The Other Thing Best Served Cold

When I was growing up, my mother was not only a pro at cooking delicious, quick dinners (faster than 30 Minutes, Ms. Ray, so there), but also at turning them out twice a night. My father often worked and, therefore, ate later in the evening, and my brother and I, being young, didn't. So she often cooked two dinners or made something that could easily heat up fast.

Me? I'm a bit lazier. So when Mr. Lemon was going to be out later than usual, but would still need dinner, I turned to dishes that could cool their heels, so to speak, until he was ready for them. Better yet this was a chance to make some dishes that actually improve off the heat and with time, but frequently don't get the chance with this hungry cook in charge. And with the return of the humid weather, dishes best served cold are not only handy, but refreshing.

So, cold poached salmon**, pesto orzo and cucumber salad were on the menu for dinner, whenever that happened.

Cold Poached Salmon

Salmon filet (any size fits this recipe)

water

1/2 lemon, sliced

In a saute pan fill almost to the top with water and lemon slices. Bring to a simmer--steaming, no bubbles--and then slide in the salmon filet. Turn back the heat to medium to keep from boiling. My filet always sticks out a bit so I do something that is probably verboten, but it works for me. When only the part sticking out is still bright pink, I turn over the filet and turn off the heat, but leave the salmon in to keep poaching about 3 minutes longer. This is a lovely and super easy way to have moist, just cooked salmon.

You can poach in leftover white wine, with bay leaves and peppercorns, and probably a dozen other possible ingredients, but really the lemon and water have always served me well. Plus, I always have lemons on hand, and the wine doesn't last long enough in these parts to be leftover.

Pesto Orzo

This dish does not really need a full recipe and is entirely forgiving, so add away.

[In a food processor: 10-12 leave basil + 2 cloves garlic + 3 Tablespoons olive oil] + 1/2 cup cooked orzo pasta + sliced tomatoes (from our little plant on the terrace.)

And here's another easy one:

Cucumber Salad with Basil

1 cucumber cut into 1-inch chunks + 5 basil leaves + 6 mint leaves + 1 teaspoon rice wine vinegar + salt

**I don't always go into great detail here about cost (blame my upbringing), but as I've mentioned I keep the weekly expenditure to around $40 give or take. I really admire the creativity and thrift-inspiration of the folks at 30 Bucks a Week, and reading their fine grocery-cutting work got me revisiting my own grocery bills after I had already started this blog and aimed for $40. If they could do $30, my "challenge" of $40 certainly was in reach! We're not totally strict, and sometimes we go a little over when there's a good deal that I want to stock up on, or if a nicer staple needs to be refilled. This week, with about $23 going to our CSA for fruit and vegetables, the rest went to milk and eggs, pork chops, black beans (tonight), lemons. So in short, almost a 1/2 lb. of salmon at $9/lb was totally within reach.

Tally:

Succulent salmon, but we're still on budget

Omega-3-rich meals make us Fat Resistance happy

Cold dish for a hot night meets cold dish for a late night

One Fish, Two Fish, Pink Fish, New Fish

More fish? More fish!

Recently I've been on the hunt for ways to get more omega-3-rich fish into our daily meals and I had to come back to my old favorite: salmon. Salmon's not the most thriftastic fish around, but it sure is delicious.

I had been dreaming of salmon ever since we enjoyed the most delicious Japanese salmon dish at our friends' house the other week. The salmon had been marinated overnight in another old favorite: miso.

I'm not so patient, so here's my quicky-version of Miso Glazed Salmon.

Miso Glazed Salmon

1/2 lb. filet of salmon

1 Tablespoon white miso paste

2 Tablespoons mirin

1 Tablespoon water to thin glaze

Mix the miso paste and mirin in a bowl. Add water slowly to slightly thin the glaze. Spread on salmon filet and let sit for 10 minutes. Place on baking sheet and place under a broiler about 10-12 minutes (this could be shorter depending on the heat of your oven--as you can see, my oven was a little too hot! I'm still learning how to use the broiler in this kitchen.)

Ginger Honey Carrots

2 cups baby carrots

4 thin slices fresh ginger

1 teaspoon low sodium soy sauce

1 Tablespoon honey

salt to taste

Place carrots and thin slices of ginger in a saute pan and add water to pan (not so much that the carrots are submerged). Cook over medium-high heat until carrots are tender. If there's a lot of water left, drain it off. Add soy sauce and honey and stir. Turn heat down to low and cook until carrots begin look lightly glazed, about 5 minutes.

Green Bean Bundles

Green beans

Fresh chives

Garlic

Run knife or finger along chives to flatten and make the chives more flexible. Tie 3-4 trimmed green bean together with a chive (I wrapped the chive around and then made a little knot.) Place in a steaming basket over simmering water with some peeled garlic until beans are bright green and tender.

Tally:

A rich dish that's both healthy and satisfying

A slight splurge, but still less than going out

Easy fish fast