November 18, 2011 Dinner – Poached Salmon and Greens on Pesto and Linguine

November 18, 2011 Lunch - A Chinese Banquet

Dinner – Poached Salmon and Greens on Pesto and Linguine

I ate lunch at East Ocean.  After I finished my favorite, Scallops in Lobster Sauce, Choi and Bill invited me to join them and meet their relatives from Taiwan.  They were having a large Chinese meal and asked me to stay.  The meal was served one dish at a time.  It started with beef tendon cooked in a hot pot (a first time experience) followed by roast duck in a light brown sauce and then a large Rock Fish with threaded scallions, ginger and the thin black sauce made with oil and soy.  Choi and her relatives had a large family discussion about who got to eat the eyes from the fish and finally Choi took the one nearest me.  After a lovely bowl of rice and fish, I told them I had to go to work so excused myself after taking one stalk of the next dish, Chinese Broccoli in garlic sauce.

Choi, who has worked as a Chinese chef, confirmed my belief that East Ocean is the best Chinese Restaurant in Albuquerque.   If Choi is correct East Ocean has a special Chinese menu.  But I tend to think that the kitchen can cook both Chinese and Americanized  Chinese food and when Chinese walk in and ask for Chinese dishes, the kitchen simply goes into full Chinese cuisine cooking mode.   

After a bike ride cut short by descending darkness, I went into the garden at dusk and picked kale and spinach and some garlic greens and thyme. I de-stemmed and chopped these. When Suzette came home we decided to poach one of the fresh salmon filets left over from the Gravad Lax demonstration, since I was not very hungry.

So I fetched the bottle of salmon stock and chopped two cloves of garlic and gave them to Suzette, who did a one pan poaching of the salmon by adding about 2 tablespoons of white wine (Cutler Creek Pinot Grigio) and butter to the stock and covering the pan with a wok cover (See picture). After the fish had poached for about ten minutes, we added the greens and covered them also (See Picture), while I heated the linguine in the microwave and mixed it with some of the pesto we had prepared with the fresh basil grown in our garden about one month ago (See Picture).

We drank the Cutler Creek Pinot Grigio, which went surprisingly well with the salmon and pesto

A simple and very satisfying meal. The fresh greens tasted really flavorful and healthy, as they had absorbed the wonderful flavor from the poaching medium in which they were steamed. The combination of flavors of the pesto and fresh thyme and garlic with the fresh salmon was really pleasant also.