At culinary school, we were challenged to adopt a diet different from our own for a week and to blog about it. Turns out, I am weak when it comes to food. I failed miserably to maintain my diet and only lasted three and a half days.
For the assignment, I adopted a vegetarian diet rich in fruits, vegetables, grains, dairy and egg protein (lacto-ovo). I also maintained a focus on farm fresh and local products which has been core to the way that my family eats for awhile now.
Breakfast was the easiest meal of the day and I did not feel restricted. With 8 laying hens at our farm who consistently produce 7 to 8 eggs daily, eggs were popular but so was Greek plain yogurt with Not Yer Granny’s Granola (made in small batches in Barrie, Ontario) and wild berries foraged around the farm.
Staying on track over lunch was also fairly straight forward. At the farm over the last month, we have tried to stick to lunches that are primarily vegetarian but we almost always have a side of charcuterie. Staying away from the cured meats was hard however with mains like charred cauliflower with Romesco sauce and zucchini-corn fritters it was absolutely doable.
Dinners were difficult! We often host friends at the farm and dinners are always drawn out affairs with family-style shared plates and lots of wine. Dinners often include one or two salads freshly picked from the garden, blanched or grilled local veggies, however the star is always the charcoal barbecued meat or fish. Locally sourced T-Bone steaks, locally crafted fresh sausages and lamb chops from a farm just north of us in Mulmur were just to tempting to resist.
The experience made me realize how my love of all food and my curiosity for new tastes are very strong. Although vegetarian and vegan diets are well aligned with my thoughts and values regarding food sustainability, restricting and limiting what I eat just doesn’t work for me.
However, there are a number of things I can do to decrease the amount of meat that I cook and eat. For example, I can use meat and fish as flavouring agents or accompaniments to my vegetables and grains similar to Japanese cuisine. I can also expand meatless Mondays to more days of the week. I can also focus on purchasing locally and humanely raised meat and fish which due to the higher cost would mean that I would have to buy less.
One of my family’s favourite vegetarian dishes were the zucchini-corn fritters. The recipe is inspired by the Jamie Oliver magazine. I made some adjustments to the ratio of egg and flour to vegetables, I also changed the flavours by using the fresh herbs from my garden and substituting the harissa yogurt sauce for a garlic yogurt sauce. Below is my version of the recipe.
- 1 large onion, diced
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 2 cloves garlic, grated
- ¾ teaspoon ground cumin
- 2 cups corn kernels (cooked frozen or canned)
- 2 zucchinis, grated
- ½ cup self rising flour
- 4 eggs, whisked
- 2 tablespoons chopped parsley
- 2 tablespoons chopped chives
- Salt and pepper to taste
- Vegetable oil for frying
- --------------------------------------
- For the Yogurt Sauce
- 2 cups (high fat) Greek plain yogurt
- 2 garlic cloves, grated
- ¼ cup olive oil
- Salt to taste
- Heat the 2 tablespoons of olive oil in a pan and sweat the onions (avoid browning). Add the garlic and cumin and cook for 30 seconds till fragrant. Season with salt and pepper and remove from heat. Let the mixture cool slightly.
- In a large bowl, combine the onion, corn, zucchini, flour, eggs, fresh herbs and season with salt and pepper. Mix the ingredients till they are well combined.
- Coat a pan with about half a centimetre deep of vegetable oil and heat. Using a large spoon, dollop the mixture in the pan and oil and cook for approximately 4 minutes per side till nicely browned and cooked through. Place cooked fritters on a plate lined with paper towels and repeat with the remaining batter.
- For the garlic sauce, combine all the ingredients in a medium bowl and mix well.
- Serve fritters warm with a dollop of the garlic sauce.
Leave a Reply