Farm-fresh food goes from bike to kitchen to dinner plate

Eric rode the bicycle, Gordon prepared the food, and I ate every last sweet seasonal morsel. For the love of God Frank Bruni, you're eating out much too often if you're foregoing this deliciously green fare for some sad August gratin!

We ate sun-dried tomato sausages, whole grain rice and ratatouille. The sausages were jammed-packed with flavourful basil and the perfectly cooked rice was dotted with peas, but only the vegetables in the ratatouille were actually from our local farm. But man, there were a lot in there: tomatoes, green zucchini, yellow zucchini (the flattened round type), onions, bell peppers, garlic, parsley and of course eggplant. It was so good the way Gordon cooked it. All the components were nicely caramelized, not mushy but just tender. I don't how he does it. I don't think anyone does.

If you're in the Montreal area, this kind of seasonal eating is available to you (minus Gordon's kitchen skills). André Samson of Farnham is our grower. Consult Équiterre for more details on their organic food baskets program.

By the way, it's a coincidence that my ratatouille was the last post on Weingolb. That dish was called Aubergine Continental -- a totally different recipe really -- so thankfully I get to avoid comparison.