Katy gave me the greatest toy for my birthday and I've been playing with it for awhile now and can recommend it to others. It is a block of pink salt, about the size and shape of a brick and very heavy. You cook on it. First, you heat it up in a 375 degree oven for 30 minites. It comes out very hot so one's hands must be well protected when removing it from the oven. I put down a folded tea towel on my cooktop and work with it there. We cooked chicken cutlets, fish filets, shrimp and that worked quite well. I have cooked tuna steak and a salmon steak on it also.
Once the salt brick is out of the oven you lay down the raw fish on top and then monitor it for a few minutes. It will cook on one side, then you flip the fish over and finish it off in a few more minutes. For filets, this takes about eight minutes altogether. I sprinkle a little lemon on top, maybe add a sprig of thyme for flavor and that is it. The salt permeates the product in that short time to give it a nice flavor. I suspect that if one were doing a quantity it would have to go back into the oven for another heat -up.
We tried the another option which is to chill it in the fridge or freezer, and then lay down ice cream scoops; salt gives a nice touch to ice cream. Ever enjoy ice cream with salted pretzels? A wonderful pairing!
Salt blocks come in various sizes and shapes. The blocks are pretty too, being pink.
Tuesday, August 28, 2012
Monday, August 6, 2012
Our Family Cooks
I've neglected the blog..but not without an excuse. I've been celebrating with my family, all of whom descended on Reston at once from Norway and Copenhagen lasst month. Priscilla and the Norwegians have returned home but Katy is still with me until the end of the week. Lovely.
So with so many people around, we were continually planning wonderful meals, either in or out. Since all of us are good cooks, the kitchen became the center of much activity, including a small boy with a bouncing ball and a tall five year old girl climbing over her teen aged boy cousins. Oh how they hated that, you bet.
But this is a foodie blog; so on to the fact that the week we spent together, my family and the family of Pete's Janice, each night a different pair of us would make the meal for that evening. So we had seafood and risotto, burgers on the grill, ciabolli and a wonderful banana cake for my birthday and lots of watermelon and fresh beautiful tomatoes. As an old shore vacationer, I insisted that they visit the candy store and get some fudge and salt water taffy. Several kinds emerged and we spent some time checking which was the best.
That part of summer over, I'm now organizing the food list for the Summerfest party at OLLI on August 23rd. That too will be a food lover's paradise and I hope many OLLI folks have signed up to attend.
So with so many people around, we were continually planning wonderful meals, either in or out. Since all of us are good cooks, the kitchen became the center of much activity, including a small boy with a bouncing ball and a tall five year old girl climbing over her teen aged boy cousins. Oh how they hated that, you bet.
But this is a foodie blog; so on to the fact that the week we spent together, my family and the family of Pete's Janice, each night a different pair of us would make the meal for that evening. So we had seafood and risotto, burgers on the grill, ciabolli and a wonderful banana cake for my birthday and lots of watermelon and fresh beautiful tomatoes. As an old shore vacationer, I insisted that they visit the candy store and get some fudge and salt water taffy. Several kinds emerged and we spent some time checking which was the best.
That part of summer over, I'm now organizing the food list for the Summerfest party at OLLI on August 23rd. That too will be a food lover's paradise and I hope many OLLI folks have signed up to attend.
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