Archive for February, 2009

Work in a professional kitchen is pretty serious. After all chefs are dealing with sharp knives, hot stoves, demanding food safety issues, making a living, and what it's all about, creating delicious food for their customers. There's never enough time! But chefs do have a fun side, adding little playful touches to their dishes.

Last week was the final week for visiting international chefs to work with the graduating students of the Stratford Chefs School. I have to confess my attachment to the School. Stratford is my home town, and I'm on the board of the School I have seen grow in stature since its first class 25 years ago. The rigour that goes into SCS training makes graduates very employable in top restaurants across Canada. Some proof of their respect? Rheanna Kish and Alison Kent, valued members of the Canadian Living Test Kitchen are Stratford grads. 

Part of the graduating class curriculum is working with up-and-coming international chefs, often from France, Italy, England and the US. Together the chef and students prepare a series of dinners with all the trimmings - five courses, a wine maker or sommelier to explain the wine matches, a maitre d' who coaches the students in service, correct table setting with linen, glassware and china. Just like the real world of the fine dining business. Since there's no point cooking and serving an excellent meal to an empty seats, the invitation goes out to locals to come dine and offset the costs of the food and wine. Lucky people in Stratford and environs - they vie for the chance to be part of this Chefs School Dinner Club.

Chef Alexandre Gautier (rear centre) working top speed with his team assembling lobster and gnocchi

Happily there were no blizzard or drifting snow the late afternoon George and I drove up to Stratford to attend one of these dinners. The international chef for the week was Alexandre Gauthier from La Grenouillere located just outside Montreuil in Le Pas de Calais, northern France. Gauthier, just 29, has a boyish charm and the ease of someone who loves what he does. He connected right away with the students even though their French and his English were basic, though expressive. Over a quick glass of before-dinner champagne his face lit up as he described his enchantment with Stratford, the snow, the school and notably the students. He was thrilled to be chosen to represent France in Canada. Quite the opposite of the steriotyped French chef. The chef's champagne break was brief. He went back to the kitchen, adding that he had eggs to scramble.

Some scramble! Gauthier's playful interpretation of scrambled eggs was a cloud of egg mousse scented with truffle oil and served in a cup brought to each guest. And right behind the student delivering the cups was another student holding a flat of egg shell halves, each cupping a yolk that looked raw, but was in fact cooked sous-vide. The yolk was slid off the shell into the mousse and spread unctuously throughout. To eat it? Fingers of toasted baguette to dip, like English "soldiers" into the egg.  What a simple pleasure made exquisite and fun.The airy mousse, creamy yolk, and crunchy sourdough toasts. A light hearted start to the meal that went on to feature veal lobster and the very best gnocchi I've ever tasted, thin slices of lemon laquered magret of duck on a raft of crispy basil spring rolls, and for dessert, a perfect oval of fresh milk ice cream and a drizzle of chestnut honey. While there were five course, all were small and together they provided an array of flavours and textures, and plenty of talking points.  

But even after dessert, the dinner was not over. Student servers toured the tables with a large copper bowl of clean Stratford snow dotted with lemon caramels, a platter of homemade marshmallows and an array of slim sugar-dusted beignets (doughnuts), a traditional treat in France at Candlemas in early February.

A meal that was lighthearted to start, and equally fun to finish.  

. My husband thinks a cheese souffle requires a whole lot of expertise, and a little magic. I haven't told him how easy souffles are to make, and make them for special occasions.  How do you prepare eggs when you entertain?

It’s not hard to love a farmers’ market in the summer. The heaps of corn, armfuls of gladiolas,  perfumey peaches and apricots, flats of strawberries for this year’s favourite jam – and baskets of tomatoes. There’s a bit of fever, even some jostling about getting the first and finest. But a farmers’ market in mid winter Ontario, it’s a different picture. A quieter, more peaceful coming together of farmer and shopper. A market I love.

I’ve been coming to the St. Lawrence Market as long as I’ve been an adult in Toronto, and before that, with my father, the Stratford market where spicy summer sausage and dark thick apple butter linger in my memory. But back to Toronto. There are trendier markets in Toronto where the fancy term “terroir” would not be inappropriate. But the north St. Lawrence farmers’ market as it is, speaks pretty plainly of southern Ontario covered in snow.

Old timers like Harlan and Noreen Clark leave their Port Perry farm early in the morning to deliver Friday browns (and whites) to customers like me. We’re willing to pay extra for our dozen knowing that one of their well tended hens laid that egg the day before I take it home to poach. No better after-market breakfast, and no hollandaise sauce needed to make a Clark hen-produced egg taste good.

John Rowe brings in his humanely raised antibiotic-free beef – grass fed in season. There’s pork in every possibly form, honey, maple syrup, sheep and goat cheese and yogurt, mushrooms, potatoes, parsnips and onions.

Paul Moyer from a family that’s farmed near St. Catharine’s since the late 18th century has apples and pears, plus a new venture shared with John Rowe, fresh artisanal pasta made with Red Fife wheat. I like to come early in the morning to get a full viewing of a winter larder, and to sense the season. At one time, the vendors who brought their produce to the St. Lawrence Market farmed close to Toronto.

 Now, farmers from the Niagara Peninsula, Oxford County, Durham and Norfolk County and more pack their trucks for the St. Lawrence, and other nearby markets. One such farmer is Juli Proracki with three kinds of sweet potatoes she and her husband Bob grow on what was tobacco producing land. I like the idea of her Spicy Sweet Potato Soup, tried it out, and here it is, with my inevitable tinkering.

Spicy Sweet Potato Soup
Prep Time: 20 minutes
Cooking Time: 20 minutes
Finishing Time: 10 minutes

1 tbsp (15 mL) butter
1 large onion, chopped
3 large cloves garlic, sliced
2 tbsp (25 mL) grated gingerroot
1/2 tsp (2 mL) ground cumin
1/4 tsp (1 mL) hot pepper flakes
6 cups (1.5 L) cubed sweet potatoes, 3 medium-large, 2 lb (1 kg)
5 cups (1.25 L) chicken or vegetable stock
1/4 cup (50 mL) crunchy or smooth natural peanut butter
2 tbsp (25 mL) lime juice
2 tbsp (25 mL) finely chopped coriander leaves
Topping:
1/3 cup (75 mL) thick sour cream or crème fraiche
1 tsp (5 mL) finely grated lime rind

• In a large heavy-bottomed saucepan melt the butter over medium heat. Add the onion and garlic; cook, stirring until the onion is tender, about 5 minutes. Stir in the ginger, cumin and hot pepper flakes; cook for about 2 minutes, stirring.
• Add the sweet potatoes, coating them well with the ginger mixture.
• Pour in the stock; stir well, scraping any brown bits from the bottom of the pan. Bring to the boil; cover. Reduce heat and simmer until the sweet potatoes are tender, about 15 minutes.
• Puree the soup. (Make-ahead: Let cool for 30 minutes. Transfer to open airtight container; let cool in refrigerator. Cover and refrigerate for up to 3 days. Or freeze for up to 2 weeks. To serve, thaw in the refrigerator if necessary. Reheat in the microwave or over low heat, stirring frequently.)
• In a clean saucepan, whisk together the soup, peanut butter and lime juice. Heat through; stir in the fresh coriander.
• Topping: Meanwhile, stir together the sour cream and lime rind. Serve the soup in warmed bowls with a spoonful of the cream mixture swirled into the top.
• Makes 8 servings.

Happy winter eating!

Do you shop at a farmers’ market through the winter? Is so, what products and producers get you up early?

What is your community doing to encourage farmers’ markets?