Since its roots as a stall at the Penticton Farmers’ Market in 2006, Joy Road Catering has evolved into wedding and event catering with an immensely popular Alfresco Long Table Dining Series. Chef Brett Turner and business-savvy Olivia Fobert, a husband-and-wife team and industry veterans, took over from Joy Road founders Cam Smith and Dana Ewart in 2019. This year, Joy Road opened its very first bakery in Penticton.
“Our mission is to champion everything local and seasonal,” Turner says. “The South Okanagan has so much to offer in terms of farmers, foragers, producers, wine and cider makers, and brewers. For us, Joy Road is a vehicle to bring that to the rest of the world.”
The Bakeshop offers naturally leavened bread and baked goods, a coffee program highlighting a variety of local coffee roasters, and a marketplace featuring pottery, flowers, and daily provisions: marinated meats, house-made spreads, and sauces.
“When we started thinking about our plan for Joy Road, we asked ourselves ‘what is the natural evolution for Joy Road?’ Being a staple in the Okanagan for 14 years, we began to think about expansion. This is where the idea of the year-round Bakeshop was born,” Turner explains.
The pair is also continuing the alfresco tradition and announced the 2021 dinner series that consists of 18 multicourse dinners paired with wine, cider, and beer, taking place from June to September. The dinners will be held at rotating locations, including in the bakery’s pop-up courtyard at La Petite Abeille cidery’s Blue Bee Orchard outside Penticton, and at a few lovely wineries throughout the area.
To give us an easy at-home taste of what to expect, Joy Road is sharing its recipe for Albacore Tuna Salad, the perfect light yet satisfying summer dish. Packed with gorgeous seasonal and locally available ingredients, this salad makes for the best alfresco dinner to enjoy with friends (and a glass of wine).
Joy Road’s Albacore Tuna Salad Recipe
Serves 4
This filling salad pairs B.C. albacore tuna with some of our early season Okanagan produce: scallions, Gem lettuces, radishes, and farm-fresh eggs.
Ingredients
For the tuna:
1 small loin Albacore Tuna
Salt to taste
Red wine vinegar
For the eggs:
4 eggs (purchased from a local farm if possible)
For the chickpeas:
1 can chickpeas (or buy roasted chickpeas)
Smoked paprika
For the ranch dressing:
4–6 scallions
1 clove garlic, grated on a microplane
1 lemon, zest + juice
100 millilitres buttermilk
400 millilitres mayo
Pinch each of cayenne pepper and onion powder
Salt and pepper to taste
For the salad:
4–6 fresh radishes, washed and trimmed
6 heads Gem lettuce (oruse small romaine), washed and dried
Olive oil
50 grams smoked almonds, halved crosswise
1 lemon
Method
For the tuna:
Remove the belly from the tuna loin and reserve for another use (confit, tartar, etc.). Fill a wide-bottomed pot with 10 centimetres of water; add salt and red wine vinegar to make a salty, vinegary cooking liquid. Bring this to a simmer, gently add cleaned tuna loin, and poach just until cooked on the outside. Remove, drain, cool slightly. Next, lay out a large sheet of plastic wrap, place the tuna loin at one end, and roll tightly to create a nice cylinder shape, leaving the ends open. Place in the refrigerator to cool.
For the eggs:
Add eggs to boiling water and cook for 6 minutes. Remove, place in ice water to stop cooking, peel, and reserve. The white should be totally set with creamy yolks.
For the chickpeas:
Drain, rinse well, and pat dry. Shallow fry until they stop bubbling, then remove from the oil and drain. Season with smoked paprika and salt.
For the ranch dressing:
Grill the scallions and chop finely. Place all the ingredients in a bowl and mix to combine. Taste and adjust seasoning if necessary. If the dressing is too thick, add more buttermilk to thin it.
For the salad:
Slice or shave the radishes thinly. Separate the Gem lettuces into individual leaves. Slice the chilled, cooked tuna into rounds the thickness you prefer(we like it 1 centimetre thick). Cut the eggs in half.
Lay out 4 plates. Place a spoonful of the ranch dressing on the base of each plate and roughly spread out over the base. Scatter the Gem leaves and radishes over the plates. Drizzle with a bit of nice olive oil and season. Next scatter the crispy chickpeas and smoked almond generously. Dollop/ drizzle the remaining dressing over the plates. Next place the sliced tuna and 1 whole egg on each plate, then season both with salt and pepper. Squeeze the lemon over each salad and enjoy!
Discover more of our best summer recipes.
