I am honored that my good friend Tonio Creanza has invited me to travel with him to Puglia, Italy this June to help out with his Messors Culinary Workshops. Messors is an exploration into the Mediterranean culture in Tonio’s hometown of Altamura and the surrounding areas. These workshops are open to the public, and we would love to have you there.

The workshops are scheduled to last 7 days and will include an in-depth look into the origins, methods and myths of Mediterranean food culture. Days will be filled with activities such as building a clay oven (and making bread in it!), foraging for wild edible plants, going deep into the world of olive oil, cheese making and visiting the nearby fish markets in Trapani. I am certainly leaving some things out, but if you’re interested check out Tonio’s website for the official itinerary. Shopping the local markets and returning to our accommodations at the rustic Masseria La Selva (a converted 18th century hunting lodge) to cook and eat a leisurely family-style dinners will round out the evenings and allow everyone to get to know each other in short order. There is also an optional 3-day add-on to the workshop, (highly recommended!) with the choice of shadowing a shepherd as he tends to his flock in the hills above Altamura, and going deeper into the craft of local cheeses, olive oil production and butchery.

I am really excited to be a part of the workshops. I am by no means an expert on the local culture — Tonio will guide us together through the nuances and gems of history, place, and tradition. My forte will be to aid in the cooking and to assist Tonio organize the trip. There will definitely be a few songs sung over the week as well. At a dinner we were collaborating on last year, Tonio got wind that I sang and played guitar, so without telling me, he announced to the crowd that I would be singing a song next. After my initial shock, I got out there and sang and Tonio and I have been good friends ever since.

Details

Messors Culinary Workshop: Harvesting Food Through History
Location: Altamura (Bari), Italy
Dates:
Session One: June 1 through June 10, 2013

Session Two: July 24 through August 2, 2013
Length: 7days (optional 3 day itinerary extension)
Cost: $1500 CAD (+3 day Itinerary Extension (total 10 days) $1850 CAD)
Accommodation: Masseria La Selva
Workshop Includes: Accommodation, meals, transportation to and from Bari Airport or the main train station. All field trips, classes and lectures, guided tours, entrance fees to art exhibitions, museums and archeological sites are included.
Personal costs such as airfare, trainfare, spending money and health insurance are not included. Guests are responsible for arranging their own airfare.
Register: Workshops are limited to 12 people per session. Enquiries about Messors can be made by emailing Program Director Tonio Creanza at messors.tonio@gmail.com. Tonio will provide an email introduction to Messors and personally register each guest.
Visit the Messors Culinary Workshop Website here.

I like chowder. Do you like chowder? We recently made a smoked oyster chowder for a party and it was a hit.

The first step was to get some beach oysters from Steve at Sawmill Bay Shellfish on the Island. The day before making the chowder, they were shucked and smoked them in their brine in a cold smoker for just over an hour. At the same time, I smoked the cream that would finish the soup the next day. Once smoked, they were immediately sealed in containers overnight to hold in the smoke and let it all soak in. The next day, some bacon and the chowder aromatics (onion, garlic, celery, fennel, potato and sunchoke) were sweated down in olive oil and butter. Once they were smelling nice, a half bottle of dry vermouth went over and reduced until dry. A little flour then went over the vegetables to lightly thicken the soup, followed by some clam nectar and the smoky oyster brine (minus the oysters) from the day before. When the vegetables were just about cooked, the smoked cream from the day before went in and simmered for a few minutes. Then in went the oysters and just cooked. We garnished it with a nice crispy crostini with a dollop of salsa verde on it, which once stirred into the soup added a nice herbal element. This recipe is a keeper – next time it will be measured to the gram and will go in the BOOK.

Our friend Luis Valdizon shot and edited this video capturing the vibe of our last dining event, Railway Moonshiner. Thanks to everyone who came out and supported!

Stay tuned for our next collaboration coming up in November……..

We are once again honored to be collaborating with the city’s finest for an event on September 29th, 2012 that’s called Railway Moonshiner: hand-crafted wood, cask ale, & eats. In partnership with Union Wood & Supply Company, Inner City Farms, and Todd Graham of R&B Brewing Company we will be serving up a delicious stand-up supper that showcases Inner City Farms produce and Todd Graham’s custom cask ale for the evening.

Todd Graham, head brewer from R&B Brewing Company, is the kindest community-building bad-ass you’ve ever met. He’s keeping his custom cask ale a secret right now, but rest assured, he’s got a something special up his sleeve. We will update you more information about the cask soon, so stay tuned and keep in radio contact.

Inner City Farms will be our primary supplier for the evening. We want to showcase what this amazing organic foods grower does in this city. If you love Vancouver, it’s probably largely because of Inner City Farms. There are a lot of great organic growers and farmers that we chefs have access to, but there is something incredibly unique about Inner City Farms and I  can’t wait to pick their gardens over a glass of beer and philosophize about food movements.

Butter on the Endive is working with creating a menu that echoes the flavours and techniques of the American South, drawing from the classics, but with twist. The food portion of the evening will be a stand up supper of small plates and small bites. The menu below is a work in progress for another week.

Small Bites:

heirloom tomato with beer cheese, smoked ham and crispy bread

red devil brined and smoked oyster with apple, beet and fennel

boudin balls: braised pork, liver and rice croquette with peach mustard

side stripe shrimp with pickled peppers, corn and rice cracker

crispy confit chicken wing with plum

more canapes to come…..

Small Plates:

Inner City Farm turn of the season chop salad with crispy chicken skin and hop vinaigrette

smoked beef rib with bourbon bbq, celeriac and apple salad

a big old basket of biscuits

more to come……

We love to find interesting locations around the city to collaborate with like-minded food and lifestyle industry people to showcase the talent this city has to offer.  Craig Pearce and the folks at Union Wood Supply & Company are wonderful people, with an eye for creating beauty through modest design from salvaged and refined wood. But not only that: they also curate their retail space with personal style and a lot of love. Once you meet these guys you will be floored by their authenticity as artists and craftspeople. Union Wood & Supply will be celebrating their 1-year anniversary this night, and we are happy to be a part of the celebrations. From 9pm onwards, you can come down to the shop (503 Railway St) and help celebrate 1 year of successful, community-driven business. Vancouver Urban winery will be pouring wine, there will be beer, and Union Wood shop will be giving away a stable table–with money from the draw tickets going straight to charity. For more information about the anniversary after party, contact Union Wood shop at: 604-675-9033 or visit their website.

To reserve tickets for the food portion of the evening, we ask for a minimum of $60 donation per person. You can do that via paypal below. It will be 6:00pm-8:30pm. You may not bring your own alcohol to this event. Sorry dudes.

Tickets: $60, includes food and 2 beers. Other adult drinks will be available for a fair price. There will be a cash bar, so please bring cash. We will not be able to accommodate card payments, and there is no way in hell we are near a bank machine out on Railway Street.

SOLD OUT. Email info@butterontheendive.ca to be put on the wait list.
 
 

If you appreciate supreme technical wizardry and like watching things get crispy and glazed, then you will like this video of Tokyo chef Seiji Yamamoto preparing eel. Thanks to Cooking Issues for the link.

Cherries are here and it is time to do fun things with them. One thing that is really awesome, and somewhat unexpected, is to marinate them as you would olives. It was first shown to me by James Walt at Araxi, and since then, I’ve seen the idea pop up on the Ideas In Food blog and in the book Made In Spain by José Andrés. It’s one of those things that is very simple to do, but just as tasty and interesting as something way more laborious and technical.

Here’s how to do it:

1 pound cherries
3 sprigs rosemary, leaves removed
2 sprigs thyme, leaves removed
2 cloves garlic, thinly sliced
zest of 1 orange
1/2 cup olive oil
3 TBSP sherry vinegar
1/2 tsp chili flakes
salt, to taste

-Combine all ingredients in a bowl and mix thoroughly. Let marinate overnight in the fridge. Remove from the fridge and let come to room temperature. Serve.

Hope you like it!

Before Butter on the Endive moves on to our next project (stay tuned people!), I want to thank everyone who collaborated on the Chef in Residence I & II dinners last month. The response for tickets exceeded our expectations and left us very excited to keep planning fun, food-focused events around town. None of it would have been possible without my partner in crime, Naomi Horii. She’s always pushing us to do a better job and I feel lucky to be in business with her.

photo: michael sider

The idea for the events was simple: find some like-minded chef and artist friends to collaborate on unique dining experiences in unexpected locations. For the first series of dinners, we were beyond lucky to find the beautiful space above Le Marché St. George. Not quite sure how they would react to us proposing to open a restaurant above their shop for 3 days, they were actually really excited about the idea. Janaki, Pascal and the rest of the Marché staff made us feel right at home the whole time and kept us fuelled up on coffee and croissants when we needed a boost. What an inspiration it is to see what they have done with their shop and the real sense of community they have developed around 28th and St. George.

photo: michael sider

Adam Chandler of BETA 5 Chocolates was the first collaborator. Having worked with him before, I knew firsthand how creative and talented he was – it’s great to see him and the business really taking off. Though his specialty is chocolate and pastry, he has a great sense for the savory side as well, which made the menu writing process fun and easy. The first dinner at Marché worked out so well, we reconnected at Chef in Residence II for another one. A highlight from our menus was a rhubarb risotto with fennel, tarragon and white chocolate. Though somewhat divisive with the crowd (a couple people didn’t like it), we were very happy with the way it straddled the sweet and savory world. We made a basic risotto base with some onion and fennel, deglazed with dry sherry, and then cooked it with a vegetable stock with some rhubarb trim thrown in. Near the end of the cooking process, we folded in roasted rhubarb, and then finished with tarragon, fennel, butter and parmesan. Finally, we grated some white chocolate tableside to tame the acidity, which I think worked well.

photo: michael sider

For the second dinner, we teamed up with Jane Cornborough, former chef de cuisine of Refuel restaurant. Having both grown up on the coast, we chose to focus the menu on B.C. seafood, with plenty of the emerging spring ingredients thrown in for good measure. Sawmill Bay oysters, pacific octopus, scallops and halibut all made an appearance. The oyster was a fun little amuse bouche. We served them raw on the half-shell, with a sorrel mignonette, which was made by blending sorrel from Hannah Brook Farm with a bit of water, straining it and adding minced shallots, cucumber, cracked black pepper and a touch of lemon vinegar. It was a really interesting combination, with the briny, ocean flavor being offset by the tart, herbaceous sorrel. It was a pleasure to create the menu with Jane and hopefully we can do another one soon.

photo: michael sider

The final collaborator at the Marché dinners was Alvaro Musso, of Market at the Shangri-La. I first met Alvaro while working at West years ago and he was the first person we nailed down to work with us on this event. Alvaro grew up in Peru, and we had talked for a while about doing a dinner with the food of his homeland. We tried to take classic dishes and stay pretty true to their roots, throwing in a few modern twists here and there. Anyone who knows Alvaro knows he is a machine, possessing some of the best pure cooking skill in the city. My favorite dish was the causa, which is traditionally a made up of seasoned mashed potatoes, layered with fish, meat or vegetables (like a terrine). Our version had a base of yukon gold potato seasoned with chili and lime. On top of that was braised octopus, with a salsa of hard-cooked eggs, tomatoes, olives and parsley to finish. Lots of cool textures and flavors.

photo: michael sider

A big thanks to the artists who contributed pieces to hang on the walls of the Marché apartment! Photographers Hana Pesut, David Zilber and KIN Chan, along with visual artist Nathan Grimson, added a rich element to the room. We are also very grateful to out friend Michael Sider, who was on hand each day to document everything from prep to plate.

photo: luis valdizon

Not long after the event, Luis Valdizon (a very talented designer whose work can be found at narumi.ca) approached us with an opportunity to revisit the Chef in Residence format with a client of his. Amanda Michas, owner of Blue Owl Home Boutique in Kitsilano, thought one of the apartments above her store would be a great venue to showcase our food and her thoughtfully curated antiques. We quickly found two chef collaborators and a week and a half later, we were cooking.

photo: luis valdizon

In addition to another collaboration with Adam Chandler, we also did a menu with James Town, a sales rep with Mikuni Wild Harvest. James was a chef back in the day, working at some of the best restaurants of the time and even competing in the culinary olympics in Germany. We used a lot of products from Mikuni, which specializes in wild and cultivated mushrooms, wild edibles, beautiful vegetables and specialty food products from all over the world. One of the standout dishes was a simple bruschetta of fresh garbanzo beans with pecorino romano and arugula. We blanched the beans and made a puree not unlike hummus (seasoned with garlic, lemon, cumin etc.) It was the simplest dish of the night, but it was the one that got the most response from people. Though they’re a pain to prep, it’s definitely worth the effort. Here’s to James making some more cameos in kitchens around town.

photo: luis valdizon

I already thanked Tonio Creanza in a separate post for the special tasting of his family’s olive oil, but once more won’t hurt. Thank you.

Finally, we have to give Luis Valdizon all the credit for bringing Chef In Residence II together. Without his thoughtful intervention, the whole thing never would have happened.

And a big thanks to these folks for helping cook: Jeff, Ryo, Matt and Kari. You rock.

At our last Chef in Residence pop-up, Butter on the Endive had the great pleasure of working with Tonio Creanza as one of our collaborators. Originally from Puglia, Tonio now splits his time between Italy and Vancouver, returning home each summer to Altamura to host art restoration and culinary workshops. His family has been producing olive oil for generations (really, really good stuff!), and to kick off each dinner, Tonio began with a talk on all things olive oil, followed by a tasting and a song sung by the man himself.

On the last night, after dessert had been served, Tonio persuaded me to get up and sing a song. I was hesitant and nervous at first, but got into it once I got his guitar in my hands. Afterwards, he said something to me which I’ve been thinking about ever since. “It’s good to show people the whole person,” he said. It struck home especially hard, as I had just obsessed over the food for the past 2 days, barely eating or sleeping. It was at a point in the evening when I needed someone to pull me out of my cooking bubble, and I want to say thank you to Tonio for doing that.

You can find the Fagmilia Creanza olive oil in Vancouver at Blue Owl Home Boutique and Le Marché St. George.

Butter on the Endive Pops-Up Again

 
Chef Owen Lightly of Butter on the Endive is pleased to be hosting the second Chef In Residence, with collaborators Adam Chandler of BETA 5 Chocolates, James Town of Mikuni Wild Harvest, Blue Owl Home Boutique, Tonio Creanza, & Luis Valdizon.

The Michas family, owners of the Connaught building and Blue Owl Home Boutique on the corner of Broadway and Vine have a beautiful apartment upstairs calling our name and we have decided to jump on the opportunity to create another unique dining experience there. This will be the location of the second Chef in Residence, by Butter on the Endive on Saturday, May 26th & Sunday, May 27th. Chef Owen Lightly is also very excited to be collaborating with Tonio Creanza, of Creanza Olive Oil from Puglia, Italy. As part of the dinners, Amanda Michas (of Blue Owl Home Boutique) and Mr. Creanza will host an olive oil tasting in the Blue Owl shop before guests move upstairs to a plated, 4-course intimate dinner prepared by Owen and the collaborating chef.

We are thrilled to have Amanda Michas, owner of Blue Owl Home Boutique, be not only our lovely host, but also curator of the space. She will curate a small collection for the dining environment, all of which will be available for sale. Luis Valdizon will be gracing both upstairs and downstairs with his artistic eye, photographing the magic.

Throughout the days of May 26th and 27th, we invite friends, community, and Blue Owl community to come up to the residence, hang out and meet the BOTE staff and see what they are up to. Chef in Residence is a happening that plays on ‘artist in residence’ – it is a curated series that provides an opportunity to work with community, offer a salon-style space in which to share creative ideas or to simply enjoy casual company. Each night will offer an Italian inspired 4-course meal – a natural choice since we are featuring Tonio’s beautiful olive oil from Puglia. You can RSVP and buy tickets via PayPal below. Each dinner is a minimum donation of $65 (not including gratuity) and requires a ticket. Check out of the menus below.

Saturday, May 26th

Collaborator: Adam Chandler of BETA 5 Chocolates

This could be the beginning of a brotherhood: Butter on the Endive was lucky to have Chef Chandler be a collaborator at the first Chef in Residence, and they are back collaborating again since it inspired such a beautiful creative process. There were simply too many ideas to fit into one menu! As you read this, they are working on honing their ideas into a four-course meal, and we will post the resulting menu ASAP, so that you can plan your wine pairings. The first seating will be at 5:00pm and the later seating will be at 8:30pm.

Menu

duck liver crostini with pickled strawberries and celery

olive oil cake with rhubarb and yoghurt

Saturday, May 26th – 5:30pm seating

SOLD OUT

Saturday, May 26th – 8:30pm seating

SOLD OUT

Sunday, May 27th

Collaborator: James Town of Mikuni Wild Harvest

Many in the local food community know James Town as the passionate sales rep for Mikuni Wild Harvest, but many do no know that before that he was a chef in Vancouver for 15 years. Butter on the Endive has cherished our relationship with him since we first started up and are excited to plan a unique Italian inspired meal using many of Mikuni’s fabulous products.

Menu

lois lake steelhead with lemon, sea asparagus, wood sorrell and Tonio’s olive oil

quince cake with hazelnut gelato

Sunday, May 27th – 4:00pm seating

SOLD OUT

Sunday, May 27th – 8:00pm seating

SOLD OUT

“Life is a combination of magic and pasta.” – Federico Fellini