Just wanted to say thanks to some of the people who helped make our holiday a yummy one…
T and C at Belmont Butchery. From the leg of lamb, the steaks, even the home made bacon and fresh local eggs, they were present at nearly every meal in one way or another.
Yellow Umbrella Seafood. For quite possibly the best side of salmon I have cured, ever.
Fresh Market. Great fresh veggies, mushrooms, breads. Where else can you get three pounds of very nice cooked and peeled shrimp at 10 on a Sunday morning.
P and J from River City Cellars. We were considering a wine of the month club for M’s sister, L, until we saw how much would be eaten up in shipping charges. A phone call to P at RCC and they put together a case of wine (3 sets of 3 and 3 singles) with handwritten tips and commentary. Can’t get that kind of service at Total Wine.
Ikea. No, really. My sister, K, used some of the lingonberry concentrate to make some very tasty lingonberry martinis/cosmos.
Thanks to all. Hope the new year is prosperous for you all!
21
Dec
Author: Bookstore Piet // Category:
food,
yellow umbrella
The cooking for Sunday’s bash has begun!
Who needs the chaos of present shopping when you can spend all day looking all over town for just the right ingredients. Who knew fresh mint was so hard to find this time of year.
Started the first of many dishes last night. Gravlax! The guys at Yellow Umbrella Seafood set me up with one of the best pieces of salmon I have seen in years. Can’t get wild caught (out of season) so they got me a whole side of organic Tasmanian sushi grade salmon. They even removed the pin-bones for me. The piece is beautiful! Richly marbled, very thick, without the florescent orange of artificial colour. Got it home and, after washing, let it relax in a nice bath of akavit. Patted it dry then packed it sugar, kosher salt, white pepper and fresh dill.
On Saturday I will unpack, brush clean and wrap for the next day. Crusty bread and honey mustard dill will be served with it.
This is actually a new recipe for me. In the past I have made gravlax with a different sugar/salt ratio and have employed cheese cloth and a tight wrap as well as weights to help force out the liquids (mmm, salmon juice, tasty!—actually, not so much.). While that worked really well there was a fine line between gravlax and salt-lick salmon…