Summer Salmon Tartar

Tonight I had a few friends over for dinner and I made a new dish, appropriate for the humid summer, Summer Salmon Tartar.

In the summer, I find that all dishes get a more refreshing flavor if fruits are added to them. You can simply edit your recipes and add the yummy summer ingredient that is fruit.
Mangoes, raspberries, strawberries, lemon, pineapple, etc. are all full of flavor that can complement and accentuate a dish, fill you up and at the same time give you a break from the heat.

So Summer Salmon Tartar is the fruity take of normal tartar.

Whenever my sister goes to a sushi restaurant she asks if they have a salmon Avocado and Mango handroll. She clearly knows about flavor pairing! It is she, and this order that inspired me to make my own handrolls.

I made salmon tartar, diced mangoes and paired it with an avocado-basil-lime rice. To honor my sisters beloved nori handroll, I have my own take of a roll. I love to lay out a lettuce or cabbage leaf, (alternatively a rice paper cake) and put a spoonful of each mixture and wrap it, to create a pouch of summer.

Et voila.




Recipes (for 4-6)

Salmon Tartar
1 pound sushi grade salmon
1 shallot
extra virgin olive oil
1 lime's zest
1/2-1 cup lime juice
1 teaspoon sea salt
1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1/4 teaspoon cumin

1. Dice the salmon in as small cubes as you can and in a bowl cover with the EVOO and mix. You will see all the pieces get shiny once covered with the oil. Let sit while you prep the rest.
The smaller the fish cubes, the better your dish will be.

2. Very finely dice the shallot and add to the salmon, along with the rest of the ingredients.

3. Mix everything together till the salmon becomes pinkish.

For variation, you can add 3-4 leaves of cilantro for a completely different taste.
Typicallyyou dont find cumin in tartar recipes, but I cant get over the tang n the tatse that cumin offers, so I include it. If you want it to remind you more of what you have had in restaurants though, you can leave it out.

Mango
Just 2 mangoes diced in cubes preferably the same size as the fish.

Avocado Rice
3 cups of rice
2 avocados
a few basil leaves (up to you)
extra virgin olive oil
1 teaspoon sea salt
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
1/2 lime's juice
1. Cook teh rice according to the box's directions. Add 3 cups of water and either cook it in the microwave for 10 minutes, or in a pot on low heat for 25 minutes.

2. In a mixer/blender, combine the avocado, basil, oil, salt and pepper with 1/4 cup of water, until smooth and creamy.
You can also add cilantro if you want your mix to tast somewhat like guacamole.

3. In your rice bowl mix the avocado cream with the rice and it's ready.

(I saw a version of this recipe on Food Network and it was called the Green Goddess rice)

Plating
There are 2 ways to plate this dish of summer flavors.

a. You combine all the ingredients in a lettuce leaf and wrap it or
b. You plate them separately, or combined on a plate, letting your guests choose how much of each ingredient they'd like to have.

LM

My salt and pepper is lemon

I can't help myself, I just need to have lemon.

In my kitchen, you can never have too much lemon. In my kitchen, lemon is King. I like the juice, I like the zest, i like the smell and I adore its brother Lime.

Of course, where would I be without sea salt, olive oil, cayenne pepper and Co., but the citric acid juices, just have a hold over me.

However, today I learned a very valuable lesson. No matter how much you love to cook with certain ingredients, you should always make sure to stock up on ingredients you are likely to use, even if not often, but at some point.

When grocery shopping for a dish you have in mind, you might fall in one of two nasty pitfalls:

a. You might forget an ingredient, because of it is so common, you forget you need to buy it to have it at home. For example, I forgot to buy sugar today. And I was making mousse!

b. You may very well remember you need an ingredient but the packaging is so big, when all you need is a teaspoon. It happened to me when I wanted to make guacamole and I wanted a pinch of cumin and the corner store only sold it by the half pound.

Every ingredient counts, and yes the dish could be made without that pinch or teaspoon, but it just won't be the same.

So, the lesson of the story is, however much you love lemons, you still need sugar to make lemonade, and a full pantry will tie the bow of flavors perfectly.

LM

About this blog

When I was young, about 10 years old, I hated cooking. My mother and my sister where kitchen geniuses and I steered clear, famously (in my family) declaring, "When I grow older, I will have a house without a kitchen, instead I will only use mail order food. You can be the fat cooks and I will have a career, and no time to cook."

As it turns out, it is possible to have a life, a career and a very healthy kitchen, just as much as it is pleasurable to spend 5 hours preparing a heavy cream filled pie, you can't wait to have melt in your mouth.

I discovered somewhat recently, that I have a ritual. Everyday, on my way back from work I try to think of ways to combine foods, of ways to marry food I grew up on with what I see in the best of restaurants. So I come home, and put my pink polka dot apron on and create my lemon filled sanctuary. It is in cooking, in chopping mostly, that I find and absolute calm and build up anticipation, on what this dish is actually going to taste like.

And so with that, I bring to you my exploration of things said and recipes explored.

As they say in Greek,
Kali Oreksi

LM