forage

So we’re still going strong on the asparagus! This week we are going to do the Asparagus Tart again because it was so well received the first time, and we are also offering the Cream of Asparagus soup in the cooler. This Sunday, June 8^th Forage will be at Edgar Farms Asparagus Festival. That’s the asparagus picking cart to the left! The Festival goes Saturday and Sunday from 10AM to 4PM and on Sunday Sue will be there grilling their asparagus.

We are adding another product from Mary Ellen and Andreas Grueneberg of Greens, Eggs, and Ham. This week we are getting our first order of their Vintage Lettuce Mix that is a combination of color, texture, and taste that evolves with the season. Right now the greens are greenhouse grown, but as the weather warms they will add greens from their garden too. This week they are in our Thursday special and in the coming weeks we hope to add bagged greens to the cooler.

Here’s the menu for this week:

Monday - Bison Meatloaf

Buffalo Horn Ranch bison meatloaf with a BBQ glaze served with roasted potatoes $12

Tuesday - Italian Chicken Sausage

Sunworks Farm italian chicken sausage served with white beans, peppers, onions, and tomatoes $13

Wednesday - Asparagus Tart

So popular last time, we’re doing it again… Edgar Farms asparagus and Sylvan Star gouda on butter puff dough tart served with a green salad $13

Thursday - Mideast Chicken Salad

Sunworks Farm chicken, chick peas, cucumber, and tomatoes on Greens, Eggs, and Ham Vintage lettuces with a lemon cumin dressing $14

Friday - Roast Chicken

Sunworks Farm roast chicken served with picnic potato salad and our special BBQ dipping sauce $38 whole $25 half $14 quarter

This Week’s Soup – Asparagus Cream $7

This Week’s Stew – Chicken Chili $9

Something Sweet – Fudge Brownie $4

Forage – Farm to Fork Foods to Go

3508 – 19^th Street SW Calgary - (403)269-6551

Here’s the recipes from this week’s spots on BTV.

Shaved Asparagus Salad

yield: 4 servings

½ lb.         fresh asparagus (dry ends removed, washed)

2 Tbsp.         champagne vinegar

4 Tbsp.        extra virgin olive oil

1 Tbsp.        honey

¼ tsp.         salt

¼ cup        toasted hazelnuts (chopped)

1. Use a vegetable peeler lengthwise to peel long thin strips of asparagus. Do this no sooner than a half hour before serving.
2. For the vinaigrette, whisk vinegar, oil, honey and salt. Stir in hazelnuts.
3. Toss the vinaigrette with the asparagus and serve.

 

Blue Cheese and Bacon Potato Salad

yield: 4 servings

½ lb.        bacon (thick cut, something like Sunworks Farm bacon)

1 ½ lb.        new potatoes (red, yellow, white, something creamy)

¾ cup        mayonnaise

½ cup        blue cheese (crumbled)

1 Tbsp.        salt (to taste)

½ tsp.        fresh ground black pepper

1 cup        fresh peas (shelled)

2 Tbsp.        chives (chopped)

1. Chop the bacon and fry it until crisp. Drain off the fat and drain the bacon bits on paper towel.
2. Cut the potatoes into 1 inch pieces and cook until tender. Drain and cool completely.
3. Place the potatoes, bacon, mayonnaise, blue cheese, salt and pepper in a bowl and work together with clean hands, breaking down some of the potatoes. Stir in the peas. Transfer to a serving bowl and sprinkle with the chives. Serve.

 

Fennel, Tomatoes and Peppers in Foil

yield: 4 servings

½ each        onion (sliced)

2 cloves    garlic (sliced)

2 each        tomatoes (ripe, cut in wedges)

1 bulb        fresh fennel or anise (sliced)

1 each        bell pepper (cored, sliced)

2 Tbsp.        olive oil

¼ cup        white wine

1 tsp.        salt

4 sprigs    fresh thyme or rosemary

1. Layer all the ingredients in the order shown in a foil pan or baking pan. Wrap tightly in foil and place on a medium high BBQ for 30-40 minutes until everything is tender. Serve as a side or spooned over grilled fish.

 

recipes by Wade Sirois of Forage – Farm to Fork Foods to Go

Chinook Arch Meadery has launched! On Friday, Art and Cherie Andrews of Chinook Honey became the first meadery in Alberta and one the fourth in Western Canada. The product tastes great! You can pick some of their King Arthur’s Mead, Bodacious Black Currant Mead, or Buckaroo Buckwheat at their newly expanded shop and tasting room just Southwest of Okotoks.

A reminder that Barbara Kingsolver is reading from her book Animal, Vegetable, Miracle this Wednesday evening. Tickets are $15 and are available from Ticketmaster, Janice Beaton Fine Cheese, or The Cookbook Company. The book is an inspiring account of a year of eating as locally as possible.

Look for Wade on Breakfast Television at 8:50AM this Monday through Thursday preparing side dishes for the BBQ. On Thursday, he’ll be at Westhills Safeway over the noon hour helping with the launch of the summer edition of Food For Thought Magazine. The magazine is available at supermarkets throughout Alberta and is published by Growing Alberta. He is featured in the summer salad article.

Here is the menu for this week:

Monday - Beef Macaroni Casserole

Hoven Farms Organic beef, tomatoes, green peppers, macaroni and cheddar $11

Tuesday - Chicken Burrito

Sunworks Farm chicken, beans, peppers, and rice with tomato salsa salad $14

Wednesday - Vegetable Pot Pie

carrots, potatoes, and peas in dill cream sauce with a biscuit top served with asparagus green salad $13

Thursday - Vietnamese Chicken Salad

Sunworks Farm chicken, cucumber, carrots, peppers and cilantro on rice noodles with lime vinaigrette $13

Friday - Mixed Grill

Broek Pork Acres farmer’s sausage, smoked sausage, and pork belly with grilled potatoes, asparagus, and peppers $14

This Week’s Soup – Seafood Chowder $8

This Week’s Stew – Bison Red Pepper Stew $9

Something Sweet – Mom’s Chocolate Cake $4

Forage Hours Monday to Friday 2PM to 7PM – (403)269-6551

It’s asparagus season! Edgar Farms started picking last Thursday and they’ll be picking twice a day for the next 6 weeks. When the weather is as warm as it was on the weekend the shoots can grow upwards of 6 inches in a day. They stop picking at the end of June because the asparagus needs to grow for 6 weeks frost free in order to come back the next year. If you visit their farm in July or August you’ll see a field of six foot tall ferns. We are going to feature as much asparagus as you can handle for the next 6 weeks so enjoy this wonderful Alberta treat. Fresh asparagus $3.50 a half pound available in Forage.

Here’s the menu for this week:

Tuesday - Beef Tamale Pie

Hoven Farms organic beef, beans, corn, peppers, and tomatoes with a cornmeal biscuit top $12

Wednesday - Asparagus Tart

Edgar Farms asparagus and Sylvan Star gouda on butter puff dough tart served with a green salad $13

Thursday - Roast Berkshire Pork

herb and garlic roasted Broek Pork Acres Berkshire pork with creamy polenta and pan gravy $14

Friday - Roast Chicken

we’re changing things up a bit - still the same great roast chicken served with picnic potato salad and our special BBQ dipping sauce $38 whole $25 half $14 quarter

This Week’s Soup – Seafood Chowder $8

This Week’s Stew – Chicken Chorizo Stew $9

Something Sweet – Puffed Wheat Squares $3

Forage Hours Monday to Friday 2 PM to 7 PM – (403)269-6551

First off, we are closed this Friday, May 16^th through Monday, May 19^th. We thought we would get an early start on the long weekend.

Rickety Uncles. If you’ve heard of them then you know what I’m talking about. Growing up that is what we always called them and I’ve heard them referred to that by other people too. Rickety Uncles are the special sweet for the week. The recipe is mostly rolled oats, brown sugar, and a generous amount of butter. They are my favourite square and if this is your first time, you won’t be disappointed.

As the weather improves we will evolve them menu into more summery kinds of food. In a few weeks we hope to add a weekly main course salad and a Forage potato salad to the cooler. For the long weekend we have baked beans in the freezer, BBQ bison on Thursday, coleslaw, beef chili, and some of the usual things to take to the cottage, lake, or enjoy around home. We have also quietly started canning Gull Valley Green House Tomato Sauce and Gull Valley Salsa and it is now available at Forage. Have a great long weekend!

Monday - Chicken Sausage Rigatoni

Sunworks Farm italian chicken sausage, rigatoni pasta, tomato sauce, spinach, and mushroom cream sauce with mozzarella $13

Tuesday - Butter Chicken

Sunworks Farm organic chicken and chick peas in a curry tomato sauce served with basmati rice $14

Wednesday - Baked Potato with Vegetarian Chili

Upper Green Farm baked russet potato with vegetarian chili and Sylvan Star cheddar $11

Thursday - BBQ Bison

Slow roasted Buffalo Horn Ranch bison in tangy BBQ sauce served with fresh pan bread and potato salad $13

Friday - Closed For the Long Weekend

We’re getting an early start to the long weekend – we are also closed Monday

This Week’s Soup – Mexican Chicken $8

This Week’s Stew – Beef Chili $9

Something Sweet – Rickety Uncles (aka Butterscotch Squares) $4

forage hours this week monday to thursday 2PM to 7PM – (403)269-6551

So the bee colonies at Chinook Honey are starting to come to life after a winter of clustering in their hives. The bees don’t hibernate through the cold season, they continue to eat summer reserves, clean the hive, and generate enough heat to keep alive. As the temperature warms so does the activity of the queen as she starts to lay eggs once again.

This isn’t the only thing exciting happening at Chinook Honey. This month Cherie and Art are becoming Alberta’s first meadery with the launch of their King Arthur’s Dry Mead. We just received a sample bottle and it is quite good. It has floral honey overtones with a finish much like a Viognier. They tell me that most of this first batch is already sold but it can be purchased, starting later this month, at their newly expanded shop just of the highway between Okotoks and Black Diamond. Congratulations to Art and Cherie for bringing us a great new Alberta product.

I, Wade have just launched a new blog at www.attheroot.ca. I’ll be digging deeper into the local food and agriculture scene with regular posts, insights, and news. Check it out, if you want to learn more about what’s going on.

Here’s the menu for this week:

Monday - Pork Sausage

Broek Pork Acres smoked pork sausage served with sauerkraut, cabbage and potatoes $13

Tuesday - Chicken Normandy

Sunworks Farm chicken, mushrooms, leeks, and apple cider all simmered with thyme and served on egg noodles $14

Wednesday - Stuffed Peppers

Gull Valley Green House pepper stuffed with tomato rice and beans topped with cheddar and served with a green salad $13

Thursday - Bison Shepherd’s Pie

Buffalo Horn Ranch bison, peas, carrots, green beans, and corn topped with herb mashed potatoes $12

Friday - Roast Chicken

Sunworks Farm organic chicken served with smashed buttermilk potatoes and gravy $38 whole $25 half $14 quarter

This Week’s Soup – Mexican Chicken $8

This Week’s Stew – Bison Stew $9

Something Sweet – Mom’s Chocolate Cake $4

Forage Hours Monday to Friday 2PM to 7PM – (403)269-6551 – 3508 – 19^th Street SW