August 23, 2010

Le Freak, C'est Chic.

Just like that 80's song where I only know the words that I made as the blog entry title, I freaked out in the kitchen this past Sunday. More often than not, recipes I try out are pretty basic & easy to follow. This wasn't the case. I seriously almost had a mental breakdown in the kitchen. I think the trigger was that we are spending the most money I've ever spent on a home, recently, to get items we are investing in (like our bed frame, or a couch, etc). We are happy to do so (of course) but I think that it hit me when I was at Whole Foods and the Salmon fillets they rang up for me were $23.00.
This is how Mish's Grand Kitchen Freakout of 2010 went down:
Step 1: Have a stool strategically placed in your kitchen
Step 2: Trip over the stool, and fall onto a (thankfully cool) pan holding Brussels Sprouts on the stove and...
Step 3: Swear for 20 minutes and say "I hate cooking today. I quit." So mature.

That having been said, the food turned out absolutely delicious (thanks, in most part, to the boyfriend with grill skills). I think that is a pretty good trait to possess as a guy...grill skills. It's like Napoleon Dynamite said "Girls want guys with skills! Bow-hunting skills, numb-chuck skills...." well I have a boyfriend with grilling skills! He'll have to teach me soon (and simultaneously, I guess that means I'll have to overcome my fear of burning my hair--I have never liked matches since I feel like I'm going to burn myself, maybe I did as a child and I just don't remember). We pretty much made up our own recipes for everything since the original directions from Food and Wine Magazine were really hard to follow. I swear, everything was misguiding and nothing I made seemed to look like their photos above the recipes.


We ended up eating out on the roof, because it was below 70 degrees! Everything seems to be better when I'm up on my roof. Luckily, I was feeling more calm at that point, and the million dollar salmon was simply fantastic. It was restaurant quality (thanks Whole Foods, I won't judge your seafood prices again).

Honey Mustard Salmon
Ingredients:
2-4 Fillets of Salmon from Whole Foods
Whole Grain Mustard (about 1/4 cup or more, just taste as you go and base off however many fish fillets you bought)
Yellow Mustard (about 1/4 cup)
Honey (about 4 Tablespoons)
2 Cloves Garlic
Salt and Pepper

Directions:
I should have been watching when Doug was on the grill rather than pouting so hopefully he'll read this (even though I tell him not to read my blog) and correct me when I'm going to inevitably be wrong about these cooking directions, since the majority of this preparation was done on the grill. I'll probably end up revising this tomorrow.
1. Put salt and pepper on the salmon before grilling.
2. Place on grill for 6 to 8 minutes. This recipe said to keep the skin on, so we grilled skin side down.
3. With about 1 minute left, add on the Mustard Honey sauce, drench over all fish pieces.

Vegetables with Walnut Sauce
Ingredients:

(Dressing)
2 Cloves garlic
1/2 Lemon Squeezed Juice
1 Cup Walnuts (bake them in the oven for 15 minutes at 350 to brown them first)
1/4 cup Olive Oil (I used more than this, it just depends on how thin you like your dressing)
1 Teaspoon Thyme
1 Shallot sliced

(Veggies)
1 Red Onion (sliced in 1/3 inch horizontal slices)
1 Bunch of Asparagus, it usually comes in bunches close to a pound at the store (slice off the un-ripe section at the bottom, it's where the natural "snap" of the asparagus occurs if you break it off with your hands)
1/2 Pound Shiitake Mushrooms (de-stem them)

Directions:
1. Combine all ingredients into a food processor for the dressing. Put the walnuts in LAST or else you'll end up making something like peanut butter. What Food & Wine failed to explain is that the dressing should have a chunky texture to it, not something that's creamy. I'd put the Olive Oil with the sliced shallots and the spices and lemon juice first, then just barely pulse it at the end with the walnuts.
2. Salt and pepper the veggies on the grill with some Olive Oil. Once they are off, toss them with the veggies in a bowl. Trust me, it ended up tasting pretty good!

*All I did with the Brussels Sprouts (that I made because I realized they had been sitting in the fridge for a few days and I didn't want them to go bad) was prepare them, saute them, and salt and pepper them.

*By the way, the trays that I'm obsessed with are from (no shock here) West Elm.
Click to View: Trays on West Elm Website

1 comment:

  1. YOUR roof? More like "Doug's Roof!" Haha.

    Don't really know what I did with the Salmon, but that sounds about right. Just cook it until it starts to flake a little bit but DON'T overcook it. You don't even really need to move it around. Not a recipe where you really eat the skin, though. Heat wasn't high enough to get crispy.

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