Gourmet NYEve

Last night, New Year's Eve, I cooked up a treat.
So simple and yet so special.
I remembered a meal I had at the Aquacaf restaurant at Goolwa.
A thick snapper cutlet served on top of babaghanoush with a side dish of tabouli.
It was superb. A slow lunch with a bottle of Sauvignon Blanc; watching the boats on the water.

Yesterday I lined up at the fish shop. Surprisingly it wasn't as busy as in past years.
Huge amounts of money were changing hands. People were going over-board buying prawns, bugs, crayfish (lobster), ... all the expensive goods.
I bought a dozen SA oysters (the best in the world) for $14.99, some smoked ocean trout (to eat later in the week) and a few thick cutlets of Tasmanian Atlantic Salmon (with the skin on).
Snapper is a stronger flavoured fish, but I thought the salmon would be more appropriate for a special occasion; and salmon is ideal for serving just slightly under cooked.

Ingredients:
Tasmanian Atlantic Salmon, skin on
Babaghanoush
Tabouli (home grown parsley, tomato & cucumber)
SA oysters
Half a Tahitian lime (home grown)

Gently pan fry the salmon, skin side down; cook for 5-6 minutes.
Flip the cutlets to cook the other side for 1-2 minutes.
Flip back to skin on the pan.
Place 2-3 large dollops (spoonfuls) of babaghanoush on the plates; off centre.
Serve the salmon on top of the babaghanoush; skin down.
Add generous side serving of tabouli.

Superb ... with an aged SA Chardonnay; Lake Breeze, Langhorne Creek, 2012 Reserve.

You ask, what about the oysters?
Whilst cooking the fish, squeeze lime juice over the oysters.
They should be fresh so that they twitch when hit by the lime juice.
The cook eats these as a reward ... or share them if you must.
Oysters should be eaten fresh and not mucked up by spicy additives and cooked or grilled. The shells can go in the green recycle bin.