Jayne Finds the Perfect Salmon Recipe

So, we're in Hawaii and the other night we watched JULIE & JULIA on the big screen tv here in the room. The film is delightful and holds a special appeal for writers as well as those who enjoy cooking. If you think it is hard to get published, wait until you see what Julia Child had to go through!

The film also made me confront the fact that, as much as I admire fine cooking and enjoy messing about in the kitchen, I am never going to cook like Julia Child. Heck, I can't even do a proper hollandaise sauce from scratch. I have to cheat and use the blender method from the JOY OF COOKING (which works every time, by the way).

Not that I'm ever going to make Boeuf Bourguignon or attempt to bone a duck. Frank and I don't eat beef or duck. You will notice that my characters rarely eat any animals except fish. This is not a coincidence. But like the heroes and heroines in my stories, Frank and I eat a lot of fish and cooking fish is hard, at least for me.

However, Frank recently stumbled on a little online cooking show the other day — COOKUS INTERRUPTUS — and I tried the NORI WRAPPED SALMON. Bingo! It was fabulous! I will be cooking it at least once a week or until Frank can't stand the sight of salmon any more. The nori (sheets of dried seaweed) is easy to find in most supermarkets. It's the stuff people use to wrap sushi. I will also be trying more recipes from the show.

I have made a few tweaks: I use more Dijon mustard and more wasabi powder, enough to coat the whole sheet of nori, and I slather the fish packets in olive oil because I discovered that the nori crisps up and gets nice and crunchy that way. I also cook the packets a little longer than the standard 10 minutes per inch because I do not like rare fish. I like mine well-done.

Now I'm on a roll and looking for other great online cooking sites and easy recipes. Got any to share?

Sincerely,

Jayne