National Onion Ring Day

“Onion rings in the car cushions do not improve with time.” ~Erma Bombeck

You know you want them….onion rings that is. If you are anything like me.

Onion rings and I go way back. I remember being a small child, going for road trips to Calgary in my parents burgundy ford station wagon. Somewhere along the way we’d stop for fast food, which was a totally novelty (the nearest McDonald’s to my house when I was a kid was 100km away). Sometimes it would be A&W, and when we stopped there I always got the onion rings. I remember my mom telling me that onion rings had onions in them. No…no they didn’t. I like onion rings, but I hate onions. They can’t have onions in them.

My love affair with onion rings continued in my teens. I spent my summers working as a camp counselor at a wilderness camp in norther Saskatchewan. We were paid a pittance, and we only got one afternoon and one night off every 10 days–good times! (No really, it was *great* times… some of the best of my life). On our one precious evening off, we’d go down the highway to Caribou aka every gas station/restaurant/bait/general store you’ve ever been in. Being underage, we couldn’t drink. But we could order onion rings by the heaping plate full, and feel like we were living large with our precious freedom.

Two decades later and I can’t say no to their battered crispy goodness.

For National Onion Ring Day, I declined to make my own (I’ve never deep fat fried anything in my house, and I don’t want to start now). I also don’t think this is a food calling out for re-invention. Rather, I headed down to my local fish and chip shop (Fairfield Fish and Chips) where I procured an order of their rings wrapped in paper (nearly instantly translucent from the oil), then newsprint. Add a splash of vinegar, and indulge. I’m happy to report I didn’t eat the whole thing…

~Dea

National Maple Syrup Day

Oh, I’ve been given the most Canadian of ingredients. I have to say that I was pleased to see it here, on this most American list of foods. I consider it a little nod our way from our neighborhoods to the south.

I’ve got one Old Happy Memory and one New Happy Memory to share with you, with respect to maple syrup.

The Old Happy Memory:

My parents took J. and I to Quebec and the Maritimes on a summer road trip when I was about 10. My dad, who grew up francophone, was on the hunt for his happy childhood memory: sucre a la creme pie (think of a butter tart made without the nuts or raisins,  with maple syrup rather than brown sugar, and some cream).

My dad was persistent on his quest. As we drove along the Gaspe, my dad sampled as we went. None of the pies were “like my mother’s”. He kept trying. It wasn’t until the family road trip was well out of Quebec that lightening struck: at a Shell station outside of Fredericton, my dad found his sucre a la creme nirvana. I’d have to hazard that the woman at the gas station was surprised to sell the entire pie to a tourista.

My dad tucked away his prize in the trunk of the car.

And then promptly took pie breaks at 50 min intervals for the rest of the day.

Needless to say, that pie didn’t see sunset.

New Happy Memory

This winter B. invited me along to Salt Spring Island to see our very own cabane à sucre in action. A local SSI businessman has planted sugar maples and was tapping the trees and boiling the sap down to sugar. With no snow to pour the syrup on, it wasn’t the traditional experience, but nonetheless, it was fun, and it was great to see this tradition much closer to home.

(The enjoyment of the day was also given a boost by our pit-stop at the SSI Cheese Company (so yummy!), some very cute goats, our cameras, and a mostly well behaved baby!)

For today’s blog, I thought I would make a twist on the classic apple crisp – this time I thought pears would be nice, and having been inspired by a desert a year ago at B.’s Birthday Dinner Extravaganza, added asian flavors of candied ginger and chinese 5 spice.

Pear and Maple Crisp with Ginger and Spice

(note: this is not exactly what I did, but what I would do next time…things can always be improved, no? Also as you will see in the photo, I only made a 1/3 recipe)

For topping
1 cup all purpose flour
1 cup finely chopped pecans
2/3 cup (packed) golden brown sugar
1/2 cup chilled unsalted butter, cut into small pieces

For pears
3 1/2 pounds firm but ripe pears, peeled, cored, cut into 1/2-inch pieces
2/3 cup pure maple syrup
1 1/2 teaspoons chinease 5 spice
2 tablespoons all purpose flour
2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
1 tablespoon finely chopped crystallized ginger

Position rack in center of oven and preheat to 350°F.

Combine all of the topping ingredients in food processor or cut them together until small moist clumps form.

Position rack in center of oven and preheat to 350°F. Toss all the filling ingredients in large bowl to blend. Let stand 15 minutes. Transfer pear mixture to 13 x 9 x 2-inch baking dish. Sprinkle topping over pears. Cover with foil and bake 20 min. Remove foil and bake another ~ 20 min, until pears are tender, juices bubble thickly and topping is golden and crisp. Let stand at least 10 minutes, it’s pretty juicy when hot but when it cools there’s a nice sauce.  I would suggest serving it over ice cream…

Delish!

Deanna