Foodists

Sugar & Spice – Wendy Boys at Edible BC

Pastry chef Wendy Boys was a recent guest instructor at Edible BC’s Dinner Series, and she effortlessly rolled out a 5-course meal that included early summer delights like spot prawns, strawberries and rhubarb. Every single spoonful had me swooning, and her blending of savoury and sweet was refreshing. White chocolate in a grainy mustard salad dressing? Burnt caramel sauce on pork belly (which had been cured for 48 hours in the likes of star anise and coriander, then braised for 6 hours)? The lines blurred throughout each course, beginning with a tipple of strawberry gazpacho and black pepper biscotti. (Side note: savoury strawberry is where it is at this season.) When my spot prawn, nestled atop a bed of sweet peas, stared back at me I took a big slurp of Gray Monk’s Odyssey Brut for courage before digging in. My relationship with the prawn hasn’t been quite the same since I decapitated a bucket of live ones with my bare hands during a Northwest Culinary Academy course.

My partner in crime and I were so overwhelmed with Wendy’s chocolate mousse concoction that we packed goodie bags with our second dessert course. No surprise that my husband fought me for the mini salted caramel macaroon. There was so much value added to this experience, it far exceeded our expectations. To sit in a working market after hours, listening to a local expert share her thoughts while grazing on course after course of riches—what luxury. I fell asleep thinking about how I would find out Wendy’s grandmother’s rhubarb relish recipe and woke up craving the Moroccan-spiced kettle corn that we hoovered. Here is a sketch of what graced our table over the course of 3 hours:

• La Baguette rosemary bread, e.v.o. & vinegar
• Spiced kettle corn
• Strawberry gazpacho w/savoury biscotti
• Cucumber Schramm vodka cocktail
• Spot prawn salad
• Gray Monk Odyssey Brut
• Braised pork belly, rhubarb relish, celeriac-apple puree, sautéed kale
• Hester Creek Reserve Cabernet Franc
• Chocolate mousse, sponge toffee and caramel foam
• Geringher Brothers Late Harvest Cabernet Franc
• Macaroon & mignardise (including salted chocolates and passionfruit pâte)
• Okanagan Spirits Blackberry liqueur