An Appetizing Holiday

About the Chef Chef

 Darryl Crumb is the executive chef at Winnipeg’s new Brooklyn Bistro. He recently moved to Winnipeg from Vancouver where he was the executive chef at the Regional Tasting Lounge. Crumb’s professional career started out in hockey, with the former ECHL Franchise, Long Beach Ice Dogs. When a shoulder injury took him out of the game, cooking helped him find a new direction. He trained at Le Cordon Bleu in Ottawa before moving to Paris, France for further experience at Le Goupil (sous chef) and Le Maree Denfert (executive chef). He participated in the Top Chef Canada last season on the Food Network. A true Prairie boy, Crumb grew up on a family farm in Anola, MB enduring -40 degree temperatures in winter. He believes this is the reason his style of cooking is comfort food, made from scratch and from the heart.

HORS D'OURVES FROM CHEF DARRYL CRUMB

Red wine poached pear puff pastry tarts with chocolate ganache and chantilly

500 ml (2 cups) dry red wine
70 g (1/3 cup) sugar
2 whole star anise
2 cinnamon sticks
1 vanilla bean, split
4 pears, peeled

Slowly poach all ingredients above; remove pears, let cool and strain liquid and reduce till light syrup. Cut puff pastry into 2-inch rounds. Cut pears into quarters and remove core.

Ganache
9 oz bittersweet chocolate, chopped
250 ml (1 cup) heavy cream

Melt chocolate in double boiler and stir in cream to make ganache.

Chantilly
250ml heavy cream, vanilla and sugar to taste
Whip together for chantilly

Place 1/4 pears on rounds of puff pastry and bake at 350˚F till golden brown. Remove from oven drizzle with red wine syrup, ganache and top with chantilly.

Smoked salmon cucumber medalion with gorganzola cream cheese mousse

 1 cucumber
50 g gorganzola cheese
50 g cream cheese
2 slices smoked salmon
1 piece fennel
1/2 cup red wine vinegar
1 Tbsp corriander seed
1/4 cup cream
salt and pepper to taste

Slice cucumber into 12 rounds, mix both cheeses in mixer with cream and salt and pepper to taste. Shave fennel as thin as possible and soak in red wine vinegar with corriander seed for at least 2 hours. Spread cheese mixture on slice of cucumber, top with pickeled fennel roll of smoked salmon and garnish with fennel greens.

Caprese inspired bruschetta

  1 baguette
1 tomato
1 ball of mozzarella
10 basil leaves
olive oil
balsamic vinegar

Cut 1-inch thick slices of baguette, slice tomato in 10 rounds, as well as the ball of mozzarella. Place mozzarella on baguette then a slice of tomato; bake at 375˚F until cheese melts. Remove from oven and top with one basil leaf, and drizzle with olive oil and balsamic vinegar.