Tuesday, October 23, 2007

King Salmon, Chinese Noodles, Leftovers and Cold Food

Winter King Salmon is one of those things, like Northern Lights, that make living here worthwhile.
The local spot prawns are right up there and so is King Crab when you can get it. As soon as I took the Salmon out of the package I could tell how good it was going to be. It was very firm and had lots of fat. With fish of that quality all you have to do is not screw it up. I marinated it in some lemon juice, garlic and herbs and then froze my ass off grilling it outside.

Last summer we had some visitors from the East Coast who commented that with all the fish we eat we must be getting a lot of whatever the hell it is that makes fish good for you. All I could think of was that nobody here eats fish because it is good for you, we eat it because it tastes good.

What I didn't notice was the price, really. I did see that it was $16.99 per pound and I momentarily forgot that my kids are not home so I ordered two fillets. Imagine my surprise when it was close to $50 when I got to the register. So Henry won't go college next year.

***

Sharon, whatever you call those noodles they sound great. I love udon. Now THAT stuff tastes like it's healthy. I bet I could eat a lot of that if I had the opportunity.

***

Leftovers. This is more complicated than it sounds. Some things, like Shepard's pie, and lasagna and stuff like that are just meant to be leftover. My experience is that the more complicated the preparation, the worse it is as a left over. If you just roast off a plain leg of lamb it's easy to convert that into something else. If you make stuffed leg of lamb with a pastry crust, well, that's what you are having the second time. And sometimes preparations like that do not reheat very well or will lose flavor, color and texture.


***

Cold food for Constance. Keith, my co-worker suggests "cigarettes and coca-cola" but I don't think that is what you had in mind. We usually have tortillas in our fridge and you could stuff them with cheese and cold cuts. Avocados might be nice, or guacamole. If you have peanut butter you could make spicy peanut sauce and eat it with raw veggies. Bread, cheese and wine is not a bad fall back position either. You can bulk that out with olives and nuts. If you get really desperate we will send you some smoked salmon.

No comments: