Roasted Salmon Nicoise Platter (sort of)

While on vacation at our cottage a few weeks ago, I saw Ina Garten whip up this tasty salmon platter on her show. It looked simple enough and oh so delicious. I didn't quite have all the fixings on hand so I made do with what I had. I didn't have the haricots verts, tomatoes, watercress or olives. Lol, so why even bother calling this salmon nicoise? Because I can and it was delicious. I also cut the recipes in half. I added some radishes to the plate and used spinach in place of the watercress. I guess I could have thrown some capers on the plate to add the saltiness that was missing from the olives/anchovies, but obviously I didn't. The salmon marinade was excellent as was the dressing. Maybe one day I'll try making this again the correct way. But for now, below is what I did.

2 lemons, zested and juiced

1/8 cup olive oil

1/8 cup Dijon mustard

2 garlic cloves, minced

Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper

3 lbs. skin-on fresh salmon fillets

1.5 lbs. small Yukon gold potatoes

3-4 hard-cooked eggs, peeled and cut in half

1 bunch spinach

6-7 radishes

Vinaigrette

1/8 cup champagne vinegar (I used rice wine vinegar)

1/2 tsp. Dijon mustard

1/2 tsp. Kosher salt

1/4 tsp. freshly ground black pepper

1/4 cup good olive oil

Preheat oven to 500 degrees F.

For the marinade, whisk together the lemon juice, lemon zest, olive oil, mustard, garlic, 2 teaspoons salt and 3/4 teaspoon of pepper in a small bowl and set aside. Place the salmon on a sheet pan that has been covered in aluminum foil, and drizzle the marinade over the salmon. Allow the salmon to sit for 15 minutes.

Meanwhile, place the potatoes and 2 tablespoons of salt in a large pot of water. Bring the water to a boil, then lower the heat and simmer for 10-15 minutes, until the potatoes are barely tender when pierced with a knife. Drain the potatoes in a colander, then place the colander with the potatoes over the empty pot off the heat and cover with a clean, dry kitchen towel. Leave the potatoes to steam for 15-20 minutes, until tender but firm. When the potatoes are cool enough to handle, slice them in thick slices and set aside.

Place the salmon in the oven and cook for 12-15 minutes, or until it is almost cooked through. Remove to a plate and allow to rest for 15 minutes. Remove the skin and break into large pieces.

For the vinaigrette, combine the vinegar, mustard, salt and pepper. Slowly whisk in the olive oil to make an emulsion. Set aside.

Arrange the salmon, potatoes, radishes, spinach and eggs on a large platter. Drizzle some vinaigrette over the fish and vegetables and serve the rest in a pitcher on the side.

Salmon Pasta Salad II

Ya know, we're getting really sick of this "having to make dinner every night" crap. I mean, really...it's getting old. So yeah...that's pretty much how we both felt the other night when neither of us had any idea what to make for dinner. I was just going to make some sort of pasta salad anyway, so instead of tuna fish, we decided to use salmon.

2 salmon fillets

Miracle Whip (optional)

salt and pepper

1 lb. cooked short pasta of your choice (I used rotini)

6-8 large radishes

2 stalks celery

1/2 small sweet onion

1/2 English cucumber

handful fresh parsley

5-6 fresh basil leaves

1 tsp. coriander

1 tsp. celery salt

mayonnaise

Jim wanted the salmon to have a little flavor to them before they were added to the salad, so I sprinkled them with salt and pepper, coated the tops with Miracle Whip and baked them in the oven at 400 degrees F for about 20 minutes.

In the meantime, cook the pasta.

I was feeling pretty lazy so I threw the radishes, celery, onion, cucumber, parsley and basil into the food processor and chopped everything up. You don't want a puree, so pulse it until you feel like you have the veggies to a nice size. Add the coriander, celery salt and salt and pepper.

Drain the pasta, flake the salmon and add everything to a large bowl. Add as much mayonnaise as you feel works for you and mix.

Mmmmmmmm, tasty salmon pasta salad.

Salmon Pasta Salad

Ok, so maybe it's time to update this thing? I just haven't been in the mood to take pictures of food lately. Oh well. Here's one for ya. I wanted to do something different with the salmon so I decided some sort of pasta salad sounded good. You can really put any veggies you want in here. I searched a few recipes and ended up combining a few to come up with a tasty dressing. We wanted a mayo-free dressing to keep it on the healthy side.

1 lb. pasta (elbows, rotini, etc.) - I used Ronzoni Healthy Harvest Fusilli

2 (8-10) oz. salmon fillets or 2 (7.5 oz.) cans of salmon

1/2 cup vegetable oil

1/2 cup olive oil

1/3 cup red wine vinegar

1/3 cup balsamic vinegar

1 tbsp. dill weed

2 garlic cloves, minced or pressed

1 tsp. salt

1/2 tsp. black pepper

1 tsp. thyme

1-2 tbsp. Dijon mustard

1 bell pepper, chopped (I used yellow)

1 cucumber, seeded and chopped or half of an English cucumber, chopped

1-2 celery stalks, chopped

1 avocado, chopped

handful of fresh parsley, chopped

Bring a pot of water to a boil and cook the pasta according to the directions on the box. In the meantime, set the broiler to high and salt and pepper both sides of the salmon. Broil the salmon for 5-6 minutes per side or until it flakes apart.

For the dressing, whisk together the oils, vinegars, dill, garlic, salt, pepper, thyme and mustard. Cut up all your veggies and toss them in the dressing.

When the salmon has cooled slightly, either flake apart or lightly chop to break it apart. Add this to the dressing and toss.

Finally add in the pasta and parsley and toss once again to evenly coat everything.

Honey Glazed Salmon

I found this recipe browsing through the Cooking Light website. I love salmon so I can pretty much eat it any way it's cooked. This was pretty good. I thought it was an interesting combination of ingredients.

2 tbsp. minced shallots
1 tbsp. chopped fresh or 1 teaspoon dried thyme
3 tbsp. honey
1 tbsp. Dijon mustard
1/2 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. ground red pepper
4 (6-ounce) salmon fillets (about 1 inch thick)
Cooking spray
Thyme sprigs (optional)

Prepare grill or broiler. Combine first 6 ingredients in a small bowl. Brush honey mixture over skinless side of fish. Place fish on a grill rack or broiler pan coated with cooking spray, and cook 6 minutes on each side or until fish flakes easily when tested with a fork. Garnish with thyme sprigs, if desired.

Seared Tuna with Wasabi-Butter Sauce

I know, I know. It's been FOREVER since I've posted anything over here. I seriously don't know where the time goes. But anyway, let's get back into it. Jim made this dinner and O.M.G. So good!! He also brought me flowers...it was a good day.

2 tbsp. white wine vinegar - we didn't have any so used rice wine vinegar instead

10 oz. white wine

1/4 cup minced shallots

1 tbsp. wasabi paste, or to taste (Jim ended up adding a little more)

1 tbsp. soy sauce

1 cup unsalted butter, cubed

salt and black pepper to taste

1 tbsp. olive oil, or as needed

1 cup chopped cilantro leaves

6 (6 oz.) fresh tuna steaks, 1 inch thick - we only had two steaks

Combine the white wine vinegar, white wine and shallots in a small saucepan over medium heat. Simmer until the liquid is reduced to about 2 tablespoons. Strain out shallot and discard, return liquid to the pan.

Stir the wasabi and soy sauce into the reduction in the pan. Over low heat, gradually whisk in butter one cube at a time allowing the mixture to emulsify. Be careful not to let the mixture boil. When all of the butter has been incorporated, stir in cilantro, and remove from heat. Pour into a small bowl, and set aside.

Heat a large skillet over medium-high heat. Brush tuna steaks with olive oil, and season with salt and pepper. Place in the hot skillet, and sear for 3 to 5 minutes on each side. Be careful not to overcook, this fish should be served still a little pink in the center. Serve with sauce.

Spice-Rubbed Salmon

Another quick and easy salmon recipe. I don't have any creative chit-chat to add so onto the recipe...

2 tsp. chili powder
1 tsp. ground cumin
1 tsp. packed brown sugar
4 5-oz. skinless salmon fillets (we only had 2)
1 small cabbage, cut in 6 wedges (I used half a head and cut it into 4 wedges)
2 to 3 Tbsp. cooking oil
1 large carrot (I used baby carrots)
Orange wedges

In small bowl mix chili powder, cumin, brown sugar, 1/4 teaspoon salt, and 1/8 teaspoon black pepper. Rub spice mixture on salmon. Brush cabbage wedges with 1 tablespoon of the oil.

On charcoal grill (we used gas), place salmon and cabbage on greased rack of uncovered grill, directly over medium coals. Grill salmon 4 to 6 minutes for each half-inch of thickness or until it flakes when tested with a fork, turning once halfway through cooking time. Grill cabbage 6 to 8 minutes, turning once.

Meanwhile, peel carrot and cut in wide strips. Remove fish and cabbage from grill. Coarsely cut cabbage; combine with carrot and 1 to 2 tablespoons remaining oil. Season with salt and pepper. Serve with oranges. I also added some homegrown tomatoes to my plate. So good!

Blackened Salmon Fillets

Since someone had to make the daily visit to the vet for Cheeto, we decided that I would take Cheeto and Jim would stay home and make dinner. Well Jim found this salmon recipe and it was so good! There's nothing better than a delicious piece of salmon. Add some home-grown green beans and YUM!

2 tbsp. ground paprika
1 tbsp. ground cayenne pepper
1 tbsp. onion powder
2 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. ground white pepper
1/2 tsp. ground black pepper
1/4 tsp. dried thyme
1/4 tsp. dried basil
1/4 tsp. dried oregano
4 salmon fillets, skin and bones removed
1/2 cup unsalted butter, melted

In a small bowl, mix paprika, cayenne pepper, onion powder, salt, white pepper, black pepper, thyme, basil and oregano. Brush salmon fillets on both sides with 1/4 cup butter (Jim used olive oil), and sprinkle evenly with the cayenne pepper mixture. Drizzle one side of each fillet with 1/2 remaining butter (olive oil).

In a large, heavy skillet over high heat, cook salmon, butter side down, until blackened, 2 to 5 minutes. Turn fillets, drizzle with remaining butter, and continue cooking until blackened and fish is easily flaked with a fork.

Cod in a Packet

Jim threw this together. We had some cod which he coated with olive oil, salt & pepper, paprika and added some fresh thyme. He sliced up some peppers and onions and added everything to a foil packet and tossed them on the grill. Not too much to it really and somewhat similar to another foil packet we made. We served it with some brown rice...quite the healthy meal.

Poached Salmon Salad w/Beets

So I found this recipe in my Real Simple magazine and it seemed real simple to make...lol...get it? OK, moving on...Jim made this tonight while I was out "running" and when I came home the house stunk SO BAD like vinegar! So of course I immediately thought that dinner was going to be horrible. Boy was I wrong! There are some really strong flavors going on in this dish but it was so good! Our dressing was a little strong but it might have had something to do with the fact that the horseradish we used was JUST opened and that it says extra strong or something on the side of it. Yeah, Jim didn't notice that when he bought it...at least that's what he says. Oh and we couldn't find water cress so we just used spinach instead. We also used the rest of the salmon fillet from the other day. Try this recipe!

1 pound salmon fillet, skin removed
kosher salt and pepper
1/4 cup plus 1 tablespoon rice vinegar
1/2 cup sour cream
3 tbsp. prepared horseradish
2 bunches watercress, thick stems removed (about 6 cups) - we used spinach
3 medium beets, peeled and sliced paper-thin - we used canned sliced beets
2 tbsp. fresh dill, chopped

Place the salmon in a large skillet and season with 1/2 teaspoon salt and 1/4 teaspoon pepper. Add 1/4 cup of the rice vinegar and water to reach halfway up the salmon. Cover and simmer over medium heat until the salmon is opaque and beginning to flake, 12 to 15 minutes. Transfer to a plate and refrigerate until cool, 15 to 20 minutes. Using a fork, flake the salmon into bite-size pieces.

Meanwhile, in a small bowl, combine the sour cream, horseradish, the remaining 1 tablespoon of the vinegar, 1/2 teaspoon salt, and 1/4 teaspoon pepper.

In individual bowls, combine the spinach, salmon, and beets. Drizzle with the dressing and sprinkle with the dill.

Ancho Grilled Salmon w/Sweet Potatoes

So this is an old recipe I clipped from a Better Homes and Garden magazine, who knows how long ago, so there's no link to it. But, it was really good and a fairly quick meal to put together. We bought a whole salmon fillet and just cut off what we wanted to use for this recipe. So in reality, we didn't have the 4 pieces it was asking for. It turned out fine though.

2 medium sweet potatoes

1 tbsp. sugar

1 tsp. salt

1 tsp. ground cumin

1 tsp. ground ancho chili pepper or chili powder - we used the ground ancho chili pepper

4 5-to 6-oz. skinless salmon fillets

Preheat broiler. Scrub potatoes. Halve lengthwise; cut in 1/4-inch slices. Place on greased rack of unheated broiler pan. In bowl, combine sugar, salt, cumin and chili pepper. Coat potatoes with cooking spray (or we used olive oil) and sprinkle both sides with half the spice mixture. Broil 4 inches from the heat 10 minutes (ours took about 13 minutes) or until tender; turn once midway through cooking.

Meanwhile, rinse salmon; pat dry. Sprinkle with remaining spice. In skillet, cook fish in 1 tablespoon hot olive oil over medium heat 8 to 12 minutes or until fish flakes when tested with fork; turn once midway through cooking.

Herb and Crumb Topped Tilapia

I found this recipe in my Women's Health magazine a long time ago and we finally decided to make it. Actually...I but together a binder of all of the recipes I've clipped over the months and I divided it up into sections. So tonight we wanted fish, so I flipped to the fish section and lookie there...a tilapia recipe. Plus we had all the ingredients which is saying a lot since we haven't been grocery shopping in about a month...the cupboards are lookin' kind of bare. So anyway...onto the recipe.

4 tbsp. bread crumbs
1 tsp. oregano
1/2 tsp. minced garlic
2 tbsp. olive oil
4 5-oz. tilapia filets (we used 2 large ones)
4 lemon wedges for garnish

Preheat oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit. Coat a small baking pan with cooking spray. In a small bowl, combine bread crumbs, oregano, garlic, and salt to taste. Drizzle half of oil over tilapia. Rub to coat. Sprinkle on bread crumb mixture. Rub to coat evenly. Place in baking pan. Drizzle with remaining oil. Bake until tilapia is cooked through, about 10-15 minutes. Serve with lemon.

Mediterranean Salmon

Another fab find from All Recipes. We actually planned dinner this time, so there was no "workin' with what ya got" for this meal. It was really good!

1/2 cup olive oil
1/4 cup balsamic vinegar
4 cloves garlic, pressed
4 (3 ounce) fillets salmon
1 tbsp. chopped fresh cilantro
1 tbsp. chopped fresh basil
1 1/2 tsp. garlic salt

Mix together the olive oil and balsamic vinegar in a small bowl. Arrange the salmon fillets in a shallow baking dish. Rub garlic onto the fillets, then pour the vinegar and oil over them, turning once to coat. Season with cilantro, basil, and garlic salt. Set aside to marinate for 10 minutes. Preheat your oven's broiler. Place the salmon about 6 inches from the heat source, and broil for 15 minutes, turning once, or until browned on both sides and easily flaked with a fork. Brush occasionally with the sauce from the pan.

We served it with some Mediterranean couscous and it was delicious!

Tiliapia foil packet

Sunday afternoon we still didn't really know what we were going to have for dinner. We decided on fish since it would defrost pretty quickly. We also decided to just throw whatever veggies we had into a foil packet and toss it in the oven. I found this recipe and sort of used as a jumping off point. It turned out pretty good, but I think maybe adding a veggie with some juice, like tomatoes or something, would have added another layer of flavor to the dish and would have given it some more juice to soak up. Next time we'll try that.

1 medium onion, sliced thin
1 pound asparagus, cut into bite size pieces
1/2 red pepper cut into bite size pieces
1/4 - 1/2 head broccoli, cut into bite size pieces
3/4 cup snap peas
1 lemon
1 tsp. dried oregano
2 tbsp. olive oil
1/2 teaspoon salt , divided
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground pepper , divided
2-4 pieces tilapia

Preheat oven to 425 degrees Fahrenheit. Combine onion, asparagus, red pepper, broccoli the juice of the one lemon, oregano, olive oil, 1/4 tsp. salt and 1/4 tsp. of the pepper in a large bowl. Place snap peas in a microwavable bowl with 1 tablespoon water. Cover and microwave on high until the peas are just beginning to cook, about 30 seconds. Drain and add to the other vegetables. To make a packet, lay two 30-inch sheets of foil on top of each other (the double layers will help protect the contents from burning); generously coat the top piece with cooking spray. Place one portion of tilapia in the center of the foil. Sprinkle with some of the remaining salt and pepper, then top with some of the vegetable mixture. Bring the short ends of the foil together, leaving enough room in the packet for steam to gather and cook the food. Fold the foil over and pinch to seal. Pinch seams together along the sides. Make sure all the seams are tightly sealed to keep steam from escaping. Repeat with more foil, cooking spray and the remaining fish, salt, pepper and vegetables. Bake the packets directly on an oven rack until the tilapia is cooked through and the vegetables are just tender, about 20 minutes. To serve, carefully open both ends of the packets and allow the steam to escape. Use a spatula to slide the contents onto plates. We served it with some brown rice.

Cedar Planked Salmon

Jim bought some cedar planks and really wanted to use them. We had salmon in the freezer so we decided to give it a shot. We used a recipe that came with the planks, which was a dry rub. We ate it with a side of roasted zucchini and wild rice.

Ingredients for dry rub:

2 tbsp. kosher or coarse salt

2 tbsp. brown sugar

1 tbsp. black pepper

1 tbsp. garlic powder

1 tbsp. dried basil

1 tbsp. paprika

1 tbsp. dried tarragon (optional)

Cooking directions:

Use one fillet of fresh salmon and 3 tablespoons of the rub. Season the salmon with the rub and set salmon, skin side down, on soaked plank (instructions for soaking plank). Season with dry rub. Place the plank on a preheated grill with low to medium heat. Grill for 10 to 20 minutes with lid closed, until salmon flakes easily.

One-Pot Salmon with Snap Peas and Rice

I found this recipe in my Real Simple magazine. It was tasty, quick and easy. We'll definitely be making this again.

1 cup long-grain white rice

1 pound salmon fillet, skin removed

Kosher salt and pepper

4 ounces sugar snap peas, trimmed

1/3 cup low-sodium soy sauce

4 scallions, trimmed and sliced

2 tbsp. rice vinegar

1 tbsp grated ginger

1 tbsp. dark brown sugar

Mix the rice and 2-1/3 cups water in a medium skillet. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat to low and simmer, covered, for 10 minutes.

Slice the salmon on a diagonal into four 3/4-inch-thick pieces. Season with 1/4 teaspoon salt and 1/4 teaspoon pepper. Place on top of the partially cooked rice. Cover and cook 7 minutes

Scatter the peas over the salmon and rice. Cover and cook until the rice and peas are tender and the salmon is opaque and beginning to flake, 3 to 5 minutes.

Mix the soy sauce, scallions, vinegar, ginger and sugar in a small bowl*. Spoon the sauce over the salmon, rice and peas and serve.

*We didn't have any fresh ginger so we used ground ginger instead. 1/8 teaspoon ground ginger is equal to 1 tablespoon of fresh grated ginger. We also didn't have scallions so we used a very small red onion; a shallot would work as well.

Tuna with honey-soy glaze

I found this simple glaze while thumbing through my Real Simple magazine. We had some tuna steaks and decided to add this glaze to it. There was some extra glaze left over to use as a dipping sauce too! It can be used on a multitude of things...can we say delish??

1/4 cup honey

2 tbsp. low-sodium soy sauce

Combine the ingredients in a small bowl.

Cook 2 pounds of poultry, meat, seafood, or vegetables on a lightly oiled grill. When the food has 5 to 10 minutes left to cook, baste it with the glaze and turn it frequently to create a glossy crust. Resist the urge to apply a glaze early in the cooking process: The sugars in the sauce will burn before the food cooks through.

Fish Tacos

When someone used to mention a fish taco to me, I thought it was the most disgusting thing...until I made some. I love Mexican so what's not to love about a fish taco? I just used this recipe that I posted earlier in my blog to marinate and cook the fish. Then I made the sauce to accompany the fish, added some lettuce, fresh salsa and cheese, and voila...dinner!

Recipe for sauce:
1 (8 oz.) container light sour cream
1/2 cup adobo sauce from chipotle peppers*
2 tbsp. fresh lime juice
2 tsp. lime zest
1/4 tsp. cumin
1/4 tsp. chili powder
1/2 tsp. seafood seasoning, such as Old Bay™
salt and pepper to taste

To make the dressing, combine the sour cream and adobo sauce (hot sauce) in a bowl. Stir in the lime juice, lime zest, cumin, chili powder, seafood seasoning. Add salt, and pepper in desired amounts. Cover, and refrigerate until needed.

*I used hot sauce instead since I didn't have the adobo sauce. And I probably only used about 2-3 tablespoons.

Tequila Lime Fish

Jim was in charge of the fish for tonight. He did this sort of based on a tequila lime chicken dish. It was pretty good!

1 cup water
1/3 cup teriyaki sauce
2 tbsp. lime juice
2 tsp. minced garlic
1 tsp. liquid smoke flavoring
1/2 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. ground ginger
1/4 tsp. tequila
2-4 tilapia filets

To Marinate: Combine the water, teriyaki sauce, lime juice, garlic, liquid smoke, salt, ginger and tequila in a medium nonporous glass bowl and mix all together. Add fish and turn to coat; cover bowl and refrigerate anywhere from 30 minutes up to 2 to 3 hours.

We ended up grilling our fish, but it could be broiled or pan cooked as well. You'll want to cook about 4-5 minutes per side, or until fish is flaky.

Tiliapia with asparagus and rice pilaf

Recipes can be found below. The rice pilaf was just a box mix, so there's no recipe for that one...lol.

Zesty Grilled Tilapia

Jim found this recipe on the Food Network and decided to give it a shot. It was good, and would probably be a great dish for the people that like to eat fish without the fishy taste, but we didn't detect any zestiness in this "zesty" grilled tilapia. Jim thinks that if he would have used Tabasco as opposed to Red Hot, that there may have been more zest. I think we'll give this another shot one day, with some tweaks of course. And we only had two fillets, but kept the recipe the same.

6 (6-ounce) tilapia fillets
6 tbsp. olive oil, plus additional for brushing
1 tbsp. grated orange zest
6 tbsp. freshly squeezed orange juice
1 tbsp. grated fresh ginger
1 tsp. hot sauce, to taste
1 tsp salt
Freshly ground black pepper

Place the fish in a large nonmetal dish. Whisk together the 6 tablespoons oil, the orange zest, orange juice, ginger, hot sauce, salt, and pepper, to taste; pour over the fish. Cover and marinate in the refrigerator for 30 to 60 minutes. Meanwhile, prepare grill. Brush the fish with additional oil. Grill until fish just flakes when tested with a fork, about 5 minutes per side for each inch of thickness.