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!

Parmesan Buttered Grilled Corn

I haven't stopped yet.

I'll be honest with you though. I bought my first (actually two) Fall scented candles. I have a problem with Fall anything. I was at T.J. Maxx yesterday and gasped at the sight of their brand new Halloween merchandise. Then I went down the candle aisle. Big mistake. Pumpkin, apple spice, apple cider, autumn, caramel, were just some of the scents on the shelves. But I'm not ready for summer to end just yet. I'd still like to work on my tan. And grill some more of these babies.

This shouldn't even be a recipe. We all know how to grill corn. It's in the butter. Finger licking, salty, chessy good. Back when we first got our grill I was all over the place looking for stuff to throw on it and found a link to this butter, a Rachael Ray recipe. I'm so glad I did.

I made this just for the two of us, so I didn't use a whole stick of butter and only grilled 2 ears of corn. Adjust according to how many people you're feeding!

Source: Everyday with Rachael Ray

1 stick (4 ounces) butter, softened
1/2 cup finely grated parmesan cheese
1/2 teaspoon pepper
6 ears corn, husked
2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil

In a medium bowl, beat together the butter, cheese and pepper until creamy (or take the lazy route and mash butter and all ingredients with a fork). Spoon onto a sheet of plastic wrap or waxed paper, roll into a log and freeze until chilled, at least 20 minutes or up to 2 days (I did this the first time and didn't the second time I made it. Didn't really make a difference. I put the butter in a bowl while the corn was grilling and took it out when it was ready).

Preheat a grill or grill pan to medium-high. Cut the corncobs in half (I left mine whole). Brush them lightly with olive oil and grill, turning occasionally, until the corn is tender and just getting charred, 12 to 15 minutes. Cut the chilled butter into small pieces and serve with the corn.

Have you started thinking about Fall yet?

P.S. I'm now on Facebook! Tell all your friends. :)

Carolina-Style Barbecue Chicken

With summer in full swing I have the itch to grill everything. I love our grill and I'm so glad we finally caved in and bought one. So far we've grilled burgers (with a few complications...), corn on the cob, asparagus, chicken breasts, flank steak, and chicken thighs. We're getting better at this thing. And I can actually say "we" because the hubbs is out there with me. :)

These chicken thighs are by far the tastiest thing we've grilled. Not having to marinate these overnight is a huge bonus for me, as I tend not to read through an entire recipe (I'm still working on that) and disappoint myself when I realize the meat needs to be marinated and we won't be able to eat it until the next day. When will I learn...

I had most of these ingredients on hand. I used dijon instead of yellow mustard and omitted the hot sauce. I also halved the recipe, since we used four chicken thighs instead of 8. Our only issue was the cook time- about 20 to 25 minutes, with us checking often to see if they were done.

Source: Food Network 

1/2 cup yellow mustard (I used dijon mustard)
1/4 cup apple cider vinegar
1/4 cup packed light brown sugar
1 1/2 tablespoons mustard powder
2 teaspoons hot sauce (omitted)
1/2 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
Kosher salt and freshly ground pepper
2 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
8 skin-on, bone-in chicken thighs (2 to 2 1/4 pounds)

Preheat a grill to medium. Whisk the yellow mustard, vinegar, brown sugar, mustard powder, hot sauce, Worcestershire sauce, 1/2 teaspoon salt, and pepper to taste in a bowl. Whisk in the butter.

Season the chicken with salt and pepper, then toss with about one-third of the mustard sauce in a large bowl until coated. Let sit at room temperature, 10 minutes.

Brush the grill grates generously with vegetable oil. Put about 1/4 cup of the remaining mustard sauce in a small bowl for basting and reserve the rest for topping. Grill the chicken, covered, basting occasionally with the sauce, until well marked and a thermometer inserted into the thickest part registers 170 degrees F, 10 to 12 minutes per side. Serve the chicken with the reserved mustard sauce.

What are you planning on cooking/baking/grilling for the 4th of July?