A little while ago, Ward bought Nobu West, and he’s been having quite a lot of fun with the recipes in the book.

One of our absolute favorites is a recipe called Slow-cooked Salmon, but the first time he made this dish, Ward made one of those highly lovely “mistakes” that always bodes well for creative kitchen wizardry, and we’ve been having Ward’s drunken Sake version of this dish ever since.

When Ward was in the “I think I’m going to make this” mode for this recipe, he’d actually had his heart set on another recipe. It required marinating the salmon in half a cup of sake - but he wanted to make it that day, and the recipe called for one to two days in the marinade.

As luck would have it, Ward then turned his attention to the Slow-Cooked Salmon recipe, but with his mind still on the other salmon recipe, he went with the half cup of sake - instead of the tablespoon the recipe calls for! The result? Incredibly buttery salmon.

Slow-Cooked Salmon in Sake, with Japanese Fried Rice

Here’s the recipe, from Nobu West, with Ward’s little Sake tweak added. The trick to cooking this dish is maintaining the temperature at a consistent 65°C (or 149°F, according to this celcius/fahrenheit converter).

Slow-Cooked Salmon in Sake

2 salmon fillets, about 100g each, skinned and boned
1/2 cup sake
1 tablespoon light soy sauce
1 tablespoon Dashi
1 cm piece of root ginger, peeled and finely shredded
30g butter
1 garlic clove, sliced

For the garnish:
100g snow peas, shredded (we just julienned the snow peas)
olive oil for sautéing
salt and freshly ground black pepper
shiso cress or arigula (or pea sprouts, which is what Ward used in the picture)

1. Bring a pan of water up to 65°C (149°F) and maintain the temperature with the aid of a thermometer.

2. Place all the ingredients with the exception of the garnish items in a boiling bag. Immerse the bag in the water, and checking with the thermometer, maintain a temperature of 65°C for 12 minutes. Regulate the temperature by removing the pan from the heat if it becomes too hot and vice versa. Make sure no water enters the bag; it must remain completely waterproof.

3. Meanwhile, sauté the shredded snow peas for the garnish quickly in a little olive oil and season with salt and pepper, then arrange in the centre of a plate.

4. Remove the salmon carefully from the bag (it may be easier to pour it into a small dish first) and slice gently or leave whole if preferred, then place on top of the snow peas. Spoon a little of the juices from the bag around the salmon and garnish with shiso cress (or whatever you’re using as garnish).

You might be tempted to forego the snow peas, but they are absolutely delicious and go perfectly with the salmon.

This is a rather belated post - we had a Surf & Turf Mother’s Day dinner earlier this month, and I’ve been wanting to write about it, but Ward and I have spent most of this month trying to think of the best way to transfer photos from his computer to mine. Enter Flickr! We decided to set up a photostream there and now I can pick and choose any photos I want to use.

Which means, posts here will be totally up to me now. But that’s a thought for another day!

We had a truly fabulous Mother’s Day here this year. We did do the obligatory brunch out with the kids, checking out a new Japanese restaurant that just opened up a few months ago. It’s one of those all-you-can-eat menus where you select what you want and they cook it up for you - much nicer than a buffet where the food is sitting out there aging away.

But at night, Ward really shone. He went with a Surf & Turf theme, because seafood and steak are at the top of my “favorites” list. No lobster or crab, because neither of us are ready for him to cook lobster or crab at home just yet. So we had scallops, shrimp and steak. With a side order of potato rösti, and salad with lime and garlic dressing.

The potato rösti was just amazing - the perfect blend of garlic, rosemary and potato. And it’s mostly done in the oven! Recipe for that follows the photos:

Shrimps and Steak on the Grill

The Scallop Dish

Mmmmm - Garlicky Potato Rösti

Here’s the recipe for Potato rösti, from Cook with Jamie. Ward didn’t use an oven-proof frying pan, so he slipped the rösti into a baking pan after frying it up.

Potato rösti, from Cook with Jamie

olive oil
small knob of butter
1-1/2 lb floury potatoes, peeled and cut into matchsticks
sea salt
freshly grated black pepper
a few sprigs of fresh rosemary, leaves picked
6 cloves of garlic, peeled

Preheat the oven to 400F. In an ovenproof non-stick frying pan, about 8 inches die, heat a splash of olive oil. Add the butter and toss the potatoes in it with a pinch of salt and pepper, the rosemary leaves and the whole garlic cloves. Fry on a medium heat for about 10 minutes, stirring all the while, until the potatoes start to soften a little. Then place the pan in the oven and cook for about 25 minutes, or until the potatoes are lightly golden, both on the top and the bottom.

Take the pan out of the oven and cover it with a piece of damp wax paper. Wrap your hand in a tea towel, or use a perfectly sized plate, and press down on the paper to flatten and compact your rösti. Remove the wax paper and place the pan back in the oven for 25 minutes. Cut into slices and serve.

Ward and I have come to the conclusion that the strenuous, active part of gardening (translation: planting) doesn’t fit well with well-planned, delicious, homecooked meals.

So, in honour of this week’s gardening efforts, it is Fast (Quick) Food week here at Muse in the Kitchen.

First up this week was the fabulous Jamie’s Spaghetti, which everyone loves around here. It’s just too bad we can’t have it every day. (I say that, and I don’t even like spaghetti.)

Then there were not just one, but TWO nights of the classic Eggs on Rice. For those of you who are not of Asian descent, this is a gorgeous, tasty and extremely easy dish. (See recipe below)

Tonight, though, we’re really tired - we cleared out some dying cedar bushes along the side of our property and planted shade-loving perennials along the fence. I use "we" liberally - Ward did all the hard work, but then again, he’s the one who cooks, which is why we’re having a fast food week here.

So I’m going to suggest pizza. From Pizzaville. Not that it’s a rainy day …

Eggs on Rice

Here’s what you need:

Hot cooked rice

Eggs (preferably free-range)

Soy sauce (quality soy sauce)

Pure sesame oil

And here’s how you make it:

Prepare your eggs sunny-side up. Put them on top of your rice. Douse with soy sauce and sesame oil, to taste. Slice through eggs so that the yolks break and you have smaller pieces of egg white. Mix together with rice thoroughly. Enjoy.