Ontario Vegetables in Foil Package with Herbs and Feta

                       "The world's favourite season is the spring. All things seem possible in May." Edwin Way Teale

Photograph from 'Morels.com' website

Yesterday was Kev's day off. Wasn't the weather fantastic?! We figured it was the perfect day to go for a hike down into the woods. Here in Georgetown there a large ravine that runs through the burbs. Lucky for us, it runs right behind our place! Kev told me he knew where fiddleheads grew and that down in the ravine there were lots of old apple trees in what he always thought was an old farmer's field. Well, guess what are found in old orchards? Morel mushrooms (pictured above), the delicacy mushroom that cannot be farmed, only forged in the wild. I asked Kev to bring a bag in his pocket, I had a good feeling! Down into the ravine we tromped. Finally, we got down into the marshy area et voila, ostrich ferns! I thought that we might be too late in season to find any! Heck no! We picked a small hoard of fiddleheads and continued on our walk. Finally, we got to the overgrown clearing and sure enough, there were lots of old, gnarly looking apple trees. We started to search the ground for morel mushrooms... nothing. Too bad. Just south of us in Michigan is morel country! There are even contests to see who finds the most and largest mushrooms!  I've been doing a bit of research and there certainly are morels here in Southern Ontario. Unfortunately, none in that field. I'm not giving up, though! I will hunt for morels up at my parents land today. We also have old apple trees, you know! On our walk I was also keeping an eye out for wild garlic, but none was found. After a couple of hours we came back to our place. Just out of the woods we saw a strawberry plant that actually had tiny berries growing! I snapped a few shots and we shared a berry. Wow! Now that is what a real strawberry tastes like! So sweet, I couldn't believe it! Don't you just love spring? We decided to have a BBQ for dinner and I whipped up a quick foil package of veggies to throw on the grill. Of course, I included our freshly forged fiddleheads!

Simple and Tasty Recipe:

Vegetables in Foil Package with Herbs and Feta
(serves 4 )

1 large sweet potato, peeled and sliced
3 new red potatoes, sliced
1/2 red onion, large slices
3 cloves of garlic, chopped
a hand full of asparagus stalks, trimmed, rinsed well and cut into large pieces
a hand full of fiddleheads, trimmed, rinsed well
extra virgin olive oil
sea salt
freshly ground black pepper
fresh chives from the garden, chopped
feta cheese

.parboil the potatoes, drain
.in a large bowl, toss the veg. with the olive oil, season with salt and pepper
.lay out 2 large pieces of foil and one large piece of parchment paper in the middle
.arrange the sweet potatoes on the bottom of the parchment, the rest of the veg. on top
.fold the parchment over the veg. and seal into an airtight package
.fold the foil up around the parchment and again, make an airtight package
.place on a grill on low heat for 15 to 20 minutes, the package will fill with steam and puff up if sealed correctly
.carefully transfer the package to a tray when done and carefully open the package, the steam will quickly escape
.top with some chopped chives, feta cheese and an extra drizzle of olive oil, enjoy!

Of course, you can use any cheese or herbs you have handy! Also, use whatever veggies you have! I like to mix a starch with a vegetable so it is a complete meal in one package! Super easy and super good! Oh yeah, you'll want to have some crusty bread lying around to sop up the extra roasted, sweet garlic and olive oil left in the bottom of the package... Yum!!!