This year, we challenged chefs to create a recipe that celebrates the unique local food scene in their region. We will be sharing their recipes, local inspiration and connections to local food in their region throughout Canada’s Agriculture Day.
Join in the celebration by sharing the recipes, posting one of your own, or any other creative way you would like to appreciate Canadian agriculture and use the hashtag #CdnAgDay #NWTag
For more information, visit: https://agriculturemorethanever.ca/cdn-ag-day
Find more recipes from other regions below:
Smoked Rabbit Tacos - North Slave
Battered Trout with Dill Bechamel Sauce - Sahtu
Moose Short Ribs with Cranberry Bannock - Dehcho
Caribou Celebration Dinner - Beaufort Delta
Bison Tenderloin
SOUTH SLAVE REGION
Photo credit: Janelle Minoza
ABOUT THE CHEF
Name of Chef: Tomas Barbuscak
Name of Business: Snowshoe Inn, Fort Providence NT
“My cooking career started 18 years ago. I began in an Italian restaurant in my hometown in Slovakia, worked all over England (where I got my NVQ there which is like a Red seal here) but it was a dream since I was a little guy to come to Canada. One of my big mentors, Marco Pierre White said:
"If you have a dream, you have to take responsibility for yourself to make it come true...
Because if you don't, you are just a dreamer...” and so I moved here in 2009.
This recipe challenge allowed me to be creative in making a dish using local ingredients. I’m excited to present you with a Bison Tenderloin dish inspired by Fort Providence, which is located in the Mackenzie Bison Sanctuary. Deh Gah Go’tie Dene Band distributes over 10 bison tags to local community members annually, and I was able to secure some bison tenderloin from a community member which then inspired my dish.
I prepared the fresh bison tenderloin with a sweet potato purée, rainbow carrots, chanterelles mushrooms with demi glaze, topped with crispy onions seasoned with spruce tip infused salt, and garnished with micro greens. The sweet potatoes were harvested this week from a local gardener’s Tupperware bin under a grow light, the carrots were harvested last fall and stored in a cold bin. The spruce tip infused salt is an NWT product available commercially and the micro greens were purchased from Northern Greens in Hay River.
I’m thankful for the opportunity to create a Northern inspired dish, Mahsi Cho!”
RECIPE INSTRUCTIONS
Bison tenderloin
2 small sweet potatoes
3 medium carrots, whole
Handful of chanterelles
Handful of microgreens
Spruce-tip salt
Demi-glaze
Bison knuckle bones
1 white onion, chopped roughly
1 medium carrot, chopped roughly
1 celery, chopped roughly
Tomato puree (canned or homemade)
Bay leaves
Whole peppercorns
Fresh thyme
Fresh rosemary
Boil the sweet potato in water infused with the spruce-tip salt, then remove from water and purée using a blender. Blanch the rainbow carrots and then put in an ice bath. Finish cooking the carrots in a hot frying pan with butter and seasoning.
Roast the roughly chopped onion, carrot and celery with the bison knuckles bones and tomato puree until bones they a darker colour. Add to cold water and bring water to simmer for approximately 8 hours. Strain the stock and keep reducing until you get the rich consistency of Demi glaze. The bison bones can be reused once again.
Grill the tenderloin, serving it rare and add micro greens for the final presentation.
WHERE TO FIND LOCAL FOOD IN THE SOUTH SLAVE REGION
There are many places to purchase locally grown food in the South Slave. The ingredients for this dish were sourced from local gardeners in Fort Providence and Northern Greens in Hay River. Don’t miss out on the summer farmer’s market season – you can usually visit the Desnedé Farmers Market in Fort Smith on the weekends July to October or the Fisherman’s Wharf in Hay River every Saturday from mid-June to mid-September for an abundance of locally grown produce, preserves and specialty dishes and fresh caught fish. You can also purchase local eggs in most grocery stores!
Where do you purchase local food in the South Slave? Help us share and promote northern agriculture!