Lunch feature 21.08.10

Pan Seared Pacific Rockfish
Herb Falafel, Cucumber & Mint Salad
BC Spot Prawn Bisque & Oil

In order to keep my overtime in check I asked Jeff to make me some falafel for this feature and he did a really nice job of it. They were, for lack of a better descriptor, delicious. I don't get the pleasure of eating prawn but I figure that falafel and bisque would go well together if the spices used to make both were similar. That is what was done and I think it went well, the guests loved it anyway.

Not much else to say about this one, other than a big thanks to Jeff for his help. Hopefully in the near future I can use something other than rockfish of ling cod for a feature. That would be nice.

Sean Peltier

Lunch feature 13.08.10

Candied Okangan Sockeye Belly & Halibut Corn Dog
Warm Cabbage, Onion & Pork Belly Slaw
Creamed Local Corn
Prawn Mayo & Oil
Roasted Red Pepper & Horseradish Puree

When cleaning some locally caught Okanagan Sockeye Salmon, on of our cooks Jeff asked (knowing full well that I would say yes) if I had any use for some salmon bellies. I absolutely love candied salmon bellies, however not nearly as much as my wife. So, I know that If I make some candied salmon bellies Shannon will be thrilled, which in return makes me thrilled. Last time I did this I used the bellies to make candied salmon hummus, which I served with some salmon.

What to do with the bellies this time. Well, I candied them again, which I did by curing them for a few hours in a mixture of 60/40 brown sugar and rock salt. After that I smoked them for about 2 hours.

Now that I had the bellies I had to figure out something to do with them. I wanted to make it the stand out flavor in the dish, not a side component. I have done the fish cake thing recently so that was out. What I had been wanting to do for a while is a sausage special, so why not a fish sausage. I decided to take it one step further and do a corn dog with it. Everyone loves a corn dog.

So I made a sausage with pieces of candied salmon and halibut mousse with the addition of a few different vegetables and spices all stuffed into a pork intestine casing. I then poached them on a stick and set them aside until I got an order. Upon ordering, I dipped them into the corn meal batter and deep fried them until golden and delicious.

For the accutrements I did a warm cabbage, onion and pork belly slaw. Nothing fancy there.

Some creamed corn that Shannon made by pureeing blanched corn into a stock made from cobs.
I just added in some blanched kernels for some added corn texture.

Prawn mayo made with prawn oil

Roasted red pepper and horseradish puree.

That is essentially it. Candied salmon corn dogs, eat it up, yum!


Sean Peltier

Lunch Feature 23.07.10

Today's lunch feature was a very simple dish that I'm sure all came together well(I can't eat any of the shellfishes).
I did a fennel crusted spring salmon, which I pan seared along with a thick slice of lemon. I know that the lemon isn't exactly Okanagan per se, however, I do know a few people who have successful lemon trees in the valley. Anyhow, I do this because the lemon takes on a very different flavor that really compliments fish with out overpowering some of the more delicate flavors. I also had acidity in some of the other components so I didn't want to overdo it.

With the belly trim from the salmon I did a very quick brown sugar and course salt cure. About 70%/30% in favor of the sugar. Make sure to use course salt as the finer stuff will overwhelm the curing process and make it to salty. I let this sit in the cure for about 2hrs. At this point a lot of the moisture of the fish will have leached out leaving the salmon belly swimming in it's own juices. I then removed the fish from the liquid but did not rinse it. Here I cold smoked it for about an hour and a half until it was fully cured. If smoking is not an option you can always just cook it at a low oven temperature for a few minutes until cooked.
The smoked belly was then added into a hummus along with a small dice of cucumber, dill, lemon juice(more acid), XVOO, seasonings and of course, the chick peas.

The sauce is a spot prawn bisque. Perhaps one day I will do up that whole process on here, but that is for another day. This sauce was not made by myself unfortunately, however, it did look and smell very nice(I hear it tasted good as well). The secondary sauce is a creme fraiche(more acid)which is made by mixing a little bit of buttermilk into some whipping cream and then letting it sit out overnight to thicken.

For vegetable garnishes I did a quick pan braise of some great baby summer squash and a pea shoot salad tossed in a little bit of lemon olive oil(yes, a little more acid...are you all starting to get the importance of acidity in food? Use a little acidity in your food and you will find you use less salt and usually less fat as well)

It sold well, anything prawn always does, it's a bit of a cheat but hey, I sold 27 of them today. In this case I guess that cheating is okay.

Sean Peltier