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The Grape & The Gourmet
Little Engine > Chef Interviews & Recipes > An Interview with Chris Van Hooydonk
Edition 03 | March 2021 Inside This Issue
Welcome to The Grape & The Gourmet, our monthly publication
Chef Chris Van Hooydonk
crafted exclusively for Little Engine Wine Club members and of Backyard Farm Chef’s
delivered straight to your inbox every month. Table, Oliver, BC
Perhaps you’ve already discovered that while our wines afford
great pleasure on their own, they also perform magically when
accompanied by food.
Arctic Char, gnocchi,
For The Grape & The Gourmet, we’ve asked top chefs across local organic corn and
Canada to pair their favourite Little Engine wines with recipes onion soubise
that are straightforward enough to recreate in your own home.
Delicious, memorable and inspiring—like reaching for the
moon and also getting the stars.
An Interview with Chris Van Hooydonk
Backyard Farm Chef ’s Table, Oliver, BC
Edition 03 | March 2021
By Kate MacLennan
Pairing: Little Engine 2018 Gold Chardonnay
Chris Van Hooydonk, chef and proprietor of Backyard Farm Chef ’s Table in Oliver, is bringing back
dining culture that’s about making memories, not flipping tables. It’s about time.
Think back to your last truly
wonderful dining experience.
What defines it, the food and wine?
The people and conversation?
The service? The location? Or did
all those things come together
seamlessly in an experience so
personal that your mouth watered
just thinking about it?
Chris Van Hooydonk’s raison
d’être, professionally speaking,
is setting up the opportunity
for experiences like that. He’s
chef and proprietor of Backyard
Farm Chef’s Table in Oliver,
BC, a 20-seat, French-inspired
dining establishment built on the
premise that people would rather
not get complacent about dining
culture—that they care about
quality.
Van Hooydonk’s story is a sort
of scaled back version of the
award-winning documentary The
Biggest Little Farm, which follows
a Californian couple who leave Los Angeles behind to work a seemingly barren plot of land into a biodynamic farm. Van
Hooydonk met his wife while they were both working at a large winery in the Okanagan. There, cooking the same menu
month after month for a large clientele had ceased to light his fire; he wanted to spend more time with his daughter than a
chef’s schedule typically affords. The couple left their jobs, moved their growing family to a small acreage, and embarked
upon readying the land to support their idea for an intimate eatery where Van Hooydonk would tailor menus specific to
ingredients from the farm. Rather than crafting a wine list, he would represent the region by partnering with wineries to put
on dinners—or to simply ask guests to bring their own wine.
(cont. on next page)
The Van Hooydonks practice organic farming, which comes with a higher
cost and takes more time but the result, says Van Hooydonk, is second to
none. “Time is much more valuable than money,” he says, and waxes poetic
about 100-year-old fruit trees that produce minimal but exquisite heirloom
varieties, the eggs of happy chickens that run freely through his orchard, and
the delightful, earthy flavour of beets grown in the well-drained glacial till.
“I want to represent ingredients in their truest form. A great meal is like a
great wine, when it hits all the notes that perceived value is very worth it,” he
explains.
He likens his approach to farm and table to that of Little Engine Wines’
approach to wine making. “The biggest synergy between the two of us is
quality is first. They drop a lot of grapes to increase the quality left on the
vine. And they represent those grape varietals in their truest form, not over-
manipulating or building the wines around what people think it should be. We
understand there’s a lot of value in that little bit of extra effort even though it
comes at a cost. It takes extra time. But why do something if you’re not going
to do it the best it can be done?”
For this issue, Van Hooydonk paired the Little Engine 2018 Gold Chardonnay
with Arctic Char, gnocchi, local organic corn and onion soubise. Any seasonal, fatty fresh fish—such as Ling Cod,
Charred Swordfish, or Black Cod (also known as Sablefish)— would work as well.
“Offering a hint of smoke to the soubise helps bring forward the oak aging profile in the wine. Contributions
of fat by way of both the cream in the soubise, along with the farm egg yolks and ricotta in the gnocchi, tone
down the palate bringing forth the welcoming richness and balanced acidity within the wine and allow the fruit
to come forward. Sweet, buttered corn by way of the preserved bounty from last year’s harvest offers a very
classic pairing with a well-balanced chardonnay.”
Bonus: this meal is a win for those with celiac, gluten or dairy intolerances and sacrifices nothing in flavour.
A Recipe from Chris Van Hooydonk
Gluten Free Sweet Corn and Ricotta Gnocchi, Applewood Smoked Walla Walla Onion Soubise,
Road 17 Arctic Char.
Serves 4-6
Any seasonal, fatty fresh fish—such as Ling Cod,
Charred Swordfish, or Black Cod can accompany.
For this recipe Road 17 Arctic Char was used.
INGREDIENTS
For Sweet Corn and Ricotta Gnocchi (Gluten Free):
250 Gm Ricotta
1 T Olive Oil
1 small shallot(very fine diced)
½ Cup Grated Pecorino
1.5 Cups Fresh or Preserved Sweet Corn Kernels
5 Farm Egg Yolks
1.5-2 cups Gluten Free All Purpose Flour
Zest of 1 fresh lemon
¼ cup Chardonnay
1 T Kosher Salt
INGREDIENTS
For Smoked Walla Walla Onion Soubise:
2 medium-large Walla Walla or Sweet Onions
3 T Butter(Unsalted)
1.5 Cups Heavy Cream
COOKING INSTRUCTIONS (next page)
(cont. on next page)
INSTRUCTIONS
For Sweet Corn and Ricotta Gnocchi:
1) Using a sieve or colander, strain excess whey from ricotta.
2) In a medium frying pan, over medium heat, add olive oil with
shallot and corn kernels. Lightly sautee (with no colour) until shallot
is translucent. Add Chardonnay wine and cook until evaporated. Set
aside to cool.
3) Once corn mixture is cooled, blend until smooth in blender.
4) Combine ricotta, yolks, pecorino, lemon zest, salt and corn mixture in
a medium mixing bowl. Mix well with a spatula until combined. Start
folding in gluten free flour, and mix until well combined. *note that the
amount of flour is not exact - you may be a little less, or a little more. The key will be to test the mixture…
5) The gnocchi mixture will feel very wet and sticky, but with the addition of heavy flour, this will end in a much
more tender end result. Put on a large pot of water and bring to a boil.
6) Using a piping bag, or perhaps “dowelling” by hand, roll into ¾ to 1 inch dowels on a very heavily floured table.
Pinch and cut into a pillow shape, and set aside on a baking sheet.
7) Place formed gnocchi in boiling water in small batches and remove when it floats. Remove and place on heavily
oiled baking sheet (olive oil).
8) When ready, warm a large frying pan on medium heat. Melt a “healthy” amount of butter and place blanched
gnocchi in hot pan. Pan fry until golden brown and crispy, serve as desired.
*You can consider making and blanching gnocchi the day before, so it is ready to pan fry when needed.
Additionally, you can freeze unblanched gnocchi on a tray (heavily floured), and separate frozen gnocchi in a
freezer bag to be used at your convenience in smaller batches as desired.
For Smoked Walla Walla Onion Soubise:
1) In your home smoker, cold smoke peeled onions for 20-30 minutes.
2) Slice onions, and heat a medium saucepan. Add butter to hot pot, add onions and sautee on medium
heat(without colour) until tender. Add wine, and cook until dry. Now add cream and bring to a simmer.
3) Cook for aprox 15 minutes, add lemon juice. Puree in blender until very smooth. Season with salt to taste.
4) Serve as the “sauce” or puree for your dish. Freezes very well to be used at a future date.
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