A recipe for fun

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David Gale, host of TV's Loving Spoonfuls.

Good cooks improvise. And sometimes, good improvisational actors become cooks — or they play host to cooks on television. That’s the recipe Winnipeg’s own homeboy David Gale followed.

While it was in production, Gale was the Gemini Award-winning host of WTN’s (now W’s) Loving Spoonfuls, a cooking show that featured the food, and more importantly, the stories of Canadian grandmas.

But Gale didn’t start out in the kitchen. What he really wanted to do was act.

The Joseph Wolinsky Collegiate graduate (class of ’76), grew up in Garden City. Gale participated in whatever theatre program was offered, before high school and after, even if it wasn’t the musical theatre he really craved.

But undaunted, he and a few friends got together and put on their own show, sans barn.

"In Grade 7 and 8, a group of us put together our own production of Fiddler on the Roof. It was half playing the piano and singing and half with the record. I played Tevye and I took some of my dog’s fur (I had a poodle) and I fashioned a beard," he says, laughing.

Fast forward to the University of Minnesota theatre program, a raft of gigs, and then to Toronto where he did a stint in Theatresport, performing improv with people like Mike Myers and the Kids in the Hall. It was there that Gale got together with his longtime friend and fellow ’Pegger Allan Novak (he edited the Kids in the Hall TV series), who was noodling around with an idea inspired by his Polish aunt, a cook with a wicked sense of humour.

"He was visiting Winnipeg and he said, ‘I have to make a show for my aunt because she is this Polish standup comedienne who always tells jokes,’" recalls Gale. "She was also a great cook and so he came up with this idea for Loving Spoonfuls."

Novak produced the pilot and paired his aunt with Gale’s penchant for improv, and a series was born.

"We shot this pilot and it was magic," says Gale. "We kibbitzed together in the kitchen and we flirted. All the elements that ended up in Loving Spoonfuls were in the pilot. And just by talking about it to the head of WTN (when it was still in Winnipeg), he sold it."

Loving Spoonfuls spent four seasons on the air and was nominated for numerous Geminis with Gale winning the prize in 2001 for hosting. It’s a timeless idea that is still being broadcast all over the world.

"The show was about grandmothers — the food was an added benefit — but it was really about their stories," says Gale, "They’re cooking and they’re going to talk about their families and their histories and their stories. The food was always the conduit to the grandmother, to the stories, to the woman, to the person."

The Women’s Philanthropy branch of the Winnipeg Jewish Federation is bringing Gale home to Winnipeg’s Berney Theatre at the Asper Jewish Community Campus on Wednesday, April 7, to host a live version of Loving Spoonfuls. The event, called Fress with the Best, is in celebration of the theme "We’re All in this Together." Although Gale won’t be making his own specialty — "I was the cheesecake king for a while there" — he will kibbitz and cook with three notable chefs from around the city, each of whom shares recipes here.

For tickets ($25, Patrons $100) and information, you can contact Linda at 477-7428 or check out www.jewishwinnipeg.org.

Picante Turkish eggplant salad

This tasty gem comes from Ami Hassan (above) at Falafel Place, 1101 Corydon Ave., 489-5811.
4 eggplants
1 onion, medium
4 cloves of garlic
salt to taste
pepper to taste
2 red peppers
3 tomatoes
1 bunch parsley
(for flavour and garnish)
1 green pepper
vegetable oil
for frying
2 ml (1/2 tsp) cumin

Slice the eggplant into 1 cm slices. Sprinkle some salt on each piece. Let stand for 20 minutes.
In a frying pan, fry eggplant in vegetable oil for about 10 minutes per side or until golden brown. Remove from the pan.
Slice all remaining vegetables and place them in a pan with vegetable oil. Cook until tender. Add eggplant back to frying pan. Sprinkle with salt, pepper and cumin and remove to a plate.
Sprinkle chopped parsley, serve with a slice of toasted pita and enjoy a delicious salad. Serves 5.

Pasta with garlic olive oil and mushrooms

Tony de Deluca is sharing, what else, a pasta dish! You can catch up with him at De Luca’s Specialty Foods, Cooking School and Restaurant, 950 Portage Ave., 774-7617.

500 g (1 lb) spaghetti
200 g (7 oz) assorted wild mixed mushrooms
150 ml (10 tbsp) olive oil
6 cloves garlic, whole, lightly crushed
45 ml (3 tbsp) Italian parsley, finely chopped
60 ml (4 tbsp) Parmesan cheese, grated
200 g (7 oz) red and orange peppers, julienned
100 g (31/2 oz) zucchini, cut in 1/2 inch slices, 1/4 inch thick
100 g (31/2 oz) asparagus, thinly sliced in 1/2-inch lengths
2 ml (1/2 tsp) crushed chili pepper
3-4 whole dried chili peppers
salt to taste

Heat the olive oil in a saucepan, add the chopped garlic, sauté briefly.
Add the asparagus and sauté for 2 minutes.
Add the peppers, zucchini and mushrooms, sauté for 3-4 minutes.
Add salt, one half of the parsley and the chili peppers. Stir, lower the heat and keep warm.
Cook the pasta al dente, drain well.
Top with one half of the Parmesan and one half of the sauce. Mix well, top with remaining sauce and Parmesan cheese. Garnish with the remaining parsley. Serve. Serves 4 to 6.

Chocolate mousse log

Maxine Shuster sent along this one and another favourite that follows from Schmoozer’s Café at the Asper Jewish Community Campus at 123 Doncaster St., 477-7418.

Cake:
6 eggs, separated
175 ml (3/4 cup) granulated sugar (divided)
60 ml (1/4 cup) cocoa
60 g (2 oz) bittersweet or semi-sweet chocolate (melted and cooled)
5 ml (1 tsp) vanilla
30 ml (2 tbsp) icing sugar

Mousse:
250 ml (1 cup) semi-sweet chocolate chips
4 eggs, separated
2 ml (1/2 tsp) vanilla
60 ml (1/4 cup) icing sugar
500 ml (2 cups) whipped cream

To cover cake:
750 ml (3 cups) whipped cream, prepared (first amount)
500 ml (2 cups) whipped cream, prepared (second amount). To this, add 60 ml (1/4 cup) cocoa to make mocha whipped cream

Cake:
1. Butter a 15 x 10 inch jelly-roll pan. Line with parchment paper, butter again and dust lightly with flour.
2. In a large bowl, beat egg yolks and 125 ml (1/2 cup) sugar until light. Beat in cocoa, melted chocolate and vanilla.
3. In a separate large bowl, beat egg whites until light. Slowly beat in remaining 60 ml (1/4 cup) sugar. Continue beating until whites are firm.
4. Spread batter evenly over prepared pan. Bake in pre-heated oven at 175 C (350 F) for 12-14 minutes or until puffed and firm to touch. Cool in pan for 10 minutes. Dust cake with icing sugar. Loosen cake from pan and invert onto a tea towel. Pull off parchment carefully and roll in tea towel immediately and cool.

Mousse:
1. While cake is cooling, prepare mousse. Melt chocolate chips in medium saucepan over hot water until smooth. Do not overheat. Add egg yolks and vanilla. Beat well. Transfer to large bowl.
2. Using clean beaters, beat egg whites in separate bowl until soft peaks form. Add icing sugar gradually and continue to beat until stiff.
3. Using same beaters, beat whipping cream in small bowl until stiff.
4. Gently fold egg whites into chocolate mixture. Fold in whipped cream.
5. Unroll cake carefully and spread mousse mixture (you may have some mousse left over). Roll up mousse log and carefully put on long serving platter.
To cover cake:
Cover in plain whipped cream (first amount) and garnish with mocha whipped cream (second amount with added cocoa) and chocolate curls.

Maxine’s rugalach

Dough
250 ml (1 cup) unsalted butter at room temperature
250 g (8 oz) package of cream cheese
500 ml (2 cups) flour

Filling
75 ml (1/3 cup) white sugar
15 ml (1 tbsp) cinnamon
125 ml (1/2 cup) raisins
125 ml (1/2 cup) chopped pecans
15 ml (1 tbsp) sugar for sprinkling

Beat butter, cream cheese and flour until a dough forms. Shape into a ball, divide into four and wrap in plastic wrap. Chill for 30 minutes.
To make filling, combine sugar, cinnamon, raisins and pecans in a bowl. Set aside.
On a lightly floured board, flatten each ball of dough, one at a time, and then roll it out to make a circle 1/16 inch thick and about 10 inches in diameter. (Maxine uses the bottom of a spring form pan to cut out the circles)
Sprinkle approximately 125 ml (1/2 cup) of the filling on each circle and gently press into the dough. Cut into 8 or 12 wedges. Roll each wedge up from wide side toward the point. Place rolls on baking sheet 2 inches apart. Brush with water and sprinkle with sugar. Bake in pre-heated oven at 175C (350ºF) for 15 minutes until light brown. Cool on wire rack.