donlever wrote:Topper wrote:
How about maple ginger salmon on star anise rice and sesame oil zucchini?
Drool.
Big ass Spring sitting in the freezer flash frozen after being caught.
That meal ^^^^ is happening this weekend.
Any (further to the above) guidance would be appreciated Topper....
Don't you have hired help for this?
Gently thaw the fish and fillet it, don't butcher it. Remember to remove the pin bones with fish tweezers or a small set of needle nose pliers.
When you cut your portions, cut on a bias to the fish and the table, that is, don't cut perpendicular to the backbone across the fillet, and don't cut straight down perpendicular to the table.
Wrap the fish in linen or paper towel to absorb excess moisture to keep from sticking, season with salt and white pepper.
I'd poach the ginger threads in maple syrup and a bit of water and keep checking for flavour and consistency. One other concern is how much bite do you want to the ginger threads. You could cook them to very soft, personally, I'd do them al dente and if you really wanted to go overboard, candy them in maple syrup and add at the end.
I mentioned above in my reply to reefer, to start top side down. This is because I can not figure out how to do them with skin on. To crisp the skin, you start with a hot pan, hot oil and put skin side down but that would mean finishing with the maple glaze down and I fear the sugars would burn. If you finish with the skin side down, I doubt the pan would be hot enough (heat has been transferred to the fish) to crisp the skin. You could try two pans, start top down in one pan while heating a second pan, when you turn the fish to the skin side down, do so into the second pan and then brush on the glaze. Something else you could try is to brule the glaze with a torch while the skin side cooks. I'm not sure I'd be brave enough to try the broiler in the oven as things could go very wrong in a hurry.
Rice, I use a rice cooker, 1C white basmatti (I can't stand the texture of brown rice), rinsed 3-4 times in cold water, 1.25C water, a knob of unsalted butter (YES BUTTER, even more nutty flavour to the basmatti), salt and 3 or 4 star anise. Plug it in an press start. Remove the star anise when it's cooked.
Cut the ends off the zucchini and cut in 1/2 length wise. Use a spoon to take out the centre core with the seeds. Cut each half of the zucchini again lengthwise into 3 or for pieces per half (6 or 8 total) and then cut into 3/4 inch lengths. Get a fry pan large enough to hold all the zucchini loosely hot and then add oil, get the oil hot, add the zucchini and give a quick toss to coat the veg, season with salt and pepper. NOW DON'T FUCK WITH IT. The pieces will stick, leave them and let them release on their own. They should be just golden brown, maybe a bit more. Turn and cook another side. Just before they are down, toss in a little sesame oil. Be careful because sesame oil can become cloyingly icky overpowering if you use too much.
I'd serve with an unoaked Sav Blanc, look to NZ, Oregon, Loire Valley. A Sauternes would also be a good choice. If you must go red, probably a Pinot Noir.
) I eat a vegetarian...cows are vegetarians
).
