Amuse Bouche
Defn: to tickle your palate, whet your appetite, make your mouth happy
Amuse Bouche is where we share with you the things that make our mouths happy. From recipes to wine reviews, from producer profiles to our culinary journeys - this is sightseeing for your tastebuds.
There are so many amazing food and wine events across this province. We recommend visiting Wine & Dine BC News - an excellent resource for keeping track of these events so you can plan your calendar and don't miss out. And Cityfood Magazine is a terrific site for keeping track of Vancouver's food & beverage related press releases, restaurant news, promotions and more.
Visit often - we'll be tasting, travelling and posting for you.
Cheers,
Treve Ring
Amuse Bouche Editor
Calling all foodies – Retail Associate wanted for Granville Island Retail Store
Edible British Columbia, Canada’s largest culinary tourism business, is seeking a part-time Retail Associate at our store in the Granville Island Public Market. We carry the highest quality BC and Canadian artisan food products.
Duties include, but are not limited to:
-Stocking shelves
-Receiving inventory
-Interacting with customers
-Answering phones
-Relaying product knowledge to clients
-Gift Basket design and assembly
The right candidate is flexible, hard working, reliable, and has great customer service skills, accompanied with a real passion for the local food scene. Must be available to work weekends and afternoon/evening shifts. Previous retail experience is an asset.
The Edible British Columbia Retail Store has been part of the Granville Island Public Market for almost 5 years, providing locals and visitors with a one-stop shop for top quality local artisan food products. We also offer chef guided tours of the Granville Island Market and Chinatown, Gourmet Kayaking Adventures, Market Dinners with local chefs, plus customized tour itineraries for individuals and groups.
Edible British Columbia – Sightseeing for your tastebuds.
Please send resume and cover letter to jobs@ediblebritishcolumbia.com. No phone calls, please.
My Gourmet Kayaking Adventure – by Kimi Grass
This past weekend I had the great pleasure of participating in one of the last Gourmet Kayaking trips of the season.
Edible BC and Sealegs Kayaking together offer these three-day, two-night excursions that depart from Cedar, just south of Nanaimo, and paddle through some of the most beautiful scenery in the Gulf Islands. With locally inspired menus, BC wines, gorgeous sunsets and great company, I wondered prior to the trip if a local weekend getaway could get much better than that? Turns out, the answer is yes! Not only was the scenery stunning and the weather perfect, but I was blown away by the professionalism and knowledge of the Sealegs guides, who took care of everything from expertly packing up the kayaks, to cooking our gourmet food (taking special care to account for allergies), and washing up the dishes. All that was required of us was to paddle, eat, set up our tents, and (sigh) eat and drink some more.
Featured menu items included a breakfast of mascarpone cheese and blackberry liqueur-stuffed French toast with a side of JN&Z bacon, a dinner of chicken Korma with cumin rice and seasonal vegetables, and a Crème Brulee dessert accompanied by a Thomas Haas Sparkle Cookie.
2011 dates, including special dates featuring Yoga, are now up on our website and open for booking:
http://www.edible-britishcolumbia.com/ebc-events/gourmet-kayaking/
*Kimi Grass is Edible BC’s very hardworking Retail Manager
Recipes: Zucchini Lasagna, basil pistachio pesto, macadamia ricotta
Earlier this month we had the pleasure of welcoming Afke Zonderland back for a second annual Raw Food Feast – as part of our BC’s Best Market Dinner Series. Her recipes are so incredibly flavourful and creative – I had a lot of trouble picking just one recipe to post.
Zucchini Lasagna
basil pistachio pesto, macadamia ricotta, with walnut zucchini crackers
Arrowleaf Cellars Zwiegelt 2007
Serves 4
Zucchini Noodles
4 zucchini – celtic sea salt; Italian herbs
Thinly slice zucchini in long thin strips.
Macadamia Nut Ricotta Cheeze
1 ½ cups Macadamia nuts
¼ cup pine nuts – soaked 1 hour
2 tbsp nutritional yeast
1 tsp celtic sea salt
2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
6 – 8 tbsp. water as needed
Combine first four ingredients in a food processor ( S-blade) to a fine meal.
Gradually add olive oil, and just enough water to make a thick smooth sauce.
Spread the cheeze over the zucchini noodles in the glass dish
Sun-dried Tomato Marinara
6 ripe roma tomatoes
1 ½ cups sun-dried tomatoes – rehydrated
1 cup finely chopped basil
1 cup finely chopped Italian parsley
2 tbsp. extra virgin olive oil
1 tbsp. fresh lemon juice
1 tsp. celtic sea salt
1 tsp. dried oregano
1 tsp. dried rosemary
5 drops Stevia
1 cl garlic – minced
Cut the fresh tomatoes in half. Scoop out the seeds ( optional) and chop tomatoes small. Transfer to a large bowl. Combine the sun-dried tomatoes with all the remaining ingredients and process in a blender until smooth. Stir into chopped tomatoes.
*If using canned tomatoes drain excess juice and soak sun-dried tomatoes in this. After soaking, drain and process the sun-dried tomatoes with the tomatoes , spices, herbs , oil and lemon juice until the marinara is fairly smooth. *Recommended in the winter when fresh tomatoes taste bland.
Marinated Mushrooms
3 cups shiitake mushrooms
½ cup finely chopped fresh basil
3 scallions, finely chopped
¼ cup extra virgin olive oil
2 tbsp fresh lemon juice
a few drops stevia
1 tbsp Braggs Liquid Amino’s
Combine all ingredients in a glass bowl and toss gently.
Marinate in the refrigerator for 6 to 8 hours or overnight
Drain the liquid from the mushrooms and layer them over the cheeze
Top with reserved zucchini strips
Kim Thai the Silent Chef is not so Anonymous Anymore – by Stephanie Yuen
General Manager Linda and Chef Thai welcomed guests
Who is Kim Thai? He’s a good friend of mine, a creator of divine West Coast cuisine; someone that enjoys working with fresh ingredients resourced locally. He is also the Executive Chef of The Coast Plaza Hotel & Suites (Comox & Denman) and was the Culinary Director and Executive Chef of The Sutton Place Hotel for many years. Chef Thai is the silent type that shines in his culinary cockpit; his comfort zone is the hotel kitchen. There, he masters global recipes by fusing in his Chinese and Vietnamese cooking secrets.
But fans he has many. A lot of my foodie friends have been enjoying his cooking since his Sutton Place days. I met another 60 of them in an engrossing wine paired fundraising dinner hosted by The Coast Plaza Hotel & Suites and Sumac Ridge Estate Winery for A Loving Spoonful.
That enchanting evening took place on the roof top dining room where an amazingly wine-paired 6-course dinner was served. Jason James, Winemaker for Sumac Ridge was on hand to describe each wine pairing. From smooth Truffle mousse stuffed chicken (Sparkling Tribute) to the velvety Roasted venison chop (’05 Red Pinnacle), each bite was an eye-closing pleasure.
While each course was as intriguing as the next one, it was dessert,however, that was my favourite of the evening. This is my first encounter of both chocolate (in the form of ‘Gold dusted bitter chocolate brulee’) and Pont l’Eveque (uncooked, ripened cheese) on one plate. With roasted pistachio and marinated fig and a glass of ’05 Sumac Ridge Pipe, I was on cloud nine!
Another highlight of the evening came towards the end when Chef Thai was placed at centre stage as the grand auction prize. His ‘Multicourse dinner cooked at your home for 8 plus boxes of Sumac Ridge wines’ was auctioned off for a very impressive $2500! Chef Kim Thai cannot stay anonymous anymore.
Captions:
An inspiring dessert with chocolate mousse and Pont l’Eveque
Sushi, Sake & Summer – by Sheila Whittaker
Sushi, Sake & Summer, July 25, 2010
It was a magical night to be on the terrace of the Granville Island Public Market. The intoxicating stylings of the Emma Posti Quintet flowed over the candle-lit cocktail tables as the full moon slowly climbed above False Creek. It was hard to say whether it was the light breeze, the atmosphere, or the anticipation of celebrity sushi Chef Hidekazu Tojo’s meal bringing goose bumps to the bare arms of the attendees.
Global TV news anchor Sophie Lui was there to welcome 100 guests to the sold-out event that raised $4,000 for the YWCA. Vancouver YWCA provides over 30,000 hot meals each year to the women and children of the downtown eastside through its Crabtree Corner facility. Funds from this event will help run a series of seminars and demonstrations for underprivileged women so that they can feed their kids in a healthy, nutritious, organic way.
Tojo and his team of chefs, Masayoshi Baba, Michi Ogawa, Akira Usui, and Tomoaki Kinoshita, served guests buffet-style, allowing them to interact and answer questions about the menu. GardenWorks collaborated with Chef Tojo by providing fresh, seasonal herbs and they attended the event to share information about herb gardening with guests.
In addition to six of Tojo’s original rolls (Tojo Roll, Golden Roll, Spicy Tuna Roll, Spicy Tropical Roll, Spider Roll and Northern Light Roll), the team also prepared Salmon Teriyaki, yakisoba, organic green salad with soba noodles, and shrimp and cucumber salad with vermicelli noodles.
All of this could be washed down with unfiltered and unpasteurized Granville Island Osake Junmai Nama, artisan sake made by Masa Shiroki. Although he makes half a dozen types of sake, he chose to pour only one so that guests could focus on Tojo’s food. The Osake Junmai Nama complimented Tojo’s seafood well, as it was light, crisp and dry with citrus and riper tree fruit notes.
Wine, beer and cocktails were also available to sip while strolling around the creek-side patio and admiring the cityscape. Granville Island Brewing offered Ginger Beer and Robson Street Hefeweizen, while Victoria Spirits showed off Canada’s first premium gin, fashioned into a delicious Shizo Martini. A selection of wine was generously poured by St. Hubertus Estate Winery.
Evaleen Jaager Roy, author of Four Chefs One Garden and YWCA board member, was on hand to sell and sign books, with $1 of each sale going towards feeding kids on the downtown eastside. She is an avid cook and gardener, and her book takes readers through the seasons with four of Vancouver’s great chefs: Michel Jabob (Le Crocodile), Umberto Menghi (Umberto’s & Il Giardino, in Whistler Trattoria & Il Caminetto), Hidekazu Tojo (Tojo’s) and Vikram Vij (Vij’s, Rangoli).
***** Editor’s note *****
After the final ticket counts were tallied, a grand total of $4000 was raised for the YWCA. Thank you Vancouver for all of your support of this fantastic fresh food initiative!
Edible BC & Evaleen Jaager Roy would like to extend our sincerest gratitude to all of our generous suppliers & partners. Their contributions to this amazing event allowed us to raise much needed funds for the Vancouver YWCA.
Please extend your thanks to these wonderful sponsors:
Musicians Emma Posti, David Blake, Wynston Minckler, Stefan Thordarson & Jens Christiansen
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