Salmon with Lime Butter Sauce

Are you still looking for something special to make for your sweetie on Valentine's Day?

If you answered yes, you've come to the right place! Or if you already have tomorrow tonight all figured out and won't be cooking and will be going out to eat or have something already marinating in the fridge, good for you! I'd suggest filing this under "romantic dinners for two," for an ordinary night, or special weekend treat.

Days like Valentine's Day or anniversaries or other special occasions can be stressful. You want the night to be perfect. You want to serve something memorable, something spectacular, something delicious. What would make it even better is if that something spectacular and something delicious didn't take all day to make or didn't have 134532 steps.

Well, that's what's so great about this salmon here. Two steps. TWO steps. (I'm not counting chopping the garlic, squeezing the lime, that's baby stuff folks). Grill or broil your salmon however you like. Blend all the ingredients for the butter sauce. And you're done.

DONE!

And it is pretty spectacular.

Source: Epicurious
Serves: 4-6

2 fillets of salmon
1 large garlic clove, chopped
1/4 cup fresh lime juice
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
1 stick (1/2 cup) unsalted butter, melted

Salt and pepper salmon fillets. Grill or broil. While salmon is cooking, start butter sauce. Purée garlic with lime juice, salt, and pepper in a blender until smooth. With motor running, add melted butter and blend until emulsified, about 30 seconds.

Note: This butter can easily serve 4-6 people. I froze the rest.

Happy Valentine's Day!

Shrimp Fettuccine Alfredo

Do you like shrimp?

I do! I'm in love with the bang bang shrimp tacos at Bonefish Grill. If I knew how to make those tacos, we'd have that once a week! But I'm still very fishy (pun intended!) about fish. I stick to the same cooking method for salmon and for shrimp (the only two seafoods (is that a word)? I make at home). I still have lots to learn about fish and I definitely have room for improvement.

Despite my lack of fishy skills, I do know how to throw shrimp into pasta. This was really good, easy, and quick to put together on a weeknight. Dinner ready in 20 minutes? I'll take it. You might prefer using heavy cream instead of half and half, I bet it would add richness as the half and half just isn't the same. I also think more cheese is necessary, or adding a second cheese might do the trick. It was a Cooking Light recipe after all, so if you're trying to eat healthier after Thanksgiving and before the holiday baking begins, it's a good way to satisfy a pasta craving!

Source: Cooking Light
Serves: 3-4

1 pound fettuccine
1 pound peeled and deveined medium shrimp
2 garlic cloves, minced
2 teaspoons olive oil
1/2 cup grated Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese
1/3 cup half-and-half
3 tablespoons 1/3-less-fat cream cheese
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley

How do you like to make shrimp?

Shrimp with Basil and Fresh Tomatoes

Pasta, pasta, read all about it!

Get your spaghetti, fettuccine, or linguine!

This pasta dish was light, flavorful, fresh, and easy. And did I mention easy? There is nothing to this, we all can cook this up on a weeknight. You can make it even easier for yourself by using precooked frozen shrimp (that's what I did), dried basil (if you don't have fresh on hand), and canned tomatoes (once again, if you don't have fresh on hand). Warm up the shrimp, boil the pasta, shred some cheese, sip a little wine, and add your basil and tomatoes. Dinner will be ready in 20 minutes. How awesome is that! 

Pretty awesome. I know.


One day I will conquer my fear of shrimp-fresh-from-the-sea. Right now I'll buy it precooked, please. I don't know how I feel about this whole "deveining" thing. What kind of word is that anyway?

Source: Recipe.com
 

12 ounces fresh or frozen peeled and deveined medium shrimp  

1 tablespoon cooking oil 

1 large onion, chopped 

1 cloves cups chopped, plum or common tomatoes (I used diced canned tomatoes)

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2 tablespoons snipped fresh basil or 1 teaspoon dried basil, crushed

1 tablespoon drained capers (optional)

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/8 teaspoon pepper

8 ounces spaghetti or other pasta, cooked and drained

1/4 cup finely shredded Parmesan cheese 

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Thaw shrimp, if frozen. Set aside.

 

Pour cooking oil into a wok or large skillet. (Add more oil as necessary during cooking.) Preheat over medium-high heat. Stir-fry onion and garlic in hot oil for 2 minutes or until onions are crisp-tender. Remove onion mixture from the wok. 

 

Add shrimp to the hot wok. Stir-fry for 2 to 3 minutes or until shrimp turn opaque. Return onion mixture to the wok. Add tomatoes, basil, capers (if desired), salt, and pepper. Stir all ingredients together. Cook and stir for 1 minute more or until heated through. Serve immediately over hot cooked spaghetti or other pasta. Sprinkle with Parmesan cheese. Garnish with fresh basil leaves, if desired. Makes 4 servings.

How do you feel about deveining shrimp? Ever done it before? Share your secrets with me!

Shrimp, Feta Mac and Cheese

With the pasta connoisseur that I am, I can't believe there are only four pasta recipes on this blog. I'm a failure. I must rectify this immediately!

I think the problem is, most of the time I don't follow a recipe when I'm throwing together a pasta dish. Take what we had on Monday night for example.

I cubed up what was left of our roast chicken, sauteed some asparagus, mushrooms, and tomatoes, and threw in some bacon. And of course, I grated some mozzarella cheese. Done. So simple, so easy. My favorite way to make pasta on a weekday.

But today I'm sharing with you a more involved pasta dish. For when you feel like taking the time to make a sauce from scratch and indulge in an epic creation.  

I've made this several times since discovering it on Annie's blog. It has a perfect blend of cheeses, at least, with the ones I use. Gruyere cheese is not in my budget. Sadly. I use frozen pre-cooked shrimp that I warm up quickly in a skillet, pecorino romano cheese, parmesan cheese, and half a cup of peas. I love the crunchy topping made up of panko bread crumbs and feta cheese (did I forget to mention that, there's a third cheese). I've included the original recipe below, as it is wonderful as is. I just tweak it a little bit!

Source: Annie's Eats

1 lb. pasta shapes
1 lb. raw shrimp (31-40 ct.), peeled and deveined, cut in half (if desired)
10 oz. feta cheese, crumbled and divided
Zest of 1 lemon, divided
½ cup Panko breadcrumbs
2 tbsp. fresh parsley, chopped, divided
5 tbsp. butter, divided
4 tbsp. all-purpose flour
3 cups milk
2 tbsp. fresh dill, chopped
8 oz. Gruyere cheese, shredded (about 2 cups)
½ tsp. kosher salt
½ tsp. ground black pepper

Bring a large pot of salted water to boil.  Cook the pasta until al dente according to the package directions. Drain well; set aside.  Add the raw shrimp to the warm pasta and toss together.  The heat from the pasta will partially cook the shrimp.

Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 400˚ F.  In a small bowl, combine a handful of the feta, a pinch of the lemon zest, the panko, 2 teaspoons of the parsley and 1 tablespoon of the butter, melted.  Toss with a fork to combine; set aside.

In a medium saucepan, melt the remaining 4 tablespoons of butter over medium-high heat.  Once the butter is melted, whisk in the flour  to form a paste.  Cook 1-2 minutes, whisking constantly, until light golden brown.  Whisk in the milk.  Continue to heat the mixture, stirring frequently, until it bubbles and thickens, about 5 minutes.  As soon as the sauce has thickened, remove from the heat and stir in the remaining feta, Gruyere, remaining parsley, remaining lemon zest, dill, salt and pepper.  Pour the mixture over the pasta and shrimp; toss well to coat.

Transfer the mixture to a lightly greased 2½ or 3-quart baking dish.  Sprinkle the breadcrumb-feta mixture evenly over the top.  Bake for 20-25 minutes, until lightly browned and bubbling.  Remove from the oven and let cool 5-10 minutes before serving.


By the way, the hubby took his exam yesterday! Yayyyy!!! He's feeling okay about it, very glad to have gotten it out of the way. We've been spending the day together- enjoyed breakfast at a fabulous place and watched Water for Elephants (!). Love having a day off in the middle of the week! Hope you're having a wonderful Wednesday. :)

Salmon with White Wine and Lemon Sauce

We have been eating an insane amount of sweets lately. Chocolate covered strawberries, cheesecakes, banana bread, chocolate chip oatmeal cookies...

It was time for an intervention. At least for one night.

This was really, really good. The sauce is perfect and can be paired with any kind of fish. I pan seared the salmon first, seasoning it with salt and pepper. When it was done I covered it to keep it warm and prepared the sauce in the same pan. I paired it with brown rice, sauteed spinach, and a butt-load of broccoli. 

I was feeling too healthy after dinner and had to make those oatmeal cookies. The broccoli cancels it out though, right?

Source: adapted from Prevention RD

Salmon Fillets
Salt and pepper
1 Tbsp olive oil
1 onion, roughly chopped
1/2 cup white wine
2 Tbsp butter
2 Tbsp fresh Italian parsley, chopped
1/2 lemon

Heat a pan over medium high heat. Spray with cooking spray or coat the pan with a teaspoon of olive oil. Allow the pan to become very hot before adding salmon. Season both sides of the salmon fillets with salt and pepper. When pan is ready, sear both sides of the salmon. Salmon is done when it is slightly opaque and flaky. Remove salmon and cover to keep warm.

In the same pan, heat olive oil over medium heat. Saute onions until softened and beginning to color, about 1 1/2 minutes. Add wine and bring to boil. Boil until reduced to 1/4 cup, about 3-5 minutes. Whisk in butter and parsley. Squeeze in half a lemon. Spoon over fish.

What are some of your go-to healthy meals?

A Dinner Party

This weekend we had some friends over for a dinner party. On the menu was Alaskan Baked Salmon, Roasted Asparagus, and Roasted Red Potatoes. I've made this salmon many times and was eager to share it with our dinner guests. The main course had to be something light. Dessert was going to be pretty heavy- strawberries, bananas, miniature marshmallows, and brownies bites to use for our chocolate fountain!

That's the real reason we invited them over. We can't eat all that chocolate ourselves.

I'd recommend everyone buy their own chocolate fountain. It brings people together. It fills your heart with joy. And fat, but that's okay, this isn't meant to be used everyday.

Just have a healthy dinner before hand...

See?

All the more reason to eat more chocolate! And we did. Even when we were stuffed, we kept eating. And eating. Till we were falling asleep at the table. A lovely food coma induced.

And then our friend had the greatest idea ever. Coating what was left of the fruit and brownies with the last of the chocolate. You know, to snack on for later. Because we're bound to be hungry again. 

Great times.

What do you like to serve at your dinner parties?

Pumpkins, Apples, and Sushi

Strange combination you say? Well, this is how they all came together....

Today we spent the morning at a pumpkin patch.

And I saw this little beauty.

We took him home along with a bushel of apples.

I was very excited.

But before this we stopped at the cider mill to get some donuts.

More excitement. Can't you tell?

Oh yes dip those babies into that glaze!

We got an assortment of pumpkin, blueberry, and apple doughnuts. Oh My God they were SO GOOD.

Into the bag they go.

Why aren't there more!? Oh wait, because we ate them on the way home.

And seeing as we were exhausted from a full day of apple picking, donut stuffing, and pumpkin hunting, there was no way cooking was going to be done tonight.

This was some of the best sushi we have ever had. No joke, as you can tell, by the hubbs thumbs up.

Perfect way to end a perfect fall day. How did you spend your Saturday?

Alaska Salmon Bake with Pecan Crunch

I have officially conquered the art of baking salmon. At least, with the Alaska Salmon Bake recipe I've been using! Salmon is a new adventure for me; I've never made it until recently. The hubby learned all about the Mediterranean diet during one of his sequences (he's in medical school) and demanded we start eating salmon for all its health benefits.

How do you make salmon?!

Fish and I don't have a relationship of any kind. Sure, I can make shrimp (that's frozen and only needs reheating), but I've never made any kind of fish fillet. I searched the interwebs for an easy, tasty recipe. After making it the first time, it was good. I was happy with the result. I've made it four more times since then and we both love it!

Source: All Recipes

3 tablespoons Dijon mustard
3 tablespoons butter, melted
5 teaspoons honey
1/2 cup fresh bread crumbs
1/2 cup finely chopped pecans
3 teaspoons chopped fresh parsley
6 (4 ounce) fillets salmon
Salt and Pepper to taste
Lemon wedges

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C). In a small bowl, mix together the mustard, butter, and honey. In another bowl, mix together the bread crumbs, pecans, and parsley.  

Season each salmon fillet with salt and pepper. Place on a lightly greased baking sheet. Brush with mustard-honey mixture. Cover the top of each fillet with bread crumb mixture. 

Bake for 10 minutes per inch of thickness, measured at thickest part, or until salmon just flakes when tested with a fork. Serve garnished with lemon wedges.

Do you have a favorite salmon recipe? What kind of fish do you like to cook? What's your favorite way to make it?