Give Thanks for Vegetables and Wychwood Barns

Really, I don't know what I'd do without vegetables. I eat a LOT of them. And every variety I can try - except celery - there is just something about the flavour and texture of celery that I find repulsive. Blech. I can eat it if it is thinly sliced and well cooked or as part of a mirepoix (the vegetable combo that serves as the basis for many French dishes - celery, onion and carrot) or trinity in Cajun cooking (celery, onion, green pepper) but I detest it in big chunks of it in Chinese food, or on a vegetable tray. But I digress....

Yesterday was the perfect day visit to Artscape Wychwood Barns & Wychood Barns Farmer`s Market. At a later date - maybe even next weekend - I`ll do a more in-depth blog on the Barns because it is an extremely interesting concept in mid-town Toronto that mades use of unused streetcar barns and has been turned into a community hub, a farmer`s market and artists space, children`s play area and it supports The Stop Community Food Centre.

The trip to Wychwood was all about vegetables.  There are many organic local farmers who bring in their lovingly raised produce to be sold.
I purchased some amazing sweet potatoes from several Mennonite looking ladies who assured me these beauties I bought were the real deal - they are not yams which they say is what most supermarkets label as sweet potatoes. At $3 a pound they better be! Interestingly, I learned that real sweet potatoes are part of the morning glory family, while yams are the tuborous climbing roots of a different plant. The two are completely unrelated although one is often mistaken for the other.

I also found some beautiful red and golden beets which I will scrub down really well and roast in the oven until sweet like candy, then toss with a little oil, cumin and mint.  T-Rex has been after me to make roasted beets for a while now, so that is definitely the kind of request I do not have an issue fulfilling.





So the remainder of time there was spent in search of beautiful carrots and parsnips - again a request from T-Rex.  There is just something about roasting vegetables slowly and lovingly in an oven that transforms their flavour from ordinary to extraordinary (I know an over-used description but it is true).  No other method I've every used to cook vegetables can make the most of the natural sugars that occur particulary in root vegetables.


Recipes to follow on a separate post.