I can smell it people. Can you? Green. Seriously green is a smell. That's the smell of grass starting to come up, bulbs pushing through and crocuses blooming. While Edmonton received 20 cms of snow this week it looks like spring is here to stay in Toronto (if we get a freak storm I'm sorry - I take full responsibility for tempting the interweb gods). For a month now I've been reading posts from people well south of us who are already enjoying cherry blossoms, asparagus and radishes. It's painful. I've had all the spring issues of my favourite cooking magazines taunting me with their spring menus and it all still seems so far off already for us here in Canada.
Evergreen has this handy chart on their website to let us know what we might find at the farmers market in early spring but I notice we've got to wait at least until May for asparagus. It's enough to make me want to move south - well except for that whole pesky health care thing. Oh well I suppose it will taste even better when it finally does arrive.
It's been a busy few weeks. We baked for Japan and at last count raised just over $28,000 at 6 locations around Toronto. That's a lot of cookies and cupcakes people! I met a lot of fantastic people and gorged myself on so many things I gained two pounds. Talk about a diet FAIL. I had a lot requests for recipes so I've copied the loaf recipes below, you can find the brownie recipe here and the fleur de sel caramels come by way of Shutterbean. A note for Canadians her recipe is in Fahrenheit and so you don't have to Google Fahrenheit/Celsius conversions at the last moment and burn a batch like someone (ahem ME) the temperature you want the caramels to reach is between 120-122 C.
Check out some of these awesome creations. See that second picture? They were tiny cake purses and were completely edible. I was in awe of the company I was in, it was all almost too pretty to eat - ALMOST.
This weekend is the Hubs' birthday and I've been tasked to bring a salad to the family birthday celebration. While pickings are still slim at the markets salads aren't out of the question at this time of year. There is an abundance of lovely Ontario cheeses, greenhouse baby greens and leftover root vegetables and apples from last fall. My favourites are the ash-coated goats cheese from Monforte Dairy or Fifth Town and they can easily take a salad from a simple side to meal.
Here is a lovely salad I threw together last weekend for a quick lunch after we were done our shopping. Greenhouse arugula, some of last fall's Empire apples, Lacey Grey goat cheese from Fifth Town, Westphalian Ham Prosciutto made near London, Ontario, candied almonds and some of the olive oil and balsamic left over from my trip to California.
I'm also gearing up to garden and am adding 3 new raised beds to the backyard this year. We're spending our Easter weekend building the beds and I've got soil and duck compost being delivered (very important for the carless) from this great company to fill those beds and mix in with my own compost from the backyard composter.
That's a lot to look forward to. What has got you excited this spring? What are you excited to cook or grow?
Lemon Raspberry Loaf
This lemon loaf recipe comes from my mom and it's origins are unclear - it's a photocopy of a photocopy she's had for at least 15 years. I decided to add the raspberries because I had a bunch in the freezer from last summer and I think raspberries and lemon are a great team. The cake is light and airy, not heavy like you expect from most pound cakes and loaves. The topping both soaks into the cake and forms a crunchy sugary crust.
1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 cup sugar
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 egg
1 cup sour cream or greek style yogurt (I've also used low fat sour cream and yogurt here with great results)
1/4 cup vegetable oil
2 tablespoons grated lemon peel
1/4 cup lemon juice (the juice from the citrus you zested)
1 carton fresh raspberries
Topping:
2/3 cup white sugar
1/3 cup lemon juice
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease and line a loaf pan with parchment and grease the parchment. In a large bowl, combine the dry ingredients. In your mixer bowl, whisk together the egg, sour cream or yogurt, oil, juice and zest. Add in the dry ingredients a bit at a time just until moistened. Transfer half the batter the loaf pan, sprinkle with raspberries and top with the remaining batter. Bake at 350 degrees F for 60-65 minutes or until a toothpick inserted near the center comes out clean. For topping, combine sugar and lemon juice. Spoon over bread while still in pan. Cool for 10 minutes before removing from pan to a wire rack to finish cooling.
Vanilla Citrus Pound Cake Variation
This variation was a happy accident. After dropping a whole tray of mini lemon loaves on the floor and feeding the beagles I needed to start over but realized we were low on lemons. I dug through the crisper and we did have a whole bunch of oranges and grapefruits. The addition of vanilla made me think of a Creamsicle and I may prefer this version to the original! Replace lemon zest with 3 tablespoons grated peel - I used a combination of orange, pink grapefruit and a bit of left over lemon because that's what I had on hand. Add 1/2 cup citrus juice (the juice from the citrus you zested) and 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Topping:
2/3 cup white sugar
1/3 cup orange and pink grapefruit juice
