Prairie Feast on the Radio

My book and I are going on the radio. Tune in on:

Fri., May 7, between 12:30 and 1 pm
CBC Radio's Blue Sky (540 am)
Mon., May 10, between 11 and 11:30 am
News Talk Radio's John Gormley Show (650 am Saskatoon/980 am Regina)

For more book news and events, please read here.

Eggs on CBC Radio

Obviously I've been an egg lover from a very early age! Here I am gathering eggs on the farm where I grew up at Craik.

Check out more chicken images on the Facebook page for The Canadian Table, a radio program that I'm producing for Good Friday, between noon and 1 pm, on CBC Radio One. You can even post your own chicken photos and egg recipes. Check it out!

Food on Good Friday

Tune into CBC Radio 1, between noon and 1 pm on Good Friday for a holiday food special called The Canadian Table.

I am producing the show with my colleague Don Genova in Vancouver. Keeping with the theme of Easter, the show is all about eggs! From Humpty-Dumpty to Canadian caviar, we cross the country through the airwaves to delve into egg-citing facts and lore of a food that's been around since the chicken came first...or was it the egg?

CBC Radio calling - Pumpkins

As discussed on the radio today, here are the links to the winning pie recipes at the Pilger Pumpkin Festival. Take note, however, the winning pie makers added their own special "tweeks" to these recipes:

Winning pumpkin pie
Second place pumpkin pie

Here are links to my favourite pumpkin recipes on this blog:

Pumpkin Gnocci
Pumpkin Muffins

Pumpkin Ravioli
My husband and I ordered pumpkin-filled pasta in a rustic restaurant in Italy. It was quite heavy on the cinnamon, which I have toned down for this version.

Cut the flesh off a pumpkin, wrap in tinfoil and bake until soft. Mash the soft pumpkin and measure 2 cups. Place in a sieve to drain excess liquid. Mix the pumpkin with 1 cup of freshly grated Parmesan cheese, 1/4 tsp. cinnamon, 1/4 tsp nutmeg, a few grinds of pepper and salt to taste. Whip an egg with a fork and blend into the pumpkin mixture. Use this mixture in ravioli or other stuffed pasta.

To serve, I made a sauce of melted butter sautéed with plenty of fresh chopped sage, sprinkled with Parmesan cheese. I recently had pumpkin tortellini with mushroom cream sauce in a restaurant which was also a very good flavour combination.

CBC Radio Calling

Beets have an affinty for goat's cheese. Perhaps feta cheese would taste great, too.

Beet and Walnut Salad
2 beets, cooked
1 tbsp water
1 tbsp brown sugar
1/4 cup chopped walnuts
1/2 tbsp white balsamic vinegar
1/2 tbsp fruit syrup (chokecerry, raspberry, etc.)

3 tbsp olive oil
salad greens for two (may include beet greens)
2 tbsp crumbled goat cheese
salt

Cut the beets into a bite-sized dice. Heat 1 tbsp of water in a non-stick skillet. Add the brown sugar and stir until dissolved. Add the walnuts, cooking and stirring until the water has evaporated and the sugar has caramelized on the nuts. Make the dressing by whisking together the vinegar, fruit syrup, oil and salt to taste. Toss half the dressing with the salad greens and the other half with the beets. To serve, divide the salad greens onto two plates. Scoop the beets into the middle of the greens, scatter each with half the walnuts and sprinkle on the cheese.

Tonight, I'm going to try this recipe: beet leaf holopchi