Camelina Oil

I'm having fun experimenting with camelina oil, a natural cold-presssed culinary oil produced in Saskatchewan. Camelina is an oil seed in the same family as mustard and broccoli. Three Farmers camelina oil is named for the three farmers who started the company. Read more in my article in the Star Phoenix.

Advantages for the home cook: High smoke point 475F -- Use it for searing, frying and grilling -- Slow to go rancid -- Long shelf life without refrigeration -- High in vitamin E and antioxidants -- Fresh green and nutty flavour.

Camelina oil pairs wonderfully with spring vegetables such as asparagus, baby greens and fiddleheads. Here's a camelina-inspired dinner for two:

 

 

Steelhead Trout Fillets

Heat oven to 350F. Cut one fillet into 2 or 3 pieces. Season with salt and pepper. In a heavy frying pan, heat 1 tbs butter and 1 tbs natural camelina oil. When hot, place the trout fillets skin side down. Sear until the skin is crisp, about 5 minutes. Place the pan in the oven to complete the cooking process, about 4 minutes. Carefully lift the fish from the pan so the skin remains intact.

Nutty Fiddleheads

Boil a small saucepan of salted water. Add 1 1/2 cups of fresh fiddleheads, stems trimmed. Boil 2 minutes and drain well. In a skillet, heat on medium 2 tbs roast onion and basil flavoured camelina oil. Briefly sauté 1/4 cup chopped walnuts until fragrant. Add fiddleheads. Season with salt if desired. Sauté 4-5 minutes. Fiddleheads may absorb the oil before they’re cooked, so be prepared to add more oil as needed. Remove from heat. Add a squeeze of lemon and shavings of parmesan cheese. This method also works for asparagus and green beans.

Spring Salad

Make a dressing by briskly whisking together 1 tbs lemon juice, 1/2 tsp mustard, pinch of salt and 1 tbs plus 1 tsp natural camelina oil. Gently toss with 2 cups of chopped baby spring greens. The salad in the picture includes spinach, sunflower, orach, dandelion, arugula, mustard sprouts and one red spring onion.

 

Three Farmers Camelina Oil

 

Fiddlehead Anyone?

Right now, in woods across Saskatchewan, tiny fiddleheads are emerging from the earth. And we get to eat them!

I'll be placing a bulk order for fiddleheads from the Nipawin area. If you're in Saskatoon (or close) and would like to order a pound or more of fiddleheads, let me know. ($9 per lb.) Send me a message with your phone number. Fiddleheads are done for 2011, but maybe next year...

Newspaper - PASTA PRIMAVERA WITH FIDDLHEADS AND ASPARAGUS

Published in the Saskatoon Star Phoenix on 15 June, 2009

I love “free” food. By free, I don’t mean no money down. I am referring to food that grows locally, year after year, with no help from human hands. Last month, I wrote about rhubarb, that favourite perennial vegetable that grows so prolifically on the prairies. Rhubarb is a “free” food because it comes back every year with no fuss and bother. Once it’s in the ground, it’s unstoppable.
This month, I’d like to pay homage to two other “free” vegetables that come up from one year to the next with no human intervention—asparagus and fiddleheads. In my garden, rhubarb really is free, but asparagus and fiddleheads are two “free” foods for which I am willing to pay, not having a source of my own.

Fiddleheads are the small tight curls of wild baby ferns before they unfurl in the spring. The name, I am told, refers to the decorative scroll at the end of a fiddle, which it resembles. Two weeks ago, I received a shipment of fiddleheads on the bus at $8 a pound. Not exactly free to me, but free for the picking to anyone inclined to go out in nature and get them. In this case, it was the folks at White Fox Gold, from an area north of Nipawin.

Given the distance, it is considerably cheaper for me to buy these “free” fiddleheads than to go out and pick them myself.

When I arrived at the bus station to pick up my fiddleheads, I discovered a dozen boxes on their way to various restaurants in Saskatoon, so it’s apparent that many local folks have been able to enjoy this “free” spring vegetable, too. Another favourite “free” spring food is asparagus. Once you plant asparagus, and get the bed going, there’s not much left to do but reap the harvest year after year. I don’t have my own asparagus patch, so I buy it at the Saskatoon Farmers’ Market. I saw fiddleheads for sale at the market, too.

One of my favourite “free” foods is the wild saskatoon berry. In fact, I love just about any “free” fruit. Last year, my friend Marlene knocked on a stranger’s door and asked if she could pick his plums, which she could see hanging thick in his back yard. He graciously invited her, and therefore me, to help ourselves. Later in the summer, I may go out and pick wild morel and chanterelle mushrooms. Or, I may opt to buy them. Whether I decide to pay for the gas, or pay for the mushrooms, I am excited about the prospect of procuring these “free” summer foods. I’m a big proponent of eating locally, which for me, includes the “free” food that Mother Nature so generously offers. All the better when it really is free.

Incidentally, the historic Marr Residence in Saskatoon holds a Rhubarb Festival on the long weekend of August (Sun. & Mon.), so we can all pay homage to this hardy “free” food planted by the pioneers. You’ll find more Saskatchewan summer food festivals listed here.

This pasta recipe is made with fresh vegetables as they become available in season (primavera is Italian for first green), also made with asparagus, peas, zucchini, red pepper, eggplant, broccoli, etc. In this version, I precooked the fiddleheads because it is recommended to neutralize the bitterness and mild toxins in raw fiddleheads.

Pasta Primavera
12 fiddleheads
2 tbsp butter
1/2 cup olive oil
1/2 chopped onion
2 chopped garlic cloves
12 asparagus, chopped
2 medium carrots, shaved with a vegetable peeler
2 large ripe tomatoes
1 tbsp fresh chopped parsley
1 tbsp fresh chopped basil
salt and pepper to taste
500g bowtie pasta

Bring a pot of lightly salted water to boil. Add the fiddleheads and cook five minutes. Drain.
Melt butter with 1/4 cup olive oil on medium heat. Add onions and garlic. Sauté, stirring, until soft. Add the fiddleheads, asparagus and carrots (or other vegetables of the season). Cook until vegetables are tender.

Meanwhile, cook the pasta. Drain, reserving 1/2 cup pasta cooking water.

Season vegetables with salt and pepper to taste. Add cooked pasta along with the tomatoes, herbs, pasta water and 1/4 cup olive oil. Toss and heat until tomatoes are soft. Serve hot straight from the pot.

I'm a fun-gal - MOREL AND FIDDLEHEAD ORZOTTO

Well, I am having fun in the kitchen! I just came into a heap of fresh-picked morels and fiddleheads from north-east Saskatchewan, and I wanted to cook them together in the same dish. This orzotto was delicious served with grilled porkshops and asparagus. (Orzotto is what I call a risotto-type dish made with pearl barley instead of rice - a very Saskatchewan substitution.)

Morel and Fiddlehead Orzotto

1 cup fiddleheads
3 tbsp butter
1 cup chopped fresh morels
3 green onions
4-5 cups vegetable stock
1 small onion, diced
1 clove garlic
2 tbsp olive oil (or canola)
1 cup pearl barley
1/2 cup white wine
1/2 tsp fresh chopped rosemary
1/4 cup grated parmesan cheese

Soak the fiddleheads in well salted water for 30 min. Drain. Rinse the fiddleheads several times to remove little flecks of brown husk. Melt 1 tbsp of butter and cook fiddleheads until wilted. Season with salt and pepper.

Finely chop the green onions, white part only. Melt 1 tbsp butter. Cook morels and green onions until softened. Season with salt and pepper.

Heat the stock to a simmer. In a heavy-bottomed pot, melt 1 tbsp butter with 1 tbsp olive oil. Sauté the diced onion and garlic until soft. Add the pearl barley, stirring, until all liquid is absorbed. Add the wine and cook until it has evaporated. Add one cup of vegetable stock, stir well, and cook until the liquid is almost absorbed. Add the remaining stock, one cup at a time, cooking and stirring until the barley is creamy and tender to the bite.

Stir in the fiddleheads, mushrooms, rosemary and cheese. Taste and season with salt and pepper as needed. Serve with an extra sprinkling of cheese.