Hot Shots - December 3, 2021

Hot Shots - December 3, 2021
Severin R-B Danieli

Hello all,

How bout this weather, eh? It really is raining cats and dogs here in Vancouver. Hopefully wherever you are, dear reader, is still above sea level and you and your loved ones are safe. These past two week have been a bit nuts with logistics and weather, but hopefully things will be straightened out as soon as possible. All we can do is sit tight, and read about some produce!

This past weekend I visited a winery in New Westminster, and it had just been decorated for Christmas. Talk about good timing! I sipped mulled wine and snacked on crackers and cheese, while the rain was falling heavy outside. It was a relaxing weekend, mostly dodging the rain and soaking wet dog walks, but I am happy to be back at work and writing about fruits and veg.

Introducing, the meyer lemon! A cross between a citron and a mandarin/pomelo hybrid, this lemon can elevate almost any dish.

Catapulted into popular culture in North America thanks to Alice Waters, she stated, "meyer lemons are sweet, thin-skinned and famous for their ethereal perfume. Although common in California backyards, they are just beginning to be commercialized. Ask your friends or relatives in California to send you some," in her 1999 cookbook 'Chez Panisse Cafe Cookbook'.

Recipe's for these lemons can range from lemonade to toppings on pizza, from salad dressing to tiramisu! Some of our favorite recipes for meyer lemons are: a pasta dish, meyer lemon squares or meyer lemon marmalade! The possibilities are endless, and these sweet citrus treats will never disappoint. Available at disco in 35# or 12x1# boxes from sunny California.

Next up - the mango.

Tommy Atkins mango's are filling up our warehouse with their autumnal coloured skins - and we love it. In 10/12ct cases up from Ecuador, these deep orange fleshed beauties are ready to be eaten.

Back in 2012, I had the pleasure of visiting Uganda, a beautiful and landlocked country in East Africa. For two weeks, I literally lived off mangos, pineapples, rice krispies and spaghetti. The fruit in Africa, as I am sure you can imagine, was on another level. The flavour and juiciness of each mango and pineapple I bit into only got better and better with each bite. A quick, but food related, tangent... whenever we were walking around Kampala (the capital city) or Gulu (a more rural town), there were Ugandan's on the side of the road cooking up fresh rolexes. No, not the watch, but a chapati wrap with scrambled eggs spread across and then rolled up and eaten like a burrito. These were everywhere and often cooked on hot hubcaps from old cars.

I was able to go to a few produce markets during the trip, and the abundance, and most importantly, the size, of all the fruits and veg was just crazy. The avocados were bigger than my entire hand! The soil there was a very deep red/brown colour, and clearly packed with nutrients that plants just love.

Mango's have a whole host of antioxidants, are a good source of fiber, and are also known for their specific nutrients that support good eye and skin health.

This smooth skinned melon, the honeydew, can sometimes be overlooked when next to a canataloupe or watermelon, but I think it deserves recognition for its delicately sweet and refreshing flavour profile. Available in 6/8ct from Llano.

This melon is 90% water, so a perfect hydration snack, and one cup of honeydew is packed with 56% of your daily recommended intake of vitamin C. As well as a good source of vitamin B thiamine and potassium.

Throw some pieces of honeydew into your next fruit salad, smoothie or if you're feeling fancy, make some honeydew sorbet.

Welcome to the carnival! The squash carnival that is.

These guys are a new arrival at disco, and are always a colourful treat. Acorn squash varieties are my favourite squash by far as first of all, they are aesthetically pleasing, and second of all, they have the most delicate and delicious flavour.

In my opinion, roasting these squashes, either halved or sliced up, is the best way to release their flavour. Butter them up, salt, pepper, and some brown sugar. Just delicious.

Available in 35# boxes, these BC acorn carnival squash's come from Longview Farms, which is the largest certified organic farm on Vancouver Island. Spanning 165 acres of certified organic land in Central Saanich, Longview always impresses with quality and consistently beautiful vegetables.

Here we have the beautiful, and robust, chioggia radicchio from Ralphs in Washington in 12ct boxes. Now, this does change throughout the year as different items from different farms come in, but, I will say - Ralphs is my all-time favorite, all 365 days of the year. Their produce is such high grade quality, is always as fresh as can be, and is just straight up the most beautiful vegetables esthetically speaking.

Customers will specifically ask for Ralphs produce, and are most often requesting their bunched carrots and their leeks. Coincidently, these are the two items Ralphs is more known for growing, with a staggering 45 acres of leeks production alone. The moderate climate down in Washington and fertile soil are a perfect combination for lots of vegetables, such as: bulk beets, juice carrots, rainbow carrots, fennel, lacinato kale, leeks, radicchio and parsnips - all of which we have in stock at disco at this very moment!

The chioggia variety of radicchio is now the most commonly grown radicchio in all of Italy, and was often included in salads and as a topping for burgers during my time in Italy. A favourite of mine is adding chopped up pieces of radicchio to a citrus salad, as the sweetness and tartness of citrus pairs very well with the spicy pepper-ish taste of t radicchio.

If you are interested, try a satsuma or blood orange or really any type of citrus, cut that up, shave or cut up some chunks of a fennel bulb, chop up some radicchio, red onion (if you are so inclined), and then top that up with white balsamic, olive oil, salt, pepper, and a dash of honey. Voila!

There was a restaurant I use to go to if I was ever craving a veggie burger while I was in Italy, and it was called Spazio Cibo, which translates to space food. Not totally sure of the significance of the name, but it had spaceships painted all over the restaurant. There was a veggie burger I really liked there and it had a veggie patty, chopped up radicchio, gorgonzola cheese, arugula and walnuts. It sounded odd the first time I ordered it, but oh my, was it delicious.

As always, thank you for reading along.

Have a lovely weekend, stay safe, and chat soon!