique with the recipe in his latest book Fresh Canadian Bistro: Top Canadian chefs share their favourite recipes. I've written about it here, and interviews with Chef Craig here and here.

Many chefs share their recipes, but this is the first time, I was specifically given a special "restaurant" plating and...as we all know...we first eat with our eyes. The other thing that's even more important is the use of the freshest, highest quality ingredients you can get you hands on, which doesn't necessarily mean you have to spend a fortune for a glorious meal.

True, the scallops did cost $15 for a pound - that serves 3-4 (or in our case, we did indulge and eat them all at one sitting - just the two of us), the rest of the ingredients - greens, beets, goat cheese, dressings...used small amounts of the most delightful things that will be used all week in many a different form.

I don't normally do an entire post about one dish...but this one is so fabulous, made even better because of all the local ingredients, I had to share. In fact, everything except the pecans comes from Nova Scotia and all purchased at the Halifax Farmers Market, lucky me.

What's your favorite dish/meal using local ingredients?