Top Tomato, M & M Meats, Movies

As I mentioned yesterday, I joined Matt on his shopping expedition at the crack of dawn, well seems like that to me to go shopping at 7 a.m., and amongst other things, I came across a “family pack” of small artichokes, 12 for around $6 as opposed to two larger ones for $8 although I must admit the larger ones did look delicious. When we were home I cooked the little ones so I could have some for my lunch. Much to my surprise I discovered they were grown in Markham, Ontario. I had no idea artichokes could be grown in Canada, to me they are a product of warmer climes (mostly from California here) although it can get pretty warm here in the summer. I Googled the name of the grower and found an article in The Star all about it. The grower’s name is Dominic DeFilippis and he was born here, but is of Italian descent. The company is Top Tomato Foods and they have been in business with more usual crops for a number of years, they have only recently branched out into experiments with such things as artichokes. One thing in the Star article, the author mentioned eating artichokes and dipping the leaves in melted butter, new one on me, I have always used a good vinaigrette sauce although these days I tend to use a bought Italian salad dressing which works very well.

I remember Markham, Ontario for its acres and acres of black soil where there is an inordinate amount of farming carried out. At the end of the article in the Star it states that the land the DeFillippis are renting may well be sold for housing. God forbid. What a dreadful waste of wonderful farming land. If you look at their site, they grow many other things and market Zucchini Blossoms which I have not seen for years. You can do all kinds of wonderful things with them, not least of which is to stuff them. They are delicious. I don’t know where these are sold locally, if at all, but I will be looking out for them.

In the afternoon, we went to M & M Meats, an interesting store which sells all kinds of frozen pre-made foods, if you click on the link it will give you some idea of what they sell. I was actually after a Carrot Cake, however whilst there we decided to try one of their pizzas. It was a thin crust with tomatoes, basil and cheese. We cooked it for supper and it was very enjoyable. I think I will buy some more and keep them in the freezer for a quick meal. M & M’s started around the time we first came to Canada some 36 years ago and have been very successful. They have quite a fantastic range of foods, not all of which we have tried, not all of those we have tried do I like. In fact we have bought teriyaki sirloin steaks which I found horribly sweet – Matt thought they were OK. We have bought other sirloin steaks from them with different marinades which have been very good.

I watched Dragonheart last night, I have seen it before, but I really enjoy that movie. Well its about dragons isn’t it? I have also got Jane Eyre to watch. There is a second Dragonheart: A New Beginning movie which I need to check out.

I had the devil's own job posting this blog today.

This recipe came from their website.

Fried Zucchini Blossoms

Ingredients

12 Zucchini Blossoms, stems and pistils removed
1 cup self rising flour
5 Eggs
1 tbsp Parmesan Cheese grated (optional)
Salt and Pepper to taste
Vegetable oil for frying

Instructions

Prepare flour in a bowl. In a separate bowl, beat eggs, parmesan cheese, salt and pepper.

Wash zucchini blossoms and ensure they are relatively dry (use salad spinner or pat dry).

Heat up vegetable oil for frying. Dredge blossoms in flour and then in the egg mixture and place them in the frying pan and fry until golden. Enjoy!!

**Try stuffing them with goat cheese and then following the recipe instructions**

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