Chefs at home: Anthony Mccarthy
It is 3 p.m. and Chef Anthony Mccarthy has begun to build dinner for his busy family.
Soon his young sons and wife walk in, shaking off the flakes of a surprise snowfall in Saskatoon.
Mccarthy has been at the helm of the Saskatoon Club for 14 years. He moved from Toronto and loves his role as executive chef. He thrives on experimenting and playing with food, relishes the opportunity to do what he wants and to be creative with menus that local diners have enjoyed for well over a decade.
The executive chef’s philosophy of menu planning at the club is to use fresh and local ingredients as much as possible, and he applies that same philosophy at home when deciding what to cook for his on-the-go family. Meals are quick and simple, and use plenty of fruits and vegetables, along with simple proteins. If he can throw dinner together in 15 minutes, even better.
Mccarthy’s sons love to be in the kitchen, too. They are often recruited to chop vegetables before their dad gets home from work, speeding up dinner prep.
I am not surprised in the least to find Mccarthy well prepared for us. He has steaming skillets on the go already, full of beautiful carrots, beets, radishes, potatoes, and herbs. A saucepan is burbling away with celery root, butter, and cream. Soon this will be blended into a gorgeous purée that he will serve alongside oat-crusted northern pike.
On his days off, the chef plays around with food, layering in different flavours, and often takes these ideas back to the Saskatoon Club.
I should note that the kitchen smells glorious.
Anthony has already cut up the northern pike, which he purchased from local commercial fisherman extraordinaire Jon Fonos. The fish has been soaking in buttermilk and Anthony presses it into a mixture of largeflake oats and a spice mixture he made by blending together bits and bobs from the spice cabinet.
Soon the crusted fish will go for a swim in a large skillet of hot olive oil. While he preps the fish, we have a good chat about this and that.
Q What is your guilty pleasure grocery store item?
A Well, my son is here so I can’t tell you. (Laughter) If I am there by myself I will grab a chocolate bar and eat it before I even get home. It’s got to be cookies, too. I always look for Jaffa Cakes — it’s an English one. More often I find Pim’s cookies with chocolate and orange. Cookies would be my definite guilty pleasure, as we don’t often have sweet stuff in the house.
Q What is your favourite Saskatchewan ingredient to cook with?
A The northern fish, like this pike caught by Jon Fonos at Dore Lake. In the summertime there is so much good produce. Lentils. Really love the lentils. I make a lentil risotto, a mix of the black and green, along with shallots and garlic, lots of stock, other aromatics. Mushrooms such as chanterelles; morels are great, too.
Q If you could cook for anyone famous, who would it be?
A Clark Kent/superman/ Christopher Reeve. He would be probably one of my dream people to cook for. I’ve gravitated to him from a very young age, and he was always my childhood hero. I have always looked up to him because he was cool, strong, good looking.
As far as chefs go, I really love Marco Pierre White; he was one of my early influences in the U.K. If I could dine with him, that would be awesome. Anthony Bourdain would have been an interesting character, too.
Q If you have 15 minutes to cook, what are you making?
A Fish is really popular in the house. Trout and pike fry or bake up really quickly, with a nice salad on the side or broccoli, carrots, that sort of thing.
Q What inspired you to become a professional chef ?
A I always had a love of cooking. When I was in school in the United Kingdom you could leave at 16 and go on to college. I had to make a decision if I wanted to become a carpenter or a chef. My Home Ec teacher was pretty cute so I went down the cooking road. From there I got into culinary school and did that for two years, and then I was in the big wide world of cooking. Been doing it ever since.
After the fish and vegetables have been beautifully plated, photographer Matt Smith asks to take a picture of Mccarthy, but he insists his wife and sons get into the shot as well. He says he wouldn’t be doing what he’s doing if it wasn’t for his family, and there’s a warmth in his voice and a shine to his eyes.