*Twitch...twitch*

So this week I became the customer of the week at my local coffee-shop, which means several things.

1) I get all of my beverages free. Including the specialty drinks.

2) I really like the specialty drinks.

3) I have replaced real food with specialty drinks because they have coffee in them.

Hmmm...coffee.

I would like to point out that I am not addicted to coffee. This would mean that I want to quit. That is the last thing I will ever do!

Granted, my blood is 99% coffee now and I can feel when those pesky red blood cells try to take back over. It is a horrible experience with a killer headache which can only be solved with more coffee. Hmmm...coffee.

I might not have been cooking much this week, due to the holiday season and friends visiting, but I did make a dinner for a friend who visited from Sweden the other day, and I will give it to you below.

Pan Seared Salmon with Oriental Veggies on Rice.

(Serves 2)

Tools

Skillet

Spatula

Pot with a Lid.

Ingredients for the Salmon

2 fillets of Salmon, about 5 oz. each

pepper

sesame seeds

1 tbsp olive oil

Ingredients for the Oriental Veggies

6 oz. of frozen mixed oriental veggies

2 tbsp sesame oil

4 tbsp soy sauce

1 tbsp red pepper flakes

1 tbsp chopped garlic

4 tbsp cooking sherry (or water if you don't want to cook with alcohol)

1 tbsp sugar

Ingredients for Rice

(seriously, if you can't do rice by now with this blog, go back to the first few posts and learn! You will want 1 cup of uncooked rice per two person)

Make the rice for this dish so it is done before you cook anything else. You want to serve this as soon as you are done cooking everything on the rice.

Begin with the oriental veggies, get the pan hot on medium-high heat, add the oil and then the garlic. Count to 10 before adding the veggies. Stir fry these in the pan until they are thawed and heated through, a little bit of browning tastes delicious with these. Add the rest of the ingredients to the pan quickly and turn off the heat, mixing everything quickly. This will make a delicious sauce.

Pour the veggies/sauce onto the rice on each plate. Rinse the pan quickly in the sink and return to the stove. Turn the heat on high while you get the salmon ready.

Cover the tuna in pepper and sesame seeds, pushing in on the seeds so they stick to the fish. When the pan starts to get hot, add the oil and QUICKLY add the fish to the pan. At this point it is all about getting good color on the fish. I like my salmon done to a happy medium, which means I will wait for the fish to change color from red to white until about quarter of the way up the fillet before flipping. Whatever you do, don't touch the fish until you are ready to flip! Playing with your food as it is cooking in a pan like this will screw up the caramelization process, and that means it isn't nearly as tasty. If it seems like the fish is cooking too fast, feel free to turn down the heat, but like I said, I like my salmon to be cooked to a happy medium.

When my salmon changes color to the quarter mark on the other side, I will pull it off and serve it directly on the veggies and rice. And that is that! This will take about 6-7 minutes total once you start to cook (sans the rice), which is fast and easy cooking. And with that, have a happy holiday, I'll be hiding for a few days with my family.

Bien Camino!