FAVOURITE INDULGENCES

I always knew that I didn't plan on giving up on my favourite indulgences.  I am inspired by a former pastry chef turned Weight Watchers Leader who believes in having your cake and eating it too.  His favourites are chocolate mousse, shrimp scampi with butter, heavy cream and Parmesan, and cheesecake.

When I discussed my weekend celebrating the Grand Cru Culinary Wine Festival at one of the host's homes, my fellow Weight Watchers buddies said just go for it and enjoy it.  That's what I did.  It was a wonderful experience worthy of the term "favourite indulgences".  For me, it isn't necessarily one particular food but rather fine foods done beautifully and creatively.  Wine with food is another indulgence I try not to do on a regular basis although I enjoy it immensely... but this was a very special occasion.

We were welcomed to Steven and Lynda Latner's home, our gracious hosts for the evening.  We were fortunate to have Laurence Feraud represent her estate wine in France, Domaine du Pegau who paired the wines with Chef Robert Gentile from Buca so beautifully.  You can tell by my superlatives I am not only a gourmet and gourmat but a foodie. When we arrived we were greeted with champagne and
Lynda suggested I go into the other room for a lovely surprise.  There was a chef hand carving leg of boar.  It was the ultimate prosciutto.  I could see the chefs working diligently from where I stood looking into the kitchen.  One by one, there came a plethora of fine tastings.  I didn't have them all but limited myself to two:  the crostini with Erborinato cheese and apple mostarda which is basically a sweetly sauteed apple with a mustard between that and the cheese; and, the crisp eggplant with Italian Burrata and White Truffle from Molise. I enjoyed every morsel.

I learned that Chef Gentile began as chef de partie at one of the top rated restaurants in the country, North 44.  In the 10 years since, Gentile has worked every station and position in McEwan's kitchens. 
He had worked his way up to executive sous-chef.  Eventually, Buca opened in September 2009 to rave reviews and has been ranked as one of the top restaurants in Toronto. Here he showcases and cooks the Italian fare with which he was raised.  I was there once, soon after it opened, during the film festival as a guest of Alan Karp who was then CEO of Cineplex Odeon.  There were 14 or 16 of us and my host had arranged that small courses keep coming.  It was not the complex dinner of last night but pizza where you were handed a scissors to cut it, and more simplistic and rustic Italian fare.  It was delicious.

Back to the dinner now.  We were invited into one of two dining areas with about 14-16 people at each table.  The chef and the vintner and the scientist, Dr. Shaf Keshavjee visited between the two rooms.
The recipient of the funds raised went to Toronto General and Western Hospital Foundation so we therefore had the pleasure of Dr. Keshavjee, surgeon-in-chief, University Health Network.  He was fascinating.  As Herbie Fund founder and president, I was gratified to know that as a thoracic surgeon he had also worked on Herbie children at SickKids.  His specialty is lung transplants but his current work involves ways to grow and engineer better organs from a person's own stem cells.  He is a genius.

I still haven't discussed the dinner yet.  Of course, each course had a wine  paired with it.  I am not a red wine drinker but I definitely liked Cuvee Reservee Red 2007 best.  It was oaky and I like that a lot.  The food was enchanting.  The first course was a salad of chicory with pesto, topped with crisp smelts and organic quail egg yolk.  Then came the hand carved venison, thinly sliced like prosciutto on top of a chick pea pancake and surrounded by the chef's house made sheep's milk cheese that was sprinkled with pistachio nuts.  At first, I wasn't sure about this course, but once I paired it with the Cuvee Reservee Red 2007, I was sold on it.  What a perfect pair they made.  After that was the pasta course, being that the chef is Italian.  It was goose foie gras and porcini mushrooms inside tortelli pasta and topped with sweet butter and toasted hazelnuts. My mouth is still watering when I think about it. 

It was almost 11 p.m. when we left to go home and let the dog out.  I missed the next two courses of rack of elk and dessert that would be difficult for me to translate without at first tasting it.  That was okay.  I had drank at least 4 glasses of wine and really had eaten enough too.  I was pleased to know I hadn't gained weight from it either when I awoke on Sunday morning.  That dinner was definitely one of my favourite indulgences.