True North Food: 4 Books From Homegrown Chefs

Take a page from these homegrown chefs with their latest cookbooks.

Canadian cuisine can be enigmatic. Moose burgers and beer? Ice wine and butter tarts? Sockeye salmon and rye whisky? Each delicious in its own way, but we’ve evolved beyond these iconic Canuck eats.

From farm to table, locavorism and molecular gastronomy to top chefs lauded around the globe, we’ve got it all. Here, a few cookbooks dedicated to True North food that will make perfect reads for your resident chef.

After the success of Amy Rosen’s Toronto Cooks: 100 Signature Recipes from the City’s Best Restaurants in 2014, a few equally enthusiastic food writers couldn’t resist following suit. Enter Ottawa Cooks: Signature Recipes from the Finest Chefs of Canada’s Capital Region by Anne DesBrisay; and Edmonton Cooks: Signature Recipes from the City’s Best Chefs by Tina Faiz and Leanne Brown. Both feature top chefs in their respective cities, enriched by our country’s strong multi-cultural heritage, along with prep tips and a few cocktail recipes. Cheers!

Real Food, Real Good: Eat Well with Over 100 of My Simple, Wholesome Recipes by Michael Smith. The P.E.I. native, chef, cookbook author and Food Network star takes a healthy approach to everyday cooking. Smith tosses together zucchini and chia into a lasagne, adds lentils to meat loaf and ancient grains to granola, to name just a few health-meet-homey collaborations.

Araxi: Roots to Shoots, Farm Fresh Recipes by James Walt. The sophomore outing from chef Walt follows his James Beard Award-nominated cookbook, Araxi. Both named for his Whistler, B.C., restaurant, this new offering features 80 favourites adapted for the home cook. Being B.C., it favours Pacific bounty as well as the longer growing season to include root veggies and orchard fruits and a few well-placed Asian touches.