Java Junkie

I came to being a coffee connoisseur later in life. It could have been the way my parents considered coffee. They only drank horrible instant stuff. Company coming for dinner was the exception; the old percolator would be hauled out and put on the stovetop. Whenever I tried drinking coffee the caffeine would upset my stomach and jangle my nervous system like a never-ending first date.

My coffee epiphany came in Europe, my first trip to Portugal in 1994, where I was encouraged to try a galao, the Portuguese equivalent of espresso served with hot milk. I reluctantly sipped and then sipped some more. No jitters! No upset stomach! Why? Europeans always use high-quality Arabica coffee beans and the shorter brewing time of espresso means less caffeine than drip coffee since grounds have less water flowing through them so less caffeine is released.

Now, modern coffee culture has come to Vancouver Island and I can be picky about my espresso sources. I prefer a lighter roast of bean for a smoother and less bitter flavour and I can find that at the Drumroaster Café in Cobble Hill located in the Valleyview Mall just off the TransCanada Highway. Owner Geir Oglend has an impeccable 30-year coffee pedigree having learned proper coffee culture in Italy. He is always tinkering with his green coffee beans, his roasters and his espresso machines to bring the best flavour to his customers.

I can always count on the Drumroaster to provide a well-made cappuccino, complete with an artful design carefully poured into the foam and a sating of another craving: A luscious orange-coconut brioche baked by Geir’s wife Patricia. www.drumroaster.com.

Salt Spring Saturday Market

If you keep saying to yourself, ‘I really should get over to Salt Spring Island more often’, make sure you go early on a Saturday morning with your first stop at the Village Market in Ganges. Running from 8am to around 4pm, rain or shine, this market really offers some of the best farm-fresh produce in the province and I love that many of the farmers think ‘outside of the box’. By this, I mean you can find fruits and vegetables that would never grace the shelves of your average grocery store. On one of my last visits I bought a bag of sprouted peanuts; delicate nuggets harvested before they get their tough outer shell. Raw or boiled and salted, they were a new delight for me. At the Foxglove Farm stand, I purchased a tiny, perfect Charentais melon. This heritage French variety isn’t seen that much on the West Coast but its flavour puts to shame any of those hard, tasteless supermarket cantaloupe or honeydew melons you can get year-round. Pick one up and take a deep whiff of the skin and you know what’s inside just has to be a little piece of heaven.

There are cheeses from Salt Spring Island Cheese and Moonstruck, (their Blossom’s Blue is my favourite), smoked salmon and more seafood and if you can’t travel with perishable goods, you can pack home paintings, pottery, stoneware and fabric art from dozens of artisans. But you can also munch and stroll at the same time. Find the baker who offers fruit tarts lined with marzipan and you will probably find yourself going back to Salt Spring again just for another bite. www.saltspringmarket.com

August Recipe:

BC Side-Stripe Shrimp

This is the time of year you might be lucky enough to find freshly-caught BC Side-Stripe shrimp available direct from fishermen at Island docks or farmers markets. These shrimp are second only in size to the BC Spot Prawn, but they are just as delicious. Don’t shy away from buying frozen side-stripes, though. Most of them are frozen at sea and don’t lose any of their flavour in the freezing process. Just be sure to let them thaw out naturally without running cold water on them. That’s a sure way to rinse out the taste!

Voodoo Shrimp

I picked up this recipe on a visit to New Orleans one year after the devastation of Hurricane Katrina. Voodoo Shrimp comes from Chef Duke LoCicero at Café Giovanni. He and his family are real troopers, recovering from the devastation of the hurricane in record time. The restaurant was looted and they had to clean up $30,000 worth of food that had spoiled in the fridge and freezer due to the power outage.

This recipe is great as an appetizer for four people or serves two as a main course entrée, either on pasta or with lots of crusty bread to mop up the juices. You could use any other large shrimp as a substitute, but please purchase sustainably-caught seafood and don’t overcook them!

Ingredients:

1 pound side-stripe shrimp, shelled
1/4 cup olive oil
1 tbsp. Cajun spice rub, or other hot spice mixture
1/4 cup butter
2 cloves garlic, chopped
2 medium tomatoes, seeded and diced
1/2 cup Southern Comfort liqueur, in a small heatproof ramekin
1/2 cup sweet Thai chili sauce (available at most Asian markets)
1/4 cup fresh basil leaves, chopped

Pour the olive oil and th

e Cajun spice over the shrimp and toss to blend well. Set aside for up to half an hour.

In a heavy skillet on medium-high heat, melt the butter, and then add the garlic. Sauté until translucent, then add in the tomatoes and stir. When the tomatoes soften, add the shrimp mixture and cook the shrimp, stirring until they just turn opaque. Pour in the Southern Comfort and, if cooking on a gas stove tilt the pan slightly into the flame to ignite it and flambé the shrimp. On an electric stove you can carefully ignite the liqueur with a match. When the flames burn out, add the Thai chili sauce and the basil leaves. Stir again to mix well and serve immediately.

Suggested Wine:
A Chardonnay or Sauvignon Blanc.

Story written by: Don Genova

Don Genova is a food journalist based in the Cowichan Valley.
Read more about his Island Adventures at blog.dongenova.com