Fish & Shrimp

[Lightning]

This was an impromptu meal in several ways.

First, I had leftover spiral potatoes on hand from the other night.  The cast iron potato spiral is rapidly becoming one of my favourite ways to cook potatoes:





There was a PC points special on packages of salmon filets at the store earlier in the week so I bought a package.  I had several bags of frozen, uncooked shrimp in the freezer from a previous PC points special so I let both defrost in the fridge figuring I'd do a nice, little seafood barbecue last night.  Traffic was an unmitigated disaster yesterday though and the drive home from work took a hair over three hours so I didn't have time to prepare shrimp skewers like I had originally planned and I opted to fry them instead.  The first thought for frying them was on the stovetop inside but when I saw how small the salmon filets were, I thought it'd be a waste of charcoal to use the barbecue only for the fish so I opted for a regular cast iron pan and put it over the coals after the fish had seared and been moved across to the cool side of the grill.











And the finished dinner:



I've got leftovers for tonight which is great.  I feel like a burnt out train wreck and by the time I get home from work tonight, I don't want to do much more than shove leftovers into the microwave oven and be done with it.

[OkieGirl]

That looks delicious! I love shrimp and have been trying to acquire a taste for salmon...but not there yet.
That last pic is inspirational. 
The potatoes look great too, kinda remind me of Hasselbacks, which we love.

[SixZeroFour]

CI potatoes are SO good. Fantastic looking cook Lightning!

[Lightning]

That looks delicious! I love shrimp and have been trying to acquire a taste for salmon...but not there yet.
That last pic is inspirational. 
The potatoes look great too, kinda remind me of Hasselbacks, which we love.

This is actually the first time I've cooked salmon.  I don't cook fish very often and never salmon before now because I need to re-acquire a taste for it after my parents ruining it for me.  I'll post a picture of a meal of salmon I took at their place a few years ago to help explain why:



Plain salmon.  Plain carrots.  Plain cauliflower.  Plain peas.  Plain potato.  You can see the four little stab marks where the potato got poked with a fork so it could be microwaved without exploding.

Plain.  Plain.  Plain.  Plain.
Bland.  Bland.  Bland.  Bland.

And that's how salmon was always made in my family.  Last night, it was salmon that came off the list of foods that I no-thanks pass up cooking at home because I have no interest in them after growing up on them being prepared in the blandest way possible.  Peas are still something I've never cooked though.

CI potatoes are SO good. Fantastic looking cook Lightning!

Thanks!  It turned out really well.  Potatoes are something that really benefit tremendously from being cooked in cast iron.  A good garlic mashed potatoes can be wonderful but it's something I haven't been able to pull off well yet and baked potatoes can be nice too, but different seasonings, different cuts, baked or fried or au gratin in cast iron really works well.

I was thinking about the potato in the picture that got zapped in the microwave oven and microwave cooking in general and no.  Just no.  Popcorn and reheating leftovers are about all that microwave ovens are good for.  I love my radio frequency stuff, just not for cooking.

[bamakettles]

Looks really good!  I don't like bland fish either... The way we prepare salmon is very different from what I grew up with as well.  My mom used to make salmon croquets using canned salmon, crackers and eggs.  Not sure if she used much seasoning either - made patties out of the mush and fried them in a skillet.  Not my favorite..... We prefer searing salmon cuts on a cast iron skillet or griddle with butter, olive oil and red lobster seafood seasoning which turns out flaky, tasty and light.  Thanks for sharing your methods as well!

[Big Dawg]

Mmmmmmmm . . . Surf 'n Surf . . . a favorite !





BD

[Lightning]

Looks really good!  I don't like bland fish either... The way we prepare salmon is very different from what I grew up with as well.  My mom used to make salmon croquets using canned salmon, crackers and eggs.  Not sure if she used much seasoning either - made patties out of the mush and fried them in a skillet.  Not my favorite..... We prefer searing salmon cuts on a cast iron skillet or griddle with butter, olive oil and red lobster seafood seasoning which turns out flaky, tasty and light.  Thanks for sharing your methods as well!

The salmon croquets don't sound very good but the salmon in the skillet looks far better!  I'll have to give that a try sometime.