Friday, November 02, 2007

my meal

I made myself the most awesome dinner last night. I thought, hell, it's Thursday, and the plan was to craft something scrumptious and from scratch anyway, so might as well do it.

I did my Saumon a la Va Va Voom. The same dish I had to make for The Ant after the Italians won the World Cup soccer. Much to my vexation, merde.

Trick is to buy a great big hunk of fresh (not frozen) pink, Norwegian salmon. Preferably from a fish market and not the Pick 'n Pay deli counter. But who's counting, so I picked a whopper of a salmon guy from the supermarket and took it home.

Everything should be fresh. And slowly savoured, as you manifest a meal so incredibly delicious and overwhelming, you pretty much orgasm on the first bite.

Thereafter, crush fresh dill, and garlic. Ladle the garlic on, it's just not complete without garlic of Provence-sized proportions. Whack it in the pan. Sear it for not more than a minute. You don't want the inside of the salmon to be all dry and flavourless, the whole thing with salmon is it's ability to retain a texture of the softest snowflakes.

You want the flakes to melt on your tongue, and gently peel away in a rear-to-medium-rare fashion. It's the crumbling, dissolving flakes what we're going for here.

Sear it on the other side for like 30 seconds. Add mushrooms and sliced courgettes. The courgettes must be sliced longitudinally, very thinly, so that they're all soft and dainty and tasty-like. That's the only way courgettes should ever be chopped. This chunky courgette vibe isn't great. Throw in another ladle of garlic. Don't be shy, this is a French dish. Season everything. When the mushrooms and courgette have nicely conglomerated, take off the heat.

You should've been making mash potato during this time. My bad. But make sure the potatoes are cooked to oblivion, add a teaspoon of bicarb to make it all fluffy and white, and then a tablespoon of butter and a splash of milk. Add salt.

Gently retrieve the wedge of delicately cooked salmon from the pan, and ever so carefully – because this thing is like digestible gold – place on top of the mashed potato stack. Take mushroom-courgette stuff and place on the side. This should add colour and added flavour. Top everything with a drizzle of olive oil and maybe some fresh dill or parsley.

Set table. Light candle, put on Lakme's The Flower Duet or Pavarotti's Nessun Dorma, or even Dante's La Vita Nuova, pour yourself a glass of dry white wine. Preferably not Crackling, but something palatable yet fairly inexpensive, like Durbanville Hills' Sauvignon Blanc.

Sit. Eat. Be happy.

PS: Tonight I'm meeting 747's folks for the first time. I get performance anxiety in front of parents. Like nervous and stuff. Please may I remember to take the red furry handcuffs off my car keys. Please. Not like that one time when Big T's mother saw them and thought I was an escort lady.

23 comments:

SheBee said...

Only now? Jaysus, you weren't kidding when u meant go slow!

Goodluck dahlin. TAKE OFF CUFFS! TAKE OFF CUFFS!

I liked that bit about bicarb in mash - never knew that!

Peas on Toast said...

SheBee - thanks doll, I might have to write it on my hand :)

And yes bicarb does the trick. My granny taught me that one :)

Revolving Credit said...

This sounds very much like Floyd on Toast.


...you pretty much orgasm on the first bite.

So I see you're a nibbler!!

Peas on Toast said...

Rev - Ainsley Herriot. I want to be him, if that's ok. He's just such a lovable, huggable dinkum Brit, innit?

KaB said...

Sweetie...I'm god damn hungry now! Think I may make something like that this weekend...sounds scumpdiliumtious...mmm...

As for meeting the folks...lots of luck there! Just flash that humour of yours & I'm sure they're become regulars too!

I say keep the handcuffs on...it's you...your personality...why change?!? I'm sure Mr 747 likes you just the way you are! Cuffs & all...

Peas on Toast said...

Ah thanks Kab! You're a sweetie. :)
xx

Anonymous said...

probably best not to wear white trousers

DaveRich said...

Wow! Sounds awesome. Will give it a whirl sometime! Nice wine choice too. Somehow my Thai Red curry aint gonna taste so good for lunch! Thanks Peas...

Starving articles clerk said...

Peasy *with bright stalker, mad fan eyes* can i puhleeeze link you?

Revolving Credit said...

Sounds like tool much effort, maybe just have a salmon pizza delivered.

Nessers said...

I love people who cook like that for themselves. I am a nightmare. If it's just me I will nibble on provita with sandwich spread or eat a yogurt - blush. Eating to me is something you do to stay alive as opposed to something I enjoy.

Good luck with the folks remember he is more nervous than you.

The Divine Miss M said...

Sounds like a nice meal ...

My problem with meeting the parents is that I always get this deer in the headlights expression whilst I'm thinking

"I see your son naked" "I suck your sons penis" The list goes on.

I then promptly get the giggles. It's embarrassing ...

Revolving Credit said...

Miss M, the list was getting really interesting, please continue!


hahahaha..

Zee said...

Sounds Divine....

Just want to comment - That I always enjoy reading your blog....

Peas on Toast said...

3rm - hahahaha, I should trust you to bring that up, hahahah!

daverich - thai red curry! gimme!

starving artciles clerk - absolutely! Thanks, I'd be honoured!

Nessers - I don't do it often, in fact once in a blue moon...but hell it's good when we cook for ourselves! :)

Miss M - deer in headlight - that's exactly it. Yikes, glass of wine please! :)

blue sunflower - why thank you! :)

The Divine Miss M said...

@revolving credit - I think I should stop now, I'm making myself look bad ;)

@peas - No no no, getting drunk with the parents the first time is a bad bad thing! They then think you're some sort of alcohol who can't function without a drink!

Peas on Toast said...

oh good lord no, just a glass of wine

kyknoord said...

I know what you mean. I used to drive an Escort and that was pretty damned embarassing.

Peas on Toast said...

Kyk - Nah. The lady who parks next to me has one. It's a beeyoot. She even whacks a gorilla lock on it, in case someone tries to steal it.

On the rear window, there's a sticker that says: "Natal. The Last Colonial Outpost."

I love it.

Peas on Toast said...

Right am officially terrified and not coping.

Lopz said...

Hope it all goes well Peas, just smile a lot (but not so much they start thinking you're a bit special).

I'm totally going to try your recipe next week...

Starving articles clerk said...

wow peasy, I'm having this suddenly epiphany of you as the lady in that Stork advert who has a cookery blog...
"Blogging...Blogging!on the internet!Mikey (or 'my kid', I have no idea) set it up for me; kids these days know everything"

Peas on Toast said...

Lopz - thanks dear! :)

starving articles clerk - whahahahaha, what? That's hilarious! :) It concerns me however...why are you starving?