The inaugural Reel Eats showcased a menu inspired by the Taiwanese film “Eat Drink Man Woman” and Vanessa of Aphrodite Cooks led the charge with dishes that transported us to Asia. I’ve included a photo album below with some memories of last night and I’m delighted to share that the next Reel Eats  will feature the movie Big Night and it will take place at the Big Ragu on Feb. 27th. Italian food is always a big draw and seats for this dinner are likely to go fast. See you there!

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© 2012, Peter Minakis. All rights reserved. If you are not reading this post in a feed reader or at http://kalofagas.ca then the site you are reading is illegally publishing copyrighted material. Contact me at truenorth67 AT gmail DOT COM. All recipes, text and photographs in this post are the original creations & property of the author.

I was invited to watch, photograph, engage and ultimately try out this lunch prepared by students of Danforth Tech and some Stratford students under the guidance of Chef Emily Watkins. At 20 years of age, she left an office job in favour of moving to Italy to follow her passion and learn to cook. She worked without pay, no knowledge of Italian – armed only with a determination to learn the skills that would make her a worthy chef. After her three years in Florence she honed her craft under Heston Blumenthal at the Fat Duck and also worked as a private chef in London.

Today, Watkins is one of the UK’s fastest rising chefs and she is now free to express her own ideas as Chef at The Kingham Plough in Oxfordshire, England. This country pub serves up English country fare and as Chef Watkins relates, “the approach is simple, seasonal and earthy”. The menu changes daily and 85% of her suppliers are within a 10 mile radius of the pub.

Most of my morning was spent watching the Chef orchestrate the culinary students deliver a lunch that would begin with poached eggs, followed by a seared duck breast and finished with a warm chocolate mousse. Watching the entire meal be prepared from start to finish and then to be able to actually taste the meal for yourself was both entertaining and educational (yes I am still learning).

The first course was the crisp hen egg with spinach purée, crispy bacon, watercress. The highlight was the crispy bacon and the poached egg that was then dredged in flour, egg and Panko then fried until golden. Gonna have to make this meself!

The main course was seared duck breast. The students were instructed on how to score the the duck fat in a cross-hatch pattern then properly sear the meat for colour, crisped fat and to a medium doneness (pink). The base of the of the dish would be braised lentils that were cooked much like a risotto would: mire poix, herbs and then gradual amounts of stock were added until they were cooked. Another neat side was the caramelized endive that was both savory and sweet.

Dessert was a light, very well-whipped chocolate mousse that had a delicious topping of candied orange peel wonderful orange cookies good for a sweep in the mousse or with a coffee or tea! Until the next post, here’s the recipe for the seared duck breast and the braised lentils, enjoy!

Duck Breasts With Eversham Lentils

(serves 4)

4 duck breasts

coarse salt & fresh pepper

fried sage for garnish

Evesham Lentils

1 cup of green lentils

1/4 cup butter

2 Tbsp. olive oil

extra-virgin olive oil

4 shallots, diced (1/3 cup)

1 carrot, diced

approx. 1 litre of chicken stock

2-3 Tbsp. chopped fresh sage

1. Rinse the lentils well. In a pot add your butter, oil, shallots, carrots,  and sweat until softened then add the sage. Now add the lentils, some salt and pepper and stir. Add the stock one ladle at a time and stir-in and continue to add stock until the lentils are just tender. Remove from the heat and reserve.
2. Take your duck out the fridge and pat-dry. Score the fat in a cross-hatch pattern with a sharp knife and allow your duck to come to room temperature. Season the breasts with salt and pepper and place a skillet on your stove-top over medium-high heat and place the breasts fat-side down and sear for 3urn over and sear the other side for a minute then turn over again and sear the fat side again for another minute. Repeat the process twice more then remove the breasts from the pan and allow to rest for 10 minutes before slicing and serving.

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© 2012, Peter Minakis. All rights reserved. If you are not reading this post in a feed reader or at http://kalofagas.ca then the site you are reading is illegally publishing copyrighted material. Contact me at truenorth67 AT gmail DOT COM. All recipes, text and photographs in this post are the original creations & property of the author.

Chef Paolo was invited to be a part of the Stratford Chefs School program where esteemed chefs come to share and teach some of the students in the kitchen (International Chefs in Residence). The Stratford Chefs School began in 1983, producing highly skilled and in demand graduates and on this particular evening, we were also honoured with dining with Stratford’s Executive Director, Kimberley Payne.

Dinner commenced with some Prosecco and an Amuse Bouche of airy, buttery egg and cream in a shell topped with chives and caviar.

First course was a sweet and sour eggplant Caponata with shrimp. I love eggplant, especially with seafood and Chef Paolo appealed to my Mediterranean senses.

The next course firmly had me transported to the Mediterranean with this ebon risotto of squid that was fork-tender, smelled of the sea and a black reflecting pool of risotto fully absorbed with the colour and flavour of squid ink.

The main course spoke to the Canadian ingredients available to Chef, with a pan-roasted venison loin in a blueberry sauce. My pool of sauce even looked like the province of Ontario but the flavours in the dis were made in the spirit of the Italian kitchen (fresh, local, simple).

The dessert course was a Budino (pudding) of lemon and a coffee and then petits-fours with coffee & tea.

It was back to Toronto and I soon as I got home I reviewed the photos of this refined meal and look at the Stratford Chefs School’s web site. Have a look at the upcoming events and try to attend one of these meals…they may be prepared by one of Canada’s next top Chefs!

Stratford student with Chef Paolo Lopriore

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© 2012, Peter Minakis. All rights reserved. If you are not reading this post in a feed reader or at http://kalofagas.ca then the site you are reading is illegally publishing copyrighted material. Contact me at truenorth67 AT gmail DOT COM. All recipes, text and photographs in this post are the original creations & property of the author.

I am now selling Spanakopita (spinach and cheese), Tyropita (cheese) pitas, all made with hand-made, opened/stretched phyllo. The Spanakopita’s filling is made of spinach, Feta and ricotta cheeses, eggs, salt, pepper, scallions and fresh dill.

The Tyropita contains Feta and ricotta cheeses, eggs, salt and pepper and it is available in both rectangular and round trays. The round Tyropita is what us northern Greeks call a Boureki and it’s also called a Strifti pita. In English i is known as a spiral pie.

I am also offering a sweet Bougatsa…a Greek breakfast and snack offering. Adults and kids will indulge in Bougatsa in the morning be it in the store where it’s made or taken “paketo” with them. My Bougatsa is made just like in Greece with hand-made phyllo, semolina cream filling and baked until golden and flaky. All you have to is cut it into fork-sized pieces, sprinkle with icing sugar and cinnamon and enjoy with a Greek coffee, frappe or chocolate milk!

The large pies are 16″ X 11″ and sell for $30.00 and the small pies are 11″ X 8″ and sell for $15.00. The Spiral pies come in large and small sizes and again, $30 and $15 respectively. They are made and frozen in foil pans and you may either that overnight in the fridge before baking or bake from frozen (takes longer to bake).

These phyllo pies are great for entertaining, serve as part of a light lunch or dinner with a salad or soup and they always go over well at parties (they are the first to go).

Orders may be placed my emailing me at truenorth67 AT gmail.com, pick-up only (for now). Cash and paypal are accepted (firm).

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© 2012, Peter Minakis. All rights reserved. If you are not reading this post in a feed reader or at http://kalofagas.ca then the site you are reading is illegally publishing copyrighted material. Contact me at truenorth67 AT gmail DOT COM. All recipes, text and photographs in this post are the original creations & property of the author.

Dukem is located on the Danforth, just west of Donlands on the northside. Upon walking into this restaurant you’re transported to another place: African music plays softly in the background, low lights (but not dim enough to not see your food), the exotic aroma of spices (Berbere is an Ethiopian spice mixture) and the smell of coffee beans roasting. Coffee’s origins are from Ethiopia and they take it very seriously. You can request/order an Ethiopian Coffee ceremony where the entire process of coffee making is performed right in front of your table. We caught the table behind us being presented with a pot full of roasting coffee beans. The smell was intoxicating!

Injera bread

The room is very tastefully decorated with photographs of Ethiopia displayed and on sale. The tables are wooden, menus and drinks lists already at hand a long with salt, sugar, napkins and wet-naps! You see, you’re not going to get any cutlery at an Ethiopian restaurant as you’re supposed to eat with your right hand. The national bread of Ethiopia is Injera, a spongy large bread with the consistency much like a pancake and made of sorghum flour.

I entered Dukem with little info on Ethiopian cuisine other than knowing Berbere spices were prominent, one ate with your hands and the way to eat was to pinch a piece of Injera bread and scoop some food off the communal platters that you are served in. In Ethiopia, food is eaten family style and that’s how the portions arrive – big and you’re supposed to share. Our server was all to willing to offer assistance in ordering from the menu: lots of meat and vegetarians options raging from lamb, beef and chicken to lentils, spinach, beets and split peas.

Once again, the portions are generous and you should go to an Ethiopian restaurant with friends so that you may order more and share! After the menu was explained by our server, we settled on a meat (tibs) combo of meat, chicken and lamb with an array of vegetable offerings on the same platter. We also order a vegetable dish…always seeking a balance of meat and vegetables.

The first dish was the “special meat combo” that included marinated lamb, beef and chicken, all similar all different in their spice blend along with lentils, split peas, spinach, beets. I loved the beef and lamb, the spices in the chicken were a little bitter for my liking and I loved the vegetables and lentils too! There’s a lot of variety here and the pinching of Injera bread and picking up a different bite of food each time was exciting for the palate.

I saw that some other patrons were drinking wine but my server suggested beer as that’s what most seem to enjoy with Ethiopian food. Wine is a better sale for a restaurant but I appreciated her honesty. I ordered the Ethiopian beer on the menu but sold out – the Heineken washed the Ethiopian food down real well! The next dish to arrive was the “vegetarian medley” combo. What arrived was a stir-fried beef with onions and peppers and served on a hot plate – much like fajitas would. Although this dish also tasted good, it did remind me of fajita seasoning and if I were strictly vegetarian this dish would be a problem. Did we mis-communicate our order? Did we in fact receive tibs (meat) with vegetables?

The food was delicious (save for the bitter-spiced chicken), loved eating with my hands, Injera bread is a great conduit for the food, most of which has some heat but nothing too fiery and besides…it’s all washed down well with beer! For some reason our orders took awhile to arrive but the food was hot, very aromatic and delicious. Service is attentive and prompt and a dinner for two will set you back about $50-60.

The smell of the spices wafting in the air as you wait for your food is worth the visit alone and I have to go back for the Ethiopian Coffee Ceremony. Who’s coming along?

Dukem Restaurant

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© 2011, Peter Minakis. All rights reserved. If you are not reading this post in a feed reader or at http://kalofagas.ca then the site you are reading is illegally publishing copyrighted material. Contact me at truenorth67 AT gmail DOT COM. All recipes, text and photographs in this post are the original creations & property of the author.