Dining In

 

Among my household duties (besides changing baby butts, and washing tons of clothes) are the meals we eat every night. I've been cooking quite a lot from The Pioneer Woman's cookbook, but also I've been slowly tackling the recipes in Martha Stewarts Cooking School book. (This recipe is from her Quick Dinners cookbook and it's rapidly become one of our favorites, especially now that salmon season is coming back around.) The best thing about those recipes is really how she breaks them down so that you understand WHY something is important to a recipe, which in turn teaches you how to add things and take away things without compromising on the overall quality of the dish.

 

With that in mind, I thought I'd share a few of my latest triumphs in the kitchen:

 

Herbed Butter Salmon with Roasted Potatoes

 

Preheat oven to 400 degrees

1 lb small red potatoes or fingerling potatoes, cut into bite size pieces

 

Toss potatoes in a splash or two of olive oil, season with sea salt and pepper. Spread them in an oiled 9x13 pan and place in 400 degree oven. Set timer for 15 minutes. After 15 minutes, stir potatoes and continue baking for another 15 minutes.

 

Wild Caught Alaskan Salmon (Don't eat farm raised salmon. It's not good for you and it's not good for salmon.)

While the potatoes are roasting, rinse your thawed salmon in a little cold water, place fillets skin side down on your cutting board and brush with a little olive oil. Season with sea salt and pepper. (I also use a little bit of Old Bay, it's just a fisherman's daughters habit. The taste of Old Bay reminds me of my childhood...)

When the timer goes for the potatoes, open the oven and scoot your potatoes to the edge of the pan. (In these pics I cooked them separately because of the large amount of food...) Brush a little olive oil in the center of the pan and place your salmon fillets, skin side down, in the center of the pan and set the time for about 25 minutes. (The salmon may take longer than that to cook thoroughly, but you should be check ing it. Nothing worse than dry, over-cooked salmon!)

 

Herbed Butter

While the salmon and potatoes are cooking, get half a stick of unsalted butter and soften it. (You can do this ahead of time by just leaving it on the counter, but I have cats who would LOVE to lick any butter I left I on the counter unattended, so I don't do that...) Mix in a heaping tablespoon of Dijon mustard and 1/4 cup tightly packed of chopped Italian parsely, season with a little sea salt and pepper. Cover and set aside.

 

When your fish is finished cooking, brush the potatoes and fish with the herbed butter and serve immediately. (I served this with a mixed green salad with roasted walnuts, feta, golden raisins and the ubiquitous Goddess dressing!)

Now, soak up the adulation of your dinner partners. Don't thank me, Thank Martha!