Salmon Baked in Foil and four years of blogging

The past four years have gone by in a breeze.  So what better way to celebrate the four year milestone of this little blog than with a breezy recipe?  Thank you to all my friends out there who make this journey fun, exciting and worthwhile, who try my recipes and who read my mostly incoherent ramblings.  I couldn’t have done it without you!  Thank you all so much!! 

Recently, it would seem that I’ve been avoiding complicated recipes like the bubonic plague.  Well, maybe I’m being a tad harsh; I wasn’t so adamant at dodging any elaborate recipes per se, I just happened to be really absorbed in this phase of lazy cooking, the less cooking involved the better.  Or you can say that I’ve been basking in the realm of easy, clean and few-ingredient dishes.  

And this Salmon Baked in Foil recipe is right up that alley.  Not to mention that this is a dish Adrian and I have been feasting on more times than I care to count this summer and we’re still not tired of it.  Every time I was mulling over what to whip up for dinner, a tiny voice was growling in my head: salmon, salmon, salmon.  Besides, it’s the first year that I’m celebrating my blog’s anniversary with a non-plum related recipe.  That says a lot!    

In a nutshell, this Salmon Baked in Foil is an unpretentious and easy dish with a nice gourmet edge to it; it’s simple, superb and mess-free.  The fish is perfectly cooked and the wrapping produces a lip-smacking blend of flavorful juices and aromas.  The only downside to it – it’ll be hard if not downright impossible to order salmon in a restaurant once you’ve tried this recipe.  Pair it with this lovely Creamed Corn or this Fluffy Basmati Rice and you’ve got yourself a sinfully delicious meal!  Enjoy!   

   

Salmon Baked in Foil

Adapted from Everyday Italian by Giada de Laurentiis

Makes: 2 main-course servings

Ingredients:

·         1 medium tomato, chopped, or ½ (14-ounce) can diced tomatoes in juice, drained

·         1 shallot, chopped (if you’re not very picky, half of a small yellow onion will work just fine, too)

·         2 Tablespoons plus 2 teaspoons olive oil

·         1 Tablespoon fresh lemon juice (from about half a lemon)

·         ½ teaspoon dried oregano

·         ½ teaspoon dried thyme

·         ½ teaspoon kosher salt, plus a bit more for salmon

·         ¼ teaspoon black pepper, plus a bit more for salmon

·         2 salmon fillets (about 5 ounces each)

·         Parchment paper or aluminum foil

Instructions:

Preheat the oven to 400° F.  In a small bowl, stir the tomatoes, shallot, 2 Tablespoons of oil, lemon juice, oregano, thyme, ½ teaspoon salt, and ¼ teaspoon pepper.  

Place each salmon fillet, skin side up in the center of each of two large sheets of parchment paper (or aluminum foil).  Spoon 1 teaspoon of oil over the skin of each salmon fillet.  Turn the fillets over and sprinkle with a pinch of salt and pepper.  Spoon the tomato mixture over the salmon fillets.  Fold the sides of the parchment paper over the fish and tomato mixture, covering completely, and seal the packets closed by twisting the ends.  Place the foil packets on a large, heavy baking sheet.  (The salmon packets can be prepared up to this point 6 hours ahead.  Refrigerate until ready to bake.)

Bake until the salmon is just cooked through, about 23-25 minutes.  Using a large metal spatula, transfer the foil packets to plates and serve.  (You may want to unwrap and plate the fish in the kitchen before serving.)   

Poftă Bună! (Bon Appétit!)

Feta Cheese and Dill Stuffed Flatbread

I’m an only child, which on occasion means being spoiled rotten.  So, when at age eleven I demanded a puppy, my parents happily obliged.  Granted, the three of us lived in an eight hundred square foot one bedroom apartment on the sixth floor of a ten story building with no air conditioning during the scorching summer months.  Did it matter?  Not at all…  The four of us simply learned how to gloriously bake in the one bedroom hell of a sauna.  But being treated like a princess was not the case when visiting my grandparents in the northern part of Romania.       

Maramureș, a region in the northern part of Romania, is a place where time seems to stand still and hundreds of years of culture and traditions are firmly engrained in the rugged mentality, hardened way of life and extremely hardworking people.  It is here where the nearby volcanic mountains are proudly covered in a dense layer of snow well into spring; where locals master the elaborate process of making the famous ţuică drink every year (my ninety five year old great-grandmother is still deeply invested in this process); not to mention how chickens and other domestic animals roam freely around the yard all day long and are considered proud members of the family.  Maramureș is also the place where I learned how to forage for plump beautiful mushrooms in the untamed forests, how to gingerly maneuver a two handle saw and help my grandfather cut wood at the very young age of four, and most importantly where I learned how to whip up this rustic and mouthwatering Feta Cheese and Dill Stuffed Flatbread. 

These flatbreads are without a doubt a staple in my grandma Aurica’s kitchen – simple, basic dough stuffed with a cheesy goodness.  It can’t get better or easier than that!  They are unpretentious and versatile; delicious for breakfast, satisfying as a snack, great for lunch, and light for a quick dinner.  Needless to say, they are a terrific alternative for the beloved bread.  The yeasty dough winds up tender and sweetly chewy while nestling a perfectly salty and savory interior.  These Feta Cheese and Dill Stuffed Flatbreads are deeply flavorful without being fussy and I guarantee you won’t stop with just one.  Enjoy!  

Feta Cheese and Dill Stuffed Flatbread

By Simply Romanesco inspired my Grandma Vicki and Grandma Aurica

Makes: 15 stuffed flatbreads

Ingredients:

·         500 grams (3 ½ cups) all-purpose flour

·         ½ teaspoon baking soda

·         1 teaspoon salt

·         1 packet (7 grams) fast rise dry yeast

·         1 ½ teaspoon sugar

·         1 large egg, at room temperature

·         125 ml (1/2 cup) water

·         125 (1/2 cup) whole milk

·         50 ml (1/4 cup) vegetable oil, plus more for frying

Ingredients for the filling:

·         350 grams (12 oz) feta cheese

·         A good bunch of fresh dill, chopped (the green parts of green onions, chopped, also work really well)

Instructions:

In a large bowl, combine the flour, baking soda, salt, yeast and sugar.  Mix well.  Add the egg, water and milk and, using clean hands, gently combine all the ingredients.  Add the oil and mix well until the dough gathers into a ball.  Knead the dough for a few minutes until it becomes pliable and easy to work with.  Leave the dough in the bowl.  Cover the bowl with a dish towel and allow the dough to rest and rise for an hour and a half until it almost doubles in size.

In the meantime, combine the feta cheese and dill in a medium bowl and set aside.

Divide the dough into 15 balls.  Lightly flour the work surface and the rolling pin and roll out the balls of dough one at a time.  Add a heaping Tablespoon of the feta cheese and dill filling and fold the edges of the dough to seal the filling inside.  Set aside and allow the filled concoction to rest for 10 minutes.  Proceed the same way with the rest of the dough. 

Lightly flour the rolling pin and roll out each of the filled doughs careful not to break the surface and the filling to spill out.    
    

  

In a large skillet, heat about ½ cup of vegetable oil over medium heat.  Add one or two flatbreads at a time and cook them over medium-low heat for 2-3 minutes on each side or until golden-brown.  Place the cooked flatbreads on a platter and cover to keep warm.

Poftă Bună! (Bon Appétit!)

Spaghetti with Parsley Pesto

With summer finally here, the markets abound with fresh herbs, making this season the perfect time to transform those tender greens from mere garnishes into the stars of your meals.  Therefore, I’d like to introduce you to this vibrant and vegetarian recipe of Spaghetti with Parsley Pesto!    

  

What I really love about this summer dish, besides its sublime simplicity, is its daring versatility.  Although, basil is the main player in the classic pesto, replacing it with the sturdy, more affordable and available year-round parsley makes for a bright and balanced sauce.  Swapping in walnuts (which I always have lingering in my pantry) for almonds also works wonders.  Tossing in some garlic instead of chives will nicely boost the entire mixture.  Lastly, adding white cheddar in lieu of “the king of cheeses” never worked better.  Needless to say, this recipe is wide open to adaptations; personally, I prefer the parsley, flat-leaf or curly, whichever I can get my hands on, but feel free to try it with basil or cilantro for a new dimension and elegant transformation.     

There’s nothing labor-intensive about this meal; in fact, you don’t even have to cook anything but the pasta, yet the flavors and nuances are complex and sophisticated.  The freshness and vivid color of the parsley shine through.  The nuttiness of the almonds adds depth, while the subtle garlicky aroma fades quietly in the background.  The floral olive oil and the mild sharpness of the cheese enhance the herbal notes and make this dish mighty successful.  Enjoy and Happy Fourth of July!  

  

         

Spaghetti with Parsley Pesto

Adapted from Bon Appétit (June 2013)

Makes: 6 servings

Ingredients:

·         1 lb. spaghetti or bucatini

·         Kosher salt

·         ½ cup unsalted, roasted almonds or walnuts

·         4 cups (packed) fresh flat-leaf parsley leaves (curly parsley also works well)

·         1 clove of garlic (the recipe calls for  ¾ cup chopped fresh chives, but I don’t always have them on hand and I found that garlic works very well, too)

·         ¾ cup extra-virgin olive oil

·         ½ cup finely grated white cheddar cheese or Parmesan

·         Freshly ground black pepper

Cook the pasta in a large pot of boiling salted water, stirring occasionally, until al dente.  Drain, reserving about 2 cups of pasta cooking liquid.    

Meanwhile, pulse the almonds in a food processor until smooth.  Add the parsley, garlic, oil and cheddar cheese, and process until smooth.  Season with salt and pepper.  

Toss the pasta and pesto in a large bowl, adding pasta cooking liquid, ¼ cup at a time, until saucy.  Season with salt and pepper. 

Do ahead: Pesto can be made 5 days ahead.  Cover the surface directly and chill.

Note:  You can also try this recipe with basil or cilantro. 

Poftă Bună! (Bon Appétit!)

Chicken Burgers with Garlic-Rosemary Mayonnaise

Who says that grilling is just a summer staple activity?  In my book, it’s done in cold weather, too.  All you need is a grilling pan.  Or, in our case, all we have is a grilling pan since we live in an apartment and that is the closest thing to a grilling mechanism that we can get our hands on.  Besides, I love to put my always reliable grilling pan to work when arctic temperatures are still looming just to get a slim whiff of what warm weather would be like, or better yet to trick myself into a summer state of mind!

These homemade Chicken Burgers with Garlic-Rosemary Mayonnaise are a year-round mouthwatering indulgence!  They were without a doubt the best part of this year’s Super Bowl.  And the fact that I cooked them on an outside grill, in freezing temperatures and a menacing snow storm made them that much more delicious and the experience way more exciting than the actual game.  Bottom line – my burgers were unbeatable, just like the Seattle Seahawks! 

These burgers will rock your house!  They are simply lip-smacking, piney and fresh, their pleasant lightness countered by the garlicky richness of the mayonnaise.  You may think that adding a disturbing amount of garlic-rosemary mayonnaise mixture to burgers is a despicable crime, but it works like a charm.  The burgers are so juicy, dressed with big flavors and nestled in between toasty challah buns smeared with more hefty dollops of the sinful mayonnaise sauce and topped with crisp mixed greens.  One word: phenomenal!     

These chicken burgers were my dinner of choice for the Super Bowl and, wait for it, Valentine’s Day.  I know, I know… a very unconventional dinner option for such a holiday but it worked beautifully and paired with this cake for dessert, it was truly unforgettable! 

Chicken Burgers with Garlic-Rosemary Mayonnaise

Adapted from Giada de Laurentiis

Makes: 4 servings

Ingredients for Mayonnaise:

·         1 cup mayonnaise

·         Scant ¼ cup chopped fresh rosemary leaves

·         1 clove garlic, minced

Ingredients for Burgers:

·         1 pound ground chicken

·         Heaped ¼ teaspoon kosher salt

·         ¼ teaspoon black pepper

·         4 sandwich rolls or burger buns (I found that challah buns work particularly well)

·         ¼ cup olive oil

·         1 cup mixed greens, divided

Instructions for the Mayonnaise:

In a small bowl, mix together the mayonnaise, garlic, and rosemary.  Set aside.

Instructions for the Burgers:

Preheat a gas or charcoal grill or place a grill pan over medium-high heat. 

In a large bowl, add the ground chicken, salt, pepper and half of the mayonnaise mixture.  Using clean hands, gently combine the ingredients and form the chicken mixture into 4 patties.  Place the burgers on the grill and cook for about 7 to 10 minutes on each side.  Transfer to paper towels and let rest for a few minutes. 

Brush the cut side of each roll with the olive oil and about 1 teaspoon of the mayonnaise mixture.  Grill for 1 to 2 minutes until slightly golden.  

Instructions to assemble the Burgers:

Spread a dollop of the remaining mayonnaise mixture on the tops and bottoms of the toasted buns.  Place the chicken burgers on the bottom halves of the buns.  Top each with ¼ cup of the mixed greens and finish with the top half of the bun.  

P.S.: I’ll be back on March 25!  It’s time for our annual trip to Romania, so Adrian and I are off to see our families for the next couple of weeks.  I won’t be able to post while away but I’ll return with stories and new recipes from good ol’ Transylvania!  Until then…

Poftă Bună! (Bon Appétit!)