I'm exploring the world of cooking from my home in Melbourne, Australia. I know I've become fanatical because I now keep cookbooks by my bed! Define esurientes? The hungry! This word pops up in my singing regularly and, for me, the term perfectly combines my passions for good food & good music. Email: esurientes2(at)yahoo.com.au
Wednesday, January 25, 2006
Pomegranate salmon kebabs
It's high summer here, and set to continue for a few more months yet. Even though it's 9.30pm the temperature is still about 30 degrees and I have perspiration rolling down my back. Tomorrow is a public holiday for Australia Day, and set to be another scorcher. A day by the pool - yay! For me this is a perfect recipe for a summer dinner.
In a fit of organisation last night I decided to make a pavlova for tomorrow. Cos you know it's just not Australia Day without a pav! Or a few juicy lamb chops thrown on the barbie. Flicking through Nigella's Forever Summer for her chocolate raspberry pav recipe (post soon) I stumbled on this little recipe: Salmon Kebabs with Pomegranate Molasses and Honey - both things I had just transferred from the pantry to the fridge to avoid the ant plague that has started an invasion of the house. If you haven't heard of pomegranate molasses, you're missing out! Have a look at this post.
I've making a point to eat more salmon this year, so I had some in the freezer and I whipped up the marinade and chucked the salmon before going to bed. Tonight I came home from work and had dinner just about ready.
Nigella's recipe has skewers loaded just with salmon chunks, but I decided to bulk it out a bit more, adding some cubes of eggplant and slices of sweet red onion. Alongside I plated up some steamed bok choy, cos I don't really do noodles or rice; but they'd be good additions as well.
The marinade is very tasty - I was even dipping the pecans I'd been snacking on into the sauce. Great combo, although I thought it may have been just a tad too sweet and strong for the salmon. Maybe it needed a little more soy in the marinade? But I've never been such a fan of sweet flavours in my savoury foods.
Unfortunately I overcooked the skewers a little. 5 minutes under a hot grill was about 1.5 minutes too much. Occasionally I bit down on a chunk that was gorgeously tender, juicy and soft and I had an inkling of how good it could have been if I'd been less paranoid about getting the eggplant and onion cooked. My favourite part was the skin which had turned wonderfully oily and crispy - the fish version of pork crackling!
Read on for the recipe:
Salmon Kebabs with Pomegranate Molasses and Honey
Adapted from Forever Summer, Nigella Lawson.
80ml pomegranate molasses
80ml honey
1 tablespoon soy sauce
500g salmon fillet, cubed (approx 4cm square)
Cubed eggplant
Sliced red onion
Fresh coriander, to serve
Whisk together the pomegranate molasses, honey and soy, and pour into a freezer bag. Add the salmon pieces, and tie the bag, after getting rid of any excess air. Marinate for at least an hour, or overnight.
Soak some wooden skewers in water to prevent them burning and thread as much salmon, eggplant and onion as you'd like on each skewer.
BBQ or grill the skewers for ~4 minutes.
Makes ~12 skewers.
Tagged with salmon
the kababs look delicious.. looks lik it will jumpout of the screen
ReplyDeleteMmmn, so yummy! Some of my favourite things in one dish! I too try to eat as much salmon as I can these days for health reasons, but sometimes it gets a little boring. I'll try this one when I'm off the stupid detox.
ReplyDelete