I have a confession to make, I may have a very real crush on the man who sold me this piece of salmon on Saturday. It was the perfect first encounter, I flirted just enough to get the very best piece of fish and he oh-so-kindly acquiesced. As I walked away from the fish counter, he winked and reminded me to always maintain my sense of humor. Gently batting my eyelashes I stopped, looked at him and said, “I’ll be seeing you very soon.”
The truth is, I probably will be seeing him soon if only because I finally found a decent piece of fish in Montreal and now I want more. Montreal is notorious for it’s shortage of good fish; this combined with my ‘fish snobbism’ and aversion to supermarket fish means that I rarely get to eat it. Well, my new crush at the Jean-Talon Market (gosh, I wish I remembered his name) has definitely changed that. The piece he sold me was so fresh, flaky and tender that it would have fared just as well with a simple preparation as it did with the Asian marinade I used. Clearly he and I are meant to be; this is the stuff of fairy tales I tell you.
Although I am still busy recounting the details of my ‘moment’ with the fish guy, let me tell you a little about the recipe I used. I got this recipe from Ina Garten, who got it from Eli Zabar, the owner of several fantastic gourmet markets and stores in New York City. True to form, this recipe is no let-down; the panko crust, which absorbs the tangy, spicy, garlicky flavors of this simple marinade hugs the slightly undercooked, perfect piece of salmon. Add a side of farro, spinach and wild mushroom hash and dinner starts to get really racy. So here’s my suggested game plan, go shamelessly flirt with a fish vendor, come home with the best piece of salmon and make this recipe the same day, while the fish is at its freshest. You will definitely regret neither the flirting nor the dinner. I have a feeling if you choose to go all out and also make the hash, you won’t regret that either.
Eli’s Asian Salmon
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Directions:
Mushroom, Spinach and Farro Hash
Directions: