Pesto Salmon

Happy New Year!!! I thought I’d start the year off on a good foot by posting a healthy, yet delicious, dinner recipe! This salmon is so easy and tastes amazing. The quickest way to make this meal is to store buy the pesto, however I love my homemade pesto recipe. That being said I freeze my homemade pesto so I can take it out for pasta and pesto salmon. I have posted my favorite pesto recipe under “Sauces.” Happy Eating 🙂

Cook: 20 minutes

Prep: 2 minutes

Ingredients:

• Basil Pesto (store bought or homemade)
• 2 (6 oz) Salmon Fillets
• 1 Lemon
• Brown Rice (or quinoa, couscous, grits..anything to serve the salmon over)

Directions:

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Spray a baking sheet with cooking spray and then spoon 3 tablespoons of pesto onto baking sheet. Layer salmon over pesto and then top with about 3 more tablespoons pesto. Place lemon slices on salmon and bake for 20 minutes or until done. Serve over rice.

Tilapia Fish Tacos

These fish tacos were easy to throw together and so delicious. My husband and I decided we wouldn’t change a thing about them and I’ll definitely be making them again!

Prep: 8-10 minutes

Cook: 10 minutes

Ingredients:

• canola oil
• 4-6 tilapia filets- cut into strips

Batter to dredge fish in:

• ¾ cup flour
• 1 1/2 tsp black pepper
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 tsp garlic powder

Tortilla and Toppings:

• Salsa
• Cilantro
• Mexican cheese blend
• Avocado
• Fresh lime to squeeze over taco (The lime gives it a great finishing touch)

Directions:

Pour canola oil into a large sauce pan and heat over medium-high heat. When the oil is hot reduce heat to medium. Dredge fish in  batter and add to oil. Cook 4 to 5 minutes making sure to cook on both sides until golden brown.

Heat tortillas and compile tacos.

Serves: about 4 people

Roasted Salmon with Tomatoes, Basil, and Capers

This recipe is a very unique salmon recipe that is so refreshing.  I love anything with tomatoes and basil, but had never thought of putting them on salmon before. My husband and I were impressed by this recipe and I will definitely be making it again. I found this recipe by Robin Miller on the Food Network website.

Prep: 10-15 minutes

Cook: 15 minutes

Ingredients:
Cooking spray
6 salmon fillets
Salt
Freshly ground black pepper
2 tablespoons lemon and herb seasoning
1 cup chopped Roma tomatoes
1/4 cup slivered basil leaves
2 tablespoons drained capers

Directions
Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Spray a baking sheet with cooking spray. Season salmon with salt and pepper and brush lemon and herb seasoning on both sides of salmon. Place salmon on prepared baking sheet. Roast 15 minutes, until fish is fork tender.
In a medium bowl, combine tomatoes, basil and capers. Season, to taste, with salt and pepper.
Serve the salmon fillets with tomato mixture spooned over top.

Happy Eating 🙂

Salmon with Parmesan Mayonnaise Crust

While my husband and I were back home for Christmas my parents made this great salmon recipe. My husband liked it so much he asked me to make it just a week later. This recipe is pretty quick and I love Parmesan cheese so it was a hit with me.

The original website is from this site:  http://shecookshecleans.net/2012/05/19/oven-roasted-salmon-with-parmesan-mayo-crust/

Prep: 8 minutes

Cook: 10-15 minutes

Ingredients:

Salmon

• 16-20 ounces salmon fillet(s)
• Kosher salt/ freshly ground black pepper
• 3 tablespoons mayonnaise, preferably homemade
• 2 tablespoons Parmesan cheese, freshly grated
• additional Parmesan cheese, freshly grated
• a few dashes of sweet paprika (I couldn’t find this at the grocery store so I used regular paprika)

Parmesan-Mayo

• 2 whole eggs, at room temperature(*See Note below)
• 1 to 1 1/4 cup oil (I used olive oil)
• 2 tablespoons lemon juice
• 1/2 teaspoon dry mustard
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• freshly ground black pepper, or pepper blend, to taste

Directions:

Mayonnaise Instructions:

Place the eggs in a blender or small food processor.  Blend the eggs alone for about a minute, so they will be ready to adsorb the oil.  Add lemon juice, dry mustard and salt, and mix in with the eggs.  With the blender running, SLOWLY start adding the oil, a few drops at a time, until the liquid begins to thicken up some; then you can start adding the oil in a thin, steady stream.  Continue blending until all the oil is incorporated.  Season the mayonnaise with salt and pepper, to taste.

Salmon Instructions:

Preheat oven to 425F.  Line a shallow roasting pan or baking sheet with foil.  Rinse the salmon with cold water and dry thoroughly with paper towels, and place in roasting pan or on a baking sheet.  Season lightly with salt and pepper.

Mix the mayonnaise and Parmesan cheese in a small bowl.  (*variation- you can add a layer of regular mayonnaise to the salmon before adding Parmesan-Mayo mixture) Spread completely over the salmon.  Sprinkle with additional Parmesan cheese on top, and add a few dashes of sweet paprika.

Roast for 12-14 minutes (depending on thickness of salmon).  Remove from oven and serve.

*I love to serve salmon with asparagus or caramelized brussel sprouts

Happy Eating 🙂

Baked Lime Tilapia

I know I have mentioned this before, but my husband and I do not like a ton of seafood. If something tastes very fishy I cannot eat it. Therefore, I love tilapia! It’s not a fishy fish and so I like it 🙂 This is Bobby’s Baked Tilapia from the Food Network. We both really enjoyed it (me especially mmm). This dish is flavorful, light, and best of all quick to throw together!

Prep: 5-10 minutes

Cook: 12 minutes

Ingredients:

• Butter cooking spray
• 4 (6 to 8-ounce) tilapia fillets
• Salt and freshly cracked black pepper
• 1 lime, finely grated zest and juice
• 2 tablespoons butter
• 2 cloves minced garlic (this is my own addition)
• Note: If you like more zip add a seeded and diced jalapeno

Directions:

Preheat oven to 425 degrees F. Coat a large cast iron skillet with a nonstick butter spray. Rinse fish and pat dry; place on the cast iron pan. Season each fillet with salt, cracked pepper, garlic, lime zest and lime juice. Place a pat of butter on each fillet and cook in the oven for 8 to 12 minutes.

I served this over jasmine rice which was a delicious combination!

Serves: 4

Happy Eating 🙂

Broiled Salmon with Herb Mustard Glaze

So my husband and I are not big seafood people, however we love a good piece of salmon. My dad is known for his lemon salmon recipe (which I will post for you soon). That being said we’re kind of picky when it comes to trying new salmon recipes. This is a recipe from Giada de Laurentiis that was a big hit for us! My husband said “you’ve gooottt to post this on the blog.” Needless to say…he loved it! I am used to lighter salmon recipes and this one is a little heavier and creamier and really nice for a change.

  Sorry my pictures do not do any of these meals justice!!!

 

Prep: 10-15 minutes

Cook: 7-15 minutes (depending on how thick the piece of salmon is)

Ingredients (including my adaptations)

•  3 or 4 garlic cloves
• 3/4 teaspoon finely chopped fresh rosemary leaves
• 3/4 teaspoon finely chopped fresh thyme leaves
• 1 tablespoon dry white wine
• 1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil
• 4 tablespoons Country Dijon Mustard
• Nonstick olive oil cooking spray
• 6 (6 to 8-ounce) salmon fillets
• Salt and freshly ground black pepper
• 6 lemon wedges

Directions

In a mini food processor, combine garlic, rosemary, thyme, wine, oil, Dijon mustard, and 3 tablespoons of mustard. Grind the mustard sauce until combined, about 30 seconds. Transfer to a small bowl. Add remaining 1 tablespoon of mustard to the sauce and stir to combine. Set aside mustard sauce.

Preheat the broiler. Line a heavy rimmed baking sheet with foil. Spray the foil with nonstick spray. Arrange the salmon fillets on the baking sheet and sprinkle them with salt and pepper. Broil for 2 minutes. Spoon the mustard sauce over the fillets. Continue broiling until the fillets are just cooked through and golden brown, about 5-13 minutes longer.

Transfer the fillets to plates and serve with lemon wedges.

Happy Eating 🙂

Pioneer Woman’s Linguine with Clam Sauce

So for those of you that have never heard of Pioneer Woman…you are missing out. Greatly. She is amazing and inspiring and all of her food I have made thus far is FABULOUS!!!! Seriously that good! Her blog is: http://thepioneerwoman.com/ and she also has two cookbooks. I received one of those cookbooks as a wedding gift and am absolutely loving it! This is one of her recipes that I made for my husband…I have to tell you this is majorly branching out for us. We rarely eat seafood aside from tilapia, salmon, and California rolls (I don’t think those are technically real crab) and we especially don’t cook seafood aside from tilapia and salmon. So this was stepping out on a limb. I thought this recipe was super quick and easy to whip up and my husband and I both LOVED it! It’s very rich and creamy so if you want to lessen that (or if you want it to be healthier) you can use regular milk instead of cream.

Prep: 5 minutes

Cook: 12 to 15 minutes

Ingredients:

• 1/2 pound linguine (the original recipe calls for 1 pound but I like my pastas with more sauce so I always cut back the amount of pasta I put into a recipe)
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 2 tablespoons butter
• two 10 oz cans chopped clams, drained, juice reserved (I like the Chicken of the Sea brand)
• 3/4 cup white wine (I used dry cooking vermouth because that’s what I had on hand…it is a lot sweeter so if you don’t like sweet tastes in your pasta choose a different white wine)
• juice of 1/2 lemon plus lemon slices for garnish
• 2 tablespoons flat-leaf parsley chopped
• 3/4 cup heavy cream
• salt and pepper to taste
• grated Parmesan cheese

Directions:

Cook the linguine until al dente. In a large skillet over medium-high heat, add the olive oil and 1 tablespoon butter. Pioneer Woman says using both olive oil and butter allows you to heat the mixture at a higher heat before it starts to brown. Add the garlic and clams and stir together cooking for 3 minutes.

Pour in the white wine, scraping the bottom of the pan with the spoon. Cook for 3 to 4 minutes until the sauce is reduced and less watery. Add in 1 more tablespoon butter and stir to melt. Reduce the heat and squeeze in the lemon juice. Sprinkle in the parsley and pour in the cream.

Add salt and freshly ground black pepper. Stir well and taste for seasons. If the sauce is too thick add a little of the reserved clam juice. Cook over low heat for 3 minutes more. Pour the pasta in a heated serving bowl and pour the sauce over the top. Toss to combine and toss with Parmesan cheese and lemon slices.

Yields: 4 servings

*serve with bread and/or salad