I knew last night that salmon was for dinner tonight.  What I didn’t know was exactly how I was going to make it.

Fish in and of itself is extremely easy to cook.  Almost any fillet can go into a 350° oven for 10 minutes or under a broiler for about 5 minutes.  That’s it.  No flipping, no turning.  Done.

And a simple marinade before or a topping of sauce or salsa when it comes out can make ordinary into spectacular.

I went for the marinade and broiler tonight:  Lemon balsamic vinegar, olive oil, garlic, and dill.   Under the broiler for about 5 minutes.

The fun part of dinner, though was the cauliflower purée.  I had seen a recipe recently for a scallops with cauliflower purée somewhere, but when I went looking for it today, I couldn’t find it.  The only thing I remembered was that it had a potato in it, so…

Cauliflower Purée

  • 1 head cauliflower, cut into florettes
  • 1 russet potato, peeled and cubed
  • milk
  • salt
  • pepper
  • garlic
  • 1/2 cup shredded pecorino romano cheese
  • 1/4 cup heavy cream

Place cauliflower and potato in pot and add just enough milk to allow vegetables to simmer.  Cover and cook about 15 minutes on low heat or until vegetables can be easily mashed.

When fully cooked, drain milk, reserving some to thin, if necessary.  Add heavy cream and purée vegetables (I used an immersion blender) until smooth.  Add salt, pepper, and garlic powder to taste.  Add additional cooking milk to thin to desired consistency.

The salmon went very well atop the purée.  One could taste each of the flavors independently, yet they all blended perfectly together.  On the side was a rice and grain mixture of brown rice, red rice, mahogany rice, black barley, red radish seed, black onion seed, and wild rice.

And for dessert, Victor made a chocolate orange cake with an orange buttercream icing.

More on that, later…