I’m back and I’ve missed you! We returned from Canada late afternoon Saturday, but I didn’t really settle back into things until Monday. My two dear pals threw us a surprise welcome home gathering and not much was accomplished the rest of the weekend expect a lot of wine drinking.
After being at the beach the last few months, my eating habits have gone way off track and I’m hoping to turn things around. In desperate need of some order, the first thing I did on Monday morning was put on a pot of Rancho Gordo Royal Corona beans to soak. As many of you know, I’m crazy about beans. I’m a RG bean club member and these were in my latest shipment, which I was thrilled to open when I got home. I don’t want to play favorites, but these are up there. Having a cooked pot of beans puts me at ease for pulling together meals during the week. My way of cooking them can be found here. These particular beans would work well with my Roasted Tomato and White Bean Stew, which a lot of people seem to be making, again…
That evening, I reheated some of the beans and their broth along with a few teaspoons of New York Shuk's Matchuba, which is a tomato and preserved lemon condiment and is beautifully floral. I also slow-roasted some salmon (350° for 15 minutes) and served it on top of the beans with a sauce I made of charred scallions, cilantro, dukkah, lemon juice and olive oil. The rest of the beans went into the fridge and will be used for turkey chili, a salad and whatever else I can think of.
Yesterday, I made myself a simple and delightful salad with some leftover salmon, blood oranges, avocado and mint and it was so good I deemed it worth sharing with you. You’ll see that recipe below. I like it so much, I’d serve it at a dinner party.
On another note, Andrea Gentl’s new book Cooking with Mushrooms comes out on October 18 and I was lucky to get an advanced copy. I love mushrooms! I’m excited to make the Mushroom Larb, Mushroom Ragu and Roast Chicken with Miso Mushroom Butter. Andrea is an incredible food and travel photographer and an all around lovely person. This is a very good book.
Salmon and Citrus Salad with Avocado and Mint
Serves 2
INGREDIENTS:
6 ounces cooked salmon, broken into large pieces
2 small blood oranges, peeled and pithed and cut into thin slices
½ ripe avocado cut into thin slices
1 Thai bird’s eye chili thinly sliced or 1 pinch of red pepper flakes
½ small red onion, thinly sliced
2 tablespoons torn mint
Olive oil for drizzling
Flaky salt and pepper for serving
METHOD:
Arrange the salmon on two plates or a platter. Scatter with the blood oranges, avocado, chili and onion.
Top with the mint and good drizzle with olive oil and a good pinch of flaky salt and a few turns of freshly ground black pepper.
That’s all from me right now.
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Hope you’re all having a lovely week.
With love,
Colu