EAT, DRINK: A Jill Wilcox recipe and the best of craft beer

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Cheers to the weekend. It’s time to learn a new recipe with Jill Wilcox; find the best local craft beers with Wayne Newton; and remember to create some great memories with your friends and family.

COOK THIS: Vegetables star in this soup

By Jill Wilcox, Special to Postmedia News

Soup-making continues to be one of my favourite things to do in the kitchen

Whether it’s a quick version I prepare when I come home from work or a recipe on which I spend more time on a Sunday, there’s just so much flexibility and creativity.

Soups also are a fabulous way to incorporate seasonal vegetables. Local market stands are chock full of great vegetables.

This vegetarian soup showcases barley, an economical, nutritious grain which is easy to cook. I regularly cook up a large batch to freeze in one- or two-cup containers so I can easily add them to soups and stews. I prefer pot barley for its better nutritional value and slightly denser texture.

In addition to local sweet potatoes or carrots, this recipe uses onion, celery, green beans, cauliflower and kale or spinach. I’ve provided an additional list of potential vegetables for this soup after the recipe.

Have fun making soup this fall and savour the wonderful flavours.

Vegetable and Barley Soup

(Serves 6)

3 tbsp. (45 ml) butter or vegetable oil

1 cooking onion, diced

2 ribs celery, diced

2 c. (500 ml) diced carrot or sweet potato

4 c. (1L) vegetable stock

2 cups (500 ml) water

1 -19 oz. (398 ml) can diced tomatoes

1 c.  (250 ml) sliced green beans

2 c. (500 ml) cauliflower florets

1 c.  (250 ml) cooked pot barley

2 c. (500 ml) spinach or kale

2 tbsp. (25 ml) chopped parsley

Directions:

1. In a soup pot, heat the butter or oil over medium heat. Cook the onion and celery until the onions are soft.

2. Add the carrot (or sweet potato), stock, water and tomatoes. Bring to a gentle simmer. Cover and cook about 10 minutes or until the vegetables are tender.

3. Stir in the green beans and cauliflower. Cover and cook a further 6-8 minutes or until green beans and cauliflower are tender. Add the barley, kale (or spinach) and cook until the greens are just wilted.

4. Season with salt and pepper to taste.

5. Stir in the parsley and serve.

Here are some other options for the vegetables. Just be sure to add them according to their cooking time.

• Corn
• Diced pattypan squash
• Zucchini
• Edamame
• Broccoli
• Yellow wax beans
• Potato

DRINK THIS: Latest brewer to phase out bottles

By Wayne Newton, Special to Postmedia News

Growlers, howlers and bottles. Is it time to can them all?

Growlers were on the outs before the pandemic and many remaining nostalgic craft brewers finally put a stop to growler and the smaller howler fills during the pandemic and never brought them back, realizing the flaws those two litre lugs of beer presented. Cleaning them before refilling, the loss of carbonization unless the beer was consumed pronto were top of the list of issues.

Now, for different reasons, the growler’s glass cousin is facing the same fate. Bottles are exiting the scene.

Moosehead Breweries says only seven per cent of beer is sold in bottles in Canada as consumers prefer cans. Cans, say brewers, protect beer from light and oxygen better than capped bottles. Consumers like cans because they’re lighter and portable. Accountants like them because they’re easier to transport and the beer has a longer shelf life.

The last Moosehead bottles roll off the line in December.

The biggest brands soldier on with beer in bottles, as does London-brewed Mill Street Organic Lager and Toronto’s Steam Whistle.

As for Moosehead and its green bottles, there’s a suitable sendoff in the works.

The Last Bottle contest gives a chance for a fan of the beer to get the final bottle off the line. The winner gets a trip to the Moosehead brewery in New Brunswick to watch the final bottle run and take home the last bottle. The contest (enter at moosehead.ca/thelastbottle/) closes Oct. 27.

Moosehead stopped shipping bottles internationally in the summer and the last bottles will be in retailers until early 2026.

NEW AND NOTED

Forked River, London’s oldest operating craft brewery, has brewed Roadrunner, a wet hopped pale ale, as a fundraiser for Jordan’s Run the Runway and the YMCA’s Camp Queen Elizabeth. The runs are a 5km series that started in June at St. Thomas Municipal Airport and ends Oct. 3 at Chris Hadfield Airport in Sarnia. This was the event’s 12th year and it’s organized in honour of Jordan Strickland, who spent nine years as a counsellor at the camp. Twenty-five cents from each can sold goes to Camp Queen Elizabeth to honour Jordan.

New at Railway City in St. Thomas: Double Dead Elephant, a strong IPA released to coincide with the 140th anniversary of the death of Jumbo the elephant in a railway mishap, and Express Series Festbier, a malty German-style lager.

Mom’s the word at Storm Stayed on Wharncliffe Road in London’s west end. Beers and Bottles is a meeting and social time at the brewery for moms and babies. It’s every Friday, noon to 2 pm.

Burgers and beer? Yes, please, Sidelaunch London takes it to the limit with a two-hour, five-course Burgers and Brews night on Sept. 24. It’s craft beer and sliders at this ticketed event happening on the new patio space at 695 Sovereign Rd.