Hot Shots - October 21, 2022

Hot Shots - October 21, 2022
Severin R-B Danieli

Hello all,

Another gorgeous week here on the coast, with local veggies and fruit still coming through our bay doors.

I spent the weekend doing truly nothing, which was just delightful. Saw some family, went on a few dog walks, had some yummy salads, and got an update from my dad who is in the UK doing one of his big walks along the River Thames. He is sending our family group chat the most idyllic photos of all the house boats on the river and all the farms he is passing.

It has been a very easy transition from August to September to now, October for us in BC, but it does look like that good ol' temperate rain forest rain is coming to say hello this weekend.

However, before we grumble too much about that incoming precipitation, and waxing poetic about our beautiful start to fall, our Calgary team has some snow incoming this weekend, so, let's count our blessings, and send our love to the Disco Calg team!

Squash on squash on squash!

Pictures above is the box of mixed squash varieties in 35# cases from Green Dirt Farm in BC. Located up in Lillooet, Green Dirt turns their semi-arid desert like land into a sea of bright greens during their growing season thanks to the steep coastal mountains and their abundant supply of fresh water.

This variety box of squash offers many different taste, textures and colours: including, white pumpkin, buttercup, honeynut, butternut, blue ballet, green kabocha and the candy roaster.

Specifically, the North Georgia Candy Roaster squash, is a rare elongated squash that has been cultivated and preserved by the Cherokee Nation since the 1800's, and has been highly favoured for its nutritional value throughout the winter months. The candy roaster was often planted next to corn and beans, making up the third and final sister in the traditional sister crop sowing technique.

In 2018, the candy roaster squash was featured in Asheville's Slow Food Heritage Food Project, and in doing so, over 4,000 seeds where distributed for free to home gardeners and growers alike.

Let's get roasting!

Pictured above are the fields of Green Dirt and the family who owns and operates the farm.

Heirloom Tomatoes.

Looks at these gorgeous local heirloom toms still going strong!

Coming to us from Origin O, in Delta, these tomatoes caught my eye today because a wonderful co-worker of mine brought buffalo mozzarella and tomatoes for lunch, chopped those up into cubes, and drizzled balsamic reduction, olive oil and salt and pepper on them. So simple, so delicious.

Every year we get consistently good quality and aesthetically pleasing veggies from Origin O. Some of these items include tomatoes, peppers, cucumbers and tomatoes on the vine.

Juicing bouquet.

From Roots Organic, where we get the majority of our herbs, comes the juicing bouquet.

Included greenery: mint, kale & chard.

Just throw that into a juicer and you have a (almost) ready-made green juice!

Roots Organic was founded in 1996 by two brothers, who used a section of their father's farm and had an office in the garage. Since then, 40 acres has now turned into 240, and has an expanding team of over 180 employees.

Sieglinde nugget.

I don't think a hot shots would be complete unless I talked about a potato...

So, here goes.

On Tuesday night this past week, my husband told me he had some fresh caught salmon that he wanted to eat that night, so naturally, I brought home green beans and these nugget potatoes to make into mashed potatoes.

He put the salmon on the BBQ (hello & thank you warm October), and I prepped the veggies while listening to my usual daily podcast. I steamed the green beans and Brussels sprouts, and boiled the sieglinde nuggets. With the skins still on, I heaped on some butter, tossed on some salt, poured in a bit of 10% cream, and mashed.

They were so scrumptious, as we were waiting for the salmon to cook, we literally ate half of the pot's worth of the mashed potatoes. And it was absolutely worth it.

Starkrimson pear.

One might think these are just red bartlett or anjou pears, but no no, this is a unique type of pear. A sweet, mild and subtly floral flavour, the starkrimson, along with a great name from the two Stark brothers who patented and propagated this pear in 1956, has a smooth and very snackable texture.

This pear is in season from August through to November, ripens best in room temperature and is perfect to eat when its colour is a bright crimson.

Most often prepared raw as the colour is its star quality, such as sliced fresh and tossed into a salad, on top of some cereal or granola, or if you are wanting to impress, add some thinly sliced pieces, fan them out, and place them on a charcuterie board.

Staff appreciation post: Mariama!

This lovely lady came to us in February 2020, and is coming up on her three year Disco anniversary.

She is in the sorting department, and plays the absolute best music. I can't tell you how many mornings I have come to work, and am heading towards my locker that is near the sorting department, and literally danced through the department because of the music Mariama has playing. She keeps everyone laughing and has never, ever, met a hot pepper that has been too hot for her to handle!

Pictures above, she is holding her favourite hot pepper: the habanero.

The habanero pepper scores 150,000 to 350,000 on the Scoville scale that measures heat. To put that into perspective, the jalapeno scores between 2,500 to 8,000. So habanero's pack a punch!

Thank you for all your hard work, Mariama! And keep those tunes coming!

Hello from jolly England & rainbows & swans!

Thanks for reading along, and I hope you learned some new and exciting veg or fruit fact.

I hope all your weekends are relaxing and enjoyable as we head into the last full week of October.

Big love,
Severin R-B Danieli