Phyllis Duncan Murton, now 94, has crisp memories of summer visits to her Aunt Maud, in Oxford, Nova Scotia. Maud Lockhart lived in a 200-year-old house filled with antiques. Some were from the Townsend family, which boasted several prominent sea captains, including Captain Philip Townsend, who sailed the trade route from Louisbourg, Cape Breton, to “Boston States.” Captain Townsend, who died in 1907, was a Master Mariner and thrice married, according to his obituary. The Townsend house, in Louisbourg, is now a B & B.
From those long-ago days in Oxford, Phyllis recalls walking to St. James Presbyterian Church, on Main St., with male cousins, who always teased her. This niggling was off-set by a special treat prepared by her aunt. “Aunt Maud would soak a thin slice of white bread in lots of molasses and after it dried it was sweet and crisp. I loved this,” says Phyllis, now living in a seniors’ residence in Toronto.
The family moved from Nova Scotia to Toronto before the war, and Phyllis remembers her mother as a Great Hostess. As early as 1936, her Mom was serving Viennese coffee. Back then Torontonians had never even dreamt of a cafe, never mind European-style coffee.
After attending Central Technical School, Phyllis went “into training” at Toronto General Hospital. (Later she served as a public health nurse with the City of Toronto.) One fortuitous day, Phyllis met Douglas Murton on the tennis courts belonging to Victoria College, now the site of the Gardiner Ceramic Museum. They married in 1947, and thereafter Phyllis attended St. Alban’s Anglican Church with her husband. Douglas was an accountant and, as the wife of a professional, Phyllis had to do her fair share of entertaining. When she discovered Madame Jehane Benoit’s Encyclopedia of Canadian Cuisine, she knew she had the ticket to live up to her mother’s hostessing reputation.
Benoit, a Quebecois, had studied Cordon Bleu cookery in France. Arguably, she was the first local chef to introduce average Canadian housewives to the concept of using wine, spirits and olive oil as ingredients in dishes such as Tapenade de Nice, Coq au Vin and Melon Consommé. Benoit’s cookbook sold 1.5 million copies, a stellar number in a country with a tiny population. Benoit (1904-1987) was also a radio personality and one of the first TV chefs.
Mme Benoit’s Sweet and Sour Meat Balls and her classy Lemon Meringue Pie became party standards for Phyllis. In Phyllis’s treasured copy of Benoit’s cookbook, along with the sophisticated gourmet recipes, there are many simple dishes for family meals. One of these, Confetti Peas, an attractive red and green dish, provides a quick and festive addition to a Christmas meal.
CONFETTI PEAS (serves 12)
¼ cup butter
2 tbsp chopped fresh parsley
1 tbsp dried tarragon
½ tsp each salt & pepper
1 sweet red pepper, diced
6 cups frozen peas
METHOD: In bowl, combine butter, parsley, tarragon, salt, pepper and diced red pepper. In a saucepan of boiling water, cook peas for 3 minutes, until just tender. Drain and return to pot. Toss with red pepper mixture to coat. Transfer to serving dish.
