The afternoon’s triumphant winner, Lolita Tellez with her dish of Faves a la Barcelonesa (Barcelona Style Beans)
Discretely hidden on Dufferin, just north of Eglington, lies the Casa dels Països Catalan de Toronto, or the Catalan Centre of Toronto. A few months back Good Food Revolution’s Malcolm Jolley and I had contacted the Centre’s Josep Lluis with a view to speaking with him about Toronto’s Catalan community. After both having spent some time in both Spanish and French Catalonia, we had come to a mutual agreement that we would make a determined joint effort to learn more about Catalan cuisine, culture, and wine.
After a meeting with Josep, during which he explained his passionate interest in the upcoming Scottish referendum, we were delighted to discover that we were to be given the honour of judging the centre’s third annual Traditional Catalonian Cuisine Competition, alongside Chef Chris McDonald Chef/Patron of Toronto’s Cava restaurant.
Despite our mutual love for the cuisine of Catalonia, both Malcolm and I were most pleased to count Chris as a fellow judge, as when it came to appraising the individual dishes neither of us were too confident in our abilities when it came down to marking for Catalan authenticity. Thankfully Chris McDonald is a dab hand when it comes to such matters, and so with his sage guidance we were all set for our afternoon of judging.
Fuelled by the genuine warmth of community spirit in the room, coupled with a few carafes of red wine (not Catalan I must add!), the three of us embarked upon our assigned mission of judging a series of ten savoury and three dessert dishes. As you can see through the pictures below, so much good fun was had, and new friendships were made.
In our closing comments I went out on a limb and asked what it would take for Malcolm and me to join the celebrations as competitors in 2015. The crowd erupted into a rousing cheer of encouragement… so guess what Good Food Revolution will be doing to celebrate Sant Jordi (St George’s Day) on the 23rd of April next year?
We’ll certainly be looking forward to it, and over the intervening 12 months we’ll be searching for some well-priced Catalan wine to celebrate with.
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- A group of around forty people gathered at the Casal dels Països Catalans de Toronto.
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- Our host for the afternoon, the jovial Josep Lluis.
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- GFR’s Jamie Drummond and Malcolm Jolley, alongside Josep Lluis, and Cava’s Chris McDonald.
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- Chef Chris McDonald from Cava restaurant finds the afternoon’s first decanter of wine.
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- The action begins in the small kitchen…
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- Faves a la Barcelona (Barcelona Style Beans) – What an amazingly tasty dish that well deserved its First Place.
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- A very interesting Paella with Lobster Tails and Calamari.
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- Sèpia amb Rossinyols (Squid with Mushrooms), a most authentic dish according to our host.
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- A huge pot of meatballs…
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- Competitor Maria Antonia Marcuzzi began to get a bit anxious about the dishes getting cold!
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- The competitors didn’t have very much room to work with in there!
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- The very traditional Mar i Mutanya (Sea and Mountain) upon this occasion comprising Pork Sausage, Squid, and Shrimp.
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- Sèpia amb Rossinyols (Squid with Mushrooms), a most authentic dish according to our host… this time with a little garnish!
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- It was all go at the presentation table as the various competitors displayed their creations.
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- Maria Antonia Marcuzzi and Mercedes Masgoret wanted to ensure that each dish came out perfectly for the entire room.
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- While the cooks were busy in the kitchen, the rest of the community caught up over a few glasses of wine.
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- A baking hot platter of Canelons a la Barcelonesa (Barcelona style Cannelloni), a dish that in this case resembled a kind of lasagne. And just to the left are some extremely tasty Croquettes.
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- Best of Friends: Competitors Maria Antonia Marcuzzi and Mercedes Masgoret made a great team, both in the kitchen and back-of-house.
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- At last all of the dishes were ready for the gathered crowd…
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- And the judges and audience got right to work!
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- The judges began to feel a little guilty when we realised that everyone else was waiting for us to finish. This table were looking quite hungry.
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- At first we tried judging with delicate little portions of each dish, but this plan rapidly unravelled. Here we have the Sea and Mountain, the AMAZING Conill amb Moixerons (Rabbit with Mushrooms), and the Barcelona style Canneloni.
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- And then it was on to the desserts…
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- Chef Chris McDonald and GFR’s Malcolm Jolley fired right in there!
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- And along with our desserts we were served the most delicious of biscuits/cookies.
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- Chris presents Maria Antonia Marcuzzi with her prize for her Fricandó amb Moixerons (Beef with Mushrooms)
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- Yes… Lolita Tellez was over the moon about her Barcelona Beans coming in first place!
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- So overjoyed that she decided to give GFR’s Malcolm Jolley a huge Catalonian hug.
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- Another big cheer for the winner!
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- Our three savoury winners of the day: Mercedes Masgoret (2nd with her Rabbit), Lolita Tellez (1st with her beans), and Maria Antonia Marcuzzi (3rd with her Beef).
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Edinburgh-born/Toronto-based Sommelier, consultant, writer, judge, and educator Jamie Drummond is the Director of Programs/Editor of Good Food Revolution… And that was a terrific way to spend a Spring Sunday. Roll on next year!
