Canoe - Taste Maritimes

Off to east coast Canada for @ChefHorne's next tasting menu @Oliver_Bonacini's Canoe. #GoodEats

Talking with Chef Horne, this was one of the more challenging menus to put together and make interesting, since many of the iconic and traditional meals from that part of Canada are one-pot wonders; boiled, stewed, steamed, everything seems to come out of a pot. This was one of the more interesting menus for me because when I think Canadian cuisine, I think Ontario produce and livestock, or British Columbia seafood, or Québec poutine and maple syrup. Not much attention is given to the east coast, aside from lobster. So to have an entire menu inspired and harvested from the east coast was a treat!

I went on the first night of this menu, and from what I'm told the menu will be going on hiatus during Summerlicious, and will resume after July 20. Once the menu resumes, it will be modified with new produce as it become available with the season.

On top of Taste Maritimes, Chef Gondalves, was kind enough to treat my friend and I to some incredible desserts!

Amuse-bouche: Kiss the Cod

Fried cod tongue with wild sauce gribiche (wild garlic), and nori.

Paired with Screech'd-In Sour (pictured below).

Course 1: Jiggs Dinner Terrine

Jiggs Dinner is traditionally a boiled meal of cabbage, potatoes, carrot, turnips and corned beef. Served with Figgy Duff, a traditionally steamed or boiled bread pudding, this version is steamed, then frozen, thinly shaved and baked again like biscotti, and made with raisins instead of figs. Under all of that is a Pease Pud'n, which is a thick split pea soup that has been lightened with crème fraîche and herbs. Garnished with thinly sliced gherkins and mustard seeds.

Paired with Anna de Codorniu Brut Cava, Penedès Spain, NV.

Course 2: Clam Bake

Razor clams, soft shell clams, mussels, crawfish, smoked seaweed, dashi broth poured tableside onto the searing hot bowl to create steam and enhance the aroma. This dish was inspired by Chef Horne's last visit to the east coast;  he, along with a bunch of other chefs, would dig a hole in the beach, fill it with a layer of hot rocks, seaweed, shellfish, more seaweed, tarp, and sand. Let it sit for a few hours, come back to perfectly cooked shellfish.

It's hard to find anything wrong with this dish, who doesn't love a pile of perfectly cooked seafood all ready for you? Dashi broths are always a winner, had to make sure I got extra bread for all the leftover goodness!

Paired with Éric Chevalier Muscadet Côtes de Grand Lieu, Loire Valley France, 2011.

Intermezzo: Cloudberry/Bakeapple Gelée

With vanilla sugar apple jelly. Berries are hand picked from the east coast!

Couse 3: Meat & Potatoes

P.E.I. potato finished beef, collard greens with fish sauce, caramelized molasses, geai bleu (blue cheese from New Brunswick, named after Blue Jays which were often seen flying through the farm), confit potatoes.

My kind of dish. Definitely a meat and potatoes kinda guy lol.

Paired with Sidónio de Sousa Garrafeira, Bairrada Portugal, 2000.

Course 4: Hodgepodge

Pan seared cod with poached lobster, with market vegetables, and Labrador tea cream.

Paired with Viña Cartin Albariño, Rias Baixas Spina, 2011.

Course 5: Baba au Screech

Lemon sabayon, poppy seed cream, fennel pollen meringues.

Had this dessert a month earlier during Taste Dessert, it's been refined a little bit giving it more balance of the the lemon and poppy seed cutting the screech soaked caked. Great way to round out to meal, bringing the screech full circle.

Paired with Has Cap.

Petit Four: Chocolate Potato Chip

Now for a little bit of fun, a great surprise mini dessert tasting from Chef Gonsalves!

Bonus 1: Black Sesame Sponge Cake 

With jasmine foam, lychee sorbet, first batch of Ontario strawberries, fried sesame seed ball (he makes a surprisingly good version of it!). I don't know where Chef Gonsalves gets his strawberries from, but these were incredible fragrant and impeccably sweet.

Things stared to get interesting here, before our Taste Dessert tasting, Chef Gonsalves traveled to France for a chocolate class, and this was the first we got to see of his new learned skills. The star of the show is a unique 46% milk chocolate from Valrhona Chocolate, a small chocolate company that represents only 0.5% of total world sales of chocolate. This company focuses all their resources on their product, and the sustainability of the product ensuring the farmers that supply the cocoa beans can earn living.

What struck me most about this chocolate is it's depth in flavour, something that you usually get with a dark chocolate can be found with this milk chocolate. Also, the first thing I noticed about the chocolate was a floral note from the aroma of it. It's something I've never gotten from any other kind of chocolate I've tasted . Really interesting stuff!

Bonus 2: Peanut Butter and Chocolate

46% milk chocolate, banana butter, and caramel ice cream, chocolate covered puffed rice, candied peanuts, caramel. 

Bonus 3: Chocolate 3 Ways

Mousse, bar, and ice cream, with chocolate covered puffed rice and sponge cake. 

Honestly, I was a little skeptical when this came, I mean really? Chocolate on chocolate on chocolate? There has to be something more...and there was! The range in temperatures and textures alone were enough to win me over, but the balance in how each of the chocolate components built on tip of each other delightful surprised me! I really shouldn't be surprised from Chef Gonsalves anymore, he has turned me from a person who was apathetic about desserts to someone who looks forward to them every time!

This takes the cake for best and most surprising dessert I've ever had!