Winnipeg chef Mark Sobrevinas to take centre stage at pop-up dinner

Somewhere between his job at a health-care facility, his fruit-based catering business and the community cooking classes he teaches, Mark Sobrevinas finds time to be a chef, too.

Over the past 20 years, he's worked at multiple restaurants in Winnipeg, picking up tips, tricks and know-how. He's also been involved in several pop-up dinners led by Jeremy Senaris, his childhood best friend who also happened to be the runner-up on Season 3 of Masterchef Canada.

This weekend, Sobrevinas's own cooking will be in the spotlight at the latest pop-up dinner of the HaCHere Pop UP Collective, a series of dinners hosted Sundays at Marion Street Eatery.

"I've helped him with every single one of his pop-up dinners in the last two years. I've been his right-hand man," Sobrevinas said Friday. "And Allan [Pineda, creator of HaCHere] had said one day, 'You know what, it's time for you to be in the spotlight. You need to do something, and you need to take your creativity and share it with people.'"

For his menu, Sobrevinas said he'll pull on his years of experience in Winnipeg's cooking scene to influence traditional Filipino recipes he grew up with and loves. Sobrevinas was born in Canada, but his parents moved here from the Philippines.

Papaya-Calamansi Sorbet

Ingredients:

• 10 cups papaya.
• ⅔ cup sugar.
• ½ cup coconut milk (gata).
• 4 tablespoons calamansi juice.
• 2 teaspoons calamansi zest.
• Pinch of salt.

Directions:

Step 1 — Peel and remove seeds of papaya. Dice into half-inch cubes.

Step 2 — Arrange diced papaya in 1 layer on a parchment paper-lined baking sheet. Freeze overnight.

Step 3 — Combine ½ cup water and sugar in a saucepan over high heat. Stir continuously while bringing mixture to a boil to create a syrup. Continue until sugar is dissolved and mixture is syrupy, roughly three to five minutes. Let it cool for 15 minutes.

Step 4 — In a food processor, combine frozen papaya, syrup, coconut milk, calamansi juice, zest and salt. Process until smooth. Freeze until ready to serve.

Step 5 — Use a spoon to scrape the sorbet into bowls. If you like, garnish with calamansi slices.