Clean Plate Club - Baked Salmon

Hellooooo! Inch by inch, hand over hand, I’m summitting the mountain above the valley of the various viruses. Thanks for your warm wishes and messages during my blogging absence. All of my children officially rejoined the land of the living today, having recovered either from the dreaded H1N1 virus or nasty sinus infections. Recovery has been complicated by the resurfacing of my man-child’s seizures. He’s hanging in there, and so are we. Man-child? What's that, you ask? That’s what we call my 14 year old ... the man-child. Not only is he tall and handsome, he also looks much older than he is. He’s had a rough couple of weeks, but let me tell you, that kid has amazing strength of character. He’s the real deal, folks; an amazing young man. So say some prayers or send your positive thoughts his way.

I’m recovering as well. I managed to skirt the flu, but ended up experiencing the thrills of having a cracked molar extracted. Which promptly became infected. Then fate decided to bestow a dry socket on my healing crater. And just for grins, I got to relish the joys of having a bone stick through my gum which of course required another trip to the dentist to get filed down. As you can see, it’s been a festival here at Gouda central.Nevertheless, it’s not been all bad. I’m always telling my kids to try to look for the good in every situation. Here’s my good ... my clothes are much looser on me these days. Being restricted to liquids for a couple of weeks has that effect. Perfect timing before the holidays if you ask me!

Last night, my growling stomach cried out for something a bit more substantial than pureed mush, so I thought a nice, flavorful salmon fillet would be perfect. Now, I typically grill my salmon, however, last night I thought I’d fire up the oven to do double duty ... cook my meal as well as heat up the house. Like Alton Brown, I love multi-taskers!The results were terrific. After dinner, every single plate in my household was completely and totally clean. I mean they all but picked up their plates and licked them. My son, the man-child, had thirds and still wanted more. I served this with amazing oven browned, mashed potato croquettes and also some creamed spinach (only I had the spinach). I guess I’ll be making this again.

The trick to baking salmon is to not over-do it. The rule of thumb for baking time is 10 minutes per inch. Well, most salmon fillets that I’m familiar with are never more than an inch, so 10 minutes at 375 is all that's needed to provide you with a moist, tender, flaky result. You know how salmon fillets tend to be thick on one side and thin on the other? Well, this baking preparation does not require you to trim your pieces according to thickness. In fact, I just cut mine into hand sized pieces without trying to cut/sort by thickness. Now, preparing your salmon this way will not bless you with the crispy skin or edges that you get on the grill (which are so yummy); however, this perfectly prepared salmon is a great way to quickly get your meal on the table and definitely still provide a “wow” taste-bud factor.

Quick and easy is the name of the game, here. No marinades, no basting, no saucing, and no flipping. When I said easy, I meant E.A.S.Y.! In fact, the potatoes and spinach I made required more prep work and took longer to make than the fish did. Here we go ...

Baked Salmon
Fresh salmon fillet, skin on one side, cut into hand sized pieces. (I used 1-1/2 filets for 5 people)
Canola Oil
Salt
Pepper
Softened butter, about a heaping teaspoon per number of fish pieces
Herbs to season the butter. I used season salt, ginger, old bay seasoning, garlic salt, onion powder, and Spike.

Heat your oven to 375 degrees, and line a rimmed baking sheet with aluminum foil. Rub oil on both sides of your fish, and season the skin side with salt and pepper. Place skin side down on the foil. Prepare your seasoned butter by mixing your favorite herbs and spices with the softened butter. Smear a heaping teaspoon on top of each piece of fish. Place in the oven and bake for 10 minutes. Remove and let sit for a couple minutes before plating.Take a bite. Mmm, mmm, mmm! See how beautiful it looks. Isn’t it perfect? Just the right blend of spice, salt, and butter. Plus, it's gluten free, too. Baked salmon is now one of my favorites, and reigns supreme in the clean plate club category. Yum! So tell me, what recipes do you make that qualify for the clean plate club?

Listen To Your Inner Voice: Smoked Salmon Rolls and a Spinach Salad, too!

Did you ever see the Seinfeld episode when George is frantically deciding about whether to call his ex-girl friend, and Kramer tells George to listen to his inner voice, his little man. George exclaims hysterically, “My little man is an idiot!” (It's from the infamous "Christmas Card" episode!)

Well, luckily for me, my inner voice is pretty much on the mark. Unluckily for me, I chose not to listen to it today. Guess that puts me in the same category as George's inner voice. As I was preparing this recipe, my inner voice was all but jumping up and down warning me that my execution of assembly was all wrong. I admit, I did pause for a second, but then tossed the sage advice right out and kept on going. Result: A flopped recipe. Not to fear, though, I salvaged it and made peace with my inner voice.

My initial crash and burn with this recipe was that I used flaked smoked salmon and spinach on top of a cream cheese as my filling. Despite adding add’l cream cheese to hold it together, the roll fell apart when sliced. The filling was just too dry to hold together. The flavor was spot on and it would have worked great as a wrap, but not as a roll. My next blunder of ignoring my inner voice was when I chose to use that super awesome Glad Wrap and Seal plastic wrap product instead of plain old cellophane to wrap the rolls. My little voice warned, “Uh, Paula, that plastic wrap clings too tight to itself.” Did I listen? Noooooo. Nope. Nada. Strike two. That Wrap and Seal stuff is genius; it seals items completely. So much so, that, just as my little voice warned I would, I had a hard time unsticking it from itself. Argh!

Redemption time. I re-gathered the ingredients, made a quick salmon spread, reassembled, rewrapped, and voila ... success. If anything, I do learn from my mistakes. Not one to be daunted by failure, I forged ahead and came up with a save. Today’s recipe from It’s All Gouda’s kitchen is a lovely Salmon Spread Wrap accompanied by a unique Spinach Salad. It’s actually a wilted spinach salad variation, but come on ... who really wants to eat anything with the word “wilted” in the title?

For those of us abstaining from meat on Friday’s during lent, this little sweetie of a roll is quite good and super quick to make. Pair it with a salad, and you’ve got yourself a delight lunch. Here’s the right way to do it. NOTE: I didn’t put down quantities because it totally depends on how many you are making. If you need help, just let me know!

Flour tortillas
Cream Cheese with Chives
Smoked Salmon
Mayo
Fresh Spinach leaves

Lay out one flour tortilla, and spread with a thin layer of cream cheese w/chives.In a small bowl, combine the smoked salmon with enough mayo to make a spread.This is one way to purchase smoked salmon. Please ignore the freaky purple hand. My camera's batteries were getting low. Spread a couple tablespoons of salmon spread on top of the cream cheese.Layer spinach leaves on top of that, and delicately spread that with just a thin, thin layer of cream cheese. That’s the glue that will hold it together.And, yep, in case you're wondering, that is salmon salad under ye old fingernails. Hey, this is finger food, ya know! Roll up tightly, wrap in cellophane, and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes to firm up the roll.Slice decoratively and serve with your favorite salad. Take a bite. Relax. Thank the good Lord for your inner voice.

Spinach Salad with Spicy Cauliflower, Toasted Pine nuts, and Creamy Avocado

2 cups Spinach leaves
2 Tablespoons pine nuts
1 Tablespoon Olive Oil
½ cup of planked cauliflower (planked meaning sliced instead of flowerettes)
Couple shakes of crushed red pepper flakes
½ avocado – cubed and sprinkled with lemon juice
Basic vinaigrette

Place spinach leaves in a large salad bowl. In a small skillet, toast pine nuts over medium heat. Remove from pan to cool. In the same skillet, add the olive oil and turn the heat up to high.This is what I mean by planked. Add the planked cauliflower, sprinkle with the red pepper flakes, and quickly toast the cauliflower on both sides ... 1-2 minutes max. You don’t want to cook the cauliflower, just quickly sear it for lack of a better term.See that perfect toasted color? Pour the cauliflower and oil right onto the spinach. Add the remaining ingredients and toss. Serve immediately.See those pine nuts. YUM! This was really good, tasty and different. It certainly was pretty to look at, and I really liked the textures it held. I would definitely eat it again.

So, do you listen to your inner voice? What does it tell you to do? Join us next time, when we figure out more Lenten friendly recipes. My little voice is thinking about a lovely Asian salad with shrimp. I’m listening!

There's No 'Tear In My Beer' Cheese Soup with Salmon Toasts

When I was a kid, across the street from us, there lived an English family. The mom of that family emigrated to this country when she married her husband. Lily was a petite, dark haired woman, much shorter than her very tall husband, and she spoke with the loveliest British accent. I listened with fascination to her homeland tales, and observed with great interest how she continued on with the customs of her native country. For example, Lily never drove a car; in fact they didn’t own a car. She rode her bicycle everywhere including to the grocery store. She liked to buy her produce daily, and as regular as Big Ben, you could see her head out at the same time every day to the grocery store. The way she pronounced my name encouraged my sister to call me the same ... “Poo-la”. Of course, my Italian grandma pronounced my name “Pole –la”, and I thought it was so cool than one name could be pronounced differently all over the world. Even back then, I was fascinated with accents, languages, and cultures other than my own.

Perhaps that is why I enjoy the Olympics so much. Although I appreciate a close finish, I’m not into competition much; rather, I love the stories associated with the athletes. I admire their determination and perseverance. Their guts. Doing what they do away from home in front of thousands. Plus, since I homeschool, the Olympics are one gigantic social studies and geography course. As I write this, the athletes representing Great Britain have earned the third most Gold Medals. Considering the fact that Great Britain's global square footage is relatively small, they certainly have a large presence in the Olympics and the World. I’d love to visit the English countryside someday, and stop in a pub and order real, bonefide fish and chips. Tonight’s Olympic menu will be the last installment in the series (I'm heading out of town for a couple of days), and it honors the cuisine of my childhood neighbor’s homeland (as well as some wonderful Blog friends) ... Great Britain.

When thinking of English food, several things come to mind. Of course, they make the best fish and chips on the planet, and they also lay claim to some wonderful pub food, fry ups, holiday recipes, and desserts. I searched the internet as well as scoured through my cookbook library (I have a *thing* for cookbooks) searching for something unique, easy to prepare, and that scores top points in the flavor. I was in the mood for soup today, plus I had some smoked salmon in the fridge that I wanted to use. Tell me what you think of the menu I came up with. And my apologies to my English blog friends if I totally missed the mark!

How does ‘Cheese and Ale Pub Soup’ served with ‘Smoked Salmon with Watercress, and Horseradish Cream Toasts’ sound? This was a brilliant meal ... not heavy at all, yet very full flavored. I kind of winged it based on all the info that I read. I served it with a simple plated salad of fresh tomatoes, cucumbers, and chives from my garden. I absolutely loved, loved, loved this. This was seriously good. This will be making regular appearances on my table. Once you try this, you will fall in love with England. Here are the recipes:

See the finely grated carrot? It added a wonderful texture to this creamy soup. Yummm!

Cheese and Ale Pub Soup

½ stick of butter
¼ cup onions chopped fine
2 small spring onions chopped fine
¼ cup grated celery fine
1 medium carrot grated fine
¼ cup flour
2 cups ½ and ½
½ cup milk
2 generous cups freshly shredded Sharp Cheddar cheese (not pre-shredded)
½ generous cup beer
White pepper to taste
Snipped chives
Smoked paprika

In a 3 ½ quart saucepan, melt the butter on med high heat. Add all of the onions, celery, and carrot and stir. Heat until tender, not quite 5 minutes. Wisk in the flour and cook for about 1 minute. Slowly wisk in the ½ and ½, and milk. Cook and stir for about 5 minutes. Stir in the shredded cheese, small handfuls at a time, until all has been added and cheese has melted. Stir in the beer. Cook on low heat for about 5 minutes more; do not let it boil. Stir in white pepper to taste. Ladle into bowls and sprinkle with chives and paprika. (NOTE: This is not gluten free. Next time I make it, I'm going to modify it so my gluten free kiddo can have some, too. She still dined quite well tonight, feasting on chicken and rice, as well as smoked salmon minus the bread!)

Smoked Salmon with Watercress and Horseradish Cream Toasts

1 palm sized piece of Smoked Salmon
10 Watercress leaves
½ teaspoon Horseradish
2 tablespoons sour cream
2 tablespoons mayo
5 thin Toasted baguette slices
Smoked Paprika

Break the salmon into medium sized chunks. On each toasted baguette slice, place enough salmon to cover most of the slice. Dollop a ½ teaspoon (or more!) on top of the salmon. Top with two watercress leaves. Sprinkle with paprika.

By breaking the salmon into chunks, you don't have to worry about the toppings toppling off the toast. See how yummy this is? The cheddar soup pared beautifully with the salmon. Just looking at this photo makes me want to start singing "Britannia Rules the Waves" and "God save the Queen"! ok, ok, don't get cheeky ... I'll just hum it! :-D