Salmon en Papillote

I made this after seeing the original on The Best Remedy blog. Her pictures are gorgeous, so if you need some inspiration to throw this together, check 'em out! It seriously only takes about 20 mins to prepare and 20 mins to cook, so it's a great quick meal.

Ingredients (Serves 2)

• 1 lb salmon fillet (try and get 2 fillets about the same size and thickness, or one even piece you can cut in half)
• 1 small red potato
• 1 ear of corn
• Sugar snap peas in pods
• 1 carrot
• Fresh thyme
• 1 lemon
• Olive oil
• Sesame oil
• Salt and pepper to taste
• Parchment paper

Preheat your oven to 400° F. Peel your potato and cut into very, very thin slices. Cut all of the corn off of the cob. Wash 4-5 sugar snap peas for each fillet of salmon. Peel your carrot and slice into very thin slices. Pick out 2-3 sprigs of thyme for each salmon fillet. Take lemon and slice two thin slices from the middle. 

Get out your parchment paper and cut 2 large rectangles, about 15" long. Place one salmon fillet in the middle of each piece of parchment paper. Arrange half of your potato slices, corn, snap peas, carrots, and thyme on each fillet. Sprinkle salt and pepper to taste over the whole thing. Drizzle olive oil (about 1/2 - 1tsp) over your fish and vegetables. Then drizzle a very small amount of sesame oil on top. Do the same to the next fillet.

Place long sides of parchment paper together and fold down until it's right on top of the fish. Fold the other ends over and over and tuck under the fish. Place both finished packets onto a baking sheet. Pop in the oven for 20 minutes. When finished, unwrap carefully (steam), and bon appetit!

 

 

Martha Stewart Easy Baked Chicken Thighs

Uh-oh everyone. Now that I'm (Nicky) doing most of the cooking around here, this blog is turning into "Things Nicky Can Cook in 60-Minutes Or Less That Everyone Will Like".blogspot.com.

I'm ok with that.

Easy Roasted Chicken Thighs Recipe

Adapted from Martha Stewart:http://www.marthastewart.com/340992/roasted-chicken-thighs

Ingredients

• 1 package of chicken thighs, skinless 
•          (Original recipe calls for bone-in, skin-on chicken thighs, but
•           mine turned out fine!)
• 1/3 cup olive oil
• 1 lemon, juiced
• Coarse salt and ground pepper
• 1 tablespoon whole grain mustard
• 2 tablespoons honey

Directions

1. In a bowl, toss chicken thighs with olive oil and lemon juice; season with salt and pepper and marinate 1 hour (or up to a day).
2. Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Roast chicken, in a glass casserole dish, 25 minutes; flip 10 minutes in. Check to make sure you've reached 165 F degrees.
3. Stir together grainy mustard and honey and season with salt and pepper. Brush glaze onto chicken and broil 5 minutes.

Awesome Applesauce

Adapted from Jamie Oliver’s Food Revolution

• Four McIntosh Apples (eating apples): peeled, cored and cut into 1-inch chunks
• 1/2 an orange, zested first and then juiced
• a pat of butter
• 1/4 cup of sugar
• 1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/4 nutmeg, fresh ground
• 1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
• About 6-7 oz of apple juice or water (3/4 cup)

1. Get your apples ready and set aside
2. Zest the orange half over a small saucepan, then squeeze in the juice
3. Add the butter, sugar, ground cinnamon, nutmeg and cloves
4. Put the pan over low heat and let the butter melt. When butter begins to bubble, add in apples
5. Put a lid on the pan and cook 20 to 25 minutes over medium to low heat, stirring occasionally, until the apples are soft. (Check levels of liquid and add your apple juice or water if you feel like it looks dry.)

This is good warm or cold and we had it with some steamed asparagus and some dry-rubbed pork chops, using this rub: Simple Rosemary Pork Chops. To quote Evie's favorite, Peppa Pig, "Deeee-licious!"

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   Read more here: http://sloblogs.thetribunenews.com/andallthetrimmings/applesauce/#storylink=cpy

Probably Not a Return to Blogging on the Regular...

But I had to share this recipe I perfected while Mik was out of town this summer! It's really easy; and a good one to have in the fridge for a protein-packed snack or lunch.

Chicken Mini-Meatloaves

Adapted from Weelicious Chicken Parmesan Meatloaf Bites

Ingredients

• 1 pound ground chicken or turkey

• 2 garlic cloves, minced

• 1/2 red onion, diced very finely

• 1 large egg

• 1/2 cup bread crumbs

• 1/2 cup grated parmesan cheese

• 1/2 cup tomato and basil spahetti sauce

• A few pinches of dried basil, or your choice of Italian seasonings

• 1/2 teaspoon salt

• Pepper to taste

• Preheat your oven to 375. 
• Grease each cup of a mini-muffin tin. (I used canola spray, but use whatever you have on hand/prefer.) 
• Chop your onion as finely as you can and then in a large bowl, combine all other ingredients thoroughly. 
• Put enough of your meatloaf mixture in each muffin cup to fill it slightly above the top. 
• Bake for 15-20 mins or until cooked through. 

Cool and enjoy! These will keep well in the fridge for about a week.

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BBQ Sauce

I like a hybrid between a North Carolina Vinegar Sauce and a Texas sweet sauce. So I came up with this tangy sweet bbq sauce.

1 Onion Chopped
1 tsp powdered ginger or an inch of grated fresh ginger
1 orange
1/2 C Apple Cider Vinegar
6oz Tomato Paste
1/4 C Molases
1/4 C Brown Sugar
1 tsp Tamarind Paste (optional, find it in the Asian section of the grocery store)
4 cloves garlic minced


Put a splash of olive oil in a medium-hot pan. And add your chopped onion. Let that caramelize, the longer the better. The longer it cooks the sweeter it'll be. Let it go from 10 minutes to half an hour.

After you get the onions where you want them add the zest from half an orange, the ginger, garlic and cook for 1minute.

Add a pinch of salt, tamarind paste and tomato paste cook for another 2 minutes.

Finally add your Vinegar, about a Tablespoon of orange juice, Brown Sugar, and molasses.

Stir and put on low, medium-low heat. Taste and check for seasoning. If it's too vinegary add sugar and molases. If it's too tangy add sugar and molases. If it's too sweet add Apple Cider Vinegar.

You can then puree it in a blender or serve it as is, up to you.

Spaghetti and Meatballs with Vodka Cream Sauce

This is a fairly simple recipe, but it's a classic. Rustic and all fancy at the same time.


Start with the tomato sauce. I stole this recipe here and changed it up a bit.

Tomato Sauce


Ingredients:
1/2 cup extra-virgin olive oil
1 small onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, chopped
1 32 oz. can crushed tomatoes
1 32 oz. can diced tomatoes
4 to 6 fresh basil leaves
2 dried bay leaves
Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
4 tablespoons unsalted butter

Directions:
Heat a large pot on medium high heat. Add oil. Then immediately add onion and garlic until soft. About 5-10 mins. Add both cans of tomatoes, bay leaves, and basil. Reduce heat until to low, cover, and simmer for an hour. Then add butter.

Next start on the meatballs. I grabbed this recipe here.

Meatballs

Ingredients:
1/2 pound ground turkey
1/2 pound ground pork
6 ounces unseasoned dried bread crumbs
4 large eggs
4 ounces whole milk
6 ounces grated Romano
3 ounces grated shallot
2 ounces finely diced fresh garlic
2 ounces finely chopped fresh basil leaves

Directions
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease a baking sheet.

Mix all the ingredients with your hands. The meatballs should have a soft consistency. Add bread crumbs if needed. Don't overwork the mixture. Try to keep it a little loose.

Roll meatballs loosely about the size of a golf ball and place on baking sheet. Place into preheated oven for approximately 35 to 40 minutes.


Now to add the cream and vodka to your sauce (skip this step and just have the tomato sauce if you'd prefer)

Cream Vodka Sauce


Ingredients:


1 cup vodka
1/2 cup heavy cream, at room temperature
1/2 cup grated Parmesan

Directions
Add vodka to your tomato sauce and simmer over low heat until the mixture reduces by 1/4, stirring often, about 20 minutes. Stir the cream into the sauce. Stir in the Parmesan cheese until melted and well blended.

Combine meatballs and sauce and simmer to meld the flavors.

Finally, cook your spaghetti in salted water (water should be as salty as the sea). And serve. I like to keep the meatballs and sauce separate from spaghetti so I can have meatball sandwiches the next day. When you serve, just take a spoonful of sauce and put it on the plate or bowl and spaghetti, then spoon meatballs and sauce on top. Top with a little parmesan and basil. So good.

Biscuits

Biscuits are a way of life in Texas. It's proper cowboy cuisine. My grandfather taught me how to make them, taught all the grandkids how to make them, at an early age. It's a great memory and I wanted to share it with Nicky. So, I've come up with my own recipe.

As I often do, I started out by ripping off Alton Brown. And tweaking it.

Alton Brown Recipe

Ingredients:


2 cups flour
4 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
4 tablespoons butter
1 cup milk plus splash of lemon juice or Vinegar OR 1 cup buttermilk
Honey

Directions:

Preheat oven to 450 degrees F.

If you're subbing out for buttermilk add the lemon juice or vinegar to your milk now and let it curdle a little.

In large mixing bowl combine dry ingredients with butter. Use your hands. And break up the butter into large crumbs in the dry ingredients. Make a well in the center. Add your milk.

This is a sticky dough. You'll want to work it as little as possible. Just get everything incorporated. Try to keep the butter solid and in large crumbs.

Liberally flour your a rolling surface. Put your dough on and liberally add more flour. Lightly kneed the dough. Flour again.

Roll out once into a thin sheet (1/8"). Fold the dough back on itself as high as it'll go. Reflour. Push it back down flat to a 1/4" with hands or roller.

Cut out 1" squares. (I don't use a cutter, because you have to reform the dough. I like this because you get perfect squares that are all fluffy.)

Paint top of biscuits with honey.

Grease a baking sheet.

Bake until biscuits are tall and light gold on top, 15 to 20 minutes.