Cooking for a cause: Canadian celebrity chef uses cookware line to help in fight against breast cancer

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This article was published 17/12/2011 (5221 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

“Okra! This is fantastic!”

Canadian celebrity chef Ricardo Larrivee bounds between tables of stacked vegetables at a Calgary Safeway store, as he points to a spot in the cooler.

“This is tough to find anywhere in the country. We always buy okra frozen — it’s gooey, it’s never perfect. Probably, there’s a community in Calgary here that loves this fresh,” he says.

Larrivee’s passion for food is infectious, and it’s helped him make a connection with aspiring cooks around the world.

His show on Radio-Canada, Ricardo, has been running for a decade, making him a household name in Quebec.

His English-language show, Ricardo and Friends, has a dedicated following on the Food Network, and his bilingual website, ricardocuisine.com, has about 3,000 recipes and videos. He has cookbooks in both French and English, as well as a magazine.

More than a few comparisons have been made between Larrivee and British chef Jamie Oliver. Like Oliver, Larrivee has expanded his business well beyond cookbooks and television.

And like Oliver, Larrivee has taken on a cause that he cares deeply about.

It was Larrivee’s recent launch of his Ricardo line of cookware at Safeway stores across Canada that presented him with an opportunity he couldn’t pass up.

During October, Larrivee and Safeway have partnered to donate 10 per cent of sales of the Ricardo cookware line to the Canadian Breast Cancer Foundation.

The reason is very personal.

“Six years ago, my wife had breast cancer,” Larrivee says. She won her battle against the disease after fighting it for four years, but the experience had a profound effect on Larrivee.

He was struck by the unfairness of breast cancer, and how it could strike anyone, no matter how healthy their lifestyle.

“I mean, my wife is a nutritionist,” Larrivee says. “She never drank, she never smoked, she breastfed three children under the age of 30. Everything that’s supposed to prevent a lot of it, and she still had it.”

Testing showed that his wife’s cancer had a genetic link, adding another layer of worry.

“She has a defective gene,” Larrivee says. “So we know that my (three) girls have a 50 per cent chance to have the defective genes also.”

The experience has helped to give him focus and lend him extra motivation.

“To me, even though I’m scared to hell all the time that it’ll be back, I’m thinking of the future.

When I read the paper and I see a young mother gone, that kills me, because it could have been my wife. So I want to do something so children have their mother for a long time.”

For Larrivee, food is something that brings people together, that can lend comfort to a sick spouse, and that supplies the body with the resources it needs to regain its strength.

He’s doing what he can with food, and his cooking empire, to make a difference.

“Food has this healing power, and there’s nothing that can beat that.”

Comforting Chicken Lasagna — Serves 6

There’s nothing more comforting than receiving a lasagna from a loved one when you’re sick, convalescing after an operation or even recovering after giving birth. It’s a nourishing meal, and all the recipient has to do is pop it into the oven.

• 9 lasagna noodles

Filling

• 1 onion, finely chopped

• 3 tbsp. (50 mL) olive oil

• 1 clove garlic, finely chopped

• 10 cups (2.5 L) baby spinach, lightly packed

• 1 1/2 lb. (750 g) ground chicken salt and pepper

Bechamel

• 1/3 cup (75 mL) butter

• 6 tbsp. (100 mL) unbleached all-purpose flour

• 3 1/2 cups (800 mL) milk

• 1/4 tsp. (1 mL) grated nutmeg

• 1/4 cup (50 mL) grated Parmigiano Reggiano

• 2 cups (500 mL) grated Gruyere

Cook the pasta in boiling salted water until al dente. Rinse under cold running water. Oil lightly and set aside.

In a large non-stick skillet, brown the onion in 1 tbsp. (15 mL) oil. Add the garlic and cook for 1 more minute. Add the spinach and cook for 1 to 2 minutes, stirring constantly. Season with salt and pepper. Transfer to a bowl and set aside. In the same skillet, brown the chicken in the remaining oil, separating it with a fork. Season with salt and pepper. Set aside in a large bowl.

In the same skillet, melt the butter. Add the flour and cook over medium heat for 1 minute, stirring constantly. Gradually add the milk and the nutmeg and bring to a boil, stirring constantly with a whisk. Season with salt and pepper. Pour over the chicken.

With the rack in the middle position, preheat the oven to 350 F (180 C).

Spread one-third of the chicken and bechamel mixture on the bottom of an 11 x 7 in (28 x 18 cm) baking dish. Cover with a layer of noodles. Cover with another third of the chicken mixture. Cover with a layer of noodles.

Cover with the spinach mixture. Sprinkle with the Parmesan. Cover with a layer of noodles and add the remaining chicken mixture. Sprinkle with the Gruyere.

Bake for about 45 minutes. Finish under the broiler for about 5 minutes. Let stand for 15 minutes before serving.