Chef Rob Feenie in Edmonton

Last Updated: Tuesday, February 17, 2009 | 2:55 PM MT
Rob Feenie observing students at NAIT's kitchen (Tina Faiz/CBC) Chef Rob Feenie observes students preparing lunch in the kitchen of NAIT's restaurant, Ernesto's. (Tina Faiz/CBC)

When you want to be a chef, it helps to learn from a one, especially Canada’s first Iron Chef.

Rob Feenie, host of Food Network’s New Classics with Chef Rob Feenie and author of three cookbooks, spent three days in Edmonton mentoring culinary arts students at Northern Alberta Institute of Technology (NAIT).  

Feenie, 43, is most famous for winning the ultimate food fight in 2005 – defeating Chef Masaharu Morimoto in ‘battle crab’ on Iron Chef America – and securing the venerable title of Iron Chef.

As NAIT’s first chef-in-residence, Feenie shares all the indurstry tricks he knows through workshops and on-the-spot demonstrations. His three-day residency ended February 13, 2009 with a private "Feast with Feenie" luncheon the students prepared under his supervision.

With two hours to go until lunch is served, Feenie walks around various stations with a coffee in hand, advising students as they prepare the three-course feast for 80 people, including Edmonton’s top chefs like Feenie’s good friend and local restauranteur Peter Jackson of Jack’s grill.

Rob Feenie demonstrating how to slice raw scallops Feenie demonstrates how to slice and arrange scallops (Tina Faiz/CBC)

Putting his coffee down at the scallop carpaccio station, Feenie spontaneously proposes adding (his favourite) caramelized onion foam  – an onion slowly caramelized in a sautee pan for 15 minutes, mixed with 1-1/2 cups whipping cream, cooled, cream strained then whipped – and demonstrates how to slice raw scallops in perfectly even disks.

For the home chef he offers a few tips, too. “Buy my book” he says jokingly and blushing a little. “Seriously though, just keep it simple.” He recommends using recipes with five or six ingredients. “I like Mario Batalli’s recipes because most are under 10 ingredients but full of flavour.”

On cooking for one, Feenie suggests cooking as if you would for four or six. “Especially with soups or vegetarian meals, make a large batch and freeze in single servings. It’s only the protein where you’re looking for single portions. And you don’t need to pack your fridge,” he says. Buy as you need to maximize nutrients and savour each season's offerings.

Feenie shows off a picture of his baby girl, Brooklyn, on his mobile. (Tina Faiz/CBC) Feenie shows off a picture of his 6-month-old daughter, Brooklyn, on his mobile. (Tina Faiz/CBC)

Feenie opened his first restaurant, Lumiere, in Vancouver in 1995, which he left in a public falling out with the co-owners 12 years later. In February, 2008, he became Cactus Club Café’s “Food Concept Architect”, developing new recipes in its test kitchen and training apprentices. The chain has seventeen restaurants throughout British Columbia including two in Calgary, and plans to open its first Edmonton location in April at West Edmonton Mall.

He will be back in Edmonton in March to source local ingredients and dine at a dozen restaurants to size up the competition. The father of three small children will travel between Vancouver and Edmonton weekly until the end of May to get the new restaurant running smoothly. "We are in a process of expansion," he says, but wouldn't reveal which locations are next.

Feenie shares nine recipes exclusively with CBC, including directions for scallop carpaccio, white chocolate crème brulee and pan-seared salmon with green pear risotto from the Feast for Feanie luncheon.

And a final tip on making the perfect risotto from chef Feenie: “slow, with love.”