Cooking with fresh seafood this week has really helped me figure out the flow of my new kitchen. Which in turn has rekindled my culinary fire -- I have been having fun cooking again! We all go through slumps; writers get block, ball players strike out and chefs loose their heat. Fortunately mine is on fire again due to some great ingredients and the Summer’s sun.

Unlike Chef Ryan, I have never been much of a fisherman, no patience for it, or golf for that matter, so I get my fish from the store. As I mentioned in an earlier blog, buy the freshest fish available, and for this recipe that fish was Salmon. You could use other fish for this recipe with good results but keeping with the rule, salmon it is!

We have been in the new house for two weeks now and are thoroughly enjoying everything about the house and new found space! I however have been struggling to find my flow in the kitchen. It is a combination of not having cooked for some time (I was between kitchens), eating out more than usual (I wasn’t cooking), and still trying to figure out the flow of my new kitchen (the new layout and equipment has thrown me off).

They say that we should eat more fish and I agree and am trying to work fish into the weekly menu. When I talk to people about fish they say things like I don’ know how to cook fish so we don’t eat it, or I don’t like fish (usually because they don’t know how to cook it).

I am a huge fan of seafood; come to think of it “seafood fanatic” would be a more accurate description. I love all the different tastes and textures that the varieties of fish and shellfish have to offer. Stronger flavoured fish such as salmon, mackerel and tuna stand up really well to aggressive seasoning and bold flavours. While more delicately flavoured and textured fish such as sole, haddock and halibut often benefit from a simple seasoning of sea salt and fresh ground pepper.