How to cook a Sockeye

The Sockeye are running and boy, are they good.

I never imagined I would be able to discern different types of salmon, but after living in the Northwest for so many years, I've found that Sockeye tastes different than Coho; Cut Throat tastes different than Chinook.

When confronted with my first fillet of fresh salmon, I didn't have a clue about how to cook it. I was advised to layer it with slices of orange and onion, wrap it in all up in foil and bake it.

Later, when I got a beautiful hunk of fish, I remembered a wonderful breakfast I ate in Japan. I was traveling with a group of potters and we had stayed in a traditional Japanese Inn. The innkeeper gave us a most unusual and delicious breakfast: Cold trout that had been cooked in a sweet soy and spice sauce. (If you're ever eaten fish with hashi, while the fish--head and all--looks on in shocked horror, is an adventure in dexterity.)

I remembered that wonderful cold fish and tried to duplicate it's flavor. So here goes:

Mix a up a combination of the following:

1 T. sugar (brown sugar is good too)

3 - 4 T. Japanese rice vinegar or sake, if you choose

Stir until the sugar is dissolved.

Add olive oil equal to or 2/3rds more of the vinegar (ex. 3 T. vinegar; 5 T. olive oil)

Add in soy sauce to taste. I usually put in an equal amount of soy to vinegar

Add Basil, garlic, bay leaf, Worcestershire sauce--whatever seasoning you like.

Mix this all up and set aside. Be sure to mix again before adding to the fish.

Put some extra virgin olive oil in a non-stick pan. Heat it to medium-high and lay the fish, skin side down into the oil and cook until you see the meat change half-way up the fillet. Gently turn the fish over and begin cooking the other side.

Just after you do this, pour the seasoning mix over the fish. If your pan is hot, it will sizzle a lot. Turn the head down and poach the fish to finish cooking. The sauce with naturally thicken. Spoon it over the fish if you want or drizzle it over the finished dish to serve.

Only turn the fish once. Serve with a green salad and home-baked bread. Or make sauteed spinach and breaded tomatoes as side dishes.

I love cold, left-over fish for breakfast. Served with buttered toast points, it's privileged eating indeed. I remember that great cold Japanese trout, the kippered herring from the UK, the wonderful pickled herring I first ate in Amsterdam.

Every molecule of my Scottish and Scandinavian DNA rises up and thanks me with each mouthful.

And now for something completely different......

Here's a fruitcake your friends won't "re-gift" or use as a doorstop.

Every year I bake it for my children's families and ourselves. It's not the kind you make in October and keep pouring the Napoleon brandy into every so often, although you can do this if you want.

It all started because I can't eat the multi-colored citron you find in stores at this time of year. They are all preserved with sulfur dioxide. I'm allergic to that. It gives me migraine.

A few years ago, I discovered non-sulfide mango spears. I had experimented with substituting dates, prunes and nuts, apples. They were all good, but not quite the texture I was looking for. So, one year I put in the chopped mango and Voila! --perfect fruitcake.

So here it is.

I don't give this recipe to just anyone, mind.

Dark Fruitcake

3 c. raisins

6 oz. orange juice concentrate, undiluted

1/2 c. molasses

1/2 c. sugar

1 link (1/2 c.) butter

3 eggs

1 1/4c. flour

1/4 t. soda

1/2 c. chopped walnuts

1 teaspoon each of cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, mace, coriander, ginger and allspice

1 c. diced, dried papaya

In a saucepan, combine orange juice, molasses and raisins and heat until bubbly. Simmer 5 minutes and cool.

In a bowl or mixer, cream butter and sugar. Add eggs.

In another large bowl, sift dry ingredients. Add butter, egg, sugar mix and blend. Add nuts and then citron/molasses/orange juice mix. Blend all well and pour into:

2 loaf pans, greased and floured, or one large tube pan.

Place in the lowest shelf of the oven and bake at 275 degrees until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. --About 1 hr. for tube pan, 45 minutes for the loaf pans.

Cool and put in air-tight container (add brandy if you choose after 1 day) or wrap in plastic wrap until ready to eat.

It smells heavenly while baking; is better after one day (if you can wait that long!)

My Gift to You! Merry Christmas