Meet the chef: Johann Caner delivers bistro style to the North Shore
Credit to Author: Randy Shore| Date: Sat, 28 Sep 2019 18:00:50 +0000
Chef Johann Caner was trained in his homeland at France’s Lycée Professionnel Notre-Dame and worked as a head waiter, sommelier clerk, head chef, and restaurant director in fine dining establishments across Europe, much of that time in Paris. Today, he brings his skills and expertise to the kitchen at Feast The Neighbourhood Table in West Vancouver.
Q: What motivates and inspires you as a chef?
A: What motivates me as a self-taught Chef in the kitchen for three years is the creative aspect and to always be in search of new dishes, new recipes, new products to offer diners an authentic and unique cooking experience.
Q: How would you describe the type of food you like to cook?
A: I don’t have any preference for a type of food. I like to respect the product and the seasons, and cook as much as possible with local products.
Q: What might diners not know about you?
A: I’m vegetarian
Q: Describe a couple of your most recent creations.
A: We set up the Chef’s dinner table during Harmony festival. We offered family meals cooked and prepared before your eyes: Heirloom tomatoes and burrata salad, surf and turf, lobster-king crab platters, Okanagan peach tart and vanilla pastry cream with lemon kafir ice cream.
Q: What’s your favourite local product and how do you use it?
A: Second summer in Vancouver, I am currently discovering fruits from the Okanagan. Peach baked in a syrup, adding a little maple syrup. … To be used for pies or to eat with cheese as jam.
Q: If there’s one important piece of advice you might have for home cooks, what might that be?
A: Eat healthy and local food!
Halibut in Papillote by Johann Caner.
Halibut Papillote
Parchment paper (will be enclosing the halibut with this)
1 carrot, julienned
1 zucchini, julienned
1 leek, julienned
1 filet halibut seasoned with salt, pepper, slice of lemon and olive oil
Preheat oven to 350°F (175°C).
On the parchment place all your julienned vegetables, place the halibut on top, season and top with slice of lemon. Fold the parchment in half and crimp at the edges to seal. Make sure it is closed well, so no steam escapes. Place papillote on a sheet tray and into preheated oven for 15 minutes.
Crispy Polenta
1 cup (250 mL) milk
1 cup (250 mL) heavy cream
¼ cup (60 mL) grated Parmesan
1 tsp (5 mL) salt
1 cup (250 mL) fine grain cornmeal
Olive oil
Heat up the milk and cream, add cornmeal. Stir with wooden spoon for 5 minutes until thickened. Add Parmesan and salt. Stir until incorporated. Once finished pour mixture onto a tray, let cool for 1 hour in fridge. Once polenta mixture is cool, cut into rectangle pieces. Sear in a pan on medium high heat with olive oil to crisp.
Fennel Puree
1 head fennel cut into small pieces
1 cup (250 mL) heavy cream
Place all ingredients into a heavy bottom pot, bring to a simmer and cook until the fennel is soft. Once fennel is soft, purée until silky smooth. Season with salt and pepper.