Recipe: Poached Chinook salmon

Ahead of the 5th annual Feast Tofino, local chefs Robbie Elliot of the Shelter Restaurant and Hailey Pasemko of Wolf in the Fog Bar share a recipe for olive oil-poached Chinook salmon with Island asparagus and Peashoot Salad, Quick Pickles and Avocado Puree.

Olive oil-poached Chinook Salmon with Island Asparagus and Peashoot Salad, Quick Pickles and Avocado Puree

Olive oil for poaching

500 ml good quality olive oil
4pc Lemon rind
4pc orange rind
A few sprigs of tarragon and thyme
300 g of chinook salmon

Avocado Puree

4 avocados peeled and core removed
Juice of 3 lemons
Salt to taste

Asparagus and peashoot salad

10 pcs island asparagus
50 g peashoots
3 radishes
1/4 cucumber

Lemon vinaigrette

100ml fresh lemon juice
30 ml champagne vinegar
225 ml vegetable oil
50ml grainy dijon
50ml honey

Pickling liquid

250 ml water
150 ml white wine vinegar
2 tbsp sugar
1 tsp salt
2 bay leaf
2 garlic clove
1 tbsp pickling spice

Salmon

Slowly heat your oil up to 110F /44C. Once heated, remove from heat and add salmon, seasoned with salt and pepper. Allow the fish to sit until its colour intensifies marginally. This should take about 2 to 3 minutes. Flip the fish and remove after another minute. The fish should flake apart but no protein should be released. Dab off the oil before plating.

Avocado puree

Add avocado, lemon juice and salt into a food processor and mix until smooth.

Salad

Using a vegetable peeler, shave the asparagus pieces. Using a mandolin, slice your radish and cucumber. Add it to cold pickling liquid and let sit for a few hours.
Dress your salad with lemon vinaigrette and a pinch of salt.

Pickling liquid

Add all ingredients and bring to a boil. Cool down before using. If wanting to pickle quickly, add to veggies warm but cool quickly afterwards to not break down the cucumber too much.

The Ricky Greenland

Combine in a cocktail shaker:

1 oz Stump Gin
1 oz Cocchi Americano
1oz lime juice
½ oz pine syrup*
Add ice, shake and double strain into a Collin’s glass over fresh ice cubes
Top with club soda

Garnish: lime wheel and candied pine spear

*Candied Pine Spears & Pine Syrup
30 x 2 inch tips of pine branches *
2 cups water
3 cups granulated white sugar

Strip the needles off from the centre towards the cut end of the branches and set aside. Leave the needles on the tips of the branches. Combine the water with two cups of the sugar in a sauce pan and bring to a boil. Ensure all the sugar is dissolved and reduce heat to low. Add all loose needles and half stripped branches into the sauce pan with the sugar and water and simmer for 20 to 30 minutes. Fine strain the solids out to separate them from the now pine flavored syrup. The syrup is now done.

Take the half-stripped branches and allow them to air dry for about 5 minutes. They should be sticky, but not wet. Discard the loose needles. Put the remaining sugar in a mixing bowl and drag the branches through it one at a time. Ensure they are fully coated by the sugar. The branches should have a frosted appearance. Shake off any excess or clumps of sugar from the branches by lightly tapping them. Arrange them on a baking sheet lined with parchment so that they are not touching one another. Put the tray in the oven at the lowest setting possible. The sugar should not melt or bubble, but dry out. Most home ovens are too hot still at the lowest setting, leaving the oven door open a crack should fix that. Leave the tray in overnight, or until completely dry and the needles on the branches are brittle. Store in a moisture free container.

*Note: Not all pines are created equal. Some are toxic for humans. Avoid Lodgepole/Shore Pine, Ponderosa Pine and Monterey Pine. The general rule of thumb is that if it looks like a Christmas tree avoid it.

More Global BC recipes are available here