cook: tuscan salmon

It all started with leeks I had bought weeks ago at Trader Joe’s and which were starting to molder in the vegetable bin. Maybe vichyssoise because of a bunch of potatoes in my bin, but I was never a fan of cold soup. I was craving salmon, and Eureka! I resolved to use the leeks in a Tuscan salmon, which I hadn't cooked in ever so long a time. I had picked up a gourmet pappardelle pasta at World Market, Alaskan sockeye salmon, heavy whipping cream, and basil at Trader Joe's.    

 

Our faculty lounge had a bunch of vegetable donations, of which I had picked a bunch of potatoes but also beets, radishes, and Brussels sprouts. Patrick had also overbought tomatoes at Costco. And so except for the potatoes, all were chopped or cut in half for roasting along with the aforementioned leeks and cloves of garlic. 

I seared the salmon in a bit of olive oil, removed the fish and then sautéed all the aromatics and vegetables. And then the wine and cream and lastly spinach. Before adding back the salmon into my cast iron, I also sprinkled grated Parmesan cheese.

We've leftovers for the week!

And I wished I had thickened the sauce a bit more before adding the salmon, but blame the spinach. At least my plating had many colors and textures.

The next day was Nancy's birthday, and we went to Emelina's Peruvian Restaurant to celebrate. We started with Ceviche de Pescado or fresh fish marinated lemon juice and Peruvian spices which were served with sweet potatoes and Peruvian corn, red onion and corn nuts and also Anticucho de Corazon or grilled beef heart marinated with a panca sauce and served with golden potatoes.

 

And then the rest of our order came--papas frita (or fried potato), yuca frita (or fried yucca) with huacaina sauce, Tacu Tacu con Carne or New York grilled steak with potatoes and paella and Pescado a la Macho or fish, calamari, shrimp, mussels, clams, stewed in a white wine and cream sauce, served with rice. And I was too busy tucking in and heaping more sauce onto rice and potatoes on to my plate to take any more pictures. At home, I promptly napped with Sadie. Good Sunday.