4 six ounce salmon fillets
1 tablespoon dried oregano
2 teaspoons dried mint
1 teaspoon fennel seed, crushed
2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
salt and pepper

1. Rub salmon fillets with olive oil and season meat with oregano, mint, fennel seed, salt and pepper. Refrigerate for no more than an hour.
2. Heat a large non-stick skillet over medium-high heat and place the salmon fillets skin side down into the pan. Fry until skin is crisp and the outside flesh begins to turn opaque, about 6-7 minutes.
3. Reduce heat to medium and flip the salmon fillets. Cover and cook until the salmon flesh begins to separate and firm up. Remove from heat and allow to rest for a few minutes before serving.

Makes 4 servings

6 medium potatoes, peeled and quartered
3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
3 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 cup warmed buttermilk
3 tablespoons fresh oregano, chopped
salt and pepper
water

1. Place potatoes in a pot with enough water to cover and bring to a boil over high heat. Cover, reduce heat and continue cooking until easily pierced with a fork, about 20 minutes.
2. Drain potatoes, return to the pot and mash with a fork or hand masher.
3. Stir in olive oil and garlic and season with salt and pepper to taste.
4. Gradually stir in buttermilk until it the potatoes have a creamy consistency. Stir in oregano and serve immediately.

Makes 4 large servings

Salmon Thessalonica should technically be threaded on skewers, grilled and served with pita bread and Tzatziki, but I'm out of propane, pita bread and cucumbers and like how the spices compliment the salmon, so I just seasoned a fillet. Thessalonica is a Greek city, named after the sister of Alexander the Great and wife of the king of Macedonia, which has no relevance to this meal whatsoever except to indicate that this salmon is seasoned with Greek herbs like oregano and mint. Somewhere along the line I've got very good at cooking salmon. Perhaps it's because I'm no longer apprehensive about undercooking it and killing myself, so the meat stays much more tender and succulent. I like pan frying my salmon fillets because the skin gets so deliciously crispy and tastes so good plainly with salt to a wide array of flavors.

As I mentioned after making the Pommes Anna, I wanted to make some garlic mashed potatoes in the near future. I added a bit more than that making Greek Mashed Potatoes; oregano, garlic and olive oil in place of butter. The result is a very creamy mashed potato with a very pleasant herbed flavor. It also helped me use up a bit of buttermilk, from the Cornbread Muffins, that will likely spoil in my fridge weeks before I notice. Even though the salmon and potatoes were great at filling up my stomach, they weren't so great at filling up the plate so I quickly made some Caesar Salad.