Cinda Chavich created these recipes for a special western Canadian regional feast.

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WILD RICE FRITTERS WITH COLD-SMOKED SASKATCHEWAN TROUT

Trout is farmed in Lake Diefenbaker in Saskatchewan and in Pincher Creek, in southern Alberta, Cunningham’s (403-627-6594) makes it into a wonderful cold-smoked product that’s perfect to perch atop a fritter made with Manitoba wild rice. Of course, you could also substitute B.C. cold-smoked salmon in this dish. For appetizers, make tiny fritters or if you make the fritters larger to serve as a side dish with braise meats or stews. This is a prairie version of the classic blini and caviar appetizer  - you might also try topping the fritters with sour cream and farmed Canadian sturgeon caviar.

Wild Rice Fritters:

1/2 cup (125 ml) finely chopped onions

1/4 cup (50 ml) butter

1/2 cup (125 ml) all-purpose flour

1/4 cup (50 ml) rye flour

1 teaspoon (5 ml) baking powder

1/4 teaspoon (1 ml) each, salt and pepper

1 egg

1/2 cup (125 ml) sour cream

1/4 cup (50 ml) milk

2 cups (500 ml) cooked wild rice

3 tablespoons (45 ml) canola oil

1/2 pound (225 g) cold-smoked trout or salmon, pre-sliced

Horseradish Crème:

1/4 cup (50 ml) mascarpone or spreadable cream cheese

1/4 cup (50 ml) sour cream

2 tablespoons prepared horseradish, drained

sea salt

Sauté the onions in butter until tender. In a bowl, combine the flours, baking powder, salt and pepper. In another bowl, whisk together the egg, sour cream and milk.

Quickly stir the wet ingredients into the dry to form a batter. Let stand 10 minutes.

Fold in the sautéed onion and cooked wild rice.

In a nonstick frying pan, heat the canola oil over medium high heat. Using 1-2 tablespoons of batter per fritter, cook  for 2 minutes a side, until browned and cooked through.

Whisk together the cheese, sour cream and horseradish until smooth (or use a food processor to puree). Season with salt to taste and set aside.

To assemble, put a dollop of horseradish crème on each pancake. Roll thin slices of smoked fish into tiny, trumpet-shaped  coronets and arrange atop each hors d’oeuvre. Garnish with a sprig of dill. Makes about 36 pieces.

PRAIRIE PICKEREL CHOWDER

When I was a kid, fresh fish was almost non-existent, except for the perch and pickerel caught in the local prairie lakes in the summer months. But with a few potatoes and onions, even these mild freshwater fish could be transformed into a creamy fish soup, reminiscent of the best East coast chowders. Today, pickerel is the only freshwater fish that is commercially fished,  much of it in Manitoba.

The evaporated milk keeps the fat low – feel free to substitute cereal cream for a richer result.

2 pounds (450 g) fresh or frozen pickerel fillets, bones removed, cut into small cubes

4 slices smoky bacon, chopped

1 large onion, chopped fine

4 cups (1 L) peeled and cubed potatoes

2 tablespoons (15 ml) flour

2 cups (500 ml) fish stock or water

1/2 teaspoon (2 ml) salt

1/4 teaspoon (1 ml) freshly ground black pepper

2 cups (500 ml) milk

1 cup (250 ml) evaporated milk or cereal cream

2 tablespoons (25 ml) chopped fresh parsley

In a large soup pot, cook the bacon slowly until it’s nicely browned. Remove from the pan and set aside.

Add the chopped onion to the bacon fat in the pan and saute until tender. Stir in the potatoes, and cook together for a few minutes longer.

Stir in the flour and mix well. Slowly add the stock or water, and season with salt and pepper. Bring to a boil, cover and simmer for 10 minutes, until potatoes are cooked.

Add the fish and simmer 5-10 minutes (don’t over cook the fish). Stir in milk and evaporated milk and heat through but don’t boil. Serve soup sprinkled with reserved bacon and chopped parsley. Serves 8.

MIXED GREENS WITH BISON CARPACCIO AND COLD-PRESSED CANOLA OIL

Traditionally, carpaccio is made with paper -thin slices of beef tenderloin, drizzled with olive oil. But lean bison makes perfect carpaccio and Highwood Crossing cold-pressed canola oil adds a nutty and brilliant gold sheen to this prairie-inspired dish. Although the bison is served raw, it is first seasoned and seared on the outside, so there is no danger of contamination.

1 pound (450 g) bison sirloin

2 teaspoons (10 ml) each: minced fresh thyme, basil, oregano and rosemary

2 teaspoons  (10 ml) black peppercorns, coarsely crushed

4-6 dried juniper berries, crushed

2 tablespoons (25 ml) cold-pressed  canola oil

sea salt to taste

2 cups (500 ml) shredded greens (sorrel, arugula, spinach)

Cold-pressed canola oil

1 lemon, halved

shards of Parmesan cheese

Clean the sirloin, trimming all of the fat and removing any sinew or silver skin. Cut the meat into long 3-inch square strips, with the grain.

Crush the juniper berries using a mortar and pestle. Combine with the fresh herbs and peppercorns and spread on a plate.  Roll the meat in herb mixture to coat all sides, then wrap the seasoned meat tightly in plastic wrap and refrigerate for 6-8 hours.

Discard the plastic wrap. Heat oil in a nonstick pan over high heat. Sear the meat quickly on all sides, about 1 minute per side. Cool meat and wrap in plastic again.

Freeze the bison until stiff but not solid. Using a very sharp knife, cut it into very thin slices across the grain.

Meanwhile, shred the greens and toss with just enough canola oil to coat. Squeeze half of the lemon over top.

To serve, arrange a small pile of greens on individual appetizer plates and arrange the carpaccio alongside,  overlapping the pieces in a neat pattern. Drizzle the plate very lightly with additional cold-pressed canola oil and season the meat with freshly ground black pepper. Traditionally, carpaccio is topped with a few shards of aged Parmesan cheese so look for a prairie version like Leoni Grana parmesan (or aged cheddar from Sylvan Star) and use a vegetable peeler to remove long, thin pieces to garnish the plates.  Serves 8.

VENISON LOIN ROAST WITH SASKATOON BERRY SAUCE

Venison and other game meats are very lean. Roasts cook quickly and should never be cooked past medium rare  (well-done game tends to be dry). Canadian Rocky Mountain Ranch near Calgary supplies its hotels and restaurants (like Buffalo Mountain Lodge and The Ranche) plus retail customers with various cuts of bison and elk venison, which can be ordered from their website (www.crmranch.com).  The meat is sent frozen, overnight, to your door along with recipes and cooking tips. Saskatoons are the prairie berry of choice for this dish – but wild blueberries  or black currants work well, too.

2.5-pound (1.1-kg) venison loin, all silver skin removed

2 tablespoons (25 ml) olive or cold-pressed canola oil, divided

salt and freshly ground black pepper

1 handful pine or spruce needles

12 juniper berries , lightly crushed

Sauce:

2 tablespoons (25 ml) butter

1 shallot, minced

4 black peppercorns, crushed

2 juniper berries

1 cup (250 ml) dry red wine

1 cup (250 ml) brown venison or beef stock

1/4 cup (50 ml) saskatoon berries, crushed or pureed

saskatoon liqueur or port(optional)

salt and freshly ground black pepper

1/2 cup (125 ml) whole saskatoon berries

Rub the venison loin with 1 tablespoon of the oil and season with salt and pepper. In an ovenproof saute pan or roasting pan, heat the remaining tablespoon of oil over medium high heat and sear the venison to brown on all sides.

Scatter the pine or spruce needles and juniper berries over the pan and place the meat on top. Put the pan into a preheated 400ºF oven and cook for 15-20 minutes, until the roast is cooked to medium rare. (Use an instant-read thermometer – the internal temperature should be 135-145ºF for rare to medium rare meat).

Remove the meat from the pan and set aide on a cutting board, covered loosely with foil, to rest for 15-20 minutes. This step is vital. The meat continues to cook while it rests and the roast will be juicier if it’s properly rested.

Meanwhile, make the sauce. Remove the spruce needles and juniper berries from the pan and discard. Add the butter to the pan and sauté the shallots, black peppercorns and juniper berries for 5 minutes until shallots are beginning to brown. Add the red wine and venison stock. Stir up any browned bits from the bottom of the pan and boil vigorously, until the liquid has been reduced to about 1/2 cup. Add the puréed saskatoon berries and cook a few minutes longer. Strain the sauce and set aside.

Just before serving, reheat the sauce and whisk in a tablespoon of cold butter. Season with salt and pepper, and a splash of liqueur or port, if using. Add the whole berries and heat through.

To serve, slice the loin into medallions and arrange on individual plates in a pool of sauce with wild rice and barley risotto. Serves 8.

WILD RICE AND BARLEY RISOTTO

This pilaf combines two prairie grains – the wild rice of Manitoba and the chewy pot barley grown in Alberta and Saskatchwan.  Add some wild morels or chanterelles from B.C. for a true inter-provincial side dish to accompany  almost any meal.

1 medium onion, finely chopped

2 cloves garlic, minced

2 tablespoons (25 ml) olive oil

2 cups (500 ml) sliced mushrooms (use fresh cultivated mushrooms or dried wild mushrooms that have been rehydrated in boiling water or wine)

1 cup (250 ml) wild rice

1 cup (250 ml) pot barley

1/2 cup (125 ml) white wine

3 1/2 cups (900 ml) beef or chicken stock

1/2 teaspoons salt 2 ml

2 tablespoons(25 ml) butter

1/4 cup (50 ml) cream

2 cups finely shredded Parmesan cheese (like Alberta’s Leoni Grana)

Combine the onion, garlic and oil in a saucepan and sauté over medium high heat until the onions are soft and beginning to turn golden. Stir in the mushrooms and cook until they begin to give up their liquid.

Add the rice and barley and stir well. Toast the grains for 2 minutes, then add the wine and cook until it’s absorbed. Stir in the stock, salt and water and bring to a boil.

Reduce  the heat  to low and simmer, covered, for 45 minutes or until wild rice is starting to split and barley is tender. Remove from heat and stir in the butter  and cream. Return to a simmer then add the cheese and stir to combine. Serve immediately. Serves 8.

SASKATOON AND RASPBERRY CRÈME FRAICHE TART

Crust:

11/2 cups (352 ml) flour (use part whole wheat pastry flour and part cornmeal or barley flour)

2 tablespoons  (25 ml) sugar

pinch of salt

1/4 cup (50 ml) cold butter, cubed

1/4 cup (50 ml) cream cheese, cubed (or use all butter and no cheese)

1 egg

Filling:

3 cups (750 ml) fresh raspberries and saskatoon berries (or blueberries)

3 eggs

3/4 cup (175 ml) crème fraiche

1/4 cup (50 ml) flour

2/3 cup (150 ml) sugar

icing sugar for dusting

In a food processor, combine the flour, sugar, salt, butter and cheese and pulse until the mixture forms coarse crumbs. Add the eggs, and whirl, just until the pastry begins to come together. Dump it into a 10-inch shallow tart pan (the kind with a removable bottom) and press evenly over the bottom and up the sides, using your fingers or the back of a spoon.

Bake the crust in a 350ºF oven for 15 minutes.

Meanwhile, in a bowl, whisk together the eggs and crème fraiche. Add the flour slowly, while you whisk, to combine without lumps. Then whisk in the sugar.

Fill the prebaked shell with berries, then pour the custard mixture evenly over top. Bake the tart at 350ºF for 45-50 minutes, until the filling is set and the top is light brown. Cool before serving. Remove from the tart pan, cut into wedges and dust each piece with icing sugar. Serves 6.

© Cinda Chavich 2006

Cinda Chavich  is a Calgary-based food and travel writer with a love of western Canadian cuisine.  Many of these recipes have been adapted from her award-winning cookbook, High Plains: The Joy of Alberta Cuisine (Fifth House). Her latest book, The Girl Can’t Cook (Whitecap Books) is a Canadian best seller and will be followed soon by the sequel, The Guy Can’t Cook.

(this piece first appeared in West magazine)

©Cinda Chavich

www.tastereport.com