Canadian Celebrity Chef Michael Smith Promotes Lentils for Saskatchewan

The man behind Chef at Large and Chef at Home has been recruited by Saskatchewan to help promote their main crop -- lentils.

Smith hosted a competition in Regina where three other chefs -- Moe Mathieu of White Birch Catering, Malcolm Craig of Beer Brothers and Tim Davies of the Willow on Wascana -- competed to make the best lentil dish.

"The point of the Lentil Cup and involving Chef Michael is to get people to start consuming lentils locally. Because while we are one of the biggest players, we export 97 per cent of what we grow here," said Rachel Kehrig, Saskatchewan Pulse Growers' manager of market promotion for North America.

Davies won the Lentil Cup with a smoked duck and green lentil risotto, duck ragu zucchini fritters with beluga lentils and root vegetable rings with split red lentil puree.

Smith said he would eventually like to add the dishes made at the Lentil Cup to a cookbook for home chefs.