ReallyGoodWriter | Food • Writing • Poetry Iambic Cafe

food & poetry, but mostly the poetry of food

Food • Writing • Poetry

By some miracle I was in a conscious state and near my radio on Friday morning when Paul Vasey offered a chance to win tickets to the sold-out foodie event of the season, Feast of Fields; and by some further miracle I was the lucky, the very very very lucky recipient of a pair of these. Thank you CBC!

So this afternoon Aurelie and I hustled over to join the shockingly long and surprisingly patient queue that had gathered at the Glendale Gardens and Woodland by 1:59 for the 2pm opening, accompanied by our finely honed appetites and a steady sprinkle of rain. But being rookies at this event, we had failed to accessorize with clever little plastic cocktail plates to hold our booty and wineglass and were thus obliged to consume our morsels on the run, one mouthful at a time, as we sprinted and then trailed and then wallowed from tent to tent, running out of adjectives and resorting to whimpering pleasure. How these stall-holders managed to cater for and be delightful to a mob of 700 starved gastronomes is food for thought indeed.

Interesting to see what was being presented (and it was all pretty amazing, and beautiful, and local). Not a huge amount on offer for vegetarians, but we omnivores were well served. Beef and chicken are out; duck, venison and the odd rabbit are in. Salmon never left; ostrich made an appearance, or five. Goat cheese is very big for sweets and savouries.

Some thank yous to… our municipal treasure Zambri’s, for the amazing risotto balls spiked with water buffalo meat; Smoken Bones Cookshack for proving we can find real ol’ barbecue way up here in the north; Butchart Gardens for providing mini cedar planks and edible flowers with their yummies; 2% Jazz Coffee for the life-affirming honey macchiato. And Dock 503, I worshipped all your offerings: the chanterelle mushroom cannelloni with tomato confiture was to die for, and the sparkling caesar soup with manila clams and spicy yellow beans had me weeping with gratitude. My big regret is being too full to try your smoked sable fish and soybean steamed bun with yuzu sauce. Next lifetime, eh?

A few of the tents sheltering 60 restaurants, wineries and other food producers: the view from the Glendale’s heather garden.

Choux Choux Charcuterie: Rhona recommends the rabbit rillettes.

Part of the Aerie’s offerings: duck liver lollipops in chopped hazelnuts — strange, silky and delicious.

Dock 503: Ohhhh that sparkling caesar soup… Hey look, that clam just dived right in!

Butchart’s pretty li’l planks. The round green items are spot prawn and smoked salmon purses: too cute!

My favourite flavour-fusion duck dish: duck leg confit with Tiger Blue cheese and bosc pear, from Lure seafood restaurant.

Susan and the Angels

All kindsa poetry fans…

The official launch of Planet Earth Poetry last night brought forth a monster medley of poetry lovers — all shapes, sizes and ages — and some fine musical accompanyment by Flat Lightning (half of which is Rick Van Krugel of Mandolirium). Susan Stenson was on hand selling AIDS Angels to raise money for medical relief to Africa, in lieu of admission charges. And then there were the readings – 20? 30? of them? An alarming number anyway. I thought I might fall in a swoon under the coffee table by the end, but things moved along at a good clip, made merciful by the evening’s rules: one poem only, by someone else. Our new hero, Dave Crothal, the owner of the Black Stilt, even read a poem.

Wendy Morton closed the evening with one of my favourite all time poems, Forgetfulness – click that link to find a fabulous animated version by the author, Billy Collins (I understand this is also available as an iPod download – now there’s technology I can get behind!)

As my mission to clear out the deep freeze continues, I laid my hand upon a lovely package of alder-smoked sockeye salmon; first I made a moderately successful smoked salmon quiche, and then tried a good smoked salmon gratin. Sort of a cross between scalloped potatoes and fish pie and very good with a simple salad or steamed vegetable side dish.

Smoked Salmon & Potato Gratin
2lb/1kg starchy potatoes (e.g. russets, Yukon Gold or King Edward)
8oz/250g smoked salmon, flaked or diced
1 tbsp drained capers
1 cup light cream
1 tbsp cornstarch
2 garlic cloves, crushed
1 tsp dijon or wholegrain mustard
Salt and pepper to taste
1/2 tsp grated nutmeg
2 tbsp butter

• Preheat the oven to 350f.
• Peel the potatoes and slice very thinly, dry with a cloth and use one third of them to cover a well buttered baking dish. Season.
• Scatter half the salmon and capers on top. Repeat.
• Cover with the rest of the potatoes and season again.
• Mix the cream with the cornstarch, garlic and mustard and pour over the potatoes.
• Grate nutmeg over the top and dot with butter.
• Cover and bake for 1 hour; then bake uncovered another ½ hour or so, until the potatoes are tender, golden brown and bubbling. Let it rest for 10-15 minutes before serving

Fish, to taste right, must swim 3 times: in water, in butter and in wine.
— Polish Proverb

Here’s a funny thing, from a year ago. As a National Poetry Day project last year, the Poetry Book Society had set up a food page allowing you to search poems by ingredient (or browse by author or title). How wonderful is that??

Here’s another funny thing. My mother loooooved parsley. She had trees of the stuff all over the balcony and it adorned, nay, festooned all our meals. I wonder if she ever saw this tribute ditty?

Parsley, parsley everywhere
Let me have my victuals bare.
–Ogden Nash

I’ve been talking at very long distance with Clodagh about various food matters, and she sent me a recipe she’d seen in the Guardian not so long ago, for Chestnut Chocolate Boulestin, with the advice that you warm the dish before attempting to coat it with caramel as otherwise it will solidify where poured. I am not sure we can even get tinned chestnuts in this corner of the world, but it might be worth looking. It sounds like a worthwhile venture: a truly serious chocolate pudding for grown-ups. If anyone else tries it or works out good variations, let us know.

We also embarked on a discussion about an amazing looking recipe from Nigel Slater’s sacred text Appetite: a Cheese and Onion Tart, made with puff pastry.