Quick & Easy - Lemon Butter Salmon

It's hard to keep a full fridge & freezer when 50% of your household in on a restricted diet.  As a result, our freezer was left with only steaks & ribs for a good number of weeks.  Now that we're back to 100% eating capacity, first thing was load up @ Costco & second thing was to eat something that didn't live on land for the first time in 6 weeks!  I found this recipe on Pinterest - as I always do - but it seems to originate from a fishing website...in Scotland.

It just takes a handful of stuff that's probably already in the kitchen...
     2 salmon filets, about 6oz each
     2 tablespoons unsalted butter
     1 lemon, zest & juice
     Salt & pepper to taste

And it's just a few quick steps before heading into the oven...
     Rinse & dry the salmon filets really well
     Melt the butter in the microwave (30 seconds is plenty)
     Let the butter cool slightly & mix it with the lemon zest, lemon juice, & salt/pepper
     Make a tray with foil by folding up the edges so it just fits the 2 filets
     Pour the lemon butter evenly over the filets
     Bake at 400F for 7 minutes

If you don't like too much lemon with your fish, use half the amount of zest & juice.  I used the amount of the full recipe because the Boyfriend isn't really a fan of the finned oceanic species.  I finished up the meal with some roasted Brussels sprouts which were also super easy to make & tasted really great with the bright citrusy flavors of the fish.

Weekend Dinner - Tuna Casserole

I wasn't exposed to my first casserole dish until I moved to the United States @ age 12; I think it was a green bean casserole that time.  I didn't understand why people would want to throw a bunch of stuff into a glass plate & then stick it into the oven for an hour.  Dude, it's beans!  They cook in like 10 minutes!  And why the heck would you cook beans with cream soup?!?  The concept of a casserole befuddled me & I wasn't exposed to it again until a couple of years ago the Boyfriend made me tuna casserole.  While still confused about the whole deal, I was hooked.

We don't make this dish very often since he doesn't really like canned tuna, but we do it sometimes when we want something that we can make a big batch of in very little time & not have to stand over it as it is cooking (maybe that's the motivation behind a casserole?).

The ingredients are simple...

     3 cups medium shell pasta

     10 ounces canned tuna in water, drain & flake

     1 can Cream of Mushroom soup

     3/4 cup water

     11/2 cup frozen vegetables

     Salt & pepper to taste

The steps are even simpler...

     Cook the shell pasta according to the instructions on the package

     In a baking dish, combine tuna, Cream of Mushroom soup, water, salt & pepper

     Once the pasta is cooked, drain it & add it to the baking dish

     Add in the frozen vegetables & mix everything together

     Bake at 350F for 1 hour, uncovered

And there it is.  A great way to add some texture to this otherwise soft dish is to crunch up some potato chips & add it on top; I particularly like using barbecue flavored chips. The top of the pasta gets a little dry from the oven which makes me think I should cover the dish for most of the hour.  But would that make the dish more soupy?  Or maybe I should use more water? 

Weekend Dinner - Turkey Chili

One of the things I like to do on weekends is to cook a big portion of something that we can bring for lunch & reheat for a quick dinner throughout the next week.  I particularly like making chili since it is filling & we can just eat a bowl of it without having to bother with rice, potatoes, or any other kind of starch.  When I was on Lent many months ago, I made a vegetarian chili that I liked a lot.  But now that I can have meat again, I need a new chili recipe.


The grocery list called for...
     11/2 pounds ground turkey

     1 yellow onion, chopped

     1 green bell pepper, chopped

     1 can kidney beans

     1 can (28oz) crushed tomatoes

     1 cup water

     1 tablespoon garlic, minced

     11/2 tablespoons chili powder

     1/2 teaspoon paprika

     1/2 teaspoon oregano

     1/4 teaspoon cayenne

     1/2 teaspoon cumin

     Salt & black pepper to taste

All you have to do is follow the steps...

     In a large pot, brown the ground turkey in a little bit of oil

     Add in the onion & bell pepper; cook until they are tender

     Add in water, kidney beans, crushed tomatoes, & garlic

     Season with chili powder, paprika, oregano, cayenne, cumin, salt & pepper

     Bring the whole thing to boil

     Reduce heat & let simmer for 30 minutes

It sucks that I don't have a picture but all chili look about the same so you can imagine what this one looks like too.  We happened to have some really spicy salsa leftover from a taqueria in the Mission in our fridge so I threw that into the pot and it gave the chili some really good heat; just reduce the amount of water by 1/4 cup.

Nothing Homemade - Tortellini with Spinach & Mushroom

I found yet another pasta recipe on Pinterest.  The recipe uses bow tie pasta but the Boyfriend & I both thought that it was kind of plain & boring.  So to dress it up, I got a couple packages of ready to heat tortellini from Trader Joe's as a substitute.

So here is what I needed...

     1 package of Trader Giotto's Spinach Tortellini

     1 package of Trader Giotto's Cheese Tortellini

     4 gloves garlic, minced

     1 large shallot, medium diced

     1/3 cup extra virgin olive oil

     1 package baby portobello, sliced

     1 big bunch spinach, stemmed & halved

     Salt & black pepper to taste

     1/8 teaspoon red pepper flakes

This was really quick...

     Boil a big pot of water & cook the tortellini according to the packages

     Over low heat, sauté the garlic, shallot, & red pepper flakes in oil until fragrant

     Increase to medium heat, add in mushroom slices & cook until they start to get tender

     Add in spinach leaves & just wilt them; season with salt & black pepper

     Drain the pasta & toss everything together

The whole dish was super simple and we liked using the tortellini because it added some more substance & made it more filling.

Quick & Easy - Linguine with Tomato, Spinach, & Lobster Tail

We have pasta about once a week nowadays and so I've been browsing for inspiration all over the place.  I found this recipe on Pinterest but it wouldn't quite work the way it was since the Boyfriend doesn't eat shrimp.  As luck would have it, lobster tails were on sale @ Safeway so I thought, why not?

My version has quite a list of ingredients...
     1/3 package of linguine
     8 oz lobster tail
     3 small tomatoes, seeded & diced
     3 cups baby spinach
     3 cloves garlic, minced
     1 small shallot, finely diced
     zest of 1 lemon
     1 tablespoon lemon juice
     1/3 cup extra virgin olive oil
     1/4 teaspoon salt & black pepper
     1/8 teaspoon red pepper flakes
     Parmesan (optional)

Before doing anything else, prep the lobster tails...
     Remove the lobster tails from their shells
     Rinse the tails to get rid of any gunk that might be left over
     Rub the tails with salt & rinse them thoroughly
     Place tails into a bowl of ice water & keep in the fridge until ready to use

Now onto the actual dish...
     Start cooking the pasta according to the instructions on the package (-1 min)
     Over low heat, sauté the shallot, garlic, red pepper flakes, & lemon zest in oil
     Add in the tomatoes, season with salt & pepper, & continue to cook for 3 minutes
     Remove the lobster tails from the ice water & cut them into big chunks
     Add in the lobster meat & immediately reduce the heat to low
     Drain the pasta and add it to the pan of sauce; add in spinach and gently wilt them
     Remove from heat as soon as the lobster tails turn pink & toss in the lemon juice

And there it is!  I served the pasta with a bit of grated Parmesan on top for a little bit more salt.  Overall the dish was really light but had a lot of flavor & the lobster tail worked out really well.  I don't know if I will be making this dish this way all the time since the 2 tiny lobster tails cost $10 while on sale, but I can see myself making this again perhaps using crab meat, chicken, or just keeping it meatless.