Leduc home cook Jennifer Innis tries her recipe for Chicken Cornish Pasties on TV’s Rags to Riches
Guests will try sweet treats at Christmas in November
Chef Derek Ingraham has added “beekeeper” to his list of culinary credits.
Ingraham, the executive chef at the Fairmont Jasper Park Lodge, harvested 550 pounds of honey this summer from rooftops at the resort. He’ll showcase the local sweet during this year’s Christmas in November, held Nov. 2 to 12.
Ingraham, a Cape Breton native who came to the JPL from the Fairmont in San Francisco, says there are a few Fairmont chefs who make their own honey, and it was a project he was keen to initiate when he arrived in Jasper two years ago. With the help of experts from Greidanus Honey Mill in High River, Ingraham set up six hives in the summer of 2011. He says he wasn’t nervous about working with 20,000 bees.
“I grew up on a farm with lots of bees around … it’s a little unnerving at first, but you’re in a suit,” he says. “They’re European bees, so they’re pretty docile.”
Staff keep the bees alive over the winter by pushing the hives together and covering them with an insulated tarp. The bees keep warm with their own body heat; they instinctively take turns moving from the warmer interior of the hive to the cooler portions near the outer walls.
Ingraham, 40, is using the fresh honey in one of the recipes he is demonstrating at Christmas in November. Plus, guests at the 24th-annual celebration of food, wine and crafts will receive a jar in the gift basket in their rooms.
If you’d like the recipe for Ingraham’s Rooftop Honey Vinaigrette, go to my blog at edmontonjournal.com/ eatmywords.
Ingraham went back to basics with another project this summer, canning more than 2,000 kilograms of fresh fruit ($17,000 worth) from British Columbia, yielding 910 one-litre jars of fruit and jam. Think apply jelly, as well as pears poached in red wine, and plums preserved with rosemary and ginger. Ingraham also put up apricot and plum preserves, both excellent accompaniments for a cheese plate.
Ingraham will be demonstrating some canning tips during Christmas in November, and offering ideas on using preserved fruit in winter recipes.
Christmas in November participants can sample some of Ingraham’s preserves at the kickoff reception; look for the nectarine flambé crepes at the dessert station. For details on this year’s Christmas in November packages, call the Fairmont Jasper Park Lodge at 888-270-8855, or go online to christmasinnovember.com
Lux Steak house and Bar in downtown’s Commerce Place celebrates its seventh birthday on Thursday with a party and a new promotion called Lux Gets Bubbly.
Every Thursday, Lux will be honouring drinks that fizz with $3 glasses of prosecco and champagne cocktails. This week, the promotion kicks off with some complimentary fresh-shucked oysters and other appetizers for guests. The party starts at 5 p.m. and could go very, very late.
Food Secure Canada, a nonprofit organization that works to increase the availability of quality food for all Canadians, is holding its annual general meeting in Edmonton at NAIT from Nov. 1 to 4.
The organization, whose members include Oxfam and Dietitians of Canada, has pulled together numerous speakers, workshops and social events of interest to many in Edmonton’s food community.
Some events are open to the public, and others only to registered participants. Details for Powering Up: Food for the Future are at foodsecurecanada.org.
Food writers Jennifer Cockrall-King (Food and the City), dee Hobsbawn-Smith (Food Shed: An Edible Alberta Alphabet) and Kevin Kossowan (urban homesteader and blogger) are duking it out during Food Matters — a LitFest event on Saturday, Oct. 27, at the Santa Maria Goretti Centre on 90th Street, just south of 111th Avenue, from 1 to 4 p.m. The three will be talking about their writing and their philosophy and there will also be a panel discussion, moderated by moi.
The conversation revolves around how to live and eat sustainably, which, of course is fascinating all by itself.
But there will also be pickles and preserves, with short presentations (and samples) by Operation Fruit Rescue, Fruits of Sherbrooke and Mojo Jojo Pickles.
NAIT baking students will also be making fresh pies and serving up slices to the audience, along with tips on making good pastry.
Tickets are $25 and available at Tix on the Square. litfestalberta.org
Watch for Leduc home cook Jennifer Innis to appear Wednesday at 7 p.m. on the Food Network Canada program Recipe to Riches.
The series, now in its second season, sees 21 home cooks competing to develop commercial food products in seven categories. Each category winner will receive a $25,000 cash prize and their recipes will be developed into a President’s Choice product, which will be available in some Superstores across Canada. One lucky contestant will win a top prize of $250,000.
Innis, a 32-year-old mother of two, is competing in the Savoury Snacks category with her Chicken Cornish Pasties.
Earlier this year, she auditioned in Vancouver, driving there with her family and stopping on the way in Chilliwack to make the pasties at her inlaws’ home, so they would be fresh. Did I mention she’s a perfectionist?
“They shake you up like a can of beer,” she says of the process. “They get you hyped up. I think I will look like a squirrel on caffeine.”
The pastie features a wholewheat crust, and is delicately flavoured with rosemary and balsamic vinegar. It was inspired by a recipe by Innis’ mother, Patti Shenfield, a cookbook author. foodnetwork.ca
A recipe printed last week needs a clarification. In his recipe for Sticky Toffee Pudding, Bistro La Persaud chef Ryan O’Flynn includes one cup of loose leaf tea as an ingredient. To clarify, that’s a cup of tea (the liquid) made from loose leaf tea. O’Flynn suggests making the tea the day before, for more flavour.