Cooking for the whole country
Local foodies compete on Come Dine With Me
Philippe Renoir is a little apprehensive about his appearance on next week’s Come Dine With Me Canada.
“I’m either going to need a publicist, or the witness relocation program,” jokes the accomplished home chef, one of five Edmontonians featured in the third season of the popular dinner party competition.
Come Dine With Me Canada, aired on W Network, came to the city in July, lured with some funding care of the Edmonton Economic Development Corporation, the municipal body tasked with broadcasting YEG’s charms far and wide.
For five frantic days, television crews followed five locals, who were strangers to each other before they met at a dinner party that travelled house-to-house for five hairraising evenings.
The Edmonton episodes air for five consecutive nights, starting on Monday.
The participants, who applied for the honour, created their own version of the ultimate, three-course dinner for each other. The winner, as voted by the other diners and revealed on the last night, gets $1,000 in cash. But, according to two competitors interviewed for this story, money was not the incentive.
“It was a once-in-a-lifetime experience,” says Dajana Fabjanovich. “It was so much fun and so intense. I don’t think I’ve ever laughed as hard in my life. We all need something in our life sometimes to put a little pep in your step, and this was that for me.”
A huge fan of the show, which originated in Britain, Fabjanovich said the competition represented a personal challenge. Croatian-born, Fabjanovich grew up in the shadow of a fabulous cook, her mother.
“It’s taken me a while to build up my own confidence in the kitchen because she’s so amazing,” says Fabjanovich, who works in communications.
“I wanted to prove that I was my own person in the kitchen. If you can cook for four strangers in your house with a huge television crew all around, you can do anything you set your mind to .... I can’t tell you how happy I was that I was on.”
Long a foodie inspired by ethnic traditions, Fabjanovich, 37, wanted to show the rest of Canada that Alberta was more than just a producer of beef. She started with shrimp bruschetta made with market-fresh tomatoes and basil, and another appetizer called oganock, a Russian-inspired mixture of garlic and cheese, also served on toasted bread. She then grilled halibut, and served it with chimichurri sauce. Dessert was pavlova, individual fluffy meringues.
“There was a near-miss with the pavlovas,” confesses Fabjanovich. “Let’s just say I forgot about them for a little bit. That day was such a hectic, crazy, adrenalin-filled day.”
For each of the contestants, shooting started early on the day of their dinner debut, and went for about 16 hours. Each was interviewed and filmed throughout their preparation, commenting on themselves, each other, and how well all the meals were planned and executed.
If you are familiar with the series, you’ll know that participants, who are chosen based on factors including their personalities and menu choices, end up portraying a story about themselves that’s partly the truth, and partly creative editing.
Fabjanovich says Renoir emerges as a “man of mystery,” a dashing bon vivant smitten with his 1975 black Ferrari. Brett Lemay is revealed as a party animal who favours tequila and potato-sack races. Barbara Engelbart is pegged as a perfectionist with an ambitious wild game menu and Jana Kelemen is a playful foodie-intraining who hosted a pyjama party, complete with breakfast for dinner.
Renoir says he applied for the show because friends encouraged him to do so. His background is rooted in the food industry — his family moved to the Edmonton area from France back in the 1970s to start a cheese factory, and his brother once had a downtown restaurant called Le Table de Renoir.
Now a federal civil servant, Renoir entertains a couple of times each week. “Being of a European background, everything happens in the kitchen,” he says.
Renoir describes his competition meal as a “tour of the Romance languages.”
The appetizer was Hispanic, a cornmeal-crusted prawn served with tomatillo salsa in homemade soft taco shells. The main dish saw chicken cubes draped in a morel mushroom cream sauce. A dessert duo topped the evening off: Renoir’s singular take on tiramisu was set alongside a raspberry sabayon.
The group is scheduled to gather to watch the five Edmonton episodes together, and each has already apologized to the others for as-yetto-be revealed insults. It was all in good fun.
“The dynamics between the group were quite funny. We had five quite different individuals with different perspectives, quirks and backgrounds,” says Renoir. “... But we have one thing in common. The love of food. It was an incredible experience.”
Renoir’s dish is served in a taco shell alongside a Green Tomatillo-Cilantro Salsa. It feeds four to five. Cornmeal-Crusted Prawns in a Taco Shell Green Tomatillo-Cilantro Salsa ❚ ❚ 1-1/2 pounds (roughly 750 grams) tomatillos ❚ ❚ 1/2 cup (125 mL) chopped white onion ❚ ❚ 1/2 cup (125 mL) cilantro leaves ❚ ❚ 1 tbsp (15 mL) fresh lime juice ❚ ❚ 1/4 tsp (1 mL) sugar ❚ ❚ 2 jalapeno peppers stemmed, seeded and chopped ❚ ❚ Salt to taste Remove papery husks from tomatillos and rinse well. Cut in half and place, cut side down, on a foil-lined baking sheet. Place under a broiler for about 5 to 7 minutes to lightly blacken the skin. Place tomatillos, onions, cilantro, lime juice, sugar and chili peppers in a food processor and pulse until all ingredients are finely chopped and mixed. Season to taste with salt. Cool in refrigerator. Tortillas ❚ ❚ 1 cup (250 mL) flour ❚ ❚ 1/2 cup (125 mL) cornmeal ❚ ❚ 1 egg ❚ ❚ 1 1/2 cup (375 mL) cold water ❚ ❚ scant teaspoon (5 mL) salt Combine ingredients in a bowl. Whisk until smooth. Spoon batter (to make a 6-inch/3 centimetre diameter shell) in a medium-hot, lightly oiled pan. Turn tortillas and cook the other side. Prawns ❚ ❚ 1 cup (250 mL) flour ❚ ❚ 1/2 cup (125 mL) cornmeal ❚ ❚ 1 teaspoon (5 mL) Cajun seasoning ❚ ❚ 1 pound (500 grams) large, deveined prawns ❚ ❚ 2 large eggs, beaten ❚ ❚ fresh lettuce, cilantro and limes for garnish
Combine flour, cornmeal and Cajun seasoning in bowl. Dip prawns in beaten eggs, then coat in the cornmeal mix. Cook shrimp in 1/2 inch (1 cm) of peanut oil in a pan set on high until golden and crisp. Put tomatillo salsa and shrimp in taco shell. Serve with shredded lettuce, fresh cilantro and limes.