CHEF DUPERVAL

Food is to my core what music is to my soul.

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Fruit hunting in my new hometown!

I moved to Toronto from Montreal about 2 years ago. I have to say that it is one of the best decisions I have taken in a long time. I LOVE it and my favorite thing to do is hangout at Kensington market. When we were asked to do a fruit hunt, there was no doubt in my mind that I was going to do it there. Located in the heart of Chinatown between Dundas W and College st, Spadina and Augusta Ave. Kensington market is known for its thrift shops, organic food markets, epic graffitis, live entertainment and more. Here’s one of my favorite graffiti, I had to take a picture with it. Now, I can officially say I have a picture with legendary Miles Davis. 

Kensington Market is also known for its hipster vibe and really unique restaurants such as Rasta Pasta, Hungary Thai, Patty King, Seven Lives taqueria and so much more. I highly recommend visiting the market.

Image (above) credit:  Craig Waterfield: Epicurious Locavore

However, I ended up at a market in Chinatown, literally a block away from my usual favorite Kensington farm fresh grocery. Reason was, I was looking for a fruit I had never tried before, in french you would say <La perle rare>. I got three different fruits since I was not sure how to tell if they were ripe and if which one I would like.

I chose Papaya, Sugar Apple and Dragon Fruit.

As you may notice on this picture the Sugar Apple was overripe. #epicfail I was really looking forward to eating it but I got scared. Ya... it didn’t look very appetizing. 

Then I went for the Papaya. 

Isn’t it beautiful! This was my grandmother’s favorite fruit.

Papaya was first cultivated in Mexico in the early 17th century. Since then additional crops are grown in other parts of South America, India, Australia, Malaysia, Indonesia, the Philippines, and the U.S. state of Hawaii.

The top 10 countries by % of world production are

1. Brazil (25%)

2. Nigeria (15%)

3. India (12%)

4. Mexico (11%)

5. Indonesia (10%)

6. Ethiopia (4%)

7. Congo (4%)

8. Peru (3%)

9. Venezuela (3%)

10. China (2%)

Papayas are planted in wide range of well-drained soils with pH 5.5-7.0. Poor drainage predisposes plants to soil borne diseases so it must be provided irrigation in dry seasons. It is grown in hot, rainy, tropical lowlands, temperatures 70-90°F; intolerant of freezing; high wind also causes damage by fruit loss, leaf damage or uprooting. 

Today Papaya can be found all year long with the peak season being early summer and fall.

I have to admit, I am not a big fan. I liked the well balanced sweetness and little bitterness as well as the soft texture, it wasn’t too chewy and it kind of melted in my mouth but there is an unpleasant after taste, in my opinion. 

Now let’s talk about my favorite, the dragon fruit. I got attracted to its color and very unique shape.

It looked like a beautiful tropical flower, the kind I would put in a beautiful centre piece arrangement on my kitchen table. 

What an intriguing inner part? At this point I still did not know how to eat it. Here’s what I found out about it.  Pitaya also known as Dragon Fruit is the fruit of several cactus species indigenous to the Americas. It is also originally native to Mexico in the early18th century. It is cultivated in Southeast Asia, the United States, Israel, Australia, Cyprus and the Canary Islands. Peak dragon fruit season is in the summer and early fall, but thanks to different growing locations and off-season production techniques it is available all year-round. 

I LOVE the kiwi like taste and texture with the small edible seeds. It was perfectly sweet and melted in my mouth as well but without any bad after taste. 

I kept my research going and found out It’s often used as a garnish, or in fruit salads, but it works in savoury salads and pairs well with seafood too. It can be used to as yogurt, sauce, smoothie, salsa, pudding and dressing. Now I want to try all of the above but if I was to cook it I would try the following recipe:  

Image credit: Corina Nielsen 

INGREDIENTS

1/4 cup Kodiak Power Cakes Mix

2 tablespoons coconut flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 cup Vanilla Muscle Egg (egg whites) (www.muscleegg.com)

2 tablespoons shredded coconut (unsweetened)

1/3 cup So Delicious unsweetened coconut milk

1/4 teaspoon coconut extract

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

30 drops Coconut Sweet Leaf Stevia Drops

1/2 packet Pitaya Plus Smoothie Pack (** TOPPING **)

10 drops Vanilla Sweet Leaf Stevia (** TOPPING **)

1/4 cup pineapple juice (** TOPPING **)

2-4 tablespoons maple syrup (** TOPPING **)

1 tablespoon shredded coconut (** TOPPING **)

1 kiwi (sliced) (** TOPPING **)

4-5 raspberries (** TOPPING **)

DIRECTIONS

1.

Place pancakes ingredients in a medium sized bowl and mix until well combined.

2.

Preheat a large skillet or pan under medium low heat, spray with non stick spray or coat with coconut oil.

3.

Cook pancakes 2-3 minutes per side until golden brown.

4.

For topping, mix Pitaya Plus with pineapple juice and stevia drops. Add more of less pineapple juice depending on how thin you want it. Top pancakes and add fruit, shredded coconut, and nuts if desired.

I did not get a chance to make it yet but I am definitely trying it this weekend. What an adventure this was! Until my next hunt, enjoy this recipe by Corina Nielsen. Now I feel like a certified fruit hunter :D

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What’soup? Bouillon!

My favorite comfort food in the world, especially in the winter time is... (drum roll) My grandmother’s bouillon! 

I have a love and hate relationship with winter. Although I love playing in the snow (yes my inner child), I can’t stand the cold! Besides snow, the only other thing that gets me excited about the season is eating a nice bowl of soup. I love chicken soup, pea soup, beef soup, cream of brocoli but my favorite is my Manmi’s Haitian bouillon. It is usually made with beef but for the purpose of this blog I made a pork bouillon hence the lighter color of the broth. Let me tell you this week I ate it at least 2 times a day for 3 days and that was the best part of my week. 

Here is what you need to make an epic Haitian Pork Bouillon:  

- 1 pound pork (I used pork hock, side ribs and shoulder)

- 2 lemons cut in half (Lime works as well)

- 3 L of Water (1.5 L to clean the meat)

- 8 garlic cloves (Crushed and chopped)

- 4 tbs salt (feel free to add to taste)

- 1 ½ tbs black pepper (to taste)

- 1/2 tbs ground Cloves

- 2 sprigs of thyme

- 2 tbs of vegetable oil

- 1 large onion (2-3 cm square cuts)

- 200 g carrot (large cuts) 

- 150 g celery (large 5cm cuts) 

- 400g red yam

- 400g yukon potato

- 300 g sweet potato

- 150 g green pepper

- 200 g tomatoes

- 500 g plantains

- 10 ounce of spinach (or more to taste)

- 2 sprigs of parsley (for garnish)

Follow the method below: 

Make sure you get proportionate sizes of meat, ask your butcher to cut the hock in squares and cut the shoulder and ribs to match the size.

In the Haitian culture meat is usually cleaned in lemon juice and salt then sits for 10 min right before adding hot boiling for 5 minutes.

When you’re done cleaning the meat, remove the water and add the garlic, 2 tbs of salt, ground cloves, half the portion of black pepper and thyme. Personally I like to put my homemade hot sauce to enhance the flavour of the meat and I highly recommend if you don’t mind a little kick and the thyme. 

In a sauce pan at a medium temperature, add oil and fry the meat to give it some colour. Then sweat the onions with the meat, add 500 ml of water and boil for 30 minutes at the same temperature. Once boiled, taste the broth to make sure there is enough salt before adding your vegetables. Add vegetables taking into consideration that cooking time for each is different based on their fibre and size. Here’s the order I recommend adding each type of vegetable every 5 minutes or so. Start with the plantains, red yams, yukon potatoes, carrots, sweet potatoes, celery, green peppers and tomatoes. 

Here are some of my cut veggies. 

After I was done adding everything, the soup look like the picture below. As you may notice, I didn’t add the spinach to the broth, which is how it is usually done. I pan fried the spinach and added it as garnish because I don’t like when my spinach is overcooked, it loses its nutrients and gets lost in the broth. 

I relived my childhood just smelling the soup. My mentor, Chef Lissade, who is a highly respected Haitian Chef came over when I sent him the bottom picture. Let me tell you, he loved it!! According to him, the flavours were very well balanced with the right amount of sweetness from the carrots and sweet potatoes as well as the bitter and sour tones from the green peppers, celery and tomatoes. I didn’t overcook the veggies but depending on how you like it, I would recommend shortening the time between adding each vegetable to 3 min instead of 5, after the potatoes and plantains have cooked at least 5 minutes. 

Looking for a earthy, tasty, comforting soup recipe? Don’t look any further, try this one.

What’soup? Bouillon! ;)

Ps: Add salt and pepper to taste. 

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Kimchi, a delicious superfood that preserves the body!

I LOVE ASIAN Cuisine!

I have traveled the world and eaten dishes from China to Thailand to Korea and India (to name a few) and it has never failed me. Naturally, when we were asked to do a blog about fermentation, It was an absolute no brainer that my blog would be about “KIMCHI”. I could literally eat it everyday, with everything!

Kimchi, is a traditional fermented Korean side dish made of vegetables with a mixture of napa cabbage, radish, scallion and/or cucumber as main ingredients. Although, I had always eaten Kimchi, it was my first time making it. I had made pickled spicy cabbage also known as “Pikliz” (Haitian side dish) my whole life but it was my first time fermenting a vegetable using the brine technique, which I will describe further below.

Here is the recipe I used for this blog:

1 (2-pound) napa cabbage

1/2 cup kosher salt

About 12 cups cold water, plus more as needed

8 ounces daikon radish, peeled and cut into 2-inch matchsticks

4 medium scallions, ends trimmed, cut into 1-inch pieces (use all parts)

1/3 cup Korean red pepper powder

1/4 cup fish sauce

1/4 cup peeled and minced fresh ginger (from about a 2-ounce piece)

1 tablespoon minced garlic cloves (from 6 to 8 medium cloves)

2 teaspoons Korean salted shrimp, minced

1 1/2 teaspoons granulated sugar

(Picture retrieved from: http://www.thekitchn.com/how-to-make-easy-kimchi-at-home-189390)

The napa cabbage was brined, meaning saturated in salty water which kills off any harmful bacteria and leaves the good bacteria to convert sugars into lactic acid. This fermentation method is called: lacto-fermentation and is the same process that creates sauerkraut. 

According to culturesforhealth.com: “The “lacto” portion of the term refers to a specific species of bacteria, namely Lactobacillus. Various strains of these bacteria are present on the surface of all plants, especially those growing close to the ground...”.

Lacto-fermentation does not necessarily need to involve dairy products which it does not in Kimchi.

Here is how I proceeded to making my first kimchi.

First, I soaked the napa cabbage in the kosher salt and water for 24 hours at room temperature, and covered it in plastic and aluminum paper. 

24 hours later, the cabbage had changed color, consistency and odor (almost unpleasant so I was kind of worried but I kept going, regardless.

I drained the water and mixed the fermented cabbage with all the other ingredients in a large bowl. 

Now, it looked and tasted delicious but it was not ready yet, the taste of the cabbage was still predominant. The flavors had not gone all the way through the cabbage like it does in a good Kimchi.

Ps: I made a change to the recipe, I didn’t put salty shrimp because most of my friends don’t eat shrimp. Instead, I added more fish sauce, about 3 tablespoons. I was a little anxious that it would not come out right but it did! Here it is below:

This was after fermenting for a week and a half. I made 2 jars, one I opened and almost ate half of in the other one I want to ferment longer. Even though the nappa cabbage had lost its original consistency, the mixture with the radish was crunchy. It was slightly saltier than was I was used to so I highly recommend to taste it and check the salt level before putting it in the jar.

Lastly, for a long time, I had been trying to find healthy lactose-free and gluten-free foods to add to my diet. Fortunately, in the process of researching and making Kimchi I also found out that it is a great source of antioxidants, electrolytes, B vitamins, fiber, and probiotics. No wonder I could never get sick of eating it. Enjoy!

Reference:

http://www.chowhound.com/recipes/basic-napa-cabbage-kimchi-kimchee-29505

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kimchi

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fermentation_in_food_processing

http://www.onegreenplanet.org/vegan-food/kimchi-the-next-superfood/

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Oye... OYSTERS!!!  I finally got to try this after avoiding it all my life and I have to admit... I should have tried it sooner! I tend to say that I don’t eat food I can’t look at, but truthfully this experience is making me change my mind. I was in Montreal over the weekend and my friend highly recommended to go to “Les Tontons Flingueurs” which is “The Gunslinger uncles” in English. (Funny name right!) It’s a beautiful French Bistro, but let me get back to the $1 oysters which I made sure to ask my friend if they were fresh... and yes they were! 

The oysters came with a delicious “rosé” vinegar with minced onions and two slices of lemon. Since I had seen people eat it before I didn’t make too much of a fool of myself and kind of knew how to use the miniature size fork and spoon (Fiou!). So I gently poured lemon on my first oyster, ya... I didn’t want to risk it, if anything I was going to at least enjoy the taste of lemon. 

To my surprise, as I tried not looking like it was my first time, I first swallowed quickly and was not grossed out. Despite the taste of lemon it had a sweetness to it. At this point, I ate it too fast to feel the consistency of the oyster so I went totally virgin (no lemon or any sauce) on my next oyster and chew a few times before swallowing... and I liked it! I can’t even believe I’m saying that, but it wasn’t as “gooey” as I thought it was going to be from the looks of it. Then, I started getting creative, I asked for spicy sauce. They obviously only had Tabasco, which is fine, but not the best. Then, I had some with the vinegar with onions before I knew it I had 18 Oysters. The oysters were so fresh! It didn’t taste or smell fishy. I can’t really compare it to anything I had before, but I would say it reminded me of having Haitian Okra with shrimp. It was a little slimy like okra and its meat felt like fresh shrimp just not as meaty, of course. Overall, I enjoyed the sweet and umame taste. I also appreciated the fact that it went well with any sauce of choice. I wanted to have more! I would put it in the category of pleasurable foods, it’s not filling so I had french fries with it and the two paired well. 

THERE IS A FIRST TIME TO EVERYTHING! THIS IS DEFINITELY NOT MY LAST TIME!! :D

Picture credit: Tontons Flingueurs

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Let food by thy medicine and medicine be thy food.

Hippocrates

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These are not just Haitian Patties … this represents countless hours making patties with my hero, my best friend… My grandmother. She could not eat anything without Haitian spicy coleslaw also known as “Pikliz” so I made some (check out those cute jars lol). Ever since she passed away in 2014, I’ve been cooking everything she has taught me. It has helped me cope and I realized I needed to make this a fulltime therapy, so here I am at Chef School feeling happy and in love all over again. With this blog I will share some of her best kept secrets … (Don’t tell anybody, they are secrets!)

As I embark this ‘Culinary Blog’ journey ;) I hope to grow a better understanding of the art, share with people, learn and maybe inspire someone to embrace their interest in cooking.

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My philosophy of the art Cooking.

Cooking is an art. Just like music and painting, it tells a story, it awakens the senses, it is personal yet universal.

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Changing lives ... one dish at a time.

Although my first job was at McDonald’s, which was definitely a life changing experience, it was working at Café Européen in Montreal that made me realize that I was truly passionate about food. I had to quit working in restaurants because my career as a Singer/DJ/Record Producer kicked off. With that said, having the ability to travel the world for work allowed me to fall in love with different cuisines from Asian, to Mediterranean and European.On this blog, I’ll share a little bit about my travels and how they influenced my cooking. Oh ... of course I will share my recipes too. 

Like this delicious lobster Pad Thai... with a twist. 

Once I finish my chef training I am hoping to open a concept restaurant until then I’ll be cooking for homeless LGBTQ community centres and for my loved ones. 

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After 20 yrs in the music industry, why am I becoming a chef?

I grew up in a kitchen with my grandmother, Marie-Claire Duperval, who was a Chef. I can count this part of my life as being one of the bests.  Becoming a chef allows me to carry on the legacy of bringing joy into people’s life through amazing food. My deepest desire is to continuously reconnect with my roots… with my grandmother through my passion for delectable fusion cuisine.