In wild blueberry country the blueberry plants are like a carpet on the fields and hills, a carpet of blue and green. The photo is courtesy of the Wild Blueberry Association of North America.

I have had the pleasure of picking wild blueberries - and who wouldn't want to pull the dusty berries off low-slung bushes like the ones above. Most of my picking, however, has been in Ontario where the season starts early - mid to late July and involves sweaty hours under the sun, an ear cocked for the rustle of black bears engaged in some berry harvesting, all the while swatting flies and mosquitoes. Blueberries picked under those conditions have incomparable flavour.

The Ontario harvest is tiny compared to berries gathered in blueberry fields in Quebec, especially the Lac St. Jean area, and in Atlantic Canada, notably around Oxford in Nova Scotia. In these areas the harvest is later, finishing in early September. While much of the blueberry harvest goes to frozen blueberries, wild blueberries have become more and more popular fresh in season, and for a price, consumers can dig into a bowl of wild blueberries - or sprinkle a few on ice cream or yogurt.

Blueberries, like apricots, take on another dimension when cooked - hence all the blueberry muffins, pancakes and handsome double-crust pies that are icons of Canadian home cooking. But wild blueberries, special in themselves, deserve a dish that shows them off - hence the Wild Blueberry Bundt Cake. 

It all starts with a bowl of fresh wild blueberries. 

 Wild blueberries tend to be small and intensely flavoured. 

Wild Blueberry Bundt Cake

Whether you're using one of the handsome decorative bundt cake pans, or a tube or angel food cake pan, this cake is simply a stunning looking dessert. The important aspect of the pan is the volume of batter it holds - 11 to 12 cups (3.75 t 4 L) are the figures that matter.

The finishing touch? More wild blueberries snuggled into the centre of the cake.

Let the eggs, orange juice and butter all come to room temperature before starting the cake.

Note that the butter and flour needed to coat the cake pan is extra to the ingredients listed below.

1 cup (250 mL) butter, softened

1-1/2 cups granulated sugar, divided

4 large eggs, separated

1 tbsp (15 mL) finely grated orange rind

3 cups (750 mL) all-purpose flour

1 tbsp (15 mL) baking powder

1/2 tsp (2 mL) salt

1 cup (250 mL) fresh blueberries

Glaze:

1/4 cup (50 mL) granulated sugar

1/4 cups  (50 mL) orange juice

. Using a pastry brush and soft butter, grease a 10-inch (3 L) Bundt pan or angel food cake pan.

Soft butter is ideal for coating all the ins and outs of a decorative cake pan.

Sprinkle about 1/3 cup (75 mL) flour over inside of pan. Rotate the pan, tapping as you turn the pan until the entire surface of the inside of the pan is covered with flour. Turn pan over and tap smartly to remove caked flour and leaving the thin film of butter and flour over the entire surface of the pan. Return any excess flour to the flour canister. 

If when you tap out excess flour you find a spot that missed the initial greasing, use you pastry brush to lightly grease that spot; dust the area with flour again and tap out excess.

. In a large bowl, beat the butter and 1 cup (250 mL) of the sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in the egg yolks, 1 at a time, then the orange rind. 

. In separate large bowl, and using clean beaters, beat the egg whites to soft peaks. Beat in the remaining sugar, 1 tbsp (15 mL) at a time, until firm glossy peaks form. Set aside.

. In separate bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder and salt. With wooden spoon, or mixer set a lowest speed, mix dry ingredients into butter mixture, alternating with orange juice, making 3 additions of dry ingredients and 2 of juice. The batter will be quite stiff.

. Stir one-third of the egg whites into the batter.  

To fold in, cut down through the centre of the batter, and bring your spoon back up along the inside of the pan. Your spoon should always be in contact with the batter while folding.

. Fold in remaining egg whites. Sprinkle blueberries over the batter; gently fold into the batter using as few strokes as possible.

.Scrape into prepared pan, pressing batter into the crevices; smooth the top. Tap the pan smartly on the counter to make sure the batter is well gets into all the pan's nooks and cranies. 

. Bake in the centre of a 350°F (180°C) oven until a cake tester or skewer inserted into centre comes out clen, about 55 minutes. Let cool on rack for 20 minutes to firm up the cake structure.

. Glaze: Meanwhile, in a small saucepan or in glass measuring cup in the microwave, bring the sugar and orange juice to the boil, stirring. Boil for 30 seconds; let cool. 

. Loosen cake from edges of pan. Place a rack over the cake pan; gripping the rack and pan firmly with potholder-proteced hands, turn the cake over and onto the rack. Let cool.

Just waiting to lift the cake pan to see if the cake is intact!

. With a pastry brush, brush glaze evenly over cake. Transfer to cake plate. If desired, fill centre with fresh blueberries - you will need about 2 cups (500 mL). 

. Makes 12 slices.

The glaze adds an appealing sheen to the cake - but if you're in a hurry, skip the glaze and dust the cake lightly with icing sugar.

July 1st is Canada Day. A holisY to celebrate all that makes Canada the best place to live. But since 2004, food activist  and passionate advocate for Canadian food, Anita Stewart has been promoting the Saturday of the August long weekend as "The World's Longest Barbecue". How can it be the longest barbecue? Simple, Canadians are lighting their barbecues from coast to coast to coast, grilling Canadian-produced food to recognize and support our farmers, fishers and everyone else who delivers our edibles. And drinkables.

Stewart's yearning to make the day more than a barbecue, Canada Food Day, if she succeeds, is a more focused name. And of course, this tribute is not just about firing up the grill and celebrating local and seasonal foods to keep farmers et al in business. It's about community, getting together to share what we  have plenty of - lucky, aren't we!

To be part of Canada Food Day, aka The World's Longest Barbecue, all you have to do is go to Stewart's website, sign up and describe the menu you're having on Saturday. (I suspect if  you have the party on Sunday or Monday Steward won't quibble. But there is something electric about people sitting down together all over Canada. A virtual picnic without all the technology.) On Stewart's site you'll see the outline of what she would like to know about your dinner so write about what's on the menu, andy regional food or special dishes worth mentioning, where the food came from with information about the producers if you know them. It's the stories that will make the difference, so be sure to include details. Canada Food Day sounds like fun, and the good part is that it will help make a difference. Log onto www.anitastewart.ca. To quote Anita, "Large or small, every celebration is important!"

So...what am I planning? Well, as I'm from Stratford in the heart of Perth County, good food and farming, I'm grilling (or roasting) a loin of pork. Not with thyme, mustard, salt and pepper as my mother would have done as befitted her era and Celtic roots, but porchetta-style, with herbs of an Italian provenence - less Stratford than Toronto where porchetta sandwiches are widespread, and wonderful.

To go with, Island Potato Salad from Anita Stewart's Canada, The Food/The Recipes/The Stories, (Harper Collins, 2008, $34.95), see above,  and since I know we need vegetables, corn on the cob - straining to be the Canadian national vegetable. Again, not just butter, salt and pepper, but with a wash of exotic spices as discovered in Toronto's Little India by Andrew Chase, food editor of Homemakers Magazine. All the recipes follow.

Barbecue Loin of Pork with Porchetta Flavours

To make sure the herb and fennel flavours penetrate the whole loin, the meat is butterflied, then rolled. The instructions may seem long, but if you're looking for great flavour, press on! The step-by-step photos should help - just leave yourself enough time when you're tacking the recipe for the first time. 

1 pork loin centre roast boneless (single loin), about 3 lb (1.5 kg)

3 tbsp (45 mL) canola oil

6 cloves garlic, minced

2 tbsp (30 mL) minced fresh rosemary

4 tsp (20 mL) minced fresh sage

3/4 tsp (4 mL) fennel seeds, crushed

1/2 tsp (2 mL) salt

1/2 tsp (2 mL) freshly ground pepper

1 tbsp (15 mL) dry white vermouth

. Place roast, fat side up, on large cutting board. Starting at right side with knife parallel to the board, cut loin in half almost but not all the way through.

. Open like a book.

. Starting in centre of opened loin, and with your knife parallel to board, cut in half on left side almost but not all the way through. Open the flap like a book, extending the surface of the meat.

. Repeat on right side. Open flat. Cover with waxed paper; pound with mallet or rolling pin to as even thickness as possible. Set aside.

. In small skillet, heat the oil over medium-low heat; fry garlic, stirring often, until softened, about 5 minutes. Scrape into a large bowl; stir in rosemary, sage, fennel, salt, pepper and vermouth.

. Spread about three quarters of the garlic mixture over inside of loin, leaving 1-inch (2.5 cm) border along 1 short end. Starting at the other end, roll up firmly toward border.

. Tie with kitchen string at 1-inch (2.5 cm) intervals. 

. Place in the large bowl with the remaining garlic mixture; turn to coat all over. Cover and marinate in the fridge, turning occasionally, for 2 hours or up to 1 day.

. Place drip pan over 1 burner of 2-burner barbecue or over centre of 3-burner barbecue. Add enough water to come 1 inch (2.5 cm) up side of pan. Heat burner or burners not over drip pan to medium. Grease the grill over the drill pan. 

.  Place the rolled loin on the greased grill over the drip pan. Grill, turning every 20 minutes, until meat thermometer registers 160° (71°C), about 1-1/2 to 2 hours. 

. Transfer to cutting board and tent with foil; let rest for 15 minutes. Snip and pull off the string; slice across the grain.

. Makes 8 servings.

Tip: You can also roast porchetta on rack in small roasting pan. It takes about 1 hour at 375°F. (190°C). Skim pan juices and serve with slices of porchetta.

Tip: This roast is almost better cold - and it slices more thinly. 

Bilingual, and trusting signage at a P.E.I. roadside potato trade.

Island Potato Salad

Stewart credits Joy Shinn who developed the recipe when she was working with the Prince Edward Island potato marketing board, Food Trust.  To go with the porchetta that serves 8, I made one and a half of the recipe written below, and because it is going with pork, substituted 2 roasted sweet red peppers for the prosciutto. I did not use honey. 

2 lb (1 kg) P.E.I. potatoes (5 to 6 medium)

4 slices prosciutto

3 green onions, sliced diagonally

Dressing:

2 tbsp (30 mL) apple cider vinegar

1 tbsp (15 mL) liquid honey

1 tbsp (15 mL) grainy Dijon mustard

1/4 cup (50 mL) canola oil

Salt and freshly ground pepper 

. Place washed potatoes in a pot and cover with cold water. Cook, covered, over medium heat until fork tender, 30 to 45 minutes. Drain and let cool Peel and quarter or, if large, dice coarsely. Place in serving dish.

. Arrange prosciutto on rimmed baking sheet; place under broiler and broil until crisp, about 6 minutes, turning partway through cooking. Let cool, then break into small pieces.

. In serving bowl, combine green onions and prosciutto to potatoes.

Dressing: Whisk or shake together the vinegar, honey, mustard and oil until blended. Pour over the potato mixture; toss gently. Season to taste with salt and top with a good grinding of pepper. 

. Makes 4 to 6 servings.

Indian-Spiced Corn on the Cob

8 corn cobs, husked

2 tbsp (30 mL) canola oil

1 tsp (5 mL) ground coriander

3/4 tsp (4 mL) each salt and ground cumin

Pinch cayenne

1 lime, halved

. Brush corn cobs with oil. Place on greased grill over medium-high heat; close lid and grill, turning frequently, until kernels are tender and lightly grill-marked, about 10 to 15 minutes.

. In small bowl, stir together coriander, salt, cumin and cayenne. Rub corn with cut sides of lime; sprinkle with spice mixture.

Makes 8 servings. 

For a little inspiration - here are some top notch Canadians and Canadian products. Enjoy them all.

Chef Chris Aerni, owner with his wife Graziella of the Rossmount Inn near St. Andrews New Brunswick. The Inn's renowned food starts with the large garden Aerni cultivates on a sloping hill behind the Inn.

A shore lunch beside Great Slave Lake in the Northwest Territories. Those are whitefish fillets browning on the griddle.

The historic building that houses the Saint John market makes it one of the most handsome markets in the country. Lots of inspiration here for your Canada Food Day menu.

By the Bay of Fundy shore there's a great choice of seafood.

(more...)

These plump tender mussels are of the hightest quality. The curry/ginger/garlic/cream broth is wonderful to slurp. Try a dry Riesling to complement the curry flavours and the mussels.

Fabulous mussels grow in PEI...and the best mussels dishes are cooked right in downtown Charlottetown, steps from the water. The name of the place is Flex Mussels and the chef partner in the stylish/casual eaterie is Garner Quain. He began his career steaming these tasty blue mussels Mytilus edulis with a mussel and fry shack back in 2005, in nearby Summerside.

Chef Quain serves 23 different steamed mussel dishes, priced from $16 to $20 per pound, depending on the ingredients that swim along with the bivalves. Flavours are as different as  you  taste in Thailand, India, Peking, Provence and Ireland and with ingredients from saffron to wild mushrooms to lobster to enhance the plump mussels. Other "not mussels" are available - seafood includes PEI oysters, Kim Dormaar's pepper smoked salmon, PEI oysters, fish and chips, halibut with hummus and the classic Maritime sandwich, lobster rolls. So nobody is left out, there are meat and poultry dishes, but in an eatery called Flex Mussels, go for the mussels. And there's always room for a round of hand-cut fries.

As a mussel aficionada, I had a delicious time with the Bombay Mussels - the restaurant's most popular steamed mussels. There was just enough curry, ginger and garlic-flavoured broth to scoop up with the empty shells, and soak up with slices of an excellent baguette.

This tropical combo of mango, ginger and coriander complement fresh sea-seasoned mussels.

Bombay Mussels

This makes a lovely supper for two - or appetizer course for four. The recipe has been slightly adapted. 

2 lb (1kg)  mussels

1 tsp (5 mL)  vegetable oil

1 clove garlic, finely chopped 

1 tsp (5 mL) finely chopped gingerroot

2 tbsp (30 mL) mango puree or finely diced mango

1 tbsp (15 mL)  mild curry paste, Patak recommended

1/4 cup (50 mL) white wine

1/2 cup (125 mL)  whipping cream (35%)

1/4 tsp (1 mL)  sesame oil

4 full sprigs of fresh washed coriander (cilantro),  roots removed and chopped

Half lime

1  crusty French baguette, sliced.

. Check mussels, discarding any that don't close when tapped.

A little gape is not unusual for cultivated mussels. Always keep them in the refrigerator until just before cooking.

Fresh live mussels close obediently - give them a minute or two just to be sure. Discard any that continue to gape.

. Pull out and snip off any beards and rinse; set aside. 

There's no mistaking the "beard" the common name for the byssus of a byvalve mussel. According to The Food Encyclopedia (Jacques L. Rolland and Carol Sherman, Robert Rose publisher) the byssus is "made up of a network of silky filaments it secretes and uses to adhere to rocks."

. In 4 to 6 quart (4 to 6 L) saucpean, heat the vegetable oil over medium heat. Add the garlic, ginger, mango and curry paste; fry for 1 to 2 minutes, stirring frequently. The goal here is to warm the ingredients just enough to ‘awaken’ them. Exercise caution, as excessive heat makes the curry bitter.

The combination of fresh ginger, garlic and mango is aromatherapy of the most enchanting kind.

 . Stir in the wine, and using a wooden spoon, scrape the bottom of the pot smooth.  Add the cream, sesame oil and half of the coriander. Bring to a boil over high heat; add the mussels. Stir to coat evenly.

A wide saucepan with a heavy bottom is the best for cooking mussels. There's room for the mussels to open, and covered, the liquid comes back to the boil immediately, steaming the mussels quickly, without toughening them.

. Cover and  steam for 4 to 6 minutes, stirring gently midway, until the mussels have opened wide. Discard any that have not. 

Be sure to check mussels at the beginning of the suggested time.

. Using a slotted spoon, transfer the mussels to a warmed serving dish. Reduce the sauce by a third or to desired consistency, about 2 minutes Meanwhile, squeeze the fresh lime over the mussels. Pour the reduced sauce over mussels and garnish with remaining chopped coriander. Serve immediately with plenty of crusty baguette.

© flex musssels, inc. 2008

Mussel Pointers:.

When choosing fresh mussels, first shop in a fishmonger's or grocery store with a high turnover. Look for tightly closed shells and a sweet ocean salt-water fragrance. If a slightly open mussel does not close in response to a light ‘tap’ or squeeze, discard it.

The clerk at the fish counter will often wrap your mussels in a plastic bag. Keep in mind that mussels need air. So, as soon as you get home, transfer the mussels onto a rack in a shallow bowl and refrigerate, uncovered in the lowest part of your fridge. Plan on eating fresh mussels the day you buy them. If you have to wait, cover the mussels with a light clean tea towel you've wet and wrung out. Mussels will last a day or two in your fridge.

Although today’s cultured mussels arrive at the market cleaned, you may find a few that still have their “beards”, the super-strong threads that mussels use to attach themselves to rocks in the wild, or to the long mesh socks in which they grow when cultivated. Pull the beard out and towards the pointed end of the shell. Cut off on the sharp edge of the shell, or snip off with scissors. Then rinse the mussels in cold water. Gone are the days when you had to scrub mussels - Canadian farmed mussels, whether from Iles de la Madeleine, Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Newfoundland or PEI are prescrubbed - a few minute to check and they're ready for the pot. 

The key to making great mussels is speed.  Have all of your ingredients ready before you cook the mussels. To prevent overcooking and toughening, work with  high heat and a short cooking time.

Don’t overload a pot with mussels. For this recipe and others that include 1 to 2 lb (500 g to 1 kg) mussels, use a 4 to 6 quart (4 to 6 L) saucepan with a heavy bottom and tight-fitting lid. If you're cooking in quantity, consider making several batches 

Flex Mussels is at 2 Lower Water Street (PO box 25008), Charlottetown PEI C1A 9N4. You can call 902-569-0200 or email at info@flexmussels.com. Check the website www.flexmussels.com where you can watch the musselcam - mussels do grow slowly so you'll need to check back often.

Robins may be the famous harbinger of spring. But in my garden (aka the backyard) it's bright green fiddleheads pushing up through the leaves that announce the best season of  all. Curled up like the scroll at the top of a violin, or  fiddle, these ostrich fern shoots are not only a sign of good things to come, but the first feed of the year from my land.

The tightly furled fiddleheads at the perfect stage for picking. Simply snack the fiddleheads back and off.

Still coiled tight around the base of the plant and wrapped in what looks like caramel brown tissue paper fiddleheads are "ripe" for picking. It doesn't take more than a few days for the ferns to unfurl, turn into the tall ferns they are, and form the backdrop to a shady garden of hostas.  Too late to eat!

A warm day and the tightly curled fiddleheads shoot up. You can still pick the shorter fiddleheads, and include an inch (2.5 cm) or so of the stem as well. A wise picker takes only 3 shoots per plant so that next year the plant will have another harvest ready for picking.

My plan is always to get them while I can. And while the haste could be ascribed to greedyness, a sin I have been known to embrace, the truth is that ostrich ferns, left unculled in a home garden, would soon muscle into the territory of other favourite plants. In the wild, they spread luxuriantly over the banks and flats along freshwater rivers and streams.  So, at home I pick and cull as I go along, and cook up a feast as soon as the shoots emerge. Better to pluck them as 2-inch (5 cm) fiddleheads on a cool spring day than dig them out as 3-foot (3 m) ferns under a blazingJuly  sun. 

How to Get Your Hands on Some Fiddleheads:

If your garden isn't as lush with fiddleheads as mine, you do have options. Fiddleheads grow wild in the eastern part of Canada where they are harvested commercially. You can often find fiddleheads in farmers' markets starting around the end of April/early May until early -mid June, all depending on the weather, of course. In recent years, supermarkets across Canada have begun to stock fresh fiddleheads, often in bulk, but  sometimes packaged, for example, by the family-owned Norcliff Farms as "Fiddlehead Greens". Out of season, look for frozen fiddleheads packed and processed by this Canadian company. For the first time ever, fiddleheads are being farmed commercially near Port Colborne in Southwestern Ontario. Norcliff Farms, the largest packer and distributor of fiddleheads in the world, is responsible for this innovative venture. 

Prepping Fiddleheads:

First things first. Remove the papery coating from each fiddlehead. There are various ways of doing this - shaking the fiddleheads in a paper bag, or rubbing the coating off under cold running water. However, the most reliable way is to tackle the fiddleheads with a small paring knife. Then, rinse the fiddleheads thoroughly. If there is any evidence of grit, rinse again and agitate in a bowl of cold water. And just before cooking, trim off the stem.

Cooking Fiddleheads:

Fresh fiddleheads need to be cooked through. You can do this by plunging them into boiling water and, after covering and bringing them back to the boil,  boil for about 3 minutes or until tender. Or steam for about 7 minutes. Drain, immerse in ice water just long enough to stop the cooking process. Drain, pat dry with towels and toss in a salad with asparagus, or stir into a risotto, top a goat cheese canape, or reheat briefly in butter or oil and serve, seasoned with salt, pepper and a squirt of lemon. 

Fiddlehead Spaghetti Frittata

My motto with fiddleheads is keep it simple. You do want to taste them after all.  So I pair them with gentle flavours and don't complicate the cooking. 

8 oz (250 g) spaghetti, wholewheat if desired

1/3 cup (75 mL) freshly grated Parmesan cheese

3 tbsp (45 mL) butter

2 tbsp (30 mL) finely chopped parsley

1 tbsp (15 mL) snipped chives

5 large eggs

1/2 tsp (2 mL) each salt and freshly ground pepper

1 cup (250 mL) cooked fiddleheads (see above)

. In large pot of boiling salted water, cook spaghetti until tender but firm, about 8 to 10 minutes. Drain well; transfer to large bowl. Sprinkle with 1/4 cup (50 mL) of the cheese, 2 tbsp (30 mL) of the butter, parsley and chives. Toss well, letting the butter melt and the mixture cool briefly. 

. Meanwhile, in separate bowl, whisk eggs with salt and pepper. Scrape over the spaghetti mixture and toss gently to coat spaghetti and keep strands separate. 

. Heat remaining butter in large skillet over medium heat until melted and foaming. Rotate and tip skillet to coat side with butter. Pour in spaghetti mixture, spreading spaghetti evenly around the skillet. Nestle fiddleheads into the strands; sprinkle with remaining Pamesan cheese.

. Cook until bottom of frittata is golden brown and spaghetti mixture is firm from bottom almost to top, about 5 minutes. Slip the skillet under broiler and broil just until top is firm and nicely browned at edges. 

. Cut into wedges  to serve. Makes 4 servings.

Tip: Use leftover spaghetti or other long or short pasta.