Saturday, February 14, 2009

Home is where the Hectic is!

I got back from Chicago around midnight Thursday. Angie was still up and had a glass of red wine waiting for me. There are many things that fuel my love for her, and such an accurate anticipation of my needs is one of them.

We have friends over for the weekend, they arrived Friday evening after an hour long drive from Dayton. I'm in a solo mode, because it's my wife's friend (her husband is away on an extended business trip), and her two kids. Her children are about the same age as our children,. and they have all known each other since infancy, so they get along quite well (i.e. loud).

Last night I tried a new recipe: baked salmon with a cranberry-thyme crust. It was really good. Here's the recipe:

3/4 cup panko (Japanese bread crumbs)
1/4 cup chopped dried cranberries
1/4 cup chopped green onion (1 stalk)
2 tbsp chopped fresh thyme
2 tsp grated lemon peel (you can buy this in a jar at the spice rack of your grocery store)
3 tbsp butter (melted)

Preheat over to 375. Mix all of the above ingredients in a bowl. Put 3-4 salmon fillets in a greased glass baking dish, skin side down. Sprinkle fish with salt and pepper, then coat the top with the panko mix, pressing down so it sticks.

Bake for approximately 20 minutes, or until the salmon flakes easily when tested with a fork and is slightly opaque in the center.

It was really good, a nice sweet flavor from the cranberries, but a savory edge from the thyme and green onion, and the panko has a unique crispiness.

Now Angie is starting to cook some bacon, and I'm going to make eggs a la Papa for the children, something my friend Brian O'Donnell's dad used to make for us when I was a kid. You butter both sides of a piece of bread, and using a small juice glass, press down in the center of the piece to cut out a small circle. Then in a skillet over medium heat, put in the bread and crack an egg into the middle of it. Fry the inner circle on the edges of the skillet, flip the bread to fry both sides.

Tonight's Iron Chef challenge: sushi!

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6 comments:

Anita said...

My husband is the salmon chef in our house, but I will try the egg thing. Thanks!

Rick Daley said...

Pass him the recipe, it's very easy and quite tasty.

We have another salmon dish that is our favorite, it's poached salmon with a basil cream sauce. I'll type it up and post it one of these days.

I made sushi tonight. California rolls, spicy tuna rolls, and nigiri (tuna, salmon, and fluke). It's my third attempt. Best so far, not award winning by look, but it does taste just as good as what I've had at good restaurants, and at 1/3 the price.

Sharon said...

i wish you would move to texas! i could use a chef!

Rick Daley said...

As cold as this winter's been, I may consider it!

About Me said...

I'm in a meat-free zone, but I know someone who love love love salmon, so I'll be passing that recipe along. :)

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