The Day That The Apricots Came....

The Day That They Apricots Came.....

Over the last few years, I have bought the entire crop (or close to it) of organic apricots from my pals Cheryl & Blaire up in the Similkameen Valley. The primary focus of their farm is to produce honey and the apricots are not the focus but rather a by-product.

Bees like apricots and Blaire has dotted a line of trees from the main valley road to the bee hives. In reality, harvesting the apricots are amost an afterthought.







Last week cases of freshly picked organic apricots began arriving at the Greyhound depot.

I converted my Smart car into a Apricot Transporter, and over the next couple of days collected a total of 37 cases. At 20lb a case we had a whopping 740lbs.....seemed like a good idea at the time.

The logistics of storing, pitting, boiling and putting into individual jars is mind boggling.
We hosted a "Pit for your Supper" event, that saw 10 people spend 2 and a half hours last Monday night, pitting apricots. For their trouble they were hydrated with endless pints of beer and ate their weight in apricots.







We kept the pits so that our Chef can make an apricot gastric, and this will form the base of the chutney.

















O yeah, I guess I should have said what we intended to do with the apricots....I sold 6 cases to Chef Rob Belcham of Fuel and Campagnolo, our pastry chef Pekka took several lbs to make desserts for the Heather and Salt Tasting Room and we made Apricot Chutney.







Here is our 80 litre tilt skillet.....we filled it 3 times, each time for 3 hours.






We'll be selling jars of this Apricot Chutney at the Farmer's Market located right outside our front door this Sunday from 11am-3pm.

Otherwise it will appear as a condiment on Salt's blackboard menu or as a foil on one of the Heather's cheese plates.

Plating Skate last Tuesday

CLICK HERE FOR MENUS AND DATES

Tonight is the first Long Table Series held on a Sunday.

We have decided to start Sunday's L.T.S. at 730pm and not 630pm as we do Mon-Wed. We figure that you'll probably be doing better things with your day and a later start will work better.

This Sunday roast will be a baked ham with Okanagan cherry compote, braised cabbage and shoestring fries. We are charging $15 and you get a pint of Vancouver Island brewery, Phillips Blue Buck Ale with your meal.

In addition Vancouver Magazine will be embedding a writer amongst us/you to capture the spirit of the L.T.S. for their September issue.

We have four seats left, so if the menu/time slot/budget works for you, drop me an email at sean@irishheather.com

For details of all other events please go HERE

Cheers,

Sean Heather

L.T.S. UPDATE

Last Monday we launched the menus for the next 7 weeks, and are delighted that everything has been well received. This Monday, Tuesday & Wednesday are already sold out, as are Monday and Wednesday of next week.

Last week we served Beef Short Ribs, Skate and Handmade Tortalini over Mon-Tue-Wed, in that order, to "Sold Out" tables.

To keep costs down Chef Lee and his team elected to fillet the Skate themselves, which included the thankless task of removing the skin.

Next Sunday (19th July) we will serve our first Sunday Roast L.T.S. On the menu that night is

Baked Ham, with Okanagan Cherry Compote, Braised Cabbage and Shoe String Fries
and a pint of Phillips Blue Buck

We have decided to start Sunday's dinner at 730pm, to allow you more time to get here from whatever it is you do on Sundays.

For details of this and all other L.T.S. evenings please go HERE

and as always email sean@irishheather.com for reservations

Long Table Series Menus & Dates

This is it, the next 7 weeks of the L.T.S.!

There are a few changes, and these are mostly based on
lessons learned from the last 3 weeks.

1. There is a vegetarian option available every night. We need 24 hours notice.
2. There will be a beverage sponsored by Coca Cola available in place of the alcohol choice
3. L.T.S. is now available 4 days a week. On Sundays, the meal is a roast, costs $15 & starts at 730pm

As always, for reservations, please email sean@irishheather.com with the date
and number of guests.

Cheers,

Sean Heather

CLICK HERE FOR MENU

In the Georgia Straight today

Article as appeared in Georgia Straight

Scootch Down the Table
Reserve now for the steal-of-a-deal Long Table Series at the Irish Heather GastroPub (212 Carrall Street) where, until September 30, $12 buys a pint and a plate every Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday at 6:30 p.m. Chef Lee Humphries’s pairings include Strongbow with roasted suckling pig, braised lamb cheeks and Guinness, and skate and R&B Red Devil Ale. Reserve by e-mailing sean@irishheather.com

And from our own ramblings:

Photo of Long Table for last night "Drunken Pig" dinner. Due to a reservation hitch, we ended up with 52 guests and 2 children looking to sit at a 42 seat table....we worked it out but it was scary for a while.

New menus and dates for 8 weeks following July 8th will be published here, next Sunday.