The Stop Community Food Centre strives to increase access to healthy food in a manner that maintains dignity. Program participants get involved — as front-line volunteers, program advisory committee members, gardeners or cooks — and the stigma associated with receiving free food is often diminished or erased.
At The Stop Green Barn, a variety of vegetables and herbs are grown by the community participants and served to the community or at specially sponsored events such as the one I recently attended at Scaramouche.
We were pleased to begin with Chef Keith Froggett’s rabbit rillette, presented with Green Barn pickled, dark pink beets, fresh thyme, crostini, cubes of rabbit stock gelee and small dabs of mustard. A beautiful presentation on the plate. The contrasting taste of the pickled beets enhanced the flavour and appreciation of the rillettes and the rabbit gelee. The selected wine was a crisp 2006 Stratus Wildass White.
Cold smoked and poached arctic char with a julienned celery root and carrot salad followed. This was my favourite dish of the evening. The char was perfectly cooked rare, so silken and delicate in texture with just a hint of smokiness. Nothing to mar the wonderful subtle taste of the fish. The taste and texture of the salad, particularly the celery root, was the perfect complement for the smokiness of the fish. This dish was served with a delightful crisp 2008 Charles Baker Picone Vineyard Riesling.
The following course was roasted elk with grilled Green Barn oyster and king mushrooms, sunchoke puree and a red wine jus. The elk was somewhat tough but well flavoured. The mushrooms were the kings of this dish!! The wine was a very good 2006 Stratus Red.
Our dessert was a colourful presentation of white velvet cake with roasted rhubarb, pavlova meringue and rhubarb sorbet. Everyone loved this dish. It was refreshing and the tarte taste of the rhubarb refreshed our palates. Eating the meringue was like eating the best soft marshmallows. The wine was a 2006 Cave Spring Indian Summer Riesling.
Dr. Josh Josephson is the owner of The Cookbook Store and Josephson Opticians. He is a chevalier of Les Chevalier du Tastevin and the Le Chaine des Rotisseurs, a member of L’ordre Mondiale and a member and former president of the International Wine and Food Society, Toronto chapter.