Salmon Rush Day

Enough already. I'm fed up having senior moments. I should have grown out of them by now !

This morning I decided to have salmon for my supper and having made that decision, I simply moved on to other things and thought no more about it. Why not ? Well because all my salmon portions are solid blocks in the freezer, that's why not ! I should've taken a portion out to defrost.

When it got to 4pm and once again my mind, and my stomach, focused on supper, it suddenly hit me.

"You prat....you never got the salmon out to defrost" I said to myself.

Ok so I also talk to myself but it doesn't matter as I never listen.

I never like to defrost food in the microwave as with its ability to cook from the inside out, it's just not the best way. Especially not good for a 'delicate' food item like salmon. So over the years I've developed a relatively fast and acceptable method of defrosting small portions of frozen food.

It's called The Front Porch Method but works equally well with a lanai, extension or even a greenhouse although that might provide too much power for a small portion of food. I think you should reserve greenhouse power for large joints of meat like a leg of lamb or something !

The method is simplicity itself. Place the frozen food item on a plate and leave it in the porch/lanai etc. Add sun and leave for a couple of hours, turning frequently. Once the item bends, it's done.

The downside to needing to use this defrosting method in England is that the power source isn't often available. Solar power is a strange and wonderful foreign concept to us and with good reason.

But a closed porch does have a secret weapon that can be utilised at times when the sun isn't playing ball. By mid afternoon, if the inside door hasn't been opened, it is still a lot warmer than any other part of a house even on a cloudy day.

Without the sun though, you may be struggling to have your food ready for supper so getting it into the porch in time becomes even more important. On a cloudy day with only 2 hours to go, you'd better have a plan B or at least have the local Chinese takeaway on speed dial.

As the sun hits the front of my house just after 1pm and today has been a sunny day, at 4pm my porch was nicely pre heated and ready to accept the frozen salmon portion.

I've just checked it and after barely an hour, some flexibility is there already and I'm confident it will be totally defrosted by supper time.

Then, with some new potatoes, processed peas and a wedge of lemon, once again I'll be able to enjoy my porched salmon.

(always go out with a laugh.....or a groan !)