Meals from Granville Island

[Foodie in Vancouver]

Lately I have been thinking a lot about how much I love Granville Island Market and how I have become complacent about its existance. A recent thread about how to regain the edge and visits to other cities and markets have made me realize how lucky we are to have such a terrific resource so close at hand.

So this Sunday I shunned the local shops and headed down to GI to do my shopping. We got a parking spot right outside the front door and headed in for breakfast - a scone from Terra Breads and lattes from JJ Bean. Usually the line up at JJ Bean is about 10 minutes so we decided to divide and conquer. Who knew that there would be about 10 people in line in front of me at Terra. More time to contemplate their wonderful breads and sweets. I ended up with the 2 scones, 3 types of baugette, 4 pieces of foccacia, Italian cheese loaf and 4 Italian cheese bread sticks. And all I really wanted was 2 scones.

Next stop was the Turkey Shop for chorizo - I know, there is no such thing as turkey chorizo but it was an attempt to acknowledge the need to cut down on the amount of fat/calories. I later made "Toad in the Hole" with the sausages by first cooking pieces of the sausage in mini-muffin tins and then pouring in Yorkshire Pudding batter. They were delicious and a great Easter brunch snack.

Next stop was South China Seas for "stuff" like mirin, red curry paste, wonton wrappers, ginger and pomegranate syrup. Then off to the grainery for raw pistachios, 2 kinds of brown rice, pecans and crystalized ginger.

Fruit and vegatables were next. One of the great things about the Market is the fact that if you don't like the look of the asparagus at one vendor then it is off to the next one to see if they are any better. On Sunday, the fattest asparagus were at the Okanagan fruit guys stand. I like the fat ones way better than the skinny ones

Last stop was at Long Liner Seafoods for halibut. Based on the fact that Arnie used to work at Long Liner this is now my go-to fishmonger.

On the way out stopped for beans at you-know-where and some milk at the milk store.

Here are 2 of the meals we ate based on our Sunday forage. (I hope the images post because this is my first attempt at pictures - if it doesn't work I am going to have to bribe the dessert sisters with chocolate and get them to show me how to master the technigue.)

The first is our dinner on Sunday which was the Brown Rice Salad with Pistachios from the April/May 2005 issue of Fine Cooking. Delicious but it sure makes a lot of food. We will definitey be eating Rice Salad for lunch all week. We also had snap peas with a Romesco sauce from a cookbook called Grazing. The wine was Blue Mountain 2001 Pinot Gris Stripe (although that is a bottle of Blue Mountain 1998 Pinot Noir in the picture. Also note that 1 of the baugettes did make dinner as well while the rest went into the freezer for crostini at a later date.)

Dinner tonight was Pan Roasted Halibut with Red Curry Sauce, Jasmine Rice and Roasted Broccoli. The recipe was from the March April issue of Cook's Illustrated. Wine tonight was a Tinhorn 2001 Gewurtztraminer.

Edited March 29, 2005 by Foodie in Vancouver (log)

[canucklehead]

I was down at GI over the weekend - it was very crowded. Got some very nice terrines at Oyama. Pales in comparison to what you did with your purchases.

I was all full of swarmy remarks - but your photos are really beautiful - and now I am hungry instead.

Really - looks like a great meal you put together.

[barolo]

Looks great! Here's some of my recent Granville Island based meals:

Let's see I did a pan roasted halibut - yes from Longliner - in (concidentally) a romanesco sauce on the weekend with roasted asparagus - I also like the fat ones and bought them from the Okanagan guys - and potatoes.

I also bought a spinach soup from the Stock Market which I had along with Oyama sausage and Terra french epi. And then there was the shrimp salad - shrimp also from Longliner - on toasted leftover Terra challah. And the stilton - actually from les amis - and crackers. And the mussels with pesto and more Terra epi.

I still have a cauliflower to make cream of cauliflower soup tonight.

I went on Sunday late morning assuming, correctly I think, that most people would have finished their shopping by then. No line up at JJ Bean and not particularly busy.

[DameD]

I seemed to have been down there an awful lot these last few days, but it gives me inspiration to cook. So Friday went down there and got Toulouse sausages, OK Boudeux Sausages and little Chipolata (sp?) sausages from Oyama, soooo tasty! then we had mussels from longliner, big fat globe grapes from the OK and baguettes from La Baguette, stand as well also pain au chocolat for dessert, then headed up to les amis for a wonderful swiss gruyere and some some roasted garlic chevre from Salt Spring. A very tasty meal.

[BCinBC]

We too hit GI over the weekend; because it was the holiday weekend we meant to go early, but ended up sleeping in (because it was the holiday weekend). Parking was okay, but that's because I have a secret spot - okay I got lucky too. First stop was going to be PCI to try the croissants that Chef Koo has sold me on, but unfortunately it was closed (dang holiday thing again). Oh well.

In our meandering back through the market, we got bread from the most southeast bakery (don't know the name, is that one La Baguette?), looked at the herbs by the pie place (incidentally the guy said they had 2 kinds of shiso but I didn't look at them), picked up stock from the Stock Market for mushroom risotto, veggies from our favourite vendor (the one across from Lee's Donuts), and oo'ed and aa'ed at the terrines at Oyama. Then wandered up to Les Amis for white stilton and gruyere (already had parmesian for the risotto). Got home and cracked a bottle of Red Rooster merlot 2002 which was beautiful, especially after breathing.

PS: I too like the turkey sausages from the Turkey Shop, but I actually prefer the cranberry ones. Kind of like a miniature Thanksgiving when I throw them on the grill.

[Vancouver Lee]

My son and I hit GIM at 8:30am on Saturday, and found it almost empty. What a great time to shop. Breakfast was hot donuts from what my son calls "Daddy's Donut Shop".

I used raspberries from the vendor beside Longliner to make the raspberry coulis I served with the gingerbread for dessert Saturday night with the Mooshmouse family. Click here for a photo.

Sunday night I made rack of lamb that was purchased from Tenderland Meats. Photo here.

Tonight will be lamb burgers stuffed with goat cheese, with the ground lamb coming from Tenderland.

[Jeffy Boy]

Went to Granville Island on Sunday afternoon, with my parents who were visiting from Toronto. It was pretty crowded, but no worse than any other Sunday. Picked up some beautiful halibut, amongst other stuff. Prepared my "signature" halibut with grapefruit beurre blanc. I can call it a signature dish because it's one of the few I actually do. And because it totally kicks ass.

[Kayaksoup]

I love reading what people are inspired to make from GI market. I must admit that I cook almost exclusively from the market - convenient location and all. Tonight was pasta with fresh tomatoes and fresh broccoli after a marinated eggplant and goat cheese starter.

[tokyogurumegal]

I love getting my chicken from that chicken place at Granville Island. On Sunday around 1pm I went to buy some chicken livers for my turkey stuffing and found out they were all sold out!!! Shock and horror! Best value and freshest chicken:)

I also love to stop by at "Daddy's Donut Shop" (what's the real name?!) and walk around munching on a few of those grease fried delights!

My husband and I promised each other not to be too indulgent on cheeses and pates this year, but Ohhhhh Oyama!! why do you have to have such wonderful pates and sausages and and and.... I guess more visits to the gym this year with all this donut, cheese and pate eating!

[Zucchini Mama]

Lunch and a Show

My goal was to see the undergrad show on at Emily Carr since it was centered around the topic of food, so U. and I headed for Granville Island with the promise of a small toy leading him on like the carrot on the stick. I know I shouldn't do this. I know I'm setting him up for a life of rabid consumerism, but if I didn't use desperate measures he would never leave the house. Mea Culpa. We head to Go Fish for lunch and devour halibut and chips like the seaGullets we are. When are the fish tacos coming back???? It's sunny, but cold in the shade, so we put up our hoods and head back to the Island to buy provisions for supper.

I love Oyama Meats, but get a bit overwhelmed by the choices, so I decided on one type of sausage and one type of cheese, which is all I can afford anyway. We get some date and lamb sausages and Drunken Manchego which we have for supper with some hazelnut bread from PICA. Thumbs up! Wish we'd have had a bit of good sherry to have with it.

I hauled U. all the way over to Charles H. Scott Gallery and so we could take in the show. The first piece is a "mosaic" on the wall made of cornflakes, frosted flakes, fruit loops, and other breakfast cereal-kind of paint-by number style. He liked that piece, the photographs of cupcakes, (thank god he couldn't read the title!), and the letters on the floor made of bread. On seeing a wall covered with various shades of burnt toast he said "Someone got up on the wrong side of the bed this morning!" Most of the show takes food too literally, as a material for the work itself, or as a superficial treatment of the subject (pretty candies in a jar). There was the obligatory pile of garbage in one corner, and the obligatory terrarium of mold in another. It's hard to take a deeper look at the work when your four- year-old keeps saying "Let's get outta here!" and pulling on your sleeve. There were a couple of pieces I could have spent more time with. One was photos of "The Cupcake Eaters"-a young girl with tons of makeup on and a little dog who looked like they were sick from eating too many expensive sweets-a play on the Lotus Eaters, and a clever reference to the photos of drug addicts taken by well-known photographers.

From there we went to PICA where we had our chocolate almond croissant and U. played with his novelties while I rested and watched a young man with lovely hands measure flour, butter, and sugar with elegance and precision-much more interesting than daytime t.v.!

Zuke

P.S. Love the bumper sticker at Go Fish: "Friends don't let friends eat farmed salmon."

[Daddy-A]

We head to Go Fish for lunch and devour halibut and chips like the seaGullets we are. When are the fish tacos coming back????

I don't know that they've ever been offered. Gord had the taco press and every

intention to use it ... but they were so busy right from the get go that adding yet another item to the menu would have just bigged down the works.

I agree ... that would be a nice addition to their repetoire.

A.

[malarkey]

I was in Vancouver for the day last Saturday. Drove all the way up from Seattle just to shop at G.I. Well, had to show my niece Vancouver, her first time in Canada! Bought a big fat Morteau sausage from Oyamas, took it home and made a lovely white bean soup with onion, garlic, thyme a bit of rosemary and some summer savory. Also bought a saucisson sec and some rillettes and some paté and some rhinelanders... Dang that was some great stuff, especially that Morteau simmering sausage. I LOVE those. I always stand there all agog in front of Oyamas for a few minutes till I snap out of it enough to start asking for stuff.

[barolo]

Tonight is butter chicken sausages from Oyama with sauteed spinach and reheated potato gratin. A few olives and radishes with wine while the food is being prepared and cooked. Apricots poached in Riesling for dessert.

Tomorrow I'll braise a bison blade roast in red wine and beef stock all day then shred it and serve over polenta. I've got asparagus for a vinaigrette to start. A trip Les amis tomorrow for a cheese course and then the Island for salad ingredients. The rest of the poached apricots topped with a few raspberries for dessert.

[Chocoholic]

This weekend I got some chicken stock from the stock market, a packet of Arborio rice and a chunk Parm Reggiano from the Italian deli. Add some garlic, shallots and asparagus and I had everything I needed to make a nice creamy Risotto. Pan-roasted the asparagus, chopped them up and folded them into the Risotto. I served this with a piece of salmon filet topped with some organic microgreens. This was last night, very tasty indeed.

I also got a big bunch of beef shortribs, more stock and mirepoix veggies and did a classic shortrib braise in red wine, a splash of brandy and the mirepoix. The resulting shortrib goodness will be devoured tonight with some of the organic kale and potatoes I picked up as well.

Last but not least the peach-curry sausages I got from Oyama (together with some ham and salami for breakfast sandwiches) made a great lunch on some buns with sweet pickled peppers from Fresh Flavors, a GI regular from Westwold who pickles and preserves anything from garlic to blueberries.

GI has become an absolute indispensible part of my cooking and eating life...

[Paul B]

I don't get down to GI as much as I'd like, but in July I'll be bringing my son there ever weekday for two weeks so I'll be loading up on the good stuff. Now, does anyone know when Oyama will offer their cassoulet again? I think it was in late summer last year, but I'm not sure. If you haven't had it, they serve it in foil containers that you heat up. You buy the Toulouse sausage and the goose fat separately and mix it in. It is not as good as the cassoulet you can get at Cafe de Paris (or buy in jars in France), but it will do in a pinch when you need cassoulet, and I need it a couple of times a year.

I'm sure I'll also be hitting Lobster Man when I'm down there. They have some great looking shellfish.

[Zucchini Mama]

Did Granville Island today with Ma and Pa. We bought the obligatory gee gaw to keep my son happy, then strolled over to Go Fish. Of course there was a lineup before they were even open. I had the oyster Poboy for the first time and really liked it-sloppy, goopy, and briny. I'm so glad they put in three small oysters rather than one giant sucker. Ma shared her cod and chips with the boy who had realized he'd left part of his toy at Blackberry Books and was momentarily hysterical.

I had to retrace our steps and thanks to a woman with superpowers or really good karma we found the lost toy. Bought cherries at the truck market, then headed inside for sausages from Oyama. I was so excited to discover their andouille. We bought my favorite cheese at the organic stand called Oliva, which is marinated sheep cheese from Mountain Meadow in Chase. Popped over to Lobster Man and bought a sockeye fillet and some sea asparagus.

To finish up we had tea and desserts at PICA. I had a chocolate hazelnut mousse cake which was very good. It's always such a challenge to figure out which dessert to choose, they all look so darned good.

My partner baked the salmon after covering part in ground pepper and red Hawaiian sea salt from C, part in gomashio, and part was left plain for the child who eschews spice. I blanched the sea asparagus and sprinkled on a bit of dukka from the stock shop. It was pretty salty, so if you made your own dukka without salt, the idea would probably work better. Even so, it was one of my favorite at-home meals in a long time.

Zuke

[Ling]

Last weekend, we bought 120 Fanny Bays from Lobsterman (split between 4 people) for the appetizer portion of a monstrous BBQ.

[Vancouver Lee]

Picked up some porcini ravioli and gorgonzola & walnut tortellini from Zara's tonight. We served it with Zara's tomoato pesto sauce and some shaved reggiano parm. Overall, it was pretty disappointing. The tortellini had very little discernable gorgonzola or walnut taste, and the ravioli, although a little better, was still fairly bland. The sauce was quite good, however, and rescued the meal.

We loaded up on lamb from Tenderland tonight: rack of lamb, lamb kebobs and ground lamb along with some beef kebobs and sirloin filets. My brother arrives tomorrow from Alaska and we plan to feed him well this weekend!

[Ann_T]

I picked up Toulouse Sausage and Duck Confit yesterday at Oyama and Lamb at Tenderlands and made Cassoulet. Not exactly summer food but was a big hit with my husband. He had leftovers for breakfast this morning.

[Foodie in Vancouver]

I picked up several pieces of lamb leg from Armando's on Thursday and marinated it in a recipe from the Diana Worthington California cuisine book. Ingredients include soy, Pinot Noir, lemon and orange juice and zest, brandy, garlic and chopped tomato. I grilled them just until rare-medium rare. Unfortunately the meat was devoid of any lamb flavour and bordered on tough. This is the second time I have got lamb from Armando's and been disappointed. I think it must be the meat and not me. How was the lamb from Tenderland? Does anyone know where to get Saltspring Island lamb?

[Verjuice]

Last August I was travelling from New Mexico up to the Arctic via Vancouver, and I swung by Granville Island on my way out out of town (I had picked up some great tips on the Vancouver board here!) to pick up supplies for the road.

I love that market. I went alone early in the morning and the place was so calming and therapeutic that I didn't want to leave.

I didn't buy anything too perishable or in need of constant refrigeration, but after a breakfast of warm doughnuts from Lee's and some pretty good coffee (forget the name of the place), I stocked up on several different kinds of salmon candy (lasted about fifteen seconds) and jerky, Okanagan cherries, a few savory deli items for a picnic lunch, Liberte dessert yogurt (this was kept in a cooler and eaten throughout the day-- hadn't seen any since Montreal the previous year and it is to die for) and best of all: pastries and bread from Terra breads. I had really been looking forward to trying their stuff, and it did not disappoint (well, in all honesty I wasn't too impressed with the brownie or the green olive bread, and I thought that the cinnamon roll left something to be desired... but the other stuff was great)

You guys are so fortunate to have that place.

[Daddy-A]

I picked up Toulouse Sausage and Duck Confit yesterday at Oyama and Lamb at Tenderlands and made Cassoulet.  Not exactly summer food but was a big hit with my husband.  He had leftovers for breakfast this morning.

Good God but that's a fine looking cassoulet! And cassoulet for breakfast? Perfect way to start the day. After my last batch of cassoulet (Bourdaine's recipe) I had cassoulet for about 4 more meals.

How does the confit from Oyama stand up to home-made? I know there's is "home-made" but I'd like to have the option if I just wasn't up to two days of confit making.

A.

[Vancouver Lee]

I picked up Toulouse Sausage and Duck Confit yesterday at Oyama and Lamb at Tenderlands and made Cassoulet.  Not exactly summer food but was a big hit with my husband.  He had leftovers for breakfast this morning.

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Cassoulet for breakfast? You go, girl!

Edited to second Arne's comment - it looks amazing.

Edited July 11, 2005 by Vancouver Lee (log)

[Vancouver Lee]

How was the lamb from Tenderland?

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I haven't grilled the chops yet, but the ground lamb from Tenderland made *fantastic* lamb burgers.

I combined the lamb with some chopped fresh mint, a little orgeano, S&P, and stuffed them with a disk of frozen goat cheese. Grill for about 6 or 7 minutes, top them with feta and let them rest, then serve on a portugese bun. They were so good we had them for lunch yesterday AND today!

Up tonight: filets.

[Paul B]

Cassoulet for breakfast?! Too cool. And speaking of cassoulet, I was in L'Ami de Fromage the other day and found a jar of Quebec cassoulet for $25. Despite the price I bought it. Not bad. Not as good as the canned stuff I've had in France, but not bad.

But back to GI meals. I was there yesterday. Picked up some Shanghai noodles at the specialty Oriental store. Got some chili chicken stir-fry strips at Tender Meats (that's the name, right, of the big meat counter?). And then boosted lots of veggies from one of the fruit&veg stands. Went home and made a great stir-fry. The boys both had double helpings. Also picked up a Swiss brioche loaf for breakfast. Very nice. I'll be back at the market a lot over the next week and a hald as my son is taking a workshop down there so I hope to sample most of the food vendors.