Canadian Cuisine

Kaarina

Our Voyage fantastique to Montreal in May inspired our June Epitour meal. It consisted of two simple courses - an Arctic Char main - followed by a selection of Quebec cheeses. The Arctic Char, which has a short season for wild caught in the far north, was farmed in British Columbia and came to my kitchen via Hooked, a very cool sustainable fish market on Queen St. East, in Toronto’s Leslieville. Since the dish was inspired by a spectacular restaurant meal, I had no recipe to fall back on. My simple interpretation wasn’t up to Caribou Gourmand standard but delicious nevertheless.

Caribou Gourmand Arctic Char

I served my Arctic Char on a pool of pea purée with roasted baby potatoes and asparagus on the side.

Pea Purée

2 cups fresh peas
Half cup chopped sweet onion
2 teaspoons lemon juice
2 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil (divided)
Salt and pepper to taste

1. Sweat the onion in EVOO at medium heat for 10-15 minutes, taking care not to brown it.
2. Bring 1 cup water to a boil. Add peas and 1/2 teaspoon salt; cook about 2 minutes for fresh and 4 minutes for frozen. Drain the peas, reserving the cooking liquid. Set half a cup of cooked peas aside.
3. Purée the the remaining peas, onion, lemon juice, salt and pepper, half cup reserved pea cooking liquid and the remaining tablespoon of EVOO until smooth.
 

Kaarina’s Crispy-Skinned Arctic Char

Crispy-skinned Arctic Char

4 (5-ounce pieces) of skin-on Arctic Char fillets
3 tbsp butter
Salt and pepper

1. Melt 3 tbsp butter in a skillet over medium heat.
2. Season the fish generously with salt and pepper.
3. Cook skin side down for 5 minutes. The aim is to crisp the skin slowly, melting the fat under the skin while taking care not to burn it. Turn the fillet and cook 2 minutes on the other side.

To serve

Gently reheat the pea purée. Pour a pool of purée on each plate. Place a fillet off centre on the pure. Scatter reserved peas over the fish and puree and top with a  handful of micro greens.