But they did come.

The Sabro team made mushroom escabeche with queso fresco.

The team: Rhea Pacaud on the left and Heather Baker on the right.

Waiting for the action …

Chris McDonald stops by to ham it up. I put him to work.

Heather, in the kitchen …

That was a lot of prep..

Local queso fresco!

It was worth it. We were in good company: paella by Embrujo Flamenco

See you next year,

Yours in good food at Luminato,

Carlos

This will be the first time working with Chris, his Cava partner Doug Penfold and Carlos Rodriguez from Hart House. It will be the second time working with Marina Quierolo, owner of Surkl Empandas.

It’s very important to say that it’s much easier to educate non-Latinos about our food than it is to get our community to support the local food movement, so we’re going to bring the two together.

The good thing is that, for a few years now, some local farmers have begun to cultivate crops native to Central and South American. We’ve now got blue potatoes, tomatillos, cape goose berry and chayote growing in Ontario, and the list goes on.

In fact, local dairy and meat is already being used to make different kinds of queso fresco, chorizo sausage and other Latino-style charcuterie here in Toronto

La Tortilleria sells fresh corn tortillas. Fresh Mexican-style sauces made by  Jose Hahad owner of Frida Restaurant and the Mad Mexican food company. I’ve sung the praises of Segovia’s chorizos here before, but you can never say enough good stuff about them. We Latinos chefs — and anyone who wants to support local food and learn about Latino food and culture — can now do it locally, and that’s pretty exciting, too.

This Slow Food event is going to be a great follow-up to the Latino representation at the Brick Works Picnic last September. With friends Eduardo Lee and  Marc Lukacs of Arepa Café, Adrian Marquez, sommelier at  AGO, Veronica Laudes and Luis Valenzuela from Torito Tapas Bar and Marina Queirolo , we got to spread the word and the flavours of Latino cuisine. I only wish more Latinos chefs will come out to be part of this great event.

On the menu

Venezuelan Arepas, stuffed w/ queso fresco, caramelized onions & fresh thyme

Peruvian style ceviche, mussels and sweet potato

Marinated  heart skewers w/ spicy herb salsa & potatoes Huancaina style

Andean style pickled beet tongue with escabeche

Argentinian BBQ w/ chorizo, sweetbread, grilled bread and chimichurri

Sweet corn tamales stuffed w/prunes , candy orange & served w/white chocolate pistachio sauce

Yours Celebrating Local Latino food and culture

Carlos

Last week I started the 2010 Pan-Latino cooking series at IQliving and at the LCBO.
Happy to report the two first classes were sold out.

It’s great to see how much interest has grown in Latin cuisine, not just in Toronto, but all over Canada as well.
It has been a long road trying to introduce my roots and culture, but finally it’s paying off.

And just yesterday, I was invited by the secretive CB to do the ultimate Pan-Latino dinner… Stay tuned.

Four more classes planned for March, April, May and June.
Dates and times here.

Last night’s class was at the Summerhill LCBO kitchen.
On the class menu that night:
Arepa with local queso fresco, organic avocado and basil

Tiradito of wild bass with posole relish

Escalivada with fresh pickled fish and pan al ajillo

Four-chili-marinated flank steak with pico de gallo

Ingredients: local queso fresco, posole, chillies, yuca, sweet peppers, eggplant, Arina PAN and much more.

Yours celebrating Latino food and culture
Carlos

It was an honor for me and my crew, to have been invited to the
picnic, thanks to the event organizers decision to recognize cultural and
ethnic groups from around the world that make Toronto home.
Connecting the global palate using foods grown locally is a great
opportunity to bring environmental and cultural traditions together,
which at the same time makes our city more beautiful in the eyes of
the world.

The crew, from right to left, Adrian Marquez, Marc Lukacs and Eduardo Lee, thanks for your help guys!!

There were food stations from Central and South America, Africa, the
Caribbean, Eastern Europe, the Middle East, Asian and India.

With that spirit of global food, I decided to make a “Guiso de
Calabaza, queso y Siqui-siqui” (Organic Delicata squash stew and fresh
cheese). I got all my food products from Pfennings Farms and the queso
fresco from Local Dairy Produce (Ingersoll, Ontario) and the
Portuguese Cheese Company, which is based in Toronto.

It was great to see people enjoying the food, particularly the groovy
organic vessel I designed to carry the guiso to avoid plastic or
unnecessary paper.

To make the containers we cut squares of plantain leaf, wrapped them
into the shape of a cup and then held them together with small,
sturdy wooden skewers from Chinatown. All of it will become beautiful
compost.

Happy to report that it was a hit with all my new vegetarians friends.

Yours from the 2009 Bricks Works Picnic
Carlos

With Eduardo Lee

Cachapas, which are made with fresh corn, salt, pepper, butter and top up with queso fresco, basil and olive oil. A traditional dish from Venezuela and people who came out to the testing welcomed our ideas and flavours with excitement and understanding of what chacapas really are. A humble, but delicious dish.

Serving cachapas con queso y albahaca (fresh corn pancakes with fresco cheese and basil)

The corn and basil was donated by Sandra and John Paul Mooney from Godelie Family Farm.
Queso fresco from the Local Dairy Products from Ingersoll, Ontario

Stay tune for opening party date

Arepa Cafe= Venezuelan Urbanity

Yours from the Market
Carlos

Front Row- L-R: Steve Gonzalez, Liz Rumebe and me

Back Row L-R: Jose Hadad, Luis Valenzuela and Mario Cassini.

Marina Queirolo is currently traveling in Argentina

Mario Cassini, Caju
Jose Hada, Frida
Luis Vanlenzuela, Torito
Steve Gonzales, Latino 5-Spice
Marina Queirolo, Sûrkl Empanadas
Elizabeth Rumebe, Alpine Bakery

Plus Sommelier Drew Innes pairing Spanish, Chilean and Argentine wines by course.

Seats are limited.
Don’t miss out.
Get in touch w/Mary Luz Mejia for tickets at 416. 992.2644
maryluz@sizzlingcommunications.com

Proceeds from the event will be donated to Youth Link
See you there.

Yours on a very exiting night
Carlos

“Until a man duplicates a blade of grass, Nature can laugh at his so-called scientific knowledge. Remedies from chemicals will never stand in favorable comparison with the products of Nature, the living cell of a plant, the final result of the rays of the sun, the mother of all life”.
Thomas Alva Edison

Love to you all.

Celebrating our beautiful Mother Earth

Carlos

With Ospina: champion of Latino accomplishment in Canada

It’s time to identify and properly recognize our role models, Ospina says. The fact is that there are more than 900,000 Hispanics in Canada. We are five years younger than other immigrant groups, and we are more likely to be university educated than other Canadians. Most of us live in the GTA, and more than 70 per cent landed here in the last two decades.

The November 18th awards dinner is like a dream come true for me. Seeing all these accomplished Latinos, celebrating the contributions they made in our adopted country.

This year, 600 attendees will vote for their choice of the top 10 from a shortlist of 20, which were selected by a distinguished panel of journalists and executives from the CBC, the Toronto Star, the Globe and Mail, Canadian Business Magazine, the Hispanic Press Association of Canada, the Canadian Council of the Americas.

With Dr Zuniga-Pflucker and his wife

These are last year’s winners:

ELVIRA SANCHEZ DE MALICKI is founder of the Canadian Hispanic Congress, which has united Hispanics from 22 different countries, with over 250 member organizations to lobby government on such issues as persuading Statistics Canada to amend census gathering data to better reflect the true Hispanic profile. Ms Sanchez de Malicki has been a nightly news anchor for CFMT-TV and an independent producer of the national TV program Hispanos en Canada.

LUZ  BASCUAN has a teaching degree from the University of Chile and an MA from University of Toronto. As a public school trustee for the Toronto Board of Education for three consecutive periods, Ms. Bascuan became the first Latin American elected to public office in Canada. Since 1998, she has been the Education Advocate of the Catholic Children’s Aid Society of Toronto and created Escuela Pioneros de la Paz for teaching conflict resolution and social skills to children and youth within the context of the Latin American culture.

LITA GONZALEZ-DICKEY has been the Spanish Community Relations Officer of the Toronto Catholic District School Board for nearly 30 years. She has been instrumental in placing thousands of Hispanic children into schools, including those from many undocumented and refugee families. Ms Gonzalez-Dickey created Centro Bienvenidos, the board Spanish Resource Centre from where she helps children with their homework and provides opportunities for foreign trained teachers to get familiarized with the school system and obtain Canadian experience.

MARIA CARMEN ROMERO was granted a fellowship by the Canada Council for Arts and Humanities to pursue a Ph.D. at the University of Toronto. Her postdoctoral research at York University analyzed the positive effects of bilingualism in the early development of literacy. A teacher and principal for 28 years, Dr. Romero worked in the Canadian Centre for the Prevention and Treatment of Torture with refugees from all over the world. She has done similar work in Guatemala with the Canadian Central American Relief Effort. She initiated the opening of 17 educational programs in both the Toronto District and Catholic District School Boards.

JUAN CARLOS ZUNIGA-PFLUCKER is a professor of immunology at the University of Toronto. He recently discovered how to grow T cells in a laboratory using embryonic stem cells. T cells are the foundation of the immune system, which HIV, chemotherapy and radiation destroy. Dr. Zuniiga-Pflucker work attempts to answer one of the fundamental questions in the field: How certain cells respond to key molecular signals, making them develop into disease-fighting T cells.

JUAN CARRANZA, LLB, is the first Central American called to the Law Society of Upper Canada, with a law degree from Osgoode Hall and an MBA from Queen’s University. He is founder Carranza Barristers & Solicitors, Toronto’s largest ethnic law firm, serving clients in over ten languages, including extensive probono work by he and his firm. In 2000, Juan received the prestigious Community Service award from the Law Society of Upper Canada and was instrumental in obtaining from the CRTC Canada’s first Spanish-language radio station in 2003.

MARCO A. GUZMAN before attending St Francis Xavier University, where he was later awarded an LL.D., Mr Guzman he created Voluntarios en Accion in his native Bolivia, an organization with a 36-year record of such humanitarian work as providing thousands of school desks for children. For the last 10 years, he as been Executive Director of Frontiers Foundation Inc. He has placed thousands of national and international volunteers into partnership with aboriginal Canadian hosts and co-workers in hands-on affordable housing and education projects, such as Project Amik is a 75 -unit facility in east Toronto, with half the suites designated for aboriginal residence and 14 of the total space reserved for handicapped tenants.

ALEX JADAD. MD is one of the few doctors in the world with a doctorate in knowledge synthesis, which he received from Oxford University. In 2000 he joined the University of Toronto and founded the Centre for Global eHealth Innovation. In 2001 and 2002, he was featured by Time Magazine as one of the new Canadians who will shape Canada in the 21st century.

ESTEBAN LASSO is an international development professional with 14 years experience in social development projects, working extensively in the rural and child development sector with organizations such as Christian Children’s Fund, Catholic Relief Services and UNICEF. Since 2001, Mr Lasso has been dedicated to improving the availability of quality medical treatment and care for children and adults with left clip and palate, and related cranion-facial disorders through the nonprofit organization Transforming Faces Worldwide.

FEDERICO ALLODI, MD is recognized internationally as a pioneer, expert and activist in the field of mental health for immigrants, refugees, and torture victims. He founded the first specialized centre for the treatment of torture survivors and has participated in numerous international campaigns (many in Latin America) to advocate for health coverage for the poor.

Yours in proudly celebrating the accomplishments of Hispanics in Canada,

Carlos
Happy Hispanic Heritage month…

Finding organic chayote was a challenge, but luckily Whole Foods had some that was naturally grown, which means it wont be long before certified organic is available, too.

My offering on that drizzly day, which beautifully turned into a gorgeous sunny day at Everdale farm, just east of Georgetown it“ was a chayote guiso [Spanish for stew] with boniato [white sweet potato], topped off by organic chorizo from The Healthy Butcher.

it was great to see people enjoying the food, particularly the groovy organic vessel I designed to carry the guiso to avoid plastic or unnecessary paper.

We cut squares of plantain leaf, wrapped them into the shape of a cup and then pierced them with small, sturdy wooden skewers from Chinatown, all of it beautiful compost.

I don’t mind saying I’m proud of that, too.

The crew, left to right: Annick le Goaix, Andrew Pemas, Stephanie Ortenzi. Those are the famous plantain cups in front of Annick. Great work guys. Thanks.

A high note for me was meeting Linda Crago and her riveting basket of colourful organic heirloom tomatillos: pink, purple, yellow and green. Beautiful.

Who knew you could get them so close to home? This opens things up for me: doing Latino locally. Linda says tomatillos have been grown in Ontario for over 10 years. Who knew?
And guess what else she grows [although there wasn't enough hot weather this year]? Chayote!

Linda Crago with some of her beautiful heirloom vegetables
My next move is clear: spread the word about how easy it is to cook these beautiful these vegetables, but more importantly, how delicious. Or should I say, Sabrotito!

On another note; it was great seeing Michael Stadtlander and Mike Dixon promoting the Canadian Chef’s Congress coming up this weekend. Guess who’s going?

Yours in good food from 2008 Feast of Fields
Carlos

With Ed Robertson [center] Rosa Maria Tortorici [right]

The New Canadians team

In the CBC ustudio

Having to defend my honour by answering questions about Canada.I’m pretty passionate about my citizenship, and I’m pretty knowledgeable on the subject, so I was up for the challenge.As well my other thirty three teammates from our New Canadians Team.

We were on a fight of knowledge about our nation against 5 stronger teams; Canadian Forces, Reach for the Toppers, Tours Guides, Weathercasters and the American Canadians.

Wanna know who won?Tune in on Sunday, September 7 at 8 pm.

Yours at the CBC

Carlos