Eli Cooks » summer

Salmon with Watermelon, Cucumber and Arugula

Eli — Wed, 16 Sep 2009 15:00:55 +0000

I think I’m becoming my mother. When I was growing up, anytime we went to a restaurant, she’d find something that she was sure she could make at home and spend half the meal wondering how to make it. More often than not, all plans to recreate Applebee’s chicken smothered in cheese, tortilla strips and ranch dressing (or whatever it was that day) were forgotten by the time we reached the car to go home. But I still think of it as one of my mother’s defining characteristics.

Well, a few weeks ago I uttered the dreaded words over dinner: “You know, this is really good. I bet I could make it at home.” I won’t say I’ve never thought that before, but it’s the first time I’ve actually said it out loud. And I proceeded to muse over how exactly I’d make it for the next several minutes. Well, clearly the only thing to do to stop this transformation into my mother* was to go home and actually make it. (I know, drastic measures right?)

It took me a few weeks, but I did make it at home. It definitely didn’t hurt that I had gotten a watermelon as part of the haul from my dad’s garden. This watermelon was one of the best I’ve had in years. Sweet, juicy, flavorful, with that almost-but-not-quite-grainy texture that perfectly ripe watermelons have. And it had seeds, which to me is a good thing. I definitely prefer watermelon with seeds to the seedless variety. The seedless variety never seem to have as much flavor. My personal theory on this is that if they’re selecting cultivars for their lack of seeds, they can’t be selecting for flavor, so the flavor is a bit lacking in the seedless varieties. I dunno if that’s really the case, but it makes sense to me.

* Not that I have anything against my mother, but I just don’t think I’d look so great with breasts and highlights.

Salmon with Watermelon, Cucumber and Arugula
Inspired by a dinner at Scoozi
This is a really simple preparation that would be equally at home on a weeknight dinner or as part of a fancy dinner party. The ingredients are all familiar, but combined in an unexpected way that makes the whole more than the sum of its parts.
I’d definitely suggest using skin-on salmon filets. The skin crisps up beautifully in the butter and few things in life a better than crispy fish skin.

2 salmon filets
1 Tbsp butter
3 1/2″ thick slices watermelon, cubed and seeds removed
1/2 a medium cucumber, halved and sliced thinly
handful arugula
lemon wedges

Heat a cast iron skillet over high heat. Add butter, then toss in the salmon, skin side down. Sprinkle the flesh side with salt. For a warm, slightly pink center, cook over high heat for about 3 minutes, then flip and cook about 3 minutes more.

Remove the salmon and pour off any excess fat. (Depending on the type of salmon you use, a good bit of fat might render out of the skin side as it’s cooking.) Turn off the heat and allow the pan to cool for about a minute. Add the watermelon, cucumber and arugula to the warm pan. Stir for about 30 seconds, until arugula is just slightly wilted, then remove from the pan.

Serve the salmon over the watermelon mixture with the lemon wedges on the side.

Summer-in-a-bowl Salad

Eli — Wed, 09 Sep 2009 15:00:00 +0000

No two foods are more evocative of summer to me than garden-fresh tomatoes and sweet corn. Both fall into the category of “available all year round, but why bother?”. Tomatoes go from juicy, tangy, sweet, vibrant and pleasingly misshapen to pallid, mealy, flavorless, numbingly uniform globes. The sweet pop of kernels in freshly-picked corn becomes starchy mush in the off season. The out of season versions just don’t hold a candle to the real thing. Put them both together and it’s like summer in a bowl. The kind of fleeting pleasure to savor while it lasts and remember (or look forward to) fondly the other 10 months of the year.

Summer-in-a-Bowl Salad
This isn’t so much a recipe as a guideline. The freshness of the ingredients is much more important than their proportions. Use the absolute freshest corn and tomatoes you can find.

fresh sweet corn, boiled and cut from the cob (I used 2 ears.)
tomatoes, cut into bite sized pieces (I used 5 tomatoes about the diameter of a fifty cent piece and cut them into quarters.)
small handful basil
salt and pepper
glug of olive oil

Mix everything and serve. If you can let it sit for an hour or so to let the flavors meld, great. Much more than an hour and the tomatoes will start to get soggy.

Fennel, Watermelon and Blue Cheese Salad

Eli — Sat, 26 Jul 2008 05:34:03 +0000

I signed up for a CSA box this year, and I can’t quite decide if I like it or not. The quality of the produce has been (mostly) very high and I like the concept of supporting small local farmers, but I’ve found myself going to the farmers market less frequently because I have a fridge full of CSA produce at home and more importantly I miss getting to pick out my own produce. The mix in the CSA box just isn’t what I usually eat. There’s a lot of salad greens…and while I like salad, I think I’d have to eat it every day to keep up with the amount in the boxes. The more I think about it, the more I realize that I can support small, local, organic farmers by simply going to the farmers market and buying their produce there. And not paying for things I don’t particularly want.

But there are some pleasant surprises in the box every week. This week I was happy to see a few small heads of fennel. I’m a big fan of fennel and generally prefer to eat it raw, sliced thin and lightly dressed. I love its anise-y crunch, and I love serving it to people who are sure they won’t like it because they don’t like licorice. Fennel has such a wonderful, subtle, fresh flavor.

I also had half a watermelon left from a BBQ over the weekend. I’ve noticed over the last few years that watermelons have seemed more bland than I remember them. Not this one though…it was sweet, juicy and flavorful. Ripe, but not overripe and grainy. I think this is also the first seeded watermelon I’ve bought in a while. I’ve been seduced by the convenience of the seedless watermelons, but after this one I have to wonder if I’m giving up flavor for convenience. That’s definitely not a trade I want to make.

So, I took the fennel, watermelon, a cucumber from the CSA box and a bit of blue cheese…presto! Quick delicious summer salad. This couldn’t be easier and was delicious. I was a bit concerned about whether the Miss would eat this…she loves everything in it but the fennel (which she’d never had.) Turns out the only thing she didn’t like was the chopped fennel fronds. She happily ate the rest, which made me quite pleased.

Fennel, Watermelon and Blue Cheese Salad

Crumble the blue cheese very finely. This allows the blue cheese to be present in every bite without ever overwhelming the other delicate flavors. The salad will give off a good bit of liquid when you add the salt. If you’re worried about presentation, make the salad a bit in advance, let it sit for 15-30 minutes, then drain off the excess liquid.

Serves 6 as a side dish

2 small bulbs fennel, thinly sliced (about 2 1/2 cups)
1 small cucumber, peeled and diced (about 1 cup)
2 1/2 cups watermelon, in 1/2″ cubes
fronds from 1 bulb fennel, chopped (about 1/2 cup)
1/4 cup crumbled blue cheese
2 Tbsp olive oil
salt and pepper

Gently toss all ingredients together in a large bowl. Let sit for at least 30 min to allow the flavors to come together. Serve at or slightly below room temperature.