Roasted Salmon with Lemon

I may have mentioned a while back that the baby lady seems to enjoy salmon.  Well, the other day B and I discovered that she also likes lemon.  Like, really likes it.  We were eating dinner at a restaurant with her (gasp!) when she started pointing at my water glass like a crazy person.  So I, thinking that she wanted to drink some, tried to give it to her.  As soon as the glass was within reach, that little hand plunged straight down into my ice water and pulled out my lemon wedge and then it was in her mouth.  And she was sucking on it!  She would make a face every now and then, but she just kept on sucking and protested if I tried to take it away from her.

She gets her love of lemons from me, so when I saw the recipe that I based this meal off of, I thought that it was a winner for both  me and the little lady.  I was right, although I didn't cut the lemons thinly enough or cook the lemons until they turned all caramely, but it was still extremely tasty and something I will make again.

Serves 2

Mini Eclairs with Ganache

Across the street from my family's church is a wonderful little bakery, Colozza's.  My family and I would head over there almost every Sunday after church and my brother and I would get to pick out our special treat.  I varied between a lemon pastry or a jumbo eclair, but mostly picked eclairs.  I love the airy crust, the smooth custard and the chocolate on top.  It's the perfect dessert to me.

A while ago, I wanted to make B something to take into work for his coworkers.  I had planned on a lemon cake, but after I had already separated the eggs, I changed my mind.  I had stumbled upon a recipe for eclairs.  I was all sorts of ill-equiped to make this, as I didn't have a piping tip in the correct size, and only one piping bag left, screwing up my plans to pipe frosting later that week.  I had never made this type of dough before, but I love a baking challenge so I decided to go for it.

The dough was 100% what I remember my favorite eclairs tasting like.  Light and airy, simply delicious.  The pastry cream was a little different, but close enough that I was taken back to the days of looking forward to church because of the eclair that was sure to follow.

Makes about 30 mini eclairs. 

Roasted Carrot and Apple Soup

One day, I bought a 2 lb. bag of organic carrots, thinking that I would purée them for them for the baby lady.  The next day, I got my box of mixed vegetables from Washington's Green Grocer, and that contained about another pound of organic carrots.  Then, the baby lady quit eating purées.  Cold.  No more, she cried (which really just sounded like a baby wailing)!  So there I was, stuck with three pounds of carrots, and I had no idea what to do with them.

The baby lady seems to have decided that she loves soup, and because carrots are good for the eyes and because I desperately needed to rid myself of some carrots, I decided that carrot soup was on the menu for that night.  I had some parsnips on hand from forever ago that I was going to toss soon, so I added those, and added about half of a purple onion.  I think it turned out wonderfully and so did the tiny lady who demanded it from her high chair.

Serves 4 as a main dish

Barbecue sauce

My in-laws were in town a while back to give B and I the wonderful anniversary gift of babysitting!  That's the day that we went to Jaleo.  Yummm, I wish I could go back this weekend.  Oh well, that's off the topic....

My mother-in-law raised four very hungry boys and is accustomed to cooking large amounts of food.  She made pulled pork before coming to see us and ended up with enough to feed an army, but unfortunately her army of boys is now dispersed all over this country.  Good news for me, because B and I got to be on the receiving end of this!  She brought us two containers full and we all agreed that the pork had sucked up a good amount of it's original sauce and could use a little extra.  That's where I came into this picture.

I've been a fan of making my own BBQ sauce for a while now and this recipe is one of our favorites for pulled pork.  It has a bite to it that pairs really well with the coleslaw that I love to pile on top of my sandwich, so it's even better for that reason in my opinion.

 

Makes 1 1/2 cups

Meringue Filled Coffee Cake

I am a daring baker.  No really, I am.  I signed up to be one and this was the first monthly assignment I was able to participate in.   It's a part of The Daring Kitchen and you can be a "daring cook" or a "daring baker" or both.  I've been accepted as both, but I haven't taken part in a daring cook challenge yet.

Anyway....I'm so psyched that my first time doing a daring baker's challenge was this meringue filled coffee cake.  I really enjoy making meringue for some reason.  I think it started when I took over making Christmas cookies at my parents' house and we discovered that my brother was a meringue cookie monster.  I couldn't make enough of them for him!  At least they're easy.  But I'm totally off the topic here....

This coffee cake has yeast in it.  That fact scared the bejeezus out of me.  I've NEVER gotten yeast to rise correctly.  Ever!  And believe me I've tried.  So this was definitely a daring recipe for me.  I followed the recipe exactly and waited on tenterhooks as my dough slowly rose, and then kept rising.  It worked!

 

So I was obviously really excited and made the meringue and spread my fillings on top of it.  This recipe makes two coffee cakes and since B won't eat nuts but I love them, I decided that this was a dessert in which I could indulge my love of all things crunchy.  Hazelnuts and semisweet chocolate took up residence in the center of mine.  Semisweet chips, white chocolate chips and dried cherries filled the one that B would eat.  I personally think that mine ended up being more tasty, but they were both really yummy.

Then it came time to roll it all up, jelly roll style and then cut holes in it.

I thought that this part would be tricky, but except for a bit of the meringue sliding out, I had no problems with it at all.  I had to let it rise again, so I sat nervously waiting again, and again it rose.  No problems with yeast this time!

In the end, I was left with two beautiful and incredibly delicious coffee cakes, and I really hope B's coworkers enjoyed them.  It was just too much to eat all by ourselves!

 

Blog-checking lines: The March 2011 Daring Baker’s Challenge was hosted by Ria of Ria’s Collection and Jamie of Life’s a Feast. Ria and Jamie challenged The Daring Bakers to bake a yeasted Meringue Coffee Cake.

Recipe can be found HERE!

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Ginger and Cilantro Cod Cakes with Lemon Aioli

The idea of molding fish into a patty freaked me out.  It's only within the past few years that I even started eating fish so the thought of fish squishing through my fingers, cooked or not, nearly nauseated me.  However, I really wanted to try some kind of fish cake.

I found this recipe and was put slightly at ease learning that at least the fish was cooked.  I still wear plastic bags to mush up meat for meatballs and meatloaf, so knowing that it wouldn't be raw helped my mind wrap around this idea just a bit more.  They're also broiled and not fried so I feel better feeding it to my kid.

I loved the idea of adding ginger and cilantro as they're both really fresh flavors so I didn't think this would feel like eating a big hunk of fish, and I was right.  B, the baby lady and I all enjoyed these and I would put them on a bi-weekly menu, well I would if I had one of those.  I'll at least keep these in mind the next time I want fish.  Also, the lemon aioli was a perfect last minute addition for a dipping sauce...or for smothering as I did.  Oh, and if you hate cilantro, parsley would be a great substitution.

Makes 8 cakes, serves 4

Apple and Lemon Coleslaw

I'm a huge fan of coleslaw.  I was one of those kids trading people whatever for their portion of coleslaw since so many people dislike it.  Why is that?  It doesn't really taste like cabbage.  Oh well.  Anyway, I love it.  When I got my produce box this week there was a big head of green cabbage in it.  I had watched the Barefoot Contessa the other day and Ina made coleslaw with Bleu Cheese, and I was inspired.  I didn't want to make something as heavy as all that though, so I set out to find a lighter version.  This recipe contains lemon juice and zest, parsley, and apples which are all basically new to me in coleslaw.  The result is a light and refreshing coleslaw that you don't feel guilty about having eaten.  

Besides just eating it, here's what I did:

Easily the best way to eat pulled pork sandwiches.  

Chicken Breasts with Sherried Mushroom Cream Sauce

I've mentioned before how much I love mushrooms, but in case I didn't make it clear enough....I LOVE THEM!  I think they're wonderful and they make almost any dish better and I jump for mushroom recipes whenever I can.  I had an extra shallot laying around along with a big bunch of parsley that didn't have a set purpose, so I saw this recipe and saw that it called for those things along with a box of mushrooms and I had my heart set on it.

It's pretty easy to make, and cooks in the same pan as the chicken resulting in an easier cleanup.  B's serving whenever we have chicken breasts is two, but with this dinner he went back for a third proclaiming "now this is dinner!" as he went.  I think that means he liked it.

Serves 4 (unless your significant other eats three servings)
Time:  about 30 minutes including prep

Carrot and Cardamom Mini Cupcakes

 I don't know if it's because the aisles of Target have been loaded with "Easter -April 24th" signs for probably a month now, but I've been thinking a lot about Spring.  And when I think of Spring, I think of rabbits.  When I think of rabbits, I think of carrots.  And when I think of carrots, I think of carrot cake.

An abundance of carrots were taking over my vegetable drawer a few days before Spring officially arrived and I decided that it was time to venture into carrot cake.  I love it, although I didn't always.  I had the same idea as a bunch of little kids that eating carrot cake would be like eating vegetables.  I obviously figured out how wrong that was because it's my favorite cake now, but I had never made it before.

I was scared to try to make it.  I think I can bake pretty well, and if I happened to screw up my favorite cake I didn't think I could forgive myself.  Well, no worries about that, because this cake is awesome.  It has freshly grated ginger, cardamom, orange zest and a load of grated carrots.  I carried over some of the same ideas into the cream cheese frosting where you'll find more orange zest and cardamom and the effect is delicious.  I don't want to pat myself of the back too many times here, but these cupcakes are awesome!  They're spicy and fresh, and almost taste a little nutty, although they're completely without nuts (so that the baby lady can eat them).

I added a candied piece of carrot to the top and tried to shape it to look like a carrot, and although it's not perfect looking I think it complements it nicely.  

 Happy Spring everyone!

Makes 24 mini or 12 regular sized cupackes

Smothered Pork Chops

 I always hear about how there are no more bones on meat anymore (Michael Pollan), and how we're missing out because of it.  So the other day, instead of the thin, boneless pork chops I normally buy, I purchased these massive bone-in monstrosities.  And I have to say, I'm not the biggest fan, especially in a meal that is over noodles.  Therefore, I highly recommend this recipe with a boneless pork chop, as the flavors were very nice and the sauce did go quite nicely with the noodles.  It was just hard to unsmother the pork, and cut it while it was sliding around on the pasta.  It may be indicative of my dependence on mass produced food, but keep taking the bones out of my pork chops, please!

Serves 4
Time: 1 hour 15 minutes (includes 30 minutes simmering time)

Reminiscing About and Missing Ireland

You can blame this foodless post on the fact that today is St. Patrick's Day.

B and I went on our honeymoon 4 months after we got married.  We spent one week in Ireland and one week in Italy.  As long as I can remember, I had wanted to go to Ireland - I even thought that I could do a really good Irish accent.  I know now that mine was seriously awful, but I was just in love with Ireland.  B is quite Irish, so it seemed like if we were going to go on a good long trip to Europe, Ireland should be at the top of the list of places to go.  We decided that we would fly to Shannon, make our way down the west coast, travel the south and then back up to Dublin, staying in B & Bs the whole time, except for our last night, when we were in Dublin.

We went at the end of June, which is supposed to be one of the best times to visit, but it ended up being one of the rainiest weeks of my life.  I have no idea how normal it was for that country, but wow, it was wet!  All that rain though, left us with some great green color everywhere.  I still can't get over that amount of color.  It gets really rainy in northern Virginia in the early Spring, and when our lawn turns green B and I always say that we can see Ireland in our back yard.

One of the best days we had there is when we missed the ferry going to the Aran Islands.  We ended up driving our rental car to Oughterard where I got to experience the wonder that is Supermac's, but on the way, we stopped our car on the side of the road and played on some big boulders and climbed hills.  I look really serious in this picture, but it was a really fun afternoon.  Back to Supermac's.   I had a kebab, and B had one of the largest servings of fish and chips we'd ever seen.  We ended up making the next ferry for the islands where I once again experienced Supermac's, although this time, I had a tiny ice cream sundae.

We of course ended up seeing the "Cliffs of Insanity" or the Cliffs of Moher, the Rock of Cashel, B kissed the Blarney Stone, and me, being an ice cream addict, I ended up finding delicious ice cream at Murphy's in Killarney.  By the way, Killarney National Park is a must see/explore if you're ever visiting Ireland.  We made our way to Dublin, but only after stopping for our last night in Rathvilly and ended up eating at Germaine's in Baltinglass which was far and away the best food we ate there.



Although I'm not a beer drinker, B is, so while in Dublin we had to visit the Guiness factory.  When we made it to the end of the tour, we handed our tokens in and each got a free beer.  Having already said that I'm not a beer drinker, you can see in this picture here that B was one happy boy!

I'm really missing Ireland right now.

Happy St. Patrick's Day everyone!

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Brown Butter Lobster Risotto

In the interest of trying new foods, a late New Year's resolution I've set for myself, I decided to try lobster for the first time.  I was a huge seafood hater growing up and distinctly remember crying in the bathroom of a seafood buffet in Myrtle Beach while on vacation with my family because I had no food and I thought that the place smelled terribly. Because of memories like that I've been really reluctant to try seafood but I'm now open to white fish, salmon, crab and squid or cuttlefish (a trip to Spain cured me of that phobia).

So then we have lobster.  I've never ordered it and only once had a sip of B's lobster bisque.  B is a fan of almost all things seafood so I'm trying to branch out more into that region for him as well as broadening my own tastes.  I saw this recipe and went for it.  I didn't change much, mainly the type of cheese used since I had Romano and not Parmesan, and the amount of chives since I'm in love with them.

My verdict; very tasty, although I'm not sure I would spend that much on lobster again for the amount I got.  I'll try it again when it's on sale and I don't have to get a second mortgage to afford it.

Serves 4

Sauteed Cherry Tomatoes

I was making steak and potatoes for dinner and had a massive desire for vegetables.  It was one of those weekends where we couldn't find the time to make it to the grocery store and were unfortunately running quite low on produce.  Luckily for me, B had bought a massive container of cherry tomatoes to make himself a Caprese salad and we had a bunch left over.  I quickly heated up some oil and threw the tomatoes in and a few short steps later, voila!  I had a vegetable side dish...unless we want to get really specific and start calling tomatoes fruits.  But I'm not going there today.

White Chocolate Raspberry Cupcakes

I made these for the adults attending my daughter's first birthday party and only made twelve, thinking that people would go for dark chocolate instead.  Oops!  Mistake.  These went so fast it was scary.  I had no idea that white chocolate was so desired.  Hands down, these are the best cupcakes I've ever made.  They're moist and flavorful and I sound like a cookbook, or like I'm selling these things, but seriously, you need to try them.
 
I altered the recipes only slightly because I thought that almond flavor would pair nicely with both white chocolate and raspberries and, not to brag, but I was right.  I can't get enough of these and ate three in about an hour, but nobody saw me do it, so I'm ok with that.

makes 12 cupcakes

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I Know This Much Is True by Wally Lamb - a book review

Well, it's certainly been a while since I've posted a book review, and part of the reason is that I Know This Much Is True is almost 900 pages!  It satisfies a spot in my category of books that are more than 500 pages, but geez, I didn't think it was as long as it was when I chose it.  That all being said, let me begin.

Dominick Birdsey is the sane half of a twin set.  His brother Thomas is schizophrenic and has just done something terrible and gruesome, (I would spoil some suspense if I told you what it was, so I'll let you find out), something that made the news.  Now Dominick's life has been turned upside down as he tries to navigate through the politics of maximum security mental hospitals, social workers and shrinks.  As the shrink in the book puts it, and I'm paraphrasing, two brothers are lost in the woods, and she thinks that one can be found.  What starts as a book that seems to be all about the schizophrenic brother turns into a novel about the sane one finding himself while watching his brother get more and more lost.

Cucumber Salad

I associate cucumber salad with summer days spent at my grandmother's house.  She always had cucumber salad for my brother and me ready to go and it was vingeary, and fresh and full of cucumbers which may be my favorite vegetable.  I know it's a sad excuse to have cucumbers as a favorite vegetable since they're basically all water, but what can I say?  They're delicious.  Anyway, I was really hungry one night and just happened to have two large English cucumbers in the fridge.  Bingo!  Cucumber salad.  This recipe has a little bit of sour cream, which I don't think was in my grandmother's recipe, but I still thought about her while eating it, and probably will every time I do.

Sautéed Rainbow Chard

A little while ago I got my first box from a CSA type organization.  One thing it contained was a beautiful bunch of rainbow chard.  Now, I've never had Swiss, red or rainbow chard so I was at a loss as to how to cook it.  I decided on sautéed with some garlic and red pepper flakes, based off of a recipe in Joy of Cooking.  Normally I'll only post recipes that I thought were worth the time it took to make the food, and that tasted delicious.  Well, I screwed up badly on this one, and it isn't the recipe's fault.  I also know exactly how to fix it.  The problem...I was extremely heavy handed with red pepper flakes.  So much so that it was hard to stand in the kitchen while this was cooking without coughing.  B and I both tried this, and it tasted very good, and then my mouth lit on fire.  So I know that the recipe is good and I'm completely at fault for the screw up.  I only hope that Washington's Green Grocer sends me another big bunch of chard as I already have plans for what's left of the one I got this week.

That all being said, I was beyond surprised when I undid the bundle of chard and saw how vividly pink and yellow the stalks were.  In my opinion, this is one of the prettiest vegetables ever.  

Serves 2
Takes 10 minutes to prepare

Mini Mint Chocolate Chip Cupcakes with Peppermint Buttercream

I'm not in the least bit Irish, but my husband has a good deal of it in him, and our last name screams out "Kiss Me, I'm Irish!".   Since St. Patrick's Day is almost here so I figured I need to make something green to celebrate my last name's country of origin.  I also love mint, so mint chocolate seemed to be a pretty easy decision.

I had made these cupcakes once before using a recipe from my trusted Cupcakes, an awesome cookbook, but I wanted to change it up a little bit. Mint Chocolate Chip is my favorite ice cream, so I wanted chips in there somewhere and I wanted green.  The frosting is my own creation and I adapted the cupcake recipe just slightly.

Also, if you're looking for a two bite brownie, just don't frost these.  They'd be perfect.

Happy (early) St. Patrick's Day everyone!'

makes 24 mini cupcakes

Recipe linked up on:

Herb Marinated Flank Steak with a Pesto Salsa

For B's first Father's Day I made him a recipe from some kind of steak in a parsley marinade that was then grilled.  We ate it very late, and in silence because we were afraid of waking up the light-sleeping infant who had just fallen asleep.

I saw this recipe and was instantly reminded of that day and figured that we should have another go at that quiet meal.  This meal proved to be a bit louder as we were joined by a toddler, and it was delicious and easy.  I served it with a side of potatoes and sautéed cherry tomatoes.  The baby lady wanted nothing to do with any of it, but that was ok, because B and I didn't exactly feel like sharing.

Serves 4
Time:  1 day (marinate) plus 30 minutes

A First Birthday Party Means a Lot of Cupcakes!

As I mentioned last week, my daughter just turned one year old and of course we had to celebrate.  Now, I'm not a planner.  At all.  I have nervously dreaded the day of her first party (the first of many) since I was probably about 3 months pregnant.  There's so much that goes into this stuff!  I get so stressed out, it's insane.  But luckily, I was planning on making cupcakes, and a good cupcake always helps me to de-stress.

First I want to publicly thank my sister-in-law, Mary of Cooking With Wine and Anarchy for our new birthday banner.  I almost cried when I saw it.

Last minute, I decided to make lemon truffles for the out of town people who were coming.  Both my and Bs' families live out of state so we had a few visitors.  The problem with making food specifically for them is that it never seems to last.  I have one here and there and all of a sudden I don't have so many to give away.  Anyway, Annie from Annie's Eats is a genius and they were delicious.  Mine weren't nearly as beautiful as hers, as mine weren't really pretty at all, but I'm ok with that.  They were pretty easy, too.

Finally it came time to make the actual cupcakes.  I procrastinated of course, so last minute I was scrambling to make a three different types of cupcakes and three different types of frosting, and trying to find somewhere to store them all.  I ended up making mini vanilla with vanilla buttercream for the little ones, devil's food with chocolate glaze and white chocolate raspberry cupcakes.  The white chocolate ones are probably the best I've ever made.  I'll be posting the recipes to all of these in the coming weeks, but until then, here's a picture to make you hungry!

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Baked Brie

Brie is my favorite food.  I'm a dedicated sweetaholic, always finding some kind of snack, but I've driven 9 hours for brie before.  I was first exposed to it in the ninth grade during French class.  My teacher was less than perfect when it came to teaching, but she wanted to give us a French food experience by making us brie one day, and for that day alone I'm grateful for all of the useless hours I sat there trying to learn French.  Four years later I was in Hilton Head with my family and we had decided to eat at Truffles.  I was all for it because, there on the appetizer list was brie.  But I didn't order it as an appetizer. Oh no.  It's my main dish. I sit there with this beautiful wedge of brie baked in pastry with pecans and fruit and gorge myself and I'm happy.  I've done it three or four times now at that specific restaurant, and I'm sure I'll do it again.

This Christmas my mother-in-law, who somehow remembered my love of brie, found and gave me a dish meant specifically for baking brie.  She also supplied me with three different brie recipes and the different additives to make it special, such as jam, dried fruit and nuts.

I, of course, didn't look at any of the recipes carefully enough and bought brie, but not the puff pastry it called for.  So the other night, both still hungry after dinner, B and I decided to make brie.  Then I saw that I needed puff pastry and didn't have it, but I had a can of crescent rolls.  I promise, the next time I make brie, it will be the correct way, with puff pastry.  It's one of my goals for the year.  Anyway, B won't eat nuts, so I left the nuts out of the recipe I used and just added some to my serving after it was cooked.  The end result was a flaky warm outside, gooey cheese inside with the wonderful hit of sweetness from the apricot preserves. 

Then, noticing that I had some leftover crescent roll dough and a package of chocolate chips nearby, I decided to make these:

Ingredients for baked brie with apricot preserves:

8 oz. brie wedge

1/4 c. apricot preserves

2 T. slivered almonds (if you're lucky enough to be sharing with someone who eats nuts)

1 can crescent rolls (I used the Pillsbury ones meant for recipes - no perforation in the dough)

1 egg beaten with 1 T. water

How:

Preheat your oven to 350 F.

Slice brie horizontally in half.  Spread one surface with preserves and then sprinkle with almonds.  Replace the top half of the brie.  

Unroll the crescent rolls until flat and smooth.  Place brie on top of dough and wrap dough around brie, removing any excess, but make sure the brie is covered completely.  

Brush the crescent roll dough covered brie with egg wash.  

Bake for 20-25 minutes or until golden brown.  Let stand for 5-10 minutes before serving.

Gorge yourself and enjoy!

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Pasta with Brown Butter Sage Sauce

You know those days where you don't get around to eating lunch, so you snack all through the afternoon and when dinnertime comes around the thought of a big meal makes you feel sick?  Well that happened to me just the other day and while I didn't want a big meal, I still wanted something real and something that my daughter could eat with me.  I was also short on time, so it had to be quick.  Pasta is quick, but I'm not a fan of jarred sauce, so I had to make one.  I remembered reading about brown butter sage sauce and thinking that it sounded delicious and that it looked incredibly easy.  Also, the recent snow didn't manage to kill all of my sage, so I happened to have some of the fresh stuff still growing.  It took me about 20 minutes, most of which was boiling water and cooking pasta, and made myself a nice, easy, tasty dinner.  The baby lady ate a few noodles, so I'm taking that as an approval from her as well.

This serves 4 as a side dish or 2 as a main course.

Minneola Tangelo Scones with Tangelo Glaze

In my wonderful box of produce from Washington's Green Grocer I found two nicely sized Minneola tangelos.  I had seen them in stores before and read that they are a cross between a tangerine and a grapefruit, neither of which I eat.  I was, therefore, kind of afraid of them.  So what's a girl who loves to bake to do with tangelos?  Make scones!  I saw Martha Stewart's recipe for them and figured it would be perfect, but I wanted a glaze on mine instead of just brushed with cream and sprinkled with sugar.

I had a hard time with this dough, as it was very wet from the tangelo juice and quite sticky.  I had adjusted the recipe down, since it was only B and I consuming them, and I think I may have messed up the flour somewhere, so I'm just going to repost the original recipe, the way it's supposed to be made, and add the glaze that I put on top.  You can choose between the milk/sugar or the glaze, but I really liked the glaze.  But even with the potential math error, these were really good.  So we can all thank Martha again for her genius while we kick back in the morning with this citrusey scone.

~By the way, tangelos are awesome!  I tried a few pieces as I was cutting them up and I had to stop myself from eating more.

 

Makes 20 scones

Requires 2 hours of chill time

Baby Yukon Gold Potatoes

I'm going to sound very un-American here.  In general, I don't like potatoes.  I don't like mashed potatoes, french fries, potato chips, baked potatoes are only ok as long as they're covered in sour cream, and the list goes on.  I just don't think their flavor is very good, and the effort it takes to enhance the flavor to the point in which I'll eat them seems too intense.  B loves potatoes pretty much every way they come.  So, again, marriage is all about compromise, right?  I found this recipe for baby yukon golds, cooked in broth with butter and some herbs.  Easy, and therefore exactly what I'm looking for.  The original description mentions browning of the skin, which, in my experience, is where the potato flavor that I actually like comes from.  I decided to give these a shot, and was very impressed.

Serves 4 as a side dish

Salmon with Rosemary and Lemon Butter Sauce

Just as they say, "don't believe everything you see on television", don't believe the pictures in cookbooks.  This salmon tastes as good as it looked in the cookbook, and about 100 times better than it looked in person, because it looked like a hot pink mess.  It's not the recipe's fault or anything, I'm choosing to pass the blame onto Whole Foods, where I bought the fish (even though I'm sure some lack of skill was involved in this debacle).

I unwrapped my Coho salmon and immediately began to doubt its ability to retain it's shape.  It was already separating in places and then I touched it.  Pin bones.  Full of them.  So after I pulled all the bones out I was left with two sloppy looking pieces of fish.  When it came time to make the sauce I began to worry because so much of my sloppy salmon had broken off of the main piece of fish while cooking. A sauce that looked smooth, buttery and opaque in the cookbook picture was now basically clear except for a tint of yellow and clumps of pink fish.  Oh well.  It was delicious.

The fish is sear-roasted giving it an excellent crust and the sauce is simply wonderful.  My husband enjoyed it as well as my daughter and it was her first time eating fish.  This one is going down as a success, even though it looks like dog food.

Serves 2