Hot Shots - February 17, 2023
Hot Shots - February 17, 2023
Severin R-B Danieli
Hello all,
Another week come and gone, another mixed week of weather here on the coast. I am spotting some snow drops (one of my fav flowers) appearing in various places around the North Shore - that is a sure sign of impending spring! Never mind that the temperature will go down to -5 and there is a potential for snow this coming week.
I'm quickly realizing that February is already half over, and I am getting some spring travel plans in order. Looks like some Sunshine Coast visiting in April and a dip down to California in late May.
Looking around the warehouse this morning, I'm starting to get excited for the local veggies and fruit to start arriving on our dock. Okanagan stone fruit, like peaches, nectarines, apricots and cherries? Incomparable! All colours and varieties of kale from Two EE's, practically perfect lettuce from Myers? Cabbage tops from Ralphs? Corn on the cob from Crisp?
I've also got to start thinking of what I want to grow this year. Following West Coast Seeds and their regional planting charts have been very helpful as the timing of planting has always been a tricky one for me.
Here is the link to the charts here !
Asparagus.
From Altar Produce, there are 400 hectares of organic asparagus, available from January through till April. Altar Produce is the world's largest producer of asparagus, with 60+ years of experience and 30,000+ acres of land.
Speaking of asparagus, according to the South Coastal planting chart from West Coast Seeds, it is time to start planting asparagus indoors, and then transplanting outside in May/June. Seeing asparagus grow is always a funny sight, as they just shoot straight up out of the soil as individual spears.
This past weekend, while watching the Super Bowl with my family, my dad made a delicious meal, which included some steamed brussels sprouts and asparagus. Dress them with a spritz of lemon and a sprinkle of salt. Bon Appetit!
Blood Orange.
This citrus comes to us from Homegrown Organics, which is a collective of family run farms growing certified organic produce since 1998. Blood oranges are available from Homegrown between January and February, so get these red hued beauties while you can.
Just like with other citrus, there are many different uses for blood oranges in recipes. Some of my favourites include: blood oranges in a radicchio salad, blood orange sorbet, blood orange bar with brown butter crust, blood orange pound cake, a classy blood orange margarita?
D'anjou.
Perfectly packaged in a two-pound pouch, these D'anjous come to us from Chelan Fresh and their Joyfully Grown Organic brand.
Grown at the foothills of the Cascade Mountains in Washington State since 1894, this Joyfully Grown brand offers gala, granny smith, Fuji, honeycrisp and pink lady apples, as well as Bartlett, BOSC, and D'anjou pears in pouches.
Chelan Fresh has a wonderful website, chock full of recipes and resources, as well as gorgeous photos. I'll put some below:
Garlic.
At Disco currently, we have:
Red Russian Jumbo 25# - Skimmerhorn Organics - BC
White Porcelain Jumbo 25# - Gudjonson Farm - BC
Persian Star Jumbo 25# - Bessette Creek - BC
Red Russian Jumbo 25# - Mans Organics - AB
Red Chesnok Jumbo 25# - Bessette Creek - BC
Purple Stripe Large 25# - Red Hawk Acres - BC
Red Russian Large 25# - Red Hawk Acres - BC
Rocky Red Jumbo 25# - Bessette Creek - BC
If you're looking for something delicious to tide you over till some more local BC and AB produce starts rolling in, try out some of this garlic.
A roasted veg dish is always in my weekly repertoire of dinner ideas, and I have started to cut cloves in half and place them around some potatoes or a few yams. How these cloves transform in flavour from spicy and rich, to sweet and buttery.
Kent Mango.
This was the first item that caught my eye this week. In fact, I took this photo early Monday morning on a squash alley quality check. The colours, a bit of blush, and the birds eye view I had of them quickly convinced me to add them to this weeks shout outs.
These mangoes come to us from Asica Farms in Peru, and are available November through to April.
We have three different types of mangoes at Disco right now: ataulfo, Tommy Atkins and kents. The ataulfo mango is likely my favourite mango, based solely on the fact that as soon as they are golden on the outside, the inside seems to follow suit. With the Tommy Atkins and kent varieties, when they arrive here, the colour doesn't change a lot, so sometimes it is harder to tell when they are ripe and ready to eat.
However, when you catch a Tommy Atkins or kent mango at perfect ripeness... not many other fruits compare.
And there you have it - this week's Hot Shots done and dusted.
A week or so ago my dad mentioned that he had printed a past Hot Shots and sent it to my sweet Grandma who lives in Montreal who just turned 94. We are almost cross country!
This weekend I've got two of my best friend's birthdays, so it will be a weekend of celebration with intermittent relaxing.
Hopefully your week was enjoyable and productive, and I will talk to you all next week for our last full week of February!
Big love,
Severin R-B Danieli