City Palate July August 2015

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summer in the city palate CITYPALATE.CA

JULY AUGUST 2015

PIZZA

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CITY PALATE.ca JULY AUGUST 2015

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PASTA

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E BASTA!

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SUMMER Specialists in all manner of spices, herbs and seasonings from around the world.

Lovin’ Calgaryfarmersmarket.ca

Located in the Calgary Farmers Market

THURSDAY – SUNDAY • 9AM – 5PM • HERITAGE & BLACKFOOT

PREMIUM EXTRA VIRGIN & NATURALLY FLAVOURED OLIVE OILS + VINEGARS

MORE AT

soffritto.ca

Thanks to irrigation Gourmet Hot Dogs

NOT YOUR AVERAGE SANDWICH BEST ONION RINGS IN TOWN 4

CITY PALATE.ca JULY AUGUST 2015

Lil’ Russ’ Jacket Potatoes Frozen Treats Gelato Milkshakes and other Goodies!.._

The natural choice.

FREE RANGE PORK Pasture raised & naturally fed.

• family owned and operated • focused on quality and taste

Learn more about irrigation at the Calgary Farmers’ Market or visit: thankstoirrigation.ca

Visit us in Rosemary, Alberta www.spraggsmeatshop.com

contents

CITY PALATE JULY AUGUST 2015

F E AT U R E S

24 n

Preserving the Season’s Harvest

26 n

Summer is All About Bees

28

Part 1: Fruit Val Andrews Ellen Kelly

n Ribs...

In search of the perfect rack

Ron Shewchuk

30 n

Fresh Summer Pasta

32 n

Long Live Long Table Dinners

Pam Fortier

Karen Anderson

34 n From Alberta to Your Glass Crafting the Hyper-Local Cocktail

Dan Clapson

Hustle to Harrison for Historic, Wholesome Fun

36 n

Kate Zimmerman

D E PA RT M E N T S

7 n word of mouth

Notable culinary happenings around town

9 n eat this

What to eat in July and August Ellen Kelly

10 n drink this

Brewed awakening Don Tse

12 n get this

Must-have kitchen stuff Karen Anderson

14 n one ingredient

Saskatoons Julie Van Rosendaal

18 n feeding people

Learning to love cooking, and the power of leftovers Erin Lawrence

21 n what’s cooking online?

Online offerings that make us think twice Kate Zimmerman

22 n the sunday project

Tarte Tatin with Jennifer Norfolk

38 n stockpot

Stirrings around Calgary

39 n kids can cook

Castiron Skillet Cornbread Pierre Lamielle

42 n 4 quick ways with...

Blueberries Chris Halpin

44 n last meal

Keep it simple and seasonal Geoff Last

46 n back burner... shewchuk on simmer

Real life mad men Allan Shewchuk

Cover artist: Bronwyn Moore is an art student at Algonquin College who won a competition to be on our cover.

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city palate editor Kathy Richardier (kathy@citypalate.ca) publisher Gail Norton (gail@citypalate.ca) As Seen On

Bookers Knows BBQ make your reservation for our famous all you can eat ribs every sunday! @bookersbbq

foodnetwork.ca

www.bookersbbq.com Introducing

MUSSEL & WINE WEDNESDAYS for only $24

1lb of PEI Mussels & 2 5oz Glasses of Wine

Sundried Tomato & Calabrese paired with Cabernet Sauvignon or Coconut & Fennel Cream Sauce paired with Chardonnay

magazine design Carol Slezak, Yellow Brick Studios (carol@citypalate.ca) contributing editor Kate Zimmerman contributors Karen Anderson Val Andrews Shelley Boettcher Dan Clapson Pam Fortier Chris Halpin Ellen Kelly Pierre Lamielle Geoff Last Erin Lawrence Jennifer Norfolk Allan Shewchuk Ron Shewchuk Don Tse Julie Van Rosendaal Kate Zimmerman contributing photographers Regan Johnson Kathy Richardier for advertising enquiries, please contact advertising@citypalate.ca account executives Ellen Kelly (ellen@citypalate.ca) Liz Tompkins (liz@citypalate.ca) Janet Henderson (janet@citypalate.ca) prepress/printing CentralWeb distribution Gallant Distribution Systems Inc. The Globe and Mail website management Jane Pratico (jane@citypalate.ca) City Palate is published 6 times per year: January-February, March-April, May-June, July-August, September-October and November-December by City Palate Inc., 722 - 11 Avenue SW Calgary, AB T2R 0E4 Subscriptions are available for $48 per year within Canada and $68 per year outside Canada.

Editorial Enquiries: Please email kathy@citypalate.ca For questions or comments please contact us via our website:

citypalate.ca 6

CITY PALATE.ca JULY AUGUST 2015

word of mouth

NOTABLE CULINARY HAPPENINGS AROUND TOWN

city palate’s field trips dinner series

watch the bees make your honey

read this

August 11, Bow Valley Ranche Restaurant and Crush Pad. Experience summer in the park with dinner by Chef Daryl Kerr, as he works with Poplar Bluff Organics, Red Hat Farms and Hog Wild Specialties. Paired with rosé wines – summer in a glass. Crush Pad creates a variety of wines to while away the summer days. September 8, Rush Ocean Prime and Pacific Wine and Spirits. Three of the chefs from the Vintage Group of restaurants will collaborate on dinner as Pacific Wine and Spirits pulls from its broad portfolio of wines to pair with each course.

Join Apiaries and Bees for Communities for a leisurely, guided tour along Calgary’s beautiful river pathways and discover our unique urban apiaries. Enjoy a light dinner in a picnic setting, then observe honeybee behaviour from a distance with a glass of mead, or put on a veil and take part in a hive inspection.

Home2Hive Bike Tours occur June through August, a perfect way to enjoy Calgary’s long summer evenings.

Visit: backyardbees.ca/courses/h2h.

Read all about the importance of honeybees on page 26, then you’ll want to get a cookbook all about about honey, called Honey – Everyday Recipes For Cooking And Baking With Nature’s Sweetest Secret Ingredient, by Angelo ProsperiPorta (TouchWood Editions, $26.95, soft cover).

The book starts with a discussion of the busy life of bees, then talks about all the different honey varieties and how they taste and look. Very informative. Handy tips on substituting honey for sugar, too. Oh, my goodness, how’s this for delicious – Braised Beef Short Ribs with Bing Cherries and Balsamic Glaze or Grilled Veal Chops with Rhubarb Honey Glaze accompanied by Roasted Beets with Orange and Honey Glaze! About perfect, we’d say. And for dessert, Chocolate Honey Nut Cake. Can’t get too much honey, we say.

3rd best barista dude in the world Ben Put, co-founder of Monogram Coffee, placed 3rd at the World Barista Championships held recently in Seattle.

This is the first time Canada has reached the final round at the World Championships since 2009, and is the second best placing for Canada in WBC history.

Put trounced 47 of 49 countries to take the third place trophy.

Good show!

this is cool The Calgary Petroleum Club’s former exec chef, Liana Robberecht, has joined WinSport as its new executive chef. She will work with WinSport’s talented team of chefs to improve the food and beverage menu options at the Garden Café and Molson Canadian Hockey House in the Markin MacPhail Centre, the lounge and food court in the Frank King Day Lodge and WinSport’s catering department. To find out more about WinSport, visit winsport.ca.

organic alberta gets dough from the feds $1.2 million from the feds kicks off a prairie-wide organic program. Under the Western Diversification Program, it’s a $2.2 million, four-year program to achieve growth, resiliency and stability focusing on increasing the quantity and quality of organic field crops while building stronger market relationships. Organic food is the most dynamic and rapidly growing sector of global food estimated to be a $63 billion (U.S.) global industry.

omg good!

Charred octopus at Catch, one of the appetizer dishes, sent our palates into an orgasmic state.

Charred pretty much anything does that, but this was duded up with quail egg with a hit of sumac and noodles made with forbidden rice, the black one we’re not supposed to eat unless we’re royalty. At Catch, you’re royalty.

talk about serious umami!

Umami Snack Co., started by Keith and Ashleigh Goodale of Fifth Element at the Crossroads Market, makes a Portabella Jerky out of – you got it – portabella mushrooms! Interesting and delish, in Original, Harissa, Indian Green Curry and BBQ flavours. It’s gluten-free and vegetarian friendly. Serious umami to snack on or to add to soups and stews for a great flavour and texture hit. A perfect food to take hiking, too.

from farm to table A special ATCO Blue Flame Kitchen day camp for kids to discover where their food comes from.

They visit two working farms to learn about growing potatoes and carrots, then help dig up vegetables and work with chefs to help prepare dishes from their harvested crops. Fun! For kids 9 to 12, August 20 or 21. To register, phone 403-245-7630. Details at atcoblueflamekitchen.com, click on “classes.”

cook it raw International gatherings of the world’s best and emerging chefs who explore the taste of place with traditional food producers. It has partnered with the Alberta Culinary Tourism Alliance to gather local chefs to explore the Alberta landscape, it’s richly diverse population and the relative newness of its culinary culture in its 8th edition of Cook it Raw. The first session in May took place at Lac La Biche, an intensive retreat where our chefs foraged local ingredients, explored wild game and fish and visited local farmers and producers learning about edible plants and the flora and fauna unique to this area. Invited chefs included Cam Dobranski, Brasserie Kensington, Darren MacLean, Shokunin Izakaya, John MacNeil, Black Pig Bistro, Connie DeSousa, Charcut Roast House, Paul Rogalski, Rouge, Scott Pohorelic, SAIT, Duncan Ly, Yellow Door Bistro, Liana Robberecht, Petroleum Club, Andrew Winfield, River Café and Justin Leboe, Model Milk. Alessandro Porcelli launched Cook it Raw in 2009 and his first book, Cook It Raw, a compendium of the first four gatherings, is available at Amazon. The next session, closer to home in September, will invite international chefs working with ours to create iconic final dishes. For information on Cook it Raw, visit cookitraw.org. (see the ad on page 27)

Back to nature we go with The Urban Homesteading Cookbook – Forage, Farm, Ferment and Feast for a Better World, by Michelle Catherine Nelson (Douglas & McIntyre, $26.95, soft cover). The author has a Ph.D. in conservation biology. She started homesteading in her onebedroom Vancouver apartment and now keeps chickens, quail, turkeys, geese, rabbits, goats and all kinds of beneficial microorganisms in a tiny cottage on Bowen Island, BC. It’s lotsa work, but if it’s your style, you can do it too with the help of this book. Lotsa recipes for your foraged goodies, like Stinging Nettle Pesto, and good advice about foraging. And how to raise micro livestock sustainably and ethically, like chickens and rabbits, and all about eating insects and how to do it. Yep, homesteading ... it’s the next urban thing.

If we’re not ready for back to nature and urban homesteading, we can at least make better use of our food with the help of Cinda Chavich’s book The Waste Not, Want Not Cookbook – Save Food, Save Money, and Save the Planet (TouchWood Editions, $29.95, soft cover). Her introduction talks about how much food people waste, like letting produce rot in the back of the fridge, and tossing stuff at its “best before” date when there are much better ways to tell if something needs to be trashed, and great recipes for using food that’s looking like it’s needing to be used. More than 140 recipes and brilliant ideas for using every morsel, a practical guide to a sustainable kitchen.

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CITY PALATE.ca JULY AUGUST 2015

eat this

Ellen Kelly

WHAT TO EAT IN JULY AND AUGUST

Ahhhhhh, the lazy, hazy days of summer are finally upon us. Even when our winters aren’t particularly heinous, summer always seems such a long way off. But now it’s time to stop huddling in our cozy, albeit claustrophobic, kitchens and spread out onto our patios, decks and balconies. Warm weather calls for lighter fare -- fresh cheeses and berries, local fruits and vegetables, salads and sandwiches… easy and breezy.

STRAWBERRIES are the epitome of summer.

Different varieties – June-bearing on to everbearing – ensure fresh local berries throughout the summer. Broxburn’s Strawberry Festival, usually at the end of August, is worth the trip south (broxburn.vegetables.com). The late berries are sweeter and make the best jam. Cooked strawberries, with the exception of jam and pie, are usually uninteresting. For an easy elegant dessert, mix sliced berries with a little sugar and a splash of good balsamic vinegar. Let the berries sit for a few minutes to allow the sugar to draw the juices out, and serve over vanilla, buttermilk or crème fraiche ice cream.

RICOTTA CHEESE is a tremendously versatile ingredient. It takes tortas, cannoli, cookies, and even pancakes to a completely new level. When stuffed into ravioli, pasta shells or layered in a lasagne and served with marinara sauce, it provides a creaminess not found in cottage cheese. Gnocchi made with ricotta are light and fluffy. Thin slices of grilled eggplant and zucchini rolled up with tasty herb-seasoned ricotta will make your guests swoon. But, for my money, a simple ricotta crostini, either for lunch or as an appetizer, is pretty hard to beat. Gently mix finely chopped chives or scallions, fresh mint or basil, Maldon salt and freshly ground black pepper into the freshest ricotta and generously spread on slices of garlic-rubbed, olive oil-drizzled, grilled Tuscan bread. Serve with thick slices of local sweet tomatoes and crisp cucumbers.

Since ricotta is not technically a cheese, making a more than serviceable version at home is dead easy. All you do is slowly bring 4 c. whole milk, 1 c. heavy cream and 1 t. sea salt to a boil in a heavy pan, stirring occasionally. When it boils, take the pot off the heat and stir in 3 T. good white wine vinegar or lemon juice. Let stand until the mixture curdles, 10-15 minutes, and pour what is now the curds and whey into a cheesecloth-lined colander set over a bowl. Allow it to drain at room temperature for up to an hour. The longer it drains, the thicker the ricotta. Gently press with the back of a large spoon to extract the most liquid. You’ll get about 1-1/2 c. cheese and it will keep refrigerated, covered well, for a couple of days.

For many years, unless you grew your own TOMATOES – which requires a certain dogged determination – you were damned to the papier-mâché hell of tomatodom. The hard, pale, tasteless fruits that once lined supermarket produce aisles are blessedly much scarcer today. “Vineripened” has become a battle cry, but even a locally grown tomato picked as it begins to go from pink to red and ripened on a counter is a joy. Outside of a BLT, a humble tomato bruschetta is my favourite way to celebrate a summer tomato. Chop up about 5-6 meaty tomatoes (Romas are good) and combine with 3 minced garlic cloves, a healthy splash of good olive oil, about 2 T. balsamic vinegar, torn or chopped fresh basil leaves and salt and pepper. For an extra kick, add about 1/2 c. chopped sundried tomatoes preserved in oil. Grill garlic rubbed, olive oil brushed slices of Tuscan bread and pile them high with the tomato mixture. If you’re so inclined, sprinkle the tops with ricotta salata, a dry crumbly sheep’s milk ricotta.

Remember: “Knowledge is knowing a tomato is a fruit; wisdom is not putting it in a fruit salad.” Attributed to British journalist Miles Kington.

Illustrations by Pierre Lamielle

BUY: Look for (or pick) brightly coloured, shiny, plump berries with the green cap, or calyx, attached and unwithered. Small berries tend to taste better; the larger fruit, while looking impressive, can often be watery.

TIPS: Ripe strawberries are extremely perishable.

If you aren’t using them right away, spread in a single layer on paper towel and refrigerate, covered, for a day or two.

DID YOU KNOW? Although native to the northern hemisphere, strawberries are now grown all over the world. This doesn’t mean we should eat them all year round. Strawberries are extremely fragile when fully ripe and are therefore frequently picked under-ripe to facilitate transporting and storing. This is why out-ofseason strawberries are so often disappointing.

Curiously, strawberries are the only fruit with their seeds, or achenes, on the outside.

BUY: We’re so lucky that we have such a great choice of excellent imported ricotta as well as locally made by White Gold.

Ricotta is very perishable; look for creamy white, sweet smelling cheese and try to use it quickly.

TIPS: If you do have a surplus, it’s good to know that ricotta freezes quite well. It won’t be as creamy once thawed, but will do just fine for baking.

DID YOU KNOW? Ricotta is traditionally made from whey, a by-product of conventional cheese making and can be made from sheep, cow, goat or buffalo milk. Ricotta means “recooked,” cooked twice to extract the cheese from the buttermilk. It’s likely some of the first cheese ever made, dating back to the Bronze Age.

BUY: Tomatoes should be firm and heavy in the hand with smooth unblemished skin and a pleasant “tomato” aroma. Fruit with the calyx – stem end – intact will last longer.

TIPS: Never refrigerate tomatoes. The cold temperature destroys the flavour and makes the flesh grainy.

DID YOU KNOW? Botanically a fruit (and a member of the nightshade family), tomatoes have long been designated vegetables for culinary purposes. Originating in the South American Andes, it took until the 1800s for North America to embrace the tomato, long after Italy claimed them as their own in the 1500s.

Ellen Kelly is a chef and regular contributor to City Palate.

CITY PALATE.ca JULY AUGUST 2015

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Fresh Produce

Antipasti

In-store Bakery

drink this

Don Tse

BREWED AWAKENING

The craft beer movement is taking hold in Calgary.

In the United States, a new brewery opens every 16 hours, according to the Brewers Association, an American trade organization. By contrast, during the most dire period in Calgary’s beer history, 15 years passed between brewery openings.

That dry spell was finally broken in 2011 with the opening of Village Brewing.

Since that time, three more new breweries have opened and two more have been publicly announced. Calgary seems to have awoken from its brewing slumber and even Cochrane will soon have a brewery to call its own.

Specialty Foods Olive Oils Balsamics Catering

Village Brewing broke the Calgary dry spell and continues to release new beers every couple of months. The Village Triplet is the latest. It’s a German-style Kolsch (a light-bodied, lightly fruity ale) with blueberries, blackberries and Saskatoon berries added.

The local home-brewing heroes at Tool Shed Brewing were next on the Calgary beer scene and brought a highly nerdy, technical approach to brewing to the city.

Tool Shed plans to further emphasize its home-brewing roots by releasing a series of collaboration beers under the name “Go Big or Go Homebrew.” Award-winning Calgary home brewers will work with the company to make their beer recipes on a commercial scale, including recipe refinement, brewing, packaging, label design, government approval and even sales calls. It’s a passionate home-brewer’s dream come true, and beer lovers get to taste the results.

Olives Deli Meats &Cheeses Gift Baskets

Dandy Brewing Company is Calgary’s smallest brewery. It brews its beers in 400-litre batches. By comparison, Big Rock brews batches 50 times as large. Dandy’s small-batch size allows it the flexibility to be creative. Its regular beers consist of a stout designed to be paired with oysters and a hybrid golden brown ale. Dandy has already released three new beers in 2015: Bleak House, a black IPA; Wilde Mild, a malty, easy-drinking ale; and Smoke Boss, a beer made with smoked malt.

Last Best Brewing took over the brewery formerly operated by Brew Brothers Brewing Company and the restaurant space occupied by The District and Amsterdam Rhino. Last Best started by making its beer available on draft at select pubs and restaurants in 2014, but has now opened the doors on the brewpub at 607-11th Ave. SW. Twelve beers are available on tap, 11 from Last Best and one “guest beer” from another local brewer. With National Beer Hall, Craft Beer Market, Brewsters and Beer Revolution just blocks away, Last Best is in the heart of Calgary’s beer district.

Hot &Cold Lunches

Cappuccino Dessert Bar

Of course, Calgary beer stalwarts Big Rock, Brewsters and Wild Rose have also been upping their game. Big Rock plans to release 15 new beers this year to keep local palates excited while Brewsters has stepped up its plans to transform from a brewpub chain to a brewery, finally making its beer available to other bars and restaurants and making bottled beer available in stores. To support this transformation, Brewsters is expanding capacity at its foothills brewery and is brewing 36 different beers this year.

Wild Rose continues to release seasonal surprises and occasional small-batch beers aimed specifically at the “beer geek” market. In addition, Wild Rose has purchased a brand new canning line, so you can finally take your favourite Wild beer where glass bottles don’t belong, like camping, golfing or poolside.

Even Minhas Micro Brewery is proudly displaying the skill of the brewer by releasing a “Brewmaster Series” of beers, the first of which is White Wolf, a Belgian-style witbier.

Visit Lina’s for the real ItalIan experience.

2202 Centre St NE 403.277.9166 www.linasmarket.com

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CITY PALATE.ca JULY AUGUST 2015

To keep everyone on their toes, at least two new breweries are in the works.

Caravel Craft Brewery is the brain child of two home brewers with a decade of brewing experience. They hope to open in June or July and promise to explore flavours Calgary’s beer lovers haven’t experienced yet. Meanwhile, Trolley Five Restaurant and Brewery is currently under construction in the space formerly occupied by Melrose on 17th Avenue SW. Its owners and industry veterans, Wayne Leong (Melrose), Ernie Tsu (Classic Jacks, 1410) and P.J. L’Heureux (CRAFT Beer Market), promise to shake up the Calgary beer scene as they’ve already done with their prior ventures.

Finally, if you’re taking advantage of Calgary’s proximity to the mountains, be sure to visit Banff Avenue Brewing where you’ll find eight different beers to quench your post-hike thirst (Banff Earthquake Double IPA is unbelievable) and Grizzly Paw in Canmore, which always features a handful of creative seasonal beers in addition to its line-up of eight regular beers. Finally, Half Hitch Brewing in Cochrane plans to open its doors this autumn with three beers. Half Hitch is family-owned and promises to treat all of its customers as family, too.

LATEST BEST BREWS The craft beer lover is always seeking something new. Thankfully, Calgary’s breweries are more than willing to accommodate. Here are some new beers to get your appetite hopping.

Village Grandfather – For Father’s Day in 2014, Village Brewing brewed an Imperial Red Ale called the Village Father. This year, to celebrate its 1,000th brew, Village is releasing the Village Grandfather – get it?

1,000 brews are “grand” – its first India Pale Ale, arguably the most popular beer style in the craft beer movement.

Last Best There Will Be Porter – Porter is a malty style of dark beer originating in London. Last Best’s interpretation features a touch of chocolate and a subtle smokiness. The beer is rich and complex, yet highly quaffable.

Wild Rose Flanders Ave. – The hottest trend in the beer world is sour beer, but it’s been hard to find in Calgary. Wild Rose’s Flanders Ave. is a sour red ale in the tradition of Flemish beers from Belgium.

Despite being sour, the beer has a solid malt backbone to provide balance, so the beer is tart, but not vinegar-like.

Dandy Golden Brown – This amber-coloured beer features lightly toasty flavours from its malt and nice fruity flavours from its hops. It’s an excellent example of how great beer can be when brewers free themselves from the restriction of traditional beer styles.

Don Tse is a Calgary-based freelance beer and whisky writer. Follow him on Twitter @BeeryDon.

Escape today on our patio. www.wusthof.ca

For reservations call 403 268 8607 or visit heritagepark.ca

House of Knives Market Mall 3625 Shaganappi Trail NW Calgary

Hendrix 457 42 Ave. SE Calgary

Kitchen Boutique 212 - 1st St. W. Cochrane

Kitchen Boutique 960 Yankee Valley Blvd SE Airdrie

CITY PALATE.ca JULY AUGUST 2015

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get this summer is for somersaults… …and cartwheels and crashing exhausted onto a picnic blanket to watch the clouds roll by. It’s good to keep an interesting snack on hand for such occasions. Your spent acrobatics team (a.k.a. your children) will likely enjoy popping these – small on size, big on taste – Somersault sunflower seed crackers into their mouths and you’ll like the fact that they’re munching on more than empty calories. These zippy treats are made from non-GMO sunflower seeds and toasted grains. They come in savoury and sweet flavours, like Pacific sea salt, salty pepper, Santa Fe salsa, cinnamon crunch and Dutch cocoa, have double the protein of almonds, high fibre and more antioxidants than blueberries. Sunflower seeds – they’re the new nuts.

Somersaults, $4.50/170g, Bridgeland Market

Our corn pickers are up before the roosters.

Co-op is proud to stock locally grown corn from Alberta’s best producers.

Our certified Taber corn is harvested daily at Johnson Fresh Farms starting at 3 am – so it’s fresh on your table for dinner.

Forget ice cream: try our premium Kohut Sweet Corn. So sweet you can eat it raw!

Available for 4 weeks only while supplies last. Visit localyyc.com

steeped learning curve Add a couple of tablespoons of your favourite loose leaf tea to one of these Ice Tea Bottles by Hario, fill it with cold water, put in the fridge for 30 minutes to two hours and you’ll have mastered the “steeped” learning curve of this new way to make ice tea. The tea is never bitter because the leaves are never exposed to heat.

Purists will enjoy their brew with ice only. Golfers will want to add lemonade in a 1:1 ratio and call it an Arnold Palmer. After the game, add a shot of bourbon to that combo and call it “The 19th Tee.” Hario Ice Tea Bottle, $32, The Naked Leaf

earn your stripes If you spend summers lugging things to the market, to the beach or on a picnic then why not do it in style? This large market bag by Les Toiles Du Soleil is as sunny as the south of France where its bright striped Catalan-influenced designs originated. This centuries-old cotton, linen and canvas textiles company is designated as an Enterprise Patrimoine Vivant by the government of France for excellence in preserving uniquely French heritage skills and designs. By the 1990s there was only one factory left and it was on the brink of closure when the design team of Henri and Françoise Quinta rescued it. They’ve made Les Toiles Du Soleil one of the world’s most renowned fine textile brands. Fill your bit of portable sunshine with the bright foods of summer, a baguette and a picnic blanket. Pack in a lot of summer fun and you’ve earned these stripes.

Les Toiles Du Soleil large market bag, $175, Inspirati Fine Linens

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CITY PALATE.ca JULY AUGUST 2015

Karen Anderson

MUST-HAVE KITCHEN STUFF

working class glasses My Working Glasses are more than 20 years old and show no sign of wear and tear. They make fine drinking glasses but with their matching lids, they’re absolute workhorses for storing the condiment creations that threaten much-needed refrigerator space each summer. Make a batch of this umami-packed dressing by whisking together 1 c. mayonnaise, 3/4 c. plain Greek yogurt, 1 T. toasted sesame oil, 1 T. gochujang, 1 t. Dijon mustard, 1 finely chopped jalapeño, 1 T. lime juice, 1 clove minced garlic, 1 T. finely cut cilantro leaves and salt and pepper to taste. Use it as mayo for sandwiches, dressing for zesty coleslaw or dab it on freshly seared tuna steaks. Working Glasses will bring clarity when it comes to using or losing the leftovers in your fridge.

Working Glasses, $1.95 - $4.95, Crate and Barrel

Come get branded

this Stampede!

Free temporary tattoos of our very own Hapa art

gone glamping Adding a gourmet Mexican flair to camping expeditions just got a little star-powered help from the award-winning chef/owner of Chicago’s Frontera Grill, Rick Bayless. Bayless has ten seasons of his hit PBS-TV show Mexico: One Plate at a Time under his sombrero. He replicates Mexico’s authentic regional dishes using a combination of taste sensibility and extensive research, and you don’t have to go to Chicago to taste the results. You’ll find all the great flavours in Frontera Grill sauce packets available here at Sunterra Markets. Each contains the all-natural ingredients for a specific dish, like green chile enchiladas, guacamole, fajita skillet sauce and New Mexico tacos. All you need are a few key ingredients to complete the dish. With collapsible packaging and fewer ingredients to pack, you’ll be able to create some of Bayless’s gourmet Mexican tastes with ease around a campfire in Alberta. Now that’s glamping.

hapacalgary.com @hapacalgary

hapa calgary @hapacalgary

Frontera Grill sauce packets, $2.99/127g, Sunterra Markets

tu-bees or not tu-bees?

There are many of us who enjoy sauces and condiments squeezed from tubes.

The Tu-Bees Gourmet Honey Company recognized this tendency and created nine kinds of squeezable honey flavours. Cinnamon is a favourite but maple, pumpkin spice and ginger also marry well with honey. There’s also raspberry, chocolate, saskatoon berry, lemon and black cherry, and all are made with natural flavours and served up in a BPA-free and phthalate-free laminate tubes. While the tube might not be crystal clear, the honey will remain so and has the added bonus of being easy to pack and much less messy at the table.

As Tu-Bees says, “Have you squeezed your honey today?”

NEW

CHEF. MENU. BRUNCH.

WEEKLY SPECIALS + HAPPY HOUR

Tu-Bees Gourmet Honey, $3.69 /140g, Luke’s Drug Mart

Karen Anderson is the owner of Calgary Food Tours

Galla Winehouse & Bistro 529 17th Ave SW, Calgary, AB 403.802.3988 gallabistro.com CITY PALATE.ca JULY AUGUST 2015

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10 restaurants... 5 courses... 280 people...

1 really, really long table.

one ingredient

Julie Van Rosendaal

SASKATOONS

Blink, Catch & The Oyster Bar, Charcut Roast House, Divino, Teatro, Wine-Ohs, The Belvedere, Trib Steakhouse, Home Tasting Room and The Bank & Baron will each prepare a dish for this remarkable dinner, with wine pairings from The Cellar.

A long stretch of downtown Stephen Avenue will be our venue.

Gather your friends, and make some new ones at this unique event that celebrates the culinary side of Calgary.

Tickets: $200pp available now: reallylongtabledinner.eventbrite.ca

join us!

Monday, September 14th, 5-9 pm

city palate’s 3rd annual

Really, Really Long Table Dinner

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CITY PALATE.ca JULY AUGUST 2015

Which came first, the city or the berry? Most of us who grew up in the prairies are familiar with both; in fact, the city of Saskatoon was named after the berry that bestrewed its landscape, nourishing its inhabitants. Saskatoon comes from the Cree word, misâskwatômina. So, because the berry came first, the city’s name is capitalized, the fruit is not.

Although saskatoons aren’t exclusive to the Canadian prairies, they’re indigenous, making them strongly associated with Canadian cuisine, along with maple syrup and wild rice. Elsewhere, you may hear them referred to as serviceberries, which makes them sound even more utilitarian than many already believe them to be. In Michigan and Minnesota, they’re marketed as juneberries; researchers at Cornell University found that Americans like them better with that name.

Friends from other places – even Canadians from the east coast – often enquire as to what, exactly, a saskatoon is. If you’re unfamiliar, they’re hardy shrub berries, less juicy but similar in look, shape, colour and flavour to a blueberry, with more pulp and slightly thicker skins. Botanically, saskatoons are in the same family as roses and apples; the wee purple pomes are ripe for the picking by midsummer, eagerly anticipated by those who don’t disregard them as a lesser version of blueberries.

In the kitchen, the stalwart saskatoon can most often be swapped for blueberries – just don’t expect them to as willingly give up their juice, or have as much to offer when they do. If you’re one of the lucky ones with a convenient source of saskatoons and are able to bring them home by the ice cream pail, they can be easily frozen. Freezing them spread out on a sheet pan first, then transferring them to sealable bags, will keep you from needing an ice pick to separate them later.

Saskatoons can go straight from freezer to batter, cobbler or pie. Try simmering some in maple syrup to pour over pancakes and waffles, or with sugar and a squeeze of lemon to make jam; add them straight to smoothies, or pickle a jarful to serve with creamy chèvre. Just make sure you save enough for pie.

Pickled Saskatoons  These are delicious spooned over soft chèvre, atop crostini or in a salad – and you can use the brine to make a delicious indigo vinaigrette.

1/2 c. sugar 1/2 c. red wine vinegar 1/2 c. apple cider or rice vinegar 2 cinnamon sticks 2 t. coarse salt 1-2 star anise (optional) a few allspice berries (optional) 2 c. fresh or frozen saskatoons

In a medium saucepan, bring the sugar, vinegars, cinnamon sticks and salt to a simmer over medium-high heat. If you’re using allspice berries, put them in a small square of cheesecloth along with the star anise and bundle them up with twine, otherwise the loose allspice berries are easily lost among the saskatoons. Add the bundle to the pot and simmer for about 5 minutes.

Add the berries, bring back to a simmer and cook for about a minute. Remove from the heat, remove the spice bundle and pour into clean jars. Refrigerate for up to a month. Makes about 2 cups.

recipe photos by Julie Van Rosendaal

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Saskatoon Pie Saskatoons are best known as the stars of a double-crust pie. Cut strips to make a lattice, or cut shapes or slashes in the top crust to allow steam to escape. Flour is traditional in a saskatoon pie, but cornstarch works well, too. pastry for a double-crust pie 1/2 c. sugar 3 T. flour 5 - 6 c. saskatoons (fresh or frozen – don’t thaw them) zest of a lemon 2 - 3 T. butter, cut into bits beaten egg or cream, for brushing (optional) turbinado sugar, for sprinkling (optional)

Preheat the oven to 425°F. Divide the pastry more or less in half, with one piece slightly bigger than the other. On a lightly floured surface, roll out the larger piece to a circle about an inch bigger than your pie plate; drape it over the rolling pin and transfer to the pie plate, pressing it gently to fit, letting the sides hang over. Roll the other piece out to about the size of the top of the pie.

In a small bowl, stir together the sugar and flour. Put the berries into a medium bowl and add the sugar mixture and lemon zest; gently stir to combine, then pour into the pastry shell.

Top with bits of butter.

If you like, cut the second piece of pastry into strips and make a lattice top; otherwise, lay it over the pie, brushing the edge of the bottom crust with a little beaten egg or cream first, if you like, and trim and crimp the edge. Cut a few slits in the top to let steam escape.

Bake for 15 minutes, then turn the heat down to 350°F and bake for another 50 - 60 minutes, until golden and bubbling. Let cool before slicing.

Serves 8.

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Saskatoon Mascarpone Ice Cream Pale purple ice cream is a pretty change from the usual strawberry.

3 large egg yolks 3/4 c. sugar, divided 1-1/2 c. half & half cream 1 c. mascarpone 2 c. fresh or frozen saskatoons

In a medium saucepan, whisk together the egg yolks and 1/2 cup of sugar; whisk in the cream.

Set over medium-low heat and cook, whisking often, until the mixture bubbles and thickens.

Whisk in the mascarpone until it melts and the mixture is smooth.

Meanwhile, in a small saucepan, bring the saskatoons to a simmer with the remaining 1/4 cup sugar and 1/4 cup water. Cook for 10 minutes, mashing the berries with a potato masher, whisk or fork to break up the berries. Pour through a sieve into the cream mixture, whisking to combine. (Discard the leftover solids.)

Scrape the custard mixture into a bowl and cool completely, then refrigerate until cold. Freeze in your ice cream machine according to the manufacturer’s directions. Makes about 4 cups.

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one ingredient SASKATOONS continued from page 15

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Spiced Pumpkin Saskatoon Muffins

Pork Tenderloin with Saskatoons, Maple Syrup and Rosemary

Anyone with access to saskatoons needs a good muffin recipe in their repertoire; they pair well with moist pumpkin, which shouldn’t be reserved just for fall. If you like, replace the pumpkin with cooked sweet potatoes or squash, puréed in a food mill or mashed until smooth.

A tasty mixture of maple syrup, grainy mustard, rosemary and saskatoons acts as a marinade for pork tenderloin, and is then simmered in the pan the pork is browned in, loosening up those flavourful browned bits as it cooks and thickens.

1 14-oz. (398 mL) can pumpkin purée

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2 large eggs

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1/2 c. packed brown sugar

1-2 pork tenderloins

1/2 c. canola oil

canola or olive oil, for cooking

1 t. vanilla

1 T. butter

1-3/4 c. all-purpose flour

3 T. balsamic vinegar

1/2 c. sugar

1 t. cornstarch (optional)

2 t. cinnamon

In a large Ziplock bag or dish that will accommodate the pork, stir together the syrup, mustard, lemon juice, soy sauce and rosemary.

Add the pork tenderloin(s), stir to coat and let sit for 30 minutes, or refrigerate for a couple of hours, or overnight.

1 t. ginger 1 t. baking soda 1/4 t. salt 1 c. fresh or frozen saskatoons

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CITY PALATE.ca JULY AUGUST 2015

1/2 c. maple syrup

Preheat the oven to 375°F. In a large bowl, stir together the pumpkin purée, eggs, brown sugar, oil and vanilla. In another bowl, whisk together the flour, sugar, cinnamon, ginger, baking soda and salt. Add to the pumpkin mixture and stir until almost combined; add the saskatoons and stir just until blended.

Divide the batter among 12 paper-lined muffin tins and bake for 20-25 minutes, until golden and springy to the touch. Remove the muffins and cool them on a rack. Makes 1 dozen muffins.

When you’re ready for dinner, preheat the oven to 400°F. Heat a drizzle of oil in a large skillet set over medium-high heat. Remove the pork from the marinade, reserving the marinade, and brown the tenderloin(s) on all sides, turning as necessary. Transfer the pork to a baking dish and bake for 20 minutes. (If you have a meat thermometer, it should register 155°F/68°C).

Don’t wash the skillet!

Meanwhile, add the butter to the unwashed skillet and add the marinade to the pan along with the balsamic vinegar. Bring to a simmer and cook, stirring, until the berries release their juices and the sauce thickens. If you like it a bit thicker, stir the cornstarch into 1 t. cold water, add it to the mixture, then simmer until the sauce thickens a bit more.

Transfer the tenderloin to a cutting board and let it rest for 10 minutes before slicing. Serve topped with the saskatoon sauce, with mashed potatoes to catch the drips. Serves 4 to 6. 

Ed Now mo ope nto n o nT n rai l!

Saskatoon Perogies There is perhaps no dish more prairie-influenced than perogies stuffed with saskatoons. Eat them for dessert, boiled then cooked until golden and crisp in a hot pan with butter, topped with sour cream, crème fraîche or vanilla yogurt. They’re also delicious for breakfast or brunch.

Dough: 3 c. all-purpose flour 1/2 t. baking powder 1/4 t. salt 3/4 c. milk 2 T. butter, melted, or oil 1 large egg 1/3 c. water

Filling: 2/3 c. sugar 1 T. all-purpose flour 2 c. fresh or frozen saskatoons butter, for cooking sour cream or crème fraîche, for serving

In a large bowl, stir together the flour, baking powder and salt. In a small bowl, stir together the milk, butter and egg. Add the liquid mixture to the flour mixture, then add the water, about a third at a time, until you have a soft, slightly sticky dough. Knead it about 10 times, then cover with a towel and let rest on the countertop for 20 minutes.

To make the filling, stir together the sugar and flour, then shake the mixture over the saskatoons and toss to coat. On a lightly floured surface, roll out the dough to a scant 1/4-inch thickness.

Using a 3-inch round cutter, cut into rounds.

Stretch each round slightly; fill with a spoonful of the saskatoon mixture, ensuring you get some of the sugar-flour in there as well. Pull the dough over the filling into a semicircle; pinch the edges together to seal. Cover with a tea towel. Repeat with the remaining dough and filling. Freeze in a single layer or cook immediately.

To cook, bring a large pot of lightly salted water to a boil and cook the perogies (fresh or from frozen) in batches, until they float to the top and the dough is tender, about 10 minutes. Meanwhile, set a heavy skillet over medium-high heat and add a generous dab of butter. With a slotted spoon, transfer the boiled perogies to the hot pan and cook until golden and crisp on each side. Serve with sour cream or crème fraîche.

Makes about 3 dozen.

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feeding people

Erin Lawrence

LE A RN I N G T O L O V E C O O K I N G , AN D T H E PO W E R O F L E F T O V E RS

No one cooks anymore.

The other day I brought lunch to the office. It was left over from the dinner I had made the night before. I heated it, carried it to my desk, and opened the lid. The smell brought colleagues sniffing around wondering what I had ordered in that smelled so good. When I told them it wasn’t take-out but home made, they were shocked.

Many people my age – late 30s, early 40s – get the majority of their meals from somewhere other than their own kitchens. And people assume that I do, too. The truth is, I feel like I’m somehow cheating myself if I don’t do most of the cooking, and when I do cook, leftovers are the bonus of a delicious, healthy home-cooked meal.

I grew up in a family where dinners out happened maybe once a month. It was just cheaper to eat at home. As I got older and realized how empty a lot of fast food and even some restaurant food can leave you feeling not long after you’ve eaten it, I started paying attention to what was going on in my family’s kitchen.

I quickly noticed that people appreciate home-made food. I also learned that people appreciate dessert most of all. So, as a teenager at family gatherings, I put myself in charge of the last course. I tried making cheesecakes, then pies, cakes and soufflés.

I graduated to cherries jubilee, and crêpes suzette. I loved making people happy with food, and in truth, it was easy. Both my mother and grandmother were excellent cooks, and they were there to tell me if a batter was too runny, if meat was verging on overdone, or if the concoction I’d prepared was supposed to be that colour.

I can’t think of many dishes my mother or grandmother made that we kids turned our noses up at, though, admittedly, we snubbed certain vegetables – Brussels sprouts, broccoli, basically anything green – and liver, of course. Sometimes we’d complain about the evening’s dinner choice, not because we didn’t like it, but because we wanted something else. So my mom responded in a way I now realize was the epitome of clever – “If you don’t like it, you cook what you want. For everyone.”

The next day she’d buy whatever ingredients we needed for the food we decided to make. A vacation in Mexico was the inspiration for the first meal I prepared for my family – chicken fajitas. I looked up the recipe in a cookbook and realized it wasn’t so hard. (My mom’s kitchen mantra was, “If you can read, you can cook.”)

After an exchange program where I had a chance to study for several months in Spain, I learned to cook the Spanish rice dish, paella, and it became a regular dinner feature at our house. I realized I really liked seeing people enjoy my hard work in the kitchen, but it never felt like work. To me, it was pure praise.

When I moved out on my own, it was a thrill to walk through the grocery store and select anything I wanted for my meals. It’s a joy that hasn’t worn off. I learned to

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CITY PALATE.ca JULY AUGUST 2015

take my time preparing dinner after work, sipping a glass of wine and chopping vegetables, stirring sauces, shredding salads or just toying with ways I could tweak a recipe to make it my own. The leftovers were always perfect for the next day. I realized that if I made just a bit of extra dinner, I’d have a delicious and nutritious lunch the following day, and sometimes for a couple days after that. In the early days of my career, leftovers meant saving money and eating well.

Often I’d make a huge pot of something like penne with sausage, then scoop portioned leftovers into Tupperware containers and stack them in the freezer for easy to-go lunches on days I hadn’t prepped enough food the night before, or for days when there was no time to make a lunch. Yes, leftovers can save you; it’s easy to make just a bit more of what you’re cooking anyway, and to portion it out for the following day, or even the day after if you don’t love eating the same thing two days in a row. Planning ahead keeps you from eating fast food, or even skipping meals.

Some people find leftovers boring, but I find they’re an opportunity. Often I’ll mix up how I’m eating them the next day. I’ll shred extra roast chicken over salad greens, pour on some dressing and it’s instant chicken salad. I’ve turned leftover roast beef into sandwiches with horseradish mayo, then chopped up the rest of the roast into a filling for a delicious shepherd’s pie, which is not only the next day’s dinner, but the following day’s lunch, as well.

I love leftovers. I get excited about being able to indulge in a great leftover lasagna, or taste the smoky goodness of leftover steak tossed into a stir- fry.

I’m so fond of leftovers, I just can’t understand why others aren’t. Sitting wrapped up in the fridge, the dish’s flavours commingle and intensify, becoming richer, offering the chance to relive a great meal.

One of my co-workers complained the other day about how her kids were snubbing what she prepared for them for dinner, so I laid my mom’s mantra on her – “If you can read, you can cook.”

Much to her surprise, her kids loved the idea of becoming chief cook now and then, and they, too, embraced making family meals. Now she gets a couple of nights a week off duty, and leftovers for the rest of the office to envy.

Erin Lawrence, a Calgary writer and TV producer, has cooked since she was old enough to read. Follow her on Twitter @ErinLYYC and tell her what your kids made you for dinner.

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CITY PALATE.ca JULY AUGUST 2015

what’s cooking online?

Kate Zimmerman

ONLINE OFFERINGS THAT MAKE US THINK TWICE

Alberta is in a transitional period, with oil prices low and an NDP government miraculously at the helm. It also happens to be a leisurely time of year, when stretching out in the sunshine with our digital gizmos, grazing online, is most inviting. What better moment for Calgarians to take a second look at all the things they’ve taken for granted, from pursuing a career in the energy sector to over-buying at the grocery store?

Here’s to online writing with purpose. Formerly local food writer Cinda Chavich, now based in Victoria, has a Facebook page that could make a difference to the bottom lines of our families and contribute to healthier communities. It’s an offshoot of her newest effort, The Waste Not, Want Not Cookbook – Save Food, Save Money, and Save the Planet (Touchwood). Its introduction details the embarrassing statistics surrounding wastefulness in the developed world – Statistics Canada says each Canadian wastes about 269 lbs. (122 kg.) of food each year, with 51 percent of that wasted at home – and succinctly describes how we can stop it. facebook.com The Waste Not, Want Not Cookbook by Cinda Chavich It’s also connected to tastereport.com Chavich’s food and travel blog.

The book itself is the most comprehensive resource of the three, giving you information on common contributors to waste. They include paying too much attention to “best before” dates (many foods are fine well past their supposed prime), relying on the composter as the remedy for over-buying and under-using when we should consume more thoughtfully, and overstuffing large refrigerators rather than buying in small amounts, more often.

The Facebook page is an ongoing resource, worth checking frequently for updates, recipes and suggestions.

Chavich’s most basic advice is that we shouldn’t shop for the dish we’re craving, but make a crave-worthy dish from stuff we already have. Also, we ought to buy sustainably raised food and use it up wisely, charting our progress.

And, she points out, helping our neighbours fully employ their prolific crops of apples makes a lot more sense than, say, trotting to the store for out-of-season Granny Smiths. In the same way, it’s smart to team up with friends and family, buying bulk ingredients to make work-intensive dishes like perogies, with everybody heading home afterward with tubs of food for their freezers.

Canning, pickling, drying, and making stocks, soups and pies all contribute to full larders, cut down on waste and mean the money we spend on food is a worthwhile investment. People who lived through World Wars and the Depression knew all this stuff long ago; it’s those accustomed to prosperity who are the expert wasters and polluters, and it’s about time we took a good, hard look at ourselves.

Shopping more conscientiously is obviously crucial. Thanks to the efforts of people

like Vancouver chef Ned Bell, who rode his bicycle across Canada to promote awareness of sustainable seafood, the necessity for us all to be more responsible in terms of our oceans, for example, is crystal clear. Ocean Wise, the successful Vancouver Aquarium program that helps restaurants and shoppers identify sustainable seafood options, has both a website, at oceanwise.ca, and an app. Download the latter for free and find up-todate recommendations that allow guilt-free fishy feasts.

Over at the blog for Calgary’s REAP – reapcalgary.com – a not-for-profit community-

and environment-focused association whose acronym stands for Respect for the Earth and All People, we can find out about eco-friendly events like Down to Earth Week, environmentally thoughtful businesses, and products like toxin-free soaps from the Rocky Mountain Soap Company. REAP also shines a spotlight on organizations like Localize, which draws attention to food products made in the Calgary region, and Yuba, which makes a point of using Alberta foodstuffs in the catering it does to local offices.

There’s only so much do-good reading one can accomplish in a day, though. Then it’s

time to lighten up for margarita hour. Shake yourself a cold one, then hit thekateringshow.com and settle in for an hour or two. There, a pair of Australian comedians called Kate, one McLennan and one McCartney, offers up a “cooking show” parody in which one of the cooks (McLennan) can eat anything and the other (McCartney) has massive food intolerance issues and doesn’t give a fig about food. McLennan persists in cooking for her friend, whether McCartney likes it or not. Look forward to drunkenness, bickering, angst and hilarity, with no useful recipes, enticing tips or valuable information whatsoever.

Bon appétit!

Kate Zimmerman hereby resolves to waste less food, and not by putting more of it in her belly.

CITY PALATE.ca JULY AUGUST 2015

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SLOW FOOD CALGARY PRESENTS

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with Jennifer Norfolk

TARTE TATIN

What attracted me to this tart, before I had ever tried it, was the story about the Tatin sisters who ran a busy hotel in France.

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Stéphanie Tatin accidentally dropped an apple tarte while rushing about the kitchen. She picked it up and rearranged it as best she could, which happened to be upside down, and put it in the oven.

Once baked, she flipped it onto a dish and discovered the rich caramelized texture that is the tarte’s defining feature.

BAM! (apologies Emeril) she came up with a crowd pleaser. Even if this isn’t the true origin of tarte tatin, when you’re a baker – me – who’s been saddled with the nickname Calamity Jane since childhood, you take comfort, nay, inspiration from this “rising out of the ashes” tale.

The other attractions, and there are many, include its simplicity. Just three ingredients for the filling, and if you buy puff pastry, you’ll have this ready in no time.

It’s versatile: it’s most often made with apples but you can just as easily substitute apricots, peaches, plums or pears. This tarte is wonderful served on its own and it also loves company, so don’t hesitate to pair it with whipped cream, ice cream or crème fraîche. However you choose to make your tarte tatin, I wish you a happy afternoon of sweet delight! And, just in case you’re interested, there’s a serious “Friends of the Tarte Tatin” web site: tartetatin.org. Check it out!

Tarte Tatin You’ll need 1 cast-iron or other non-stick, oven-proof skillet, about 7”- 8” diameter across the bottom and 10”- 11” across the top.

Ingredients: puff pastry or a regular single-crust butter pie pastry 6 - 8 medium-sized Granny Smith or other crisp, tangy apple, peeled 8 T. unsalted butter 1 c. sugar

Preparation: Cut the puff pastry into a circle with a diameter the size of your pan about halfway between the top and bottom. Set aside on waxed paper.

Position an oven rack in the upper third and preheat the oven to 375°F. Peel and core the apples, then quarter them lengthwise. Melt the butter in the skillet over medium heat.

Remove the pan from the heat and sprinkle the sugar evenly over the bottom. Arrange a ring of apple quarters against the side of the pan, standing them on the thin edge of the cut side to fit in as many pieces as possile. Fill in the centre of the skillet with the remaining quarters – any leftovers can tide you over until the tarte comes out of the oven!

Place the skillet over medium heat and cook, pushing the apples around a bit so they maintain their positions in the low boil of the syrup, until the butter/sugar mixture turns from a butterscotchy colour to deep amber, about 15 minutes. The colour tells the tale.

Remove the pan from the heat and, using a fork, flip the apples onto their uncooked sides.

Return the skillet to medium heat and boil the apples and syrup for about 5 minutes more.

The syrup should have thickened a bit.

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CITY PALATE.ca JULY AUGUST 2015

Remove the pan from the heat, let the syrup settle to barely bubbling, then slide on the prepared dough circle. Tuck the edges of the dough against the skillet and around the apples, but don’t burn your fingers! Cut a few slits in the top of the pastry and bake for 25-35 minutes, until golden brown.

Remove and let cool on a rack for about 20 minutes, then gently run a thin knife around the sides and invert the tarte onto a serving plate that can take the heat. Any apples that have stuck to the skillet or moved out of alignment can be returned to their proper place. Serve warm with vanilla ice cream, crème fraîche or whipped cream. Serves 6.

1. What you’ll need.

2. First, melt the butter.

3. Add the sugar.

4. Lay the apples in the pan.

5. Start caramelizing the sugar and butter syrup.

6. Perfectly caramelized syrup and apples.

7. The puff pastry “lid” goes on the apples.

8. The baked tarte tatin.

9. The tarte gets turned onto a plate.

10. The tarte is ready to eat. Yum!

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Jennifer Norfolk is owner and pastry queen of Brûlée Patisserie. Photos by Regan Johnson.

CITY PALATE.ca JULY AUGUST 2015

23

g n i v r e s e rP S ’ N O S T A S E E S RV E TH HA

PA RT 1 : F R U I T

by Val Andrews

Preserving is an immensely satisfying activity that produces delicious results and, often, delightful memories of kindling new and old friendships with local farmers, neighbours and family. Preserving allows us to enjoy local food throughout the year and also reconnects us with the natural cycles of food production in a tactile and meaningful way.

If you’re a first-time preserver, stick to small-batch recipes for best results. As you grow a pantry repertoire, you can experiment with flavour combinations, quantities, types of sweeteners, and incorporating local wild edibles into your preserves. The possibilities for delicious goodies are endless and your cellar will be full of your own hand-made food.

These recipes are versatile and different fruits can be easily substituted with excellent results. All these preserves will keep for up to one year if properly stored in a cool dark place, like a basement. Keep preserves away from heat sources. Make the most of your regional and seasonal summer bounty and enjoy it all year!

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CITY PALATE.ca JULY AUGUST 2015

Ginger Pear Chutney

Plum Compote

Gingery, sweet, spicy deliciousness! Stir into curries and yogurt, serve with meats and cheese.

One of my all-time summer favourites. Yummy with everything from charcuterie to waffles and chocolate cake.

3 lb. pears, peeled, seeded, and chopped (about 6 c.)

3 c. sugar 2-1/2 c. apple cider vinegar 1 T. mustard seeds 2 t. cayenne pepper 1 t. ground cinnamon 2/3 lb. crystallized ginger, sliced thin 2 c. raisins 2 c. chopped onion 1 lemon, peeled and thinly sliced

Add all the ingredients to a preserving pan or a large heavy-bottomed stainless steel pan. Slowly bring to a boil, stirring, to dissolve sugar. Reduce heat and simmer gently, uncovered, until mixture thickens and takes on a dark caramel colour. This will take approximately 1-1/2 hours. Near the end of cooking, stir frequently to prevent burning. The chutney is ready when a wooden spoon drawn across the bottom of the pan leaves a path.

Ladle into clean hot pint jars leaving 1/4 - 1/2-inch headspace. Wipe rims with a damp cloth. Seal the jars according to the manufacturer’s instructions and process in a boiling water bath for 15 minutes. Allow to mature for at least 1 month before eating.

Makes 5 pints.

2-1/4 lb. ripe medium to large plums (a variety is good) 1 c. sugar 3/4 c. water 2 t. vanilla extract glug of brandy or liqueur 1/4 cup walnuts, coarsely chopped (optional)

Cut the large plums into quarters, removing the pits.

In a heavy-bottomed pot, combine the plums, sugar, water and vanilla. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat and cook over low heat, stirring occasionally, until the fruits soften and break down – about 20 to 30 minutes.

Remove from the heat and stir in brandy or liqueur. Stir in the walnuts, if desired, for a plum walnut compote.

Ladle the preserves into clean, hot jars, leaving 1/4-inch head space. Wipe rims with a damp cloth.

Seal the jars according to the manu-facturer’s instructions and process in a boiling water bath for 15 minutes.

Makes four 250 ml jars.

Shrub or Drinking Vinegar

Freestone Peaches in Vanilla Lemon Syrup 6 lb. freestone peaches 4 c. water 1-1/4 c. sugar 3 T. fresh lemon juice 4 t. vanilla a glug of brandy or orange liqueur is always welcome

Wash 6 one-pint canning jars. Place on a tray and keep them hot by placing the jars in a 200°F. oven until ready to use.

Wash the peaches. Fill a large bowl with water and ice. Set aside.

Rosé and Rhubarb Wine Jelly

Rhubarb Syrup

Wine jellies make a beautiful gift for special occasions. The pastel colour shines in the jar and they are delicious served with charcuterie or on freshly baked goods.

You may use this recipe to make other syrups – blueberry, raspberry, cherry and strawberry are all great choices.

The rhubarb in this recipe may be replaced with any of your favourite seasonal berries, like raspberries or strawberries.

1 c. sugar

You have to make a fruit syrup in order to prepare this jelly. The syrup is a versatile preserve on its own. Recipe for syrup follows.

2 c. rhubarb syrup (see recipe below) 2 c. rosé wine 1/4 c. fresh lemon juice 4 t. Pomona’s calcium water (calcium powder and instructions for mixing calcium water come in the Pomona’s Pectin) 1 c. sugar 4 t. Pomona’s pectin*

Pour the rhubarb syrup, rosé wine and lemon juice into a preserving pan. Add the calcium water. Put the sugar into a bowl and whisk in Pomona’s pectin.

Bring the liquids to a full boil. Add the sugarpectin mixture. Stir vigorously 1-2 minutes to dissolve the sugar and pectin. Allow the mixture to return to a full boil. Immediately remove from the heat. The mixture will be thinner than expected, but it will set as it cools. Fill hot clean jars with jelly, leaving 1/4-in. of headspace.

Wipe rims with a damp cloth. Seal the jars according to the manufacturer’s instructions and process in a boiling water bath for 15 minutes.

Makes 4-5 250 ml jars. *Pomona’s Pectin may be purchased at Amaranth, Community Natural and The Cookbook Co. It’s a natural pectin derived from citrus that will set low-sugar jams and jellies.

2 c. rhubarb, roughly chopped 2 c. water fine mesh strainer and /or cheesecloth

Combine the rhubarb, sugar, and water in a heavy-bottomed saucepan. Bring the mixture to a boil, stirring gently to dissolve the sugar.

Once the mixture has boiled, immediately reduce the heat to a simmer. Do not stir. Cook gently for about 20 to 30 minutes until the rhubarb has softened. Remove from heat.

Set a fine-mesh strainer (or a strainer lined with cheesecloth) over a bowl that is large enough to hold 2 cups. Pour the rhubarb mixture into the strainer and let strain until most of the liquid is in the bowl. Softly press the remaining solids with the back of a spoon to extract more syrup.

Use for jelly making or pour into a jar and use as a cordial to serve with mineral water or splash on a fruit salad. Store in the refrigerator if not using for jelly.

Makes about 2 cups.

Stone Fruit in Syrup You may can apricots, nectarines, plums and pears in a water bath.

Don’t peel apricots, plums or nectarines. Pears, although not a stone fruit, preserve very well in syrup. They should be peeled, cored and poached in the syrup for 5 minutes before putting up in jars. Blackberries, blueberries and kumquats can be preserved the same way (no blanching required).

Bring a large pot of water to a boil. Have ready a bowl of lemon water to hold the skinned peaches to prevent discolouration. Score the skin of each peach by lightly running a knife along the crease of the peach that runs from the stem end to the blossom end and back to the stem end of the fruit.

Dip the peaches, either one by one, or a few at a time, into the boiling water for 30 - 60 seconds, no longer – you don’t want to cook the fruit. Immediately after removing the peach from the hot water plunge it into the ice cold water.

Remove the peach from the cold water and, with the skin still on, insert a sharp knife through the flesh of the peach to the pit beginning at the stem end. Turning the peach, follow its crease to the blossom end and back to the stem. This way you have halved the fruit. Hold the peach, a half in each hand, and twist in opposite directions to separate the halves. Remove the stone. Slip the skin off each half. Either leave the peaches in halves or cut it into quarters. Place the skinned halves into the bowl of lemon water to prevent the flesh from darkening.

Combine water, sugar, lemon juice and vanilla in a heavy-bottomed preserving pan. Bring the mixture to a boil. Stir to dissolve sugar. Turn heat to low and keep warm until ready to use.

Add a glug of your favourite brandy or orange liqueur, if you like.

Use a colander and drain the lemon water off the peaches.

Remove the hot jars from the oven. Use a funnel to pack the peaches, cavity side down, into the jars leaving 1/2-inch headspace. Fill the jars with hot syrup, ensuring you have left the required 1/2-inch headspace. Gently run a spatula or the back of a small spoon around the inside of the jar to press out any air bubbles.

Wipe the rim of the jar clean with a damp cloth. Seal the jars according to the manufacturer’s instructions and process in a boiling water bath for 25 minutes.

Makes about 6 pints.

A shrub is a fruit syrup preserved with vinegar. It’s an old-fashioned beverage/condiment that has made a huge comeback. Shrub is derived from an Arabic word that means “a drink.”

Drinking vinegars are centuries old, stretching back to Babylonian times, and have been consumed in many cultures. Romans, colonial sailors and 19th and 20th century households have all enjoyed the pleasures of shrub drinking.

Try mixing a shrub into your favourite cocktail or putting a splash in your mineral water. You can also use the brightly flavoured syrup in salad dressings in lieu of your regular vinegar, as a glaze for meats and roast veggies, or add a splash to homemade jam.

Cherry Vanilla Shrub 2 c. fresh, washed and pitted cherries (frozen also works) 2 T. vanilla extract 1-1/2 c. sugar 2 c. apple cider vinegar

Put the cherries, vanilla and sugar into a 2 qt. wide-mouth glass jar.

Use a muddler or wooden spoon to crush the cherries, macerating the fruit and releasing juice. Make sure all the sugar is moistened by the cherry juice.

Seal the jar and give it a good shake.

Let the cherry/vanilla/sugar mixture sit in a cool place for a minimum of 24 hours and up to 48 hours. A lot of juice from the fruit will be released during this time.

Add the cider vinegar. Store in a cool place for at least 7 days and up to 4 weeks.

Shake the shrub daily. Strain the shrub mixture through a fine mesh strainer. Gently press on the fruit to extract as much liquid as possible.

Using a funnel, pour the shrub into a bottle.

Store in the refrigerator for up to one year.

To flavour sparkling water, add one ounce (or more, depending on taste) to five ounces of soda water. Serve over ice.

Makes approx. 1 qt.

Try experimenting with other flavour combinations: Blackberry and Thyme Apricot and Ginger Strawberry and Lemon Balm Cherry Balsamic ✤ Val Andrews is the owner of The Harvest Pantry, a food pantry and kitchen tool supply shop in London, Ontario. She teaches classes in preserving and fermenting foods.

CITY PALATE.ca JULY AUGUST 2015

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bees SUMMER IS ALL ABOUT

City Palate supports bees, you can too.

by Ellen Kelly

It may surprise you to learn just how crucial the role of the honeybee is to our comfort and pleasure, even to our very lives. We certainly love the culinary potential of honey, the sweet food they create. We’ve transformed their aromatic wax into high-quality candles and cosmetics for centuries. The nectar and pollen they produce have long been praised for their health benefits. In fact, before the practice of beekeeping was developed, man has risked life and limb for millennia climbing trees and cliffs in pursuit of this liquid gold. A spoonful of honey can calm a cough and a mere dab ease a burn.

But all these things are merely by-products of the real work bees actually do.

Bees pollinate pretty much everything. Easily a third of all the food crops we consume require the assistance of these busy little creatures.

This essential service helps to ensure viable crops and productive orchards. Even our woods, fields and gardens would be bereft without the flowers that bees so industriously pollinate. There’s no question – our world would be a tasteless, colourless place without them.

For some time, there have been deep concerns regarding the decline of both native and commercial bees and hives. The combined effects caused by insecticides, parasites, weather conditions, and even changes in the way we farm, are under scrutiny. We hear alarming talk about CCD (colony collapse disorder) and what that could potentially mean for everyone. Even now, too little is known, for a fact. But by taking a healthy interest in their lot, we can all do a little something to improve our own.

Alberta is home to more than 400 species of native bees that need food sources from early spring right up until the late fall. Urban and rural gardeners alike can lend a helping hand to create and/or improve thriving bee habitats.

First and foremost, never use pesticides. Needless to say, pesticides kill insects… bees are insects. If you can avoid using herbicides as well, do so, especially on already opened flowers. Keeping both away from anything that will come into contact with foraging bees, like standing pools of water they may drink from, is a must.

Make sure there are always a few of the honeybee’s preferred plants flowering at any given time throughout the growing season.

Native species are a good choice; they’re hardy, easy to maintain and provide especially good food for bees. Bees see in the ultra-violet spectrum, so large blocks of purple, blue, yellow and white flowers are particularly attractive to them. Purple cornflower, aster, prairie crocus, lupine and wild bergamot are just a few favourites.

With the exception of primates, honeybees utilize the most diverse language, albeit largely symbolic, of any other species on the planet. Every forager bee performs myriad tasks. She locates flowers, decides if the pollen is good enough to eat, collects it, and finds her way back home. She then proceeds to tell her sisters what she found and where to find it by performing the “waggle dance.”

We’re not kidding when we say “Busy as a bee!”

Some members cool the hive with their wings in summer and cluster around the queen to keep her warm in winter. Others build complex combs for babies and food storage, while still others produce nectar and do general housekeeping. The queen, in turn, has all the babies and is the centre of the hive. Drones, the only males in the hive, do nothing more than impregnate the queen and then die.

Calgary’s ABC, Apiaries & Bees for Communities, backyardbees.ca, prints a charming series of books, Little Books on Bees, full of tips and tidbits. Further, the work they do in educating and enlightening everyone from young children to chefs is beyond commendable. Many of your favourite restaurants, merchants and entrepreneurs are involved in supporting hives right here in the city with ABC’s invaluable support. Check out their web site and discover how easy it is for anyone to participate, even in a small way, in this incredibly worthwhile endeavour.

The Calgary & District Beekeepers’ Association, calgarybeekeepers.com, and The Community Hive, thecommunityhive.org, are good resources as well. ✤

Ellen Kelly is a chef and regular contributor to City Palate.

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CITY PALATE.ca JULY AUGUST 2015

Join us for a street food party!

The Food Truck Flock is back...

Follow our adventures and join the discussion on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Tumblr

Location: The parking lot behind Metrovino & The Cookbook Co. Cooks 722-11th Avenue SW

Saturday, July 18th, noon-3 pm YYC food trucks are flocking together for a delicious afternoon and Calgary is invited! The roster includes Bento Burrito, Jane Bond, Sticky Ricky’s, Taiko Taco, Take it and Go, The Noodle Bus, as well as a selection of delicious, local ice creams.

There is no cover charge for this event – just show up and purchase what you would like directly from the trucks.

Grown-ups can join us inside at Beer & Rosé Garden for a glass of wine or a local craft beer by Village Brewery to pair with your street eats.

Drink tickets are available on-site, the day of the event.

New this year – live music by The Dick Clark 3!

Foodies that flock together, rock together!

THE COOKBOOK CO. COOKS

722-11th Avenue SW Phone 403-265-6066, ext.1

STO P IN FOR A BITE.

A NEW DINING EXPERIENCE AT THE

CITY PALATE.ca JULY AUGUST 2015

27

Ribs...

IN SEARCH OF THE PERFECT RACK

by Ron Shewchuk

A little rib science Like beef brisket and pork shoulder, the meat between rib bones has a high proportion of connective tissue made of a long-strand protein called collagen. When heated too quickly, over too high a heat, those protein strands seize up, making the meat rubbery. But here’s the alchemy part. With long, gentle cooking at a low temperature, collagen transforms into gelatin, which gives great barbecue its distinctive tenderness and silky texture. That process starts happening when the meat reaches about 140°F and continues thereafter. The ideal texture comes when the meat between the bones reaches about 165°F. Allow it to climb much higher than that and quality starts to suffer.

The other thing to know about rib meat, particularly pork, is that it’s gotta have some fat in it. Look for well-marbled flesh, and the larger the cut, the better. Most pork ribs raised for the Canadian market are just too small, and Danish or Chilean rib racks are even smaller.

When it comes to pork ribs, it also matters where on the pig they come from. Back ribs, which are up higher on the hog, have less connective tissue and therefore should be cooked for a shorter time. Spare ribs are closer to the belly, where bacon comes from, so they have more fat and collagen.

The same principle goes for beef ribs. Curvy back ribs are leaner, spare ribs are are fattier. Nicely marbled short ribs, done properly, are insanely tender and delicious.

Let’s talk technique The classic treatment is to season ribs, cook them ‘til they’re tender, let them rest, and, if you’re so inclined, finish them with a sweet, tangy glaze. That might sound easy, but the devil is in the details.

There are basically three approaches to attaining perfect ribs.

1. Smoked. For maximum authenticity and real barbecue flavour, cook ‘em “low and slow” in a charcoal or hardwood-fueled smoker or barbecue pit at about 225°F for many hours. Using this method, pork back ribs take four or five hours, pork or beef side ribs five to seven hours. For the last hour of cooking time, you can sprinkle the ribs with a little water or apple juice for extra moisture and wrap them in foil.

2. Grilled using indirect heat. If you don’t have a smoker, another method is to use indirect heat on a covered charcoal or gas grill. The idea here is to grill the ribs more gently by positioning them away from the direct heat source. On a charcoal grill, you would move the coals to one side and place a water pan under the ribs on the other side. On a gas grill, you do the same thing by turning off the gas burners under one side of the cooking grate and using the lowest setting for the burners on the hot side of the grill. It’s hard to get the temperature of a gas grill to much below 300°F, so it’s more difficult to get the optimum tenderness. Again, wrapping in foil at the end can help.

3. Simmered and finished on the grill. This controversial technique is to

simmer or steam your ribs before you grill them. My friend Meathead, who hosts the extremely popular website, amazingribs.com, sums up the purist’s attitude to this method: “If you boil ribs the terrorists win.” The concern is that if you boil ribs before you grill them, there will be a loss of flavour and they get mushy. That may be true if you cook them at a rolling boil for two hours. My method is to gently simmer the ribs for about an hour and 15 minutes or until they’re just perfectly tender, let them cool, sprinkle on some rub and finish them on a medium-high grill, glazing them with barbecue sauce as you turn them.

When City Palate editor and barbecue rib competitor Kathy Richardier asked me for an article on ribs, I shuddered a little before accepting the assignment. The perfect rib is elusive. As with other idyllic foods, our expectations for ribs are high, which means they can easily disappoint. Too often they’re tough, or mushy, or dry, or drowned in oppressively sweet sauce.

Meathead might call it a travesty, but I’ve served my “Cheater Ribs” to many guests, who always call them delicious. I’ve even done a side-by-side test with simmered vs. smoked ribs. The simmered ones weren’t as smoky, but they won hands down because they were more moist and tender. I would even use the word succulent. If simmering is wrong, I don’t want to be right.

I can’t guarantee perfect ribs every time. But, on a few occasions in my long barbecue career, I have been to the smoky mountaintop that is the perfect rib, where fragrant, unctuous meat, sticky with sweet, tangy sauce, pulls gently off the bone.

As I scour my memory for the best ribs I’ve ever had, I’d have to say they were the mutton ribs at Southside Market near Elgin in Central Texas. Seasoned with the classic spices of Texas barbecue and perfectly smoked over local wild post oak, they were so good I couldn’t stop eating them, even though I’d been to three other barbecue joints that day.

Here’s what I know about the alchemy that is rib cookery. At the very least, I hope you get something out of it to guide your own personal rib journey.

Perfect ribs are like that. Once you’ve had a bite, you don’t want to leave the table with anything but a full belly and a pile of bare bones.

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CITY PALATE.ca JULY AUGUST 2015

Recipes

Here are a couple of my favourite rib recipes. Visit me at facebook.com/barbecuesecrets if you’d like to share one of yours.

Greek-Style Cheater Ribs

Beautiful Bronto Beef Ribs

These ribs are wonderfully tender, they taste great, and they don’t take all day to cook. This Greek treatment is excellent, but once you’ve got the ribs pre-cooked, you can finish them any way you like.

These are the ribs that tipped over Fred Flintstone’s car. You can use the rub on anything, but it goes exceptionally well with this dish.

2 racks of side or back pork ribs, trimmed by your butcher 1 t. peppercorns

1 jar mint jelly

2 racks beef prime ribs, 6 to 8 bones per rack

fresh mint for garnish

kosher salt

For the rub, whisk together these ingredients:

olive oil

1 T. each, dried (not powdered) oregano, dried mint, dried basil, dried rosemary 1 t. dried parsley 1 T. sea salt 1 T. freshly ground black pepper 1/2 t. granulated garlic

Remove the membrane from the ribs if your butcher hasn’t already done it for you (see the sidebar tips for how to do this relatively easily).

Fill a large pot with cold water and completely submerge the ribs in the water. Add the onion, peppercorns and bay leaves. Bring the water just to a boil. Quickly skim off the scum that forms on the top of the water and reduce the heat to low.

Gently simmer the ribs for about 1-1/4 hours, or until the bones start to poke out of the meat.

Take the ribs out of the water and cool them on a cooking sheet until they’re easy to handle.

Prepare your grill for direct medium heat.

Sprinkle the ribs on both sides with the rub and drizzle them with a light coating of olive oil.

Put the mint jelly in a saucepan and gently heat it until it’s liquid. Set it aside and keep it warm.

Grill the ribs for 3 - 4 minutes on each side, applying the melted mint jelly with a basting brush as you turn them. Remove them from the grill and let them rest for a few minutes. Cut them into single ribs, garnish with some chopped mint, and serve with classic accompaniments, like Greek salad and roasted potatoes.

Serves 4 to 6.

•If you’re going to glaze your ribs, do it at the very end of the process to avoid turning the sugar into carbon.

1 T. black peppercorns

1/2 t. ground chipotles or cayenne

extra-virgin olive oil

•For the best texture, let your ribs rest, wrapped in foil, for 20-45 minutes before you eat.

1 t. cumin seeds

1 T. ground ancho chile

2 bay leaves

•Always remove the tough membrane on the inside of the rack. You can get a firm grip on it with a paper towel.

For the rub:

1 T. dried mushrooms (porcini, morels, or chanterelles work well)

1 medium onion, peeled and halved

Random rib tips:

Great products + great advice = great food!

Lightly toast the cumin seeds in a dry pan over medium heat. Grind the pepper, dried mushrooms, and toasted cumin seeds using a spice mill or electric coffee grinder until they are the consistency of coarse sand. Combine the mixture in a bowl with the ground ancho and chipotle chiles. Season the ribs with a generous coating of salt and then give them a light drizzle of oil. Coat them liberally with the rub and let the ribs sit for up to 1/2 hour, or until the rub starts to glisten.

Prepare the grill for medium indirect cooking with a pan to catch the drippings. (This means preheat the grill on high for 10 minutes, then turn the burners on one side to low, and turn the other side off.) Grill the ribs on the “off” side for 1 hour, turning them every 15 minutes or so and basting them with olive oil, until the internal temperature in the thickest part of the ribs reaches 140°F. For the last 10 minutes of the cooking time, put the ribs over direct heat to char and crisp them. You can finish these with your favourite barbecue sauce but I prefer them just like this. Serve them with classic barbecue accompaniments.

Alternative cooking method: For a whole other layer of flavour, smoke these ribs for 4 - 5 hours, using oak or mesquite as a flavouring agent, and finish them on the grill.

Serves 4 to 6.

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In addition to a 165°F reading on a meat thermometer, here are several other tests for doneness: •Try to pull two ribs apart with your fingers. If they don’t come apart they need to cook longer, if they come apart with a little effort they’re done, and if they fall off the bone you’ve gone too far.

•Hold the ribs by one end with the curve facing down. If they easily flex and a crack opens up between the ribs as they’re bending, they’re done.

•When three-quarters of the rib bone ends protrude from the meat, they’re ready. ✤

Rockin’ Ron Shewchuk is the Baron of BBQ North and the author of Barbecue Secrets Deluxe.

Photo by John Sinal Photography.

Sunday, August 23rd, 2015 - 1 pm till 4 pm Pumphouse Park - 2140 Pumphouse Avenue SW Calgary, AB Tickets on sale now at: WWW.BREWERYANDTHEBEAST.COM

CITY PALATE.ca JULY AUGUST 2015

29

Fresh Summer Pasta

by Pam Fortier

“Summertime, and the livin’ is easy…” with these three summer pasta recipes, although some are less easy than others. Each of them could be the main event for a lunch in the garden, or part of a dinner “al fresco” on the deck or patio. The lobster pasta can be served as a first course followed by a grilled meat and salad entrée. Both the tomato and yogurt pastas would pair nicely with a piece of grilled meat or fish for a casual summer meal.

Just in case you need a bit of a challenge in your “livin’ is easy” summer...

Fresh Ricotta Gnocchi This requires some planning and effort, but it’s well worth it. I had rarely tried a gnocchi that I liked before this, as they always seemed doughy. These are little pillows of deliciousness that melt in your mouth. If you don’t want to make ricotta, you can find the good stuff at Italian markets. Make the ricotta the day before you use it, as it must drain overnight.

Ricotta: 8 c. whole milk 1 c. whipping cream 1 t. salt 6 T. lemon juice or white wine vinegar

Heat the milk, cream and salt in a saucepan over medium heat until steaming and just about to boil. Remove from the heat and add lemon juice or vinegar. Stir thoroughly and allow to sit 5-10 minutes. The mixture will separate into curds and whey. Pour into a cheesecloth-lined sieve set over a large bowl. Cover the entire bowl and let drain overnight. The whey can be saved and used in baking in place of buttermilk.

Refrigerate the ricotta curds until ready to use.

Makes about 8 c. or 3 lbs.

Pasta with Yogurt and Peas

Lobster Pasta

Fresh Tomato Pasta

This is my riff on an Ottolenghi recipe. This version uses mint with feta cheese and we love it with a grilled lamb chop. It’s also really good with basil and burrata for a more Italian touch.

I’ve also made it with 5 or 6 spears of fresh asparagus, chopped, added with the peas for the final minute, then a mixture of fresh chives, mint and basil – there are many ways to go with this. I use Liberté yogurt.

For those willing to spend the time extracting it, there’s almost as much meat in the body (tomalley, etc) and legs as in the claws and tail of a lobster. There are resources on the Internet for guidance on how to get it out. The resulting dish has much more lobster flavour. If you aren’t willing to do this, and only use the claws and tail, you will need to buy two lobsters.

I make endless variations of this in the summer.

It’s like bruschetta pasta, so it’s for you if you crave that garlicky tomato combination. The riper your tomatoes, the better this will be. Grill some Italian sausages to make an easy summer meal.

1-1/4 c. plain yogurt

1-1/2 lb. live lobster

1/3 c. olive oil

1/2 lb. linguine

1/2 lb. fresh peas

3 T. unsalted butter

1 t. Sriracha hot sauce

1 medium onion, chopped

1 garlic clove, minced

1 garlic clove, minced

1/4 c. pine nuts

1 lb. ripe tomatoes, roughly chopped

1/2 lb. pasta of choice

1/4 t. Sriracha hot sauce

1/2 - 1 c. fresh mint leaves, chopped

salt and freshly ground pepper

4 oz. feta cheese, crumbled

Bring a large pot of water to a boil, then add the salt and lobster. Cover and cook the lobster for 9 minutes. Remove and cool the lobster so it’s comfortable enough to handle and reserve the lobster water for later use. Remove all the meat, chop coarsely and refrigerate. This can be done well before your guests arrive.

salt and pepper to taste

Place yogurt, olive oil, 1/3 cup of the peas, Sriracha and garlic in a food processor. Process well, pour into a bowl and set aside. Toast the pine nuts in the oven and set aside. Bring a large pot of well-salted water to a boil and cook the pasta to the desired doneness. Drain well and keep warm. Throw in the remaining peas with the pasta for a minute to heat through.

Gradually add the pasta and peas to the yogurt mixture, stirring constantly to avoid having the hot pasta “break” the yogurt. Stir in the mint and feta, then season with salt and pepper to taste. Serves 4 as a side.

2 t. salt

Cook the pasta in the lobster water to al dente.

Drain, reserving a cup of the water.

While the pasta cooks, heat a medium-sized pot over medium heat and melt the butter.

Sauté the onion and garlic to soften. Add the tomatoes, Sriracha and salt and pepper. Cook for a couple of minutes. Add the linguine and finish cooking it to the desired doneness in the sauce. Add the lobster and heat through. Adjust seasonings and serve. Serves 4 as a main dish, 6 to 8 as a starter.

This comes together fairly quickly, but benefits from an hour of maceration. It’s great with any type of dried pasta, but I especially love it on ricotta gnocchi – the recipe follows. If you like the idea of gnocchi but don’t want to make it, you can find good gnocchi at Italian markets.

4 garlic cloves 1 t. salt 1/2 t. Sriracha hot sauce 1 - 2 T. sherry or balsamic vinegar 4 T. olive oil freshly ground pepper 1-1/2 lb. ripe tomatoes, cut into 1/4- to 1/2inch dice 1 T. capers, chopped, if large 1/2 lb. dried penne or other short-type pasta 1/2 c. parmesan cheese, finely grated

Gnocchi: This makes a couple of pounds of gnocchi.

Freezing them first in an airtight container will keep them from sticking together.

4 c. (1-1/2 lbs.) fresh ricotta 2 eggs 1 t. salt freshly ground pepper 1 c. flour 1/2 c. parmesan cheese, finely grated

In an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, mix the ricotta, eggs, salt and pepper. Add the flour and cheese and mix just until combined.

Flour a clean, smooth countertop. Scoop roughly 1/3 of the ricotta mixture onto the counter.

Sprinkle it with more flour, shape it into a ball, then roll into a 3/4- to 1-inch-diameter rope, trying not to overwork the dough. Cut into 1/2- to 1-inch-long pieces. Place them on a parchment-lined baking sheet as you go and continue with the remaining dough until finished. Refrigerate or freeze until ready to use.

When ready to eat, cook the gnocchi in boiling salted water for 9-12 minutes, depending on whether they are fresh or frozen. When they float to the top, they’re cooked. Serving 1 to 1-1/2 c. per person, this will feed 4 to 5 people. ✤

1/2 - 1 c. fresh basil, cut into chiffonade or torn

Mince the garlic, then add salt and grind to a paste with the side of your knife on a cutting board.

Place in a bowl with the hot sauce, vinegar, olive oil and pepper. Add the tomatoes and capers.

Mix to combine and allow to sit at room temperature for at least an hour, stirring occasionally.

Cook the pasta in generously salted water to desired doneness. Taste the tomato mixture and adjust seasoning, if necessary. Drain the pasta well and add to the tomatoes. Add the parmesan cheese and basil and mix to combine.

This can be eaten hot or at room temperature.

Serves 3 to 4 as a side.

Pam Fortier is the owner of Decadent Desserts.

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CITY PALATE.ca JULY AUGUST 2015

& The Wine Lounge

open daily

Signal Hill

1919 Sirocco Drive SW bistrorougeyyc.com @BistroRougeYYC “9 out of 10” – John Gilchrist

Inglewood

1240 8th Ave SE rougecalgary.com @RougeCal Named #1 Best Overall Restaurant 2015 – Avenue Magazine

CITY PALATE.ca JULY AUGUST 2015

31

L O N G

L I V E

L O N G

T A B L E

D I

by Karen Anderson

A cosy table for two is synonymous with romance. A dining table extended to squeeze in 20 means a holiday gathering. A really long table for 200 is in line with the thinking of Jane Austen, who said, “One cannot have too large a party.”

Sunshine Skillet Sunset Dinner in Medicine Hat

Markerville’s long table dinner

City Palate’s Really, Really Long Table Dinner, downtown Calgary 

Today, Austen would be pleased. Large parties of long table dinners are extending their leaves across our province and around the globe. Finland holds the Guinness World Record for the longest long table dinner with a whopping 1.286 kilometre long feast.

Canada might not hold the record for the longest of tables, but we do have a long history of gathering around them. Early French explorer Samuel de Champlain founded The Order of Good Cheer in Port Royal, Nova Scotia in 1606 after people from the Mi’kmaq First Nation taught his troops to forage from the bounty nature provided. Food and camaraderie with locals helped his community thrive as opposed to barely surviving, as they had during their previous winters.

Slow Food Nova Scotia says Champlain’s Order of Good Cheer was the first gastronomic society in North America. In the 300 years following its establishment and the emergence of Slow Food International – which is dedicated to convivial gatherings that celebrate all things local – churches and service clubs became the organizers of long table dinners at community gatherings across Canada.

Annual church fundraiser suppers were a kind of pan-Canadian, community-wide dining circuit.

Menus reflected regional fare out of necessity.

Over the course of a year, lobster dinners, fish chowders, beef barbecues, feasts of fowl, humble suppers of baked beans and salmon potlatches were and still are enjoyed from sea to shining sea.

With post-millennial church and service club attendance down, long table dinners have become increasing secular and commercial. Some are franchises that travel a circuit and “pop up” with great fanfare.

Dîner en Blanc – an outdoor dinner where everyone wears white and brings their own tables, chairs, cutlery and food – is one of these. This will be its third year in Calgary (top photo), but it’s been a tradition in Paris for more than 25 years. There, it attracts 15,000 people annually, everyone intent on creating a “magical evening.”

In Alberta, most long table dinners are opportunities for communities to enjoy local ingredients.

Chefs and businesses benefit from their exposure to new clientele, farmers are celebrated and everyone has fun. The Alberta Culinary Tourism Alliance (ACTA) website (albertaculinary.com) acts as a central listings hub.

Surprisingly, not all long table events are held in our fine weather months. Medicine Hat hosts a

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massive indoor Sunshine Skillet Sunset Dinner in early April. Canmore Uncorked follows on its heels in mid-April with a brave – given its mountain location – outdoor long table dinner.

Tourism Canmore’s Tulene Steiestol says that while the festival organizers know that spring in the mountains could mean four seasons in one day, the event’s restaurant partners are keen to take on the challenge of feeding guests outdoors because the stunning views of the spectacular Rocky Mountain backdrop add to the overall atmosphere of the dinner. The guests love the variety of food, the great value, the atmosphere and the opportunity to make new friends. Steiestol says passersby often want to know how they can join on the spot.

If there is a downside to the dinners it’s that spontaneity is not an option when there are so many production logistics involved.

City Palate publisher Gail Norton can speak to that.

She brought long table dining to Calgary and had a vision for what she calls a “really, really long table” dinner. She wanted to put a harvest table in an urban setting and thought the concentration of restaurants downtown made it the perfect venue.

Last September, the event had nine restaurants serving a multi-course meal to 280 people on Stephen Avenue, but impending snow meant postponing the event a week.

Organizing these events is not for nervous Nellies.

With so much work one might wonder if long table dinners are worth the bother.

Fraser Abbott, chair of ACTA, says that his favourite thing about the dinners and their worth is their ability to showcase Alberta’s truly unique settings and the flavours of the place. I attended an event with Abbott in tiny Markerville last summer that proved his point.

A team of Calgary chefs led by Markerville native son, chef Darren MacLean, collaborated to highlight 13 local producers and to raise awareness of this tiny town, which has an Icelandic heritage. A long turquoise-linen-covered table laden with golden sunflowers greeted guests from the centre of Markerville’s one and only street. A big blue prairie sky evening saw farmers, chefs and grateful eaters mix and come a little closer to understanding what Alberta has to offer a world that’s rediscovering the importance of good food to life and health.

Abbott walks the talk. After his long table experience, he returned with his small children to visit the town’s creamery and pick berries a few weeks after

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the event. He says his memories of Markerville will be forever tied to the tastes he’s experienced there.

Bergen and Aspen Crossing near Vulcan are other examples of small towns with big tastes. While the Feast of Bergen only happens once each year, Aspen Crossing has weekly offerings to explore, including a special train ride to long table dinners at a heritage grain elevator. Aspen Crossing is an innovator in provincial rural tourism.

FOOD FUN & ADVENTURE

NOVEMBER 7 to 23 2015

we can help

Innovation is something that concerns Terry Andryo, senior agricultural marketing manager for Alberta Treasury Branches (ATB). ATB is sponsoring a series of “think tank” private long table dinners this year because Andryo sees the long table as a place where conversations start and great business ideas are stimulated. ATB is joining with ACTA, Travel Alberta and the Alberta Motor Association to tell a unified story of what’s on Alberta’s menu. Andryo predicts these could lead to changes in Alberta farming.

Long table dinners may help Alberta develop a globally recognized food brand that international food travellers will come to experience.

Jasper’s Dark Sky festival, celebrated with science, astronomy and fun events, is now enhanced with a long table dinner every October.

Edmonton’s Culina Restaurant group holds a Ukrainian-themed long table dinner to bring warmth, music, twinkling lights and a shot or two of local Eau Claire distillery vodka to that city’s deep dark November.

Food travel is transformative and a quickly growing tourism sector.

With Albertans themselves getting seduced by local flavours, the province is now poised to demonstrate its legendary western hospitality by inviting the world to experience its outstanding long tables. ✤ Karen Robicheau Anderson’s ancestors came from France to settle near Port Royal, Nova Scotia, in the early 1600s. Good cheer and feasting are in her blood.

All photos courtesy of respective websites.

JOIN US FOR THE TRIP OF A FOOD LOVER’S LIFETIME: New Delhi Diwali Festival Amritsar The Golden Temple Varanasi Sacred Ganges Lucknow India’s Gourmet Hotspot Rishikkesh Ananda Spa, Himalayas 15 DAY TOUR $8495.00 (plus taxes) • 4-5 star accommodation • airfare from Calgary • domestic flights in India • most meals including Diwali Feast • all excursions & daily yoga • demo with famed chef Sumeet Nair REGISTRATION & ITINERARY PLEASE CONTACT: Karen Anderson karen@calgaryfoodtours.com before July 31, 2015

CITY PALATE.ca JULY AUGUST 2015

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FROM ALBERTA TO YOUR GLASS:

Crafting the Hyper-Local Cocktail

by Dan Clapson

There was a time when people happily sat down in a restaurant, ordered a stale-fromweeks-of-transportation import beer, a dish of some unsustainable seafood, like tiger prawns or Chilean sea bass, and really enjoyed themselves. Fast forward to 2015 where we’ve happily swapped out import beers for great local brews. Tiger prawns have been booted off the scene and replaced by much more environmentally conscious (and better-tasting) items like sidestripe shrimp and spot prawns.

This mindset begs the question: Why should we think any differently about the cocktails we drink?

If you’re an avid lover of cocktails and consider yourself a budding home mixologist, think about adding these elements to your liquid arsenal at home. Bottles of gin, tonic and bitters may not grow on our back-yard trees, but this is as close as we may get and, to me, it’s pretty damn close!

Bee Kingdom Glassware

Porter’s Tonic Syrup

What: Not everyone can say the drink they’re sipping is local right down to the glass it’s in,  but with a set of Royal Scotch or Prairie Sunset glasses from Bee Kingdom, you certainly can.

The trio of glass artists – Tim Belliveau, Ryan Fairweather and Phillip Bandura – have run their glass-blowing studio since 2004 and are well known for their vibrant creations. The glasses are in the $40 range, but are well made and are the perfect sizes for a summer cocktail.

What: Created by Nicole Fewell, the owner of the popular Cheezy Bizness food truck, these tonic syrups (named after her son) come in three varieties, all of which are herbal and citrus-based. Though the most popular application of the tonic syrup is to add it to soda water to create a to-your-taste gin and tonic, it lends itself to more dynamic cocktails, like margaritas or bourbon-based sours.

How to use it best: The royal scotch glasses are short and stout, ideal for strong-spirited drinks or straight-up scotch. The prairie sunset glasses are quite thick, which helps them stay cooler longer, making them perfect for drinks that are served chilled, but without ice cubes. Even with ice cubes.

Where: Available for purchase through the Bee Kingdom Glass Studio (beekingdomglass.com).

Eau Claire Distillery What: In the past, Alberta had placed some heavy restrictions on liquor production in the province, so while other parts of Canada began flourishing in the micro-distillery department, we were left in the dust. Eau Claire Distillery, which opened in summer, 2014, marks the turn of the tide. Produced in our back yard, Turner Valley, by David Farran and Larry Kerwin, Eau Claire’s Six Point Vodka and Parlour Gin have become favoured by many mixologists in town, especially the latter, with its accents of Saskatoon berry, rosehip and coriander.

How to use it best: The vodka is versatile, but the London-dry-style gin with its slight floral, rosehip and saskatoon berry aromatics is well suited to sweet drinks and your martini, twist of lemon peel.

Where: The two year-round available products, Six Point Vodka and Parlour Gin, can be found at any quality liquor store in the city, including J. Webb Wine Merchant, Metrovino, Kensington Wine Market, Bin 905, Calgary Co-op Wine Spirits Beer, Highlander Wine & Spirits, Crowfoot Liquor (eauclairedistillery.ca).

Locally Grown Aromatics What: Now that it’s mid-summer, the farmers’ markets are teeming with locally grown fruits and almost every herb imaginable. If you’ve got a green thumb, you’ll likely have more herbs in your back yard – like mint, rosemary and basil – than you know what to do with.

How to use them best: Rosemary and basil are suitable for most applications where you would normally use mint, like in mojitos or sangria. For a great flavour boost, try muddling fresh chives at the bottom of a glass before making a caesar.

Where: Your own back yard or any local farmers’ market.

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How to use it best: Using Porter’s will make you wonder why you ever bought commercial tonic. Though it has an herbal, slightly bitter taste, it’s also a bit sweet, so be careful how much you add to a drink that already calls for a simple syrup or sugar cube.

Where: Widely available, including Vine Arts, Willow Park Wine and Spirits, J. Webb Wine Merchant, The Cookbook Co., Bridgeland Market, Luke’s Drug Mart and Silk Road Spice Merchant (porterstonic.com).

Black Cloud Burnt Cedar Bitters What: Until now, the closest Canadian bitters producer to Calgary, Bittered Sling, was found in Vancouver. We now have a small-batch producer to call our own. Creator Rob Kaczanowski launched Black Cloud this summer with his classy bitters made with bourbon and charred Canadian cedar for a one-of-a-kind taste. More flavours like apple and orange will be released in the coming months, but this first bottle of bitters is definitely unique enough to play with.

How to use it best: The woodsy, campfire flavour of Black Cloud bitters can pack a punch, so use it sparingly. A dash or two would be a dynamic addition to a bourbon-based iced tea or a boozy lemonade.

Where: Available for purchase at Willow Park Wine & Spirits and on blackcloudbitters.com.

Now, let’s make some hyper-local cocktails: Punch Drunk Summer Love

Smokin’ Heat

Nicole Fewell takes all of the locally made ingredients and turns them into a bright, refreshing cocktail that could very well become your go-to summer drink.

From Rob Kaczanowski at Black Cloud Bitters.

1/2 oz. rosemary apple drinking vinegar (recipe below) 1/2 oz. Porter’s Tonic, Original 2 oz. Eau Claire Parlour Gin 2 dashes Black Cloud Charred Cedar Bitters 1 Prairie Sunset glass, chilled 6 oz. soda water rosemary sprig and apple slices (for garnish)

Place the first three ingredients in a shaker, fill with ice and shake well. Strain into the glass, add bitters and soda, stir and top up with ice.

Garnish with rosemary sprig and apple slices and serve immediately.

To make the rosemary apple drinking vinegar, put 2 c. apple cider vinegar, 1 c. sugar and four 4-inch rosemary sprigs (bruised) into a pot over medium heat. Simmer until the sugar dissolves. Turn the heat off and let the mixture steep for 40 minutes. Strain, transfer to a container and keep in the fridge until ready to use. Makes 2 cups.

2 oz. Mezcal 1/2 oz. Grand Marnier 1/2 oz. jalapeño simple syrup (recipe below) 4 dashes Black Cloud Charred Cedar bitters

Shake everything over ice and pour into a rocks glass. Top off with ice.

To make the jalapeño simple syrup: put 1 c. water, 1 c. sugar and 1 jalapeño – halved and seeds removed – into a small pot and bring to a simmer on medium-high heat until the sugar dissolves. Remove from the heat, let sit for 5 minutes and strain into a container.

Refrigerate when not using.

Roots & Shoots Rhubarb Apéritif Created by Dewey Noordhof, Brava Bistro, and served at this year’s Roots & Shoots celebration of spring at River Café.  1 oz. Eau Claire Parlour Gin 1 oz. rhubarb coulis (recipe below) 1/4 oz. honey syrup (recipe below) 1/4 oz. lemon juice 3 drops rhubarb bitters

Shake over ice and pour into a highball glass.

Garnish with 1 t. Alberta Hutterite honey foam spooned onto the surface (recipe below).

To make the rhubarb coulis: put 2 c. chopped rhubarb, 1/2 c. sugar and 1/8 c. water into a saucepan over medium-low heat. Cook gently, covered, until just tender and juicy, about 20 minutes. Transfer 1 cup at a time to a blender or food processor and purée. Pour into a jar. Store in the fridge until ready to use.

Honey syrup: Heat 1 c. honey with 1 c. water until well combined. Don’t boil; cool before using.

Roots & Shoots Rhubarb Apéritif

Honey foam: add 1/2 c.+1T.+1t. warmed honey syrup to 1/2 sheet of gelatine and whip over ice.

Local Boys... all grown-up Alberta Distillers – The province’s longest-running distillery (69 years and counting) is primarily known for one thing: Alberta Premium rye whisky. This rare example of 100 percent Canadian rye whisky has won a number of awards and you can find it on liquor store shelves across the country. Celebrate a renewed interest in barrel-aged “brown spirits,” and enjoy this on the rocks or in a whisky-forward cocktail. This locally made classic never goes out of style.

Highwood Distillers – Active since 1974, this distillery in High River makes a complete portfolio of fine spirits, like rum, gin and vodka, liqueurs and premixed drinks. The most interesting thing about Highwood is the fact that they do customized packaging of their booze. So, if you’ve always wanted to have a namesake whisky, these are your guys! ✤ Dan Clapson blogs at dansgoodside.com.

6920 Macleod Trail SE 403 259 3119

CITY PALATE.ca JULY AUGUST 2015

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Hustle to Harrison for Historic, Wholesome Fun

by Kate Zimmerman

Calgarians tend to hurtle along Highway 1 to and from Vancouver without pausing once they reach the outskirts of either city. For those who drive the Coquihalla between Cowtown and the “Big Kale,” even pulling over for 30 minutes at Chilliwack’s Bridal Veil Falls is likely to be a concession to restive little ones rather than a personal indulgence.

They likely have no idea, for instance, of the pleasures of a little village called Harrison Hot Springs, its healing waters, or its eponymous resort.

Harrison Hot Springs Resort & Spa is a Vancouver secret, an unpretentious, popular year-round B.C. family getaway that’s the opposite of high-flyin’ Whistler. Located in the farm-rich Fraser Valley, noted for hazelnut farms, artisanal cheeses and other edible bounty, Harrison Hot Springs is a little over nine hours from Calgary (take exit 135 off Highway 1).

From Harrison, it’s another 90 minutes to downtown Vancouver.

The resort feels like hotels in the Catskills must have felt, once upon a time – a place for grandparents, parents and children to relax together on welcoming neutral territory, where the guy serving your cocktails has been doing so for eons and the entertainment’s family-friendly. It’s comfortable, refreshing and somehow familiar, even your first time there.

Discovered by the Salish First Nations and then Fraser canyon miners during the 1858-60 Gold Rush, the naturally occurring hot springs at the southern edge of Harrison Lake eventually became a big lure. The Harrison Hot Springs Resort & Spa was built in 1925.

While casual visitors to the village can have a dip at the indoor public pool down the street, the hotel owns the water rights to the hot springs. At their source, they consist of a potash spring that’s 40 C. and a sulphur spring that’s 65 C. The highly concentrated mineral springs fuel three outdoor and two indoor pools at the resort.

There are other treats on offer, too. The hotel’s Healing Springs Spa provides a full menu of services. Indulge in the “Couples Massage” for a side-by-side treatment of relaxation or reflexology massage in a candle-lit room. The massage will leave you both aglow, as will the salt-of-the-earth masseuse calling you “hon.”

Dress up a bit for dinner in the Copper Room, a large, retro enclave with its own peculiar charm. The live musicians there, who call themselves The Jones Boys, claim to be Canada’s last full-time house band; several of them have appeared at the Copper Room for more than 20 years. When we visited last fall, our waiter said he’d been a server there for three decades.

“I’ve never felt so comfortably middle-aged in my life,” said my husband as we watched our fellow 50-pluses spin each other around the dance floor to Fly Me to the Moon. As The Jones Boys ploughed comfortably from Spanish Eyes to Pharrell Williams’ Happy, younger folk joined the fray. We speculated about whether the pouty young fox being romanced by a groovy grey-hair was a Russian mail-order bride. As toothsome plates like diver scallops and lamb shanks rolled out of the kitchen, the band sang Hallelujah – the Leonard Cohen version, not the one by Handel.

This was autumn, but we could imagine coming here in the summer, when water sports, fishing and swimming would keep generations of family members busy all day and there’d be sunburnt shoulders at the Copper Room tables at night.

We’d timed our own sojourn to coincide with the Fraser Valley Bald Eagle Festival and signed up to scout eagles on a boat with Harrison Eagle Tours (you can also do this by kayak). On a cold, clear November Saturday, we boarded a welded aluminum touring/fishing boat that followed the Harrison River to Eagle Flats. Our captain kept us engrossed with tales of the river’s resident sturgeon, salmon, trout and the ocean-dwelling seals that come up river to “pup.”

A couple of million salmon go through the Harrison Stronghold every year on their way to spawn, which might be why the area hosts one of the largest congresses of eagles in the world. We saw plenty of the majestic birds on this fascinating tour, perched in the trees, their white heads poised, beady eyes trained on the spawning fish tumbling through the icy waters. The eagles generally wait until the salmon are dying before they spread those giant wings and swoop down, carry them off and put them out of their misery. Depending on the season, osprey, kingfishers and other waterfowl also comb the river for eats.

Meanwhile, the self-guided Agassiz-Harrison Mills Circle Farm Tour directs peckish humans like us to visit local producers, including the award-winning Farm House Natural Cheeses. Whatever your ultimate destination, it’s hard to imagine when a few hours in the Harrison Hot Springs area wouldn’t be a respite. Its beauty will stun you, and a few hours in the resort’s Copper Room will take you on a warm spin backwards in time.

And now, for something completely different…

For a thoroughly grown-up getaway on the Harrison River, visit 160-acre Pretty Estates in Harrison Hills. Betty-Anne Faulkner (née Pretty) was born in the gorgeous, antiques-filled home that now operates as Rowena’s Inn on the River. Her property, with its placid ponds, rushing streams, elegant rooms and rustic cabins, overlooks its own gently rolling 18-hole Sandpiper Golf Course, the river and the mountains beyond.

Rowena’s Inn restaurant chef Jonathan Gee cleaves to a repertoire of simple, classic food that makes the most of local ingredients (the estate offers more casual dining in River’s Edge Restaurant).

Even if you’re determined to press on in your travels, a reservation for afternoon tea at Rowena’s Inn provides a great excuse for a look around. You’ll find the restful ambience is a tonic for weary long-distance driver and daisy-fresh day-tripper alike. ✤ Vancouver-based writer Kate Zimmerman also contributes to The Globe and Mail and Montecristo magazine.

Harrison photos, courtesy of Harrison Hot Springs Resort. Feasting eagles photo by Christian Sasse.

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MASTER THE ART OF SLUSHY

Willow Park Village 10816 Macleod Trail South | 403.278.1220

www.compleatcook.ca

AMAZING FOOD • UNIQUE HISTORIC SETTING ACTIVITIES FOR KIDS • MUSEUM ACCESS Sundays from 10:30am-2:00pm | Fort Calgary Barracks For reservations call 403 290 1875 fortcalgary.com

GLENBOW ARCHIVES NA-919-70

CITY PALATE.ca JULY AUGUST 2015

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stockpot

STIRRINGS AROUND CALGARY

The Hawksworth Young Chef Scholarship Foundation is a national non-profit created to provide a platform for talented young Canadian chefs to get a head start in their careers. The winner of the Hawksworth Young Chef Scholarship receives $10,000 and a stage at a top international restaurant. Visit hawksworthscholarship.com for how to apply.

restaurant ramblings n Probably most of us have made the trek to the original King’s Restaurant on Barlow Tr. in the northeast to satisfy our lust for the best wor wonton soup on the planet.

Those of us who live not far from the midreaches of Edmonton Tr. were thrilled at the opportunity to feed our lust – and much else at Kings, we have to admit – more often because the new location is pretty much in our back yard at 808 Edmonton Tr. Yay!

n Yikes! We lost Il Sogno at the end of April, now we lost Brava Bistro at the end of May, after 17 years of success on popular 17th Avenue. The owners are looking forward to a new project. Sadly, charming industry professionals, manager, Dewey Noordhof and chef Andrea Harling, won’t be part of the new project, but they will turn up elsewhere – they may already have. n WURST does Thursday Night Live.

Every Thursday at 8 p.m., WURST features live performances with local bands and musicians. New acts every week paired with German beer haus fare – perfect for entertainment or entertaining guests. Check it out at 2437-4th St. SW. Who doesn’t like good beer haus fare and good music! n Located on 22nd Ave. at 4th St. SW, have a seat at Bocce’s new patio, built with modern simplicity and European flair.

Classic Italian Peroni umbrellas shade you on hot summer days while you sip Italian wine. Little sister to Mercato, Bocce serves up simple, fresh, Mama Cathy-approved ingredients in modern takes on the beloved Italian classics. n Chef Justin Leboe’s new Pigeonhole, attached by umbilical cord to his Model Milk, is one of the funnest places in the city to hang for food and drink. As chef says, it’s one part snack bar, one part wine bar, and the food is so fun and adventurous and tasty, it will have you returning over and over. The small snack plates of food lend themselves to two people sharing at least six of them in one sitting. OMG, morels and dumplings, tuna crudo, edamame in butter with rabbit sausage, country pâté with mustard fruits...and that’s just the beginning! No pigeonholing anything here! n Congratulations to CRAFT Beer Market on its plans to spread good beer and food east to Ottawa, opening its new location later this year or early 2016. As in Alberta, Ontario craft beer is a happening thing, and CRAFT will be part of that community. CRAFT plunked itself in Calgary first, then spread to Vancouver and Edmonton followed by an upcoming five locations in China, and now in Ottawa. Woot! Woot! n Summer at River Café – summer picnic baskets! Fresh summer picnics are available through September 30. Details and full menus at river-cafe.com Celebrate Food Day Canada and explore regional cuisine, August 1st. Chef Winfield highlights the wealth of wild, foraged and indigenous ingredients collected from Alberta’s landscape throughout the year on a special menu.

Reservations at river-cafe.com

OS BYBL BA K E RY Byblos Bakery is a family-owned business that started in the early 1970s. It has grown to be a highlyrecognized and valued supplier of pita bread throughout Canada and parts of the United States.

n Summer at Boxwood offers take-out in the park or take home a whole free-range rotisserie chicken for your dinner. Choose from a selection of sides and customize a complete dinner to go. Menu and details boxwoodcafe.ca

{milk} SHAKEN, Not StirrEd

Offering customers: • fresh, high quality pitas • panini, balady, and naan breads • thin subs • bagels • tortillas and tortilla wraps • baklava • pita chips

n Bumpy’s celebrates its 10th Anniversary.... Come celebrate Bumpy Cafe’s 10 Year Anniversary on August 5th. Bumpy’s, a locally owned, community-minded, small business, has served countless fresh-baked muffins, scones, panini, and hearty soups freshly made from scratch. Bumpy’s is four-time winner/finalist of the Krups Cup of Excellence best espresso in Calgary.

Celebrate this milestone in the community. bumpyscafe.com

Are you an educator? We teach kids about food and nutrition through our For Pita Sake program.

403-250-3711 byblosbakery.com 2479 23 Street NE Calgary

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n At the Smuggler’s Restaurants: July 9th is Tango Bistro’s 2nd Annual Pig Roast featuring live entertainment, $5 shots of Jack Daniels and $5 pints of Village Brewery beer, 4:30-9 p.m. Tickets at Tango or email rich@tangobistro.com. August 31st is Tango’s Community Night, featuring the work of a featured artist and DJ tunes with a special tapas menu. Open Sesame has a new lunch menu featuring the Bento Combo – your choice of soup, roll and main for $14, Monday-Friday. Smuggler’s Inn’s salad bar, a 42-year Calgary tradition, is now enhanced at lunch with a new Add-On Menu, available Monday to Friday, featuring perfect portions of protein for $5.

1613 9th Street SW (juSt off 17th Avenue)

n Toscana Italian Grill offers private dining rooms and catering for large parties – a new room has been opened to accommodate up to 100 people. It’s bathed in sunlight with modern décor and a relaxing atmosphere.

Located on the corner of Macleod & Heritage. toscanagrill.ca

n Janice Beaton Fine Cheese and FARM Restaurant offer Provençal Picnic Baskets you can take to the park and enjoy cheese and charcuterie in the sun! You can also take a Mountain Pack on your next hike that’s filled with artisanal sandwiches and home-made treats. If you’re hanging around the ‘hood, stop by for Made by Marcus ice cream bars and the best grilled cheese sandwiches in town. Or relax on FARM’s cozy patio with a flight of wine. n Proof – what better name suits a cocktail bar devoted to cocktails and bar food, and that’s ALL! Hah, the Vine Arts dudes on 1st St. SW – Jesse Willis and Jeff Jamieson – know how to get it right. A place where adults enjoy creative adult beverages and creative adult food in the evening, and ONLY In the evening. Yeah! The web site, proofyyc.com touts itself as Proof: Cocktails & Curiosities – if that doesn’t suck you in, nothing will! n If you haven’t been yet, something completely different – sushi and burgers (!) at Nû Burger Sushi Bar, downtown at 8th St. and 4th Ave. SW. The web site offers up “bomb burgers, killer sushi, the whole shebang.” Classic burgers, traditional sushi plus old school remixed into Nû style and the likes of lobster and pork belly mac ‘n’ cheese and corn dogs tossed in for good measure! More fun food.

wine & beer wanderings n Wowzadoodles! This is some amazing news! Divino Wine & Cheese Bistro took the top award, Three Stars, at the World of Fine Wine 2015 Best Wine Lists. Only five restaurants in Canada achieved the same rating, and only 300 worldwide. The judges declared Divino’s wine list as a “lovely, clear, wide-ranging and confident selection.” Woot! Woot! Excellent show, Divino. n The Friends of Fish Creek invite you to celebrate the changing seasons at A Taste of Autumn – Wine & Beer Tasting and Silent Auction, September 17, Meadow Muse Pavilion, Bow Valley Ranche, Fish Creek Park, in support of the Friends’ conservation efforts for the park. Enjoy delicious appetizers supplied by the Bow Valley Ranche Restaurant and Great Events Catering while sampling wine and beer.

Details and tickets at friendsoffishcreek.org/ event/autumn n Don’t miss The 31 Days of German Riesling celebration of Germany’s most famous wine varietal, July and August, in Calgary restaurants – by-the-glass specials, flights, food and wine pairings, special dinners or tasting events. Check 31daysgermanriesling.ca for participating restaurants.

You can also win a long weekend for two in Berlin by going to the web site and saying at which of the restaurants you enjoyed your German riesling. n Crush & Cork Wine Beer & Spirits’ offers in-store tastings during the Canmore Farmers’ Market, Thursdays from 2-6 p.m. starting in July until October 8. #117, 10007th Ave., Canmore. n Phasion Estates Winery in the Okanagan, launched in 2013, took home the win in the 2015 Best of BC Varietal Awards for its 2012 Glitterati, a blend of merlot, malbec and cabernet franc, chosen for the Best Meritage Blend category. Find Phasion wines throughout the city, including at Willow Park, Zyn, Cork and Centre Street North.

cooking classes n At SAIT’s Downtown Culinary Campus: Artisan Bread, July 4 or August 29, $120; Date Night, July 10 or August 14, $75; Thrill of the Grill, July 8 or August 5, $110; Canning, July 18 or August 22, $150. Visit culinarycampus.ca for all the tasty details.

kids can cook

Pierre Lamielle

CASTIRON SKILLET CORNBREAD

n Poppy Innovations’ Edible Education takes a new twist on canning and preserving, partnered with Alberta Health Services to offer classes June through September with modern recipes to capture seasonal flavours you won’t find in grocery stores.

Parent-Child cooking programs start in September. Healthy choices start with getting your kids involved and learning to cook.

Registration at poppyinnovations.ca n Light Cellar Superfood & Superherb Teaching Kitchen offers classes starting mid-Sept to mid-Dec, such as Raw Chocolate Making & Fermented Foods & Drinks, Irish Moss, Chia, Teff, Seaweeds, Algaes, Culinary Mushrooms, Kitchen Spices and more. The Festival of Friendly Ferments features expert Fermenteur Sandor Kats, October 16/17. For more info and to register, 403.453.1343, thelightcellar.ca n Meez Cuisine offers hands-on cooking classes hosted by chef Judy Wood using seasonal, local ingredients to show you the secrets of a professional kitchen and inspire your love of cooking. Book a private cooking class as a unique gift or party idea: you decide the menu for your group of 8 or more, Meez takes care of the rest. n At The Cookbook Co. Cooks: in July, Summertime in the City : Couples Classes on Friday and Saturday nights. For details and a complete fall schedule, visit cookbookcooks.com/cookingclasses

general stirrings n Are you worried about a $15/hour minimum wage? Will your restaurant be able to handle the massive increase in payroll expense that could spell the end for many of our restaurants? The businesses that will last will not just survive, they will thrive if preparation begins now. We have developed specific and tactical solutions to handle this increase. Call Kevin @ Business Edge Coaching for more info, 403-455-1577. n Did you know that you can raise money for your community program or charity by hosting a barbecue at the Amaranth stores? Amaranth will give you enough deluxe ingredients to sell 150 hot dogs and your charity takes home all of the proceeds.

Food, friends and charity – works every time! For more info you can email amy@ amaranthfoods.ca. n White Gold Cheese has a new production facility located at 4207-16th St. SE that will be set up for “grab and go” ricotta and fior di latte by July 15. n There’s a “new head lettuce” in town – Symons Valley Ranch Farmers’ Market has headed in a new direction. Ken Aylesworth, who re-established the Calgary Farmers’ Market to Blackfoot Trail, is the new owner of the market. Early changes include Walkers Own Produce, Peter Fraiberg, famous for Grumans Deli, is also joining the market along with local organic produce, A Fork in the Road. Gillis Seafood, started in 1946 in Nova Scotia, provides fresh daily Atlantic seafood.

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n Ginni’s Kitchen has opened at the Millarville Race Track and Farmers’ Market with its hand-cut fries and fresh burgers with a spicy twist: jalapeño cheddar burger and spicy pulled-pork burgers. Gluten-free and vegetarian options include spicy veg burgers and British-style jacket potatoes topped with home-made baked beans. For a sweet tooth, an Elvis sundae with maple bacon, French toast, bananas and peanut butter on Ice cream. Twitter: @ginnikelley FB: Ginni’s Kitchen n Calgary Farmers’ Market Summer Events: Don’t miss the 7th Annual Chili Cook-Off in support of the Calgary Food Bank. Market vendors will compete for your votes for the best chili from 11 a.m.-2 p.m., July 10/11. Don’t forget your cash donation for the food bank and your appetite!

Thanks to Irrigation will once again host a FREE Corn Roast in support of the Calgary Food Bank, August 22. Nothing says summer like a cob of freshly roasted, buttery Taber corn! Outdoor Yoga at the Market combines your love of yoga, the outdoors, sunshine, and fresh local foods at outdoor yoga classes hosted by Marianne’s Yoga & Outdoor Lifestyle, June 20, July 25, August 8 & 15 (weather permitting). Full details at calgaryfarmersmarket.ca/community

n Le Creuset, famous for its colourful enameled cookware, has launched an equally colourful range of dinnerware just in time for summer’s outdoor entertaining.

Crafted from high-quality stoneware and finished in vibrantly coloured protective glaze, this dinnerware is ready for all your dining needs and, best of all, it spices up your table with a pop of colour. You can mixand-match for even more fun! Find it at the Le Creuset store in Chinook Centre and at fine kitchen stores. n Women Chefs & Restaurateurs’ one-day educational conference, first time in Canada, at Hotel Arts, October 2. Industry leaders will explore the issues historically plaguing culinary women, and share their trade secrets and practical guides to career advancement.

Refresh and continue your education in a variety of culinary topics through social media exploration, skill building activities, cocktail demonstrations, tastings, and more. Guest panelists include Elizabeth Falkner, Amanda Cohen and Kathleen Blake, to name a few.

Visit womenchefs.org for details.

n The Bridgeland Riverside Farmers’ Market is well into another year, Thursdays until October 1, 3:30 to 7 p.m. at the Bridgeland Riverside Community Hall, 917 Centre Ave. NE with a line-up of local vendors serving up Alberta produce, fruit, coffee, eggs, cheese, baked goods, bread, jewelry and more. Visit BridgelandFarmersMarket.com for more information.

In a food processor, mince garlic cloves and basil leaves until finely chopped. With the machine running, slowly pour in the oils, tomatoes and water (slowly as needed). Process until mostly smooth. Pulse in the walnuts until chunky. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Great with pasta, veggies, fish and meats!

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amaranthfoods.ca

n Learn how to keep fresh produce at your fingertips with edible garden container workshops. Choose from a living fall arrangement to adorn your doorstep or an indoor food garden to pack your meals full of flavour. Schedule available online at poppyinnovations.ca n The three Saskatchewan farmers who turned us on to Three Farmers Camelina Oil launched Roasted Chickpeas, a delicious, healthy snack that also makes a great food topper. Find barbecue and balsamic/ cracked pepper at Community Natural Foods, Calgary Co-op and Sunterra Market.

The new Sea Salt and Lime flavour will show up soon. Available online at threefarmers.ca/roasted-chickpeas n Greens Eggs & Ham year-round, sustainable CSA, offers a $250 food credit. Choose from more than 150 products to pick up at markets. Reload your account at any time.

Save 15% if you purchase four or more product lines, info@greenseggsandham.com

n Beloved in Edmonton since 1959, the Italian Centre Shop opens its doors in July in Calgary at 9919 Fairmount Drive, SE. A specialty grocer and gathering place for families and friends, the Italian Centre Shop’s long devotion to authentic Italian and European tastes and traditions creates community, love and belonging. There’s a large deli and cheese wall, bakery and café too – step into Europe. For Italians, delicious, bountiful meals are a way of life and the dining table is where we bond. It’s where families come together, friends are found, memories are made and business is done.

Come, step into Italy.

Udo's Sundried Tomato and Basil Pesto 2 garlic cloves 20g fresh basil leaves 55g oil-packed sundried tomatoes (about seven) ¼ cup extra virgin olive oil and Udo's Oil Blend (1:1 ratio) 6-8 Tbsp water 3-4 Tbsp walnuts sea salt black pepper

3 locations in Calgary

n Medicine Hat Meat Traders has been providing ranch-raised beef since 1934. One product stands out in its consumer demand – a flavoured dried meat stick, similar in texture to a soft jerky-style product – at these farmers’ markets: Northland, Bearspaw, Cochrane, Canmore, Okotoks. Coming soon to a retailer near you.

n New vendors at Market on Macleod: Saigon sugar cane juices, Burnt to Order, Crème Brûlée, Happy Kitchen, Bauer Meats, Hipster Nonsense Coffee and a salt grinder artisan who does custom grinding.

The perfect pesto for healthy al fresco summer dining with Udo’s Oil

1995

n Cococo is now offering macarons in a variety of fresh and delicious summer flavours, such as raspberry yogurt, lemon, carrot amaretto and matcha green tea. The macarons are made using 100 percent natural plant-based colours. Due to real egg whites in the recipe, Cococo’s macarons only have a three day shelf life, so enjoy them quickly!

2015

n The Alberta Food Processors Association hosted its 2nd Alberta Food Awards at the Deerfoot Inn. Twenty companies entered 33 products judged by food and industry experts. Winners: best finished product using beef as a primary ingredient, Spragg’s Meat Shop bacon-wrapped meatballs; best dairy product, baked product or sauce, MacKay’s Cochrane Ice Cream haskap berry ice cream; best snack food or confectionary product, Cococo Chocolatiers, Canadian icewine truffles; most innovative, Mountain Meadows Food Processing NoNuts Chocolate peabutter portion paks. n Don’t miss Taste of Calgary, August 13-16 at Eau Claire’s festival plaza. Great line-up of restaurants, local musicians and

unique interactive displays and shopping.

The highlights at tasteofcalgary.com and twitter @tasteofcalgary and facebook. T of C supports the Boys and Girls Club of Calgary, the Calgary Chinese Community Services Association and the Saracens Rugby Club. n This summer plan a drive to the Okotoks area and discover the “nectar of the Gods” at Chinook Arch Meadery, located at the Chinook Honey Company. Tours on Saturday and Sunday about the ancient art of making mead. The country store has a wide variety of honey products and honey ice cream. Apiary Tours are offered Thursday through Sunday – learn about the world of bees and see them in their observation hives. chinookhoney.com. n One O offers an all-inclusive three-day Culinary Wine Tour of the Kelowna and Naramata Bench regions in September.

Relax in luxury accommodations, visit wineries and agri-businesses. Dine with local celebrity chefs. Meet some of One O’s favourite winemakers at the Taste of the Tour Dinners: Glencoe Club, July 17; Ranchmen’s, Aug 27. Details and register at OneO.ca n Take a culinary tour with chef Gail Hall to see and taste the world. Explore markets, producers, wineries, and restaurants, take cooking classes and visit historic and cultural sites. 2015: Camrose to Provost, Sept. 12/13; Portugal, Oct. 26 - Nov. 6.

2016: South India, Feb. 28 - Mar. 9; Nova Scotia, Sept. 22 - 29; British Isles, fall. Go to seasonedsolutions.ca for details. n Calling all carnivores! Festival of Meat, Brewery & The Beast, launches itself August 23, at Pumphouse Park. Shining a spotlight on locally and ethically raised protein, more than 35 of Calgary’s restaurants will showcase their finest meat-inspired dishes, including Bookers BBQ, Charcut, CRAFT Beer Market, Model Milk, Rouge, Anju, NOtaBLE, Brasserie Kensington, Ox & Angela, Raw Bar by Duncan Ly, Teatro, Rouge, SAIT (Michael Allemeier) and Swine & Sow. All proteins are sourced from local producers committed to sustainable and ethical farming practices. Whole animal roasts, charcuterie, smoked meats, exotic bites and classic barbecue will be featured complete with live music and refreshments.

Details and tickets at breweryandthebeast.com n Millarville Farmers’ Market is open 9 a.m.2 p.m. every Saturday until October 10, showcasing wares made, baked or grown in Alberta. The Running of the Millarville Races takes place Canada Day, July 1.

Millarville Rodeo takes place July 24-26 with a Saturday evening performance by Drew Gregory – bring your dancing boots!

Priddis & Millarville Fair, August 15th – one of the last great agricultural fairs in Canada. Details at millarvilleracetrack.com n At the Leighton Centre, Ladies of the Land features three local artists until August 2nd. Themes are presented in a variety of mediums, including large woodcarvings. Summer camps until August 28th. David Nielsen’s Natural Energy opens August 8th. David will also host a workshop August 22nd. Details and registration, leightoncentre.org.

A COLLECTION FROM SOME OF OUR FAVE SUMMER PEOPLE!

CHERRY:

Nicole Gomes, chef/owner Nicole Gourmet Ltd. My dog Truffle and I like to walk to Monogram Coffee, a quaint spot in Altadore, for the delicious coffee. When I feel like really treating myself, I indulge in any flavour of Made

by Marcus Ice Cream Sandwiches.

by Shelley Boettcher

My Favourite Summer Food...

Michael Allemeier, chef/instructor SAIT I’m fortunate that I get summer off working as a culinary instructor at SAIT. My family and I spend a lot of our summer in BC, and whenever we’re driving through the Okanagan or to Vancouver Island, we always stop in Sicamous at Dutchman Dairy. This dairy makes delicious ice cream and nothing recharges the batteries and calms traveling nerves like cooling, refreshing, naturally made ice cream. While eating ice cream, we can walk around and interact with the diary cows and calves. My favourite flavour is mint chocolate chip.

Connie DeSousa, chef/owner CHARCUT Roast House Jessica Pelland (Charbar chef) and I are hot about soft-serve ice cream right now. We’re making it for Charbar with dulce de leche. We can’t wait to enjoy it on our river walk patio next to the Simmons building or even on the rooftop patio overlooking the bow.

Aviv Fried, owner Sidewalk Citizen Bakery My guilty pleasure in the summer has always been Caffè Beano’s raspberry milkshake. This summer I’m really looking forward to waffles from Buttermilk Fine Waffles on 17th Ave. Paul McGreevy, chef CRAFT Beer Market For me, a summer favourite is heading to My Favorite Ice Cream Shop in Marda Loop and getting a double scoop of Tiger Tiger Ice cream on a waffle cone. I’ve been going there since high school and make a point of going a few times every summer. Summer isn’t summer until I have to clean a black and orange stain out of my shirt.

Marnie Fudge, owner Cuisine et Château I park at the Nose Hill parking lot that is west of 14th St. on John Laurie Blvd., walk to the top and find a vacant bench. You can pretty much see the whole city from there. With me I have fresh, ripe, Okanagan peaches and a small container of vanilla Häagen-Dazs that I buy on the drive over. I eat the top layer of ice cream, then I cut pieces of peaches into the container and mix them in as the ice cream softens.

Coffee From Fruit To Cup

Most of us take coffee for granted. It’s what we drink in the morning. Maybe we drink it all day. Maybe we add milk or sugar.

But the journey of the coffee bean from fruit to cup is fairly complicated. Calgary’s Phil Robertson and Sebastian Sztabzyb – Phil & Sebastian Coffee Roasters – set out to help local coffee lovers learn more about their favourite drink’s impressive transformation at Cherry, a celebration of coffee’s journey from fruit to cup.

On his first visit here, Japan’s Hidenori Izaki, the 2014 World Barista Champion, made his winning espresso, cappuccino and signature coffee drinks for the crowd.

But Izaki wasn’t the only star of the evening. Costa Rican coffee grower Enrique Navarro Jr. and Francisco Mena (Phil and Sebastian’s Costa Rican exporting partner) led a demonstration of how coffee is wash-processed.

The dark red coffee “cherries” – wet with mucilage – had been picked at Navarro’s farm that same week and couriered to Calgary for the demonstration – the first time anything similar has been done in the city. People had an opportunity to see and touch the fresh cherries, then took turns running the fruit through a traditional wood de-pulper, the kind still used on small farms, and the beans were then spread on large mesh tables to dry.

Afterward, people could taste Navarro’s coffee – the same beans processed three ways – natural, honey and washed. Natural processing can be tricky – it requires careful watching, because the cherries are dried whole before processing. The resulting coffee is typically fruitier, sweeter and has more body than other styles. During honey processing, the beans are dried immediately after de-pulping, so that the remaining pulp adds extra flavours and sugars. The resulting coffee has sweet notes and is very aromatic and flavourful. The washed process involves using water and friction to remove the pulp and mucilage from the cherry. Washed coffee is clean, with clear flavours, but with a little less body and sweetness compared to the natural or honey.

real Food real people.

market On macleod mOm says:

Eat & shop locally!

OPEN YEAR-ROUND! ThURsDAY ThROUgh sUNDAY, 9 Am TO 5 Pm

7711 macleod trail sw Facebook: the market on macleod twitter@marketonmacleod

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4 quick ways with...

Chris Halpin

BLUEBERRIES

Blueberries are so much more than just delicious – they are one of the world’s “super foods.” Good news for all of us! We’ve all had delicious baked goods with blueberries taking centre stage, but blueberries are way more versatile than that!

Blueberry and Yellow Tomato Gazpacho A soup that’s as refreshing to the eye as it is to the palate. Blend until smooth 6 c. yellow tomatoes, chopped, 1/2 c. leeks, finely sliced, 2 garlic cloves, chopped, 1/2 c. olive oil, 2 T. champagne vinegar, 1/2 t. sugar, a dash of hot sauce and salt to taste. Pour this into a bowl and add 1 c. blueberries, coarsely chopped, 1/2 c. cucumber, finely diced, 1/2 c. red pepper, finely diced, 2 T. chives, finely chopped and 2 T. tarragon leaves, finely chopped, and mix well. Chill or serve at room temperature. Garnish with a drizzle of olive oil and some of the chopped blueberries.

Serves 6.

A Calgary Tradition Since 1921.

All in Good Taste.

IT’S BBQ TIME! Come and see us! k por r d n ts a are ou e k s Bri ulders alty! sho speci

Blueberry, Butter Lettuce and Roquefort Salad with Dill Dressing The quintessential summer salad. In a bowl, put 1/2 c. plain yogurt, 1/4 c. rice wine vinegar, 1/2 t. salt, 1/2 t. sugar, 1/2 t.

Sriracha hot sauce, 2 T. dill, finely chopped and 1 T. chives, finely chopped. Whisk until smooth. On 6 salad plates, arrange 2 or 3 butter lettuce leaves, drizzled with the dressing. Divide 1 c. fresh blueberries on top of the lettuce on each plate and crumble roquefort cheese over the blueberries. Serves 6.

Blueberry and Juniper Flank Steak

• Providing you the finest hormone- and antibiotic-free fresh, local meats:

This is a great recipe that can be prepped ahead of time and finished when you’re ready to eat. Salt and sear a 3-4 lb. flank steak on a hot grill – you’re not cooking it, you’re just searing it. When the sear is complete, remove from the heat and place on a wire rack on a baking tray to cool. In a bowl put 6 juniper berries, crushed and finely chopped, 1 shallot, finely chopped, 1 T. black pepper, juice of 1 lemon and 1/4 c. canola oil, and mix well. To this, add 1 c. fresh blueberries and, with a potato masher, crush the berries but don’t over-crush them – they should still be recognizable. Pat this mixture onto the top of the steak and let stand for at least one hour before cooking or as much as a day in advance and refrigerate it. If you are going to refrigerate the steak, don’t wrap it. It may look a little dry the next day, but the end result is so good. When ready to finish the steak, either bake it in a 350°F. oven or in a covered medium-hot grill on the top rack for 15 to 25 minutes, depending on how you like your beef done. Remove from the heat and sprinkle coarse salt overtop and let it rest for 5 minutes before slicing. Slicing tip – the sharper the slicing angle, the easier it is to get thin slices, and always cut across the grain. Serves 4 to 6.

o AAA Alberta beef (aged a minimum of 21 days), lamb, pork, free range poultry, milk-fed veal and many other exotic game meats.

• Our friendly, experienced staff are here to make sure all customers become repeat customers.

• For the BBQ season, come in to see our new line of Yoder Smokers.

1921-2015

OPEN MONDAY TO FRIDAY 9 - 6, SATURDAY 8:30 - 6, SUNDAY 10 - 5

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CITY PALATE.ca JULY AUGUST 2015

A summer drink, if ever there was one.

Pimm’s Cup or Pimm’s and 7, as some say, is the Brit’s version of sangria; this is my version.

Thinly slice 1 lemon and 1 orange and place into a pitcher with 1 c. fresh blueberries, 8 mint leaves, 1 c. Pimm’s No.1 and gently muddle. Add 4 handfuls of ice and fill with 7-Up. Gently stir and serve. If you’re making one jug, you should make a second, as this drink tends to slide down fast. Serves 1 to 8.

Chris Halpin has been teaching Calgarians to make fast, fun urban food since 1997 and is the owner of Manna Catering Service.

recipe photos by Chris Halpin

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Blueberry Pimm’s and 7

ITY • QU AL I •

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GUESTROOMS DINING & ENTERTAINMENT MEETINGS & EVENTS South Calgary’s Premier Hotel Destination Phone 403-253-1101, 9030 Macleod Trail South www.carriagehouse.net sales@carriagehouse.net

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last meal For the carnivores among us there are few things more appealing than the sight of a grill laden with meats surrounded by the likes of peppers, onions and pineapple. The concept of the mixed grill is simple enough, but my combination – along with the marinades and dry rubs – is sure to impress a crowd.

Just make sure you have large serving platters on hand to do the presentation justice.

Mixed Grill

This is a combination of chicken, flank steak and grilled sausages, but it’s open to interpretation (grilled shrimp make for a nice addition; then you have all your food groups covered). I start this meal with a classic tomato, cucumber and fresh mozzarella salad – also visually impressive – and finish it with a berry terrine that’s light and refreshing, relying mostly on the natural sweetness of the berries (there are only six tablespoons of sugar in the recipe) to sweeten the dish.

In a large bowl, combine the olive oil, lime juice, herbs, chile flakes and salt and pepper. Whisk to combine. Add the chicken pieces and turn to coat with the oil/herb mixture and distribute them to form a single layer. Cover them with the lemon slices, cover and refrigerate until ready to grill. Remove from the fridge about a half hour before cooking.

The chicken and beef should be prepped in the morning to allow the flavours to infuse the meats Chicken/ Marinade: 1/4 c. olive oil juice of 2 limes 3 T. each of fresh thyme, sage and rosemary, chopped 1/2 t. dried chile flakes salt and pepper to taste 4 chicken breast halves, free range, bone removed but skin left on (for flavour) 3 lemons, sliced

Flank Steak/Dry rub: 1 T. each smoked paprika, dry mustard and ground cumin 1 t. ancho chile powder (or a hotter one, like cayenne, if you wish) 1 T. kosher salt

Tomato Salad

1 t. black pepper

tomatoes – a mix of ripe cherry, beefsteak and heirloom

1/2 t. ground coriander

miniature cucumbers balls of fresh mozzarella (White Gold is locally made and available at Co-op) – 1 per person 1 bunch fresh basil high quality olive oil balsamic vinegar Maldon (or other) sea salt and black pepper

This is essentially insalata caprese, with the addition of cucumbers. Most everyone has made this salad – hundreds of times in my case – but it’s one of those dishes that’s transformed from the ordinary to the sublime when the ingredients are all at their peak in summer.

Serve it with a glass of lightly chilled rosé for a taste of summer at any time of the year.

Halve the cherry tomatoes and cut the larger tomatoes into thick slices or quarters. Slice the cumbers on the diagonal 1/2-inch-thick and arrange them decoratively on a platter along with the tomatoes. Tear or slice the mozzarella and distribute it evenly around the tomatoes and cucumbers. Chop the basil, leaving some whole leaves, and sprinkle over top, reserving the whole leaves for garnish. Drizzle the salad generously with the best olive oil you can afford and sprinkle lightly with balsamic vinegar. Dust with Maldon salt flakes and a little ground pepper and garnish with the basil leaves. This salad takes no time to make and is best done just before serving.

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1/4 c. brown sugar 1 or 2 flank steaks, about 4 lb. total

Combine all the dry rub ingredients in a small bowl and rub the steak(s) well on both sides, then place in a plastic bag and refrigerate until ready to use. Remove from the fridge about a half hour prior to cooking.

Geoff Last

KEEP IT SIMPLE AND SEASONAL The rest of the mixed grill mixture:

Mixed Berry Terrine

6 large sausages – smokies, bratwurst, whatever you like

6 c. mixed berries: blueberries, raspberries, blackberries, strawberries

5 large sweet peppers, assorted colours, cores and seeds removed, cut into quarters

1 c. water

1 large red onion, peeled and cut into 2-inchthick slices

2 envelopes unflavoured gelatin

1 T. green tea leaves

2 limes, halved

6 T. sugar

1 fresh pineapple, husk and core removed, cut into 2-inch-thick pieces

1 T. fresh lemon juice

1/4 c. olive oil sea salt and black pepper

whipped cream, crème fraîche or plain yogurt sweetened with a little honey

Place all the vegetables, limes and pineapple in a large bowl and, when ready to grill, toss with the olive oil. Preheat the grill to hot.

Combine the berries in a bowl. If the strawberries are large, cut them in halves or fourths lengthwise.

Because the chicken pieces have the skin attached and are covered in oil they can flare up and burn, so I cook these on the top rack of my grill. If this isn’t an option, watch them closely to make sure they don’t burn. Turn the grill heat to medium and place the meat, veg and fruit on the main part of the grill.

Bring the water just to a boil in a 3 qt. saucepan. Add the tea (a tea ball is handy for this), remove from the heat and allow to steep for five minutes. Remove the tea ball, or strain the liquid and return it to the saucepan. Using a small whisk, mix in the gelatin. Whisk until the gelatin dissolves completely. Stir in the sugar.

The peppers, pineapple and limes just need about 5 to 7 minutes to cook. They should take on some colour and grill marks, but shouldn’t be charred; the peppers should still be on the crunchy side. Transfer them to a bowl when done.

Cook the chicken, flank steak and sausages until done to your liking, then remove and allow them to rest for about 15 minutes. Slice all the peppers into strips about 1/2-inch wide and cut the pineapple into chunks. Distribute the vegetables onto two serving platters. Slice the chicken into 1/2-inch-thick pieces and distribute over the vegetables on one of the platters. Do the same with the flank steak and sausages on the other platter, drizzling the meat with any of the juices left over from the flank steak.

Drizzle both platters with juice from the limes, and garnish with sea salt and black pepper. I serve this dish with either coconut or basmati rice and grilled asparagus. Serves 6 to 8.

zest of 1 lime

Transfer the berries to the saucepan and heat the mixture, stirring gently, a minute or two, until the berries begin to give up their juices and the sugar has dissolved. The liquid in the pan should barely cover the berries. Stir in the lemon juice and lime zest.

Spoon the contents of the pan into a six-cup loaf pan or porcelain terrine. Alternatively, the mixture can be spooned into six large wine glasses, but make sure the mixture is warm, not hot. Refrigerate for at least three hours, until the mixture is firm, then serve with the cream on the side or as a topping. If you’re using a terrine or loaf pan, you can unmould it and transfer it to a platter, which makes for a nice presentation. To unmould, fill the sink with enough hot water to come about halfway up the sides of the dish. Carefully place the terrine in the bath for a couple of minutes then remove and run a sharp thin knife around the perimeter of the mould. Invert it onto a serving platter and tap a little to free it.

Serves 6 to 8.

contemporary interactive cuisine

403.228.9830

· 514 - 17 ave sw, Calgary, AB · livingroomrestaurant.ca · @livingroomyyc

T H E FA C E OF 4TH STREET 3 P M – 5 P M D A I LY

#HALFY HOUR ½ P R I C E TA C O S & T E Q U I L A

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$ 5 M A R G A R I TA S & B E E R S

recipe photos by Geoff Last

Wine Recommendation There are lots of flavours going on, and since this is a summer/ fall dish, a dry rosé is your best bet; the versatility of this style is unmatched. My two favourites this season are the Whispering Angel 2014 ($29) and the Prieure de Montezargues 2014 Tavel ($28). They are classic, fully dry rosés, bursting with notes of crushed wild strawberries, stone fruits and citrus zest. They’re both available in large formats as well, making them ideal for larger gatherings.

Geoff Last is the manager of Bin 905.

a n e j oyyc | 5 87. 3 5 3 . 2 6 5 6 | # 2 , 2 1 1 6 – 4 t h S t re e t SW C a l g a r y, A B | a n e j o.c a

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back burner SHEWCHUK ON SIMMER

Allan Shewchuk

REAL LIFE MAD MEN

JOIN US FOR

BBQ ON THE BOW Join us for the 23rd annual BBQ on the Bow – Canada’s Oldest BBQ Competition!

SEPTEMBER 5-6 at Eau Claire Market Cooking Demos, Entertainment, Kid’s Competition www.bbqonthebow.com

THANK YOU PIG & PINOT Our thanks to everyone who joined us for City Palate’s 5th annual Pig & Pinot event and to all the chefs who continue to delight our palates with their incredible pork offerings!

fifth annual

This has been quite the time for endings – Jon Stewart has left the Daily Show, David Letterman has packed it in, and Don Draper has ridden off into the sunset, leaving Mad Men fans with a finale that will be talked about for years. Don’t worry if you haven’t seen the last episode of Mad Men, because I won’t be typing SPOILER ALERT here. Although I tried to get into the show, I just found that I couldn’t watch all of the characters constantly chain-smoking and drinking umbrella stands of hard liquor at all hours of the day.

After taking in a whole season in one sitting, my binge-watching made me feel like I had been on a real binge; my lungs ached and I felt like I had the worst hangover of my life. I lost interest in the series because I thought it just wasn’t realistic. In my experience, there was no way that people in real life could actually function with the level of excess portrayed in the show without ending up dead.

But it turns out I was dead wrong.

Recently, I found out from a dear friend, who was born in Connecticut right after WWII, that the world of Mad Men was not fiction. She grew up in a bedroom community of New York City, to which her father would commute every morning in the 1950s and ‘60s. When he got home each weeknight, he immediately mixed a huge pitcher of martinis, which he sucked back before dinner while inhaling a pack of Camel cigarettes. Weekends would feature a series of cocktail parties at various neighbours’ houses, where the men would wear suits and the wives would wear “party dresses.” The host of the event would stir buckets of Manhattans or Gimlets. Everyone would smoke non-stop, so the hostess even laid out cigarettes in the bathroom so guests didn’t have to take a break from smoking while using the toilet or freshening up. There was also lots of hanky-panky going on behind the scenes, fuelled by the combination of booze and the desperate housewives of suburbia. I found it fascinating to hear my friend reminisce about what she observed when she snuck to the top of the stairs in her pajamas to spy on her parents and their friends.

I was even more interested in what people ate at these Mad Men shindigs, but my curiosity turned to horror when I was told about the food involved. There was always a buffet that included such time-forgotten treats as mini boiled wieners with a dip made of chili sauce and grape jelly. Another fave was “rumaki,” a dish that was created during the tiki appetizer craze, which was a water chestnut wrapped in chicken liver and then wrapped again in bacon and broiled. And no party on the Eastern Seaboard was complete without a clam dip. This staple consisted of chopped clams mixed with cream cheese, sour cream, Worcestershire sauce, a squeeze of lemon and a shot of onion juice. Onion juice with dairy and shellfish? Gack! No wonder people drank so much gin or bourbon – they had to do something to kill the taste of that clam dip.

Of course, you could never live this Mad Men lifestyle today because of the way our society has gone to hell in a hand-basket. In the first place, any buffet now has to have a vegan, gluten-free, soy-free, fat-free, non-GMO and raw-foodonly option, which kind of leaves a host with only one alternative – putting out a bale of kale for people to graze on. Guys wouldn’t wear suits and girls wouldn’t wear party dresses because they would impede the showing off of tattoos that cover every inch of arm, leg and torso. You couldn’t mix cocktails without having small-batch artisanal bitters involved. And there wouldn’t be any affairs going on because all of the men would have grown those ridiculously long, bushy beards and would be wearing huge, thick-rimmed glasses so they look like a cross between Grizzly Adams and Drew Carey. What woman would want to kiss a dude in goggles with a nest on his face?

Maybe women were lucky back in the Mad Men days.

When they kissed a Don Draper type all they had to worry about was the taste of cigarettes and whisky. Oh, and clam dip. Oops. Maybe “lucky” is too strong a word.

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CITY PALATE.ca JULY AUGUST 2015

Allan Shewchuk is a food writer and sought-after Italian food and wine guru. He currently has kitchens in both Calgary and Florence, Italy, but will drink wine pretty much anywhere.

CITY PALATE.ca JULY AUGUST 2015

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