Bee Together!

Today is the launch of our Queen Bee Blog!

This is the first time all of our staff gathered together as a group since our recent trip in June to Tuscany, Provence and Paris and we wanted to share tales of our adventures and pictures over bottles of good wine and fabulous food!

Let us introduce you to our stellar staff gathered around our Alfresco dining table in Karen’s backyard.

Our staff: front row: Karen, Victoria, Linda, Kathy
Back row: Kate, Diana, Vicki, Janie, Marie

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A backyard is an ideal venue to enjoy appetizers alfresco style. We love to create beautiful tablescapes to inspire ambience and set the mood.

We dressed the tables with our vibrant tablecloths from Provence topped with our colourful Appolina dishware and Bee glassware –all from France!

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Nothing like a beautiful white platter from our Toscano collection to showcase delicious antipasti!

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Kathy makes the final touch and lights the candles!

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Let the party begin! Kathy and Janie enjoy a glass of wine as they nibble from the basket of fresh garden vegetable crudités and aioli dip.

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Baked Cheese in a Box. An easy to make appetizer using brie or camembert cheese and fresh thyme. Baked and served in its original wooden container, it makes a unique presentation and it tastes great too! We are happy to share the recipe.

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What a great start to our evening as we enjoyed the wine and appetizers outside before going in to enjoy the main meal.

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A classic Mediterranean summer feast. The menu: Caprese Salad; Fresh Summer Salad Greens with tomatoes, roasted red peppers, artichokes and olives topped with a classic vinaigrette; Roasted Baby Potatoes with olives; Chicken Breasts stuffed with pesto and ricotta and wrapped with proscuitto and an amazing palate-pleasing Vegetable Gratin with goat cheese—a real crowd pleaser! Buon Appetito!

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A veritable still life of ingredients for the vegetable gratin.

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Ready to eat! Look how gorgeous this dish (the vegetable gratin) is. We used our oven-to-table Appolina bakeware to showcase this classic French dish. Make it at home.

The Recipe

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Dessert. A delicious Pear Galette. So simple, so French, so delicious! If you are interested in this recipe and the others from our Mediterranean feast, drop by the Queensbridge Mill for a complete collection of the recipes.

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Our mother, Isobel Chadwick, the ultimate Queen Bee. The three of us started the Queen’s Pantry on Main Street, Unionville in 1981. Although, mom retired from the business 12 years ago, she continues to be an inspiration and role model for us.

Thanks Mom for your continued encouragement and helping us make our dreams come true.

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Arrived in Florence and ready for adventure.

On our next blog we will share the highlights of our trip in June.

Savoury Baked Camembert in a Box

Prep: 5 minutes

Cook: 10 minutes

Serves 2

1 8 ½ ounce Camembert, in its wooden box

Leaves from 2 sprigs of thyme, or a pinch of dried thyme

2 tsp honey, or maple syrup

Crusty Bread to serve

1. Preheat the oven to 400^oF.
2. Remove the cheese from its box and discard any paper or plastic wrapping
3. Slice off the top rind, and then replace the cheese in the box.
4. Sprinkle the surface of the cheese with the thyme, and drizzle with honey.
5. Transfer to a pie plate, and cover with the lid. Place in the centre of the oven and bake for 5-10 minutes (depending on the ripeness of the cheese- it should now be nicely runny inside).
6. Serve warm with crusty bread.

Bon Appetite!

Provencal Summer Vegetable Gratin

Serves: 6

This is a classic Provencal dish of thinly slice vegetables that are arranged in rows and drizzled with olive oil, then cooked until almost caramelized

Ingredients:

1 pound eggplant, peeled and cut crosswise ½ inch thick

1 large red onion, sliced

1 clove of garlic, minced

Salt and freshly ground pepper

1 pound zucchini, green & yellow, sliced crosswise ½ inch thick

1 pound tomatoes, cored and sliced crosswise ½ inch thick

3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil

1 teaspoon finely chopped rosemary

1. Preheat the oven to 400^oF.

2. Fry sliced onion and garlic in butter till slightly brown.

3. Grease a 12-by-10-inch shallow baking dish with olive oil. Set onion and garlic on bottom of baking dish. Arrange one-third of the eggplant slices in an overlapping row across the dish. Season with salt and pepper . Similarly, make a row of zucchini, followed by a row of tomatoes. Repeat until all the vegetables are used.

4. Drizzle the vegetables with the olive oil and sprinkle with the rosemary. Bake for about 40 minutes, or until the vegetables are very tender and starting to brown around the edges.

*the gratin can be baked a few hours ahead of time and quickly reheated just before serving