Baked Salmon Dinner

March 26, 2009

MENU

Baked Salmon

Mustard Dill Sauce

Sautéed Spinach

Yellow Rice

RECIPES

Baked Salmon:

1 lb salmon filet

1/2 lemon sliced into thin rounds

Tin foil

1/4 cup white wine

Preheat oven to 450 degrees. Cover baking dish in tin foil. Place lemon slices in bottom of pan to support salmon. Place salmon, skin side down, on top of lemon slices. (This adds flavor and stops the fish from sticking.) Salt and pepper the salmon. Pour white wine in bottom of pan. Loosely cover pan with foil and place in oven. Bake for 8-10 minutes. Remove foil. Continue to bake for another 5-10 minutes or until salmon is firm to touch and cooked through.

Cooking time for the salmon will very based on how thick the salmon is. If it is a thin tail slice it may cook in as little as 10 minutes. Thicker center cuts will take more on the line of 15 minutes. Just keep checking as you cook. It doesn't hurt it to peek under the cover or open the oven. And remember, gently poke the fish throughout cooking until you learn what if feels like when done. You can also adjust cooking time based on taste preference.

**You can sprinkle herbs on this salmon before baking**
Good choices include:
Dill
Herb de Provence
Tarragon
Cajun Seasoning (I like Paul Prudhomme's fish seasoning)
Freshly grated ginger


Mustard Dill Sauce:

4 Tbs Dijon mustard

3 Tbs chopped fresh dill

1 Tbs white wine vinegar

1/2 tsp dry mustard

1/3 cup vegetable or canola oil

2 Tbs sugar

Mix all ingredients in a bowl and let sit for approximately 1 hour.

This is a less sweet version of a classic grave lax (cured salmon) sauce. The traditional grave lax sauce contains equal amounts sugar and mustard. You can adjust the sweetness to taste.

Sautéed Spinach:

1 bag pre-washed baby spinach

2 cloves garlic, pealed and smashed with the edge of a knife

1 Tbs olive oil or butter (or a combination)

Heat oil in pan. Lightly sauté garlic in oil. Add spinach in batches. Turn with tongs until cooked. Spinach will wilt down quickly and produce lots of liquid. As first batch of spinach shrinks down add more. It doesn't matter that some has been in the pan longer than the rest.

I serve this with tongs or transfer it to a serving bowl with tongs to drain off the excess liquid.

Yellow Rice:

1 cup basmati rice

1 1/2 cups chicken stock

1/2 tsp turmeric

1 shallot chopped

1 clove garlic chopped

1 Tbs olive oil

Rinse rice according to package instructions. Sauté shallot and garlic in oil until translucent. Add rice, broth and turmeric. Stir and bring to a boil. Cover and reduce to a low simmer. Simmer 10-15 minutes or until liquid is absorbed and rice is tender. Do not stir the rice during cooking.

Remember if the rice burns or browns at the very bottom (common with electric ranges that retain heat longer even when turned down) it's not a waste. Don't stir it or scrape it up while cooking. Just leave it. The rest of the rice is still good. Just be careful when serving not to scrape up the browned rice on the bottom.


NOTES FROM "CLASS"

After a review of the participants cooking skills last week, this week was supposed to be fool proof. That said, the "teacher" did a little too much talking and a wee bit too much drinking and didn't notice the rice was a little hot. Which brings us to the first point...Even good cooks screw it up every now and then. Just refer to the section on what to do if the rice browns on the bottom.

Remember to rub your salmon. Run your fingers down the bone lines and pull out any bones that you find. This is not a guarantee that there won't be bones left. But it lowers your chances of spending the night in the ER because you had too much wine while cooking a choked on a bone.

Baked salmon can be served over any salad hot or cold. Just match your seasoning up to your salad and dressing. This makes a great girl meal. Guys tend to question this as upgraded rabbit food. You're warned.

Tin foil is your friend, unless you have a scullery maid. Lining the pan with tin foil when baking the salmon (or other fish using the same method) helps clean up go quicker. If you're lucky, nothing will get through the foil and you won't even have to wash the pan. Yes, those two ladies in the commercial are right. It's quick clean up.

Chicken Piccata

So, by popular demand, some begging and a little guilt....a blog to go along with Thursday night cooking class.



Thursday, March 19, 2009

MENU

Chicken Piccata

Mashed Potatoes (with no box in sight)

Roasted Asparagus

Cheating Strawberry Short Cake


RECIPES:

Chicken Piccata:

(Serves 4)

4 chicken breasts

1 lemon

1/2 bottle dry white wine

3 Tbs capers (more or less to taste)

1/4 cup chopped parsley

Flour for dredging

Butter

Salt

Pepper

Filet each chicken breast into two thin pieces. Salt and pepper chicken. Dredge chicken breast in flower.

Melt approximately 2 Tbs of butter in skillet over medium heat. (Adjust amount of butter depending on size of skillet. There should be enough to coat the bottom of the pan, but the chicken is not going for a swim.) Sauté chicken pieces until lightly golden and cooked through, adjusting heat as necessary not to burn the butter. (Don't over crowed the skillet, do it in batches. Otherwise your chicken won't brown it will boil and no one likes boiled chicken! You may need to add butter for subsequent batches.)

Remove chicken to plate and keep warm. (Cover it with tin foil or put in microwave.)

Add 2 Tbs of butter to skillet. When butter melts add 2 Tbs of flower and stir into butter. Cook the butter flower mixture (known as a rue) for 1-2 minutes. Add Wine and whisk until rue dissolves in wine. Add juice of 1 lemon and capers. Bring to a boil. Reduce and simmer for several minutes until sauce thickens to consistency of heavy cream. Adjust salt as necessary. Return chicken to sauce along with any accumulated juices. Turn to coat. Simmer for one to two minutes to ensure chicken is hot. Add parsley and serve.

Mashed Potatoes:


There is absolutely no excuse for boxed mashed potatoes, EVER!

You can use any potato you like for mashed potatoes. I find that good old russets or red skins work best. Yukon gold are also good for mashing. You can leave the skin on reds, but if you do, wash them thoroughly. Russets must be pealed. I like my Yukon Gold's pealed, but that's up to personal preference.

The number of potatoes depends on their size. I find that one russet per person is more than enough, unless you are feeding teenage boys or guys who still eat like they're teenage boys. Then add an extra potato for the pot. With large red potatoes I usually use one and a half per person, plus one for the pot. (Same rule would apply to Yukon gold or any similarly sized potato.) But, of course, I have that Italian gene that says every meal you make is for an army, so adjust based on how big of eaters you are serving.

Peal the potatoes. Cut in half and then into equal size chunks. I do approximately one inch cubes. (The smaller the chunks the quicker they will cook.) Put potatoes in a pot and cover with water. Bring to a boil and add salt. (Approximately 1-2 tsp for a 5 qt pot.) Boil until fork tender. (Remember the fork test, they will break apart easily when done, but should not disintegrate.)

Drain potatoes and return to low heat. Stir potatoes over low heat to dry them out. They will start to crumble as they dry. Remove from heat and add butter and about a 1/4 cup of milk. I prefer buttermilk, but any milk will work fine, even non-fat. You can also use cream for richer potatoes. Beat with hand mixer until smooth. Add milk as necessary to reach desired consistency.

TASTE!
Adjust salt and pepper as desired.

Roasted Asparagus:


Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

4-6 large/thick asparagus per person (or more depending on how much you love your veggies.)

Pick asparagus with tightly closed heads.

Snap ends off asparagus. Peal lower two thirds if desired.

Cover sheet pan in foil. Drizzle olive oil in pan. Roll asparagus in oil. They should be coated, with a light film in pan, but not swimming. (Too much olive oil and they will boil and not brown.) Sprinkle with sea or kosher salt and pepper.

Roast until desired doneness. Approximately 20 minutes for cooked through.

Be sure to check on them occasionally as oven temperatures will vary and cooking time will very based on thickness of asparagus.

** These can also be done on the grill. When grilling be sure to turn several times throughout cooking. If you are cooking with the grill lid open they will take significantly longer.


Strawberry Short Cake (almost):

(Serves 4)


1 pre-made pound cake

2 pints Strawberries

1/4 cup sugar

3 Tbs triple sec (if desired)


Rinse strawberries and remove steam end. Slice and place in bowl. Add sugar. (Adjust sugar based on sweetness of strawberries. Ripe berries need approximately 1/4 cup. Less ripe berries need a little more.) Add triple sec if desired. Stir and cover. Set aside for at least an hour and a half. Stir occasionally. Strawberries will create their own juice as they sit.


Slice pound cake in place on plate or in bowl. Spoon strawberries and juice over cake. Top with home made whip cream.


(The cheat is pre-made pound cake. We'll save home made short cake for another lesson. Trust me, no one ever complains about the pound cake.)


Whipped Cream:

2 cups Heavy Cream
1/4 cup Sugar
1 Tbs Vanilla
Pour cream into deep bowl. Whip with electric mixer until starts to thicken. Add sugar and vanilla. Continue to whip until thick. (Do not over whip or it will turn to butter.)
Vanilla and sugar can be adjusted according to taste.
For a half recipe use approximately 3 Tbs of sugar.

NOTES FROM "CLASS"

Cooking is fun! It's not a precise art. You very rarely have to be exact in your measurements, that's reserved for baking. So don't worry too much. What's the worst that can happen? If you burn it, order a pizza to be delivered while you do the dishes. If you under cook it, shove it in the microwave and hope it works out. If you over salt it, serve it any way and dismiss the critics as having no taste. If you drop it, pick it up and keep going.

The above recipes list measurements that are based on standard measures to give you a guide until you learn what a tablespoon of sugar or a teaspoon of salt looks like without a measuring spoon. Here's a hint, each time you use a measuring spoon put it in your hand before you dump it in the pot. This way you will learn to visualize the amount without having to measure it out every time. (NOTE: this only applies to dry ingredients. If you attempt this with liquids, you will get exactly the result you expect.)

Poke your meat! Poke it when its raw. Poke it after a minute in the pan. Poke it after two minutes. Just keep poking it! The more you poke it the sooner you'll learn to tell how done it is by touch. This applies only to meat you are cooking. Poke all other meat at your own risk.

I love the flexible plastic cutting boards. They are easy to store and dump into pots and bowls nicely. They also go in the dishwasher for easy clean up and disinfecting. However, don't get the type with the cute colors and pictures, because the when they go through the dishwasher the color comes off on your dishwasher and you can never get it off. I have the outlines to prove it.