Recently I came into an obscene amount of dill! I mentioned in my last post (Deviled Ham Stuffed Eggs) that I had been preparing so many dishes with dill that I thought that perhaps McGyver and I might end up being pickled. I even tried my hand at pickling some radishes and carrots (we’ll have to wait to see how that one plays out).
With so much dill on hand and my irrational fear of wasting anything, I posted on my Facebook page a call for dill recipe ideas. Someone immediately chirped up and boy am I glad! Michelle suggested a dish called Halibut Olympia, she recommended using lots of shallots and mix a bunch of dill with a mayonnaise sour cream mix.
As fate would have it, I did not have lots of shallots, nor did I have halibut, nor did I have sour cream. Which meant the recipe was perfect. You know how us bloggers roll, we would change everything any ways. I did have flounder, and I had red onion and plain Greek yogurt, all no brainer substitutes.
I did a quick search on the internet for Halibut Olympia to get some portion and cooking time frames, I found this blog post which inspired me to use a panko topping and saute the onions. In my organic basket there was also a bunch of Swiss Chard which I thought would make a nice bed for my flounder (plus healthify it). I halved the amount of yogurt mayonnaise mix because flounder is not a thick hearty fish like halibut. I cooked up some new red potatoes and tossed them with butter and dill, then added a salad with a dill vinaigrette which completed the meal. Continue reading “Flounder Olympia with a Panko Crust” »
I wasn’t sure if I would be able to do it with 11 hour school days, but if you love something enough you manage to find the time! I’m referring to Secret Recipe Club, The club where bloggers are secretly assigned another blog and cook one of their recipes and then it’s revealed on a scheduled day.
This month I was assign Josie’s Kitchen. Josie is is originally from the Dominican Republic but now lives in New York City with her blue teapot Paulie and her Irish boyfriend. Josie’s cooking has melded some of the two for some kind of fusion Latin Irish cuisine.
Irish cuisine is great comfort food but I love me some Latin food so I selected a traditional Dominican Republic dish. Josie’s says that Boca Chica is a beach right outside of the capital of Santo Domingo. Josie culled the recipe from a cook book called “Cocina Criolla Dominicana” (traditional Dominican cooking).
Here is the last of my dishes from The Daring Cooks Challenge. The mandatory ingredients I selected for this one was: maple, chipotle and parsnips. Although this dish wasn’t at the same show stopper level as the Cowboy Steak with Red Eye Gravy, if I would have made this first I probably would have thought so.
Oh my don’t those look good! Smoky salmon burgers topped with juicy pineapple salsa. If you want the recipe, you’ll have to head over to Little Ferraro Kitchen. I did a guest post for Samantha. When Samantha, a college student, made a cry out for help because school was taking up her time, I couldn’t say no. It’s the mommy in me, I didn’t want her worrying about her blog when she had homework to do. When you pop over to her blog, you’ll find out that there may have been a little ‘destiny’ involved also!
Salmon burgers with pineapple salsa aren’t the only recipe you’ll find there, with an excess of pineapple salsa (and it’s short life span) I whipped up some sweet pepper poppers also. Help an overwhelmed college student out and send her some bloggy support, and when you do, tell her ‘Not mom, Rhonda’ sent you over (you’ll get that once you read the post).
Our Daring Cooks challenge this month was more like a scene from “Chopped”, contestants, open your baskets.
In basket 1 you have Parsnips, Eggplant, and Cauliflower
In basket 2 you have Balsamic Vinegar, Goat cheese and chipotle peppers
In basket 3 you have maple syrup, instant coffee, and bananas
The challenge was to pick one ingredient from each list and create a main meal from them. The challenge this month is hosted by David and Karen from Twenty-Fingered Cooking. The purpose behind this challenge was NOT to have a “Chopped” challenge, it was to inspire original…truly original recipes from a set of ingredients.
It was a lovely day in February, unusual for this time of year, especially in Montana. It was overcast, but I think the clouds were acting more like a warm blanket, keeping us all cozy down here on earth. There was a touch of spring in the air; I cruised the backyard and noted that some of my bulbs were coming up, evidently I wasn’t the only one feeling spring like. It was a day that I actually wished that I had something to do outside, something to plant or to weed or mow. A very unusual thought for me since I am typically not an outdoorsy gardening type of person. I had undoubtedly been bitten by a bit of Spring fever!
If you’ve been following along you’ll remember that a couple of weeks ago, we bought ten lobster tails (since they were on sale at a price we just couldn’t resist). I made Lobster Verrines as our starter and Lobster Risotto as our side (which ended up being the star of the entire meal) and for our main I selected something ridiculously simple.
For our February 14th Lobster Palooza I choose to make lobster risotto as our side. I’m telling you right now that this was the highlight of our entire meal! Initially I felt guarded about stirring up a treat like lobster into a pot full of creamy risotto and that’s my mother’s doing.
For Valentine’s Day, it was Lobster Palooza at our house (expect several more recipes). I wanted to make something special, out of the ordinary and luxurious. Then lobster tails went on sale…we bought 10. That’s 10 tails for 3 people, nearly ridiculous, but only nearly. The tails were small, not langoustine small, but definitely on the small side. We started off our meal with these refreshing Lobster Verrine.
It’s no secret, the Secret Recipe Club, reveal is one of my favorite blogging things. Amanda from Amanda’s Cookin is the brain behind all this. There are four groups, I am in group C which is hosted by the warm and friendly Angie of Big Bear’s Wife. Each month we get an assignment to secretly cook another bloggers recipe and than post it. It’s a great way to meet other blogger’s, especially some that you never would have thought about meeting.
For example, this month I was assigned Heidi, from Heidi’s Verden (World). Heidi is from Denmark, so her blog is all in Danish…no worries, she has a Google translate button. Within 30 seconds I was reading her blog. Man technology is awesome.
I was actually on the hunt for a good recipe to take to a Christmas party we were invited to. With that in mind, I honed in Heidi’s word cloud and picked up on what she seemed to cook the most of, seafood. A couple of her posts were about a guest meal she was preparing. In part one she served artichoke crème on little round crackers and salmon crème on fish shaped crackers (biscuits).
Serving the salmon on fish shaped crackers was so adorable, that settled it, I wanted to make salmon crème and serve it on fish crackers.
Problem is, I could not find a fish cracker (except tiny puffy little goldfish) anywhere. I was determined, so I decided to make my own. I began searching for a fish shaped cookie cutter, grrrr foiled again. Not to be outdone, I cut out a little paper fish and used that as my template.
I cut out 2 dozen little fish…I quit after that. Talk about tedious! Admitting a small amount of defeat, I cut up the rest of my cracker dough into little squares. Besides my fish weren’t nearly as cute as the ones Heidi used (insert pouty lip here).
The fish crackers may have been more work than I bargained for (and certainly weren’t as pretty as Heidi’s) but the Salmon Crème was excellent! As a matter of fact the Salmon Crème was to die for, in fact it was so good it never made it to the party…slap my hand! Heidi’s recipe called for 100g of smoked salmon; I used a can of smoked salmon, it was 176g. I adjusted the recipe to work with the can size and added a pinch of salt, otherwise I did nothing else different (except sprinkle some dried dill on top but that hardly counts).
Please head over to Heidi’s site, she has a lot of great recipes and it’s really fun to read the Google translations . Thanks Heidi for my new favorite way to eat smoked salmon.
Note: I got the cracker recipe from another blog, if you are interested in trying it out you can find it here.
Salmon Crème
1 can (6 oz./176 g) smoked salmon
1/2 tablespoon mildly grainy mustard
3 tablespoons plain yogurt (I used Greek yogurt)
3 teaspoons lemon juice
freshly ground black pepper
pinch of salt
Mix all the ingredients and pipe onto crackers (I used a food processor). Can be made 1 day in advanced and piped onto crackers just before serving.
For more Secret Club Recipe reveals, check out the links below.
. Thanks Heidi for my new favorite way to eat smoked salmon.
