So Many Dishes

The day before Thanksgiving is always crazy around here. There’s the preparation for the next day’s dinner to take care of. We’d had Luke with us since Sunday, which was an absolute joy, but by Wednesday morning, all he cared about was when the rest of the family was arriving. The answer to that question was, around noon. It was fortunate that Ken and I had finished our work in the kitchen, because Annie, our daughter-in-law and family dessert master, took it over. This year, she even brought her Kitchen Aid stand mixer along. My handheld mixer wasn’t going to be enough for all she had going: cake for the pumpkin roll she put together Thanksgiving morning, apple pie cookies, and her famous Swedish gingerbread cookies. We dug out my old cookie cutters, which had belonged to my mother, and Annie enlisted Emmalyn and Luke to help with the cookies. Somehow, I forgot to take pictures 🤦‍♀️

There’s always a question as to what to cook for dinner. Poultry is pretty much out of the question. I made sloppy Joe’s two years ago, and Ben made pasta puttanesca last year. I wanted to find something that everyone would enjoy, and turned to one of my favorite recipes, fruited salmon with mushrooms and mustard sauce.

In this family, salmon is always a winner. Luke has eaten this with us before, and loves it. I was glad that he was occupied, playing with Emmalyn, because otherwise he would have been poaching mushrooms and eating them as fast as I was cutting them. This was a new dish for Emmalyn, and I knew she would enjoy it. I sometimes think she could eat her body weight in salmon. She tends to prefer the fish plain, but, in this case, the salmon steams atop the sauce. No problem!

This is another recipe that I cook in a tagine. It’s from 150 Best Tagine Recipes by Pat Crocker. Because I had more fish than I’d normally make for the two of us, I used my larger tagine with the metal base. I have to admit that it simplified cooking, in that I didn’t need to worry about having the temperature too high. The fruit I used was apple; the recipe calls for pear, but the author says any tree fruit will be fine. We like this with apples, plus I still had a couple of Granny Smiths left over from when I baked the pie.

The recipe calls for half of a salted lemon. I make my own, as they are so easy to do, and almost always have one in a jar of brine in the fridge. You can buy these, as well. This is one of the few recipes where I cook salmon with the skin on. As you can see from the photo, the fillets are laid, skin side up, atop the other ingredients. When it’s done, it’s incredibly easy to peel the skin off.

We served the dish with pearl couscous and put harissa on the table for the grownups to add as desired. Nobody left the table hungry!

Fruited Salmon with Mushrooms and Mustard Sauce

• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 onion, cut in half and sliced
• 4 cloves garlic, sliced
• 1 tablespoon butter
• 1 lb. mushrooms, quartered
• 1 large apple, peeled and chopped
• 1/2 preserved lemon, rinsed and finely chopped
• 1 tablespoon whole grain Dijon mustard
• 1 1/2 lbs. salmon fillet, skin on one side

In the bottom of a flameproof tagine, heat oil over medium heat. Add onion and cook, stirring occasionally, for 5 minutes. Add butter, garlic, and mushrooms and cook, stirring frequently, for 5 to 7 minutes, or until mushrooms begin to soften. Stir in apple, preserved lemon, and mustard, and cook, stirring constantly, for 1 minute. Lay salmon over vegetables, skin side up. Cover with tagine lid and cook for 15 to 20 minutes or until fish turns opaque and flakes easily with a fork. Makes 4 generous servings.

Happy eating!