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smoked char with huckleberry and purslane salad

For the smoked char:

½ teaspoon salt

¼ teaspoon brown sugar

Heaping ¼ teaspoon freshly

ground pepper

1 pound arctic char fillet, cut

into 4 equal portions

For the huckleberry and purslane salad:

2 tablespoons red wine vinegar

¼ small red onion, cored, sliced

into paper-thin half moons

(about ¼ cup)

4 cups purslane,53 or watercress

or arugula with a few chopped

sorrel leaves

2 tablespoons fresh huckleber-

ries54 or dried unsweetened

blueberries

2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive

oil

Salt and freshly ground pepper

If the appearance of three smoked fish recipes in this book is any indication, I’m sort of a smoked fish lover. It’s in my blood: just as surely as wood smoke curls through the culture of Native Americans on the West Coast come salmon season, East Coast Jews know from good smoked fish. The key, in my humble opinion, is to use wood that doesn’t overpower the inherent flavor of the fish. I want to feel like I was fishing and caught a gentle whiff of someone’s campfire from way, way down the beach. I prefer alder or cherry; but go ahead and use loads of mesquite, if you want your fish to taste like bitter charcoal and a few burning houses and not much else.

SERVES 4

To prepare the char, combine the salt, brown sugar, and pepper in a small bowl. Coat the char fillets with the mixture, wrap them in plastic wrap, and store them in the refrigerator for 1 hour.

To prepare the huckleberry and purslane salad, in a large bowl, pour the red wine vinegar over the onions. Let them pickle at room temperature for an hour, stirring occasionally. When the onions have finished marinating, drain them, reserving the vinegar.

Smoke the char fillets according to the instructions on page 131.55

Toss the purslane with the huckleberries and pickled red onions. Drizzle with the olive oil and a teaspoon or two of the pickling vinegar. Season to taste with salt and pepper.

To serve, divide the salad evenly between 4 plates, break the char into large pieces, and scatter them over the top. Serve immediately.

PAIRING: A pinot grigio, such as Borgo M 2008, Friuli-Venezia Giulia, Italy, or an Oregon pinot gris.

LITTLE FISH & EGGS

sardines

When the last large sardine cannery in the United States, Maine’s Stinson Seafood, shut its doors in 2010 after 135 years of operation, our country’s culinary relationship with the sardine was threatened, but it did not die. In just the last year, there has been a resurgence in the collective attention on the silvery little fish. Lots of the excited talk circles around the healthful qualities of the sardine: it’s high in protein, high in omega-3 fatty acids, and extremely low in mercury and other pollutants. That’s all good news, but what gets me excited about the humble sardine is its incomparable flavor.

When the rain finally abates in the Pacific Northwest (late spring or early summer), fresh sardines start appearing at one of my favorite fish shops in Seattle, Mutual Fish. I head there with the unbounded glee of a kid in a candy store, but first I call my friends to rally the troops. It’s a special, fleeting time of the year: as with many fish, sardines have a short season. The ones we see on the West Coast usually hail from California, and they are fabulous and flashy in their own way, light glinting off their silvery flanks. My friends and I snatch them up and meet up later for dinner; some of the sardines get smoked, some pan-fried, others grilled. It’s fresh sardine season in Seattle—the silver eagle has landed.

WHAT MAKES THIS A GOOD CHOICE: Wow, let me count the ways. Sardines are extremely low in mercury and PCBs, high in omega-3 fatty acids, and once again abundant—and through good management should remain so. (Though be aware: Scientists have shown sardines and anchovies experience a natural boom-and-bust cycle every thirty to forty years due to oceanic conditions and water temperature.) The Monterey Bay Aquarium’s Seafood Watch places sardines on its “Super Green” list—the Academy Awards