This time round, our Small Kitchens feature invites you inside the sculleries, smokers, pantries, galleys and canteens of Canada’s industrious bakers, butchers, brewers and chefs. Innovation and flexibility have been paramount throughout the pandemic. We’re all missing impromptu drinks and apps at the local; post-dog-walk lattes; and lazy patio brunches with friends and family. In turn, our beloved restaurants, cafés and bakeries are missing us too. So, let’s drop in for a virtual visit and learn more about those who satiate our cravings and keep us hungry for more. Be sure to support the indie spots in your radius by ordering takeout or purchasing gift cards for the future.
SARAH BENNETTO O’BRIEN
Founder The Handpie Company Albany, Prince Edward Island handpie.ca
Harrowsmith: What’s cookin’, good lookin’? What is your role in the kitchen? How long have you been a chef or baker? Where did you train?
Sarah Bennetto O’Brien: My name is Sarah Bennetto O’Brien, and I’m the CEO behind The Handpie Company, located in Albany, Prince Edward Island. Our crew of locally trained culinary and pastry school graduates manufactures handmade, handheld savoury pies in the tradition of the Cornish pasty from the U.K., with local Maritime ingredients. We’ve been The Handpie Company since 2017 and now distribute our ready-to-bake “handpies” across our province to around 20 shops (including Copper Bottom Brewing in Montague, an awesome local brewery that proudly pairs pints and pies).
I’ve cooked across Canada, but originally enrolled in culinary arts at Cambrian College in Sudbury, Ontario, and then graduated with my applied degree in culinary arts from the Culinary Institute of Canada, here in Charlottetown, P.E.I., in 2008.
HS Name three things you always have in your fridge.
SO I rely more on pantry items, but I always have garlic, potatoes (we are on P.E.I.!) and onions. They’re the base of most things I cook at home.
HS You’re stuck on a desert island. What cookbook do you need to survive?
SO Thankfully, most of my survival cooking lives deep in my brain, and I most definitely know how to build a good cooking fire in the wild.
HS What’s your midnight snack, guilty pleasure or comfort food go-to?
SO I’m an absolute diehard fan of other local bakeries and chocolatiers and often have a late-night snack of pastry deliciousness. I love sweet-and-salty combos and will never say no to a chocolatine made with salted butter and dark chocolate!
HS Describe your childhood kitchen.
SO We moved around a whole lot, so it’s a mishmash of galley kitchens, but magic can always be made in small spaces if you have a good mixing bowl and a strong wooden spoon.
HS Do you love or loathe cilantro?
SO Ha! This is such a good question. I was a cilantro “soap” person until I hit my 30s, and now I respect the brightness it can bring to the right dishes.
HS What’s your signature dish or menu item?
SO I’m definitely known as the Handpie Lady, so it’s any sort of handpie! My signature handpie is a toss-up between our Beets, Corn and Goat Cheese handpie and the traditional Pork Tourtière handpie that tastes like the northern Ontario spiced version of my childhood.
HS Who would you like to cook for? (Living, dead, famous or not.)
SO I believe that cooking for someone is an act of deep comfort and something to be treasured, and I most like to cook for folks who feel that in their soul. I appreciate my fellow chefs and bakers so very much and can feel love in what they do, and as a community of an industry, there’s no greater feeling than cooking with and for other people who get it.
HS Name your can’t-livewithout-it ingredient, kitchen tool or small appliance.
A really great flexible fish spatula holds
