My Muskoka Kitchen

10/06/2026

This was a season to relish, in the preserving sense.
Already, the favourite Zucchini Relish and the Rouge Apple Relish-cum-Chutney are in the pantry.
Dare we do another like the green tomato Relish, with all these green tomatoes that were picked before last nights -2 degrees??
I think there is enough to do it, as well as some fried green cherry tomatoes, with some leeks, onion, garlic, parsley and grapes, in a version of couscous salad.
It feels like this was a tough year for beautiful, abundant and ripe tomatoes. We have volume, but nearer to the end of season, and without their blushing colours.
So, save the seeds, sow in February and make a new garden plan for 2027 in

10/04/2026

Autumn in a Bottle

A cross between a relish and chutney, greater versatility for culinary needs, with the colours, flavours and aromas of Autumn preserved for the coming season in

09/27/2026

09/24/2026

Begin with a Seed
All our tomatoes are grown from seed, at harvest the seed is saved for the next year’s sowing.
There are regulars, but also many newcomers that I’m very curious about that I’ve seen at a few garden centres, and need to research to see if I want to make a place for them.
Discover, play, discover more and savour is what it’s all about for me; garden clothes and Wellington boots, kneeling on the ground, fingers combing the earth like casting magic.
It is more than magic as a season unfolds all the beauty, characteristics, purpose, relationship and flavour from the information carried in one little but powerful seed. This is true for all life.

09/23/2026

Never underestimate the possibility.
Celery. What can I tell you?
We’ll, actually, more than I thought, because this isn’t an easy ingredient for me.
But, I’m willing and hopeful when planting it each year -and it did bounteously well, which means gearing up to make it sing somehow.
Celery Soup!
This celery produced thin stalks with abundant, super-flavourful leaves, so technically it’s a celery leaf soup.
No matter. Fry up the chopped leeks, onion, garlic, a handful of parsley, and a mountain of celery leaf. Chopped up apple and potato enter into the slow frying before liquid is added.
Stock is made from all the stems & ingredient scraps, but a little leftover whey goes in as well.
Seasoning includes fresh basil, thyme, marjoram, black pepper, white pepper, coriander and sea salt
Cream is added at the end.
The real finish comes during plating when a small spoonful of both scape pesto and nasturtium pesto are placed both in the bottom of the soup bowl, and a bit more on top as decoration.
A bit of grated cheese like Conte’ , old white Cheddar or crumbled blue cheese brings it all together.
Fabulous Celery Leaf Soup that delivered what I could not have anticipated. This was a good adventure that began in the garden, and finished up dazzling the palate in
Never underestimate!

09/22/2026

How do I find these mushrooms??
The chanterelles are a gift from the forest, coming up annually,and always meeting the ‘verification’ of being a true chanterelle before eating it.

As for the Lion’s Mane and Chestnut Mushrooms are from White Pine Meadows - Farm Shop + Mushroomery which does the Gravenhurst Farmers’ Market, but also has a farm store.
They carry many other varieties including pink and grey oyster, dried mushrooms and powders as supplements.
I’m hoping to make a day trip to their farm store, see their growing operation, and plan a mushroom feast in !
How fortunate we are to have such an exquisite offering up here in , the part of our and savouring.

09/22/2026

The ‘So Far, So Good’ Favourite.
This could be the daily Smooth Morning Smoothie, now becoming the afternoon sipper.

All these flavours love one another, and you can taste it, and love it too.
I would venture to add more ingredients like fresh grated ginger, allspice & cinnamon, maybe a hint of dark cocoa.
Additional preferences for health include MACA, Lion’s Mane, Collagen, vitamin C, vitamin D, Magnesium, Glucosamine , Amino Acid Complex, ad a few herbal tincture specific to my requirements.

Basically:
1 banana
1 pear
2 medium soft prunes
1/4 - 1/2 tsp honey
1/2 cup yogurt
1 1/2 cup of liquid whey 9 or substitute with almond milk or other)
1/4 tsp cinnamon (optional)
2oz. Shot of espresso.

09/21/2026

Reaping the Rewards of a recipe inspiration.
In

09/21/2026

Cook it!
Yes, that pressed ricotta gets pressed again, into a 1 inch thick disk, set to an oiled cast iron pan, drizzled with olive oil and drops of honey comb, dashed with salt & pepper, and accompanied with grapes
Fry, flip, fry, sprinkle breadcrumbs and then oven broil a few minutes.
This has plenty more possibilities, could even be gratineed with another cheese.
Kept simple tonight, and served with the mushroom plan we mentioned in the previous post.
It’s very gratifying to have foraged and more exotic cultivated mushrooms, and our house-made ricotta. This dish begins in , and will be turning up again, tweaked, new versions and companions along the way.

09/21/2026

Just an idea.
You’ve seen the book, and this wild mushroom gratin caught my attention.
I’ll be riffing off the recipe, with lion’s mane, chanterelles & chestnut fungi
Leeks and walnuts are in my picture, maybe even some apricot and hint of honey comb to heighten the chanterelles and caramelized lion’s mane.
Maybe finish with a hint of cream at the end, or roasted ricotta as a bed for it to lay on.
If a Gratin style happens, there is Comte’ to indulge.
So, tonight is a ‘sort of’ recipe, and a good inspiration as a jumping off point for available ingredients, compatibilities, creativity and personal palate in tonight.