Catching Up with Food Writer Lesley Chesterman
You may recall that last fall we hosted 2024 Joseph Hoare Gastronomic Writer-in-Residence Lesley Chesterman at the School, visiting from her home in Montreal. A trained professional pastry chef and former cooking teacher in Montreal and France, Lesley began her career as a food writer in 1998, primarily at the Montreal Gazette as a food columnist and restaurant critic from 1999 to 2019. She has written several books and is currently working on two more, the English version of her second French book Un Weekend Chez Lesley, and her third French book, which will focus on wine with food pairings. We thought you’d like to hear more about what Lesley is up to and the challenges that come with developing a new recipe. Read more below, excerpted from a recent post on Lesley’s Substack, Lick My Plate.
From Idea To Dish
There are days I’m just not inspired and days I don’t want to set foot in the kitchen. But most of the time, I’m happy to be dreaming up new recipes. There are so many recipes available to the public now, which was hardly the case when I started as a food writer, so finding an original idea for a recipe isn’t always a walk in the park. Yes, it happens, but truth be told, most people are just churning out personalized interpretations of known recipes, and that’s fine by me because it’s interesting seeing how people can reinterpret a classic.
Reinterpreting a Classic
I recall in my first book wanting to feature a recipe for chocolate chip cookies, which seemed ridiculous considering that’s a recipe that’s been done to death. But I had an idea in mind for a cookie that I enjoyed as a kid, which was no longer available as the store that sold them closed. So, relying on the memory, my goal was to get as close to it as possible. After many, many tests, I think I nailed it and have yet to find a better cookie to my taste.
Trial and Error
The same goes for all of the recipes I write. I start with an idea, and through trial and error, work on getting close to what I imagine. I often get there, but it also happens that my ideas result in a huge disappointment. Case in point: a Thai-inspired salmon dish I dreamed up that seemed so great in theory, yet turned out to be a total dud. I guess I could have reworked it over and again but I threw in the towel pretty quickly on that one.
For the wine book I’m working on, I imagined a recipe for a savory tart to pair with red wine. And because there were so many meat dishes in the book, I wanted it to be vegetarian. I’ve already written up the recipe, and tested it a few times with good results, so I thought I’d bring you along for the ride.
Antipasto Inspiration
The idea came from two sources. First, the tomato galette in my last French book, and then the wine I wanted to pair with it. The recipe I needed was for the Sangiovese chapter, and in a book heavy on meat dishes, I wanted something vegetable-forward. So a tart came to mind. Then I thought of that great Sangiovese-based wine, Chianti, and the first dishes that popped into my head were tomato-sauced pastas. Yes, I already had a couple of those. But then I remembered of one of the things I love most about Italian restaurants: antipasto plates. I especially recall a perfect one set out on an antique sideboard at the Montreal restaurant Il Cortile, a popular downtown Montreal trattoria with classic Italian food (great tiramisu!) and an incredible terrasse. Looking back, I think I admired that antipasto spread close to 40 years ago! And though I haven’t been back to Il Cortile in ages, I bet it’s exactly the same.
What I like best in an antipasto buffet are the grilled marinated vegetables, especially the peppers, eggplant, zucchini and artichokes. There are often sliced tomatoes, olives and marinated mozzarella as well. Yum! Why not make that into a tart, I thought.
Test and Test Again
So I did! But it took me a few tries to make something I like. In the first version, the vegetables were sliced too thick And I loaded on too much mozzarella. Delicious yes, but refined? No.
But the second version — with less mozzarella and thinner vegetables — I liked. What I really liked about this tart is that I made it with a puff pastry base. Yes, it’s more complicated, but the resulting tart was incredibly light and crisp. I served it at two dinner parties and it scored raves all around. Success!
When we take the picture for the book, I’ll post an update of how we styled it for the book, which will be a challenge, but I’m up for it! I love this tart and I’m happy to share a preview with you!
Text and Photos by Lesley Chesterman. Learn more: https://lesleychesterman.substack.com/
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