Rob Feenie became Canada’s first Iron Chef when he defeated Chef Morimoto in 2005. He’s published four cookbooks and now heads an entire team of chefs at the Cactus Club Café chain of restaurants in western Canada. Considered one of Canada’s most celebrated chefs, he brings a taste of the West to the Canada AM kitchen.

Ingredients: Soup

  • 4 Tbsp - sunflower oil
  • 3 Thai chillies, crushed
  • 4 cloves garlic, crushed
  • ½ lb galangal, 1-inch lengths
  • ½ lb ginger, 1-inch lengths
  • 3 stalks lemon grass, beaten, 1-inch lengths
  • 1/3 leek, 1-inch lengths
  • 1/3 carrot, peeled, ½ inch slices
  • ½ onion, 1 inch dice
  • 6 kaffir lime leaves
  • 1 sprig fresh basil
  • 1 sprig fresh cilantro
  • 4 Tbsp palm sugar
  • 4 Tbsp tamarind paste
  • 3 Tbsp+1 tsp fish sauce
  • 5L water
  • ¼ cup lime juice

Method: Soup

  1. Heat oil in a large pot on medium heat. Add Thai chilies and garlic, then sauté for 3 minutes, or until fragrant. Add galangal, ginger, lemon grass, leeks, carrots, and onions, then cook for about 7 minutes, or until onions are translucent.
  2. Add the remaining ingredients, except for the lime juice. Increase the heat to high and bring to a boil, then decrease to low simmer for 45 minutes. Allow to cool.
  3. Strain soup through a fine-mesh sieve, and discard solids. Refrigerate until chilled, about 2 hours. Stir lime juice into chilled soup.

Ingredients: Clarification

  • 1/3 carrot
  • 1 stalk celery
  • ¼ onion
  • 2 Tbsp ginger
  • ¼ lb white fish (halibut, snapper or sole)
  • ¾ cup egg whites (about 6 to 8 eggs)

Method: Clarification

  1. Place carrot, celery, onion and ginger in a food processor and process until finely chopped. Add fish and pulse until the mixture becomes like a paste.
  2. Beat egg whites in a bowl until frothy, then add the fish mixture and mix well until combined.
  3. Place the chilled soup and the clarification mixture in a large pot on low heat, and stir well to combine. Cook, stirring occasionally, for the first 15 minutes. Continue cooking without stirring, for about 1 hour, or until a “raft” of the clarification mixture floats to the top of the soup. (This “raft will trap the all of the impurities in the soup.)
  4. Simmer for another 10 minutes, then carefully poke a hole in the middle of the raft.
  5. Line a fine-mesh sieve with cheese cloth, and then place the sieve over a large bowl.
  6. Using a ladle, gently spoon the clarified stock into the sieve, being careful not to upset the raft. Strain the stock. Discard the raft and keep the stock hot.

Ingredients: Garnish

  • 5 Tbsp coconut milk
  • 1 cup skim milk
  • 2 green onions, finely sliced
  • 1 bunch enoki mushrooms, trimmed, 1-inch lengths
  • 2 shittake mushrooms, stems removed and thinly sliced
  • 2 roma tomatoes, peeled, seeded, and ¼ inch dice
  • ¼ lb crab leg meat, cooked
  • 4 pieces sablefish (each 2 ½ oz)
  • 1 Tbsp sunflower oil
  • 8 Thai basil leaves
  • 8 cilantro leaves

To Serve:

  1. Preheat the oven to 400°F.
  2. Heat coconut and skim milks in a small pot on medium heat until warm (do not overheat the milk or it will not foam properly). Set warm milk aside.
  3. Divide green onions, enoki and shitake mushrooms, tomatoes and crabmeat among 4 bowls.
  4. Rub sablefish with oil. Place in an ovenproof pan and roast in the oven for 5 to 7 minutes, or until doe (flesh flakes easily with a fork).
  5. Place a piece of sablefish in each bowl, and then cover with 8 oz of soup.
  6. Using an immersion blender, froth the milk mixture. Spoon 3 Tbsp froth on top of the soup in each bowl. Garnish each serving with 2 Thai basil leaves and 2 cilantro leaves.