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Hot Summer’s Day Food
Black Bean Tostadas With Cherry Tomatoes
I admit it. I love black beans! I eat them once or twice every week in one way or another. I cook up a batch in the crock pot overnight on Monday and have them available all week. Lately I have had an abundance of cherry tomatoes from two Sweet 100 plants in my garden. Tomatoes love these hot summer days in Baltimore and reward us with plenty of great produce for about three months.
This Sweet 100 is a new variety I decided to try this year from my favorite plant and vegie farmer at the Baltimore “under the bridge” farmer’s market. They started out slow but by June I could tell these were going to be big. Apparently the bushes get up to 7 feet tall! And boy are they sweet and delicious!
With all these cute tasty little tomatoes rolling about I have used them in new and fun ways every week since they started producing 10-15 tomatoes per day. Yesterday I wanted something to use my hot red habenero sauce on so I dug the corn tortillas out of the freezer and when they thawed out the fun began. Now I rarely fry anything, but I figure it’s no big deal to do up these corn tortillas in one and a half tablespoons of olive oil. Especially since about half of it remains in the pan after frying them. I’m sure the oil I use is better than the oil used in most restaurants the fry tortillas.
So fry I did, and in no time at all I was munching these colorful discs of tastiness and spice. These tostadas can be a starter, a lunch main dish, or party food. You can add green chiles, squash, corn, or even kale. You can make them hot, or not. Goat cheese, and fresh basil would work well with olives thrown in for a Greek flavor treat. Just let your creativeness flow on this one and have fun. Nothing like hot and spicy food on hot summer days.
Black Bean Tostadas with Cherry Tomatoes
4 corn tortillas
1 1/2 tablespoon olive oil
1 cup cooked black beans
1 cup shredded cheddar cheese, white or yellow
1/2 grilled bell pepper, red or green sliced thin
12 cherry tomatoes cut in half
1 jalapeno sliced thin, optional
In a saute pan cook the tortillas one at a time in the oil on medium to medium high heat just until brown on the edges. This takes about 2 minutes on the first side and a little less time on the second side.
Drain on paper towels.
Drain oil out of the saute pan and heat the black beans for about 2 minutes. This is a good time to add some cumin or chili powder if you like. A 1/4 to 1/2 teaspoon should be enough. Add salt and pepper to taste.
Now it’s time to build your tostadas. Put 1/4 beans on each, followed by cheese, tomatoes and jalapenos. Bake in a 400 degree oven for about 4-6 minutes until cheese is melted. Serve with a side of sliced avocado, shredded lettuce, salsa, black olives or any combination of these ingredients.
Serves two.
Note:
These can be cut in half or quarters for a nice party snack.
Pinto beans/refried beans would be good in place of black beans.
Canned beans can be used if you don’t want the bother of waiting for the crockpot beans.
Crockpot Black Beans
2 cups dry black beans
6 cups water
1/2 yellow onion chopped
1 clove garlic minced
1 teaspoon cumin
2 teaspoons chili powder
1 teaspoon salt
Put all ingredients in a crockpot and cook on low for 7-9 hours.
You can shorten this time if you start out on high and reduce to low heat an hour later. This cuts about an hour off the total cook time.
Peach Daiquiri Time
One of the best parts of moving to our home in North Baltimore almost three years ago was being across the street from a 150 year old peach orchard(Moore’s Orchard). Each summer around the Fourth of July the peaches are ready for us lucky consumers. When the first peaches become available one has to be vigilant, because instead of the usual sandwich board sign advertising said peaches on busy Joppa Road there is a less visible sign that goes up on the less busy Peach Blossom Road. This is because there aren’t a lot of early peaches to be had and the rush of buyers would wipe out the store in no time at all.
This year I was looking most every day from the first of July on and was thrilled when I spied the sign pronouncing the beginning of the season on July 5th. These first peach varieties are small but very juicy and tasty indeed. I promptly bought two $5 bags of each type (yellow and white), and took them home to wash them up and test. Even though they were only the size of a tennis ball they packed big flavor.
Way back in 1979 I lived in the small mountain town of Frisco, Colorado amongst an assortment of old hippies, ski bums, old timer locals, and people fleeing the boredom of the plains states. They were an interesting colorful bunch indeed. It was there on a warm summer’s day two of my new found friends invited me across the street from the Moose Jaw to partake in a party with daiquiris made from scratch. It was there that I learned the right way to make a daquiri with fresh lime juice and honey instead of sweet and sour mix. Sure you could use the sweet and sour mixes sold in liquor stores to whip up one of these frozen drink delights, but once you taste this method you will never again want that sweet and sour chemical crap in your daiquiri again.
It was at this party that we indulged in peach daiquiris and strawberry daiquiris until the perfect mix was obtained. Sure it was tough duty testing batch after batch, but we were young and full of ambition. The end result other than getting our daily requirement of fruit for the week was all of us agreed this was the way to make a frozen daiquiri hence forth. Therefore I will now share with you the magic recipe for the best frozen daiquiri you will probably ever taste.
I have made some changes in the recipe, actually just one change. For sweetener I had previously used honey, but it was always difficult to get it to blend into a frozen drink properly. Now I use Agave Nectar that the good folks at Sugar in the Raw gifted me at Eat, Write, Retreat food bloggers meeting in Philadelphia last month. Agave Nectar dissolves much better than honey and works as well or better in this drink. Rum is optional if you don’t drink alcohol.
Frozen Peach Daquiris
2 cups peeled and sliced fresh juicy peaches
2 to 2 ½ cups crushed ice
1 tablespoon fresh squeezed lime juice
1 tablespoon agave nectar
4 ounces rum
In a capable blender add the peaches first, then the ice, lime, agave and rum. Blend until all ingredients are pureed. This will vary depending on your blender and size of crushed ice. Top with a slice of fresh peach and enjoy. Repeat if hot and thirsty.
Serves 2-4.
Note:
Strawberries work well with this recipe too.
You can use frozen peaches or strawberries with half the ice and enough water to make it all blend properly.
My new Osterizer classic beehive blender that I just bought worked great!
Even though I was gifted Agave Nectar from Sugar in the Raw the ideas and recipe expressed are my own.
Spiked Baked Chicken Breast
Here’s one of the fastest easiest chicken dishes from my recipe files. There is a youtube video of it too at:
https://www.youtube.com/edit?video_id=W7sL5ubTLvM&feature=vm&ns=1
Give it a try when you want a great tasting chicken dish in less than 30 minutes. This is a lowfat, super healthy dish suitable for family or friends.
Spiked Baked Chicken Breast
2 skinless boneless chicken breast about 8 oz each
1/2 teaspoon Spike Seasoning Salt
1 teaspoon olive oil
salt and pepper to taste
Sprinkle spike over chicken breast and then drizzle olive oil. Bake uncovered in a 400 degree oven for about 18-20 minutes or until a thermometer reads 165 degrees inserted into the thickest part.
serves 2
Note:
Serve with sauteed mushrooms and spinach.
Cook more than you need to use for tomorrow’s lunch.
Can be grilled too when it’s too hot to cook inside.
Grocery list
2 skinless boneless chicken breasts
Spike seasoning salt
light olive oil, not extra virgin
Farmer’s Market Italian Green Beans
Farmer’s Market Italian Green Beans
Baltimore’s farmer’s markets are in full swing now that summer is here. I took full advantage of this on Sunday by buying all we could carry. We started out with fresh garlic and pole green beans then moved on to yellow squash and zucchini. Next stop I spied Italian Green Beans and had to have them. The mushroom folks had fresh chanterelle mushrooms so in the bag they went. We also bought two kinds of bread from the Breadery which grinds the wheat for their bread. The buying frenzy continued when I bought more garlic, this time heirloom garlic from my favorite organic farmer Rudy. The bags were getting heavy but I couldn’t pass up a ghost pepper plant for $2 and a couple of jalapeno plants too. Last but not least was fresh sweet corn on the cob to make a grilled corn salad with.
Now it is one thing to buy and carry all that good stuff, but the real work begins when you get it home! There is the cleaning, cutting, canning and cursing to be done. It does take a lot of work but once you taste the freshness of real food fresh from a farm it’s hard to pass it up.
My favorite buy of the day so far was the Italian Green Beans. I used to love the frozen version and would cook them in about a total of two ways. Today I made the version with tomato that is fast and furious and will have you eating these yummy beans in no time at all. Give this simple recipe a try with either Itaian or regular green beans soon.
Farmer’s Market Italian Green Beans Recipe
1 pound fresh Italian Green Beans, or regular green beans
1 can of diced tomatoes
1 teaspoon garlic infused olive oil, or olive oil and 1 clove minced garlic
1/2 cup diced yellow onion
salt and pepper to taste
1 tablespoon fresh oregano minced, optional
Wash and trim the beans then cut in half. Saute onions in a saute pan with oil for 5-7 minutes on medium low heat. Add the green beans, tomatoes, and cook on medium low for 15 minutes covered stirring once, or twice. Continue cooking uncovered until desired doneness is achieved(about 5-8 minutes)and add fresh oregano if using 1-2 before serving .
Serves four.
Note:
You can use 1/2 teaspoon dried oregano in place of fresh by adding it in the beginning.
Chopped fresh parsley is a nice addition too. Add 1-2 minutes before the beans are done cooking.
For an extra healthy version omit the oil and saute onions in 1/4 inch of water.
Bison Black Bean Chili
On the Road Again
I travel 10-15 times per year and 2-3 of those trips are without my wife. Since she doesn’t cook I cook up several meals ahead of time for her so she can do the heat and eat thing. I suspect some of you have this sort of situation come up too? Today I’ll share with you the 4 days of meals my wife will eat while I’m gone as this might help you plan for a similar event. After all we want the ones we love to eat healthy delicious meals when we aren’t there to cook for them don’t we!
First thing I cooked this morning was poached Alaskan Red Salmon for a salmon salad. This can be packed in lunches in a wrap with greens or served on top of a green salad in a nice scoop.
Next on the list was to steam some rice in the rice cooker while doing outside garden chores. This was then allowed to cool so I could make vegetarian fried rice. This will re-heat easily on the stovetop in a saute pan or in the microwave.
Next on the list was Bison Black Bean Chili. This wonderful chili is a meal in itself, but with the addition of a scoop of brown rice is more nutritious and filling too. It re-heats easily on the stovetop or microwave, and topped with grated cheese is mighty tasty. If you have never tried bison/buffalo instead of ground beef you are missing out on a healthy source of protein that usually doesn’t have the fat or additives of ground beef. I’ve been eating it for well over 25 years in tacos, burritos, stroganoff, meatloaf and burgers. I’d much rather eat a meat that doesn’t have growth hormones, and antibiotics especially when it tastes great!
Tonight I’ll cook Sauteed Swiss Chard and Mushrooms on linguine for dinner and make enough that my wife can have it tomorrow night for dinner too. I’ll also make a mushroom soup for later in the week.
I have a few bean and brown rice burritos(http://www.fastandfuriouscook.com/spicy-black-bean-brown-rice-lunch-wraps/) in the freezer for lunches that microwave in a minute or two. These are great as they last for up to three months in the freezer and ready to pack in lunches when I am too busy to cook, or for my wife when I’m out of town. They can be made with or without meat, and portabello mushrooms are quite nice in them also.
So here’s what the menu looks like for Tuesday through Friday.
Tuesday:
Breakfast, oatmeal with walnuts and raisins
Lunch, salmon salad wrap with fresh lettuce from our garden
Dinner, leftover mushroom pasta, and a green salad
Wednesday:
Breakfast, oatmeal with walnuts and raisins
Lunch, bison black bean chili in a thermos
Dinner, vegetarian fried rice
Thursday:
Breakfast, frozen fruit smoothie with almond butter toast
Lunch, green salad with a scoop of salmon salad on top
Dinner, bison chili with a scoop of brown rice
Friday:
Breakfast, oatmeal with walnuts and raisins(hey we like oatmeal a lot)
Lunch, mushroom soup and garden salad with our just ready cherry tomatoes
Dinner, vegetarian fried rice with maybe a few shrimp from the freezer tossed in at the beginning for a twist.
There you have it a full four days of meals thought out for my wife so that she doesn’t miss me too much while I’m off to help my parents out a bit in Colorado. All of the cooking I did today totaled no more than 2 hours in the kitchen, and if my wife forgets what’s for lunch or dinner all she has to do is go to my blog and find the menu there. You might notice I didn’t cook up anything for breakfast, and that’s because most breakfast meals are quick and easy while not requiring much experience with cooking. Although I did bake the bread that she will use for toast two weeks ago and took it out of the freezer two days ago.
I hope this helps some of you out there in foodland plan meals for your loved ones that either don’t cook or are too busy to cook. This way while you are out of town your family will eat well, because you don’t want them to eat junk, do you?
Bison Black Bean Chili
1 pound ground Bison/Buffalo
1 teaspoon olive oil
1/2 yellow onion diced
2 cloves garlic minced
1 jalapeno diced small
1 15 ounce can diced tomatoes
1 15 ounce can tomato sauce
1 15 ounce can black beans
1 tablespoon paprika
1-2 teaspoons chili powder
1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
1/2 teaspoon cayenne powder, optional
1/2 teaspoon salt, optional
In a 3 quart or bigger pot brown onions in olive oil on medium to medium high heat for 3 minutes stirring often. Add garlic and jalapeno and cook for 2 more minutes stirring often. Add ground bison and turn up heat to medium high or high for 2 minutes just to get it going to brown it a bit then turn the heat back down to medium and cook for 8 minutes. Add the rest of the ingredients and bring to a simmer cooking for 10 minutes at a simmer uncovered stirring every 2-3 minutes. Serve with grated cheddar or Manchego cheese and minced jalapenos on top.
Serves 4-6
Note:
A #22 LeCruset round cast iron French oven pot is perfect for cooking this chili in.
If you love onion like I do feel free to increase it to up to 2 cups.
If you like a lot of beans double the black beans or add a can of red kidney beans.
A scoop of steamed brown rice goes real well with this chili whether you add it last or pour the chili into a bowl with the rice as a base.
Bison and buffalo are the same thing when it comes to shopping for this recipe.
Lemon-Cumin Marinated Grilled Salmon
I was at a food bloggers event, (Eat, Write, Retreat), in Philadelphia over the weekend and had a great time learning from the pros. There was so much knowledge at this event I feel like I learned as much in two and a half days as I have in my first 6 months of blogging. We were bombarded with good information and gifts from Kitchen Aid, Jarlsberg Cheese, Lentils CA, Safest Choice Eggs, OXO, California Raisins, United States Potato Board, Watermelon.org, California Ripe Olives, Canadian Beef, Gerolsteiner, California Figs, Attune Foods, In The Raw Sweeteners, and more. We were well fed and even had a signature cocktail hour the first night. One of my favorite talks was To-Jo Mushrooms featuring Tony and Joe D’Amico from Avondale, PA. I already know a bit about mushrooms from my many trips up to Kennett Square, PA the mushroom capital of the world, but these guys talked about how much work goes into producing the schrooms I love so dearly. It was at the end of their talk that I won a Kitchen Aid food processor by answering the correct mushroom trivia question, ”what is the proper temperature to store mushrooms at”? The answer is 35 degrees, which is printed on the bigger boxes of mushrooms that most people never see. Since most of us don’t buy mushrooms that are being displayed at this optimal holding temperature it’s best to eat the schrooms within a day or two of buying them for best quality.
Tony and Joe gifted all of us mushroom growing kits and fresh mushrooms for those who could take them home without having them spoil. I hope to start my mushroom kit tonight and grow some lovely oyster mushrooms.
Another one of my favorite sponsors was one I had never heard of. Gerolsteiner Mineral Water. They gifted us with pretty much all the good clean sparkling water we could drink at the event. I have been a fan of bubbly water ever since I was a kid and liked to drink plain old club soda from the can. I would even bathe in the stuff if I could only visit the Vichy Hot Springs in Ukiah, California more often. I was a Perrier drinker for many years, and drank lots of club soda with a lime when bar tending back in the 1980’s and 90’s at The Moose Jaw in Frisco, Colorado.
I do believe that Gerolsteiner has the others beat for taste, and I love the fact that they use glass not plastic bottles. Plastic bottles pretty much suck and are an environmental blight upon the planet since only about one in six get recycled. Gerolsteiner not only gifted us plenty of water, but they also gave us a booklet that talked about the source of this clean tasting mineral water. Even though I was way busy at the event I read some of this booklet that included many recipes from chef Kurt Gutenbrunner, and one caught my eye. Who knew there would be good looking recipes like Lemon-Cumin Marinated Arctic Char in this mineral water booklet? It looked like one I had to try at home soon.
I wasn’t going out and buying Arctic Char to try, even though I like that type of fish. No dear readers I have salmon in the freezer from last year’s Alaska fishing adventure that needs to be cooked up before this year’s fishing adventure in Alaska. Salmon is close enough to Arctic Char in taste and where they live for trying this recipe. I liked this marinade enough to do it again soon with fresh salmon, instead of frozen. I didn’t do the whole recipe that called for grilled vegetables, just the marinade part which I reprint from the Gerolsteiner recipe booklet, by permission, for your enjoyment.
Lemon-Cumin Marinade
2 teaspoons ground cumin
1 tablespoon Hungarian paprika
1 lemon zested and juiced
1 garlic clove minced
5 Tablespoons olive oil
Salt and pepper to taste
2 skin on Arctic char or salmon, 6 ounces each
Mix all ingredients, except salmon in a suitable container and add salmon or char. Let stand in refrigerator for 1-3 hours. Place fish on a well oiled grill skin side down and cook for 2-3 minutes. Flip and continue to cook for 1-2 minutes. The recipe called for grilled vegetables, and that looked like a good choice to go with this dish.
Even though I was gifted the little recipe booklet and some bottled Gerolsteiner Mineral water at the event I would have shared this recipe anyway because it’s a great recipe for salmon, Char or other firm flesh fish.
Keeping Things Simple
I remember those days that I would spend hours cooking up some complicated recipe in restaurants or at home that would inevitably turn out well. Whether it was a classic French cake, or deboned and stuffed chicken hind quarters, with gravy made from home made chicken stock that cooked for 8 hours or more. I did not shy away from recipes that took a lot of time, but now it’s a wonderful thing to embrace simplicity in cooking especially when you don’t sacrifice taste in doing so. In this phase of my 42 years of cooking I love finding the simplest ways to prepare foods that taste great. It’s not that I don’t have the time to cook the complicated stuff. It’s just that I have so many other things to do rather than spend hours cooking a meal that should only take 30 minutes.
With asparagus season in full swing here in the Mid Atlantic I have been cooking the lovely stalk once thought to be from the lily family often and in many ways. I’ve stir fried it with rice. I’ve simply steamed it. I’ve baked it with garlic infused olive oil, salt and pepper. And it’s made many an appearance in green salads. My favorite invention of all my newly developed recipes has been the dairy free, chilled asparagus soup made with unsweetened almond milk. This one is so yummy, simple and so easy to make. Gone are the times where I would have used home made chicken stock for the base and half and half for creaminess. This soup needs no heavy calorie additions. The almond milk gives it a nice texture and the asparagus if treated right will hit you with it’s distinctive wonderful fresh green flavor. You still have a few weeks of asparagus season so get to your local asparagus place, whether it’s a farm stand or grocery store and give this one a try.
3 cups water
2 teaspoons salt
2 cup fresh asparagus cut into 1 inch lengths
1 1/4 unsweetened almond milk
1 tablespoon fresh oregano
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon Spike, optional
1 tablespoon chopped fresh chives, optional
In a 1 1/2 quart pot bring 3 cups water and 2 teaspoons salt to a boil. While water is heating wash asparagus and trim off the bottom tough part until you have about 2 cups cut in 1 inch lengths. Cook simmering for about 5-8 minutes depending on thickness of the asparagus then drain and rinse briefly in cold water. Add almond milk, oregano, salt and Spike, if using. Blend well in a table top blender or use an immersion blender. Chill for about an hour then serve with chopped chives on top.
Serves two but can doubled if needed.
Note: If you want a bit of a kick add 1/4 to 1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper.
I bought one pound of asparagus and ended up with a little over 2 cups after trimming the tough part off.
* You could probably use whole milk instead of almond milk and this would still turn out well.
What’s It got In It’s Pantry?
As I was doing a bit or organizing in my pantry today I thought of Gollum asking Bilbo, “what’s it gots in it’s pocketses”? Well many a thing can hide in my pantry for unknown lengths of time so I decided to pick a hidden item to do a new recipe with. Some times I like to go to the grocery store just to find something fun to cook, but today it was going to come from the pantry. What I found that I thought needed to come out and play was a tiny bit of whole wheat shell pasta that wouldn’t amount to an entree, but could be my lunch special. One item I do have in abundance is fresh oregano since it survived the winter and exploded into new growth in April. I have never had pesto made with oregano, but figured this particular type of oregano would work well in pesto. It has more of a minty taste to it than a pungent flavor typical of fresh oregano. I think it could be Greek Oregano, but it’s plant identification marker has long since disappeared. So the lunch special for one was shaping up, Whole Wheat Pasta in Oregano Pesto. I had some pine nuts in the freezer that were still quite fresh, and some farmer’s market asparagus in the fridge from yesterday’s shopping downtown for the dish. I figured that the asparagus would be a nice touch.
I confess to having pesto on the brain since I read a post from one of my favorite bloggers, Marge Perry’s Sweet and Savory Life, this morning that included a pesto recipe. That recipe was quite different in that it used linguine, basil, spinach etc that I did not use. I probably would have done her recipe except my basil is not in production mode yet.
I put this all together in about 25 minutes including boiling the pasta, cleaning the oregano, and food processing the pesto. Not to mention the distraction of making sure Tucker, our 8 week old German Shepard puppy wasn’t getting into trouble. I had fresh greens from the garden to serve as a perfect base. I set up for the photo part of the gig and, after shooting the photos sat down to sample my prize. It was quite good, but next time I will put some cilantro in with the oregano for a bit more herbal punch. Maybe even a jalapeno for fun. It’s just so much fun to experiment with all the amazing choices we have at our local grocery stores and farmers markets. From Fast and Furious Cook’s kitchen I wish you all a wonderful summer of experimenting with something new and fun.
Oregano Pesto
1 cup fresh oregano leaves
1/2 cup grated parmesan
1/2 cup roasted pine nuts
1/3 cup extra virgin olive oil
1-2 fresh garlic cloves minced
1 tablespoon fresh lime juice
1/4 to 1/2 teaspoon salt
Mix parmesan cheese, pine nuts, olive oil, garlic, lime juice, salt and half of the oregano in a food processor. Scrape with spatula and add the rest of the oregano. Mix well, scrape and mix a bit more until all the pine nuts and broken up well.
Serve with your favorite pasta, hot or cold.
What to do with a hunk of 5 year aged gouda?
I went to one of my favorite foodie havens(Talula’s Table) on my way to a cooking demo at The Woodlands at Phillips Mushrooms. Talula’s is well known for their combo food market and restaurant. I was stopping by to buy their french baquette for the cooking demo but was snagged by the free sample of the 5 year aged gouda cheese while browsing. This stuff has seriously great taste that makes you want more. The gouda went well on top of my Maitake mushroom bruschetta at Phillip’s, but I had a good amount of it left over. I pondered what to do with it over the last two days and at about 5 this morning while laying awake in bed I got inspired to make a special breakfast using the gouda.
the goods
I had some Kale leftover from my brussel sprout and kale salad, and remembered reading about kale for breakfast on www.greennapkinnutrtion.com. I also had some beautiful oyster mushrooms from Phillip’s so I sauteed the mushrooms with 10/15 sweet yellow onions in garlic infused olive oil.
When the onions and mushrooms were halfway cooked I added the kale and cooked it for a few more minutes.
saute time
I also had some nice Wisconsin Cheddar Sourdough dinner rolls from Talula’s that I sliced to a half inch thick cut and popped them in the toaster for the base. I put the mushroom and kale mix on top of the bread that had an over easy egg set on top of it. I placed shaved gouda on top of the egg and broiled it for about a minute and a half. I cooked up some home fried potatoes and sliced an avocado and orange for garnish to round it all out. The result? An amazing breakfast for a good start to the weekend.
If you want to give this a try here’s the basics:
A handful of kale
a handful of oyster mushrooms, or whatever you have available
about a third cup of diced sweet onion
garlic infused olive oil
toast of some type for the base
aged gouda
and a willingness to experiment!
Disclosure:
Even though Phillip’s Mushrooms gifted me a couple of pounds of mushrooms to practice with for the cooking demo I would still have written about them as their mushrooms are the freshest I have ever bought, and the price is significantly less than grocery store mushrooms too!
Breakfast time
Asparagus and Salmon Season
Spring has sprung in Baltimore. After months of cold days and freezing nights the forecast for the next five days has us reversing course in a big way. The overnight lows for the next several days are higher than the daytime highs have been for months. With night time lows in the mid 60’s I am getting my vegie garden going. Daytime highs are going to be in the 80‘s tomorrow if the weather guessers are right. Soon my Rocky Top lettuce blend will be feeding us amazing fresh salads. The peas won’t be far behind. Then in June the first fresh salmon from Cordova Alaska’s Copper River will show up. It won’t be until July that the first tomatoes from my garden will make an appearance on the table. About that time Moore’s Orchard across the street from me will be selling the first of the season peaches. Ah, I can just close my eyes and taste the first juicy peach already. But hey, it’s April and that means Asparagus is in season and showing up on my grocery store shelf. This is not the stuff from Peru or other points south. This is North American asparagus and I’m ready to buy some. Last night I made one of my favorite meals. It was Baked Salmon, with a side of Oven Baked Asparagus and Quinoa Pilaf. This is a simple,healthy meal that takes just 20-25 minutes from start to finish. If you subscribe to my Enewsletter on my blog you will receive two of recipes, Quinoa and Asparagus) that are not featured here so please sign up as it costs you nothing but a couple minutes of your time. For now however I will share with you the salmon recipe. I hope you enjoy it.
Baked Salmon Filets
1 pound salmon filets skinned and cut into 4 portions
2 teaspoons olive oil
2 teaspoons fresh squeezed lemon juice
salt and pepper to taste
In a individual baking dish or cookie sheet place salmon skin side down. Rub salmon filets with oil, then drizzle lemon juice over them. Sprinkle salt and pepper on the filets and bake for 10-15 minutes or until salmon flakes when pressed on. Don’t overcook.
Note:
I like to add a touch( 1/2 teaspoon) dried or fresh thyme for a nice herbed flavoring, or ground cumin.
A bit of garlic powder is a nice touch too. A little goes a long way.
I highly recommend Alaska salmon over farmed salmon when available.
Baked Salmon Dinner Trio