Vinaigrettes
Vinegar, oil, salt and freshly ground pepper. Mix it up. Toss it on the season's first greens or grilled vegetables. The classic proportions have been 1 part vinegar to 3 or 4 parts oil. This classic French dressing is one of the great sauces. Remember to taste and consider the elements of your salad.

Let your creativity flow and embellish the sauce with herbs, spices, mustard or honey. It is quite versatile so drizzle it on sliced tomatoes or grilled vegetables.

The key to success is about balancing the acid (vinegar, verjus or lemon juice,) and oil (olive, grape seed, nut) to complement a salad's ingredients. Tender greens or strong flavored lettuces, roasted asparagus or aromatic fruit each require a different balance of vinegar to oil. Remember that the lettuce leaves have to be dry so dressing will cling to them.

Basic vinaigrette
Makes 150 mL

30 mL Wine Vinegar
125 mL Olive Oil
Salt and freshly ground Pepper to taste

Combine ingredients and mix thoroughly. Adjust seasoning as required.

Variations:
Add 30 mL of Dijon mustard to the recipe.
Add 15 mL fresh chopped herbs - basil, tarragon, dill

The York School Visit
The York School is a K-12 independent school located in mid-town Toronto. The school's motto is 'experience teaches'. And for one week in May our grade 9-10 students participate in an annual 'Challenge Week', in which they have the opportunity to choose from a number of trips across North America according to the challenge that interests them most. This year fourteen of our students choose the 'Culinary Boot Camp' in Niagara. The week involved daily cooking classes at the Strewn Cooking School as well as a variety of culinary and cultural exercusions in the area. The students voted unanimously that their favourite day of the trip was the day that Mark Picone organized for them and their favourite culinary experience was, hands down, lunch at his studio. Arriving at the Johnston Asparagus Farm to pick asparagus for lunch was a great start to this day. Proceding to the Upper Canada Cheese Company whetted our appetites further. The lunch at Mark's featured a marvelous quail entree. Mark was wise to plan our tour of the quail farm after the lunch. All in all, we were so fortunate to have experienced Niagara through the hospitality and delicious cuisine of Mark. Growing up in Dundas, my family have always been loyal Picone customers. I am so glad to have visited Mark's very special Picone establishment.

Eric Robertson
Director of Academics, Upper School
The York School

Local Purveyor Appreciation
Tree and Twig is an heirloom vegetable farm located in Wellandport, ON, that is owned and operated by Linda Crago. Because heirloom vegetables have new and unusual tastes, shapes and colours, Linda created an effort to maintain the genetic diversity of our food crops. Heirlooms are a link to the past and are a key to our future. Linda’s constancy to purpose for the food we eat is exemplary and is recognized with her recent award of The Niagara Entrepreneur of the Year - Agriculture Enterprise Award for 2008.

Congratulations Linda!

And thank you for supplying, encouraging and supporting the chefs of Niagara!

A Quote…
Gringoire proposed to save the world by intensive kitchen gardening and exquisite but economical cookery…I think his ambition really was to teach persons forced to live on minute incomes how to lead graceful, poetic and pleasant lives and so to save the world.

Ford Madox Ford, No Enemy, 1929

Bay Laurel
The Herb of the Year determined by The American Herb for 2009 is Bay Laurel. This herb imparts a wonderful balance of lemon—nutmeg and is used both in savoury and sweet applications. So buy a bay laurel tree and start using fresh bay leaves in your cooking!

Kitchen Inspirations

For the eyes:
The Elements of Cooking

For the ears:
Robert Schuman, Piano Concerto in A Minor, Anton Kuerti, CBC Radio Orchestra

The creative genius of Robert Schuman is well documented and the profound love of Clara Schuman enhanced the couples’ long time piano career. She was a world famous concert pianist and Robert the infamous composer. The Concerto in A Minor is by far his most famous and with its never ending flow of joyous energy and imaginative ideas, the numerous intricacies of rhythm remind me of the cadence of kitchen orchestrations.

Anton Kuerti is 'one of the great pianists of the century' (CD Review, London) and making Canada his home has provided an array of performances from coast to coast and internationally. He is an Officer of the Order of Canada and can be heard consistently on CBC Radio.

For the hands:
Pestle and Mortar - an invaluable kitchen tool that every kitchen should have. Keep it on the counter and within easy reach so that you use it! Genuinely used for grinding foods, I have consistently used it for freshly grinding my peppercorns (usually a mixture of 5 different types) or now in the summer months, making a fresh herb paste with an array of basil, parsley, fennel and tarragon. Season this with some kosher salt and olive oil and use on your freshly grilled vegetables or handpicked tomatoes from the garden. Remember to rotate the pestle against the sides of the bowl shaped mortar to create your desired results.

FRESH Floral Design
Summer is finally upon us. The warm air, radiant sunshine and the beauty of our gardens come to life. I love container gardening. It is super easy to create as well as maintain. Container gardening is also very flexible allowing you to enjoy your plants in areas where a traditional garden is not feasible. A container garden is also very mobile allowing you to re-arrange your garden as you see fit. It also allows you to add color and dimension to your existing garden.

When creating a container I take a few things into account:
Where will the container primarily stay?
What conditions are in that location?
What am I wishing to achieve with my container?

For me I have a large front porch and my front garden is primarily consisting of green plants as I have a huge tree in the front yard giving me shade for most of the day. So taking this into consideration I wanted to create color, privacy and impact so the green plants I have in my garden will pop in contrast to my containers.

In my containers I love to create contrast with color and texture. I used non-stop orange begonias, which do well in shade. So they would pop I added purple and orangey purple sweet potato vine with licorice giving a silvery element and glossy green goldfish plants.

Be creative and experiment with color and texture.
Happy gardening.

Jannine Lavoie
FRESH Floral Design
4591 Second Avenue, Niagara Falls, ON
T. 905.357.9389
C. 289.257.0567
F. 905.357.9259
E. flowers@freshniagara.com
www.freshniagara.com

From The Vineyard:
A great rule of thumb (or a great rule to thumb, depending on personal preference!) is to cook with the wine you plan to serve with the dish. In this case, Chef has chosen Riesling, which also happens to be his favourite varietal. Using the same wine helps to create a bridge of flavours and taste components between the food and the wine.

Riesling is not only lovely to drink, but when used in conjunction with the recipe, its natural acidity heightens the flavours of the food and refreshes the palate.

When selecting a Riesling, Niagara is full of fabulous examples so you need look no further than your own backyard, or, in this case, John Howard’s backyard.
Megalomaniac is the retirement project of acclaimed local businessman John Howard. The grapes for the wines come from his 110 acres of pristinely managed vineyards in Vineland.

Not only are the wines receiving critical acclaim, but for each bottle sold of Megalomaniac Wine, John Howard Cellars of Distinction will donate $1 to Kid's Health Links—an admirable endeavor that provides computers to young hospital patients, giving them the ability to communicate with friends, family, teachers, and communities, in a safe environment.

The wines can be ordered online at www.megalomaniacwine.com
Or by calling the winery direct at
1-888-MEGALO1 (634-2561)

Jennifer Wilhelm
Certified Sommelier
Wine Finesse
winefinesse.com
info@winefinesse.com

Summer Recipe

Summer Risotto of Sugar Snap Peas and Prosciutto
Serves 4

Risotto is the classic Italian preparation of fine Arborio rice (I use Carnaroli quality) slowly simmered in a rich broth until the ultimate creamy 'al onda' or wavy like consistency is achieved. There should be a slight crunch (al dente) to the grains and with the seasonal best of snap peas and the subtle sweetness of prosciutto to compliment; you will have a stellar dish!

• 1 shallot, peeled and minced
• 1 bay leaf
• 50 ml olive oil
• 300 gm Arborio rice
• 100 ml white wine, Riesling
• 1 litre chicken stock
• 375 gm sugar snap peas, washed and cleaned, cut into 2 cm pieces
• 50 ml herbs of choice: parsley, dill, fennel, marjoram, mint
• 8 slices prosciutto, thinly sliced
• Parmesan cheese – shavings
• Salt and freshly ground pepper

Method

1. Bring stock to a boil. Reduce the heat to maintain a gentle simmer.
2. In a medium size pan, add the olive oil, shallot and bay leaf. Over medium heat cook until tender, about 5 minutes. Add the rice and cook, stirring constantly, until the kernels are coated with the oil. Deglaze the pan with wine.
3. Begin adding the stock, ladle by ladle stirring until the liquid is almost absorbed. Repeat until the rice is tender, about 15 minutes. There should be a thin layer of liquid on the surface of the rice at all times.
4. With the last addition of stock, taste and season accordingly. Stir in the sugar snap peas. Cook until they are bright green, about 3 minutes. Remove from the heat and add the herbs. Check seasoning. Allow to rest 3 to 5 minutes. Garnish each plate with 2 slices of prosciutto and Parmesan shavings.

Enjoy!