Bringing upscale cuisine down to earth
McDonald, 49, worked in a handful of countries including Italy, the United States and Mexico, as well as more than a dozen Toronto restaurants during his career but Avalons perfectionist cuisine made it a tough act to follow.
So when he opened a casual tapas-style restaurant called Cava, after the Catalonian sparking wine, critics were pleasantly surprised.
Named best new restaurant of 2007 by Toronto Life magazine, the menu was a stark contrast to Avalons serious staples of Moulard duck and salmon sous-vide, with its playful dishes such as caramel-chipotle popcorn, sardines two ways and adventurous delicacies.
McDonald spoke to Reuters about his taste, inspirations and next project.
Q: Do you think dishes such as beef cheeks, tripe and sweetbreads appeal to most diners?
A: I cook the stuff I want to eat … Once you start worrying about being popular with everyone youre not a special restaurant because your dishes become closer to a boneless skinless chicken breast.
Q: Why the shift from fine dining?
A: It can be a little bit thankless and very exasperating to try to get it right all the time and youre kind of doing it for yourself because Mr. and Mrs. Saturday night for an anniversary might not understand what youre doing.
Q: What inspired you to become a chef?
A: I grew up single-parent, only-child of my mother who was not much of a cook because she was a child prodigy and her parents never taught her any household stuff because from the age of three she was practicing the piano all the time, so she never really learned how to cook. So in order to eat nicely I had to make my own stuff, otherwise it was going to be a very small range of dishes and a lot of TV dinners. So I started messing around in the kitchen from a very young age.
Q: Any tips for preparing a tapas party spread at home?
A: Theres a lot of food that tastes really good at room temperature. Especially when youre talking about cured meats, cheeses, olives and anchovies and the things that make up the larder that would be Spanish food. Room temperature is very hard in restaurants because its kind of against health code.
Q: You just got back from a trip to Spain. Any new ideas?
A: I found all the newer pastry shops and candy stores were all kind of whimsical which I felt was fun and so Im trying to come up with whimsical ideas for the candy store were opening up next door. Theres a dessert restaurant in Barcelona called Espai Sucre which I went to on the last night and I had some astounding desserts. You can go there and have a seven-course dessert menu.
Roast quail filled with spiced chicken and served with Moorish spinach (serves six)
For the quail:
6 quails
3 chicken legs, de-boned
200 ml of 35 per cent cream
1 tbsp of parsley (curly), chopped
Pinch of savory, chopped
Salt and black pepper to taste
For the chickpeas:
2 cups of chickpeas, cooked
1 white onion, diced
125 ml of olive oil (good quality)
Pinch of cumin, toasted/ground
Pinch of oregano, toasted/ground
Pinch of sweet paprika
Salt and black pepper to taste
Assembly:
Butter
Aluminium foil
2 bunches of spinach, picked and washed
1. Going through the back, de-bone quail whole, removing thigh bone, leaving drum bone in and using for presentation.
2. To prepare the farce: In a food processor, pulse half the chicken leg meat with the 35 percent cream and chopped herbs, until just pureed and transfer to bowl. Dice remaining leg meat and fold in. Season with salt and pepper. Cook a small portion (1 tbsp) to check for seasoning and adjust if necessary.
3. Lay out quail skin down and season with salt and pepper, portion the farce evenly between 6 quail and shape by wrapping the skin around the farce neatly, the legs should sit on top.
4. Make 6 8-inch by 1-inch tall collars from the foil and butter one side of the foil. Wrap the foil around the quail to hold its shape during cooking for presentation.
5. In a pan, heat olive oil and sweat onions until translucent, adding the cumin, oregano and paprika. Cook for 15 minutes and adjust seasoning.
6. Into the 450-degree oven, place the 6 quail after seasoning the tops with salt and pepper and placing a knob (approximately 2 tsp) of butter on top. Cook for 12 to 15 minutes.
7. Reheat Moorish onions, add the chickpeas, and just before serving toss in the spinach to wilt it. Season with salt and pepper.%26lt;/p%26gt;
%26lt;p%26gt;8. Presentation: Place the Moorish chickpeas and spinach in center of plate and place the quail on top after removing the foil collar.
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Thursday, January 31st, 2008 at 6:05 pm under