Sicily Sweet and Sour

When at the Velveteers tavern we planned the hosting calendar, I chose the month of September when I would have been in Sicily.
Despite the good propositions, life in my family house can get easily out of hands. Too lazy, too relaxed, with rhythms other than my owns and the possibility that at any time somebody could drop in my room startling the hell out of me; it is not an easy environment where to concentrate in front of a screen, let alone that the TV right there, beside me. TV is indeed a strange beast, if you don’t have it you don’t miss it, but if it is around it will inevitably attract you like a magnet and so you are lost zapping between channels trying to find something watchable; settling often over a re-run of decades old TV-series (god bless Angela Lansbury and her Murder, She Wrote series!).
Days pass by like sand between your fingers; a coffee and chat with mom, some TV, some more chat with sis, more TV, brainstorming with mom about dinner, more TV. You don’t even notice and it is already dinner time and for me that means that I get to cook when all the others are already sit to dine (we have got only 3 working hobs). And so here I am, rather late for my monthly Velveteers post.

When I proposed to cook Caponata as the September Velveteers’ dish, I wanted to make it a family business but actually only I ended up eating the plated dish at the end of the shooting since we had already planned a chilli con carne night. I did though brainstorm with mom about the traditional way we are used to make this dish in my household so it still involved all the needed family members.

Poached Salmon salad

Unlike most of my recipes posted so far, this is quite light and refreshing. Perfect for a summer evening!

Ingredients (enough for 2 servings):

• Ca 20 parsley branches;
• 1/2 red onions, sliced;
• 1 l of water;
• 1 lime, juiced;
• Few black peppercorns;
• 1 shallot, sliced;
• Half of a small leek, chopped;
• 250 g salmon fillet;
• 1 big eggplant, sliced and grilled;
• 1 tbsp of capers;
• Olive oil;
• Salt and Pepper.

Procedure:

Wash the red onions, place them in a colander and sprinkle with salt. Set them aside. Wash the parsley and pick the leaves from the stems. Poor the water in a pan wide enough to contain the salmon fillet but not too much, so it will be well covered by the water. Add to the pan the parsley stems, the shallot, the leek and half of the lime. Bring this broth to a boil. Lower the flame and when it will reach a bare simmer throw in the peppercorns and the salmon.
Poach the fish for roughly 5 min or till when it will be properly cooked (when pressed on the sides using your thumb and second finger it should result slightly springy). Fish it out and set aside to cool down.

Wash off the capers the brine or the vinegar and place them in the salad bowl with the parsley leaves roughly chopped and the shredded grilled eggplant.
Rinse the onions and squeeze them well before adding them to the salad.
Coarsely crumble the salmon with your fingers and add it to the salad bowl
Dress the salad with the lime juice and a splash of olive oil and enjoy!

As a variation you can try adding to the salad some cottage cheese.

Tonight’s Dinner – Penne rigate with creamy-spicy Tuna sauce

Here we are, at the end of another day; the last day of Carnival somewhere but here, the day of sleepiness. :p Carnival finished yesterday night and today the mood in the city was very relaxed, quiet, melancholic… Well… I am not such a big fun of the Carnival as it is declined here in Bonn; but it is nice to see people having fun (as long as you don’t have to pick up all the barrels of beers emptied every day).
What did I have for dinner tonight? Yesterday, before falling to sleep, I realized that it was quite long time I did not cook Italian “cotolette” (breaded and fried slices of beef) but, naturally, I forgot about them again this evening only for being reminded by my mother (they were also having cotolette for dinner, what a coincidence!); I was already planning of cooking myself some pasta in tuna sauce. This time I wanted to try some creamy tuna sauce. So here you are the results (sorry, no picture today… just forgot about it :P)

What do you need?