Taste Canada

I recently stumbled across a post about Taste Canada, on a blog from South of The Border and I knew I had to do it. Thank You Jennifer, for giving me an extension.
I must admit, I stewed for a day about what Canada Tasted Like To Me. I questioned my partner. His response: pemmican, maple syrup, salmon, back bacon. I tried to think of quintessential Canadian ingredients and I slowly formulated my menu. We started with Sweet Petit Oysters, eaten over the kitchen sink, completely naked (the oysters) and gloriously salty sweet.

The main dinner: Soy and Rice Vinegar Marinated Steamed Wild Salmon with Hijiki and Morels. Salmon, although not confined to Canada, just seems so very Canadian. I chose the rice vinegar and soy because, for me, Canada is about a seamless blend of cross-cultural culinary experiences. The Hijiki, or sea asparagus tastes like the ocean, and for this west coaster, Canada IS the ocean ( I know, that is utterly blasphemous, but apart from a week long visit to Winnipeg, most of my life in Canada has been spent this side of Golden, BC). And the morels ~ god, morels. I get slightly manaical about these fungii when they are fresh in season. Morels taste like early summer, the season I wish would stay forever. I served the Salmon with roasted Organic Local baby potatoes and carrots.

And finally, dessert. I wasn't going to do dessert, but I was in the market today and the Local Blueberries had arrived! A sucker for fresh fruit, I scooped up a generous amount for $2.50 and served them up with very gently whipped cream flavoured with maple syrup.

And that was My Taste of Canada. Now I just need a photography lesson to do the meal justice!