Congratulations to Chef Renée Bellefeuille and her team for securing a third-place win in the Toronto competition of Canada’s Great Kitchen Party.
For the Toronto leg of the competition, competitors were challenged to prepare 700 tasting sized portions for the guests to sample and eight full-sized plates with all garnishes for the judges. Chef’s winning dish was inspired by Early Rubens and included braised beef cheek, various preparations of heirloom carrot and sumac.

Competition judge, James Chatto, said, “The look of her dish was inspired by the coming Rubens exhibition at the AGO – full of rich autumnal colours and with a final garnish of gold leaf to represent the gilded frames of the paintings. Chef braised a beef cheek, first marinating it in yoghurt and sumac, giving it a hard sear then slow-braising in beef stock flavoured with onion, garlic, carrot and celery. Finished with a carrot-and-sumac glaze, the meat was impeccably cooked – tender but not gummy the way beef cheeks can be, and full of deep beefy flavour.

All around the protein we found an exploration of carrots – as a purée, sweetened with caramelized onions; as crispy ribbons perched on top of the cheek; and as an orange-spiked foam which Chef spooned onto our plates at the table. Dots of sumac yoghurt were an extra treat around the side of the plate.

Her wine of choice proved a fine match – Thirty Bench 2017 Winemaker’s Blend, a ripe Bordeaux blend from the Beamsville Bench that worked well with the beef and handled the sweetness of the carrot with an easy grace.”(Are you hungry now?) … Well Done, Chef!