Rum Glazed Salmon?

I can fix salmon hundreds of ways. No. Countless ways. From a homemade Filet-O-Fish to en papillote and everything in between.

I often do a maple mustard glaze with dill. Or teriyaki. Salmon is wonderful with a teriyaki sauce.

I was inspired by this Bourbon Glazed Salmon recipe but...didn't have any bourbon in the house. Shocking. I know. I gave it some thought and decided I'd use some dark rum I had in the pantry.

Now who wouldn't want to eat this?
Here's what I did:

• ¼ cup dark rum
• 1 tablespoon of brown sugar
• 1 tablespoon reduced sodium soy sauce
• 1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
• Juice from 1 lime

My cooking is generally "little bit of this and little bit of that". Adjust those amounts to whatever might suit your taste. That made enough for maybe a pound of fish. I mixed everything except the lime juice in a bag. I added my skinless salmon fillets (wild Atlantic Salmon) and marinated for 5 hours or so in the refrigerator.

An hour before cooking the fish I added the lime juice to the bag. I didn't want the acid in the lime juice to mess up the texture of the fish.

I put a cast iron skillet in my oven and preheated the oven to 425° F. While the oven was heating I poured the marinade into a small sauce pan and reduced it.

I put the fish on the cast iron skillet skin side up. This way the fish gets a nice sear on it. Follow the 10 minutes in the oven per inch of fish rule. My fillets took about 7 minutes. Check them often! About a minute or so before I thought the fish was done I spooned the reduced marinade over it so it would glaze.

I paired it with a Pinot Noir. I'm not sure I even have the words to describe how good it was. Really a stellar dish.

Fish Sticks Again?!

Yes! Fish sticks are a favorite!

Wild Atlantic Salmon Fish Sticks
This is my universal fish stick recipe you just can't beat.

• Fish. Whatever you like. Salmon, cod, haddock, halibut, pollock, trimmed into fish stick size pieces.
• Whole wheat flour
• 1 or 2 eggs depending on the amount of fish, beaten, with a tablespoon or 2 of water
• Whole wheat bread crumbs

Here's what you do:

Heat your oven to 450° F.
Season the fish with salt and pepper. Dust the fish in whole wheat flour, shake off the excess, dip into the beaten egg mixture, dip into the whole wheat bread crumbs to coat, put them a on a cookie cooling rack. Put the cookie cooling rack on a half sheet pan and put the fish sticks in a 450° oven for just 6 or 8 minutes. I follow the 10 minute per inch of fish rule and check early. When the breading goes golden brown and they barely start to flake they're done.

I've made salmon, cod, haddock, halibut and pollock fish sticks all with this single recipe. The salmon I find is especially good. Biting into a fish stick and finding salmon inside is just *crazy*. Of course you can use any kind of bread crumbs but I find bread crumbs from homemade bread will make a real difference.

Salmon Fish Sticks Up Close. Ridiculously good.
This is the very same recipe I use for homemade Filet-O-Fish. I use a sandwich sized fish fillet and I do the exact same thing with it and have it on a bun. With <gasp>cheese. Aw c'mon, who doesn't like a Filet-O-Fish?

Mix some mayonnaise, sweet pickle relish and lemon juice for a nice homemade tartar sauce. For salmon I mix up a sauce using mayonnaise, dill, a splash of lemon juice and a little bit of maple syrup. [Edited to add]: And I put a spot of Dijon mustard in that mix for salmon.

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Hunting season is over! We're so very happy to be back in the fields and woods. We stay very close to the barn during hunting season.

Happy New Year!

Simple Salmon

Over a month ago I planned on fixing a simple parchment baked salmon fillet, or salmon en papillote.

There's a salmon fillet in there
You basically seal your food in this parchment paper envelope with some vegetables, herbs, olive oil and a splash of wine, and bake it.

You can use this technique with almost any type of fish or a chicken breast.

It started here
I folded and creased a sheet of parchment paper and trimmed it into a semi circle. I used a salmon fillet. I added cut grape tomatoes, broccoli florets, and parsnips. I just happened to have those around and I wanted to use up the last couple of parsnips. I think broccoli goes well with salmon. If this were halibut I'd have used summer squash and snow peas.

I splashed on some dry vermouth and added some Herbs de Provence. I didn't use any olive oil because I think salmon is moist enough.

Folding the parchment paper can be a little tricky. I looked for videos but couldn't find any I thought worth anything. But really, if I can do this, anyone can do this. You start at one corner and fold the parchment paper over at the edge. Then move along the edge. You start about halfway along your last fold and fold again and crease it, then continue along until you reach the other corner. Use a spring clip to seal it.

Then just pop it in a 425 degree F oven and have some wine.

A Spanish Pinot Noir!
This time of year I like Pinot Noir with salmon.

About 12 minutes later it looked like this:

You put the whole pouch on a plate, cut the top open and eat it right out of the paper.

Simple and delicious. Healthy too.

Speaking of smoked salmon

I never liked smoked salmon much.

Smoked wild Sockeye salmon
Then several years ago some friends of mine, one of whom is from Alaska, visited Fairbanks and brought back some salmon his dad smoked in the back yard. That's common in Alaska. Smoking salmon in the back yard. And this stuff was just *delicious*. That inspired me to try some smoked salmon from Harry and David. Which was very good but it wasn't like the homemade stuff. It was enough to make we want to try some less expensive, more easily available stuff.

Smoked salmon is complicated. I've come to generally like smoked salmon. But "Smoked Scottish Salmon" is *not* "Scottish Smoked Salmon" which, by the way, is *not* "Salmon smoked in Scotland". Which is not the same as "Scottish Style Smoked Salmon". Which is dry brined and hardwood cold smoked.

Surprisingly I find I generally like the Ruby Bay products. They're near the East River in Brooklyn! Who ever would have thought. They have a broad selection of smoked salmon products.

Ruby Bay smoked salmon
In this case, it's "Norwegian Style" Smoked Salmon. The salmon is sugar cured with spices and cold smoked over fruitwood smoke. Usually.

Turns out over time and testing I like "Irish Style" smoked salmon.

Irish Style Smoked Salmon (lower half of the frame)
Which is cold smoked over peat smoke. It has a lovely texture. See how shiny that salmon is? It's not at all wet. The top half of the frame there is a maple cured hot smoked salmon. With cracked peppercorns. Obviously I couldn't decide what I wanted. I like dill with salmon and smoked salmon is especially good with hard boiled or scrambled eggs.

Or with cucumber and red onions..and...pickled herring?

Smoked salmon and inlagd sill
I prefer wild salmon and Alaskan salmon (Coho, Sockeye and King) is just about the only wild salmon left. Norwegian, Irish, Scottish and even Nova Scotia salmon is almost universally farmed. It's extremely rare to find wild salmon in Europe.

I'm not sure I'm ready for smoked salmon mousse but a little piece of smoked salmon fillet is excellent on a cracker. With a slice of avacado.

Oh! And have a nice Pinot Noir with your smoked salmon!

Love this Pinot Noir!

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Edited (18 December 2011) to add: I've learned more about smoked salmon! It turns out that an awful lot of smoked fish products (not just salmon) come from Brooklyn. Brooklyn is highly regarded in the smoked fish business. The smokehouses around the East River supply the greater New York City area with tons and tons of smoked fish. The quality whitefish, bluefish, mackerel, herring, salmon and trout get consistently good reviews. I had no idea really. Even the peppered mackerel I've enjoyed for years comes from Brooklyn!

Officially Miserable

There goes the heating bill.

23 January 2011 7:00 am

Bring. Me. In.
This time of year it seems I do an awful lot of this...

We did ride yesterday but we weren't gone long. We got whacked pretty good by that last storm.

L is strong and she's fit but she is off her peak. It's hard to keep your training on track without indoor facilities this time of year. I could really feel her working in the deep snow and she stumbled on a berm left behind by a plow. A nice enough ride as it was but much more and it would have been more work than fun. Which is ok when it's necessary but when it isn't? Not so much.

So of course comfort food comes immediately to mind when it's cold and snowy. This is a classic comfort food favorite! Creamed salmon with peas on toast.

Here's some interesting trivia! This recipe was first published in The Lookout Cookbook (pdf) in 1938 by the US Forest Service. It's on page 14. I'm partial to rustic food and this is about as rustic as it gets.

Basically, you make a white sauce, add canned salmon, mushy peas, and serve it over toast.

I have messed with the recipe. I've used fresh grilled salmon, I've used fresh poached salmon, I've added mushrooms, pearl onions, I've used frozen baby peas, I've used fresh peas, I've added dill, and cilantro, and parsley, and *nothing* beats the original recipe. Except for a pinch of salt it's all right here:

Make a white sauce. Use equal parts butter and flour. Melt the butter in a skillet, whisk in the flour, and when it's all pasty, add whole milk, about a half cup for each tablespoon of butter.

The canned salmon works best. And the mushy peas from a can. I make a somewhat thick white sauce and I thin it out with the liquid from the peas. Canned salmon has bones so open the can into a bowl and pick the bones out. The last thing I do I add the peas to the sauce. You just want them warmed and you don't want them to get all beat up.

Use a really nice rustic crusty bread for your toast.

This is right up there with meatloaf, macaroni and cheese and pot roast when it comes to the ultimate in comfort food.

And remember! Brandy is a fine dessert any time!

*Still* Celebrating?

Pan seared wild line caught salmon. A *very* special thing:

I usually do salmon on a rocket hot cast iron griddle. Skin side up for 3 and a half minutes. Then I flip it and finish it in a 500 degree oven. I turn it down to 350 degrees and give it 3 or 4 minutes. I glaze it with either maple syrup or teriyaki sauce about 30 seconds or so before it's done. This was very special salmon. It took 8 or 9 minutes in the oven to finish. You don't get fillets like that at Market Basket!

I like rice with salmon and when I do a maple syrup glaze I think honey glazed carrots with parsley is perfect.

That delightful morsel was brought to me by my friend T.

And yes you really can have dessert every day. When it looks like this!

My kiwis were a little under-ripe. So I worked maybe a teaspoon of honey in there and they were just delicious.

First day of summer

I love the summer time. I just love everything about it. Hazy hot and humid is my most favorite forecast! The sun sets in Oslo today today at 11:45 pm. How wild is that! I've traveled the world and it's out of my system for the most part, but I'd kind of like to have a summer solstice dinner in Oslo someday.
Every meal should be a treat. I've taken quite a shine to this stuff:



I slice it with a serrated knife and flake it a little bit, lay it out on a bed of nice lettuce and finely chopped red onions, and I put a little dribble of maple syrup on it. Grade B. I like it with basmati rice and honey glazed carrots or steamed green beans or even bean salad in the summertime. Have it with a nice merlot or a pinot noir. I think I prefer the pinot noir. Really good stuff!