West Coast Thanksgiving dinner: Sockeye Salmon with Cranberry Salsa

What is a West Coast Thanksgiving?  What foods are part of our local harvest and culture?

My girlfriend and I cooked a dinner for my parents.  We invited
our dragon boat friend and team member who moved to Vancouver from
Thunder Bay, Ontario.  Turkey was familiar to him, but not a fully
dressed salmon for Thanksgiving dinner.

The salmon was caught up north near Haida Gwaii, and flash frozen.  I bought it from a boat at Steveston's
“Fisherman's Wharf.”  Go see Tony, on the Blue ??  and tell him Todd sent you.

We shredded cranberries to make a fresh salsa with local BC hot house
red and yellow peppers.  I added in frozen blueberries and
raspberries for sweetness.  Mixed in with jalapeno pepper, red
onion and cilantro, we continued to tweak it.  This is a great appetizer served with chips for munching.

First course was a butternut squash soup.  Okay… it came from a
boxed soup – but it was still pretty good.  We didn't have enough
time to make a soup from scratch.  My mother makes a great
butternut squash soup.  And once a made a fantastic ginger pumpkin
soup.

Seasoned wild rice complimented
the yams, baked with orange juice and brown sugar.  Green beans
were  sauteed with white mushrooms.  Brussel sprouts were
steamed
with Chinese ginger.  My girlfriend Deb's family always has the
seasoned wild rice for their Christmas dinners.  Often she will
add bacon and mushrooms, but for this dinner we kept things
simple.  My favorite mushrooms to cook are portabellos – but none
today.

The sockeye salmon was fileted, then “flash broiled” for about 2
minutes, to allow me to pull the spine off the remaining fish. 
The cranberry salsa spread on top, allowing the fruit juices, to soak
into the salmon, then broiled for 7 minutes.  yum yum yum.
delicious. with a bit of crunch from the red peppers.

We each shared something we were grateful for.

A west coast Thanksgiving dinner, complete with a stunning sunset over
English Bay, from our home in the highlands of North Vancouver. 
Perfect with pumpkin pie and ice cream for dessert.