It's Finally Asparagus Season

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Nothing evokes Spring better than fresh Asparagus and in Ontario, Asparagus season has begun. For us, this means that the Tea Room menu is slowly being adapted to this wonderful food. Our first effort is a cream of Asparagus of course. We're currently on the second iteration of our recipe and we've come to the conclusion that the simpler the better. In fact, our recipe has only three ingredients: stock, onions and of course, loads of Asparagus.

Getting started on our latest batch of Asparagus soup...

Normally, a good cream of Asparagus would call for the use of chicken stock and the addition of cream. In our case, we use our own vegetable stock since many of our clients tend to be vegetarian. After a couple of tries, we've also opted to not add any cream. The result is a lighter soup just full of Asparagus flavour.

Last week, we also indicated that our Rhubarb is ready to be harvested. As a result, we've been making loads of Rhubarb and custard tartlets. After working on Maple syrup pies for the past few weeks, it is actually a relief to change and move on to the next seasonal pie: Rhubarb.

The first Rhubarb pie of the season.

After working on the first Rhubarb pie of the season, we're now really looking forward with anticipation to the berries that will soon arrive. Based on the flowering going on at the farm, this will not be long. In fact, the Black Currants this year should yield twice what we had from the young bushes last year.

The Black Currant bushes may just be loaded with fruit this year.

For those interested in foraging, we found that elsewhere on the farm, it is now time to collect the Pheasant Back Saddle Mushrooms. These are the one mushroom we can easily identify. They tend to grow on rotting logs and have a beautifuul "feathery" pattern. We pick them at under 3-4 inches in diameter. Any larger and they tend to be a little too tough. In fact, we always maintain some large ones on our logs to keep the mushroom spores spreading for future harvests.

The Pheasant Back Saddle Mushrooms are ready to forage.

This past week was very busy at the farm and the Tea Room. Much of this had to do with Mothers' Day celebrations.  However, we were also pleased to host a very special and private evening with Slow Food Pelham. We held a wine pairing event, hosted and monitored by wine industry executive and conoisseur Daniel Boudin. This was such great fun, we sincerely hope to be doing this on a regular basis.

Slow Food Pelham...learning about wines and pairing under the tutelage of Daniel Boudin.

We'll close this week with another sign in the progression of Spring. Tulips have bloomed and are almost on their way out. Under our European Copper Beech, it's time for Lily of the Valleys and their amazing scent.

Lily of the Valley are blooming and filling the evening air with an amazing scent.