EVENTS: Food for Change, February 18 and March 1

Join us on Thursday, February 18 for the city’s best-kept culinary secret: the Food for Change dinner series at The Green Barn. Enjoy Chef Chris Brown’s mouth-watering five-course meal under the stars in our beautiful greenhouse, or, if you want to experience life in a professional kitchen, join the kitchen crew and spend the afternoon preparing the feast. Wine pairing for this month's menu are from Cave Spring Cellars. 

On Monday, March 1, we welcome Executive Chef Anne Yarymowich, of the AGO’s Frank restaurant, as our guest chef. Wine pairing for this month's menu are from Frogpond Farm.

Each meal is only $75 ($120 with wine pairing). To be part of the kitchen crew, it’s $100. All proceeds support The Stop’s innovative programs. Space is limited, reservations required. Please contact Danielle at danielle@thestop.org or call 416-652-7867 ext. 250.

Menu for Feb 18:

• Pan seared Hallumi (our in house cheese) over braised cabbage, mustard greens and topped with a bacon vinaigrette
• ‘Soup & Sandwich’ - Toasted brioche with beef cheek pastrami with a rich mushroom broth
• Poached local turnip with sautéed green house mushrooms, topped with honey and truffles
• Wood fire roasted halibut with roasted cauliflower over a white wine parsley sauce
• Lemon trio

 

Still not convinced? Check out Ivy Knight’s behind-the-scenes look at Food for Change further on in this newsletter.
 

EVENTS: Get Cooking with The Stop, February 8

Our cheese-making workshop and bread-making classes sold out quickly, but there’s still time to sign up for the exciting butchery class below. This new cooking class series features guest chefs and food experts, and all proceeds support our innovative community work fighting hunger, building hope and inspiring change. Future classes will be listed in our upcoming e-newsletters.

Breaking the Pig
Featuring The Healthy Butcher’s Head Butcher Dave Meli and Cowbell’s Butcher and Baker Ryan Donovan
When: February 8, 6—9 pm
Where: The Green Barn, 601 Christie St.
How much: $120

A demonstration of whole animal butchery and how each muscle is best used for retail, restaurants and the home cook, with a discussion of farming practices and the challenges of bringing local products to market. Students will learn how to identify good pork, utilize tertiary cuts and be more economical in their own kitchens.

To register or find out more about our cooking classes, please contact Danielle at danielle@thestop.org or call 416-652-7867 ext. 250.
 

EVENTS: Stop for Food Chef Challenge, February 22

Stop for Food is back in March! To get your taste buds ready for this year’s event—which features some of the city’s hottest restaurants donating $10 from a fixed price local menu to The Stop—we’re holding an Iron Chef-style match. Chefs from Amuse Bouche, Torito, The Roosevelt Room, C5, and our very own Chris Brown, will square off against celebrity chef Jamie Kennedy. Come out to beautiful C5, enjoy the canapés prepared by both teams, and watch our panel of judges decide who claims bragging rights to the Stop for Food Chef Challenge 2010!

When: February, 22, 6:30 pm.
Where: C5, Royal Ontario Museum, 100 Queen’s Park West
How much: $20. Tickets are limited.
Online tickets are available here.

THE STOP IN THE NEWS: Behind-the-scenes at Food for Change

At the Good Food Revolution blog, Ivy Knight and photographer Philippa Croft go behind-the-scenes at our Food for Change dinner series. Learn how much fun (and work!) it is to join chefs Chris Brown and Scott McNeil as they prepare a six-course meal at The Green Barn kitchen.

To see Ivy and Philippa’s photo essay, please go here.
 

To join our next Food for Change dinner on February 18, contact Danielle at danielle@thestop.org or call 416-652-7867 ext. 250.

PEOPLE AT THE STOP: Nao Ito, Volunteer of the Year

There are thousands of people who use, benefit from and work with The Stop every year—and The Stop, in turn, is greatly enriched by their involvement with us. Every month, we’ll profile one of these individuals. Today, we introduce Nao Ito, 2009’s Volunteer of the Year.

“I came to Canada because I thought I could distinguish myself here,” Nao Ito says. And he certainly has—especially at The Stop. In his early 30s, Nao was born and raised in Nagoya, Japan, but left soon after high school to attend a prep school in Australia. Ever-nomadic, he studied biology and chemistry in B.C. and Minnesota before spending time in Seattle and back in his native country. He arrived in Toronto just two years ago, when he took a job with an environmental consulting company: “I thought, ‘Why not Toronto?’ It’s Canada’s biggest city. But when I first got here, I didn’t know anybody.”

That soon changed. Nao became friendly with some members of the Toronto Community Garden Network, and they quickly introduced him to our community garden at Earlscourt Park. The experience proved revelatory. A vegetarian since the age of 18, Nao had still never grown his own food. “All my life, I thought, ‘If I go to the grocery store, the food will be there.’ I didn’t even know what organic vegetables were. I was trained as a chemist, so if you say organic that means it has carbon in it. And I thought, everything’s organic. But I know the difference now.”

Nao—gentle, affable and hardworking—fully embraced gardening and The Stop. He volunteered eight hours a week during the growing season (through heat, mosquitoes, even last summer’s interminable garbage strike), and continues to put in at least two hours a week in the Green Barn greenhouse. He’s never missed a single volunteer session, even when sick. As Kristin Wheatcroft, our Urban Agriculture Coordinator, puts it, “He is dedicated beyond belief.”

Aside from the pleasure, satisfaction and knowledge he’s gained from working with The Stop, Nao speaks most enthusiastically about the people he’s met here—all from various backgrounds and from different countries. “Gardening people are really down-to-earth, well-grounded people,” he says, smiling shyly at his pun. “We’ve become good friends.”
 

The Green Barn Farmers’ Market

Monforte Cheese returns on February 6. Marvellous Edibles Farm will be bringing their delicious veggies, meats and pies. Look for Field Sparrow Farm’s organic lamb and poultry. Sosnicki’s Organics still have lots of their luscious Gem carrots. Canadian Blood Services, Culturelink and Wychwood Open Door will also all have tables. The Stoddart Family Farm will be at the market at the end of the month.

RECIPE OF THE MONTH: Red Lentil and Carrot Soup

This is an earthy soup, perfect for warming up on a cool evening. There’s a bit of spice for a nice hit at the back of your throat, and the crumbled feta is surprisingly tasty.

Ingredients

2 tbsp vegetable oil
1 cup chopped onion
3 garlic cloves, minced
1 tsp ground coriander
1 tsp ground cumin
¼ tsp turmeric
cayenne to taste
2/4 lb (375 g) red lentils, picked over (about 1 2/3 cup)
7 cups vegetable/chicken stock or water
5 carrots, halved lengthwise and sliced thinly crosswise
1 cup finely chopped red bell pepper
1 handful fresh cilantro, finely chopped
¼ cup chopped scallion, greens only
kosher salt and freshly ground pepper
¼ cup crumbed feta
fresh cilantro sprigs

Method

1. In a medium-sized saucepan, heat oil on medium-high heat. Sauté onion until translucent, then add garlic and cook for 1 minute more. Add coriander, cumin, turmeric and cayenne and stir to combine. Add lentils and stock or water and bring to a boil. Simmer gently, partially covered, for 15 minutes, occasionally skimming froth off the top if necessary, until lentils are just less than tender.

2. Stir in carrots and red pepper and simmer another 10 minutes, until carrots are tender.

3. Stir in cilantro, scallion greens, cayenne, and salt and pepper to taste.

4. Serve soup garnished with crumbled feta and cilantro sprigs.

Serves 4

For more recipes like this, pick up our cookbook, Good Food for All, available at bookstores everywhere.