This week’s French Fridays with Dorie recipe, Salmon with Basil Tapenade, was the dish that just did not want to be made. But let me start at the beginning.
Business hours in Germany are very different from what I was used to in Chicago. Very different. Living in Chicago, I can honestly say that I don’t even know what the hours of my local grocery store were. It’s really a question which I never had to give much thought to, because it was always open when I needed it.
Not so here in Frankfurt. Most of the shops in my neighborhood start to close up shop at 6pm. A few ambitious ones will stay open until 7pm, and 1 lone little supermarket puts in the effort to stay open until 8pm. Saturdays are usually slightly reduced hours where shops start to close up in the late afternoon. And Sundays are a day of rest and quiet; only restaurants are allowed to be open on Sundays. So if you forgot to buy a key ingredient on Saturday, well, you are officially out of luck.
Since I usually get home from work around 8ish, grocery shopping during the week is not an option. This is one of the reasons why my whole schedule falls apart when we don’t have the recipes for the new month on time. Trying to get an unplanned recipe in during the week can quickly turn into a comedy of errors. And, while this week’s recipe was hardly unplanned, it did turn into a comedy of sorts when our Saturday shopping plans fell apart due to a very sick cat and we were not able to make it to the grocery store.
I will not bore you with my tales of mad dashes out of the office in futile attempts to make it to the store before closing time. Sufficed to say, this recipe did not get made until the last minute. Thank heavens it turned out to be a pretty straight forward one.
Dorie’s recipe calls for salmon fillets to be stuffed with a black olive tapenade and herbs, sauteed for a couple of minutes on each side, and then roasted shortly. I served our fillets with some sauteed zucchini and summer squash. Start to finish (including whipping up my own tapanade!) I think we had dinner on the table in 30 minutes. Tasty and quick. Heck, I might even thing of this as a weeknight meal if fresh fish were easier to come by during the week!
one expat's life 
Well it looks great! I’ve been caught out here in Paris on more than one occasion with shop hours. Have a great weekend!
Your fish looks delish, even if you did get the run around to get it. Shops here are more like Chicago – mostly open all hours.
It looks lovely.
I would be in such trouble – Sunday is usually my grocery day,
Looks like it turned out great, despite the run-around. At work until 8? Yick!
It really looks lovely….and I understand your problem with the store opening hours completely!!! In Greece everything is closed on Monday and Wednesday afternoons and here in Croatia shops close at 8pm. I have to plan ahead and do all my shopping on Saturday otherwise we eat nuts and rice cakes!
Rose, I remember when we visited my husbands family in Holland how early the stores closed. That would certainly put a wrench in your well laid plans!
I agree that this was an easy and delicious meal! Your salmon looks yummy and I love your zucchini and summer squash…perfect!
Isn’t it nice when something turns out to be much easier than you expect? It wasn’t all that long ago that the stores in Boston were closed on Sundays (ancient blue laws). Now I’m spoiled by no need to plan. However, I did do a lunchtime dash to the only place I trust for buying fresh fish and stowed it in the work fridge until it was time to go home. Your meal looks lovely!
Rose, lovely looking salmon with wonderful zucchini and summer squash. I am sure it tasted just wonderful! I love zucchinis with fish, a lovely combo. Well, shopping hours around here are always a “wel-discussed” topic…but I find that more and more stores have extended their opening hours until 10 p.m. even during the week (REWE is a good example).
Hopefully your cat is feeling better!
Have a good weekend!
The whole dish looks delicious! Yum!
It looks great! Your shopping sounds as frustrating as my blogging!
So that explains why the town was totally quiet when we arrived at 6pm on a Saturday! You’re right that stores in the US are open at all hours everyday. I remember spending new year in DC a couple of years ago and totally panicked that there was no food in the house on NYE. Nobody understood why I insisted on picking up a few essential at the grocery store until I discovered that it would be open on Jan 1! Can’t imagine working on new year day. 😦
Your salmon dish turned out beautifully! Glad to see that it’s a quick one too.
It’s amazing how spoiled we are in the US. Hubby and I don’t even think about shopping on
weekends, since we are retired we leave that time to the working people. Besides, shopping
during the week is so much better and quieter. Your dish looks fantastic, and I will admit,
this was a great recipe.
I’m glad you were able to pull this one off! Your plate looks fabulous…I think I could eat this meal again!!! Have a wonderful weekend~
Very nicely done – I really like your veggies, too. We take so many conveniences for granted in the U.S., but I love that in most European countries Sundays are devoted to family.
I’m with you. Its a real disappointment with the new schedule isn’t put up on time as I have to plan way in advance as well. So glad though you got this one done… for us it was a keeper!
I’m old enough to remember when Sunday shopping was enacted in BC – all the teens were hoping, hoping, hoping for it. A lot of the shops I go to are only open ’til six or seven on weekdays, though, since they’re small, local outfits. I’m glad you managed to get your ingredients for this one on time. I agree that we need more advance notice on the month’s recipes.
Organization seems to be the name of the game for you. I’m with you on getting recipes early, just easier to plan. I’m live part time in one of those American cities that never sleeps – Las Vegas – and there is a big downside to that also! I love your picture where your background plate shows the thickness of your salmon fillet. Making homemade tapenade – you’re a champ. Love your healthy side. A delicious meal.
Rosa, Thank you for the comment left for Lauri on the August Recipe Link. I, too, left one.
I’m glad you managed to pull it off, because this was a good one! I will have to try making my own tapenade next time a recipe calls for it, because it sure looks good on top of your salmon!
This looks great and well worth the effort I think!
I got carried away with a house full of teenagers and Pioneer woman’s brownies but this is definitely one I want to get back to!