Marc Bittman has made an art and career out of what I’ve long called “seat of the pants” cooking.  I have a small library of cookbooks (each one has to earn its keep on the single shelf devoted to such compendiums) and use them not infrequently. But much of the time, I take what I have and make dinner.  The upside to SOTP cooking is that it’s everchanging. The downside is when I hit it out of the park, which is also not infrequently, I never remember to write it down. (Marc Bittman does.)

I did write down last night’s ingredients. I began with some cherry tomatoes that were going to wrinkle if I didn’t use them soon and a leftover slice of raw salmon that might have filled the tummy of a very hungry kitten. I sauteed the salmon in some olive oil and butter and removed it from the pan just short of doneness.  I crushed the cherry tomatoes and tossed them in the pan.

While they cooked, I diced a few spears of yellow pepper and added them. Playing hide and seek with the fridge I finished up a jar of Greek olives, thinly sliced a few sun dried tomatoes, got out some capers but decided against them, splashed in some white wine and the juice of a lemon, seasoned it all with some S&P and crushed oregano and let it simmer while the water boiled for the pasta.           I added back the salmon and warmed it up before serving.

Writing this now I realize that we were supposed to have snow peas as well but I forgot to serve them. That’s not SOTP cooking just my addled brain. Were I to make this for company I’d use more salmon and some really hearty pasta from the little Italian store near-by.  Bon appetit!