… and these Thy gifts …

Boil together in a pot large enough to accommodate a large salmon fillet (this was enough for 6 people):

water (enough to cover salmon when you put it in)
2 bay leaves
a teaspoon or so allspice
a tablespoon or so whole black peppercorns
a tablespoon or so sea salt

When boiling, gently add salmon, cover pot, and turn off heat. Let poach 15-20 minutes.

Drain salmon and set aside on cutting board until cool enough to handle, loosely tented with a piece of foil. Cut/Pull off skin gently.

In a small bowl, mix together

mayonnaise (or Vegenaise if you’re allergic to eggs like my dh is)
Dijon mustard
dried or fresh tarragon
dried or fresh dill
freshly squeezed lemon juice

Serve salmon topped with mayo-mustard sauce.

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I’m not too fond of most Asian-style salads, because I find some things are usually “off” or the combination of tastes just screams WRONG! This is one exception to the rule.

1 package baby spinach, washed and spun dry
2 cups large shrimp, steamed, peeled and deveined
1 large ripe mango (Champagne mango if you can find it is best), peeled, de-seeded and cut into 1/3-inch slices
1/4 cup red onion, sliced thinly
2 tablespoons rice wine vinegar
1 teaspoon grated zest and 3 tablespoons juice from 1 orage
1 tablespoon grated fresh ginger
salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
1/4 cup canola oil, expeller-pressed preferred
1 tablespoon sesame oil

Place spinach, shrimp, and mango slices in a large bowl. Set aside.
In a small non-reactive bowl, macerate onion slices in 1 tablesoon rice wine vinegar for 5 minutes.
Whisk orange zest, orange juice, ginger and remaining vinegar, as well as salt and pepper to taste, in a small bowl. Whisk oils in until emulsified.
Add onion slices to salad bowl. Pour dressing over salad; toss and serve immediately.

a repost of a recipe I wrote for aboutweblogs.com/asianfood, aka noodlesandrice.com

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My uncle’s wife who’s from Pangasinan, Philippines, makes a similar dish, except that hers is more a veggie dish, with the emphasis on the snow peas. She also adds shelled peas and cashews to hers, a nice variation to this dish.

Shrimp and Snow Pea Stir-Fry (Cha How Lang Tao Nung B’kong)

adapted from a recipe in The Elephant Walk Cookbook

For 4-6 servings

2 tablespoons canola oil
2 tablespoons minced garlic
1 pound medium shrimp, shelled, deveined and butterflied
1 pound snow peas, topped, tailed and de-stringed
3 tablespoons fish sauce
2 tablespoons sugar
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper, or to taste

Heat the oil in a large skillet or wok over medium-high heat. Add garlic and stir-fry until just beginning to turn color, about 15 seconds. Add shrimp, snow peas, fish sauce and sugar. Continue stir-frying until shrimp are just cooked through and snow peas are crisp-tender, 5 to 6 minutes. Season with the freshly ground black pepper. Serve hot.

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This was adapted from a Korean cookbook but I forgot now which, sorry. But the whole family loved it (sorry, no pic) so I’m putting it here, so we can cook it again!

3 pounds squid (I have my very own squid-cleaner here at home — my 16-yo dd who actually LIKES cleaning/prepping the stuff, so 3 pounds is nothing to her, plus we need 3 pounds to feed a family of 6 — this will make about a meal and a half.), cleaned, trimmed, cut into bite-size pieces
bunch of scallions, cleaned, trimmed, and cut into 1-inch lengths
2 carrots, julienned
1 large onion, julienned or sliced thinly
1 package mushrooms (we used the 8-oz package, but we love mushrooms so even the 12-oz or 16-oz won’t be unwelcome), sliced
1-2 spicy Korean peppers (actually I used the hot Japanese pepper that I found at the Japanese store, I think they’re Sapporo but I’m not sure), chopped
3 tablespoons expeller-pressed canola oil
2 tablespoons minced garlic
1 1/2 teaspoons salt, or to taste
2 tablespoons red pepper flakes, or 1 1/2 teaspoons Korean hot pepper powder (the stuff they use for making kimchi, and go from there to adjust to the heat you like)
1 tablespoon brown sugar

In a large pot, put all the squid at the bottom, then all the vegetables on top, then the rest of the ingredients on top of the veggies. Saute over HIGH heat for 6 minutes or just until squid is tender. Serve hot over rice. (We use a mixture of brown and white.) So yummy!

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