The 'After-mirth' - Food for Thought

February: Food for Thought

So, February... a great season for winter sportsters, but for many, a time for grey day languor while still trying to rationalize the physical tab for recent Holiday Season indulgences, as comfortably as possible.

We’re in sympathy.  Having always placed a premium on balance, we too look for ways to get it back after life’s festivities have tipped the scale (often literally).

To turn the page and set course for a healthy year ahead, there’s no better place to start than your own table and, for yours, we’d like to offer some “Food for Thought”.   It won’t surprise you that a winery is populated by people who share a zest for good food, good drink and good health, and so, here are ideas in that direction from a couple of our own savants-culinaires, with some help from Foodland Ontario for recipes.

1)      A nourishing winter salad, assembled from a world of healthy ingredients.  These can include, according to your preference, arugula, spinach, red onions, sweet potatoes, beets, broccoli, Brussels sprouts, cabbage, carrots, apples, pears and oranges, garnished by farro, sunflower seeds, parsley, chives, cranberries, walnuts, hazelnuts, pecans, almonds, blue cheese, chevre, feta, maple syrup and balsamic vinegar.
Suggested Recipe: Roasted Vegetable Farro Salad

2)      Hearty soup, such as savory minestrone or creamy cauliflower.  Do you have any turkey or other Holiday Season leftovers waiting in your freezer for somewhere to go?  This could be the place!
Suggested Recipe: Mighty Minestrone

3)      Vegetarian lasagna, incorporating tomato sauce, sweet peppers, spinach, mushrooms, Italian seasoning and low-calorie Ricotta cheese.
Suggested Recipe: Best Vegetable Lasagna

4)      Tasty, vitamin-rich, heart-healthy baked Ontario rainbow trout, garnished with chives, ground pepper and parsley, served with broccoli and Brussels sprouts.
Suggested Recipe: Grilled Rainbow Trout

5)      Roast Ontario pork loin, served with mushrooms au gratin, spiced with oregano and topped with parsley.
Suggested Recipe: Mushroom au Gratin

6)      Light but filling, and fast-to-make, cheese, mushroom and egg frittata, cooked in a skillet with sliced leeks and spiced with garlic, herbs and pepper.
Suggested Recipe: Leek and Cheese Frittata

7)      Also from the skillet, wholesome stir-fry of lean beef, carrots, cabbage and mushrooms, seasoned with red pepper flakes, garlic and ginger.
Suggested Recipe: Sesame Pork and Savoy Stir-Fry

For the above, many locally sourced ingredients can still be found, even at this time of year.

Any would be deliciously complemented by a single glass of local wine. 

We’d recommend our Rose Moira, Ladybug Rose, Small Lot Chardonnay, Small Lot Gamay or Small Lot Pinot Noir, all sound choices at less than a gram per Litre sugar and moderate alcohol of 12% or less.  Moreover, Ladybug is also now available in convenient, consumption-smart,  250-mL single-serving cans.

There!  Now we have seven days, a whole healthy week planned.

Once dishes are cleared, relax and turn in at a reasonable hour.  Sleep soundly, knowing however February may try to slow you down, you’ve still got the month, and the rest of your new year, off to a strong, hearty start.