Honey Soy Grilled Salmon with Edamame

Tonight's dinner was courtesy of The Food Network and was a hit. Miss actually is a fan of salmon and other fish, so I thought this would work well. Oh, and we liked it, too. ;o)

The sauce has just the right sweetness and compliments the creaminess of the salmon beautifully. The scallions were a little oniony for our taste, but it wasn't bad. I will say, though, that most of what Miss had didn't have any of the herb stuffing. She had a little of it and didn't seem to mind it. I did serve this with edamame, another Miss favorite, and some leftover rice from another meal.

One note about grilling this. I used my grill pan on top of my stove. The fish stuck even with spraying the pan down with Pam for grilling. Also, once I put the sauce on, the smoke detector went off twice even with the hood on high. The honey in the sauce just isn't good on the grill pan. It tasted good, though, which is all that matters, right?

One thing I try to aim for in my recipes is that you can easily leave out or substitute ingredients that you don't like. If you don't like the cilantro in the herb stuffing, use parsley. If you don't like scallions use another allium (onion, leek, shallot, etc) or leave it out. I imagine that garlic would work really well in this. And, I don't see why lemon or orange juice wouldn't work in the sauce. Experiment!

Food Network's Honey Soy Grilled Salmon with Edamame

Apple Chicken Sausage Pasta

I have made this a few times. I'm not sure how I really came up with it. But it's really yummy, and a great Fall dish. It can be done in about 30 minutes, but I also figured out a way to prep most of it the night before. 

Servings: About 4 adult sized and 2 toddler sized

Ingredients:

• 1 12 oz package of Apple Chicken Sausage (I have used a couple of brands, but my favorite is al fresco.)
• Olive oil
• 1 small sweet onion, chopped
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 medium apple, peeled, cored, and chopped into about 1/2" pieces (We usually have Gala on hand.)
• 1 tsp sage
• 1 tsp thyme
• 14 oz apple juice or cider
• 1 tbsp apple cider vinegar
• 6 oz frozen peas
• 1/2 lb pasta (Use whatever shape you want. I wouldn't use spaghetti or something long like that, though. Penne or Rotini work well.)
• Salt and pepper, to taste

Slice sausages into about 1/4" thick slices. Saute in a large skillet over medium heat until cooked through (if not using fully cooked sausages) and slightly browned. Remove sausage from skillet.

Discard all but about 1-2 tbsp of the remaining fat. If needed add some olive oil (to get to 1-2 tbsp of fat/oil). Saute onions over medium heat until translucent. Add garlic and cook for 1-2 minutes more.

Add apple, sage, and thyme, and continue to cook until apples begin to soften. Return the sausage to the pan. Add apple juice or cider, vinegar, and peas and simmer until the peas are cooked and the liquid is reduced by about half.

If preparing the night before, stop here and just put the "sauce" in the refrigerator until you're ready to fix dinner the next day.

Meanwhile, prepare the pasta according to the package directions. Reserve about a cup of the pasta water for the sauce. Drain the pasta and return it to the pot. (My skillet isn't big enough, but if yours is, you can scoop the pasta directly into the skillet from your pot without reserving the pasta water or draining.) Add the sauce and stir to combine. If the pasta seems dry, add some of the reserved pasta water. Season to taste with salt and pepper.

Enjoy!

Welcome

This blog may actually serve myself more than others. I'm one of those cooks who tends to just wing it. I will look at recipes and combine them or modify them or just come up with something on my own. Often, it's hard for me to remember exactly what I made, and more importantly if the toddler liked it. Well, that second part isn't usually too hard.

Anyway, the recipes posted in this blog will be stuff that my family, toddler especially, liked. I aim for easy food that I can fix in about a half hour. Occasionally, there will be a slow cooker recipe or something that can be made in bulk and may take longer, but will freeze well. I also try to make what we eat healthier than a prepackaged, highly processed meal. I will admit it, though, that I also recently developed a joy for making homemade ice cream. So, there may be a treat here and there. :o)

With that being said, I doubt I will post with any regular frequency, but I hope to have something every couple of weeks at least. Maybe that will also motivate me to try new recipes. Enjoy!