Kennedy - Jk: the jamie kennedy cookbook

THE JAMIE KENNEDY COOKBOOK

Jamie Kennedy with Ivy Knight

Photography by Jo Dickins

To my mother and father, Patricia and John. To my children, Julia, Micha, Jackson and Nile. To my darling Victoria.

I met Jamie Kennedy for the first time in 1977 in Lucerne, Switzerland, where we worked at the Grand Hotel National. From that day we became good friends, sharing parallel interests in cooking, music and culture. As chefs de cuisine at what is now a Toronto dining institution, Scaramouche, we started the movement of local Ontario cuisine, which involved looking for that farmer or gardener who had that ripe, tasty, in-season and, most of the time, organic product. Thats what we were looking for! I think this is what Ontarios farmers markets are all about today. Jamie has never wavered in his support and use of local Ontario products. In 1989 we founded Knives & Forks and created Feast of Fields in Ontario, which has since grown to become an annual nationwide event.

Jamies resilient spirit has carried him through the ups and downs of the restaurant industry, and he continues to be a pillar of integrity and inspiration. This book is not just about his cooking, recipes and love for food. Its also about Jamie telling you his stories and about the milestone experiences of his life. Its a wonderful history of how we got to where we are now in the culinary world, told through Jamies eyes.

Much of the food we enjoy in Canadian restaurants today is a result of Jamies work in the local food movement, as he has influenced generations of chefs who share his pioneering spirit and love for real food.

Jamies appreciation of classical French cuisine and his knowledge of Canadian food culture are essential ingredients of this book. In this way, Jamies book is a celebration of all things Canadian, most particularly how living in Canada allows us to learn about the many cultures that influence our national palate.

M ICHAEL S TADTLNDER , Chef and co-owner of Eigensinn Farm and Haisai

I pause to take stock. I review the passage of time since I last published a cookbook, in 2000. I am riding a new wave in my career that reflects a collective evolution in gastronomy for Southern Ontario. As a culture interested in food, we have grown past our infancy. In the past we learned by imitating other food cultures more advanced than ours. Now we have reached the point of leaving the house, not to travel abroad but rather to stay in the neighbourhood to explore and absorb excellence right here at home. In the last few years we have witnessed a proliferation of farmers markets. It is possible in Toronto to visit a different farmers market each day of the week, and that speaks to where we are heading in our new consciousness, how we view the food and wine that winds up on our table. It is a delicious evolution. The foods, the wines and the people of Ontario form an identity that is unique to this place. We belong together, around the table and in the community we inhabit.

As I travel around North America, I observe a similar phenomenon wherever I visit. What is common is the pride of place and the pride in the people involved in transforming local raw ingredients into delicious food on the plate and wine in the glass; these carry with them a harmony that resonates with a unique cultural experience wherever it is practised.

Speaking of community, it has been wonderful to collaborate with my co-authors, Jo and Ivy, to create this book. At earlier times in my career, I felt it was important to isolate myself in order to tap into my creativity. To some degree it is still important for me to do that, but now I feel much better about letting others in on the creative and operational challenges of the enterprise. My new approach to the creative process is also symbolic of the new wave in food culture. My creative process is more informed by the people around me than ever before. There is more sharing in the struggles and successes of the enterprise, and this leads to a greater sense of shared accomplishment. This collaborative approach has a wonderful flow about it that allows the team to cover more ground.

The recipes in this book vary in degree of difficulty. Many stem from my experience working in professional kitchens. In my kitchen, everything is prepared from scratch and with a deep respect for the ingredients and process involved in achieving excellence. The recipes can seem difficult at times, but if you dont mind spending the time you will find among them some gems that will become part of your repertoire.

The book itself is really a collection of stories and ideas put together by someone who has witnessed a culture come of age, from the point of view of an active participant, spanning four decades of engagement.

It all started at a casual lunch at the Drake Hotel with my friend Rob Firing, the head of publicity for HarperCollins Canada. We were talking about different chefs we admired when Jamie Kennedys name came up. I wish hed do a cookbook with us, Rob sighed. Then he looked at me, a twinkle in his eye: Why dont you convince him to do a book with you as the author?

I leapt at the opportunity. For the past seven years, I had been writing about food and Torontos culinary scene for newspapers and magazines in Canada and the United States, but Id never written a book. I emailed Jamie right away and asked to meet. He had ten minutes free the following week, so I booked it, we met and I gave him the pitch.

No way. Hed already done two books and knew how much work they were; he was too busy. It just wasnt possible.

I was not going to lose this opportunity just because the linchpin wasnt interested. I pressed on. When you wrote the other two books, I told him, you did all the work yourself. This book will be different. There will be a team creating the book, with you as the leader. Joanna Dickins, Jamies assistant and his photographer, would do the photos and help us arrange the layout. I would do all the writing. Jamie would just have to compile the recipes. I put it to him another way: You would be the head chef; Jo and I would be your sous-chefs.

He smiledthat seemed to click with him. He agreed, and the work began. We came up with ideas for topics to cover, topics important to Jamie and his careerFrench fries, apprenticeship, scrambled eggs. Then I would set up my iPhone, press Record and ask Jamie to tell me his thoughts on Ontario cheese or ask him how he ended up planting a vineyard on his farm. His eloquence and vast knowledge are all here in these pages.

My intention throughout this whole process was to keep at bay the earnestness that so often pervades the words of any chef who sources his ingredients with care. Jamie was one of the first chefs in this country to let local ingredients dictate his menu and to introduce Ontario producers to his devoted customers, but that doesnt mean he spends his days writing love letters to farmers and fondling heirloom beets. Jamie is a chef who has worked incredibly hard in this business for over forty yearsin fact, while other chefs his age spend most of their day giving interviews and Instagramming selfies, you can still find Jamie on the line at Gilead leading his team through service. He doesnt crave celebrity, he works as hard as anyone on his crew and he does the best impression of Stadtlnder Ive ever heard.