Last Minute Flavor Changer!

I have this authentic love and passion for change!

Change drives me, it excites me, it keeps me on my toes. I enjoy trying new things, I am a HUGE fan of spur of the moment. (So if you ever need someone to do a last minute adventure with I am most certainly your gal.) And my taste buds are sometimes fleeting and are absolutely ever changing!

This makes cooking, quite often, a last minute affair.  Some people need to know that they have they have the correct ingredients, that the recipe is ready to go, and that they get the correct measurements to make their delicious meal! That is a beautiful thing and almost always a guaranteed decent meal. Unfortunately for my husband I like to do spur of the moment. I don't like to measure, I don't like to prep, and I don't like to decide ahead of time what I want to have. I like to think of a meat and go from there.

Yesterday my INCREDIBLE husband planned and purchased a delicious meal for the two of us to be able to spend a little time together after a crazy busy week of work! He tells me while I'm working that he bought fresh salmon, sweet corn, and of course a bottle of bubbly for me ;) But he apologizes because that is as far as he can go and that he needs my help from this point out with the execution. As I'm driving home and he's getting ready to light the grill for us I'm thinking, "I want this salmon to be a lime/cilantro/butter and salt and pepper style fish. I knew we had the ingredients for it and it sounded real good! But by the time I got home, got showered, relaxed with a drink, and opened the fridge I realized what sounded better was lemon, rosemary, garlic powder, and salt. I marinated it a little, got that corn going on the grill,  and tossed together some asian style green beans.

Then what happened next was my favorite part…..my husband and I sat outside by that grill…..and we talked. We talked for a looooong time. And that is my favorite part of spontaneous cooking. It is relaxed, it is authentic, it feels almost fool proof because it's an evolving process. I looked up the best way to grill salmon. I had no idea if it was the best way but it sounded great. I put that salmon flesh side down, cooked it for four minutes over indirect heat, then flipped it and let that skin crisp under those coals. I finished off that salmon by throwing the grill on and letting the smoke seep into that flesh for a nice smokey flavor. At the last minute I shucked our corn, spread on some butter and salt, and finished off the salmon with a big ole portion of the rest of that marinade I made.

It was fresh, it was hot, it was summer flavors, and it was insanely delicious and a last minute inspiration.

So walk on the wild side and try taking a recipe off the rails or look in your fridge AFTER you get home from work and try it out! You might be pleasantly surprised that life takes less planning then you realize ;)

Eat well, love life, live in the moment…..sometimes.