Not My Usual Monday Afternoon

I took a little break from the Monday routine today to help out a friend.

I got to be in a demo for a new series called Kitchen Mobile!

The idea is that hot shot chef Mathieu Cloutier (of Kitchen Galerie) helps unsuspecting shoppers cook something that they have never tried before.

Basically I got to spend my afternoon at the Jean-Talon Market hanging out with cool people and learning how to cook.

The shopper reveals their special challenge ingredient to the crew beforehand and then you present it to Mathieu on the show. He asks questions about allergies and preferences, then comes up with a meal that you can make.

(I had some time to kill before my segment started to I lurked in the herb garden and took photos.)

This was the subject of the segment just before mine. I had to look up the name of her dish to be sure and yes indeed, it was sweetbreads. I definitely don't know how to cook sweetbreads but I'm not too sad about that fact.

Her daughter was getting excited by the sage-infused cream sauce. I was too actually, it smelled amazing. Unfortunately it was going over sweetbreads so that kinda killed it for me.

I went for a walk around the block to photograph the front of the restaurant. Don't ask me how I managed to cut the sign off, it's not like I was in a rush or anything... It's artistic.

The menu is based on whatever is fresh from the market so it's never the same.

I didn't really recognize anything on the wine list, which is a good sign.

Dad - we are so coming here when you visit. Jaime, you can come too.

Look! I got the yellow flip flops! Even better, I got them for $10. I LOVE the end of summer sales. Frankly, it's about the only good thing about the end of summer.

Still waiting so let's meet the crew!

This is Kathia (researcher) and Pascale (everything else):

David, the director:

Martin my pal the producer with David and the man himself, Chef Mathieu Cloutier. Yes, he is that young. And cute.

It was finally my turn and I got a quick sweep of powder to keep the shine off and away we went.

We're doing a quick run-through with an emtpy pot in place of the secret ingredient that I will reveal to Mathieu. (He said I could call him Mat. We're tight.)

Thank you for ignoring the extra thirty pounds the camera adds. Oh yes, thirty. The new HD cameras are really heavy. Not like the old ten-pounders.

The big reveal.... shrimp! I've always wanted to know how to cook fresh shrimp. And how to get off the shell and veins and everything. The twist here was that it has to be something I can cook quickly and that the whole family will enjoy.

He came up with a recipe on the spot (that he charmingly dubbed Crevettes à la Theresa) and his assistant ran off to buy all the ingredients: parsnips, baby spinach, yellow tomato, lemon, and orange. I think that was it.

He showed me how to take off the shells and the veins then threw together an amazing dish that I am afraid I didn't even have time to photograph because I ate it so fast. Pan seared shrimp, parsnip purée and a baby spinach salad with fennel and yellow tomato. SO GOOD.

My segment was the last one of the day so when we were done, they wrapped. I warned my new pal that I would be visiting his restaurant soon and bringing my family along with. He seemed cool with that.

Fun, right? How did you spend YOUR Monday afternoon?