Saturday, July 02, 2005

Weekend food blogging again



Grilled salmon, mmmm!

Marinate some salmon filets or steaks in olive oil, a little lemon juice, garlic, thyme, rosemary, and parsley. I was out of fresh garlic so I just used the powder.

The original recipe called for twice as much thyme as rosemary and parsley, but I tend to use equal amounts.

Marinate for about 30 minutes, then grill or bake. (It's much better grilled over charcoal for a smoky taste.) We always leave the skin on while cooking, but usually don't eat it.

I had just bought a 4-rice blend at Publix (white, brown, red, wild). It's fantastic, with a wonderful flavor and texture.



A little salad (with Vidalia onions on top for me) completed the meal. Looking back, a white wine would have been a good idea too. But we live in a dry county, so it's not the kind of thing you can just pop down to the corner to get. Not that there's a store at the corner anyway.

10 comments:

Crowe said...

What is a "dry county"?

Karen Schmautz said...

How timely. We are having barbqued salmon this very night. I will try your recipe. Now...Chardonnay or Fume?

Rurality said...

That means they don't sell alcohol here. Not even cooking sherry! Barbaric, huh? :)

You can buy it elsewhere and consume it here. But when you're taking it home, you have to put it "well out of reach" of the driver. Or else they can arrest you.

Actually I'm afraid that if the county votes to go wet, then someone will build a bar right next door. It could happen... building codes are pretty lax out in the country.

Rurality said...

Hick I'm no wine expert but I think either would work! (I'd go for the Fume.)

Crowe said...

Good grief. I had no idea that there are entire US counties where you can't buy alcohol. I think there'd be civil war here if anyone tried that.

Anonymous said...

Dry counties... That took some getting used to, the several times I've been in the Southeast. When we enjoyed the incredibly generous hospitality of Joe's cousin Nealy in Alma, Arkansas, we had to resort to the fleshpots of Fort Smith to pick up a six-pack of beer to go with the Pettijean ham at dinner. Other than that, I rather liked Alma.

Joe has joked about writing a Traveling Drinker's Guide to the South, with maps and directories and a compendium of those interesting rules.

If someone does build a bar next door, you could always sell them pickled eggs for the traditional big jar on the bar. Mmmmm, pickled eggs. With red beets, of course.

Rurality said...

Here's a map of the wet/dry counties in Alabama.

Actually until I looked that up, I had no idea that there was such a wide swath of dry counties in north Alabama. Some of those people have a very long way to drive to get alcohol. We're in Blount county and it's less than 10 miles for us to beer, 13 miles to wine, and about 16 miles to liquor. :)

Anyway I think it's just a southern thing. I guess they are still trying to hang on to Prohibition!

Ron, no, don't even joke about it... I doubt any bar built here would even be sophisticated enough for boiled eggs.

Suzanne said...

Well heck Ron, the county where Jack Daniels is distilled in Tennessee is dry! No dry counties here in Illinois, but I do remember that in San Antonio, Texas, they could not serve a mixed drink. You had to carry in your liquor in a brown paper bag and buy a "set-up". That was in the early 70's.

Try to find Salmon planks to grill the salmon on. Williams Sonoma sells them online I think. You soak the wood in water, and then place the Salmon filet on the plank and put on the grill. The plank gets heated up and releases the water in the form of steam and the wood infuses flavor into the filet. It's really good.

Rurality said...

I had forgotten that about Jack Daniels! Maybe they did that on purpose so they wouldn't have to give away samples to visitors. :)

We had planked Salmon years ago on our Canadian vacation. I hadn't thought to try it at home though. Might have to next time! There is a Williams Sonoma in B'ham that we make a field trip to now and then, so we'll look there. Thanks!

Rurality said...

Oh DPR I'm going to try that! I was not familiar with tamari before you mentioned it, but now I can't wait to try it.

You used to have to go to a state store here for liquor too, but they changed that law and now there are other outlets - but not grocery stores. The license must be pretty expensive because there are not many liquor stores around.