Salmon Platter

I spent last weekend at my friend Victorias place where as I have mentioned we have discussions that try to solve the issues facing the world including economic, political and social affairs. If only we ruled the world – I think it would be a better place ;-).

Kidding aside we also always cook up some wonderful meals which is really what this blog is about. This time we did a salmon platter with some fabulous salmon fillets we got on sale.

Victoria has a great cast iron platter that we roasted some potatoes on (after parboiling them first to soften them), grilled some asparagus – fresh picked (by Victoria) and a lovely salmon tail fillet.

The salmon turned out super moist and layers just peeled away. It was delicious.  We had marinated it with a bit of dijon mustard and maple syrup (1 tbsp of dijon and 2 tbsp of syrup). The potatoes were parboiled then put on the oiled platter and the asparagus was also done in the oven with everything else.

The potatoes took about ½ hour to roast (although I think in hindsight I would have gone a bit longer – perhaps 45 minutes at 375 degrees C). Everything else was in at 375 for about 15 minutes. The salmon was turned once at about the 10 minute mark.

I think the secret is that you put the cast iron platter in while the oven is heating up so it is hot when everything is placed on it. That seemed to make a difference in the timing as well.

After the 15 minutes we put everything on a platter and sprinkled the asparagus and the potatoes with parmesan peels then squeezed some lemon on top.  The perfect meal in my books.  It was absolutely delicious. I could tell because there was nothing left when we were done.

Stuffed Spaghetti Squash for Dinner with a Friend

Went skiing last week for a couple of days and visited with my friend Victoria (you remember her – she’s the one who I talk with about solving all the world’s problems 😉 ). This time we planned out each others complete financial retirement plan.  The good news is neither of us will be eating cat food when we are old!  Yeah!

I was supposed to only be there for 2.5 days but we had a huge snow fall and I didn’t want to drive home till the roads had been cleared so I got to stay an extra day. Was a real bonus day as we got to just hang out and play games, read and talk. Oh yes and the other thing we always do when we get together…..Cook!.

I blogged my friend Zannats spaghetti squash recipe a couple of weeks ago and we thought we would make a version of it for dinner one night. Here’s what we added and how it was prepared (using ingredients already in the fridge) – Healthy, satisfying and tastes great – the trifecta!

 

 

 

Ingredients:

1 spaghetti squash cut in half

1 chicken sausage removed from casing and crumbled (can leave this out to keep vegetarian)

6-8 mushrooms chopped

½ chopped red pepper

1 can of white kidney or navy beans

½ tsp Italian spices

Parmesan cheese grated

Mozzarella shredded

1 tomato diced

Directions:

Trim the ends off the squash first, then cut squash in ½ and take out the stringy centre. Coat lightly with some olive oil and place cut side down on a tray covered with parchment paper and bake at 350 degrees F for about an hour till slightly browned and fairly soft.

Using a fork, scoop some of the squash out to make room for the mixture (should scoop out like strands – hence the name “spaghetti” squash). Add the strands of squash to the bean and chicken mixture along with some grated or shredded Parmesan. Mix well and pack into the  semi hollowed out halves of squash shell and top with mozzarella. Put back into a 350 degree (F) oven till cheese is melted and lightly browned.

Enjoy!

Quinoa crusted tuna

Forgive my only reblogging the last few weeks.  I caught a virus (flu?) a few weeks ago and am only now getting my full strength back. Haven’t cooked much lately so I am relying on the amazing blogs that are out there with fabulous recipes.

This one is for Quinoa crusted tuna. The recipe sounded great and the pic made me want to make it.  Check it out by clicking on the name of the recipe above or clicking the URL here http://www.azestybite.com/quinoa-crusted-tuna/

The recipe comes from a blog called a zesty bite which has some really nice recipes in it.

I hope to be back to regular blogging next week.

Cheers

Cindy

Another Taco Night with my Neighbours

Spur of the moment decision….. Lets do a taco night tonight!  That was the conversation my neighbour/friend Zannat and I had while picking up some groceries.

I always love the look of the table when we do this because it is full of colour.

This time Zannat made a yummy main for the taco using ground turkey with vegetables and hoisin.  The flavour was great (so much so that I made a batch of it the next night to have for lunches and dinner when I didn’t feel like cooking).

We had tomatoes, cucumbers, sautéed mushrooms, grated old cheddar and pineapple pieces.  We moved between the hard taco shells, soft tortilla shells and lettuce wraps.  Simple meal, not hard to prepare and fun for all of us. I will admit though that it is not the tidiest meal we have ever had but that was part of the fun :-).

FYI – the ground turkey was browned in a pan with chopped and frozen vegetables, onion, a bit of garlic and just under a ¼ cup of hoisin sauce to 1 lb. of ground turkey. Add a can of lentils, stir and then add the hoisin in small amounts until it is fully mixed and you get the flavour you want.

Lunch the next day with leftovers was ground turkey and lentils with hoisin wraps 😉

Enjoy!

Pan Seared Halibut with Ginger Mango Salsa and Cilantro Sauce

This recipe came from my cousin Tamara (originally from www.everydaypaleo.com.) She says it is delicious and didn’t take long to prepare. I will take her word for it and let you all know about it – I think I’ll try it this weekend – looks absolutely yummy and very healthy!

Cilantro Sauce

• ½ cup home made mayo
• ½ cup cilantro
• 1 teaspoon cumin
• 2 teaspoons lime juice
• Hot sauce to taste (I used Tapatio)
• In a food processor or blender add all of the above ingredients and blend together until smooth.

Salsa

• 1 mango, peeled and diced
• ½ small red onion, finely chopped
• 1 teaspoon fresh grated ginger
• 2 garlic cloves, minced
• ½ red bell pepper, finely chopped( didn’t have one on hand so used pomegranate)
• Juice from ½ a lime ( I used lemon)
• 1/2 a bunch of cilantro, diced (also added a kiwi diced)
• In a medium sized mixing bowl, mix together the above ingredients and set aside.

Fish

• 1 pound halibut (Or however much you want to make!  One pound served two adults.)
• 2 tablespoons of coconut oil
• Sea salt and black pepper to taste
• Season both sides of the fish filets with salt and pepper.
• Heat the coconut oil in a large pan over medium to medium high heat.
• Once the oil in the pan is nice and hot, place the fish filets in the hot coconut oil in and cook for 3-4 minutes per side
• Serve the fish topped with the Mango Ginger Salsa and drizzled with the Cilantro Sauce.

Comments from Tamara

I didn’t do the Cilantro sauce due to lack of ingredients, but it was good with just the salsa.

Also made a few substitutions as noted above.  We get sick of salmon since its the only fish I can seem to cook decently, and am always looking for easy ways to dress up  bland white fish like halibut – this does the trick.  Served with steamed carrots and sautéed spinach.

Also had lots of the Salsa leftover and I think it would be great on chicken or burgers as well.