Grecian Repast

I bought the pita and Greek salad, but the chilled roasted Greek marinated salmon and the tzatziki were made by me.

Salmon Dinner

Panko-crusted salmon with mixed green in a mustard vinaigrette.

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Salmon Dinner

I made tapenade-crusted salmon for dinner. Minted peas for the vegetable.

Dinner Party

We had friends over tonight, so we put together a dinner party. The appetizer was a bruschetta with Hilah Cooking tapenade, grilled halloumi, and basil.

Our next course was a chilled cucumber soup, using an Ina Garten ("The Barefoot Contessa") recipe.

Here's the tablescape for the soup course.

Our starch was a Hilah Cooking recipe of rice pilaf.

Our vegetable dish was roasted asparagus dressed with raspberry vinegar.

The entrée was roast salmon, using a Marc Bittman recipe.

Our friends brought wines to drink and an excellent fruit tart from Wegmans for dessert.

What an excellent evening!

Olive This Meal

Tonight, olive-crusted roasted salmon. Sautéed cremini mushrooms.

Dinner Last Night & Lunch Today

Last night, I roasted a couple of salmon fillets in the oven. Very simple. Just salmon, salt, pepper, olive oil, and heat. With it, I roasted a brochette of onions and two colors of summer squash.

Today, I had leftover roast salmon served chilled. Still delicious! We finished the squash and onions last night, so, for a side, I sliced radishes and topped them with a yogurt/za'atar/lemon sauce.

Al Fresco Lunch

What a couple of days of heavy rain we've had! Thank goodness we were spared the tornadoes and heavy flooding they got in other parts of the U.S. Many roads in our area were closed and, in nearby Maryland, the floodgates on a dam were opened.

Today, is wonderful here, though. It's sunny and 75°F. The birds are singing. The air smells fresh and clean.

Our son's cat and I are having lunch outdoors in the screened porch. My main course is the little bit left from last night's roasted salmon fillet, served chilled, with fruit chutney on the side. Beverage is iced tea and dessert is butterscotch pudding.

The cat had a can of whitefish catfood.

Enjoy the spring!

Salmon

For our dinner tonight, I baked some skinless salmon at 425°F, topped by a mix of Passover mayonnaise and Dijon mustard with matzoh & olive oil crust. On the side were roasted little potatoes and quartered little onions.

Hot and Cold Dinner

I poached a salmon fillet and had it chilled with broccoli and sriracha mayonnaise.

Salmon Japchae

I saw a photo of japchae, a Korean noodle and vegetable dish. and decided to try to make it. Well, when you look for it around the Internet, you discover that there are hundreds of variations, some with meat and some vegetarian. The standard items appear to be sweet potato noodles (called dangmyeon), carrots, onions, soy sauce, sesame seeds, and sesame oil. Commonly, spinach is added and often sugar and beef.

So, how to make it my way, whatever that is? There are too many types of noodles and pasta in our cupboard. I didn't want to buy more. I substituted saifun (a cellophane noodle made from mung bean starch) for the dangmyeon. I also would rather have seafood, so I substituted fresh salmon for the beef.

First, I boiled a few cups of dashi (using hondashi powder in water). I soaked the saifun in it for 20 minutes. Then, I drained the saifun, putting it into a bowl with some soy sauce and sesame oil. I used kitchen scissors to cut it into bite-size sections

I stemmed and sliced a few shiitake mushrooms, cut a peeled carrot into matchsticks, cut up some red onion into rings, sliced a green onion into 1" sections, and minced a garlic clove. 

I skinned and sliced a salmon fillet. In a ziplock bag, I poured in some sesame oil, soy sauce, sugar, ground black pepper, minced garlic, and sesame seeds. In went the salmon. I mixed it up with the other stuff in the bag and let it sit for 15 minutes.

In a wok, I sauteed the mushrooms for 3 minuted in sesame oil, then put them on a plate. Then, I sauteed the carrots and onion in the wok in sesame oil until soft and translucent. They went in the plate. I sauteed the green onion until slightly browned -- for about a minute -- then it went into the plate. Finally, I sauteed the salmon pieces until cooked through.

The vegetables were mixed in with the salmon in the wok. Then, the saifun was mixed in. Finally, I mixed in some baby spinach leaves until they wilted. When it all got hot, I emptied the japchae into pasta plates and sprinkled sesame seeds on top. Maybe next tine, I'll toasted the seeds first.

It tasted pretty good.

On the plate

Salmon Steamed Over Spinach

Tonight, I steamed a salmon fillet over spinach and onions. I stirred in kalamata olives at the end.

I heated minced garlic in olive oil over medium high heat, until it sizzled. Then, I mixed in a large chopped onion. I seasoned the onion with salt and pepper and sauteed it for five minutes, until the onion was translucent.

I mixed in six cups of seasoned spinach with a quarter cup of water drizzled on top. The salmon fillet (also seasoned) was placed on top of the spinach. I covered the saute pan and lowered the heat slightly. The recipe called for 1.5 lbs of fish, but there were only two of us, so I used 0.65 lbs.

It steamed for 15 minutes, and I checked it for doneness. I stirred a quarter cup of chopped kalamata olives into the spinach and onions, and served it up. We had chocolate-frosted (kosher for Passover) brownies for dessert.

My wife and I both agreed it was delicious. Maybe, I'd cut back on the amount of onion next time.

Oven-Roasted Salmon Fillet

Cooked in a cast iron pan, smoked paprika on it. Tri-color couscous with peas on the side.