We all have comfort foods, at least one food we go to when we need stress relief or a reminder of home. In Alaska, that comfort food is often wild salmon.
When I was growing up, our family would go camping at Willow Creek while my dad was fishing with friends. I remember Mom cooking hours-fresh salmon filets, pan-fried with a light cornmeal coating. When we got home, we’d wrap each fish, name, and freeze it. (It kept us girls entertained to come up with the names and write them on the freezer paper.) All winter long, Mom would roast a salmon, announce which one it was this time, and we’d dig in, thanking Gertrude or Sammy or whoever we were eating that night.
Now, my husband is the one that catches salmon, dip-netting on the Copper River. Our favorite way to cook it is grilled, basted with half olive oil and half lemon juice, with a little garlic, chopped onion and spices added. When it’s too cold to grill or we want a change, salmon is also good smoked, or in chowder, quesadillas, omelets, patties…. You get the idea.
I am so lucky to have comfort food that is tasty and actually good for you, thanks to salmon being omega-3 rich. May your comfort food feed your body and your soul. Isn’t that why we eat anyway, for both reasons?
P.S. Celebrate spring with RTG’s Spring Has Sprung! Join us on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/events/1061234633949174/ or Pinterest at https://www.pinterest.com/marciakinggambl/spring-has-sprung/ until April 26.
Lynn Lovegreen grew up in Alaska, and still lives there. Her young adult/new adult historical romances are set in the Alaska Gold Rush, a great time for drama, romance, and independent characters. See her website at www.lynnlovegreen.com.
4 comments:
Yum! I love salmon but do not cook it so seldom actually eat it anymore. Just can't do the whole salmon - those eyes just did me in. The big treat when we spent a week at the beach each summer was a taste of smoked salmon. My dad would buy one pound and that was for five of us for 7 days - actually, it was mainly for my dad but he did share bits and pieces. Always nice when a comfort food is good for you!!!
Smoked salmon is a great treat, Judith. Glad you have good memories associated with it.
I love salmon! We ate it more often in California, as my husband caught it often in the Sacramento River. We have it in the rivers in Oregon, but those rivers are pretty far away from us. Great post!
I heard Alaska was big on salmon. My special favourite is honey smoked salmon, absolutely beautiful!
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