Extremely Random Salmon Success!

I'm tired. Like, obscenely tired. Like, slept from 6-7 pm before deciding that I should get out of bed and return at, say, 9:00.

After a few minutes of Marquito listing the things I might call for delivery - cuban, pizza, chinese, thai, each causing us more nausea than the last - and the places I might drive if I had ANY will to leave the house, I asserted that seductive third option: I can cook. Requiring movement from the sofa, this prospect Marco finds particularly nauseating.

At last I stalked with a surly glare into the kitchen. The refrigerator prognosis was bad. I've eaten a lot of augmented frozen pizzas lately. All out. No lettuce or crispy spinach. No broccoli. No beans, fresh meat, serviceable cheese. No leftovers. In the freezer, nothing meal-shaped. After days of oatmeal, ramen, and coffee, my body was begging for protein. I resolved to woman up and cook a salmon.

Trader Joes sells silverbrite salmon fillets frozen in pairs for cheap. Wild caught Alaskan.

I'm tired because I taught some general education university geology labs today - beginning at 8am. And last night, well, I should have stopped at that first draft Spaten Optimator. Hindsight.

So I was in a weird mood, ok? Just keep that in mind. Here's what I combined in one pot, heat off:

1.5 cup cooked spirally pasta
1 tsp olive oil
1/2 lemon juice
1 chopped fugi apple
1 fork drizzle of blackberry honey

And in a frying pan:

salmon fillet
1/3 red bell pepper, chopped to 2 cm chunks
2 green onion chives, chopped fine-ish
1.5 minced green aneheim (I think) peppers
1/2 lemon juice
1.5 fork drizzle blackberry honey
2 diced tamatillos

Plating: shallow bowl, with ladle of pasta salad next to about half the salmon entree, with six plump cherry tomatoes on the side of the pasta.

Appetizer: a half can of ripe green/black olives to savor.

Beverage: slightly warm can of Kirin Ichiban

Dessert: same olives, chilled.

Diagnosis: Totally delicious.

No photo will accompany this post, on-account-a there's too much sand in my camera.

It's a very proud success for me. I had a completely absurd assortment of ingredients. By no means do I support anyone going out and shopping to create this kind of meal. The lesson for me is that if I follow my pallet, in my indefatigable, Remy the Rat - esque confidence, I can make a delicious, healthy meal out of just about anything.

The big lesson here is what's NOT in the meal. Garlic. Crushed red pepper. Salt. Pepper.

In fact, I didn't use any seasonings at all. I'm pretty predictable. So when I'm hungover, surly, and don't want to cook, I think it's a response to what I image I'm going to make. Boredom.

Sometimes ya gotta surprise yourself.

So here are some details for order of operations:
Pull everything veggie-related from the fridge.
Leave the tomatoes on the counter to warm up. (Ideally they shouldn't be in the fridge to begin with, but hey. We're city people. Gotta protect that tomato investment.)
Set water boiling in a pot.
Thaw the salmon in the microwave.
Chop the veggies.
Cook the pasta without salt or oil.
Simmer the salmon in the frying pan. Low heat.
Open a can of olives, and eat some.
Drain the pasta and toss it right back in the pot with some oil.
Toss the veggies into the salmon.
Add lemon juice to both pots.
Dice the apple and toss into pasta.
Drizzle honey on both pots.
Dice the tomatillos and add to the salmon.

Somehow the olives really tied the meal together. I made enough for two but I would NEVER prepare this kind of meal with a guest. Not yet. It would have to be someone who's extrememly loving and forgiving, because it's quite likely it'll taste like crap. It's like ingredient rulette. Each time you add something, it could be just the additional flavor the meal needs, or it could be the staw that breaks the flavor's back. This time, I got lucky.