Salmon In Luxurious Green Sesame Pipian

We plan on making this recipe next week.  We always enjoy this dish, and we've used different fish besides Salmon before such as Halibut and it's just as delicious.

This recipe uses bottled tomatillo salsa and tahini (sesame paste) instead of traditional ground pumpkin seeds for the Mexican-style pipián sauce, so a zesty dinner is only minutes away. Seafood Watch recommends Marine Stewardship Council–certified, wild Alaskan salmon, which is low in mercury and contains few or no PCBs. Farmed salmon can be problematic because farms release waste directly into the ocean and salmon farmers often rely on antibiotics and pesticides to control disease.

2 cups store-bought or homemade tomatillo salsa
1 1/2 tablespoons vegetable or olive oil
1 cup chicken broth
3 tablespoons tahini
1/2 teaspoon salt, or to taste
1/2 teaspoon sugar, or to taste
1 cup peas (heaping)
4 boneless, skinless, wild salmon fillets, 5 ounces each, about 1/2-inch thick
1 tablespoon sesame seeds, for garnish
1/4 cup chopped cilantro, for garnish

What To Do:
1. In a blender or food processor, process salsa to a smooth purée.

2. Heat oil in a very large (12-inch) skillet over medium-high heat. When quite hot, add salsa all at once. Stir as salsa reduces to consistency of tomato paste, about 5 minutes.

3. Stir in broth and tahini. Return to a boil, then reduce heat to medium-low and simmer 10 minutes. Taste and season with salt (usually about 1/2 teaspoon) and about 1/4 to 1/2 teaspoon sugar. While sauce is simmering, steam peas until just hot and tender.

4. After sauce has cooked 10 minutes, nestle salmon fillets completely into sauce. Continue simmering gently until fish flakes when pressed firmly, usually 5 to 6 minutes. Check by lifting a fillet from the sauce on a metal spatula and pressing with your finger or the back of a spoon.

5. Transfer a fish fillet to each dinner plate. Spoon a portion of the sauce over top. Strew with peas, sesame seeds and cilantro.

Recipe Courtesy Rick Bayless, chef/owner of Frontera Grill and Topolobampo, Chicago

Serves 4

Apple Pickin', Apple Fixin's, Apple Fun!

Apple Pie:

Filling
4 large Cortland or Macintosh Apples - Red Delicious will work too or a mixture (peeled, cored, and cut)
Juice from 1 lemon
1/4 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp nutmeg
1/2 cup of sugar

Cut apples - mix together set aside then pour over crust

Crust
2 cups of flour
1/4 cup vegetable oil
1/2 cup of cold water or milk

Put ingredients together and form a ball.  Divide.  Take one ball and put on top of parchment paper.  Put another piece of parchment paper on top.  Roll out for a 9 inch pie crust pan.  Put in pan.  Repeat for top.  Pour mixture on bottom - add top.  Take one egg with 1/2 cup of water and brush on top then add sugar and cinnamon.  Bake at 340 for 40 mins.  Watch.  Remove.  Enjoy.

First Weekend Of Fall

Empire State Of Mind

Say Goodbye...Say Hello

Goodbye house and family in the south.....
hello New England family and home. 

"Endings are sad, beginning's are scary -- it's the middle that counts." Hope Floats

Closing Down The Kitchen

We've had many a fun, fabulous meal at our first house.  What better way to close the kitchen down than with my dear cousin, first friend, like a sister, Megan, and her husband Charlie.  Cooking one of our favorites - Pizza.  Dinner was followed by karaoke.  What a last supper!

 

Simple Vinaigrette Dressing

1 tablespoon white wine
1 teaspoon Dijon Mustard
Pinch of sugar
1/4 extra virgin olive oil
Ground pepper and ground sea salt

Combine the wine, mustard, sugar in a bow, stir until smooth then stir in olive oil again until smooth then add your seasoning.

It's a basic, simple recipe you can do in less than three minutes.  It's neither too sharp or too oily.  A classic vinaigrette adapted from Louise Pickford's Sauces.

Remembering 9-11-2001

"'Time never heals; we carry on because we have to,' said Christy Coombs of Abington, Mass., reading aloud from the letter sent to her by Kennedy.' 

Taken from ABC:

"Cindy McGinty's husband, Mike, a 42-year-old insurance executive, had been killed inside the World Trade Center.  She was home in Massachusetts with the couple's sons.  "My phone rang, and there was this big booming voice on it," she said.  It was Sen. Ted Kennedy, D-Mass., calling to express his condolences.  "I think, given his own history -- he had lost his own brother to very tragic events ... he had lost many members of his own family -- I just thought it must have brought back memories for him."  It was a difficult call Kennedy would make 176 more times. Calling to offer his help to nearly all of the Massachusetts families who lost a loved one that day.  Kennedy sent every one of the Massachusetts families who lost loved ones on Sept. 11 a personal, hand-signed letter every year following the attacks."  Senator Kennedy "To Cindy McGinty, who doesn't know the word defeat," McGinty read from a note to her on a painting from Kennedy.  "He knew we were still feeling the loss," said of Kennedy.  "If he thinks that about me, then I can certainly put one foot in front of the other and keep going," she said. "It really does inspire me."

If Senator Ted Kennedy were still with us today I'm sure each family in Massachusetts who lost a loved one this day in 2001 would have received a letter from him. 

May the people who lost loved ones feel carried in their loss as Kennedy once said, 'may all those cares be our concern.'  May we carry on his torch and help to bring hope and inspiration in our world around us that we all may know no defeat even in the worst of circumstances.

I spent last month and the first of this month reflecting on both Kennedy's legacy and the loss and hurt from 9-11-2001.  "For all those whose cares have been our concern, the work goes on, the cause endures, the hope still lives, and the dream shall never die. - Senator Edward M. Kennedy."  We remember!

Good Friends And Good Times

Some of my best friends from college got

 together over labor day weekend. 

Doesn't get much better than

good friends and good times!

Fall Approaching - Let's get to Roasting

Roasted Asparagus

Ina Garten Specialty

Prep Time: 10 min
Cook Time: 25 min

•2 pounds fresh asparagus
•Good olive oil
•Kosher salt, plus extra for sprinkling
•Freshly ground black pepper

Directions
Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.  Break off the tough ends of the asparagus and, if they're thick, peel them. Place the asparagus on a baking sheet, drizzle with olive oil, then toss to coat the asparagus completely. Spread the asparagus in a single layer and sprinkle liberally with salt and pepper. Roast the asparagus for 25 minutes, until tender but still crisp.

Race For The Cure

It's that time of year where women come together to race for a cure for breast cancer.  Yesterday I came across this photo from a race in 2001.  I was with my sorority sisters, and the guys were cheering us along.  I saw on the today show this morning NYC's race will take place in Central Park this coming weekend.

Everyone of us has a loved one affected by some form of cancer.  I hope we can continue to make advancements towards a cure.  It's the collective small things that can make a big difference.  Even something as small as choosing the color pink when given an option on a product like the pink kitchen aide mixer  in which $50 of the proceeds will be donated to breast cancer research.  It all adds up.  It's the small things that can make the biggest difference.

As Mother Teresa told us, "If you can't feed a hundred people, then feed just one.  And, In this life we cannot all do great things, but we can all do small things with great love." 

It may be that these small things with great love are the greatest of all things.