SMOKED SALMON AND ARTICHOKES WITH BASIL, PINENUT AND LEMON SAUCE and Between Hemispheres

Today is a big day, not for you maybe but for me and three other bloggers it is because we are going public with our new photo blog, Between Hemispheres! About six months ago, my dear friend Nanette who runs the food blog Gourmet Worrier down under in Australia suggested that we started a photo blog together with the multi talented Bron of Bron Marshall.com from New Zealand, and we immediately said Yes! let's do that and asked sweet Jeanne of Cook Sister! in the UK to join in. We decided to make a comparative photo blog in the sense that each week we have a theme and because we are four different people from two hemispheres, the photos will show not only our geographical and climactic differences but also our individual ways of interpreting our own realities. So right now we are four but we hope to add members to the community some time in the future to make it even better.



It took us some time but then suddenly we got going and actually started the blog about a month ago. I have to say that without the help of Stephen, the husband of Nanette who lent us a hand with certain WordPress intricacies, we might still be there thinking about getting going but fortunately he was there for us. I hope you will join us in this endeavour and that we will meet you over at Between Hemispheres. I'd like to finish here with Jeanne's brilliant almost haikku which describes so well what we are doing:

four photos
from two hemispheres
interpreting one theme



But I also have food to offer you here today, not only photo blogs. I have finally found a brand that sells sustainable salmon so I can now eat wild smoked salmon from Alaska (and in case someone will tell me that that is surely a long transportation stretch, I can just say that we all have to make our own decisions about what we choose to embrace) without feeling like a marauder! And it is artichoke season here as well so I had to combine the two in some way and this is the result, smoked salmon and artichokes that I served on bulgur with a lemon and basil sauce that balances the fat salmon. I hope you like it!






SMOKED SALMON AND ARTICHOKES WITH BASIL, PINE NUT AND LEMON SAUCE

smoked salmon, preferably sustainable one, both for the fish, the sea and your health
artichokes, I used fresh ones but if you can't find that, you can easily substitute them with artichokes in a jar
a bunch of fresh basil or, if you cannot find that, cheat and use a good quality pesto
lemon zest and juice
pine nuts
cooked bulgur if you want to serve them like I did
salt
extra-virgin olive

- Slice the salmon.
- If you use fresh artichokes, clean and trim them of their outer leaves, cut them in slices or wedges and steam them until soft, it doesn't take many minutes.
- Run basil and a little olive oil in a blender until smooth, add a little salt, some grated lemon zest, pine nuts and as much lemon juice you like and stir well.
- To serve on bulgur (or maybe rice or couscous), take an egg ring and press the bulgur into it, put the salmon and artichokes on top of it and remove the ring carefully. Drizzle the basil and lemon sauce on top and serve.