... And I Slaved All Day.

My dear friend Mrs. M over at Tiers of Joy blogs about her cooking adventures and recipes all the time. I, on the other hand, detest cooking, and usually write about meals I've eaten, not cooked.

However, I was feeling adventurous today, and decided to... wait for it... COOK! I know, I know, she must be ill or something. But I was feeling particularly domestic because I had spent the morning browsing Target for linens, the afternoon planting impatiens in my garden, and doing laundry. I thought, why the hell not, go cook thyself something instead of having leftover pizza for dinner! (That leftover pizza will be breakfast. I'm not Martha Friggin' Stewart, all right?)

I checked my fridge and freezer contents, finding frozen meat (and not quite enough time to defrost them) and settled my eyes on salmon. I used to hate salmon (too much at Roanoke College, where we ate like Kings, my friends!) but I am gradually growing used to it again. Easy to defrost, salmon was my pick.

Now, we just bought a new grill... and I don't know how to light it or make it work. So grilling was out. I'm not a fan of pan-seared salmon so I decided to poach it. I'd read in my various cooking magazines  (and I am a subscriber of quite a few... don't ask me why. It's not like I actually cook the recipes in them!) that poached fish is quite delicious, so I thought I'd give it a try.

I Googled (thank God for Google, right?) how to poach salmon and found a delicious sounding recipe for poached salmon with a Dijon-dill sauce. I liked the sound of it, and began making preparations. I made my poaching liquid and set about preparing my Dijon-dill sauce, when I realize I don't have heavy cream. No problem, I happen to know that if you mix melted butter with milk (and a tablespoon of flour if you're using non-fat milk like I do) and combine, they become the same basic idea as heavy cream. It's just a thickening agent in my sauce anyway. No fear.

Then I realize I don't have dill, either. Well shit, the piece de resistance. Who the hell doesn't keep dill in their kitchen spice pantry? Me apparently. So I scramble through my spices and discover Parisienne, a nice little blend of chives and dill and other things. Ta Da! I make an executive decision that it will have to do (because hell, I've already made the poaching liquid and the fish is poaching along nicely).

Turns out, my executive last minute decisions were spot on, and the dish was a divine success. Served along side some rice pilaf (don't wet yourself, it was from a box, bless it's little Rice-A-Roni heart) it was a tasty treat.

So congratulations to me.


And now I have to clean up. Shit.

Poachedly yours,
Nay

Here is the recipe I used:
Poached Salmon with Dijon-Dill Sauce from cooks.com