Juicy Morsel April 21, 2009 - Eat Local for Earth Day

Eat Local for Earth Day

Tomorrow (Wed April 22) is Earth Day. What better way to celebrate than to make a local meal!
For inspiration and info on what's in season check out Farm Folk City Folk's Get Local BC: www.getlocalbc.org.

I'll be having BBQ Wild Spring salmon with roasted asparagus & sunchokes (a.k.a. jerusalem artichokes). Dessert will be yogurt and blueberries.
Everything except the asparagus, salt, pepper, and olive oil is local. But, I bought the asparagus at the East End Food Co-op. The salt was a gift. And, I bought the pepper in India when I was there in the fall. So I'm supporting local business. Thanks to my deep-freezer, the blueberries are from last summer and I buy the salmon frozen.

There aren't any measurements for this meal. It's true simpicity. Cook as much as you think people will eat (and maybe some extra for leftovers). I like salmon the way it is.

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Wash and cut the sunchokes into quarters. On a cookie sheet, toss sunchokes with enough olive oil to lightly coat. Season with salt, pepper, sage, and rosemary. Bake until very soft - approx 45 min to 1 hour.
2. Wash the asparagus and snap off the woody ends. Approx 15 min before the sunchokes will be ready, pull the sunchokes out of the oven. Add the asparagus and toss to cover with oil & herbs. Put back in the oven and roast until sunchokes and asparagus are tender.
3. Spread a thin layer of olive oil in the centre of the shiny side of a piece of tin foil. Place salmon, skin side down, on the tin foil. Fold tin foil around the salmon. BBQ approx 10 min per inch thickness of fish - or until the flesh flakes when tested with a fork.