Caramelized Onion and Peach Crostini at St. Andrew’s market

Yesterday was our first event at the newly-launched Historic St. Andrew’s MyMarket: a demonstration by chefs from George Brown College, making crostini using fresh market ingredients. Doris Miculan Bradley, a professor at the School of Hospitality & Tourism Management as well as a qualified chef and certified sommelier, organized the event, but the real stars were second year student Sharon Booy, our chef for the day who also created the recipes, and the farm-fresh produce that she selected for her work. Growing up on a fruit farm in the Niagara region, Chef Booy knows fresh when she sees it, and loves to create using the palette of flavours provided by the market’s fruits and vegetables.

My personal favourite was the the Caramelized Onion and Peach Crostini (recipe originally designed for apricots rather than peaches, but peaches were available this week).

Caramelized Onion and Apricot Crostini

Ingredients

• 1 large or 3 small cooking onions, cut lengthwise, then thinly sliced across
• Generous pinch salt
• 2 tbsp Stratus grapeseed oil
• 4-5 fresh apricots (substitute with 2-3 fresh peaches)
• 1 tbsp honey
• 1 tbsp fresh thyme leaves
• Soft goat cheese
• Crostini (bread, thinly sliced and toasted)

Directions

1. Bring a pot of water to boil and drop the apricots into the boiling water for approximately one minute. Drain. Once cool enough to handle, slip skins off apricots. Chop apricots and set aside.
2. Heat sauté pan over medium-high heat and add grapeseed oil.
3. Once oil is hot, add onions, reduce heat to medium low, add salt and cook slowly until browned and soft, stirring regularly to keep from burning.
4. Remove from heat, add thyme, apricots and honey, and mix thoroughly.
5. Spread goat cheese on crostini, then top with 1/2 tbsp of the misture and garnish with a sprig of thyme. Serve at room temperature.

Several farmers at the market donated their wares to become part of the demo: bread was provided by Monckton Organic Farm & Bakery, vegetables by Bosco Farms and Godelie Family Farm, and peaches by Loffredo Fruit Farms.

There was no copyright on the recipe card, so I assume that it’s okay to reproduce them here. I’ll post the other two recipes, for Rustic Heirloom Tomato Bruschetta, and Beet and Fava Crostini, later in the week.

Where To Find Us

IRL, the Historic St. Andrew’s MyMarket is at the corner of Adelaide Street West and Maud Street, about halfway between Bathurst and Spadina, in the parking lot beside St. Andrew’s Park: http://bit.ly/aAQKG We’re there every Saturday between 9am-1pm, rain or shine, until October 31st.

Online, join our Facebook group at http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=77018143011, follow @standrewsmarket on Twitter at http://twitter.com/standrewsmarket, see photos of the market (and contribute your own) on Flickr at http://www.flickr.com/groups/1143510@N21/pool/ or email us at standrewsmarket@gmail.com if you want to be added to our weekly email, or if you’d like to help out as a market volunteer.

Please spread the word about the market, we need the community to make this successful!