Fresh summer flavors are my favorite part of this time of year. We've been making some really great use of a few bulbs of ultra fresh, ultra spicy, ultra flavorful garlic a friend grew in his garden.
First up to bat: baked sockeye salmon filet on a bed of red lettuce with cucumbers and tomatoes. Topped with feta, black pepper, and a garlic mustard vinaigrette.
And to drink, Chandon Classic Brut. This was great with the fish--the bottle doesn't lie when it says it's great with seafood and caesar sald (read: garlicky).
More garlic! I can't ever have enough. This is a basic garlic bread. You take a stick of softened butter and mix in one entire bulb of pulped garlic. You can put the garlic through a press, grate it with a microplane, chop it by hand and smear it with the side of a knife, or use a food processor. Mix in a half teaspoon of salt and a handful of chopped parsley, then spread generously on a loaf of crusty bread. This is a sweet batard, but French bread of course works well. 
For dessert, we had fruit and cheese. On the left is a slice of what is called a fig wheel. It's dried figs and roasted hazelnuts pressed into a wheel, and quite tasty. I'm already forgetting the name of the blue cheese, but any blue cheese is stellar with dried figs or fig puree. The fruit mellows out the metallic sharpness of the cheese without detracting from the flavor. Delightful!
0 comments:
Post a Comment