Our cookbook of the week is Tawâw: Progressive Indigenous Cuisine by Enoch Cree chef Shane M. Chartrand and Jennifer Cockrall-King. Over the next three days, we’ll feature more recipes from the book and an interview with one its authors.
If you’re new to curing fish, Shane M. Chartrand’s striking, rich fuchsia salmon makes an ideal foray. “It’s got a really powerful colour,” he says of the dish, which was inspired by time spent with family in the Syilx/Okanagan People’s territory in the Interior of B.C.
Two of the dish’s primary components — salmon (specifically king, which is also known as chinook or spring salmon) and saskatoon berries — are among the Syilx’s four “food chiefs,” Chartrand explains. (The other two are black bear and bitterroot.)
Sweet and juicy with notes of almond, saskatoon berries can be hard to come by in certain parts of the country. If you can’t access them, substitute the berries of your choice for the sauce; Chartrand suggests haskaps or blueberries.
BEET-CURED SALMON WITH CHANTERELLES AND SASKATOON SAUCE
Plant to start this recipe a day ahead.
For the beet-cured salmon:
1 cup (250 mL) granulated sugar
1/2 cup (125 mL) salt
1 × 3.3-lb (1.5-kg) sashimi-grade salmon, skin on and pinboned
1 cup (250 mL) fresh beet juice (from about 4 large red beets)
For the mushrooms:
1/4 cup (60 mL) canola oil
4 large shallots, finely diced
4 cups (1 L) chanterelle mushrooms, roughly chopped
Salt, to taste
For the saskatoon berry sauce:
1 1/2 cups (375 mL) saskatoon berries
3 bay leaves (fresh or dried)
3 x 3-inch (7.5-cm) cinnamon sticks
3 tbsp (45 mL) granulated sugar
For serving:
1 1/2 tbsp (22 mL) cold-pressed flax oil, to finish
Several dill fronds
Salt, to taste
Step 1
Make the beet-cured salmon: Combine the sugar and salt in a bowl. Place the fillet on a shallow baking dish or rimmed baking sheet and cover both sides in the sugar mixture. Pour the beet juice evenly over the fillet. Cover loosely with plastic wrap and refrigerate for 24 hours.
Step 2
Prepare the mushrooms: Heat the oil in a pan over medium-high heat. Add the shallots, mushrooms and salt (the mushrooms and shallots will sizzle at first but will calm down). Cook until very soft, about 8 minutes, stirring occasionally. Remove the pan from the heat and let cool slightly.
Step 3
Make the saskatoon berry sauce: Combine the berries, bay leaves, cinnamon sticks and sugar in a small pan. Cook over medium-high heat, stirring occasionally, until the berries burst and the mixture has reduced in volume by a quarter. Taste and add more sugar, if needed. Discard the bay leaves and cinnamon sticks. Remove the pan from the heat and set the sauce aside.
Step 4
Cook the salmon: Take the salmon out of its cure and rinse well under cool running water, then pat dry with a clean cloth or paper towel. Using a sharp knife, cut the salmon into thin slices against the grain.
Step 5
Assemble the dish: Smear a spoonful of saskatoon berry sauce on each serving plate. Place a spoonful of the mushroom purée near it. Arrange the fish on top of the mushroom purée. Drizzle with the flax oil, and sprinkle with dill fronds and a pinch of salt. Serve immediately.
Makes: 4 to 6 servings
Excerpted from tawâw: Progressive Indigenous Cuisine , copyright © 2019 by Shane Mederic Chartrand and Jennifer Cockrall-King. Reproduced with permission from House of Anansi Press, Toronto. www.houseofanansi.com
Copyright Postmedia Network Inc., 2019
