Labor Day Salmon

It's been a busy time!  Brownie has been working a swing shift, which leaves little time for cooking anything :-(  Now we need to get caught up.

So, a while back someone gifted us with salmon fillets and BONUS the eggs from a salmon they had found when cleaning the fish.  They have been waiting patiently in the freezer for Brownie to process them.

If you've never made your own salmon caviar - it is a looooong process and will certainly clue you in to why caviar is so expensive. Brownie powered through on our long Labor Day weekend and it was delicious!!!

He grilled the salmon and potatoes, made a nasturtium pesto, and flash-pickled some cucumbers and onion.  All from our garden, thank you very much!

The freshness in every bite of this dish was amazing!  I expected the pesto to be too peppery with the nasturtium, but it wasn't at all.













Brownie joked about calling this 'Mother and Child' but he agreed to settle on 'Labor Day' Salmon instead :-)  Much less macabre.  If you come across salmon eggs in your fishing adventures, we highly suggest freezing them for future projects!  Googling how to process the eggs is simple, but you better have an entire day set aside to do this before you try cooking anything to accompany them.

Happy Cooking!

Wild Alaskan Sockeye Salmon

One of Brownie's good friends recently took a nice long trip to Alaska and fished his heart out.  We were a little jealous, I'll admit :-)  But we did manage to be gifted a nice salmon filet from his trip!  Oregonians are pretty picky about their salmon, we know what we want.  Alaskan salmon!?  We were so excited to cook that beauty!!!!

So this is Brownie's Wild Alaskan Sockeye Salmon, caramelized leeks, asparagus, charred scallion in dill/sage/lemon clarified butter.  I could have eaten three of these plates!  The flavors were so rich and mingled so well .... it was beyond delicious.  We are so blessed!

We opened a bottle of Pine Ridge Henin Blanc & Viognier wine to have with this and they complimented one another pretty well.  I wouldn't say they were a match made in heaven, however.  I think the wine would have paired better with something a bit more spicy.