Build a better party platter with pro tips from Café Cancan
Up the ante with this next-level crudité and charcuterie selection
The newly opened Café Cancan at Spadina Rd. and Harbord St. is best described as a hip Parisian bistro by way of Malibu. The flamingo pink walls of the restaurant’s former incarnation, the dimly lit Harbord Room, are now a calming pastel purple-pink with funky floral wallpaper accents lit up by the natural light pouring in through the big, open front window.
Just as the decor is breezy, summery and makes diners want to smile, its Ceci et Cela platter is happiness distilled into an appetizer platter for two. While at first glance it looks like a crudité platter, the Ceci et Cela (French for “this and that”) is an elaborate vegetable platter accented with fatty, salty, tart and soft elements such as cheese, meat, eggs, pickles and two dipping sauces — a creamy buttermilk dip and an herbal chermoula. To replicate this for a party at home, Café Cancan chef de cuisine Adam Alguire has some tips on building a better platter for summertime grazing.
He recommends first filling the platter with bitter lettuces such as bok choy, en- dive or escarole, which contrast the sweet and saltiness of dips. The leaves are bitesized and have a natural spoon shape that make it easy for scooping.
Pair the lettuces with spears of green beans, asparagus or curly garlic scapes that have been blanched for 30 seconds then immediately plunged in icy water to lock in the colour and crunch. Add bright hues of purples, reds, oranges and yellows with sliced raw radishes, carrots and small beets. If using cucumber, Alguire recommends cutting it into rounds rather than sticks to save on time.
In addition to crunchy vegetables, the Ceci et Cela has savoury, fatty and soft elements such as anchovies, house-made charcuterie and cheeses. Right now, Cancan opts for a firm raw cow’s milk Beaufort cheese from the French Alps, as well as the semihard Abbaye de Belloc sheep’s milk cheese from France’s Basque region.
As for charcuterie, Alguire made a smoked pork loin that’s been aged for a year-and-a-half. A few pickled vegetables such as gherkins or carrots also add a tart, salty component to keep taste buds interested.
Finally, everything is served on a bed of crushed ice to ensure the veggies are ice-cold.
Buttermilk Dressing
Star Tested
This dressing is reminiscent of ranch dressing, but does not contain mayonnaise, resulting in a milder flavour that complements rather than smothers the vegetables. In lieu of a thickener like mayo, buttermilk solids are used. Cheesecloth is required to strain out the buttermilk liquids and can be purchased at supermarkets and kitchen supply stores.
4 cups (1 L) buttermilk Juice of 1 lemon
1 garlic clove, finely minced
1 tbsp (15 mL) Dijon mustard
2 egg yolks
3/4 cup (180 mL) canola oil
Kosher salt and black pepper, to taste
Set aside 1/4 cup (60 mL) of buttermilk and refrigerate. Pour remaining buttermilk into a medium-sized pot.
Over medium-high heat, bring pot to a gentle boil to separate solids from liquids. As soon as buttermilk boils, remove from heat and strain through two layers of cheesecloth. Discard buttermilk liquid. Bundle up cheesecloth filled with solids and gently squeeze out any excess liquid. Place bundle in a bowl and refrigerate for an ho,ur then squeeze out any remaining liquids.
In a blender, add buttermilk solids, lemon juice, garlic, Dijon and egg yolks. Blend until smooth. With blender still going slowly, slowly drizzle in canola oil and reserved 1/4 cup (60 mL) buttermilk until a consistency similar to pancake batter is reached.
Season with salt and pepper to taste. Serve immediately or refrigerate in an airtight container for up to three days.
Makes 2 cups.
Chermoula
Star Tested
Herbal, tart and garlicky, this versatile Moroccan condiment is great on meat, seafood and vegetables. The restaurant uses preserved lemons, which is used in Moroccan cooking to give dishes a lemony umami zing. But for this recipe, I used lemon juice and zest since I didn’t want to buy an entire jar of preserved lemons. If you want to try preserved lemon, find it at Middle Eastern grocers and start with a tablespoon in the chermoula before adding more to taste.
2 tsp (10 mL) coriander seed
1-1/2 tsp (7 mL) cumin seed
3/4 tsp (4 mL) caraway seeds 1 cup (250 mL) packed cilantro leaves
1/2 cup (125 mL) packed mint leaves
1/2 cup (125 mL) packed flat-leaf parsley leaves
2 cloves garlic Juice and zest of 1/2 lemon
3/4 cup (185 mL) olive oil Kosher salt, to taste
In a small skillet over low heat, toast coriander, cumin and caraway seeds until fragrant but not burnt, about 1 minute. Transfer to a spice grinder or mortar and pestle and grind finely.
Transfer spices to a food processor. Add cilantro, mint, parsley, garlic, lemon juice and zest. Process, slowly drizzling in olive oil through feeding tube to emulsify. Blend until combined but still slightly textured and not completely smooth. Season with kosher salt to taste.
Serve immediately or refrigerate in an airtight container for up to 3 days.
Makes 1 cup.