Seared Salmon with cider bbq glaze, aspargus and shitakes, cucumbers....
Eating by yourself is a task in it self at times. Unless it's chewing while you work, clean, read or space out with some anonymous item being transferred orally from mouth to hand. Cooking for yourself is the hurdle to jump. I definitely have to be in the mood. Friday nights I'm often found deciding on real ice cream or something with a little less fat for dinner- like Stoneyfield's lowfat frozen yogurt, Dulce de Leche. This is often followed by pop corn with butter and maybe a little flax oil cut in to make me feel healthy- and a little nutritional yeast. But yesterday morning before leaving the house for the day, I pulled from the freezer a filet of wild salmon. Two days ago, I had company and grilled chicken in a cider bbq marinade, grilled asparagus and threw together strawberry rhubarb crisps . Having company now and then can be helpful in cooking for yourself as entertaining often yields leftovers and provides a good base from which to start. Driving home from work I decided to cook as it's only Tuesday and two nights of ice cream and popcorn is a bit much (for me). Here's what I did in about 20 minutes.....and I'm worth it! Oh how cliché......
And lest we forget my guest....
It was a simple dinner but tasty and visually pleasing.
I marinated the salmon in the leftover cider sauce: I used about half the first night.
1/2 c apple cider (originally used frozen apple juice)
1/4 c cider vinegar
1 T minced orange zest
1 T brown sugar
1 T ketchup
cumin, garlic, salt and pepper to taste. (basically a pinch of each).
And don't hesitate to play with this- make it please your palette.
When you are ready to cook salmon take the excess marinade and put in a little pan to reduce to a glaze.(Watch it as it's a small amount of liquid)
I used a grill pan (love these) for the salmon- brushed canola oil on it and got it hot. I seared the salmon on presentation side (skin side up) then turned it over, turned the heat down and poured a little sauce on the fish, lightly placed a little tin foil over it to cook it rare.
*And you can turn off the heat just before it's all the way done - it will keep cooking- RESIDUAL cooking is your friend!
Leftover asparagus were sauteed with shitake mushrooms( in the crisper begging to be used):
A little olive oil in the pan, mushrooms first, then asparagus bottoms, last the tips. I squeezed a little orange on it. And don't forget salt and pepper.
For the cucumbers I used a little gadget to score them because I'm a freak for gadgets. But you can score it with a fork for a nice little edge- takes about 20 secs and LOOKS NICE!. I just shook them up in a little cider vinegar and sprinkled with grey salt.
You might want to add a grain to this meal for some carbs.
Now sit. Then eat. Maybe a little glass of wine from the other night... mine was an 05 Beaujolais Village from J Drouhin
My your guest has grown since I last saw him.....!
Posted by: Margot | Wednesday, May 28, 2008 at 07:24 AM