Not  many Anglos know why Mexicans celebrate Cinco de Mayo, Spanish for “the fifth of May.” The day commemorates the Mexican army’s victory over French forces at the Battle of Puebla in 1862.

It’s not even Mexico’s Independence Day; that’s September 16th, 1810. And to add to the confusion further, Mexican independence wasn’t recognized until September 27, 1821.

Anglo or not, Ivy Knight put together a salsa competition to start the Cinco celebrations off two days early, as part of her 86 Monday Series at The Drake Hotel. She invited six chefs, including yours truly, to battle it out. To warm things up, a hot and sexy salsa all to herself,  Anastasia providing some burlesque entertainment, and here’s how it went down:

First Place: good friend Rossy Earle (below), the Panamanian chef of the Bell Fountain Inn

First Prize: a piñata crow

Best Salsa: hearts of palm, avocado and tomato

Second Place: Indalicio Marroguin, (right; that’s me on the left), chef of Rebozos, with a salsa roja, beans and sour cream.

Third Place; Howard Drubrosvky and Chris Scott (centre left and right in two black jackets), chef-owners of L.A.B, with their beautiful tomato, smoked tequilla and pineapple salsa. That’s Ivy on the left.

Buddha Dog owner Andre Hunter brought a sweet tomatillo salsa. Chef Nick Liu of Niagara Street Café make a lobster and chorizo salsa, that it was very delicious. And to honor the colours of the Mexican flag colors, I made bandera salsa, with a 12-chili salsa roja and an avocado and tomatillo salsa.

The battle is on….

Thanks to our host Ivy and The Drake Hotel for a great night.
Yours in hot, sexy, Toronto salsas
Carlos
Que Viva Mexico!

Stop by Snapper’s Fish Market on Sunday [April 18] between 1:30 and 4:30.

263 Durie Street, two blocks west of Runnymede, just north of Bloor

I’m cooking up Laurie’s rainbow trout and serving it with chayote salsa. Recipes to go.

Celebrate local food with this gorgeous Ontario fish, and come and say hola to Laurie Hamilton, my favourite fish monger and good friend.

A few words worth mentioning about farmed Ontario rainbow trout.

Despite the bad rap farmed fish has been getting over the last few years, there’s a lot of good news out there.

Ontario’s aquaculture is highly regulated and closely monitored for both nutritional quality and environmental soundness. Check out these factoids excerpted from a recent piece by Stephanie Ortenzi of Pistachio, who writes about local food for Savour Ontario.

Aquaculture has been traced back to China 3,500 years ago, but here in Ontario, we’ve only been doing it 100 years. For the last 25 years, the industry has used cage culture in the Great Lakes, in the North Channel of Lake Huron, off Manitoulin Island and in Georgian Bay. Ontario aquaculture is widely recognized to have a clean environmental record and produces mostly rainbow trout.

Caged operations, immersed in a lake’s natural habitat, account for 80 per cent of the province’s farmed fish. The industry is heavily regulated and closely scrutinized by government agencies and the agro-scientific community.

Trout’s beautiful colour comes from naturally occurring pigments called carotenoids, which also give salmon and crustaceans their orange-red hues. Carotenoids are made by the plants and micro-algae that constitutes the trout’s natural diet.

Last August, the Northern Ontario Aquaculture Association released its Strategy for Sustainable Aquaculture Development in Ontario. It calls for maintaining environmental safety and further development of an industry that contributes $65 million a year to the provincial economy.

Here are some shots from those cage operations, with thanks to the Northern Ontario Aquaculture Association.

Yours in good fish,

Carlos

Cava’s Chris McDonald has invited me to join him to cook a special Latino dinner for Slow Food Toronto’s culinary series, and I’m excited.

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

After a much needed holiday, I’m back in business.

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

In the Americas and all around the world, what we all have in common, is that our great-grand parents made sure that those typical or classical dishes for Christmas were passed on throughout generations.

Case in point is the Hallaca, which is made through Central and South America and has many manes like Tamal, Hayaca, Tamale, Envulto, chachas, chalas, Humitas rellanas and the list goes on.

Hallaca with chicken salad and picadillo[ Oriente style]

In Venezuela making hallacas is serious business. When I was child living in Venezuela I remember seeing people having big discussions about whose hallacas were best.
It’s a family affair, the process is long and involves everyone, especially family members who reunite to make big batch to eat during ‘La Navidad’ or Christmas.

The Families work like an assembly line. The grandmothers clean the plantain leaves, which the hallacas are wrap up with, the Moms make the guiso [stew and fillings] and masa [dough], the youngest stuff and wrap them; the eldest tie them and they all cook and eat them.

Other interesting dishes that we make for Navidad are: Pan de Jamon [Ham bread] which is stuffed with smoked ham, panchetta and raisins; Ensalada de Gallina [chicken salad], Torta Navideña [Christmas cake] and Ponche Crema [eggnog]

Rolling up the pan de Jamon

Pan de Jamom

Pan de Jamon with chicken salad

Some of the ingredients for the Christmas cake and pan de Jamon
When talking about hallacas in Venezuela everyone will say “Las mejores hallacas son las de mi mamá” which translates to “my mom makes the best hallacas”.

Without Hallacas, Pan de Jamon, Torta Navideña and Ponche crema it would not be Navidad in Venezuela.

Thinking of those good memories, I decided to do something: I decided to do a class to introduce my style of Venezuelan cooking to new generations of Toronto foodies, who are looking for something different for this Christmas. The class took place last November 19 at the Kingsway LCBO.
I was very surprise by the great comments that I got from the guests at the class.

They really enjoyed the food and the history that it came with it.

Now you can have the change to taste this delicious dishes at Arepa Cafe, which is located at 490 Queen Street West.

Special thanks to lcbo’s Joanne Leese for your continued support on celebrating Latin American food and culture through my cooking classes.

Yours, celebrating the holidays, Venezuelan style,

Carlos

The food is for the souls of the dead couple whose pictures were on the altar as part of the Latin American holiday, Dia de los Muertos, or Day of the Dead, which took place at Caju last Monday night.

Homemade altars are a common sight in many Latino households as part of the Dia de los Muertos holiday, coinciding with All Saints’ and All Souls’ Days Nov. 1-2.

Those who want to honor the dead set up tables with candles called veladoras, glasses of water, fruit and pan de muerto a couple of days before to welcome back the spirits of their loved ones.

Pan de muerto, round loaves of sweet bread, are one of the most iconic items on the altars.

Ancient indigenous people of Central and South America believed the souls of dead loved ones come back to roam the earth for a short time. When the souls return, they need incense to cleanse the area of bad spirits; water because they’re thirsty from their journey, candles to guide them, flowers to make them happy and their favorite foods.

The celebration of the day of the dead is the celebration of life itself, and with that spirit thanks to event organizers Mary Luz Mejia and Mario Stojanac of Sizzling Communications, Caju’s Tina Giontsis and Torito’s tapas bar Veronica Laudes, I am happy to report that we had a great event.

Ola as Of Latino America, 7 chefs, one kitchen, One Hot Night, it really was Hot!!!

We all prepared dishes that represented our roots using locally grown products.
The event sold out to a happy crow of Anglos and Latinos
And this is how it when down.

From Brazil Mario Cassini, chef owner of Caju

Bolinhos, pan de quiejo [ yuca and cheese bread]

Argentinean Marina Queirolo of Sürkl Empanadas

Empandas de Molleja, local corn and Woolwich Dairy chevre

Colombian-Canadian, Steven Gonzales of Latino 5 spice Catering

Oxtail Sancocho- Colombian style consomé with ravioli and bananito

From Mexico

Luis Valenzulea, Torito tapas bar chef

Octopus salad with artichokes, Ontario fingering potatoes and spicy citrus dressing

Jose Hadad, chef owner of Frida Restaurant

Organic Cornish Hen, Mole Poblano, rice, frijoles fritos and sesame seeds

Elizabeth Rubeme, chef owner of Amaranto Creations

The most beautiful and testing Tres Leches cake I ever had

And me

Venezuelan classic arepas, Carne mechada[sheredded beef] Reina pepiada[chicken and avocado] served with chayote relish

Toronto’s Drew Innes was our Sommelier for the event.

From my fellow chefs and organizers we wan to thank all our sponsors; Kaiken, Montes Premium wines, Fresita, White Hall wines, Pascuale Bros, Elee Desing , Saroli Foods, The Healthy Butcher , Woolwich Dairy, Inc, Kwozimodo productions, and a very special thanks to Mario and Tina for hosting us.

The proceeds of the event were donated to The Youthlink.

Celebrando la vida!

Yours celebrating life!
Carlos

Next post, The opening of Arepa Cafe!!
Stay tune

This year’s event was all about ‘world cuisine’ using local and
organic products.

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