Michael Haggert
Homemade heartwarming soup isn’t the all-day chore you
might imagine. A few fresh, seasonal ingredients and a bit of
creativity are all that matters when food matters.
Eating local means eating seasonal. Gather a butternut
squash, and a few carrots and apples. Peel the carrots and
squash and cut into chunks. Lightly toss with oil and add a little
salt. Roast in a shallow pan at 375F for 45 minutes, turning
about halfway through. Peel, core and cut up apples and add to
the same pan for the last ten minutes of cooking time. The goal
is for the veggies and fruit to be cooked soft, with a minimum
of browning.
Remove from oven and process in a blender until smooth,
adding cream to help blend to a soup consistency. You will have
to work in batches, transferring soup to a large pot and stirring
as you bring to a boil on the stove.
Garnish with a dollop of sour cream and a little parsley. Add
a few croutons, or a little crumbled bacon, and enjoy!
If that’s too rich for your taste, try using milk or chicken
stock instead of the cream. Add more apple and watch the
flavour profile move to the sweeter end; add some peppers to
the roasting pan and move back toward the spicy end.
And remember, turning on the oven will take the chill off
those cool autumn evenings without having to turn on the
furnace!
Is It Really Local?
The 100 Mile Diet: A Year of Local
Eating by Alisa Smith and J.B.
MacKinnon came out in 2007. It
chronicles the experiences of trying to
adapt a local diet and was followed by
the Food Network Canada’s series The
100 Mile Challenge in 2009. Perhaps an
overzealous approach to the local food
movement, but surely the recent
change to the definition of local food
by the Canadian Food Agency is just as
ridiculous an approach.
Few people would insist on the old
50 km guideline, but no one can
reasonably suggest province-wide is
the answer.
If you see a bin of produce at your
supermarket with a label saying
“locally grown” you might want to ask
where it came from. You might have
intended to help sustain the proud
agricultural tradition of Essex County
but a significant portion of your dollar
is going to the trucking and fuel
industry to haul the produce all the way
from Thunder Bay.
We all know that isn’t local.
Tell us on Facebook about your adventures with food this month,
or tweet us @thehubWE #foodmatters
October 2013 - The HUB 7