Chef Lynn Crawford dives into the Frozen Shrimp biz

Chef Lynn Crawford seems to be everywhere and a part of everything these days.  Not only does the popular Food Network Chef have her own show called "Pitchin In" but she is also one of the judges on  "Chopped Canada" and is currently working on a new show where she travels around Canada looking for the best cookbook recipes from people across Canada.

She is also the owner of the well rated Leslieville restaurant RubyWatchco.   And if that's not busy enough she is also a Brand Ambassador for KitchenAid and Hellman's and probably a whole lot more that I don't even know about.  She is always involved in charitable events and has participated in the Culinary Showdown for Breast Cancer as well as many other events.   I have seen Lynn at many consumer and professional trade shows doing the most hilarious food demos.  She is one of the most entertaining and skilled chefs in Canada.

I don't know how she has the time to do it all but she seems to make it work and do it very well.  If all that isn't enough she has just launched a new line of Frozen Shrimp Products by Waterview Market.

Teriyaki Shrimp

It comes in 6 different flavours currently, including:  Maple Mustard, Teriyaki, Lemon Garlic, Carribean, Honey BBQ and Teriyaki BBQ.   The are currently available in stores like Fortinos but check your local grocery store as they will be expanding to many more stores.   The shrimp is frozen and packed with a sauce packet that is really easy to cook.  You can either defrost the shrimp and packed by running it under cold water or leave it in the refrigerator overnight and drain excess water.  It is sustainable shrimp and the sauces are Gluten Free with no MSG and no Palm Oil.

You can literally cook up the shrimps with the sauce in minutes and add some rice or pasta and you have an easy and quick flavourful meal.  No need to have a million spices in your cupboard so it's perfect for the rushed mom or the space strapped busy single professional or student.

Lemon Garlic & Caribbean flavour shrimp

I sampled 4 of the flavours,  the Teriyaki, the Caribbean, the Maple Mustard and the Lemon Garlic.  My favourite was the Lemon Garlic and I was told that it is their most popular flavour that they can't keep enough in stock even.

If you are clueless in the kitchen but sick of take out try this and I bet you will feel like you can cook like the chefs on Chopped Canada too.  They are great for parties and I taste tested them with my friends at a party I hosted on the weekend.


Disclaimer:  Samples of the frozen shrimp were provided for review by Premiere Marine Canada but the opinions and photos are my own.  Waterview Market Package photos provided by Premiere Marine Canada.

For more info about the products:  www.waterviewmarket.com

Restaurants Canada Show

Chef Lynn Crawford

I was very lucky to be able to go to the Restaurants Canada trade show today which is a massive show that is dedicated to all kinds of things related to the Foodservice Industry.

 Imaging all the restaurants that are in Toronto only.. that's a huge amount of Restaurants and they all need food, supplies, and everything from things that cook, clean, keep track of the money, uniforms, containers and every little detail that it takes to make up a restaurant including the food and you will probably find a vendor for it at this trade show.   It is being held at the Direct Energy Centre at Exhibition Place this weekend, Mar 1-3rd and is only open to Food and Beverage Industry people but you will most likely be seeing a lot of the food products that were at the show at your local cafe, restaurant or even grocery store.

Chef Lynn Crawford, and judges and Chef Vikram Vij

Chef Vikram Vij

Then on to check out all the booths and sample some foods and see if there were any trends or new products that were mind blowing.  I don't know if I saw any mind blowing products but I did see a lot of trends and tasted a lot of very tasty products.

The TRENDS:

1st Trend:   I saw a lot of GELATO,  there must have been at least 4 or 5 places serving up Gelato.  No complaints from me as this is one of my favourite things.  The couple of flavours of Gelato or Ice cream that I tried were so creamy and flavourful.  I hope more places start serving it up in my area this summer because I will be standing in line for some.

2nd Trend:   Fried things.  There were spices for fries.  I tried one that tasted like Ketchup chips,  There were loads of battered and fried things like Arancini, and fried chicken, cheese sticks, and all kinds of other concoctions.

            

3rd Trend:  Healthy products like Hemp hearts, gluten free products, yoghurts, sauces, dairy free products etc.  Allergy education and more. Lot's and lots of different loose leaf specialty teas.

4th Trend:  Bread, carbs are not dead even though people are going crazy for gluten-free products.  I spotted some of my favourite bread makers like Fred's Bread, Ace Bakery and a few more breads and pastry vendors.

5th Trend:  All kinds of technology to make the restaurants run like machines, from fancy ovens, to dishwashing machines and scanners that promote, track, order, do accounting and all sorts of things.

A few other interesting things I saw were Mustard in tubes and a spreadable spicy salami Nduja not sure on the spelling.  Interesting spread for charcuterie platter.

Overall what I saw was a lot.  It takes a lot of attention to detail to run a restaurant and as you can see from the turnover in restaurants in the city it's a hard business to keep going.

I always wanted to own a restaurant but never had the education, money or the energy to do it.  If I was going to startup a restaurant this show is a good place to go and meet some people and find out what you want to have in your restaurant.

I will probably go back tomorrow for some industry sessions and try some of the things I was too full to try today.

I saw a lot of interesting artistry as well with chocolate, sugar, cake and other creations on display.

And there were a lot of Culinary Superstars and up and coming chefs wandering the shows red carpet.

 L-R rep for Abracadabra Signs & Designs M-Phil Freire, of Metropolis Factory -.Chef David Adjey 

I look forward to seeing some of the things I saw and tried in my restaurant adventures in the future.

Culinary Showdown - Chef Lynn Crawford and more Celebrity Chefs compete

COOK FOR THE CURE
CULINARY SHOWDOWN

This week I was invited to go to Chef Lynn Crawford's restaurant Ruby Watchco in downtown Toronto for a Fundraiser for the Canadian Breast Cancer Foundation's fundraiser the Culinary Showdown which takes place on December 7, 2013.

At this special event we got to nibble on some of Lynn's partner Chef Lora Kirk's great appetizers and sip some wine.   The food was great as I knew it would be because I have been to the restaurant in the past.  It's a great restaurant that I wish I lived closer to and could afford to go to all the time.

Here are some photos of some of the nibbles that were served.


We were all encouraged to sign up for the Culinary Showdown which I had already done at a previous event but now it's time for me to try and build my fundraising goal to reach the required $2500 to be able to join Lynn Crawford's team or one of the other Celebrity Chefs like Chuck Hughes ( another one of my favourite chefs)  or the West Coast Rockstar Vikram Vij or Top Chef Canada Judge Mark McEwan or Restaurant Makeover/Takeover chef Corbin Tomaczeski and Dean McDermott (Tori Spelling''s husband) and the great Tyler Florence will be on hand to host the event.

I need to raise $2500 to join one of their teams to compete, but if I raise $1000 I get to go to the event and watch the battle.

I need lot's of to reach the $2500 goal and every little bit helps.   

Click here to donate if you are able to and you will receive a tax receipt.  

If I am able to raise enough money to participate I will blog about my experience after the event.

If you are able to help sponsor me I want to thank you very much for helping me to do something good for a lot of people and help me sharpen my culinary skills.

Top Chefs stretch their noodles for a good cause

Rockstar Vancouver Chef Vikram Vij and me

http://www.culinaryshowdown.ca/

I had the pleasure of being invited to an Invite Only event at Cirillo's Culinary Academy because of my Gastropost involvement.  It was a last minute invite and I didn't get confirmation until this morning but I jumped at a chance to go to this event because I knew it would be full of Chef Rockstars who are great chefs and really fun people.  I think there were only a few of the many Gastroposters in the room and it was mostly filled with people that are involved in some way with Breast Cancer Foundation fundraising.  The small but mighty group of Gastroposters were armed with camera and ready for some fun.

As we arrived we were presented with some beverages and beautifully presented and very tasty food.  You can see by the photos here that I probably spent more time photographing the food than I did eating it.  I did try the shrimp which was delicious and planned to go back for more but that never happened because I was busy taking photos and "mixing and mingling: as they called it.  After a bit of the mix and mingle there was a presentation about the Chef's Challenge happening in December and how the funds raised go toward Cancer research.  There were personal stories from a Cancer survivor and from the Chef's as well.

They encouraged everyone to sign up to raise money to join the Chef's Challenge.   I decided to sign up because I would love to go and watch,  less pressure than actually doing the cooking.  These chef's are mighty competitive.  Will see how much money I can raise.  I will post the links to the donation page in a future post.   I kind of felt like it was my way of contributing to a disease that touches everyone.  In my life it took my Dad away at 65 and most of my aunts and uncles,  and has touched a few of my friends as well.

After the speeches it was time for a little Chef Challenge.  Chef Lynn Crawford took on the reigns as Host/commentator and it was East coast vs West Coast in a Longest Noodle Challenge.   Which team could crank out the longest pasta noodle on a kitchen aid mixer machine.   It was Mark McEwen and Chef Corbin on one team and the West coast represented by Dean McDermott and Vikram Vij,  and a few recruits to help them stretch out those long noodles.  There were a lot of noodle jokes in the explanation of the rules of this challenge.  You had to be there....  Anyway at a certain point I lent a hand or 2 to the West Coast team.... they were the fun team, although Dean was taking it very seriously and trying to kick the East Coasts chef's butts.   Well the East coast won the challenge but I don't know about that since their noodle split in half and Chef Corbin was holding it together in the middle.   Oh well... no prizes but just a whole lot of fun with pasta noodles.

Dean photo bombs Vikram

Seriously

                                             Chef Lynn wrangles the "Ding Dongs"

                                                                      Noodle Challenge

                                        Me and Dean McDermott with the Noodle aftermath.

                 What do you do with leftover noodles.... put them on your head of course.