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.

Eggplant Rollatini

(I'm not always the best on presentation, but I assure you this tasted good.)

So, this meal was vegetarian(ish), which is unusual for me, but my uncle gave me some fresh eggplant the other weekend and I felt compelled to do something with it. Having never worked with eggplant before (except once on a so-so ratatouille long ago), I wasn't sure what to expect. The recipe I used came from Giada De Laurentiis's Everyday Italian cookbook, and I was quite pleased with how it turned out. (Photo doesn't really do this meal justice.) Since, her recipe called for three eggplants to yield six servings and I only had two, I fudged with the proportions. This meal could have easily fed four on just two decent sized eggplants. I froze four pieces of it and will update this post with how the meal tastes post defrost.

Ingredients
2 medium-sized eggplants
Kosher salt and black ground pepper (Giada used sea salt, I used kosher b/c that's what I had)
Can vegetable spray
15 oz. ricotta cheese
1 large egg
1/3 cup of shredded mozzarella
6 tablespoons (give or take) grated Parmesan (I like to use the real stuff and grate my own because I think it does make a difference)
2 tablespoons of toasted pine nuts
15 basil leaves, chiffonaded
Extra-virgin olive oil, for drizzling
1 1/2 cups of fresh tomato sauce


Instructions and such
Eggplant is a nice meaty vegetable, but it can end up tasting tough and bitter if not handled properly, so the first thing I did to treat this vegetable, per Giada, was to cut the top and bottom off the eggplants, and then cut them lengthwise into 1/2-inch thick slices. You could go thinner if you wanted (I did for some of the pieces to experiment with which I liked better and found that I preferred the thinner slices). From there, I placed the slices on a cooling rack over top a cookie sheet and sprinkled kosher salt on both sides and let the pieces sit for about 30 minutes. (Giada said only 10 to 15 minutes, so use your judgment -- mine looked like they needed to sit out a bit longer.) The cookie sheet is to catch the drips of moisture that the salt will bring out of the vegetable. If you don't have a cooling rack, you could salt the pieces and set them in a colander with a few papers towels underneath -- us lonely chefs must improvise sometimes!

While the eggplant sat, I did some much needed laundry (was down to the dregs of my underwear drawer) and also preheated my little indoor electric grill to medium heat and my oven to 375 degrees.

Note on electric grills: If you don't have one, this is a good way to blow a 100 bucks -- especially if you live somewhere where you don't have access to an outdoor grill. Even if you have an outdoor grill, which I do (charcoal), some nights it's too much of a hassle to use it -- like last week when I locked myself out of my apartment -- so this is a good alternative. (I think I got mine on sale a few years back at Williams Sonoma for around $70.)

Back to the recipe... Once your eggplant has sat, rinse and pat dry with paper towels. I'm thinking if you didn't have a grill pan or anything that you could easily fry up the eggplant in a skillet over medium heat with some olive oil to brown and soften. I sprayed PAM on my grill pan and grilled the eggplant for about 5 minutes per side -- long enough to get some grill marks. Remove slices from grill pan and allow to cool.

Meanwhile, in a large bowl, beat your egg until it is lightly scrambled. Mix in the ricotta with the egg. Add mozzarella, two tablespoons of Parmesan and toasted pine nuts, and gently combine. Fold in basil just to combine. Don't overmix! I added a little salt and pepper to this mixture as well.

Place a tablespoon of the cheese mixture on one end of the eggplant and roll up tightly. (Since my eggplants were sort of short and squatty, this was a little tricky, but I did the best I could.) Place the eggplant rollatini into a greased (with olive oil) 13 x 9-inch baking dish, seam side down. Continue with remaining eggplant. Evenly distribute tomato sauce on top of the eggplant rollatini -- add more if you need to. I just bought a good jar of tomato basil sauce from Whole Foods, which tasted great.

Season the dish with a little salt and pepper. Sprinkle your remaining Parmesan over the top (I also sprinkled a little grated mozzarella because, well, I have a thing for cheese, but it's not necessary).

Bake for 15 minutes or so -- I might have gone a little longer than this because my oven is tired. Once cooked, drizzle the top of the eggplant with a little extra-virgin olive oil.

Garlic bread and a simple salad would be good with this.

Counting my carbs (for the day anyway)

It's full-on bathing suit season and what have I done to get trim? Ummm, yeah. Pretty much nothing save for a few sporadic power walks through the neighborhood and some scant yoga classes up the street. All of a sudden I've hit mid-summer and feel the need to shed a few pounds. Reason for this? Oh you know... I went to the beach a couple weekends ago and a bathing suit that once fit splendidly felt like I was wearing tight pink (polka-dotted) rubber bands.

So, with the knowledge that I must put my swim suit back on in the very near future, I decided to be a carb hater for the week. For Monday night dinner, I grilled a New York Strip on my indoor grill and served it with cauliflower mash and broiled tomatoes. In total, this meal probably didn't take me too much more than about 20 minutes to prep and cook.

Ingredients used:

1 medium strip steak
garlic powder
kosher salt
pepper
olive oil (I used extra virgin b/c that's what I had)
1 medium head of cauliflower
1/4 cup sharp cheddar cheese (I used Vermont Cracker Barrel)
1/4 sour cream (give or take)
2 - 3 pats of butter
splash of milk
2 cloves chopped garlic
fresh chives (usually found in small packages with other fresh herbs in the produce section)
1 vine ripened tomato

First: Cheesy Cauliflower Mash

1. Bring a medium-sized pot of water to a boil.

2. While the water is heating up, cut up your head of cauliflower into small pieces. Do this whatever way is easiest for you -- we're not trying to leave these as pretty little florets - they will later be pulverized in a food processor or mashed with a masher -- so, just take a sharp knife and cut off the green part at the base of the cauliflower and then cut out the florets (each little tree). I cut the stems of each floret nearly off and for the bigger florets, I halved them.

2. When your water is boiling, drop in a teaspoon or so of salt and add your cauliflower to the pot. Boil until tender - I did this for 6 minutes.

3. Drain your cauliflower. In a food processor or large bowl, add your cauliflower, garlic, sour cream, cheddar cheese, milk. Blend or mash. (I have a small little food processor, so I did this in a couple batches.)

4. Add salt and pepper to taste. Transfer back to a pot and keep on low to keep warm.

5. Top with fresh chopped chives before serving.

Notes: Basically, I doctored up this cauliflower much like I would a potato and was quite pleased with the result. Only thing I would say is, take it easy on the milk. My mash turned out a teensie bit runnier than I would have liked and that's probably because I added too much milk. When in doubt, add small amounts of things at a time, mix and taste until the mash reaches the consistency and texture you want.

Second: Indoor Grilled Steak

1. Preheat a grill pan or electric indoor grill to medium-high heat. This shouldn't really take longer than a few minutes. If you don't have either item, a large frying pan should do -- you just won't have the nice grill marks. (If we weren't experiencing an unbearable heat wave this week, I would have pulled out my charcoal grill outside!)

2. Season your Strip. This is a must. While you could use a fancy grill seasoning mix, my three "go to" ingredients for steak (and pretty much anything I grill) are: garlic powder, kosher salt, and pepper. I would also recommend brushing a little olive oil on each side of your steak to keep from sticking. After you brush (or drizzle) on the oil, gently add your seasoning to each side of the steak. Don't go nuts on spices, but use enough so that the top of the steak looks well "sprinkled."

3. Place your steak on the grill (pan). Go five to six minutes per side to end up with a medium-done steak. If you're looking for medium-well to well-done, I'm not sure we can ever be friends, but if you insist, I'd say grill 7 to 8 minutes per side. Go 3 to 4 minutes per side for a rarer steak.

4. Remove steak from grill and allow to rest -- about five minutes or so.

Notes: Hmmm, I touched on seasoning thing, so the only other thing I would say is, steak should only be flipped once! The more it gets handled, the tougher it becomes. Second, don't cut into your meat until you've given it a chance to rest. Your steak will keep cooking during that time and if you cut into it prematurely, all the nice juices that make your steak moist and delish will just run out all over your plate!

Third: Broiled Tomatoes

1. Remove your broil pan from the oven and preheat the oven at the broil setting. If your broiler is in the main oven, make sure your rack is placed close to the top of the oven.

2. Coat top of broil pan with a sheet of aluminum wrap. (Cuts down on the mess afterwards.)

3. Rinse and dry one tomato. Using a small serrated knife, cut off the top of your tomato (discard) and then cut the remainder into slices (maybe a 1/4 of an inch thick?).

4. Place tomatoes on the broiling pan and drizzle a little bit of olive oil on each one. Season with salt and pepper. (I also added a little garlic powder to mine, but you don't have to. You could also sprinkle some grated Parmesan cheese over the top if you had it.)

5. Set pan under the broiler for 3 to 4 minutes or until the tomatoes look softened and the skin around the edges has crinkled up a bit. (If you've added Parmesan to the top, you'll know it's done when the cheese has browned slightly and starts to bubble.)

6. Remove and serve immediately.

Okay, so the pic isn't glamorous, but everything was darn tasty!