Salmon Salad Sammy!

What do you do when your radical husband catches a super huge fish that has enough meat to last for days? You use the meat for days! I already dished about our delicious salmon and mushroom feast and this is what I did with the leftover portion of fish (after the hubs had leftovers of a huge filet and the rest of the mushroom sauce for dinner when i was out of town.)

Looks good, doesn't it? I didn't bake the bread or make the cheese, but i did use some relish from our garden back in Austin and the bread was baked locally.

Salmon Salad:

• Portion of baked or grilled salmon, mushed up
• Spoonful mayo, preferably homemade
• Spoonful relish, I used my green tomato relish
• Smaller spoonful of mustard
• Salt and pepper to taste plus optional other herbs if your salmon isn't already slammin' in the flavor department
• Optional sliced cheese

Easy peezy: just mush the ingredients together and spread on slices of bread. You may wish to spread mayo and mustard on the bread as well. If you don't have a relish you love on hand, you can finely chop some onion and pickles instead. My relish is quite mustardy and not overly tangy. I would like to be eating this again right now. *Could be great as a salmon melt as well!

Wild Salmon/ Wild Mushrooms: Wild Feast!

Back in Action! I found a spare power cord in the barn and i'm hankering to post this delicious salmon recipe.

I know, i know: butter on salmon? Is that really necessary? NO! But it's DELICIOUS!
My fish cooking skills generally rely on a grill. As we are without a grill in our apartment, i had to be creative. Luckily, my husband's friend who took him shrooming and fishing is also a chef and had some great advice: Really Hot. Really Fast. I can do that! Unlike some fish, salmon is great rare or medium rare. I cooked this batch a little longer than i needed to, but honestly: i like salmon either seared and rare, or grilled and cooked through. So, i went for the cooked through. Not OVER cooked, mind you. I think i cooked this sucker on 475 for about 10 minutes. That's pretty quick. I didn't overly season it either: just some basil, cayenne, rosemary and garlic, plus that touch of butter for extra wow-factor. The edges got crispy, the middle was flakey and soft and the whole thing was moist as all get out. This was definitely the absolutely, most delicious salmon I have ever eaten in my entire life. I am not exaggerating. At all.

I served our fillets with a half of steamed Romanesco cauliflower and of course some more delicious mushroom gravy.

Wild Mushroom & Onion Gravy:

• 2 onions, halved and sliced
• 1 cup or so chopped mushrooms, preferably fresh picked wild shrooms!
• Pinch flour
• Salt, Pepper, herbs to taste
• White wine, or chicken/fish/veggie stock/milk
• Olive oil

Saute the onions in the olive oil with fresh or dried herbs until onions begin to turn clear. Add the pinch of flour and stir well, covering with about 1 cup of liquid. I used white wine and a splash of water and lemon juice: be creative with what you have on hand! Bring gravy to a simmer while stirring until it begins to thicken a bit. Add mushrooms and cook until they're soft. This gravy would be great over any meat or veggie dish.

Sigh, i wish i was eating this again right now. The hubs got the leftovers, lucky sot.

What's your favorite method for cooking salmon? Have you ever had super fresh salmon, and could you tell the flavor difference?

The Dude Provides

For those of you who follow me on Facebook, you already know that my husband and I had a great weekend at the dinner table. Others of you who are out of the loop may remember that my husband has had a few attempted fishing trips that didn't pan out so well lately: well he finally came through for me. And with more than just fish!

Isn't the fur-baby cute, being all interested? No mushrooms for her, but plenty for us! Porcini and Chanterelle mushrooms straight out of the Oregon coastal forest. I've always liked mushrooms, but i've also always thought them rather bland, nice to add to chicken dishes but not overly full of their own flavor. Man was i ever wrong! These babies were sweet, firmly textured, magical bites of yum both when raw and cooked! I'll be treating you with the dinners i whipped together from this bounty for the next few days. I'm pretty sure (if you like mushrooms or salmon at all) that you'll be salivating with jealousy. ;)

The hubs didn't go without his fish fix, though. He was fishing with a buddy, so only brought home half his catch, but it was definitely more than enough! He was fishing in the tidewater, and a local seal eyed his catch as he pulled it in, but he was victorious and finally provided fresh salmon flesh to this family, woo hoo!   Did i mention how fresh mushrooms tasted way more delicious than 'other' mushrooms? Well, I can tell you that freshly caught salmon, right out of the briney sea is just about the most delicious thing a person can ever eat. I'm not even overly in love with salmon, generally - and only like it when it's been prepared by myself or my step dad (as a general rule). This fish was amazing. A. MAZE. ING. And it's still feeding us 3 days later.

Let's hear it for the fisherman! Finally!