Alaskan Medley with Aromatic Rice

To start this post, let me do a Public Service Announcement for rice cookers. If you don't have one, get one!

After you have a rice cooker, we can begin. (Ok, you can do it the old fashioned way but the recipe won't read that way.

What you will need:

1lb of fresh asparagus, small stalks

8 oz of sliced fresh mushrooms, buttons are fine

1 lb peeled, deveined shrimp, tails removed

1 tb finely chopped garlic

4  6oz salmon fillets

1 tb oregano

1 tb chopped basil

2 cups basmati rice

2 cups water

1/4 stick unsalted butter

2 tb extra virgin olive oil

And yes, this is, as always, Gluten Free!

For the easy part, pour your water, rice, oregano and basil into the rice cooker and start it. The rice will be done when everything else finishes (About 15-20 minutes) Wasn't that easy!

Ok next you need to stem the asparagus. Use the forefinger-thumb pull down method I explained a couple of recipes back. Usually I will blanch the asparagus but with the addition of the butter and mushrooms I feel it isn't needed with the smaller stemmed asparagus for this application. Put a pan over medium heat and add the butter, mushrooms, asparagus, garlic and shrimp. Stir until the butter is melted and then reduce to medium low (3 out of 10) and cover for ten minutes. 

Start another pan for your salmon over medium heat. As the pan gets hot, add the oil and wait thirty seconds. DO NOT put it over high heat. EVOO has a low smoke point and high heat will blacken it quickly. Add the salmon and season with lemon pepper or sea salt and fresh cracked black peppercorns. Your choice. You will need 5 minutes on each side. As soon as you reach this point, everything is just about done. Give the veggies and rice one final stir and plate it to harvest some smiles.