Andyboy Cooks!

Gravlax

 

I've always been a big fan of smoked salmon but I've only tried cured salmon once or twice in my life. This just in - it's awesome. This is something I've been meaning to try for a while now and I think it worked out pretty well. The only thing I would change from this terrific recipe is the amount of time that it is cured - I would let it go in the fridge for another day. Anyway I'm glad I gave it a shot. The recipe came from Cafe Nilson, and here it is!

Gravlax

Ingredients:

1 salmon fillet (with or without skin) approximately one pound
4 tbs sugar
2 tbs salt
2 tsp ground white pepper
a bunch of fresh dill weed
plastic or saran wrap for wrapping


Directions:

Clean salmon fillet and wipe dry with paper towel. Set aside.
In a separate bowl, mix sugar, salt and pepper.
Cover salmon with mixture.
Place bunch of dill weed (no need to cut or break) on top then fold salmon in half, covering the dill weed.
Wrap in saran wrap or plastic and place in plastic bag (just to make sure it does not drip on your refrigerator shelf.
Leave in refrigerator for at least 3 days to cure.

Something I have yet to master...

Sticky Chelsea Buns

  

When I was a teen my folks had a cottage on Lake Joseph, about an hour and change north of Toronto. There was this little corner store that sold everything you could imagine including fresh baked goods, and from time to time we would pick up an order of Chelsea buns which I thought were the greatest thing on Earth.
Well, I was taking a walk down memory lane with my mother a few weeks ago and we remembered these sticky buns. I came up with a theory that I could make them using my basic pizza dough as the base. She disagreed, and we decided on a little wager. I won, which is remarkable because I never win wagers against me mum, and the result were these delicious sticky Chelsea buns which are ideal for breakfast, as a dessert or just with coffee or tea. Wonderful stuff. I used my pizza dough to make them but I needed a Chelsea bun recipe which I got from Antics of a Cycling Cook.

Oven Dried Tomatoes

 

Sun dried tomatoes are delicious but they are also really expensive. The solution? Oven dried tomatoes. I picked up two boxes (cases?) of roma tomatoes at Sams Club the other day and they were about six bucks a pop with about 25 tomatoes per case. That's a hundred dried tomatoes when all is said and done which I estimate would cost about $75 bucks for the store bought sun dried tomatoes. And they're better; they taste nice and fresh, and they aren't packed in oil. Once you're finished making them just throw them in a zip lock bag and put them in the freezer until you're ready to use them!

Oven Dried Tomatoes

20 Roma Tomatoes (halved)
Olive Oil
Salt & Pepper

Set oven to 150 degrees. Lay out halved tomatoes on cookie sheets as close together as possible, cut side up. Drizzle with olive oil and sprinkle with kosher salt and freshly cracked pepper. Place in oven and dry for approximately 16-20 hours (putting them in overnight is ideal).