Recipe by Dan Bain of Unsworth Restaurant
This nutrient-dense recipe is for the more adventurous home chef, with a few different cooking techniques to test your culinary skills! Chef Dan is an avid sports fisherman, and thus this recipe was originally written for steelhead but can also work exceptionally well with almost any trout or salmon species. The beautiful part about this recipe is the ability to source all of the key ingredients from right here on Vancouver Island. Local farms are bound to grow both kale and tomatoes so grab your favourite kinds if Redbor kale or Roma tomatoes aren't available at your go-to farmstand.
Instructions
Ingredients for Tomato Emulsion
1kg Roma tomatoes
4 shallots, peeled and sliced
3 garlic cloves, mincd
1 lemon, zest only
¼ cup apple cider vinegar
3 Tbsp sugar
1 cup vegetable oil
Method
Core and roast tomatoes at 500°F for 40 mins until 30% black on the outside.
Meanwhile, in a medium-sized pot, sweat shallots until soft. Then add garlic to shallots and sweat for 1 more minute. Add roasted tomatoes and cook for 5 minutes to cook some of the water out.
Cool slightly, then blend in a stand-up blender or robot coupe until smooth. Add remaining ingredients (except oil) and blend again.
Emulsify with oil by slowly running a stream of oil into the blender while it is running, until slightly thickened.
Season with salt to taste.
Ingredients for Quinoa Cakes
2 cups cooked quinoa
1 whole egg, lightly beaten
zest of 1 lemon
¼ cup parsley, chopped
10g (about 2 Tbsp) potato starch
Method
Set a small deep fryer to 340°F.
In a mixing bowl, with a spatula or wooden spoon, mix quinoa until beaten up and slightly thickened. Add the egg, then mix in thoroughly. Add parsley and lemon zest and mix again. Then add potato starch and mix until quinoa just comes together.
With the help of a spoon or scoop, scoop golf ball-sized balls onto wax or parchment paper. Chill for 15 minutes in the fridge.
Fry the balls in the deep fryer for 3 minutes until golden and crispy. Alternatively, these can be pan fried in a hot pan on the stovetop.
Ingredients for Kale
1 bunch Redbor kale, torn into small pieces.
1 Tbsp butter
½ tsp crushed dried chilies of your choice
¼ cup dry white wine
Method
Put the butter in the pan and allow it to foam up twice and turn brown in the pan. Add chilies, then kale. Be careful, as this may spatter up a little bit. Add the white wine to the pan to deglaze all the goodness off the bottom of the pan. Cook until almost all the wine has evaporated on medium heat. Set aside.
Ingredients for Steelhead
2 x 150g Steelhead filet portions
olive oil
salt and pepper
Method
Preheat your oven to 400°F.
Meanwhile on your stovetop, heat a large frying pan with the olive oil (big enough so that both portions of fish will fit without touching). Heat the olive oil until you can just see it rippling in the pan.
Season your fish with salt and pepper and put it skin-side-up into the pan. You should hear it sizzle. Allow to sizzle and sear in the pan for 1 minute, then transfer the whole pan to the oven. Allow fish to cook 5–10 minutes, depending on how you like it cooked and your oven.
Remove your pan from the oven, flip your fish and allow it to rest in the pan for 2 minutes.
To Plate
basil leaves
microgreens
Place a few dots of the tomato emulsion on the plate and then place the kale on top of the emulsion. Follow with the fish. Garnish with the crispy quinoa cakes, microgreens and some fresh basil leaves.
