Food flings

The intro to cheese seminar at Divino Wine Studio has been moved to June 17. Same time, same place though. I visited Divino Wine Studio on Friday for its Grand Opening and the space is just gorgeous! The room where the seminar will take place is very cosy and nicely furnished! We are going to have alot of fun I think!

Details here.

This is a bit of a last-minute announcement, but on May 1 and 2, Ottawa is playing host to Hervé This the “father” of molecular gastronomy. Today, there is a conference by the master himself at Carleton University. Details here.

What is molecular gastronomy? Simply put, it’s the understanding of the scientific processes involved in cooking. Some of you may have seen or heard of Ferran Adria of El Bulli fame. We often associate this type of cuisine with emulsions, cremes, mousses…little pearls that burst into your mouth and fill it with amazing flavours. Despite seeming quite removed from what one associates with “cooking”, molecular cuisine is in fact an interesting way to play with flavours and often bring them to their purest essence. I was fortunate to be a guest at a dinner organized by the Cordon Bleu School in Ottawa for Hervé This last night. Among the fascinating dishes we were served was an egg ravioli which the diner injected himself with an apple-based caramel sauce. Not only was it a feast for the eyes, I can guarantee it was impressive to my taste buds as well!

Fad or future? With Hervé This bringing his knowledge to an ever-widening audience, I think molecular gastronomy is going to stick around for some time yet.

Oh…in Ottawa only a few chefs have tried their hand at molecular cuisine, among them Marc Lépine, chef at the Courtyard restaurant. He will soon open l’Atelier, his own restaurant, in downtown Ottawa.

Want to learn more about cheese? On May 15, 2008 I will be offering my 1st seminar on cheese, complete with a tasting (Québec vs Italy) at Divino Wine Studio in Ottawa. Go here for more info and to register if you are interested.

Coming up in a few weeks, the following event organised by Slow Food Ottawa-Gatineau at Divino Wine Studio.

What comes to mind when outside your window is just an endless palette of greys and whites…the trees being slightly darker than the sky, which is every so slightly darker than the snow (that would be the clean snow, of course)?

I can’t lie: first and foremost on my mind is sun and a serious jump above the zero mark on the thermometer. Yet, dreaming of a change of season (and almost, of landscape, in our Canadian case!), also means dreaming of a whole new répertoire of recipes…ones that include ingredients that evoke spring, and, gosh, do I dare say it…summer! This eternal winter of winters has got me craving such things as:

• juicy, red tomatoes
• the sweetest of spring greens and salads
• herbs growing like weeds
• lemonade
• and ice cream (or better yet, gelato) cones that melt faster than you can lick them.

Oh…will it ever be here!

… vous pouvez lire ça!

!!

Ouf.

This past year has seen me take great leaps and bounds in the wonderful world of cheese. It all started with the creation of a “master of food” for Slow Food France. I must admit I kinda approached this one reaaaallly dragging my boots in the Haute Provence dust…I was pretty skeptical that the democratization of the “case for taste” would be furthered by a course destined to fines gueules and other gourmets. But I trudged on (more like, I was given no real choice), and so the adventure began with what appeared to be an obvious choice of theme: cheese. Obvious, yes. Uncomplicated…I won’t quite concede. Cheese does come slightly charged in French gastronomical circles…on ne badine pas avec le pays des 400 fromages! On the other hand, it doesn’t quite carry the enormous weight of another venerable French grande dame, wine.

In fact, the choice to begin with a course on cheese turned out to be a good one. It offered the depth and variety needed to create an interesting and rich course content. It also gave me the chance to explore a world I only knew superficially. I gladly dove right in and in the process, soaked up as much information as I could. I spoke to “experts”, found out how cheese is made, discovered the great variety of goat cheeses in Haute Provence, went to the Slow Food event in Bra, Cheese, and saw all kinds of strange and interesting variations on curdling. One of the great innovations demonstrated at Cheese was mozzarella di…capra…yes, you read it right: mozzarella made with goat milk! I was one of the lucky ones who tried it (they ran out pretty quickly)…I can’t say I am a huge fan. I still like the milkiness of the buffala cheese, but it was interesting, even if only for the fact that they were able to make this type of cheese out of goat’s milk. I also attended a taste workshop on different methods of ageing cheeses, led by a big name in the business, Hansi Baumgartner. He hails from Alto-Adige, the part of Italy which is quite cosy with Austria, as his name suggests. At De Gust he selects and ages all sorts of fine cheeses from small producers. During this particular workshop, he guided us through a tasting of such specialties as a blue cheese aged in rhum and covered in cocoa bean bits. It was very interesting.

All this unexpected immersion into the cheese world has now opened up some interesting doors. Funny, really, especially when you consider that I was against the idea of working on the Slow Food course in the first place. I guess life throws you what you need. Now I am putting this newly acquired knowledge to good use…more info to come on this. For now, I am satisfying my hunger for all things cheesy with countless new discoveries from Québec. What variety! Check out La route des fromages du Québec and Fromages de Pays for more info!

Pour ceux/celles qui planifient une escapade à Montréal ce weekend ou le prochain (ou qui y sont déjà), ne manquez pas le Festival Montréal en Lumière dont une partie est consacrée à la gastronomie…

Last week, I celebrated a dear friend’s birthday. Last year, another dear friend and I cooked up a storm, and this dinner even found its way on this blog. This year, the venue for the birthday dinner was an Ottawa restaurant, the Oz Café on Elgin Street, an innovative/fusion type of restaurant.

The Oz Café has settled in the little “mall” beside Pancho Villa and the Lieutenant’s Pump, where there used to be an Oh So Good. We had early reservations, so when I arrived, there was almost nobody but my friends, a few patrons near the bar and the 2 waiters. Thank heavens, because I made somewhat of an “entrance”. As I stepped off the rubber mat at the door and onto the slate tiles, I totally wiped out in front of horrified friends and other patrons. Whew! Way to start an evening!!

After I composed myself (this took several minutes), I was eventually able to concentrate on the matters at hand: celebrating a birthday and ordering food and drinks. The friendly waiter listed the evening’s specials in French even though it wasn’t his first language, which was great. I realised afterwards that I could barely remember the list though as I had focused on helping him with a few words he didn’t know in French…I am not sure that the 3 evening specials (a soup and 2 mains) warrants a separate insert in the menu, but perhaps since the restaurant is quite cosy, a board that patrons could peruse at their leisure might be useful. It is nice though when the waiter goes through the troube to present the specials one by one. It allows for questions and details on each dish’s composition, shows that the waitstaff is working well with the kitchen and is able to properly present the food in the restaurant.

Despite interesting specials, all our party decided to choose menu items. I think the use of horseradish in at least 2 of the specials had something to do with it…chacun ses goûts! I settled on a “starter” of duck breast on a purée of root vegetables. The birthday girl who was next to me selected a vegetarian stir-fry, also part of the regular menu, which she said appeared to be a cross between a Hungarian and a Chinese dish. My other friend selected a dish called “Vegetarian Business” which was a layered tower of mainly root vegetables and mushrooms, interspersed with soft goat cheese.

The duck breast was well-cooked and just tender. It came nicely presented in a fan-shape atop the purée, which appeared to be mainly parsnip and was well-seasoned. As it was among the “starters” it was not a very big portion and would probably not suit a normal appetite on its own. The stir-fry was impressive and colourful. It filled a good-size oval plate. It was composed of crunchy noodles, lots of beets and sesame seeds. Basing this dish on pickled beets meant a slight loss of complexity in the flavours, with the red root taking over on its other compatriots in the dish. The “Vegetarian Business” was quite good with the veggies cooked nicely and working harmoniously together. This latter dish was also a “starter” and therefore not super generous in portion size. It was nice to see all of the dishes feature hardy seasonal vegetables like cabbage and tubers.

For dessert, the 3 of us opted for the single dessert item, warm chocolate cake. I find it slightly unusual that the restaurant only offers one dessert option…it seems to be somewhat of a trend in the area as Chez Éric was low on dessert choice when we went a few weeks ago as well…are pastry chefs a dying breed? It is possible I am probably paying too much attention to this because I am dessert fiend, but I do find that dessert, even when there is a selection, can be the downfall of some restaurants. I don’t feel you can get away with being shabby in that area if you are promoting yourself as good to very good in the savoury sector. Ok, back to the chocolate cake. These came to us piping, and I mean piping, hot from the oven in custard dishes. The first spoonfuls which were way too hot to be eaten, and I think the cakes could have done with a litte cool down before being taken out to us…it was verging on unpleasant. The overall taste seemed good, but because of the excessive heat, I am not sure I was able to taste the cake to its full benefit.

Overall, the dishes we tried were of a strong quality. My bill of a glass of wine, duck and the cake was around 25$, before tip, which is ok, although I didn’t feel super satisfied and perhaps will choose an actual “main” next time, even if the duck calls!!