Sockeye It To Me

Normally we continue our holiday excess from Thanksgiving straight through until our multi-part tri-state Christmas festivities die down sometime in mid January. This year we've implemented a one week cool off between Christmas and New Year's so we can try to gain some small shred of health back before loading back up on fatty meats and baked goods.



When we hit a rare mustard shortfall last month I picked this mustard up because it contains two of my favorite things: mustard and beer! I brushed a nice piece of Sockeye salmon with the mustard with a little salt and pepper to let it sit for a few moments while I prepared the rest of the dinner.



I tried to fill us up on salad by making this little number with mixed baby greens, toasted pistachios, blueberries, satsuma segments, red onion, and goat cheese. I tossed it with my old standby fig dressing of fig preserves, tahini, and balsamic vinegar.



I got a pan red hot, coated it lightly with olive oil, through the salmon in skin down, then tossed it into a 425 degree oven for ten minutes. I probably could have gone with eight minutes but the result was a nicely flavored roast salmon with crispy skin. Stout isn't the first beer I'd pair with salmon but the mustard worked brilliantly.



As I like to do I wilted a pound of spinach with a splash of olive oil and a few cloves of crushed garlic. As I also like to do I piled it high on a plate tor effect. When doing this it gives me a sense of smug satisfaction and achieving height (or as my chefs in culinary school used to inexplicably pronounce it: HITE-TH).



For dessert I broke with my vaguely healthy theme by serving up this butter tart Jen had made. This is a newcomer to the holiday dessert rotation. It's oddly named in that butter is a very minor ingredient. There are many other ingredients that it could better be named after -- raisin tart, sugar tart, coconut tart, walnut tart, just to name a few. Once again there is no beer to report on tonight, merely a mustard made with beer. Soon I hope to return to my normal beer-tasting form.

That way I can review all these Christmas beers in January and look like a total jackass.