I mostly sort of follow a recipe.  Sometimes I do follow a recipe more strictly.  I tend to be more strict when I’m doing a Paul Prudhomme recipe for whatever reason.  Perhaps it’s because those recipes of his I work tend also to be longer and more complex.  Reasons.  They always exist.

Anyway, I made some sous vide salmon tonight.  I fucking love salmon.  It’s amazing.  I do what I am able to support the wild salmon market.  It’s really unbeatable.  After 122f bathing for 30 minutes a very quick grill over an open fire made for an excellent evening delight.  And, borrowing from Chef Paul, just salt, black pepper, and cayenne.  What can I say?  Life is good.

Mostly I followed this recipe as my guide.

Sous Vide Salmon @ ChefSteps

I didn’t bother with the curing step.  Why bother?  You can almost eat the salmon raw it’s so good.

As for an accompanying beverage, I made a little something appropriate to this excellent summer weather.  I took some of my homemade limoncello and put that in a tall glass of ice with one of these flavored (but unsweetened) seltzer waters that are so popular now.  Lemon, of course.  Very light and refreshing and certainly nothing to interfere with the salmon.

Now I’m sitting next to the fire I cooked with and eating my simple meal.  Eat a nice green salad after.

Am I missing out on something, do you think?  Is my life somehow incomplete?  Maybe.  But I’d say I’m doing pretty well.

Mostly one pot…

• package forbidden rice (about 2 1/4 cups)
• 4+ cups chicken jello (or your own weak-assed chicken stock)
• salt, black pepper, white pepper, and cayenne
• package frozen peas
• several dried mushrooms
• garlic confit
• four link sausages (sliced)

You can find my garlic confit recipe in another Ink.

I cooked my sausages sous vide (which you can find in yet another Ink), but you can cook your sausage any way you’d like.  (You could even try cooking the sausages in the rice cooker).

I cooked the peas in the rice, but they turned purple (everything cooked in the rice turns purple).  Next time I will cook them separately and add them after.

I put everything in the rice cooker (except the sausages), mixed it thoroughly, and started the cooker.  Once the rice was cooked, I stirred in the sliced sausages.

Fucking delicious.

Have fun!

Tacos

• lamb
• salsa
• vanilla-honey yogurt (also goat cheese available)
• cabbage
• shallots
• chopped mint (in case the salsa is too hot)

Lamb

• sous vide 135f for ~48 hours, shred (go longer next time as shredding was challenging)
• cumin
• cardamom
• cloves
• thyme?
• garlic
• lemon
• peppers (dried ground)
• salt

Salsa

• onion
• tomato
• mint
• chilies (serrano, jalapeño)
• peppers (dried ground and black)
• garlic
• lime juice
• salt

Black Bean Concoction

• black beans
• chilies (serrano, jalapeño)
• peppers (dried ground)
• onion
• garlic
• salt

Also made some garlic confit for fun.

mom’s recipe modified:

• 1.22 lbs beef (“stew meat” ground)
• 1 cup oatmeal blend
• 2 shallots chopped
• 1 egg
• 1 can tom paste
• salt, pepper (white, black, and cayenne)
• 1 T sage (fresh)
• 1 t Worcestershire

bake 350f 60 minutes

potatoes

• 4 russets boiled and riced
• butter (less than half cube)
• cream (heavy heavy)
• pepper
• salt
• spread into greased cookie sheet

bake 350f 40 minutes (share oven)

I finished the potatoes for maybe 6 or 8 minutes under the broiler because I wanted more browning.

Timing is useful.