Tray Baked Salmon and Vegetables

The real name of this Jamie Oliver recipe is "Summer Tray Baked Salmon" but I figure I can get away with posting it this week, seeing as we're just a couple of days into Fall. And really, there's nothing to stop you from making this now. That "Summer" thing can be our little secret. The best part of this recipe is that you can prepare it in advance and you have the main course, complete with starch and vegetables all in one beautifully arranged pan.

n.o.e.'s notes:

- Dill is not one of my favorite flavors. I will eternally be grateful to Jamie Oliver - and this recipe - for teaching me that I can substitute fennel tops for dill.

- I love that the potatoes and the green beans are boiled up in the same pot together. Some of my new potatoes were the size of grapes, so I added them a few minutes after the (slightly) bigger ones.

- For veggies I used green beans, sugar snap peas, and frozen garden peas.

- I've made a partial recipe, and baked it in a cast iron skillet. I've also made the full recipe in a roasting pan.

- The first time I made this I only scored each piece of salmon once and stuffed all of the herbs in, as you can see in the pictures. The next time I realized that the recipe's picture shows multiple scores, so that's what I did. The biggest difference was aesthetic, from what I could tell.


the verdict:

I loved the way the salmon and veggies looked in the pan, and even better, everything tasted just as good as it looked. The recipe provides great flavors and textures. The potatoes, beans and peas were perfectly cooked. The salmon was velvety, almost poached, and infused with the subtle taste of herbs. The basil and fennel complemented each other nicely, and the lemon kept everything fresh tasting. This would be a lovely dish to prepare for company.

Grilled Potato Salad with Vinaigrette

My husband claims it's my German heritage, but I have never met a potato that I didn't love! (He's more of a rice man himself, but we both agree on the fabulousness of pasta.) A week or two ago I had some lovely fingerling potatoes in my farm box and figured they'd be delicious in potato salad. I turned to my new favorite cookbook, Mark Bittman's How To Cook Everything and prepared his Grilled Potato Salad, with a Vinaigrette also inspired by the book.

The best part about the HTCE book is that in addition to the hundreds of recipes, Bittman also has lots of charts and tables with options for varying each type of recipe. You are free to branch out as much as you'd like, but he is there providing structure to advise and support you. This potato salad was a perfect case in point.

Making this simple dish (and it was simple) involved flipping among 3 different recipes/methods in the book:

1) his instructions for potato salad, choosing the grilled version

2) his method of grilling potatoes, using the broiled version

3) his recipe for vinaigrette, where I loosely combined many of the optional ingredients that he lists (my version is detailed in the notes, below)

n.o.e.'s notes:

- My potatoes were small red fingerlings.

- To cook the potatoes, I tossed them with olive oil, salt and pepper, and broiled them 6" from a medium-high broiler for 12 minutes then turned and broiled 10 more minutes.

- Here's the approximate vinaigrette that I made (did not use all for my 1/2 pound of potatoes):

3T olive oil
2 T white wine vinegar
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp black pepper
3/4 tsp chopped garlic
1 T chopped spring onion
1 T fluffy parmesan from microplane

- I shook the vinaigrette and poured it over potatoes while they were hot. Then I sprinkled the salad with a couple sprigs of chopped Italian parsley and oregano, stirring until coated.

- I cooled the salad before serving.

- Sorry about the picture; I did not take a good shot of the salad itself before we ate it all!

the verdict:

This was a nice, simple, fresh way to enjoy new potatoes in the early summer! I love having a simple recipe like this in my arsenal, and I love the flexibility it provided me to use what I had on hand and produce a lovely salad.

Smashed Fingerling Potatoes with Peas and Onions

The potatoes were mostly hiding under the layer of peas.

Our house has two refrigerators: upstairs and downstairs, and each has a freezer. Upstairs is side-by-side and I use the freezer mainly for ingredients. That's where I stash the citrus zest, ground almonds and pecans, bacon lardons, ice cream maker bowl, frozen cookie dough, frozen berries and veggies, and uncooked meat. Downstairs is a top-freezer model, and it holds mostly prepared food: the soups I’ve got leftover, pans of lasagne or macaroni and cheese, cooked pasta sauces in zippered bags. It’s all very neat in theory but the reality is a good deal murkier.

I ask a lot of my freezers. And generally they seem happy to help. But lately, I’ve noticed signs that my freezers were beginning to feel, well, used. A little freezer burn here, a few things falling out there. And the biggest clue: my downstairs freezer hid my devil’s food cupcakes from me. I had seen the half dozen cupcakes a few days earlier, but when I went to pull them out to bring to book group one Thursday they had vanished into the icy netherworld. I had the chocolate ganache from the upstairs freezer, but no cupcakes to put it on. So I went with plan B: half of the 15 Minute Magic cake (also from the upstairs freezer, thank goodness.)

Things got to the point where I began to dread opening either freezer, and I think the freezers felt the same. I had a full-fledged freezer crisis on my hands. So I began to chip away at the overcrowding in the downstairs freezer. Tossed some outdated things from the back. Took out some lasagne for dinner. Stacked some things a bit neater. And know what? The freezer began to reciprocate. The cupcakes suddenly reappeared right in front of my eyes. Just like they'd always been right there. I could see little pockets of free space.

I kept going - thawed some bean soup for lunch. Gathered the Ziploc bags of chicken bones and simmered up a lovely batch of stock (and there was room in the freezer to put the 3 quarts of stock I made!) And I paid attention to cooking with some of the ingredients I'd stashed in the freezer and promptly forgotten.

And now we get to the subject of this post! I was watching Tyler's Ultimate on the elliptical at the Y, and saw Tyler prepare these Smashed Potatoes as a side dish/base for his salt and pepper salmon. I've made and loved the salmon, but this time I was intrigued with those potatoes. They looked delicious, and best of all, they could help me with my freezer crisis. I had half a bag of pearl onions hanging around and a huge bag of frozen peas. To cap off the perfection: I'd just picked up some beautiful fingerlings in the farm box, and I could accent the dish with herbs from my garden. I loved this dish before I even set foot in the kitchen to prepare it!

n.o.e.'s notes:

- I used what was in my bag of pearl onions - approximately 8 oz rather than the 10 oz specified in the recipe

- 1.5 lb fingerling potatoes, which I boiled as instructed. I left peel on, though. No way was I going to peel those little fingerlings. Plus, I really like potato skins.

- Because my onions were a bit short, I only used 16 oz of frozen green peas (Tyler calls for 20)

- I reduced the amount of lemon in the dish; for us lemon can easily dominate savory dishes.

- I left out the dill - can't abide the taste of it, unfortunately - and instead used a handful of mixed herbs: flat leaf parsley, oregano, and thyme from my little kitchen garden.

- I didn't have water cress, so I planned to substitute arugula, but when the dish was ready and hot I was too lazy to go to the downstairs fridge to fetch it.

the verdict:

We loved this dish - and I'd say that even if it didn't help me so much with the freezer sitation. It makes a great side dish, especially for Spring, with peas and new potatoes. The picture up top doesn't reflect the perfect balance between peas and potatoes (the potatoes are under the layer of peas).

After tasting his portion, my husband stated, "That Tyler, he knows how to make good food." And that's high praise coming from a guy who would take rice or pasta over a potato dish any day.

And me? I gotta love any dish that we can eat 3 days in one week (and not be tired of it) and even more, one that helped me thaw my relationship with my freezers.

I'm sending this off to Tyler Florence Fridays, a weekly roundup of bloggers cooking Tyler's recipes. Stop by and see what everyone has been cooking up! I'm also submitting it to the Frugal Fridays event on Madam Chow's blog - featuring dishes made from ingredients on hand.

Herb Salt Roasted Potatoes

Last week I found a bag of fingerling potatoes in my cupboard that just begged to be cooked in a really special way. These potatoes were a mix of colors: white, red and purple (and the purple ones were purple all the way through!) Roasting them seemed the way to go, and I looked to Tyler Florence for help preparing these little babies.

Tyler Florence's recipe for herb salt roasted potatoes gave a slightly different riff on the usual olive oil/rosemary roast potatoes that I make.

n.o.e.'s notes:

- I had all the ingredients on hand - boy do I love it when I don't have to make a special grocery run.

- I used fingerling potatoes. I cut some of them so that the pieces would all be roughly equivalent in size. That way they'd cook evenly.

- Tyler's technique of making a herb salt worked great. I used 1/2 T sage for 1/2 T of the rosemary. My husband seems to developing a 'thing' about rosemary, so I'm trying to camouflage it. Besides, isn't every savory dish improved by adding sage? (hmm, or bacon?)

the verdict:

These are very good roast potatoes. I'll be using this recipe as my stand-by from now on, improvising if necessary to reflect the herbs I have on hand.

I'm submitting this recipe to Tyler Florence Fridays. The cooks in this group prepare a mouthwatering variety of Tyler's recipes each week, so click on over to this week's roundup to see what everyone's cooked up this time!

{Cooking Light Night} Roast Potatoes with North Indian Spices

I have no idea what led me to the recipe for these potatoes, but it made its way to the top of The List, and I'm glad it did! I'm a big fan of potatoes, especially roast potatoes, which I usually toss with olive oil, salt, pepper, and some fresh herbs. I've never seen this combination of ingredients (jalapeno, mustard seed, fresh ginger, garlic, turmeric, dried hot peppers, mint, cilantro, lime juice), and was very curious to see how all those flavors melded.

cook's notes:

- This recipe is very fast-paced, so I'd recommend that you have everything chopped, measured, ready, and in prep bowls.

- I didn't have black mustard seeds, so used the yellow variety. I found that the seeds popped right on time, but that they seemed to continue cooking a bit too much. I'd add the next ingredients after about 30 seconds, instead of waiting for the seeds to pop.

about to pop!

- I used a spatter guard so that the popping seeds wouldn't jump out of the pan.

- Turmeric is highly STAIN-producing. We've actually learned this in various interesting ways over the years, but I thought my blue silicone baking dish would be impervious. I was wrong, and now I have a blue + green baking dish. Use glass or metal bowls and pans for this recipe (unless you have a yellow baking dish already).

- I only had a tiny bit of fresh mint, so I cut the herb/lime part way back. It was great on the potatoes, so next time I'd make sure to have enough.

ready for the oven

the verdict:

- these potatoes are unusual and delicious. You can increase the spice level by adding cayenne pepper powder, or more of the jalapeno.

- I served the potatoes with some lamb chops from the freezer (left over from a catered party), and a simple green salad. The potatoes shone in their starring role.

As always, thanks to Clara (CB) of I Heart Food4Thought for giving permission to use her "Cooking Light Night" logo. I've really enjoyed exploring the Cooking Light archives!

{Note: I'm celebrating my first 100 blog posts with a cookbook giveaway - to enter, go here and leave a comment before December 3}

Not for the faint-of-salt

My box of veggies had a pound of lovely fingerling potatoes last week, perfect for trying a new recipe. I had a few in mind, but decided to see if Alton Brown's Perfect Fingerling Potatoes could live up to their title. Reading closer, I saw that salt crystals were supposed to form as the potatoes were resting on a drying rack. Many reviews concluded that these were too salty, but one reviewer mentioned that they were like potatoes she had eaten in Syracuse. Ooh, this was a recipe for Salt Potatoes, which I'd eaten at a fair in August in Central New York!

Now, if ever a recipe was perfect for our family, this would be it. We tear through salt at record pace, especially my husband. He has clinically low blood pressure, though, so it's OK. A low sodium diet would be possibly the worst culinary sentence that could be passed on our household.

It had never occurred to me to make salt potatoes, just as I'd never make funnel cakes, or deep fried mars bars, or kettle corn, or any other "fair food" I've run across. But fortified by Alton Brown's claim of potato superiority, I dove right in.

cook's notes:

-This recipe is simple, a ton o' salt, some water, and potatoes. I halved everything for 1 pound of potatoes.


- I cut my potatoes because they were not "small" fingerlings

- I used some "ice cream rock salt" that I'd bought for my previous ice cream maker, of recent memory (before I realized that it was dearly departed).

- While the potatoes were simmering away, a salt crust kept forming on the sides of the pan. I brushed it down with a damp pastry brush, but this was largely for my own amusement. Don't worry about the quantity of salt on the sides; there will be plenty for the potatoes.


- Salt crystals did form as these potatoes sat on the rack. You can probably see them if you click on the photo below, and the top photo.


the verdict:

I served the fingerlings drizzled with a melted butter/cracked pepper mixture.
These potatoes were really salty. Duh. They were tasty, and brought back memories of sitting in the food tent in Bouckville. I think these might have been even saltier than those, and they had a nice crispy crust that the ones in New York had lost by swimming for a few hours in a lake of butter.

Besides our family, however, I don't know anyone else who loves salt enough to serve them these potatoes. Unless I run across some folk from Central New York who are homesick! These would be best eaten at lunchtime, because you will be thirsty for hours afterwards. I'd might try cutting the salt quantity by a quarter to a third next time.

I'm not sure I'd call these fingerlings "perfect" as Alton does, but we did really enjoy them.