Chef Tasha Sawyer on Spring Food
Chef Tasha Sawyer (she/her) lives in Vancouver along with her partner, writer Monica Meneghetti. Chef Sawyer began her cooking career at the Calgary Stampede in the catering department. From there she started cooking at her local gay bar, moving on from that to other restaurant work, some schooling and then earned her Red Seal in 2013. Today she works as a chef and as a culinary instructor. Her main job is as a cook with the City of Vancouver at a Community Center which offers low cost meals to vulnerable people. Sawyer is also a chef educator in high school, currently teaching via Zoom, and (covid-permitting) a culinary instructor at VCC. You can view her wonderful food photography on Instagram.
Picnics and flower-infused spirits
I had had the pleasure of eating her food with her a few years ago at a cherry blossom viewing picnic. I spoke with her this week about springtime food, cherry blossom viewing picnic menus and spring flower infused spirits.
Hanami
Hanami (花見, "flower viewing") is a cherry blossom festival from Japan, that is celebrated by eating (and drinking) under the cherry trees in bloom. According to Sawyer, “It's like a kind of like a renewed promise that summer will actually come again that the rains have ended.”
So what are good things to have in a Hinami or a cherry blossom appreciation picnic?
“I always like to do one thing that's pink to pay homage to the cherry blossoms. This year I made hard boiled eggs. I peel them, and then I put them in some pickled beet juice for about an hour just so the little outside of them is pink. The other thing I think is important is since it is spring as we should find some kind of spring vegetable should be incorporated into this. So this year it was the first of the season Asparagus.
I ended up making a salad niçoise, which usually uses green beans, but instead of that I used asparagus, along with tuna, some beans, some olives and a nice lemon garlic or lemon mustard dressing on it. The good thing about that is you cook everything ahead of time – you blanche your asparagus and then add it in, but it’s a cold salad. It travels well and it tastes great because everything has a little bit of acidity from the dressing. Then I like to have something that is a little more carby if that makes any sense. I did some veggie wraps with hummus in them, which was balancer to a lot of the vegetable type things.“
Tasha and her partner held their Hanami-style cherry blossom viewing picnic this year in Stanley Park near the Rose Garden.
Flower infused alcohol
Chef Sawyer is also known as an avid forager. This year she has been preparing spring-flower infused spirits. Here are her tips on how to prepare these fragrant and flavourful liqueurs.
What do Flowers in booze taste like?
“Ah, it's hard to explain, but they actually taste just like they smell.”
“Dandelions to me taste…well they remind me of oranges. It doesn't necessarily taste like oranges but there must be at least a tiny bit of citrusy back note to it, because when I drink it, that's what I think about.”
There are a couple of ways to make flower infused spirits. According to Chef Sawyer, you pack a jar full of flowers, and then fill the jar with vodka, white rum or any kind of neutral tasting spirit. You can add sugar or leave it plain.
“Once you've infused it, it can take as little as 48 hours for the color and the flavor to infuse. Strain out your bits of bits of flowers, and then just drink it over ice with some soda water. I like a little bit of sugar in it, it's more of a liqueur. Flowers are actually not that sweet on their own. You think they will be because of the way they smell, but they aren’t.”
Did they impart a lot of flavor or is it like very delicate?
“It depends on really how much you use. Whatever container using you want to make sure that its packed in there pretty full. Its a significant flavor and all of them are different. This year I did dandelions flowers and red currant blossoms, and I did plum blossoms about three weeks ago. I haven't done cherry blossoms yet, but there is a tree that's one block away that is in full bloom right now, so that's actually my plan for this afternoon.
There is also a Chinese dessert that uses rose petals in a kind of baked flaky bun and so I want to try using cherry blossoms in the same way to see if that works.
Its about having fun with the things that are around. The reason I infuse all of these alcohols is because you can't buy them. And if you want something that's different, you need to make it yourself.
You can also be a bit of a mixologist. A little bit of the plum with a little bit of rose petals, which will happen later in the summer. Mixing them together is absolutely magical. You're just not going to get that anywhere else except right here in my cupboard.
The only thing I will say is that lilacs don't taste that great. It's funny because they smell amazing. I did it last year and was super disappointed. Left it in the cupboard and a year later it actually tastes pretty good, but on 1st blush it was not a good idea.
Last year I was just so disappointed especially having this beautiful flavor when you taste the red currants, this almond flavor, actually with the plum blossoms and the dandelion tasting like its own thing that you can't really describe. And then trying the lilac and just being so immediately turned off of that flavor.”
Chef Tasha’s Advice for preparing a spring picnic with your sweetheart
Make sure you choose your setting appropriately, because even if your food isn't that fancy, the setting is going to make up for a lot of that. You don't have to be a amazing cook to do this. Start simple - you could make sandwiches, cut them into little shapes, wrap them nicely and put them in a pretty container, bring some cold drinks and spread out a nice blanket. A romantic location will go a long way to making it romantic too.
