www.PassionforPork.com
Edmonton’s 1st Swine & Dine of 2015 at The Common
Well, Alberta Pork’s Swine and Dine series certainly started off the new year with a bang. On Tuesday January 20th, one of Edmonton’s hottest gastropubs hosted the first Swine and Dine of 2015.
It was a sell-out; 76 pork-lovers invaded The Common last week, making it the biggest Swine and Dine event hosted in Edmonton since the dining series started in the summer of 2012. We had taken over the entire restaurant and people were excited to experience the four-course meal designed by resident Chef Jesse Morrison.
Our first course of the evening was pork trotter rillette with picalilli and greens. Similar to pâté, the house-made rilette was smooth and delicious. I had assembled a table of 23 for the evening and as I polled my friends after my first course, it was a huge hit; personally it was my favourite dish of the evening.
Following the first course we were served a stuffed roast pork shoulder sandwich with a sweet carrot and apricot soup and ancho dusted pork crackling. They even had gluten free bread for this celiac! The dish was sweet and savoury, and anything that incorporates crispy pork crackling is a guaranteed hit.
I snuck into the kitchen to snap some behind the scenes photos and I can tell you that it was intense watching Chef Morrison and his culinary team plating 76 dishes.
The aroma of our Asian-infused third dish of the evening filled the restaurant. We were treated to Asian pork patties with sprouts, herbs, peanuts and miso. Stay tuned – because Chef Morrison has promised to share the recipe with Passion for Pork.
Finally, it was time to finish things off with a bite of something sweet. For our final dish of the evening we sampled prosciutto sorbet with black liquorice toffee and melon. We’ve had quite a few chefs take the chocolate-bacon route for Swine and Dine desserts so it was fun to switch things up with a light and refreshing pork-infused dessert.
It was a pleasure to launch the 2015 Swine and Dine series at The Common – the culinary team and service staff certainly pulled out all the stops to make it a memorable experience for both S & D rookies and veteran diners.
A huge thank you to Chef Jesse Morrison and all the staff at The Common for a fun and delicious Swine and Dine, and stay tuned for information on our 2nd Swine and Dine of 2015 in Edmonton this March.