Perfect Little Strawberries

Newspaper column - Breakfast

Published in the Saskatoon Star Phoenix on 20 July 2009

You’ve all heard the advice: a healthy diet starts with a good breakfast. However, I contend that a healthy diet begins with a good Saskatchewan breakfast. So often when we talk about eating locally, we focus on the big meals—dinner with meat, veggies, salad and dessert. But it’s just as easy and just as fun to start each day with a taste of Saskatchewan.

A few years ago, my husband John and I decided to eat locally for a whole year. Breakfast, lunch and dinner. That year is up, but good habits are hard to break. We still stock our larder with locally-produced foods and breakfast is my favourite meal of the day.

This time of year, you may find me out early in the strawberry patch picking berries for a bowl of yogurt and homemade muesli. When the berries are this fresh and so delicious, breakfast is worth celebrating, so I often serve it in a martini glass. It looks as good as it tastes!

In the winter, I eat my muesli in a bowl with dried apples and cherries (that I dried myself) or with berries such as saskatoons and raspberries that I canned with a light honey syrup. Sometimes in winter, we get a warm start to the day with oatmeal porridge sweetened with honey or maple syrup.

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Whether for porridge or muesli, I always try to buy a bag of oats that specifically states it is a product of Saskatchewan. My homemade muesli includes nuts and seeds (which aren’t necessarily from here), plus locally-grown flax and hemp seeds, mixed with canola oil and honey, then toasted in the oven. (I buy the flax at the Saskatoon Farmer’s Market; the hemp seeds come from The Good Seed farm at Birch Hills.)
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Berry smoothies are also a great breakfast idea. We start with local Dairyland yogurt, add a banana, which isn’t local of course, and top it up with frozen blueberries, cranberries, saskatoons and/or strawberries, all locally picked, plus a dash of ground flax.

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When we have a little extra time, or when company is coming, John heats up the griddle and makes wild blueberry pancakes. If I’m cooking, we might have clafoutis, a terrifically easy breakfast custard from France, where it’s traditionally made with cherries. I use a mix of Saskatchewan berries, including the local sour cherry.

Speaking of traditional, bacon and eggs in our house are always local. We get them at the farmers market, or, if we’re at a local meat shop, we pick up good Saskatchewan-made bacon and breakfast sausages. (Currently, our freezer is stocked with breakfast sausage from the Smokehaus in Martensville.)

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As for toast and jam, it’s easy to be local. I make my own bread or buy it at a bakery such as Christie’s. My mom supplies the jam. While it might be hard to turn every breakfast into a local meal, here are some tips to get started:

1) Buy locally-made bacon and breakfast sausage. We have such good butchers in Saskatchewan, it’s easy to find quality products.
2) Pick extra strawberries, saskatoons and sour cherries this summer (available at u-picks) and freeze enough for a smoothie or clafoutis now and then. Wild blueberries may be found at the farmers market when they’re in season.
3) Reach labels and try to buy basic ingredients, such as eggs, oats, honey and flax, that are products of Saskatchewan.

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Here's the recipe for my homemade muesli. And here's the clafoutis (pronounced cla-foo-tee), which will impress everyone at breakfast time, especially the cook!

Prairie Berry Clafoutis
2 tbsp butter
3 eggs
3 tbsp sugar
1 cup milk
1/2 tsp vanilla
1/4 tsp salt
1 cup all-purpose flour
2 cups mixed Saskatchewan berries
(fresh or frozen)
1 tbsp flour

Heat the oven to 350F. In the oven, melt the butter in a cast iron skillet or large pie plate, making sure the butter doesn’t brown.

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Put the eggs, sugar, milk, vanilla and salt into a blender and blend until smooth. With the blades running, gradually add 1 cup of flour and mix well. Remove the buttered pan from the oven and pour in the batter.
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Toss the berries with the remaining tbsp of flour. Scatter the fruit over the top of the batter. Bake for 20-25 minutes, until the centre of the custard is set. Serve warm, perhaps with a sprinkling of icing sugar.

CBC Radio calling - Berry Recipes

Here are some of my favourite ways to serve Saskatchewan berries, including this delighful dessert which I call Strawberries Between the Sheets.

Prairie Berry Clafoutis
Lingonberry Pinwheels
Wild Rice with Dried Cherries
Bumbleberry Pie
Saskatoon Berry Cobbler

Berries galore - BUMBLEBERRY PIE

Last week, I spent a couple days at a Benedictine Monastery at Muenster, Saskatchewan, where the monks fill their days by keeping marvellous gardens. Brother Basil, the chief farmer, showed me around the grounds on his golf cart. Later, I walked out past the cemetery to the raspberry patch and picked a pail of amber raspberries.

I had never tasted amber raspberries before. They are sweeter and more delicate than the common red raspberry, and so delicious. Now I’m eating them every day (or twice a day!) before they go soft. This Bumbleberry Pie is a good way to use a variety of berries and fruit when you don’t have enough for one pie on its own. In addition to the amber raspberries, I used raspberries (picked at Don's house), lush strawberries from the Strawberry Ranch, my own rhubarb, my mom’s saskatoon berries and crabapples we picked over our neighbours' fence.

BUMBLEBERRY PIE
5 cups of fruit, of which 1 cup is tart apple
1 cup sugar
1/4 cup flour
dash of salt
a bit of butter
prepared pastry crust

Peel, core and chop the apple. Chop the other large fruit like rhubarb and big strawberries. Combine all the fruit in a bowl and toss with the flour to coat. Mix in the sugar and the salt.

Roll the pastry so it will have an overhand of at least one inch when placed in the pie plate. Place it into the plate and scoop in the fruit. Dot here and there with bit of butter. Fold the loose edges of pastry over the top of the filling so that it forms a rough circle around the edge of the pie; the centre remains uncovered. (This method uses less pastry crust and allows everyone to see how pretty the fruit looks after it’s cooked.) You can sprinkle the crust with sugar, if you like. Bake at 375 for about 30-40 minutes, until the crust is cooked.

Newspaper - STRAWBERRY MILLE FEUILLE

This column appeared in the Saskatoon Star-Phoenix on 24 July 2006.

Sometimes, we can trace our talents directly to our parents. From my mom, I get my collecting-old-dishware gene. From my dad, I get my talent for berry picking. My dad is a terrific berry picker. He is in early, picks steadily, eats little and doesn’t quit until the pails are full. There is a legend in our family that he broke the all-time record for the most cherries picked in one day at a certain U-Pick in BC. That’s my dad.

When I was growing up on the farm, late July was time for the annual saskatoon berry expedition to Findlater Valley or Lake Manitou. I learned early to wear white (to stay cool), long sleeves (against the brambles) and a belt (to loop the handle of the bucket so both hands were free). We packed the bug spray, a picnic and lots of ice cream pails.

I have always loved picking berries. I love the rhythm of it, like a mantra, a single action repeated but not without challenge, since the berries must be examined as they are picked and discarded if wormy. I love the solitude in the bush, the heat and the buzzing insects. I love the feeling of accomplishment, pride in picking clean and thorough, the gratification of watching the pail fill slowly to the top.

Of course, I love to eat berries, too. Considering all this, it’s a good thing I was born in Saskatchewan where berry picking is a cultural pastime from way back. It’s getting even easier now to pick berries with U-Pick farms popping up all over the place. The website of the Saskatchewan Fruit Growers Association has a map showing more than 70 U-Picks around the province and lists 16 different fruits!

Last summer, I discovered the Yoanna Orchard U-Pick at Radisson. They have 50 different varieties of apples, but I was ga-ga for the cherries. These are small, tart cherries perfect for jams and pies, developed at the University of Saskatchewan for our dry summers and cold winters. In two visits, my husband and I picked nine buckets. This summer, I am already satisfying my itch to pick. A few weeks ago I went to the Strawberry Ranch with a couple of girlfriends and their kids. I spent the rest of the morning canning fruit and making jam. Then some other friends let me loose in their raspberry patch...

I am so passionate about Saskatchewan fruit because I am passionate about Saskatchewan food overall. For one full year, my husband and I ate almost nothing but Saskatchewan foods at our own dinner table. We made an effort to try new things and to really make the most of what this province has to offer. Now that year is up and we have a new challenge. Everyday, I want to eat something procured by our own hands. It might be herbs or fish or, you guessed it, lots of berries.

STRAWBERRIES MILLE FEUILLE
(or Strawberries Between the Sheets)

In France, mille feuille means a thousand sheets of paper or a thousand leaves. It is often created by layering fruit and cream between thin layers of cake or sweet crisps. This version is even easier, but it looks just as impressive. This recipe makes four desserts. For larger amounts you can double the pastry cream.

phyllo pastry
1/3 cup butter
1 cup fresh sliced strawberries
icing sugar for dusting

Pastry Cream
1/2 tbsp vanilla
1 cup milk
2 egg yolks
1/4 cup sugar
3 tbsp flour
1.5 tbsp soft butter
1/3 cup whipping cream

Cut the phyllo pastry into roughly four-inch squares. You’ll need seven squares per person, but do a few extra incase some break. Melt 1/3 cup butter until it foams. Remove from heat and skim off the foam with a spoon. Spread the pastry sheets in a single layer on a clean cooking sheet. (I covered the cookie sheet in parchment paper.) Brush the pastry lightly with melted butter and bake in a 300-degree oven. Watch carefully – it takes just a few minutes to crisp and turn brown. Store the pastry sheets in an airtight container.

Heat the milk and vanilla on medium heat until it boils. In another bowl, whisk together the egg yolks and sugar until light and fluffy. Add the flour and mix well. Add one-quarter of the hot milk and whisk until fully incorporated. Whisk in the remaining milk and pour through a strainer into a clean saucepan. Heat the mixture on medium, stirring constantly, until it boils. Remove from heat and whisk in the soft butter a bit at a time so it is completely smooth. Cool. This can be made ahead of time, pressed with plastic wrap and stored in the fridge.

Before serving, whip the cream and fold it into the cold pastry cream. Place three pastry sheets on each plate. Cover with a layer of pastry cream. Dot with strawberries. Add another three pastry sheets, more cream and more fruit. Top with one more sheet. For decoration, you might place a half strawberry on the top of each one. Dust with icing sugar and serve.

Hooked on Breakfast - MY MORNING MARTINI

Last winter, I ate something that changed my life.

My husband and I took a little winter getaway to the mineral spa in Moose Jaw. We were sitting in our terry robes by the side of the pool, having a morning coffee in the Morningside Cafe, when a woman walked by with the most amazing breakfast parfait. Imagine a martini glass filled with layers of granola, yogurt and fresh fruit. When I got home to Saskatoon, I went out and bought martini glasses just so I could start every day this way.

I've been making it with thawed berries that I put away last fall, and I'm now waiting patiently for the strawberries and raspberries to ripen so I can make a Saskatchewan version of the Morningside breakfast parfait. I call it...

MY MORNING MARTINI
Take one martini glass (per person). Fill the very bottom with granola. Top it with fruit. Cover with yogurt. Repeat the layering. Top the whole thing off with the most gorgeous raspberry (or strawberry) you picked that morning. Eat with a spoon. (You can stir if you want, but shaking would be a mess!)