Sockeye Salmon Three Ways

At the tail end of August, one of my fellow cooks at the senior's residence came by our work with an offer I could not refuse: he was selling freshly caught sockeye salmon for $10 each. At the same time, I happened to know that the Local Overpriced Grocery Store (aka LOGS) was selling whole sockeyes for about $22 - $24 each. So, I bought one sockeye from my colleague. I should have bought more.

The fish was cleaned and gutted and headless, but needed filleting. So, after work, I went to LOGS, which has an excellent set of butchers, and asked one of the guys there how to fillet the darned thing. He said, "I'll just do it for you. It'll be quicker." I told him I had not purchased the salmon from the store, but he didn't mind. He went a head and filleted the fishy for me while I watched so I could learn. I then went home and cut eight portions from the fish! What a screaming deal! I should have gotten more from my colleague, but at the time I had no idea what I was getting. Oh well.

I have had a few meals from this salmon, and they were all awesome. I took some camping for Shan & me, and that was lovely. But at home, I have prepared this salmon three different ways.

Exhibit #1: Salmon with Key Lime seasoning from World Market (love that stuff!), rice, and Asian coleslaw (coleslaw mix, seasoned rice vinegar, sesame oil).

Totally awesome meal, very easy & quick to prepare, and healthy to boot.





Exhibit #2: Grilled sockeye with maple, soy, and ginger glaze.

Oh, this was absolutely divine! The glaze was easy: maple syrup, soy sauce, and a few drops of ginger oil my dad bought for me at the Nelson Farmer's Market in July. I served this also with rice and the same Asian coleslaw.





Exhibit #3: Salmon & Shrimp Chowder.

Oh, how I love a good seafood chowder, and this was another winner! Very simple to make, and I found some cheap back bacon at LOGS to go in it. I got a huge pot of soup that made me about 8 servings, and for it I used the two tail ends of the sockeye, about half a pound of shrimp, and a couple frozen pieces of chum salmon I had kicking around my freezer that I had purchased at Safeway a while back. God, the difference between the sockeye and the chum is ridiculous! I don't think I'll ever buy chum that way again - it's just pathetic in comparison to the sockeye!

Camping Grub 2010

My SIL and I went camping recently, as has been our tradition for the last three years. It was a totally awesome trip, and if you want to read more about it, you can go here. The full Flickr set is here.

As usual, we ate like queens! Here is a rundown of some of our food.

On day one, we went to soak in Ainsworth Hot Springs, then drove the short distance from there to Kaslo, where we had one freaking awesome lunch at a place called The Rosewood Cafe. Here are our lunches.

I had a fantabulous Monte Christo Sandwich with homemade baked fries.

Shan had a huge turkey burger with all the fixings & a side salad that was served with a homemade rosemary vinaigrette.

More to follow on this restaurant as it was absolutely brilliant!

One morning we had Eggs Benny, which is something we usually have while camping. It's just such decadent camping grub!

Dad joined us on Saturday, and he brought a set of really amazing steaks for dinner. We didn't have the BBQ with us this time and the grate on the fire pit was way too filthy to cook anything on directly, so we opted to pan fry them in cast iron skillets on the camp stove. Shan seasoned them with garlic butter and Montreal Steak Spice, and we served them with garlic bread (which she baked over the fire as it was covered in foil) and some rice. The steaks were like butter - completely awesome!

More from this trip upcoming, as we went to the Hills Garlic Festival in New Denver, too.

Magazine Monday #66: Brown Sugar & Chocolate Chip Pound Cake with Maple Espresso Glaze

So, I was invited to a friend's for dinner last week, and I offered to bring dessert. I have a ton of rhubarb in the freezer, but my friend's husband is not a fan. Plan B involved blueberries, but that was a no-no, too. Plan C kinda fell into my lap during a ransacking of my recipe binder. I just happened upon this recipe from the October 2007 issue of Bon Appetit Magazine, and I had all the ingredients on hand.

This is one frakking fantastic cake, people! It was a huge hit at dinner, and I had some left over to munch on when the urge arose. And arise it did. This makes one awesome midnight snack, I can tell you for sure.

The recipe is here.

I used dark brown sugar, not the golden kind. I actually prefer the darker sugar because it has more flavour and it's a little richer. I really think it makes a difference in the taste & texture of my baking.

When I made the glaze, at my friend's house, I added too much liquid, and it came out more as a sauce. I was totally OK with that and so was everyone else!

Definitely a keeper recipe that I think I'll go back to time & again!

Life Is Good...

My good friend Pierce, AKA Tina Marie of Life in the Slow Lane at Squirrel Head Manor, gave me a wonderful tribute in a recent post, and bestowed upon me something entitled the "Life is Good" award.

I have met tons of great people through blogging, both this blog and my regular blog, and Tina has become such a great friend to me, such a source of strength and encouragement, that I really feel blessed to have her in my life - even though we have never met! So, thank you, Tina, for being there for me, for your support and for your constant friendship! I do hope we can meet in person one day in the not-too-distant future!

Of this award, Tina says on her blog: "The rules are, to accept this award, I shall answer the 10 questions below and pass the award to six fellow bloggers."

I may not be passing this along...I don't normally do that part of these awards, but I will answer the 10 questions!

1. If you blog anonymously, are you happy doing it that way; if you are not anonymous do you wish you had started out anonymously so you could be anonymous now?

I am only semi-anonymous, though I started out wanting to be completely anonymous. It's easy enough to find my name out if you've been reading this blog (or the other one) for any amount of time. I am happy with this, however, or else I would never give the hints to my real name. It's only been a problem on my other blog, which is why I changed the site over to WordPress & took it off search engine crawling.

2. Describe one incident that shows your inner stubborn side.

Just one? Really? Hmmmmm... I have so many examples it's ridiculous. But let's stick with something simple: putting together furniture. I buy a piece that comes in a flat pack, and I will NOT give up on it until it's up and functional, even if it takes all night, even if the instructions are ridiculous (like Ikea's), even if I can't hammer straight - you name it!

3. What do you see when you really look at yourself in the face in the mirror?

Very complicated question. I see a Plain Jane who is pushing 40 and showing it.

4. What is your favorite summer cold drink?

Simple: iced tea or girly cocktails! And frappuccinos!

5. When you take time for yourself, what do you do?

I go lay down on my super comfy new couch (which came assembled!) and watch TV all day. Or I read & listen to music. I used to take long baths, but in my new place, there is no tub, only a cramped shower stall. :(

6. Is there something you still want to accomplish in your life? What is it?

I have a lot of things I want to accomplish in life, and I feel time is running out with some of them. I want to get married & have a baby. I want to travel. I want to write a novel. That is my starting list.

7. When you attended school, were you the class clown, the class overachiever, the class shy person, or always ditching school? Describe who you were if not one of these.

I was the quiet kid who actually got along with her teachers and was thus labeled a brown-noser. I was also the bullied kid who was drastically marginalized & traumatized.

8. If you close your eyes and want to visualize a very poignant moment in your life, what do you see?

Never mind!

9. Is it easy for you to share your true self in your blog or are you more comfortable writing posts about other people or events?

Both.

10. If you had the choice to sit and read or talk on the phone, which would you do and why?

God, I love a good chin wag on the phone and I don't do it often enough! But I also like to read. Either or.

So there you go! Thanks again, Tina!!!

Magazine Monday #65: Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies

When my brother & SIL were moving out of the place next door, I found a copy of Kootenay Woman Magazine, a freebie that comes in our mailboxes every so often. This recipe was on the back cover, and it caught my eye as I was putting it in the recycling bin. I made it the other day, making one significant substitution: I put espresso powder in place of the cinnamon. WIN! It was awesome. I kept about a dozen cookies for myself and took the rest into work, where they were much appreciated.

Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies

1 1/2 cups flour
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
2 tsp espresso powder (original recipe says 1 tsp cinnamon)
1/2 cup butter
1 cup brown sugar, packed
1/2 cup sugar
2 eggs
1 1/2 cups quick oats
1 cup chocolate chips
1/2 cup chopped nuts (I used pecans)

350F oven. Cream, combine, scoop, bake. Makes about 3 dozen cookies formed with a #70 cookie scoop.

Delish!

Wedding Feasts, Part 2

So, the day after the wedding there was a huge family gathering at Shan's parents' place. There were 78 people there altogether. Once again, the food was copious and fantabulicious. There were left over spot prawns, but there was also sockeye salmon, and IMO, the star of dinner, fresh oysters! All this seafood bounty was, again, courtesy of Shan's uncle who is a fisherman on Vancouver Island.

For a run-down of some non-food related incidents around the wedding, you can go here.

But let's get started!

Shan's mom, C, who is also a caterer, BBQed a bunch of roasts, and one of the aunties brought a huge crock pot full of homemade baked beans.

Here is the salmon. It has a brown sugar & soy glaze on it.

Also on offer were some of the leftover appies from the wedding dinner the night before. This was so awesome because the appies were excellent - and, bonus, there were still leftovers after this Sunday meal, so I got to take a whole bunch home & snack on them during the week! The big pretzel you see came from a bakery in Cranbrook and it was part of the midnight snack served during the dancing at the reception (which I wasn't there for; I left at 10pm).

There were tons of salads:

Here are the spot prawns:

And here was the star of the show! The oysters! One of Shan's cousins grilled them, seasoning them with butter, lemon juice, and a tad bit of tobasco sauce. They were huge! I cannot tell you how orgasmically fan-fracking-tastic these were. They were so fresh, so delicious...they were surreal! I was in heaven!
Sigh...Sigh...

Here is one of my plates...I had seconds...Can you blame me?

And, there was dessert. Another auntie brought a chocolate fountain with all kinds of goodies. It was a huge hit, and it was super amazing!
So, that about sums up the wedding eating. I'm pretty sure I gained back all the weight I've lost since January, but I totally think it was worth it!

Wedding Feasts, Part 1

As promised, some pictures & rundowns of food I experienced & ate during my brother's wedding celebrations at the tail end of July (better late than never, right?). It was a food fest and half, let me tell you! My SIL's family always celebrates events big & small with copious amounts of food - and awesome food at that! So, here we go.

We'll start off with the rehearsal dinner. It was supposed to be pulled pork, but a tragic freezer breakdown just before the wedding put the kybosh on that because the pork butts were ruined! Instead, we had a huge spaghetti dinner!
But the highlight of the evening for me as a foodie was the peeling & steaming of the Vancouver Island spot prawns fished by Shan's uncle, frozen, and brought to the wedding celebration as a gift (more seafood gifts would be on the way, but that is another post!). The spot prawns were so delicious I can't even tell you. I am used to bland frozen shrimp from the grocery store, and so these spot prawns tasted like candy to me! I participated in some of the peeling, but as I had just had my nails done, I bailed early because I didn't want to ruin my lovely manicure. But here are some photos!
The prawns were served at the wedding reception with a homemade cocktail sauce, and they were amazing! We also had them at the family reunion on the day after the wedding.

As for the wedding feast itself, it was fantabulous. I don't have a lot of pictures because it was a buffet setting, which is hard to photograph if you're in a line-up, and I was busy drinking & socializing. The catering was done by a Nelson outfit called Alligator Pie Catering, and Shan made an excellent choice because the food was superb. In fact, everyone was so impressed with it that Shan's sister, who is getting married next summer, is, I believe, planning on using Alligator Pie, too.

The Menu:

Hors d'Oeuvres

Crostini with Green Olive Tapenade, Goats Cheese and Caramelized Onions
Roasted Tomato and Red Pepper Bruschetta with Goat Cheese and Basil Drizzle
Pita triangles baked with brie, roast chicken, and green apple (not on their online menu, for some reason, but my absolute fave of the three!)

Sides

Roasted New Potatoes with Dill Butter
Balsamic Marinated Grilled Vegetables
2 Salads

Mains

Baked Chicken with a Garlic Pesto Crust
Grilled Salmon with Hazelnut Lime Butter (totally awesome)

Here is my plate:
Dessert was wedding cake, made by Shan's mom, C. It was vanilla cake with chocolate ganache in the middle, and it was delish! They kept the design of the cake simple and used a fresh flower topper in keeping with the wedding colours.
Part two will follow...sometime!

Magazine Monday #64: Sour Cream Chocolate Crumb Cake

This recipe comes from the latest issue of Canadian Living Magazine. I made it the other day because I was in a serious PMS state and I needed cake NOW! I had the ingredients on hand, except the 3oz of dark chocolate, but I saw that there was a handy variation at the bottom of the recipe using chocolate chunks instead of chocolate, and since I had some chocolate chips on hand, I used those in addition to a small amount of Skor bits I had hanging around my freezer! This cake totally hit the spot!

Sour Cream Chocolate Crumb Cake

1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened
1/2 cup sugar
1 egg
1 egg yolk
1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 cup sour cream
3oz bittersweet chocolate, melted (or 1/3 cup chocolate chunks or chips)

Topping:

1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1/4 cup sugar
1/4 tsp cinnamon
pinch of salt
1/2 cup butter, melted & warm
1 1/3 cups all purpose flour
1/3 cup ground almonds

1. For the topping, in a bowl stir together sugars, cinnamon, salt; stir in butter. Stir in four and ground almonds, using hands to press the mixture together.

2. For the cake, in a large bowl beat butter & sugar until combined. Beat in egg & egg yolk. In a separate bowl, whisk together the dry ingredients. Stir into butter mixture alternately with sour cream, making 3 additions of flour mixture and 2 of sour cream. Stir in chocolate (or chips/chunks).

3. Spread in parchment-lined 8" square cake pan. Crumble topping evenly over batter. Bake at 350F until done. Cool & serve.

This was delicious, but two caveats I found for you: one is that I needed a 9" pan for this as 8" was not going to be big enough. Second, there was a lot of crumble topping - almost too much. But it was crunchy & tasty & I'd definitely make this recipe again!

Az's Marinated Potatoes

I just wanted to give a shout-out to my friend Azahar, who has a great food blog, Azahar's Kitchen. Recently, she posted a great recipe for marinated potatoes that I made for some company I had over for the wedding craziness. This recipe rocked and it was a huge hit! I couldn't find the sherry vinegar, so I substituted it with apple cider vinegar and it worked out very well. I also used red-skinned nugget potatoes - my favourite! I am still on the hunt for some oak-aged sherry vinegar and I have one more place to check (that would be LOGS, so keep your fingers crossed that if they do actually have it it won't cost me $3289+++).

This dish was a really refreshing change from your typical potato salad, so I will for sure keep this recipe around!

Recipe here.

Thanks, Az!

Magazine Monday #63: Pasta With Shrimp & Cilantro-Lime Pesto

This recipe comes from the July 2010 issue of Bon Appetit, my subscription for which has just run out. As mentioned previously, I will not be renewing. Anyway, the recipe came from the RSVP section, where readers request recipes they've tasted at various restaurants around and about, and in this case, the reader who requested the recipe tried the original dish at Tejas Texas Grill & Saloon in Hermantown, Minnesota. It caught my eye because I love cilantro and an entire pesto made from this ingredient was just too good to pass up! I was not disappointed! This was a fantastic dish. I even invested in a mini of tequila!

Pasta With Shrimp & Cilantro-Lime Pesto

1 1/4 cups, packed, fresh cilantro leaves, plus more chopped for garnish
1/4 cup green onions
3 tbsp fresh lime juice
2 garlic cloves
1 tbsp chopped seeded jalapeno (which I skipped because I don't like them)
1/2 cup plus 1 tbsp olive oil
1 lb linguine
1 lb uncooked medium shrimp, peeled & deveined
3 tbsp tequila
1/4 cup crumbled feta cheese (original recipe calls for Cotija cheese, but this is the boonies, man - good luck finding that anywhere around here)

1. Blend 1 1/4 cups cilantro & next 4 ingredients in a food processor until a course puree forms. Gradually add oil as machine runs. Season with salt. (NB: I did not use the full amount of oil.)

2. Cook linguine & drain.

3. Meanwhile, heat 1 tbsp oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add shrimp & cook until almost opaque in the centre, about 3 minutes. Remove the skillet from heat; add tequila. Return skillet to heat and stir until sauce is syrupy, about 30 seconds. Add pesto; stir to coat. Remove from heat.

4. Add sauce to pasta & gently combine. Serve with extra cilantro & sprinkled with feta. Should serve 4.

Awesome, tasty, and easy. I'll definitely be making this again, next time with a margarita, perhaps!

Enjoy!

Saturday Laughs

Sorry for the long absence...Life got extremely busy in July with my brother's wedding and the ton of company & hectic social schedule that involved, plus I took on some extra work and am now also doing a regular reporting gig for the local online paper, The Rossland Telegraph. Foodblogging has definitely sunk down several notches on my list of priorities.

Anyway, there are posts coming up because the food over the wedding events was beyond ridiculous and beyond amazing, so I'll be filling you in on that. I will say that I am now planning on going on a watermelon diet because I have eaten so much in the last 2 weeks I'm pretty sure all the weight I lost since January is back. Sigh...

So, for now, here are some things for you to giggle at until I get my act together.

But before we get to the giggles, I just want to give a brief shout out to Mary-Lou & Rod, who are my most excellent friend, S's, parents in law, and when S and her husband M came to visit me this week (which was awesome as I don't get to see them very much!), they were telling me what huge fans of ReTorte Mary-Lou and Rod are, and that Mary-Lou very faithfully makes a lot of the recipes I post here. So, THANK YOU Mary-Lou and Rod! Hearing that feedback made me so happy! I'm glad you are enjoying the site so much, and hopefully this will motivate me to post more frequently.

Also, when my mom was visiting this last week, she was telling me how much my aunt Lyn loves the site and uses the recipes, especially the cookie recipes, and so I want to thank Lyn for her support and her frequent visits! Again, hearing this made me very happy, and again, now that I have heard this feedback, hopefully it will spur me on to more frequent posting! Thank you, Aunt Lyn!

Latest Coyote's Kitchen Article

Here is my most recent article appearing in Bread 'n Molasses Magazine.


Funny thing is, I forgot to put celery in the recipe when I sent it to the editor! Oops! Yeah, just add a couple stalks of celery to the pot and you'll be good!

Chocolate Fudge Cookies with Toffee & Dried Cherries

The contractors are still here building our new deck/porch thingy, and the other day I had the time to do some baking for them, which is something they always appreciate. After my review of In the Sweet Kitchen, I was really inspired to make these cookies from page 503 of that book, and I still had some dried cherries leftover from Jodi's amazing parcel. I am now down to a precious few dried cherries, so I am totally hoarding them until I can find another source! I would use cranberries if you can't get hold of the cherries.

Chocolate Fudge Cookies with Toffee & Dried Cherries, from In the Sweet Kitchen by Regan Daley

2 1/4 cups all purpose flour
1/2 cup cocoa powder
1 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
1 cup butter, at room temperature
1 cup packed dark brown sugar
3/4 cup granulated sugar
2 large eggs
1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1 cup dried cherries
8 oz bittersweet chocolate chips or chocolate chunks
1 cup Skor bits

1. Preheat oven to 350F Line to cookie sheets with parchment paper.

2. Do the whole cookie dough thing: cream, sift, combine, scoop.

3. Bake for 15 or so minutes, but underbake for sure to get a fudgier cookie.

There were totally excellent! I loved them! I kept a few for myself and gave the rest away, and the contractors were really grateful. I can't believe I put off making this recipe for so long.

I forgot to take a picture of the full batch of the recipe, so I only got a shot of the last two I had on hand when I finally remembered to take a photo.

Magazine Monday #62: Roasted Lemon Cake

I rarely go to the liquor store, but other people I know go regularly, and one of those someones brought back a recent copy of Taste Magazine, which is put out by the BC Liquor Stores. This is the first time I've made a recipe from the magazine, and the occasion was Father's Day. Lemons, as it happened, were on sale at the time! The original recipe involved a lavender syrup, but as I didn't have any access to lavender, I skipped it altogether.

Roasted Lemon Cake, adapted Taste Magazine Spring 2010, page 129

4 large lemons, washed well & dried
6 tbsp sugar
1/4 cup all purpose flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/4 cup ground almonds
3/4 cup butter
3/4 cup sugar
4 eggs, beaten

1. Preheat oven to 375C. Grease sides of a 9" round cake pan and line the bottom with parchment.

2. Slice lemons thinly & remove seeds. Place them in a layer on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper & sprinkle with the 6tbsp of sugar. Roast for about 15 minutes or until lightly caramelized on the edges. Let cool.

3. Arrange 3/4 of the lemon slices on the bottom of the cake pan. Chop the remaining lemons & set aside. Sift flour & baking powder into a bowl & stir in almonds. In a separate bowl, beat butter & sugar together until light & fluffy. Beat in eggs, one at a time, until well mixed. Fold in flour mixture, and add chopped lemons & accumulated juices. Spread batter over roasted lemons. Bake for about 40 minutes, or until done in the centre. Allow to cool for about 15 minutes at least before turning out of the pan. Serve with whipped cream.


This was a hit with my family. The cake was so moist it was pretty much pudding-like. The lemony flavour was over the top. Unfortunately, the cake was so moist that it was hard to serve nicely because it kept breaking up. Also, the lemons I got were particularly thick-skinned, which was kind of annoying: more skin than fruit really, and it got pretty chewy at times. Still, a really worthwhile and adaptable recipe that I can see going well with other citrus fruits like oranges or even grapefruit.

Enjoy!

Sunday Smile

I just HAD to post this!