Salmon stuffed with cilantro-garlic cream cheese:
This is another cooking experiment which has won me a pleasant bit of praise from my family and most of my friends. It has few ingredients, and it's fairly easy to make. The only problem is that a significant number of people absolutely detest cilantro, so I wouldn't recommend this dish to just anyone.
Ingredients:
1. One or more fresh(!) salmon filets, skinned.
2. One or more cloves of garlic
3. Three or more
Tbsp of softened Cream Cheese
4. Three or more
stalks of cilantro, also known as
Chinese parsley.
5.
Salt
Peel and mince the garlic. You might be able to use garlic powder instead, but fresh minced garlic is better for this recipe.
As for the cilantro, remove the thicker stems, and mince the rest. If the chef has never tried cilantro by now, give it a big whiff. You should know
by then whether you would ever eat it in a million years. In my experience, the dried stuff is nearly worthless, unfortunately, and it should only be used as a desperation move. I also wouldn't recommend the South American broad-leaved cilantro (a.k.a Culantro) for this dish because the texture is too thorny and intrusive. That stuff is great for salsa though, and good salsa is an easy way to taste heaven, in my opinion.
Thoroughly mix the garlic, cilantro, and cream cheese, then set aside.
Butterfly the salmon filets. To the cooking-challenged, to butterfly means to
slice it so it can be opened up like a book.
Spread the cream cheese mixture into the salmon, and fold it back up.
Now to cook it: My favorite way is to put the filets into a grill cage, which is a hinged grill apparatus which holds the fillets together during
grilling. I simply grill that over a medium flame on both sides until done. I've occasionally done it without the gadget, but there is a real danger
that that everything will stick to the grill and get torn up in the process. To play it safe instead, I'd recommend broiling, or maybe even
steaming. Sprinkle some salt on them during cooking.
Try serving with steamed
asparagus covered with
hollandaise sauce,
vinaigrette salad, hot crusty bread, and a
baked potato with
butter.