Salmon: My Favourite Fish.

I live in salmon country. The City of Campbellton is situated along the banks of the Restigouche River which forms the boundary between New Brunswick and the province of Quebec.Salmon fishing is both a sport and an industry. Each year we hold a Salmon Festival that runs through July 1. It is a time of good food, fun and music.

My wife and I attend a number of community dinners and with the exception of Christmas; salmon is frequently on the menu.

The grocery stores carry salmon both fresh and frozen. I often purchase the frozen wild Atlantic salmon simply because it is considerably less expensive than the fresh. This means that salmon can be a meal anytime and not just on special occasions.

Now, the truth is I am not a big fan of most seafood, oysters make me want to gag and most fish, well it is edible, but I would not order it or spend much to buy it so it is rarely on the menu. However, salmon, I have developed a taste for, this took sometime but hey I’m there and we eat it twice a month or more.

Salmon, depending upon the dish, is not that difficult to prepare. The easiest way I know to make it is to pan fry it after marinating it for 4-6 hours in a lime with a sprinkling of dill, then I pan fry it in my black cast iron frying pan for about eight minutes per side.>

This goes very well with steamed asparagus and new white potatoes; the small ones steamed with oil olive drizzled over them while cooking.

Put it all on a plate add a dash of black pepper and serve. A glass or two of a Sauvignon Blanc completes this simple but oh so good meal.

Salmon works well on the BBQ, lemon juice and butter bring out the flavour as the salmon grills.

Salmon was not a dish we served at home, in fact we ate little fish aside from fish and chips and the pickerel or bass my fatherand I caught when was much younger. There is something about fresh caught fish cleaned and cooked shortly after being caught that just tastes right.

It has taken me several years to fully appreciate the possibilities of salmonbut I am happy I arrived.

I look forward to finding new ways to prepare it and find myself cruising the seafood section looking at salmon prices and wondering what seafood might tempt me next, maybe crab. I did have a crabmeat sandwich at lunch the other dayand it was quite good.