Food Experiment #1: Curry Salmon, Chevre and Onion Toast

So since we don’t eat out ALL the time, I figured it was time to let you in on the little experiments I do around the house. It’s a well-known fact to my friends that I love to cook. It’s a creative outlet for me, and a stress reliever. When you’re cooking, you’re not thinking about work. You’re working on not burning yourself or cutting off a digit. You’re inventing and get to enjoy your invention immediately.

When you come to eat at my house, you’re not going to get something ordinary. Usually, as I do with my family, I whip up something from whatever is at the house. Sometimes I’ll have a vague idea of what we have and pick up an ingredient or two, but this is all part of the creativity and fun. Oftentimes, these experiences turn out super good. I have one cooking right now. So I figured I’d document what I came home to, what I came up with, shoot a quick pic, and let you know how it turned out. Deal?

Tonight, my daughter is not feeling well, so she got some canned soup. My wife already ate, so that left me to experiment with the flavors I like. So I pulled out some packaged Pink Salmon (my doctor says eat more salmon), Thai curry that expired two years ago, dill relish, and yellow mustard. I mixed them all well together and set aside. Next, I fished out the Chevre cheese from my wife’s Cheese of the Month Club shipment I got her for an anniversary gift last year (hint, guys: awesome), and cut some medium slices. Next, I cut three very thin slices of onions and grabbed a piece of 9-grain sprouted bread from the freezer.

After warming up the bread, I layered the salmon mixture, then cheese, then onions on top and put it under the broiler in the toaster oven. Now I’m waiting until there’s a nice black on the edges of the onion before I fish it out.

Waiting… waiting… waiting….

Great. Edges of the toast are blackening with thin pieces of the onion. Cheese sticking out underneath is melted and browning. Time to remove it and eat.

Eating… eating… eating….

Verdict: DELISH!

Crunchy earthy toast, chewy salmon flavor with a hint of spice, chunks of relish and acid set it off nicely. Then you have a smear of oozy warm cheese to keep it all together and coat your mouth, topped off by the crunch and bite of the onion.

Here’s what I’d change: don’t just warm the bread, but lightly toast it so it stands up as a platform. For presentation, cut off the blackened edges and eat with a fork and knife. I ate mine with my hands, and though easy and fun, was very much a bachelor moment as it fell all over the place while I munched it down.

Drink of choice: Kikusui Junmai Ginjo Sake. Why? Because it’s light and goes with anything – specifically, it emphasized the spice and brightened it up. And I love sake. Check out the SHEDrinks awesome blog on my new favorite drink. And please DO try this experiment at home.