The first salmon I ever caught. I should have been fishing the past four decades!
What surprised me about salmon fishing:
Getting the fish into the freezer? Not so easy for the novice.
Leaned elbow onto fish, applied body weight, and attempted to detach belly meat. Oops. Cut too far. Can fish be glued? Oops again. Bandaged cut and continued to separate the salmon from its bones. Tweezers are there to remove "pin bones" one by one. Tweezers not up to task. Guests will have to remove own pin bones, or I will try again with needle-nosed pliers once fish is thawed. That would be fun, right? Well, I'm done with this tale. I can't delete the photo below without dumping the whole post into the trash. (Blogger, what the hell?) So just ignore the duplicate pic of me with big fish. I adore looking at it, but once is probably enough for you. |
Tuesday, September 20, 2011
Lists about Salmon
Sunday, August 28, 2011
Peasant Food—eating fresh
Late August and all of September is high season for peasant food, when the garden leaps into the kitchen and lands on the plate every night. It's like the veggies are at this moment (it's around 9 p.m. as I write) putting on measurable growth. I'm sure someone, somewhere, has documented the fact that a zucchini can grow several inches a day. Well, they're all going nuts out there. I'm almost afraid to go out at night. The green beans, the peppers, the corn, the tomatoes, the zukes, of course, and the cukes, which appear to be even more excited about August heat. All this makes for some colorful plates. No recipes here, except for a look-back at zucchini-based lasagna, but here's what dinners look like in August when a huge garden is just outside the back door. And also part of today's harvest.
Last night was a quick fix using the usual suspects: cukes and onion salad, fresh tomatoes, zukes, onions, and chard, fried with a little rice, and sweet corn. |
Fancier fare that includes grilled salmon, grilled/smoked onions and peppers, and the usual August veggie medley. And tomatoes, of course. |
These are the zukes, cukes, and eggplants I picked today. What to do? Give some away! |
In the bag, veggies to share. On the right, those to eat fresh or process. |
Saturday, August 27, 2011
A Night and a Day Away - Crater Lake
From the top of Garfield Peak in Crater Lake National Park. |
It's been scorching hot in the Rogue Valley, and PK and I have been working too hard too much on our big garden/little farm. Let's go up by Crater Lake and camp for a night then go for a hike in the Park? I suggested. He was on it, and the next day we were in our Four Wheel camper headed for our favorite camp spot just 90 minutes from home and a half hour from Crater Lake National Park.
This says it all. Sweet respite and a brew beside the river. |
Old growth Douglas Fir trees around the picnic table at campsite number six. |
Is there a paint color called Crater Lake Blue? It is so intense and beautiful. |
Still a bit of snow on the trail to Garfield Peak. It felt great to be tourists for a day. |
Monday, August 22, 2011
Spectacular onion harvest
Just-harvested onions drying in the sun. |
Big daddy Texas onion, 16-inches circumference! |
Onions drying on the shaded front porch. |
BEST PIZZA EVER!
Yes, drool. This pizza is heaped with caramelized onions. And plenty of cheese, peppers, etc. |
- Dough - I use a bread machine recipe using whole wheat flour. I divide the dough into three parts and freeze two. This makes for a super-thin crust when used with a 12-inch pizza pan.
- 1/4 to 1/3 cup pesto. I use homemade, and it doesn't have cheese in it yet. Spread this evenly over the crust. Commercial pesto is good also.
- 1.2 - 3/4 cup marinara sauce. Relax, use a bottled marina if you don't have from-scratch marinara. Spread evenly and sparingly over the pesto.
- 1/2 pound Italian sausage, cooked, drained, and crumbled. Distribute evenly.
- 1 to 1.5 cups caramelized onions, spread over the sausage
- 1 large sweet or mild pepper, chopped, spread on top.
DIRECTIONS
Preheat oven to 450. Pop prepared pizza into oven and bake for about 10 minutes. Remove from oven when edges brown. Add grated Parmesan or other cheese and return to oven a few minutes until cheese melts. I wish I could eat this right now!
How to caramelize onions
Thinly slice 3-4 onions, dump into a large skillet and add a couple T of olive oil. Cook uncovered over medium heat for 30-40 minutes. Stir as necessary as onions release moisture and begin to brown. They're done when they're uniformly browned and sticking to the pan.
At the beginning of the caramelizing process |
Near the end. |
Thursday, August 18, 2011
Wild fire - nothing new in the West
One of several helicopters dipping their buckets into the Rogue River collecting water to dump on the fire. |
The fire tonight, as seen from the back porch. |
Well, maybe we do worry about fire.
More fire pics.
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