Whisk Wednesdays—Carre d'Agneau (Rack of Lamb)

This rack of lamb, a signature French recipe that’s both elegant and delicious, is the second-last recipe as part of the Basic Cuisine curriculum that I've been following. The hardest part is preparing the rack. Watch this video to see how to "French" a rack of lamb. Then, it's just a matter of searing the meat and vegetables and finishing it in the oven. The sauce is made from the pan juices and water, seasoned with salt and pepper. Not too many dishes this time either!

Week 3 at Le Cordon Bleu (Basic Cuisine)

After last week, I was glad to leave the white pepper on the shelf for a bit. During week 3 at Le Cordon Bleu, we turned our attention to desserts. Crème anglaise and charlotte were the first tests of our dessert skills. These desserts are light, called "entremets", which translates to "between meals".

The first practical had us making old-fashioned apple charlotte. Fourteen students were cooking down the apples slowly, caramelizing them only after they were cooked, and the aroma was heavenly. We all lined the charlotte molds with bread, first cutting the bottom pieces into raindrop shapes to form a circle. Lastly, we made crème anglaise to a thickness called à la nappe. Everything was going along perfectly until the unmolding stage when I forgot to trim the excess length of my bread pieces, which in turn caused the apple compote inside to travel to meet the plate making the whole thing fall apart slightly. One miss-step in the kitchen, and everything is quickly ruined (except in this case it still tasted sweet)!

Here are the desserts the chef made during the demo.


Clockwise from top: Chef’s Poires au vin rouge (Pears cooked in red wine)
Crème renversée au caramel (Reversed caramel cream or Crème caramel)
Charlotte aux pommes, crème anglaise au Calvados (Apple Charlotte served with Calvados custard sauce)
Sabayon aux fruits (Fruit Zabaglione)
The next day was all about frozen desserts: ice creams, glace, granité, sorbet, and frozen soufflé. During the practical, we made frozen orange soufflé and tuiles. The soufflé is composed of whipped cream, Italian meringue and sabayon all made by hand using only a whisk. Click click click. Whisks were dancing in the bowls.

First up was the whipped cream. Next was the meringue where the trick was to get the sugar syrup to the soft ball stage (without a thermometer) at the same time that the egg whites were at the soft-peak stage and ready to accept the sugar syrup. Since we weren't allowed to use thermometers for the sugar syrup, we had to get a bowl of ice water ready to dip our fingers in before dipping into the 235°F syrup! Although a little scary, we all did it and now know what soft ball feels like. Meringue is like a Dairy Queen blizzard. Once you've slowly added the hot sugar syrup to the egg whites and whisked until it's cooled to room temperature, you should be able to flip the bowl upside down without any of the mixture falling out.

The next component was the sabayon. Only two ingredients (yolks and orange juice) form one of the most magical sauces you can make. The trick is in the whisking and the heat. Over a simmering water bath, you whisk and whisk and whisk some more. Never stopping in case it falls. About fifteen minutes later, you have a thick, rich, sweet sauce that you must whisk even more off heat just to cool off before folding in with the meringue and whipped cream. At least there's some exercise in the kitchen!

Here are the desserts the chef made during the demo.



Clockwise from top: Chef’s Crème glacée vanilla (Vanilla ice cream) and Glace au café (Coffee ice cream)
Soufflé glacé à l'orange (Deep-frozen orange soufflé) with Cigarettes aux amandes (Tubular almond biscuits)
Granité au Calvados (Calvados sorbet)
Candied Orange Slices
The last class was about salads and during the practical we made Niçoise salad. Parts of the salad needed to be cooked (potatoes, eggs, and green beans) and cooled. The rest of the ingredients just needed to be chopped uniformly. Finally, we made a simple vinaigrette to serve with it.

The trickiest part was cooking the eggs to the perfect point. We were told to bring water to a boil, put a room temperature egg in for 10 minutes ensuring it was covered with boiling water. If the egg was fridge temperature, it needed to stay in the boiling water for 12 minutes. I chose to leave mine in for 11 minutes since it was in-between room and fridge temperature. When my timer beeped, I pulled it out and set it under cool, running water for several minutes. Unfortunately, my egg was very slightly under-cooked, according to the chef's masterful eye. As well, my potatoes were too cold and hidden on the plate. Otherwise, taste-wise all was good and well-cooked.

Here are the salads the chef made during the demo.


Clockwise from top: Chef’s Salade Niçoise (Vegetable salad Provençale, garnished with tuna, anchovies and egg)
Frisée aux lardons (Warm chicory with bacon)
Salade Francillon (Potato and mussel salad)
Salade des nonnes (Rice salad with truffled chicken)
Well, that was week 3 at Le Cordon Bleu. I enjoyed preparing some desserts this week, but I'm looking forward to getting back to the fundamentals of cuisine next week.

Tools you must have in your kitchen: a whisk and an ice cream maker
Tools you don't need: a candy thermometer

. . . . . . . . . .

Here is a link back to the recipes as I did them last year (although they aren't exactly the same as what we did in class):

Class 7: Les Entremets (Basic Desserts)
Part 1 - Charlotte aux pommes, crème anglaise au Calvados (Apple Charlotte served with Calvados custard sauce)
Part 2 - Crème renversée au caramel (Reversed caramel cream or Crème caramel)
Part 3 - Poires au vin rouge (Pears cooked in red wine)
Part 4 - Pruneaux au vin blanc (Prunes cooked in white wine)
Part 5 - Sabayon aux fruits (Fruit Zabaglione)

Class 8: Les Entremets Glacés (Frozen Desserts)
Part 1 - Cigarettes aux amandes (Tubular almond biscuits) with Crème glacée vanilla (Vanilla ice cream) and Glace au café (Coffee ice cream)
Part 2 - (Granité au Calvados (Calvados sorbet)
Part 3 - Sorbet au citron vert (Lime sorbet)
Part 4 - Soufflé glacé à l'orange (Deep-frozen orange soufflé)

Class 9: Les Salades (Salads)
Part 1 - Frisée aux lardons (Warm chicory with bacon)
Part 2 - Salade Niçoise (Vegetable salad Provençale, garnished with tuna, anchovies and egg)
Part 3 - Salade des nonnes (Rice salad with truffled chicken)
Part 4 - Salade Francillon (Potato and mussel salad)

More to Explore:

• Index of Recipes
• Visual Recipe Index

Whisk Wednesdays—Pets de Nonnes (Choux Pastry Fritters with Apricot Sauce)

This recipe, literally translated, means "nun's farts"! Choux pastry is deep-fried and sprinkled with confectioners' sugar much like a doughnut. The story is that a nun accidentally dropped a ball of choux paste into a kettle of hot oil. Instead of throwing it out, the nun watched the choux paste bubble and brown and upon tasting it named it Pets de Nonnes.

Week 2 at Le Cordon Bleu (Basic Cuisine)

Clockwise from top: Chef’s Flamiche aux maroilles et poireaux (Leek tart from northern France),
Pâté Pantin (Pork pie without use of mould),
Getting Ready to Taste
Week 2 at Le Cordon Bleu was full of flour, fraisage, and finger injuries.

I’m thoroughly enjoying the demos. It’s almost as if the secrets of the culinary world are being whispered in our ears, passed down to the next generation as grandparents would for their grandchildren. The demos are full of helpful tips that are best shown live: watching the chef make pâte brisée, showing us how to flour our tables (fleurer), how to gently work in the flour without over-mixing the dough, and demonstrating the technique of fraisage where you take just a bit of dough and rub it between your palm and the marble countertop to form a dough, repeating this for all the dough. Although I’d read about fraisage before, to watch it makes more sense. And I was surprised by the texture of the quiche that the chef served us. It was more like custard with salt, cheese and lardons (we’re not allowed to use the word bacon!) and less like scrambled eggs.

Feast of Fields—Ballotin of Ferme aux Saveurs des Monts Organic Chicken

Feast of Fields was an Ottawa event held this past weekend that brought together the talents of organic farmers and chefs and allowed hungry guests to sample all their tasty treats. Chefs were paired with area farmers to showcase this season's harvest. And what a feast it was!

There were 25 teams set up with tables along each side of a huge tent. The weather was perfect, with a slight cool breeze, and the diners were clamoring to get their plate and sample the local organic food. As we walked around tasting, we were amazed by the variety of options. From mini bites of cornbread and smoked pork and apple sausage to goose terrine garnished with a delicate edible flower and gingersnap cookies, I soon realized my eyes were bigger than my stomach.

The winner of the Best Farmer-Chef Team was Sylvain Bertrand of Ferme aux Saveurs des Monts and Executive Chef Serge Jost and Executive Sous Chef Timothy Wasylko from Fairmont Le Château Montebello.

This team set the bar very high for upcoming Feasts. With a pastry brush, they painted the bottom of each plate with port wine caramel. Then they carefully assembled each part of the dish starting with the rolled slice of chicken, followed by the apple ginger compote, some micro greens for color, and a Balsamic Tuile carefully placed on top. It was a work of mouth-watering art showcasing the best of local and organic ingredients in one dish.


Clockwise from top:
Executive Sous Chef Timothy Wasylko, Executive Chef Serge Jost,
Ballotin of Ferme aux Saveurs des Monts Organic Chicken,
Winning Team #11
I had a chance to talk to Executive Sous Chef Timothy Wasylko during the event, and after telling him about my recent events at the cooking school, he provided some well-needed tips about how to turn vegetables! I asked if they use turned vegetables that much at Fairmont Le Chateau Montebello, and sadly he said “sometimes”. His tips included using an egg to practice dragging a knife along the outside to get the muscle memory of turning into your hands. He also suggested dipping the egg in wax, which is a great idea! Later in the week, I contacted the chefs to ask if they would like to share their winning recipe, and they were happy to. Thank you!

Recipe: Ballotin of Ferme aux Saveurs des Monts Organic Chicken
with roasted pumpkin, sundried cranberries and pine nuts, apple compote and port wine caramel

from Fairmont Le Chateau Montebello Executive Chef Serge Jost and Executive Sous Chef Timothy Wasylko

Serves: 6-8

Ingredients:

1 whole organic chicken, deboned
1 breast of organic chicken
200 g pumpkin
3 teaspoons organic extra virgin olive oil
2 organic egg whites
100 ml organic 35% cream
Salt and pepper
1 g cinnamon
1 g ground clove
1 g ground ginger
1 g ground nutmeg
4 organic cloves of garlic, roasted
3 organic onions, sliced and cooked until well caramelized, then cooled
6 large leaves of Swiss chard
10 g pine nuts, toasted until golden brown
10 g sundried organic cranberries

Instructions:

Preheat oven to 350°F. Drizzle pumpkin with olive oil and season with salt and pepper. Roast for 45 minutes or until very soft, allow to cool. In a food processor, purée pumpkin and chicken breast until smooth. Add egg whites, cream, spices, roasted garlic, and caramelized onions. Season with salt and pepper. (Cook a small amount to taste seasoning.)

Blanch Swiss chard in boiling water for 30 seconds and immediately submerge into ice water. Remove and dry very well.

Stuffing is basically like making sushi. Using a sushi mat lined with plastic wrap- first spread the Swiss chard so it is an even thin layer. Spread 4 tablespoons of pumpkin mixture completely over the surface of the Swiss chard. Sprinkle with pine nuts and dried cranberries. Gently roll as tight as possible and wrap in plastic wrap. Refrigerate.

Place deboned whole chicken skin side down. Cut in ½ lengthwise between the breasts. Cover with plastic wrap and pound until meat is thin and completely covers the skin. Season with salt and pepper. Spread 3 tablespoons of pumpkin mixture completely over chicken. Place Swiss chard roll in the center and roll up chicken with skin on the outside. Wrap very tightly in plastic wrap. Continue with the other ½ of the chicken. Poach in water for 25 minutes. Then allow to cool. Remove plastic and roast in a 400°F oven for approximately 35 minutes or until the internal temperature is 165°F (74°C.)

Apple Ginger Compote
2 organic Apples, peeled and cut into wedges
10 ml Japanese white pickled ginger, finely chopped
10 g organic butter

Cook apples in butter until soft. Add ginger.

Balsamic Tuile
30 ml balsamic vinegar
30 ml organic sugar
10 ml butter
40ml flour

Preheat oven to 350°F. Mix all ingredients together. Pour into the desired shape on a Silpat-lined sheet pan. Bake until lightly browned, about 10 minutes.

Port Wine Caramel
750 ml port wine

Boil port wine and allow to reduce until 100 ml, about 20 minutes.

To Assemble
Paint port wine on the plate. Top with a slice of ballotin. Add 15 ml compote and garnish with the Tuile and a little bit of micro greens.

. . . . . . . . . .

Here are some other notable tables at Feast of Fields that I enjoyed...


Clockwise from top:
Potato and Leek Soup,
Arctic Char Bruschetta,
Cherry Tomatoes,
Carrot and Beet Salad
The Red Apron & Sweet Meadow Farms
A creamy potato and leek soup was being served by Jennifer and Jo-Ann of The Red Apron with heirloom potatoes from Sweet Meadow Farms. The display of the many varieties of potatoes by Sweet Meadow Farms was awe-inspiring. Red Apron’s arctic char on a crispy herb biscuit was another delightful bite.

Epicuria & Bryson Farms
Tracey Black from Epicuria was paired up with Bryson Farms and served a beautiful vegetable medley of carrots and beets drizzled with a citrus vinaigrette. It was almost too pretty to eat.


Clockwise from top:
Smoked Pork and Apple Sausage,
Grilled Bison and Cucumber Mint Salad,
Beau’s Beer,
Pascale’s All Natural Ice Cream
Thyme and Again Catering & Ashton Naturals
Thyme and Again Catering served smoked pork and apple sausage in little bamboo boats. The bun that the sausage was served in was a favorite part of this serving with its seeds and wholesome taste.

Sweetgrass Aboriginal Bistro & Battle River Bison Co.
Warren Sutherland from Sweetgrass Aboriginal Bistro along with Battle River Bison Co. dished out a grilled bison and cucumber mint salad with a sesame dressing that was a refreshingly crunchy mixture of vegetables. The Asian-inspired vinaigrette surrounding each bite made for a perfect salad.

Beau’s All Natural Beer
Everyone was enjoying the beer from Beau’s, voted Best Craft Brewery in Ontario. Their beer is golden, crisp and finely balanced and deserves all the awards they’ve been receiving.

Pascale’s All Natural Ice Cream & The Pickle Patch
For the whole afternoon, Pascale was dishing up her All Natural ice cream, and the line never stopped growing. We enjoyed tasting Peanut Butter Pickle, Sour Cream Strawberry, and Beau’s Chocolate. All were creamy and refreshing.


It was a fine feast to celebrate the end of summer!

More to Explore:

• Index of Recipes
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Whisk Wednesdays—Grenadins de Veau au Coulis de Celeri-Rave (Veal with Celery Root Cream Sauce)

It seems these last recipes in the curriculum are strictly a review of techniques already learned. They don't contain much history or interest but are good practice for the impending exam. Grenadins de veau are thick veal fillet steaks laced with pork fat. After sprinkling the meat with salt and pepper and searing them on the stove in a bit of butter, I placed (I should have larded!) the pork fat on top of the veal and set it aside while I worked on the vegetables.

Week 1 at Le Cordon Bleu (Basic Cuisine)

The anticipation of the students waiting before the first demo was tangible. A little nervous chatter here and there, but mostly silence.

At last, we were invited into the elegant yellow and white room with high-tech flat panel screens on either side. Everyone tried to score a front row seat.

The chef explained many things including the kitchen brigade, all the different knives and tools in the kit (worth about $1000 Canadian but is included in the tuition), safety and hygiene tips, and French terms for all the pots, pans and tools.

Then he launched into vegetable cuts, including émincer, ciseler, hasher, julienne, brunoise, paysanne and chiffonade. Finally, he made Potage cultivateur (Cut vegetable soup).

In the kitchen, we had a chance to practice our precision cuts with carrots, turnips, potatoes, onions, leeks and cabbage. Lot of practice is required for the precision required at Le Cordon Bleu. I have a long way to go (and wondering if I'm on the right path)!


Chef's Potage cultivateur

Lesson three was all about garnitures (not garnishes!), which are side dishes. It was fun to see the master chef work on so many dishes (six of them) at once without breaking a sweat while we kept flipping pages to keep up with which recipe he was working on.

Knowing we had to make three dishes during the practical was daunting enough for me: Bouquetière (a hot garniture of turned vegetables and artichoke), Jardinière (another hot garniture of vegetables cut as batonnets), and finally Macédoine (a cold vegetable medley cut into small cubes or pieces). In addition to these recipes, chef made Tomates
concassées, Portugaise, Duxelle sêche de champignons, Blanc de cuisson, Grandmère and showed us the different cuts for Pommes de terre pour frire.

Since there are 30 students in Basic Cuisine, we've been broken up into two groups of 15 for the kitchen part of our class. Our group has already experienced its share of drama.

In the third practical (our second one where we actually had to use the stoves), one student sliced her finger and while the chef was cleaning her cut, she fainted. We were all asked to leave the room, and wait in the lounge while they helped her. Meanwhile, an ambulance was called to ensure she was ok. She came back to class shortly after that and was ready to resume her station. However, we still had to serve the chef our dishes at the same time agreed upon at the beginning of class. That was stressful, but the show must go on!

Artichokes have always confounded me. I've never known how to prepare them. Well, now I've prepared them twice in the last week, and I've learned that I like them! The day before we were shown how to turn artichokes and cook them in a Blanc de Cuisson (a mixture of water, flour, lemon and salt). We practiced this again in the third practical. Although I failed to remove the entire choke for serving, I now know that I can buy an artichoke at the grocery store, and I finally understand what to do with it.

I also learned that it's important to keep the stove from being idle. While turning turnips, I had to cook carrots. While cooking turnips, I had to prepare green beans. It's about making the most of the time you have and multitasking. It's also about having the skill to turn vegetables quickly. Even after spending hours on a Saturday night practicing turning vegetables with my husband (who was much better at it than me, by the way!), I'm still impossibly slow and awkward shaping turnips and carrots into pretty footballs (if footballs can be pretty!).

But during this practical, I started to feel like I can actually do this. In someone else's kitchen. With someone watching over every move looking for ways to help us improve. There's chaos all around with students asking which is the parsley, others asking where to find the cutting boards, all while the clock ticks down to our deadline. I felt like we were a team. I can learn. I want to learn more. I've already learned a lot. But I wish I didn't have to learn how to turn vegetables.


Counter-clockwise from top: Chef's Jardinière, Bouquetière, Macédoine & me

When my girls saw me in my uniform for the first time, I heard "interesting" from one, "you're going to wear that!?" from another, an incredulous look from my third followed up with "it looks professional, Mom!" from all three. Yes, I'm going to wear that, and feel proud!

. . . . . . . . . .

Here is a link back to the recipes as I did them last year (although they aren't exactly the same as what we did in class):

Class 1: Cut Vegetable Soup
Part 1 - Mise en place, Mirepoix and Knife skills
Part 2 - Potage cultivateur (Cut vegetable soup)

Class 2: Turned Vegetables Cooked in a Court Bouillon
Part 1 - Légumes à la grèque (Turned vegetables)
Part 2 - Légumes à la grèque (Court bouillon)

Class 3: Garnitures
Part 1 - Laitues braises (Braised lettuce)
Part 2 - Tomates concassées (Crushed tomatoes)
Part 3 - Portugaise (Tomatoes, crushed and cooked)
Part 4 - Duxelle sêche de champignons (Mushroom, chopped and cooked with shallots)
Part 5 - Grand-Mère (Garnish of bacon, onions, mushrooms, and potatoes)
Part 6 - Pommes de terre pour frire (Different cuts for deep-fried potatoes)
Part 7 - Bouquetière (Vegetables served in a bunch)
Part 8 - Jardinière et macédoine de legumes (Vegetables cut into sticks and cubes)

More to Explore:

• Index of Recipes
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Ottawa Urban Foodie—Ottawa Metro

As of today, I have a byline! And a way to indulge my love of eating at restaurants. I'm the new restaurant reviewer for the Ottawa Metro newspaper, and I'll be providing a review every Thursday along with food events. (If you know of any upcoming events or restaurants you would like to see reviewed, email OttawaUrbanFoodie[at]gmail[dot]com.)

My first review is for a wonderful little Italian restaurant in the suburbs called La Porto a Casa.


Today at Le Cordon Bleu Ottawa
"To everything (turn, turn, turn)." Turning carrots, zucchini, artichoke, and mushrooms is the wrath of culinary school and is best summed up in this humorous article! Would love to write more about today, but it's late, and I still have to iron my uniform for tomorrow. G'nite!

Chef's Légumes à la grèque (Turned vegetables cooked in a court bouillon with coriander)

More to Explore:

• Index of Recipes
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Whisk Wednesdays—Spiced Shrimp Balls

Sweetbread fritters were supposed to be on the menu today. However, they weren't something I wanted to taste, but may have to if they're on the list of recipes at Le Cordon Bleu Ottawa. Instead, the Whisk Wednesdays group decided Spiced Shrimp Balls sounded tastier and found it in one of Le Cordon Bleu cookbooks called Le Cordon Bleu Complete Cook Home Collection (affiliate link).

Moving away from typical French cuisine and into something a little more Asian-inspired was a nice change. Practicing deep-frying technique is always helpful and usually renders something crunchy and tender at the same time.

This is a simple recipe. I used my food processor to mince the shrimp into a purée. Then, I stirred in the remaining ingredients. After whipping the egg whites, I folded them into the mixture. Finally, I formed the shrimp mixture into balls and rolled them into sesame seeds.

I followed the same technique for deep frying that I learned when frying potatoes.

Recipe: Spiced Shrimp Balls

Serves: 6

Ingredients:

1½ pounds large uncooked shrimp

1 tablespoon oil

2 cloves garlic, crushed

½-inch piece of fresh ginger, finely chopped

¼ teaspoon salt

2 teaspoons sugar

1 teaspoon chopped fresh cilantro

1 teaspoon cornstarch

½ egg white, whipped

2/3 cup sesame seeds

Oil, for deep frying

You can find the recipe for Spiced Shrimp Balls in the book Le Cordon Bleu Complete Cook Home Collection (affiliate link) To see how the rest of the Whisk Wednesdays group fared with their recipe, click here (or check out the sidebar) and then click on each blogger!

Tasting Notes
Crunchy and yummy.

Next Class
• Grenadins de Veau au Coulis de Celeri-Rave (Veal with Celery Root Cream Sauce) pages 330-331 in Le Cordon Bleu at Home cookbook

. . . . . . . . . .

Running total: $1,521.17 + $19.04 = $1,540.21
($3.17 per serving)

Butter used so far: 12 pounds, 31 tablespoons

93% complete Basic Cuisine (on blog) / 3% in real life

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Le Cordon Bleu—A Dream Come True

"Choose Life
only that and always
and at whatever risk.
To let life leak out, to let it wear away by
the mere passage of time, to withhold
giving it and spreading it
is to choose
nothing."
— Sister Helen Keller

Some of you already know this, but I thought I should let everyone know that today was my first day of school at Le Cordon Bleu Ottawa! A few weeks ago, I decided to follow my dream of attending culinary school, and with the help of my supportive family (especially my husband) I signed up for Basic Cuisine with the hopes of working towards the Grand Diplôme.

Today was orientation for all Basic Cuisine and Pastry students, of which 30 are in Cuisine and 45 in Pastry. We learned a bit about the history of Le Cordon Bleu. It was actually started by a woman named Marthe Distel in 1895 who was the publisher of a magazine called La Cuisinière Cordon Bleu. To thank her subscribers, she invited chefs to demonstrate to readers some of the recipes published in the magazine. The demonstrations launched the cooking school.

We were introduced to the chefs and staff, and then we walked through several policies and procedures (with attendance and promptness being stressed over and over).

All the parts of the uniform were explained, including why the jacket is double-breasted (so that you can re-button it to show the clean side if you want to visit the restaurant patrons). Houndstooth pants hide any stains. Aprons are done up on the front so that they're easy to take off in case it catches on fire. Steel-toed shoes protect feet from falling knives and hats collect the sweat. (Hairnets are worn at all times.)

After some more presentations about the schedule and other administrative details, we were given a tour, our equipment and uniforms.

Finally, I made sure to sample as many of the "viennoiseries" that I could, including two types of muffins, a sunny-side up apricot pastry, a croissant, a lemon poppy-seed loaf and some fruit. All were tasty, as expected.

Now, I must iron my uniform and get ready for tomorrow. Stay tuned...

"It is your soul's duty to be loyal to your desires."
— Rebecca West

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Feast of Fields—Crispy Polenta with Fresh Corn and Aged Cheddar

It's harvest time, and for the fifth year in a row you can spend an afternoon feasting on the talents of organic farmers and chefs at Feast of Fields in Ottawa. Chefs are paired with area farmers to showcase this season's harvest.

When: Sunday, September 13, 2009, Noon to 4:00 p.m. (food served Noon to 2:00)
Where: Vincent Massey Park (near Riverside Drive and Heron Road)

I attended a pre-event to sample food made by the winners of the farmer/chef pairing from last year as well as preview food we can look forward to tasting at the event itself. We sampled a spicy orca bean quesadilla prepared by resident chef Candice Butler from Urban Element who is paired with Greta's Organic Farm this year. Greta owns an organic seed company that grows plants simply for their seeds with an eye for a plant's uniqueness in taste, appearance, color, and shape. These seeds are the bread and butter of Greta's farm. In fact, when Carley visited to collect the ingredients for her dish, Greta removed the seeds from the peppers first!

Jennifer Heagle and Jo-Ann Laverty from The Red Apron, winners from last year's event, prepared a mild, tasty lamb from Aartje den Boer's farm called The Pickle Patch along with a vegetable medley of heirloom tomatoes, garlic, and white beans. The organic crispy corn polenta with aged cheddar served on the side was particularly tasty and happily the chefs shared the recipe.

I'm looking forward to attending this event next week and sampling more dishes from all the creative chefs who are paired with the hard-working organic farmers in the area. Until then, I'll be enjoying this comforting cheesy corn polenta.

Recipe: Crispy Polenta with Fresh Corn and Aged Cheddar

from The Red Apron

Makes: 1 9x9 pan

Ingredients:

4 cups vegetable or chicken stock

1 cup whipping cream

2 tablespoons butter

1 small onion, diced

3 cloves garlic, minced

Fresh corn niblets from 1 cob of corn

2 tablespoons white wine, for deglazing

1¼ cup yellow cornmeal

1½ cups old cheddar, grated

¼ cup fresh thyme and rosemary, chopped

1 teaspoon salt

Line a 9x9 pan with parchment paper.

In a pot, bring stock and cream to a simmer and set aside.

In a 2-quart saucepan, heat the butter over medium heat. Add the onion and cook until soft but not colored. Add garlic and corn niblets and sauté until corn is tender, about 3 minutes. Deglaze with white wine.

Add the stock and cream mixture to the saucepan and bring to a simmer.

In a slow, steady stream, add the cornmeal and cook over medium heat for 1 minute, whisking constantly to avoid lumps.

Remove from heat and stir in the grated cheddar and fresh herbs. Season with salt, to taste.

Pour mixture into pan. Refrigerate until set, about 2 hours. Turn out the polenta and cut into desired shapes.

Pan-fry the pieces in olive oil and a little butter until lightly browned on both sides or broil in the oven until browned.

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Whisk Wednesdays—Biscuit de Savoie (Sponge Cake)

Savoy (pronounced Savwa) Cake, or Sponge Cake, dates back to the 18th century and is a simple cake using five pantry ingredients. The only odd ingredient is potato flour, which helps produce a more tender cake. Although similar to a pound cake, it's often baked in a mold that looks like a turban.

After combining the yolks, sugar, and vanilla, fold in the flour. Then, after whipping the egg whites, fold them into the yolk mixture. Bake at 350°F until the center comes out clean. Dust with confectioners' sugar and serve with crème anglaise or fresh whipped cream and berries. Très simple.