I totally know that we're all back to school and everything.
I know that even when we were in Vermont in August that some of the trees were showing signs of starting to be tinged with red.
I know that you probably had to grab a sweater when you went out the other night.
I know that when I jumped on my bike two days ago that I thought I would die in my short sleeve t-shirt.
I know all of that but I still can't let go of summer.  It still is summer... just a little.
I know because:
It's not my birthday yet.
I'm still sweaty after biking or running during the day.
My Mom hasn't contacted me about Thanksgiving dinner yet.
The new season of TV hasn't started yet.
There are still lots of tomatoes and corn at the market...


When I saw the corn there I knew that I just had to buy it.  When I spoke with the farmer he told me that this is probably the last of it.  The cold nights mess with the sugar in the corn too much and it goes all bland and boring.  A whole dozen cobs of corn came home with me tonight.  Along with tomatoes and nectarines, and locally made cream cheese (with chili peppers... come on) and more potatoes than I know what to do with for 4 dollars.  It was all a little heavy but totally worth it.  Totally.
So, if you have some corn that needs love and attention and you want to continue deluding yourself into believing that summer will continue forever then please try this recipe.  It is seriously one of the easiest and tastiest things that I've made in about a week... no joke.


Just for the record, I took some while it was still warm and spooned it onto some lettuce, topped it with some halved cherry tomatoes and drizzled with just a little homemade mayo.  Divine.  I love you summer.


Corn, Potato and Green Bean Side adapted from 'The Kitchn'
serves 4

3 1/2 cups potatoes, cut into about 2 - 3 inch cubes
1/4 cup red onion, thinly sliced
2 cups green beans, cut into 3 - 4 inch lengths
2 cups fresh corn kernels
3 slices of bacon, diced
3 - 4tbsp butter
1 tbsp honey
juice of 1/2 a lemon
salt to taste

Bring a medium/small pot of water to a boil.  Add the potatoes and simmer at medium heat for about 8 minutes or until the potatoes are just barely softened.  Scoop out the potatoes with a slotted spoon and set aside.
Place the green beans in the same water and simmer for about 3 minutes or until just beginning to soften.  Drain the water from the beans and add the beans to the potatoes.
Heat a wok or dutch oven over medium heat.
Add in the bacon and cook for about 4 minutes or until the bacon is getting brown and crispy.  Add in the butter and cook for another 5 minutes.  Add in the onion and cook for about 3 minutes.
Add the corn kernels, the cooked potatoes and green beans.  Turn the heat down just a little.  Toss regularly.  Add in a little more butter if the mixture gets too dry.
Add a pinch of salt, honey and the lemon juice.
Check the tastes and adjust if necessary.
Serve

Over the course of the weekend that I was wading my way through 3 bushels of tomatoes (which you may have noticed I'm still a little traumatized by) my friend T came over.  As soon as he walked in he got in there and started helping.  That was awesome because D wasn't around to help at that particular moment and also because I was nearing the end of both the tomatoes and my sanity.
Although he grew up on a farm T had never participated in the canning process.  He talked about having entire days where the boys went out and picked as many __________ (fill in the blank with whatever vegetable you want) and the girls and Mom would get it ready to either freeze it or can it.  So it was kinda a girls job to get things canned.  T was curious about the whole thing and totally ready to get in there and figure it out for himself.
It got us to talking about all of the preserving/gardening/hunting/husbanding/surviving thing.  We agreed that not just a generation ago (ok - let's say 60 years give or take) it would have pretty much everybody that knew how to can or preserve.  Everybody knew what to do with the vegetables at the end of the season.  Everybody knew how to save seeds for next year.  Everybody knew how to make jam or preserves.  And the list goes on.  Whether or not they did it themselves, they knew someone who did and wouldn't have died of starvation if the local grocer went out of business.  The rise of the 'low fat' craze meant that we could no longer rely on the old standby's that got us through in the past.  We had to have the right kind of oil for cooking, margarine can't be made at home, low fat sour cream is not the stuff that comes out of a cow and most certainly tofurky or turkey bacon either.
It also became a status symbol to eat things that came from a large processing company rather than from  a farm.  I remember being in love with chef boyardee ravioli because that's what my Mom bought (my brother love spaghetti o's and beefaroni).  It meant that you could afford it.  It meant that you didn't have to make it yourself.  I get it.
What happened however, is that we forgot.  We've forgotten a lot.  Some people I meet don't even know how to make rice (no joke - and I take that very seriously).  T and I talked about how important it will probably become that those things be remembered again.  The making of butter by hand, the awesomeness of raw milk that you can skim the cream off the top of, the great feeling you get when you open that jar of jam in January and it's... beautiful (and good for your immune system too).  It's sad that those things have been forgotten to be sure but what's more... it's dangerous.  It's important to know that we don't need to buy them from a grocery... we have the option of doing it ourselves... and we know how to do it.


That's why I want to teach my kids about all this stuff.  Canning, freezing, growing, preserving, making from scratch and using what's around us and not's thousands of kilometres away... because it's important to know that you have options.  It's important to be able to fend for yourself.  It's empowering to know that you can provide for yourself and that you can make bread.  More than ever I appreciate that I can do this.  That I can put the ingredients together and knead it by hand and my kids can watch me and they can smell the bread baking and know it didn't come out of a bag.  Bread is important and we haven't had enough of it throughout the summer.  Now that it's cooler... bread is back and this loaf was pretty damn near perfect.


Red Fife Honey Bread adapted from Betty Crocker
yield: 1 loaf (can easily be doubled)


1 1/2 cups Red Fife or Whole Wheat flour
1 1/2 cup all purpose flour
1 1/4 cup warm water
2 1/4 tsp active dry yeast
1 tsp brown sugar
1/4 cup honey
1 1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp fresh orange zest
6 tbsp unsalted butter at room temperature


Combine the warm water, yeast and brown sugar.  Stir and set aside in a draft free spot for about 8 - 10 minutes.  The mixture should be foamy and have almost doubled.
Butter or grease a medium sized non-reactive bowl and set aside.
In a large bowl combine the Red Fife flour and 1 cup of the all purpose flour.  Form a well in the middle of the flour and add the honey, salt, orange zest and butter.  Add in the foamy yeast mixture.  Stir to mix well until it forms a wet dough ball.
Turn out the dough ball onto a lightly flour surface and knead for about 10 minutes until the dough is silky and smooth.  Add in the rest of the all purpose flour as needed.
Place the dough into the buttered bowl.  Cover with a clean cloth and set in a warm, draft-free spot for about 50 - 60 minutes or until almost doubled in size.
Butter or grease a loaf pan.
Remove and knead down just enough to form into a loaf.  Place the dough loaf into the loaf pan.  Cover with the clean cloth and set aside in a warm, draft-free spot to rise for another 45 - 50 minutes or until the loaf has risen over the top of the pan and looks like it's the size it should be.
Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F.
Bake the bread for about    minutes or until the top is nicely browned and it sound hollow when you knock on it.
Cool before slicing.

It's been quite a week.  I wrote a few posts ago that I was feeling scared about this blog.  At one point was even looking for a way to sabotage it because I felt like it was becoming something.  I've muscled through that urge - I don't think that I'm alone in that desire to sabotage something potentially successful in one's life.  It happens all the time.
Somehow, it's easier to swallow something 'failing' because you helped it fail rather than someone or something else being the cause of the failure.  It's kinda of like it failed because I wanted it to rather than because it was crap or people didn't like it.  I denied them the opportunity before they had a chance to make a decision.  It's weird.  Remember when you were like fifteen and you 'liked' someone.  You were afraid to tell them (or maybe you weren't) because they might not or probably don't like you back.  Then when you think about it years later you think you were a twit because who cares if you told them, they shoulda had a chance to decide themselves... maybe they didn't feel like you were 'ick'.
When I came home from work earlier this week I met an email sitting on my computer.  It was from this website that I upload my recipes to called 'recipes.ca'.  They were asking if I would allow one of my recipes to stand as their recipe of the day.  It was a great feeling.  Getting recognized someway somehow is a hell of a thing.  It's giddy-making, it's addictive - I can't imagine how it would feel to win a serious award for my blog.  I don't know how I would react to that.


Meanwhile, I'm reading this book which I've been devouring like a starving animal.  It's coinciding with a work situation that's giving this book a run for it's money.  It's got me thinking though about how much of life happens in one's head.  I say this all the time to my voice students.  How you sing has more to do with how you think about singing than it has to do with any physical gift or ability.  More and more I think that statement extends to all areas of our lives.  Whether or not I can do something is really much less important than whether I think I can do it or how I can talk myself into being able to do it.  'Fake it till you make it'.  Yup - that's kinda what I'm talking about.  If I think that I can do it then eventually I'll convince myself and others around me that I can do it as well.  It's a bit of a con-game right?  I've always had that nagging feeling that I'm really faking _________ (whatever... fill in the blank) and that I'll get found out for the fraud that I am.  I'm losing that feeling though.  Confidence, age and experience are dulling that for me.
I'm not going to develop these thoughts any further at the moment 'cause I've kinda run through what's in my head and I've got bread to make... maybe more will come later.


In the glow of my recent recipes.ca boost I've gotten all fancy and made a meal that includes two dishes but that's totally worth the effort - by effort I mean more than one pot not difficulty.  The polenta (which  for some reason has always been conveyed to me as something time consuming and tricky to get) was so easy that I wonder now why I've taking so long to really go for it.  It's like cheesy savoury pudding.  The ragu... well who doesn't have a butt load of veggies needing attention right now.  It's a pretty forgiving recipe and will do with whatever you've got hanging around but I would recommend at least one vegetable that will soften and go almost mushy-like (eggplant or zucchini) and do not leave out the tomatoes.  Used canned ones if you have to but the garden or farmer's market ones will leave you breathless.


Eggplant and Tomato Ragu with Cheesy Polenta adapted from 'myrecipes.com' and Giada de Laurentiis

Ragu:
4 tbsp oil or lard (might need a little more if the eggplant dries out too much)
2 cloves garlic, crushed
1 green pepper, cut into strips
2 red pepper, cut into strips
1 medium (3 1/2 - 4 cup) eggplant, chopped
3 cups tomato, chopped
 2 cups (4 leaves) chard, chopped
1/2 cup fresh herbs (basil, parsley, chives, oregano, etc.) chopped OR 3 tbsp dry
2 heaping tbsp honey
1 1/2 tsp salt
pinch of pepper
dash of pepper sauce

Polenta:
4 cups broth
1 3/4 cup cornmeal
1 cup parmesan cheese
3/4 cup milk
1 1/2 tsp salt
1 1/2 tbsp Worcestershire
2 tbsp honey
1 tbsp lemon zest
5 tbsp butter

Heat a large wok or dutch oven over medium heat.  Add the oil or lard and throw in the garlic, green pepper, red pepper and eggplant.  Sauté over medium heat for about 7 - 8 minutes.  The eggplant should be getting soft and starting to brown slightly.
Add in the chard and mix.  Continue to cook together for another 5 minutes.
Add in the tomato, herbs, honey, salt, pepper and pepper sauce.  Mix well, turn the heat down to medium/low and cook together for another 10 - 14 minutes.
Check the tastes and serve with the polenta.

Polenta:
In a large pot or dutch oven heat the broth to boiling (I used some leftover water that we boiled corn in and added a veggie boullion cube as well).  Turn the heat down to medium/low and add in the cornmeal and whisk well to get rid of any lumps in the cornmeal.  Simmer for about 10 - 15 minutes or until the cornmeal is still quite soft but has thickened up quite a lot.
Turn the heat off completely.  Add in the cheese, milk, salt, Worcestershire, honey and lemon zest.  Stir to mix and let the parmesan melt completely.  Stir in the butter.
Serve with the vegetable ragu.

I want to eat more ice cream really really badly but instead I'm going to write a blog post and hope that by the end of the post I've completely forgotten about the delicious stuff sitting in the freezer.
Once I started canning last weekend it was hard to stop.  There is something about having the canner going and everything kind of in gear that makes you think that since it's all started.
There are quite a few reasons for my sugar 'need' at the moment.  First off, I'm trying to quit.  Ok, not quit but slow down.  I just don't like being in a position of need or desperation when it's just a substance like sugar.  Friendship.  Sex.  Champagne.  Those are things that I don't mind 'needing' but sugar... nah.  So I'm cutting back a bit.  Secondly, work has been a bit harried lately.  I'm not going into details because I think talking about work in my blog post is totally boring.  Who wants to hear dumb details about that.  Needless to say, school is back - I'm back - the kids are back - and work is back - and the hustle is back.  Lastly, I'm feeling a little giddy.
When I arrived home from work today there was an email message sitting in my 'inbox'.  It was a request from one of the websites I add my recipes to.  They were requesting the use of one of my recipes as their 'recipe of the day'.  They would post it on their facebook page and on twitter and all that stuff.  I know it's not a big thing but it's a big thing.  It's flattering and all that.  It adds to my feeling of this space being something 'legit'.  I'm not sure what to do with that though 'cause it's not like it's gonna be my job or a huge money maker or anything.  But it's still cool to feel appreciated and 'legit' and to have my stuff in demand.  Right.


So needing to veer dramatically from the sugar thing and all the reasons for my craving, I'll jump rather clumsily back into the canner.  I've been canning outside this year.  Using the burner on my bbq.  It's mostly worked beautifully save for the overfilling that I did once resulting in the whole canner of boiling water and the bbq falling over and spilling all over the back.  So once that sucker is up and running it's best to make the most of it.  I took some of the fruit that I had frozen from fresh out of the freezer and whipped up some quick blackberry/black raspberry jam.  And I made this stuff.  I picked up the strawberries from the farmer's market and learned that apparently there are 'everbearing' strawberries.


I can't wait to taste this jam.  It smelled fantastic when I was making it.  I dipped my finger in a time or two and it was divine but it's supposed to be even more 'divine' if you wait for at least a month to crack it open.  It won't be a problem since I've still got a half dozen jars of jam from last year to finish up.  I'm really excited about this one though.  The addition of balsamic vinegar and cracked peppercorns just intrigued me.  It's definitely a small batch jam so if you're really into it you might want to double it up.  I got three small jars.  But go ahead, smell up your kitchen, sterilize some jars and boil yourself up some water.


Strawberry Jam with Balsamic Vinegar and Cracked Pepper
adapted slightly from 'We Sure Can'

4 cups strawberries, hulled, washed and halved
2 1/2 cups sugar
3 tbsp lemon juice (fresh only)
1/4 cup balsamic vinegar
1/4 tsp cracked pepper

Day 1:
Combine the strawberries and the sugar together in a non-reactive container.  Stir and set in the fridge for about 24 hours.

Day 2:
Sterilize about 3 small jars and seal lids.
Combine the strawberry/sugar mixture with the lemon juice and balsamic vinegar in a heavy bottomed pot.
Heat over medium heat.  once the mixture begins to boil remove the strawberries and continue to let everything boil together.  I let mine boil for about 25 minutes because I didn't want a thick jam.  If you want a thicker jam let the mixture boil a little longer and test for doneness adequately (cold plate test, etc).  After the liquid has boiled down then add in the strawberries again.
Remove from the heat and ad in the little bit of cracked pepper.
Place the lids on the jars and boil in a boiling water bath for about 12 minutes.  Place the sealed jars under a warm cloth for about 12 - 24 hrs.
Stores for up to a year.  Apparently if you wait for at least a month before using then the jam is even more 'divine'.

It feels like I haven't been here for a while.
I've missed you.
I'm not offering this as an excuse but only as a means of explanation: Let's just declare this out front - 3 bushels of tomatoes is a hell of a lot of tomatoes for one person to work through.  But it's done.  To be honest, I actually didn't quite do it alone.  D helped a lot when he wasn't out at a gig.  T came over and helped me with the last half of the last bushel as well... which doesn't sound like a lot but somehow feels endless (he went home with a litre of sauce for his trouble and we've already made a date to do it together next year - Hallelujah, I'm saved).  All told, I spent about 20 hours doing my tomatoes.  My tomatoes... for the whole year.  That makes me giddy.  It's like having a baby, after some time passes you kinda forget how much it hurt.  That's what it feels like when you pull out a jar in January.  You remember the good stuff and not the bad.
I spent so long doing the tomatoes that I forgot to eat.  All of a sudden it was 8 o'clock and I hadn't eaten since breakfast.  D had left for a gig.  Kid #1 was at a birthday party and Kid #2 was looking forlorn on the couch.  We took a break and got some pizza for take out because I was not cooking.  I ate almost an entire medium pizza all by myself.  The next day I was still finishing up and almost forgot to bathe.  It's pretty intense, this whole tomato thing and once your in it then you've committed until the end - no matter what.


So I also didn't get to make this ice cream.  I saw it a little while ago and thought that with the marshmallow's left from our cottage trip to Vermont that I could make the ice cream.  Then the kids ate the marshmallow's.  Then I thought that the idea of S'mores ice cream would be even better but I couldn't figure out how to get the graham cracker chocolate thing.  That 'thinking' delay pushed me back into 'Tomato Weekend'.  'Tomato Weekend' pushed the ice cream into a kicking off the school year ice cream.  It's all connected.


Whatever the reason and whatever label you put on it, you really should try this ice cream.  It's much better than I was expecting or hoping for, especially given the crazy weekend it was made after.  It came out smooth and it really did taste like toasted marshmallow's.  AND I think that I managed to solve the graham cracker/chocolate dilemma successfully.  I finished the ice cream so late last night that it was too late for the kids to eat any.  So it became their 'first day of school after school treat'.  I guess that means it became my kick off to fall ice cream.
I hope that you missed me while I was knee deep in tomatoes.  I really do.  I hope that this wonderful awesome recipe will remind you of all the great nights you had around the campfire and maybe it will remind you of me just a little too.


S'mores Ice Cream adapted from 'Clockwork Lemon'

about 30 - 35 big sized marshmallow's (half a 400g bad)
1 3/4 cups heavy cream
1 1/2 cups whole milk
1/2 cup sugar
1 egg
3 egg yolks
2 tsp vanilla
1 1/2  - 2 cups graham crackers, crumbled
8 oz dark chocolate

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
Line a baking sheet with parchment or a silicon liner (this is essential).
Place the marshmallow's on the baking sheet side by side and roast for about 20 minutes or until golden brown on the top.
Remove from oven and cool.  If possible, crumble the marshmallow's or break them into smallish pieces.
Combine the egg and egg yolks and beat together until light and frothy.  Set aside.
In a heavy bottomed saucepan heat the sugar over med/low heat for about 1 minutes.  Add the cream and the milk and stir until the sugar is dissolved.
Once the mixture is just about at the boil but not quite, turn the heat down.  Take a ladle full of the warm cream and slowly whisk it into the eggs.  Add one more ladle full the same way.  Then pour the egg mixture back into the rest of the cream mixture.  Stir just until the mixture is ready (the wooden spoon test is the one I use - dip the spoon into the mixture, turn the spoon over so that you can run your finger through the back of the spoon.  If the mixture remains apart for a few seconds after you've run your finger along the back then it's ready)  Remove from heat and run through a sieve.  Add the marshmallow pieces and the vanilla.  Stir until the marshmallow bits are almost dissolved and then cover with clingfilm (pressing the clingfilm right onto the top of the custard covering the whole thing) and cool in the fridge for about 3 - 4 hrs or even overnight.
To finish:
Pour the crumbled graham crackers onto a baking sheet and flatten out as much as possible.
Over a double boiler melt the chocolate until it is a pouring consistency.  Pour the chocolate over the graham cracker pieces and then stir to coat.  Set aside to cool and set.
Pour the cream mixture into an ice cream maker and churn until it's the consistency of soft serve ice cream.  Pour in the cooled graham cracker/chocolate mixture and churn just a little more to mix it in.
Pour into some reserved containers and freeze until hard.
Soften for about 10 minutes before serving.

It's getting to that time again.
Cool nights.  School meetings.  Dance class registration.  Pens and Pencils.  Getting the lunch kits ready for use.  Earlier evenings. The freezer is getting more and more full - green beans, pesto, corn, peas.  The fruit is frozen and waiting for me to turn it into perfect little jars of jam.  And tomatoes... that's how I really know.  The tomatoes.  I've got 3 bushels ready to go.  I feel a little scared each year that I do it but it's so worth it afterwards.  In the middle of the winter when I'm pulling out a jar of my own sauce or my own diced tomatoes... it's so worth it.  So, fall is upon us.


With everything else going on in the kitchen right now I'm finding myself a little uninspired about getting meals together.  The lovely thing about fresh summer veg is that it does so well on it's own.  It doesn't ask to be fiddled too much with to taste fantastic.  We've had our fair share of meals consisting of corn cobs and mashed potatoes. Doused in butter and sprinkled lightly with salt it's hard to imagine anything better.  You can only get along with just corn for so long before the troops start to protest.  Fortunately for the all of us my hand was forced.  I had to use up some meat.


Derek has this terrible habit of taking meat out of the freezer and then not using it.  Granted, he does it with the best of intentions.  He just gets busy and then the next thing he knows it's 4 days later and the meat hasn't been cooked and has gone bad.  We've had to keep a stricter eye on things since we are spending more on meat to get good quality, grass fed stuff.  So the meat that he took out had to get used up and this dish was born.


It's kind of a throw-in-whatever-you've-got-kind-of-thing.  It's one of those things where the finished product is much much better than the sum of it's parts.  It's very forgiving but some small details will make all the difference.  The roasting is nice so using vegetables that you can roast it will taste infinitely better.  If I had even more time (or inclination) then I would have grilled the veggies - that would be the best.  Either way, the corn is crunchy and sweet, the pork is perfect and the tomato is divine.  I used a cheese that contained black peppercorns and it definitely added a nice kick.


Corn, Roasted Tomato and Zucchini Pasta (I made this one up... I swear)
serves 6

1 med. leek (or 1/2 cup onion), thinly sliced
1 med. zucchini, thickly sliced
2 1/2 cups (or about 3 med sized) tomato, thickly sliced
1 ears of fresh corn or about 2 cups of kernels
1 lb ground pork or 5 about slices of bacon finely chopped
1/4 cup mixed herbs, chopped
1 veggie boullion cube
1 tbsp Worcestershire Sauce
2 tbsp honey
1 tsp salt
1 cup semi soft cheese (brie, brick etc), cubed
4 cups penne pasta cooked to al dente

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.
Line a baking sheet with parchment or a silicon liner.
Place the sliced zucchini and tomato onto the baking sheet.  Brush lightly with oil or fat.  Sprinkle lightly with salt and roast for about 20 - 25 minutes or until the zucchini is looking soft and well browned.
Meanwhile in a wok or large pan heat a little oil and add in the sliced leeks.  Cook for about 3 minutes or so.  Add in the corn kernels and cook together for about 8 - 9 minutes.  Add a little more oil or fat if necessary.
Add in the ground pork.  Cook together and stir regularly.  After the meat browns add in the veggie boullion, Worcestershire Sauce, honey and salt.  Continue to cook for another few minutes.  Add in the roasted zucchini and tomato.  Toss together.
Add in the cooked pasta and toss to combine.
Top with the cubed cheese.
Serve warm or at room temperature.

I really wanted this to be amazing.  I wanted to give you a fantastic recipe to use up all that zucchini.  This recipe, however, sounded better than it was.  I would make some changes... but we'll come to that.
As I've settled back into the last week of summer vacation and come down from my five days in a place where the air is clear and the water tastes amazing, I've found myself ever so slightly depressed.  What's funny is that I'm not feeling depressed about going back to work... that's cool and I'm looking forward to being in the swing of things again.  I'm not really feeling depressed about summer going either (well, maybe just a little bit if I'm honest).  What I'm feeling depressed about it our way of life.  How we live, how limited our choices are and how damaged everything is because of it.
I found myself feeling depressed driving back into Ontario - the highway was so bright.  Lights are everywhere.  It's like Peter Jackson's film rendition of Shelob's Liar (Lord of the Rings - Tolkein), even the dark is light.  Additionally, all the reading I've done this summer has brought my to a new place and to some new decisions.  I don't think that I've done a very good job of communicating what I've been learning and how it has affected me.  I feel like I need to take some time here on this blog to express how deeply I feel about this issues we face as a society around our food.


Last year  - give or take 6 months - was about committing to local and seasonal vegetables.  I did that both through the food box (which tells me where my food is coming from) and through local farmer's markets. This year has been about going deeper than just my vegetables.
I really do feel sick when I read about the way factory farms treat animals... any animal.  It makes me sick because it represents to me that even the human animal has no real value anymore outside of the profits that we can provide.  I've been slowly moving us away from factory farmed meats.  However, it's not enough for me and I've pledged to myself to make further changes.  So...
I need to buy a small chest freezer.
I need to finally contact the beef farm that my friend C recommended (she's friends with the farmers... doesn't get any better than that)
Additionally, I'm not feeling bad about eating butter, cream, lard and bacon anymore.  I'm beginning to comprehend more deeply how important these foods are to us humans.  We need fat.  Whether we like it or not we're eating it and I'm going to choose to eat it in the forms that help my body (Yeah - I said 'help' as in 'are good for me') in the form form of butter, cream, lard and bacon rather than the forms that  are hidden from me and hurt my body in the form of corn oil, soybean oil, hydrogenated vegetable oil and the like. That means goodbye to processed foods.


In this recipe I've added sausage and cream (I wish to goodness that I could get raw milk) and if you wish to adapt then please do.  As I stated at the beginning of this post, this recipe sounded better than it tasted.  I like the idea though and I want to tinker with it some more.  I found it too much bread so you might want to play around with putting into the bottom of a larger roaster or something.  Better yet, save half the dough and freeze it and use the other half in a pie plate.  I would also tinker with some stronger flavours... smoked paprika, chipotle or even more pizza'ish'... something a little bolder.  Last but not least - do not scrimp on the zucchini.  I had two very large zucchini's and only used 1 1/2 because I thought that it would be too much.  It wouldn't have been.



Yeasted Zucchini and Sausage Pie adapted from 'Simply in Season'
makes 1 9x13 pie (serves about 6)

Crust:
1/2 cup warm water
pinch of sugar or tsp of honey
1 tbsp dry yeast
1/4 cup + 1tbsp milk
1 tbsp oil or melted butter
1 egg, lightly beaten
1/4 cup whole wheat or red fife flour
1/4 cup parmesan cheese, shredded
1 tsp salt
2 cups all purpose or bread flour

Filling:
8 cups zucchini, thickly sliced
3/4 pound sausage of choice
oil or melted butter to brush
3 clove garlic, crushed
1/4 cup fresh basil and oregano, finely chopped
1 tsp salt
pinch of pepper
5 lg eggs, beaten
1/4 cup cream
2 tsp dijon mustard
2 tsp Worcestershire Sauce
pinch of cayenne or pepper sauce
2 cups (or so) cheddar cheese, grated
1 cup parmesan cheese, grated

Crust:
Combine the warm water, sugar and dry yeast.  Set aside for about 5 minutes until the yeast dissolved and begins to get foamy.
Combine the milk, oil and lightly beaten egg.  Mix well and add to the yeast mixture.
Combine the whole wheat/red fife flour, shredded parmesan, salt and all purpose flour.  Mix and form a well in the middle.  Pour the milk milk mixture into the well.  Stir to combine and until it forms a smooth but very sticky dough.
Place in a lightly greased bowl and turn so that all sides of the dough ball are greased.  Cover with a clean cloth and set aside in a warm, dry spot.
Line a 9x13 baking dish with foil and lightly butter.  Set aside.
Filling:
Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F.
Place the sliced zucchini strips and the sausage on a baking sheet.  Lightly brush the zucchini with oil or melted butter.  Sprinkle lightly with salt.  Roast for about 20 minutes or until the zucchini is soft and just beginning to brown.
In the meantime, combine the eggs, garlic, herbs, salt, pepper, dijon, Worcestershire and cayenne.  Mix well.

Pie:
Place the lightly risen dough (mine rose for about 35 - 40 minutes at the most) in the greased baking pan.  Spread out evenly making sure that the dough goes well up the sides.  Sprinkle a little bit of the cheddar on the bottom of the crush.
Place a layer of zucchini strips on top of the cheese.  Sprinkle with some sausage. A little more cheese and so on until the zucchini is all used up.
Pour the egg mixture over everything and sprinkle the remaining parmesan cheese over the top.  Bake for about 25 minutes or so until the pie is golden on the edges and the centre of the pie is firm to the touch.
Cool for a good 15 - 20 minutes before serving.