Craving some sort of salad, I dove deep into the fridge crisper to see what vegetables were neglected from the week. At the bottom, I found two lost Belgian endives. Forgot about those guys.
After a good wash, I chopped them up, added some diced carrots and a few surviving arugula leaves, tossed with some olive oil, red wine vinegar and salt and pepper.
I was surprised about how flavourful this last-minute salad was but doubted the nutritional value. Belgian endive is no green leafy vegetable and its pale like celery so I thought its nutrients were as unimpressive. But a quick Google search proved my assumption incorrect. Belgian endive, also known as “White Gold” in food circles, can be eaten raw or cooked. The vegetable is a good source of Vitamin C, folate and fiber among other benefits.
A member of the chicory family, growing the vegetable is a little labour intensive. It’s grown twice; once for the roots and a second time for its yellow and white leaves.
Belgian endive was apparently accidentally discovered by a farmer whose chicory roots had sprouted in his cellar over the winter.
Interestingly enough, its roots can be dried and ground to be used as an addition to or in place of coffee
I like to use them instead of a cracker, topping them with cheese and other delicious bits.
Here are some tips for choosing and storing Belgian endive.
• Choose endives that look fresh and are spot-free. The leaves should be tightly closed and the endive should feel firm.
• Wrap each endive in a damp paper towel and store in the refrigerator vegetable crisper.

Going smelt fishing is an annual spring tradition and growing up, a rite of passage for our family.
Making the trek to Britt with my brothers and parents, we eagerly awaited the rush of fluttering fish as we stood in knee-deep icy cold water with our rubber boots.
A simple scoop of the net would reveal a jackpot –if we were lucky, hundreds of the silver things.
Upon our return home Nonno and Nonna would help clean the smelts. If we were old enough, we’d each take turns removing the heads and slitting their underbelly to get ride of the guts.
To eat them we dusted them with flour and fried them…perfection. Even for someone like myself who doesn’t eat much fish, smelts were a highly anticipated treat. And part of the fun is knowing we helped catch and clean them.
It’s that time of year again – smelts are running! .
I’ve heard their spawning in our neck of the woods.
You do need a fishing license to go smelt fishing and other than that all you really need is a simple scoop net, dip net or seine net and a bucket.
The water temperature, length of daylight hours and warmth of the sun encourage the cold-water fish to spawn. Often smelts start running when there is still ice in the water.
The best spots to find them are usually along a shallow sandy shore and typically the best time to catch them is in the dark.
While I’ll probably wait a few years to take my own kids who are now two and almost four years old, it’s a tradition that I carry on in another way. Smelts will be featured at the restaurant this week, during lunches and in our tasting menu!

The lucky Irish aren’t the only ones to celebrate St. Patrick’s day!!

Usually when we think of St. Patrick’s Day, a pint of beer is the first thing that
comes to mind.  But this week at Verdicchio Ristorante we’re exploring traditional and modern Irish dishes and have come up with a six-course tasting menu, complete with wine – or italian artisanal beer -pairings.

 You can start of with smoked salmon and mustard seed foam, then homemade cabbage
 rolls stuffed with corned veal and potato hash stuffing. Next is a delicate soup
of onions, Guinness beer and lamb broth, packaged in a crispy puff pastry crust. Venture into our fish and meat course of milk marinated haddock and locally raised goat
stew before completing the night with our Irish bread pudding, served with homemade bailey gelato.
 

 So, tip your hat to the Irish this week. Push the green beer aside and welcome sophistication.

This ‘ode to the Irish ‘is available only this week until Saturday.

For reservations or inquiries please call mark at 705.523.2794 or visit 

looking forward to seeing you!

mark

p.s. did you know St. Patrick was of Italian descent?

The Romans ruled England at that time. Calpurnius, Patrick’s father, was a high Roman diplomat living in England, but a Roman citizen. 
Patrick was born in England around the year 385 A.D.

Welcome the weekend with a glass of wine at our new Enoteca. Opened Thursday, Friday and Saturday until late. Choose from our selection of tapas style dishes like fried polenta dusted calamari and our own version of cheese fondue.