Pick a Local Pepper

By Michael Hawkins

My dad has been gardening for as long as I can remember.  Back in my hometown of Thompson, Manitoba, my dad would diligently plant a huge garden in our back yard each spring and produce a huge crop of vegetables we'd eat all winter.

   It was incredible what could be grown up there, an eight-hour drive north of Winnipeg, in the middle of the city that has the designation as the coldest in the 10 provinces.  Out of that garden came huge bunches of onions, carrots, squash and my dad's beloved Nova Scotia red potato, the little seedlings of which he would haul back from his hometown of Digby after a visit each summer. 

  Since retiring 18 years ago, my parents have been back in Smith's Cove, Nova Scotia, just outside Digby and my dad's love of gardening has flourished even more. I'm guessing that being in a place where there isn't a risk of frost in August had something to do with it.

  In the Maritime climate, my dad's found that the sky's the limit with what you can grow here.  He used to have to focus on hardy root vegetables up north but around here, he can do so much more.  Over the past few years he's delved heavily into herbs and other cool stuff such as leeks, all manner of beans, and several different kinds of peppers.  Each time I cross over on the ferry for a visit, I return to Rothesay with a huge, pungeant bag of his latest experiments, which I happily test out.

  The peppers look a lot like the ones we see year round in our large grocery store chains but the flavour is definitely different, in a very good way.  I find when I use the local pepper in a multi-ingredient dish, the flavour comes across much more defined. Whether it's pizza, a western omelet or gazpacho, the local pepper makes its presence felt where the long-haul peppers are just a shadow.

  So if you're in the mood for peppers, make the effort to find a local one and you'll also discover the difference Maritime soil makes on these tropical plants.  Here's a simple omelet that will showcase the flavour of your local pepper, along with your local butter, onion, ham and eggs of course.

My Eastern Western Omelet

1 tablespoon butter

1 green onion, white part only, finely chopped

2 tablespoons chopped local green pepper

2 tablespoons finely diced good quality ham

2-3 eggs

pinch each of salt and pepper

Heat a heavy-bottomed non-stick fry pan over medium heat for several minutes.  Add the butter to the pan, then the onion, pepper and ham.  Stir and fry for a minute or so, then add in the eggs, quickly mixing with the other ingredients. Season well at this point with salt and pepper.  Gently cook until set, moving the cooked egg inward so the raw egg can hit the heat of the pan.  When nearly set, use a spatula (or just flipping skill) to flip the omelet and very lightly brown the other side.  Serve hot.