From Fish to Nuts . . . Pistachio Salmon, Oh my!

You cannot get much quicker, easier, or delicious than this meal.

In spite of the “no appetizer” conversation, we both ended up with options for same. Sue won. Her can of ripe olives and planter of fresh herbs trumped Meg’s nut crackers by a couple of furlongs.  Don’t shop when you are hungry . . . . Sue had visions of a tapenade that we had recently eaten at a local restaurant, and a can of olives and a baguette of sourdough followed her home. With a mini-food processor this was super easy. We divided the olive mixture to try three different herb combinations; “Spicy Bush” basil, rosemary and thyme. If you haven’t tried the “Spicy Bush” basil, we highly recommend it. This combination was our favorite, with the fresh rosemary a close second. As usual, we have some ideas for changing the recipe . . .  see our “unsolicited” below.

Start to finish this meal took 30 minutes tops. We highly recommend using the freshest fish and vegetables that you can get. We chose wild caught Alaskan salmon and a combination of yellow crookneck and yellow patty pan squash. This could be an after-work dinner or a special meal for guests. The salmon and pistachios was a great pairing!

Fresh herbs from Sue's garden.

Tapenande on the porch.

Ready for the oven!

Ready to eat!!

Pistachio-Crusted Salmon with Parmesan Squash

Recipe source- Reno Gazette Journal, 2012
Serves 2

Ingredients:
1 medium summer squash
1 Tbsp. grated Parmesan chees
½ Tbsp. olive oil
Sea salt and black pepper
¾ cup shelled pistachios
2 skinless salmon fillets (about 6 oz. each)
½ Tbsp. butter, cut in small pieces

Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Chop squash into bite-size pieces. Toss in a shallow baking dish with cheese and oil. Season with salt and pepper. Roast 10 minutes.
Meanwhile, coarsely grind pistachios in a food processor or finely chop with a knife.
Place salmon on a parchment-lined or lightly oiled baking sheet. Sprinkle with salt and pepper. Spread ground pistachios on top, pressing to help them stick. Dot each fillet with butter. Open oven, stir squash in its pan and place salmon pan in oven. Close oven and roast salmon and squash about 10 minutes, or until squash is crisp tender and salmon is flaky and cooked through.

Roasted Parmesan Squashs

Cheesecake Stuffed Nectraine

Cheesecake Stuffed Peaches

Better Homes and Gardens, August 2011
Serves: 6

Ingredients:
6 peaches, halved and pitted
¼ c butter, melted
3 T cinnamon sugar *
½ of an 8 oz. pkg. cream cheese, softened
¼ c sugar
1 egg yolk
1 ½ t vanilla

Preheat oven to 350’ F.  Line a 15 x 10 x 1 inch baking pan with parchment paper;  set aside.  Trim a very thin slice from the round side of each peach half so the halves will stand flat on the baking pan. Dip peach halves in melted butter to coat.  Arrange peach halves, cut sides up, in prepared pan.  Sprinkle cut sides of peaches with cinnamon sugar; set aside.

In a medium mixing bowl beat cream cheese with a mixer on medium speed until smooth.  Add sugar, egg yolk, and vanilla.  Beat until combined.  Spoon cream cheese mixture  into peach centers.
Bake, uncovered, about 30 minutes, or until lightly browned and softened.  Serve warm or at room temperature. 
*Cinnamon sugar – combine 3 T granulated sugar with 1 t ground cinnamon.

Our unsolicited and biased opinions:

Things we want to try in the future with this tapenade are:

• Gently heat the rosemary and garlic in olive oil before adding to the chopped olives
• Use oven roasted garlic instead of fresh, raw garlic for a sweeter taste. It could be substituted in all of the combinations.

Every bite of this meal was delectable. We know the choice of the salmon had everything to do with this, as we are both fans. The pistachios and the butter put this in a category by itself. You could prepare this with another fish of your choice and top it with a different nut, but really, why would you? 

Truly, we can see this with a black sea bass and chopped pecans or cod and macadamias, or slivered almonds, but in all honesty, the next time we fix this it will be salmon and pistachios.

 We love roasted vegetables, and this squash was no exception, but next time we will add some red pepper flakes for a little zip. We also added some additional parmesan just before serving.

We had not tried this Pinot before, and the description at Total Wines mentioned pairing it with salmon.  We chose well, it was a good compliment to the fish, and we enjoyed it a lot.

The cheesecake stuffed peaches are to die for. The combination of cinnamon, sugar, cream cheese and vanilla custard is amazing. Long after that last bite, the flavors linger in your mouth. It is so rich and satisfying that half a peach is all you need, but make twice as many , because everyone will want seconds.

We used nectarines in place of peaches for this dessert simply because there were no ripe peaches in the market. Using freestone peaches will make removing the pits easier. You may want to make the hole bigger to accommodate more custard  . . .  we used the full custard recipe for 3 nectarines and think doubling the custard recipe would be a grand idea. This is one of those OMG desserts --- try it! This recipe was a contest winner and we hope that they won a lot of money for it!!

D'Autrefois Pinot Noir, 2011, Alfio Moriconi Selection, France - Total Wine $9.99 

Saturday Sushi Special

Have you ever bought a cool thing at a craft fair and re-discovered it 12 years later? Be honest. It’s your secret, but Meg is coming clean regarding the sushi maker you see in these pictures. 

This week has been a continuation of the “it is too hot to cook” days we mentioned in July. The planned main dish may be featured at a later date. We filled up on sushi . . . . . but did manage to leave a little room for desert, and we will get to that later.

This was our first time making sushi, and that resurrected gizmo made it pretty darned easy! As we have learned in previous postings, the right tool can make all the difference. (spice grinder?!)

Having never tasted a California roll we didn’t like, here is what we put in ours:

Roll 1: Spicy crab/avocado/cucumber/scallions
Roll2: Cucumber/steamed carrot/pickled green bean/spicy crab
Roll3: lump fish caviar/avocado/scallion

We rounded this out with shrimp and wasabi on sushi rice and inarizushi. You can buy the canned seasoned fried bean curd pockets at a source that carries Asian products. They were very simple to make and full of flavor.

Our platter of sushi!



Rice for Sushi

For every one cup of rice:
2 Tbsp. of rice vinegar
2 Tbsp. sugar
Pinch of salt

Wash rice thoroughly and let it drain for 20 minutes. Cook per instructions for rice machine or stovetop. Let sit for twenty minutes.

Pour the rice vinegar mixture over the rice. Toss lightly with a carving fork, while fanning to cool the rice. You don’t want to smash the rice, and you want each grain coated the vinegar mixture. Cover bowl to keep moisture in until you start to make the sushi.

Roasted Seaweed



Seasoned Bean Curds Stuffed with Sushi Rice



Use the "press bar" with the letter side up to make an indentation into the rice for the filling.

Avocado and Cucumber Added on Top of Surimi

 

"Press Bar" upside down to press the sushi through the container

Our first California roll!

Caviar Sushi with Avocado and Scallions



Green Beans

1 dozen green beans, steamed in microwave with 2 tablespoons water
½ cup red wine vinegar
1 Tbsp. sugar
1 tsp.  grated ginger

Cook beans until crispy –tender, drain.  Mix the vinegar, sugar and ginger and pour over the beans.  Cover and let sit until cool, drain and refrigerate.


Spicy Surimi Crab

½ c Surimi Crab
2 Tbsp.  mayonnaise
1 generous tsp. Sriracha

We know, sushi should have sake.  Our sushi wanted Chardonnay, which was a good choice, as it stood up to the combination of flavors in the sushi.  You choose.

Gingered Litchi Gelatin

Ginger and Litchi Gelatin

Courtesy “Cool Food”, Laurel Glen publisher

Serves 6

20 oz. can of litchi
2 c ups clear apple juice (no sugar added)
1/3 cup strained fresh lime juice
2 Tbsp. sugar
1 ¼  x 1  ¼ fresh ginger, peeled and thinly sliced
4 sheets gelatin  (1/4 oz.)
Mint leaves for garnish

Drain the syrup from the litchis and reserve 1 cup of the syrup. Discard remaining syrup.
Place the reserved syrup, apple juice, lime juice, sugar and ginger in a saucepan. Bring to a boil, then reduce the heat and simmer for 5 minutes. Strain into a heat proof bowl.

Place the gelatin sheets in a bowl of cold water and soak for two minutes or until they softened. Squeeze out the excess water, then add to the syrup. Stir until the gelatin has completely dissolved.  Leave to cool.

Pour 2 Tbsp. of the gelatin mixture into each of 6 ½ cup stemmed wine glasses, and divide the litchis among the wine glasses. Refrigerate until the gelatin has set. Spoon the remaining gelatin over the fruit and refrigerate until set. Before serving, garnish with mint leaves.

Our changes:

We used about 2 Tbsp. of bulk gelatin and dissolved it about ½ cup of apple juice until softened. We made this as 4 servings instead of 6 servings. We also did two alternating layers of the litchis and gelatin. So in each glass, it was about 2 inches of gelatin, 2 litchis, refrigerated until firm. As soon as it was set, we divided the remaining gelatin in the glasses and then added 3 litchi’s to the top of each glass.

Our unsolicited and biased opinions:

We can’t go get a job at a sushi joint but this wasn’t as daunting as we anticipated. It was fun and we got to eat with our fingers, and because you can add as much wasabi as you want, it becomes a suitable meal for just about anyone.  Even some of our friends who can’t eat shellfish could eat the Surimi. 

This whole sushi thing is pretty adaptable to what you like – you just wrap it in seaweed and seasoned rice.  Once you work with this seasoned rice, you understand how people can eat rice with chopsticks – it’s very sticky.  So, if you want to show off your budding chopstick skills, make this meal.

We plan on making sushi again, and in the interim we’ll find a bamboo rolling mat; so the next batch will have some round versions.  They all eat the same, but round cuts some corners.

Meg says the canned litchi is not as good as the fresh but fresh is not an option here in Nevada.  This was Sue’s first experience with litchis, so she was able to just enjoy it. We are providing a link so that you can see what the fresh litchis look like. They are stunning and so unusual. Check them out:

http://www.bing.com/images/search?q=litchi+fruit&qpvt=litchi+fruit&FORM=IGRE