Salmon Backs are a seasonal favorite around here. If salmon is in season, we’re sure to eat this cut of the fish nearly once a week. It’s fast, flavorful, and really economical. I can’t afford to keep my family in salmon filets or steaks, but I can afford to feed them piles of salmon backs: in tacos, “ceviche” flavored, lox style, etc.
Earlier this week I made some on the grill and we ate it in soft Middle Eastern flatbread with cream sauce, cabbage, and lime. As usual, it was delicious. I had to stop myself at two, and Finn at a pile with his spoon. But we still had some leftover, which Ella called dibs on, but then I had not a tortilla in the house. I offered her crackers, a range of breads, fresh sesame rolls. She chose the rolls and made this sandwich, which is basically taco fillings on a bun. Of course you can use another cut of fish, but it wouldn’t be the same, because this is basically the fish equivalent of a sloppy joe: piles of light, loose grilled fish, a creamy sauce, a squeeze of lime for flavor, a bit of cabbage for crunch.
I was happy to let Ella take control of her meal, and even happier that she gave the family another way to keep seasonal eating fresh.
Grilled Salmon Back Sandwich
1-1 1/2 lbs Salmon backs
1/2 cup white wine
1/4 cup Meyer lemon juice
1 tsp salt
two handfuls of cilantro, leaves and stems + chopped cilantro for serving
2 cloves garlic chopped
Cream sauce: equal parts mayonnaise, sour cream or plain greek yogurt, and cumin to taste
shredded cabbage
lime wedges
Sesame Buns
Marinate salmon for a few hours in white wine, Meyer lemon juice, salt, a few handfuls of cilantro, garlic
Grill salmon on high heat for five minutes, until just cooked through.
Let salmon cool, then flake meat off the bone
Pile fish on fresh sesame buns and garnish with cream sauce, cabbage, and extra cilantro and lime as desired
You know we are big fans of pancakes around here. We make them with pumpkin and lemon and leftover quinoa and corn; we eat them when we’re out and when we’re at home; we follow recipes from picture books and children’s books but for the most part, aside from the occasional airplane or Eiffel Tower when Tony is wielding the pancake flipper, pancakes here are plain, round, circles.
The cookbook I’m offering you today wants to change all that. Jim Belosic’s OMG Pancakes! shows you how to use a couple squeeze bottles, some food coloring, and one uncomplicated pancake recipe to add some fun to the pancakes on your plate. Cats and dogs, sure, but also giraffes, frogs, rocket ships, bulldozers, guitars and more. The publisher sent us an advanced copy, so the pictures aren’t in color, but the techniques and the recipes are clear and easy to follow. Leave a comment with your email by the end of the week and I’ll draw one winner.
Over the weekend I went on a juicing binge brought on by an unexpected CSA delivery, which brought us an extra melon,which brought our household total to 3 ripe melons. Usually its no chore to eat one in a day, but all three of these beauties weren’t going to wait. So I brought out my Breville juicer, which is the only thing in my life I’ve ever won, and which is a pretty great machine. It’s lightning fast and powerful, and we do use it all during citrus season. But because it takes an awful lot of (often expensive) produce to make juice, and I don’t love cleaning the pulp, I don’t use it regularly. Most days, I’d much rather hand an apple (or plum or carrot) to the kids and just say, “Eat.” But when I met my husband, he drank all sorts of juice and smoothies, and this was long before Kris Carr (who, for the record, I think is pretty terrific. I contributed to her site here.) So in the spirit of economy and nostalgia, I broadened my juicing repertoire.
First, I chopped up the watermelon and passed it to Ella, who had a great time feeding it to the maw of the machine. It happened so fast I didn’t get a picture of the juicing or the juice, but believe me when I say there is nothing more refreshing on a 90 degree day than ice cold watermelon juice.
Then, we went to work on the melon, which I chilled and served after dinner with a spoonful of vanilla yogurt and a strawberry garnish. Kory and I thought it was great. The kids, not so much.. But I saved their portions and the melon soup made a great, drinkable breakfast for me the next morning as I made the kids pancakes. I think the soup would work nicely as an appetizer, too, served in little shot glasses with a garnish of creme fraiche (or greek yogurt) and some cubed, fried pancetta. I will get back to you on that.
For now, if you have any quickly ripening produce, I suggest the juicer. I am going to get to work on those tomatoes soon.
A friend of mine reviews reviews for websites; you read that right: if you write a product review of an item you buy online, chances are she or one of her colleagues will vet your review before it is published, checking for inappropriate language, slander, and other no-no’s. But even acceptable reviews are often riddled with punctuation and grammar errors, and I often think of my friend, waging a lonely, one-woman battle against misplaced modifiers and comma splices. The excerpts she posts on Facebook every day — especially the ones with grammatical errors that introduce unintentionally hilarious meanings (think, “Eats, Shoots and Leaves”) — make my day.
But it’s got me thinking about recipe-writing and reviewing. I use recipe websites all the time, and often use the reviews to guide my choices, but I’m always amazed (and kind of amused) at the reviews that say something like “This cake was terrible!! I cut the sugar by 50%, replaced the butter with pureed prunes, and used wheat germ and ground flax instead of white flour; it was so dry! it wasn’t nearly sweet enough! I won’t ever make this again!!” (Online reviewers always use multiple exclamation points). Yes, well, serves you right, I think.
I adapt recipes, and I do often cut sugar or replace shortening with ground flaxseed meal, but usually not until the second time around. It doesn’t seem right to tinker until I really understand what the recipe’s doing. And when I tinker, I’ll let you know so that you can make your own decisions about the changes.
The chocolate zucchini cake recipe I made this week from Epicurious has a raft of reviews and for some reason this time they really drew me in. As usual, a number of reviewers simply praised the recipe; others (helpfully) explained changes they made and their result; others criticized the recipe after make unsuccessful changes; and then — my favorite — others told off the critics who had made ill-advised substitutions:
“Yep, if you start making substitutions, don’t blame the recipe.”
And even better:
“Did anybody actually make THIS cake???? By the time you make all the substitutions and revisions, it’s not the same cake. Who gives a rat’s behind about what everyone did to alter the cake, just RATE THE DAMN THING! Whooo, now that i got that off my chest, yes, I do feel better. Incidentally, the cake I made using THIS recipe, was fabulous.”
In some ways, the food blogging/writing world misleads us. If you believe everything you read, people out there are cooking new, interesting, fresh, inspired things all the time. On the one hand, this can inspire you and give you lots of new ideas, recipes, ingredients. The blogging world is great for that. On the other hand, the constant stream of new content can put a lot of pressure on the cook in the house. It can be hard to measure up, not just in terms of skill and innovation, but simply in terms of getting something new and different on the table every single night. Where are the leftovers? The repeat meals? The meals that come straight out of the freezer? The take-out or pizza nights? Not to mention: those nights when activities and work schedules mean the kids have to eat separate meals and the parents eat even later. Pete Wells got it right: sometimes we are just too busy to cook.
It is true that I do try to cook every night. But last night? Wednesdays are my teaching night, so my sitter prepares what I leave, and my kids had TJ turkey chili out of a can. Which, for the record, they think is one of the best things ever.
Also: we eat an awful lot of the same things for weeks, even months at a time. This is what happens when you eat seasonally. When it’s tomato season, we eat tomatoes. Lots and lots and lots of them. We’re Italian like that. You can romanticize it all you want, but it’s not exactly inspired. And unless you’re Mark Bittman, it can be a challenge to figure out something to do with all the same stuff day in and day out. A girl can dream and plan and try, and lots of us do, of course, but if you’re not a food professional, and you’re tired, it can be a lot of work to be inspired.
Moreover, we have had an unusually busy week. A slight shift in Ella’s schedule has meant that she has 20 minutes to eat dinner in between Finn’s drop off and pick up from swimming and her own drop off at soccer. I have no idea when Finn is going to eat. Our afterschool hours are such that I have to have dinner ready for them both to eat by 4pm. Because between 4-7 pm, I won’t be home long enough to cook. Certainly, this week is not usual, but the fact remains that there are plenty of other families who face this challenge on a regular basis. It’s one thing to cook and eat a family meal when your kids are young. I found it a hell of a lot easier to cook for toddlers than it is now, with a 6 and 9-year-old. It doesn’t help to say my family dinner will never be sacrificed, because if your kids have activities, sometimes it will be. All of which is to say that how we cook and how our families eat our meals changes. I am here to say: it’s okay some nights to eat on the run. It’s okay to eat the same thing over and over again.
Which brings me to my dinner dilemma tonight. What could I cook that would keep from 3:45 pm until 8 pm? I had tomatoes, corn, and hooray! a package of gnocchi, which, once cooked, keeps far better than pasta. I have a bin full of good produce: green beans and great lettuces for a side dish or salad. Also some good mozzarella. And this morning I was talking to my very dear friend Melissa Clark, the novelist, who introduced me to gnocchi, and is also a contributor to our book. Then there was Caroline’s post yesterday, and dishes I’ve made before, and this is the result: our end of summer (and end of a very long day, and nearly the end of the week) pan fried gnocchi.
Like tonight’ s dinner, which has not yet been cooked, this photo is repurposed. But you get the general idea…
End of Summer Gnocchi with Tomatoes, Corn, and Mozzarella
1 package gnocchi
1 clove garlic
2 T butter
2 T olive oil
1 pint cherry tomatoes, sliced in half
2 ears of corn, cooked, cooled and kernals sliced off
2-3 slices fresh mozzarella, sliced into bite- sized cubes
3-4 leaves fresh basil
Mince the garlic & sautee in olive oil and butter in a large pan.
Add the gnocchi to the pan & cook until heated through and lightly golden brown.
Remove from heat, and in a large bowl gently toss in tomatoes and corn.
Toss in mozzarella and basil.
Serve immediately or after (soccer/swimming/piano/tutoring), at room temperature.
