BLOGS

It’s one of the mostly heavenly times of year to live in BC–spot prawn season! Usually running from early May until the end of June, spot prawns are one of the more sustainably fished species in BC’s waters. They’re very closely managed in terms of catch and fishing techniques, and are recognized by the David Suzuki…

Rhubarb is one of the first crops to poke out of the soil when spring hits where I grew up in Nova Scotia. I have very fond memories of sitting at my grandmother’s kitchen table with a dish of warm stewed rhubarb topped with fresh cream or on top of her fresh baked bread. Rhubarb has been used for…

Many of us have heard about, and perhaps even live by, the Slow Food movement–the idea that we should strive to preserve traditional and regional cuisines and protect biodiversity in the plants and animals of local areas. The same people who created that movement have also instituted the Ark of Taste, a virtual Noah’s ark…

It’s definitely Spring! So here are some recipes for wild edible plants that are sprouting right now… Douglas fir tip tea, big leaf maple flowers, licorice fern roots, elderberry flowers, Oregon grapes; if you have never played with these as a chef living in BC you are missing out.  It’s these flavours that potentially can…

The days are getting noticeably longer, but there’s still a whole lot of winter left to go. After a long day at work, there’s no better way to unwind and nourish than with a hearty bowl of homemade soup. Many of us stick with the old chestnuts: a hearty vegetable soup, or    chicken noodle…

I confess. I’ve hopped on the bandwagon. I’d like to say I was doing this stuff before it was cool but that’s just not true… The Urban Homesteading thing has hooked me. Fermentation, urban bee keeping, wine making, foraging, and all types of DIY foodie projects…It’s fun stuff, it attracts the right kind of people,…

The weather is officially cool here in BC and as they say, it’s best to eat oysters in months that end in “er.” (That’s an old myth, and now that we have refrigeration, it’s not so much of an issue.) So, at the end of October, oysters are on all our minds here at Swallow Tail. These sweet little bivalves are sustainably harvested here on BC’s coast and come in so many varieties, there’s bound to be something for everyone. Some of the oysters you’ll commonly see in restaurants (and at Swallow Tail) are Kusshi, Royal Miyagi, Kumamoto, and Summer Breeze. Any of these varieties, which vary in size and flavour, are absolutely delicious straight up on their own, but they can be dressed up with something as simple as a splash of lemon, a mignonette of shallots and red…

  I was craving flavours that tie the brightness of summer with deep cozy flavours of autumn. Fresh, bursting yellow tomatoes, Pernod, and fennel made up the summer portion, while a long slow cooking time developed some brown flavours to deliver a dose of autumn comfort. Add this stuff to sandwiches, stir it into pasta,…

Just like wine, honey tastes different depending where it comes from. Now, urban beekeeping has allowed us to taste Vancouver neighbourhoods. Honey’s a bit of mysterious food right? I know it comes from flowers but what the heck happens between the flower and the good part at the end when we get to eat it? To find out, I connected with Melissa Cartwright of Meliferra Bees, an urban beekeeping expert here in Vancouver. Ironically enough, the ancient greek root of the name Melissa means “honey-bee”. Melissa makes premium honey from hives in Chinatown, Mount Pleasant, and Kerrisdale. Chances are, you’ve seen her bees buzzing around this summer. Maybe they’ve even collected nectar from your front yard. When we met, she was wearing one of those awesome beekeeper get ups that look like space suits. Melissa didn’t waste any time letting…

I would love to find gold on the street, wouldn’t you:)? Ka-ching!  That’s what it feels like when I find a big, fat chanterelle mushroom poking it’s head through the underbrush.  I’m mushroom obsessed.  With the prime months of Sept to Nov coming up for foraging you may see me tromping around BC forests, dirty…

Blueberry & Lemon Verbena Jam   This weekend, I scored some lemon verbena from Chef Chashma of Pate Pastiche. I had some blueberries at home too and a recipe for a really nice looking jam recipe by Dorina Allen of Ballymaloe Cookery School. Been really having fun with the nostalgic feeling of preserves and jam making this year, so this was the next one on my list. Lemon Verbena is a beautiful smelling herb and this is the first time I’ve worked with it. I followed the directions in Dorina’s recipe and added rough chopped herb to the jam. It doesn’t work though…there’s chewy bits of verbena mixed through the jam and it’s not really nice. So I’ve altered the recipe and recommended you put the lemon verbena in a sachet. Or you could just scrap the fussy business and…

I went to the Okanagan last week and came back with oodles of Peaches & Cherries. Peaches go seamlessly into jam, pies & all sorts of things. But if you have more cherries than you can eat fresh and you need to preserve them, what to do? Cherry compote! It’s super easy, tastes great and really versatile. Add it to a cheese plate or use it like jam. You can fill chocolates with it to make chocolate covered cherries. Use it as a sauce for bbq pork or duck. Spoon over ice cream, scones, chocolate cakes. Or if you’re feeling fancy, just eat it straight out of the jar with the fridge door hanging open. There’s 2 parts to this recipe because I like having more sauce. You don’t need to do Part 2 but I recommend it. I’ve used…