Local Delicious

I love Indian food but am completely intimidated by the spices. And I’ve never been good with putting together sauces. I know people who can put a dab of this and a dab of that and create amazing things. While I enjoy the final outcome, I’ve always suspected this requires a special sensitivity to taste that I greatly admire but do not possess.

My confession: I’ve resorted to buying pre-made, bottled sauces and some pre-packed dishes. This approach does require careful reading of the ingredients label to screen out unnecessary sugar, salt and chemicals, which significantly limits one’s options. Fortunately with pre-fab Indian the contents are most often real food, rather than chemical facsimiles thereof.

It’s definitely easy. Still, using bottled sauces can get pretty expensive. And I don’t have as much control as I’d like about the type and quality of cooking fat and other ingredients used, either.

Solution!

I was at the EAT! Fraser Valley show last weekend and came across the perfect answer to my quest for fast, easy, and healthy Indian food at home: Ace Curries To Go. Let me just say, the smell from the booth is what drew me in; the taste of chickpea curry (a.k.a. channa masala) is what sold me.

Based in North Vancouver, BC, Ace Curries to Go is making curry super easy for the gourmet-challenged among us, myself included. In fact, I suspect they may have made this product just for me:

• They work their magic with a variety of curry spice mixes including, prawn vindalo, chicken korma, and aloo ghobi (potato & cauliflower)
• Each bottle includes a shopping list of basics you’ll need to complete the meal. You can add/experiment as you like
• Ready to heat sauces in a bottle are also available if you’re in a rush, and
• If you truly don’t have time to shop or think, you can pick up a curry kit that includes everything you need

There is no MSG, salt or preservatives — just a whole lot of spices in just the right proportions.

I intend to take their advice tonight and “Be the chef that you can be! COOK WITHOUT FEAR MY FELLOW CURRY CONNOISSEURS!!” That and a bottle of spices are all the encouragement I need to get started.

On my daily walk-about last week I found myself at Home Grow-In, a corner store just 2 blocks west of Cambie that stocks only natural and/or organic BC grown produce and BC made products. The plentiful produce from around the province looked absolutely delicious.

For those days you just can’t make it to your farmers market, chances are Home Grow-In has what you need. And you might just decide to join their buyer’s co-op, similar to a community supported agriculture program (CSA) but with a wider selection of products.

196 West 18th Avenue, Vancouver
Open 7 days a week to 8:00 pm

Ever since I was a kid I’ve noticed that the impression a meal makes on me is directly proportionate to the lengths I went to in order to prepare it. Like when I go fishing whatever I catch tastes great, way better than any fancy local fishmonger bought equivalent. Having an inquisitive mind with a bit of analytical twist, being a foraging enthusiast and a lifelong foodie I decided to put that theory to the test.

So last fall off I went with my mushroom guru Sequoia Lesosky to see what can be found in a local forest floor this time of year, and I came home with a variety of exotic mushrooms. I also bought some wild mushrooms of the same or similar kind on Granville Island Market to use in the same recipes for my “control group”. I patiently waited until tomorrow when I prepared a feast of three different dishes from the wild and bought mushrooms and shared them with my family. The verdict?

To my family there was no discernible difference. To me the wild stuff tasted stronger and quite different than any of the store bought stuff, which is what I sort of expected as for me it wasn’t a blind tasting – I knew which was which. And then I decided that it must be that the difference is owed to the residual “spirit of the hunt”. It took a lot of effort to get the whole thing together, and it was all in my plate. In theirs? It was just soup or risotto or whatever. I decided they missed out. I am taking my family with me the next time I take to the forest.

As the beautiful spring sun begins to awaken our gardens ’tis the season to start growing your own gourmet mushrooms. It’s not as hard as you’d think!

Start with a mushroom block. It’s a super easy way to keep yourself stocked up on delicious mushrooms throughout the year. The blocks come pre “seeded” and just need to be kept moist and cool. And, if properly cared for, each block can produce 3 to 4 crops.

The mushroom blocks, supplied by Western Biologicals Ltd. here in BC, will be available by the end of February. Email stephanie.lynn.leclair@gmail.com to reserve yours, instructions included. Last season’s sold out quickly, so order early!

Shiitake and Oyster blocks are available for $15 each with $1 from each block going to support VanGrow, the Vancouver backyard garden growing club.

Oh, and if you can’t get to mushrooms, they will come to you.

Bicycle delivery is available for an additional $2 if you live within the delivery area (west of Main St., north of 41st Ave, and downtown Vancouver). Map

Woman may not be able to live by bread alone, but if I had to try I’d be choosing Silver Hills. Silver Hills bakery has been around for a long time with their signature Squirrelly bread, but you may think they’re new because they’ve recently re-branded (good job!). They’ve got a fresh new look, and a fun new cheeky attitude. I burst out laughing – out loud – at the grocery store, reading the backs of each package. (Each flavour has its own story, take a moment to look for them next time you’re in the bread aisle.)

In addition to Squirrelly, there are 8 other flavours. Hardy Hearty Harvest is my favourite…I think. It’s hard to choose.

A BC home grown success story, Silver Hills keeps ingredients simple and literally easy-to-read. Their sprouted grain innovation, which uses various grain sprouts in place of flour, gives gluten sensitive souls some it’s-hard-as-a-puck options. Wait, I think I hear dancing in the street.

I was very pleased to discover that with the new look their bags are now biodegradable. I have a little experiment going in my community garden compost pile, to see if I can prove it.

Hmmm, sounds like a difficult challenge — eat delicious, fresh blueberries straight from a local farmer and benefit your favourite charity at the very same time.

Twin Berry Farms’ Goodberry Program donates up to $2.00 per 5 lb. flat purchased to Twin Berry’s charity of choice, Canuck Place Children’s Hospice, or your favourite charity.

Here’s how it works: you sign up your company, promote the Goodberry Program, interested parties place their order, and the blueberries are delivered straight to your office farm-direct. It takes out the middleman and the turnaround time meaning you support a local farmer and a charity, while getting fresh, fresh berries at their prime.

That sounds like a recipe for success to me.