Katie Doyle, Girl About Town

Monday, Mar. 28, 2005 - 10:45 p.m.

Okay. Before you read any further, I need you to sit down, because what I'm about to say may shock you, and frankly, I can not be responsible for your cracked skull. That's just too much guilt to go carrying around, and I am highly susceptible to guilt and really don't need any more of it, so seriously; sit down.

Okay, here it is: I got good news at work today.

No, really. I did. I discovered my credit is for Story Editor, not Assistant Story Editor. I know even those of you not employed by the television industry can tell that any title which does not have the word "assistant" in it pays more than one that does, but let me clarify: this makes it tons easier for me to find a job, and one that pays a lot more than what I would otherwise have found.

This is good. It really is. :) It actually almost makes the last 4 lame weeks worth it. Almost.

And that is all we will say about work.

I made dinner for the first time in probably 6 months tonight. It was an odd experience, and I found that I could barely remember how to cook my world famous rosemary roasted new potatoes, which was kind of scary. And sadly, they were a little undercooked, which was disappointing, but I think there were just more of them than usual, and I didn't spread them out enough. The entree was salmon, but not just any salmon, Katie's Caribbean Salmon, which I made for the first time, and which was really yummy. Even TB liked it, and he is not a big fan of the salmon.

"Oh do please give us the recipe for that, Katie!" I hear you cry. Well, if you insist...

Now, normally I do not like to depend on bottled sauces. But let's face it, peeps - there are times when a bottled sauce can be a girl's best friend. Especially when one is making salmon at 8:48pm on a work night, and there is still tons of laundry to do and an early alarm to contend with, so sleep is at a premium. My favorite grilling sauce, the one that lays all other grilling sauces/marinades to shame, and needs no outside embellishment whatsoever, is Paula's Gentleman's Secret Marinade. Sadly, the Whole Foods near my house no longer carries it, and while they claim they can backorder anything you want, that claim is patently false, as I have had 3 bottles of the stuff on backorder for well over a year, now. Clearly, it is never showing up. But a girl can't go without her favorite fish forever, and if that fish is one her boyfriend happens not to like, a dilemma occurs. That is where the following "recipe" comes in.

What you will need are the following:
Consorzio All Natural Tropical Grill 10-Minute Marinade
Consorzio Fat Free Raspberry Balsamic Vinaigrette
The Ginger People Naturally Pressed Ginger Juice
Santa Cruz Organic Lime Juice (you can sub another brand, but stay away from ReaLime or anything else overly concentrated, becoz ew.)
Caribbean Rub seasoning (I use The Spice Hunter salt-free brand)
Salt & Pepper

Okay. Your main ingredient is the Tropical Grill stuff, which has a papaya base. It is not, however, all that sweet on its own, and I was going for a definite Jamaican flavor, which required more sweetness. That is where the Raspberry vinaigrette comes in. So take your one pound filet of salmon and put it in a glass dish of some sort that's big enough to hold the whole thing without having to fold any of it on itself, if possible. Pour a liberal amount of the Tropical Grill stuff over it, enough to coat it and probably sit an 1/8 of an inch or so (don't go more than 1/4", coz that's just overkill and wasteful) around the filet. Sprinkle Caribbean Rub liberally over the filet and then realize you forgot to add the other stuff, because it's been a long day. Sprinkle lime juice over the fish. Add 1 - 2 tsp. of the raspberry vinaigrette and about 1/2 tsp. of Ginger Juice to the marinade spilling down on both sides of the filet. This actually probably works better if you mix everything first, but I was boneheaded and forgot to do that, so I don't really know how much Tropical Grill stuff I used. At least half a cup, but I don't think it was a whole cup. You could always just experiment on your own; that is the joy of cooking, afterall. Mix the raspberry and ginger juice in with the marinade around the filet and spoon it over the salmon. This will wash all the rub off the fish and necessitate adding more. Do not worry about it. Let it marinate for half an hour, because even though the Consorzio people want you to buy into their flavor-packed, 10-minute marinade spin, you will really need to marinate the fish for longer to actually taste the marinade flavor when it's done. And actually, an hour would probably be better, but as I mentioned, it was already 8:48pm, and I was tired. If you want sweeater fish, I recommend adding more raspberry, because that's where all the sweetness comes from, and you can't really taste the raspberry flavor anyway. But don't go all hogwild and nuts with it, because then you probably *will* be able to, and I do not want you people writing me hate mail because you could taste the raspberry in your fish and you hate raspberry, and what's up with that. I wouldn't add more than probably a Tbs. tops, and that might be stretching it, unless you're using more Tropical Grill than I did. I'd say if you want to go for an entire cup of Tropical Grill, a Tablespoon of raspberry is probably a sound decision. Up the ginger to a teaspoon, too.

Anyway, let that sit for 30 - 60 minutes, and then broil it for whatever length of time you like to broil your salmon, and enjoy. I, myself, like to broil a thick filet of salmon for 8 minutes aside and then another 4 or 5 on the first side, spooning marinade over it every time I turn it. I also try to set it far enough from the broiler that it won't catch fire or otherwise burn, which was apparently an impossibility this evening, but whatever. It was still good.

I accompanied it with roasted new potatoes and crisply steamed asparagus. For my rosemary potatoes, I cube up 3 or 4 new potatoes (3 is usually enough, but for some reason, I always think it won't be, which sometimes results in overkill, as it did tonight.) Put the cubed potatoes in a big mixing bowl and pour 1 - 2 Tbs. of extra-virgin olive oil over 'em. Salt them and grind pepper over them. Crush the following herbs and chunk them in, too. If you do not have a morter and pestle, you can not consider yourself a real cook. Go get one, now. Or cook with fresh herbs. I am not into spending that kind of money, so dried ones suffice, but for that, I need a mortar and pestle. $2.99 for a cute little white porcelain one at Cost Plus. In your little m&p, crush the following herbs (separately): rosemary, tarragon, marjoram, chervil, sage. Add those to the potatoes and stir them all up so they are equally coated with your herbs, salt and pepper. Dump them into the center of a big piece of heavy duty aluminum foil. Take two sides of the foil and put the edges together, then fold/roll the foil down toward the potatoes, making an envelope or pouch out of the deal. Roll/fold the two ends of the pouch, and put that in an oven pre-heated to at least 350F, for 30 - 45 min. You should really only use 3 potatoes per foil pouch, or they're piled up too much in the foil and won't cook as well. What you really want is a largish, flat packet, not so much a bulbous, clumpy or high one. If you don't put too many potatoes in your packet, this pretty much does them perfectly; just leave them in the oven while you're broiling the fish. Thanks to JonnyC for this method of roasting potatoes. I will never go back.

For steamed asparagus the easiest way possible, snap the tough end off the spears, cut 'em into pieces an 1 - 1.5" long, place 'em in a plastic colander, set it in a shallow dish of water, and nuke 'em for 2 - 3 minutes, depending on the thickness of the spears. They'll be crisp and bright green, ready to melt butter over or drizzle with olive oil and sprinkle lightly with grated parmesan cheese. Mmmm!

And that's it for me. Hopefully, my jeans will be out of the wash soon and I can go to bed.

Peace out,
Katie

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