Crisp Salmon with New Potato Crab Hash

Oh Yah We Were Italian

First of all we lived in close proximity to about 250 Cousins, Uncles and Aunts. In our family three brothers had married three sisters in Naples Italy. They had 18 children, my mother the youngest of them. Close proximity means very close, like in the same house. Here you found my grandparents when they were still alive, my Uncle Gigi and Aunt Esther, Aunt Teresa mom's sister, her brother Uncle Peter, Mama Lee, my brother and I and of course a restaurant that sat another 50 guests nightly.

It was a 19 room house with 11 bedrooms on the top two floors. Two of the bedrooms were in the attic. Now they were finished nicely wallpaper and all. There were Italians living in the two houses next to us, the Valente's, they had two houses the size of ours side by side that housed four or five factions of their family including the grandparents, all the girl children and their husbands and children. My Uncle, Dr. Bove lived across the street with my five cousins. He was really a first cousin of my mother but we never bothered with that distinction, he was Uncle Eddie aka "the doc". His was a huge house that at one time contained his office where he saw patients. Then he opened a new office, you guessed it, across the street and above his office just so we didn't waste a inch of space lived Aunt Dot and Uncle John his brother and my cousin Paul.

 

How close was the new office you ask? Well when my brother would come home late and mom would ask him in the morning "what time did you get in" he would answer 1pm or so trying to be vague as possible and Aunt Dot sitting with her coffee and donut would chirp in "it was 2:15, she never slept! Right on the same block and around the corner was my Uncle Vic, mom's other brother who had taken over my grandfather's grocery store and he lived above the store with my cousins Barry, Vic Jr. and his wife Aunt Gina. When my brother moved back to Rutland after college and bought his first home, yup right there on the other side of the Valentes just 4 doors down from where he grew up and directly across from Uncle Eddie, Aunt Chris and the 5 cousins.

There was family everywhere and we were an Italian neighborhood. As part of that dynamic it seemed important that we all had a grape vine, ours was the biggest and covered a beautiful slate patio out back. How I remember picking and eating those concord grapes off the vine during football season. The old wine presses were in still in our cellar along with a dirt wine room but with the passing of my grandfather went that technology and passion. Our vine was identical to old Mr. Valente's, not 50 yards away however for some reason when he wasn't looking his grapes tasted a bit better.

I don't believe we ever went to a grocery store, everything was delivered to our house from the Italian bakery, or the food purveyors. We never ate a loaf of white bread or a can of anything! If we went to a grocery it was Uncle Vic's or the Salarni Brothers who were the only ones that could cut the braciole the way my mother wanted it.

Every holiday brought with it "the gathering" especially Christmas where we would have 50 to 60 Aunts, Uncles and cousins for dinner at the restaurant. It was a closeness that was lost with the passing of my mother's generation. I miss it and am sorry that our children have missed out on it.

 

Mrs. Tom loves fish! Here is a new version for you.

 

Crisp Salmon with New Potato Crab Hash

Serves four

4 / 8 oz skin on salmon filets

20 small peeled and par-boiled new potatoes
1lb of lump crab
olive oil to sear the potatoes and fish
1bunch scallions/ chopped
mix together 4 tablespoons virgin olive oil, 3 tablespoons water and three tablespoons lemon juice...whisk together
fresh dill/chop do not bruise
10 oven roasted roma tomatoes cut in half
Salt & Pepper

In a sauce pan pour the oil and heat. Place the potatoes in the oil and sear them mash the potatoes with a fork until they are rustic mashed fold in the crab add the scallions season with salt-pepper, fresh dill and then fold on the center of the plate.

For the salmon - A Mrs. Tom Secret:

Place the salmon on a cutting board skin side up squeeze the salmon from end to end so it humps in the middle and with a sharp knife score the skin with 6 cuts just through the skin and into the flesh. Place the salmon skin side down in a hot skillet or pan with oil and sear for about 4 minutes do not touch salmon until you turn it. It will keep the fish crispy and will hold its shape because of the scoring of the skin.

Place the fish on top of the hash drizzle with the oil, water, lemon mixture, place the tomatoes around the fish serve and enjoy.

Fresh Herb Salmon with Eggplant Olive Relish

Restaurant to Propane

It has been a long Journey from my mother's kitchens and the restaurant where I grew up. Although I never meet my father I was surrounded by Aunts and Uncles that adored me and raised me like a little princess. My brother was gone by the time I was nine or ten and that left the castle to me. He likes to remind me of how they used to dress me up like a china doll. He didn't quite know how to react to that. I guess that's why as soon as they figured I wasn't going to be a concert pianist and they watched as I turned to horses as my life's first passion.

Our house was a fortress that at one time housed four families, but by the time I was 10 it was just us. There were 10 bedrooms on the top two floors, two were in the attic. My mother forged a great restaurant out of nothing in a residential section of downtown Rutland. She had strange ideas, trusted nobody except her brothers, sister and cousins. She wouldn't advertize, she thought it was a sign of weakness and people would think the business was in trouble if we did.

When Mr Tom and I first hooked up an answering machine on the home phone it infuriated her to no end. She despised technology. When mother called and we didn't pick up she would begin giving the phone "what for" it took her some time to grasp the idea that people on the other end could hear her. I can just see me trying to convince her today that she needs a facebook page to promote her business.

Today Mrs. Tom wants to share a healthy dish with an Italian Twist. Salmon is being touted as the new brain food said to stave off dementia and to increase your cognitive health. Thats why Mrs. Tom stays so sharp. This dish is very simple and you can use any kind of side dish, potato salad in the summer time, green beans or anything you like.

Fresh Herb Salmon w eggplant olive relish

Serves 4

21/2 lb piece of Salmon (skin removed)

3/4 cup of olive oil

1/4 cup of gresj squeezed lemon juice

3/4 cup fresh parsley (course shaved)

3/4 fresh dill (course shaved)

3/4 fresh basil (course shaved)

sal & pepper

Place the salmon in a shallow baking dish season with salt and pepper. Pour the oil and lemon juice on the fish, place the chopped fresh herbs on top of the fish put it back in the refrigerator for at least 1 hour, spoon the lemon and oil mixture over the top of the fish 2 or 3 times while it is marinating.

When the fish is ready heat the the grill and place the fish herb side up on your grill and close the lid do not flip the fish. Grill about 6-7 minutes basting the top of the fish a few times with the lemon olive oil...don't get too much oil at one time to cause a flame-up.

EGGPLANT OLIVE RELISH RELISH

1/2cup Olive oil

1 eggplant peeled and cubed (½ inch cube)

1Red pepper diced ¼ inch

2 TBS rough chopped garlic

2 TBS fine chopped shallot

1/2 bunch finely chopped green onion

1 cup black greek olives coarsely chopped

1/2 bunch Italian parsley chopped fine

5 large basil leaves chopped

Salt and pepper to taste

1/4 cup marinara sauce

 

Method:

Pour 1/4 cup the oil in a medium sauté pan

Lightly sweat (sauté) garlic shallots peppers and green onion

Increase to medium high heat and add eggplant.

Mix and sauté for 2-3 minutes to give good color add more oil if necessary

Mix in olives, herbs and marinara fold together 2 minutes

Season with salt and pepper to taste

Remove from heat and transfer to flat pan to cool under refrigeration

Mrs. Toms Secret

Pull your relish from the refrigerator and serve at room temperature or just warm. Ask your fish monger to skin the fish for you as it will be hard to cut once it comes off the grill.