I’ve made seared salmon on sweet potato purée countless times, and variations on that combination have appeared here on a regular basis. There’s not much more to say about it; it’s one of our regular dinners when wild Alaskan salmon is available. I’m posting this to talk briefly about the sauce and condiment, since they made an ordinary plate of food into something pretty damned exciting.
This is something I came up with years ago, but haven’t made in a while. Since I found a couple of duck breasts in the freezer section of a nearby market that occasionally has them, I took it as a sign to make this dish again; it’s an excellent way to serve meat in warmer weather since it’s room temperature and not at all heavy. And there’s much fun to be had with sauces, given duck’s affinity for fruit of all kinds.
I dislike Tim Burton’s movies pretty intensely; his cheesy goth aesthetic reminds me too much of people I went to college with and his wanton mutilation of classic children’s stories is arrogant and disrespectful to artists much greater than he. (The suckiness of the rewrites doesn’t help). Nonetheless, this cake is pretty cool. If more cakes were scary and too awesome to eat, the Internet would be a better place.
For the June issue of Chronogram, I dutifully slogged both hither and yon surveying many of the region’s food trucks. Many of them are newly on the scene, and many of them make excellent and affordable fare. It’s an appealing career for people who like to cook but aren’t interested in the more complex challenges of a restaurant, and the personalities involved are diverse and interesting. Photo by Roy Gumpel
It was stinking hot today, and drippingly humid, but a front finally passed through with a lovely drop in temperature and some sheeting rain chased by much flashing and booming of the sky. And, as if by some miracle, the power didn’t go out, so I get to tell you what we had for dinner. In heat such as this, thoughts of the stove can of course cause suicidal ideations in even the most devoted cook, so I sussed out something virtually raw that nonetheless provided enough protein (and quantity) to make a satisfying meal. The only problem was that I thought of it at ten this morning, so I was tortured all day by visions of cool, crunchy summer rolls and thick, spicy sauce.
I had been planning to make this for days, but never managed to get the ground turkey. Eventually I did, and these shu mai were the happy result. Normally I make them with shrimp and/or scallops, but for whatever reason I wanted turkey. I have learned to listen to my desires, for they are often smarter than I am.
I know I’ve mentioned it before, but this recent preparation reminded me how good and useful the combination is for so many applications. Equal weights of butter and white miso (or any other kind; I just like the smoothness for mixing) at room temperature, slathered on the substrate of your choice and then roasted, will yield a gratinesque carapace of maillarded umamitude that has to be tasted to be believed. This example is mahi-mahi, but…
It’s been alternately sunny and rainy lately, with a few straight days of each before it changes again. Spring has been pretty perfect so far, though I’m behind on the garden, but that’s pretty much a given. On nice days, we eat lighter food outside on the porch, and on cooler rainy days I try to make heartier things and we eat them inside. At least in theory; this meal was on the substantial side but the day was as nice as they come. Go figure. In any case, it highlights a technique that I don’t see talked about so much, but which makes for a superlative chicken in very little time.
Lamb is probably the meat that loves seasoning the most. Because it’s so assertive, with that lovely gamy richness, it can take some serious spice without being buried under it. And it matches so well with such a wide variety of strong flavors, from garlic and rosemary to preserved lemon and harissa to feta and black olives (and so many more). What I try to do when I cook it is season the meat a particular way and then use one or more complementary flavors in the accompaniments. It’s good fun to play around with different delivery systems and combinations ranging from formal and fancy to fast and dirty, and I never get tired of cooking and eating it. This application fell emphatically in the latter category, but was no less pleasurable for its informality. There’s not much better than a couple of lamb sliders after a long day spent not eating lamb sliders.
