Wild Manitoba Lake Trout 

Wild Manitoba lake trout with wheat berries, Hudson Bay seaweed and an emulsion of last season’s porcinis

By Chef Mandel Hitzer, Manitoba

“This is a simple dish showing some of my favorite ingredients from Manitoba.  

Here we have one of the most prized fish caught in out province served with fresh wheat berries from the prairies, seaweed that was harvested up in Churchill from the bay and porcinis that I picked last summer.

My dad caught the fish in the picture in deep waters in the Canadian Shield. Seaweed can only be harvested in august due to cold temperatures up north and the mushrooms came from my favorite time of year spent foraging with friends in the Sandilands provincial forest.”

Mandel Hitzer .jpeg

Ingredients

  • 1 fillet of lake trout

  • ½ cup wheat berries

  • 1 cup fish stock (made from trout bones)

  • 2 shallots bernoise

  • Spring of thyme

  • 4 tbls butter

  • ½ cup dried porcini

  • ½ tsp apple cider

  • 1 tsp apple cider vinegar

  • 200ml birch syrup

  • Seaweed

  • Salt & pepper

Recipe

  • Preheat oven to 350°.

  • Lightly cure trout in birch syrup, salt and pepper for 3 hours then leave uncovered in the fridge.

  • Meanwhile, lightly toast the wheat berries in a blind pan at low heat until aromatic, then add 1 tbls of butter, ½ the shallots and sauté for 2 min.

  • Add the thyme and fish stock and cook until the berries are nice and tender.

  • Roast the seaweed until dark, like almost burnt, you should smell almost a parmesan aroma.

  • Take your cider and porcinis and put into a pan and reduce by two thirds. Once reduced, remove from heat and add butter stirring constantly until emulsified and season with apple cider vinegar.

  • Wash fish and bake very gently in oven until ready.