Salmon for the soul

I've had fish on the brain lately. I recently discovered the joys of fresh, never been frozen, Carolina ocean waters fish. Each week it is hand delivered (as in they go to the shore, fish and bring the wonderfulness back) to the Queen City by a group of men who love to eat fresh fish. On their website they call themselves 'foodies'...no wonder I like them. The name of their company is called Hattie's Fresh Market. They have a fish market in Davidson, but they sell it at the lovely Bradford Store on Saturday mornings! Bring cash, and the man with the wild sailor hair will hand over the best tasting fish you'll ever eat. Ever. Period. We've had the flounder, and the salmon (flown in fresh from Canada) and I plan on getting crab and scallops this weekend. Last night I fixed salmon that had been waiting patiently all week in my fridge. When I got him home on Saturday, I left Mr. Salmon in the plastic bag, and put the bag over ice in a bowl and a towel over the bowl. An actual refrigerator temperature is not cold enough but a freezer is too cold. Fresh fish need a happy medium, therefore being in the fridge over ice I guess is a good guess. *If your ice melts like mine did after a few days, just hit the ice button again on the side door of your freezer and refill the bowl. Quickly introduce your fish back into the fridge. After I got him out, I cut him into two 6-7 oz pieces and laid each piece on a sheet of wax paper. After that...a magical thing happened that only included two ingrediants: olive oil and lemons. I brushed the oil all over the top of the fish skin side down, and placed the lemons on top overlapping one another. (Here you could add a sprig of thyme, rosemary, pepper, ect. The possibilities are up to you.)



Take the paper and fold it over, making a little pouch for the fish to steam in.

Bake 20-25 minutes at 400 degrees. The lemons infuse the fish with freshness and the oil makes it incredibly moist. The fish will steam itself by using the wax paper pouch you created! To your discretion when it's done baking, cut the paper off and serve! Note * The skin will most likely stick to the paper, (mine did!) so just run a spatula under the fish getting the meat and discard the skin along with the paper. Actually that part is kind of up to you, some people like the skin. Me...not so much.



Have a happy Friday and a happy weekend at that! A high priority of ours this weekend is a breakfast at Toast Cafe as the doors to the original Toast are being closed this Sunday. No worries, they are just moving across the street but it's still very bittersweet and I'm taking it kind of personal. Ha. I am so excited for a local small restaurant to have 'outgrown' their teeny tiny humble abode but at the same time that was one of the first places I ever became familiar with when I first moved to this city. I knew where two things were. My home and Toast. And they both reminded me of each other. I am a creature of habit can you tell?