If I worked in a restaurant (or owned one), I would call this creation:
Tomato, Asparagus, and Salmon Salad
And I would describe it thus: Summer fresh tomatoes are covered with Copper River pesto-baked salmon and topped with lightly salted roasted asparagus. Add in some crumbled herb-infused goat cheese and a small amount of basil, drizzle with a balsamic reduction, and voila! perfection on a plate.
Making up these types of descriptions makes cooking more fun. Try it. Really. And furthermore, who says all those years of waitressing in restaurants to put myself through college went to waste? That’s pretty much how I learned to appreciate fine food, the people who create it, and the economic principles about using up what’s in your pantry.
And, of course, the reality is exactly that I am trying to bring our food costs down. The salmon needed to be eaten (dinner leftovers). The tomatoes were originally planned for a tomato mozzarella basil salad when I discovered some mold on the mozzarella (I don’t do mold on fresh mozzarella…not even a little bit). In desperation I found the small bit of goat cheese I had left and thought…why not? Let’s give it a go. The basil was because I picked it out of the garden for that other salad I was going to make and it seemed a shame to waste that effort.
And yeah, the balsamic reduction? I lied about that. I just drizzled some regular balsamic vinegar over it…but it sounded tasty and it really added to the description so I put it in there. If you have similar type ingredients lying around your pantry, give it a try. Personally, I’m always struggling to figure out ways to use up cooked salmon, because leftover fish is not always my favorite. Salmon is probably the easiest for me to repurpose, which is probably why it’s my go-to seafood dish. Oh yeah, and because it’s pretty easy to find fresh in Washington.
And then there is my other favorite part – waiting to see what my husband says about this new item on the menu…if anything. I’ll let you know.
crab apple musings 
What a shame! You need to eat your mozzarella quicker. I hardly ever buy it but when I do, I only buy enough for 1 use. Lucky what you have sounds delicious even without the mozz.
LikeLiked by 1 person
I totally agree! It’s these types of situations that make me absolutely crazy…I’m determined to utilize everything in my fridge without letting it go bad, even if I must stretch the realms of my creativity in cooking. In this case, alas, I failed utterly when it came to that mozzarella. I will say, though, that the goat cheese was really good with the salmon.
LikeLike
Postscript: The husband did not comment either way, but all the food did disappear off his plate (he was eating this elsewhere, so it’s not like I was there avidly salivating over his response…in which case I would probably have prompted him with something subtle and non-leading such as, “So…do you like it???”).
LikeLike