Potluck Feature June 6, 2001
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The Sharbot Lake-based Land OLakes Communications Network has some of the hallmarks of high-tech companies you hear about in Ottawa and Kingston. As you enter the upstairs office at the Retail Centre, you hear the high-frequency hum of computers and phones. A bank of PCs lines one wall no cubicles here, not even for administrative assistant Kathy Smith as she juggles phone calls, faxes and e-mails just a makeshift conference room at the back, next to a coffee-pot thats seldom empty. The office is often inhabited by a fast-changing roster of bright young people hooking up networks, creating and updating web sites, planning the set-up of public Internet access at the regions CAP sites, and surfing the web in search of ideas.
Chris Ler has been in the tech business for quite a few years. These days, hes developing the Community Web Portal, a sort of Land OLakes Central (www.landolakes.ca). You can go there for news and events, information and entertainment, all with a local flavour. And speaking of flavour, ask Chris about his asparagus patch. Hell pull up a picture of it on his computer monitor like a proud poppa. Its a mature garden that came with his place on the lake. It grows those lovely, fat asparagus spears that a young patch cant touch. After a recent couple of days out of town, when his asparagus soared to nearly waist height, he peeled the longer stalks and used the tender centres to make what was by all accounts a stellar cream of asparagus soup.
Kathy Smith grows herbs, but mostly of the nuisance variety. Shes a mom in a time crunch who juggles a million things on the fly and gets more done in a day than I do in week. Herbs that overtake the garden without asking are on her nuisance list. They get a vigorous pruning once in a while, which I imagine is exactly why they thrive. Of course shes not above tossing some of the prunings into the soup pot. Dill is on her love-hate list. She likes to use fresh dillweed (notice the weed part?) in a mayonnaise-based dip she puts in a hollowed-out loaf of pumpernickel; the chunks of bread from the loaf are used as dippers, along with an assortment of fresh vegetables. Lucky are the few who get to eat the dill-infused bread bowl at the end.
And then theres Jim MacPherson, who runs the Communications Network. Remember the Dr. Seuss classic, The 500 Hats of Bartholomew Cubbins? Well, that reminds me of Jim. He wears hats for the Lions, the LOL Communications Network, the LOL Tourist Association, the Railway Museum Committee, and when the right occasion presents itself (for instance the recent Katimavik farewell), he dons his musicians hat, sings, and plays a pretty mean guitar. Its time for him to add a chefs hat to the list. He recently described to me his method for making bruschetta in a way that sent me sprinting for basil plants. Jim shares the recipe here. (If it seems a little vague on the quantities, try it out anyway by the third time you make it, youll have it just they way you like it. If you insist on more guidance, maybe Jim could be persuaded to post a video clip on the web site they just got a snazzy new web cam that might be exactly right for the purpose.) Jim, in deference to the olfactory sensibilities of his co-workers, makes this only on weekends.
BRUSCHETTA
Because bruschetta is so simple, try to use really good ingredients. Extra virgin olive oil, fresh, flavourful tomatoes and really fresh garlic are a must.
Finely chop, or put through a garlic press
a few cloves of garlic
Steep the garlic for a few hours or overnight in extra virgin olive oil (half a cup, maybe?)
Seed* and chop a quantity of
fresh tomatoes (try 3 or 4)
Split lengthwise
a loaf of day-old French bread
Drizzle or brush a bit of the garlic-olive oil over the cut surfaces. Toast under the broiler until light golden brown. Meanwhile, chop the fresh herbs:
parsley and
basil
Toss the herbs with tomatoes, salt and pepper to taste, and the remainder of the garlic-olive oil. Sprinkle with a little cheese if desired (try Parmesan, Asiago or goat cheese), and run under the broiler for a minute or two more, just enough to warm, but not cook, the bruschetta. Add a few grindings of black pepper, kick back, and enjoy!
* Removing the seeds intensifies the tomato flavour and keeps the mixture from being too liquid. To seed, cut tomatoes crosswise in thirds. Use a teaspoon (or your thumbs) to scrape out the seeds. (Capture the juice for soup or other uses by scraping the seeds into a sieve set over a bowl.)
