2007-08-03

You Can Cook Cucumber!

I admired KitKat's pledge to herself to accomplish something new every week. Unfortunately, a lot of her new things looked like new ongoing commitments - joining a gym or a book group, for example - and I was sure I didn't have the time for all that.

So, to Plan B: one week I tried sweet and sour chicken balls from the Chinese take-away instead of pork balls, and the week after that I had chicken with cashew nuts for the first time. That's my kind of tasty adventurousness but somehow, I can't help feel, it wasn't quite in the original spirit. So I comprimised, bought a cookbook and now I'm trying to cook something new every week.

The Mod and Helen finally came to Bristol last weekend and good fun was had by all. I met them in the middle of a harbour festival that I didn't know was happening and probably would have missed altogether if they hadn't made me leave the house. We scoured the food stalls for delicacies and picnicked in a quiet spot beyond the safety barrier on the waterfront.

People get nervous cooking for Helen because she's a rather talented chef. I wasn't, but I did opt for a dish I'd done before. She made sticky toffee pudding from scratch. Good food was had by all.



Salmon And Cucumber In A Creamy Sauce
1 cucumber
1 small onion
flour
vegetable oil
150ml whipping cream
seed mustard
350g filletted salmon
lemon juice
parsley

Slice the cucumber in half longways. Scoop out the seeds and cut into half-rings. Chop the onion. Fry both vegetables in a splash of oil for 2 minutes. Add a couple of tablespoons of flour and stir in.

Add the cream and a few teaspoons of mustard. Dice the salmon and add it raw to the mix. Cook the whole lot on medium heat for 8 minutes, stirring occasionally. Season with lemon juice. Decorate with parsley. Serve with anything you like. (We had white rice.)

4 Comments:

Anonymous Anonymous said...

You might notice that my "new things" project is in a slump. I think I deserve a vacation to wallow in my old ways, don't you? Of course, today I'm going berry-picking, and that's new. So much for my time off.

Cooking new stuff absolutely counts, as is trying new foods. For me, trying new and/or exotic foods is a big step.

Maybe you should try blogging every day as one of your new things :)

12:30  
Blogger thisismarcus said...

My reading about your "new things" project is also in a slump! I'd love to be here every day but the job thing gets in the way and makes me tired. Sporadic but more often is the best I can pledge!

What berries did you get and what will you cook with them?

10:51  
Blogger The Paranoid Mod said...

It was delicious. I will always remember it as the time you cooked salmon in stuff, but that's just me.

10:59  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

The berry-picking adventure fell through :( Slump, slump, slump! I was considering making a pie, even though I don't like pie. But I've never done it before, so why not? I've heard that home-baked pies are much different than store bought, so maybe I'll like my own.

13:36  

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