Picking Favourites

MY FRIEND ANNE DesBrisay, author, restaurant critic, culinary judge and keeper of the website www.capitaldining.ca signed off 2018 with a list of her favourite dishes of the year. Given the quality of restaurant cooking in Ottawa (and indeed across Canada) in the current climate of ingredient-driven, local and sustainable cuisine, delivered by chefs who combine genuine passion with refined technique, it must have been tough to come up with a short list.

That, and other end-of-year round-ups got me thinking about the many fascinating stories and interesting recipes TASTE& TRAVEL writers shared with us in 2018 and wondering — if I had to pick favourites — which they would be. Our magazine tagline is expand your culinary horizons and we publish recipes from all corners of the earth. I enjoy the challenge of working with new ingredients and learning about unfamiliar cuisines but for me the litmus test is always “would I make this again?” Here are four dishes (one from each of our four 2018 issues) that have been

transcribed into my personal recipe book (a sauce-spattered notebook that may be old fashioned but can travel with me where the internet cannot).

Chicken Adobo from Bay Leaf: the Laurel of the Ancients by Susan Hallett (issue 25). This classic dish from The Philippines is deceptively simple to make and surprisingly delicious. Butternut Squash Soup with Yogurt and Sage from Bountiful: The Delectable Beauty of BC’s Okanagan Valley by Joanne Sasvari (issue 26). The addition of a few

sage leaves, used two ways, is a clever trick that gives this silky, comforting soup a beguiling top-note. La Cazuela Esencia del Pacifico (Pacific Seafood Stew) from Bogota: Mountain Grown by Elyse Glickman (issue 28) is a toes-in-the-sand pleasure

that can be created from supermarket ingredients even when there's no beach in sight. Hummus from our Vegetarian Voyager column in issue 27. Yes, it’s just hummus but it’s

the only hummus recipe you'll ever need.

If you missed any of these recipes, don't worry. You can find them on our website www.tasteandtravel.ca. Just remember to copy them into your notebook if you’re

going off the grid. Happy travels!