Blog Archives
tuna and mango ceviche {ffwd}
On first glance, ceviche, the Latin American cured fish salad and this week’s selection for French Fridays with Dorie, doesn’t seem very French. Dorie explains that this dish inspired by the cuisine of Senegal, who exports avocados and mangoes. I’m not clear how those influences jump from Africa to the Americas but I’ll take it on faith.
I love sushi, and I’ve ordered ceviche in restaurants. It never occurred to me to make ceviche at home, mostly because of the raw fish issue. Somehow I trust a restaurant’s sources more than my own. I’m just not sure how comfortable I am with the quality of what I can buy, and whether the citrus juice really cooks the fish enough for it to be safe to eat.
As I did for the tuna confit, I bought frozen ahi tuna steaks at Trader Joe’s. It wasn’t sushi quality, but it was frozen which I think kills any parasites. Because the package of tuna was a full pound, I added the juice from an extra lime for some added “cooking action”. We didn’t get sick so that was probably OK.
The rest of the dish was reminiscent of the mango guacamole that we make all the time, with the extra addition of grated ginger.
This made a lot, and since it didn’t seem like it would keep, the two of us ate most of it for dinner. With the leftovers, I picked out the tuna chunks and microwaved them, then stirred them back in. It wasn’t as good as dinner, but at least nothing went to waste.
This definitely wasn’t my favorite from Around My French Table, probably not even in the top 50%, but I chalk that up more to comfort with food safety, than flavors.
To see what the other Doristas thought of their ceviche, check out their links here. The recipe can be found here on Food.com.
salmon rillettes {ffwd}
Over the past year or so, I’ve grown to love rillettes as a pre-dinner appetizer or part of a picnic lunch. What are rillettes? It’s the French word for a pâté-like paste traditionally made from pork. I tried my hand at pork rillettes over the winter. In Dorie Greenspan’s book Around My French Table, she offers three different versions of rillettes made with fish. Previously, we’ve made rillettes with sardines and tuna. This week, salmon was on deck.
Salmon rillettes is the most colorful of the trio. It’s yet another recipe I’d describe with the word “confetti”. The pale coral of fresh salmon provides the base for flecks of deep coral from smoked salmon, red from a chile pepper, light purple from shallot, a sprinkling of yellow from lemon zest, and a flash of fuchsia from pink peppercorns. The preparation was simple. Small chunks of salmon are barely poached in diluted wine with some lemon peel, a sliver of the chile pepper, and some coriander seed and white peppercorns thrown in the pot. The salmon is then mashed with the other ingredients along with softened butter and lemon juice before packing it into a ramekin to firm up for spreading.
Confetti of Color
This spread is quite versatile. I enjoyed salmon rillettes spread on crackers for a light lunch. Tonight, we’ll enjoy it again as an appetizer. If there’s anything leftover, it will be part of the picnic lunch I’ve planned for tomorrow.
I did find that the smoked salmon overpowered the poached salmon both in flavor and texture. Next time I make this, I would adjust the proportions by doubling the fresh salmon and halving the smoked so the fresh fish could shine.
Mise en Place
To see what the other Doristas thought of salmon rillettes, you can check out their links here. The recipe is, of course, in Dorie Greenspan’s book Around My French Table, or you can find it on-line here.
A Plateful of Happiness 