Thursday, May 21, 2009

Hello Salmon.

I am incredibly lucky that I live in the Northwest. An endless number of reasons could easily justify this statement, but one that falls to the forefront is the easy access to incredible seafood. We live very close to Alaska, often our stores are packed full of fresh seafood (King Crab being one of my personal favorites). Various genus of salmon swim our coastal waters every year. I am able to head out to the beach and clam dig, mussel hunt, fish, and go crabbing. I can head down to the wharf and buy a whole, caught that day, sockeye from a man on a little blue boat, and barbecue it up that night. It's this reason, and this nearly alone, that makes me hesitant to move too far from my birthplace. I don't think I could survive away from the coast. Maybe it's the Norwegian blood pumping through my veins. I can't imagine life too far from the ocean and the easy access to some of the most amazing food on Earth that comes along with it.

Just like this dinner, the post will remain sweet and simple. Earlier this week I made my first salmon of the season. I seasoned the skin and meat with salt and pepper and threw it on a hot grill. I let the skin get nice and crispy, then flipped it for the few remaining minutes. Couldn't be any easier than that right? I oven roasted asparagus with olive oil, garlic and some finely chopped shallot for about 30 minutes on 375 F (a few fresh herbs or a squeeze of lemon would be really yummy on this as well). To the mashed potatoes I added just a bit of flat leaf parsley and one clove of garlic. When it was all prepared I towered it up, snapped a few photos, and devoured it in minutes. So simple, so delicious, and incredibly 'northwest'.

I loved this dinner so much I reworked it for breakfast the next morning. I simply mixed the leftover salmon and potato together to make a pattie, fried this in a bit of butter, then plated the cake with some reheated asparagus and a poached egg. Sheer breakfast ambrosia.



3 comments:

Anonymous said...

THAT is something that I am extremely jealous of...being in Nashville, we have NO good seafood markets. The best we have is Whole Foods, so I am trying to find a good mail order source! Your blog is beautiful! Does your sofa in the kitchen really look like the one in the banner? 'Cause it's kind of my dream sofa!

RachelleLouise said...

That poached egg photo is PERFECT! I just enjoyed some poached eggs myself! Great post, friend!

RachelleLouise said...

That poached egg photo is PERFECT! I just enjoyed some poached eggs myself! Great post, friend!