My lord folks, today was a FULL day. Rose and I went to 7 wineries and enjoyed tastings. I bought 15 bottles of wine (even though I had been warned not to buy more until I went to CA in February). Rose and I had a lovely lunch at one of the wineries. I was home by 3:30 and bloody tired but there was to be no rest. More on the wineries, lunch, and fun with my sister later.
Tonight Paul and I had a three hour demonstration cooking class at the local LCBO. Previously we have enjoyed one cooking and a few drinks class there. You may recall previous posts about classes we have taken which were offered by the LCBO. For those of you who aren't from Ontario, this is our government run liquor monopoly. It is the largest purchaser of wine and spirits in the world and at the same time it pumps billions of dollars into the government coffers and provides Ontarians with an excellent supply of wine and liquor. Over the past few years they have really focused on the education side of wine and liquor . . . cooking and the appropriate wine pairings is a natural extension.
The LCBO store near our house is equipped with a large room where they hold tastings and cooking demonstrations three or four times a week. Previously we have taken a cooking class, a summer blender drink class, and a martini class there. When we attended the martini class the catalog of offerings for the summer had just come out, two looked very promising and tonight the last of the two classes we had signed up for (we also took the opportunity to sign up for two classes for the fall).
Tonight's chef was a young guy named Bruce Worden. Executive Chef Bruce Worden was born and raised in Thorold. Bruce held interest in the culinary world from a young age, entering his first professional kitchen at 17. He then spent 2 years in British Columbia, where he learned the arts of Thai, French, and Italian bistro cuisines. After nine years in Niagara-on-the- Lake he is on a working sabbatical cultivating a greater connection between local Niagara producers and the area chefs. In the fall he will be doing some teaching at the Niagara-on-the-Lake Culinary School.
This is the menu that he prepared for us this evening:
Peach gazpacho with Thai basil and lemon ice
Pea shoot salad with pecan and raspberry
Iron-seared veal with whipped Yukon potatoes and summer mushroom fondue
Wild blueberries with shortbread and crème Anglaise
The food was amazing and unlike the earlier cooking classes we have taken the ingredients from readily are available. Bruce was a great instructor: knowledgeable, fun, and playful. You quickly realized that this guy knew what the hell he was talking about but at the same time he had none of the pretension about him that some chefs have. I would say that he was the second best cooking instructor I have experienced.
Each of the courses was paired with an appropriate beverage by the local product consultant - Dave Bell. With the exception of dessert (which he oddly paired with a liqueur from South Africa) all of his selections were spot on and involved local wines from Niagara.
The best part of the evening was near the end. When we arrived we were told that one lucky participant would receive a basket and bag full of Niagara delicacies valued at close to $ 100. There were 18 of us, someone far more adept at math than I could figure out the odds. Guess who won? Guess!
Yes. I took the basket and gift bag home. YEAH
Hi Jerry,
You are so lucky to have such a diversity of cooking classes in your area.
Would it be possible for you to share the recipe for the peach gazpacho? It looks interesting.
Posted by: Robert | August 24, 2007 at 06:39 PM
It was an amazing class!
I will put the recipe for the peach gazpacho up tomorrow. I have just spent three hours researching and writing my post for today and am a wee bit tired of staring at a computer screen! LOL
Posted by: Jerry | August 24, 2007 at 07:11 PM