The ubiquitous Northern Michigan summer appetizer – whitefish pie – is reinvigorated in this spring salad.
This dish is part of On the Table, Traverse, the grocery division of Northern Michigan Magazine, which has a monthly seasonal recipe and monthly wine and beer recommendations. Don’t miss a single bite. Subscribe here!
Before returning to Michigan, I took a week each summer to visit my parents’ Petoskey cabin. Whenever my mother thoughtfully asked if I had any food inquiries, my answer was always the same: “White fish spread”. We ate it at the end of the kitchen counter while she prepared dinner, put it on crackers, or pulled raw vegetables through it.
In the past few years, I’ve started tinkering with this locally loved staple. What else can we do with this smoked fish and cream cheese spread, other than fight each other for our fair share from the plastic tub? My own kids and I are now taking a page from New York’s Jewish delis and placing it on top of our bagels – piling them high with tomatoes, capers and red onions. But my new favorite way to serve this northern Michigan gem is this spring salad. While it will be a while before lettuce pops up in our home gardens, professional growers like Lakeview Hill Farm in Traverse City are taking advantage of the longer and longer days of the 45th parallel by growing arugula, pea sprouts, kale, spinach, and other cold-tolerant ones Greens in tire houses this month. Gather up a tangle of such early salads, toast some rolls, top them with a piece of your favorite white fish pie and celebrate with me the return of a more colorful growing season.
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