the mutable cacao

Do you know that feeling when you find out a belief you've held is wrong? That feeling came over me when I tried to make salmon the other night.



I returned to the apartment late, put on slippers and looked out the window through the rain. The glow of distant houses filled the night. I looked in the fridge. There was some salmon. There was some pasta uncooked. I had a bad craving for hot chocolate. Hot hot food. Warmth. Golden inner light. Food light. Chocolate salmon pasta. Stomach. Eats.



Usually, the fatty omegas and protein in salmon prevent my brain from getting to this point, where I'm going all wrong and losing perspective on the cooking ingredients that are available in the house. If I had already eaten salmon that day, I would have discovered what to do much more quickly. As it was, it took some time. I came around.

I realized salmon can be cooked with cocoa. Hot chocolate salmon. How splendid. We forget that cocoa powder is not sweet. It's bitter. It can be mixed with things that are not sweet. Mixed with dry mustard, for example, and some olive oil. And put on the outside of fish. Omega fatty acids for the brain, flavonoids for the heart, all in one meal.

I didn't eat it with anything else. I didn't eat it with hot chocolate. I didn't need to, it was so delicieuse. Not even leftover wine would have made it better. And now that I've had it on salmon, I'm not sure I'll really want to go back to cocoa the old way. Warning: you might not either.


To make Spicy Cocoa Salmon you need:

• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 tsp cocoa
• 1 tsp dry mustard
• 1/4 tsp cinnammon
• 1 tablespoon ground cumin
• 4 oz. filets of salmon

1. Heat oven to broil. Mix all dry ingredients (cocoa, mustard, cinnamon and cumin) in a small bowl using a whisk.
2. Rinse salmon filets. Add oil to the cooking pan and coat filets on both sides with the oil. One at a time, coat filets with the dry ingredient mixture.
3. Broil for 4-5 minutes or until salmon is cooked through.