salmon nectarine ceviche

I've been making salmon ceviche with variations and have finally zeroed in on one I adore. This recipe rejects both the "15 minute" and the "overnight" schools of thought on marination time and results in salmon that is cooked most but not all of the way through.

Cut the skin and any nearby brown bits off of enough salmon to result in 1# or maybe a bit more once you're done. Cut into 1/2" cubes and marinate in just enough lime juice to cover for four to six hours. Fresh squeezed or prepackaged lime juice are both fine so long as there aren't adulterants in it as there are in ReaLime and other "100% juice" products that are only 100% because they round up.

The brown bits are very tasty cooked up in a pan and eaten separately, perhaps as temaki if you have the ingredients and patience for that.

After marinating, pour off most of the lime juice and add:

• 1 ear roasted corn kernels. I grill mine on the cob and with the husk on, for about 20 minutes.
  
• About 1/3 of a medium red onion, diced into 1/4" pieces. If your onion has the stem on go ahead and include that.
  
• 1 avocado, cut into 3/8" pieces. This can be slightly overripe but cut off any really dark bits.
  
• Maybe a dozen grape tomatoes, quartered.
  
• 1 ripe (or even overripe) nectarine, cut into 1/2" pieces. You could probably use mango or mandarin orange to similar effect here.
  

Serve with good quality corn chips.

Makes enough for a main course for three. Delicious either right away or later.

mint simple

I've been asked for this recipe, so:

In a small or medium saucepan, muddle

1 oz fresh mint, stems on, in
1/2 cup sugar

for quite a while, so that the sugar starts to turn green, the stems are flattened, and the mint leaves have started to form into a mat. Add

1/2 cup hot water

and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer for three minutes, stirring occasionally with a wooden spoon. Remove from heat. Spoon most of the mint into a strainer and force the syrup out into the pan. Discard strained mint and strain remaining syrup into a small bottle.

Makes about 3/4 of a cup (but don't count on a double batch of it necessarily fitting into a 12oz bottle, especially if you want to leave room for a speed pour).