Monday, September 5, 2011.
Labor Day, Storm Away. Salmon With Soy Tan Butter.
The storm Lee slammed on the brakes overnight, sat there kicking off tremendous rainstorms all night and into the morning. We experienced the "freight train effect," wherein thunderstorms cross the same spots along a narrow line. But still no flooding here--although the ditches finally did fill I think we'll wind up with a total of twelve inches of rain over the four days. That doesn't come close to the 24 inches in 36 hours we took in 1995.
The storm began heading to the northeast in the afternoon, and by the end of the day the rain was dine and the sky lightened up. Mary Leigh headed back to Tulane. Mary Ann and I cooked up that nice piece of salmon I bought Saturday.
The recipe started with a marinade of Tabasco soy sauce (peppery, of course), Worcestershire, lemon juice, white wine, tarragon, and Italian mixed herbs. It was about a half-cup of liquid in all, with the wine about three-fourths of that. After setting the salmon in this for a couple of minutes, I reduced the marinade by about half, strained it, then whisked about half a stick of butter into it. That made it look creamy and very appealing, the tan color resembling that of a meuniere sauce. I was tempted to add a little cornstarch--the sauce was a little too sloshy--but I just went with it as it was.
I cooked the salmon my favorite way: three inches under a preheated broiler, with the skin side on the now-very hot rack. About an inch thick in the middle the salmon took about seven minutes before it was crusty around the edges. It was a little translucent in the center, but I got that past the underdone-fish paranoia of Mary Ann. She thought it was terrific, especially in the company of steamed spinach. Mine was better, though, because it had the benefit of my improvised sauce, which I must say I likes a lot on this fish, sloshiness and all.
It has been over three years since a day was missed in the Dining Diary. To browse through all of the entries since 2008, go here.
