a mistake i'll only ever make twice...

I enjoy eating seafood. In addition to this, Jamie Oliver has never failed me. Of my four year love affair with the cute Brit, all I can say is that I have tried many different recipes from many different books and the only ones that have consistently produced delicious results are the ones with a picture of him on the cover.

So when I talk about the sockeye incident of August 28, 2009 it was not an example of Jamie letting me down. Quite the opposite, it was a clearly a case of me failing Jamie.

The recipe itself is easy. Simple to the point of questioning its worth even. After all, salmon doesn't need much added flavor in order to make it fantastic. A couple of bulbs of fennel, two lemons, a handful of parsley, and some fresh tomatoes. Mix with olive oil and some salt and pepper, then stuff the salmon with the colourful produce. All the excess veg goes on top and underneath the fish so that you can eat it as a side with the meal. Really, the whole thing looks absolutely perfect before it goes into the oven. It's colourful and vibrant and looks as though it will be eaten within seconds of coming out of the oven.

So of course there has to be a "but".

All day long there had been a questionable smell lingering in the kitchen. You know the smell. Everybody knows the smell. It's potent and not one that is easily forgotten. Turned out to be coming off a dead rodent outside the kitchen window (pleasant, I know). So when there was a funny odor after I took out the fish I didn't really think anything of it other than I hate squirrels. I had also just bought the salmon the day before so there was no reasonable way the fish could have gone off in less than 24 hours. Right?

When I pulled the salmon out of the oven the smell was worse and I should have known right then to get out the plan B meal (Kraft Dinner). But I was in denial, and after all... the presentation of the fish was perfect! It certainly LOOKED edible...


After a few bites we all decided that no, it was definitely not edible. This fish belonged in the trash with all its fancy accoutrement. Maybe the coyotes would appreciate my effort.

The extra frustrating part about this story: I have done this before with seafood! A year ago I was asked to make a crab quiche and I didn't trust my nose when I opened the can of crab and found it smelling... repugnant. Again, the whole dish was chucked after it was tentatively tasted and deemed entirely unfit for human consumption. I'm lucky no one got food poisoning that time.

After all this I would say that while I may have let Jamie down, I think I finally learned my lesson and am able to say with my full and utmost confidence that from here on in I will ALWAYS trust my nose.

And always have a back up meal ready when preparing fish.