Flavour of the Olympics - Taste Tour of the Danforth

The Olympics are on in full swing and it brings Greece and all of its wonders to mind!  The photo below is actually a scene from the Danforth near Pape.  A bust and memorial to Alexander the Great is a prominent feature of the neighbourhood and offers a wonderful resting place with fountain and shade.

On a hot, sunny Saturday you can take a tour of Toronto's cultural food districts and learn about food and history in unique way.  I did just that with my friend Anne last week in Toronto.  We joined up with The Culinary Adventure Company and our tourguide Peter from www.kalofagas.ca a notable Toronto foodie and blogger.

Our first stop is a sampling of Turkish Olives with store and olive grove owner Mehmet Uzel.  His array of olives and olive products is astonishing.  A sampling quickly determines that we are tasting fresh, flavourful olives and oil that are a must buy.  Mehmet does his own seasoning on site and will vacuum pack your purchase for you.  Delicious.

Next a trip to Meditarrenean pizza called Pide.  We ordered the combo slice.  While you wait for your personal pizza order, you can watch the interesting video on how the dough and pizza are assembled.  The finished product is nothing short of fantastic.  All of the ingredients are fresh and so is the "onion on the side" that Peter recommended to complement the food.  Totally delicious.  One Pide is enough to feed two for lunch.  FYI.

We continued to food fest to a colourful bakery called Akropolis Bakery where the baked goods on display are enough to make even the most staunch dieter relent.  Peter recommended that we try the Galaktoboureko (click for a recipe) which is a baked egg custard with phyllo and syrup to create the irresistable blend of sweet and mild.  Absolutely delicious. And what a bustling fun atmosphere.  As soon as we walked in my friend Anne said it feels like we are in Europe!

Final stop was Pan Restaurant where we enjoyed a "sampler platter" of appetizers and a glass of red Greek wine.  What an amazing way to finish a wonderful afternoon.  I have never had such tasty tzaziki and dolmas.  The selection was a good variety and the wine was very complementary.

Thank you Peter for a wonderful taste of the Olympics.   "Ευχαριστώ"

Canadian Chef Educators in PEI

A summer get away to PEI is never a bad thing.  And when the Canadian Chef Eduacators Association held their annual conference at the Culinary Institute of Canada (at Holland College ) I was excited and eager to attend.  Visions of fishing and potatoes and Anne of Green Gables occupied my thoughts and I was not disappointed.

We arrived to be greeted by the college team and were "shucked in" to the island - this is a tradition where you slurp an oyster, down a shooter of local shine and then kiss the potatoe!  You are now an official visitor and friend of PEI.

The highlight of the conference (there were so many great aspects it's hard to narrow it down to one!) was the tasting menu dinner featuring Michael Smith as the guest speaker.  Michael Smith speaks so eloquently about culinary training and the importance of "teaching food" to students.  He is such a wonderful ambassador for his home province and the food industry.  The menu was extensive and included wine pairing with each course.  Followed by a book signing

Flavours of PEI is a collection of recipes written by three of the chef instructors at the Holland College.  The forward is by Michael Smith.  At last year's Culinary Book Awards this book won the gold.  A definite must have for any culinary collection.

Thank you to the organizers of the conference for a superb taste of PEI!

Spring Inspirations on the Menu

Last week at the Chef of the Day luncheon the students introduced a menu fit for spring (and the weather to go along with!).  We were joined at the table by Susanne & Georgia The Wine Ladies and Paul & Ross from Delft Blue Veal along with other foodies.  The menu of the day was a colourful and flavourful combination suitable to the season.  As Chef David Bakker explained, menus will change this time of year in favour of items that are more suitable to our lighter palates in the warmer days and building up to fresher and seasonal produce.

For an appetizer the Chef introduced a Rillette of Rabbit which was served with pickled beets and pistachio paste (both in its raw form and also dehydrated as a chip).  The sprigs of fresh sprouts finished the colourful presentation.

The Main Course features Veal wrapped in Napa Cabbage and served with Tomatoes simmered in Plum Sauce and a Pave of Potatoes

The Dessert featured a decadent chocolate mousse covered in tempered chocolate (giving it a shiny hard looking surface .... but it was soft and gooey ... perfection) with a beignet, raspberry jelly and icecream.

Canadian Chef Educators Conference Welcomes Chef Michael Smith

This year's Canadian Chef Educators Conference is being held in lovely PEI Canada at the Holland College Culinary Institute at Charlottetown.
While these conferences are always interesting (not to mention delicious!), this year promises to be even more exciting when you consider the guest speaker at the Gala Dinner will be Chef Michael Smith.

According to Wikipedia, Chef Michael Smith has an extensive background as a professional chef working around the world and finally settling into the east coast of Canada.  He's over 2m tall which makes him an imposing presence anywhere not just in the kitchen.

I wonder what will be on the menu at the dinner .... enough to impress Michael Smith!

Are you a Cooking Star?

So many people are in awe of the culinary talents regularly on display at shows both live and on TV.  Liaison College has a lot of ways for students and graduates to get in on the show.  There are many competitions and contests held every year; some are for bragging rights, some for recipe development and some for serious prizes like cash!

Competitions can be found in many different venues and for a wide variety of culinary skills.  Everything from the Iron  Chef ultimate cook off to the cooking stage at the local market.  Which brings me to the event happening at the St. Lawrence Market in Toronto on March 17.  Check out St. Lawrence Market Grads Market Competition to see the full details.

Liaison College Downtown will be entering two teams into the competition.

Here's an Article about competition and another Liaison College winner - Best Emerging Chef, Miles Suhaimi.

Are you a winner? or a shining star?

Campus Open House

A lot of times prospective students want to get a better feel for a training facility by seeing it in action; they also want  a chance to share the experience with their support team (family, friends) before making a decision about continuing education.  A school Open House is a great way for students to check out the happenings, see the kitchen in action, talk to instructors and current students and meet others who have a passion for cooking and food.

And it's funny who you can bump into at an Open House ..... Like The Mayor!  Indeed, at a recent Open House in Liaison College Durham (located in Whitby) the Mayor of Oshawa (John Henry) and wife were in attendance.  It seems they share a joy of cookery and attend some of the evening amateur classes.

And talk about creativity!  The LC logo is done entirely in chocolate and handmade at the school.  Check out this Video - Chocolate Symphony to see the chef in action.  If it looks good enough to eat, it's probably chocolate.

Liaison College campuses offer an Open House experience at regular intervals.  Make sure you check the websites regularly or contact the campus nearest to you for more details.  Feed your passion!

Chef of the Day - Advanced Level Students

From the minute that I read the menu, I knew I was in for something special.  Sometimes you just get a feeling that your food experience will be almost a lesson in science.  When science meets food there's a definite reaction - YUM!
Advanced Level culinary students and their instructor, David Bakker CCC, created a menu for a student luncheon - Chef of the Day. The menu featured a Pork Belly Dish, a Tomato Salad and a Sea Bass entree followed by a dessert trio.  At a first glance, it seemed "normal" enough, however, the kitchen equipment in use was a sign for me that I was in store for something unique and anything but "normal".
To start we were served with a tomato salad.  The small heritage tomatoes were peeled and marinated and served with a syringe dropper of tomato water (made from hanging seasoned tomatoes from a cheesecloth sac and draining the "water" into a bowl beneath) and a dollop of tomato water cloud (made from whipping the tomato water into a merengue and frozen - turning it into a "cloud").  Delicious.

The next course consisted of an array of pork belly - not only the slow cooked belly, but also the crisps made from the fried fat and a "bacon consomme" - the pork was complemented by a 1hr poached egg (an egg poached in the shell at a temp below boiling for an hour minimum to create a yolk with the creamy consistency of peanut butter) and a smear of squash puree - the result was a flavourful plate of taste sensations combining the fatty with the acid in a perfect synergy.

The main entree was an extraordinary combination of Chilean Sea Bass served with veal cheeks and a savoury gnocchi along with beets.  The flavour combination is hard to describe - wonderful.

Saving room for dessert was not easy.  The trio presented a carrot cake, custard flan and house-made creme fraiche ice cream was colourful and delicious.  Just the right level of sweetness and tartness to finish the meal.

Inspiration Plus Food = Magic

Meet Chef Elaina.  Elaina came to Canada from Lebanon when she was 11.  She was inspired by the great cooks in her family and chose culinary as her vocation.  But she soon learned that she had a love for sharing her passion for cooking with others and became a trainer and mentor to cooks entering the industry.

Elaina's passion for cooking is strong.  Like the aromas that waft from her teaching kitchen at Liaison College in Kitchener, Elaina can entice even the most shy palate to taste her creations.  Made with flair and great skill, Elaina's tasty output will, simultaneously, wow, impress and cause your mouth to water.  Students love her for her skills and her compassion.

However, not all is rosy for Chef Elaina.  In 2003 she was stricken with every woman's worst fear:  breast cancer.  Elaina has great faith and strength of character.  You notice this the minute you meet her and she focuses intently on your every word with her kind, brown eyes.  Elaina's faith and modern science have combined with her inner strength to give her a new lease on life and renewed passion for what she loves:  cooking and teaching.  In that order.

We are proud to have Elaina in our midst.  Check out the recent article in the KW Record

Tracy Winkworth Dishes up the Goods

The newest member of the Liaison College family in Waterford is under the direction of Chef Tracy Winkworth.  Tracy's trusty right hand, Jill, has sent me this tasty tidbit about "Eating Niagara" and their forays into foodie-dom (that's my new word for Websters; it means:  the domain of food or the realm of the food world).  Check out this link to Eating Niagara which shows a pictorial tale of the day's events and Chef Tracy's culinary creations.

sounds like the barn cat and Chef Tracy are friends for life!

The Kitchen Sink Soup

After the holidays, do you have a ton of leftovers in the fridge.  A ton of foods that don't really make a meal and don't partner well with other things  (turkey, cheeses, mashed potatoes, vegetables, etc. - you get the idea).  I like to freeze anything that is leftover and create interesting soups.  Each item is frozen by itself and marked for easy identification later.

When the time is right and, as my mother in law says:  "when the spirit moves you", I simply gather some packages from the freezer and start a soup.

The base is always the same:  sauteed onions and garlic with a bit of oil and butter and spices (use your imagination); once the onions are opaque, I add the stock (sometimes I make this before hand with leftover bones from the turkey/chicken etc. and other times I freeze the stock too); then I add the assorted contents of the packages - this weekend it was a bag of frozen mushrooms and onions (from a steak dinner this fall), a bunch of green onions (that I froze before they wilted), a bag of assorted veggies left over from a veggie tray and bits of turkey meat from this year's Christmas dinner.  I add various seasonings to taste and once the soup simmers for 20 to 30 minutes (depends on the meat you add and to ensure that it's fully heated) it's ready to be eaten.

As an option, you can also add a starch:  rice (which I sometimes have frozen from a leftover take out dinner) or pasta noodles.  Use your imagination!

Everyone can enjoy a bowl.  And whatever is left over is dished into individual containers and frozen.  My family and friends know exactly where I keep my frozen soup and they help themselves.  It's an easy and delicious way to create a meal in a minute.