Sunday, August 1 - Salmon with Orange Teriyaki Glaze

Cherry Tomato Salad

1 lb. cherry tomatoes, sliced in half

1 Tbsp garlic, minced

1 tsp crushed red pepper

5 basil leaves, minced

¼ cup extra virgin olive oil

1 Tbsp balsamic vinegar

¼ lb mozzarella, cubed

Salt/pepper

Cut tomatoes in half and season with salt and pepper.

Combine salt, pepper, garlic, pepper, basil, olive oil and vinegar and whisk together. Refrigerate until chilled.

Combine tomatoes with mozzarella and spoon into 4 martini glasses. Spoon 1 tablespoon of the dressing over tomatoes and mozzarella in each glass.

We like to serve these in a martini glass. We got the idea from the amazing & delectable Lahaina Grill in Maui, where we went for our honeymoon. Mike still raves that meal was one of (if not THE) best meal he's had in is life. If you visit their website, their heirloom cherry tomato salad is shown on its front page!






SALMON WITH ORANGE TERIYAKI GLAZE


12 oz. of fresh Alaskan wild caught Coho salmon

1/3 cup orange juice
1/3 cup teriyaki sauce
3 tbsp. sesame oil
2 tsbp. fresh chopped ginger
1 tbsp. fresh lime juice


Mix the ingredients together in a baking dish. Marinate the salmon in the liquid for 1-2 hours. As the fish is about to go on the grill, give it a light dusting of sesame seeds.


Grill the salmon no more than 5 minutes per side. A full 10 minutes will make the salmon a medium to medium well. If you like your salmon a bit rarer (which we don't), only grill it for about 7 minutes total.


We grilled a few mushrooms (with some extra sauce poured over them), and then steamed some broccoli to add to the dish. We tossed the broccoli with a little butter, lemon juice, salt & pepper. Also as a side dish, we added a lemongrass rice that we picked up at Sprouts for about $2 a packet. It was a cheap shortcut, and we wished we had put a bit more effort into the rice!


To offset the citrus in the sauce, we chose a spicy but smooth Pinot to go with the dish...(Sabrina helped us pick it out.)

We were driving through the Santa Barbara area and couldn't help making a quick trip up to Santa Ynez tp stock up on some of our favorites (Curtis & Gainey). When we were waiting for the restaurant in Los Olivos to open for lunch, we happened upon the Byron tasting room. We normally avoid tasting rooms in town since we much prefer the experience of visiting the vineyard, but sometimes that's not an option. Byron's wines were absolutely delicious. They are best knows for their chards, but they also make a killer Pinot. We pulled out their basic Pinot which retails for about $25, but we also HIGHLY recommend their Julia's Vineyard Pinot (more expensive at $40 a bottle)....this wine comes from the same clone vineyard as the Pinots we love from Cambria. Dare we say Byron does a little better job with their Pinot from Julia's Vineyard than Cambria does...