Anyone who was cracked open a thing of canned salmon and asked this question is not alone. Driven by some invisible force (mixture of a desire for more protein and a culinary curiosity) about a week ago I decided it would be a good thing to make use of two of the cans of salmon I had purchased roughly a year ago during a canned salmon sale at my local cheapo market.
I've had a rough history with canned salmon. My original introduction to it was through salmon latkas which my Bubbie (grandmother) would serve during dairy meals when we visited. Despite how good anything was at one of these dairy meals, as a kid who loved to eat meat and looked forward to the meaty delights of my Bubbie's kitchen, I was always a little discontent. It took me a while to develop a taste for things fishy, so as a young kid I stayed away from the latkas and always assumed they were pretty gross. A few years ago, however, I was taking a bus back from Bubbie's to boston and she decided to pack me a lunch for the trip. In a roll (I think it was an onion roll) she put some salmon latka and dressed it up like a hamburger (for those who don't know what a salmon latka is, its essentially a burger made from canned salmon). To my utter surprise I really enjoyed this way of eating the salmon latka.
Still, in the time since I've realized a liking for canned salmon, I had been pretty scared to actually use it. I had one good experience making pasta with chunks of the canned fish and some creamy sauce... but generally the cans have been pushed further to the back of my cupboard, unused and unwanted.
My first thought, upon opening the two cans of salmon last week, was to make salmon latkas. I had on hand some carrot, pepper, onion and garlic. After dicing these up with some chopped frozen ginger (freezes really well) I sauted these vegetables for a few minutes so they wouldn't be too tough in the latkas (it was my plan to pan fry them and hence vegetables would not get cooked too well). The salmon went into a large bowl where I worked hard to mix it all together. I added in some salt and pepper (I could have done without the salt since the canned salmon was pretty salty to start with) and then added in the vegetables, after having let them cool for a little. To bind this together I added about two or three eggs and a good portion of chickpea flour (any type is fine... but I like the color this gives to things when fried). In the end I have a nice thick batter of fish and vegetables. Tasting it (which I probably should not have due to the egg) I realized it needed a little sweetness, so I added in a few squirts of honey.
A hot cast iron pan did a pretty good job of cooking up three midsized latkas which served as my dinner. I was not that happy though since pan frying tends to leave the insides a little mushy and requires lots of oil. At this point it was pretty late in the evening and I had a large bowl full of slightly fishy smelling batter sitting in the kitchen. Not wanted to spend the hour to fry up another 30 latkas, and not that happy with the results of such frying anyway, I did what anyone sick of cooking, yet with ingredients leftover, would do --- I made a kugel.
You ask what it means that I made a kugel? If it sounds impressive it is not. All I did was grease up a glass pan and pour all of my batter into it and then throw it in the oven for 45 minutes (for part covered with tin foil). After cooking the moisture which plagued my fried prototype latkas had cooked out and I was left with a nicely browned, and very mild (on the fishy scale) tasting kugel. The flour and egg helped it hold together nicely, and the honey give it an extra nice sweetness (after all it is the season of Rosh Hashana where we wish people a Happy and Sweet New Year). The great thing about a kugel is that once its made, you can cut it into individual sized pieces and freeze. In my experience, reheating in the microwave works really well for these single portions.
So, what is the lesson to be learned here? If you start making something and then get sick of it or disillusioned with it just turn it into a kugel.
Showing posts with label salmon. Show all posts
Showing posts with label salmon. Show all posts
Wednesday, September 16, 2009
Sunday, June 28, 2009
A better way to have a dinner party
The last time I had people over for dinner was Shavuot --- I made Blintzes. I started gathering ingredients at roughly 1pm and ended my cleanup a little after 11pm. During the 10 hours in between I was pretty much working the whole time.
Even for me, 10 hours in the kitchen is just too much time. That is why I was very happy when a college friend of mine emailed me a few weeks ago with the idea of jointly having people over at her apartment.
So, yesterday my friend and I met up at the Wholefoods at 6pm to get our ingredients. The plan for dinner was to have salmon as the main dish. Seeing the price of salmon at Wholefoods, however, I started to wonder if, perhaps, another type of fish might be a better choice. At between 13 and 16 a lb, salmon was just too much. We did not give up on salmon though, as we still had a secret weapon --- Chinatown. After purchasing the rest of our ingredients we walk down Mott street (near my friend's place) and looked at the fish markets. There were some salmon steaks (we wanted fillets though) and then there were some really gross looking cuts of salmon with the bone in it. We asked one of the mongers if we could buy 3 lbs of salmon fillet --- he responded that we could buy a side of salmon which would be seven pounds!
Finally, we wandered into an indoor market which was nice and clean, and actually had some really nice looking salmon fillets. We settled on a little over 3 lbs of the fish and returned back to my friend's apartment.
Since I'm on the subject of Chinatown fish markets, its worth mentioning some of the weirder things you see there. At one of the outdoor markets there was a gigantic barrel of live frogs hopping around. Then, inside of the indoor market, there was a large display of alligator's legs. I'm sure if I had look a little more I would have seen some other oddities as well.
Back to the dinner -- we got to my friend's place at about 7:30. Dinner was set for 9 so I delayed cooking the fish for some time (knowing also that people would be late). The menu was as follows:
~Oven cooked salmon covered with chopped dill, honey, mustard, ginger, balsamic vinegar, lemon juice, olive oil and some salt / pepper. To go along with this was a sour cream based sauce with dill, mustard, honey, lemon juice, curry powder and paprika.
~Over roasted potato chunks, tossed before cooking with olive oil, rosemary, paprika, a little curry powder and some pepper (salted after cooking).
~Fresh spinach salad with chopped red pepper, carrot, strawberry, craisin, almond slivers, and some balsamic vinegar.
~Cooked string beans with ginger, garlic, almond slivers, honey, curry powder and balsamic vinegar (I've posted on this before).
~Fruit salad desert.
I need to admit that the inspiration for the fish and for the salad recipes was from one of my aunts. During holidays when my family congregates in Springfield Mass, we often have lunches at my aunt's and we have wonderful dairy/fish dishes there. The salmon and salad both are very similar to things which we often have there. I'm sure that the recipes which I have eaten there will continue to influence much of my cooking.
The food turned out well, and the time of it was just right. People came a little late, and the fish finished just as they were coming. We moved everything up to the roof of the apartment building, where there was a beautiful table and a bunch of chairs (most of which were dry). The lighting was a little tricky, but we managed to use to lanterns to cast just enough light to see what you were eating. I was happy with the way the food tasted. The salmon was cooked well, but not dry (in fact it was quiet juicy) and the sauce went well with it. A friend of mine mistakenly thought the sauce for the salmon was a dressing for the salad, causing her some confusion and discomfort (I don't think the mix of spinach salad and sour cream sauce is all that good). The potatoes had a nice skin and the rosemary had infused them with a nice flavor. In all I was happy about the outcome of the food.
And the best part of the whole night was that when everything was done and people were ready to leave, I was able to leave too! Having done the cooking I was spared the work of clean up. All of the good and fun of cooking, and none of the wrinkled hands of washing dishes and cleaning up. This is definitely the way to do dinner parties.
Even for me, 10 hours in the kitchen is just too much time. That is why I was very happy when a college friend of mine emailed me a few weeks ago with the idea of jointly having people over at her apartment.
So, yesterday my friend and I met up at the Wholefoods at 6pm to get our ingredients. The plan for dinner was to have salmon as the main dish. Seeing the price of salmon at Wholefoods, however, I started to wonder if, perhaps, another type of fish might be a better choice. At between 13 and 16 a lb, salmon was just too much. We did not give up on salmon though, as we still had a secret weapon --- Chinatown. After purchasing the rest of our ingredients we walk down Mott street (near my friend's place) and looked at the fish markets. There were some salmon steaks (we wanted fillets though) and then there were some really gross looking cuts of salmon with the bone in it. We asked one of the mongers if we could buy 3 lbs of salmon fillet --- he responded that we could buy a side of salmon which would be seven pounds!
Finally, we wandered into an indoor market which was nice and clean, and actually had some really nice looking salmon fillets. We settled on a little over 3 lbs of the fish and returned back to my friend's apartment.
Since I'm on the subject of Chinatown fish markets, its worth mentioning some of the weirder things you see there. At one of the outdoor markets there was a gigantic barrel of live frogs hopping around. Then, inside of the indoor market, there was a large display of alligator's legs. I'm sure if I had look a little more I would have seen some other oddities as well.
Back to the dinner -- we got to my friend's place at about 7:30. Dinner was set for 9 so I delayed cooking the fish for some time (knowing also that people would be late). The menu was as follows:
~Oven cooked salmon covered with chopped dill, honey, mustard, ginger, balsamic vinegar, lemon juice, olive oil and some salt / pepper. To go along with this was a sour cream based sauce with dill, mustard, honey, lemon juice, curry powder and paprika.
~Over roasted potato chunks, tossed before cooking with olive oil, rosemary, paprika, a little curry powder and some pepper (salted after cooking).
~Fresh spinach salad with chopped red pepper, carrot, strawberry, craisin, almond slivers, and some balsamic vinegar.
~Cooked string beans with ginger, garlic, almond slivers, honey, curry powder and balsamic vinegar (I've posted on this before).
~Fruit salad desert.
I need to admit that the inspiration for the fish and for the salad recipes was from one of my aunts. During holidays when my family congregates in Springfield Mass, we often have lunches at my aunt's and we have wonderful dairy/fish dishes there. The salmon and salad both are very similar to things which we often have there. I'm sure that the recipes which I have eaten there will continue to influence much of my cooking.
The food turned out well, and the time of it was just right. People came a little late, and the fish finished just as they were coming. We moved everything up to the roof of the apartment building, where there was a beautiful table and a bunch of chairs (most of which were dry). The lighting was a little tricky, but we managed to use to lanterns to cast just enough light to see what you were eating. I was happy with the way the food tasted. The salmon was cooked well, but not dry (in fact it was quiet juicy) and the sauce went well with it. A friend of mine mistakenly thought the sauce for the salmon was a dressing for the salad, causing her some confusion and discomfort (I don't think the mix of spinach salad and sour cream sauce is all that good). The potatoes had a nice skin and the rosemary had infused them with a nice flavor. In all I was happy about the outcome of the food.
And the best part of the whole night was that when everything was done and people were ready to leave, I was able to leave too! Having done the cooking I was spared the work of clean up. All of the good and fun of cooking, and none of the wrinkled hands of washing dishes and cleaning up. This is definitely the way to do dinner parties.
Tuesday, December 2, 2008
The other side of Salmon
In my last post I wrote about the apex of salmon products. Here I will briefly write about two acceptable recipes for the cat food of salmon --- canned salmon (nb: this is not actually cat food, but rather I mean to say this is the lowest grade of fish sold for humans). This stuff is super cheap. Its even cheaper than Chinatown fish. Plus, if you get the good stuff (and by good I mean nastiest) it will come with skin and bone. There is a plus to this however. The bones in the salmon have had ample time to soften, and can be eaten without any difficulty. This, in fact, provides you with a really great source of calcium, which in addition to the protein etc of the salmon is a homerun nutrients-wise.
Still... the canned salmon is one of the more fishy forms of fish out there, and unless you really like that, you need to be pretty selective in the type of recipes you use this stuff in.
Here are two which I consider pretty good, the second of which I just made tonight (for the first time).
Salmon Latkas:
My grandmother makes these in the style of hamburgers, but with salmon in place of the ground meat. This is a good way to do it, but I'm going to propose another type of latka based on the "Tuna Kabobs" which my former roommates girlfriend showed me. Surprisingly the ginger/garlic/pepper flavor really goes a long way towards cutting the fishiness, and actually has a rather nice flavor.
1 can salmon
a few cloves garlic crushed and chopped
an inch cube of ginger finely chopped
ample black pepper
an egg
~Mash the salmon and mix in all ingredients, including some salt. Form into patties and fry in oil.
Pot of stuff
This recipe (aptly named for its nature) took shape while I was at a Jazz show tonight. I hadn't eaten much since lunch and so my mind flickery back and forth between Jazz, math and food. In fact I often forgot which one I was thinking about. In any case, I followed my imagined recipe through to a tee, and got a pretty good result. I'll split it up into a few small parts.
Salmon mixture:
1 can salmon mashed
3 limes juiced
1 hot pepper chopped
1 clove garlic crushed and chopped
Mix everything together and let the salmon sit in the mixture until most of the fishiness has departed.
Take one large sweet potato, skin and chop into 1/4 inch slices. Then cook these with a little oil in your favorite cast iron skillet until tender. Reserve and once cooled chop into inch by inch squares.
1 large onion
6 cloves of garlic
1 hot pepper
cumin powder
1 can salsa
1 can tomato sauce
1 can black beans
1 can pink kidney beans
1 head cabbage
1.5 cups of brown rice
First cook the rice in the microwave for like 25 minutes. It will be almost done but still a little tough. Meanwhile chop the onion and garlic and pepper and cook in a large pot with some oil until a little translucent. Add a teaspoon or so of cumin. Then add in both cans of beans plus the salsa. While this cooks, chop the cabbage and slowly add it into the pot, so that it comes into contact with the surface. Add some salt. The cabbage will cook down pretty fast. Add in the rice, plus the tomato sauce. Cook all of this together until the cabbage has cooked down. Then add in the sweet potato squares and the salmon mixture. Mix thoroughly.
I ate this today in a soft tortilla which I heated on my cast iron. It was a pretty nice dish and super good for you. The lime really neutralizes the salmon fishiness, and the brown rice gets cooked tender. The flavors are not amazing though, but it makes for a nice warm meal none-the-less.
Still... the canned salmon is one of the more fishy forms of fish out there, and unless you really like that, you need to be pretty selective in the type of recipes you use this stuff in.
Here are two which I consider pretty good, the second of which I just made tonight (for the first time).
Salmon Latkas:
My grandmother makes these in the style of hamburgers, but with salmon in place of the ground meat. This is a good way to do it, but I'm going to propose another type of latka based on the "Tuna Kabobs" which my former roommates girlfriend showed me. Surprisingly the ginger/garlic/pepper flavor really goes a long way towards cutting the fishiness, and actually has a rather nice flavor.
1 can salmon
a few cloves garlic crushed and chopped
an inch cube of ginger finely chopped
ample black pepper
an egg
~Mash the salmon and mix in all ingredients, including some salt. Form into patties and fry in oil.
Pot of stuff
This recipe (aptly named for its nature) took shape while I was at a Jazz show tonight. I hadn't eaten much since lunch and so my mind flickery back and forth between Jazz, math and food. In fact I often forgot which one I was thinking about. In any case, I followed my imagined recipe through to a tee, and got a pretty good result. I'll split it up into a few small parts.
Salmon mixture:
1 can salmon mashed
3 limes juiced
1 hot pepper chopped
1 clove garlic crushed and chopped
Mix everything together and let the salmon sit in the mixture until most of the fishiness has departed.
Take one large sweet potato, skin and chop into 1/4 inch slices. Then cook these with a little oil in your favorite cast iron skillet until tender. Reserve and once cooled chop into inch by inch squares.
1 large onion
6 cloves of garlic
1 hot pepper
cumin powder
1 can salsa
1 can tomato sauce
1 can black beans
1 can pink kidney beans
1 head cabbage
1.5 cups of brown rice
First cook the rice in the microwave for like 25 minutes. It will be almost done but still a little tough. Meanwhile chop the onion and garlic and pepper and cook in a large pot with some oil until a little translucent. Add a teaspoon or so of cumin. Then add in both cans of beans plus the salsa. While this cooks, chop the cabbage and slowly add it into the pot, so that it comes into contact with the surface. Add some salt. The cabbage will cook down pretty fast. Add in the rice, plus the tomato sauce. Cook all of this together until the cabbage has cooked down. Then add in the sweet potato squares and the salmon mixture. Mix thoroughly.
I ate this today in a soft tortilla which I heated on my cast iron. It was a pretty nice dish and super good for you. The lime really neutralizes the salmon fishiness, and the brown rice gets cooked tender. The flavors are not amazing though, but it makes for a nice warm meal none-the-less.
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