FRESH fish!
Sep. 3rd, 2005 09:44 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
coraaWe catch 'em, you buy 'em!
When in Seattle I bought a salmon -- a beautiful shiny-scaled, red-fleshed silver Coho salmon -- and had it packed to bring back here. Having been reading MFK Fisher, I'm inclined to wax eloquent about my food.
Grilled Salmon
On the first day, when the salmon was quite fresh, I took it out of the refrigerator for a few minutes to rub it all over with olive oil and seasonings. I used a can of seasonings sold at the Pike Place Fish Market, which consisted of, among other things, brown sugar and paprika and black pepper and garlic and onion and caraway seeds and parsley. Rub enough in to lightly coat the flesh side of the fish, but not so much that you obscure it. (You want to taste fish, after all, not just spices.) The olive oil should go on both the flesh side and the skin side; the seasonings, just on the flesh side. Wrap the fish well and put it back in the fridge for a couple of hours.
When you're ready to grill, get the grill going good and hot. Unwrap the fish and lay them -- one long filet at a time -- flesh-side down on the hot grill. Admire the sizzle. Let it lie there unmolested until the grill has dug long brown lines into the flesh and the flesh on the surface of the fish has gone from translucent red-pink to an opaquer, paler orangey-pink. Flip the fish over and cook it for a little time -- not necessarily as long -- on the skin side. It is ready when the flesh is quite moist but will flake readily into large chunks. I had it with garlic bread and asparagus cooked in a packet.
Asparagus In A Packet
Take a piece of tinfoil more than twice as large as the asparagus halves. Lay the asparagus on one side of it and add the butter. Tinge with just a hint of salt and pepper. Wrap the foil over and secure it well. Put the asparagus on the grill for a good long time, until the asparagus is hot and just tender, but still with a bit of crunch. The butter may leak and cause the flames to leap. This is exciting.
If there are leftovers to the salmon -- as there were for me -- put them in a shallow dish and wrap them will and keep them in the fridge. A day or two or three later, take them out and make this:
Salmon Stew
Dice the red potatoes, carrot and celery as small as your patience will allow. The smaller, the better. Put the butter in a big pot and put it over medium heat until it has not only melted but foamed, and turned a slightly darker shade. Add the whiff of garlic. Add the onions. Let them fume together a bit, then add the carrots and celery. Put the lid on the big pot, turn the heat down a bit and let them get soft and release their juices together. Then add a bit of salt and pepper, the potatoes, and about half the wine. Top it up with water until the potatoes are covered. Bring the whole thing to a boil, and let it boil a few seconds, then put on the lid again and turn the heat down.
When the potatoes are tooth-tender, pour in about half the half-and-half. Pull the salmon off its skin. If you're lucky, there will be, in the bottom of the dish and clinging to the salmon skin, a kind of translucent gelatin that delights makers of stock and broth and disgusts most others. Scrap it up and add it to the pot. It has more flavor than almost anything else you can put in. Have no fear -- it will melt beautifully in the soup and never again resemble goo. Then add the salmon. You might tear off a few flakes of salmon skin -- they have a nice flavor -- and add them, or you might not. (Don't put in too much skin, because it's kind of chewy.) Season again with salt and a few generous grindings of pepper.
While the salmon warms through, use the rest of the wine and the half-and-half to achieve your desired balance of richness. If you add much wine, you will want the alcohol taste to simmer off before serving. It is very good with crackers, although I had it, for no good reason, with sliced apples and caramel dip.
When in Seattle I bought a salmon -- a beautiful shiny-scaled, red-fleshed silver Coho salmon -- and had it packed to bring back here. Having been reading MFK Fisher, I'm inclined to wax eloquent about my food.
Grilled Salmon
- a salmon
- a glug or two of olive oil
- dry seasonings to cover
On the first day, when the salmon was quite fresh, I took it out of the refrigerator for a few minutes to rub it all over with olive oil and seasonings. I used a can of seasonings sold at the Pike Place Fish Market, which consisted of, among other things, brown sugar and paprika and black pepper and garlic and onion and caraway seeds and parsley. Rub enough in to lightly coat the flesh side of the fish, but not so much that you obscure it. (You want to taste fish, after all, not just spices.) The olive oil should go on both the flesh side and the skin side; the seasonings, just on the flesh side. Wrap the fish well and put it back in the fridge for a couple of hours.
When you're ready to grill, get the grill going good and hot. Unwrap the fish and lay them -- one long filet at a time -- flesh-side down on the hot grill. Admire the sizzle. Let it lie there unmolested until the grill has dug long brown lines into the flesh and the flesh on the surface of the fish has gone from translucent red-pink to an opaquer, paler orangey-pink. Flip the fish over and cook it for a little time -- not necessarily as long -- on the skin side. It is ready when the flesh is quite moist but will flake readily into large chunks. I had it with garlic bread and asparagus cooked in a packet.
Asparagus In A Packet
- A bunch of asparagus, with the bottom halves chopped off
- A generous pat of butter
- Salt
- Pepper
Take a piece of tinfoil more than twice as large as the asparagus halves. Lay the asparagus on one side of it and add the butter. Tinge with just a hint of salt and pepper. Wrap the foil over and secure it well. Put the asparagus on the grill for a good long time, until the asparagus is hot and just tender, but still with a bit of crunch. The butter may leak and cause the flames to leap. This is exciting.
If there are leftovers to the salmon -- as there were for me -- put them in a shallow dish and wrap them will and keep them in the fridge. A day or two or three later, take them out and make this:
Salmon Stew
- 2 small red potatoes
- 1 smallish carrot
- 2 smallish stalks of celery (detect a pattern here?)
- several tablespoons of butter
- the barest whiff of minced garlic
- half a cup of chopped onion (I buy pre-chopped; I hate chopping onions, and life is short)
- a generous swig of white wine -- perhaps a cup and a half, or two cups
- salt
- pepper
- 1 pint half-and-half
- cooked salmon
- parsley, chopped
Dice the red potatoes, carrot and celery as small as your patience will allow. The smaller, the better. Put the butter in a big pot and put it over medium heat until it has not only melted but foamed, and turned a slightly darker shade. Add the whiff of garlic. Add the onions. Let them fume together a bit, then add the carrots and celery. Put the lid on the big pot, turn the heat down a bit and let them get soft and release their juices together. Then add a bit of salt and pepper, the potatoes, and about half the wine. Top it up with water until the potatoes are covered. Bring the whole thing to a boil, and let it boil a few seconds, then put on the lid again and turn the heat down.
When the potatoes are tooth-tender, pour in about half the half-and-half. Pull the salmon off its skin. If you're lucky, there will be, in the bottom of the dish and clinging to the salmon skin, a kind of translucent gelatin that delights makers of stock and broth and disgusts most others. Scrap it up and add it to the pot. It has more flavor than almost anything else you can put in. Have no fear -- it will melt beautifully in the soup and never again resemble goo. Then add the salmon. You might tear off a few flakes of salmon skin -- they have a nice flavor -- and add them, or you might not. (Don't put in too much skin, because it's kind of chewy.) Season again with salt and a few generous grindings of pepper.
While the salmon warms through, use the rest of the wine and the half-and-half to achieve your desired balance of richness. If you add much wine, you will want the alcohol taste to simmer off before serving. It is very good with crackers, although I had it, for no good reason, with sliced apples and caramel dip.
