Winter Is Coming

Here’s a dinner from a little while ago during summer’s peak that was very good to eat and has the added benefit of being well photographed. And as we all know, photographs mean that something happened, unlike my dinner tonight which was excellent but does not exist as far as the Internets are concerned.

First up was good Alaskan salmon skinned, cubed, and tossed with cucumber, tomato, corn, and chiffonaded basil and shiso with a thick and pungent vinaigrette which included both those herbs plus garlic, mustard, and sesame oil all blended together with cider vinegar. Lemon marigold flowers made for a pungent and functional garnish. I freaking love this plant, and am going to cut it down tomorrow and hang it to dry in the hopes that some of its beautiful flavor will stick around in dried herb form. For extra credit, I may dry the flowers separately so I have some nice yellow powder as well.

To follow, sesame noodles: skinny udon tossed in some amalgamation of sesame oil, ginger, garlic, vinegars, fish and soy sauces, and tahini with togarashi and scallions on top. It’s barely cooking, but man is it good to eat. The key I think is umami in the form of fish sauce or dashi, and plenty of acid to cut through the oil and dense sesame paste. A little heat doesn’t hurt, either. Looking at these pictures fills me with an urgent need to get my ass back into the ceramics studio; I have some new stuff under way and can’t wait to get it done and fired. I also have a few commissions that require attention. This time of year always stokes my creativity; during summer I get a little sluggish in the heat and the garden kind of expands to fill all my free time. But now the clean, cool air invigorates and demands great work as well as great food.