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I came home one afternoon to a 15 pound whole salmon in my fridge. It wasn’t entirely a surprise or anything. A friend’s dad is a commercial fisherman and he said he’d get me a fish. I don’t think I fully comprehended how big this fish would be but it was amazing. I’d never butchered a fish that huge before. It was gutted of course but I cleared off my whole butcher block and started slicing away. It’s hard to tell the scale of the fish in this picture. This is a huge industrial-sized sink:
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I broke the fish down into a few parts. I put the head and tail into the freezer to make fish stock later when I have a real stove again. I took one gorgeous fillet and grilled it for us and some friends:
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I took another gorgeous fillet and made gravlax. I took 2 cups salt, 2 cups sugar and a drizzle of vodka and homemade limoncello. Packed all that together, weighted it down and left it in the fridge for 4 days. I flipped the fillets after 2 days (and drained the liquid).
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I haven’t made gravlax in years but I’m pretty sure these are the best ones I’ve ever made. The fish was just so amazingly fatty!
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It’s not salmon every night around here though. We were heading to a potluck at our neighbors so I threw together a simple salad from my CSA box: Assorted lettuces, kohlrabi, cucumber:
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Another night I made green curry ceviche but modified it for what I had in my fridge. I substituted basil for cilantro and left out the lemongrass and avocado. It was still so good!
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And since most of our meals are made on the grill these days, it was time for burgers. I don’t grind my burger meat, I pulse it in the food processor about 15 times. It makes for a much more pleasant, less mealy texture. And serving the burgers on brioche buns can’t hurt!
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I have been using my cast iron skillet on the grill all the time now since it’s the perfect substitute for a cast iron pan on the stove. I grilled the onions and bacon on that and the burgers on the main grill part.
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The adventures continue! I’ve only used my microwave once (for leftovers) and I’ve been without a kitchen for a month! Things are going well!