Last week, I had the absolute pleasure of joining my class in a field trip to Mad Maple Inn. It was about an hour and a half drive out into the country, and it was surrounded by forest and fields.
I was part of the pasta team. We spent our time making a tagliatelle with Red Fife flour, a hearty and substantial pasta that would stand up to the lamb braise that I made.
I was part of the pasta team. We spent our time making a tagliatelle with Red Fife flour, a hearty and substantial pasta that would stand up to the lamb braise that I made.
I used the lamb shanks and other odds and ends to make my braise. The kitchen inside was chaos, twenty cooks running around putting their dishes together, so I escaped to the fire outside to cook my pot. I filled it with mirepoix, herbs, wine, and water (as we didn't have any stock). The meat got such a nice and smokey flavour from being on the open grill, and its flavour developed amazingly for the short time that it was able to actually cook.
While I was cooking, i met Chef Justin, who is the chef and owner of Actinolite, a restaurant in Toronto. He told me about his foraging adventures and the dishes that he had put together in his restaurant. He explained to me the days before he knew anything about farm-to-table eating, and the way he was taught to buy the cheapest products in order to make the greatest profit as a business owner. He is now supplied by many local farms, and he is a leader in the slow food industry.
The food that we had was a pleasure to cook with. It was delicious in its hearty flavours, and it felt good cooking food that was so GOOD. We knew where our products came from, and it was really cool having all of the suppliers there for the whole experience. The two ingredients that I was most interested in that I was introduced to were the farm-fresh duck eggs and the white cedar tree.
The eggs were pastel multi-coloured, and had a huge yolk inside of them. They worked very well in the Red Fife Tagliatelle, as we were able to use less and they went much further. I didn't get to try one as a simple fried egg, but would love to some day.
The white cedar tree smelled so fragrant and earthy, I am ambitious to cook with it some day. It would work wonderfully to smoke something, like a white fish or potatoes for a smoked gnocchi.
The eggs were pastel multi-coloured, and had a huge yolk inside of them. They worked very well in the Red Fife Tagliatelle, as we were able to use less and they went much further. I didn't get to try one as a simple fried egg, but would love to some day.
The white cedar tree smelled so fragrant and earthy, I am ambitious to cook with it some day. It would work wonderfully to smoke something, like a white fish or potatoes for a smoked gnocchi.