The Tall One has had a strong aversion for ANY homecooked seafood practically his whole life. Put him in a restaurant and it's game on, he'll eat anything. But I've seen him shun even birthday celebration meals just because there's seafood on it. I think he even just ate noodles at one of my birthday dinners, just because it had shrimp sauteed in lemon juice. Pretty strict. Anyway, last May, we did a Northern CA road trip and stayed in Monterey one night. At a restaurant on Cannery Row, he ordered pesto-parmesean crusted salmon- and raved about it. I tried once to get him to let me re-create it at home. He actually told me to just leave the good taste to memory because he didn't want it ruined. I take that as a challenge.
It's been a while since my last attempt to get home-cooked fish sanctioned. He does fine with my shrimp stir-frys, mostly because they're mired in sauces and peppers and other stuff. But fish, that's new territory. But tonight, I was ready. And I did not disappoint.
Fresh pesto on salmon that has been pan fried with parmesean cheese on it (so it's crusted on)... and then I made a beet salad. Beets, goat cheese, lettuce greens with a lemon/thyme/shallot vinaigrette. And for dessert, it's fresh strawberries in a sweet lemon syrup topped with whipped cream. And he liked it all. I knew I was on the verge of victory when he said, "Well, it smells like the salmon we had at the restaurant..." And then he told me, that for the first time, he liked a home-cooked fish dish. And honestly, how could it not taste good?!? Fresh fish, cooked in oil, smothered in cheese and topped with pesto? That's like going bowling with a big red playground ball- how are you NOT going to get a strike?!?
I'm almost hungry again. And I'm awesome.
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