The Perfect Bite

Is there anything better than the perfect bite?  Just the right combination of flavors and textures, it hits your mouth like a little firework and makes you want to smile while you're in the middle of eating it.  I think a perfect bite can come in infinite shapes and sizes.  It might be a juicy burger with all the fixings in just the right place, or a little bit of fried egg, bacon and hashbrown on one fork.  One that came to mind tonight while was making dinner is pictured here.  It is simply avocado, lemon, salt and pepper.  (One of the advantages of cooking is getting to taste the goods while you go.   In my family it is known as a "schnibble" (spelling made up by me...  this may be the first time this word was ever written), named by my dad for a little bite of a brat or other piece of meat eaten while still on the grill.  If you were lucky, as a kid, you would get one of these while he was grilling out.)  Anyway, I schnibbled (verb form) on this while making a salad tonight and it was so tasty.  My camera isn't nice enough to see that there was a nice sprinkling of lime and some crunchy sea salt and cracked pepper on there.  The avocado is so creamy, and combined with the tart lemon juice, it is one nice little bite.  The perfect bite doesn't need to be complicated or high brow at all... it simply needs to leave you wishing you had just one more, just like it.  

Tropical Salad with Grilled Salmon and Mango Curry Vinaigrette

First of all, dear reader(s), I would like to apologize for the delay in writing.  It turns out Moveable Feast is going to have to be more moveable than I originally thought... we recently found out our family will be "relocating" (this is the fancy corporate term) to Minneapolis for a job promotion for my husband Tom.  I have been pretty busy getting prepared for this, and, since we are really in the thick of it right now, that may be the case for some time.  I have missed writing and am going to try to update, even if it is just small things here and there.  You still have to eat, right?

This salad was something I put together a few weeks ago when I found some decent salmon in the grocery store and also had a mango on hand.  It is very loosely based on a recipe from Colorado Collage, a Denver Junior League cookbook I got as a present from a friend several years ago that I just love.  The salads in the cookbook are especially great.  I will have to approximate how I made it, but here goes:

Tropical Salad with Grilled Salmon and Mango Curry Vinaigrette 

Serves 2

Salad:

4-5 cups mixed greens

2 salmon fillets, roasted (recipe follows)

1 mango, roughly chopped

1 avocado, roughly chopped

1 c. grape or cherry tomatoes, roasted (recipe follows)

one quarter red onion, thinly sliced

1/2 c. chopped hothouse cucumber

1/4 c. chopped cilantro, for garnish

Vinaigrette:

1/4 c. mayo

3-4 drops hot sauce

2 T curry powder

1 clove garlic

2 sprigs cilantro

1/4 c. mango nectar

1/4 tsp. black pepper

salt to taste

Blend all in a food processor or blender until well mixed.  Chill at least 1/2 hour before serving.  Will keep about 1 week in fridge.

Roasted salmon: 

(Taken from Barefoot Contessa; her "idiot proof" way to make medium rare salmon)

Preheat oven to 450.  

Heat an oven proof skillet over high heat for 4 minutes.  Coat both sides of fillets liberally with olive oil, and season tops (i.e. opposite of skin) with salt and pepper.  When pan is hot, sear salmon, seasoned sides down, for 2 minutes until nice and brown.  This will give them a nice crust.  Flip the fillets, then place the whole pan in the oven for 5-7 minutes and finish baking salmon.

Roasted tomatoes:

If I have tomatoes on a salad in the winter, I usually like to prepare them this way if I have time.  Roasting them brings out the natural sugar in the tomatoes and sweetens them up.  This is nice in the winter when tomatoes can be flavorless.  Cherry or grape tomatoes are good for this because you can roast them whole, and while they will likely split open during cooking, they generally stay in one piece.  When the tomatoes are cooked for just a few minutes in a hot oven, they develop a really nice flavor.

In a small roasting pan, toss tomatoes, 1-2 T olive oil, coarse sea salt, and fresh ground black pepper to taste.  Cook in 450 degree oven for 5-7 minutes, checking and shaking pan after a few minutes.  Tomatoes are done when they are sizzling in the roasting pan and may have split or burst open just a bit.  Allow to cool a few minutes before placing on salad greens.

To assemble salad, divide greens evenly on two plates or bowls.  Assemble each plate with the vegetables and finally with the salmon and chopped cilantro garnish.  Drizzle with vinaigrette and enjoy.  For a complete meal, serve with a nice rose' wine and some warm french bread.

Now that I am writing this out, it sounds like a finicky meal, but it really isn't too time consuming at all to prepare.  Also you could easily change up the vinaigrette if you don't have mango nectar on hand. I randomly had a can in my pantry that I bought for something else. If I didn't have it I probably would have just used lime or lemon juice, or even champagne or white wine vinegar. Any vinaigrette with a little curry powder and mayo added would be really good I would think. It is good because while it is a pretty healthy salad it also has tons of flavor and is just beautiful on the table.

Chicken Pot Pie Gone Awry

There should be a cooking show where the host has to make everything while holding a slightly whiny baby in a Baby Bjorn the whole time.  Let's see how simple it is then, hey Tyler?

One a related note, I am currently baking a chicken pot pie that I made almost from scratch (no homemade pie crust here).  I did not follow any specific recipe - instead I followed about 10 and tried to combine them... which I think was not my best idea.  I will let you know how it turns out!  Worst case scenario there is leftover pasta in the fridge...