Dan Aykroyd

[Jesse Joe]

http://harvest.canadaeast.com/image.php?id=61992&size=300x0

Canadian actor Dan Aykroyd, left, poses for a picture with Larry Kingston yesterday at an NB Liquor store in Saint John


Metro meets Aykroyd today

Canadian actor in Dieppe today as part of wine tour of N.B.



By ROD ALLEN

SAINT JOHN - Not to be outdone by the City of Fredericton where Canadian movie star Dan Aykroyd personally signed 1,933 bottles of his Aykroyd wine plus a leg earlier this week, the Saint Johners produced a belly.

"A pregnant woman came in and asked him to sign her belly," says Norah Lacey, spokesperson for NB Liquor and the sponsor of the New Brunswick leg of Aykroyd's Atlantic Canadian tour of duty wrapping on The Rock Friday.
"So, he did. It's been kind of 'wild and crazy' around here."
Indeed.
The star of Saturday Night Live and dozens of hit movies like Ghostbusters -- he's currently on new-release video shelves this week for his part in I Now Pronounce You Chuck and Larry -- has taken the province by storm since arriving Sunday in the provincial capital, where he signed bottles, photographs, movie DVDs and a man's 'Blues Brothers' leg tattoo.
At his second Fredericton stop he signed 1,044 bottles of wine, the first time he's sold anywhere close to 1,000 bottles at any one stop on a cross-Canada tour, leaving his distributor Diamond Estates of Niagara Falls agape.
Clearly a competition has since emerged.
Although they might have managed a coup in the body-part department with the leg the Saint Johners, however valiantly, did not quite beat those deep-pocketed Frederictonians with the port city's tally yesterday of just under 1,000 bottles.
However, Lacey noted Aykroyd also signed and sold 55 bottles of Patron Tequila, that distributor's all-time sales record for any one promotional event.
Now, there are some as might look askance at encouraging the free flow of Christmas cheer at this time of year, but it is probably safe to assume that Metro Monctonians fully intend to salt their signed bottles of Aykroyd Cabernet-Merlot or Chardonnay under the tree or in the sock rather than consume them in any irresponsible or unseemly fashion.
However, it seems just as likely that they fully intend to beat our rival cities into the snow in the arena of conviviality.
Aykroyd arrives at Dieppe's fabulous St. Paul Street NB Liquor outlet at 11 a.m. and will hang in there until the last bottle is signed, figures Lacey; that's been his way all week.
Incidentally, everyone in the province has been following the story; a number of charitable fundraising events, such as Moncton's Peter Gzowski Invitational for Literacy, have contacted the actor in hopes of luring him back here this summer.
Sadly, Aykroyd is in Europe for the Aug. 21 event but his penchant for accommodation hasn't failed PGI's beneficiary, the Literacy Coalition of New Brunswick. Executive director Anne Leslie told the Times & Transcript he is donating a consignment of wine to PGI's dining event, as well as a personal item that will go in the PGI auction, all to raise funds for literacy programs in the province.
After today he heads for Prince Edward Island and then Newfoundland before heading home for his native Ontario.

[Jesse Joe]

http://harvest.canadaeast.com/image.php?id=61881&size=300x0

Sharon Hanley of Quispamsis gets a picture taken with Dan Aykroyd at the N.B. Liquor store at Parkway Mall in Saint John on Tuesday morning

[Jesse Joe]

Q&A Dan Aykroyd


Published Wednesday December 12th, 2007


We reach Dan Aykroyd, world-renowned comic actor of Saturday Night Live and Ghostbusters fame, knowledgeable UFOlogist, vintner, House o' Blues and Hard Rock Cafe co-founder and all-round man-about-Canada, as he treks across the frozen wastes of New Brunswick one night this week in the midst of an Atlantic Canadian promotional tour for Aykroyd wines and Patron Tequila.
With hundreds of screaming fans chasing him out of town as the bus makes its way from Fredericton to Saint John and finally the mecca of good times in the Maritimes, Metro Moncton, Mr. Aykroyd riffs skillfully on dinner with the Grahams, chickenbones, Magnetic Hill and many other topics in a discourse which demonstrates a rather discomfiting knowledge of us New Brunswickers, including exactly which buttons to push.
Times & Transcript: We hear you had dinner with the Grahams. Kindly rate him as a cook, and as Leader Of His People.
Dan Aykroyd: I'm very impressed with Shawn and Roxanne; an amazing young couple who really come off as 'down home,' just like the rest of you. They're beautiful people, really, optimistic, intelligent and hopeful.
The food was great: a nice lamb kafta with mint-yogourt sauce -- went very well with the Patron Silver Tequila by the way -- then little slices of brisket with horseradish and mustard, then lamb chops with a beautiful chutney and sweet potato dip with our Cabernet-Merlot, finishing with Patron coffee-flavoured tequila.
T&T: Is it true you like to hit one of the local bars after each liquor store gig, and do you announce your preferred bar beforehand or do you keep it a secret, like the Rolling Stones?
DA: Well, I really like to hit all the bars if I can. I'll go into them and listen to the sound system and talk to the manager first, but we don't usually linger in one place unless the sound system is really good.
(EDITOR'S NOTE: rumour has it downtown Moncton's fabulous Rouge Resto-club -- which indeed has a fine system and the city's hottest wait staff -- has the inside track).
T&T: Speaking of the Stones, they played at our Magnetic Hill concert site here a couple of years ago, what bands do you recommend we bring in this summer?
DA: I know all about your Stones show! The Hip opened for them and Johnny (drummer Fay) said it was the most exciting night of his life. A great venue!
There's some really reasonably priced talent out there. Kid Rock can headline anywhere; a phenomenal singer, dancer, composer, The Kid can do it all.
Think about John Mayer as a great blues act and that wonderful Welshman Tom Jones, who's got his 'Delilah' and 'It's Not Unusual' but also a very solid R&B act, and you know, KC and the Sunshine Band is absolutely fantastic.
How about a blues revue with Johnny Lang, Buddy Guy and Robert Cray. Those three guys would draw 30,000 at the Hill, easy.
T&T: You sign every bottle of wine -- and just about anything else for that matter -- that people shove at you. What's your secret limbering-up exercise for those busy digits prior to an engagement?
DA: Thankfully, I'm left-handed.
The left, as you know doubt know, is the operating hand for the Harley-Davidson clutch and I have been operating a Harley since I was 19 so the left hand is very strong. I could easily, easily crush a golf ball with this hand.
Now if I was right-handed I would have a problem because that is the Harley brake-hand and I don't brake very much. So, my strong left hand makes it possible for me to execute a fairly legible scrawl, or maybe three-quarter scrawl or half-scrawl. Anyway, I'm happy to sign anything, especially movie DVDs because they remind me I've had an improbably long career and should really just go away.
T&T: Never! Judging by the reaction to your tour, do you believe that New Brunswickers love Dan Aykroyd more than do any other sub-species of Canadian?
DA: The heart of the Maritimes is Maritimers and I've met such nice people on this tour.
T&T: Maybe you should consider a career in politics.
DA: I think you're in good hands with Shawn; I think he's in a position to build the wealth of your citizens with what is really a frontier-style opportunity with hydro, tidal generation, nuclear power... and to sell it abroad, which is what New York has been doing for years.
I have been approached in Ontario at a couple of levels but that's really not for me. I actually want to cut down on my travel soon and get back to the farm where I can worry about things like getting the crops up, though to be truthful I hire other guys to do that.
I'm afraid of tractors. I like to watch.

[Jesse Joe]

T&T: You being a Hollywood movie star and all you'd probably wind up in some horrible scandal anyway.
DA: You wouldn't find much there! It's been pretty clean except for the ignominous demise of my partner John (Belushi). You know, 4,000 people die in emergency rooms across the United States directly due to drug overdose and I've lost a lot of friends to the powder and the pills, River Phoenix and guys like that. It has a way of creeping into the will of human beings.
But I come to town with my bottle of wine and a clear conscience because after all, the Ford Mustang Bullet can do 180 but people don't drive it like that because they choose to obey the law, and there are laws of moderation for consuming alcohol too.
So I'm bringing a spirit of good times to the Maritimes and I know Canadians like to have a drink and so do New Brunswickers. I've seen your warehouse!
T&T: How did you get into the wine business?
DA: I know, it's not like I'm not busy enough, but celebrity is only good for certain things; charities, getting off on a speeding ticket on a remote highway or a table in a crowded restaurant, but it turns out celebrity-hood makes a good marriage with wine.I've bought a piece of the Patron distributor and I pay shares in Diamond Estates I can't wait to get my own operation going!
(EDITOR'S NOTE: Diamond Estates is the Niagara Peninsula winery that produces the Aykroyd Chardonnay and Cabernet-Merlot blend he's been selling here, and he's opening his own winery in the Niagara in the new year).
T&T: Is Aykroyd wine now available everywhere in New Brunswick?
DA: It will be in your entire system soon and at $17.95 it's a great buy! A comparable Napa (California's Napa Valley) would go for $30, you can't go wrong.
T&T: And what sort of Maritime fare would fit with, oh, I don't know, a bottle of ridiculously reasonably priced Aykroyd Chardonnay?
DA: Oh, well certainly the lobster salad we had at Brubaker's in Fredericton, or oysters, or scallops or hey, a nice hammered veal or veal lyonnaise, or a chicken paiella or pesto. Or mussels! Very good with mussels.
T&T: And yet -- and I say this with all due respect, Mr. Aykroyd -- the family name seems to suggest an over-the-counter medicine for certain ailments that don't bear description. Surely Diamond Estates must have had some concerns about marketing!
DA: Well! I should think after a career as long as mine my name is known worldwide, I've got great penetration and there's no problem with people associating my name with... hey, wait a minute, maybe you're on to something here.
Yeah, patent medicines... maybe something involving Ganong chickenbones and Patron Tequila!
That's a puzzling little confection you've got there.
I've been trying to make a candy sculpture with them all day but I haven't dared eat one of them. They're like those hard little humbugs Granny had. I think they should be the mascot candy of the Point Lepreau nuclear reactor.
T&T: Mr. Aykroyd! Are you dissing our chickenbones?
DA: No, no, I'm just saying they've got that nice satiny finish, like humbugs. The truth is I have been sucking on one of them. I hear you get to the chocolate... eventually.
T&T: Hmmm... we're told your tequila is doing very well but Maritimers, particularly my editor, wonder whether you've considered a line of rums.
DA: I have a rum! Patron makes 'Pyrate' rum, which comes in a great little pistol-shaped bottle. We'll talk to your system (NB Liquor) and if they want to take rum we would love to give it to them.
But when it comes to rum, I think of Nova Scotia. Every single liquor store they've got has a whole wall of rum. The Nova Scotians do rum like the Mexicans do tequila!
Ah, Nova Scotia, Land of a Thousand Rums.
I wouldn't mind a little snap right now...
T&T: Never mind the Nova Scotians. Have you travelled in New Brunswick before?
DA: Yes; vomited the entire time.
We drove through here in a 1955 Ford Crestline, Mom and Dad in the front and my brother and I in the back, it was a hot summer, it was a coupe, the windows were usually rolled up and well, you know. We were on our way to P.E.I., of course.
T&T: Gasp!.. splutter...
DA: We did a lot of traveling in Canada; my dad (Samuel Aykroyd was a senior policy advisor to the late Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau) was instrumental in the Canadian Centennial celebrations back in '67. He commissioned the Bobby Gimby song (Ca-na-da, one little, two little, three Canadians) and helped developed the 'triangles' logo and commissioned those Centennial projects all over Canada, including Confederation Park near the family farm in Kingston; the one with the concrete spanning the wading pool... boy, it's ugly.
T&T: Picked up any French during your stay here?
(EDITOR'S NOTE: our subject then informs us of his facility in French with a rapid-fire demonstration. Like many New Brunswickers, he is born with one English-speaking parent and one French-speaking).
T&T: Well done, sir. Can New Brunswick produce good wine grapes despite our northern climate?
DA: It could for ice wine! But seriously, with global warming you could see longer growing seasons in parts of Canada, but there will I think always be a time in January and February in this country when tires are breaking and people are aggravating and it's bleak and it's bad, which is why half of southern Florida is now owned by Canadians.
T&T: Ever been anywhere colder than New Brunswick?
DA: Well, I was in Antarctica last February, and no, it wasn't as cold as it's been here this week. Of course, February is summer in Antarctica.
T&T: Ha! Dan, it's been a pleasure. I hope, if I am able to worm and weasel my way into Dieppe's fabulous NB Liquor outlet on Paul Street, home incidentally of the largest and finest wine store in all of Atlantic Canada, that you will sign my stocking-stuffer bottle of Aykroyd.
DA: Of course.

[Jesse Joe]

http://harvest.canadaeast.com/image.php?id=61882&size=300x0
GLEANER/STEPHEN MACGILLIVRAY PHO
Dawning a Fredericton Police Force hat Canadian actor and comedian Dan Aykroyd promotes his wine at the Devon Liquor store in Fredericton earlier this week. Dan will be at the Dieppe’s NB Liquor outlet on Paul Street today.

[charlene]

I"ve tried a couple of bottles of the Dan Aykroyd wines - nice stuff...I dont' drink the Tequila any more tho...
;)

[Jesse Joe]

Very good Char. Will buy myself one for the holidays for a taste test. :)

[Borderstone]

You know what I still wonder to this day? :confused:

What was it about Dan Akroyd that made Quincy Jones tap him to be part of USA For Africa? :eek:
Alphabetically on the single & album,his name's first. I went "huh?!" & laughed in 1985 when I saw that! :)

[Jesse Joe]

Good point Border, I did not know that. Eugene Levy, John Candy, etc... were all on "Tears Are Not Enough". Dan is fer sure a Canuck eh ! :)

[Jesse Joe]

http://harvest.canadaeast.com/image.php?id=62409&size=300x0
Greg Agnew/Times & Transcript
Warrant Officer Darrell Zinck receives a hearty handshake from actor Dan Aykroyd yesterday in Dieppe. After chatting with the soldier for a few minutes, Aykroyd led the crowd in a hearty round of applause for the troops

http://harvest.canadaeast.com/image.php?id=62352&size=300x0
Greg Agnew/Times & Transcript
Times & Transcript Editor-at-Large Rod Allen ups the ante yesterday by having his head signed by Dan Aykroyd as the veteran comic turned winemaker visited the Dieppe NBLC to promote his wine and tequilas

http://harvest.canadaeast.com/image.php?id=62354&size=300x0
Greg Agnew/Times & Transcript
Dan Aykroyd, veteran comic turned winemaker, visited the Dieppe NBLC yesterday to promote his wine and tequilas

http://harvest.canadaeast.com/image.php?id=62355&size=300x0
Greg Agnew/Times & Transcript
Craig LeBlanc, a volunteer with the Riverview Fire Department, dropped off a couple of T-shirts for Dan Aykroyd’s collection. Aykroyd is wearing a Moncton Firefighters hat

http://harvest.canadaeast.com/image.php?id=62356&size=300x0
Greg Agnew/Times & Transcript
Actor/winemaker Dan Aykroyd signed Cheryl MacLaggan’s shoulder for her yesterday as he made a stop in DIeppe to promote his new wines and tequilas

http://harvest.canadaeast.com/image.php?id=62397&size=300x0

After waiting in line for hours Michel LeBlanc was first up to purchase his bottles and have them signed.

http://harvest.canadaeast.com/image.php?id=62398&size=300x0

Ex- Moncton Mayor Leopold Belliveau was among the fans who stood in line for hours for a chance to talk with Dan Aykroyd.


Aykroyd wows Metro

Actor enjoys stay in Hub City, says he would welcome invitation back



By ROD ALLEN
TIMES & TRANSCRIPT STAFF Published Thursday December 13th, 2007


After four tempestuous days, 'Aykroydmania' finally blew out of New Brunswick yesterday afternoon and was last seen bearing down on Prince Edward Island at high speed.
At NB Liquor's Paul Street outlet yesterday, word had obviously spread far and wide about Aykroyd's 11 a.m. gig there, since the line-up started when the store opened at 9 a.m.
Inside, as he has done all week at NB Liquor outlets in Fredericton and Saint John, the world-renowned Canadian comic actor of Blues Brothers fame signed just over 1,000 bottles of his Aykroyd Cabernet-Merlot and Chardonnay wines.
It would have been more had the province not run out of bottles -- NB Liquor spokeswoman Norah Lacey said yesterday that outlets in the other two cities sent all their remaining stock to add to Paul Street's horde -- and Aykroyd out of time.
Unfortunately, concern over making his next gig in Charlottetown yesterday afternoon, a very long lineup of 500 people at opening time and some confusion at the door resulted in some people not getting an opportunity to have items signed.
The signing was supposed to go two hours and conclude at 1 p.m., but Aykroyd and his band stayed an extra two hours to meet as many people as possible.
Lacey explained that the actor's stays in Fredericton and Saint John could be extended a little longer than Moncton's because yesterday's schedule was the only one that had two stops, and those stops stretched over two provinces and the Northumberland Strait.
Lacey added that Aykroyd's bus was moving at a pretty good clip when it left town.
One can only speculate that the actor's close relationship with police officers -- he's a badge-carrying honorary member of a municipal police department in the United States -- might stand him in good stead.
But if Metro Moncton was not able to top its sister cities in the number of bottles they could convince the affable and ever-accommodating Aykroyd to sign, they at least came up Number One in the department of body-part signatures.
Aykroyd signed a Blues Brothers tattoo on a man's leg in Fredericton and a pregnant woman's belly in Saint John but managed two in Moncton, a woman's butterfly shoulder tattoo and a reporter's follically-challenged head.
For the record, it is a time-honoured tenet among journalists to avoid becoming part of the story, but there's another one that says rules are meant to be broken.
Also for the record, Aykroyd remarked that the proffered pate was "better looking than some breasts I've signed," eliciting peals of laughter from the adoring crowd and furious blushes from the crustiest of scribes, now at last able to live up to the generic title of 'ink-stained wretch.'
There was much, much, more: movie posters, CDs, DVDs and a United Church minister's clerical collar among the mix.
Aykroyd also led the house in a cheer for Moncton-stationed soldier Darrell Zinck, who made the news last year as the beneficiary of a local kindergarten class's Christmas sock sent to Zinck on one of his tours in Afghanistan.
Meanwhile, let it not be said that Aykroyd, very much a man of the people who loves to mingle, merely stopped in Moncton, signed his bottles of Aykroyd wine and Patron Tequila and moved on.
Aykroyd blew into town Tuesday night and true to his word, he did the town right, staying at the Delta Beauséjour Hotel and visiting several of downtown's finest establishments, including the Old Triangle 'round midnight.
"He heard Van Morrison playing on the outside speakers and that's what drew him in," said Steve Gallagher, owner of the prominent Main Street venue.
"He grabbed a snug in the back of the pub and invited me and a few friends to join them. They stayed until the wee hours and left a three-figure tip."
Earlier, "Dan showed up about 8 p.m. and stayed for nearly four hours," said Steve Gallant, proprietor of Rouge Resto-Club on Robinson Court.
"We had a live band and Dan actually got up on stage and sang a song before a fully packed house. Our guests were blown away."
After the Island, Aykroyd continues his Atlantic Canadian tour for a few more days before heading back home to Kingston, but he might be back in Moncton some day.
The co-founder of the House of Blues bars, which are usually affiliated with casinos, says he's open to an invitation if Metro sees a casino project this year.
"I'd be interested in bringing my band, the Blues Brothers Formal Classic Revue with the blood brother of Jake Blues, aka Jim Belushi, to Moncton for the opening of your casino," he said yesterday.
"I would love to come back and do that."

[mnmouse]

Hey Borderstone and Jesse Joe,
I believe that in addition to being a Canadian citizen, Dan is a naturalized citizen of the United States, which is probably a part of the reason Quincy Jones felt he could be included in his project.
I enjoyed watching him on Saturday Night Live, which were some of the show's best years, in my opinion.
Mouse

[Jesse Joe]

Hi mnmouse,

You know I did think about this last night. You are most likely correct. Just like Jim Carrey is born Canadian, and is now an American citizen. Thanks for the info mouse... Always nice to hear from you. :)

[mnmouse]

You're welcome, Jesse, and thanks! :)

[Jesse Joe]

http://harvest.canadaeast.com/image.php?id=62701&size=300x0

David Adjey is known for his cookbooks, TV show and his work as a personal chef for Dan Aykroyd, who was in Moncton this week.


Aykroyd's former personal chef cooks up new book

Famous chef offers the best of his best in new cookbook


THE CANADIAN PRESS Published Saturday December 15th, 2007


KINGSTON, Ont. - If David Adjey hadn't been a chef, he could have been a coach. These days, he spends as much time helping people enjoy cooking as he does cooking.

He can be seen frequently on the Food Network's popular TV show "Restaurant Makeover" coaxing other chefs to spruce up their menus.
And, as the title indicates, his new cookbook, "Deconstructing The Dish," (Whitecap) finds a way to break down complicated meals into manageable blocks.
Adjey lives in Toronto now after having stints as a restaurant chef in New York City and California. But he has a soft spot in his heart for the Kingston, Ont., area.
"One of my best summers ever I lived on a farm in Harrowsmith," he says.
That would be the summer of 1997 when he was the personal chef of Dan Aykroyd and his family. "Aykroyd had been to a restaurant where I was in Toronto and said he and his wife really enjoyed my cooking," says Adjey, who was asked to cook for the Aykroyd family on a couple of special occasions. "Then he said a lot was going to happen one summer, so why didn't I just come out and cook for them. "I loved it."
When Adjey asked Aykroyd to write the foreword for his cookbook, the reaction was immediate.
"I called and left a message with his assistant," Adjey recalls.
"About 12 minutes later, she called to say he'd dictated it over the phone and she'd be typing it up."
Besides being amazed at Aykroyd's recall of what he had eaten, Adjey was flattered by the comments.
"This was a night of gastronomic ecstasy that will be sumptuously rolled over in our salivary memories until the end of time," Aykroyd writes in the book's foreword.
The cookbook should certainly give readers a good idea of what Adjey's cooking style is all about.
"You could say these are my greatest hits," he says. "I looked over everything that I've cooked over my career and these are the 40 entrees that I didn't just cook at the restaurant but also when I went home.
"Cooking has a lot to do with your emotions. So I broke it up into dishes I cook when I feel hot, warm, cool or cold." (And, yes, they do break down to the various seasons of the year.)
He starts the book off by mentioning his 12 rules.
Among the more memorable ones: try something weird on a menu once; cook from a different region in the world at least once a week; never replace butter with anything except butter; and never order off a menu that's bigger than your underwear.
In speaking to the first of those rules, Adjey says, "Every once in a while, you have to get out of the box, expand your palate and learn.
"That's how you get better as a cook."
The book has a large number of fish recipes in it.
"It's probably 50-50 between meat and fish," Adjey says. "Fish makes you smart and keeps you smart although I know at restaurants, the majority of sales are from chicken and steak."
Although Adjey loves to try all kinds of wild ingredients, there are four that are essential to him.
"My pantry is massive and I live five minutes away from every cuisine you could think of," he says. "But I always have great olive oil, fresh peppercorns in the peppermill and a great sea salt. And I'm a bacon junky.
"There's a lot of meat I could give up, but triple-smoked German bacon is what's stopping me from becoming a strict vegetarian."
He appears on "Restaurant Makeover" on an ad hoc basis. "They call up and ask if I'm free on a certain week and if I am, I go," he says. "I don't know exactly what I'm going to do till I get there. Usually, I just go to the nearest market, grab some bagfuls of stuff and say, 'Let's cook.'"
Adjey thinks we should spend more time in our kitchens.
"You should cook something every day," he says. "I shouldn't say this because I'm on TV, but we should reverse the amount of time we spend in the kitchen as opposed to watching TV," he says. "If you did, you'd be eating the best food you ever had."
The cookbook takes you through a dish step by step so that what might seem daunting from afar is fairly simple up close.
For my first shot at the book, I tried the tandoori wild salmon with biryani vegetables and lime pickle.
The recipe called for a big fillet of wild salmon. Not feeling particularly flush that day, I just made mine with four salmon fillets, but I felt quite proud at being able to tie two pieces together with a little boiled leek.
The results were spectacular and even the veggies were amazing.
Wild Salmon With Biryani Vegetables
1 leek, cut lengthwise 1
1 fillet of wild salmon (about 900 g/32 oz) 1
8 kaffir lime leaves 8
50 g ginger, peeled and sliced paper thin 2 oz
50 ml cilantro leaves 1/4 cup
50 ml tandoori marinade 1/4 cup
Tandoori Marinade
30 ml tandoori paste 2 tbsp
30 ml olive oil 2 tbsp
Zest of 2 limes
50 ml cilantro leaves 1/4 cup
Tandoori Marinade: In a food processor fitted with a metal blade, blend all ingredients together into a smooth paste. Transfer to a non-reactive container and refrigerate until needed.

Preheat oven to 180 C (350 F). In a large pot of boiling water, blanch leek until just soft, about 1 minute.

Submerge leek into ice water and cut into 4 equal lengths. Cut salmon fillet in half lengthwise.

Place lime leaves, ginger slices and cilantro leaves on one side of the salmon and sandwich together with the other side.

Brush with tandoori marinade on all sides. Tie together as snugly as possible with the leek ribbons.

Sear salmon over medium heat until lightly caramelized, about 2 minutes.

Flip and continue to cook for another 1 to 2 minutes.

Remove and transfer to a wire rack-lined sheet pan.

Roast until just firm, 5 to 7 minutes.

Serve with lime pickle and biryani vegetables (Chinese long beans, cauliflower, carrots, butternut squash, okra, ginger) sauteed in 30 ml (2 tbsp) each of butter and biryani paste.

Note: Tandoori and biryani paste, Chinese long beans and kaffir lime leaves are available at Asian grocery stores.