Both seemed complicated but McEwan was unfazed. When you cook risotto, a lot of people feel you have to be chained to the stove, but you dont have to. In fact, if you keep stirring it, you pull the starch out of the rice and thicken it, he said.
I had eight different containers of risotto going, and 10 pans sauting the perch for it by my team of catering people, he said. For this coolest of chefs in the AFC programme The Heat with Mark McEwan, it is no sweat.
When he goes back to Toronto, he will encounter his biggest catering challenge yet. I have a function in a football stadium for 2,000 people, with four courses plated. Its the biggest party I have ever done, and its the toughest!
McEwan owns four restaurants in Toronto North 44, Bymark, ONE and Fabricca a catering company and a fine foods store at The Shops at Don Mills, that spans 22,000 sq ft! The gourmet store is amazing the endless variety which showcases his recipes, the bustling activity. It makes you feel like you would be quite happy buying the ready meals and never have to cook again! Hes also the author of a cookbook called Great Food at Home and hes abou! t to com e out with his second one.
As he was cooking, he also took a peek at his own show playing on the screen beside him. Its really interesting. I forget we are on AFC: its a show I havent seen a long time. He had worn his hair long in the show, but he had got tired of the wind blowing it around and had it cut short before he came.
As he did the grilled seabream with capers and mint, he reminisced about how our cuisine has changed in the restaurant. Braised dishes have become simple but texture is more complex. Fresh ingredients are carefully chosen.
He talked about how Toronto is a great city with a diverse foodie combie. The amazing chef community there has given the city a vibrancy that didnt exist 20 years ago. It has happened in my lifetime, my career and time in the business.
Two tips he shared about the risotto and the seabream: When you serve the risotto, it should fall down on the plate and be very tender. As for the seabream, put oil on the fish before putting it into the pan for frying. It prevents the skin from sticking to the pan.
He shared about how Canadians like to eat their fish deboned. I like how you eat it in this part of the world, on the bone. I like dissecting my own fish.
He went on to do ricotta gnocchi with heirloom tomato sauce. People find making gnocchi intimidating but Ill show you how easy it is. His hands in the dough with ricotta cheese and egg, he told us about his wife to whom he has been married for 25 years: She loves to cook but she gets very confused about recipes. She reads them 100 per cent. She thinks the recipes are cast in stone!
Said McEwan: When you cook, learn the feel of things. Theres some comfort in how frequently you do it. It may not be perfect the first two times, but its fun.
About the gnocchi he was making: Its fun to teach your kids to do it. Have it at a party, get their hands dirty! To do this well, do it every day and do it with love.
We got to taste full courses of what he had demonstrated before us the risotto with sweet corn and shrimp, ricotta gnocchi with heirloom tomato sauce and grilled sea bream with capers and mint. The risotto was done just right and tasted good. The gnocchi was soft and pillowy as he said it should, and I loved the grilled sea bream with its crispy skin, and the piquant capers and mint.
McEwan was also a judge on Top Chef Canada. I watched 16 young chefs battle it out. Talk about pressure how they lived with one another and competed for eight weeks. The show has done a lot for chefs.
The chef is surprised at how food trends have come full circle: Less is better, and tradition is the key. Its interesting how fast the food scene has developed in the past 30 years. He is big on natural produce, making his own salami and pickling, which he considers a badge of honour. Hes proud that of 140 cheeses in his McEwan foodstore, 111 are produced in Canada!
Asked about whether he would ban foie gras in his restaurants, he said: I love foie gras. It has a place in high-end restaurants. I have visited the duck farms and they are very happy following the farmers around to be fed. He only stocks ocean-friendly fish and definitely not blue fin tuna whose numbers are depleting.
He considers his journey from chef to owning four restaurants, two caterin! g divisi ons and a gourmet store, appearing on TV shows and writing cookbooks as a natural evolution. He has 450 employees: Its a great talent pool and allows us to experiment on what to do with new products we bring in. Im 54 and having more fun in the business. Im not a celebrity chef!
McEwan had come from Singapore, where he got to taste two of the best cocktails he had in his life! He plans to come back to Malaysia to eat. I love how people here eat fish with bone, and have something out of a shell.
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