Roast Salmon w/ Mustard, Tarragon, and Chive Sauce

So this is the recipe from epicurious that I was talking about. I was only making dinner for three people, so I cut this recipe in half. Regular recipe serves 8 to 10 (if you're making for a crowd, click here). Smaller version of the recipe below. You can make this meal in about 35 minutes.

Roast Salmon w/ Mustard, Tarragon, and Chive Sauce

Ingredients
1/3 cup mayonnaise
1/4 cup spicy brown mustard (such as Gulden’s; I used a spicy brown Grey Poupon)
3 tablespoons chopped fresh tarragon (I used 2 teaspoons of dried b/c that's what I had)
3 tablespoons chopped fresh chives
1 tablespoon (packed) golden brown sugar
1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
1 teaspoon finely grated lemon peel
One 1 3/4- to 2-pound whole side of salmon with skin (about 1 1/2 inches thick at thickest part)

Position rack in center of oven and preheat to 450°F. Line large rimmed baking sheet with parchment paper (I didn't have any on hand, so I sprayed the bottom of my sheet with a little cooking spray to keep the fish from sticking). Mix first 7 ingredients in medium bowl. Season mustard sauce lightly with salt and generously with pepper. Place salmon, skin side down, on diagonal on prepared sheet. Spoon 1/4 cup (give or take) of mustard sauce atop salmon, then spread over, covering completely. Sprinkle salmon generously with salt and pepper. Roast just until salmon is opaque in center, about 15 minutes (I like my salmon cooked all the way through, so I let it stay in 2 or 3 more minutes). Using parchment as aid, transfer salmon to platter. Cut crosswise into pieces and serve with remaining mustard sauce.

This dish was delicious and very easy to make. If you're not a fan of the flavor of tarragon, you could easily substitute for another herb like fresh dill. I paired my salmon with a cauliflower puree and chive corn muffins (also from the weekly planner for that week).

Cauliflower Puree
This recipe said it served one, but it easily fed two. If looking to make for four or more people, double this recipe and use a whole head of cauliflower instead of half. Cooks in about 20 minutes.

Ingredients
1/2 lb cauliflower florets, chopped (2 2/3 cups -- about half a head of cauliflower)
1 garlic clove, smashed
1/3 cup chicken broth
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons heavy cream
1 teaspoon unsalted butter
pepper
chopped chives for garnish

Simmer cauliflower, garlic, broth, and salt in a small saucepan, covered, until cauliflower is very tender, about 10 minutes. Purée mixture with cream and butter in a food processor until smooth (use caution when blending hot liquids), or mash with a potato masher or a fork. Season with pepper and garnish with chopped chives.

Chive-Corn Muffins
My biggest gripe with corn bread is that it's often too dry and crumbly. The yogurt in this recipe keeps these muffins nice and moist -- and the cayenne provides a little kick. I threw a handful of shredded cheddar cheese in my muffin mixture, but this recipe is certainly fine as is.

Makes about 10 standard muffins or 30 mini-muffins.

Ingredients
Nonstick vegetable oil spray
1 cup all purpose flour
1 cup yellow cornmeal
1 tablespoon sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1/4 cup chopped fresh chives
1 1/2 cups plain yogurt
2 large eggs
3 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted

Position rack in center of oven and preheat to 425°F. Spray 10 standard muffin cups (each about 1/3-cup capacity) or 30 mini-muffin cups with nonstick spray. Whisk flour, cornmeal, sugar, baking powder, salt, baking soda, and cayenne pepper in medium bowl. Stir in chives. In another medium bowl whisk yogurt, eggs, and melted butter. Add yogurt mixture to dry ingredients and stir just until blended (add shredded cheddar here if you wish). Divide batter among prepared muffin cups, using about 1/3 cup batter for each standard muffin cup or about 1 generous tablespoon for each mini-muffin cup.

Bake until muffins are puffed and golden and tester inserted into center comes out clean, about 20 minutes for standard muffins and 14 minutes for mini-muffins. Transfer pans to rack and let muffins cool in pans. (Can be prepared 4 hours ahead. Leave muffins in pans; let stand at room temperature. Rewarm in 350°F oven just until warm, about 5 minutes.) Remove from pans and serve.

Weekly Dinner Planners on epicurious.com

So half my trouble with getting in the kitchen sometimes (besides general laziness with getting my butt to the grocery store) is a lack of inspiration for what to make. It's easy to get stuck in a rut where you find yourself cooking the same things all the time. If you're looking for relatively easy and healthy weeknight meal ideas, I recommend epicurious.com's Weekly Dinner Planners. They put together full meals (even suggest wine pairings) and provide a grocery list for the week. I used this recently for a salmon recipe and was pleased with how things turned out (will post this in a separate post). Obviously, you shouldn't feel like you need to follow everything epicurious suggests (for instance, I decided to pair my salmon with a different preparation of cauliflower than what they suggested), the point is to get new ideas, try new things...

Chickpea Pasta with Almonds and Parmesan

This dish came out of the current Real Simple January issue (p. 123) under their "all-time reader favorites." I was intrigued, so I decided to try the recipe. Turned out damn tasty. Even better was that the fact that the dish, start to finish, took only 20 minutes to make. Cooking the noodles in the broth provides great flavor and the crushed red pepper gives the dish a nice spicy kick.

Serves 2 main course portions (with probably a little left over).

Ingredients
1 Tbsp. olive oil
2 cloves garlic, chopped
3 1/2 cups low-sodium vegetable or chicken broth
1/4 tsp. crushed red pepper
Kosher salt
8 ounces (half box) angel hair (or capellini) pasta
1/2 can of chickpeas (garbanzos), rinsed
1/2 cup fresh flat-leaf parsley, chopped
1/4 cup grated Parmesan
1/8 cup roasted almonds, chopped

Heat the oil in a large saucepan over medium-high heat.

Add the garlic and cook, stirring, for 1 minute (do not let the garlic brown). Add the broth, red pepper, and pinch of salt. Bring to a boil.

Add the pasta and cook, stirring occasionally, until the broth is nearly absorbed and the pasta al dente, about 5 minutes. Stir in the chickpeas and parsley. Sprinkle with the Parmesan and almonds before serving.

To view Real Simple's top-50 recipes of 2008, click here. (Also, I cut this recipe in half, so if you're looking to make 4 - 6 portions, click here.

Mismatched Steak and Potatoes

Last night I paired two things together that I liked individually, but not together: marinated flank steak and potatoes and pearl onions with rosemary. Each had great flavors, but that was the problem: the flavors were competing. I think it had something to do with the soy sauce in the steak marinade and the rosemary on the potatoes. Not the best taste combo... I should have known better.

If I made these dishes over again, I'd pair the flank steak with something more simple -- like mashed potatoes (like I usually do) or rice. As for the rosemary potatoes, I would probably match them with chicken (perhaps a rotisserie picked up from the grocery store or my chicken Marsala). If I did the potatoes with steak again, I'd pair them with a grilled strip that's been seasoned simply (salt, pepper and a little garlic powder).

My veggie last night worked fine -- steamed sugar snap peas with a little butter, salt and pepper.

Since the steak and the potatoes are good recipes by themselves, I will include them here. In particular, the flank steak is something I make fairly regularly. I love to use the leftovers in a salad -- or on sandwich.

Flank Steak
Ingredients
1 1/2 pounds flank steak
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1/3 cup soy sauce
1/4 cup red wine vinegar
1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
2 tablespoons lemon juice
1 tablespoon dry mustard
2 teaspoons ground mustard
2 teaspoons minced garlic
1/4 teaspoon ground pepper

Marinate in a shallow non-metal container for 4 hours or overnight.

I like this steak best when cooked on an outdoor grill (3 or 4 minutes on each side for medium-rare to medium), but I also make this in the winter on my indoor grill (if I have a hankering for it like I did last night).

If using an indoor electric grill, preheat grill on high heat. Depending on the thickness, allow meat to grill 6 or 7 minutes on each side. If broiling, place broiler pan 2 - 3 inches from heat. Allow steak to cook 7 minutes on each side for a medium doneness. After you remove the steak from the heat, allow it rest five minutes or so (the meat will continue cooking during this time). Slice on a diagonal into thin strips and serve.

Rosemary Potatoes and Onions
This is a Giada De Laurentiis recipe. You can actually make these a day ahead, reheat them and they are just as good.

Ingredients
2 pounds new potatoes (white, red, or Yukon gold), scrubbed and halved (or quartered depending on the size... my potatoes were a little bigger, so I quartered them)
1 pound cippolini onions, peeled* (I used pearl onions because this is what was available)
1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
2 teaspoons dried rosemary
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.

In a large bowl, toss together all of the ingredients. Spread the mixture in a single layer on a baking sheet. Bake until the potatoes and onions are golden brown and cooked through, about 40 minutes. Serve immediately or cool and store in an air-tight container in the refrigerator, reheating the next day in a preheated 400 degrees F oven for 10 to 15 minutes.

*The easiest way to peel your onions is to blanch them and the skins will come right off. Do this by boiling a pot of water and dropping the onions into the pot for about 30 seconds or so. Drain and transfer the onions to a bowl of ice water (this stops the cooking process). Remove outer layer of onions and trim the ends before tossing in your potato mixture.

News: Donna's Galileo to Return to Washington and D.C. Restaurant Week Pushed to February

A couple foodie links for you this dreary afternoon...

Chef Roberto Donna is planning to reopen Galileo, the formal Italian restaurant he ran in D.C. for more than two decades. He anticipates signing a lease in the near future for the space vacated earlier this year by Butterfield 9 at 600 14th St. NW. Unfortunately, I never made it to the original Galileo, but heard it was fabulous. There are a shortage of great Italian restaurants in D.C., so this is a welcomed return! For more info, click here.

Secondly, according to the Washington Business Journal, D.C. Restaurant Week is being pushed to February due to the presidential inauguration. Big surprise on this one. (Why offer local diners a discount when the anticipated gabillions of out-of-towners about to descend on the city will be glad to pay full price during that time?) No date has been set yet for February -- will keep you posted. As a final point of interest, Alexandria plans to hold its own Restaurant Week in conjunction with inauguration, Jan. 17 - 25, with 30 local restaurants participating. To read the full article, click here.

Chicken Au Champagne and Bulgur Risotto with Peas and Asparagus

I recently picked up a copy of Mireille Guiliano's French Women Don't Get Fat (I know, I know, I'm like four years late on this) and came across a recipe that looked like a good one to try for chicken cooked in Champagne. I was pleased with the result and will definitely make this again. Her recipe made enough for four people, so I halved it since I was only cooking for two. Recipe below...

Chicken Au Champagne

Ingredients
2 chicken breasts with skin and bone (I went for the organic breasts at Whole Foods; you can usually get them in a pack of two)
Salt and pepper (kosher salt and freshly ground pepper if you have them)
Chervil, tarragon, or thyme, optional (just choose one... I used a little fresh thyme, but you could also use dried)
1 small shallot, quartered
3/4 cup Champagne (Mireille recommends Veuve Clicquot, but of her own admission is biased since she works there; I felt Veuve was a little extravagant for a weeknight meal, so I got a bottle in the $20 - $25 range... a nice Brut of some kind will work fine for this -- just stay away from the sweet stuff since you're going for a savory dish)

1. Place the chicken breasts in a roasting pan (I just used an 8x8 glass Pyrex since that's what I had), and season them with salt and pepper (if using a dried spice, sprinkle a small amount over each breast). Pour 1/2 cup of the Champagne over breasts. Insert a piece (or two) of shallot under the skin of each breast (Note: you don't want to detach the skin from the breast; just gently run your index and middle finger under the skin to create a pocket big enough to get the shallot underneath). Since I used fresh thyme, I put a sprig under the skin of each breast as well.
2. Place the pan under the broiler, skin-side down, for 3 minutes, until the skin is nicely browned. Turn and broil the other side for 5 minutes.
3. Remove the chicken from the broiler, baste with the pan juices, and add the remaining 1/4 cup of Champagne. Adjust the oven temperature to 475 degrees and bake the chicken for 30 minutes, basting once or twice.
4. Pour the cooking juices from the chicken over the meat and enjoy.

You could serve this meal with something as simple brown rice and a fresh steamed veggie of your choosing. I wanted to pair the chicken with something a little more fun while still trying to keep things fairly healthy. So, I dug around on epicurious.com and found the following recipe for a bulgur wheat risotto, which turned out delicious. This dish worked great as a side, but could have easily stood as a meal by itself. I tweaked their recipe a little after comparing it to a traditional risotto, but not by much... I added 1/2 cup of wine to the list of ingredients (a traditional ingredient for a risotto, which adds a nice depth of flavor) before adding the broth and adjusted some of the cooking times. I also heated the broth in a separate pan before ladling it into the bulgur. If you've never made a risotto before, try it. They're easier and quicker to make than you think -- just requires a little patience at the stove.

Bulgur Risotto with Peas and Asparagus
serves six as a first course

Ingredients
5 tablespoons butter (you could probably get away with 3 tablespoons here... two at the outset and one at the end)
1 onion, chopped
3 garlic cloves, minced
1 1/2 cups bulgur (I found this in the bulk section of my grocer)
4 cups (about) chicken stock or canned low-salt chicken broth
1/2 cup of dry white wine (I used Champagne since that's what I had open)
1 pound asparagus, trimmed, cut into 3/4-inch pieces
1 1/2 cups frozen peas (unthawed)
3/4 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese (about 1 1/2 ounces)
1/4 cup whipping cream (if you're freaking out about whipping cream, I suppose you could substitute half-and-half instead, but keep in mind that this is a pretty small amount when you consider the distribution among six servings)
2 tablespoons chopped fresh tarragon (I used a little less than a teaspoon of dried since that's what I had. You could omit altogether if you're not a fan of the taste -- remember that a little goes a long way with dried spices, ESPECIALLY tarragon!)
1/2 teaspoon of salt
1/4 teaspoon of ground pepper
Additional freshly grated Parmesan cheese (optional)

1. In a medium saucepan, bring the broth to a simmer. Cover the broth and keep hot over a low heat. In a large, heavy saucepan, melt 4 tablespoons of butter over medium heat.
2. Add onion; sauté until tender but not brown, about 3 or 4 minutes. Add garlic and saute another minute. Add the bulgur and stir to coat with the butter. Add the wine/champagne and simmer until the wine has almost completely evaporated, about 3 minutes.
3. Add 1/2 cup (give or take; I usually use a ladle for this part) of simmering broth and stir until almost completely absorbed, about 2 minutes. Continue cooking the bulgur, adding the broth 1/2 cup at a time, stirring constantly and allowing each addition of broth to be absorbed before adding the next, until the bulgur is tender but still firm to the bite and the mixture is creamy, about 20 minutes total.
4. When you are down to your last ladle of broth, add the asparagus to the mixture. (Note: the original recipe said to add the asparagus after the third ladling of broth, but I ignored this because asparagus cooks in a just a few minutes and I'm not a fan of mushy asparagus. Who is?) When the last of the stock has been absorbed, add the peas and cook 3 minutes longer. Stir in 3/4 cup Parmesan, cream, tarragon, salt, pepper, and remaining 1 tablespoon butter. Serve immediately (with additional grated Parmesan, if desired).

Final Notes:
If you wanted to make the Chicken Au Champagne dish for four people (or have leftovers), use 1 cup Champagne instead of 3/4 (i.e., 1/2 c. at the outset and another 1/2 c. on the second request for it).

If you're looking to make less of the bulgur, I would use the following recipe as a guide for measuring things out: Giada DeLaurentiis's Champagne Risotto. This serves 2 (as a main portion I think; it basically cuts the measurements of the above recipe in half).

This meal would be great for a date night...

Starting fresh in 2009

So, I've been terrible about keeping up with this blog. I took pictures here and there of dishes I made last year, but failed to post anything since last February. (Pretty lame blogging if you ask me.) I have excuses, of course, but I won't bore you with them. Instead, I'll post a dish (and recipe) that I made last month that I think you'll enjoy. Cheers and happy eating.