Cooking: Salmon Grilled on a Cedar Plank

Aargh, I ended up going to Sur la Table and buying more cedar planks because I hadn't realized that I already had them in my cupboard. Oh well. In the morning, I set the plank in a sheet pan of water though you could also do so only an hour before grilling. And prior to the meal, I got ready the leftover buttered corn and the tomato salad as well as seasoning the beautiful, wild-caught Alaskan salmon filets and slathering them with butter.

The coals had already a thick layer of ash and might've been halfway burned down which made for a longer cook time for the salmon. Tis a beautiful sight--the smoke escaping from the vent holes after flavoring the salmon. Later on in the cooking I slathered teriyaki sauce atop the salmon skin and then dinner was served.

Nothing heralds summer more to me than this meal of salmon, corn, and tomatoes. Okay the tomatoes weren't from our garden, but that's coming in July. And I no longer bother putting burrata or bocconcini or turning the tomatoes into a Caprese salad. Salt, a drizzle of balsamic vinegar and a sprinkling of chiffonade of basil are all that's necessary for a satisfying tomato salad.

Hubs did say that the salmon was a bit overcooked, and so next time I'll cook the salmon for 8 minutes rather than 10 minutes. Lesson learned.

Cooking: Seafood Pasta

I had gone both warehouse and grocery shopping yesterday and was in the mood to cook! However, I was kind of wracked by indecision. I knew I wanted to integrate leeks and spring garlic into whatever I made, but what? Steak grilled with rosemary and served alongside potatoes, leek, and garlic? A meatless meal of potatoes, leek and spring garlic soup with fresh baked beer bread? Or my initial plan of seafood pasta?

I had bought Dungeness crab, and so in the end went with the original plan and took out frozen shrimp, chopped leeks, spring garlic, a large clove of regular garlic, and my last bunch of parsley. I also microplaned lemon zest and squeezed a half a lemon and took out the rest of the angel hair pasta in my carbohydrates drawer. I guess I've cooked this dish so often that I know to get the aromatics cooking first because the skinny pasta and seafood only take a couple minutes to boil and sauté 'til done.

I didn't however anticipate that the pasta would soak up so much of the cooking liquids and could've added more cream or starchy pasta water. Always making mistakes, always learning. I also forgot about the seafood stock in the fridge to use and amp up the flavor of the cream sauce. I did remember to get water boiling to blanch the sugar snap peas before tossing in butter.

What's great about this meal is that it comes together fast once your mise en place is done.

Also what's leftover can all go into one container to eat another night and to which I can add more crab and shrimp which cook super fast.

Cooking: a Jacques Pepin No-recipe Dish

What I’m noticing about Jacques Pepin’s cooking later on in his career and on his shows, especially on his Facebook and YouTube videos is his riffing on classic French cooking, resorting to dishes he ate in childhood that were economical and subbing out ingredients to what he already has on hand without making another trip to a store. I once watched, in utter fascination, him cooking this gratin of hard boiled eggs, béchamel, some grated Gruyere, some leftover ham, and sautéed Swiss chard and a couple of button mushrooms in olive oil and garlic. It looked delicious, and I aimed to try it.  However, the only Swiss chard I had left was the extra Swiss chard I had cooked with leeks, dill, parsley, green onion, and feta for a spanakopita.

No matter because WWJD (What Would Jacques Do?). I was gonna go with it and had already hard boiled eggs that morning. I also made some bechamel sauce. And so I spooned the greens into gratin dishes. One of the gratins had less bechamel as I forgot to spoon it over the greens too.

But I remembered for the larger gratin.

And then covered the hard boiled eggs with more béchamel sauce before sprinkling grated Gruyere and then popping into a 350 degree oven for 30 minutes.

Oh my! I now understand why Thomas Jefferson brought over his chef to France to learn how to make macaroni and cheese. Only this casserole had no pasta in it. It was divine. I can see myself making multiple variations of this gratin. Next up will be a crab mac 'n cheese and a spinach and mushroom and hard boiled eggs one too. The magic is in the béchamel with that hint of nutmeg and the sweet nuttiness of the Gruyere cheese.

Cooking: Asian Rice Bowls

On the Memorial Day weekend, I grilled all three nights: burgers and dogs; teriyaki skewers; salmon on a cedar plank. And so leftovers on the next weekend. On the weekend prior, I had marinated chuck stew beef in soy sauce, sesame oil, lemon juice, brown sugar, pineapple juice, Worcestershire and gochuchang and then skewered them with red onion from the garden before charcoal grilling. Saturday night supper was that meat zhushed with more teriyaki sauce heated with the pineapple coconut rice and served alongside cabbage and carrot slaw tossed with Miso dressing.               

There was also leftover steak which last night turned into carne asado tacos for the hubs. I’ve surprised myself by turning into a frugal gourmet.

Ceramics: Cone 5/6 Glazing

In between work, I’ve been glazing my speckled buff mugs.                             

I also brought to the kiln room, the frost porcelain and electric brown clay pots that I glazed last Saturday. I also asked if the glass inlaid dishes I made could be re-melted.

I do enjoy making little pots which turn out more successful than plates or bowls or even mugs. Sigh. That’s okay. I told Meral today that I’m gonna make some texture rollers, and I have still some speckled buff which I’ll turn into mugs like the ones I just glazed but with thicker handles. Always experimenting, always learning.

Ceramics: Jewelry Sets

Last summer I sewed a couple quilts in one of my closed for the summer libraries, and so I was hoping to do the same in my other school library. But it looks like I’ll be unable to sew for the month of July. I’ve offloaded my ceramic and sewing tools and supplies to school, and may have to resort to my other creative outlets of jewelry making and aquarelle.                              

I love how these floral jewelry dishes for the grandnieces turned out, and so I’ll be making delicate charm necklaces to go into them.

However, necklaces with the above pendants might be too heavy for their little necks though I’ve got to use the pendants with the bunnies (or maybe make a collection of pendants for just children necklaces?). I was perhaps going to crochet Swarovski Crystal beads in their birthstone colors into silk thread and then attach to a thin leather cord to pull over their necks. A delicate chain too with just a few metal charms incorporating cute ceramic beads would look maybe lovelier. I think I’ll work with some frost porcelain to make glass inlaid hearts and then pair them with a circlet with their names hammered into them.

Cookery and Ceramics: Memorial Day Weekend

With warmer weather comes lots of flower arranging. Below is the latest bouquet in the bathroom.

The last days of my school year were rather frenetic. Lots of ceramics unloaded from the kiln. I'm still pondering whether I like this collection of sandstone buff pottery. Strangely, I liked it so much more in its bisque stage. Finally in the past month, I got a quilt done and its hanger made, and it's hanging in the local county office of education.

And of course, I've been cooking up a storm even though I was just prepared to grill just hot dogs for the Memorial Day weekend.

And now I get to make every day, all day for the next couple months.