my facebook friends hate kale, so i made snap peas

I posed a question today on Facebook about dinner tonight, whether to saute the kale in the fridge or snap peas from the garden to go along with some pan roasted salmon. The snap peas won in a landslide, of the 4 people who responded anyway. I of course succumbed to the peer pressure and cooked up the peas along with the salmon, recipe follows.

Pan Roasted Salmon with snap peas and carrots


Ingredients
4 oz Salmon fillet
1 Tbsp Olive Oil
1 Tbsp butter
1 sprig thyme
1 medium carrot peeled and diced.
1 handful of snap peas from the garden (what you don't have a garden?) trimmed and rinsed





Directions Heat a saute pan over medium heat for at least 5 minutes, add the oil
Season both sides of the fish with plenty of salt and pepper and put skin down in the pan, cook for 3-4 minutes until the fish releases from the pan easily.
Flip and cook on the other side for an additional 2-3 minutes.
Flip again, add the butter and put the thyme on the fish.
Baste the fish and herbs with the butter/oil for 2-3 additional minutes.
Blanch the carrots for 3 minutes and drain.
Add carrots and peas to the pan, cook for 2-3 additional minutes.

Serve with your favorite Pinot Noir and a hunk of bread.

Menu Time: Cinco de Mayo 2009

A belated menu this week and one full of old favorites. Who's got ideas for new recipes for me to try?

Sunday
Grilled Lamb in Pita, Tomato Cucumber Yogurt Salad

Monday
Chicken Nachos

Tuesday
Rice and Beans, Spinach Salad

Wednesday
Steak with herb butter, Cucumber Tomato salad with vinaigrette

Thursday
BBQ Pork Chops, Foil Potatoes

Friday
Chicken and green bean stir fry, veggie fried rice

Recipe: Chicken Pot Pie

Ingredients
1 Chicken Breast (bone and skin on)
1 Medium Potato
2 Large Carrots
1/2 Cup Peas
1/2 Cup green beans
1/2 Cup Other veg as wanted
1 Tbsp Chopped Parsley
1 Tbsp Butter
1 Tbsp Flour
1 Cup Chicken Stock
1/2 Cup Milk
1 twig thyme
1 Pie Crust

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 425
2. Melt butter over medium heat
3. Stir flour into butter and let the roux cook for 2-3 minutes until getting a good amount of color, be careful not to burn it
4. Whisk in chicken stock and milk to eliminate lumps, add twig of thyme, salt and pepper to taste
5. Poach the chicken breast in water or stock till cooked through, remove from heat and let cool, cut into large pieces
6. Peal and cube the potato and carrot into 1/4 inch size pieces
7. Simmer or microwave all veggies for a few minutes until just par cooked
8. Put the bottom crust into a pie plate
9. Put the chicken, veggies and gravy into the pie, top with the chopped parsley
10. Put the top crust on and folder over the edges.
11. Place some aluminum foil over the edges of the crust to prevent it from burning
12. Bake for 40-50 minutes

Serves 4

Menu Time: April 27, 2009

What forgotten wonders lay waiting to be cooked in your freezer? Yesterday I found some meatballs, half a loaf of french bread, chicken breasts and a frozen pie crust. All of these find their way into dinners this week.

Sunday
Chicken fried rice - this is turning into quite the staple around our house and is a great way to use up those random leftover bits of veg and meat from the previous week you just could not bear to throw out!

Monday
Open face meatball subs, Asparagus and peas with herb butter

Tuesday
Going to the baseball game, and it's $1 hot dog night, I'll let you guess what we're having. That's right, nachos, or maybe tacos before the game . . or a burrito from the guy outside the stadium . . or sushi on the way there . . so many choices . . struggling to choose . . must get back to blog post . .

Wednesday
Chicken Pot Pie and salad

Thursday
Asparagus and ham frittata with oven roasted potatoes

Friday
Delivery Pizza night, everybody deserves a night off from the cooking after all

Menu Time: April 20, 2009

What a weekend, I was shoveling in the rain, and then it'll be 80 degrees this week . . ah Colorado. This week's menu reflects the varying weather, starting with a warm comfy meal and ending on a light note with plenty of grilling in between. Anybody who would like to come clean my grill is more than welcome . . otherwise I should probably do that this week, it's getting kinda dingy . . poor grill.

Sunday
Lasagna, roasted cauliflower and broccoli

Monday
Beef Stew, Biscuits

Tuesday
Grilled Pork Chops, cous cous with grilled squash

Wednesday
Grilled Lime and chile chicken, rice, salad

Thursday
Grilled Cheese and Zucchini soup

Friday
BLATs!

Menu Time March 31, 2009

April is just around the corner and spring is in the air . . . ok spring snow is in the air. Even so I can not wait to grill or have salads, cravings that are getting indulged some this week.

Tuesday
Skillet beef stroganoff, spinach salad with blood orange vinaigrette and candied walnuts

Wednesday
Chickpea curry, naan, cucumber yogurt salad

Thursday
Grilled pork chops, oven fries, roasted Brussels sprouts

Friday
Chicken sausage and penne, zucchini soup

Eggplant is the the kitchen's equivalent of Led Zepplin

I want to like eggplant . . I really do. In fact I've tried it a few different ways in the past year but still haven't found any recipe that makes me say . . now that was good eggplant! If it was a highly nutritious food I would find a way to sneak it in more but that's just not the case. So this past week we had some eggplant parm . . and it was OK, but not great. It is kinda like (brace yourself Caleb) my feeling toward Led Zepplin . . I want to like the music . . but I just don't.

So if anybody has a great eggplant recipe I need to try please shoot it my way, but in the meantime I won't be making any space for it in the garden, fridge or on the plate any time soon.

Besides eggplant we did have some tasty eats this week, here's a quick rundown from the week that was.

Steak, peas and carrots and scalloped potatoes (still too crunchy, i swear these take 2 hours to cook right).
Black Bean and rice enchiladas (totally making these again for the freezer)
Eggplant Parm and spaghetti (we've already discussed this . . no need to re-hash . . hm hashbrowns . . need to make breakfast soon)
Beef and Broc stirfry, fried rice ( I think i finally got the fried rice figured out, it was very tasty!)

A quick preview of this next week, Brussels Sprouts (they're only .99/pound at sunflower this week and every so tasty!) which are especially for Nate and Amy who said they aren't fans, I think we'll make believers out of them this week though.