I presented my little cooking demo for EPIC: The Vancouver Sun Sustainable Living Expo. on Saturday, May 9. The premise for the demo was recipes my mother taught me. As fitting for a sustainability expo, the food needed to be local, so I chose rhubarb and just coming into season. Rhubarb is perfect in both savoury and sweet dishes. Its great on ice cream or with fish and chicken.

Here are the recipes I used…

Irish Soda Bread
4 cups sifted all purpose flour
1 tsp. salt
3 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. baking soda
¾ cup granulated sugar
1/8 tsp. cardamom (optional)
4 tbsp. butter
1/3 cup raisins
1 egg
1 ¾ cup buttermilk
combine flour, salt, baking powder, baking soda, sugar and spice
cut in butter with pastry cutter, then add raisins
beat egg and add 1 ½ cups buttermilk
mix gradually into dry ingredients, adding remaining buttermilk if needed to make a rather stiff dough which can be handled
turn dough out onto a floured board and knead until smooth, about 3 minutes
halve the dough, shape each half as a round loaf
place on a greased pan
with a sharp knife, cut a deep cross in the centre of each loaf
bake at 375 degrees for about 35 minutes

Rhubarb Compote
1 cup granulated sugar
¼ cup water
6 cups chopped rhubarb
1 strip orange rind
¼ tsp. cinnamon
combine all ingredients in a stainless steel pot and stir gently
bring to a boil, reduce heat to a simmer and let cook until rhubarb is tender, about 10 minutes
remove from heat and let cool – discard orange rind
store in the fridge for up to 5 days

Crème Fraiche
French crème fraiche, like English clotted cream, results from a specific method of cream production that both thickens the cream and gives it its characteristic nutty flavour, similar to, but much more complex than our sour cream. This homemade crème fraiche is a delicious facsimile of the real thing. You can flavour it with vanilla and sweeten it lightly to taste, whip it, and generally substitute it for heavy cream.

combine in a small saucepan and heat to 110 degrees F
1 cup heavy cream
1 tbsp. buttermilk

Pour into a jar and keep in a warm place loosely covered, until the cream is thickened and has a pleasant, mildly sour flavour. This may take as little as 6 to 8 hours or as long as 3 days. Do not allow it to stand so long that the flavour becomes acidic or ammonia like. Cover and refrigerate. The cream will thicken further when chilled. Crème fraiche keeps refrigerated, for up to 3 weeks.