For dinner tonight I prepared two small oven-baked Coregonus lavaretus, a species of freshwater whitefish found in Canada, and Central and Northern Europe. I stuffed the cleaned bellies of the fish with chopped parsley and chili peppers. I drizzled some extra virgin olive oil and fresh lemon juice over the fish.
I also rustled up a Cucumber and Grape salad with Toasted Almonds & Pine kernels; an adaptation of a recipe from the "Cooking To Save Your Life" by Abhijit Banerjee (Author) and Cheyenne Olivier (Illustrator).
The cook book states the "Cucumber salad with Grapes & Almonds" is a summer salad, but I want to introduce summer to our home as we live with the Dark Winters here in Finland! Bring on the taste of summertime! I like my cucumbers and grapes crunchy. Thus, I did not follow Dr. Banerjee's and his sous chef's recipe literally. Tonight we would have been eating a very soggy and soft salad with baked fish, if I would have sliced the cucumbers and grapes into 2 mm pieces, and soak the slices in vinaigrette. Do not misunderstand me. I love recipes, but I tend to localize them as per season and tastes.
Instead of tossing the almonds in salt, I decided to fry the almonds and pine kernels in a dry pan with salt for added-crunchiness.
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| Pesce al cartoccio (Fish baked in parchment paper) |
