Last week, chef Serge Jost hosted Taste Alberta‘s second Prairie on a Plate dinner in The Harvest Room at the Fairmont Hotel Macdonald.

For the event, Chef Jost created a four-course meal highlighting the best of what is produced, raised, and grown by Alberta farmers, including Brix ‘N Berries, Sunworks Farm, Highwood Crossing, Signature mushrooms, Mountainview Farming, and loads Alberta-grown pulses.

First up was the an Alberta “Power Grain” & chorizo Aranccini. The amuse bouche – a treat from the kitchen – was a delightful start to the evening.

The first course for the evening was a beef consommé poured over a boar bacon and white bean ravioli & yellow pea and vegetable succotash.

While this gluten-free girl couldn’t take advantage of the ravioli, Chef Jost and his team made a gluten-free version of the dish for me to enjoy.

I just love when soups are poured table side.

Our second Prairie on a Plate dish had the table questioning how chef Jost made the dish.

‘Egg in egg with cremini mushrooms’ involved a 64 degree sous vide egg. We later learned that following the water bath, the egg was carefully separated, and then reformed into a delicate egg white blanket designed to cover the soft egg yolk. 

The egg blanket was then topped with pickled Alberta mushrooms and smothered in warm mushroom coulis and garden chives. This dish was the most impressive of the evening for me. I found the pickled mushrooms a pleasant surprise and could not stop wondering how Chef Jost and his team made this delicate dish.

Our main course for Prairie on a Plate was an Alberta lamb pairing. Diners were served a perfectly pink roasted rack of lamb and sous vide lamb shank, paired with a chickpea & smoked paprika polenta, and anise scented carrots. Rather than the obligatory mint jelly, chef Jost switched things up with fava bean & mint puree. Curious what it tastes like – all the recipes for this dish are available on Taste Alberta’s website.

The love of Alberta Pulses continued into dessert, 2016 is International Year of Pulses after all, with chef Jost introducing diners to a high fibre dose of black bean chocolate cake with Saskatoon berry gel + cold pressed canola ice cream, macerated strawberries with mint and oven roasted edamame brittle

Thank you to chef Serge Jost for hosting Taste Alberta’s Prairie on a Plate – you certainly know how to make ‘made in Alberta’ ingredients shine.