Toronto's Top Locavore

We were doubly lucky in Toronto to attend the beautiful wedding celebration of our dear friends Jed and Jess, and then feast upon exceptional food at the reception from local purveyors prepared by top Canadian chef Jamie Kennedy.

During the cocktail hour, Jamie manned an open blini bar while chatting with wedding guests. He served up cured local salmon and whitefish on fresh-off-the-griddle blinis with a bed of pickled radishes and topped off with roe.

Jamie is known for being a fervent supporter of cooking with locally produced ingredients and the Slow Food movement in Canada. This is how he approached the wedding menu: everything including the wines (a Syrah and a Riesling) came from the Ontario region.




The dinner featured seasonal standouts including pickled heirloom beets with blue cheese and watercress, a Pistou soup studded with green garlic and fiddlehead ferns, a just-caught Georgian Bay Day Boat whitefish in a Spring herb migonette with leeks, green garlic, and new potatoes, and a roast galantine of capon with spring carrots, braised greens and chive mashed potatoes.





Similar to his wildly successful American celebrity chef counterparts there was evidence of the cottage industry of all things Jamie, from signature bottled water to crystal wine glasses etched with his logo.

IN SEASONGreen Garlic Scapes: Culinary Calligraphy

PHOTO BY BCR
GREEN GARLIC SCAPE COURTESY OF SUZANNE GOIN

Today while having lunch at Lucques in LA, EQ asked Chef Suzanne Goin:

Is there a seasonal ingredient from a certain purveyor that you are particularly excited about right now?

Her answer: Green garlic scapes.

If you are unfamiliar with this allium species offshoot, green garlic looks like a leek with a bulb shape at the root end. Just above the premature bulb, a single long curly shoot spikes out with the intention to flower: this is the scape.

The scapes' elegant looping green tendrils tell us they are young and tender -- as they mature, they straighten out and become tougher. Chef Goin compares the texture of the garlic scape to a Chinese long bean. Raw, the garlic flavor is quite pungent; when cooked, the taste is milder, but still distinct.

At yesterday’s farmers market in Santa Monica, CA, Chef Goin was surprised to spot the scapes at the Windrose Farms stand – a purveyor near Paso Robles, CA, that she orders from weekly. At first sight, she exclaimed, “You didn’t tell me that you had these!” In fact, this is the first year Chef Goin has found green garlic scapes in the Los Angeles area farmers markets.

Suzanne’s first brush with a scape was when she worked in Boston. An early seasonal item on the East Coast, she remembers one bleak spring farmers market scene with scant produce save for some freshly dug new potatoes (which were amazing) and these odd green scapes. She immediately experimented with them, and has been cooking with them since when available.

The window for green garlic scapes is only a few weeks, sometime between March and June, depending on what region you live in.

For preparation, Chef Goin recommends snapping the bottoms off where they naturally break -- like you do with asparagus -- and then cutting the shoot on the bias. Sautée the scape slices in butter with water, salt and pepper.

So, exactly what is Chef Goin planning to do with these newly found scapes this week at Lucques? They're appearing on the dinner menu in a dish of Pancetta-Wrapped Salmon on Black Rice with a Sautée of Green Garlic Scapes and Rhubarb. Sounds like a delectable outcome.

As for my plans, I've found the most appetizing and interesting stir-fry shrimp and green garlic recipe, "Goong Pong Gari," on Chez Pim.

Lunch at Lucques
Here are our delicious lunch menu selections:

Me
+ Rutiz farm carrot soup with yogurt, mint and ginger sofrito
+ Clams steamed with white wine and vermouth with fennel, green garlic, spring onions and herbs. Served with toasted bread with a green garlic aioli

Tracey
+ Rutiz farm carrot soup with yogurt, mint and ginger sofrito
+ Slow-cooked albacore salad with white beans, shaved fennel and meyer lemon

Brett
+ Grilled radicchio and endive salad with anchovy, garlic and fried farm egg
+ Grilled Alaskan halibut with farro, green garlic, black olives and kumquat salsa