Saturday, June 11, 2016 – Of all the Ingredient Challenges, there was still one I hadn’t made: salmon with kimchi. It was suggested to me by my coworker Eric S. So I had to do one last dinner party to finish up the series.
So a refresher: the challenge was salmon, cantaloupe, orange juice, kimchi, and artichokes. I ended up roasting the artichokes and mixing it with the kimchi and some mayo to make a slaw, pureeing the cantaloupe with the orange juice and reducing it to make a sauce, and serving it all on top of the salmon. When I originally made the dish, I just piled everything on the salmon. But for presentation, I think it’s better to serve them separately and have the guests mix them.
The artichokes don’t really have a presence in the kimchi slaw. I needed them to fulfill the challenge, but if I were to do it on my own, I’d just make a kimchi mayo slaw without any artichokes. (You’ll see me do exactly this later.) Interestingly, while at the farmer’s market, one of the booths was selling something called “kimchi + cream cheese = kimcheese”. Sounds promising. But more on that later.
As for the sauce, the cantaloupe and orange juice sauce taste fine on the fish, but on its own, the sauce actually tastes really weird. Again, I needed it for the challenge, and it kinda worked. But if I were to make this dish again, I’d cut the sauce. (Again, you’ll see me do exactly this later.) Plus, anything with this much sugar will burn and leave burnt crud on your pans. Would not recommend.
For the starter, I made guacamole. (And served it with some storebought chips, because I’m not making chips.) This was mainly to practice my knife skills (as I mentioned earlier). Besides, the menu was so eclectic that it didn’t really matter what the starter was.
For the dessert, I’d always had a theory that raw cookie dough tastes better than actual cookies. (Disclaimer: Raw or undercooked food may contain foodborne illness. Eat raw cookie dough only at your own risk.) But it would be weird if you showed up at a party with raw cookie dough.
Until now.
I made cookie dough, except I used milk instead of eggs (because most people have hang-ups over the raw eggs in raw cookie dough), to make it “safe”. (Again, disclaimer.) Since solid chunks of chocolate chips wouldn’t be particularly appetizing in a dessert like this, I opted to sprinkle cinnamon and nutmeg on top of the cookie dough and top with whipped cream, in a “snickerdoodle” style.
Unfortunately, I decided to chill the cookie dough overnight (for food safety reasons). And of course, butter becomes hard as rock when chilled, so the cookie dough was also hard as rock. If I were to do it over again, I’d either (a) let the cookie dough come back to room temperature or (b) make the cookie dough the same day and have it room temperature at all times. It depends on how much time I have that day.
Bonus: One of my guests didn’t want raw cookie dough. So I took her ramekin and tossed it in the oven for about 8 minutes. This is what happened. It was apparently still delicious. Because it’s piles of sugar and fat, and it wasn’t burnt. (Photo credit: Joy)