Salmon with orecchiette and horseradish cream sauce

Salmon and pasta with horseradish cream

The heat has been so brutal for so long now, that I think my brain has started to melt.  All my energy has been sizzled away and I find myself just laying around in a stupor, blinking at the foggy walls and ceiling.  Normally, I love to cook.  But lately, I've been too lazy to cook and too hot to eat.  My family has been forced to graze on salads.  Like these:

Salad with grilled veggies, salami, and goat cheese

Nicoise Salad with asparagus, new potatoes, and tuna fish

Cannellini and Fennel salad with roasted veggies

But, after a week of salads, I decided to drag myself out into the kitchen and cook up something a little more solid for dinner.  Feeling inspired by a recipe I found in an old issue of Bon Appetite, I cooked up a salmon and pasta dish that the whole family loved!  I think it was good enough to serve to company (my husband and I always rate a new dish by whether or not we'd serve it to company!)  I used salmon fillets (with skin on), baby broccoli (also called broccolini - it is a cross between broccoli and Chinese kale), caramelized onions, Parmesan cheese, and orecchiette.

Ingredients:


for the sauce

• 1 cup clam juice (one 8 oz bottle)
• 1 cup 1/2 and 1/2
• 1 cup cream
• 3 T prepared horseradish (not sauce)

for the pasta

• 12 oz orecchiette (or any other fun pasta shape of your choice)
• 1 1/2 lb onions, caramelized
• 12 oz baby broccoli
• 1 cup grated Parmesan
• 2 T olive oil

for the salmon

• 2 T olive oil
• 6 6oz salmon fillets with skin on

Method:

for the sauce

1. bring clam juice, 1/2 and 1/2, and cream to a gentle boil.  Let boil until reduced to about one cup
2. whisk in horseradish 
3. season to taste with salt and pepper.  set aside

for the pasta

1. bring a large pan of salted water to a boil
2. cook baby broccoli in salted water for about 3 minutes or until crunchy tender.  remove with slotted spoon
3. cook pasta in salted water for about 11 minutes.  drain, reserving one cup of pasta water
4. cut broccoli into pieces about 1 inch long
5. return pasta to pan along with broccoli, caramelized onions, olive oil, Parmesan cheese and about 2/3 c of the reserved pasta water.  Mix well.  (If pasta seems dry, add remaining pasta water)

for the salmon

1. heat 2 T olive oil in large pan
2. season salmon with salt and pepper
3. place salmon in pan, skin facing up, and cook for about two minutes, or until nicely colored
4. flip over and continue cooking for another 3 minutes or until skin is crispy and salmon is just opaque in the center

To serve:

• place some pasta in the middle of a serving plate
• place a salmon fillet, skin side down, on top of pasta
• drizzle sauce over fillet

Delicious!!!

A couple of vegetarian pasta recipes

How fortuitous was it that I should stumble over a pasta recipe calling for swiss chard just days after bringing home a bagful of the leafy greens from Country Gardens?  After my disastrous asparagus pie the other day, I was a bit hesitant to try another vegetarian recipe, but I really wanted to try something different with the swiss chard so I decided to give it a go.  The finished dish actually turned out better than I expected.  I loved the little bites of sweet raisins and the nutty crunch of the pine nuts.  I don't think it's the kind of dish  your family will drool over and beg you to make again and again (at least not if they're anything like mine), but it would probably delight any vegetarian dinner guests or swiss chard lovers you might find yourself preparing a meal for.

The recipe calls for a "bunch" of swiss chard.  What constitutes a bunch is pretty much up to you.  I used, well..... a BUNCH.  Before beginning the recipe, prepare the swiss chard by cutting out the stems; then thinly slice enough stems to give you about 1/2 cup and toss the rest away (or save for some other creative use.)  Slice the chard leaves into ribbons about 1/4 inch thick.  Now you're ready to start the recipe.

In a large skillet, melt

   6 T butter

Let the butter cook over medium heat until it turns a nutty brown then add in

   chard leaves, sliced

   4 cloves garlic, crushed

stir until wilted (about 3 minutes) and then toss in

   1 bunch of spinach leaves

again, cook and stir until wilted then stir in

   1 1/2 t lemon juice

   1/4 cup golden raisin that have been plumped for 10 minutes in hot water and then drained

For the pasta, cook according to package directions

   12 oz linguine

   1/2 cup swiss chard stems (toss in when you add the pasta)

Drain the pasta and swiss chard stems and mix in the wilted greens.  Stir in

   1 1/3 cup grated Parmesan

   1/3 cup toasted pine nuts

   1 T chopped chives

   2 t chopped fresh thyme

Salt and pepper to taste.

Along with a bag of swiss chard, I brought home something called garlic scapes.  These are the beautiful, curly tops of garlic plants.  They aren't nearly as strong as garlic, but have a wonderful garlicky taste.

To be honest, I wasn't quite sure what to do with these so I looked them up online.  I found a simple recipe for pesto made with garlic scapes and decided to give it a try.  It had a very "green" smell but the taste was much more mild.  My son had two bowls of farfelle with garlic scape pesto and he thought it tasted "pretty good."  If you'd like to try the pesto you'll need about one cup of sliced garlic scapes.

In a food processor, blend

   1 cup sliced garlic scapes

   1/3 cup walnuts

with the processor running, slowly pour in

   3/4 cup olive oil

add in

   1/4 - 1/3 cup grated parmesan

   1/2 t salt

pulse until well combined.

  

Pasta for supper....

I've been thinking about pasta all day so as supper time rolled around, I decided to make a big pot for supper.  I didn't have a particular recipe I was following but I had an idea in my head of what sounded good.  I started by oven roasting a bunch of vegetables; red onions, zucchini, baby portobellos, sugar snap peas, and red peppers.  I tossed them with olive oil, a handful of fresh sage, and some s&p and roasted them at 400 until they caramelized.

While that was going on, I mixed up some olive oil, balsamic vinegar, crushed garlic, Indian chili powder and salt and marinated about a pound of chicken tenders.

When the vegetables were done, I heated up a T or so of olive oil and pan fried the chicken.  I did this over high heat because I wanted the chicken to caramelize a bit and take on a rich, deep golden brown.  After removing the chicken, I deglazed the pan with some dry sherry and then stirred in some chicken broth and heavy cream.

I sliced the veggies and chicken and added them to the pan.  Finally, I stirred in a handful of fresh basil.

To serve, I ladled the sauce over farfalle pasta, topped it with a couple dollops of goat cheese and sprinkled it with toasted pine nuts.  It turned out great!

It's now going on 7:00 and I'm still the only one home.  I wonder if that means I can finish off all the pasta myself?