In the Kitchen with Tim

Yesterday, Natalie, Tim and I began to prepare for a fundraiser that Tim (a professional who has had lots of experience, including a residence at The American Hotel's restaurant) is catering on Tuesday evening. I would like to share with you two things I learned (well I learned a lot, but I will save it for another post!) while cooking with Chef Tim: how to roast red peppers and how to create a cucumber & smoked salmon hors d'oeurve.

First, the red peppers:

I coated the whole peppers in Spanish paprika-infused olive oil and salt and pepper.

Next, we put the peppers on a hot grill for about 10-15 minutes until the skins were charred and the peppers were beginning to soften. At this point, Tim wrapped the peppers in foil and put them on the top rack of the grill to let them continue to steam-cook for another 5-10 minutes.

Once off the grill, we put them in a bowl to allow them to cool to a degree of which I could handle them. Next, I peeled off the skins and scrapped out the seeds and discarded the stems.

Voila! Fire-Roasted Red Peppers!

We ended up pureeing these to mix with a mango puree, which will be a dipping sauce for grilled shrimp.

Next, the cucumbers and salmon.

I sliced up some lovely seedless cucumbers. They looked like English cucumbers but weren't marked so. Next, Tim poured some ginger flavored rice vinegar onto the slices and we allowed them to marinate for about 20-30 minutes, while tossing them throughout that time. Tim then lined a pan with the slices for us to top with salmon.

Tim mixed together some herbed Alouette cheese and sour cream (see above picture - the bowl to the right). We will use this to top off the salmon.

Here Tim opened up a large filet of smoked salmon and was showing me how it flakes apart nicely. We then used some to top each cucumber slice.

Here Natalie is topping the salmon with the cheese mixture (we enjoyed dipping the extra cucumber slices in the cheese for a snack!).

It was my job to top off each dollop of cheese with two capers. A tip from Tim: He likes to rinse jarred capers under water because they are very vinegary themselves and are usually in a vinegar-based liquid, all of which can be over-powering.

A lovely appetizer!!

Tim mentioned that he is going to get some fresh dill to sprinkle on top for an extra taste and festive flair!

Stayed tuned for photos from the event!