recipe swap

thank you all for the sweet comments about my blog and it's simple header. i'm still toying with the header, but i really appreciate an outsider's perspective. thanks.

today's recipe isn't quite a recipe. it's more of a concoction that i put together a few weeks ago and just had to remake last monday. one thing about me and putting meals together is that i like a lot of 'components.' i can take a concept and keep expanding it with all the delicious and fun ingredients that might fit together. that's what i'm going to show you today. every ingredient was beautiful and fresh, but the taste of each together...well...it was amazing. i'm not even going to name it or give you any sort of hint as to what it is. besides these photos of chives i picked from my yard right before i set the table outside to eat. that's your only hint. beyond that, you'll have to put all the ingredients together and see what comes out!

i like to think that this meal celebrates earth day a bit, if only for the hand picked and fresh local ingredients. not all the ingredients are local, though, so i'm not going to get on my high shopping-local horse.

here's what i used:

-local wild caught smoked salmon, smoked in brown sugar and garlic! (the man at the farmer's market showed me a trick: the squishier the smoked salmon, the oilier and moister it will be.)
-fresh picked and washed chives (green onion, of course will work)
-white basmati rice, 1 cup cooked in 2 cups water (i used brown basmati last time, but the flavor of the white basmati was much lighter and worked better)
-creme fraiche (2 tsp, or to taste)
-avacado (we used a 1/4 avacado, chopped up, per person)
-fresh lettuce (none in my garden yet, but this head came from a co-op grocery store and a washington based organic farm)
-lemon, if desired
-salt and pepper

the thing that's the most fun about these types of meals is mixing and matching. i love getting creative as to what i want to put in the bowl first and how i want to mix it all together. yum! this photo thanks to jon:

the perfect spring meal!
happy earth day!