Salmon rollups

Well, apologies to any readers out there. I'm feeling guilty for not writing anything for a bit but a very, very nasty stomach bug had me out of the running (and completely uninterested in anything to do with food) for a little while there so it took a some time before I could contemplate an actual recipe and then making food (especially fish).
Still and all, here we are again, another week and another salmon recipe. This is one I was thinking about before I got sick and while I have to admit it wasn't quite as successful as I would have liked, it's mostly just a question of tweaking it because, flavour-wise, it definitely worked.
For some reason, I'd been thinking about rolling up thin slices of salmon with a kind of stuffing. Saw Jamie Oliver do something like this but with chicken I think. Then it's wrapped in bacon and sauted.
Now, I know, I know, you're thinking 'bacon?' I mean, if one is aiming at cooking more salmon to be heart healthy, then bacon seems to somewhat undermine that aim.
But now let's get one thing straight here ... we're not talking thick, fatty bacon filled to the brim with chemical smoke and other nasty stuff.
I went to The Markt deli in Nanaimo and owner Ryan sliced me some paper thin (I mean, really, really thin) slices of his naturally cured maple and black pepper bacon that's relatively lean and, because it was cut so thin, crisped up nicely leaving most of the fat behind in the pan. Get yours at any actual butcher shop so you can pick the kind of bacon you want and get it cut as thin as you want. You could also use Parma or prosciutto or something similar or even, I think, one of those turkey bacons. But when I saw that Ryan's was maple flavoured and knowing how well that goes with salmon, well I was sold.
Now the thing I would definitely change about this recipe is that while I tried to slice my salmon fillet piece thin enough, it was still pretty bulky and definitely next time I will flatten it more with a meat mallet. From what I read online (after the fact of course, silly me) you can do that with salmon, you just need to be a bit more gentle than with a chicken breast. Cover the salmon with plastic wrap, and gently pound it until it is quite thin. This will make the salmon more easily rollable and the rolls won't be quite so bulky.
A little refinement is a good thing. I must try it sometime ;0)
So, here's how to make bacon salmon rollups the right way.

I piece salmon fillet, little over one pound, 600 grams.
1/2 cup panko bread crumbs
8 strips ultra thin cut, lean bacon, maple flavoured
1 Tbsp. maple syrup
Splash of white wine (I used Zinfandel because that's what I had)
Blend of fresh or dried herbs, I used thyme, lime thyme and oregano, about 1 tbsp. in total
Four spears fresh asparagus, trimmed to slightly longer than your fillet pieces are wide

Slice salmon into two pieces, then slice lengthwise to make a total of four thin slices. Lay each piece between sheets of plastic wrap and pound gently to flatten and thin out further
In a bowl, blend the bread crumbs and herbs, splash of wine and maple syrup.
Lay out fresh plastic wrap. Lay two slices of bacon on the wrap, lay one piece of salmon on top of the bacon, brush lightly with maple syrup, spread 1/4 of the bread crumb mix. Lay an asparagus spear on the end nearest you with the top peeking 1/2 inch over one side. Using the plastic wrap as an aid, roll up the bacon and salmon around the asparagus spear and affix with a toothpick or two. Repeat for all the bacon and salmon.
Get a non-stick pan medium hot and lay the salmon rollups (minus the plastic wrap I'm sure I don't need to say...) in the pan. Brown lightly on all four sides until bacon is crisp and salmon appears done through to the centre. Should take about 10 minutes in all or slightly less.
Slice the rollups onto the plate and serve with steamed corn and fresh tomatoes tossed in balsamic vinegar, olive oil and more of the same fresh herbs you used in the salmon.
Enjoy!

In the beginning

In a few days I'm hitting a birthday (56 if you must know) and a few months ago I suffered a what the doctors call a "cardiac event" (if there's no champagne or glitter, that is NOT an event).
Of course I'm making changes in lifestyle and one of those is to eat more fish.
It's not an easy thing to cut down on meat in a household of two raging carnivores (well, three if we count Don Pepe the cat), but we're making the effort.
The other night I re-watched Julie and Julia and thought, I should do something like that to focus my cooking energies since, after the first few sacred-to-death weeks after the Event, my zest for all the healthier cooking started to wear down. So I thought I'd maybe experiment by cooking salmon a different way each week which would stretch my boundaries a little rather than just plopping a fillet on the grille or in the oven. Tasty those may be, but variety would be more interesting and getting my lazy ass in gear every Sunday to make a new salmon dish would be - for me - a good culinary exercise.
Of course I mentioned this thought on Facebook and immediately got a bunch of suggestions from FB friends including that I blog this, share the recipes and the experiences.
Well I must be a glutton for punishment (as well as chocolate) because I figured why not?
For the next few days I will look at recipes - those online, in books, sent by friends, whatever - and I'll start this very Sunday (Happy Birthday) by making my first new salmon dish.
52 weeks, 52 new dishes ... should be fun. Julie & Julia it ain't but ... any book or movie deals will be gratefully accepted anyway.
Of course, I'm not really a Salmon Diva, but maybe a year from now, who knows?