Anna Olson’s sweet romance with Filipino food

MANILA, Philippines – Just as she’s inspired many a Canadian homemaker, Canadian celebrity chef Anna Olson is set to cook her way into our hearts when her new show —  yes, Inspired with Anna Olson — premieres exclusively on the Asian Food Channel on Friday, July 29, at 9 p.m.

For this 10-episode AFC original series, Anna kicks off her inspiring culinary journey across Southeast Asia in the Philippines with our very own celebrity chef Rob Pengson. Here, you’ll see Rob cooking up three local recipes from his restaurant: Squab Inasal (grilled pigeon served with seasonal vegetables), kinilaw (tuna ceviche), and Tocino di Cielo (bite-sized custards). Inspired by Rob’s cooking, Anna will do her own versions of the inasal, kinilaw, and the dessert, coming up with her own Maple BBQ Chicken Wings, Salmon Tartare on Cassava Cakes, and Mini Lime Creme Caramels.

 “That’s what Inspired is all about,” says Anna in this one-on-one interview as she flashes a sweet smile. “I showcase not just ingredients but parallel techniques. Being a Western cook, when I traveled to the Philippines in February, and I visited with Margarita (Fores), Rob and Claude (Tayag), they shared their dishes and I will take elements of their dishes, I will not copy them, that’s not who I am. I’m a Western-trained chef, I don’t cook with Asian technique, but I would take some of these influences and integrate them into my style of cooking.” 

On her very first visit, she just had to yield to the sweet temptation that was the Tocino Di Cielo. Anna gushes, “Ooh, it’s so intense and sweet, and I understand why you have just little bits of it, but I created my own version based on the Western crème caramel, but I integrated lime into it. I don’t want to copy it, but I want to replicate the idea of richness, the concentrated sweetness, and the creaminess that is so satisfying, and basically pay respect to your dishes in my way.”

Anna must love Filipino food so much that three of the 10 episodes in her Southeast Asian eat-inerary are about the Philippines: Rob Pengson for Episode 1, Gaita Fores for Episode 4, and Claude Tayag for Episode 8.

Asia’s Female Chef of the Year Gaita Fores will dazzle our taste buds with her scintillating short rib adobo with adlai (short ribs stewed in vinegar and soy sauce, served with rice-like grain), river prawn sinigang with watermelon (watermelon sour soup with prawns), and atchara (pickled green papaya). Inspired by Gaita’s use of adlai, an alternative to rice, Anna whips up her own coffee-braised beef on Canadian wild rice. Meanwhile, Anna’s answer to Gaita’s dazzling sinigang is her very own supple roasted apple and garlic mussels. And Anna’s version of Gaita’s atchara? My, oh my, it’s pickled squash marmalade!

To cap her visit to the Philippines, Anna goes on a food trip to Pampanga with chef Claude Tayag.  This innovative chef presents his three creations to rouse our lethargic appetites: Pampanga Bulanglang (fish broth with guava puree, served with vegetables and seafood), Pampanga Halo Halo (iced dessert with beans, coconut and corn served with a sweet sauce), and sansrival (dessert cake with layers of buttercream, meringue, and chopped cashews). For her part, Anna creates her rosemary-roasted venison rack with blueberry balsamic sauce, sweet potato ice cream sundae with corn nut brittle and maple spice reduction, and Eton Mess Torte.

Truth is, Anna’s love affair with Filipino food has been going on for quite some time now. On her fifth visit to the Philippines, Anna raves about our adobo, sinigang, kare-kare, and lechon stuffed with garlic rice.

 “The food here is related to some of the Canadian flavors we have, there’s an honesty to the style of cooking here that I like,” Anna notes. “I know lots of Canadians who love Filipino food. The ingredients may be different, but the style is similar. Like, think of adobo and we have something similar. We cook with lots of garlic and of course, garlic is very important here. We don’t have the tropical flavors, but I can buy fresh calamansi now in Chinatown in Toronto.”

She adds, “I think Filipino cooking is good. It’s different because you use honest ingredients; they’re not high-end, fancy ingredients, but you can make delicious food from a simple combination of ingredients. That’s what I love about adobo, you can take a little bit of meat and with a beautifully fragrant sauce, all of a sudden feed your family, and it’s satisfying, it’s rich, it’s actually quite complex. That’s how I made my beef stew, same idea, you take a humble cut of meat, it’s not rib-eye steak, but if you stew it right, braise it right ... Just as every Filipino mom would have a different version of adobo, every Canadian mom would have a different beef stew. Chef Margarita, when she made it for me, made it in a special clay pot from her hometown.”

Anna is a well-loved pastry chef who draws her inspiration from her grandmother with a proud Eastern European cooking background (think poppy seed cakes, walnut cakes, and apple strudels).

Canada’s baking darling is also the host of Food Network Canada’s Bake with Anna Olson, Fresh with Anna Olson, and Sugar. Her husband, Michael Olson, is also a chef who teaches cooking at Niagara College.

Certainly, this culinary icon does not care for anything half-baked. “What my grandmother taught me is you have to bake with love, put your heart into it. If you don’t care about it, it’s not going to care about you.”

The secret to her sweet success? The humble celebrity chef quickly replies, “I don’t know, I’m just doing what I love. What’s important to me is connecting with people. In my travels over the years to Asia, I’ve made so many friends that when I come back, I have to balance work and social life, getting in touch with people in each city where I’m at. And now, a friend of ours in Manila, Bruce Lim, is going to visit us in August. We’ve made lifetime friends. Bruce Lim and my husband are very similar, they’re both big guys, they both have a good sense of humor.”

As for her legacy to the culinary world, Anna shares, “I’d like to say that I cook with kindness. I want people who watch my TV shows and read my recipes to feel confident about themselves. And whether they make the recipe or not, they feel that they could.”

Such inspiring words from an inspiring chef.