Salmon Brochettes, Curried Salad, Chevre Toasts

Update: "What I Actually Did"^SM (no, not really a servicemark) is posted at Finished: Salmon Brochette, Chevre Toasts & more.

We're having someone over for dinner and since the s.o. was in Berlin last week and is dieting this week I haven't really been cooking anything much (just that quick fish thing I made the other day). Thus today's a chance to do something presentable.

No pictures yet since I'm writing this in prep for the dinner thus there will be post-dinner edits about what I actually did. At the moment it's just a plan.

Menú

• Chevre Toasts [goats cheese]
• Salmon Brochettes with Lime and Rosemary
  with
• Curried Salad
  and
• Vanilla Rice
• Lemon Cream Champagne
• Hagendas with Balsamic (reduced)
  

Grilled Salmon Brochettes

Ingredients

Salmon

• 600 gr Salmon filets
• salt
• pepper

Marinade

• 2 garlic cloves
• rosemary sprig (fresh)
• 100 ml olive oil [3oz]
• 2 T lime juice (fresh)
  

Procedure

1. Deskin the filets
2. Cut into 2cm cubes [½"]
3. Salt & pepper them
• Set aside
4. Mince the garlic, really finely
5. Mince the rosemary leaves
6. Add oil & lime juice
• Whisk to blend
7. Turn on the grill
   
8. Pour marinade over the fish, coating completely
9. Wait 10 minutes
10. Put on short (wooden) skewers
11. Place under/over the grill for 5 minutes
• Turn once, half way through
12. Meanwhile, heat the marinade
13. Spoon marinade over the brochettes and serve with the salad on the side
    

Notes

1. 10 minutes for the marinading only or the fish will "cook" in the lime juice
2. Soak the wooden skewers for 10 minutes to prevent/minimize burning
3. Warm the plates slightly (good for the fish and the rice, bad for the salad)

Ingredients

• 1 C rice
• 3 T oil
  
• ½ t salt
• 2 C water
• ½ C milk
• 1 vanilla pod
  

Procedure

1. Split and scrape the vanilla pod
2. Drop into milk
3. Heat
   
• Set aside
4. Meanwhile, oil into a pan
   
5. Add rice, cook until translucent
6. Add salt
7. Add milk
8. Add water (boiling)
   
9. Cook for 17 minutes (approx), until done or the liquid's about gone

Notes

1. Vanilla is surprisingly good with fish
   
2. I actually use more liquid than this but I'm using Bomba type rice which absorbs a lot of fluid
   
3. Frying the rice a little in oil helps keep it from sticking together too much
   
4. Add the salt with the water at the start of cooking the rice; otherwise the rice won't absorb any of the salt/vanilla flavour

Curried Salad

Ingredients

• Salad greens (baby), 1 bag
• 3 limes' rinds
• 4 T lime juice
• 4 T curry powder
• 125 ml olive oil [4oz]
  
• ½ t salt
  
• pepper, black, fresh ground
• Maldon salt
  

Procedure

1. Put ingredients (except the salad greens) into a plastic squirt bottle
2. Shake well
3. Pour over greens
4. Sprinkle on Maldon salt
   

Notes

1. Doesn't get much easier then this
   
2. If lacking a plastic squeeze bottle feel free to whisk by hand
3. Maldon salt is a flaky crystal salt that's delicious over salads or meat; very tasty

Chevre Toasts

Ingredients

• 1 baguette [french bread]
  
• 200 gr chevre [goats cheese], small rounds
  
• 1 tomato
  
• 8 black olives, pitted
  

Procedure

1. Slice bread, crosswise, 1cm thick [1"]
   
2. Toast under the grill, both sides
   
3. Put on the goat cheese rounds
4. Grill these for 5 or 6 minutes (until good and melty and brown)
   
5. Chop (¼s or so) the olives
6. Deskin (filet) the tomato
7. Brunoisse the tomato to the size of the olive bits [cube]
   
8. Sprinkle olives and tomato on the cheese

Notes

1. Filet the tomato by cutting off the top and base, quartering, remove the juicy center, seeds and the ribs
2. Then, with only the "meat" remaining use a filetting knife to separate the good part from the skin.

The Lemon Cream Champagne and the Hagendas with Balsamic I will leave 'til later 'cause I have to get to the kitchen now.

Thanks to one of my favorite cookbooks - Le Cordon Bleu: Quick & Light for the inspiration.