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...)

Red currants and gooseberries provide the natural pectin that sets the jam.

When it comes to jam,a totally unprofessional poll indicates that red jams out sell jams of other colours. Take that peach jam, apricot conserve and blueberry spread! But other fruits can take heart - each makes superlative preserves, and while they may not get gold as the most popular pick, there are plenty of people who wait all year for apricots - and I count myself among them.

That said, last Saturday at the St. Lawrence Market, locally grown strawberries were the big seller. Yes, there were the first raspberries and red currants and gooseberries, but it was remarkable the number of flats of strawberries being carried off by shoppers. And I suspect, unless the market-goers were all having a few dozen friends over for shortcake, that jam was on their mind. 

Jam was on my mind too - a companion to the Seville Orange marmalade I make in the winter. In addition to strawberry, I also like to make one called Summer Berry Jam, but it goes by other names, Four Fruit and Jewel Jam are familiar. Luckily this jam is a little elastic in its ingredients, and while the mix you will find in The Complete Canadian Living Cookbook calls for red currants, sour cherries, strawberries and raspberries, the recipe works with the currants, both berries plus gooseberries. That's what I made on Saturday, as there were no sour red cherries at the Market. Both recipes follow.

A potato masher is the most useful for mashing berries, about 1 cup (250 mL) at a time. It presses out the juice, but leaves chunks that give texture to the finished jam.

Summer Berry Jam

Worth every minute you spend in the kitchen. This is the original, and very red jam. As a general rule, you need to double the volume of whole fruit to obtain the volume of crushed or chopped berries and cherries.

2-1/2 cups (625 mL) crushed stemmed red currants

1-1/2 cups (375 mL) chopped pitted sour cherries

3/4 cup (175 mL) crushed hulled strawberries

3/4 cup (175 mL) crushed raspberries

3-1/2 cups (875 mL) granulated sugar

. In large Dutch oven, combine currants, cherries, strawberries and raspberries. Bring to a boil, stirring almost constantly with a long wooden spoon. Reduce heat to low and simmer very gently, stirring fruit occasionally, for 15 minutes. Remove from the heat. 

. Stir in the sugar; bring back to a rolling boil over high heat, stirring. Boil vigorously, stirring constantly until setting point is reached (see below), about 10 to 15 minutes.

A rolling boil is one that can't be stirred down. Much of the foam you see in the photo will disappear as the jam comes to the setting point.

. Remove from heat; stir well. Let jam settle; with a metal spoon skim off any foam around the edge of the pot. 

. Using a funnel and 1/2 cup (25 mL) measuring cup, fill prepared 1 cup (250 mL) canning jars, leaving 1/4 inch (5 mm) headspace. Seal with prepared discs and bands. Boil on rack in boiling water canner for 10 minutes. (See Canner Basics below).  Turn off heat and let jars stand in canner for 5 minutes for the boiling to subside. Remove and let cool on rack.

. Makes about 5 cups (1.25 mL).

Summer Berry Jam #2

The procedure is exactly the same, with the following ingredients: The jam is still very red.

2-1/2 cups (625 mL) stemmed, whole red currants

1-1/2 cups (375 mL) quartered, topped and tailed gooseberries

1 cup (250 mL) crushed hulled strawberries

1 cup (250 mL) crushed raspberries

Always include at least one smaller jar among the ones filled with jam. There may not be a whole cup (250 mL) to fill one of the larger jars, and the smaller 1/2 cup (125 mL) is perfect. Any more left over is for the cook and friends to enjoy on toast the next morning.

Strawberry Jam

What's very agreeable about this jam is that does not have a hard set so familiar in jams set with pectin. It's more like the confiture you find in a little pot beside your baguette and croissant in France (just dreaming). The familiar 1 L green punnets in which berries are often sold contain about 4 cups (1 L) berries.

8 cups (2 L) strawberries, hulled

4 cups (1 L) granulated sugar

1/4 cup (50 mL) fresh lemon juice

. In a wide bowl and using a potato masher, lightly crush 1 cup (250 mL) of the berries at a time; measure fruit to make 4 cups (1 L).

. In large Dutch oven, combine crushed berries, sugar and lemon juice; stir over low heat to dissolve the sugar. Increase heat to high and bring to a full rolling boil, stirring very often. Boil hard, and stirring often until setting point is reached (see below), about 10 minutes. 

. Remove from heat. Let cool for 5 minutes; with a metal spoon skim off foam from around the edge of the pot. Stir well. 

.  Using a funnel and 1/2 cup (25 mL) metal measuring cup, fill prepared 1 cup (250 mL) canning jars, leaving 1/4 inch (5 mm) headspace. Seal with prepared discs and bands. Boil on rack in boiling water canner for 10 minutes. (See Canner Know How below).  Turn off heat and let jars stand in canner for 5 minutes for the boiling to subside. Remove and let cool on rack.

. Makes about 5 cups (1.25 mL).

Setting Point

Before boiling the jam, chill 2 small plates in the freezer. To test, remove the jam from the heat. Drop 1/2 tsp (2 mL) jam onto plate and let cool. Run the tip of a spoon or your finger through the jam. If the surface wrinkles, the jam is ready to jar. If still syrupy, return plate to freezer and pan to heat. Continue boiling and testing every few minutes until a satisfactory wrinkle is reached, always using the coldest plate.

Canning Know How

. Check your supply of canning jars, ensuring that  you have enough new lids and that the jars are free of cracks and nicks. Grocery and hardware stores stock these in the summer. Be sure to buy enough to see you through the season into the fall and winter if you make marmalade.

. Wash, rinse and air-dry the jars. Set the lids aside in a bowl. Have the bands handy.

. Fill a boiling water canner about 2/3 full with water. Place jars on rack, , lower rack, cover and heat. The jars should be hot when filled but do not need to be boiled/sterilized. Time this heating to coincide with the time the jam is ready to be jarred. 

. A few minutes before filling the jars, pour hot, not boiling water over the lids to soften the sealing compound. Do not boil the lids or bands.

. I find a funnel with an opening large enough to let chunks of fruit through into the jars the most useful, as well as a half-cup (125 mL) dry measuring cup for scooping the jam into the funnel. Place the funnel in the jar. As you pour the hot jam into the funnel, lift the funnel to avoid messing the rim of the jar with the jam. Leave the headspace recommended in the recipes - usually 1/4-inch (5 mm) for jams. If some jam does get onto the rim, dampen a piece of paper towel and wipe the rim clean.

. Centre warmed lids on the jars. Screw on bands until resistance is met; increase to fingertip tight. 

. Return jars to canner. Lower rack and cover. Add additional boiling water if necessary to cover jars by at least 1 inch (2.5 cm). Cover and bring to the boil; boil for specified time, usually 10 minutes for jams.

. Turn off heat. Uncover and let jars stand in canner for 5 minutes.

. Lift up rack with jars. With canning tongs, transfer jars to rack to cool and set for 24 hours

. Check that lids curve downward. Refrigerate any that do not and use within 3 weeks. If you have followed the rules of new lids and intact canning jars, and respect the headspace,  it will be very rare indeed if a jar does not seal. 

. Wipe, label and store the jars in a cool, dry, dark place for up to one year. You can haul them out from time to time to gloat over the summer sunshine you have captured in your jams. And of course, you can eat the jam or give it away to favoured friends and family.

There's always been controversy about whether Canada has a cuisine of its own, or even a national dish. If it comes down to recipes, yes, we do have recipes people recognize as Canadian. Apple pie, for example - but the US and Great Britian enjoy it too. There's chowder - in the Maritimes - and in France. Canadians love tea biscuits, but so do the Scots who call them scones. In fact, many of our dishes right up to the latest Vietnames pho or Tamil fish curry are shared. That is, all except the butter tart.

Butter tarts snuggled into phyllo shells - a cool combo of Greece and grandma.

So it is only fitting that when food writer, broadcaster and author Rose Murray wrote A Taste of Canada, A Culinary Journey, Whitecap Books, 2008, $34.95) that she included a recipe for butter tarts. But not the old pastry-based tarts, where the pastry can be so thick as to diminish the impact of the sugar filling. She chose a phyllo pastry tart shell, with these advantages. You don't have to be a pastry pro to make pretty fine butter tarts. The phyllo itself becomes a good-looking feature with its many pleats and layers. And it's great entertainment for you mouth - crunchy crisp pastry, runny sweet filling, toasty pecans. 

Rose Murray at a reception at Viewpointe Estate Winery where her Butter Tarts in Phyllo were served.

In honour of Canada 2009, here is Rose's recipe. However, if you're too busy swimming or watching the fireworks, and  miss baking the tarts this Canada Day, never fear, you can make them any time of the year. 

Butter tart filling ingredients are available in all supermarkets.

Butter Tarts in Phyllo

There are even a couple of controversies about butter tarts. Should they be runny and dribble down your chin? Or, custardy so you can make a clean bite with your front teeth? Should they contain currants, raisins or nuts? Rose settles on nuts - pecans to be exact, and opts for the fluidy. although in real life she eats butter tarts very graciously  - on a plate, with a fork. 

6 sheets frozen phyllo pastry, thawed

3 tbsp (45 mL) melted butter

Filling:

1 egg

1/2 cup (125 mL) packed brown sugar

1/2 cup (125 mL) corn syrup

2 tbsp (30 mL) melted butter

1 tsp (5 mL) vanilla

1 tsp (5 mL) fresh lemon juice

1/3 cup (75 mL) coarsely chopped pecans

. Place the phyllo pastry between two sheets of waxed paper and cover with damp tea towel. Place 1 sheet on a work surface, keeping the remaining sheets covered. Brush the phyllo with some of the melted butter; top with a second sheet. Continue stacking the sheets of phyllo, brushing each with melted butter, until you have a stack of 6. Brush the top sheet well with butter. Cut into 12 even squares. Press the squares evenly into 12 muffin cups. 

For these tarts, I used whole wheat phyllo. It works beautifully, just as the more common phyllo pastry made with white flour.

Filling; In a bowl, beat the egg well with a whisk, then whisk in the sugar, corn syrup, butter, vanilla and lemon juice. Stir in the nuts.

Spoon the filling evenly into the prepared phyllo cups, being careful not to let the filling come up above the pastry (They will appear about half full.) Bake in the bottom third of a 375°F (190°C) oven until the pastry is golden, about 15 minutes. Place the pan on a rack to cool completely.

Makes 12 tarts.

A footed cake stand shows off a beautiful (and delicious) Blueberry Frangipane Tart.

The request came in early spring to teach a cooking class at Viewpointe Estate Winery on Lake Erie, near Harrow, Ontario.  The winery sounded interesting and ambitious, especially with its added focus on culinary arts and it's being part of Lake Erie's north shore  burgeoning wine area.  Esther Reaume, the winery's event coordinator who did the inviting, is the sister of Ann McColl who owned one of Canada's finest cookware stores in London, Ontario until her retirement a few  years ago. I had been a cooking guest at Ann's shop many times and relished each visit. Esther, like her sister, owned a cookware store beloved of cooks in Windsor where it was located. The clincher - it had been a few years since I visited the warmest, most southernmost and surely one of the lushest growing area in Canada. It was time to check out the winery and surrounding region. Yes!

Esther and I agreed that the cooking class would celebrate wine country and its abundant produce. The area's famous for its greenhouses, with roadside stands proclaiming the availability of tomatoes, cucumbers and peppers. Essex County, where Viewpointe is located, is peach country, and is a berry-growing region when June brings strawberries, and bowls filled with raspberries and blueberries carry on right through to Thanksgiving. You would need at least two extra sets of hands to count all the fruit and vegetables that comes from this county where Windsor, Ontario is located. As for wineries, they've gone from the two pioneers, Colio Estate Wines Ltd. and Pelee Island Wines Ltd. to numbering in the high teens ... and growing. Lake Erie North Shore is a designated viticulture area.

Jean Fancsy, wife of partner Steve Fancsy, pours a serving of a Viewpointe Chardonnay mixed with passion fruit juice and a veritable salad of fresh berries and melon. It's a 'winetail", and very summer-cooling.

Blueberries proved to be the inspiration. When Heather Howe. Adell Shneer and I were creating new recipes for The Complete Canadian Living Baking (Transcontinental Books, 2008, $34.95) we knew the book that called itself "complete" needed a frangipane tart. But we had already done the traditonal one - plums nestled into a ground almond filling in a previous book, and couldn't just republish the recipe.

So, we moved on from plums, choosing blueberries to blanket the frangipane filling. And for the gloss? Melted red currant jelly or seedless raspberry jam added just the right sheen and sharpness to mild mannered blues. Edging the tart with sliced almonds was the last touch needed to create a new tart. And while I'm pretty fond of a classic top and bottom crust blueberry tart, the frangipane version is a dazzler.

The pat-in-pastry starts out by whisking the dry ingredients.

Blueberry Frangipane Tart

To say this tart was a hit with the guests/students seated at tables around the demo area in Viewpointe's large kitchen and teaching area, would be an understatement. A big understatement. The pat-in crust is easy to do and baked golden brown has a real shortbread quality. Almonds complement blueberries, and of course, blueberries are both local and special. Resident chef and cooking school instructor Mary Ann Marshall plated wedges of the tart with a dollop of whipped cream and a quick sauce of simmered blueberries, sugar and water. The blueberries for the sauce were frozen and a gift from Klassen Blueberries - one of Ontario's largest cultivated blueberry farms just down County Road 50 East from the winery.

1-1/2 cups (375 mL) blueberries, wild low-bush or cultivated high bush

1/3 cup (75 mL) seedless raspberry jam or red currant jelly

1/3 cup (75 mL) sliced almonds

1 tbsp (15 mL) icing sugar

Pat-In Sweet Pastry:

1-1/2 cups (375 mL) all-purpose flour

2 tbsp (30 mL) granulated sugar

4 tsp (20 mL) cornstarch

Pinch salt

3/4 cup (175 mL) cold unsalted butter, cubed

Frangipane Filling:

2/3 cup (150 mL) blanched or unblanched whole almonds

1/4 cup (50 mL) granulated sugar

2 tbsp (30 mL) all-purpose flour

2 tbsp (30 mL) butter, softened

1 large egg at room temperature

1/4 tsp (1 mL) almond extract

. Set out a 9-inch (23 cm) tart pan with a removable bottom.

. Pat-In Sweet Pastry: In large bowl, whisk together flour, sugar, cornstarch and salt. Using pastry blender, cut in butter until mixture clumps together. With floured hands, press evenly over bottom and up side of tart pan. Cover and refrigerate until firm, about 1 hour.

By the time the butter has been cut to this ragged-looking stage, the pastry will pat in evenly and won't be dry and crumbly.

. With fork, prick pastry at 1-inch (2.5 cm) intervals all over; bake in bottom third of 350°F (180°C) oven until light golden, about 20 minutes. Let cool on rack. 

. Frangipane Filling; In food processor, finely chop almonds with sugar. Add flour; pulse to combine. Add butter, egg and almond extract; pulse until well blended, about 1 minute. Spread evenly in tart shell.

. Sprinkle blueberries evenly over filling. Bake in bottom third of 375 °F (190°C) oven for 25 minutes.

You can always add a few more berries to fill the top surface.

. Meanwhile, place seedless raspberry jam in small saucepan or liquid measuring cup. Heat on stovetop or in microwave oven, stirring often, until melted and smooth. 

Remove tart from oven. Brush top of tart with all but 1 tbsp (15 mL) of the jam. Sprinkle sliced almonds on glazed berries around edge of the tart - like a wreath around the berry centre.  Return to oven to bake until almonds are toasted and cake tester inserted in centre comes out clean, 10 to 15 minutes. Let cool on rack. (Make-ahead: Set aside at room temperature for up to 8 hours.)

To remove the outside ring, support the base with your hand, letting the cold ring slip down. Then, transfer the tart to wide flat serving plate.

. Remelt remaining jam; brush or spoon over visible blueberries.

The easiest way to melt the seedless jam or jelly is in the microwave. Add a little water to the seedless jam if necessary to help it melt.

Dust almonds with icing sugar. Remove ring and, supporting the tart with a large wide spatula, transfer to a flat serving plates. Dust the edge of the plate too, if you like.

Place the icing sugar in a small fine sieve. Hold it over the almonds, tapping it on the side to send a shower of icing sugar over the almonds.

. Makes 8 to 12 servings. I fancy the 12 servings as an elegant slim wedge of the tart looks lovely on the plate - and is frankly quality over quantity. Vanilla ice cream or lightly whipped cream are good additions.

Tips:

. You can make the tart shell a day ahead and let it stand still in its tart pan on a rack. The frangipane filling is also a day make-ahead but needs to be refrigerated in an airtight container. It will be easier to spread if you pull it out of the fridge an hour or so before filling the tart.

. When cutting the tart, use a chefs knife and wipe the blade between cuts.

Where to Find the Good Stuff in Essex County

First, check out Essex County Buy Local, a brochure that, on one side is map that  locates farms, roadside stands, markets and vineyards that sell directly to consumers.  The products range from Lakeside Jersey Dairy's 40% cream to Chana Food's whole wheat, chick pea and spelt flour with much more that includes muskmellon, greenhouse cucumbers, cauliflower, apricots, cherries, gooseberries, beans, beets and blueberries. 

The Buy Local brochure also has a listing of farms and wineries by district. So, if you're in the Leamington area, you'll easly find Jones Popcorn and Highline Mushooms. Meanwhile, a little further west in Kingsville, the listing includes Raymont's Berries, Cornland Corner, Sun Parlor Honey Ltd. and Pelee Island Winery.

Maps are available from the sponsors which include the county's municipalities, Scotiabank, RBC, the Essex County Federation of Agriculture (ECFA), and Windsor Essex Trolley Tours - a not-for-profit community organization that offers great service for visitors and local alike to tour the county, see the sites, stock up on local produce without having to drive and pour over a map at the same time. Check out www.wetrollytours.com. Upcoming tours include one this Sunday, June 28, Harrow, Take a Peek Tour and continue Sundays. Custom tours are available. 

To download the super-helpful map and charts, go to www.ecfa.ca and click on Buy Local. 

Viewpointe Estate Winery that hosted the cooking class, holds regular culinary arts classes lead by Mary Ann Marshall. The winery's opening celebration is June 27 and June 28 with tours of the barrel cellar, sensory and culinary experiences.

Mary Ann Marshall cooks global with local foods. On the patio of Viewpointe Estate Winery you can sample a selection of Mary Ann's tapas-style snacks with a glass of the winery's finest.

And of course, there's the opportunity to sit on the patio and enjoy the amazing view out over Lake Erie. But be careful, patio viewing can be so restful you may never want to leave.

Donna Hay has solutions for the "No Time to Cook" dilemma.

On a recent afternoon style-maker Donna Hay took a few minutes to talk about her new book  no time to cook, fresh & easy recipes for a fast forward world, (HarperCollinsCanada, $36.95). She was in Toronto from Australia on a whirlwind trip to promote the book, and help celebrate the opening of  the very hip  and happening Teatro Verde's flagship store in the very hip and historic Yorkville.

Say "Donna Hay" and immediately there's a vision of uncluttered, light and  fresh food photography and clean-to-the-bone recipes with inviting flavour twists. Her cookbooks and magazine have a style as distinctive as any in the culinary world. I just can't get the word "clean" or "white" out of my head when I think of Donna Hay food photography. 

So what inspired this star of the culinary world to focus in on quick meals? I'm afraid, the answer is no surprise. She now has two young boys, 3 and 6, and understands, like every other parent the need to feed her family well in spite of arriving home from work dead tired. The solutions she has found for this challenge define the chapters, and inspire the recipes. 

Her first solution is assembled dinners. Better than take-out, still with the cook's own touch but without all the chopping and prep that seems like an unscalable mountain when you get home with a bare 20 minutes to get supper on the table. Store-bought hummus is a favourite "cheat" ingredient, already marinated vegetables, couscous, deli roast beef and canned lentils and beans also figure in these recipes. And she's not embarassed to suggest sandwiches for supper!

Nor is Donna Hay afraid to pick up a barbecued chicken on the way home from work. "It can make so many things", she added. And they don't have to be boring "things" as the cheat's chicken caesar salad and the chicken salad with coconut dressing attest. She's up to to maxxing the flavour of a dish with condiments - Thai, Indian, mustard, pickled ginger, onion jam  - giving appealing flavour twists to simple ingredients like steak and chicken, grilled or broiled  in the simplest way. 

So what's in Donna Hay's fridge at home. "More than most people", she conceded," a couple of cheeses, feta, parmesan and a good Cheddar. Lots of vegetables - broccoli, green beans and snow peas. And eggs - my boys love to bake." The Hay pantry includes the usual pasta, many of them Asian, jasmine and arborio rice, preserved lemon and tuna. Open the door to the freezer and there's frozen berries for the boys' muffin-making sessions, pizza dough, frozen peas and a whole selection of dishes like broccoli & bacon soup Hay makes to have "some now, some later". Donna Hay admits that she thought freezing meals was old-fashioned "best left to my mother's generation", but now relishes the night-off meals she's packed away. 

If you're like Donna Hay, get home, make dinner and sit together to enjoy the fellowship of family, the absolutely last thing you want to do is "the dishes". Solution? One pot meals, and thought-through recipes that pare out the excess bowls, skillets and utensils that fill the sink and plunge a cook into despair. From this section comes a vividly flavoured chicken dish made from very familiar ingredients. Donna Hay recommends this kind of one-pot dish to a fledgling cook who needs a few really tasty easy recipes on which to build a repertoire of quick suppers. 

Lemon-Feta Chicken 

When Donna Hay creates a new recipe, she works out core flavours that work hard together, like lemon and oregano, and never forgets textures so a recipe like this has mellow and crunchy. She likes to serve the chicken and pan juices on a bed of baby spinach leaves - the heat of the chicken wilts the spinach, and voila- an easy vegetable course at the same time. Double the ingredients for more servings.

2 chicken breasts, each about 200 g, trimmed

200 g feta, thickly sliced

5 sprigs fresh oregano

1 tbsp lemon zest

2 tbsp lemon juice

olive oil, for sprinkling

cracked black pepper

green salad, optional 

. Preheat the oven to 350°F (180°C). 

. Place chicken, feta, oregano, lemon zest and juice in a baking dish. Sprinkle with olive oil and pepper. Bake for 18 minutes, or until chicken is cooked through (juice run clear when pierced with a knife).

. Serve with a simple green salad, or as Donna Hay suggested at our interview, on a bed of baby spinach. 

. Serves 2.

White on white background is often what Donna Hay picks for the food she styles, either for her cookbooks, or for her magazine. The food "pops" in an appetizing and interesting way.

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