Labour of love

and a Georgian recipe for a tomato-strawberry salad that is a song to summer

To everyone new here, welcome. I’m Elizabeth, the writer of The Delicious Bits Dispatch, a weekly missive for the curious, blending discovery, reflection, and musings, always wrapped up with a seasonal recipe worth lingering over.

Every week we get to hang out with some of my favourite people.

The funny thing is, for the most part, I don’t know their last names. I’ve never been to their house, nor they to mine. I’ve met their kids and family members by chance, not design. You might say we’re casual acquaintances at best.

Yet these friends sustain and nourish us every week. Their backbreaking labour is in evidence every time we meet, their painstaking care on display. No matter the weather or circumstances, they are by and large an upbeat group, seeing the silver lining in every rain cloud, and the opportunity in every dry spell. Maybe those feet that are firmly planted on the ground give them another kind of grounding too.

They’re our local farmers, and they’re a special breed indeed.

Setting the seasonal table

I don’t know how many of you go to the grocery store on speed dial, but my guess is it’s a pretty high percentage. Need flour? Aisle one. Butter, eggs, milk? Head to the dairy section in the back. Green peppers, bananas, potatoes? Each item has its designated, never-deviating spot in the produce section. The best grocery stores highlight and feature local produce as it becomes available, but it’s a likely bet that those peaches and plums will come from regions further afield before long.

On the other hand, go to the farmers’ market, and it’s a bit like Christmas morning every week. The vagaries of weather and whim wreak havoc on the best-laid harvesting plans, so even the farmers aren’t quite sure what will be on the table. This is Mother Nature’s just-in-time inventory system, invented long before Walmart decided to get into the agri-food business.

Eating my fill

This week we had Christmas in July, courtesy of Nicole Prins from Wooler Dale Farm. Wooler Dale is a wonderful organic farm in the Bay of Quinte, started by Ann and John van der Heyden, and now being managed by the second generation. While there are many farmers that have beautiful tomatoes, those from Wooler Dale are sweeter than candy. When I saw these beauties at Nicole’s stand on Saturday, I did my special summer happy dance. Tomato season is officially upon us.

The sweetest tomatoes from Wooler Dale Organics

John from Bees Universe provided our weekly egg haul. Over at Paul’s Footsteps Organics, we picked up some freshly harvested zucchini flowers, sweet carrots and radicchio. From Milan at Bizjak Farms, Niagara cherries, strawberries and the season’s first blueberries were on offer—and in my basket without a moment’s hesitation. Beautiful just-the-right-size zucchini from Soznicki Organics were perfect for my first batch of zucchini-pea soup with pesto. And, look, more carrots.

With this type of bounty, spreading our love amongst these amazingly hardy and generous souls seems like the right thing to do.

Precious and delicate zucchini flowers from Footsteps Organics

The joy that is the midsummer season of harvest feels like a fairy godmother gone wild, gifts bestowed with abandon. If there are tomatoes, corn is coming. Blueberries buddy up to peaches, apricots and plums. Shell beans and eggplant are on their way. Is it any wonder that I’m in my happy place?

Sugarplums can wait. In this midsummer’s night’s dream, I’ll be thinking about the glorious treasures that will await me when next Saturday comes.

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A Georgian Summer Salad

serves 2; can easily be doubled

This week's recipe comes from my friend Cheryl, whose wonderful newsletter, Cheryl, Queen of Markets, is a love letter to farmers' markets and the people who bring them to life. Drawing on more than two decades of running London's farmers' markets, Cheryl weaves together stories of growers, producers, food history, seasonality and sustainability with thoughtful recipes that celebrate what's at its best. She reminds us that the best meals begin long before we step into the kitchen—with the people who grow our food and the markets that connect us to them.

In her latest newsletter, Cheryl featured Silk Roads: A Flavour Odyssey with Recipes from Baku to Beijing by Anna Ansari, a cookbook that explores the cuisines and cultures woven together along the ancient Silk Roads.

The combination of ripe tomatoes, sweet strawberries and fragrant tarragon may sound unexpected, but after one bite you'll wonder why you've never paired them before. We had this salad for dinner tonight with a simply grilled Denver steak that Richard made, marinated quickly in a bit of soy sauce, honey, the grated zest and juice of a lime and just enough minced red Thai chili peppers to give the meat a lovely zing.

For an unusual and excellent wine paring, check out Christian Binner Si Rose. I've been returning to this wine since we first discovered it in 2019, and this meal was a reminder why. Made primarily from Gewürztraminer, it takes comfortably to the soy, lime and chili marinade on the steak, while still leaving plenty of room for the strawberries, tomatoes and herbs to do their thing.

Ingredients

2 cups ripe strawberries, sliced

2 cups cherry tomatoes, halved

2 tablespoons finely chopped fresh basil

2 tablespoons finely chopped fresh tarragon

1 tablespoon capers, rinsed and drained

1½ teaspoons raw sunflower seeds

2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil

Maldon or other flaky sea salt

Freshly ground black pepper

1. Combine the strawberries, cherry tomatoes, basil, tarragon and capers in a medium serving bowl.

2. Just before serving, sprinkle the sunflower seeds over the salad and drizzle with the olive oil. Season generously with Maldon or other flaky sea salt and a few grinds of black pepper. Toss gently and serve immediately.

Adapted from Silk Roads: A Flavour Odyssey with Recipes from Baku to Beijing by Anna Ansari. Discover more of Anna's work at annaansari.com, and follow her on Instagram at @thisplacetastesdelicious.