Rob Feenie - Rob Feenies Casual Classics: Everyday Recipes for Family and Friends

As a wise woman, my mother, once told me, the most important ingredient in food is love. Without it, food means nothing.

Love is in the work I do as a chef, cooking with my very heart and soul. For me it is a thrill to create dishes every day that might be the greatest meal someone has ever tasted. Love is in the passion of the people I work with now and have worked with over the course of my career. And love is shown in the hard work and commitment of the Canadian farmers and producers whose quality local foods and wines are helping make this country one of the best food spots in the world.

Ive always loved simple food prepared with care and quality, made with fresh ingredients and served in a fun, unstuffy, welcoming environment. And Ive always believed that shopping for the best-quality local products means being able to eat well without spending too much money, and being able to have fun doing it. Those beliefs are what this book is about.

This is my fourth cookbook. Each book, I hope, has drawn you a little more into my world and my food philosophies. My books are not about following trendsthough I like to think I help set those trends!but they celebrate the broad range of discoveries and influences I was experiencing at the time of writing.

When I wrote Rob Feenie Cooks at Lumire in 2001, I had just opened my own fine-dining room and was eager to share my love of British Columbias seasonal ingredients prepared using French techniques and Asian flavours. Then came Lumire Light and Feenies, both of which continued my focus on Canadian foods but with dishes that were prepared more simply and influenced by my travels in Europe and Asia and my time on Iron Chef America.

This book brings you to where I am today. I am now part of the Cactus Restaurant group, the leader in Western Canadas casual but fine-dining movement. Casual, sophisticated dining is not a new ideaits been around for yearsbut its certainly become a more widely recognized and celebrated concept. The increasing availability of top-quality, locally sourced food and wine is helping to ensure that casual fine dining continues to grow. To me, its the future of North American dining.

So, this book is entirely filled with casual, sophisticated recipes that call for fresh, delicious and healthy local products, prepared simply and designed to be enjoyed in a fun, lets-get-together-type atmosphere. In fact, many of these recipes were inspired while I was barbecuing on the back deck of our summer retreat in the Okanagan, or just hanging out in the kitchen with family, close friends and even other helpful chefs who constantly suggested I add a little of this or a little of that to turn a good dish into a great experience.

Some of these recipes were also inspired by the many great chefs I have worked with over the years. Besides teaching me many special cooking techniques, they have taught me how to appreciate tradition and put flavour first in any dish I create. They have shown me that sourcing local products and supporting local producers and suppliers benefits us all. And above all, they have shown me that it is a passion for food and a love of cooking that produces truly memorable dishes.

For this knowledge, I thank Charlie Trotter in Chicago, who pushed me to a whole new level. Also Michel Jacob here in Vancouver, and Johnny Letzer and Emile Jung in Alsace, who taught me to understand, appreciate and celebrate tradition and consistency. And thank you to the late Santiago Santi Santamaria, one of the greatest chefs of our time, who believed I had the love it takes to make a great chef, and kindly told me as much.

Thanks are due to Richard Jaffray, founder and president of Cactus Restaurants and a long-time friend. I have always admired and looked up to Richard, and now I thank him for giving me a new lifeand a new challengefour years ago. He has built a wonderful team, and they have become an extended family to me as they continually push me and themselves to be better and better. In particular I would like to thank Christy Murphy for her unconditional support; Jim Stewart, who as a lifelong friend is also an unfailingly positive influence in my life; and Jasmin Porcic, who works closely with me to develop the recipes for Cactus Restaurants and also assisted with the ones on the pages that follow. And a personal thank you to Joan Cross, who has helped me a lot in creating this book. She is one of the most amazing women I know.

Most importantly, I want to acknowledge my thanks and my love to my beautiful wife, Michelle, and my three angels, Devon, Jordan and Brooklyn. You are, quite simply, my reasons for being.

To you, my readers, enjoy these recipes; I share them from my heart. Each recipe is a food memory to me, and memories are for sharing. I hope they help you create, stir and share memories of your own.

ROB FEENIE