forage

Easter Hours

Forage will be closed Thursday, April 1^st through Monday, April 5^th for an extended Easter Weekend. When we return on Tuesday, April 6^th we will be training our new staff member Tagen. Raina has found work as a teacher, which is her career path, and we thank her for the time she was with us. Also, Wade is taking some time off over the next couple weeks and the Twitter postings won’t be happening until he gets back.

Roast Berkshire Pork

Monday we are roasting Berkshire pork legs from Broek Pork Acres. Allan and Joanne Vandenbroek pasture raise this heritage breed of black pig just North of Lethbridge. We fell in love with the flavour of the Berkshires as soon as they started raising them a few years ago.

Here’s the menu for the week of March 29^th:

Monday - Roast Berkshire Pork

Broek Pork Acres Berkshire pork roasted with herbs and garlic served with mashed potatoes, pan gravy, and carrots $14

Tuesday - Lasagna

Our hand made lasagna with Vital Green Farm veal sauce, fresh pasta, provolone and mozzarella served with green salad $13

Wednesday - Vegetable Burrito

Tomato rice, black beans, peppers, onions, chard, and cheddar wrapped in a Tres Marias tortilla with chipotle slaw $11

Thursday - Closed For Easter Weekend

Friday - Closed For Good Friday

We’ll Be Back Tuesday, April 6th

This Week’s Stew – Beef and Ale Stew $8

This Week’s Soup – Chicken Mulligatawny $7

This Week’s Side – Lemon Lovage Potato Salad $4

Something Sweet – Apple Crisp $4

Iranian New Year

Iranian New Year arrives on the first day of spring and we’re celebrating with our Iranian Bison Stew. We start by cooking Broxburn onions for over an hour. Then we add browned Buffalo Horn Ranch bison, dried lime, turmeric, cinnamon, and a touch of tomato paste and let it simmer for hours. The final addition is toasted yellow peas and it makes the most delicious and interesting flavour combination from so few ingredients. Wade was taught how to make it by a friend who was taught by her Iranian mother-in-law. Celebrate a new year and the arrival of spring by getting some on Monday.

Farm Table Dinner Menu

The excitement is building for Wednesday’s Farm Table Dinner featuring Broek Pork Acres Berkshire pork. It just happens that this meal will have a decidedly Italian feel with roast Berkshire pork porchetta, roasted fingerling potatoes, green beans with hazelnuts, eggplant parmigiana, and tomatoes with basil and mozzarella. Do we need to mention that dessert is ricotta cake with apples and a cinnamon cream? There are still a handful of seats left so call to book your spot.

Gull Valley Green Houses Are Back

Ahh, another sign of spring is the return of products from Gull Valley Green Houses. This week we have heads of butterleaf lettuce, baby cucumbers, and some green beans. We’ll also have a green salad available all week so you can start getting caught up on your veggies.

Here’s the menu for this week:

Monday - Iranian Bison Stew

Celebrate the Iranian New Year with this delicious stew made with Buffalo Horn Ranch bison, dried limes, onions, tomato, turmeric, cinnamon and yellow peas. Served with basmati rice $13

Tuesday - Chicken Paprikash

Sunworks Farm organic chicken simmered with peppers, Hungarian paprika, tomatoes, and sour cream served over egg noodles $13

Wednesday - Vegetable Tagine

Carrots, cauliflower, peas, beans, chick peas, with mint, dates and orange served over cous cous $11

Thursday - Beef Macaroni Casserole

Hoven Farms Organic beef, tomatoes, cabbage, green peppers, and macaroni topped with cheddar $10

Friday - Roast Organic Chicken

Sunworks Farm roast organic chicken served with smashed potatoes and our famous gravy $40 whole $26 half $15 quarter

This Week’s Stew – Italian Bean and Sausage $7

This Week’s Soup – Chicken Mulligatawny $7

This Week’s Side – Honey Mustard Carrots $4

Something Sweet – Apple Crisp $4

Five Buck Pucks

It’s that time again. Our freezers are a little too full so for this week only our puck shaped frozen entrees are five bucks. Stock up for lunches and quick dinners.

 

Farm Table Dinner Next Wednesday

You do not want to miss this dinner featuring Broek Pork Acres Berkshire Pork, but you need to get your tickets right away! We are wrapping a pork loin with pork belly, smothering the whole thing in garlic and herbs and roasting it slow until the skin with crispy. There will also be a compliment of side dishes and something apple-y for dessert. Dinner is $49 and includes dinner, dessert, coffee/tea, and gratuity. Give us a call to book your spot.

 

LOCAL 101 and 201 a Success

We want to thank everyone who came out on Saturday for helping make LOCAL 201 and 101 a success. It was a great day of sharing and I think everyone had their awareness of our local food system expanded! We also want to thank Slow Food Calgary, Dine Alberta, Growing Forward, the Government of Alberta, the SAIT volunteers, Calgary Food Policy Council, Blush Lane, and all the speakers for making it all possible. Look for video from both events to be posted sometime in the future on Tim Hoven’s website locallunch.tv.

 

We’ve Gone a Little Irish

It’s the week we celebrate all things Irish so we’ve made Irish Lamb Stew and grabbed some of the Alberta Crude Stout from Wild Rose Brewery. The stout is going in the Chocolate Stout Cake and a touch in our Potato, Bacon, and Stout soup. Sorry Guinness, we can’t resist using our local stout to keep everything a little closer to home.

 

Here’s the menu for this week:

Monday - Beef Burrito

Hoven Farms organic beef, peppers, tomatoes, onions, black beans, rice, and cheddar wrapped in a Tres Marias flour tortilla served with chipotle slaw $12

Tuesday - Chicken Rigatoni

Sunworks Farm organic chicken, tomato sauce, penne pasta, spinach, béchamel and mozzarella $10

Wednesday - Macaroni and Cheese

Our take on the classic made with Sylvan Star Gouda and other cheeses $9

Add a green salad. $4

Thursday - Bison Meatballs in Mushroom Sauce

Buffalo Horn ranch bison meatballs slathered in a mushroom cream sauce served with white rice $12

Friday - Roast Organic Chicken

Sunworks Farm roast organic chicken served with smashed potatoes and our famous gravy $40 whole $26 half $15 quarter

This Week’s Stew – Irish Lamb Stew $8

This Week’s Soup – Potato, Bacon, and Stout $7

This Week’s Side – Pesto Pasta Salad $4

Something Sweet – Chocolate Stout Cake $4

Lasagna on Tuesday

Normally lasagna may not be a reason for a paragraph but we’re excited about this one. We’re making the pasta from scratch and layering it with provolone and mozzarella cheese and Wade’s meat sauce. He uses Vital Green Farm organic veal. If you have issues with veal, think about this – what use is a male dairy cow? The farmer is able to get some value for the animal and they are treated very well on this organic farm. Come in for a slice and a spinach salad on Tuesday.

Next Farm Table Dinner

Next to the lobster/asparagus dinner in June our Broek Pork Acres Dinner is our most popular. This year we are thinking we might do a porchetta of Berkshire pork loin wrapped in pork belly. All garlicky and herby and crispy and dripping. Of course there will be other sides and dessert but do you need other food groups when pork is on the table? Dinner is Wednesday, March 24^th at 7:00PM. Call to book you seat.

LOCAL 101 and LOCAL 201

We now have over 18 speakers confirmed for LOCAL 201 and the topics cover urban chickens to green architecture. It’s going to be an exciting morning and a great way to connect. The agenda for LOCAL 101 is now on the website and the Mix and Mingle is going to include things like Cunningham’s Smoked Trout mousse, Buffalo Horn Ranch bison meatballs in mushroom sauce, grilled mettwurst from Broek Pork Acres, and pickled Edgar Farm asparagus. You might even get a chance to sample En Sante’s amazing Alfalfa wine called Green Envy. Tickets are available at Forage, Sunnyside Natural Market, and Hoven Farms stall at the Calgary Farmers Market.

 

Here’s the menu for the week of March 8^th:

Monday - Beef Shepherd’s Pie

Hoven Farms organic beef, carrots, peas, and corn topped with whipped potatoes $10

Tuesday - Lasagna

We’re making it from scratch with Wade’s meat sauce that has Vital Green organic veal and Eagle Creek Farm garlic in it and fresh pasta and cheese. Served with spinach salad. $14

Wednesday - Chevre and Caramelized Onion Tart

Knock out good Fairwinds Farm chevre tart with a layer of caramelized Broxburn onions in it. Served with green salad. $13

Thursday - Brown Ale Chicken Pot Pie

Sunworks Farm organic chicken and root vegetables in a Wild Rose Brown Ale sauce topped with a biscuit crust $10

Friday - Roast Organic Chicken

Sunworks Farm roast organic chicken served with smashed potatoes and our famous gravy $40 whole $26 half $15 quarter

This Week’s Stew – Bison Chili $8

This Week’s Soup – Chicken Noodle $7

This Week’s Side – Honey Roast Beets $4

Something Sweet – Tomato Soup Spice Cake $4