Roots Rants, and Roars roundup
11/8/2013 2:36:24 PM
CNA Chef Roger Andrews prepared canapés, which included pickled beet and goat cheese, walnut and raisin crostini with aged white cheddar, and tomato mozzarella press with basil seed.
Cooking students at the Bonavista campus were star struck while volunteering for Roots, Rants and Roars as they had a chance to work alongside Food Network Chef, Chuck Hughes.
Cooking students at the Bonavista campus were star struck while volunteering for Roots, Rants and Roars as they had a chance to work alongside Food Network Chef, Chuck Hughes.
The now famous Roots, Rants and Roars culinary festival takes place in Elliston each September and attracts hundreds of people as well as some of Canada’s best chefs, including Chuck Hughes (Chuck’s Day Off, Chuck’s Eat Street).
College of the North Atlantic students were eager to volunteer for the festival and have an opportunity to meet some of the best chefs in the country. They were even more excited when these chefs welcomed them into their station to help with mise en place (the preparation and assembly of ingredients). There was a lot of learning taking place as the chefs were eager to pass on as much knowledge as possible.
“(It’s) such a great opportunity working with these people,” said cooking student Kaitlyn Oldford. “It was a great experience in the kitchen.”
The food festival brought in six “come from away” chefs as well as 10 of this province’s best.
Tourism Elliston partnered with College of the North Atlantic, granting them full access to the culinary lab in Bonavista. In addition to the use of the campus, two cooking instructors, Roger Andrews from Prince Phillip Drive and Chris Sheppard of Bonavista, also participated.
Chef Andrews prepared canapés which included pickled beet and goat cheese, walnut and raisin crostini with aged white cheddar, and tomato mozzarella press with basil seed. In addition, Chef Andrews hosted a soup kitchen where he prepared 500 servings of a Bermuda fish chowder and roasted parsnip, apple and green onion soup.
Meanwhile, Chef Sheppard and his students dished up 200 pounds of mussels in the “mussel shack” which he prepared two different ways: roasted garlic with Quidi Vidi honey brown ale, and hot Italian sausage marinara. Chef Sheppard also prepared 400 cod donuts with lemon glaze topped with scrunchions, which earned him a tie for first place for the coveted “King of Cod” title.
Submitted by Chris Sheppard, instructor at CNA and executive chef for the Bonavista Institute for Cultural Tourism.