Edulis: What Constitutes a Great Meal/ Great Comfort food, Well Done.

What constitutes a great meal? A great meal can be well executed at so many different levels. But well composed dishes with creatively different ingredients that are the very best of ingredients: rusticated food prepared with a very sophisticated touch, consistently well executed and simply composed, now THAT is a rare experience!

From my personal perspective, having traveled to many countries around the world, experiencing the very best food offered at so many different levels, over many years, Edulis is a singular experience that consistently stands out among the very best meal experiences I have enjoyed anywhere. It is why I write about my experiences there so often.

Below, I would like to share two leisurely Sunday lunches, enjoyed with good friends, accompanied by  some very good bottles of wine. Each dish was individually delicious. A wonderful way to lol away a Sunday afternoon in Toronto.

Wild red sea bream with new crop olive oil, blood orange and fermented chili. 

Crab, foie gras and leek terrine with frisee and black truffle tapenade. An exceptional dish of flavours and textures! 

Live scallop, simply broiled with garlic and parsley.

Montforteb halloumi cheese with fermented green tomatoes and claytonia.

Salsify meuniere with anchovy and caper. 

Overwintered cabbage with hazelnuts. 

Rutabaga fries with smoked creme fraiche. 

Succulent St. Canut milk fed piglet belly with cocoa nibs, radish and mint. 

Heritage chicken "al ajillo" (with garlic). 

The chicken presentation, with rice.

A wonderful selection of cheeses courtesy of the fabulous cheese palate of chef Toby Nemeth, served with the classic Spanish membrillo.

Lady Baltimore cake. A perfect refreshing end to a great comfort meal. 

Meal #2, Another Sunday Lunch

Mussels in escabeche, plump and delightful.

Broth of beef shank and beets. Such a simple formulation; so satisfying and delicious.

Raw fluke with blood orange, pistachios and fried bread. 

Montforte water buffalo fresco with zucchini sott'olio anda mess of seeds.

Sunchokes roasted with honey, vinegar and chives. 

Hay smoked carrots with radish ceviche and yogurt. 

Razor clams with black truffle tapanade. This was a remarkable dish. The clams were cooked to a perfect tenderness and texture and the black truffles and truffle tapanade were a rather brilliant and unexpected combination. 

Poached pork sausage in it's skin with cabbage. Truly delicious. 

Bonito with green garlic and Spanish rice. 

Prune and armagnac ice cream with apple cake.