I'm not cooking tonight because last night I made a nice big pan of spanakopita, and there are plenty of leftovers. In keeping with our family ethos, my version contains elk or antelope burger as well as the usual ingredients (spinach, feta cheese, onion, eggs, oregano, thyme, filo dough) and it does taste good. Had it for lunch, will have it again tonight. No, I don't make my own filo dough. Life is too short.
A lettuce-and-tomato salad (blue cheese dressing) and some Goldfish crackers, and then I dared to eat a peach.
My son brought home many, many pounds of fish from Alaska, including salmon, halibut, and cod. We brought home a very nice piece of salmon tonight, and I am contemplating the best way to cook it. Homer? You got any suggestions?
An ex of mine caught a sea-bass during lockdown (can't remember which part of fishing was a legal exemption...) which she baked in a kind of salt meringue; amazing - the salt doesn't flavour the fish, but it insulates it so it cooks evenly and retains its natural moisture. Or for something a bit more robust, salmon and sweet-potato (yam) goes very well in a curry. Over here in baking-hot Blighty, I made a very light pasta dish - kind of a hot salad - with spring greens, leeks, spinach, peas, onion, and tomato - no sauce, just the veggies and a tiny amount of oil to fry the leeks and wilt the spinach. Not too heavy in the heat
Crumpets, fried in butter, not toasted and then buttered. I can’t believe cooking crumpets this way never occurred to me earlier. I can’t even remember where I first saw it being done, but I’ll never go back to toasted again.
I'm not Homer, but I think a famous writer revealed the primo way to cook salmon, especially considering the heat wave:
Get a nice salmon filet at the supermarket. Feed it to the cat because you don't like seafood. Order out for pizza.
Salmon? Zillions of options: Lemon pepper marinade. Soy ginger marinade. Honey bourbon bbq marinade. Citrus whatever marinade. Salt, pepper, oil, lemon zest. SPO rosemary, thyme. Any of the above, wrap in tinfoil and grill to desired temp. Or hard sear, finish in oven, and top with: Mango jalapeno chutney. Watermelon habanero chutney. Tomato basil salad. Olive tampanade. Very versatile. I hate salmon btw, but my wife loves it, so I still make it quite a bit.
You had me at lemon pepper marinade. Next "I am not an enthusiastic cook" question: what goes into the marinade except lemon pepper?
I'd buy one. But if I had to guess? Lemon juice, zest, oil, garlic, salt and pepper? Try googling it. You'll want a coarse grind on the pepper for sure.
Y'all are the best. Yes, I could've googled it from the start, but given access to restaurant people and cooks right here, I thought I'd go with... the best. I'm a whiz with burger, but hand me a substantial cut of any thing from elk to haddock, and I become dangerous.
Salmon is very forgiving. Especially if you like it cooked through. It has a high oil content unlike, say, tuna, while is far more delicate.
I'm from the Chicago area but I was stationed in the Southwest for a while. Ordered a steak "very rare" which in the midwest is kinda medium rare. Meet "blue rare": And this thing was thick and quite large. Hit my limit with that one.
Stracciatella alla Romana (actually not proper stracciatella, in which the egg is beaten and drizzled in - the root of the name being straccia; shreds, but spinach in a slightly thickened broth with celery, leek, and little umami-bombs of parmesan with a poached uovo instead of a shredded one. It's a bit more effort, but I like my uovos poached. And the tomato garnish isn't authentic either, but it pairs beautifully with both egg and spinach. In fact not really Stracciatella alla Romana at all, more zupa di spinaci alla Londra, but very tasty, and a healthy breakfast (yes, breakfast, I'm weird, ok?!))
