Simple Salmon and Vodka Eggplant

I once lived in the Pacific Northwest, where fresh salmon is ubiquitous, like fresh grouper is here in FL.

 The only use I have for the canned stuff is making salmon rissoles (patties) or croquettes.

Farmed, “color added” Atlantic salmon is OK, but wild-caught salmon of any kind is superior in taste and texture to even the best farmed salmon. I object to “color added” making the uninformed buyer that s/he is getting top-of-the-line fresh fish. There's nothing “wrong” with pale fleshed salmon; it just means they haven't been eating enough shrimp and other crustaceans to get a maximum dose of beta-caretene. Farmed salmon are often just fed “Purina Salmon Chow” so they don't get the color you expect from wild-caught fish eating a natural diet.

Atlantic Salmon

Keta, or dog salmon, is drier (less oily) than other species, and has firm pink flesh suitable for grilling. It also tends to be less expensive than sockeye or king salmon. In season – late summer – Costco has large side slabs of skin-on sockeye or keta for a good price. We'll often buy a 2-1/2 lb side slab for say $25 and get five meals for two from that. $2.50 per person food cost for a salmon dinner is pretty darn good.

Keta Salmon

Sockeye is the third most common salmon of the PNW,  The name Sockeye comes from the Anglicization of its name from on of the Coastal Salish native peoples:  Suk-kegh, meaning "red fish".

All three are anadromous species, meaning that they spend most of their life in the open ocean, but return to the stream where they were hatched to lay down their own eggs (spawn).  Some species of salmon notably the Kokanee, have developed landlocked populations.

Simple Salmon and Stir Fried Salad

When I lived in the PNW, I learned to spice and cook salmon two ways – with whole Cloves pinned into the meat, or dusted with Dill weed. Both are equally good, and which I use depends on what I'm going to serve as sides. You can bake salmon, but I'd rather not; it tends to dry out the meat.  As it cooks the filet exudes a whitish substance which is the fat. Gently scrape it off.

¼ lbs Salmon per personDill or cloves (4-6 per steak)I either cook the salmon directly on a hot, lightly oiled griddle, or poach it atop lemon slices above a bit of lemon water, wine, diced onion, and caper courtbouillion. Either way, cooking time is no more than 15 minutes. After 10-12 minutes start testing with a fork to see if the meat is flaking. When it flakes easily, it's done.

Salmon poaching on lemons over a white wine courtbouillion

The side vegetable I served with the salmon show you the versatility of the Chopped Salad I wrote about last week. We almost always have some leftover salad. It's hard to make in small amounts. So one Friday after a week of having salad for lunch everyday, and seeing a largish amount left, Lady Sally says “why don't you stir fry the leftovers to go with...?” A hot griddle, a splash of oil, some soy sauce and rice wine vinegar, and a few drops of sriracha for a bit of spice, and there you are.

Stir Fried Salad

Simple Salmon, Stir Fried Salad and Salt Baked Fingerling Potatoes

The Salt Baked Potatoes are simply rinsed in water, pierced with a  fork so they don't explode, and tossed with about a tablespoon of Kosher salt.  Nuke for 3-5 minutes until tender.

Vodka Eggplant and Shrimp

We both love eggplant that's well prepared – not overcooked and mushy but firm and moist. Aubergine is probably Lady Sally's favorite vegetable. If you don't like them skin-on, that's OK, go ahead and peel. But if prepared right, you won't even notice the skin. One of these days I'll tell you about my signature Stuffed Eggplant recipe, but today it's 'way too hot to fire up the oven!

½ lb Shrimp (for this dish I use cooked, peeled shrimp available at my seafood market)1 large eggplant, unpeeled, sliced into about six 3/4” thick roundsPanko breadcrumbs for dredge1 egg, beaten with a splash of water, for dredge1 Jar commercial Vodka Pasta Sauce of your favorite brandItalian Seasoning Blend, chopped garlic, lemon juice, etc. for doctoring the sauce4 oz sliced Mushrooms2 slices Provolone or other cheese cut into strips

Place the Panko and beaten egg in seperate wide bowls. Dredge both sides of each slice of eggplant in egg and then panko, and griddle or pan fry them on medium high in a splash of olive oil, for about 6 minutes a side, until tender. Place on paper towels to drain.

While cooking the eggplant, in another pan saute the mushrooms. Then add the shrimp, vodka sauce and whatever you want to doctor the sauce with. Bring to a simmer and hold.

Plate the eggplant rounds, ladle the Vodka Shrimp sauce over, and garnish with strips of cheese.

Brined Eggplant

Some folks object to the “bitterness” of eggplant. So they salt the bejezus out of the eggplant and smash it flat under plates to “let the bitterness out”. WRONG! Bitterness is caused by phenolic compounds generated from the seeds of over-ripe eggplant. The first cure for bitter eggplant is buy firm, “just barely ripe” specimens, not loose-skinned, soft-fleshed over ripe globes.

The second cure for bitterness in eggplant is called brining. You may have heard of brining as a way of flavoring or tenderizing meat. Well, it works for veggies too. Even if you buy perfectly ripe aubergines, this is a wonderful thing to do to them. A couple tablespoons of Kosher salt in a quart of water is all you need. Submerge the eggplant rounds in this liquid and in half an hour you'll have plump, juicy, tender, rounds of goodness, not smashed flat, tasteless muck.

Brining does NOT make the eggplant salty. The salt interacts with the flesh of the eggplant to open up pores and plump them up with just water, not salt, and in the process flush out the phenolics which cause bitterness.

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