The Endless Feast in Edmonton

We had the pleasure of attending a beautiful dinner at Peas on Earth Organic farm the other day. It was held in their vegetable garden. The weather was perfect, the setting jaw droppingly beautiful, and the food exquisite. The dinner was filmed for a tv show called The Endless Feast, produced by Film Garden Entertainment from California, which airs on American Public Television Stations. Previous episodes have been in vineyards, orchards and farms all across the US and Canada, with the focus on bringing together artisan food producers, chefs and food lovers to prepare and share food in the setting where the food is grown. The table had 90 seats, with a backdrop of drying garlic bouquets, and fields of vegetables. Even the bugs behaved......as August is usually "crazy wasp month" in these parts, and a meal outside can look like an arm waving competition.

The food was created by Blair Lebsack from Madison's Grill, and Gail Hall of Seasoned Solutions, along with a team of volunteers. They wove their magic through the courses of local food, which included Irvings Farm Fresh Pork, Spring Creek Ranch Beef, Pilatus Farm Bison, Dirt Willy Pheasant, Hog Wild Boar Bacon, and vegetables from Peas on Earth, Doef's Greenhouse and Gull Valley Greenhouse. The cheese board was a delightful 1 X 4 fence plank, with 7 kinds of cheese from Sylvan Star Cheese and Fairwinds Farms with some great artisan crackers from Praire Mill Bread. Libations were supplied by Ensante Winery, which produces fruit wine, and beer from Edmonton's local gem Alley Kat Brewery.

Here is the menu created by Gail and Blair

Photo by Thea Moss

Passed Hors D'oeuvres:

"Lakeland"Demi Wild Rice Medallions Capped with Cardamom and Apple Butter

Glazed "Irvings Farm Fresh"Pork Tenderloin

"Pilatus Farms" Mini Bison Sliders topped with "Sylvan Star" Smoked Gruyere and Market Beet and Corn Relish

"Peas on Earth" Three Onion and Leek Ricotta Tart

Course 1

Slow Roasted "Gull Valley" Vine Ripened Tomato Salad

Course 2

Braised "Dirt Willy"Pheasant & "Franco's"Ricotta Crepe with "Irvings Farm Fresh" Pork Belly and Apple Compote

Photo by Thea Moss

Course 3

Braised "Spring Creek"Beef Short Ribs, "Pilatus Farms" Wood Grilled Bison Strip Loin, Carmelized Onion Mashed Potato, Beet Pave, Baby Corn Succotash with "Hog Wild" Boar Bacon

Course 4

Alberta Farm House Cheese Board featuring "Sylvan Star" goudas and gruyere and "Fairwinds Farm" Goat Cheese with Pea Pesto,"Prairie Mill" Buttermilk Crackers , "Doef's" Red Pepper Chutney and "Gull Valley" Tomato Jam

Course 5

Strawberry & Rhubarb Galette with "Fantasia" Gelato and "Doef's" Spiced Wild Berry Coulis.

Enjoy a few pictures from the evening. We enjoyed the food so much that we forgot to take a picture of each course! Most of all......a salute to all of Edmonton's local producers....may they live long and prosper!

"Boof" Bourguignon Cooked Outside

Served with B.C. Elephant Island Wine

For a food geek like me, seeing the new movie Julie Julia was a raucous good time. For some, that would be a bit of a stretch, but I knew every nuance of what was going to happen before it happened. I had been a follower of Julie's blog in 2003 and had bought Julia Child's book "My Life in France" before I knew it was in the movie! Meryl Streep was delightful and Amy Adams did a good job, even though she kept saying "Boof" Bourguignon. I thought that had to be intentional. No one really says "boof" for "boeuf"!

Well, this past weekend, in 30 degree heat, we decided to make the "Boof" dish. We had the benefit of cooking it in our outdoor oven, and on our barbecue burner, so that we would not heat up our house too much. I looked at the recipe and made a few minor changes. We substituted Bison for the "Boof" and used Wild Boar Bacon for the bacon. Other than that, we followed the recipe to the letter. (almost)

The Outdoor "Kitchen"

When we were cooks, we learned the "classique" method of making the dish. That recipe might look something like this.

Braise beef cubes in a Sauce Espagnole with the addition of red wine. Garnish with bacon, pearl onions and mushrooms.

Pretty simple recipe! It assumes you know all the techniques that go with the description.

Julia's recipe is 2 and 1/2 pages! Here is the recipe in all of it's glory. But truth be told......if you know how to make a good beef stew, it is quite a simple dish to make, because it is just a beef stew made with red wine, and garnished with mushrooms, pearl onions and bacon!

For 6 people

A 6 ounce chunk of bacon

Remove rind, and cut bacon into lardons (sticks, 1/4 inch sticks and 1 1/2 inches long) Simmer rind and bacon for 10 minutes in 1 1/2 quart water. Drain an dry. (ok we didn't do this..... we just cut up the bacon and sauteed it in the casserole)

Saute the bacon in 1 tbsp olive oil for 2 to 3 minutes to brown lightly. Remove to a side dish with a slotted spoon. Set casserole aside. Reheat until fat is almost smoking before you saute the beef.

3 lbs of lean stewing beef cut into 2 inch cubes

Dry the beef in paper towels. It will not brown if it is damp. Saute it, a few pieces at a time, in the hot oil and bacon fat until nicely browned on all sides. Add it to the bacon.

1 sliced carrot

1 sliced onion

In the same fat, brown the sliced vegetables. Pour out the sauteing fat.

1 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper

2 TB flour

Return the beef and bacon to the casserole and toss with the salt and pepper. Then sprinkle on the flour and toss again to coat the beef lightly with the flour. Set casserole uncovered in middle position of preheated oven for 4 minutes. Toss the meat and return to the oven for 4 minutes. (This browns the flour and covers the meat with a light crust ) Remove casserole, and turn oven down to 325 degrees.

3 cups of a full-bodied young red wine such as a Beaujolais, Cotes du Rhone or Burgundy.

2 to 3 cups brown beef stock or canned beef bouillon

1 TBSP tomato paste

2 cloves mashed garlic

1/2 tsp thyme ( I used fresh thyme sprigs from my garden)

A crumbled Bay leaf

Stir in the wine, and enough stock or bouillon so that the meat is barely covered. Add the tomato paste, garlic, herbs and the bacon rind. Bring to a simmer on top of the stove. Then cover the casserole and set in the lower third of preheated oven. Regulate heat so liquid simmers very slowly for 2 1/2 to 3 hours. The meat is done when fork pierces it easily.

18 to 24 small white onions (remove skins by blanching)

1 lb fresh mushrooms. (she says to saute, I say don't bother)

When the meat is tender, pour the contents of the casserole into a sieve set over a saucepan. (This makes the sauce smooth. For a more rustic presentation, do not bother) Wash out the casserole and return the beef and bacon to it. Distribute the cooked onions and mushrooms over the meat. Skim fat off the sauce. (courtesy of the bacon rind) Simmer the sauce for a minute or two, skimming off additional fat as it rises. If too thin, boil it down rapidly. If too thick, mix in a few tablespoon of extra stock or bouillon. Taste carefully for seasoning. Pour the sauce over the meat and vegetables. Serve with potatoes, noodles or rice. I served it with a few slices of a baguette we had made in our oven.

Wood Fired Bagels

When you have a wood fired oven there aren't many excuses for not trying to make bagels. (Other than it is a 2 day process, and quite a lot of work.) Vince has now tried twice. We think that they are good. You see, we have never eaten a Montreal Wood Fired Bagel, or a New York Wood Fired Bagel, so we have no frame of reference. Ours are chewy and full of holes. They do not taste "like a bun with a hole" like most bagels do around here. I guess we need to enlist the help of a bagel aficionado to determine if they are close to the real thing.


The dough is fairly easy to make. It must be quite stiff and the shaped bagels need to be "retarded" overnight in the fridge. We discovered that the bagels need to go directly from the fridge to the boiling water, or else the dough becomes too soft and they look really freaky when they are baked! We have learned that we place them further from the fire to start, and then move them closer at the end.

We set ourselves up in front of the oven with a burner and large pot of boiling water. We have an outdoor counter for our prep area.

The baking is the fun part! Vince has got it down to the dance of the bagels in the oven. New ones go in....the others are moved closer to the fire......then out they come.

The man and his bagels. Give us a call if you want to be the aficionado to give them their stamp of approval!