A Caribbean Meal

The other day I was browsing through the Food Network website, and I decided to check out some recipes from "Chef at Home" Michael Smith. I was intrigued by his recipe for Caribbean Coconut Crusted Salmon, partly because it sounded delicious, and party because it's quite possibly the simplest recipe I've ever seen! (Coat the salmon in coconut, season with salt & pepper, and bake for 15 minutes - I can do that!) I decided I'd try out a few of the other recipes he suggests to go with this meal, and I figured this would be the perfect opportunity to have our friends over for supper. What are friends for, if not to use them as guinea pigs for new recipes, right?

So here's what I made:

Caribbean Coconut Crusted Salmon served with Caribbean Salsa

Caribbean Salad with a coconut-ginger-lime dressing

Reggae Rice (isn't that the best name??)

I only made a half-batch of the salsa (and there was plenty of it), and I didn't use as much cilantro as I was supposed to in any of the recipes, simply because the cilantro in my herb garen wasn't big enough. But otherwise I followed the recipes fairly closely.

I must say, the salmon was nothing to get excited over on its own, but with the pineapple salsa it was quite good. The rice was really good and full of flavour, but the real winner was the salad. That dressing was fantastic! Can't wait to make it again sometime.

Since I only used part of the can of coconut milk, I made some Tropical Smoothies this morning with some of the leftover ingredients:

TROPICAL SMOOTHIES

1 c. frozen mango

1/3 c. coconut milk

1 1/2 c. pineapple juice

1 tbsp. lime juice (from 1/2 a lime)

a couple grates of fresh ginger

I'm not sure if I like this smoothie or not.... something's not quite right, and I don't know if it's just because it reminds me of the salad dressing last night (which was awesome on the salad, but not in a smoothie) or if I just should have left out the lime and/or ginger. Anyway, it'll do for breakfast this morning.

Hope you enjoyed these recipes!