Don Genova's Blog

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.

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.

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!