On the menu tonight... Pan-seared Fresh Salmon with a Lemon-Herb Reduction and Buttered Brussel Sprouts

I got my new cast-iron wok tonight, and had Mark and Sanny over for dinner promptly after seasoning it. Cast iron woks are heavy as heck and require seasoning, but so far I've been impressed with the amount of heat the wok dishes out. This is the first time I've felt like I've had a wok that's hot enough to properly cook at the right temperature -- flimsy IKEA woks just don't cut it on an electric burner.

I bought 2 pounds (4 fillets) of Fresh Atlantic Salmon fillets from Safeway, descaled it with a serated knife, and dropped it on the very hot preheated wok with a tiny bit of oil in there. Literally dropped it, because I actually splashed hot oil on my arm have about 5 or 6 big red second degree burns on my right arm from it now. ARGH. Luckily Mark ran out and grabbed some aloe for me across the street. I seared the salmon in the wok on high heat for 3 minutes, then transferred the fillets to a pyrex baking dish for broiling 4 inches from the top heating elements for another 3 minutes. Salt, pepper, and top it off with a light lemon-herb reduction, brown rice and buttered brussel sprouts.

The lemon-herb reduction was a simple mix of about 1/4th of a cup of finely diced fresh sage, thyme and parsely, half a stick of butter, and 2 cups of chicken broth boiled down to a nice sauce. I threw in a table spoon of corn starch to thicken it just a tad.

Since moving to South of Market, I've basically become completely domesticated. The dearth of cheap good food in the area and the lack of a car has resulted in a 300% increase in my cooking. Now if only my cooking safety skills would catch up.

It's kind of like in The Sims when your sim only has 1 or 2 levels of cooking proficiency, and promptly proceeds to chop off his own hand or burn down the house. Yeah. Kind of like that.