Season 2, Episode 3: Shrimp Risotto with Chef Pye | Lakehouse Kitchens, Kelowna
Join us for Episode 3 of Season 2 as we step into the kitchen with the incredibly talented Chef Pye for a refined, flavour-packed take on shrimp risotto — a classic Italian dish elevated with local ingredients and chef-level technique.
This episode was filmed at the beautiful Lakehouse Kitchens and Lakehouse Home Store in downtown Kelowna, one of the Okanagan’s most inspiring culinary spaces. From professional tools to gourmet inspiration, Lakehouse has become a true hub for food lovers in the region, and we’re so excited to have them as part of our growing foodie community.
Chef Pye walks us through his creative process, sharing tips on how to build depth of flavour, get the perfect creamy risotto texture, and cook shrimp just right. Whether you’re a home cook, aspiring chef, or just love discovering local culinary talent, this episode offers something for everyone.
🍤 Featured Recipe: Shrimp Risotto
👨🍳 Chef: Pye
📍 Location: Lakehouse Kitchens & Lakehouse Home Store, Kelowna, BC
🎥 Presented by: Kelowna Foodie Hub
👉 Don’t forget to like, comment, and subscribe for more behind-the-scenes access to Kelowna’s top chefs, restaurants, markets, and local food creators.
Hey, hey, welcome foodies. Today we’re at Lakehouse Kitchen’s cooking school with Chef Travis Pie. We are so excited to be with you today, chef. So excited. Well, we’re I’m excited to have you here as well. So, we have a tradition. We cheers always before we start. Cheers. We’re a great cooking class. Cheers to you at home. Get your drink. Get ready. We’re going to have a wild ride today. It’s going to be fun. So, how do we get started? Be educational, but it’s going to be fun. So, tell them what we’re doing today. So, first of all, uh thank you for coming. Uh Lakehouse Kitchen’s cooking school. First and foremost, we are a cooking class facility. We offer over 80 classes through two different kitchens. Today, we’re in the chef’s theater, which is a beautiful demonstration style homestyle kitchen. On the other side of things is a beautiful master chef style kitchen with 14 full stations for you to put on an apron and cook with the chef. Unbelievable. Did you just say 80 cooking classes? We have 80 different cooking classes through about 12 different chefs. That is correct. Right here in this location. Right here in this in this place. That’s amazing, chef. So today you’re going to teach us to make some cool things. Yes. We’re going to give you a little glimpse in what uh one of our classes would look like. Uh today we’re making a beautiful seasonal asparagus risoto. Start of the season. This is first of the season asparagus. This comes from Armstrong. And I’m not sure if you’ve had fresh produce. I’m sure you have. But when it comes out of the ground the first time, it is so sweet. It almost doesn’t taste like asparagus. It’s sweet. It’s naturally sweet. Same goes with corn or any other locally grown veg. Support local where you can. Fresh is best for sure. Fresh is best. I went to his asparagus farm and I didn’t know it grew right out of the ground and I had my daughter and she went around picking the asparagus and eating it and it was sweet. It was delicious% and I had no idea. Absolutely. So today in the theme is there’s no hidden flavors. There’s no thickeners. It’s all about fresh uh good quality ingredients. Uh and you don’t have to over complicated. Let those good ingredients shine. All right. Okay. So what’s the first thing here? So first of all uh we’ve got our beautiful Lake Crus uh Dutch oven. This is cast iron with an enamel coating in it. I’m going to be talking quite a bit about the cookware and the gadgets. Uh because we are also a retail business. So, we specialize in selling high-end uh kitchen equipment uh for the home cook. That is how the business started 12 years ago. Um this beautiful store was created where we curated beautiful items from all over. We uh have created this facility to be able to showcase those items, highlight the chefs, the wine uh and everything that’s that this valley has to offer. And where if they’re watching online and they see something they like, where can they go and buy that? They can come down to our store, corner, Bernard and Ellis, beautiful 20,000 foot retail showroom, British Columbia with our cooking school upstairs or shop us online, shoplakehouse.com. And you ship anywhere in Canada, right? Ship anywhere in Canada. Yes. And so I have a pot at home and it’s I threw out my slow cooker after that cuz I didn’t know that this was such a better way to cook. You put the lid on, it seals everything in. Keep it in your oven and it cleans really well. That was my favorite part. So it’s about And it’s about developing flavors low and slow. So, curries and chilies and soups and stocks. Perfect for risoto. You’re not going to get a lot of hot spots. It’s just going to be a nice even cooking surface. Great. Okay. This is a piece. This is an heirloom piece. This is something you’re going to pass down from generation to generation. Yes, it’s a bit of an investment up front, but it’s again something you’re going to pass down. You probably have you ever seen the orange one, the bright orange one in your mom’s or your grandma’s kitchen? They last a lifetime and they are worth every penny. Anyway, so we have our French oven, our Dutch oven. Okay, Dutch oven. Here it is. We’re going to turn that on heat. Well, how much heat? We’re going to go about medium heat. Medium medium medium high heats on this beautiful gas stove. On this beautiful gas stove, which uh we can also hook you up with if you’re interested. I just put the bread bowl. Stop talking. Stop talking. She’s going to be shopping all day. And I don’t buy coffee anymore. I’m a better and a happier person because of it. She’s much happier in the morning. Yeah. This this brand is called Smeg. So, we do the small countertops, mega appliances, but they do have a line of large appliances which we can dabble into as well. Literally everything in this facility comes from our retail business. Whether it’s the stove we’re cooking on, the cookware, the wine glasses we’re drinking out of, the chairs you’re sitting on, everything is for sale. One-stop shop. One-stop shop. Okay, but anyway, so we got our we got our pot heating up here. Medium medium high heat. You’re going to notice we’re going to be using two different oils today. Okay. Now, this comes to a surprise to a lot of people. Uh this is olive oil. this nice rich green briney full of nutrient olive oil. Um, this isn’t for cooking at a high temperature. It has a low smoking point. Smoking point of about 300° Fahrenheit. You should not heat it at a high temperature. Over 300° it becomes a neutral identity. You lose those nutrients and essentially you lose what you pay for. Okay. Okay. If you’re cooking at a high heat, we’re going to be using grape seed oil, something more neutral. And especially at a really high heat, like if you’re cooking in a walk or doing a stir fry, um pad thai, those kind of dishes, again, at a high heat, grape seed oil, doesn’t burn till about 500°. Yeah, very neutral, delicious. Olive oil should be used as almost a condiment. Save it for your vinegarettes on top of your pasta. Dip your bread into it. We are going to start the risotto with it because I’m going to have a soft heat uh to break down my aromatic vegetables. Now, how many people at home didn’t even know just that they’ve been using olive oil? frying with it. They’ve been baking with it. And so just that little It’s expensive. Yeah, exactly. And why it’s becoming so expensive is uh climate change. The olives are getting smaller and smaller, less yield. I kid you not, a bottle like this is going to be worth probably $100 in 2 years. No way. So save your olive oil. Use a neutral oil. We like grapeseed oil. You can use avocado oil, vegetable oil, that kind of thing. Where does coconut oil stand on it? Coconut oil has a pretty high smoking point, but it but it comes with that flavor as well. So unless you want that flavor, then I wouldn’t use it. I melted and put in my popcorn. So that’s all. That’s perfect. That’s a great use for it. She also put sugar on top. Okay. So, a little bit of uh olive oil into my Okay. Into the bottom. I’m I would just do olive oil. I want that taste into this dish. And again, this isn’t at a super high heat. We’re going to stick with medium. Once that heats up, I’m going to I’m going to go in with my aromatic vegetables. And what aromatic vegetables are we using? So, today we are using uh shallots, finely minced or bruno. We’ve got some leaks. Leaks are fantastic. mixed between like a green onion and celery. It’s soft. Once it melts down, it’s super buttery. And then some fresh garlic. I love garlic. And you always want to start with your aromatic vegetables because your aromatic vegetables is the beginning of layering flavor. What these aromatics are going to do, they’re going to flavor the oil, which that oil is then going to continue to flavor the rest of your dish. So, always start with your aromatics. Okay? And then, so why would you use shallots over onions? Shallots are a little more delicate, a little sweeter. Um, you could use onions. Um, but this is just elevating it kind of one step further. I’ve always wondered because I use shallots sometimes when I’m doing like roasts and things and I never know when to like go onion or Yeah, shallots more delicate, sweeter. Um they pickle really nicely. Um I’m going to go in with a little bit of my shallots. So, how much? A half a cup. Yeah, around there. I consider myself a pretty intuitive cook, so like I don’t really like to follow around. I like to cook with what with what we’re what we got going on, the seasons. Um I’m going to save a little bit for my prawn. So, I’m going to go in with that. I notice that the pan’s a little bit hot. You do want to ensure that it is sizzling the entire time. If your pan is not sizzling, it means it’s not hot enough. Okay. Um, but I did turn it down a little bit. I’m going to turn it down a little bit more. I’m going to go in with my leaks. Same thing. I’m going to use about half of these leaks. And then I’m going to go in with my garlic. I love garlic. About half of that garlic. Now, I’m going to mix that up. I’m going to keep an eye on the temperature. Again, I turned it down to low because if you have burned garlic before, you know that it is not forgiving. It is not. If you’ve burned garlic, your dish is ruined. Throw out the pan. Start again. John has often found our pans on the balcony. Yes. After I’ve burned something and put it on the balcony to finish smoking, he goes, “Okay, Quinn, now I know we’re not having spaghetti for dinner.” So, we’ve got our garlic, our shallot, our leaks. We’re cooking this down. Again, it’s at a low heat. I just want to kind of melt it just until they’re a little bit translucent. Again, I don’t want to scorch this olive oil. It smells amazing. Apple hasn’t made smell vision yet, but they’re working on it, I’m sure. So, you can’t smell it from here, but it smells absolutely amazing. 100%. And that’s what I always say. You want to impress your guest, just put some onions and garlic on the stove and works for me. It’s a way to a man’s heart. Okay, so we’ve got a little bit of translucentness happening. I’m going to go in with our fresh asparagus. How many asparagus is that? I don’t know, eight, maybe 10. And I’ve cut it down into roughly bite-sized pieces. You want them all to fit onto a spoon or a fork. Okay. And we’re going to coat that in that beautiful aromatic oil. And we’re going to start that cooking process. Beautiful. Look at this. When So, one tip, uh, when getting asparagus home from the store, uh, there’s a natural break in it that separates the fibrous, really woody ends to like the more tender parts. So, you naturally just hold it up. Wherever it breaks, this piece goes into your stock. This piece you want to use, you want to cook with. So, I’ve then taken this asparagus. I’ve cut it down into about quarters. Again, Roughly the size that will then fit on a spoon or a fork. Can I try that one right? Please do. I have to try. Okay. Can I just like this? Yeah. Hold it more so on the ends on like this. No, more so like here and like there and then where it breaks. Look at that guys. This is easy peasy. There we go. This goes in here in our stock. Yeah. And this goes over here for later 100%. So we got that in here. So we have the asparagus, the garlic, the shallot, the leaks that’s cooked down. I don’t want to cook this too far. I still want eldante in the asparagus, meaning it’s soft to the tooth. It still has a little bit of crunch. So, at this point here, I’m going to take that asparagus out. I’m going to use this guy here. Little scooper. Little scooper. That’s a handy dandy scooper. It is. This is This is from a company called Dream Farm based out of Australia. Oh, wow. Okay. And I will show you more of it in a second here. Dream Farm. Dream Farm. Dream Farm. Super innovative company. Uh, all of their tools have multiple uses to them. Okay. So, this one is called a sapoon. A sapoon. A sapoon. It’s a spoon and a spatula allin one. And what’s cool about it? A couple more here. Last one there. What’s cool about it? It’s high-grade platinum silicone, so you can use it on any hot surface. It also sits on your counter. Does not get it dirty. Right. I need one of those in my life. There’s measurements on the inside. And then it also it’s a spatula, so it’ll scrape your sides beautifully. Okay, so this is out. We’re going to put that to the side. We’re going to save that for later. Sapun going down. And from here, we’re going in with our rice. This is arboreio rice. This is short grain rice. Should be used for risoto. There’s only one other rice I would use. It’s called carnaroli. Y carnoli. Carnoli or aroreo. I prefer arboreio. Okay. What’s important about it is it’s short grain. And you can see um it’s got kind of a white little center to it. It’s very high in starch. And the starch is what’s going to thicken the risoto and add creaminess to it. Okay. Ultimately, and I’m sure you guys have had lots of risotos before, it’s a a creamy dish, but there is no cream in it. There’s no milk in it. You get the creaminess from the butter, from the Parmesan cheese, but also from the starch that that naturally comes off of the rice. It’s going to not complicating and fresh ingredients. 100%. So, we’ve got that beautiful oil on the bottom of the pan. I’m going to add a little bit more. Okay. Which oil is this now? This is the olive oil. Still on a low heat. And what I’m doing at this stage is I’m coating this aroreal rice in that oil that has absorbed the flavor of the garlic, the leaks, the shallots, all those aromatic flavors are in the oil, which is now coating the rice. This stage is key to ensure that the rice cooks evenly. There’s a layer of oil over it. It’s going to season it and it’s going to help it cook evenly. You want it in here um long enough. That’s all we’re doing. Coating the rice. And what’s the heat on this? It’s low, medium low. Nothing too aggressive. And how many cups of rice is this? I know you measure by hand. It’s about a cup. Cup and a half of rice. This should feed four people. Okay. Okay. So, this will be a great recipe in my house. Absolutely. There we go. John was the first one to ever show me risotto. Along with a lot of other beautiful things. So, we’re going to leave that in for a sec. You’re going to start to hear it popping or crisping up. That’s when we know it’s done and we’re going to delaze the pan. Okay. The aroreo rice. I actually got the bag here as well. Uh we’ve started selling u what we call gourmet grocery downstairs. So, we’ve curated a whole bunch of chefins inspired ingredients from all over the world. Our boreo rice, tomatoes from Italy, vinegar, salts, um so many different snacks, cooking ingredients uh that you can use in your cooking. Like literally a one-stop shop. Come in and get a cooking lesson, get the equipment you need, and then get the ingredients you need to make that dish. And then you can be a chef Travis at home in your own kitchen. 100%. That’s amazing. I should have known this. I’ve been struggling along by myself this entire time. Now, do we add stock to this while it’s cooking? Not quite yet. We will. We will soon. We’re going to delaze first. Delaz, but we want to let this rice toast a little bit. Okay. Why do we want it to toast? Because we want to kind of form an exterior uh on it to give it a little bit of crunch and give it some texture. We don’t do not We do not want this to be a mushy, soggy rice. Yeah, I hate soggy rice. I was bad for that. Overcooked it. Like alante. I always thought Aldante was soft. And this spoon is important as well. This is a risotto spoon. So, it’s got a flat end on it so you can really get the shape of the pan. This brand we really love as well. This brand is called Epicurion. What’s cool about this and it’s the same brand as my cutting board. This is a paper composite product. So, it is not porous. So, bacteria cannot grow in it. It cannot harbor in it. You can put it in your dishwasher. It can extend high extend high heats. Okay. So, we’ve got some color happening on the rice. We’re hearing a little bit of crackling. From here, we’re going to delaze. So, delaze essentially meaning you are adding a liquid and it’s cleaning the bottom of the pan. picking up all those little savory crispy bits that are then going to be introduced back into And what are we using to delaze? So, we’re using a white wine. This is an egging out uh Chardonnay, I believe. No, this is their their zigarbi. Zigarbi. Zigorbetti sounds like it was made for risoto. It’s delicious. You’re just going to coat that risoto. Yeah. So, again, all I’m doing is I’m essentially putting enough in that I can scrape the bottom of the pan. It’s nice and smooth. This is also adding acidity into the dish. Acidity is so important, especially in a dish like risotto where it’s rich. There’s butter, um, there’s parmesan cheese. Acidity is going to help cut through that richness and allow you to continue to eat without feeling full or heavy. Oh, okay. I’ve always heard that like balancing your acidity and the richness of a dish. Okay. 100%. Now, cooking with wine, yes. Um, you shouldn’t you no need to use an expensive wine, but you should always use a good wine. Good in, good out. I would never use a wine that’s been sitting on my countertop for months and months and months. You want to use wine that you would actually drink. Doesn’t have to be expensive, but it has to be good. Okay. Going good quality ingredient. But you want to drink a little bit while you’re cooking. Oh, you can as well. Absolutely. Yeah, absolutely. I’ll go back. Cheers to that. One more time. Have a sip, guys. Wine is such an important ingredient in in all of our recipes. Yes. Yes. Okay. So, now we’re just letting this coat and we’re cooking it down a bit. So, all really what I’m doing is I’ve delaze the bottom of the pan. The rice is is absorbing that wine to again give it acidity. Okay. Now, chef, while we’re doing this, can you tell the people a little bit how long you’ve been at Lake House? Salt, little pepper. Okay. Salt and pepper. Y a pinch of each. Yeah. And I’m going to add it a couple times during the dish. I want to continue to add it every step of the way. What salt does and why salt is so important when you’re cooking, it’s a natural dehydrator. Okay. So, meaning it’s going to pull out the moisture of whatever you’re cooking. It’s going to enhance the flavor. It’s going to make it cook more evenly and it’s going to help tenderize it. Okay. Okay. A good example of that is you’ve cooked mushrooms before, I’m sure, in a fry pan. You know, when you put oil in, you put your mushrooms in, they don’t really do anything for a second. You need to put a nice layer of salt on it. Pulls out the moisture, they start cooking quickly, and they start cooking very evenly. I love the explanation behind it cuz I knew that salt enhanced flavors. And that was all the explanation I ever got about it, not the dehydration part. So, at this stage here, um, the rice has absorbed pretty much all of the white wine. It’s clean the bottom of the pan. It’s nice and smooth. I’m going to go in with some stock. This is beautiful vegetable stock that we made. So, what’s in there? So, you’ll see some leaks and some asparagus floating around in there because I trimmed up our asparagus and our leaks and I just popped some in at the end. Okay. But essentially, a vegetable stock is something everybody should make at home. Um, it is way better tasting than any stock you can buy at the store and it can be free. Essentially, you’re just using all of your end bits of your your herbs, parsley stems, bits of carrots, onion, all that scrap. You should save it. Keep it in a ziploc bag. Keep that ziplock bag. That’s what we started doing. Yes. Chef Andrew from Lake House. I taught him that. Okay. So then he taught me passing it down and I started it at home. So I was cooking onions that day. Threw it in the bag and I just pull it out now. And and then once a month when you make your stock, right, stockp in start with a mirror pua, which is the base of all French soups and stocks. Two part onion, one part carrot, one part celery. Okay. Add all your trim in. Up to a boil. Let it boil for about 45 minutes. Up to a boil. Sorry. down to a simmer. Let it simmer for about 45 minutes. Once it’s done, you’re going to skim off any impurities on the top. Strain it. You’ve got a beautiful vegetable. Okay, we’re going to get it right out of that and have that on there. So, you see a little mini episode while you’re watching today. You see, I’ve started to slowly add the stock. Couple important parts here. You want a good quality stock. The stock is on heat. It’s staying warm. It’s not quite at a simmer of boil, but it’s warm. Ensuring that I’m not adding cold stock into the risoto. I don’t want to shock the temperature of the risoto. This is going to help keep the momentum of cooking. So, it’s going to keep cooking it at a good pace. It’s going to help tenderize the rice. A warm stock is key. And I’m just adding a little bit at a time, just enough to cover the top of the rice. And I’m stirring it. And this stock is absorbing into the rice. This dish is a labor of love. It’s something that you need to watch and take care of for probably about 20 minutes. Ours is going to be a little bit quicker today. This pot isn’t super full. Uh, but it is something you want to keep an eye on. And with my temperature, I’m at about a low uh just enough. So again, the stock is simmering in the pot as well. Okay, so we touched on a few brands from Lakehouse. How many brands do Lakehouse carry? Uh quite a few. I would say we have 80 key brands. Wow. Um again, good quality brands. We work closely with Lake Rousay, AllClad, which is the pioneer of the stainless steel world. Uh knife companies like Wooff, Japanese knives from Shun, Epicurion, Microplane. We’ll talk more about some gadgets. Um, but Lakehouse itself, uh, really it encompasses everything for your home. Uh, we’ve got a beautiful furniture store and home decor home decor store down the street as well. So, uh, we’ve we’ve got kind of everything covered. Now, while you were in the action, I asked how long you’ve been here. Yes. And what’s your background? Yes. So, I’ve been to Playhouse for 5 years. I joined the team when we opened up our furniture store down the street, and we just focused on cooking and culinary. So, I hired Red Seal chefs, uh, sales associates, somales, pastry chefs, uh, people with a background in hospitality, and people with a base of knowledge or confidence in being able to speak to what we’re selling. Um, I’ve been very busy. I’ve opened about eight restaurants across Canada in the last 12 years. I started my career in the corporate world. Um, corporate chef for Red Robin, uh, regional chef for Joey’s. Um, from there, I got into the hotel business. I was a chef for Prestige Hotels, The Cove. I ran uh a beautiful resort up in northern Saskatchewan uh in a little place called Wasoo called Elkridge Resorts uh before coming back home. I’m actually originally from here and uh being able to do this. That’s amazing. So all roads lead back to Cologne at the end of your journey. Absolutely. And what do you think would the Colona culinary scene? How do you think it’s adapt and evolving? What do you want to see in the future? I mean it’s fantastic. There is a lot of talented chefs here and um and in such a wide variety of of different kinds of restaurants like the for example the brewery district on the north end there’s some really talented chefs doing some really cool things with with beer snacks um from high-end to hotels to catering businesses. Uh the Okonogan Chefs Association is a really tight-knit community. Uh everybody’s really in each other’s corners helping each other out. Um I mean we’re so lucky to be in this valley. the vegetables, the produce, the wine that grows here. Like it is a a dream for a chef to be in. Amazing. Even if you’re not a chef though, Kog is a dream to live in, right? Okay, so rinse and repeat. The rice is growing. It’s absorbing the stock. I’m going to continue to add it in. Okay, look at this. Smells amazing. Now, chef, if it’s a night out with you and your family, where are you going for dinner here in Colona? Well, um, we go out often. Okay. We try to support as many places as we can. Um, I mean, a lot of the wineries have really cool food programs. Cedar Creek, Xnilo, uh, 50th Parallel, and Elevated, like real good experience. Um, but as far as local spots, Waterfront Wines is always a staple. Mark and his team do a wonderful job there. Uh little off the beaten path places. There’s a little place called Touch Street Tapis. Yes. Which I really love. Tapis style plates. Really nice wine list. Um the Elorado is always nice to sit out on the deck. Right. There are brunch at Yeah. So good. Humo. So Chef Kai opened up his new spot. Uh really cool. Nice Latin kind of um Asian fusion. Really unique. Big flavors. Real good ingredients. You go there often. Yeah. Yeah. And believe in sustainability 100%. Which is incredible. So, you’ve got a few places you go around. Yeah, absolutely. You got to move around the city. There’s so much to see. And when you’re home, you’re done work, you’re not cooking, what are you eating? What’s your favorite thing to make at home? That’s a good question and a question I think chefs get asked a lot. When I get home after a busy day or if I’ve taught five classes in the week, I’m not necessarily wanting to put together a beautiful risoto. I’m fortunate. My partner is a really good cook and and I come home to beautiful meals all the time. We’d like to have people over which I will showcase my skills a little bit but other than that I’m pretty simple meat and potatoes. Okay. Kind of guy. That’s our family. Meat and potatoes. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Lots of meat and potatoes. But we don’t have the good excuse that we cooked 80 different cooking classes, haven’t we? We may be eaten at 80 different places in a week, but we haven’t cooked at them. Look at this. So, I’m still just adding my stock just slowly but surely. You betcha. The Okonogan’s growing so much and we weren’t here for six years. and he came back and there was so much new talent, so many new places. Look at this. It’s just beautiful. So, just delicately cooking it. Now, if you’re making this at home, chef, would you be worried? Oh my goodness, this isn’t thickening up. It’s not thickening up. Not at this stage. Like, and and something we’ll talk about soon. Like the knife is probably your most important tool in the entire kitchen. It’s what you’re using breakfast, lunch, and dinner. If you invest in a good knife, you’re going to have it forever. A close second is the almighty spoon. It is so important to taste your food as you’re cooking. Not only are you are you looking for taste, right? You’re ensuring that it’s seasoned properly. You’re checking for acidity, but you’re also looking for texture. How far along is the rice going to cook? So, it’s still quite crunchy. Mhm. Okay. So, I know that I’m going to need more stock. It’s going to need to continue to cook probably another 5 to 7 minutes. Okay. So, it’s just a matter of trial and error. Just keep tasting it, adding it as need be. And this isn’t a complicated dish for those watching at home. No. No. But but it’s understand it’s important to understand the technique. And something we always say in our classes, the biggest difference between good and great is technique and and ensuring that you’ve toasted the rice, you’ve got those aromatic vegetables in there and that oil has coated the rice. You’ve delazed it properly. You’ve waited for that wine to absorb into the rice. Your stock is hot. You’re adding it gradually. And if you’re going to go through all of the steps and stages, make sure you’re doing it right and properly 100%. But from there, you can make it your own. Risotto is such a a blank blank canvas of the seasons, right? Yeah. Right now, it’s fresh fresh asparagus. In two weeks, you can be a beautiful corn. Um, risoto. In the fall, we’re using more squashes, pumpkin risoto, mushroom risoto is beautiful in the winter time. So, fresh peas, like whatever’s whatever’s fresh. Recently, I had at Labusa, actually, Loretta, she made us a beautiful risoto with gorgonala and baby shrimp. Yeah. Uh, it was uh amazing. It was just the taste was amazing. And I said to her, “Maybe a little balsamic drizzle.” She goes, “No, you’re going to ruin it.” And I had it her way and it was absolutely amazing. So, I’m excited to try this one. Add a little bit more salt to it. A little more pepper. Okay. And what’s your favorite season for cooking? Winter, fall, spring, summer. I like them all for different reasons. Yeah, absolutely. Obviously, winter is all about warm, cozy, comfort dishes. Beef Wellington, chilis, those kind of things. Uh spring, it’s when the vegetables start coming out of the ground. Uh first of the season, potatoes, asparagus, corn, the lettucees, everything’s so tender and sweet. Then you roll into summer, you get all your fresh fruit, right, which is awesome. And then fall, it’s about kind of end of the harvest. The apples, the pumpkins, those kind of flavors. So, I mean, I like to cook seasonal seasonally and regionally. Um so, whatever’s growing fresh and whatever’s available is is going what tastes best. And when did you know you were going to be a chef? I’ve always been a chef. Oh, really? since I was I started flipping burgers when I was 14 and I’ve never looked back. It’s something about just the the camaraderie and the and the brigade of of misfits that a kitchen is. Yeah. Um it’s just really cool. So since you were 14, you’ve been in a kitchen. Yeah. Unbelievable. Yeah. Well, it explains your very successful career. I just love I love what I do. Um I mean now I’m in a position where working in retail. I manage the retail business. Yeah. Teach cooking classes. I’m not behind the stove as much as you can imagine. It’s it’s uh it’s tough. It’s not super sustainable to be a chef. You’re working when everybody is off enjoying what you’ve created. So, evenings and holidays and weekends. So, yes. To have a family and a partner who supports that lifestyle can be hard to find, you know. Absolutely. It could. So, we’re looking good. And you recently came back from Italy. I did. How long were you gone for? I was gone for just over two weeks. And we carried a lot of ground. So, we flew into Rome. We did Rome, Florence, Genanoa, Bolognia, Venice. Wow. And we just ate and drank our way around. And top tough highlight of the entire trip, we were able to um we met up with the Italian butcher um featured on the Netflix series, The Chef’s Table. Okay. Chef Dario uh Sachini, and we went to his restaurant in the Tuscan Hills. And uh he broke down an entire cow and featured it on a 10 course tasting menu, all cooked over charcoal, and it was just unreal. Unbelievable. Now, Chef Andrew is going to be taking a team with us next year to Italy. We’re doing a culinary tour. So, uh, maybe you’ll join us for that chef. That would be sweet. I know Andrew very well. He’s one of our chefs. He teaches one or two classes a week. He’s a very good friend of mine. Uh, him and I co-host these classes and it’s a lot of fun. He’s amazing. Yeah, he is. He’s got that authenticity for sure. Yes, he does. I don’t think you come to Lake House cooking class and not have someone who’s just so excited to be there and so knowledgeable and skilled. Look how it’s thickening up. Exactly. So, you can see even the liquid itself, the starch is is adding body to this dish. I’m going to turn the heat down a little bit. The bubbles were getting a little aggressive. Okay, I’m going to continue to add a little bit more of this stock here. It’s not quite where we need it to be, but we’re close. We’re close. That means I’m close to eating. The thing with a risoto as well is, and unfortunately, you see this in restaurants all the time, a risoto should be free flowing. Okay? You should never see a risoto with like a ring mold. They pull the ring mold off and it just stays. It needs to be free flowing. That is a true risoto. It needs to have a good balance of of of liquid. So it shouldn’t be like holding its own form. Shouldn’t be holding its own form. Should be free flowing. So if you’re at home and you go to those restaurants, it’s holding its own form. You can say today you learn that that’s not the way it’s supposed to be. Also, we got to think about uh we’re going to be adding cheese. We’re going to be adding butter. That’s going to thicken it or tighten it up. Okay. So it’s about kind of knowing when to take it off heat. We’re we’re close here. Okay. And what’s the way that you know to take it off heat? Testing your golden. It’s just it’s just testing. It’s tasting it. It’s using all your senses. You can see how big the rice kernels are now. Yes. We’re going to grab another spoon. They’re growing. But again, also knowing that. Do you want to taste it? Yes, I do want to taste it. Do you see me lean over there? John, you want to taste it at this stage? Again, it’s not that we’re adding a lot more seasoning to it. But I want you to think about the texture of the rice. Amazing. How how far is that rice cooked? Probably need 3 minutes, I’m going to say. See if I’m an intuitive chef. It’s close. I think it’s done. Yeah. The reason being I’m saying that it’s going to continue to cook. We’re going to add butter. We’re going to add cheese. It’s going to keep cooking as it’s sitting here. This pot’s retaining a lot of heat. Yes. Right. Yeah. I’m turning it off. I think it’s close. I think it’s very close. I’m going to stir it a little bit more. It’s going to naturally absorb some of that uh cooking liquid in there. Yeah. We’re going to add more salt. Mhm. Yes. We’re going to add a little bit more pepper. Bam. Bam. Bam. I’ve learned a lot about layered seasoning through these cooking. And everyone says every step make sure that you’re adding your salt and your pepper. You know why? Because when Quinn made her first meal for me many, many years ago, it was not seasoned throughout the whole thing. Chef, yes. I made a phenomenal chicken parm for his first dish. Now, what kind of cheese are you adding? This is Parmesan Reo. Parmesan Reo. And it’s going to add another salty component as well. So again, when you’re tasting it, if it’s okay if it’s not overly seasoned or it’s salty, because this is going to add more seasoning. Our asparagus that we’re putting back in was seasoned already. That’s going to add more seasoning, too. Okay. I forgot about the asparagus on the side. Yes. So nice holding it over. This tool microplane. Do you guys have a microplane? Yes. Everybody should have a microplane. I travel with my microplane. Oh, it’s not only good for like zesting hard cheeses, but lemons, limes, oranges, garlic, ginger, lemongrass, uh, espresso beans over top with espresso martini. Chocolate over top of a dessert as a bit of a garnish cuz that’s what first made me fall in love with Lake House was the espresso martini. I came here in Tuggo made me an incredible one. It came I had grapefruit salt. Yes. On top of it. So, we’ve added the cheese. That’s already tightened it up, fingered it up. We’re going to add butter. Okay. We’re adding a few cubes. Essentially, we’re doing a couple cubes at a time. And this is almost kind of emulsifying, meaning it’s it’s slowly adding um like texture and obviously butteriness to the dish, but it’s going to give it a real velvety mouth feel to it. All right. All right. And just kind of one cube in at a time. And it’s just slowly thickening, getting richer. And there’s never too much butter. I was gonna say I’m like I’m a big fan of butter. This thing is making me so happy. Okay. Butter prices these days people might say there’s too much butter. No way. No way. No way. Not once they see the price of the olive oil to years. They’ll think butter is cheap as anything. Exactly. Okay. That butter is in there. It’s nice. I’m going to go back in with our asparagus and all our aromatic veg that are in there. Look at this. Beautiful. It’s really come together. Yeah. So, at this stage, we’re going to taste it again. Want another glass of spoons here? Thank you. Please. We’re not eating. We’re tasting. Okay. Sorry. Sorry. We’re not eating. We’re tasting. Okay. Nice. Looks delicious. I think it’s cooked nicely. It’s still a little bit alante, which which we want. Mhm. We need a little bit more salt. Mhm. We are going to finish it with some Vancouver Island finishing sea salt, which is also going to give it some crunch and some texture. So, I’m not going to go too heavy with that. I love the flavor of the asparagus, too. It’s so fresh. It’s summery. Little more pepper. And we’re going to set that to the side. The flavor’s going to keep coming together. We’re going to now move over to the gin flambe prawns, which are going to we’re going to plate right on top of that. Yeah. So, what we can do with this is our stock’s done. We can get that to the side. Our risoto’s looking good. Good. We’ll keep that warm on the back there. Heat off. This pan is going to hold a lot of heat to it. From here, fry pan on. Well, this is a nice frying pan. So, this is actually a non-stick fry pan, okay? Which you don’t want to take to too too high of a heat, but non-stick technology has come a long way. It is no longer filled with all those harmful forever chemicals, teflon, all those things. This brand is called Scan Pan. Um, the technology is called Stratanium Plus. What’s cool about this technology, it has no harmful chemicals in it. You can take it up to 500 degrees. You can use metal utensils on it. You can put it in the oven. You can get a nice hard sear on it. So, for those that don’t like cooking with stainless steel or find it hard to use or things stick to it, the Scan Pan as a nonstick option is fantastic. And this one will last you forever. It has a lifetime guarantee. It’ll last you forever. That’s incredible. Okay. So, what we’re doing, we’re going Okay. On heat with this medium, medium heat. Yeah. Okay. This time we’re going to cook with grape seed oil. Again, we’re going to have a high heat. We want to get a nice bit of a char going on those prawns. This was used with olive oil because it was more of a slow heat to just gradually melt down the aromatics. High heat. We’re going to hit it with grapeseed oil. Pan on. Got these beautiful prawns. These are what’s called 1620 prawns. So, they’re 16 to 20 in a pound. Nice and big. These are BC prawns, right? Prawns would take a long time to cook, right? We’ve cooked prawns before. 3 4 minutes max depending on the size and there is nothing worse than an overcooked prawn. So we want it just cooked. The best way to know how a prawn is cooked when it’s raw it’s gray and the moment the tail and the head touch is the moment that the prawn is done cook. Okay, not a second. Okay. So pan on heat that’s heated up. We’re going to go in with our grape seed oil. Quinn, what are we going to add next? We are going to add our aromatics. Aromatics. Absolutely. I was listening. You remembered. Yes. Okay. shallots in leaks. Yeah. And some of this garlic. Lots of garlic. We love garlic. Yeah. All right. So, we’ve got our aromatics. Okay. Cooking down, melting in that grape seed oil. Again, you can smell it. Smells amazing. That’s going to flavor the oil. That’s going to flavor the prawns. And again, you can just do this to impress your guests. 100%. Just get some garlic on the stove and you’re good to go. So, we’re at about a medium heat there. Aromatics are going. Going to flavor the oil from here. I’m going in with my prawns. Okay, prawns in. You want to get rid of those action? I do. I want to see it. So, that oil, those aromatics are coating the prawns. We’re going to let that them do its thing. A little bit of salt on the seafood. We’re good. While that’s going, I’m going to get my uh some limes ready here. Okay. Going to cut these ones in half cuz we’re going to juice that fresh at the end. Okay. Okay. And then these ones I’m going to cut just the cheeks off of it because I’m going to use those as garnish. Oh, nice. And then how do you hold your knife? So again, back to knives. The knife is the most And I’m going to have to kind of cut you off here because again, this dish doesn’t take long to cook and I do not want to overcook those prawns. No. The knife is the most important tool in your kitchen. I’m going to turn that to about minimum medium minimum. Okay. Okay. The knife is the most important tool you use at breakfast, lunch, and dinner. When holding a knife, approach it like you’re shaking somebody’s hand. Three fingers underneath. Your index finger and your thumb come together on the blade. This is where you have the most control when you’re cutting it. Your tip should be pointing the top left corner of your cutting board. And that’s the angle at which you should be working. This hand here to keep your fingertips out of the way. Bearclaw onto the cutting board. You’re running the knife on this little baby knuckle here. As long as you’re running it on that knuckle, no matter where you are, your thumb’s out of the way and your fingertips are out of the way. Oh, I wish I knew that. I could have saved so many spars on my hand. Okay, so I’ve got some those aromatics are toasted. The prawns are looking good. We’re going to flambe with some gin. This is Okonogan Spirits family reserve gin. Look at this. A really cool local spirit company using all local ingredients. We’re going to take it off heat. This is going to delaze. We’re going to put it back on heat and we’re going to get a little bit of bit worried about my hair. He backed away. What a baby was worried. So, the gin is so naturally flavor matching with the prawns. It’s got that licoricey juniper aromatic taste to it that just goes so nice with the prawns. And essentially, that’s delaze the pan. It’s cleaned up all the little crispy bits off the bottom of the pan. Those prawns are almost cooked. You can see these prawns that tail almost touched the head. From here, I’m going to finish it with, you guessed it, a couple of knobs in there. Absolutely. Oh, this is the real deal. The real butter. Real butter. A little more salt. Little more pepper. Look at this. Good. And I do want to say the Okonogan Spirits, we do have one downtown Colona right on Bernard. They have an incredible distillery there. You can go in there. You can do the tastings. They’re so knowledgeable. They’ll let you know. And you can also go travel. Their giant distillery in Vernon, which is a whole day experience. It’s incredible. I highly recommend checking it out. Okay, our butter’s coated. It created a bit of a sauce there. I’m going to I’m going to squeeze a little bit of lime in. Of course, we sell I don’t have one with me right here, but a citrus press, but another kind of kitchen hack. If you do not have a citrus press, use your tongs. Choke up on your tongs here. You get a good grip on your lime. Wow. And it’s just easy to zest. We call that a tongue a tongue juicer. Yes, a tongue juicer. I’m going to turn this off heat. Once they’re done, it’s going to sit in that butter. Look at that. I’m going to take a little bit of fresh parsley. When you’re cutting herbs, unlike garlic, the more you put your knife through garlic, the more intense the flavor is going to be. That’s why when you’re cutting garlic, you almost want to rub your knife on the cutting board. When you’re cutting herbs, it’s the opposite. You want to run your knife through the herbs the least amount of times because you want them to release all those essential oils in your mouth. So, we’re just bunching it, using the knife as a bit of a brace to bunch against. And you’re just opening it up a little bit at a time. Wow. Reathering. I’ve only ran my knife through once. I’m going to do one more time. Fresh herbs. Good to go. Okay, that’s going to go. Why did you do lime instead of lemon? I could go lemon and often I do, but uh lately I’ve just been digging lime. I think the gin with the lime go naturally together. Um muscles and lime go really well together. I think everybody naturally goes to the lemon, but the lime you’re still adding that acidity, but just a little bit of a different flavor profile. Okay. Okay. Prawns are cooked, risoto’s cooked. Look at this. We’re going to plate. We’re going to plate something we practice and we preach. Hot food should go into a hot plate. I’m a big advocate. You take anything out of this video. Take that. So, you’ve put so much time and effort and energy and money into creating this beautiful dish. For you to put it on a cold plate, it instantly loses 15°. By the time you get it to the table, you’ve lost another 15°. By the time you call the kids, pour the wine, do the cheers, your food is dang near cold. So, a hot plate will keep the food tempered for a long time. And if you need to use your oven to heat or reheat, just put it in at a low temperature, 170, for 30 minutes, and then wrap them in a towel or a tablecloth, and they will stay nice and warm. Okay, so from here, we’re going to take our risoto, which has come together beautifully. Beautiful, beautiful texture there. Look at the colors, too. And it’s free. Again, you should be able to move it around the plate and it settles in. From there, we’re taking our brrawns, our gin poached brrawns. Couple of these big, beautiful prawns right on top. Isn’t that beautiful? We’re going to go five. Amazing. You always want to work in in odd numbers, whether it’s three or five. It’s more appealing to the eye. Right. From here, we’re going to go a little bit more Parmesan cheese, of course. We have our fresh parsley we’re going to put on top. Wow. We have our Okonogan or Vancouver Island, I should say. Um, flaky sea salt on top. Wow. A little bit of our lime garnish. And that is a beautiful gin poach prawn with asparagus risoto. Chef, this is amazing. But the best part is we get to try it. This is the favorite time. The other best part is we teach you how to do this along with any many many other recipes. Whether it’s hands-on or demonstration, gives you an opportunity to get hands-on and create some of these these dishes that you may think is daunting, but really it’s it’s not that complicated. Just need someone to show you. 30 minutes or less. 30 minutes or less, it could happen. Yes. All right. Now, chef, for those watching at home, where do they go to book a cooking class? They can go to our website. Of course, there’s a tab they can book it. But if they want to book directly with you guys, you can go to shoplakehouse.com. It has our full class calendar. We offer over 80 classes, hands-on demonstration, sweet, savory, everything in between. We have a team of about 15 chefs. We also support chefs from around the community that all teach their specialties. Um, lots to check out. Uh, we’ve got a cafe with $2 cappuccinos. $2 cappuccinos. We’ve got avocados. We’ve got lots. Come down. Check us out. Amazing. Thank you. Thank you so much, chef. If you’re watching us, make sure you check out the lakehouse. This is amazing. Uh the cooking classes are absolutely amazing. There’s so many to choose from. col clonafoodiehub.com. You can go take a look there. Uh you can go directly on their website. But we can’t wait to see you in the kitchen cooking here. It’s it’s it’s been amazing. Yeah. And please, if you try one of the dishes, make sure to tag us. Let us know that you’ve tried it and how it went. Well, here we are. Why don’t you have a bite as official? I would love to. Thank you so much. Mhm. I have to try. It’s amazing. And you get those balance of flavors, right? You should really taste each individual item and then it all come together. You get the garlic, you get the parsley, the lime, the the savoriness, and the butter feel, the butter, the parmesan cheese adds saltiness to it, freshness from the parsley. You do. You really do taste all of the ingredients. I’m so excited for everyone to try at home. And thank you so much for joining us. The Lakehouse Kitchen. Cheers. Lakehouse Kitchens Cooking School. You need to go on their website. You need to book. colonafoodhub.com. We’ll help you out.