This twist on Crab Rangoon uses fresh salmon, hummus, and cucumber for the filling.

Earlier this week I bought two great new cookbooks. I was on my way to the store after buying these books knowing I was going to cook something that night, but I was unsure of what. I flipped through Easy Gourmet, and realized that I wanted to eat just about everything in the book! Not only that, but the recipes really lived up to the theme of the book, they were all super easy but also really classy and fancy feeling! It was a cold september day so I gravitated towards the soups in the book, and the salmon dill chowder caught my eye right away. Mainly because I make a lot of soups here, but this one seemed just different enough from what I normally do that I knew it was going to be fun to make and new flavors to eat. It came out just fantastic and took almost no effort at all to put together!

If I was running a diner a couple decades ago, I would probably call these “salmon croquettes”. If I was running a fancy modern american place I might call them “salmon-potato dice” cause they have the fun square shape. I think salmon gnocchi is a good name for them though. This recipe is inspired by the old school salmon and pea pasta, and also by the upcoming spring when fresh peas will soon be available.

While watching a late season Red Sox game on ESPN a few weeks ago, I noticed that one of my favorite announcers John Kruk seemed to be having trouble with Jarrod Saltalamacchia’s last name. He kept calling him Saltamaki, and all I could think was mmm sounds like a nice sushi roll. When setting out to make the Saltala-Maki Roll, I was first thinking salt cod, but I couldn’t formulate it into something that wasn’t either A. bacalao fritters, or B. disgusting. I kind of got stuck on it for a few days, until I decided to switch the focus onto something else really salty. Once I thought of using potato chips, the whole thing came together perfectly!  I’m thrilled to have the Sox back in the Postseason this year as I live only a few blocks from Fenway.  There is nothing like the excitement in my neighborhood on game day!   And I even have tickets to game 2 this Sunday night. Go Sox!