Lufa Farms

I recently heard about Lufa Farms through some friends of ours. It's a company that apparently built the first commercial greenhouse on the roof of a building, located right here in Montreal (there's now one in Laval as well). They produce vegetables all year round to be delivered via baskets at different drop off points in the Montreal area. They don't use synthetic pesticides, capture rainwater and recirculate irrigation water.

The population is getting bigger and farms lands need pesticides and herbicides to produce enough to feed this large number of people. But this is slowly poisoning the land. Even organic products are not sheltered from this. A recent study showed that half organic products have a pesticide residue http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/manitoba/pesticide-residue-found-on-nearly-half-of-organic-produce-1.2487712. If you follow the link here: http://montreal.lufa.com/en/about-the-farm there is all sorts of information about how the farm works and how it could make a city self sufficient if they could build their greenhouses on more rooftops, such as shopping centers.

Being environmentally conscious as well as often frustrated at the lack of freshness and variety from my local supermarket, I was immediately intrigued by Lufa Farms. Here's what you basically need to know about it. Every week you get a 30$ or more basket of vegetables. It's completely customizable in the sense that they'll pick out a list of vegetables for you, but you can remove any items you don't want and add new ones. The catch is that it can't go below 30$. You have a couple of days to do this via their website. Sometimes things are sold out, but if you look often, they can come back. The day before delivery, they bill you and ship the basket to one of their many drop off locations that you chose from. You can cancel anytime you want, or change the drop off location, or just advise them that you'll be on vacation for the week. It's all very flexible.

The down side is that it's not cheap. For 30$ you could probably get a larger quantity of fruits and vegetables at your local fruit store compared to what you would get in your Lufa Farms basket.What drew me in despite this was the idea that it was fresh vegetables from nearby. So even in winter I can get a cucumber that tastes like it came from my parent's garden. And they have things I can't find even in fruit markets like a large variety of tomatoes that I had never even heard of. They also offer products from local vendors such as bread, chocolate, teas, pastries, eggs etc.

Below is a picture of my very first Lufa Basket. My husband says I was more excited opening it than I was opening my Christmas presents. What can I say, that's what food does to me!

Here a few highlights from the basket.

A lovely olive fougasse bread.

A clara eggplant. I read somewhere that apparently all eggplant used to be white. Which makes more sense as to why they are called eggplant. This apparently is less bitter than the purple variety.

Some micro greens. Small but packed with flavour.

Here I had ordered some Sun Gold tomatoes, but they must have been out because they sent me some cherry tomatoes instead along with an extra basket of Indigo Rose tomatoes. I only know the name because of the website pictures. They're both absolutely delicious by the way. And look how beautiful!

 These beauties are called Rebelski Beefsteaks. I plan on making a fresh tomato sauce with them.

Here we have black radishes. I chose these because I had never heard of black radishes. They are much larger than regular radishes and you can eat them raw as well as cooked.

One of my favorite, Jerusalem artichokes. I've mentioned these before, they taste like a cross between a potato and an artichoke. I have to say, I have never seen smoother Jerusalem artichokes. Usually they have a lot of knobs and a tougher skin.

These are sprouted fenugreek and crimson lentils. You can basically eat them just like that, sprinkled on a salad or cooked with them. Lufa Farms have a large variety of sprouted legumes.

Aside from this, I also had some apples, a head of Boston lettuce, some red cabbage and some Lebanese cucumbers. I would like to point out that this basket was 40$ instead of 30$. It won't necessarily fulfill all of your vegetable needs especially if you cook a lot like I do, but it comes pretty darn close and I know that this is the beginning of a beautiful relationship!

If you're interested in Lufa Farms, please visit the website here: http://montreal.lufa.com/en.

Crispy Potato Galette With Smoked Salmon and Dill Cream

I've had this recipe in my Big Black Book of Recipes (yes that's what it says on the cover) for a while now. I always had the intention of trying it because I knew this would be delicious (and it was). It's basically a fried potato galette topped with dill sour cream and smoked salmon. Although I made two portions with this recipes, it really should be split in four instead for a delightful appetizer. The recipe below is an adapted version from the famous Wolfgang Puck found in the Food & Wine magazine.

Serves 4
Ingredients

• 1/2 cup sour cream
• 1 small shallot (not green onion, or scallion), minced
• 2 tbsp chopped fresh dill
• 2 tsp lemon juice
• salt and pepper
• 1 1/2 pounds baking potato, peeled
• 4 tbsp cooking oil
• 2 tbsp melted butter
• 1/2 pound smoked salmon
• fresh chives, chopped for garnish

Step 1: Making the dill cream

This is the easy step that really doesn't require a picture, but I put two just for fun. Mix the sour cream with the dill and the lemon juice. Season with salt and pepper and chill until ready to use.

Before mixing

After mixing!

Step 2: Making the potato galettes

This is the most time consuming part of the recipe. It's not difficult but it's a bit messy. Preheat your oven to 425ºF. Take your peeled potatoes and grate them on a box grater.

Pre-peeled and shredded potatoes

After shredding

Now this next step is very important. Either put your shredded potatoes in a clean dish towel or in a colander and squeeze out as much water as possible. This took me a good five minutes of squeezing before I felt satisfied that the potatoes were as free of water as possible. If you don't do this, you won't be able to fry up the galette properly.

In a bowl, combine the potato with the melted butter and season with salt and pepper. Don't worry if at this point the potatoes are turning a bit brown, just some good old fashion oxidation happening. Divide the shredded potato in four. In a non-stick skillet, heat up 1 tbsp of your cooking oil over medium-high heat. Add a portion of the potatoes and pat it into an 1/2 inch thick disc.

Pre Flip

Post Flip

Fry for around 3 minutes each side. If you followed the instructions properly, it should be fairly easy to flip. And unless you're a perfectionist, don't worry about the galette being perfectly round, it will taste the same regardless of shape. Place on a ungreased baking sheet. Repeat with the remaining 3 other portions. Once done, bake for 10 minutes in your pre-heated oven.

Step 3: Garnish your galettes

Remove your galettes from the oven and let them rest for 5 minutes while you take out your dill cream from the fridge and unwrap your smoked salmon. Note that you could use any kind of smoked fish for this dish.

Spoon the dill cream on each galettte and top with smoked salmon. Sprinkle with salt and pepper and garnish with the chopped chive. Serve immediately and wow your guests!