Supper in the Orchard

On Friday we took Christopher's parents to Supper in the Orchard, at Over the Hill Orchards, about 20 minutes out of town.  We had been before, and loved the experience, so we were really excited to go back.

For this meal, the chef was Kelsey Sheppard from Victoria's Tavern in Regina.  Each Friday and Saturday there is a different local chef who cooks at the Orchard.  They use mostly local ingredients, from the farmer's market and the orchard, to create the multi-course meal.

Since we can't predict the weather, it's difficult to know the best day to book, so we chose the date based on the chef, and then hoped for the best.  It was very windy on Friday - too windy to sit outside when we arrived, but there is always next time.  Fortunately we were seated right by the windows which overlook the valley.

The first course was a fresh cucumber salad with red onion, red peppers, green onion, beet sprouts, and carrots, with a cask 18 balsamic vinegar and butter oil dressing.

This was a simple, refreshing course, and a nice, light start to the meal. 

Next we had grilled peaches, with cream cheese mousse, beet and goat cheese terrine, parmesan "bread" crumbs, beet powder, and crispy prosciutto.

I am a huge fan of beets, and they pair so well with goat cheese, so this was a standout dish for me.  I would never have thought to combine those flavours with peaches, but it really worked, and the parmesan was a nice textural component.

After this dish, Dean (he and his wife Sylvia own and operate the orchard and winery) took everyone on a little tour of the orchard, explaining how they grow grapes, cherries, strawberries, numerous vegetables, Georgia peaches (in Saskatchewan of all places), etc.  It's an engaging and interesting tour, and also quite inspiring.  It takes an incredible amount of hard work and innovation to accomplish what they have, and I'm excited to see what else they'll come up with in the coming years. 

 
Once back inside, we enjoyed the main course, which was a scalloped potato cake, garlic mushrooms, carrot puree, prairie cherry sauce, lemon garlic chicken thigh, and pea shoots.

The scalloped potato cake was flavourful and perfectly cooked, and the carrot puree was simple, so it let the delicious farmer's market carrots stand out.  I love garlic, so I'm glad it was in both the mushrooms and the chicken.  There wasn't a speck of food left on any of our plates.

The final course was a cinnamon vanilla cheesecake, with black bean brownie crumble, Saskatoon berry compote, viola, Saskatoon berry coulis, and meringues.

This was a fabulous dessert!  Every element went so well together, and the little meringues added such a beautiful crunch to the softness of the cheesecake and berries.  I don't think I had ever had a cinnamon cheesecake before, but it was excellent, and of course cinnamon pairs nicely with fruit.  It sounded like this course was a favourite of many.  I would order this in a restaurant, and I never order dessert.

Supper in the Orchard runs into October, and there is still time to book.  You can see the dates and chefs for each date, as well as pricing, and all other information here.  There is an optional wine pairing with each course, which is a nice touch, or you can order wine by the glass.

The sun was setting as we were leaving to head home after this lovely meal.

If the weather cooperates next time, we will sit out on this patio and take in the scenery before supper.

Check out Over the Hill Orchards on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram @overthehillorchards or on their website.  Most of the proceeds from these dinners goes back to the Culinary Federation to help send members for training and competitions, which makes this not only a wonderful dining experience, but also a way to contribute to the growth and development of our local culinary scene.

Local & Fresh

Someone recently told me about a newer store in town, Local & Fresh. 

Local & Fresh sells a variety of locally-made grocery items and other products, all out of one place.  Christopher and I try to support local businesses as much as we can, so this will be a regular stop for us from now on.

They are located on 1377 Hamilton Street, in a gorgeous old building, and there is more to come in this space!  There will soon be pop up restaurants with local chefs!  We cannot wait.

You can buy veggies, dairy, eggs, meats, baking, supplies for baking, grains, condiments, spices, desserts, etc. all from this store, and all made close to home.

This was our first haul from Local & Fresh:

We bought:

Bacon from Pine View Farms
Sourdough Bread from Lockwood Sourdough
Haskap Berries from Northern Lights Orchards
Kimchi from Baechu Kimchi
Frozen Saskatoon Berries from Prairie Berries
Frozen Pizza Dough from KOKO Patisserie
Cottage Cheese, Potato and Dill Perogies from Kathy's Kitchen
Edible Cookie Dough from Go Big Treats
Kombucha from Crave Kombucha
Free Run Eggs from Gold Egg

The parmesan, black pepper and thyme sourdough bread was absolutely fantastic.  We ate it toasted for the past few days.  This bread alone is worth the trip to Local & Fresh!

I'm so happy that as our city grows, we can support so many more awesome businesses, owned and operated by local entrepreneurs.

Are there any locally made grocery items that you buy regularly?

Avenue Restaurant

There is a new restaurant in town in one of the most gorgeous buildings downtown.  Dale MacKay, the first winner of Top Chef Canada, opened his first restaurant in Regina, following the success of his three restaurants in Saskatoon.  Avenue, the newest addition to the Grassroots Restaurant Group, has received a very warm welcome from Regina residents; it's getting rave reviews, and is always busy.

We had been wanting to try this restaurant for a while, but we rarely go out to eat in town.  This week we decided to make up for lost time and go twice to really get a feel for the menu.

On Tuesday evening we shared the pork belly press to start:

Talk about good first impressions!  This dish was the perfect mix of sweet and savoury, with a touch of spiciness.  We both absolutely loved it, and were left wanting more.

I didn't find it overly fatty, which was a nice surprise to get from a pork belly dish.  We'll absolutely be ordering this appetizer again in the future.

Christopher ordered the puttanesca pasta.

He really enjoyed it, but thought it wasn't as good as the puttanesca that he had at Little Grouse on the Prairie in Saskatoon, which is also part of the Grassroot Restaurant Group (to be fair, it's hard to beat the pasta at Little Grouse).  What made this puttanesca unique was that it had beef in it, which I've never had in a puttanesca dish. 

I ordered the beef wellington, medium rare as recommended.

It was perfectly cooked, and the pastry was delicious and buttery.  The portion was small, but more than enough for someone like me who rarely orders steak or steak-like dishes.  The asparagus side was very simple, and the horseradish cream on the side was delicious.

Everything on the menu sounded mouth-watering, so we were excited to return to this restaurant.

Last night we got a table in a different section of the restaurant (both tables we had were great, and we're looking forward to sitting up at the bar-seating to watch the chefs sometime).

We ordered three smaller plates, and one larger entree and shared everything.  First up was the local fried asparagus.

This dish is one that should not be overlooked on the menu.  It is flawless.  The asparagus is so crispy, and the lemon, balsamic, and pecorino pair so well with it, that I am convinced even a non-vegetable lover would be won over by this green snack.

The beef tartare was memorable, and the caper flavour really stood out, which we enjoyed.  There was a perfect amount of grilled ciabatta on the side to use as a vessel for the tartare.

Check out that lovely little yolk!

Diefenbaker trout gravlax was next (with pickled potato, deviled egg, dill, crispy capers, and pumpernickel):

This dish was quite good, but didn't stand out as one that we'd order again.

The rotisserie half chicken was fabulous, and the vegetables on the side paired perfectly with it, as well as with the succulent chicken jus.

I was spying on Avenue's Instagram yesterday, and saw that the chef had been shopping at the farmers' market around the corner that morning.  I'm guessing the peas and potatoes in this dish were bought at the market, as they tasted so fresh.

Christopher didn't care that he was in public and in a nice place, he picked up the bones and made sure he got every last morsel of meat off of them.  This was a beautiful dish to the last bite.

On both visits our service was top-notch, and the beverages top-shelf.  We left very satisfied, and eager to return, already talking about what we want to try next time.  I'd say our favourite dishes so far are the pork belly press, and the fried asparagus - must orders for sure!

Next time we visit I think I'll try the lamb sausage, the scallops, the chicken wings, the peas and carrots, pork chop, perogies ... ohhhh my this is getting out of hand; it all sounds good!  Looks like we're going to be hitting this place up many more times.

If you're local, have you been to Avenue yet?  What did you order?

Is there a restaurant in your city you've been wanting to try?

An Amazing Supper in the Orchard

On Saturday evening Christopher and I drove about 20 minutes out of town to Over the Hill Orchards. 

This amazing place is an organic orchard and winery, and the friendly family who own and run it are growing fruits that we had no idea could be grown in Saskatchewan, including peaches, pears, cherries, and grapes among numerous other fruits and veggies. 

Throughout the summer Over the Hill Orchards does Supper in the Orchard, partnering with the Canadian Culinary Federation (CCFCC) to bring in different local chefs to create multi-course meals, using mostly ingredients from local farms and the orchard.  I received a gift card a couple of months ago to try Supper in the Orchard, and once we saw that Chris Torjuson was the guest chef on Saturday, we made reservations for that night.  He has been the chef at many of our favourite restaurants in town over the years (currently at Malt City), and we were excited to see what he would prepare.

 

The majority of proceeds from these evenings go back to the Canadian Culinary Federation (CCFCC), which helps send junior members for training across North America.  The suppers seat up to 32 people, so they are intimate, and the chef comes out to talk to the diners about what they will be eating.

When you arrive at the orchard, there is a beautiful patio to sit on and admire the scenery, and enjoy a beverage.  The many wine selections are all made at the orchard, as is the non-alcoholic beverage option.

At 6:30 the guests move indoors into the dining space, which is very lovely.

There was a nice floral touch to our water, and the service was excellent.

The multi-course meal is $65 dollars per person, with an optional wine pairing for an additional $25 each.  Beverages may also be purchased by the glass, and we opted for that route instead of the wine pairing.

The first course was grilled baby cabbage with balsamic Brussels, zucchini, mixed greens, Italian vin, house-made ricotta, and soppressata (an Italian dried salami that was also made and fermented by the chef).

This salad was so good, and a delightful start to the meal.

Next up was dijon gnocchi with pepperonata, and sweet corn puree.

The sweet corn puree was so flavourful, and was our favourite part of this tasty dish.  All of the food at the Orchard is gluten-free and nut-free, so this is a perfect night of dining for those who have nut and gluten dietary restrictions. 

Making gluten-free gnocchi is no easy feat, but chef Chris pulled it off flawlessly; the little dumplings were soft and fluffy.

Before the third course Dean, who owns the orchard with this wife Sylvia, gave us a small tour of the fruit and veggie growing operation they've got going on out there, and we were completely blown away by it - so, so impressive!  Dean was also quite funny, and extremely informative, which made the tour so interesting.  We only looked around for about 15 minutes before we went back to try the third course.  As we were heading back inside, the view of the sun going down over the valley was spectacular. 

Next up was sous vide grilled pork tenderloin, with duck fat veggies, pickled shaved carrot, pancetta, and red wine pork sauce.

All of the elements in this dish paired so well together, and the pork was extremely tender and juicy.  The sauce was superb.

The final course was apricot wine zabiaone with grilled peach, apricot gel, and dark chocolate milk crumb.

Now I am not usually a dessert person, but I ate every single bite of this, and could have gone for more.  It wasn't overly sweet, and the chocolate crumb was such a nice texture contrast to the creamy zabiaone (which I am totally going to learn how to make).

In fact, I ate every bite of every dish, which usually isn't the case when we go out for dinner.  Everything tasted so fresh, healthy, and masterfully created.  I think we were both expecting this dining experience to be good, but we had no idea it was going to be as wonderful as it was.  We're already talking about going back ... sooner rather than later.

The sun was almost completely set as we were leaving to head home.

And on the way home we couldn't stop talking about the supper and the orchard, and all the people we know who would love it.

If you're local, there is still time to book your Supper in the Orchard before the season is over.  Click here to see which nights have openings, and which chef will be cooking on those evenings.

You can find Over the Hill Orchards on Facebook, Twitter, on Instagram @overthehillorchards or on their website. 

I hope you make it out there to try this unique and memorable dining experience; I think you'll be as pleasantly surprised as we were.

Have you been to Over the Hill Orchards?  If you're not from around here, do you have something like this where you live?  Do you try to support local farms and other local businesses?

Hello Sunshine

Friday was my last day of work for a while, and we ended the day with a fabulous dinner.  We had bacon-wrapped scallops:

Olive bread with oil and vinegar:

And crab legs with golden beets:

On Saturday we had our busy Canada day.  If you missed that post, click here to see how we celebrated the day.

On Sunday morning Christopher made breakfast and then we got to work on some adult responsibilities.

I ironed, and Christopher re-filled a couple little foundation cracks.  Since our house is old, and our city was built on a swamp, a few minor cracks are inevitable.  They needed a refresher, so he chiseled away the old stuff, and re-filled them.  We were done our chores and yard work in no time, and were kicking back with blended bevvies in the yard by the early afternoon.  Nothing but relaxing for the rest of the long weekend ...

For lunch we shared a Montreal smoked meat poutine, with homemade fries, cheese-curds, and buckets of pepper gravy.

Dinner was just smoked salmon with paratha and cream cheese.

Monday was a holiday (in lieu of Canada day), so we were both home, and spent pretty much the entire day in the backyard.  After scrambled eggs, bacon, and duck-fat fried potatoes, we parked ourselves on the patio furniture and turned up the tunes.

Lunch was snacky:

For dinner we had salad, with BBQd honey garlic chicken thighs, and portobello mushrooms.

It was nice to get up this morning and have nowhere to be.  I had a yogurt bowl with watermelon, pineapple, granola, PB, and cacao nibs for breakfast, while watching the first episode of Big Brother, that I had PVRd.

I whipped up a few trays of lime cookies:

And made pita pizzas for when Christopher came home at lunch:

After lunch I hit the spa for a pedicure, and long massage - ahhhhhh.

This evening we had a veggie/noodle curry for dinner, and then went out to the theatre to see Beauty and the Beast.

The forecast says that rest of this week, and the weekend ahead are to be as sunny as the tropical smoothies I was enjoying last week.

I'm looking forward to enjoying every bit of the sunshine.

How was your weekend?  Is the weather gorgeous where you are too?