Sunday, May 11, 2008

Salmon Always Reminds Me of Seattle...

It's true... I didn't like fish again until I moved to Seattle and had salmon for the first time.

How did I grow sick of fish in the first place? Well, when you live on a river and you're poor- and by that I mean just making the bills poor- there's only one place to turn for food; the river. And so began our days of fishing. Yeah it sucked. Yeah I saw parts of different kinds of fish that I hope to never see again. Yeah, I ate fish I never want to eat again. But, when I got to Seattle, and for the first time had salmon, I knew that that was going to be a fish I was going to enjoy. Much better than rainbow trout or sucker fish- don't ask...

Anyway, one day I went to reach for the salmon rub- a real treat on salmon, which I'd recommend to anyone who wants an easy salmon fix- and it was all gone. How could I have done such a thing!!! I was only worried for a moment though, because I instantly started thinking of all of the flavors that go good with salmon and started scouring my cupboards and fridge for them. The result is this recipe that I came up with for salmon.

Salmon in Creamy Lemon-Dill Sauce on Rice

Start your rice before you start the salmon!!!

Put 3 tablespoons of butter into a pan and melt it with about 6 tablespoons of lemon juice and a teaspoon of dill. Once the butter is melted, I pour milk into the pan until it's about three-quarters of an inch deep. It curdles because of the lemon, so don't worry about that. I bring this back to a boil and then add the salmon fillets. After they're added, I spoon the mixture over the salmon and turn the heat down to just above low and simmer covered for about 6 minutes. Then, I flip the salmon over and cook it for another 6 minutes. You know it's done when the fish flakes easily with your fork (or in this case, my spoon). I remove the salmon and cover it on a plate, then put some flour into a cup and add some milk and salt. Add just a little milk at a time to get your thickener for your sauce. Why use flour instead of corn starch which thickens in seconds? Easy. With corn starch you lose some of the flavor for some reason. I've found that by using a flour mix as opposed to corn starch, you can preserve the flavor and not have to add a ton of seasoning to regain it like you have to when you use corn starch in things.

Bring the heat back up on the sauce, then whisk in the gravy mix in while it's bubbling. Your rice should be done by now. So, spoon some rice onto your plate and cover with the sauce. Put one small spoon over the salmon; just to accent it, not overpower it.
Here you see Tearese's favorite dish to serve with these, sweet potatoes and pineapple. If anyone wants that recipe, I'll post it at the end of this entry. They really are great with this salmon, because they are sweet and offset the lemon and dill.



Ingredients

3 Tbs Butter or Margarine
6 Tbs Lemon Juice
1 tsp Dill
Milk
2 Salmon Fillets
3 Tbs Flour
1/4 tsp salt

______________________________________________________
Sweet Potatoes with Pineapple

1 can Princella Cut Sweet Potatoes (Big Can!)
1 can Pineapple Tidbits (Big can also)
1/2 stick Butter or Margarine
1/3 Cup Brown Sugar (I like the dark brown sugar)
Drain the juice from the potatoes and put into an 8" X 8" baking dish. Cut into smaller pieces and then slice the butter over the top of the potatoes.

Drain the pineapple, leaving a little juice in them, and add to the yams.

Sprinkle brown sugar over the whole lot and bake, uncovered, for about 25 minutes at 350° F.

Pull out, let set until cool enough to eat and enjoy!


Keep on cookin'!

5 comments:

Doreen said...

Mmmmh. That made my mouth water. If you ever want to have guests over for dinner, feel free to invite us. ;o)

Joseph said...

LOL

I'm glad you liked the looks of it. We'll see what we can do about dinner some day. Before the 22nd might be tough. =)

Doreen said...

Eh, I was just kidding, really. Just keep posting yummy recipes, that'll be good enough for me. :p

Cardine said...

This looks really good.

Mellissa said...

Hey, I'm an old friend of Tearese's and thought I'd check out your blog. The salmon looks delicious but I never know how, when, what kind, etc. of salmon to buy. Any tips? Thanks.