August 7, 2019 Lunch – Chirashi at Azuma. Dinner – Cedar Plank Grilled Teriyaki Marinated Salmon with Vegetable Couscous

July 7, 2019 Lunch – Chirashi at Azuma. Dinner –  Cedar Plank Grilled Teriyaki Marinated Salmon with Vegetable Couscous

I slept until 8:00 showered, dressed, worked a bit, nibbled three forkfuls of brown ice and drove to my 9:00 appointment and then walked to my 10:30 appointment.

I then drove to Azuma and ordered my favorite, Chirashi Donburi with 2 pieces each of Aji tuna, super white tuna, salmon and octopus and 4 pieces of yellowtail, plus sushi rice, Daikon and carrot pickles, and seaweed salad, pickled ginger and wasabi.

I drank green tea with the meal. Actually I only ate ½ of the meal and boxed the rest and took it home.  I stopped on the way home at Donut Mart  for two bagels and a small container of cream cheese.

I had another appointment in the afternoon that lasted until 5:00.

Willy checked in at 5:30 to say he and his friends from Dublin were on their way back from Taos.

Suzette  and I started cooking at 6:00. We sawed a length long enough to hold the teriyaki marinated salmon.  I chilled the bottle of sake and chopped onions and a clove of elephant garlic, while Suzette cuisinarted carrots, cauliflower, green bell pepper, and red onion into a rough Couscous like consistency.


We stopped cooking when Willy called to say they would not arrive until 7:30 and then started again after 7:00.

Cedar Plank Grilled Salmon

I had made the teriyaki sauce marinade at 4:00 am before going back to sleep and rinsed and dried the salmon filet and placed it in a gallon freezer bag with the cooked teriyaki sauce and lay it flat in the meat drawer to marinate.  At 5:30 pm Suzette arrived with a 1 x 6 cedar plank and at 6:30 I cut to a bit beyond the length of the salmon filet and gave it a bath of bath, soaking unit in the tub filled high enough to float it.

Then at 7:00 Suzette took over and fired up the grlll, placed the filet on.
The grill and grilled for thirty minutes because the filet was a little thicker than usual.



The result was a fully cooked filet that still was juicy with a hint of teriyaki sauce flavor. Quite delightful.


While the board was soaking we diced about ½ cup each of red onion and green bell pepper and a clove of elephant garlic that Suzette sautéed in a skillet on the stove.  She then puréed cauliflower flowerets and peeled carrot sections into a granular mix about the size of Couscous and added the purée to the skillet.  I snapped the ends off ½ of a bunch of asparagus and diced it into ¾ inch pieces and added the pieces to the skillet and we slowly sautéed everything until it began to brown.



I had added cucumbers and shallots to the Japanese vegetables 2 days ago and Suzette brought home a tray of tomatoes from her garden in Los Lunas, so she sliced yellow and red tomatoes and made a small pile on each plate.  Her idea was that each person would make a salad by spooning the vinegary and sweet pickled vegetables on top of the tomatoes, which each person did.

When Suzette brought the salmon in I sectioned it into five pieces and Suzette spooned a pile of vegetable Couscous on each plate and laid a filet on top of each pile.  Here is a picture.

 

I filled small teacups with chilled sake for each person and each took a beer except me. Connor liked the locally brewed cherry wheat beer.

We took our plates to the Gazebo and enjoyed a breezy evening for about 45 minutes until the wind subsided and the mosquitoes began attacking.

We went back inside and Suzette filled parfait glasses with clafoutis, garnished with a generous squirt of whipped cream and one of her maraschino cherries soaked in Amaretto and simple syrup.

I fetched five champagne glasses and opened and poured the bottle of Gruet Rose Brut and we talked and sipped and nibbled in the living room until 10:00 when we said goodnight to Willy, Conner, and
Elith.  It was wonderful meeting Willy’s friends from Dublin.

Conner’s sister owns several restaurants in Dublin. One named the Winding Stair, we ate at when we visited Willy during the time he was studying at Dublin Institute of Technology.

Bon Appetit