Dinner Last Week #1

Hi Friends!

So, I thought I would try to start sharing with you some of our dinners throughout the week.  I usually cook every night but I obviously don't post everything.  I am a working lady with a real job after all.  Lot's of things I make are other recipes or variations thereof and are (most of the time) accessible and easy enough to make after getting home around 6:00.

So let's check out last week....

MONDAY - Grilled Salmon & Butter Lettuce salad with Toasted Baguette

Via

Nicholas and I are picky about our salmon.  We don't eat farm raised.  Did you know artificial coloring is put in the food of farm raised salmon to make them pink?  Eww.  We are currently using a frozen wild-caught salmon that I found at Costco (I think it is this one), it's pricey but worth it.

The butter lettuce salad was inspired by this Sunset Magazine recipe (in the picture above). Technically this is a Spring salad, but whatever.  I had butter lettuce in my fridge that I needed to use and I had made this salad once before so I knew it was good.  Here is what we did:

1 head of butter lettuce, cleaned and torn
1/4 cup of fresh dill, minced
1 tablespoon of fresh chives, chopped
1 heirloom tomato, sliced thin
1/2 bunch of baby asparagus, steamed and chopped into 3 sections
2 hard boiled eggs, quartered
salt and pepper to taste
2 cooked salmon fillets
Dressing made as called for in recipe, but doubled

I assembled the salad and Nicholas cooked the salmon.  For the salmon, he brushes on olive oil, adds salt and pepper and sears it in a cast iron pan on the stove.  He then puts the whole pan into the oven (350 degrees?) and cooks it just for a few minutes.  Salmon doesn't take long.  We placed the salmon fillets on top of our salad and dressed it.  You won't need all the dressing, but I think you should double the recipe version.  We had 1/2 of a baguette in the freezer, so I put that in the toaster oven at 200 and let it warm the whole time we were assembling/cooking.  I did stop and buy the asparagus and fresh dill on my way home.  (Soon I'll be sharing a trick to keep your fresh herbs fresh for way longer!).  I also use Trader Joe's Orange Muscat Champagne Vinegar instead of just plain champagne vinegar.

That's it!

TUESDAY - Dad's Kitchen, Fair Oaks

If you live in Sac you are probably familiar with Dad's.  There is the sandwich shop and the kitchen, both great spots.  They have also been featured on Diner's Drive-In's and Dive's.  The recently opened a new location in Fair Oaks, closer to our new hood, so we stopped in with the parentals to try it.  It was good as usual.  I had the Hot Blonde (organic chicken, avocado, swiss cheese, tomato, roasted red onion, spinach and cucumber with garlic spread, brown mustard & pepper plant sauce on sourdough bread).  The husband had the Warm Spinach salad, Step-Diggidy Dad had the Cowboy Burger and Mom had the Portabella Mushroom Sandwich.  I recommend accompanying your dish with the delicious onion rings!  I am also told this location will eventually become more of a tap house with mucho beers on tap just like the Freeport location.  Yay Dad's & crew!

WEDNESDAY - Veggie Fritatta and Sweet Potato Latkes

Via

Fritatta is a great thing to make if you have an almost empty fridge, are in a hurry, want a vegetarian meal, are feeling lazy, or anything else!  You can whip it up quick and put about anything in it.  I also had some sweet potatoes that I needed to use up, so I followed this recipe for the Latkes.  Here is what I did for the Frittata:

6 eggs
1/4 cup milk
1/2 bunch of asparagus, cut into 3 sections
1/2 large yellow bell pepper, chopped
1 mini red bell pepper, chopped
1/8 cup red onion, chopped
1/4 jalapeno, diced
1 tablespoon of diced green chilies
1 teaspoon fresh dill, minced
1 tablespoon fresh cilantro, minced
1 tablespoon fresh parsley, minced
1/2 cup grated cheddar cheese
1/4 cup chopped spinach
salt and pepper (a few grinds each)

Put the eggs and milk in a large bowl and whisk.  Add everything else and stir up.  Pour into a greased 8x8 glass baking dish.  Bake at 350-375 until cooked through (at least 20 minutes, probably more).  I literally had all this stuff in my fridge, so I just kept adding stuff willy-nilly.  It was really good and the latke's were great. We had enough leftovers for each of us to take for breakfast this morning.

THURSDAY - Soba Noodles and Chicken with Eggplant

Via

Well I planned this recipe that I found a long time ago.  But, we were tired and ended up eating frozen ravioli and jarred pesto.

FRIDAY - Gary Danko!

Lucky me I got to go to San Francisco all day Friday for my company Christmas Party.  We had a fabulous 7 course lunch with wine pairings at Gary Danko.  You can see our meal from 2011 here.  It was enough to keep my tummy very happy all day.  I hope to share pictures and details with you soon!

So that is it!  Let me know what you think of the Dinner Last Week idea.

♥
TCW

P.S. PopSugar is doing a very cute quiz to help you find your style - since you're doing all that Christmas shopping you should buy something for YOU!  You can take the quiz here.

Grilled Salmon with Avocado-Farro Salad

Blerg.  I think summer is really ending.  Seriously.
I'm just going to pretend like it didn't rain on Labor Day.
I'm going to pretend like I didn't notice leaves falling.
I'm going to pretend like the extra traffic isn't because school started again.
Instead, I'm going to fire up the grill!  (Well, Nicholas (aka The Cyclist) will fire up the grill and I'll make a side dish.)

Check out the recipe for this delicious Asian-inspired Grilled Salmon with Avocado-Farro Salad over at PopSugar Food.

It's still summer.  I promise.

♥TCW

Stir-Fry Salad with Salmon & what I did with Eggplant #2

Remember all those Asian goodies I got at the Farmer's Market a couple of weeks ago?

Well.  Not everything was Asian, but the bok choy and long beans were.

Plus I had that eggplant.

So, let me stop here and apologize in advance for the photos.

Like most things in our house, this dish was made on the fly - meaning I was in a hurry to get it done before

8 p.m., plus I was hungry, so good pictures weren't my main concern. 

Eating was.

Additionally, we are figuring out that our red curtain in the kitchen window, coupled with our light cover on the oven hood (circa 1956, Mad Men kitchen) makes for a weird orange-ish red-ish yellow-ish hue in most of the photos I'm taking in the cooking area.

The best solution I see to this problem is finishing Kitchen Re-model Phase 2 (set for December).

Of course, I could move the food to another counter, but I think it will just be easier to finish the kitchen.

(Think big people!)

Moving on.

Remember the eggplant?

We're going to do the same thing we did with it last time...

Take your eggplant and cut it into slices, leaving the skin on....

(Recognize that photo?  That's because it's the same one.  Sweating eggplant looks like sweating eggplant, no matter how you slice it.  Hardy-har.)

...then sprinkle some salt on it. 

Remember, we're drawing out the excess moisture, please follow this instruction.

Leave the salt on for 15-20 minutes and then flip them over and salt the other side. 

Leave that side sweating for 15-20 minutes and then rinse them off.

Meanwhile...

Chop up a leek and peel some carrots (this was about 3 or 4 skinny ones)....

then, if you're blogging, take a crappy picture of it...

Note - I started peeling my carrots like this for stir-fry awhile ago.  I like my friend the carrot, but he takes for days to cook and soften if you cut him into rounds.  Peeling them is an easy solution/fix for this problem.

Plus, I like the long spaghetti-ness of them in the stir-fry.

You can also chop up some onions.....

(I used a yellow one)

...and mince some garlic...

(That's the garlic on the right)

I think the other thing is the bok choy that I started to chop. 

Then my helpful husband The Cyclist said "I can help", so he cut up the rest of the bok choy....

Now.  I also made long beans as a side to this dish.

I made this recipe, but I didn't have any red bell pepper so I went without it. 

I also didn't cut my long beans into 3 inch lengths, I just cut them in half.

They're long beans, they should remain long.

So, if you're making long beans too.....

....you might want to get started on those bad boys now.

But, if you're just making my stir-fry, you don't need the long beans.

(Unless you want them).

If your husband is helping you, that eggplant may be done sweating.

He can chop that up, and chop up some mushrooms too...

We used a whole package of Crimini mushrooms.

This picture is funny - notice how The Cyclist is peeling the mushroom?

I think he was freaked out by the brown outside.

I think he's also generally freaked out by mushrooms. 

If I don't use them within 24 hours of purchase he swears they are bad.

Anyway, he peeled that one mushroom.....

...and sliced it.

Then I told him that was going to take too long and he just needed to chop them up.

It went something like this:

"They're Crimini's!  They're supposed to be brown!  Just cut them, I'm hungry."

Then he did what I said because when my stomach is growling I look like this:

Picture Courtesy of How To Draw Cartoons

While The Cyclist was chopping, I was making the stir-fry sauce....

...while drinking wine.

That's our salmon in case you were wondering.

I used the Pioneer Woman's sauce from her Simple Sesame Noodles.

Here is the recipe:

1/4 cup Soy Sauce - I used low sodium

2 Tablespoons Sugar

4 cloves Garlic, Minced

2 Tablespoons Rice Vinegar

3 Tablespoons Pure Sesame Oil

1/2 teaspoon Hot Chili Oil

4 Tablespoons Canola Oil - I used grapeseed oil

4 whole Green Onions, Sliced Thin - I didn't have green onions, so I didn't use them
I also add 1 to 2 tablesoons of hot water before whisking the mixture together. That always gives it the perfect consistency! - I do this too

Preparation Instructions

Whisk all ingredients (except green onions) together in a bowl. Taste and adjust ingredients as needed.

Don't be a nerd like me and run out of soy sauce, forcing yourself to rip open multiple packets of these:

OK.  On to the cooking.

I didn't take any pictures of the stuff cooking, but here's how it went down:

Prep your salmon filets - The Cyclist rubbed ours with some olive oil and put salt and pepper on them

Set the salmon on a broiling pan and set it aside

Heat up a large skillet or wok (medium-high heat)

Add some oil (I used grapeseed)

Add the chopped up eggplant

Let it cook a bit until it starts to soften, then add the mushrooms

Also add the leeks, carrots, onions and garlic

Continue to saute these

Once this starts to get going, put your salmon in the oven

We did ours on low broil and it seriously only took about 5 minutes

Just before the salmon is done, throw the bok-choy into the stir fry mixture - just let it wilt a bit

Turn the burner off

Take your salmon out

Pour the stir fry sauce over the top of the veggie mixture

Plate the veggies and put the salmon on top

Check it...

....wow, much better lighting in these parts.

I called this stir-fry salad because it had the heat and saute-ness of a stir-fry, but the bok choy added a salad like texture that was good.  The Pioneer Woman's Sesame Noodle sauce recipe is no joke.  The flavor is great and I think it is what really made this dish.

I posted the entire recipe to Tasty Kitchen.

Oh, and before I go, I have to share this...

See that tablecloth?

It really is made of recycled water bottles.

That in itself is cool, but this thing repels liquids like nobody's business.

A drip lands on it and it beads up immediately.

It is made by Bardwil and you can find it here.

Disclaimer: Ours was a wedding gift, so although we got it for free, I'm not plugging it because Bardwil gave it to me, I just like it.

**I shared this recipe on the following sites, click the links for more tasty recipes!

Kelly the Kitchen Kop - Real Food Wednesday

The Tasty Alternative - Allergy Free Wednesday