Tag Archives: Prince Edward Island International Shellfish Festival

Feast and Frolic Dinner at PEI’s International Shellfish Festival

The third weekend in September signals the Prince Edward Island International Shellfish Festival.  Seafood lovers from all over the world converge on Charlottetown for a weekend full of everything related to seafood, lots of great PEI food and entertainment.  Now in its 19th year, this Festival continues to grow in popularity each year.

This Festival was the idea of local restaurateur, Liam Dolan, who saw it as a way to extend the PEI tourism season into the late summer.

Liam Dolan
Liam Dolan

The weekend kicked off on Thursday evening with a grand feast and frolic dinner hosted by celebrity chef, Michael Smith.  This dinner was held in a gigantic tent on the Charlottetown Event Grounds and this annual event always sells out early.  Some 500 people attended this year’s dinner which was beach themed.

Chef Michael Smith, host of the Feast and Frolic Dinner at the PEI International Shellfish Festival, Charlottetown, PEI
Chef Michael Smith, host of the Feast and Frolic Dinner at the PEI International Shellfish Festival, Charlottetown, PEI

The four-hour evening began with a meet and greet with Chef Smith — lots of autographs and photo opps.

Meet and Greet Chef Michael Smith
Meet and Greet Chef Michael Smith

The competition for the best oyster grower on the Island was also underway during the reception hour where there were lots of opportunities to watch oyster shucking and taste all the different PEI oysters.

Oyster Shucking at the PEI International Shellfish Festival
Oyster Shucking at the PEI International Shellfish Festival

These disappeared fast!

Some of the oyster competitors for the Oyster Grower of the Year Award.

Competitors in the Oyster Grower of the Year Competition
Competitors in the Oyster Grower of the Year Competition

The oysters were formally being judged by a panel but guests also had the opportunity to vote for the peoples’ choice.  This year, both honours went to Colville Bay Oysters of Souris, PEI.

Oyster Grower Award & Peoples' Choice Award - Colville Bay Oysters
Oyster Grower Award & Peoples’ Choice Award – Colville Bay Oysters

Lots of hors d’oeuvres were served by waiters who continuously circulated amongst the crowd with trays of tasty appetizers.

These Island Blue Mussel Spring Rolls were divine!

Island Blue Mussel Spring Rolls
Island Blue Mussel Spring Rolls

Now, when you walk into a large tent and see beautifully set tables with a black and white theme, you’d probably think you’re going to a formal sit down dinner with a plated meal.  Well you are, well…sort of…..but you may be doing the plating and serving!  You see, this event is an interactive dinner and every guest participates in some event at some point during the evening.

A Maitre’D was selected from each table and was presented with a package of information, including roles to be assigned to table guests.  Yes, each table had a bartender, a member of the paparazzi, beefiest cook, best cook, fastest cook, a beachcomber, and a rock star.  Guests really embraced the concept and soon every one was fully engaged in the fun.

First, Chef Michael took the bartenders from each table aside to explain how to make Caesars.

Each bartender collected a kit of supplies and returned to their tables to make the Caesars tableside and then serve them to their tablemates.

Our table's bartender mixing some Caesars
Our table’s bartender mixing some Caesars
Serving up the Caesars
Serving up the Caesars

Biscuits were on the table to accompany the chowder course but….no butter!  That’s because, the fastest cook at each table had to actually make the butter.  Lots and lots of shaking of a Mason jar full of milk and, voilà, freshly-made butter for the biscuits!  Yup, you really did need to work for your dinner at this event!

Next came three versions of chowder – one cold and two hot, served in glass jars and presented in these cool wooden trays.

Mussel Chowders
Mussel Chowders

Mussel Chowders

Chef Michael then took all the “beachcombers” off to an onsite man-made beach to go combing for hidden beer caps.  Once they found beer caps, they were each presented with a bucket of beer to bring back to their tables.

Then, we sent our table’s “Beefiest Cook” off with Chef Michael and back our cook came with a tray of slow roast striploin which he carved tableside and served to each guest at the table.

Carving and Serving the Slow Roast Striploin
Carving and Serving the Slow Roast Striploin

Wait staff delivered large bowls of PEI lobster to each table along with bowls of garden-fresh vegetables and brown butter mashed PEI potatoes.

PEI Lobster!
PEI Lobster!

Our “Best Cook” assignee joined Chef Michael at the back of the tent to learn how to plate food.  He returned to the table with the makings for a summer berry shortcake – cowberry ice cream, fruit compotes, and biscuits.

Making Summer Berry Shortcake
Making Summer Berry Shortcake

Then our “Best Cook” wowed us with his plating skills!

Meanwhile, our “Rock Star” assignee was responsible for coaching us on our singing skills so we could sing the theme song, “A Day on a PEI Beach” at the end of the evening.  Yours truly was the “Paparazzi” for our table.

While each table actually provided their own entertainment with all their assigned tasks, lively musical entertainment throughout the evening was provided by Mark Haines and Brad Fremlin.

Brad Fremlin (l) and Mark Haines (r) provided musical entertainment throughout the evening
Brad Fremlin (l) and Mark Haines (r) provided musical entertainment throughout the evening
Chef Michael Smith with musicians Mark Haines and Brad Fremlin
Chef Michael Smith with musicians Mark Haines and Brad Fremlin

This was a very unique way to serve dinner and it sure got people involved and interacting with others at their table.  It kept the evening lively and moving along.  Executing this kind of adventure for some 500 guests at a location where the only kitchen is a mobile one and where literally everything had to be brought in — food, equipment, tables, chairs, linens, dishes, etc. — is no small task.  The sheer planning for this event would have been a monumental undertaking.  Kudos go to Chef Michael Smith and the large team of chefs, waiters, hospitality and support staff from the Culinary Institute of Canada, and others for a phenomenal event.

Parade of large cuinary team from the Culinary Institute of Canada who prepared the meal
Parade of large culinary team from the Culinary Institute of Canada who prepared the meal

If you ever have the opportunity to go to this annual dinner, I highly recommend it — but, fair warning, it will be full of hijinks and hilarity and come prepared to be an active participant, not just a spectator!

Related Stories:

Story on PEI International Shellfish Festival

Story on PEI Fall Flavours Festival

Review of Chef Michael Smith’s 7th Cookbook, “Family Meals”

————————————–

Thank you for visiting “the Bistro” today. There are lots of ways to connect with “the Bistro” through social media:

Join My Island Bistro Kitchen on Facebook
Follow the Bistro’s tweets on twitter @PEIBistro
Find the Bistro on Pinterest at “Island Bistro Kitchen
Follow along on Instagram at “peibistro

Click on the links below to read stories I have written in the past about individual Fall Flavours events:

PEI Shellfish Festival (2012):
Farm Day in the City (2012):
Savour Victoria (2012):
Toes, Taps, and Taters (2013)
Lobster Party on the Beach (2013)
Applelicious (2013)

The Great Island Grilled Cheese Challenge (2013)
Feast of the Fathers (2014)
Lamb Luau at Crowbush Cove (2014)

 

 

 

Review of Chef Michael Smith’s “Family Meals” Cookbook

Chef Michael Smith's Family Meals Cookbook, published 2014
Chef Michael Smith’s Family Meals Cookbook, published 2014

 

Title: Family Meals
Author: Chef Michael Smith
Price: $32.00 (CDN$)
Pages: >250
Available: Bookstores across Canada and online

Penguin Canada has offered me the opportunity to conduct a review of Chef Michael Smith’s latest cookbook, Family Meals. Michael Smith is a celebrity chef and Food Network Canada star who makes his home in Prince Edward Island on Canada’s East Coast. Known for his love and promotion of fresh, local ingredients, this is Smith’s 7th published cookbook.

The book is clearly influenced by Smith’s cooking for his own family in his home kitchen as the book contains many photos of his family in the kitchen and around the dining table. The focus of his book is to get the entire family cooking and eating together.

The book features 100 recipes that range from smoothies to sandwiches, snacks like kale chips, salads, soups, side dishes, and maritime mussel chowder, to old world chicken cacciatore and flaming banana splits. The book is well organized and categorized with chapters on breakfast and brunch; lunchbox and snacks; simple salads; soups, stews & casseroles; slow cookers & pressure cookers; family meals in minutes; meatless Mondays; vegetables & whole grains, and sweets and treats. One chapter is dedicated to slow cooker meals to encourage families to plan ahead and prepare meals in advance of arriving home hungry at mealtime with no idea what to put on the table quickly. And, yes, you’ll even find some lentil recipes, too, from the lentil hunter. Smith has also included tips in the book on, for example, ways for families to cook together, plan meals, organize the kitchen, and prepare lunchbox contents.

While the book has a broad range of recipes, some do call for ingredients that may be less familiar or accessible for some – e.g., wasabi peas, edamame, nori seaweed, miso paste. Several of Smith’s recipes veer toward the spicy category as he makes liberal use of lots of spices and garlic for flavouring many dishes. There are several innovative recipes in the book to encourage families to try new foods, or familiar foods in new ways, to add variety to their meals. However, that would be contingent upon how adventuresome family members are to try new or different foods. That said, the book does contain some more well-known, traditional family-style recipes like beef stew, spaghetti and meatballs, and baked beans. Smith also includes recipes that cross various cuisines – for example, there are Asian, Italian, Kenyan, and Greek-inspired recipes which would help to introduce children to foods and dishes from other countries and cultures.

The recipes are well laid out with instructions using the ingredients in the order in which they are listed. I found the instructions complete and easy to follow; however, in my opinion, some familiarity with cooking would be beneficial when making recipes from the book as novice cooks could find some challenging.

What I like most about this book is the full page color photo that accompanies each recipe. As we all know, we eat first with our eyes. If I see a color photo of an appetizing dish, I am more likely to be motivated to make it. This book scores high marks for the beautifully-executed photography. The photos are simplistic, clean, and are not overdone with props and excessive styling. The focus is on the food as it should be. Quality photos give the cook a point of reference of what he or she is aiming for and what his or her version of a recipe should look like.

The book itself is beautiful, printed on high quality paper giving it a distinctively professional look and feel. Weighing in at some 3 pounds, though, this is not a cookbook you would balance in one hand while stirring a pot with the other! However, it is a lovely collector’s book for anyone with a cookbook collection and is in keeping with the size and style of Smith’s earlier published cookbooks.

Test-driving recipes

It’s one thing to leaf through a cookbook filled with photos of appetizing-looking dishes but the real test comes when you make some recipes out of the book. I selected three: Nutty Seedy Granola (p. 4), Granola Muffins (p. 51), and A Pan of Pork Chops with Marmalade Mustard Pan Sauce (p. 167).

Nutty Seedy Granola

Nutty Seedy Granola from Chef Michael Smith's "Family Meals" Cookbook
Nutty Seedy Granola from Chef Michael Smith’s “Family Meals” Cookbook

Beyond a doubt, this is the best granola I have ever had! It was easy to make and I chose to include many of the different suggested ingredients Smith gave for the content and I think that’s what made it so darn tasty. My version (photo above) turned out very similar to the one in the book’s photograph.

Granola Muffins

Granola Muffins from Chef Michael Smith's "Family Meals" Cookbook
Granola Muffins from Chef Michael Smith’s “Family Meals” Cookbook

 

Granola Muffins from Chef Michael Smith's "Family Meals" Cookbook....made in my square muffin tins
Granola Muffins from Chef Michael Smith’s “Family Meals” Cookbook….made in my square muffin tins
Granola Muffins from Chef Michael Smith's "Family Meals" Cookbook
Granola Muffins from Chef Michael Smith’s “Family Meals” Cookbook

Because I had made the granola, I chose to then make the granola muffin recipe. These muffins are, in a word, yummy! With some granola in the muffins themselves and then some on top of the muffins, these are a real treat. They also freeze well. I made half the recipe the first time, liked them so much that I turned around and made the full batch. This recipe will now become part of my go-to muffin recipe collection. My muffins (see 3 photos above) very closely resembled the ones pictured in the cookbook.

A Pan of Pork Chops with Marmalade Mustard Pan Sauce

"A Pan of Pork Chops with Marmalade Mustard Pan Sauce from Chef Michael Smith's "Family Meals" Cookbook
“A Pan of Pork Chops with Marmalade Mustard Pan Sauce from Chef Michael Smith’s “Family Meals” Cookbook

I found this recipe easy to make and it uses common ingredients I already had in the kitchen. This is a very tasty way to present pork chops and I would definitely make the recipe again. My version (in above photo) of the sauce turned out a little darker than the photo in the book, probably because I used my own peach marmalade which was deep in color to begin with.

Concluding Thoughts
This book portrays the laid-back personality of Chef Michael Smith and his casual approach to cooking – look for phrases like “a splash or two of …”, “handfuls of fresh herbs”, “toss/stir the works together”, “a bottle of big beefy red wine” throughout the book. It shows his chatty, conversational style that those who follow Smith know is his style of cooking whether on television or in front of a live audience at events such as the Prince Edward Island International Shellfish Festival which he hosts each year.

In my view, this book would be most suitable for individuals who have some familiarity with cooking, home chefs who are adventuresome in meal preparation, families willing to try some, perhaps, less common or less traditional ingredients and, of course, for fans of Chef Michael Smith.

Disclosure:

I received a copy of the Family Meals cookbook for review from Penguin Canada.  I received no compensation for this review and was under no obligation to provide a positive review. The opinions are my own.

Prince Edward Island International Shellfish Festival 2012

I love how PEI is embracing its foods from its land and the sea that surrounds it!  The Island has long been known for its great seafood and what better way to celebrate it than by hosting a large Shellfish Festival!  The best way I can describe this annual PEI event is that it is one gigantic Island kitchen party with lots of local musical entertainment and great seafood – always a winning combo!

Prince Edward Island International Shellfish Festival

Now in its 16th year, the Prince Edward Island International Shellfish Festival has grown substantially from its beginnings drawing, according to organizers, a crowd of over 8000 this year at its new venue at the Charlottetown Events Grounds near the City’s waterfront.  From September 13-16, attendees were treated to everything seafood in this signature event of the Island’s “Fall Flavours” Culinary Festival.  Visitors to the Festival came from afar.  In fact, organizers say over 50% of attendees were tourists to the Island coming mostly from the Maritimes, Ontario and the Eastern Seaboard of the United States.  This attests to the popularity this event enjoys.

Jennifer Caseley, Marketing and Sponsorship Manager for the Prince Edward Island International Shellfish Festival, tells me the event began in 1996 by Liam Dolan, a Charlottetown restaurateur, as a means to extend the PEI tourism season.  Up until that point, tourism all but stopped after Labour Day and tourist operators basically closed shop.

Asked what the main objectives of the PEI Shellfish Festival are, Jennifer says there are five:  1) To promote PEI’s high quality shellfish; 2) to generate off-Island visitors; 3) to increase the profile of PEI shellfish worldwide; 4) to create new export opportunities; and 5) to increase consumer trial and consumption. 

This year’s schedule of events was jam-packed.  The weekend started with a “Feast and Frolic” gala dinner hosted by Chefs Michael Smith and Mark McEwan.  Over the next three days, there were lots of cooking demonstrations featuring PEI shellfish and agricultural products and hosted by headliner celebrity chefs.  These included two of the Island’s finest:  Chef Michael Smith, author of six cookbooks and TV chef personality with his own show “Chef Michael’s Kitchen” on the Food Network, and Gordon Bailey, owner of the trendy and upscale Lot 30 restaurant in downtown Charlottetown and judge on the TV show “Cake Walk Wedding Cake Edition”. 

Cooking Demonstration with Chef Michael Smith, Prince Edward Island International Shellfish Festival, September 2012

Inside the super large white tent, there were lots of food vendors set up selling local fare and, of course, primarily featuring seafood.  Oyster shuckers were kept busy keeping up with demand and, yes, they even had an oyster shucking championship as one of the many events of the Festival!  One of the busiest booths had to be where Chef Michael Smith was signing his new cookbook, a real hot item over the 4-day festival!

Oyster Shucking at the Prince Edward Island International Shellfish Festival

Outside the tent, the Tie One On Competition provided entertainment for onlookers as teams of two competed in typing buoys and hanging mussel socks over the side of an actual mussel farming boat brought onsite to simulate mussel farming.

Tie One On Competition at the Prince Edward Island International Shellfish Festival

Offsite, at the Red Shores Racetrack & Casino, a private function featured a meet-and-greet event on Saturday afternoon with Chef Michael Smith.  I was fortunate enough to be invited to this event where approximately 30 lucky people got to personally meet and speak with Chef Michael who, to the delight of those attending, took his time and unhurriedly talked with people, answered questions, posed for photographs, and signed yet more copies of his new cookbook. 

Meet and Greet Chef Michael Smith at the Prince Edward Island International Shellfish Festival

It was at this event that I met two ladies vacationing from British Columbia.  They did not come to the Island specifically for the Festival but they were certainly enjoying both the Shellfish Festival and several of the other Fall Flavours events!

One of the perennial favourite highlights of the Shellfish Festival was the chef competition for the best seafood chowder championships.  In fact, there were two championships:  1) PEI Potato Seafood Chowder Championship, and 2) International Seafood Chowder Championship.  Below are some photos from Heat 2 of the PEI Potato Seafood Chowder competition. 

PEI Potato Seafood Chowder Championship – Heat 2

 

Pots of PEI Potato Seafood Chowder Ready for Competition

 

Chef Norm and Annie from Annie’s Table Culinary Studio, New London, PEI, competing in the PEI Potato Seafood Chowder Championship

How fabulous and appetizing do these chowders look!

Bowls of Chowder from Heat 2 of the PEI Potato Seafood Chowder Championship

 

Bowls of Seafood Chowder from Heat 2 of the PEI Potato Seafood Chowder Championship

An event of this magnitude takes a phenomenal amount of planning and requires a large team of volunteers to keep the event moving smoothly.   Jennifer tells me that, over the weekend, 80 volunteers were on board.

From humble beginnings in 1996, this event has definitely evolved into a signature culinary event that highlights both local and visiting chefs and compliments the food with great local entertainment.  This means visitors not only get to sample our great Island seafood but they also get to experience our PEI culture at the same time.  What a great blend!   The Shellfish Festival is the anchor event of Fall Flavours and certainly the biggest draw for tourism in the fall.   As Jennifer says, “The event just keeps getting better.  This year was the biggest and best yet with a 40% increase in visitation over 2011.  As PEI’s largest culinary event, it creates value and awareness for our superior quality shellfish as we continue to put PEI shellfish on the worldwide map”.

If you are a foodie considering a visit to PEI, there is no better time than September to visit our Island.  There are many culinary events that comprise the Fall Flavours Culinary Festival and planning a visit to coincide with the Prince Edward Island Shellfish Festival in the middle of September would make PEI a great holiday destination.  For more information on this event, visit the Festival’s website at http://peishellfish.com/ where you will see they are already counting down the days until the 2013 Shellfish Festival begins!

Charlottetown, PEI – Home of the Prince Edward Island International Shellfish Festival