spiced bison & beet salad

back in the salad again… well, sort of. ;)

bison & beets in a salad, you ask? perhaps a bit of an unlikely combo, but somehow it just worked. and besides, i had to do something fun with the leftover roasted beets from this previous yumyumyummers recipe. oh, and the fabulous montreal steak spice that i picked up from spice station on my culinary travels out east.

montreal steak spice is a blend of pepper, salt, coriander, dill, mustard seeds, dehydrated garlic and onions, red pepper flakes, rosemary, thyme, paprika and caraway seeds. montreal steak spice is typically used as a rub for steaks… why not bison, too? oh yes.

en papillote (french for ‘in parchment’) is a cooking technique where you bake food in a folded parchment paper bag (placed in a baking dish) and essentially steam the ingredients to lock-in the juicy flavours. although some may think it’s fancy-schmancy, it’s quite a simple way to prepare fish, poultry, lamb and bison, too! check it out…

– pre-heat oven to 400F

the bison:
– 500g organic bison (wrapped in kitchen twine)
– lightly drizzle red wine over the bison (i used some leftover zinfandel in this recipe.)
– season w/ 1 tsp montreal steak spice

– carefully place marinated bison onto cooking parchment paper, in a baking dish
– drizzle 1 tsp extra-virgin olive oil over the bison
– add dash of sea salt
– season w/ ground black peppercorns
– fold cooking parchment paper into a packet & tightly fold paper bag inside baking dish
– bake bison for 20-25min at 400F, or until the bison is cooked to your preference
– remove from oven and allow to cool for a few min before opening the papillote

– don’t forget to remove the kitchen twine before slicing the bison roast

food styling:
– toss roasted spiced bison (thinly sliced) & roasted beets w/ fresh organic spinach
– lightly drizzle balsamic vinegar over salad
– season w/ ground black peppercorns
– pairs nicely w/ sparkling water or… you guessed it, your fave zinfandel.