Hot, lazy days of summer always send me off looking for thirst-quenching cold drinks.
One of my favorites is old-fashioned homemade lemonade. It’s cool and refreshing. Continue reading Lemonade
Lemonade
Monthly Archives: July 2014
Caps off to Haskaps – A Trendy New Berry on PEI
It’s not often that I discover a new food on Prince Edward Island. Until recently, I had never heard of haskap berries and did not know that they were grown on PEI. Earlier this month, I travelled to Rollo Bay in the Eastern end of the Island to view a five-acre field of haskap bushes and to have a chat with the growers. This posting will also contain a recipe for Hascap Sauce.
Continue reading Caps off to Haskaps – A Trendy New Berry on PEI
A Casual Summer Afternoon Picnic
Are you like me, favoring more casual dining in the summer – particularly on weekends? I’m a great fan of picnics. They lend themselves well to casual menus.
Today, on the picnic menu, I have focaccia rolls filled with slices of rotisserie chicken, Havarti cheese, tomato, and lettuce (recipe follows at end of post).
I added some sour cream and onion kettle chips, a blood orange lemonade, homemade chocolate chip cookies and oatcakes, and some fresh fruit and the menu was complete. This menu follows my standard template for a picnic: A main (the sandwich); snacks (kettle chips); a drink (the sparkling blood orange lemonade); dessert (cookies); and fruit (peaches, pears, and watermelon).
Whether I am dining inside or out, I still like to set a pretty table. My color theme for today’s picnic is primarily orange with lime green as the secondary color. I often use the fresh fruit as part of the centerpiece as I have done here.
I picked the bouquet of wildflowers along the PEI roadside on my way to my picnic destination – daisies, orange day lilies, mauve matrimony, and the last of the season’s purple lupins – pulling the colors from the plaid tablecloth.
Because I was just a short way from my picnic site, I didn’t need a cooler so I simply gathered everything together and put it in a large wicker basket. However, if you are traveling a distance or if it is going to be awhile before you eat, be sure to use a well-insulated cooler with ice packs to keep the perishable food and drinks cold.
I like to do as much prep work at home as possible so the food is ready to eat when I get to my picnic site. This also means I have less tools and equipment to take with me to do food prep work onsite.
Today’s picnic was comprised of all finger food so no utensils were required. I used my white plastic picnic plates and kept the setting simple and casual.
I wrapped each sandwich in brown parchment paper and tied it with string and a sprig of fresh thyme from our herb garden.
The brown parchment gives the country look and also functions as a convenient holder for the sandwich to keep the ingredients in place while eating.
The blood orange lemonade adds a nice rich color to the table as well as being a tasty beverage.
When choosing a color scheme, I recommend thinking of the colors in the food being served so that the whole setting is pleasing to the eye – like the green lettuce and napkins, the orange drink and tomato in the sandwiches and the colors of the tablecloth.
Dessert for a picnic does not need to be elaborate. Cookies are a traditional item on many picnics and are very easy to pack. Here I have packaged them in glassine bags.
Watermelon is always a hit at picnics (and it matched my color scheme, as a bonus)!
Tasty fare!
This was a very easy picnic to pull together on a warm summer’s day.
Chicken, Cheese, and Tomato Focaccia Rolls
2 Focaccia rolls
1 Rotisserie Chicken Breast (white meat), thinly sliced
1 tomato, sliced
2 slices Havarti cheese
Lettuce
2 tbsp. mayonnaise
1 tsp basil pesto
½ tsp. balsamic vinaigrette
Butter
Salt and Pepper, to taste
Slice Focaccia rolls in half, horizontally. Butter both sides of each roll.
In bowl, mix mayonnaise with pesto. Spread on both sides of each roll.
Lay a bed of lettuce on bottom half of each roll. Add a layer of sliced chicken. Season with salt and pepper.
Add one slice Havarti to each roll, then 1-2 slices of tomato. Drizzle a small amount (⅛ – ¼ tsp) balsamic vinaigrette over tomato slices.
Top with another layer of lettuce and place tops of each roll on the sandwiches. Leave sandwiches whole or slice diagonally, as desired.
Yield: 2 servings
Thank you for visiting “the Bistro” today. There are lots of ways to connect with “the Bistro” through social media:
Join My Island Bistro Kitchen on Facebook
Follow the Bistro’s tweets on twitter @PEIBistro
Find the Bistro on Pinterest at “Island Bistro Kitchen”
Follow along on Instagram at “peibistro”
Cycling Celebrity Chef on Mission to Promote Sustainable Seafood Coast to Coast in Canada
We all know that over-fishing, not using environmentally-responsible fishing methods, and not taking good care of our waterways will one day lead to a depletion of seafood. In partnership with Vancouver Aquarium’s Ocean Wise program and SeaChoice, along with a number of other companies, the Chefs for Oceans campaign has been established to support sustainable seafood so we will have seafood for generations to come.
A celebrity chef from Vancouver, BC, is on a 10-week cycling adventure across Canada this summer to promote this campaign by raising awareness of the importance and necessity of healthy oceans, lakes, and rivers and by garnering support for sustainable seafood from coast to coast.
Chef Ned Bell, Executive Chef at Four Seasons Hotel Vancouver, began his cycling journey in St. John’s, NL, on July 1st and he will complete his tour in Vancouver, on September 11th. To promote the sustainable seafood movement, he stops and cooks enroute, holding signature events, like the one I attended at the Inn at Bay Fortune, PEI, on July 15th.
Partnering with five local chefs, including well-known celebrity chef, Michael Smith, a beautiful five-course dinner was prepared featuring seafood.
The evening began with a wine bar featuring wine from the Okanagan region. This was paired with PEI Colville Bay Oysters from nearby Souris West. Served with Bloody Mary Ice, these were an immediate hit!
Chef Michael was kept busy shucking oysters.
But the option was there for anyone who wanted to try their hand at shucking their own oyster.
Perhaps a touch of Northern Divine Cavair might go well with a Colville Bay Oyster!
After a few brief remarks from the celebrity chefs, dinner was served in a charming country inn that overlooks Bay Fortune in the beautiful countryside of Eastern Kings County, PEI.
The menu:
The first course was prepared by Chef Ned and featured smoked BC Sturgeon with pickled baby vegetables and a vanilla bean emulsion.
This was followed by a delectable Lobster Mussel Chowder prepared by the Inn’s current chef, Dana Wood.
A dollop of caviar served table side by Chef Ned set this chowder off!
The third course, prepared by Chef Dom Serio, was Arctic Char enhanced by cured pickled blueberries, blueberry beer, citrus cream, and bagel.
Chef Michael Smith prepared the fourth course of Farm-raised Halibut. He paired the Halibut with red lentil fritters, mustard greens, littleneck clam broth, linguica sausage, lovage, black garlic and dulse.
And, for the grande finalé, Chef Shane Bauer prepared Strawberry Shortcake with almond meringues, madeleines, fresh PEI strawberries, and garden mint.
This was a menu guaranteed to make any seafood lover’s mouth water!
So, Canadians, when you see the combination of this van……
and this guy on a bike, you know Chef Ned Bell is on his cross-Canada cycling mission to support sustainable seafood.
For a complete list of the stops Chef Ned Bell is making and the events he is holding on his cross-country cycling tour, visit the Chefs for Oceans website.
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Thank you for visiting “the Bistro” today. There are lots of ways to connect with “the Bistro” through social media:
Join My Island Bistro Kitchen on Facebook
Follow the Bistro’s tweets on twitter @PEIBistro
Find the Bistro on Pinterest at “Island Bistro Kitchen”
Follow along on Instagram at “peibistro”
Old-fashioned Brownies – A Perennial Favorite
There is nothing more plain yet more tasty, in my opinion, than a good old-fashioned brownie. One of the best things about brownies is that they don’t take any ingredients that most bakers are unlikely to have in their cupboards. That means they can be whipped up fairly quickly without a lot of advance planning and a trip to the supermarket. They can also be eaten plain or dolled up with a dob of icing and a piece of maraschino cherry or they can be iced all over. Continue reading Old-fashioned Brownies – A Perennial Favorite
Oh Canada! A Picnic to Celebrate Canada Day
Happy Birthday, Canada!
On PEI, Canada Day heralds the true beginning of the summer season. Once Canada Day celebrations are underway, Islanders are in summer mode.
Once again, this year, we are celebrating Canada Day with a picnic. I have chosen a beach location on the Island’s south shore. Beaches on the south side of the PEI commonly have more red sand than those on the north side which tend to have sand in a more pale pink color.
Picnics are a great way to engage in casual dining. However, that doesn’t mean a pleasing setting can’t happen.
In honor of the colors of the Canadian flag, I have chosen a red and white theme for today’s picnic. Yes, my choice of foods is even red!
On today’s picnic menu:
- Lobster rolls featuring PEI lobster mixed with pineapple and avocado complimented by a citrus aioli
- Sides of creamy coleslaw and potato chips
- Rhubarb and strawberry hand pies
I love my antique picnic basket with its red and white gingham liner. A red and white checked cloth sets the stage for the picnic lunch.
One of the things I like to do in preparation for a picnic is to wrap the utensils and drinking straws inside the napkins and place them in the glasses. They are quick and easy to pull out of the picnic basket and I’m sure not to forget utensils and napkins when I do this prep work before leaving the house.
Non-breakable dinnerware has come a long way. The white plates have the china look but are really just lightweight, unbreakable dinnerware from a dollar store. Regardless the venue, food always looks appetizing on white plates.
While I normally like my lobster rolls with little else but the lobster and mayonnaise and maybe some celery, I did jazz these up a bit. I added pineapple and avocado and used a citrus aioli to hold the ingredients together.
The rolls came from Mary’s Bake Shoppe in Kensington, PEI. For these rolls, I wanted ones that would hold together and had a nice texture and flavour. These certainly met the challenge on that front. I sprinkled each roll with a few sprigs of microgreens we’ve been growing along with some fresh chives from our herb garden. A tasty coleslaw and some potato chips rounded out the main course.
For dessert, I was looking for something that was easily portable and tasty.
Hand pies are a common picnic food because they hold together and pack well and you don’t need plates or utensils for them. These tasty treats combine two complimentary flavors – rhubarb and strawberry – encased in a flaky pastry. Add some fresh fruit, such as apples, and your favorite beverage, and the picnic fare is complete.
And this was the view from our dining spot on the beach.
Better eat our lobster rolls before these guys decide to fly on over and join us for our picnic!
I hope you have enjoyed a glimpse into our Canada Day picnic in PEI.
