Canada’s Food Island: A Collection of Stories and Recipes from Prince Edward Island. Stories and captions by Stuart Hickox. Photography by Stephen Harris.
Prince Edward Islanders are famous for hosting family and friends in the kitchen. Canada’s Food Island invites you to celebrate the Island’s farm-to-table cooking and meet the farmers, fishers and artisans who make those delicious dishes possible. From preparing the perfect lobster roll in spring and galettes filled with sweet fresh-picked strawberries in summer to making savoury potato pizza in fall and roast turkey with an oyster, bacon and wild mushroom stuffing in mid-winter, you’re sure to find a favourite recipe to delight guests and satisfy your own cravings.
Canada’s Food Island combines nearly 100 inspired seasonal recipes with homegrown stories and beautiful photographs to capture the island’s unique food culture’s blend of people, place and locally sourced fresh natural ingredients. You’ll learn how mussels and oysters are sustainably raised and harvested, why Island beef is so flavourful and what makes wild blueberries so special. Whether you’ve spent time on Prince Edward Island or not, you’ll want to visit these pages again and again to experience a taste of the Island in the comfort of your own kitchen.
Royalties from sales of the book will go to PEI Food Banks with the mission to increase food security for Islanders by supporting Food Banks and the individuals who are in need of their support.
Canada’s Food Island: A Collection of Stories and Recipes from Prince Edward Island is available at Amazon.com and Indigo.ca.
Lobster Bisque
Total time 1 hour 30 minutes | 6–8 servings
2 Lobsters (1 ½ to 2 lbs each)
2 tsp salt
2 tbsp olive oil
1 large onion, roughly chopped
4 celery stalks, roughly chopped
1 large carrot or 2 medium, peeled and roughly chopped
2 tbsp tomato paste
½ cup dry vermouth or sherry
6 sprigs parsley + 2 tbsp roughly chopped parsley
2 bay leaves
6 sprigs thyme
1 tsp black peppercorns
4 cups fish stock
1/3 cup butter
1/3 cup flour
1 cup 35% cream
Salt
Fill a large pot with 1 inch water and 2 tsp salt. Bring to a boil. Add lobsters to the pot and cover with a lid. Once boiling, reduce heat to medium-low and let cook for 12 minutes, until shells are bright red. Remove lobsters from the pot and set aside to cool. Reserve 1 cup of strained cooking liquid.
Once lobster are cool enough to handle, carefully remove meat from the tail and claws; set shells aside. Chop meat from the body and keep claws intact for garnish; set aside.
In a large pot, heat oil over medium-high heat, add onions, celery and carrots. Cook for 5 minutes, until vegetables start to soften, stirring often. Add lobster shells and cook for another 5 minutes. Add tomato paste, cook for 1–2 minutes. Deglaze with vermouth (or sherry); cook until liquid reduces by half. Add parsley sprigs, bay leaves, thyme, peppercorns, fish stock, 2 cups of water and 1 cup of reserved lobster cooking liquid. Bring
to a boil over high. Once boiling, reduce heat to medium to keep at a simmer.
Let simmer for 45 minutes. Strain stock through a fine-mesh sieve, then discard vegetables and lobster shells.
Melt butter in a large clean pot over medium-high heat, whisk in flour and cook for 1–2 minutes. Whisk in strained lobster stock until it is incorporated and smooth, bring to a boil and let cook for 2–3 minutes to slightly thicken. Remove from heat, stir in cream and season with salt and pepper to taste.
Ladle bisque into bowls, garnish with chopped parsley, lobster meat and tails.
Recipe reprinted with permission from Figure 1 Publishing.