Adding to the Orchard House Café
West Coast Kitchen Garden: Growing, Gathering & Eating Through the Seasons
by Sabrina Currie, photography by DL Acken
Victoria: TouchWood Editions, 2026
$49 / 9781771514781
Reviewed by Harvey De Roo
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You expect beauty from a TouchWood Editions cookbook,1 but with West Coast Kitchen Garden they have outdone themselves. Featuring the ravishing photographs of DL Acken every other page and a consummate layout, the book begs to be spared use in the kitchen; how could you bear to get a splash or a stain on one of its stunning pages? It’s almost more a coffee table book than a cook’s manual, a bibliographic work of art. But then you read it and realize the book is more than a thing of beauty: it is a mine of information and, in the words of Sabrina’s introduction, a “love letter to the land [and to] the seasons.” This is in fact its most attractive feature, this celebration of the extraordinary beauty and bounty of the West Coast and its encouragement of a garden-to-table lifestyle. The theme is adopted for the strategy of the book itself, organized as it is around the seasons—spring to winter—on what there is to be harvested or foraged or planted, and cooked and eaten. More, it proceeds by menus, five to a season, balancing its ingredients both with the season and with each other. So, an exquisite production and a guide to nature’s storehouse and to gardening, as well as a cornucopia of recipes.
Given the care lavished on the layout of the book, it merits description, and the designer—Jazmin Welch—an accolade. The first thing to say is that every page is a work of art, from the stunning cover with its photo of a plate of arugula salad with goat cheese and honey; through the gorgeous photo of a vine of heritage tomatoes opposite the table of contents; to the lovely garden photographs accompanying the personable introduction that opens the book, allowing us to see Sabrina’s love of the West Coast and of gardens; through the section, “Growing and Preserving Herbs,” with its own facing-page closeup of chives in blossom, followed by ten attractively laid-out methods of preserving herbs; through to the main attraction: the seasons in garden and kitchen.
Each season is presented by:
A title page, recto, coloured to suit the season, which is named in lower case cursive mid-page, enclosed in a beautiful hand-drawn frame, looped at the corners. This is enhanced with a full facing-page photograph.
Then the main section, given two parts, first the garden; then the kitchen, each with its own title page: e.g., “Spring in the Garden,” “Spring in the Kitchen,” and so on through the other seasons.
The garden section begins with a full-page photograph, verso, and the title at the top of the recto page, with below it a brief introduction to the season. Across and filling the next page are four vertical lists, with the headings, “Harvest Now,” “Forage Now,” “Direct-Sow Now,” “Start Indoors Now,” with a facing-page of four photos, except for winter, which gets a single full-page photograph. Then follows a short treatise, averaging four pages, some taken up by photos, on growing for the season.
The kitchen section of each season opens with a beautiful table of contents spread over two season-themed coloured pages listing five menus, each including five dishes on average, from starter to dessert and a drink. There are twenty menus in all, each presented recto in the same colour and given a title. E.g., “Menu One—Spring Equinox Supper,” and so on into winter, which ends with “Menu Twenty—Snow Moon Supper.” Each menu title page is accompanied by a facing-page photograph.
The recipes themselves are smartly displayed on the recto page, with ingredients down the left-hand side and bulleted instructions down the right-hand side, each recipe getting a gorgeous full-page photograph on the facing page, mostly of the food, but occasionally of the garden. I really can’t praise the photos highly enough, with the food beautifully arranged, taken in extreme closeup, making everything look fresh and delectable.
More recipes, though not so elaborately presented, follow in the closing section of the book, “Preserving the Garden,” a bookend to the earlier “Growing and Preserving Herbs.” Like the other sections, this gets a coloured title page, accompanied by a mouth-watering photo of various preserves in jars on the facing page. Each method—Drying; Fermenting; Freezing; Jamming; Pickling; Mustard, Vinegar, Salt and Sugar—is given its own coloured page describing the process, recto, with a facing-page coloured photograph. Then come various recipes. An appropriate finishing touch to the book is a thorough appendix (though with print too small, alas). Altogether, the organization of the book exquisitely matches its material, making for a gratifying West Coast journey through the seasons in both garden and kitchen.
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Now let’s go “In the Kitchen” to look at some recipes—of which there are more than 100 throughout the book. As I said, most are presented as part of a menu, the dishes well-coordinated with the season and with each other. For example, “Menu One: Spring Equinox Supper,” begins with a Nettle Feta Crostini, making use of the tender nettles of early spring. This is followed by Braised Lamb Shanks, featuring thyme, savory, parsley, and rosemary from the garden. This is accompanied by a Spring Pea Risotto with Pea Shoots, to be followed by a dessert of Cardamom and Black Pepper Spiced Rhubarb Crumble, rhubarb also being an early ripener. The last item on the menu is the drink: Cherry Blossom Spritz, the name revealing its connection with early spring. And so on through the season and into the others.
In testing the food, I have not done a full menu. I quickly realized I would have to spend most of the day in the kitchen. Sabrina is more generous with her time than I am with mine! Take Menu One for example. While all its dishes sound delicious—and the lamb shanks and risotto proved so—I could never have prepared everything on the menu and got out of the kitchen alive! Not at my age. These two items proved all I could manage. Mind you, my test dinners were potluck, with friends filling out the fare according to whim. In the section below, however, I preface each reviewed recipe with the menu suggested by Sabrina, to give you an idea of the range and balance she achieves.
So, what I have done is aim at a varied representation of the full year, choosing at random three recipes from each season—a total of twelve. Not many, but I have read all the recipes, and can assure you they sound tantalizing, with their generous and imaginative use of seasonal ingredients. Those tested, have proved as delicious as their descriptions promised. This can be attested to by their enthusiastic reception from my guinea pig guests. One pleasure of reviewing this book has been cooking new recipes for old friends, making the meal a shared experience, as meals should be.
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SPRING
Menu 1: Spring Equinox Supper – Serves 6.
Nettle Feta Crostini; Braised Lamb Shanks with Herb and Citrus Gremolata; Spring Pea Risotto with Pea Shoots; Cardamom and Black Pepper Spiced Rhubarb Crumble; Cherry Blossom Spritz.
Braised Lamb Shanks with Herb and Citrus Gremolata
This is a delicious dish, the citrus of the gremolata sprinkled over it on the plate providing a delectable tang. It also produces a great deal of liquid. Five cups of vegetable bouillon, a half cup of white wine, and 400 ml of tinned diced tomato with juice made more of a broth than a sauce. Even cooking for two of the three hours with the cover off failed to reduce as promised. But the lamb and broth proved delicious, and the broth made a fabulous soup that fed four the following day. I needed to add nothing to a soup that already contained bits of meat, onion, celery, carrots, garlic, spiced with thyme, parsley, savory, and rosemary.
Spring Pea Risotto
The risotto, with its cup and a half of shelled peas and the same amount of pea shoots, plus shallot, garlic, white wine, bay leaf, vegetable stock, chives and parsley, and parmesan made a refreshing complement to the meat dish.
Menu 4: In Praise of Parents – Serves 4.
Dungeness Crab Salad with Cilantro and Mint; Thai Coconut Curried Whole Spot Prawns; Thai Green Curry Paste; Balsamic Roast Strawberries with Sweet Cream; Biscuits; Thai Mojito.
Thai Coconut Curried Whole Spot Prawns
Coconut milk is one of my favourite ingredients, as Thai is one of my favourite cuisines. This recipe called for green curry, either store-bought or made according to Sabrina’s instructions. I went the latter route, of course; how can you go wrong with garlic, hot peppers, shallot, lemongrass, ginger, lime zest, basil, cilantro, and salt? The result? A paste that proved tangy and delicious. As did the dish itself, with its onion, red bell pepper, chicken stock, fish sauce, lime juice, sugar, coconut milk, and snap peas. And, of course, the guests of honour, the spot prawns.
One irritant, however: the strings in the pea pods, which got caught in my teeth, requiring undignified extraction. Had I been writing the recipe, I would have recommended stripping the strings from the pods before adding the latter to the dish. On the other hand, had I harvested the peas fresh from my garden rather than buying them from the supermarket, perhaps this wouldn’t have been an issue.
SUMMER
Menu 7: Harvest Moon Dinner – Serves 4.
Grilled Peach Salad with Prosciutto and Buffalo Burrata; One-Pan Miso-Glazed Cod and Baby Bok Choy; Minted Broad Beans; Honey-Buttered Figs with Mascarpone and Walnuts; Mint Lemon Balm Tea.
One-Pan Miso-Glazed Cod and Baby Bok Choy
This is a terrific dish, with a delicate glaze comprising butter, miso, honey, and soy sauce. The recipe calls for the fish to be fried in a skillet four minutes, then flipped, with the glaze and bok choy added, the latter turned every minute for the remaining four. That’s eight minutes altogether, which I feel is a bit much for frying cod fillets. I notice that in her recipe for Pan-Fried Brown Butter and Walnut Lingcod, Sabrina calls for 3-4 minutes one side, 2-3 the other, which sounds more like it. This piffling caveat aside, the glaze was delectable and the fish and bok choy made a perfect match—and a hit with my guests.
Menu 8: Patio Picnic – Serves 6.
Torn Crispy Bread Salad with Macerated Tomatoes and Basil; Grilled steak and chimichurri; Hot Potato and Bush Bean Salad with Pickled Nasturtium Seeds; Grilled Apricot Pavlova; Fresh Tomato Juice.
Torn Crispy Bread Salad with Macerated Tomatoes and Basil
This is one of the best salads I’ve ever tasted. To begin with, I love the combination of ripe tomatoes and basil. And I’m a fan of croutons, especially when they’ve been coated in a garlic-salt-anchovy-olive oil mix before frying. The salad is only made better by sharing half of that mix for the dressing. So, this dish, with these ingredients, plus slivered red onion (another favourite) and black pepper gave a delicious kickoff for the steak to come.
Grilled Steak and Chimichurri
A first-class steak is hard to beat. And I love chimichurri, and so was well disposed to this recipe as soon as I saw it. Nor did it disappoint. The combination of parsley, chives, basil, shallots, capers, and red wine vinegar proved a hit with my guests, who all praised the refreshing tang it gave to the meat.
FALL
Menu 11: Fall Equinox Feast – Serves 6.
Oceanna’s Patty Cakes; Old Bay Corn on the Cob; Crispy-Skinned Grilled Salmon with Tapenade; Peach Cake; Rosehip Iced Tea.
Crispy-Skinned Grilled Salmon with Tapenade
It’s hard to beat salmon at any time, but the marinade and the tapenade turned this king of West Coast fish into an emperor. The combination of lemon zest, garlic, olive oil, chopped fennel and dill fronds rubbed into the salmon, with salt and pepper generously added, made for a delicious base; but the tapenade, with chopped olives, chopped hazel nuts, capers, basil, and orange zest, took the dish to another dimension, adding a zing that had my guests applauding.
Menu 12: Giving Thanks – Serves 6.
Chanterelle Mushroom Crostini; Ukrainian Family Borscht; Rosemary Garlic Roast Chicken with Grapes; Forest Mushroom Risotto; Honey, Cheese, and Nuts; Lemon Lavender Airmail.
Forest Mushroom Risotto
Risotto rules at the Orchard House Café (my kitchen and dining room) and this one is going to be a permanent addition to the menu. I wasn’t able to get chanterelle mushrooms, and so chose oyster mushrooms instead, but Sabrina seemed easy about which variety was used. The combination of ingredients was perfect: olive oil, diced shallots, minced garlic, salt and pepper, 1 1/2 cups of arborio rice, 1/2 cup of white wine, a sprig of thyme and a bay leaf, 4 cups of chicken stock, 1/2 cup each of grated parmesan and flat-leaf parsley. It made for a complex dish, earning praise for the chef from my discerning guests.
Menu 14: Hunter’s Moon Dinner – Serves 4.
Leek and Corn Chowder; Fennel, Apple, and Cabbage Slaw with Citrus Dressing; Venison Leg Roast with Blackberry Sauce; Roast Acorn Squash; Oat Baked Apples; Blackberry Sage Tonic.
Leek and Corn Chowder
This is a gentle dish, sweet with leeks, corn, and potatoes cooked in a vegetable stock made smooth by adding savory, half-and-half cream and half a cup of cream cheese, with a touch of piquancy from Tabasco sauce and lemon juice. So, a subtle starter, perfect for its season and as preparation for the robust venison to follow.
WINTER
Menu 17: Warm in the Storm – Serves 6.
Rillettes, Roast Fennel with Cranberry Agrodolce; French Onion Short Rib Stew; Celery Root and Potato Mash; Gingerbread Spice Cake; Spiked Coffee Bar.
French Onion Short Rib Stew
This is a fabulous dish, with some of my favourite herbs: parsley, savory, rosemary, and thyme. Plus four bay leaves! Add to that, 4 large onions, 2 cups of chopped carrots, one of diced celery, a cup of diced tomatoes, 4 cups of beef stock, and 2 of red wine, and how can you go wrong? Well, you can. I’m not sure I caramelized the onions. I cooked per instructions, but they never turned the dark brown I had been promised. After an hour and a half tending to the stove, I decided to be content with light to middle brown and get on with things. Was it the half cup of water that made the process more one of braising than of caramelizing? Or maybe they did caramelize, but you wouldn’t know it from the colour.
And again, a recipe calling for a huge amount of liquid. But, like the others, producing a wonderful leftover broth.
Menu 20: Snow Moon Supper – Serves 4.
Scallops Motoyaki; Simplest Winter Salad; Chicken and Parsnip Stew; Chocolate Beetroot Cake; Grapefruit Rosemary Spritz.
Scallops Motoyaki
Scallops are one of my favourite seafoods, and these, broiled, three to a ramekin, nestled in a bed of spinach and covered in Japanese Kewpie mayonnaise, shiro miso, mirin, lemon juice and hot sauce, proved delicious.
Chicken and Parsnip Stew
This is comfort food as good as it gets. Four browned chicken thighs made subtle with gentle vegetables—celery, carrots, leeks, parsnips, and potatoes—enriched by oregano, rosemary, and thyme, with a nip added from garlic and grainy mustard, but softened again by half a cup of whipping cream at the end. Like the braised lamb recipe from spring or the winter short rib stew, this one calls for a good deal of liquid—4 cups of chicken broth—which helps the whole become richer in flavour, if not much less in volume, as it cooks 40 minutes with the lid off. And again, a great soup afterwards.
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That’s all, folks. Sadly, I’m too old to garden, so can’t put those sections of the book to the test. But they appear greatly helpful and proved most interesting to read. The recipes are imaginative, some unusual and, all that I tested first rate. And I have a beautiful book with which my friends can entertain themselves while I put the finishing touches on a dinner that will only add to the lustre of the Orchard House Café.
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Harvey De Roo was a professor in the English Department at SFU. During the 1980s, he was the Editor of West Coast Review. Upon retirement, he taught opera history and appreciation in the SFU seniors’ programme at Harbour Centre. He was founding secretary of City Opera Vancouver and served on the board and Artistic Planning Committee for several years. From 2014 to 2018 he was the opera reviewer for Vancouver Classical Music (vanclassicalmusic.com). When living in Vancouver, he lectured annually to the Vancouver Opera Club. He lives on Salt Spring Island. [Editor’s note: Harvey De Roo has also reviewed books by Angélique Lalonde, Tom Wayman, Karim Alrawi, Jennifer Schell, D.L. Acken & Emily Lycopolus, and Bill Richardson for The British Columbia Review.]
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The British Columbia Review
Interim Editors, 2023-26: Trevor Marc Hughes (non-fiction), Brett Josef Grubisic (fiction)
Publisher: Richard Mackie
Formerly The Ormsby Review, The British Columbia Review is an on-line book review and journal service for BC writers and readers. The Advisory Board now consists of Jean Barman, Wade Davis, Robin Fisher, Barry Gough, Hugh Johnston, Kathy Mezei, Patricia Roy, and Graeme Wynn. Provincial Government Patron (since September 2018): Creative BC. Honorary Patron: Yosef Wosk. Scholarly Patron: SFU Graduate Liberal Studies. The British Columbia Review was founded in 2016 by Richard Mackie and Alan Twigg.
“Only connect.” – E.M. Forster
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Notes
- As, for example, DL Acken and Emily Lycopolus, Cedar and Salt, 2019. ↩︎