Taste With The Eyes

Copper River Smoked Salmon Salad

Copper River Smoked Salmon Salad
Arugula, Pasta Shells, Tomatoes
Avocado “Melon Balls” Creamy Chili Sauce

What truly elevates this salad is the Copper River Salmon—it’s the undeniable star. ⭐️⭐️⭐️ The salad itself is simple to assemble, with each ingredient carefully chosen to let the smoked salmon take center stage. Peppery arugula, tender mini pasta shells, vibrant cherry tomatoes, and fun avocado melon balls all play their parts in harmony. A light lemon and olive oil dressing keeps things fresh, while a side of creamy chili sauce adds an extra layer of flavor.

Copper River Fish Market is a seafood boutique in remote Alaska that is fisher(wo)man founded, owned, and operated. Sarah is a generational fisHERman with over two decades of experience in sustainable, small-boat fishing. Every catch is meticulously selected, and each shipment comes with an origin guarantee. She says her salmon is curated with the hand of a Seafood Sommelier.™

All their seafood comes directly from her family’s catch. The Copper River salmon is cut by hand, brined with only brown sugar and salt and smoked over real alder-wood. The small-batch production and attention to every detail simply is not possible on a larger scale. Her salmon is a true artisan crafted food product.

Copper River Smoked Salmon Salad

Salmon Salad Recipe

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Tomato Carpaccio with Peter Luger Steak Sauce

Legendary Peter Luger Steak House is now open at Caesars Palace Las Vegas marking their first U.S. location outside of New York. Operating for over 135 years, it is often regarded as the pioneer of the American steakhouse experience.

The menu at Peter Luger Steak House is famously simple and focused, highlighting its signature dry-aged steaks. The menu also features classic steakhouse sides, such as creamed spinach, German fried potatoes, thick-cut bacon, as well as sliced tomatoes and onions.

Peter Luger Steak House Las Vegas

The tomato and onion side dish at Peter Luger Steak House is a simple yet iconic offering. It features thick slices of ripe tomatoes and large, sweet onions, arranged on a plate and served with their signature steak sauce.

Peter Luger Steak

The combination of the fresh, juicy tomatoes and mild onions provides a refreshing contrast to the rich and hearty steaks. It’s one of the restaurant’s most well-known accompaniments, celebrated for its straightforward but bold flavors.

Here, my Tomato Carpaccio was inspired by that side dish. Red ripe heirloom tomatoes and sweet Vidalia onion are lightly covered with the steak sauce where capers, olives, and anchovies add extra flavor, texture, and interest.

Tomato Carpaccio with Peter Luger Steak Sauce According to Linda Eckhardt’s Guide to America’s Best Foods: “This is the best. Their own steak sauce is not only great on steak, but also served on slabs of red ripe tomatoes. You can’t do without this. They only began selling their sauce after customers begged. We love this sauce on hamburgers. We love it on chicken. The taste is somewhere between cocktail sauce (it’s spicy with horseradish) and traditional steak sauce (being a rich brown color).”

Peter Luger Cheeseburgers

Tomato Carpaccio Recipe

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Andouille Sausage and Shrimp Gumbo Soup

This recipe is similar to the one I posted last month. For Jimmy Buffett Day, I shared my version of his sister Lucy Buffett’s Summer Seafood Gumbo. Here, the gumbo is finished with smoky, creole-spiced Andouille Pork Sausage instead of crab, and more shrimp stock for soupier style.

“Gumbo Soup” is a term sometimes used to describe a thinner version of gumbo. It has the same ingredients and flavors as traditional gumbo but with a more broth-like consistency, closer to a soup than a stew. Both ways are excellent, just a little different.

Andouille Sausage and Shrimp Gumbo Soup Recipe

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Simple Summer Sea Bass

☀️ 🐟 Simple Summer Sea Bass 🐟 ☀️

How about a colorful dinner that is summery, sustainable, super-easy, and super-tasty? Last summer I shared a simple Grilled Swordfish over a Tomato Cucumber Salad that became quite popular, this summer it’s Chilean Sea Bass over Summer Vegetable Couscous.

Rich, melt-in-the-mouth Chilean Sea Bass aka Patagonian Toothfish (Dissostichus eleginoides) is simply delicious and almost impossible to overcook due to its flesh high fat content.

And, yes, it is after Labor Day, but it is still officially summer for a few more weeks, and still over 100°F here in Vegas every day… Yesterday was the 70th day reaching at least 105°F in 2024.

Chilean Sea Bass over Summer Vegetable Couscous Recipe

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Jimmy Buffett Day and His Favorite Gumbo!

The Florida House of Representatives created an official day to honor the icon earlier this year, passing legislation to declare August 30th as “Jimmy Buffett Day.”

The resolution seeks to celebrate the life and music of Jimmy Buffett, whose “free-spirited life and significant contributions to national and state culture are commended and celebrated.”

“Jimmy Buffett honed his art as a singer-songwriter in the bars of Key West,” the resolution states. “And the laid-back island lifestyle of the Florida Keys was the foundation on which he built his signature tropical rock sound.”

Jimmy Buffett Day and His Favorite Gumbo!

🦐🦀Lucy’s Signature Summer Seafood Gumbo🦐🦀

“Honest to God, when Jimmy comes to my restaurant, he orders gumbo. He loves gumbo. He can get anything else anywhere else. But he can’t get a good gumbo just anywhere,” said his sister, Lucy Buffett.

“My grandmother’s old-fashioned gumbo is a crab and shrimp gumbo with tomatoes and okra—what some people call a summer gumbo,” Lucy Buffett said. “It’s still the one I make most often.”