For a special summer treat, we’re eating roasted salmon marinated with fresh thyme, garlic, lemon juice, and balsamic vinegar. The salmon was served on top of a bed of roasted okra and sauteed crimini mushrooms, red onions, red bell pepper, and tender young broccoli deglazed with balsamic vinegar to tie all of the elements together.

same fish, different angle
T: this salmon was good. It was so moist, and had the perfect level of fishy flavor. I loved it. I want some more. Please.
A: me. freaking. too. we really need to take up fishing. not that we could catch salmon around here, but man. i really, really love me some fish! salmon is great because it does taste like fish.
T: yeah, I agree… I love to taste a little bit of fish when eating fish. But I gotta say, if we took up fishing off of our pier I might be a bit concerned about the, how you say, crappiness of the fish. It seems a little on the industrial side. I’m probably just paranoid… am I?
A: i’m know it’s not the cleanest water, but i have to say, i just don’t have a clue what kind of water all the store bought fish we eat was swimming in before it got caught and delivered to our table. could be nastier than our pier.
T: ahh touche. the stuff we buy at the store probably has lead paint in it or something. magnets. You just don’t know.
A: did you mention antifreeze? ;-P little side note, i was at the 99 Ranch the other day and i did note that all of their catfish was claimed to be farm-raised in the USA. even the chinese grocers don’t want to carry chinese catfish!
T: hmm… interesting. Well, anyway, I guess I don’t care where this salmon came from. It was damn good. I give it a 4.67/5. I don’t think it could have been cooked any better. It was possibly the best salmon I’ve ever had. Mmm… what’s your rating?
A: i think i’m gonna have to roll with a 4.555555/5. it was rocking. i did think it could have used just the slightest bit more salt, but that’s plucking at microscopic hairs. it really was uber moist and delish. i ate every single bite of the fish with a forkful of veggies and thought they rocked as a pair. the balsamic in the veggies accented the balsamic in the salmon wonderfully without being too strong in either element of the dish.
T: I didn’t combine the fish and veggies in my bites, but kept them separate, and each was damn good by itself. I’m going to send out a request, dear Mandy… would you cook us up some more fish?
A: and i will answer your request with a request… dear pepita brittle, could you bring me some fish so that i can cook us some fish?
T: I don’t respond to pepita brittle… but coincidentally I plan to bring you some fish. So there.
A: sweet! you totally responded to pepita brittle! and btw, i just ignored the “mandy” in hopes you would stop using it, but if you use it again, one of our pet jumping beans may loose it’s life.
T: woman, if you lay a hand on one of our mexican jumping beans…
A: yeah, yeah… whatcha gonna do about it, huh?!?
T: ummm… i’ll probably pout for at least 15 minutes. It will be very unpleasant for you. Be careful.

* no mexican jumping beans were harmed in the making of this post.

Recipes in this post:

• Balsamic & Thyme Marinated Salmon

Related posts:

1. Seared Mahi in Slow-Roasted Tomato-Tarragon Broth
2. Mahi Mahi with Cherry Chipotle Beurre Blanc
3. Lemon-Herb Grilled Shrimp & Quinoa Salad

T: wow dinner tonight was excellent!
A: thanks T! I’ve been trying to think of a visually pleasing egg dish for a while and finally decided just to make whatever came to mind.
T: ahh well that seemed to work! Everything really melded together, and each item was tasty by itself, too. I loved it.
A: sometimes i find that eggs can seem a little heavy, but i tried to lighten this up by using a lot of fresh flavors like the lemon, dill and salmon. I really enjoyed tonights meal myself. I probably could have eaten two of them!
T: it was quite fresh. not heavy in the least. I could have continued eating plate after plate. Could you go make me a few plates of it?
A: hehehe… probably, actually. I have more of all the ingredients, although i froze the rest of the salmon fillet i bought today. I decided to buy a whole “half of a salmon” fillet today, so…. more salmon in the future!
T: hell yeah I love salmon. This salmon was incredibly salmon colored. Do you think they used dyes?
A: it’s very possible, they frequently do. The packaging didn’t mention any dyes though, so maybe not. It’s supposedly wild sockeye salmon… but i never believe everything i read.
T: hell I don’t believe anything I read. Have you ever seen salmon packaging that mentioned dye?
A: i have actually. even the non-vacuum sealed salmon (you know… the plastic wrap kind) has had the “dye added for color” part of the label.
T: so it’s like the cereal boxes that say “enlarged to show texture” except that instead of photoshoping the photo they inject my food with chemicals. nice.
A: yup! you hit the nail on the head, son. In a perfect world i would be wealthy enough not to have to shop for fish at the von’s, or any grocery store for that matter. sadly on my (and your) current salary, we can’t afford that.
T: True, unless one of our readers liked us so much that they wanted to pay our rent and utilities. Then we could shop anywhere. Any takers? … eh? … anybody? … hello? …
A: it’s useless, T…. we only have like.. one reader outside of the family… and they don’t wanna support us… just let the dream die…
T: ok. It’s dead.

No related posts.

T: dude i thought this was a really creative and innovative meal tonight. and damn it was tasty.
A: thanks t! i can’t really take the full credit for this one. at the very beginning of my foodblog reading days I saw a wasabi pea encrusted tuna steak, and that was the inspiration for this dish.
T: holy crap it was good. do you by any chance remember what food blog it was on?
A: i really don’t. i wish i did, but it was so long ago that i saw it and you know… my memory isn’t what it used to be. i took that inspiration and ran with what i thought would work well with it – i schmeared the salmon fillets with whole grain mustard then added the wasabi pea crust and served it with the mustardy lemony cream sauce, poached bok choy, and skillet potatoes… just like dad used to make.
T: dad used to make poached bok choy too?
A: heheh no silly! dad used to make skillet potatoes just like that when i was growing up. really easy, just sliced potatoes pan fried with sliced onions and s&p.
T: what’s s&p?
A: for some reason i feel like you’ve asked me that question before…
T: … OH! salt and pepper.
A: yup! exactly.
T: that always throws me off, I think it’s some kind of sauce or something.
A: we could make a s&p sauce, or at least call a sauce s&p in your honor since it confuses you.
T: or not. thank you very much. back to dinner!… i have to say, the mustard is really what set it off for me.
A: cool.. the mustard was inspired by a salmon dish we ate at a restaurant in Pacific Beach like a month ago. whatever dish you got at the time came with a similar sauce and i thought it rocked so… this was my attempt to recreate it. BTW, this is our FIRST meal in our new apartment in OB!
T: it surely was nice! we have a terrible lighting situation that needs to be dealt with… ok, more than just lighting. well, we’ve only been here a couple of days. we’ll have plenty of time to decorate.
A: we are definately in transition mode currently. working out the kinks and what not. i just know it will all work itself out soon. we’ll get there T!
T: we sure will, A! golly. you’re swell.
A: woah dog, what’s with all this crazy talk? you’re like a blast from the past, man.
T: i was just feeling it. i don’t know why. jeepers.
A: AGH!!!! Okay, well, back to the dinner at hand. I give this meal a 4.333/5. It was good. I enjoyed it and would order it if it were on a menu. But for some reason it wasn’t the most exciting meal i’ve ever made… still yummy though.
T: I thought it was damn exciting. I give it 4.7/5. Truthfully, the only reason it didn’t get a higher score is because bok choy isn’t my fave. It kinda reminds me of celery. you know, like you expend more calories eating it than it gives you back.
A: that could be true, i just don’t know. what i do know is that i thought that the bok choy offered a refreshing crunch to a mildly heavy meal and i enjoyed it. but i can totally see how bok choy could not be your fave.
T: did somebody say chocolate?

Kwaherini mabibi na mabwana!

Recipes in this post:

• Wasabi-Pea Encrusted Salmon W/ Mustard Cream Sauce

Related posts:

1. Seared Mahi in Slow-Roasted Tomato-Tarragon Broth
2. Mahi Mahi with Cherry Chipotle Beurre Blanc
3. Lemon-Herb Grilled Shrimp & Quinoa Salad

Tonight we’re eating wild salmon marinated in a balsamic and thyme vinegarette. A creamy buttermilk bleu cheese and cauliflower soup accompanies the salmon, along with a salad of baby field greens.

Buttermilk Bleu Cheese and Cauliflower SoupT: excellent meal, mandy.
A: why thank ya mista tylah! it was well balanced, both healthy AND unhealthy at the same-freakin-time.
T: heheheh. I know the salmon was healthy. I take it that soup wasn’t the healthiest thing in the world?
A: yup! i mean, it wasn’t the end of the world, but it is a whole milk based soup.. and it uses a roux… and bleu cheeze! oh, and by the way! you’re lucky i’m letting the “mandy” slide buster. most people would get a whoppin’ for that.
T: but, Mandy!
A: heheh OH OH OH NO YOU DIDN’T!
T: you heard me. I said… MANDY!
A: well, i’m going to assume you are speaking to a different amanda. Anyway, i enjoyed every aspect of this meal. It wasn’t a “blow-me-out-the-water” meal, but it was damn good.
T: well, I thought it was pretty close to being a “blow-me-out-of-the-water-meal.” I think the weakest part was the salad. The other two elements blew me away.
A: awesome. i’ll agree, the salad was the weakest. but i could have used just *slightly* more salt on the salmon, it was perfectly cooked though. The soup rocked my casbah! i really was quite pleased with the outcome of the croutons (my first ever) as well.
T: Yes, I agree with everything you just said. I didn’t realize those were your first croutons, though. I thought for sure that you had made some a while back in Baton Rouge.
A: nope, pretty sure they were my first. maybe it was garlic bread or something you are thinking of.
T: uhh. hmm… oh, well, perhaps I’ve lost a bit of my mind.
A: is there really any doubt about that?
T: what were we talking about again?
A: exactly…case and point.
T: so, seriously, what were we talking about again?
A: how you had lost a bit of your mind!
T: oh, yeah. wait, before that!
A: croutons!
T: ah ha! I still think you have made them before, and that maybe you have lost a bit of your mind!
A: nope. i think not. if you can prove your theory… i’ll…. i’ll… i don’t know what i’ll do, but it will be good. i’m just pretty damn certain i’ve not made croutons before.
T: so any croutons we had in the past were premade?
A: we haven’t eaten croutons in salads in the past. i have made, like, garlic bread, or crispy bruschetta… but no croutons.
T: hmm… maybe it was that other amanda.
A: hehehe perhaps. mystery solved. so back to the dinner at hand. i give this meal a 4.3/5. if i were simply rating the soup, i might give it something crazy, like a 4.8/5. i really really enjoyed it. i suppose if you don’t like bleu cheese you won’t enjoy it but for me, it was heaven.
T: Yeah, i’m a little split with my rating. I want to give the soup a higher rating than anything else. But, i’ll just kind of mash it all together into a rating of 4.56/5. One thing that I enjoyed about this meal, and to the salad’s credit, was eating the red bellpepper at the same time as a bite of salmon. That was fine.
A: i actually enjoyed eating all of the salad with bites of salmon because i made a dressing for the salad that was very similar to what the fish was marinated in. they definately worked well together.
T: indeed. I loved the skin of the salmon too. Mmm.. I just love that in general.
A: mmm.. salmon skin roll… mmm.. sushi…. mmm
T: ya, sushi good.
A: soupi good.
T: bread puddi good.
A: man, i thought i was still *really* full until we started this crazy foodblog.
T: i’m still *really* full, but that little picture of bread pudding in the web browser is allowing me to see past my fullness.
A: to beer??
T: to bread pudding, silly!
A: hehehe i think i’ll go with a nice hearty stout.
T: ahh, grab me one while your at it.
A: always. tomorrows dinner is still a mystery to me… it hasn’t revealed itself yet.
T: interesting. something to ponder and look forward to!
A: until then…

Kwaherini mabibi na mabwana!

Recipes in this post:

• Balsamic-Thyme Marinated Salmon
• Cauliflower and Buttermilk Bleu Cheese Soup
• Thyme Croutons

Related posts:

1. Mahi Mahi with Cherry Chipotle Beurre Blanc
2. Cheesy Potato, Broccoli & Piquillo Pepper Soup
3. Seared Mahi in Slow-Roasted Tomato-Tarragon Broth