Arid, barren and beautiful, The Okanagan is a unique area of British Columbia. Incorrectly labelled as a desert, it is officially 'shrub steppe', the difference being that the former is too dry to support the growth of any ground covering plants. But, you would be forgiven for not making the distinction, as the area has all the hallmarks associated with the desert landscape. Think cacti, stark brown, orange and beige rocky outcrops and row after row of peach, pear and apple trees, the ripe fruit literally dripping from the branches.
This is the dramatic irony of such a dry, yet fertile place. The produce grown here is bountiful, to say the least and yet the rainfall is so small, it's amazing that anything grows at all. Good irrigation is essential, the sprinklers constantly misting the orchards, but less so for the abundant vineyards in the hills. The secret lies in the soil, which is full of all kinds of life giving nutrients.
When the sun is shining, it's almost like being in Arizona, until you try to buy liquor at a gas station and are promptly redirected to the nearest liquor store, approximately 5 kms away. Neil and I spent two nights in a small rustic cabin in Gallagher Lake near the town of Oliver in this valley last weekend.
Staying in a cabin located on a private lake, we were denied any campfires due to a long, dry spell, but were able to barbecue over a charcoal grill. For the first night, arriving at 6pm and in need of a beer to recover from the 5 hour journey, we enjoyed a late dinner whilst the sun set and the air became cooler and fresher. There were two electric 'hook ups' outside the cabin which would have been useful for kettles or slow cookers, or even strings of light which some people had already hung out opposite us. The result was a sort of grotto with multi coloured lights and candles dotted everywhere between the tents and wooden cabins.
Simple steaks, seasoned with spicy, savoury steak seasoning and finished with some garlic and horseradish butter. They were grilled until charred and crispy on the outside and medium rare and succulent inside.
Potatoes, halved then tightly wrapped in foil, were nestled directly amongst the coals for one hour before being fluffed with a fork and slathered with butter and Turkish feta, which was crumbly, tangy and studded with garlic scapes. Some large prawns, grilled in their shells and some tomatoes wrapped in foil with a little butter, salt, pepper and paprika finished off our first meal. There's something special about cooking and eating outside, it seems to increase the appetite and just taste so much better, all the smells from your own and other peoples' dinners floating and mingling together with the smell of smoke, charcoal and propane.
A camper's best friend: the hearty breakfast. Bacon, sausages, tomatoes and eggs. It is worth the effort to cook, eat and clean all the dishes required to produce this feast. This is one of those times when a propane barbecue would be beneficial. No need to wait 40 minutes to allow it to reach the optimum cooking temperature, just throw those bangers on straight away. Not having a propane barbecue, (purists that we are), we cooked everything on our trusty camp stove, which is usually hindered by as much as a gentle breeze. On Saturday, the air was as calm as I have ever known and not even a faint stirring was visible in the trees. Later it heated up to 32oC, a very hot day, even in the desert like landscape.
The Okanagan is famous for the wine that it produces, although, unless you live in BC, it's very unlikely that you will ever be able to appreciate it, due to BC's stringent liquor laws, (so I've been told). Many famous wineries are based in this area, particularly the small town of Oliver and the hillsides are covered with neat, uniformed rows of vineyards and grape bushes. The tasting rooms and shops are often based on Tuscan villas, complete with balconies overlooking deep blue lakes and verdant hills.
Mission Hills, Jackson Trigg, Cedar Creek, these wineries are household names in BC and the wine they produce is World standard. We visited a small winery called Silver Sage, highly recommended for the free samples and unusual varieties. The praise was justified as we were given a small sample of each of the 12 wines they produce along with a running, witty commentary delivered by a worker who had obviously lost some passion for his spiel after many, many repetitions every day. We bought a white wine with a strong after taste of sage which made it crisp and refreshing. Also a blueberry fruit wine, sweet and suggested as a good mixer with rum and a wine called 'old flame' complete with a chili in the bottle to tease your taste buds with a hot kick.
I always used to imagine Clint Eastwood or John Wayne riding over the terrain looking serious and cool. After watching a certain movie, however, it is more likely to be two young cowboys and some sheep, although that was filmed in Alberta with a completely different landscape.
If you look closely at my header, you will see a drawn image of a propane fire pit with a cooking pot on top and the words 'propane fire Osoyoos valley'. I always regretted not taking a photo of the beef with red wine dinner I made that day. We bought the cooking pot from a local store and I was keen to try cooking on it straight away. Another dry Summer that year meant another campfire ban and we had to resort to the campground's propane fire pits to keep us amused and warm in the evening. I made a stew with stewing beef, red wine, stock and mushrooms which was good, but a little over spiced, the smell attracting the small dog from the campers next to us.
This time, I wanted to try something more subtle, like chicken with white wine and some lemon pepper seasoning, but now, not only did we have a camp fire ban but no propane pits available either, so I had to resort to cooking on top of the camp stove, notoriously difficult to control, heat wise.
I was afraid the chicken would become tough and stringy if boiled too rapidly, but I needn't have worried. It was tender, juicy and tasty, cooked for about an hour with aromatics like carrot, onion, bay leaves, white wine and lots of herbs such as thyme and seasoning. We even bought an extra propane bottle for fear of running low if the chicken took too long to cook. Again, it was all surprisingly easy, although it lacked that authentic cooked over coals camping feel. Recipe at bottom of post.
One of Chilliwack's finest corn on the cobs was all that was needed to accompany the stew. Called peaches and cream, they have both pale cream and yellow kernels and are often referred to as triple sweet. I love to crunch them between my teeth, enjoying the juiciness. Neil prefers a more refined approach, cutting off as many of the little pieces as possible to eat with a fork. Not so much fun, in my opinion.
As I mentioned earlier, The Okanagan is equally famous for it's fruit and vegetables as it is for wine. The roadsides of the smaller towns are lined with a myriad of stores selling the produce. Peaches, pears, plums, apricots, corn, peppers and chili peppers are some of the more common varieties found. I was very surprised and disappointed to find a complete lack of Heirloom tomatoes for sale anywhere. (On Saturday Neil and I visited a 'tomato festival', envisaging a mountain of tomatoes in varying degrees of colour, shape, size and taste. Not one was to be found, the festival was something else entirely: a music festival and $35 each to attend).
The only tomatoes I could see in any of the stalls were the bland, tasteless field tomatoes. Where were all the fancy tomatoes I buy every week from farmers' markets Downtown with names like green zebra and black krim, that have travelled down from this area each week? Then it hit me. Why would they sell these beauties at low prices at source, when suckers like me pay well over the odds to score some in the city? I guess I don't blame them really.
Squash on the other hand, were in plentiful supply. Soup anyone?
Finally, today marks the 1st year birthday of my blog, so I'll share a photograph with you. This is what I would like to do to celebrate if I was brave enough, instead I'll drink a beer or two and say Thank you for reading and commenting over the past year.
Recipe : Chicken and white wine casserole
2 chicken breasts and 2 chicken thighs, skinned
1 onion, peeled and chopped into chunks
2 carrots, peeled and chopped into chunks
1 stalk of celery, chopped into chunks
2 cloves garlic, chopped small
1 sweet potato, peeled and chopped small
3/4 bottle dry white wine
1 chicken stock cube or equivalent
1 tsp salt
1 tsp lemon pepper seasoning
1 tsp paprika
2 bay leaves
6 sprigs thyme
6 mushrooms, ripped apart into chunks
Put everything into a large baking dish, pouring the wine in last and cook for about 1 hour over a camp stove, in the oven at about 375oF or on a camp fire, either made with wood or propane. Serve with some rustic bread or corn and a cold beer or a nice glass of wine. Try to eat outside.
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