The Northwest Has Been Berry Good to Me

I don't suppose that anyone who has read my blog for very long would be surprised that my most recent culinary experiment (from the ground up, not refining previous efforts) would be a Northwest variation on a theme from elsewhere. But this time, I decided to foray into Northwest-Asian fusion. We do, after all, share the Pacific Rim with Asia, and in fact the U of O is home to the Center for Asian and Pacific studies, and for a city of less than 200,000 Eugene has an amazing number of Asian restaurants -- mostly Chinese, followed by Thai and then Japanese and fusion.

I decided that I'd get into the fusion mood in a big way, and so the name of my dish reflects not only the fusion of Northwest and Asian cuisine, but also a fusion of my love of cuisine and really really atricious puns. With that in mind, I present to you:

Rasperryaki Glaze
1 1/2 cups red raspberry syrup
1/2 cup soy sauce
1 tsp. minced garlic
1 tsp. ginger paste
1 tsp. Sriracha chili sauce
1 Tbsp. honey

Combine all ingredients in a small saucepan. Head to simmering, reduce by 1/4. Use as a glaze on meat, etc.

The other day when I did my hazelnut encrusted salmon, I'd purchased the sockeye whole and busted it down into fillets myself. Last night I fired up the grill and tried my glaze on the rest of that salmon, served it with grilled corn again, and paired it with a King Estate '07 Pinot Gris. I was quite pleased with the results. The glaze does have a hint of berry flavor, enough to give it some distinction, but not so overpowering that it loses the terriyaki influence, and the saltiness of the soy prevents the syrup from being cloying (a real danger with a sweet fish like salmon).

The Only Constant is Change

A while back I blogged on a recipe I developed on the fly, and then on my efforts to refine the recipe.

Well, despite my pleasure with those results, I continue to refine it, and here are the latest refinements:

1. 86 the cranberries
2. shallots instead of onions
3. roasted filberts, not raw
4. fewer filberts, more rosemary
5. deglaze with bourbon, not wine, and add apple juice before reducing

I served it with garlic mashed yukon golds and sauteed green beans this time.