{A Regional Canadian Food from the Cowichan Valley on Vancouver Island}
The Canadian Food Experience Project began June 7 2013. As we share our collective stories across the vastness of our Canadian landscape through our regional food experiences, we hope to bring global clarity to our Canadian culinary identity through the cadence of our concerted Canadian voice. Please join us.
What comes to mind when you think of Canadian food? Maple syrup and poutine? Canadian bacon? (Known as back bacon here, but everyone I know eats regular bacon.) Tim Horton’s coffee and doughnuts? Patriotic beer? (Just for the record, decidedly NOT the best this land has to offer.) Of course there is much more to Canadian food than that, but it’s a tough one to answer. Canada is a HUGE place and it includes people of so many different cultural backgrounds. Other than First Nations people, we are all immigrants from somewhere (some more recent than others), so naturally the way we prepare and eat food is influenced by whatever culture we came from. Discovering what “Canadian food” is, exactly, is kind of exciting to a food geek like me, so I am thrilled to be participating in The Canadian Food Experience Project, which was started last month by Valerie Lujonga of A Canadian Foodie in an attempt to explore and help answer the question, “What is Canadian food?“
Poutine: the most Canadian food? (photo credit: Huffingtonpost.ca)
Valerie has set a specific theme each month for participants to tackle, this month’s being to share a regional Canadian food. As I touched on previously, I find this somewhat problematic: the food preparation methods that I employ on a daily basis come from a culture that is not Canadian. For example, I make a lot of pasta and pizza (Italian culture), I stir-fry often (Asian cultures), and I do a heck of a lot of baking (European cultures). I think what turns the food I make into Canadian food is by using Canadian ingredients. I’ve lived my entire life on Salt Spring Island and Vancouver Island on the West Coast of Canada, and one Canadian ingredient that has been a constant is seafood.
Last summer Nate and I moved to Shawnigan Lake in the Cowichan Valley on Vancouver Island. The name Cowichan comes from the local First Nation‘s words for “the warm land”, so called because of its extremely temperate climate and long growing season. There is a burgeoning local food scene here – one that I am only just starting to discover – and the thing that I think is the coolest is the diversity of food that is available. Within thirty minutes of my home, there are about a dozen vineyards, a cidery, a farm that raises water buffalo for milk, more vegetable-producing farms than you can shake a stick at, pasta makers, bakeries, and even a local grain mill. What’s more is that all of this is located a stone’s throw from the ocean, so you have both the bounty of the land and the bounty of the sea.
The Cowichan Valley (photo credit: Travis Crockart)
Which brings me back to seafood. Cowichan Bay is a little fishing village in the Cowichan Valley, and every year for six to eight weeks in May and June, the town is inundated. Not by its usual hordes of tourists (they come, too), but by the wild BC spot prawn: a small pink crustacean with a very short season, mostly found in the waters of the Strait of Georgia between Vancouver Island and the mainland.
The Strait of Georgia between Vancouver Island and the mainland
Cowichan Bay hosts an annual Spot Prawn Festival where hundreds of thousands of spot prawns are sold live by the pound, literally fresh off the boat. There are de-heading stations and mountains of ice, and people line up with their coolers (yes, plural) to buy as many prawns as they can carry. Nate and I went to the festival in May this year in the hopes of buying some fresh prawns, but alas, just as we got to the front of the line (after waiting for forty minutes), they ran out of prawns. Gotta go empty some more traps. Back in forty-five minutes. We left, prawn-less, and I never got around to buying any while the season was still on. Luckily spot prawns freeze well and many places sell them that way, so when this regional theme was announced, I took it as an opportunity to get my hands on some.
Wild BC spot prawns (photo credit: The Vancouver Sun)
What did I choose to make with those BC spot prawns? Cioppino, of course. It might seem like an odd choice for a Canadian regional specialty, but cioppino’s origins make it a good fit. In San Francisco in the 1800′s, Portuguese and Italian fishermen started making an Italian-style tomato-based soup to use up the leftovers from the day’s catch, and it later became a well-known regional specialty served in many restaurants. The dish may have been made in the Italian style, but the ingredients – crab, clams, shrimp, scallops, squid, mussels, and fish – were all specific to the region of San Francisco. To me, cioppino is a great analogy for Canadian food: someone else’s cooking style with our unique regional ingredients. Hence, BC spot prawn cioppino.
I must admit, the seafood for this dish set me back more than I’m used to spending on a homemade meal – the prawns alone were about fifteen bucks. However, today is my birthday (30! Ack!) and if you can’t splurge a little for your birthday, then what’s the point? And luckily, this dish is worth the price tag: flavourful white wine and tomato broth – perfect for sopping up with your favorite crusty bread – and lots of seafood, especially the sweet, succulent spot prawns with their delicate flavour and texture. They are pretty special crustaceans, for sure – the trick is just not to over-cook them!
There will be a round-up of all the Canadian Food Experience Project posts this month on Valerie’s blog on July 14, so be sure to check it out for a look at regional foods across Canada. Valerie, thanks so much for the opportunity to be part of this!
BC Spot Prawn Cioppino
Serves 3 – 4. Adapted from Cooking Light.
Acquire 1/2 lb of wild BC spot prawns, fresh or frozen (thawed). If fresh, remove the heads immediately (here’s some info on dealing with live spot prawns). Peel the spot prawns (they do not need to be deveined) and reserve the shells. Place the peeled spot prawns in a bowl and set aside.
Heat a little olive oil in a saucepan over medium heat, then add the spot prawn shells and cook for 2 – 3 minutes, until opaque and bright pink. Add 1 cup water and simmer for 5 – 7 minutes, pressing on the shells with a spoon to extract as much flavour as possible. Strain the prawn stock through a sieve into a bowl and set aside. Discard the shells.
Cut 1 large onion into slices from root to stem and slice 4 cloves of garlic into thin slices. Heat 1 tbsp of olive oil in a Dutch oven over medium-high heat and sauté the onion for about 2 minutes, until translucent. Add the garlic and cook until both the onion and garlic start to brown. Deglaze the pan with 1 cup of dry white wine (I used a BC chardonnay), then add:
the spot prawn stock
1 x 28 oz can diced tomatoes, drained
a handful each of chopped fresh basil and chopped fresh oregano
Bring to a boil, then reduce the heat to low and simmer for 15 minutes. Season generously with salt and pepper.
Meanwhile, prepare the rest of the seafood (in addition to the peeled spot prawns):
8 Salt Spring Island mussels and 8 littleneck clams – make sure that they are all tightly closed, or that they stay shut when you press on them. Discard any that don’t.
5 oz red snapper (or any other firm white fish), cut into 1″ chunks
Bring the tomato broth up to a vigorous simmer and add the mussels and clams. Cover and cook for 2 minutes, then add the red snapper chunks. Cover and cook for 2 more minutes, then add the spot prawns. Cover and cook for an additional 1 or 2 minutes or just until the prawns are opaque. Discard any mussels or clams that have not opened.
Remove from the heat, season with a squeeze of lemon juice and sprinkle with some chopped basil. Ladle into bowls, top with more basil and serve with crusty bread (I recommend focaccia).