Don Genova's Blog

Pacific Palate - Contest Winners Announced and My Secret Revealed

This morning I broadcast my last edition of Pacific Palate on The Early Edition, after 10 years of memorable meals. 

On Saturday I climb on board a plane in Vancouver and late on Sunday afternoon I'll arrive in Parma, Italy.  From there it's a short hop to Colorno, where I will be living for the next year while I take a Masters of Food Culture program at the University of Gastronomic Sciences, otherwise known as Slow Food U!

Don't worry, I'll keep writing on my blog as often as possible, and will still be producing my Food For Thought program for CBC Radio One, and my Podcast, All You Can Eat for Podshow.com.

If you want to try the lasagna recipe I talked about on the Early Edition, which was very ably executed by my wife Ramona this weekend, you'll find it here.

And thanks to everyone who entered the contest, there are some truly great stories, and I encourage you to read them by going to the bottom of this posting.

The winner of the dinners for two at Nu, Rare and Senova is Dee Taylor of Maple Ridge.

Daphne Spencer of West Vancouver won 11 different culinary books from Raincoast Books, Douglas & McIntyre and Whitecap Books.

And Nancy Carpenter of Vancouver won the Breville Panini Press pictured above, courtesy of Breville and Ming Wo Cookware in Chinatown.

Thanks to all of my listeners over the years of Pacific Palate and to all the people I have interviewed who helped make the show what it was, the best-tasting show on the radio!

Ciao for now,

Don

Pacific Palate - even more prizes!

Great news...Raincoast Books has thrown a veritable pot pourri of culinary books into the Big Bang prize package, including:

How I Learned to Cook
Kathy Casey's Northwest Table
Michael Chiarello's Flavoured Oils and Vinagars
World Food Cafe
The LAtin American Kitchen
The World of Spice
Duchy Originals Cookbook

You only have until Monday, November 13th to enter the contest to win these books and more from Douglas and McIntyre and Whitecap Books, as well as a Breville Panini Press from Ming Wo Cookware and dinners for two from Nu, Rare and Senova.  Tell me about your Most Memorable Meal!  Go to this page to enter.

Pacific Palate - My Secrets of the City

This week on Pacific Palate, my secrets of the city...and the Cowichan Valley.  These are my favourite haunts, not the high-end, white tablecloth places, but spots I can go to on my budget and not worry about breaking the bank. 

Don't forget to enter my 'Most Memorable Meal Contest' to have a chance at some fabulous prizes:

Dinners for two at Nu, Rare and Senova.

Copies of Mama Now Cooks Like This, by Susan Mendelson, and Had a Glass 2007:  Top 200 wines for under $20, by James Nevison and Kenji Hodgson, courtesy of Whitecap Books.

As well as copies of Vij’s: Elegant and Inspired Indian Cuisine by Vikram Vij and Meeru Dhalwala, and The Cocktail Chef: Simple, Chic Entertaining by Dinah Koo and Janice Poon, wine notes by John Szabo, courtesy of Douglas & McIntyre.

And a Breville stainless steel panini grill from Ming Wo Cookware.

To enter the contest, go to the bottom of this blog entry.

Now for the list:  I haven't had time to look up all the addresses and phone numbers or websites of these places, so please try searching on your own before asking me for more info.  I'll try to add to the listings in the next week or so.

Vancouver:

- In Chinatown, I love the prawn turnovers and Pina Coco Buns at the New Town Bakery on East Pender Street just west of Main
-down the street, Ming Wo Cookware, for the best selection of anything you need in the kitchen
-on the other side of the Skytrain station from the CBC, T and T Supermarket for fresh Asian groceries and dried and canned goods.  I also just like hanging out at the seafood tanks and watching all the live stuff wriggle around
-In Yaletown, Rodney’s for oysters and mussels and clams
-Urban Fare to shop the world
-any branch of Hon’s Chinese restaurants.  I like to sit near the kitchen at the one on Robson Street and watch the chefs make stir-fries under the huge wok burners in less than 30 seconds

I used to live around the Main and King Edward area…and still have a few favourites there:
-Legendary Noodle, where you can watch them make the noodles at the back of the restaurant, try the noodles in spicy peanut sauce!
-Windsor Meats, the best butcher shop in the area for quality meats at good prices
-Jasmine Halal Meats and Deli for anything you need from the Middle East, and just north of King Edward, Sun Sui Wah for great dim sum, including duck tongues

-my new neighbourhood centers around West 10th Avenue near UBC…
-Ginger and Chili Restaurant for ginger beef and spicy green beans
-Mix the Bakery for great baked goods and bread, of course
-Hime Sushi for well-made sushi at great prices
-Perfetto’s pizza, for the Sicilian
-Gold Train Express Noodle House for fragrant Vietnamese beef noodle soup
-on campus…One More Sushi for the excellent agadashi tofu

-on West 4th and Vine, Simpatico for great lamb shoulder and ribs
-and Memphis Blues on West Broadway for excellent barbecue
-Osteria Napoli at 1st and Renfrew for what they call casa linga food, homestyle cooking from Joe.

-On West 2nd at Burrard and at Granville Island, Barbara-jo's Books to Cooks for the best cookbook selection in the city
-on East Hastings, Gourmet Warehouse, a foodies delight of cookware and tasty products

-stores like Capers and Choices and Whole Foods for bringing people more organic and local foods than ever before…

In Victoria and the Cowichan Valley (my weekend and summer place is in Cobble Hill)

-Zambri’s, in Victoria, an excellent Italian restaurant that has been a regular hangout…
-the Market on Yates
-Thrifty’s Supermarkets, anywhere
-Sooke Harbour House….for culinary innovation, romantic settings and  devotion to organic and local all year round.
-Cowichan Bay Farms
-Chuck Ford’s asparagus
-Hilary’s Cheese
-True Grain Bakery
-downtown Duncan Farmers market
-Mad Dog Crabs

Why am I divulging all of the secrets now?  I'm moving to Italy for a year, and I want you to patronize all these places while I'm gone!  More details next week...and if you'd like to add your own favourite places in Vancouver or Vancouver Island to this list feel free to do so in the 'comments' box below.

Pacific Palate Contest - Your Most Memorable Meal

November 13, 2006  UPDATE:  Contest entries are now closed.  Thanks to all of you for sending in some wonderful entries.  Winners will be announced and notified on November 14th. After ten years, Pacific Palate on CBC Radio's The Early Edition is coming to an end. There's a reason behind my departure, and I'll reveal all the why's and where's on November the 14th.

In the meantime, to reward my loyal listeners, we are running a fantastic contest you can win by telling me about your most memorable meal...all you have to do is scroll down to the comments section of this page, and write no more than TWO PARAGRAPHS about your most memorable meal ever.  We'll read some of the entries on the air, and on November 14th we'll announce the grand prize winner.  The deadline is noon, Monday, November 13th.

The grand prize so far includes dinners for two at three of the best new restaurants in Vancouver:

Nu

Rare

and Senova.  For an updated list of prizes, (yes, there's more!) click here.

For me, my most memorable meal of recent times came this spring in Italy, with my wife Ramona at a tiny little bistro in Rome.  It was the perfect lunch, joking with the waiter, being able to point at a dish of large, tenderly braised artichokes in the kitchen and having them delivered seconds later to our table, toothsome pastas, and an amazing appetizer of fresh cantaloupe, arugula and prosciutto.

I look forward to hearing your stories about your most memorable meal!  ...and good luck in the contest.

Pacific Palate - En Route Top New Restaurants

If you are looking for the Pacific Palate Most Memorable Meal Contest, click here.  This morning on the show, I talked about the Vancouver restaurants that made it to the top ten best new restaurants in Canada as named by En Route magazine.  By Wednesday, November 1st, the full En Route food issue should be posted to their website and you can check out all the details there.  In the meantime, here are the Vancouver restaurants you need to know about:

In first place, Nu.

In fifth place, Rare.

In the Top Twenty Five new restaurants to watch, Vancouver scored three more restaurants:

Century

Mistral

and Senova.

Congratulations to all of the above.  Please check my blog for my Food For Thought entry on the En Route awards starting Wed., Nov. 1st, and enter the Pacific Palate most memorable meal contest if you want to win dinner at Nu, Rare and Senova!

Pacific Palate - Apple Fest

This week on Pacific Palate, I celebrated apples, along with Canada's newest apple, the Aurora Golden Gala.  The apple was developed at the Pacific Agri-Food Research Centre in Summerland.  If you missed it this year, you won't want to miss next year's UBC Apple Festival. You could look at over 200 different varieties of apples, taste many of them, buy many of them, and learn so much about apples in a fun way it makes it a very entertaining family outing.  Of course once you buy the apples you have to eat them, so I have included a Tarte Tatin recipe I have made with some success over the years.  Depending on the size of your apples, you might want to cut them into quarters instead of halves.

Tarte Tatin Benoit              Serves 8

This recipe is from Patricia Wells’ ‘The Paris Cookbook’.  (Harper Collins, 2001)  It’s a recipe that you get better at making the more you do it.  So eat lots of apples in season!  I used Northern Spies for my tarte tatins, and they worked beautifully, but you could also use Golden Delicious, Jonagolds, Fujis, or Cox’s Orange Pippins.   You need a well-seasoned 9-inch cast iron skillet to make this recipe a success.

Ingredients:
¾ cup sugar
10 tbsp. unsalted butter, cut into thin slices
1 tsp. pure vanilla extract
3 pounds large apples, peeled, cored and halved lengthwise
1 package puff pastry, thawed
Whipped cream, crème fraiche or ice cream to top

1. Spread the sugar evenly over the bottom of the cast iron skillet.  Place the butter slices evenly over the sugar, then drizzle with the vanilla.  Beginning at the outside edge of the pan, stand the apple haves on end on top of the butter.  They should all face in one direction, with the rounded edge against the edge of the pan and the cut side toward the centre.  Pack the apples as close together as possible.  Make a second circle of apple halves inside the first.  Place one apple half in the centre of the circle to fill any remaining space.

2. Place the skillet over low heat and cook the apples in the butter and sugar, uncovered, until the butter/sugar mixture turns a thick, golden brown and just begins to caramelize.  This will take about an hour.  The liquid should remain at a gentle bubble.  Baste the apples from time to time to speed up their cooking and to make for evenly cooked fruit.  If the pieces lose their places a bit while cooking, you can nudge them back into formation.

3. Pre-heat the oven to 425F.

4. Take the skillet off the heat and place on top of a cookie sheet.  Roll out the thawed pastry to size on a lightly floured work surface, then drape it over top of the apples, gently pushing the edges of the pastry down around the edge of the pan and trimming any excess.  Place in the oven and bake until the pastry is golden, 25 to 30 minutes.  Do not be concerned if the juices bubble over, this is normal.

5. Remove the tart from the oven.  Immediately invert a serving plate over the skillet and then quickly but carefully (using gloves, remember the skillet is hot!) invert the skillet and the plate together so the pastry ends up on the platter, with the apples on top.  If any stick to the pan you can remove them and carefully place them back in the tart. Serve warm or at room temperature with whipped cream or ice cream or crème fraiche.   

I also talked about Pinnacle Ice Cider today.  This is a line of award-winning apple cider products from Domaine Pinnacle in Quebec, but the products are available across Canada and in the United States.  Rick Cluff and I sampled the ice cider and the sparkling ice cider.  What a great way to start the day on The Early Edition!

Pacific Palate - Abalone

This week on Pacific Palate, BC abalone returns to Vancouver restaurants...but this time around it's farmed abalone.  C Restaurant hosted a magnificient lunch to introduce this farmed product to a gathering of the media.  Executive chef Rob Clark and chef de cuisine Rob Belcham were very excited to be able to offer this mollusk, as BC abalone of any sort has been banned from harvest for the past 16 years because of dwindling supply.

These shells were being prepared to hold an appetizer dish of a light salad laced with strips of abalone and served with an 'abalone Caesar' cocktail.  The shells are beautiful, but they all have to be gathered up and returned to the farmer, under the strict harvest regulations set by the Department of Fisheries and Oceans.  They don't want empty shells from farmed abalone out there in case some unscrupulous poacher tries to stuff them with illegally poached meat.  The black market is still a huge problem on the coast.

The abalone farm is on land in Bamfield, on the west coast of Vancouver Island.  It's called the Bamfield Huu-Ay-Aht Community Abalone Project.  It brings together the Huu-Ay-Aht First Nations, the Bamfield Community School Association, and the Bamfield Marine Sciences Centre. 

I think this was my favourite dish at lunch the other day.  Abalone sashimi, served on top of side stripe shrimp with shaved salmon candy.  Farmed abalone aren't cheap...C Restaurant can expect to pay about $50 a pound wholesale...which means you probably wouldn't want to order a pound of them in the restaurant, but have them served with other dishes like the ones we had at lunch.

This is a grilled BC Pinto Abalone with crisp pork belly, confit potato, and truffle jus.

Pacific Palate - Bridging Borders Toward Food Security

This week on Pacific Palate you get a taste of Bridging Borders Toward Food Security, a conference held in Vancouver by the Community Food Security Coalition and Food Secure Canada.

What is food security?  It may not be what you think.  One definition which captures the spirit of the concept would read:  Food security is a strong, sustainable, local or regional food system that ensures access to affordable, nutritious and culturally appropriate food to all people at all times.

It's a mouthful, but visiting the websites posted here will lead you to an intriguing world of agencies, governments and communities all trying to reach a similar goal.

I was only able to touch on the basics on my program this week, but listen to my Food For Thought shows and my podcast in the near future to hear more.

Pacific Palate - Jim's Noodle Express

This week on Pacific Palate I visited Jim's Noodle Express at 382 Robson Street in Vancouver, right across from the Vancouver Public Library Building.

This little shop is the baby brother to the original Jim's Noodle House in Richmond.  It was opened in 1996 by Andy Wong, grandson of the 'Jim' in the title of the shop.

Andy and his staff make excellent wonton noodle soup, with a secret formula for the rich soup stock, and noodles and wrappers made to a specific recipe for the shop.  I had a chance to try stuffing the wonton wrappers like they do at the shop.  I was supposed to be able to wrap 15 wontons in a minute.  I managed 3.  But when I did finish the 15, they weighed exactly one pound, just like they should have.  At least I wasn't ripping off the customers by making small wontons.

At Jim's, the 'express' is for real, as you can get a bowl of noodles and wonton to go in just a few minutes, but the wontons, noodles and greens have been cooked just seconds after you ordered them.  Don't stop at the pork and shrimp wontons, though.  They also offer delicious curried fish balls, scrumptious hoisin short ribs, shredded pork and beef tendon.

  I never thought I would like tendon...as the pieces look like chunks of hard fat...but surprise!  The texture was toothsome and the flavour superb.  If you're in a hurry, and on a budget, check out Jim's.

Don't forget to get your tickets for the Oxfam World Food Day event I'm emceeing on the 11th.  Click here for more information, and hope to see you there!

Pacific Palate - Spinach

(to find out about the Oxfam fundraising dinner I'm MC'ing, click here.)

This week on Pacific Palate, a review of the e coli outbreak in the United States caused by contaminated fresh spinach products grown in California.  For the latest news on American cases, check out the FDA website, and to see what our government is advising, go the Canadian Food Inspection Agency website.

The distressing part of this outbreak is that officials may never be able to pinpoint the exact cause of the contamination.  All we do know is that this dangerous strain of e coli comes from the intestinal tracks of humans and cattle, which means the source could have been the water supply, improperly composted manure, or even passed along by workers handling the spinach, although considering the widespread nature of the outbreak, it seems likely the e coli may have already been in the spinach when it was harvested and bagged.

The Canadian-grown supply of fresh spinach is safe, however, and you can still find some at farmers markets and stores like Capers, which has sourced it from two Fraser Valley organic farmers.

But for a change, you might want to try cooking with some chard or kale, also in ready supply this time of year.  The following uses were inspired by recipes from Deborah Madison's 'Vegetarian Cooking for Everyone'.

Chard, Catalan Style

Ingredients:

1 large bunch chard, stems removed, leaves blanched

2 tbsps. olive oil

1 large garlic clove, sliced

1/3 cup raisins

1/3 cup pine nuts or chopped almonds

1 tbsp. lemon juice

salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste

Coarsely chop the cooked chard.  Heat the olive oil on medium heat in a wide skillet.  Add the sliced garlic and remove from the oil when browned.  Don't let it burn!  Then add the raisins and pine nuts or almonds.  Stir and fry until the nuts have turned a golden brown and the raisins have plumped up.  Add the chopped chard and stir until warmed through.  Sprinkle on the lemon juice and add salf and pepper to taste.  Serves 4.

Kale with Beans

Ingredients

1 to 2 pounds kale, stems and ribs removed (you can save them to use in soups)

2 tbsps. olive oil

1 small onion, diced

2 cloves garlic, minced

a pinch of red pepper flakes

2 teaspoons chopped rosemary

1/2 cup white wine

1 cup cooked white navy or cannellini beans, rinsed well if canned

salt and pepper to taste

freshly grated Parmesan cheese

Put the kale in a pot of boiling, salted water, then reduce to a simmer and cook until tender, about ten minutes.  Drain the kale, reserving the cooking water, and  chop the leaves.  In a large skillet, heat the oil over medium heat and saute the onion until translucent, then add the garlic, rosemary and red pepper flakes, frying until fragrant.  Add the wine and cook until the liquid reduces and the mixture becomes syrupy.  Add the beans, kale, and enough of the cooking liquid to keep the mixture moist and not gummy.  Serves 2 to 4 people.

Pacific Palate - Sambal and Ginger

This week on Pacific Palate, a visit to Sambal & Ginger, an Asian grocery for Western Kitchens in central Vancouver.  Lynn Santiago opened the shop a few months ago when she realized people in that area needed an easy and friendly place to find basic ingredients for all kinds of south Asian cooking.

Lynn grew up in a Filipino household on dishes from her country and the West, but when she got out on her own, she realized she didn't know how to make all of her mom's dishes that she craved...and so began her learning process.  Now she teaches others at the shop.

Her main sections include all the essential flavours of China, India, Japan, the Phillipines and Indonesia.  There is also a line of cookbooks that feature great descriptions of basic ingredients along with photos so you know what you're looking at!  Sambal & Ginger is at 731 W. 16th Avenue in Vancouver.

Lynn usually features a different recipe every month in the shop that uses ingredients available there and this month is no exception.  Pictured here is my rendition of a Japanese-style somen noodle salad.  It's a cold salad, and tastes better the more chilled the ingredients are, so don't rush into eating it!  The recipe calls for cooked prawns or shrimp, and a final sprinkling of Shichimi Togarashi, a spicy powder.  I had raw prawns, so I sprinkled them with the Togarashi and quickly fried them.  Delicious!

Here's the recipe:

Somen Noodle, Prawn and Cucumber Salad

2 Lebanese (short cucumber) or 1 Firm English Cucumber
1 Tbsp Dried wakame seaweed pieces
100 g (3.5 oz) Dried somen noodle
12 Cooked Prawns/Shrimp, peeled, deveined and cut in half lengthwise
3 Scallions, thinly sliced on diagonal
Shichimi Togarashi (option to serve)

Dressing:
185 ml Hon tsuyu (a Japanese soup base)
2 Tsp Ginger, finely grated
½ Tsp sesame oil

Cut cucumbers in half lengthways (keep 3 inches in length), scoop out seeds, slice very thinly on slight diagonal.  Put cucumber in colander, sprinkle with salt and set aside 10 minutes, rinse, drain and gently squeeze out as much water as you can.  Chill in fridge until needed.  Meanwhile, soak wakame in cold water 5 minutes, drain well and chill.  Mix all dressing ingredients together, chill.  Bring large saucepan of water to boil then reduce to simmer.  Add noodles, cook 2 minutes or until tender.  Quickly drain and rinse under cold running water until noodles are completely cool.  Combine cucumber, wakame, noodles, prawns and half scallion in large bowl.  Pour dressing and toss.  Serve immediately, garnish with remaining scallion and sprinkle with shichimi togarashi.

Pacific Palate - UBC Food Services

This week Pacific Palate takes a look behind the scenes at UBC Food Services, the division responsible for feeding thousands of people every day on campus. 

If you are a freshman or a parent of a student and you’re concerned about eating getting out of hand, I did come across a great book called The Dorm Room Diet by a junior at Princeton University in New Jersey named Daphne Oz, and it’s designed to give some help to students leaving home for the first time and confronted with the choices and stresses of first-year university life.  (by clicking on the title you will go to amazon.ca, where you can save 24% off the cover price!)

Pacific Palate - Sardines

                                         Tuesday, September 5th: Pacific Palate returns to the airwaves of the Early Edition this week with a report from the BC Sardine Festival in Steveston.  The sardine population in BC started picking up again around 10 years ago, fitting right in with a cycle of about 30 years that scientists have discovered.  To read much more about BC Sardines and the current fishery, visit the Canadian Pacific Sardine Association website.

Fisherman Glenn Budden of the MV Ocean Venture was on hand to answer questions from the crowd watching cooking demonstrations, and he also sold about 8500 pounds of fresh sardines!  People were lined up for hours to get quite a good deal:  10 sardines for $5...and these jumbo sardines weighed about half a pound each.  To view a PDF file of retailers and restaurants offering BC Sardines, click here. (you'll need Adobe Reader to view it)   Three chefs did cooking demonstrations with fresh BC Sardines, including cookbook author and consultant Stephen Wong, Karen Barnaby from the Fish House in Stanley Park, and Kosta Zogaris of The Salmon Shop and Screaming Mimi's at Lonsdale Quay in North Vancouver. 

I've already tried two of their recipes, Karen's Pan-Fried BC Sardines with Maple Balsamic Glaze, and Stephen's Grilled BC Sardines with Spicy Tomato Black Bean Sauce.  Both recipes worked well, and I surprised myself by being able to clean and fillet the sardines for Karen's recipe without making too much of a mess of the fish!

Stephen says you have to be careful when grilling sardines because they have a high fat content. (which makes for good Omega-3 fatty acid levels), but I didn't have access to a barbecue for this edition of 'Test Kitchen', so I just used the broiler in the oven with good results.

If you want to try some of these recipes you will find them opening as a Word document when you click on the links:

Grilled BC Sardines with Spicy Tomato Black Bean Sauce

Pan-Fried BC Sardines with Maple Balsamic Glaze

Pacific Palate Returns!

Hey everyone, Pacific Palate returns to the airwaves of The Early Edition for another new season!  I'll be on the air around 8:20am on Tuesday, September 5th with a report from the Sardine Festival being held in Steveston this Saturday.  It will be great to be back on the air with Rick Cluff and the whole gang.  Rick, I hope you like sardines!

Some of you know that I own a house in the Cowichan Valley on Vancouver Island.  In the September issue of Saveur magazine, the Valley  figures heavily in a major feature about southern Vancouver Island.  It's a great article, and will no doubt bring more tourism and investment to this little slice of heaven.  As long as it doesn't result in traffic jams!

Pacific Palate - Salmon, Wasabi and Strawberries!

This week on Pacific Palate, I answer the riddle, why do farmed salmon and wasabi go together?

Bruce Swift raises pan-sized coho salmon in tanks on his farm in Agassiz. But he uses the waste water from the tanks to grow wasabi roots and leaves. The wasabi root is grated or macerated to produce a greenish paste, that has much more flavour than you get from that toothpaste style-stuff you get at most Japanese restaurants, which is made up of regular horseradish powder, not wasabi.

He also uses the water to grow crayfish, which will be sold to Vancouver restaurants when he can get enough of them to grow to market size.  Bruce is part of the Agassiz Circle Farm tour.  Check it out!

I also talked about Fraser Valley Strawberries this morning.  Yes, they are now in season, and they are delicious!  Find out more by visiting the Fraser Valley Strawberry Growers Association website.

Pacific Palate - Fraser Valley pt. 2, cheese

Tuesday on Pacific Palate I paid a visit to The Farmhouse Natural Cheeses in Agassiz.  We tasted brie, caemembert and blue cheese style offerings.  Yummy!

Farmhouse Natural Cheese is part of the Agassiz Farm Circle Tour, a great day trip from Vancouver, or you can stay somewhere overnight like I did, at the Harrison Beach Hotel, a relatively new property that has fantastic views and is right on the beach at Harrison Lake.

Oh, and if you can't make it out to the Valley but you'd still like to try some of the cheeses, you can find a selection of them at the Les Amis Du Fromage locations in Vancouver and West Vancouver.

Pacific Palate - Hazelnuts

If you're looking for the 'Planking Secrets' contest page, click here.  This week on Pacific Palate, I talked about hazelnuts, specifically those that come from Canadian Hazelnuts in Agassiz.

The farmer, who was a hazelnut 'hobby farmer' up until a few years ago, is Pentti Hanninen, a former Air Canada pilot who purchased a large hazelnut farm and processing plant a few years ago, and is now the single largest hazelnut producer in BC.  At the shop at the plant, you can purchase all kinds of organic hazelnut products, including hazelnut oil and chocolate-hazelnut spread, just to name a couple. 

Canadian Hazelnut:  6682 Loughheed (#7) Highway  604-796-2136

e: canadianhazelnut AT telus.net

The plant and orchard are part of the Agassiz Circle Farm Tour in the District of Kent, and the tour is an easy day trip from Vancouver. But you might want to make a weekend of it and like I did, stay at the Harrison Beach Hotel at Harrison Lake.  Thanks to general manager Matthew Lynam for his great hospitality, and apparently his son is a big fan of mine!

I made a recipe for the show this morning but I wasn't that happy with it so I won't reproduce it exactly here.  It was from a book I picked up in Oregon, North America's largest hazelnut producing region, called Hazelnuts & More Cookbook, by Lucy Gerspacher. 

The recipe I made called for chopped hazelnuts to be combined with chopped green onions, then coated onto fresh oysters that you have already dipped in egg, then flour. Then you fry them in butter and olive oil until crisp.  I don't think I ground the hazelnuts finely enough, and ended up with quite a mess in the frypan, although the oysters tasted pretty good, I'm not giving this recipe the Pacific Palate Test Kitchen 'stamp of approval'.

In fact, many of the recipes in the book seem to be of the sort, 'hmmm, let's see what classic dishes we can make, then add hazelnuts to at the last minute.'

Pacific Palate - Planking Secrets - Win This Book!

This week on Pacific Palate, I talked Planking Secrets with Ron Shewchuk.  Ron is a North Vancouver barbecue and grilling guru.  Planking Secrets is his second book, in which you will find out how to grill with wooden planks for great barbecue flavour!  Ron's advice for grilling pork tenderloins on a cedar plank is listed below, and you'll note that some of the advice uses techniques and ingredients from elsewhere in the book.  So, you can enjoy all of Ron's Planking Secrets by clicking here and ordering through Amazon.ca, where you will save 24% off the cover price. 

CONTEST!  (contest is now closed, winners announced on June 13th!)

You can also try winning one of two copies, generously provided by Whitecap Books, by entering my contest.  All you have to do is scroll down to the bottom of the page and leave a short entry which tells me about your favourite barbecue or grilling recipe.  Mine is now "chicken-on-a-beer-can" in which I coat the outside of a chicken with a spicy rub and slow roast it on the grill, stuck on top of a beer can half full of beer to keep things moist.  Here's a pic:

In this case I am using a special chicken 'throne' to hold the chicken.  Contest closes on June 12th.

Planks and Pork Tenderloin: the Perfect Marriage (from Planking Secrets, reproduced by permission of the author)

When I set out to research this book I knew that planking worked great for fish and for summer fruits like peaches and pears, but I had no idea what a perfect match this cooking style is for pork tenderloin. These little cylinders of tender, juicy pork are a staple of Chinese cooking and are great on the grill, but they are ideally suited to planking. Their size allows 2 or 3 to fit nicely on a plank, and they have just the right amount of surface area to cook quickly without losing moisture. They go with all flavors of smoke, from cedar to mesquite. And they take to marinades and rubs extremely well. Here are some basic techniques and a little collection of ideas for how to flavor pork tenderloin, but use your imagination and experiment with your favorite rubs, marinades and basting sauces.

Technique:

1.   Marinate and/or rub the tenderloin and have it ready to go before you start the grill. (Three tenderloins is usually enough for 4 servings.)
2.   Preheat the grill on medium-high for 5 or 10 minutes or until the chamber temperature rises above 500°F/260°C. Rinse the plank (which you’ve soaked in water overnight or for at least an hour) and place it on the cooking grate. Cover the grill and heat the plank for 4 or 5 minutes, or until it’s starting to throw off a bit of smoke and crackling lightly.
3.   Reduce the heat to medium and place the tenderloin on the plank. Cook for 10 minutes, turn, and cook for another 5 to10 minutes, basting if you like, until the pork is springy to the touch or has an internal temperature of 140°F/60°C. (This will give you juicy pork cooked to a medium doneness. The internal temperature will come up slightly when you let the meat rest.)
4.   If you like, just before it’s ready you can move the tenderloin from the plank onto the cooking grate and char the outside, or caramelize it if it’s coated with barbecue sauce.
5.   Take the tenderloin out of the grill, tent it in foil, and let it rest for a few minutes before serving. Carve the tenderloin into 1/2- to 1-inch/1- to 2.5-cm medallions and apply whatever sauce or garnish is called for.

Tasty Tenderloin Treatments (the recipes for all the rubs, sauces and marinades mentioned below are in Planking Secrets, but you can substitute your favorite versions):
Classic Barbecue: Coat with ballpark mustard, sprinkle with Championship Barbecue Rub. Cook on a hickory plank till nearly done and finish with a light glaze of Ron’s Rich, Deeply Satisfying Barbecue Sauce. Serve more sauce on the side for dipping.
Easy Asian: Marinate with Easiest, Tastiest Steak (or Anything Else) Marinade and finish with a coating of Asian Barbecue Sauce.
Spice-Crusted: Season with salt and pepper, drizzle with oil and coat with minced garlic, toasted fennel and cumin seeds, and a little cinnamon.  Serve with chopped cilantro and your favorite chutney.
Balsamic: Coat with balsamic reduction. Marinate overnight. Sprinkle on some chopped fresh rosemary and granulated garlic. Serve with a drizzle of the balsamic reduction and some chopped fresh mint.
Harvest Time: Season with salt and pepper and coat with a rub made with light brown sugar, powdered ginger, a sprinkle of freshly grated nutmeg, a pinch of clove and a little cayenne pepper. Baste with melted apple jelly and serve with Plank-Baked Apples with Rum-Honey Sauce.
Southwestern: Flavor using the same seasonings as Spice-Crusted Pork Blade Steaks and serve with some salsa and cornbread.

Ron's first book is called Barbecue Secrets, and I use it all the time. You can save 34% on this book by clicking on the link above and ordering from Amazon.ca.

Pacific Palate -EAT Vancouver and Indian Elements

This week on Pacific Palate I offered a look-ahead to the EAT Vancouver show taking place this coming weekend, and introduced you to a new product that helps you make authentic Punjabi-style dishes, from the people at Indian Elements.  I made the two dishes you see here, a chickpea and tomato stew, along with a potato and cauliflower dish called Alu Gobi.  It's called Punjabi Palette, and its core is a dish of highly concentrated, cooked-down mixture of garlic, ginger and onions.

Both dishes were very easy to make and delicious, according to the members of my weekend test kitchen panel!

Eat Vancouver is a huge foodie's paradise of a consumer show that takes place this time of year at BC Place Stadium in Vancouver.  Graze to your heart's delight and meet celebrity chefs, ice sculptors and more!

Pacific Palate - Ethiopian and African Food

This morning on Pacific Palate, a stalwart of the ethnic dining scene in Vancouver moves from Kitsilano to Main Street, with delicious results.  I spoke with Assefa Kebede, chef and owner of the Nyala African Restaurant.  It's just moved to Main Street, a little south of King Edward on the east side of the street, after years at his location on West 4th Avenue.

Here is Assefa with 'a little snack' he made for me yesterday. A platter lined with Injeera (Ethiopian flatbread)  and covered with a refreshing beet and potato salad, a quickly-cooked lamb dish, and a long-simmered goat stew, all delicious.  On the show this morning Stephen Quinn got to sample Assefa's excellent vegetarian dish, split peas and mushrooms, as well as some new African dishes on the menu, a South African-style sausage and merguez sausage, which is made with lamb.

At certain times you will also be able to order a Moroccan tagine, which is a lamb or beef stew made with dried fruits or preserved lemons, then served with couscous.  It's cooked and served in the unique dish you see here, but the kicker is that Assefa is also a potter, and he makes all of the tagines!  If you speak nicely to him he will let you buy it.

Pacific Palate - Recipes from Sicily

On a special Wednesday morning edition of Pacific Palate, I shared two recipes from my recent visit to Sicily...fennel and orange salad, and fish cuscus.

This salad that I had in Catania, Sicily, was made with blood oranges.  It's past the season for those oranges now in Canada, but you can use sweet, seedless navel oranges instead.

Fennel and Blood Orange Salad
Blood oranges have a very sweet, dark flavour and are almost purply inside. Use regular, seedless navel oranges if you can't find them.

Ingredients:
2 large bulbs fennel
2 blood oranges
2 stalks of celery, leaves included
1/2 cup small black Italian or French olives
extra-virgin olive oil
salt and pepper to taste

Cut the stalks and any bad spots off the fennel bulb and reserve a few of the fronds.  Slice the fennel crosswise into the thinnest slices you can make.  (I use a Japanese mandolin for this)  Layer the fennel onto a wide plate or shallow casserole.  Slice the skin off the blood oranges and then cut crosswise into narrow slices.  Place the blood orange slices over top of the fennel.  Chop the celery stocks and leaves together and sprinkle over the orange.  Add salt and pepper to taste, and drizzle all over with olive oil.  Top with the olives and garnish with a few of the fennel fronds.  Serve cold or at room temperature.  Serves 4.

Today's second recipe is for fish cuscus.  I tried two different recipes.  The top photo is from a restaurant in Trapani, which was a very simple presentation of the bowl of couscous, and then you had a separate tureen of broth and soup you ladled over the couscous.  It was good, but not quite what I expected.  Then, on the other side of the island, in Catania, we tried it again.  This fish cuscus was much more elaborate, with artichokes, carrots, zucchini, shrimp and parsley adding to the mix with a much stronger fish broth soaking into the couscous.  I think the recipe I came up with kind of blends the two presentations together.  If you don't want to make your own fish stock, use clam juice, or purchase a quality frozen stock from a place like The Stock Market at Granville Island.

Fish Cuscus  Serves 4

For the stock:
2 pounds fish trim
1/2 pound large shrimp or prawns, shell on
1 large carrot cut into 2 or 3 pieces
1/2 an onion, peeled
4 whole cloves
a few stalks of parsley

Peel the shrimp and reserve them for the final poaching.  Put the shells, along with the fish trim, carrot, onion, cloves and parsley into a large pot and add cold water to cover.  Bring to a boil, then simmer for 30 minutes.  Remove from heat and strain out the solids. 

For the cuscus:
1 cup hot fish stock
1 cup of instant couscous

Put the couscous in a large bowl and pour the hot stock over top.  The couscous will swell and absorb the stock, and be ready to eat in about 5 minutes.  Set aside for the final preparation.

2 tbsp. olive oil
1 carrot, sliced on the diagonal
1 stalk of celery, sliced on the diagonal
2 cloves of garlic, chopped
1/2 an onion, sliced
1/2 cup tomato juice or tomato passata (a thick puree of tomato available at Italian grocery stores)
1 cup fish stock
1 tsp. cinnamon
1/4 tsp. nutmeg
salt and pepper
1/2 pound fish fillets, such as red snapper or ling cod, cut into large chunks

In a large pot, heat the olive oil on medium-high heat.  Add in the carrot, celery, onion and garlic.  Stir and fry until the vegetables have started to soften.  Stir in the tomato juice or passata, the fish stock and the spices.  Then add the chunks of fish and the reserved shrimp or prawns.  Simmer until the seafood is just cooked.

To serve, put a ladleful of couscous in each serving bowl.  Then ladle some fish, prawns and liquid on top.  (You can increase the number of servings by adding more fish, more stock and more tomato juice as you make up the final liquid base.)

Pacific Palate - Food of Expo 86

Today on Pacific Palate...I looked back on the food that was consumed during the World Exposition in Vancouver in 1986, and heard some memories Bob Wiles, the executive sous chef at the Pan Pacific Hotel, one of the most important restaurants in the city at the time, the Pan Pacific.  Bob started working at the Pan just a few months after it opened and was there for the whole Expo excitement.

Here are some Expo 86 food trivia facts I found on line:

-- 7.5 million hamburgers were sold during the fair.
-- Enough Cotton Candy was sold to fill the British Columbia Pavilion to
the top.
-- 8 million ice-cream products were sold.
-- 4.2 million hot dogs were sold. Placed end to end, the line would
stretch from Vancouver to Seattle and back.
-- 1/4 million pounds of coffee was brewed.
-- 1.2 million gallons of beer was consumed.

I also made up a few recipes from some 1986 recipes I found at Epicurious.com. These came from the pages of Gourmet magazine...and are definitely 20 years old.  Read them carefully, and try them if you dare.  Make sure you look at the comments that follow the recipes, as they point out some failings, errors and omissions.  For example, the green bean recipe calls for the beans to be boiled for 12 minutes until tender.  12 minutes makes mushy beans!  I adapted the recipe for Clams Catalplana with some success, though, serving the resulting stew on couscous.  Here's the photo:

But don't boil the clams for the 1/2 hour it says in the recipe!  Simmer them just until they open, then serve.  The entire list of 1986 recipes is here, and below are the links to the specific recipes I tried.

Celery Boats with Gruyere Pesto

Green Beans with Coriander and Garlic

Clams in a Cataplana Casa Velha

Pacific Palate - Dinnerworks

On Tuesday's show I talked about Dinnerworks, a brand new concept (for Vancouver, that is) where you go to make-ahead meals for home.  They do all the chopping and dicing, you do the assembly, no muss, no fuss. Eash work station is spotless, and looks just like a commercial restaurant prep counter.  You consult the menu online before you make an appointment and let the staff know which dishes you want to create.

You follow the recipes posted at the station, and pack them into oven-ready containers.

The Dinnerworks decor is quite modern, a combo of trendy pastels and stainless steel.  Owner-operator Chris Roscoe encourages people to come in for a private party...chat and listen to music while making meals for days down the road when you just don't have the time to spend in the kitchen.

You follow the recipes posted at the station, and pack them into oven-ready containers.

The Dinnerworks decor is quite modern, a combo of trendy pastels and stainless steel.  Owner-operator Chris Roscoe encourages people to come in for a private party...chat and listen to music while making meals for days down the road when you just don't have the time to spend in the kitchen.

Pacific Palate - Chocolate!

Tuesday, April 4th on Pacific Palate, I introduced two young entreprenurial chocolatiers who have a great new chocolate shop in Vancouver's Yaletown. Brandon Tam and Themis Velgis have opened Chocoatl at 1127 Mainland Street to great acclaim, and I know why.  Their hot chocolates are to swoon for.  Made from chocolate from one of 15 different countries, they also can infuse the hot chocolate with natural flavourings from choices such as lavender, hazelnut and rose.  I also spoke with Dr. Jordan LeBel about the health benefits now being attributed to dark chocolate.  He was speaking on behalf of Poulain chocolate.  Poulain chocolate bars, imported from France, are now available in mainstream retailers such as IGA, Shoppers Drug Mart and Save-On Foods.  For chocolate pairing information from Dr. Jordan LeBel, click here  to download a Word document with the details.

Pacific Palate - Cherry Blossom Festival

Tuesday morning on Pacific Palate I talked about the First Annual Vancouver Cherry Blossom Festival.  Thanks to Paul Schellenberg, the festival's marketing director, for coming in and bringing in the special bento box picnic that is being offered for a great price of $10 during the celebrations.

Where there's a festival, there's food.  In Tokyo, where celebrating the cherry blossom is an ancient tradition, some vendors sell takoyaki, fried balls of octopus. Here is one vendor skilfully turning the takoyaki in their special cooking mold so that they cook evenly.

If you want to see how cherry blossoms can be used in restaurant meals, this time of year sushi master Tojo uses blossoms at his restaurant.

This is your last week to enter my 'What's the Strangest Food You've Ever Eaten?' contest, with copies of Taras Grescoe's 'The Devil's Picnic' up for grabs as prizes.  To view the contest page, click here.

Pacific Palate - More Mexican Food

A while ago on Pacific Palate I featured some young women who cook the foods of their central Mexican home town in Vancouver because they couldn't find a restaurant serving such foods in the city.

Now a relatively new restaurant on West Broadway is featuring traditional central Mexico dishes...but the story has a twist.  The owner is an orthopedic surgeon from Mexico who has so far been denied the opportunity to practice in B.C.

The restaurant, at 3066 West Broadway, is called Hola Churro!  The website is still under construction but has some basic details along with the history of the churro and the spicy hot chocolate so many Mexicans enjoy.

They make two kinds of churros at Hola Churro!  The traditional narrow churro, which is extruded, deep-fried then rolled in sugar and cinnamon.  Yummy!  By changing the extruder, they can make a larger, hollow churro that can be stuffed with either sweet or savory fillings.  The machine used to make the churros is a specialty device that fries the churros at just the right temperature so that they don't get too greasy.  They have a fairly wide-ranging menu at the restaurant, featuring freshly made salsas, many of which I had never tasted before.  The pulled pork for their 'torta' sandwiches takes 36 hours to prepare and uses a spice unique to the Mayan Riviera.  There are no soda pops for sale there, instead, owners Edgardo Gonzalez and Adriana Braniff prefer to serve healthier beverages such as fresh lemonade, freshly squeezed orange juice, hot chocolate made from cocoa beans they grind themselves, a refreshing hibiscus drink and a unique beverage made from rice called horchata.  The restaurant is very kid-friendly, with a separate play area monitored by video camera, where you can let your children play or watch a DVD while you eat.  Edgardo and Adriana have designed the interior of the restaurant to look as if you are sitting in the main plaza of a colonial town in Mexico in the 1600's, complete with fountain fed by an aqueduct.  Their aim is to serve fresh, healthy food, so don't expect the fast Mexican food you get at places like Taco Bell!

Pacific Palate - Ebesse Zozo Hot Sauce

This morning I tried to render Early Edition host Rick Cluff speechless by plying him with hot sauces made from a traditional family recipe originating in Togo, West Africa.  They are made by Edmond Segbeaya in Nelson.  He came to Canada a few years ago after escaping political persecution in Togo. 

You can visit the Ebesse Zozo website here.  You will find more about Edmund's family history and the story of how he came to make this award-winning hot sauce.  In Vancouver, you can find his sauces for sale at Whole Foods and Capers Community Markets.

These sauces are hot, but they also have a lot of flavour.

Pacific Palate - The Return of the Slow Cooker

Today I talked about the resurgence of Slow Cookers as a method of cooking and featured recipes from a book by Judith Finlayson called The Healthy Slow Cooker. (Click on the link to purchase from Amazon.ca and save 34%!)

I haven't used a slow cooker in ages, but I've made 3 recipes from the book, all with great results.  Here's the one for Apple Oatmeal with Wheat Berries, a great way to wake up in the morning, with breakfast already made!

Ingredients:

1 and 1/2 cups steel-cut oats

1/2 cup wheat berries

2 apples, peeled, cored and chopped

1/2 tsp ground cinnamon

1/2 tsp vanilla

3 1/2 cups water

1 cup cranberry or apple juice

This works well in a small, slow cooker, but I used my large one and just cut the cooking time by a couple of hours.  First, grease the slow cooker stoneware with butter, margarine or oil.  In the cooker, combine the steel-cut oats, wheat berries, apples, cinnamon and vanilla.  Add water and juice.  Cover and cook on High for 4 hours or on Low for 8 hours or overnight.  When ready to serve, stir well, spoon into bowls and top with fruit, nuts or sugar of your choice.

My new slow cooker is from Breville. The company is from Australia, and features excellent design along with sturdy construction. I already have an excellent electric grill/griddle combination I use for steaks, breakfasts, whatever!  Anyway, the slow cooker is finished in brushed stainless steel and looks so good you won't be embarassed to have it sit on your countertop, unlike the 'flowery' designs of the past.  That is, unless you're into retro.  This one retails for about 50-60 dollars, with a 5.3 quart capacity.  Now here's kind of a fun site from the original Crock-Pot company, Rival.  The link goes to a history of Crock-Pots, and guess what?  You can even order a slow cooker with your favourite NASCAR driver featured on the exterior!!!

Today I talked about the resurgence of Slow Cookers as a method of cooking and featured recipes from a book by Judith Finlayson called The Healthy Slow Cooker. (Click on the link to purchase from Amazon.ca and save 34%!)

I haven't used a slow cooker in ages, but I've made 3 recipes from the book, all with great results.  Here's the one for Apple Oatmeal with Wheat Berries, a great way to wake up in the morning, with breakfast already made!

Ingredients:

1 and 1/2 cups steel-cut oats

1/2 cup wheat berries

2 apples, peeled, cored and chopped

1/2 tsp ground cinnamon

1/2 tsp vanilla

3 1/2 cups water

1 cup cranberry or apple juice

This works well in a small, slow cooker, but I used my large one and just cut the cooking time by a couple of hours.  First, grease the slow cooker stoneware with butter, margarine or oil.  In the cooker, combine the steel-cut oats, wheat berries, apples, cinnamon and vanilla.  Add water and juice.  Cover and cook on High for 4 hours or on Low for 8 hours or overnight.  When ready to serve, stir well, spoon into bowls and top with fruit, nuts or sugar of your choice.

My new slow cooker is from Breville. The company is from Australia, and features excellent design along with sturdy construction. I already have an excellent electric grill/griddle combination I use for steaks, breakfasts, whatever!  Anyway, the slow cooker is finished in brushed stainless steel and looks so good you won't be embarassed to have it sit on your countertop, unlike the 'flowery' designs of the past.  That is, unless you're into retro.  This one retails for about 50-60 dollars, with a 5.3 quart capacity.  Now here's kind of a fun site from the original Crock-Pot company, Rival.  The link goes to a history of Crock-Pots, and guess what?  You can even order a slow cooker with your favourite NASCAR driver featured on the exterior!!!

Pacific Palate - The One Hundred Mile Diet

This week I talked with Alisa Smith and James MacKinnon, freelance journalists who live in Vancouver, and who are living the 'Hundred Mile Diet'.  This means they are not eating any foods that are produced with ingredients that are grown or raised further than 100 miles away from Vancouver.   They began their year-long experiment in March of last year and have been documenting it in columns on The Tyee.ca.

They inspired me to create my own One Hundred Mile menu over the weekend at my home in Cobble Hill.  Pictured is my pulled pork roast with blueberry sauce, potatoes fried in duck fat, and blueberry vinaigrette beet salad.  Pretty good, if I do say so myself!  The recipe follows, but if you're too lazy or don't have enough time to source the ingredients, you can head to Raincity Grill in Vancouver to enjoy a One Hundred Mile Menu there, until April.  In the meantime, here are the recipes you need, which will work, even if you can't find 'local' ingredients.

Braised Pork Shoulder Butt with Blueberry Sauce, Beet Salad and Roasted Potatoes        Serves 4

I came up with this recipe for my own ‘100-Mile Diet’ and to use as many local products as possible in its construction.  All the ingredients, with the exception of salt and pepper, were produced within 100 miles of my home on Vancouver Island.  Take the challenge; see what ingredients you can find close to home.  You might be surprised.

For the Pork:

1 2-3 pound pork shoulder butt, tied
2 cups Merridale House Cider or apple juice
1 bay leaf
1 large sprig fresh rosemary
2 sprigs fresh thyme
salt and freshly ground black pepper

Pre-heat oven to 325F.  Season the pork all over with salt and pepper and place it in a Dutch oven or heavy ovenproof pot.  Add in the bay leaf, rosemary, thyme and cider, cover, and roast in the oven for about 3 hours, turning the pork roast from time to time so all sides have a chance to get some colour. When the pork can easily be pulled apart by a fork, remove from the pot and set aside, tenting with foil to keep warm.  Strain the juices into a small pot or measuring cup, and then proceed with the blueberry sauce.

For the Blueberry Sauce
2 cups fresh or frozen blueberries
¼ cup blueberry or cider vinegar
1 tbsp. honey
salt and pepper to taste

Put the pot you roasted the pork in on your stovetop and turn heat to high.  Add in the vinegar and stir, scraping up any browned bits at the bottom of the pot.  Then add the blueberries and the strained juice you reserved from the roast.  Bring to a boil.  Reduce to a simmer and add the honey.  Simmer until the berries are soft and broken and the mixture thickens to a sauce consistency.  (blueberries are high in pectin which will add in the thickening process) Season to taste.

For the Beets:

3 large beets
1 sprig fresh rosemary
1 sprig fresh thyme
1 tsp. honey
1 tbsp. blueberry or apple cider vinegar
salt and pepper to taste
Place the beets, rosemary and thyme on a large piece of tin foil and fold in the edges to contain the contents.  Put the foil on a baking sheet and roast with the pork for two hours, or until the beets can be easily pierced with a fork.  Remove from oven and let cool.  Peel the beets and cut into half-inch dice.  Put the diced beets in a bowl and stir in the honey, vinegar and salt and pepper to taste. 

For the Potatoes:
4 medium potatoes, peeled and cut into half inch dice
2 tbsp. duck or goose fat (or butter or olive oil)
salt and pepper to taste

Heat a frying pan on medium-high heat and add the fat and the potatoes.  Stir and fry the potatoes until they are soft on the inside and browned and crispy on the outside.  Season with salt and pepper.

To Assemble the Dish:

Place a mound of potatoes on the centre of each plate.  Carve the pork or pull apart with a pair of forks and mound it on top of the potatoes.  Spoon some beets around the potatoes and pork, then spoon some of the blueberry sauce on top of the pork.  Enjoy!

Pacific Palate - Sri Lankan Food

UPDATE Sapphire is closing its doors as of March 1st due to trouble with its lease.  Watch this blog for news of a new location.

Today on Pacific Palate I traveled to Sri Lanka, the island nation off the southeast coast of India, courtesy of Sapphire restaurant in Vancouver's Gastown.  Sri Lankan cuisine has lots of different influences, including Malay, Portuguese, Dutch Indonesia, and the Moors.  It all turns up in delicious dishes at Sapphire, which is at 216 Abbott Street in Vancouver.

  The restaurant is a family-run operation with Joseph DeVaz at the helm.  The DeVaz's came to Canada 21 years ago, but this is their first go at their own restaurant.  The dishes can be made Asian stir-fry style, like this 'devilled beef', or be influenced by Pakistani dishes like this rice biryani.

They also offer Sri Lankan curries, and South Asian fusion dishes of rice and noodle bowls.

A dish you won't find anywhere else than at Sapphire is the hopper, a thin crepe made in a special pan that sometimes has an egg soft-cooked into the base, and then is served with various sambals, chutneys and curries.  Yum!  Give the restaurant a try, I don't think you'll be disappointed.

Pacific Palate - Valentine's Day

For an audio extravaganza on Valentine's Day, featuring interviews with Amy Reiley, author of Fork Me, Spoon Me, the Sensual Cookbook, Vari Cuthbert of Whole Foods in West Vancouver and executive chef Scott Pratico of Joe Fortes, make sure you listen to my Valentine's Day podcast.  For recipes, see below:

Valentine’s Day Dinner Suggestions

All of these suggestions are courtesy Scott Pratico, executive chef at Joe Fortes Restaurant in

Vancouver

.  www.joefortes.ca

Appetizer: 

Scott suggests raw oysters for an appetizer and prefers the Kumomoto or Kushi oysters.  They are small, flavourful and easy to shuck.  For a special topping, take a quarter cup of a high quality fruit vinegar.  (I used Maille raspberry vinegar) and mix it with 1 shallot, finely chopped.  This is called a mignonette.