from last night’s dinner. we had this with honeyed leek and sweet potato strips and arugula salad with pears and almonds, and alicia brought over a nice shiraz (errasuriz). we followed our gluttony with fresh mint tea.
cedar-roasted salmon
- 1 lg salmon filet (enough for 2 people)
- mashed garlic and ginger
- diced leeks
- olive oil
- lime juice
- spices: cumin, fennel seed, salt, pepper, cayenne
- 2 cedar sheets (enough to wrap or cover filet), soaked
preheat oven to 400C. rinse and pat filet dry. rub down with garlic and ginger. rub in spices. sprinkle leeks. drizzle with lime juice and olive oil. let marinate for 20+ minutes at room temperature. place one cedar sheet on baking sheet, position salmon, add 2nd sheet and make a little cedar sandwich. roast for 30 minutes, or until done. enjoy! (i like this method because the salmon stays extremely moist and light, like poaching without the hassle, and enough crispy roasty goodness to change up the texture a bit)
more after the jump
spring mussels
- 2lbs mussels, rinsed and debearded
- 1 medium fresh fennel bulb (or anise)
- olive oil
- 2 tomatoes, diced
- 1 red pepper
- 3-6 cloves garlic
- 1 leek, chopped
- salt & pepper
- 1 bottle beer (cameron’s auburn ale, ennis & gunn, creemore, etc)
- fresh bread (sourdough is ubergood)
scrub and rinse mussels. drain in colander. in a food processor, finely chop fennel, peppers, garlic and leeks. add salt and pepper. heat olive oil in a large, deep skillet on medium and add fennel mixture. saute til soft and brown, add tomatoes. cook til soft. add 1/2-3/4 bottle of beer (it’ll foam a bit so make sure your skillet is deep), consume the remainder. add mussels, stir and cover for 10 minutes or until mussels have opened wide*. transfer to a platter and scarf down with bread.
*do not eat mussels that have not opened, as they were probably dead before cooking and can do unpleasant things to your body.
spicy garlic shrimp
- 4-6 giant shrimp or prawns, deveined and peeled
- 5 cloves garlic, mashed
- 1 tsp cayenne flakes, salt and pepper
- olive oil
add olive oil to skillet and heat on med-high (if oil smokes it’s too hot). add garlic and cayenne, salt and pepper, saute til brown. add shrimp and cook for 1-2 minutes per side, or until pink all the way through. drizzle with lime juice and serve. (these didn’t even make it to the plate – we ate them right out of the pan. hot but sooo good! :) )
