10 months and 4 days (300 days)

I feel more mixed up, turned around, sad, angry, guilty, distraught this month than I have in the last few.

Just when I thought the roller coaster was coming to a stop I've taken another sharp turn around another blind corner and I have no idea where I'm headed. 

The closer we come to a year the more frightened of a future without my Mother I become and the more angry that I have to contemplate one at all.

I'm also finding myself panicking as I see what I perceive to be signs of other people putting their lives back together. It feels like an insult to Mom, it feels wrong and my anger builds some more.

There are so many emotions swirling around in my head these days that I can't focus on anything.

It's like starting all over again.

soy lemon salmon with shitake mushrooms

SeaBass and I first had a version of this dish the year we lived in Halifax, NS. I took him out to a Teppanyaki restaurant for his birthday (totally cheesy but fun...and yummy) and we both fell in love with this salmon dish.

Have I ever told you about our year in Halifax? How we got together as a summer fling at home in Toronto (I had no interest in anything serious knowing I was returning to school in Nova Scotia) and then, come September, SeaBass totally followed me out east...at which point I couldn't seem to get rid of him. So we moved in together after approximately three months of dating and five years later here we are. Still stuck together.

It's a love story for the ages really.

Anyhoo, since that birthday celebration I've come back to this salmon recipe time and time again. It has good memories attached to it but mostly it's just damned tasty. The salmon is sauteed in soy sauce in lemon juice, making it salty and sweet and tangy all at once. The tender, flaky flesh of the salmon absorbs the flavours of the soy and lemon but holds on to its own character at the same time. 

The shitake mushrooms are prepared basically the same way, sliced and then sauteed in soy and lemon, with a little butter thrown in at the last minute if you're feeling indulgent.

This is one of my more interpretive recipes - mostly because it's never actually occurred to me to stop and measure out the amount of soy sauce that I'm using - but also because I personally like my salmon heavier on the lemon that SeaBass does.

He's salty, I'm tangy. We balance each other out.

So, here's the loose recipe. Please play with it and make it work for you.

Soy, Lemon Salmon with Shitake Mushrooms

1 tbsp olive oil

2 salmon fillets (skin removed)

1-2 cloves garlic finely diced

1 cup soy sauce

juice of 1-2 lemons

dozen shitake mushrooms

butter optional

Heat saute pan with 1/2 tbsp olive oil.

Add minced garlic.

Add salmon.

Pour 1/2 cup-3/4 cup soy sauce over salmon and into saute pan.

Add juice from 1 lemon.

Saute salmon on med. heat for approx 5 mins on one side.

Watch soy and lemon juice to  ensure it is not cooking down too much - you want to stay very liquid in the pan.

Add more soy and lemon if necessary - taste to be sure you're happy with the combination.

Turn salmon over and continue to saute until cooked through.

Allow the soy and lemon juices to cook down at this point.

Spoon the thickening liquid over top of the salmon as it is thickening.

Remove salmon from pan.

Mushrooms

Slice shitakes.

Heat saute pan with 1/2 tbsp olive oil.

Add mushrooms to pan.

Add remaining soy sauce and lemon juice to pan.

Saute mushrooms until cooked through.

Serve with salmon.

more babble and some actual cooking (muxi pork)

My creative juices have been frozen. I haven't been cooking as much as I normally do let alone writing about cooking as much as I normally do. 

I'm not sure exactly why that is. I believe it has something to do with the time of year. 

Good god, could we please get some fresh, local veggies around these parts? 

No? It's still far too early? This crazy spring of ours has not finished fooling with us yet and tomorrow there is a chance of flurries?

Alright then, I think I'll just go back to bed 'til mid June-ish.

I'm still eating my wild leeks constantly - also SeaBass is getting really fed up with the pervasive garlic-iness that surrounds me. I think it might be doing serious damage to our relationship.

And now excuse me as I take a small blogging break to snack on a cracker with leek pesto.

Don't judge me!

I've had no luck in my hunt for morels, which I'm blaming on our very strange spring. It's been very dry, alternately very warm and very cold and very unpredictable. Mother nature is quite obviously enjoying herself messing with our vulnerable little human emotions; chuckling as we all get excited about gardens and planting and days in the sun and then falling on the floor laughing as she yanks the rug out from under us with another cold snap.

Basically I'm feeling a little lost in limbo. Sensing the abundance of fresh summer produce just around the corner is making it difficult for me to cook with what is here now.

All that being said, the last time I was down in the big city visiting the in-laws - a lovely day trip of the sort that causes me to

a) lose sleep

b) pop anxiety meds

c) bury myself deep in consecutive glasses of wine

I made sure to take a little of the edge off the visit (you know, in case the valium and alcohol weren't doing the job) by making a stop at a nearby Asian grocery store.

While I have definitely noticed a kind of cosmopolitan shift around here in the time since we moved up here, soy sauce and rice noodles are often the most Asian ingredients I'm likely to find at local stores.)

I could have spent a good hour (and a good hundred dollars) roaming through the store but SeaBass was keeping me on a tight schedule so I limited myself to a few dried ingredients that I've been wanting to try.

My favourite ingredient so far?

Yep, dried lily flowers also known as Golden Needles for their beautiful yellow colour. 

They are the dried buds of the day lily and add great texture and  taste to traditional Chinese stir fries and soups. 

You simply reconstitute the dried flowers in hot water and they are ready to be added to any dish.

I find them slightly earthy with a burst of tart almost vinegary hit in the reconstituted bud.

I wanted to make something very traditional as my first dish featuring the lilies. I always like to start that way with a new ingredient, it gives me an idea of where the ingredient comes from, its role in tradition and history. Once I'm comfortable with the history of an ingredient I'm ready to make it my own.

Right, so enough babbling about what I'm sure is my ever so intriguing food tendencies ('cause obviously I totally know what the hell I'm talking about.) Back to the food.

The first thing I made with my bounty of lilies was Muxi (Moo Shoo) Pork. 

I actually made it twice. SeaBass loved it so much he made me cook it for him again the next day (sometimes I feel like I'm in a relationship with an 8 year old picky eater!)

I can't really blame him though. The lily flowers were a harmonious part of the dish but definitely their own texture and level of flavour to the end results.

As with all Chinese recipes it is important to get all your prep done ahead of time and be totally prepared when you start the cooking, 'cause although the ingredient looks long and the recipe might at first appear complicated, it's actually very simple. And things move incredibly quickly once you get the ball rolling.

Muxi Pork

1/2 lb. pork tenderloin

Marinade for Tenderloin

2 tsp soy sauce

2 tsp dry sherry

1 tsp sugar

2 tsp cornstarch

Stir Fry Sauce

3 tbsp water

3 tbsp chicken broth

1 tbsp soy sauce

2 tsp dry sherry

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 tsp sesame oil

1 tsp corn starch

Stir Fry

handful shitake mushrooms

1 portabello mushroom (or handful crimini)

2 tbsp dried lily flowers

1/2 cup bamboo shoots (rinse if canned)

2 green onions finely chopped

2 thin slices ginger cut into strips

2 eggs

1/2 tsp salt

6 tbsp oil for frying

1 tsp sesame oil

Mix together all marinade ingredients - *add cornstarch last.

Cut tenderloin into thin strips and cover with marinade.

Marinate for 30 mins.

Mix together sauce ingredients - add cornstarch last. Set aside.

Cover lily buds with hot water and allow to soak for 30 minutes.

After 30 mins. drain the lily flowers and remove any hard tips from them. Set aside.

Beat eggs with salt and set aside.

Heat wok over medium. 

Add 2 tbsp. oil.

Add beaten eggs and scramble until firm.

Remove eggs from wok.

Wipe down wok.

Add 2 tbsp oil back to wok.

When oil is hot, add ginger and fry until aromatic.

Add pork and stir fry until almost cooked through.

Remove pork from work.

Add 2 tbsp. oil to wok.

When hot add mushrooms and lily buds.

Stirfry for one minute.

Push ingredients to side of wok.

Stir the sauce you set aside and add to wok.

Stir sauce quickly to thicken.

Add pork back to wok.

Add scrambled egg.

Add green onion.

Mix all ingredients together.

Serve with hoisin sauce on top of rice or mandarin pancakes.

* As cornstarch is a thickening agent, if you add it to your sauce  before any other ingredient you will not get the texture and taste you are looking for.

Lily buds 

and simple stir fries 

make me happy.

informative information (or self indulgent babbling)

I know I've been neglecting the blog a little lately...and I feel terrible about it. 

I feel I owe an explanation.

Be prepared, my explanation is ridiculous and shows what a preposterous excuse for a now 32 year old adult I am.

Also, it reveals my fragile hold on sanity.

But, as you know, I'm nothing if not honest with you all so I'd like to let you in on what's been hampering my creativity and deeply affecting my already clearly defective brains.

Ever since my nervous breakdown (I cringe every time I say that but it is the simplest way to explain what happened to me) I have tried my hardest to maintain a very simplified, routine, non-stressful existence. And I've done pretty well at it. I weeded out a lot of stressful elements from my life, left my stressful job, moved away from what I felt to be a stressful town and generally enveloped myself in a stress free cocoon.

Unfortunately, this has backfired just a little bit. 

I'm now at a point in life where I want to get out there again. Correction: where I need to get out there again. 

Or maybe both are correct. 

I want to get out there because I've been feeling stagnated and I have a lot of ideas hopping around in my over-active imagination that are just begging to come to fruition. Also, I'm feeling healthy enough to want and I want to take advantage of that.

I need to get out there because, well, if I don't I'm wasting my life and I refuse to waste any more time (Mother and best friend passing away will make a person reflect heavily on their own mortality and the quickly passing sands of time.)

So, here's where things get tricky. 

My neurotic, obsessive need to keep things simple and calm means that any new activity I add to my life causes me great anxiety and stress.

And, while absent from the safety of the blogosphere I've been busy adding activity to my three dimensional life. 

Translation: sleepless nights, panic attacks and total inability to focus on blogging or even (gasp!) cooking! It's true, poor SeaBass has suffered many a "make it yourself!" supper.

I think things are starting to calm down now though. 

The biggest "new thing" is something I'm very excited to share with all you folks but I really wanted to wait until I was over making myself almost puke thinking about it (you're welcome for the image) before writing about it.

My friend (owner of Karma Marketplace, local business woman of the year and all around amazing person) and I have begun a healthy lunch program at a local elementary school. We're doing local, organic and totally made from scratch foods and I am at the helm of the cooking end of the business. 

I have never cooked for more than six or seven people at a time before. 

I have never cooked for folks who don't know me and therefore don't feel obliged to be at least polite, if not complimentary, before.

I have never tried to feed healthy, organic food to an audience used to fillers, by-products and additives before.

By the way, did you know that children are picky?

Yesterday was our second lunch. It was a success and now I can relax....until next Tuesday when we do it again.

I'm looking forward to sharing the experience with you. The food, the successes, the failures, the ensuing panic attacks.

Anyways, that's what's been happening with me.

Thank you for listening. 

Always.

what's harder than the first christmas?

Christmas was difficult but maybe made easier by the haze of grief that still covered every waking moment and allowed a shield of numbness to protect me from the pain of Mom's absence. 

That fog of initial grief has lifted a little now what with the coming of spring, the return of longer days and brighter sunshine penetrating through the emotional darkness. 

With spring also comes my first birthday without Mom and this I am finding much more difficult than the holiday season.

 My mother was all about birthdays. 

Even more so in the last few years I think. She insisted on cooking our favourite Mommy meals for birthday dinner and providing our favourite birthday cake (or Mommy made pie in my case) for dessert.

My brother's birthday was the first without Mom. 

It was just last month and so also came without the easy cloak of encompassing grief to protect all of us. 

I tried my best to fill in for Mom. I pulled out Her recipe for lasagna and stressed and fretted that I would somehow screw it up and we would feel Her absence even more through a botched attempt at pasta impersonation.

I made sure we had store bought garlic bread and Baskin-Robbins chocolate and peanut butter cake for dessert.

Mom's lasagna recipe is more Irish-Canadian than Italian and store bought garlic bread is an aberration to my "from scratch" sensibilities. But on birthdays that was never the point.

The point was Mom's cooking. It was the love that came through Her food. It was the joy She took in having Her children with Her on the anniversary of the day She welcomed them into the world.

There is no one here to attempt to make Mom's pizza for me today; to bake me birthday pie.

No one is remembering April 28th 32 years ago and all the April 28th's since.

It might be selfish, but maybe today I have a right to be. Mom would think so.

My birthday is more difficult than Christmas.

Foodbuzz 24, 24, 24: Foraged Food Feast

We are lucky enough here in central Ontario to be surrounded by the ultimate in wild foods. Fiddleheads, wild leeks and morels are all native to the area and are easily found if you're willing to put in a little time and effort for the search. Personally, I am totally willing!

This is my first year going out on "forage" and I am totally in love with it. There is something so fulfilling about spending an hour of my day picking the food that I will use for supper that night. My hope was that all three of the mighty edible trilogy of leeks, fiddleheads and morels would be available in time for this post but, you can't rush mother nature, and so we'll have to do without morels. Never fear though, I promise to write another post when they become available.

Saturday afternoon SeaBass and I headed out to the magical neighbourhood forest, grower of all things yummy. Interestingly I seem to be the only one aware of the goodness to be found amongst the trees. Not that I'm complaining...I've taken a rather proprietary stance on the forest in fact.

We headed for an open patch of fiddleheads first and sifted through the layers of leaves to find the tiny, unfurled baby ferns.

 This is what you're looking for in a fiddlehead; tightly furled with a nice stem and a bright green colour. When it comes time to cook them you will brush away any brown fuzz first before doing anything else.

My friendly neighbourhood forest is absolutely blanketed in wild leeks right now. I hop from patch to patch picking a few from each one so that I don't overpick any one area. Just starting to blossom now, and popping up in amongst the fields of leeks are Ontario's official flower, the Trillium. My sources tell me that when the trilliums are in full bloom, the morels will be ready. Unfortunately we have a little ways to go, only about 20 percent of the trilliums have blossomed so far.

We also spent time on Saturday collecting edible trout lilies. Their tender leaves, shoots and flowers are wonderful on their own or in salad. 

After a peaceful afternoon wandering the forest, I laid our bounty out on the table and came up with some plans for our Foraged Feast. 

 The most important thing to me was showcasing the each wild food on it's own, prepared as simply as possible and then including each ingredient in a larger, more elaborate dish.

The trout lilies are so delicate, with a sweet, fresh sweet pea like flavour that I chose to leave them raw and whole and simply dress them to serve as a salad.

With dandelions we collected I made a cream of dandelion soup topped with raw dandelion flowers and dandelion flower fritters. 

The dandelion greens gave the soup a nice bitterness that was balanced by the cream and the slight sweetness of the fritter.

I love the combination of fiddleheads and wild leeks together. I made a light tart with the two. 

While the tart was good (I think SeaBass ate half of it) I have to say that when it comes to wild foods, I really prefer to eat them as simply as possible and without a lot of other ingredients.

Except for pesto.

I have an obsession with leek pesto.

I'm looking in to a 12 step program to help me but in the meantime, I just keep eating pesto. Our guests are lucky I shared any on Saturday. It was not easy seeing my pesto on another's plate!

Back to simplicity.

I sauteed fiddleheads and leeks together, loving the garlicky flavour the leeks lend to the fiddleheads and the slight asparagus note lent to the leeks.

The sauteed veggies accompanied the main course, quail in cream and more wild leeks.

This was a great combination. The rich meat of the quail soaked up the flavours of butter, cream and the strong onion and garlic of the leeks. The leeks cooked down into the quail and into every level of the dish. We couldn't stop eating the yummy little birds. They were the perfect end note for the meal.

Spring is an amazing time of the year. It feels to me like mother nature might be apologizing for the harsh winter. Maybe she's celebrating everything coming back to life. Whatever the reason, I am so glad that I have woken up to all the amazing things around me. 

I've never eaten so well before, or taken so much pleasure in knowing that I have seen my food ripen from a seedling in the snow covered ground to a delicious ingredient on my plate.

nine months and one day (267 days)

I visited the cemetery this morning. It's not something I do often, in fact this was the first time I've gone since last fall. I don't feel a connection to that patch of ground with my Mother's name on a slab. But this morning I was driving past the grounds and at the last second I found myself heading past the gates and towards Mom.

I thought I would just stop for a moment, take a look and make sure everything was okay, maybe say an obligatory prayer over Her grave. Instead I suddenly found myself sitting on the ground beside Her and carrying on a conversation. I found myself telling my mother all the things I miss without Her in my life. I found myself completely overwhelmed.

When I talk to Her as I go about my day (and I do, all the time) I feel Her still as a force in my life. I feel Her having influence and strength. In the cemetery I felt only the loss of Her. I felt all the things that are missing and that I will never find again.

Maybe the point is only that I still feel her, no matter where I am. Or where she is?Maybe the catharsis of the cemetery is helpful. Maybe it will help me heal?

I don't know.

I still don't know much of anything nine months later.

These days I'm doing a lot of thinking. A lot more thinking, worrying, questioning about my mother, her life, her loss, her legacy than I am engaging in emotional outbursts or bouts of melancholy. 

To have lost such a strong influence in my life - the strongest influence in my life - has left me questioning everything about myself. I think about how much I want to be like my Mother, everyone's angel; committed to everyone's needs, the consummate parent, the kind soul, the teacher. And then I remind myself that in the end She may have given so much of Herself to everyone else that She had nothing left to sustain Herself and because of that we all lost Her far too early. I wonder if I can strike a balance. I question my choices. I worry over my weaknesses. 

I feel trapped by all the thinking.

And at the end of every day I know that if I just had my mother to talk to, she would guide me to find my own path, my own answers. 

I still don't know how to do this without her.

two words: wild leeks.

After a week consisting of a horrendous stomach flu, followed by a tremendous head cold; both of which left me so lacking in appetite that even No Reservations could not entice my taste buds to salivate - I am finally back in the land of the food obsessed.

One thing kept me going, kept me hoping every day that I would wake up with a growly stomach once more.

Leeks.

Yes, my wild leeks are ready. My secret location is filled with patches of vibrant green shoots sending up wafts of oniony goodness.

The only thing I've eaten since my recovery is leeks. SeaBass keeps complaining that I smell but I insist that it's helping my sinuses.

Leek pesto, leek and potato soup, sauteed leeks.

Did I mention the leek pesto? I've made huge batches of it three times already.

Maybe SeaBass has a point about the smell? I can't tell. My nose is still stuffy from the cold.

If you get your hands on any wild leeks do yourself a favour and make a simple pesto. Eat it like a dip, use it as a pasta sauce, top a pizza with it.

Wild Leek Pesto

leeks

whipping cream

toasted pine nuts

olive oil

parmiggiano reggiano

I'm not going to give you any proportions here because it really depends on how strong your leeks are and if you want a milder or more oniony pesto.

Tip: When I used the pesto as a pasta sauce, I blended in some sun dried tomatoes to add a touch of mild sweetness to the sauce.

oh glorious food foraging find...and a little something for those of you who like it dirty

I know I have been a neglectful blogger these last several days. And I apologize.

I have in fact eaten more than one meal and have neglected to take photos or post. Again I apologize.

However, in my defense, I will say that I did intend to post photos and dutifully recount the experience. Unfortunately all the food went mysteriously missing before I could complete my mission.

Ironically, I think I may have put on a few pounds since last I spoke to you. Weird.

I would like to tell you (minus photographic evidence) about the pho I made this weekend. We are lacking pho in these parts and I had a craving. So, totally unwilling to say "no" to my belly I embarked on my first ever adventure in pho.

After some in depth interweb-y research (read: drooling as I sifted through multiple recipes and made a random determination based on gut instinct. No really, I use the stomach growling effects as an effective measure of the impressiveness of a recipe.) I used Jaden from Steamy Kitchen's recipe.

It was well touted as the best home made pho recipe to be found. Seeing as how I haven't tried any other recipes I can't say whether it's the best, but I can say it more than satisfied my craving. It surpassed many a restaurant pho. It was beefy but light and clean. I left in the silky marrow from my soup bones and slurped every last bit of it with mouthfuls of just cooked, thin sliced steak and the typical accoutrements.

I will be making it again very, very soon.

Next time I promise not to gobble before snapping pics.

What does any of this have to do with the title of this post?

Nothing. I just wanted to share. And apologize.

Now on to more post related babbly bits.

Since the snow has melted 'round here I've been on the lookout.

I've been looking for wild leeks.

I was told that the forest near my house was of a magical sort, full of foraging goodness.

I've been searching and searching, with no sign.

I started to think I was crazy, started to think I imagined being told of the magic amongst the trees. Started to think some bastard had lied to me.

And then today. Glorious, wondrous today! There they were suddenly.

Tiny, tightly furled green heads poking up from amongst the heavy layer of discarded leaves that make up the forest floor.

I was overwhelmed by garlicky, oniony goodness just brushing aside the leaves and debris.

And they weren't just in one spot. I was picking them out everywhere.

Isolated patches of them

Larger swathes of them

Yummy, delicious, once a year, limited time offer wild leeks. Just waiting for me to pluck them from their soil beds and give their lives meaning (at least that's how I choose to think of it.)

Can you tell that I'm excited?

Seriously, since the snow has melted I've been out there in that damn forest, poking about, searching in vain for signs of these guys. And I got 'em. Hooray for me!

And now let's talk about what else my daily trips to the forest have gotten me.

This

And this

And still more of this

The dogs have decided that mud puddles are, like, THE best things ever (or at least two of them have. Sugar and I prefer to tiptoe around giant piles of squishy gooeyness. 'Cause we're classy...and lady like.)

They take such joy in it though, it's hard to do anything but smile.

Especially when I can't stop thinking about wild veg....until I get home and it's time to get them clean (which must be done so we can get dirty again tomorrow!)

i love stock, stocky, stock, stock (brown chicken stock recipe)

I'm amazed by two things when it comes to stock.

1: How long it took me to realize I was throwing away money buying it every week.

2: How much stock I actually go through.

It seems like lately I've been using stock for everything. I think it has something to do with the cold weather. Lots of soups and stews and heavier sauces equals lots of stock...and wine, lots of cooking with wine.

Also (much to my amazement) my father loves my gravy! He even demands I make it for his terrible Newfie dinners. This is an incredible evolution for a man who previously only enjoyed gravy made from some mysterious brown powdered base that he gets in unlabeled containers from a friend. Supposedly the friend supplies restaurants with this mysterious stuff.

I'll stick with home cooking and gravies made from ingredients I can identify thank you very much.

I find myself making stock once every week or two right now. It's so easy to do, makes a huge flavour difference over store bought stuff and, in the case of chicken stock, it means I get to eat yummy roast chicken often.

 Have I mentioned that chicken is also a new thing with me? Never liked it before.

Chicken cravings are the new pork cravings. Except not really 'cause the pork cravings won't stop but they have agreed to share the spotlight. For now.

So, as promised, here's how I make my chicken stock from beginning to end.

Brown Chicken Stock

"Brown" stock is different from any other chicken stock only because the bones of the carcass are roasted before the stock is simmered.

1 whole chicken (4-5 lbs)

3 carrots roughly chopped

1 large onion quartered

4 celery stalks roughly chopped

2-3 cloves garlic whole (no need to peel)

1/4 cup olive oil

2-3 sprigs fresh thyme

small bunch fresh parsley stems

1 bay leaf

1 tbsp. fresh black peppercorns

water

In order to not be wasteful (and because I like roast chicken dammit) I buy a whole chicken and prepare it roasted.

For the roast:

Heat oven to 450 degrees.

layer bottom or roasting pan with 2 of the carrots, onion, 2 celery stalks and the garlic.

Toss the vegetables with the olive oil.

Lay your chicken (prepared as you prefer) on top of the veggies.

Place in oven.

Cook at 450 for 15 mins.

Reduce heat (without removing chicken) to 350 degrees and continue to roast for 45 mins or until juices run clear.

Save the carrot, onion, celery, garlic for the stock.

Stock:

Save any leftover bits of fat, meat from the carcass.

Cut the bones of the carcass into manageable 1-2 inch sized pieces.

In a large stockpot heat 1 tbsp. olive oil

When oil is hot add bones and roast on all sides until well browned.

Add one cup water and deglaze pot, removing any bits stuck to the bottom.

Add vegetables from roast.

Optional: Add another fresh carrot, celery, onion.

Fill pot with water to cover ingredients.

Bring to a boil.

Remove any scum that forms on surface.

Add herbs and peppercorns.

Reduce heat to simmer.

Partially cover and simmer for up to three hours.

Let cool and strain.

Pour stock into jars.

Keep in refrigerator up to a week or freezer up to three months.

That's it, that's all. You can a yummy meal, the basics for some more yummy meals and the pleasure of knowing that you really got the best out of the aromatic vegetables sacrificed for their aroma-ness. 

You can't really ask more from a carrot than being roasted and then further cooked to a pulp!

Roscoff Onions (and a soup)

Last week I found some interesting looking onions at the grocery store.

A beautiful skin of pink/purple with an overlay of thin, crackly peel and a smell of mildly sweet oniony goodness.

I had to try them.

I happily noted that they were locally grown and I was further intrigued when I read the label and found that the seeds had been gathered from France to grow back here at home.

When I got home I did some googling and discovered that I was in the presence of greatness. Turns out pink French onions are the stuff of legends - or at least a well documented history.

The onions were originally grown in the town of Roscoff in the Breton region of France. The French farmers took their tasty harvest across the waters to England where they were sold door to door in braided bunches by bicycling Frenchmen who became known as Onion Johnnies.

Man I wish I was European. I totally want my onions brought to my door by a beret wearing, stripe shirt clad Frenchman.

But I'll take them as I can.

I broke into the onions and discovered a firm flesh with light onion scent and, miracle of miracles, a total lack of tears running from my poor, sensitive eyes. 

Apparently they're known for this trait - I love them even more!

So after all the onion research, appreciation and some taste testing I had to decide what to make with them.

And that only took me about half the day.

I am nothing if not decisive.

When I have an ingredient I haven't tried before I always want to cook the simplest thing so I can really taste the ingredient.

I was going to do a raw prep, then I was going to simply saute, then carmelize, then confit, then make a tart...

Finally I settled on French onion soup. Not the most creative choice, but it seemed fitting given the onion's origins.

I wanted to make a really light version of the soup to compliment the delicacy of the Roscoff onion so I switched up my typical recipe to alighter version. 

Roscoff Onion Soup

1 tbsp butter

1 tbsp olive oil

3 lbs Roscoff pink onions sliced thin

1 tsp sugar

3 tbsp flour

1/2 cup white wine

6 cups chicken stock

3 tbsp cognac

thick baguette slices

gruyere cheese grated

Melt butter with oil in large saucepan.

When butter has totally melted and stopped foaming add onion slices.

Cover saucepan and cook onions for 15 minutes.

Uncover pan.

Raise heat to medium and add sugar.

Stir together and continue to cook onions uncovered until they reach a deep colour (approx 30 mins.)

Stir in flour and allow flour to cook for a couple of minutes (this removes the raw taste of flour.

Add white wine and allow to evaporate and deglaze the pan.

Add stock.

Turn heat to low and allow to simmer for up to two hours.

Just before serving add cognac.

Place baguette slice in bottom of oven safe soup bowl and grate cheese over top.

Pour soup over top bread and cheese.

Place bowls under broiler and allow cheese to melt.

Serve.

Typically I make my French onion soup with a mix of onions, garlic and a lot of chili flakes to give it some kick. I also use beef broth which makes for a more robust soup but I really wanted to keep this light and highlight the onions. 

This soup was so delicate and sweet. I was very pleased with the results and I hope you are too!