Award-winning chef David Hawksworth has become a giant on the Canadian food scene thanks to the famed Vancouver restaurant that bears his name.
This week, he’s at NAIT, working with students in the Culinary Arts program, as he’s the school’s Hokanson Chef in Residence. Every year, NAIT brings in a renowned chef to work with the students, and the height of that is the preparation of a luncheon for invited guests. That luncheon was held Thursday. Hokanson’s menu leaned on many dishes he fell in love with decades ago, when he was working in top European restaurants. The starter was a beet salad with goat cheese and raspberries, and the main was a traditional fish soup with halibut, mussels and shrimp served with a few spoonfuls of rich, red broth. The finish was a vanilla panna cotta with fruit that was poached in champagne.
Hawksworth said that the soup comes from a 30-year-old recipe he discovered while working in the U.K. “It was my first real ‘a-ha’ moment,” he said.
As part of his week-long visit to Edmonton, Hawksworth is also touring several of the citys top restaurants. He’s been to Uccellino, with RGE RD and The Marc also on the itinerary.
