Canoe - Taste Berry

An outstanding meal by @ChefHorne from @Oliver_Bonacini's Canoe. #GoodEats

Anyone who knows me will tell you that I love berries. Berries are my favourite fruit, and my favourite thing to eat. You know that question "What would be your last meal"? I'll probably have a big bowl of berries. So it's no surprise that when I heard Chef Horne had developed a summer tasting menu featuring berries, I just had to go for it. The tasting was only available while the berries were in season, and I was lucky enough to catch it just before it ended.

To say each dish was delicious would be an understatement. This tasting easily tops my list of favourite meals of all time. Each of the components on every plate and wine pairings worked in harmony in a way that flavours and textures would build on each other to create a deceptively complex dish. It was also nice to see many of the ingredients we were introduced to from Canoe Wild show up on many of these dishes.

Here we go!

Eggplant purée with Red Fife Sourdough Bread

Amuse Bouche:

Fresh Tomato Water

Paired with Ontario Spring Water Sake Company Izumi Teion Sakura Sake.

Fresh tomato water with herloom carrots, cherry tomatoes, dill and foam, a nice way to start off the meal. Love the dill!

Course 1: Turbot Ceviche

Turbot Ceviche, Buffalo Yogurt, Clay Pepper Dust, Sea Buckthorn, Mountain Cranberries

Paired with a 2027 Cellars Wismer Vinyard Foxcraft Block Riesling Twenty Mile Bench Ontario 2012.

Thinly sliced wild Québec turbot marinated in a sea buckthorn mix consisting of sea buckthorn, wild leek, passion fruit, kabosu, and lime. Turbot is then layered in the bowl with buffalo yogurt dots for fattiness and creaminess and clay pepper for heat. Fried seaweed adds a welcomed change in texture along with some salt, and the mountain berries add acidity and sweetness to the dish to round it out.

Course 2: Tamworth Pork & Foie Gras Terrine

Tamworth Pork & Foie Gras Terrine, Blackberries, Pickled Field Strawberries, and Hazelnut Mascarpone.Paired with Malivoire Courtney Vineyard Gamay Beamsville Bench Ontario 2011.

Foie gras is layered between 2 sheets of pork rillette to form the terrine, which is marinated in a late harvest reisling, and then sliced, which sits on a bed of mascarpone mixed with toasted hazelnuts. Pickled green and red strawberries and blackberries add acidity and fruity to go with the rich terrine and mascarpone. 

After the first bite I went into a "giddy laugh", as some have described it. Not many dishes make me do that, but when a dish is like this comes and it has all flavours that I love, I just go to my happy spot and nothing else matters. Also got a mad craving for hazelnut gelato!

Course 3: Pan Roasted Skate

Pan Roasted Skate with Beluga Lentil, Gai Lan, Verjus, Currant and Miso Marinated Octopus.

Paired with a Five Rows Pinot Gris St. David's Bench Ontario 2011.

The cartilage in the wing of east coast skate is removed then compressed back together and cooked sous vide and pan fried to finish. The octopus is marinated with black or red currants and miso over night, and then is steamed until tender. Beluga lentils are warmed in a Verjus parsley vinaigrette which is then foamed over the dish with gai lan. The Verjus adds much needed acid to the dish to cut the richness from the butter that was used to cook the skate.

Verjus might just be my favourite new ingredient. I had no idea what it was until this meal, and taste like it would be a fantastic addition to any meal where you're looking for a touch of acid. Verjus is the pressed juice from a unripe grape. While acidic, it has a gentler flavour than vinegar, with a sweet-tart taste.

Raspberry Intermezzo

Raspberry Intermezzo

Raspberry soda with yogurt foam, topped with olive oil and salt.

Course 5: Prairies Venison

Prairies Venison with Tongue Tortellini, White Garlic Purée, Tamarack & Saskatoon Berry MostardaPaired with Tawse Syrah Niagara Peninsula Ontario 2010.

Prairies venison is rubbed with green alder and sits on top a white garlic purée, which is blanched twice to remove the pungent garlic flavour. The tongue is brined, confited in duck fat, then smoked and dusted with pepper, cut up and folded into tortelini's. Being a very rich dish, the Saskatoon berry and tamarack mustarda cuts nicely though the richness and adds a new level of world flavours rounding out the dish nicely. The mustarda consists of maple vinegar, port, wasabi, wild mustard, and tamarack cooked in a simple syrup then blitzed. Served with a vanilla sherry jus.

Dessert: Fromage Blanc

Fromage Blanc with Wild Strawberries, Pistachio, and Basil.

Paired with Benjamin Bridge Nova Seven Annapolic Valley Nova Scotia 2012.

Wid strawberries from Nova Scotia are little, almost like a miniature strawberry, but are pack with flavour. The vanilla cake sucks up the strawberry juices. Fromage Blanc, also known as fresh cheese, is made of whole milk which brings the a perfect amount of acidity to play with the sweetness of the strawberries, making this a perfect way to end the meal.

Yet another dessert I absolutely loved. There was just the right amount of sweet and balance with the wild strawberry liquid, strawberry fruit paper, and of course the basil. 

Petit Fours

Rounding out the meal with more delicious pastry. Of all the things on the dish, I really like the garnish! The red currants and lemon balm were just a nice touch. 

This entire meal, not just a plate or two, but the whole thing was perfect, well almost. If you noticed, there aren't any blueberries as a component of any dish. Why? Blueberries are by far my favorite berries of them all. If I could only eat one thing for the rest of my life, they would be blueberries! This was the one disappointment I had of the meal, I meal really, no blueberries? Well I was wrong, I drew my conclusions too soon. At the end of the meal, each guest that particiapaed in Taste Berry received a small jar of house made blueberry, lemon, and thyme jam! This was something unexpected, but one of my favorite things. Blueberries + Lemons = Perfection!

If I were to have a last meal, this would be it. Perfect.