Pan Seared Salmon with Lime Ginger Butter Sauce

"Absolutely heavenly!" That's what my husband said about this dish. The recipe and a photo appeared in the Inland Empire magazine May 2010 issue. I tried it and it's wonderful! I picked up some fresh, wild caught Sockeye Salmon from the local grocery store and followed the directions exactly. We served it with grilled onions and asparagus cooked in the Mario Batali Grill Pan (see earlier blog post) and rice. A pretty healthy dinner if I do say so myself.

 Strawberries are in season so I picked some up and used them as a garnish. Do yourself a favor and make this! Hint: don't overcook the salmon in the oven, otherwise it will turn out too dry and will have trouble absorbing the flavor of the lime butter. You only need 7 things for the salmon dish so get going!




Ingredients:

• 4 teaspoons butter, softened, at room temp
• 3 teaspoons fresh lime juice, warmed slightly 
• 1 teaspoon chopped parsley
• 1 teaspoon olive oil
• 4 salmon filets (4 oz each)
• Salt & fresh ground pepper to taste

Preheat oven to 500-degrees. (yes, 500!) In a small bowl, mix the butter, lime juice, ginger and parsley. Set aside. In a large, ovenproof skillet, add the olive oil and spread by turning pan to make a light film. Lightly sprinkle salt and pepper on salmon. When oil just starts to smoke, add salmon, skin side up, and cook about 1 minute or until nicely browned. Turn the fish over and cover the skillet, put in oven. Cook for 3 to 4 mins or until desired doneness. Use a thick potholder to remove skillet from oven. Press top of fish. If it's firm, it's done.
Serve immediately with ginger lime butter on top and extra fresh lime juice if you like. Makes 4 servings.

Ooh! Spice Market Sweet Potato & Lentil Packets

What a beautiful and colorful, completely vegetarian dinner this turned out to be. It's full of flavor and filling that you may never miss the fact this dish has no meat. With a good amount of protien, it is low in fat and low in calories. If you want to serve it with something more, try brown rice with just a splash of soy sauce.

This recipe comes from May/June 2010 issue of Vegetarian Times. Other than cutting up the vegetables and cooking the lentils, this only takes about 20-25 minutes cooking time. Each person gets his or her own packet and the nice part, the packets and the contents stay hot for a long time.

First, preheat the oven to 400-degrees F. Ok, here comes the recipe:
2 cups finely diced sweet potato (this is one large sweet potato. You can also use a yam for extra sweetness)
1 large red bell pepper, diced (1 & 1/2 cups)
1 cup fresh green beans, thinly sliced (we used zuchini instead of green beans and it was good)
1/4 cup golden raisins (used regular raisins and was still good sweetness)
2 Tbs. hot sesame oil
1 cup vegetable broth
2 Tbs. minced fresh ginger
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 tsp. curry powder (don't forget this. Adds a lot to the flavor of the whole dish!)
1 & 1/2 cups cooked lentils or 1 - 15oz. can lentils, rinsed and drained
4 Tbs. prepared mango chutney, optional (we didn't use this and it was fine. Could use fresh mango to add to sweetness)

Place 4 16-inch lengths of foil on work surface. Fold foil in half from short side. Unfold. Shape corners and edges of one half in to semicircle "bowl" with 1/2" sides. Coat insides of foil with cooking spray. You can also use a "Misto" sprayer to spritz olive oil instead of chemical cooking spray.
Combine sweet potato, bell pepper, green beans and raisins in medium bowl. Add oil and toss to coat. Season with salt and pepper if you'd like.

Whisk together broth, ginger, garlic and curry powder in small bowl.

Divide sweet potato mixture among the packets. Top with 1/3 cup lentils each. Pour 1/4 of the broth mixture over the lentils in each packet and season with salt and pepper. Fold the other half of the foil over the ingredients and crimp edges in overlapping folds until packets are sealed.

Transfer packets to baking sheet and bake for 25 minutes. 30 if you're at sea level and you don't want the sweet potatoes to be on the crunchy side.

Transfer the packets to plates and let each person open the packets...carefully. Escaping air will be hot and steamy. Here's where you can top with the mango chutney if you want. Enjoy!

Here's the finished product. It's tasty and very hearty.

Corn & Black Bean Salad with Lime/Basil Dressing

Ooohh.... this is different, unique, and of course, good... as in, Yum! The cumin in the vinaigrette gives this dish wonderful kick. It's hearty enough to stand on its own as a satisfying main dish.
This recipe came from the kitchens of Food Network and I, and my husband, thank them for that. We've made this dish twice. The 2nd time, we forgot to buy a red bell pepper.
My advice, do not forget the red bell pepper. While it's okay without out and still very tasty, the red bell pepper imparts the essence of sweetness needed to even everything out. It does not quite get there with the mango. Really!

This recipe is very easy and pretty quick to make - especially if you use frozen corn. It does taste better using fresh corn. Frozen has too much water content but will work in a pinch. Romaine lettuce leaves work as garnish and as non-carb wraps for the bean mixture.
Courtesy Food Network:Everyday Italian - Corn & Black Bean Salad w/Basil Lime Dressing

My husband and I have eaten all vegetarian dinners this week. ie. No Fish! Everything has tasted fantastic. Look for more vegetarian recipes soon!