Start from Scratch Fundraiser Recap

Last week I had the pleasure of being involved in a fundraiser event for the Start From Scratch cooking program which was created by two fabulous local foodies Dan Clapson and Jacinthe Koddo.

 

 

 The summer social paired up chefs from some of the best restaurants in Calgary with local bloggers and food writers. Each pair had to create a small dish to be served with a wine pairing at the event.

 

I was paired with executive chef Kyle Groves from the award winning restaurant Catch. I love seafood (especially oysters) so I was excited to see what kind of dish we would be making.

 

 

The day before the social I met up with Kyle at Catch and got a tour of the kitchen and restaurant.  I had considered taking my camera to get some nice shots (its a beautiful space) but seeing as I've already managed to encrust it with flour at home I didn't want abuse it any further by leaving it inside of a fish or on top of the grill station. Iphone camera + instagram filter to the rescue!

For our dish we needed to prep a huge salmon and cut it into appetizer sized pieces. Kyle showed me how to do it and I 'helped' him by making sure I wasn't standing in the way of his knife. Actually, I did pin bone part of the salmon which was something that I've never done before.

Later I got a tour of the pastry kitchen and got to see all the awesome equipment they have there. Sadly, all of it was *way* too huge to discreetly sneak home with me.

 

 

The next evening everyone met up at Casel Marche do some last minute prep work on the dishes. Kyle chopped and assembled the salad and I helped out by standing around and occasionally taking photos (thank god I was there!).

 

The salad was made up of cucumbers and edamame beans in Greek yogurt sauce with birch syrup.

 

 The green on green made for a really pretty (and tasty!) dish.

 

Even prettier though was the salmon which had been marinating all night in the teriyaki sauce. It looked like pieces of salmon candy.

 

Everyone was working hard putting the final touches on their dishes..

 

...their delicious, delicious dishes. This Chicken Liver Mousse  was made by Dominique Moussu of Cassis Bistro with the help of food blogger Michelle. I wish I had gotten more pictures of the other fabulous dishes.There was muscles, ice cream sandwiches, and lobster tostadas to name a few. <-- click on the links to get the recipes!

It was such a fun evening and I have to thank Dan and Jacinthe for putting it all together. It was awesome being paired with Kyle and I'm so glad that he took time out of his schedule to let me work in his kitchen with him.

 

All the guests enjoyed the food and wine (this is my lovely sister pictured here) and it was even better knowing that we were supporting a great cause.Can't wait till the next one!

 

Comments

[Dan @ Dan's Good Side]

Thank YOU Stephanie for being a part of the fundraiser! We couldn't have done it without the help of awesome people like you! :)

[JS]

Stephanie, you've got to advertise this kind of stuff! I'd love to come out next time.

[Becs @ Lay the table]

Wow your teriyaki salmon does look good! Any everyone knows taking photos is definitely part of the development and helping process!

[Melissa@EyesBigger]

So glad to hear it went well. I got to tour Seattle with Dan and Jacinthe last April and they are lovely people doing a really cool thing with Start From Scratch. And that salmon looks beee-yooo-teee-ful. Mouthwatering. Curious tho... what did you think of the birch syrup?

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Catch oyster bar is making me so hungry

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