ghost towns
road trip stops, pomodoro sauce, and deep frying to impress myself
Is it me or have the past two weeks absolutely flown by? How is it September? Why are we constantly being surprised by the passage of time? But here we are, and I hope you’re enjoying maybe the last of the warm days and all the bounty of summer’s harvest.
Before our road trip, we had the pleasure of attending Liang & Tim’s marriage celebration on Grouse Mountain (we were the only witnesses at their early covid-era wedding in 2020). The food was plentiful and delicious; I was particularly taken with all the canapés because I love eating lots of different things at once (I am always interested in going for tapas). I also tried oysters again for the first time in many years— they were lovely.
The road to Quesnel is full of beautiful scenery and Gold Rush-era towns, some of which are all but abandoned. We love visiting with family, of course, but the drive is the best part. We got a late start in the morning and in order to not eat dinner at 9:30pm, we stopped in Williams Lake. We found a pub, the Oliver Street Bar & Grill (it had good fries and the sandwiches were just fine, which honestly exceeded my expectations for Williams Lake), and made it inside minutes before a thunderstorm hit. By the time our beers arrived at the table it had flooded the street outside and was even covering part of the sidewalk, and by the time we left, the sun was back out and the street had drained. I love the interior.
We stayed at a hotel in town since Jeff’s dad lives in a semi-remote area outside the city and the cabin is fairly small. Although I brought my aeropress and some ground coffee with me, the room didn’t have a kettle, so instead I got to enjoy an americano each morning on the patio at Granville’s coffee shop. The egg sandwiches there are great and only $5, and I also got the hash browns on our last morning as an extra treat— they taste just like seasoned curly fries.
The Sugar Shack in 70 Mile House is someplace we’ve always passed but never bothered to stop at (they sell maple syrup), but since it happened to be lunchtime when we were heading through and their signage said they have a food counter, we went in. It’s owned by a Québeçois family and their small menu features a few French-Canadian classics for lunch, including poutine and Montreal smoked meat sandwiches. We shared one of each and they were both delicious. It isn’t too difficult to find decent poutine or smoked meat sandwiches in Vancouver (though I wouldn’t say they’re everywhere, either), but I was pleasantly surprised to find such quality at a roadside hut in the Cariboo.
We like to take the Fraser Canyon on the way there and Highway 99 through Marble Canyon and Pemberton on the way home for a change of scenery. It makes the journey a little longer, but it’s incredibly beautiful. There’s a winery in Lillooet which makes wine as good as any place in the Similkameen Valley, and we stopped in to buy a few bottles (they serve lunch, but we always get there too late in the day to have ever tried it). We stopped for dinner in Whistler— a place I generally avoid— but we’ve found a wood-fired pizza place there that has a good beer list, Pizzeria Antico, so I don’t mind an annual visit to one of BC’s most tourist-y places.
And one last shoutout to the road trip MVP: Hawkins cheezies, a Canadian treasure so addictively salty I cannot allow myself to buy them more than once or twice a year.
As summer winds down I, probably like some of you, have grown weary of my usual zucchini recipes. Drastic action in the form of something deep fried seemed necessary. I used this recipe for red lentil zucchini fritters (which I’ve made in the past) as a guide; they come out similar to falafel and the texture is excellent. I adjusted the ingredients slightly for a more Italian flavour this time, skipping the turmeric and using a mix of oregano, basil, and parsley instead of just parsley. A bit more zucchini than listed would probably be okay, too— the lentils hold things together pretty well so you don’t need to worry too much about the cohesiveness.
Don’t be afraid of the time involved: most of it is just waiting for the lentils to soak. There’s also no need to get into all that chopping with the zucchini; I just shred it in the food processor and squeeze some of the moisture out with my hands after salting. If the mixture seems too damp to hold together easily, a few tablespoons of breadcrumbs will fix it up. I made a garlic & lemon mayo to go with it (using both the zest and the juice), which was nice— I think a pesto mayo could also be good.
It’s also tomato season, and we got half a kilo of romas for $1 at the produce store because they needed to be used immediately (most of the ones in our garden are sadly still green). I made a spicy pomodoro sauce with fresh basil and oregano, plus lots of olive oil and sliced garlic. You don’t really need to do anything fancy in order to make a good pasta sauce with fresh tomatoes— with enough salt, the tomatoes will do the work for you!
Chop the tomatoes roughly, removing some of the seeds if there are a lot. Fry the garlic and a bunch of chili flakes (or a chopped fresh chili) in a hefty amount of oil (at least a quarter cup) until toasty, just a minute or two. Add the tomatoes and herbs and some salt and pepper, and cook until the tomatoes break down and no longer taste raw. Add pasta water and more olive oil at the end until the sauce has the consistency and colour you want.
My sister brought me some shiitakes from the farmers’ market, and I just had to make the sesame tofu noodles with chili crisp again. It’s one of those dishes I simply can’t seem to get into my mouth fast enough because it’s so satisfying and tasty; just perfect levels of spicy and savoury with the acidic complement of quick pickled cucumbers. It’s always ready much faster than I expect, too— I think because I’m prepared for the cooking times of Italian noodles, and instant ramen takes less than half that.
We were sent home with a container full of cured meats and some ricotta salata from the late-night charcuterie plate at Liang & Tim’s wedding reception, so of course we made pizza. We used mushrooms, two types of olives, and two types of salami on the red sauce one, and the ricotta with some sun-dried tomatoes and lots of kale from the garden on the pesto one. You can use a truly obscene amount of kale on a pizza, if your garden, like mine, is currently drowning in it.
Finally, I had a big romaine lettuce to use up and felt like making a Caesar salad, but didn’t have bread for croutons. I went the quinoa route instead— this idea is from Isa Does It, and the salad recipe comes with a very good vegan Caesar dressing (know that it has a shocking amount of garlic in it that somehow works). I’d made fresh mayo so instead I used the basic recipe in Salt, Fat, Acid, Heat. Quinoa soaks up a lot of sauce, so I like to dress that part first, then add the lettuce and any other vegetables and toss it all together with some more dressing. I pan-fried my remaining few shiitakes with a little liquid smoke and soy sauce to use as a bacon-like garnish.
Thanks for reading— if you enjoyed this newsletter, please smash that like button below, or share it with someone new! I like providing this to you for free, but it does still involve time and effort, so donations I can use towards cookbooks or future treats are much appreciated. And now, please enjoy this cake that is absolutely a work of art.