READ Magazine - Canada House, Rideau Hall and the Invention of a Canadian Home

EXCERPT Canada's House
by Margaret MacMillan, Marjorie Harris and Anne L. Desjardins
In conversation with Adrienne Clarkson and John Ralston Saul

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A Canadian House. Rideau Hall is a piece of our picture of ourselves. It has grown to maturity along with the country. I like to think of the house as a physical manifestation of the office. Rideau Hall represents the continuity of the Canadian experience. Conversations about the nature of Canada have been going on at Rideau Hall since before Confederation.

Garden Messages
We’d like to think that the gardens at Rideau Hall send a very strong message about who we are as a people at the beginning of the twentyfirst century.Whether it’s the thousands of trilliums that now greet visitors in early spring — emblematic Canadian flowers that have replaced the European imports — or the way the heritage of the formal garden has been uncovered and updated — the Lady Byng Rockery, for example — or in the number of northern plants we’ve introduced, or in the way we no longer clean up the garden in the autumn so that it’s all neat and tidy and completely uninteresting. In late autumn, when the snow begins to fall on the dried grasses and late perennials and shrubs, it creates an effect of white waves, a different sort of beauty.
Her Excellency, the Right Honourable Adrienne Clarkson,
Governor General of Canada

Photo: Rob Fiocca

Our eastern woodlands are full of wild ginger, a wonderful root vegetable. The wild ginger harvest begins even before the snow has melted because it comes up underneath the snow — early proof that spring is coming. You can easily grow it in your backyard, and it’s now one of the underplantings in Rideau Hall’s woodland garden. The chefs use it in a variety of desserts, including a wild-ginger chocolate recipe, this crème brûlée, and too many savoury dishes to name. Whenever someone dining at Rideau Hall remarks on any one of these delicious desserts or dishes, the chefs will always credit the Canadian ginger. Suggested wine: Inniskillin Riesling Icewine

Ontario Woodlands Wild Ginger and Roasted Niagara Plum Crème Brûlée

Serves 4

2 cups (500 mL) heavy cream
1 cup (250 mL) finely chopped wild ginger
5 egg yolks
2/3 cup (165 mL) granulated sugar
4 plums, diced
1 tbsp (15 mL) melted unsalted butter

In a heavy-bottomed saucepot on medium-high heat, add the cream and slowly bring to a boil. Add the wild ginger and cover. Remove the pot from the heat and set it aside for at least 1 hour to infuse the cream. Once the cream is infused, strain it through a fine sieve and set aside.

In a large mixing bowl, lightly beat the yolks and all but 2 tbsp (30 mL) of the sugar until creamy.With a wooden spoon or spatula, slowly incorporate the infused cream. Meanwhile, in a medium sauté pan, sear the plums for 2 minutes with the butter and the sugar. Remove the plums from the heat and divide them into four 5-ounce (150 mL) ramekins.

Preheat the oven to 300°F (150°C). Pour the cream mixture into the ramekins. Place the ramekins in a bainmarie (a 2-inch-high baking pan containing 1 inch of water), put it in the oven, and bake for about 1 hour or until a skin has formed on the surface. Remove the ramekins from the bain-marie and allow them to cool. Once cooled, place them in the refrigerator for at least 4 to 6 hours or until they are set.

When ready to serve, remove the ramekins from the refrigerator and sprinkle the remaining 2 tbsp (30 mL) of sugar on the surface to form a thin layer. Heat with a torch or under the broiler until the sugar melts and caramelizes. Serve immediately.

Excerpted from Canada’s House: Rideau Hall and the Invention of a Canadian Home by Margaret MacMillan, Marjorie Harris and Anne L. Desjardins in conversation with Adrienne Clarkson and John Ralston Saul. Reproduced by arrangement with the Publisher Alfred A. Knopf Canada, with Otherwise Editions. Copyright © 2004. All rights reserved.