Say hello to Adrian and Jeremy of The Food Gays, a blog of local and seasonal recipes showcasing Vancouver's wide array of local produce and cultural ethnicities. The duo spend their time freelancing, developing recipes for various publications, and recently developed a travel guide, The Hunt Guide, to help visitors find the city's hottest places to eat, drink, shop, and have fun—in Vancouver and all over the world.
We loved their Roasted Turnip, Arugula, and Goat Cheese Salad, topped with caramelized violet turnips over arugula with crunch and spice from dukkah.
Here are a few words from Adrian and Jeremy:
We started our blog The Food Gays as a hobby about four years ago. We really wanted a mutual interest we could enjoy together, and food just seemed like a natural thing we both had in common. Back then we were mainly focused on dine-out blogging, so it was great learning about the food scene here in Vancouver. Our passion for food styling and photography developed a couple of years later, which prompted us to start thinking more about what kind of food we wanted to make. Now we’re working at it full-time, and couldn’t imagine doing anything else.
We both love cooking with fresh ingredients, and we’re pretty lucky to have access to such variety here in Vancouver. We love root vegetables like beets and radishes, and couldn’t live without fresh herbs like cilantro, mint and thyme. Citrus would have to be on that list, too—it’s included in almost every dish we make.
We spend so much of our time during the week planning, testing, and creating new recipes, a lot of times we neglect taking care of our own personal meal-planning! That said, when we do cook for ourselves, it will generally be something simple but flavorful, like pasta with bolognese, or homemade chicken soup. We have regular weekly brainstorm sessions to decide what we’re making next, depending on the season, an upcoming holiday, or a specific development for a client.
We love hearty, flavor-forward salads like these because they’re great make aheads, and most of all, they are actually satisfying. Turnips have been a bit off our radar until recently. We came across the most striking purple beauties at the market, and bought them with no plan (something Adrian is often guilty of). We felt like pairing it with arugula and a soft cheese would be a good match, but were pleasantly surprised at just how well. We recently started making our own dukkah, which adds a really nice, zippy crunch that brings it all together.
Other links from Adrian and Jeremy we love:
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