Free Salmon

Wherein Mr. Ullman traces the curious path of a Salmon steak and cooks same.

Given what I do for a living it isn't all that unusual for me to get free seafood. However, the last salmon I got came in a somewhat round about way. A friend had a bunch of salmon she needed to get rid of and gave some to a mutual friend who wasn't likely to eat it. This mutual friend gave it me.

I was going to cook it for a different friend but that didn't happen. The fish was getting somewhat close to the use it or lose it date so I finally decided to say the hell with it and cook it up for myself.

Salmon sells for between $12.00 to $25.00 a lb. here so getting a pound of free salmon is always welcomed. What makes it even more welcome is that screwing up something you paid $12.00 to $25.00 for is more painful then screwing up something that you paid nothing to acquire. I would just as soon have a tasty meal but the free salmon means you can take a shot at something that sounds tasty but not worth betting $25.00 on.

What I was going to do for my friend was a tried and true cold garnish. You put some fennel and lemon juice on the salmon and bake it. After the fish is cooked you cover it with a salsa made of chopped tomato, diced leeks, chopped tomatillo, sliced celery root and roasted pine nuts.

I had all of this prepped. I had free salmon. The only person I could possibly disappoint was  myself. I decided to try an experiment that I was hankering to do anyway-- turn the garnish into a sauce and bake it with the fish.

I did this by adding some peanut sauce (about ½ a table spoon. This stuff is hot so use with care), some olive oil and, since I had it around, avocado vinegar I picked up somewhere and have been wanting to use.

I added some more fennel and salt to the mixture and put the sauce on top of the fish and baked. I put a very light dusting of a hard goat cheese on toward the end.

It turned out just slightly short of wonderful. Next time I will use a whole tomatillo rather then a half and maybe a bit more peanut sauce. I'll also let the sauce sit overnight.

Wild salmon has a rich taste and this slightly tart sauce did wonders. It would be fun to try this as a stuffing on a whole fish.