I tried something ambitious: salmon. Here in Seattle salmon is in season right now, and the local grocery store had fresh sockeye salmon. Yes, grocery store. As much as I would have loved to go to the farmer’s market, there were some things I knew I wouldn’t find there. Such as salmon, raspberry vinegar, and lavender ice cream.
The salmon came out beautifully. Wrapped in foil and grilled it was neither over nor undercooked, which is just pure luck as far as I’m concerned. Seasoning was a mix of Rub with Love salmon rub, which I tried to sprinkle on top. It came out in globs, but luckily it melted into the fish somewhat. I did have a little trouble taking the bones out, though. No recipe here, this is Seattle.
For a salad I tried something I’d never even heard of. I peeled zucchini in a recipe by The Kitchn. Not just peeled the peel off, but used a peeler to cut two zucchini into thin, almost transparent strips. It’s harder than it looks, and I was actually unable to get the last bit of the zucchini sliced. It took me almost an hour just to slice the zucchini.
Peeling Zucchini
Next I substituted feta for the goat cheese and walnuts for the pine nuts. I also used raspberry vinegar instead of white wine vinegar for the dressing to add a little flavor to it. Unfortunately the red raspberry vinegar turned the beautiful white zucchini slices a dull purplish brown, which rather spoiled the effect of the strips in the first place.
However, it tasted just fine. The vinegar was perhaps a tad too sweet to really suit the feta, but it certainly gave the zucchini a little more flavor. While it was fine as a salad, it was really too much effort for the less than stunning result. Simply cubing the zucchini would have been fine and would not have taken so long.
The dessert did not turn out so well. I tried nectarines poached in lavender-honey syrup by Cooking Light. The first problem was the nectarines, all I could find that was ripe were peaches. Peaches are softer than nectarines, but I hoped they would hold up as well. I also couldn’t find lavender. Instead, I bought lavender ice cream rather than vanilla. The syrup also took longer to cook than I expected, and it remained as thin as water, simply running off the peaches.
The real problem, though, was the sweetness. They were much too sweet. I don’t know if it was the recipe or me, but they were hard to eat. Raw peaches were much better. It didn’t help that I was the only one who like the lavender ice cream. Who knew?
I finished up the meal with some local sourdough bread and a bowl of fresh berries.
All in All
All in all, I did learn a lot. I can experiment with recipes, but it won’t always work out.
On the other hand, it can work out just fine. And it’s fun.
Sweet isn’t always a good thing.
Luck is involved in cooking.
Reconnaissance is a good idea, if you have the time.
Time is valuable, consider it when deciding on recipes.
Seasonal Cooking In Seattle 