Herring with Tomato Sauce (Silkes)

When someone asks me about our traditional "family recipes" I always think about Granny's raisin bread, my mom's rhubarb cream pie, or her Napoleon torte, a cake we loved that made her cry. My mom says the recipe her grandmother always made on important occasions and the one most traditionally "family" to her is Silkes, a herring in tomato sauce dish.

Granny would use pickled/salted herring. She'd soak the fish in water, changing the water a few times to remove the salty brine. When I was small, my mom would get my father to drive us to busy Kensington Market on a Saturday to buy herring from a barrel. Back home, she'd soak the fish in a dish on the kitchen counter and we thought it smelled terrible, though I didn't mind eating a bit of the prepared Silkes. My sister Diane would not, she always hated fish, and didn't like visiting the fish market where the fish were laid on ice and had staring cold eyes.

This recipe serves 4. Serve with dark brown or rye bread.

Silkes (Herring and Onion in Tomato Sauce)

Start preparing the fish three days before serving.

Some people add a little diced pickle (about 2 small) to the herring on the plate, my mother offered dill pickles on a separate plate.

• 3 herring fillet slices
• 1 medium yellow onion
• 2 Tbsp ketchup (Heinz)
• 2 Tbsp tomato paste
• 1 Tbsp white granulated sugar
• 1 Tbsp olive oil
• 1 Tbsp white vinegar

1. Mix ketchup, tomato paste, sugar, olive oil and white vinegar in a bowl. Cover and refrigerate 2 days to develop the flavour.
2. Slice herring into thin slices.
3. Peel onion, cut in half, slice very thinly.
4. Arrange herring in a shallow dish, arrange onion slices on top, pour on prepared tomato mixture.
5. Cover with plastic food wrap and refrigerate for a day or at least overnight.
6. Optional: sprinkle with fresh dill before serving.