Summertime for me feels like the great charging station of the calendar year — a temporary docking of the soul in the safe harbor of surrender. Maybe the season of the sun helps us melt into being, to embrace the grit of salt and flow of sea.
And to me, the real superglue of summer is the warmth of gathering, the closeness that comes with meals relished outside, accompanied by big, hearty belly-laughs with the ones you love.
This year, I’m especially excited to bust out the festive fare and tabletop flare, which I’m pretty sure will go swimmingly with the help of some of our new summer seafood recipes — each one unique, interesting in flavor and simple to make.
- Grilled Wild Alaska Pollock Skewers with Maple-Sriracha Glaze — Skewers render plates obsolete, but that’s not the reason why I love these. It’s the mingling of sweet and spicy that I’m after here — a perfect appetizer to pass around a big weekend cookout.
- Sweet and Spicy Salmon Fish Cakes with Cucumber-Peanut Sauce — If you’re seeking an alternative to beef burgers, these salmon cakes offer an exciting blend of sweetness, heat and an unexpectedly refreshing texture with the cucumber-peanut dipping sauce.
- Protein Power Pasta with Herbaceous Sockeye Salmon and Spinach — This is the pasta salad if pasta salad woke up one day and decided to become the best version of itself. Get creative with your pasta shape, and turn up the volume on all the textural details like parmesan cheese, pine nuts and hand-torn herbs.
- Lime-Spiced Halibut with Herbs in Banana Leaves — And if you want to remind your guests that you’ve still got it, you can’t go wrong with well-spiced, citrus-forward halibut fillets cooked and wrapped in banana leaves, to be presented to your guests as savory little gifts.
Happy July 4th, Everyone! I hope yours is full of love, flavor and truly memorable shared experiences.
Live wild!
Monica
Pictured Above: the aforementioned Protein Power Pasta with Herbaceous Sockeye Salmon and Spinach — a can’t-go-wrong recipe for any moment of your summer (or your life).
