Celeriac Remoulade

1/4 tsp sea salt
juice of 1/2 a lemon
1 small celeriac, peeled and grated

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1 egg
2 T pommery mustard
3 T hot water
4 T vegetable oil
2 T olive oil
2 T apple cider vinegar
fresh herbs, optional (I used some lemon thyme)
a pinch of cumin
cilantro stems, minced
sea salt / white pepper, to taste

If you enjoy a tuna salad sandwich then you will probably like this salad. Grated celery root in a flavourful mustard mayonnaise works nicely with the warm olive oil-infused tuna.

Mix the grated celeriac with the lemon juice and salt and set aside.

I usually make the mayonnaise with a stick blender. Place the egg in a cylinder that can hold at least 2 cups. Slowly drizzle in the vegetable oil with the blender on high speed. The emulsification should start to take place. Add the olive oil slowly, then the vinegar and hot water to thin slightly. At this point you can stir in the salt, pepper, cumin, cilantro and any other herbs you like.

For the poached albacore tuna: Heat about 2 inches of olive oil in a small pot on low heat. Ideally you will see a small bubble rise to the surface occasionally. Place 2 small albacore pieces in the oil and heat through until the flesh turns white. It should take about 5 minutes depending on the thickness of the tuna. I had pieces that were just under an inch thick.

Serve with some fresh greens and herbs. Watercress and purple basil are pictured.

Cumin-Red Onion Pakora

1 cup chickpea flour
1/2 cup red rice flour
1 small red onion, sliced thin
cayenne, or hot sauce, to taste
2 tsp cumin, toasted, ground
1/2 tsp turmeric
1 tsp baking powder
1 T lemon juice
water to make a thinish batter
salt
pepper
vegetable oil

Heat the oil for frying. Meanwhile mix all the ingredients except the water. Then slowly add the water until you get a batter that is not too thick, and not too runny. The pakoras I usually see in restaurants are quite dense and chewy. I made a thinner batter which made for a lighter result. The rice flour helps make the pakora crispy.

Drizzle spoonfuls of batter into the hot oil. When one side has browned, flip it over and cook the other side. Remove to a paper towel lined plate and keep warm until ready to eat.

Birch syrup comes from the sap of Canadian white birch trees. For maple syrup it takes about 40 litres of sap to create one litre. To make birch syrup the amount of sap required is doubled or even tripled. Needless to say, birch syrup is expensive, but a small amount goes far. The taste is really nothing like maple syrup. I find it slightly sweet, bitter, and sour all at once. Sort of like a tangy molasses.

Birch syrup goes well with salmon as a glaze, and also with pork. I picked up a nice piece of wild salmon and decided to make a birch syrup glaze.

Birch Syrup Glaze

1 T butter
2 T white wine
2 T onion, finely minced
1 small bay leaf
some ground black pepper
4 T birch syrup
1 T grainy mustard
2 tsp balsamic vinegar
sea salt, to taste

Melt the butter in a small pan. When the butter has stopped foaming add the onion. Cook gently until it softens then add the wine, bay leaf, and pepper. Cook until the wine is mostly evaporated. Add the birch syrup, mustard and balsamic vinegar. Stir well. Cook on medium-low heat until a syrupy consistency is attained. Season to taste with the salt and perhaps some more balsamic vinegar.

I brushed this glaze on the salmon after I had crisped-up the salmon skin and flipped the fillet. I didn’t want to over-caramalize the glaze by brushing it on the fish at the beginning and searing on high heat. The birch syrup already has a very strong taste of caramel to begin with.

3 – seeds: black sesame, pumpkin, sunflower. I also took some Triscuits, pulsed them in the food processor and sprinkled the mixture on top of the cracker base. Cracker on cracker.