"There's fungus in my soup!"

KATHARINE HAMER SPECIAL TO THE JEWISH BULLETIN

Long gone are the days when you could rely on every restaurant in town to slide a simple dish of steak and mashed potatoes in front of you. Now, menus are bursting at the seams with an array of incomprehensibly trendy sauces, side dishes, garnishes and other accoutrements. Take that confusion and make a meal of it, with the help of our short primer:

Fennel
Fennel lends a delicate aniseed flavor to salads, soups, fish and meat dishes, as well as some desserts. Locally grown, it is widely available at major supermarkets, and can also be found at farmers' markets around town, usually from fall until late spring. When looking for fennel, choose crisp, clean white bulbs with fresh green shoots. Avoid any pieces that appear to be bruised or over-ripe. Keep it stored in the fridge, tightly wrapped in a plastic bag, for up to five days. You can also buy whole or ground fennel seeds, which should be stored in a cool, dry place for no more than six months. Fennel is becoming a fast favorite at Vancouver's top restaurants. Lumiere's Rob Feenie serves it shaved over seared hamachi tuna and stirs it into a plum soup, accompanied by India spice ice cream. At West, Chef David Hawksworth shaves it into a salad with cucumbers and beet chips.

Chipotle
We've probably all read a menu that offers burgers or fries with a chipotle mayonnaise. This fiery spice whose name trips off the tongue (it's pronounced chee-pot'-lay) has become so ubiquitous that even Subway promotes its use in television ads. Chipotle is actually a dried, smoked jalapeno pepper. It has a wrinkly, dark brown skin and a smoky, sweet flavor. It's usually found in the dried form, but can also be bought in a canned variety. The dried spice can be roasted in the oven to give it a darker color and more intense flavor. Seek out the spice stalls at Granville Island Market for the best range. A staple of Mexican and South American cooking, chipotle can be added to dips, sauces and stews, and is particularly good for marinating and encrusting meats.

The pickled variety is often eaten as an appetizer.

Cape gooseberry
Unlike its western, green cousin, the bright orange Cape gooseberry, grown on the eastern seaboard of the United States, is a delight to pop into one's mouth. Large and firm, the fresh Cape gooseberry comes on a stalk inside a peelable husk. Urban Fare and Granville Island Market are good places to find these little treasures, which have been making guest appearances on all the best desserts lately. I can vouch for the fact that they go particularly well with pistachio cheesecake. Also to be found in sauces and jams and at the Wickaninnish Inn's decidedly upscale Pointe restaurant in Tofino in a salad with baby spinach.

Asiago
This semi-firm Italian cow's milk cheese has long been used as a substitute for Parmesan. When aged for a year, it becomes hard enough for grating and, before that, is an excellent table cheese. Slightly sweet and nutty, with just enough of a kick to excite the senses, it pairs well with eggs, grains and pastas. Slickety Jim's Chat and Chew on Main Street throws it into a breakfast burrito alongside tomatoes and spinach. At the Pointe restaurant, senior sous-chef Michael Bebault whips up a creamed asiago and asparagus barley to accompany broiled jumbo tiger prawns. Although La Grotta del Formaggio on Commercial Drive is considered by many to be the best place in town to sniff out cheeses, asiago is also available at most major supermarkets.

Truffle
The tremendously pricey truffle fungus, grown almost exclusively in France and Italy, is rooted out by specially trained pigs and dogs at harvest-time. Truffles, which come in both black and white varieties, grow three to 12 inches underground near the roots of trees. They have a pungent flavor and are often used in Italian cooking. Red kuri squash ravioli with black truffle beurre blanc is a popular item on the menu at the Lumiere taster bar, as is a butternut squash ravioli with Portobello mushroom and truffle oil at Il Giardino. C restaurant serves truffle baked potatoes alongside butter poached lobster and New York steak.

A selection of truffle oils and pastes line the shelves at Meinhardt on South Granville and at East Vancouver's Gourmet Warehouse. Fresh truffles are very difficult to find in Vancouver and are stocked only occasionally by Urban Fare in Yaletown. Choose firm, well-shaped truffles with no sign of blemishes, and use them as soon as possible. I have been reliably advised by a local chef to steer clear of non-European varieties, which are of low quality. "If you want truffles," he said, "go for the real thing."

Katharine Hamer is a Vancouver freelance writer.

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