When Chef Jenni Lessard is feeling stuck for a recipe or menu, she heads outside and takes her cues from nature. Her business is aptly named Inspired by Nature Culinary Consulting: “The contrasting colours of sage growing next to lipstick red rose hips or even a swoosh of dark cloud against a sunset sky might inform my next dish.”
She grew up in Northern Saskatchewan, but today she lives in the Qu’Appelle Valley on Treaty 4 Territory. “Since moving here I’ve started to learn more about bison and how important they were in my family’s Métis culture. From ground meat to liver, I find connection and nourishment when I cook and eat this incredible animal.”
She points out that bison goes well with berries, and so she’s started using local saskatoons and chokecherries more often. “My fingernails are perpetually purple near the middle of August during the chokecherry harvest!”
Here, she shares with a recipe for Bison Tenderloin with Yarrow and Sage. Bison isn’t tricky to cook but she adds, “Unless you’re braising low and slow, don’t overcook it.”
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