Cod Fish Soup Garnished with Cranberries

I have taken a liking to cranberries of late. They are loaded with lots of good stuff and available frozen at my food co-op. They add a tangy taste to everything and I'm thinking I could ditch lemon juice since the cranberries are local and lemons don't grow in Ontario.

Cod Fish Soup Garnished with Cranberries

0.5 kg Wild Caught Cod (add this directly to the prepared stock - do not worry about chopping because it will break up in the soup)

2 organic peppers..I used 1 yellow and 1 red..I wouldn't use green because they are too bitter
1 medium organic onion
Lightly grill the above in chopped pieces in order to bring out their taste.

4 cups water
2 stalks organic celery
3 medium organic potatoes (washed and peel if necessary)
1/8 cup Bonito flakes (mackerel fish flakes - these are good for fish stock)
1 tsp kelp (or use any ground chopped sea vegetables)

Use a food processor to puree the all of the above ingredients (except the cod).

Bring the above ingredients to a boil and then add the cod. Simmer for at least 45 minutes on low heat.

When serving, add pureed pure cranberries, dill, salt and pepper to taste.


This soup is wonderful due to the savoury rich taste of the cod and the sweetness of the peppers and cranberry. I served this with a salad of organic greens and chopped hot hungarian finger peppers and toasted gluten free corn bread (premade) with pure black olive tapenade (Minasso brand from Italy: GM, additive and preservative free).

I purchased the tapenade at Highland Farms grocery store. The rest were purchased at Karma Co-op ;)

Karma Food Co-operative Inc.: Toronto's only Member Owned Food Co-operative Store

I am on the board of directors for Karma, a co-op that has been running for over 35 years. In 1997-1999 I was on the board of director's for Ebytown Food Co-op in Kitchener (now a 30 year old institution). The contrast in experience is baffling to me in many ways and for many reasons but there is one way that my experience with both co-ops is exactly the same - the availability of whole foods at decent prices.

I took a number of pictures yesterday at Karma. I wanted to record some general prices of the food Karma carries with my camera.

One of Karma's idiosyncrasies is that we still do not have an electronic point of sale system. All record keeping is done basically by hand except for some, but not all aspects, of basic accounting/book-keeping. This makes analysis of any data at Karma next to impossible and is rarely done except for the financial statements.

As a board member of a co-operative, and Karma has ten people on it's board, we are elected and mandated by our 1000+ members to ensure the efficient and effective operation of our food store. Remarkably, this has worked for 35 years without many processes implemented to observe, record and analyze product movement through the store. Membership details are casually observed but again, no analysis that I know of has been done.

Karma has nearly gone bankrupt a few times in the past and is currently facing a union drive by it's staff of 10 people. Couple this union with our very weak state of finances (due to a renovation that must happen due to violation of the health code) and this might be the death knell. Might. The vibrant and tumultuous history of Karma's past tells me that we will not likely to die and certainly will not without a fight.

Members of food co-operatives tend to get nearly violent (ahem, figuratively) when loss of their food is threatened. Thus, I'm fairly positive that I will be able to take a similar series of pictures next February in our renovated store and we can compare some prices together and marvel over the increased number of local greens on Karma's shelves (we already provide a few hydroponic products from local farmers and that market is growing). I might even be able to report about the successful implementation of a point of sale system (currently being studied by a very productive committee at Karma). Or point you to a site containing events that you, a member of the Toronto public, can attend to find out more about Karma. Pollyanna-like musings? Time and a round table of 10 passionate board members will tell.

All of my visitors are tracked with google analytics. In an effort to illustrate the ease, necessity, and power of data collection in the age of blogging I have planted this post. If you found this post via a google search for Toronto food co-ops or something similar then I will find out (not who you are - just what you searched for - here is the report of key word searches to this blog for last month). Feel free to leave a comment if this is how you landed - in the interest of data collection of course ;) Comments from others are also welcome!

This ain't the chipper: Organic Yams, Broccoli and Wild Caught Pacific Halibut

I lived briefly in Ireland by completing a co-operative work term there as part of my undergraduate mathematics degree at the University of Waterloo.

I packed in a lot in those 3.5 months including getting out a few times to the discos and rugby club parties with a childhood friend/penpal I had made from my grandparent's neighbourhood.

At that time, a big part of a night out was to visit to the local chipper on the way home after a night in the pubs. You picked the local chipper so you could get the taxi to drop you off at the chipper and you could walk home from there...sometimes with neighbours that were performing similar Saturday night rituals. The greasy 'food' would soak up the mess caused by the 'drink'. Today's chippers in Ireland seem to have revised their menu offerings (grilled meat and fresh salad? wow).

The passing of over twenty years sure has also revised my idea of an enjoyable Saturday night outing. I was at a moving performance of Tosca this past Saturday. Soul food like opera, shared with loved ones, is now a staple in my spiritual larder.

This Ain't the Chipper

1. Organic yams peeled and chopped: 1 hour of baking at 350 F lightly coat these with organic sunflower oil if desired $2.57/kg California
   
2. Wild caught pacific halibut rubbed with organic dried dill (pictured above is a 166 g steak): 45 minutes at 350F on a grilling pan. $33.05/kg BC
   
3. Organic broccoli - lightly steamed. $2.99/bunch California
   
4. Pure black olive tapenade (Minasso brand from Italy: GM, additive and preservative free). $16.61/kg Italy
   

The yams were of the Beauregard variety - these retain shape/texture quite well. Mercury levels in the pacific wild caught halibut are reasonable enough to allow me to recreate my own version of the ole' chipper a few times a year - even if it is a guilty indulgence.....sigh.....

I purchased the tapenade at Highland Farms grocery store. The rest of the above items were purchased at Loblaws at Bathurst and St. Clair. The turnover of fresh seafood is quite high there.

Dairy Free Mashed Potatoes? I'm trying!

This is what I hauled out to make the mashed potatoes. I figured that with my blender, all things are possible.

A plain accompaniment allows the comfort of the mashed potatoes to seep in thoroughly.

I cooked wild caught cod (for me) and a naturally raised pork chop (for my daughter, the "ew fish are creepy" kid...sigh...but we both take fish oil daily).

I covered the cod with dill and pork bits trimmed from the chop that is in the top pan (newfie style ;). I usually feed my dog these raw pork bones (raw is good for dogs, cooked is bad). I used a salt free greek seasoning for the chop. I added a chopped onion to both the cod and the pork chop and baked these, covered, for 40 minutes at 350F.

Dairy Free Mashed Potatoes (enough for three generous servings)
4 medium peeled organic potatoes (I used red) - chop these into at least 8 pieces each for boiling
1 stalk organic celery
3 cloves organic garlic
1 cup spring water

Cook potatoes until soft. Puree the celery, garlic and water in a blender and put this in the oven (in an ovenproof container) and bake at 350 F for as long as your meat (about 40 minutes using covered cast iron). Mash the drained potatoes and add this cooked stock.

Garnish with hemp seed nut and salt and pepper to taste. Serve with fresh organic greens and grilled meat/fish (cod is in the above picture).

All of the above items were purchased at Karma Co-op ;)

Gluten Free Caribbean Lunch with Hemp Slaw

I live in an area that has about an equal ratio of late night barber shops and jerk chicken outlets (and money cashing outlets....). I have yet to determine if any of the jerk chickens are suitable for my tomato free/gluten free diet so, in the past year or so, I've missed the quick and easy take out jerk chicken meals of some of the finer establishments close to me.

I was also imprinted as an infant/toddler by exposure to a couple of foreign born housekeeping nannies that expanded my parent's irish born food palate - think boiled and bland - considerably. One of my dearest memories was of my paternal grandfather gobbling up the spaghetti I'd made for him when I visited Ireland when I was 12 years old. I remember the quest I had to make through the irish markets to find suitable ingredients. That was in 1979 and Ireland, especially Cork city, had yet to be penetrated by global food influences. I remember also my grandmother telling me that it was called spaghetti bolognese, thank you very much. I wonder now what all of my grandparents would think of the global food plate. I don't think any of them would have stopped gardening and that's a legacy I hold onto.


This simple lunch used a couple of locally pre-made products that I enjoy.





Open Faced HOT(!) Turkey Sandwich
Little Stream produces an amazing gluten free buckwheat sourdough loaf (no yeast added) and Mado's Caribbean(mentioned in this thread but it is available at Karma co-op) produces yummy tomato free hot pepper sauce. I topped the bread with pre-cooked ground organic turkey(with thyme and sage added) from Beretta farms. I warmed this up in the toaster oven and note how little of the sauce I used. The sauce is quite hot yet very tasty.


Hemp Slaw
Chopped Organic Red Cabbage
Chopped Organic Carrots
Organic Greens
Dressing
2 tbsp pure pureed cranberries (available frozen)
1 tsp hemp oil
1 tsp Filsinger's raw un-filtered organic apple cider vinegar
1/8 tsp ground mustard seed

All of the above were purchased at Karma Co-op ;)

Gluten Free/Dairy Free Organic Soup with Roots

Roots. We all have 'em and we all should eat more of 'em. Blend 'em up and you get a medley. A melting pot if you will.

Canada has lots of roots.

I love that about her.

Organic Soup with Roots

The ingredients are in the picture on the top right and are listed (roughly) clockwise from the top:
6 cups chicken/turkey stock (I make my own whenever I cook any meat with bones). You could also use just water.
1 organic onion
1/8 head organic red cabbage
4 stalks organic purple kale
1 large organic carrot
1/2 cooked squash (I find it easier to peel when it is cooked)
3 small organic beets, peeled
3 organic jerusalem artichokes (well scrubbed)
1/2 organic burdock root (well scrubbed)
1 medium organic rutabaga
Use a blender and the stock to puree the above. Add to a large pan (I've used my cast iron dutch oven)
Sea salt, sage, rosemary and thyme to taste
Once this is boiled simmer for at least 1 hour.

This freezes well.

All of the above items were purchased at Karma Co-op ;)

Root Vegetables, Gingered Goat and Lightly Spiced Millet

This is a cornucopia of the selection of local root vegetables available in Ontario at this time of year. I roasted all of the following and prepared two different soups with the considerable amount of leftovers.

This endeavour took me the whole evening but I have a few mason jars full of yummy soup in my freezer too (just blend the leftovers with stock!).

Roasted Root Vegetables (bake at 350F for 45 minutes or so)
organic squash (in white dish)
organic beet (in glass dish - peel beets after baking to retain sweetness)
The following items are on a lightly oiled cast iron baking tray - items are listed left thru right:
organic sweet potato
organic jerusalem artichoke
purple sweet potato (a close up of this is provided in the top photo...so sweet and yummy!)
organic carrot
organic parsnip
organic onion (chopped on top)
Sprinkle with rosemary, sage, thyme and salt.

Serve with:

Lightly Spice Millet
Simmer preroasted millet for 20 minutes with available stock..I created a goat stock with the bones from the goat chops I purchased and deboned before preparing
Garnish this with chopped green mustard leaves for a slightly spicy flavour (and amazing nutrition).

Ginger Mustard Goat
Cubed goat meat (I used goat chops see above for the use of the bones)
Garlic
Ginger
Ground Mustard Seed
Bake the above with a small amount of sunflower oil for 30 minutes at 350F.

All of the above items except the goat and purple sweet potatoes were purchased at Karma Co-op ;)