Salmon in Tennessee

By Biscuit Boy, edited by Biscuit Brother:

(Red Bank, TN)

First of all, happy Labor Day to all workers who are members of unions, workers who have protections bought by union labor (40 hour work week, overtime, etc.), and those who will hopefully have those protections one day.

I have been vacationing at the Biscuit Pere's compound in Red Bank, TN (Motto: "The best suburb entirely enclosed by Chattanooga city limits."). After days of beer, hospitality, and wonderful food from restaurants we don't get in Alexandria, I felt the need to: 1. Sleep In (Bass fishing yesterday was hard, and I only caught one.)...

and 2. Fix fish for dinner. First, we went over to Fresh Market for the piece de resistance. I found some wild King Salmon from Alaska that would be the main course. That and some Swiss chard (and some cocoa nib chocolate for me to bring back to Biscuit Girl) came home with us.

I debated how to prepare the salmon. I originally thought about sesame-crusted since my mother loves sesame seeds, and doesn't use the large jars we've brought back. But then I thought about the rosemary bush. I don't get fresh home-grown herbs often in Alexandria; so, I decided to search it out to make skewers for chunks of salmon. I first went over by the service stairs, only to find that the servants had planted tarragon over by the stairs.

Where was the rosemary? I went to the other side of the manor, finding tomatoes (TOMATOES!) apparently planted by the servants as well.

I finally found the rosemary bush, approximately the size of a grocery cart, at the corner of the house.

I cut off about 10 sturdy skewers of rosemary, and brought them back up to the kitchen. We removed the skin from the salmon, chunked it up into one inch cubes or folded pieces, and stuck it onto the rosemary. For the marinade, I used the zest of one lemon, one lemon's juice, about a half cup of oil, a half cup of Cuervo Tradicional tequila, a generous teaspoon of minced garlic, and a pinch of salt. The salmon sat in that around an hour.

In the meantime, I sauteed 5 sliced garlic cloves and the stems of swiss chard, then removed the garlic. I also put some quartered little white potatoes in the oven to roast. After they had roasted for 30 minutes or so, I put the skewers of salmon onto a hot grill, and turned them every 2 or 3 minutes. After about 7 or 8 minutes, I took them up and they were perfectly done, not overcooked, just a little pink in the middle.

We reheated the pan with the chard stems, and threw in the leaves and wilted them with the sliced garlic thrown back in. The potatoes were ready as well.

We paired this with a Spanish Verdeho wine. Dinner met with silence. Nobody was talking because they were busy eating. My younger brother finally thanked me. You know hard hard that is to get.*

Now my mother has gone out to see if there are any runners off of the rosemary bush to send home with me. I hope that rosemary runners in dirt are not a contraband substance according to the TSA, at least not in checked baggage. I know both my dog Sophie and my parent's dog Java don't like the smell of it. I hope the drug dogs don't either.

*(Editor's Note: Balls to you, Biscuit Brother.)