Today's salad supper, perfect for simple summer evenings: Peppery arugula tossed with a sweet fruity-mustard dressing, then topped with bites of smoked trout, fresh fruits and veggies. Totally adaptable, so simple but special. Destined for a go-to dinner! ~recipe updated, first published way back in 2007~
~more recently updated recipes~
~more recently updated recipes~
WAY BACK IN 2007
Day One: Christine from My Plate or Yours raved about a smoked mullet dip. We bantered back and forth a bit on e-mail.
Day Two 7 am: Arggh. I was, um, hooked. I woke up wanting smoked fish dip NOW. (For breakfast, Alanna?)
Day Two 11am: A client's husband was off to fetch fish from Bob's Seafood, the best (and in my opinion, only) place to buy fresh fish in St. Louis, for their supper. When I asked if he'd mind buying smoked fish for me, he and my client answered, nearly simultaneously, "You need a smoker!" Now he's an accomplished foodie and Anne Cori is chef so I trust their judgments without question. An hour later, he'd picked up the fish from Bob's, he'd picked up a stovetop smoker from her store, the wonderful Kitchen Conservatory – and she gave me a lesson in hot-smoking shrimp, scallops and trout!
And this stuff is heaven! I'm looking forward to learning more about the stovetop smoker – including, with any luck, some vegetables. More on that, later. (Fast Forward Two More Days: My first foray with smoker at home turned out beautifully, just scallops and shrimp and OH SO EASY.)
In the mean time, the sauce the client recommended for the trout turned out to be a delicious oil-free dressing on arugula – snipped fresh from the client's home garden. Yes, indeed, this is a client with "fringe benefits"! Thank you, Anne, thank you, Tom! And Christine, thanks to you, too, for the inspiration that started this odyssey!
UPDATE Eight years passed between Salad One and Salad Two but it wasn't eight weeks before the next one. So simple. So good. So perfect for a sumptuous summer supper. Just look how pretty! I've become partial to smoked whitefish but trout remains wonderful, so does hot-smoked salmon. And scallops!
AN EXTRA PERSONAL NOTE Looking back, I'm wondering if it was this morning that set in motion events that led to being invited to a 4th of July party at the client's home where The Man With the Hands and I first met. Could it be? It just might!
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