Elizabeth Churcher, Janet Kennedy and Penny Vance shared their cooking expertise during the September meeting of the Tweed and District Horticultural Society. The three members of the club focused on using local ingredients in the dishes they prepared for the meeting.
Elizabeth prepared two stews…meat and vegetarian. All the vegetables used were from her own garden and the meat for the stew was locally purchased. Elizabeth grows her own vegetables and some fruit on her property in Tweed. She loves doing this for a variety of reasons….healthy food, physical activity, helps the environment as she uses no pesticides and the farming is done manually. Her stews contained zucchini, peppers, carrots, dried beans, potatoes, green/yellow beans, garlic, tomatoes and a blend of herbs…..thyme, oregano and savory….all from her garden.
Janet admitted that this year was a challenge for her vegetables due to the rain and cool temperature. Her garlic and tomatoes definitely suffered! She made a cabbage salad using Napa Cabbage from her garden. She also prepared baked beans using her own dried beans and her homemade chili sauce. She suggested growing the beans on chicken wire to prevent mold from forming….especially needed this year with the damp weather conditions.
Penny made savory cheese rounds using cheese from Maple Dale which is one of the two independently owned cheese factories sin the Quinte region. Flour and butter were also locally sourced. Penny also shared information about Community Shared Agriculture (CSA) in the area; she highlighted Earth Haven which is in this area. She brought a bin filled with produce that she has recently received since she is a part on the CSA……great interest was generated by the members about CSA and Penny had brochures and business cards available for members.
Members enjoyed the samples provided from the three chefs. Elizabeth also had extra zucchini so she made a zucchini cake which also a hit with members!
COMING UP…
October 3…Jean Empery will discuss organic gardening and fermenting.